Web Designer & Developer Ahmed's Musings

” The partnership between Guptill and McCullum was key. The fielding can make such a difference to how the bowlers feel. It was fantastic how McCullum played.” Vettori

“McCullum and Guptill had a good partnership. We lost couple of quick wickets. First Afridi and then Kamran .. and then we collapsed. They were  fantastic in the field and we have to improve our fielding.” Younis

“I got a start and it was a pretty good surface. It’s amazing turn around for us. We have two quality teams here; if one teams plays good quality cricket as we did today and as Pakistan did the other day, the margin can be like this.” McCullum

“The guys played very well. Guys like Khalid Latif, Kamran Akmal and Razzaq. Younis gave me good confidence; he just told me to go and bat without any worries.” Afridi

“ It started well for us but we lost the momentum. Afridi came in late and then Akmal turned the momentum. we couldn’t get a partnership going. Now we have seen what the pitch is like,  hopefully we can get it right for the next two games.” Vettori

“ It was a good effort from Khalid Latif,  Afridi’s innings was the turning point. He was fantastic. Then Kamran Akmal played a fantastic innings. (On his own form) It’s not always possible to score runs, hopefully I will come back.” Younis

It is expected the race will draw a massive betting plunge, with punters shelling out $88 million last year with the TAB in Victoria and NSW alone. The Melbourne Cup carnival will see gamblers bet much more. In 2008, a whopping $171.1 million was bet on Cup Day in NSW and Victoria with a grateful Tabcorp, not including the busy bookmakers at the track.
The Victorian Racing Club is expecting a crowd of more than 100,000.