ICC World Twenty20, 2009

[sheem]

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[Sadaf Gondal]

England openers overpower Windies


LONDON: England looked to have found the solution to their opening problems at the ICC World Twenty20 as Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara led them to a nine-wicket warm-up thrashing of the West Indies here at Lord's.

Chasing 145 for victory, England got home with more than five overs to spare here on Wednesday after a first-wicket stand of 119 between Wright (75 not out) and Bopara, who made 60.

Since their first Twenty20 international against Australia four years ago, England have used 11 different duos at the top of the order.

But Wright and Bopara's 76-ball stand appeared to settle the issue ahead of England's tournament opener proper against the Netherlands at Lord's on Friday.

Bopara has scored hundreds in his last three Tests against the West Indies and Wright said: "Ravi is good to bat with. He's really come of age with the way he's playing.

"He's taken his form from the Test matches and the one-dayers into the Twenty20 and he really does take the pressure off you when he plays the way he does.

"At times in Twenty20 cricket someone will naturally get a start and the other person doesn't always.

"I had a choice of keep trying to knock ones and let Ravi keep going the way he was or make a decision to take a bit on myself, take a punt and have a go and that's what I chose to do.

"That got me in and got me seeing the ball a bit better.

"I found it quite hard to start with. Those first few overs they bowled quite well and I wasn't seeing it quite as well as Ravi was at the time."

Sus+++ all-rounder Wright added: "I'm happy to do a job wherever I'm asked to bat.

"When I've gone out, they've just told me to go and express myself and believe in yourself and that's what I've tried to do.

"If I do get the chance to do it on Friday I've got to try and get more consistent and push on from this. I want to make this my marker and push on."

West Indies, well-beaten by England during both a Test and one-day series earlier in the season, made 144 for six with Ramnaresh Sarwan top-scoring with 46 in an innings where England leg-spinner Adil Rashid took one for 20.

West Indies though were without captain Chris Gayle after the aggressive opening batsman let wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin lead the side instead.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Spinners could not perform up to mark: Intikhab
LONDON: The coach Pakistan cricket team Intikhab Alam has rebuked spinners over their sub-standard performance against Indian in the ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match saying, “They could not perform up to the mark which resulted in our defeat”.

He said the Kamran Akmal’s getting run out during the match was the turning point but ruled out any disappointment over the loss to Indian in the match.

Talking to media after the match was over, he said I am not disappointed over the pocketing defeat against arch-rivals but urged spinners to perform well.

Loosing two matches in a row does not mean that we are out of question now and nation should not looses hope too, he remarked maintaining, “Some of players got out playing beauties (difficult deliveries)”.

Mahindra Singh Dhoni, Indian skipper, on the occasion said I am happy with the performance of our team and it is not always easy to defeat Pakistan but we will have to perform well in every match.

I cannot state any thing with firm belief in regard to the fitness of Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag at this point of time, he concluded.

[wick3d]

me ko lagta hay pakistan team ki jagha Lahore baadshah ki team ko bheejna chahy tha
phir koi chance tha apna

[Sadaf Gondal]

me ko lagta hay pakistan team ki jagha Lahore baadshah ki team ko bheejna chahy tha
phir koi chance tha apna

agreeee

[sheem]

ICC T20 World Cup kicking off today

LONDON: The ICC World Twenty20 tournament is kicking off today with England to be facing the Netherlands in the opening match at Lords.

England are feeling positive ahead of their first Group B match following a convincing win over the West Indies in a warm up game on Wednesday.

Captain Paul Collingwood said, "We know we''re going to have to play to our absolute potential to get to those semi-finals, but there''s a lot of confidence around at the moment and it''s all good - there''s a real feelgood factor in the team."

England will look to improve their record in the limited overs tournament after only winning one game in the inaugural cup in South Africa two years ago.

India are favourites to win and they face Bangladesh in Group A on Saturday.

The group stages are made up of the top 12 cricket-playing nations in four groups of three.

The top two from each group go through to the Super Eights made up of two groups of four.

The semi-finals consist of the top two teams in those groups and will be played at Trent Bridge and The Oval.

The final takes place at Lord''s on Sunday 21 June.

[Sadaf Gondal]

ICC T20 World Cup kicking off today



LONDON: The ICC World Twenty20 tournament is kicking off today with England to be facing the Netherlands in the opening match at Lords.

England are feeling positive ahead of their first Group B match following a convincing win over the West Indies in a warm up game on Wednesday.

Captain Paul Collingwood said, "We know we're going to have to play to our absolute potential to get to those semi-finals, but there's a lot of confidence around at the moment and it's all good - there's a real feelgood factor in the team."

England will look to improve their record in the limited overs tournament after only winning one game in the inaugural cup in South Africa two years ago.

India are favourites to win and they face Bangladesh in Group A on Saturday.

The group stages are made up of the top 12 cricket-playing nations in four groups of three.

The top two from each group go through to the Super Eights made up of two groups of four.

The semi-finals consist of the top two teams in those groups and will be played at Trent Bridge and The Oval.

The final takes place at Lord's on Sunday 21 June.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan plan spin trap for England


LONDON: Pakistan are hoping to surprise hosts England with their spin arsenal in Sunday’s World Twenty20 Championship match at The Oval in spite of the fact that the hosts have acquired the services of former Pakistan Test leggie Musthaq Ahmed for the tournament.

A Pakistan team official said on Wednesday that his slow bowlers — Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik — will have a few aces up their sleeves when the team takes the field against England on June 3 in its first match of the competition.“We know that England have Mushtaq as one of their coaches but we are confident that our spinners will still do well against them on Sunday,” said the official.

England, looking to shine in the Twenty20 spectacle at home, have recruited the services of Mushtaq as bowling consultant for the summer that includes the World Twenty20 and the Ashes series. Mushtaq’s presence in the English camp is a bit of concern for the Pakistanis, who are aware that the former Test leg-spinner knows their spinners’ strengths weaknesses and will provide vital information about it to the hosts.

Pakistan are counting on their spin assets to do well in the tournament and believe that the slow bowlers can help them begin the tournament on a winning note with a victory against England.

Mushtaq, 38, was Pakistan’s assistant coach during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where the team was knocked out of the event in the first round following a shock defeat against minnows Ireland.

The bearded Mushtaq, who played 52 Tests and 144 One-day Internationals for Pakistan, was present in the English dressing room with chief coach Andy Flower during the warm-up match against underdogs Scotland on Tuesday.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan return to Oval three years after ‘forfeiting’

LONDON: Pakistan returned to The Oval here on Wednesday for the first time after ‘forfeiting’ a Test match against England at this historic venue almost three years back, praying that they are spared by any controversies this time.

In the summer of 2006, Pakistan became the first team in the 129-year-old history of Test cricket to ‘forfeit’ a Test after they refused to take the field after tea break on the fourth day to protest against ball-tampering charges levelled by field umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove.

In that match Younis Khan — the current Pakistan captain — was one of the team’s senior players and supported the then skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq’s move to protest against the umpires’ decision to penalise Pakistan for alleged ball-tampering.

Inzamam’s refusal to take the field snowballed into one of the biggest controversies in the sport and also played a major role in straining Pakistan’s relations with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Team officials said on Wednesday that Pakistani players have put aside the bitter memories of The Oval episode and are fully focussed on the task at hand: to give their best in the World Twenty20 Championship.

“Whatever happened in 2006 is now a thing of the past and now all the players are just thinking about one thing and that is how to win the title here,” said a team official.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Gibbs steers South Africa past Sri Lanka in warm-up

LONDON: South Africa made heavy weather of chasing down Sri Lanka’s disappointing total of 109 for 9 in their final warm-up match at Lord’s ahead of next week’s ICC World Twenty20, but they eventually eased home with five balls and six wickets to spare, thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 70 between Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers.

Having been drawn in the toughest group, alongside West Indies and Australia (whom they face in their opening fixture at Trent Bridge on Monday), Sri Lanka will need to raise their game considerably if they hope to progress in the competition. After batting first they were reduced to 44 for 7 at the halfway mark of their innings, as first the pace of Dale Steyn and then the variations of Jacques Kallis and Johan Botha proved too much for their disorientated batsmen.

Then in reply, in spite of being given a flying start by Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera, who claimed the big wickets of Graeme Smith and Kallis in the first nine deliveries of South Africa’s innings, Sri Lanka let the game slip away from them with a spate of dropped catches. Gibbs was missed twice by Farvez Maharoof in the space of his first ten balls.

The main man of South Africa’s performance, however, was Steyn, whose aggression pushed the Sri Lankans onto the defensive from the first over.At 16 for 3 in the third over, Sri Lanka’s innings was already in a tangle, and though Sangakkara cracked three fours in six balls to apply a touch of momentum, he could do nothing about the seepage of wickets at the other end.

Mahela Jayawardene missed with a reverse sweep and had his off stump flattened by Botha. Angelo Mathews and Maharoof loitered in a stand of 31 from 35 balls for the eighth wicket to give Sri Lanka something of a total.

In another warm-up match at the Oval, left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar took three wickets as the Netherlands beat Scotland by seven wickets. Seelaar, who took two wickets in two balls, finished with figures of three for 25 from his four overs as Scotland were held to 128 for nine.

Alexei Kervezee then made 62, his a run-a-ball fifty featuring a six and five fours, as the Dutch reached their victory target of 129. This win gave the Netherlands a victory over Celtic opposition following their dramatic eliminator loss to Ireland at Lord’s on Monday.

Scotland, who travelled down overnight from Nottingham, where they lost by six wickets to hosts England on Tuesday, saw Calum Macleod strike with the third legitimate ball of the innings to remove Darron Reekers.

The Netherlands face England in Friday’s tournament opener proper at Lord’s while Scotland’s first group game is against New Zealand at the Oval on Saturday.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Gibbs steers South Africa past Sri Lanka in warm-up

LONDON: South Africa made heavy weather of chasing down Sri Lanka’s disappointing total of 109 for 9 in their final warm-up match at Lord’s ahead of next week’s ICC World Twenty20, but they eventually eased home with five balls and six wickets to spare, thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 70 between Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers.

Having been drawn in the toughest group, alongside West Indies and Australia (whom they face in their opening fixture at Trent Bridge on Monday), Sri Lanka will need to raise their game considerably if they hope to progress in the competition. After batting first they were reduced to 44 for 7 at the halfway mark of their innings, as first the pace of Dale Steyn and then the variations of Jacques Kallis and Johan Botha proved too much for their disorientated batsmen.

Then in reply, in spite of being given a flying start by Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera, who claimed the big wickets of Graeme Smith and Kallis in the first nine deliveries of South Africa’s innings, Sri Lanka let the game slip away from them with a spate of dropped catches. Gibbs was missed twice by Farvez Maharoof in the space of his first ten balls.

The main man of South Africa’s performance, however, was Steyn, whose aggression pushed the Sri Lankans onto the defensive from the first over.At 16 for 3 in the third over, Sri Lanka’s innings was already in a tangle, and though Sangakkara cracked three fours in six balls to apply a touch of momentum, he could do nothing about the seepage of wickets at the other end.

Mahela Jayawardene missed with a reverse sweep and had his off stump flattened by Botha. Angelo Mathews and Maharoof loitered in a stand of 31 from 35 balls for the eighth wicket to give Sri Lanka something of a total.

In another warm-up match at the Oval, left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar took three wickets as the Netherlands beat Scotland by seven wickets. Seelaar, who took two wickets in two balls, finished with figures of three for 25 from his four overs as Scotland were held to 128 for nine.

Alexei Kervezee then made 62, his a run-a-ball fifty featuring a six and five fours, as the Dutch reached their victory target of 129. This win gave the Netherlands a victory over Celtic opposition following their dramatic eliminator loss to Ireland at Lord’s on Monday.

Scotland, who travelled down overnight from Nottingham, where they lost by six wickets to hosts England on Tuesday, saw Calum Macleod strike with the third legitimate ball of the innings to remove Darron Reekers.

The Netherlands face England in Friday’s tournament opener proper at Lord’s while Scotland’s first group game is against New Zealand at the Oval on Saturday.