World Cup Cocktail

When the call came I just about jumped out of my skin. "Do you want to face an over from Shane Warne over at the MCG?" You better believe I do.

The MCG's National Sports Museum currently has two Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, that let you pick up a 'bat' and take guard against digital Warnie. 

The 'bat' is a small hand-held remote control. Attempts were made to bury the sensor inside a real piece of willow, but the propensity of players to tap the bat on the ground in their stance caused calibration issues.

Warne was motion-captured for the simulation: the swagger, the run-up, the bowling action are all very authentic. He sledges, too. As soon as that headset comes on, the software loads and you're suddenly in the middle of the MCG. Standing down the pitch is Warnie, slim, blonde, tanned and staring intently at you. "Ready? Right, let's go," he says. A quick description of the ball he's about to deliver gives you some clue as to what's coming.  The first six balls are gentle, they don't turn much and they are hittable. The next six balls are at 'real' speed. 

Fans can bid for World Cup history

The ICC is giving cricket fans across the world an opportunity to bid for an official piece of the 2015 World Cup history in the form of the toss coins from each of the 49 matches during the prestigious tournament which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

SE Products, as the ICC's memorabilia and collectables licencee, released a similar programme for the World Cup 2011 with great success. Fans relished the chance to bid for the official coin used in the matchday coin toss and SE Products is looking forward to making more official memorabilia available for the upcoming event.

Limited edition coins have been specially produced for the 2015 tournament. Each and every coin includes the specific dates used from the official match.

In a first for cricket fans worldwide, the official scorecard is also available for auction for each match of the World Cup. Furthermore, a match-used ball from each of the four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final are also up for auction.

Guptill's mysterious gesture

There are a lot of rumours going around that Martin Guptill had gestured with two of his fingers during his innings today because he has only two toes on his left foot after being involved in a forklift accident during his younger days.

However, the 28-year-old was actually gesturing to Craig McMillan, who is the current batting coach of the New Zealand cricket team.

He was pointing two fingers to McMillan because on the previous ball, he became only the second batsman to hit the top of the roof at the Westpac Stadium, Wellington. The only batsman to have done it before was McMillan.

Guptill's six, which came off the bowling of Andre Russell in the 50th over, was measured at a distance of 110m, which is easily the biggest six hit in the ongoing cricket World Cup. The stadium known as 'Cake Tin' has some of the shortest boundaries in international cricket, but it would be fair to say that this hit would have cleared any boundary in the world.

--Compiled