The Champions Trophy is now well underway. Sri Lanka have thrashed West Indies; India have dealt comfortably with England; and New Zealand are in the process of posting an unconvincing score against Sout Africa. Does this give us any pointers for the tournament?

Probably not. One of the major differences between cricket and baseball is that in cricket pitch conditions are much more important. Sri Lanka and West Indies both did well in the qualifying stages, but the Sri Lankans got to bat first twice and so had plenty of opportunities for their batsmen to get used to conditions. West Indies fielded first in both matches, and so only Gayle and Chanderpaul got much practice. India are, of course, well used to the local conditions.

Having said that, the Sri Lankan side does look very impressive. They swept England 5-0 earlier this year, and they’ll be more used to Indian conditions than most sides. I think there’s a good chance we’ll see them in the final.

As I suspected, the BBC commentary is available only to people logging in to their web site from the UK. Hopefully ABC won’t be so restrictive when Australia get to play.