I had intended to write this post about the pros and cons of London hosting the 2012 Olympics. That, however, has to go on hold for now.

The atrocities that took place at four locations in London on Thursday morning are very distressing. No ideological argument can justify mass murder, which is what this appears to be.

London get the 2012 Olympics. New South Wales flog Queensland in SOO3. What an eventful five minutes.

Now, let's concentrate on the G8. Several options for live audio from the Radical Radio Coalition's G8 Audio website.

Well! I was sure Paris was going to win. It was always a two-horse race. Congratulations London. Well!

About two and a half hours until Paris is named as host of the 2012 Olympics.

Live webcast from Singapore on the IOC website. Alas, none of the candidate cities really have a name that Jacques Rogge can stuff up a la JA Samaranch and "Siddey".

For those who cared enough to follow the NatWest Series, the tournament ended in anticlimax when England and Australia played out a tie. But why was it called a tie? Both sides scored 196, that is true - but Australia was bowled all out while England only lost nine wickets. There's an easy way to break the deadlock and it's none other than the bleeding obvious.

I haven't found an exact quote, but Bob Geldof has been reported as saying that "three billion" people were watching the telecasts of the Live 8 concerts.

Which begs the question: If global poverty is such a big problem, then how come half of the world's population has access to a television set?

BBC Radio Four played a charming oral history program today about the legacy of West Indian cricketers who played in the Lancashire Leagues. "Wes Hall Broke My Arm" was narrated by Garth Crooks and runs for thirty minutes. It's available online at the BBC website in realaudio format for the next seven days.

My thanks to Will at the Corridor of Uncertainty for alerting me to this.

England and Australia are meeting today in what could well be the last one-day international played between teams of eleven players each. Lawrence Booth is doing the blog you have when you're not having a blog at The Guardian. Follow the live scorecard at The Cricket Site (who, hopefully, will fix their home page which currently states that Bangladesh are playing in today's final).

Sadly, I think it's time for the ICC to suspend Zimbabwe from all international cricket competition. Mugabe's conduct in running the country has finally, in my opinion, made it untenable for any side to play cricket there. The ICC, of course, is going to do no such thing.

In the past I've supported Zimbabwean cricket's right to remain on the world stage, acknowledging the complexity of political and commercial interests that have bound the ICC and its members. But how, really, can we continue to justify sending teams to play in a country whose fabric is being torn to shreds by a reckless and deluded president, who just happens to also be Patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union? The "Drive Out Rubbish" program is, for me, the last straw.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4724238

We've heard much over the years of Ted Hayes and his work in organising street kids into cricket teams in Los Angeles. NPR's (National Public Radio) News and Notes program on Thursday did a feature on Hayes' latest project - the Dome Village of Compton, California - and its cricket team, the Compton Homies.