We all know the recent fairytale story of Afghanistan. From World Cricket League's Division 5 (extremely low echelons), to falling just one victory short of qualification for the 2011 World Cup, yet gaining official ODI status.

Now Afghanistan has its second chance to make its mark among in the big leagues. They are scheduled to play the World T20 qualifiers in UAE in February 2010. And guess who's in their group? Why, none other that the US of A! Isn't that convenient??? So that should be exciting.

The winner of the tournament will be placed in the South Africa/India group, and the runner-up will be placed in the West Indies and England group.

And speaking of the T20 2010 World Cup, if anyone in North America is thinking of going for a short trip, I would suggest the following weekend in St. Lucia:

Sat May 1st, India vs Qualifying Champions
Sat May 1st, Pakistan vs Bangladesh

Sun May 2nd, India vs South Africa
Sun May 2nd, Pakistan vs Australia
That's a pretty action-packed weekend, and Pak-India fans are GUARANTEED to see their teams in action, even if they aren't playing each other. Unlike when so many of us (me included) got burned in 2007! I mean, no disrespect to the Bangladesh and Ireland teams, but we were expecting, ahem, other teams to play! :)

It's just a weekend trip, so it should be doable for a lot of people from a schedule perspective. I am strongly thinking about making the trip. But being back in school, I have finals at that time, so I have to take that into consideration. Let's see.

But wouldn't it be awesome if Afghanistan won the qualifiers? Ind vs Afghanistan, followed by Pak vs Bangladesh. Regional pride!!!

Hello everyone!

Yes, it's been a while since this blog was updated. Well over two months. So without further ado, I will get to the point.

First, the apologies. Sincere apologies to all our readers for our mini-hiatus. Over the two years plus that Well Pitched has been around, we've developed somewhat of a loyal reader base. Without warning, the three authors of the blog simultaneously slacked off (each for their own reasons). This is unacceptable and we plan to reverse course immediately.

Next, our sincere appreciation to our readers and fans. As the posts on Well Pitched dried up, we started to receive comments, personal emails, Facebook messages, etc. asking us where we had disappeared. Some out of personal concern for us. Some out of WPWS (Well Pitched Withdrawal Syndrome!!!) We can not express how much we value your appreciation, and we hope to respond by being more active on the site.

Finally, our extreme gratitude to World Cricket Watch for nominating Well Pitched for Cricket Weblog of the Year! This is a huge honor and we are thrilled just to be nominated. Though winning would be pretty sweet too - so please vote for Well Pitched at:

http://worldcricketwatch.com/feature/introducing-the-cricket-website-awards-2009/#pd_a_2351458

Thanks everyone for your concern and support (and your vote???). We hope to do a better job of updating Well Pitched with informative and insightful posts.

Best regards,

The Well Pitched Team