ICC World Cup 2011

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Welcome to the SD Cricket World Cup 2011 Central. Here we are going to discuss everything related to the Cricket World Cup 2011 which is to be played in India - Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 12 to April 2, 2011 (Warm-up Matches start Feb 12th, 2011 and Group Matches start Feb 19th, 2011.)

I would like to bring all the news and happenings related to the ICC World Cup. You are also encouraged to share news, your knowledge and insight as we move along.

This Video below will help you know more about the schedule, venues and more about the ICC World Cup.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BSmMNN0BaQ"]ICC World Cup 2011[/ame]

[sheem]

G
Yeh south africa k match mai jo girl friend or wives ka stand tha wahan asian si wive ya gf kis ki hai?

[Sadaf Gondal]

Strauss dismisses fatigue factor
"This is a good time to play England, they have been on the road a long time, in order to stay on in India they have to win," West Indies captain Darren Sammy said on Wednesday, before joking, "Maybe some of them want to go home to their families, you never know."

Much has been made of the England team having spent only four days at home since late October when they departed to Australia for a dominant Ashes campaign. The continuous crush of high-profile cricket combined with the heat and humidity of the subcontinent seems to have taken its toll on the squad, with a string of players picking up fitness problems.

The fast bowler Ajmal Shahzad is the latest casualty, missing Wednesday's practice session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after falling ill. It is still unclear whether he will recover in time for the must-win match against West Indies on Thursday. "We are not sure at this stage whether that will affect Shahzad's chances of being selected for tomorrow," England captain Andrew Strauss said. Shahzad had taken three wickets in the match against Bangladesh in Chittagong on Friday, and his possible absence increases the chances of James Anderson retaining his place in the XI.

There was better news for England regarding two other key players who were struggling with their fitness, with Strauss and offspinner Graeme Swann both recovering from the stomach bug that preventing them from training on Tuesday. "I'm feeling very well, I was a bit laid low day before night and yesterday morning," Strauss said. "Swann is also recovering well, should be practising today, don't know if he is quite as buoyant as I am, very confident that he'll be fine for tomorrow."

Their most consistent batsman of the tournament, Jonathan Trott, had also been a member of their sick list earlier this week before recovering from a fever. These concerns are in addition to losing influential players Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen to injuries. Pietersen's tweet outlining the bright side to his injury added to the claims of homesickness. "Well, as frustrated as I am to be missing the rest of the World Cup & IPL, I'll be at home with my family & friends, I haven't been home properly since 29 Oct.," he had written after being ruled out of the tournament.

Strauss, though, was adamant the time way from home and the amount of cricket England have played over the past six months were not affecting their performance. "We have been on the road for a long time, but fatigue is the last thing on our mind," he said. "Potentially we have got four more games to play before a nice, long break."

The illnesses were common for teams touring the subcontinent, he said. "It's happened to a lot of the sides in this tournament, that guys go down. It's par for the course in this part of the world, we try and take all the precautions, but these things can strike at any stage."

He said the motivation of keeping the campaign for a first World Cup alive was motivation enough for his side. "We know what the prize there is. We are determined to make the most of the opportunity and take that prize," he said. "Fatigue is not an issue for us at the moment, and it won't be until right at the end of the tournament."

The end of the tournament could come as early as Thursday, giving Strauss' team two extra weeks of rest at home, unless they round off their league phase with a win against West Indies and results out of their control go their way.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pollard plans to silence the doubters
West Indies entered the World Cup ranked No. 9, below Bangladesh for the first time, and without a win against a Test nation in 20 months. Not surprisingly, they didn't feature too high in most lists of favourites, a fact which hasn't pleased their allrounder Kieron Pollard.

"We have a lot of things that are driving us at the moment," Pollard told reporters in Chennai on Tuesday. "One of the things is that we were actually written off when we came here from the start, something that's at the back of our minds, we are just using that as a motivating factor to go forward."

West Indies and Pollard have bounced back strongly after the opening defeat to South Africa in which the allrounder was shot out for a golden duck by Dale Steyn. West Indies have reeled off three comfortable victories, while Pollard has showed off his brand of power-hitting with two match-transforming half-centuries.

There was further good news for West Indies with their experienced and explosive opener Chris Gayle recovering from the abdominal strain that kept him out of the game against Ireland on Friday. "Chris is coming along pretty good," Pollard said. "He should be fit for the game against England, so we should have a full squad of 15 guys the team management will have to choose from."England need a victory on Thursday against West Indies to remain in the race for the quarter-finals, but will have the added disadvantage of coming up against Ottis Gibson, who now mentors West Indies after relinquishing his job as England bowling coach just over a year ago. "It will be useful for us [having Gibson on board], the information he can pass on to us, because he was the bowling coach for them," Pollard said. "But doesn't matter how much information he passes, it's a matter of going out there and executing whatever he says."

Pollard has shot to prominence as one of the world's premier Twenty20 players, and is much sought after in the domestic T20 leagues, but his performances for West Indies haven't been similarly spectacular so far. His batting average touched 20 for the first time following his murderous 55-ball 94 against Ireland, but he doesn't accept the criticism of his one-day form.

"If you watch the opportunities I have got before, it was lower down the order," he said. "Even in Twenty20 cricket I had the same 5-6 overs to bat, if I had got 30-35 overs to bat and haven't been performing at the best, then you can say I haven't been doing well or whatever it is."

Both of his brutal innings in the World Cup have come against the Associate nations in the group, so the question whether he has adjusted to the different demands of the one-day game remains unanswered. If he does settle the lingering doubts on Thursday, however, England will be catching an early flight home.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Sammy eyes Caribbean revival
Of the current squad, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul - barely old enough to hold a bat - was around the last time West Indies beat England in the World Cup. A few might have watched footage of what Vivian Richards, Collis King and Joel Garner did to England in that Lord's final of 1979, and Darren Sammy, the captain, hopes that this campaign could mark the turning point in the fortunes of a side whose fall from grace is one of sport's more sobering stories.

"It's massive for us as cricketers," he said on the eve of the England game. "We came here as underdogs and we've managed to stay focussed. If we manage to achieve our ultimate goal, it'll be a huge boost for the people of the Caribbean."

In what is undoubtedly the tougher of the two groups, West Indies were the team many expected to slip up against the lesser sides. Instead, they disposed of Ireland and Netherlands quite comfortably and gave Bangladesh the kind of pasting that the teams led by Lloyd and Richards were famed for.

In contrast, England have slipped on both banana peels placed in their path. If they fail to register a fifth consecutive World Cup win against West Indies tomorrow, their Phileas Fogg-like adventure that started last November with a flight to Australia will be over.

Sammy isn't someone you associate with mental-disintegration tactics, but there was certainly an element of sledge to his thoughts on where the English stand right now. "It's a good time to play them," he said. "They've been on the road a long time. I saw somewhere that they've had four days at home in the last five months. Maybe some of them want to go home to their families. You never know."

On another grass-free and bone-hard pitch, West Indies are boosted by the return of Chris Gayle. Kieron Pollard has been their big-hitting star in recent games, but a Gayle special of the kind that flattened South Africa in a Champions Trophy semi-final (2006) is near inevitable at some point during the competition.

Sammy himself has excelled with the ball while disappointing with the bat. With Dwayne Bravo now back home nursing his injured knee, it's all the more important that he finds his scoring touch soon. "Every game we've played, one player stands up," said Sammy. "I'd like to think a big innings is around the corner."

Having lost every toss so far, he isn't unduly concerned about it, though it does look the sort of surface where you want to bat first. And while others, and Graeme Swann in particular, have been vocal about the dew factor in some games, Sammy wasn't fussed. "We've managed it quite well," he said. "You just get a towel and wipe the ball. Simple."

Swann is one bowler West Indies will need to be especially wary of though, with four left-handers in their top five. "He has been England's premier bowler," said Sammy. "No one can question what he's done over the last two years. But he's also human. We have batsmen capable of dominating."

The West Indies view Ottis Gibson's experiences as England's bowling coach as one more point in their favour - "He's aware of weaknesses and we'll look to exploit them tomorrow" - though they're unlikely to change the combination of Kemar Roach's pace and Sulieman Benn's spin that has worked so well for them with the new ball.

Having watched Imran Tahir excel against England at this very venue a little over a week ago, West Indies will no doubt be tempted to try a leggie themselves. "It's food for thought," said Sammy, "whether we should play [Devendra] Bishoo tomorrow."

After two devastating innings against "lesser" opposition, this is also Pollard's chance to show that there's more to him lucrative IPL contracts. "Kieron and I had a chat, about finding the best place for him," said Sammy. "We worked out where he feels most comfortable."

If England's bowlers fail to find their length, and bowl as they did against Ireland and Bangladesh, Pollard could literally hit them out of the competition. Even the pretty pagoda-like structures at the top of the new stands won't be safe.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Australia beat Canada in interesting clash

BANGALORE: Defending champions Australia defeated Canada by seven wickets with 15.1 overs remaining in their World Cup Group A match here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.

Already through to the quarter-finals, now Australia have extended their unbeaten run in the World Cup to 34 matches stretching back to 1999. They have also gone top of the group.

Chasing a modest total of 212, Australia achieved the winning target in 34.5 overs for the loss of only three wickets after openers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin provided a 183-run opening stand.

Later, Ricky Ponting fell cheaply for only seven runs when Australia’s victory was just five runs away.

Michael Clarke and Cameron White remained not out on 16 and four, respectively.

Watson hammered 94 off 90 balls with four sixes and nine fours while his partner Haddin made 88 from 84 balls with eleven fours and two sixes.

Earlier, Aussie bowlers restricted Canada for 211 runs all out in 45.4 overs after the minnows’ top-order batsmen provided a brave fight.

The 19-year-old opener, Hiral Patel, faced Aussie pacers boldly, blasting a career-best 54 after Canada captain Ashish Bagai won the toss.

But Brett Lee took four for 46 as the North Americans were bowled out with 26 balls to spare.

Canada were well-placed at 150 for two but Australia then took five wickets for 19 runs.

Canada had promoted 40-year-old off-spinner John Davison, playing his last match before international retirement, to open the innings.

Davison looked good making 14 before fast bowler Lee out-thought him with a slow bouncer the batsman could only feather to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin as he attempted a hook.

The undaunted Patel took Canada to the fastest fifty of any team this tournament -- in 29 balls -- when he miscued a six off Mitchell Johnson high over third man.

But Patel, whose highest score in 13 previous one-day internationals was 43, made no mistake in hooking a Lee bouncer for six.

Patel completed his personal fifty in just 37 balls, including three sixes and five fours.

However, his blistering innings ended when he slashed medium-pacer Shane Watson to Johnson at third man, leaving Canada 82-2 in the 12th over.

Zubin Surkari and Bagai kept Australia at bay with a stand of 68 until the captain, on 39, edged a cut off Tait to Haddin.

Jimmy Hansra gifted off-spinner Jason Krejza only his third wicket of the tournament when he holed out to long-on and Surkari (34), one ball after being hit on the hip by a Tait full toss, was bowled by the speedster.

[Sadaf Gondal]

[Sadaf Gondal]

[sheem]

Hmmm sahi
Aussie agae haina fir wapis apni form mai team Pakistan ka Kia banega
Umar akmal ki ungali thk hogai hai asad ki performance dekh kar?

[Sadaf Gondal]

agar asad acha bhi khele phir bhi umar ko hi khelay gayian
in akmal brothers ki chalti hai

[Sadaf Gondal]

We’ve no fear playing in India: Afridi

COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi denied on Wednesday that he feared playing a World Cup quarter-final in India, insisting a potential clash between the two neighbours can help ease strained relations.

"I have never said anything along the lines that we don't want to go to India. I never said that," said Afridi, hitting back at media reports that Pakistan wants to avoid playing their last-eight game in India.

"We are here to play the World Cup, so wherever we have to play we will go and we have no fears over going to India," said Afridi of the possibility of a mouth-watering quarter-final against their South Asian rivals at Ahmedabad.

"I think a cricket match has always brought the people of both countries together and has the capacity to improve the relations between the two," said Afridi.

The relationship between the nuclear rivals has been at breaking point since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008, which New Delhi blamed on extremists based in Pakistan.

Those attacks also forced India to stall bi-lateral cricket series with Pakistan, although both countries played against each other in the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2009.

Afridi said he and his team-mates have always enjoyed playing cricket in India.

"I have always enjoyed cricket in India, never enjoyed anywhere more than in India, I get maximum enjoyment there," said Afridi, whose first Test century came at Chennai in 1999.

He also hit one-day cricket's fourth fastest century off just 45 balls, against India at Kanpur in 2005.

Pakistan have eight points from their five matches and could top Group A if they beat defending champions Australia in their last match on Saturday.

Afridi says his team fear no opposition.

"The kind of cricket we are playing we fear no venue and no opposition, so India in India, and Australia in the last group match are no problems," said Afridi, who played down threats from extremists groups in India.

"What ever is the response, we will get to know it when we go there because we will be going there after a long time," said Afridi.

"We have played in India in worse situations," added Afridi, referring to Pakistan's tour in 1999 where Hindu militants dug up the pitch in New Delhi.

"For both teams, the pressure is always there and whoever handles the pressure wins the match. But before that we have an important match against Australia and I think we have the capacity to beat them," said Afridi.