ICC World Cup 2011

[DexteR]

<iframe src='http://i.imgci.com/homepage/wc2011_countdown.swf' scrolling='no' frameboder='no'></iframe>

See the Last post for most recent Updates


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]

[Sadaf Gondal]

[DexteR]

Pakistan k khilaf saray hi fit ho gaye hain Chanderpaul bhi zinda ho gaya hai aur Gayle bhi..

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan to stick with winning combination
DHAKA: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi indicated on Tuesday he would retain the side who defeated Australia in the World Cup group stages for Wednesday's quarter-final against West Indies.

Pakistan took the field for the Australia match without fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and opened the bowling with left-armer Abdur Rehman as the defending champions were beaten for the first time at a World Cup since 1999.

"We want to go with the winning combination. We will see, but I think we are happy with this winning combination," Afridi told a news conference.

Afridi said the victory over Australia had given the 1992 champions a welcome confidence boost before the knockout stages.

"We worked hard before this World Cup. We are taking the practice sessions very seriously," he said. "I think we are feeling more confident now, it's a good sign before the quarter-final."

Afridi paid tribute to his bowlers, signalling out pace bowler Umar Gul for particular praise.

"He was struggling a little bit with his ankle before but I think he is 100 percent fit," Afridi said.

"He is doing a great job with the ball, especially with the new ball."

[Sadaf Gondal]

India poised for Pakistan semi-final
MUMBAI: An India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final is the most appetising prospect to emerge from a month of preliminary matches which otherwise served primarily to confirm the identity of a predictable final eight.

Pakistan and West Indies open the quarter-finals in Dhaka on Wednesday with the winners drawn against the victors of the India versus Australia match in Ahmedabad on the following day.

South Africa and New Zealand meet in Dhaka on Friday before Sri Lanka host England in Colombo on Saturday in the battle for the second semi-final spot.

Anxious to avoid an early exit for any of the leading contenders after India and Pakistan flew home early from the 2007 tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) pitched the 14 teams into a round-robin first round format.

"We trying to ensure we give every team the best opportunity of remaining in the competition and not losing out just because of one bad game so that the best do go through," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said before the start of the tournament on Feb. 19.

The ICC, the television networks and the sponsors got their wish in a tournament which, after finally reaching the knockout stages, now looks the most open since 1999.

Australia, aiming for a fourth consecutive title, are not the force of previous tournaments, losing a World Cup match for the first time in 12 years when they were deservedly beaten by Pakistan in the first round.

India have a nation willing them to success in the Mumbai final on April 2. But their collective temperament has been questioned after they emerged with only one point from their matches against England and South Africa despite centuries on both occasions to the peerless Sachin Tendulkar.

BEST-BALANCED SIDE

South Africa's belief that this may at last be their year after a history of underachievement in the tournament is based on a fine pace attack, able spin bowling, solid batting and their customary slick fielding. They are also the only team to have bowled out their opponents each time in the group stages.

Sceptics, though, point to their failure to overhaul a modest target against England as evidence of a continued fallibility under pressure.

England, who have looked at times physically and mentally spent since their Ashes heroics, lost to Ireland and Bangladesh but emphasised their fighting spirit under Andrew Strauss in a tie with India and victories over South Africa and West Indies.

Winning in Colombo against the 1996 champions still looks like a step too far after Sri Lanka did nothing in the first round to erode pre-tournament assessments that they have the best-balanced side in the competition.

With the weather getting hotter and the pitches starting to deteriorate faster, the sub-continental sides have an increasing advantage which Pakistan should exploit to West Indies' cost in Dhaka.

Their swashbuckling captain Shahid Afridi has led from the front, emerging as a match winner with the ball by taking 17 wickets with his aggressive wrist spin.

The winners of the New Zealand-South Africa semi-final will play the victors of the Sri Lanka-England tie in Colombo on March 29. Mohali will stage the second semi the following day. (Reuters)

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan take on Windies in 1st Q-final
DHAKA: Struggling West Indies need look no further than their manager Richie Richardson for inspiration when they clash with buoyant Pakistan in the World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.

Richardson was captain when the West Indies overturned the form book in the 1996 quarter-final in Karachi and stunned South Africa, who had come through the league phase unbeaten.

Brian Lara smashed 111 off 94 balls to fashion a 19-run victory and a similar effort from Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo or Kieron Pollard could upset Pakistan's applecart.

"Anything can happen in the knock-outs, you don't get a second chance," said the 49-year-old Richardson, who took over as manager for a two-year term in January.

"Every one starts on an equal footing."

Darren Sammy's men will need a desperate last fling at a time when they seem to be falling apart after two inexplicabe defeats against England and India from dominant positions.

They were on the brink of victory against England when, chasing a modest target of 244, they were comfortably placed at 222-6 before losing their last four wickets for three runs.

Against India on Sunday, they caved in again as eight wickets fell for 34 runs after they were 154-2 and lost by 80 runs.

The West Indies, who have now lost 18 successive matches against the leading nations, cannot afford another defeat.

All is, however, not over yet for the West Indies.

They return to the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka where they shot out Bangladesh for their lowest one-day total of 58 in the league to romp home by nine wickets in a match that ended in under two hours.

Gayle and key fast bowler Kemar Roach are set to return after missing the India game, the former with a abdominal strain and Roach due to illness.

Pakistan, in contrast, have been the revelation of the tournament by topping Group A with five wins in six matches.

Shahid Afridi's Pakistan broke three-time defending champions Australia's unbeaten streak of 34 World Cup matches with a four-wicket win in Colombo on Saturday.

It was just the tonic Pakistan needed after being stripped of big-time cricket at home due to security concerns in their volatile nation and tainted by an unsavoury spot-fixing scandal.

The absence of former captain Salman Butt and pace spearheads Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif due to the controversy was not felt as the team rallied superbly under their inspirational captain.

All-rounder Afridi is the tournament's leading bowler with 17 wickets with his fastish leg-breaks, while seamer Umar Gul has kept the pressure on at the other end with 13 wickets.

Afridi may have failed with the bat so far with just 65 runs in six games, but young guns Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq have shone brightly in their first World Cup.

Akmal has scored 211 runs at 52.75 and Shafiq averages 124 in the two games he has played so far, while seasoned seniors like Misbah-ul Haq and Younis Khan have lent solidity to the middle-order.

Team manager Intikhab Alam, who was coach when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup under Imran Khan, was delighted with his side's performance so far.

The former captain attributed the success to "self-belief, fitness and high energy levels."

"We are peaking at the right time," Intikhab said.
World Cup teams:
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Ahmed Shahzad.

Coach: Waqar Younis (PAK)

West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Kirk Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Devendra Bishoo.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan expect ‘home-like’ conditions in Mirpur
COLOMBO: Brimming with confidence, Pakistan flew out of the Sri Lankan capital on Monday afternoon for Dhaka on a chartered jet to feature in their World Cup quarterfinal against West Indies on Wednesday (tomorrow).
Pakistan won five of their six Pool games including the big one against defending champions Australia here on Saturday to top Pool A for a relatively easier quarterfinal clash against the West Indians, who finished fourth in Pool B.
“We have achieved all out targets ahead of the knock-out stage of the World Cup,” Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan team manager, told ‘The News’ before his team’s departure to Dhaka.
“Our focus was on winning as many matches as possible in the group stages to give ourselves the sort of confidence you need in big matches like the quarterfinals and beyond,” stressed Intikhab, a former Pakistan Test captain.
Pakistan did suffer a few hiccups in an unconvincing win over minnows Canada and were then thrashed by new by a 110 runs. But the 1992 champions bounced back with the vengeance by beating Zimbabwe and Australia in their last two games.
“The good thing is that the boys have learnt from their mistakes,” said Intikhab. “They didn’t play well against Canada and New Zealand but recovered to give a much improved performance in our last two matches here. It’s a great sign because Pakistan are peaking at the right time which adds to our confidence,” he added.
Pakistan have played all their World Cup matches in Sri Lanka which means that its first time in a month that they are going out of the island.
Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, said that he would have loved to play the last quarterfinal in Colombo on March 26 but was quick to add that he and his team are now looking forward to playing in a form of a ‘supportive’ crowd in Mirpur, Bangladesh.
“It was beginning to feel like we were playing at home,” Afridi told ‘The News’ referring to the crowd support his team received in Colombo and Kandy since its arrival here last month.
“But I’m sure that Bangladesh will be a similar story. The crowd their supports the Pakistan team and they will be backing us now that their own team is not playing in the quarterfinals. The conditions in Mirpur, will be home-like, I’m sure,” said Afridi.
Afridi said that he and his fellow teammates were looking forward to their quarterfinal match. “It’s our biggest match of this tournament yet and we all know that there is no room for any mistakes,” said the flamboyant allrounder. “For most of the boys it’s the biggest game of their lives but I’m sure that they will live up to the expectations and give their best against the West Indies.”

[Sadaf Gondal]

‘World Cup potentially most dramatic ever’
COLOMBO: Cricket’s governing body has said that critics of the 50-over format have been proved wrong by a World Cup that is shaping up as the “greatest and most dramatic ever.”
International Cricket Council President Sharad Pawar says television audience figures for the tournament have set records and that combined with crowd figures “demonstrate the enduring appeal of the 50-over game.”
“I have no doubt that it will continue to grow from strength to strength in the future,” he said. “Some people have been predicting the demise of 50-over cricket but they have been proven wrong.”
The World Cup has been criticised for being too long and for mismatches between top teams and smaller cricketing nations such as Kenya, the Netherlands and Ireland. The present tournament started February 19 and 40 games have been played so far, with the first quarter-final yet to be contested. It climaxes on April 2 with the final in Mumbai.
The ICC has already taken steps to shorten the World Cup by reducing the number of nations taking part from 14 to 10.
T20 cricket has grown in popularity but Pawar said the tournament had already produced gripping cricket.
“We have surely been treated to a real feast of 50-over cricket with some outstanding games,” he said. “Few who were in (Bangalore) will forget the tied match between India and England or Ireland’s record-breaking triumph against England, while the passion shown by the home supporters for the hosts Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka has been spectacular.”

[Sadaf Gondal]

‘World Cup potentially most dramatic ever’
COLOMBO: Cricket’s governing body has said that critics of the 50-over format have been proved wrong by a World Cup that is shaping up as the “greatest and most dramatic ever.”
International Cricket Council President Sharad Pawar says television audience figures for the tournament have set records and that combined with crowd figures “demonstrate the enduring appeal of the 50-over game.”
“I have no doubt that it will continue to grow from strength to strength in the future,” he said. “Some people have been predicting the demise of 50-over cricket but they have been proven wrong.”
The World Cup has been criticised for being too long and for mismatches between top teams and smaller cricketing nations such as Kenya, the Netherlands and Ireland. The present tournament started February 19 and 40 games have been played so far, with the first quarter-final yet to be contested. It climaxes on April 2 with the final in Mumbai.
The ICC has already taken steps to shorten the World Cup by reducing the number of nations taking part from 14 to 10.
T20 cricket has grown in popularity but Pawar said the tournament had already produced gripping cricket.
“We have surely been treated to a real feast of 50-over cricket with some outstanding games,” he said. “Few who were in (Bangalore) will forget the tied match between India and England or Ireland’s record-breaking triumph against England, while the passion shown by the home supporters for the hosts Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka has been spectacular.”

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan mull including Ajmal
Pakistan's resolve to not change a winning XI will undergo a stiff test ahead of the quarter-final against West Indies in Dhaka on Wednesday. Pakistan, who won five out of six games to top Group A, were fairly settled - by their standards - through that run. Only after five failures did they tweak the opening combination and injuries apart, Shoaib Akhtar represents the only other unforced change in personnel.
But with the possibility of as many as four left-handers in the West Indies top five - if Shivnarine Chanderpaul returns to shore up a middle order prone to collapse - Pakistan will consider the option of using Saeed Ajmal to off-set that.
The decision will not be an easy one. If Ajmal does play, he is likely to do so in place of Abdur Rehman. The left-arm spinner has played a quiet but significant role in Pakistan's campaign so far, opening the bowling in two of their last three games; though he has only three wickets in five games, he has been crucial in stifling opposition run-rates. Additionally, Pakistan feel safer in the knowledge that Rehman is useful - no more - with the bat and a capable, energetic fielder.
Afridi, as he has done all along, spoke of the need to not change the XI that beat Australia. "I'm very happy with my winning combination at this stage," he said. "You can't make changes if you can help it for a game like this. We have an offspinner in Mohammad Hafeez so let's see. We'll decide this evening once we've seen the conditions and the pitch."
Privately, however, the team management has acknowledged that Ajmal is under consideration, though the decision will be taken after a team meeting on Tuesday evening. Ajmal has been a peripheral figure so far in Pakistan's campaign, playing only in the game against Canada in which Rehman sat out with a leg injury. He bowled well enough in the game, picking up a wicket, though not perhaps well enough to change a situation which has seen him gradually lose the top spinner's slot over the last six months or so.
Several sides have used off-spin to open against the West Indies top order through the tournament and with success. Chris Gayle, who is likely to be back tomorrow, fell to Johan Botha in the first over of the game against the West Indies. England used Graeme Swann in the game at Chennai and though he didn't strike early, the success he eventually had, along with James Tredwell, in the game makes the case for Ajmal stronger. R Ashwin opened for India in the last game the West Indies played and he struck early as well.
Whatever the line-up ultimately - and that would be the only likely change - Pakistan will go into the game with some confidence after the streak-breaking win against Australia in Colombo. The team arrived in Dhaka early Monday evening and had their first and only practice session at the Shere Bangla Stadium before the game, on Tuesday.
"To win a game against a side like Australia before the quarter-final is a big achievement," Afridi said. "The dressing-room atmosphere is very positive and very good. It was a great win. We really worked hard before this tournament and I don't think in my 14-year career we've ever worked as hard. Definitely, the expectation is greater now. We are feeling more confident."
Even though the West Indies lost their last two group games and haven't beaten a top side in an ODI since June 2009, Afridi was aware of the threat some of the relatively newer faces may pose. "These young guys are doing a great job. They have performed well, their bowling is good and that is why they are in the quarter-final. They have a very good unit, so we're not taking any team lightly especially at this stage."
A win on Wednesday would lead to a first World Cup semi-final since 1999, but the fifth straight ICC event - including the World Twenty20 - in which they've made the last four. "Before this World Cup I said I see my team in the semi-final and I want to see them there. My team is capable of doing that."

[Sadaf Gondal]

West Indies batsmen must match the bowlers
Enough. It means just the right amount. It's adequate, sufficient, satisfactory and in this World Cup it's West Indies.
In a format where they only had to beat three teams to qualify for the quarter-finals, that's exactly what they did. In a format where the three teams they had to beat were the weaker sides in the group, they overcame them and no others. That they were regarded as one of the weaker sides themselves is an aside, and one that can be forgotten now that West Indies have returned to the top eight on the ODI rankings, after being briefly displaced by Bangladesh.
They have taken the least common denominator route to get to the knockouts, but for West Indies, it's not a reason to be concerned or even relieved, it's a reason to be delighted. "Whether you come in at number one or number eight, doesn't matter," Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, said at the pre-match press conference in Dhaka. "The quarters are where it counts."
Sammy is not one to waffle. He doesn't churn out sweet candyfloss nothing at press conferences, he talks as though he has no words to waste. When he was asked what West Indies plan to do against Pakistan he said that, "It doesn't matter what we do, we want to win, basically that's it."
It reflects a certain amount of determination that has been absent from West Indies in recent years. It probably comes from wounded pride, maybe the Bangladesh rankings leapfrog hurt more than they let show and, after taking it out on the Bangladesh side when they played them in Dhaka two and half weeks ago, they've got a tiny bit of their groove back. They went on to beat Ireland even though the giant-killers were in a reasonable position at 187 for 5, chasing 252.
Both matches West Indies played after that, against India and England, were games they should have won and didn't because of a collapse in the batting line-up on the notoriously difficult Chennai pitch. The track can take some of the blame, but the bating has to accept the rest as stats like 4 for 3 (against England) and eight for 34 (against India) cannot be forgiven.
The problem runs all the way through, starting with Chris Gayle and Devon Smith and finishing at number eight, because consistency of run scoring is not a feature of his line-up. Gayle and Smith have started forming an aggressive opening pair and have had a century partnership against Netherlands and 58 against England. If Gayle comes off it seems Smith is more settled but even when Gayle floundered early against South Africa, Smith was able to carry on. It's likely that the two will be in each other's company again and that combination should be the best defence against Umar Gul at one end and the possibility of a spinner at the other.
The middle order of Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Sammy looks likely to be boosted by the inclusion of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who is not in the best form, but carries some valuable experience. After his 73 against South Africa, Bravo junior is due another respectable knock, Sarwan hasn't reached a half century in the tournament yet and Sammy has to decide if he is going to come in to smash the ball around at the top or save himself for a burst lower down. It all comes down to whether or not West Indies can keep wickets in hand for something so structured.
The clusters of wickets that keep falling, particularly when they are chasing, but also when they are batting first, as happened against South Africa, means that insurance and security is more likely to come into the fray. It's a syndrome Sammy is aware of but "might need some help explaining." What he does know is that it "affects the outcome" and that they "can't keep losing wickets in patches." Against a Pakistan bowling attack that has caused swift collapses, such as against Australia, that will require better execution than we've seen from the West Indies batsmen so far.
They'll be banking on their bowling to make up for any hiccups their batting might cause and, for a change, it's a part of their game they can count on. Wickets have come from all over, Benn and Roach with the new ball laying claim to most of them, but Sammy and Russell chipping in handsomely. Although Pakistan are perceived as having one of the strongest bowling attacks of the tournament, West Indies have taken exactly the same number of wickets - 53.
In some ways, their quarter-final against Pakistan is the perfect mix of uncertainty, with both sides prone to implosion. It's the one match where anything can happen and where enough may just be good enough.