2011 Cricket World Cup

Sadly I missed the live coverage of the dream tie between India and Australia, but managed to catch most of the highlights on TV.

The Australian’s looked to be in decent enough form throughout the majority of the game, but India always looked to be in control of the match, barring a few slapstick moments with the bat when two or three of them seemed intent on getting run out.

India’s win put an end to Australia’s incredible run in the World Cup competition which they have won on the last three occasions, they were also beaten finalists previous to that in 1996.

India now face one of  the nations who were originally going co-host the Cricket World Cup, Pakistan in what promises to be another thrilling game of one day cricket.

In today’s third quarter final tie South Africa collapsed dramatically from a comfortable 108 for 2 off 24 overs, to 172 all out.

Some inspired bowling from New Zealand oversaw the collapse with McCullum 24 for 3 and Oram 39 for 4, skittling the South African batsmen who could manage to add 64 runs between them during the final 20 overs.

New Zealand are the dark horses for me, they may not have the same ability in all levels as the remaining teams in the World Cup, but they have so far done everything they have set out to do in a business like manner.

They will now face the winners of the last quarter final to be played on Saturday between Sri Lanka and England.

2011 Cricket World Cup

In terms of sheer excitement the 2011 Cricket World Cup in South Asia has delivered by the bucket load over the last couple of weeks of group stage matches, some of the most recent highlights being another heroic comeback from England against the West Indies, when their backs were firmly up against the wall and facing elimination from the group.

Following that breathtaking match, Pakistan defied all odds and ended Australia’s World Cup dominance with a stunning victory by 4 wickets to upset the holders and on Sunday India crushed the West Indies spirits with a fantastic 80 run win.

There will be more thrills and spills to come during the knock out stages of the tournament over the next fortnight as the best eight teams in the world do battle for the ultimate One Day International prize, with India and Australia providing the battle of the giants on Thursday March 24th from Ahmedabad, the winners of this match will certainly be the favourites to win the 2011 World Cup.

England will face a tough test in their quarter final clash against 1996 champions Sri Lanka who were runners up in Group A, with the chance of a semi final encounter with the winners from New Zealand v South Africa at stake.

The full 2011 World Cup Quarter Final fixtures:

Wednesday March 23rd – Pakistan v West Indies, Mirpur, 08:30

Thursday March 24th – Australia v India, Ahmedabad, 09:00

Friday March 25th - New Zealand v South Africa, Mirpur, 08:30

Saturday March 26th – Sri Lanka v England, Colombo RPS, 09:00

The semi final games are scheduled for Tuesday March 29th and Wednesday March 30th, with the final to take place in Mumbai on Saturday April 2nd.

2011 Cricket World Cup

Yesterday’s Group A match between New Zealand and Pakistan proved to be a cracking game for the New Zealanders, particularly Ross Taylor who celebrated his 27th birthday in sensational style with a stunning 131 not out that included seven sixes.

Riding his luck early in the game Taylor slowly built up his game, producing a majestic late show filled with boundaries and sixes that Pakistan would have died for later in the game.

There was no hiding place for the Pakistan fielders as New Zealand appeared to be blessed by the Gods with a wonderful innings with the bat that saw them score 92 runs of the final four overs, with Taylor smashing 62 0ff 16 balls and Jacob Oram adding 25 runs off just nine balls, finishing on 302-7.

Sensational stuff from the Black Caps and an innings that left the Pakistan team looking totally dejected long before the final ball. So obvious was the body language of the Pakistan team that you felt they might find it difficult to adjust to their own spell with the bat.

The Kiwi’s sensed it too, and set about the Pakistan openers with relish, claiming the first wicket Hafeez for 5 runs. The brilliant bowling continued to pin the Pakistan attack back and the home team were soon struggling at 23 for 4.

At one point it seemed improbable that Pakistan would muster 100 runs between them, let alone have any chance of winning the match. Akmal and Razzaq steadied the sinking ship for a brief period and Gul added a glimmer of hope as Pakistan edged closer to the 200 mark.

But in the 42nd over it was all over and New Zealand took the well deserved points and top spot in Group A.

New Zealand 302-7 (50 overs) bt Pakistan 192 (41.5 ovs) by 110 runs

World Cup – Group A – Pallekele

2011 Cricket World Cup

A minutes silence was observed before this game in memory of the victims of the earthquake in Christchurch on Tuesday, but any hopes of giving their country some happier news was quickly dashed as bitter rivals Australia demolished the New Zealand team in their second Group A match of the tournament.

Putting New Zealand into bat first, fine bowling from Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait quickly put Australia in control and had the Kiwi’s struggling at an astonishing 73 for 6. Nathan McCullum led a spirited recovery but New Zealand were finally all out for 206.

The current World Cup holders Australia then put on an outstanding show with the bat, openers Shane Watson (62) and Brad Haddin (55) put on a first wicket stand of 133 to set their team on course for victory.

It took just 34 overs for the Aussies to secure the win by seven wickets, a real confidence booster if it was ever needed. Australia have won the last three World Cup’s and this latest win takes their unbeaten run in the competition to 31 games, their last defeat back in 1999 in Pakistan.

Australia 207-3 (34 overs) bt New Zealand 206 (45.1 overs) by seven wickets

World Cup -  Group A – Nagpur

champions trophy hero shane watson

Ricky Ponting led the Australian team to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, beating New Zealand by six wickets as they continued the imperious form that started with the seven day ODI series against England after the Ashes defeat.

Ponting singled out the excellent Shane Watson who scored his second successive century for Australia, reaching an unbeaten 105 against the New Zealander’s, following his Man of the Match performance against England in the semi final.

After their innings New Zealand had left the Australians needing only 201 runs to win the final, but a rocky start to the Aussie batting quickly saw the dismissal of both Paine and most suprisingly Ponting with just one run apiece at 6 for 2.

Australia dug in and despite a slow build up of runs eventually took the game by the scruff of the neck, losing only two more wickets during the day with White going for 62 and Hussey for 11.

The victory was achieved during the 46th over thanks largely to Watson’s stand of 134 with Cameron White. A great and deserved victory for the Australians who picked up the ICC Champions Trophy for their remarkable accomplishment in the tournament.

The four contenders will now have to wait until the sixth annual LG ICC awards on October 1st in Johannesburg, to see who picks up the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for cricketer of the year.

Strauss is also still in the running for the Test player of the year award as are Gambhir and Johnson along with Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera. England’s Graham Onions makes the shortlist for ‘emerging player of the year’ and will fight it out with Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle from the Australian team and Jesse Ryder from New Zealand.

Strauss played a captain’s innings in each of the Ashes Test matches, leading from the front with the bat and setting an example that his charges were generally unable to maintain. He has performed better than any other England player with the bat in the current ODI series and I believe he deserves his place on the shortlist.

Pakistan 139-2 (18.3 overs) beat Sri Lanka 138-6 (20 overs) by eight wickets.

Pakistan were the surprise winners of the ICC World Twenty20 cricket competition.  They convincingly beat Sri Lanka in the final at Lords yesterday, and in a post match interview, Pakistan captain Younus Khan, draped in a Pakistan flag dedicated the famous victory to his former coach Bob Woolmer who died suddenly in Jamaica during the 2007 World Cup.

Khan took the opportunity to announce his retirement from Twenty20 cricket, and also pleaded for countries to reconsider the current boycott of playing cricket in Pakistan following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in March, while on thier way to play in Lahore.

Following the attack, Pakistan were also stripped of holding the cricket World Cup in 2011.

England Women win the ICC World Twenty20

Meanwhile, England won the Women’s ICC World Twenty20 in style by bowling New Zealand all out for 85 and win by six wickets, also at Lords yesterday.

England Women’s cricket captain, Charlotte Edwards said it was the “proudest day of her life.”

The England Women’s cricket team add the World Twenty20 trophy to the Ashes and the World Cup.

Australia are currently 1-0 down against New Zealand and this follows a test series and ODI series defeat to South Africa. In total, they have lost five of their last six ODIs and each of their last two test series. Whether this has something to do with Ricky Ponting’s ‘rest’ remains to be seen.

Elsewhere, opening batsman Shaun Marsh also misses out on the final two games against New Zealand because of a hamstring injury. This means that Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson come in.

The major talking point was Ricky Ponting’s omission though; something Australia chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch says has ‘always been planned’.

He did admit that the recent performances of the team have played their part though because it is ‘essential’ that Ricky Ponting has an opportunity to prepare for the South Africa tour. The Australian captain has had a very heavy workload after in the last year of so, after all.

As for the men that have come into the squad, Hilditch says that Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson are both ‘exciting young players’ that have the ability to succeed at international level.

Whether they can fill the void left by Ricky Ponting though is another matter. In fact, because of the captain’s absence, the cricket odds may now expect Australia to suffer yet another series defeat. This time, at the hands of Daniel Vettori’s New Zealand.

The game has been fairly well established in the domestic game but perhaps we haven’t seen the best of it in international cricket as yet. Well, that is about to change as we look ahead to the ICC World Twenty20 that is being held in England next year. It should be quite an occasion and with these ICC cricket tickets on sale now, it is advised to snap them up as soon as you can.

There is no doubt in my mind that these ICC World Twenty20 tickets are some of the hottest tickets in town. It is a stage for all of the best cricketers in the world to shine in one of the most entertaining ways possible.

Twenty20 cricket may have received its criticisms in the past, but how can anyone say that this event will be anything other than a joy to be part of? I just hope England improve on their showing in the last tournament back in 2007. Any England fan that brought Twenty20 tickets for this particular Twenty20 tournament certainly wouldn’t have been in South Africa as long as they would have hoped!

Nest year’s tournament is to be held in June 2009 and will be spread across three venues – Lords, Trent Bridge and The Oval. There will also be a women’s tournament which will make the event all the more special.

With Kevin Pietersen at the helm and with home advantage, I would say England certainly have a good chance of success. They have started looking like an excellent 50 over side and hopefully this can be reflected in their Twenty20 performances. It would be a great confidence booster ahead of the Ashes if England could win it.

However, no matter how well the home nation does there is going to be some amazing cricket on show. The likes of India, Australia and South Africa have come wonderful limited over players and I’m sure there will be many memorable innings. So, my advice to you is to buy World Twenty20 tickets as soon as you can!

With just one game left to be played, the best England can hope for is a draw. Considering the start they made, this would be disappointing, but a drawn series is better than a lost one I suppose. England still have a lot to do to prove they can perform consistently in the one-day format and these games against the Kiwis have highlighted just that.

If England were to perform as well as they did in the first match consistently, they can beat anyone in this form of the game – and I mean anyone. A perfect batting performance was followed by a convincing bowling display and it looked as if England would continue their dominance over Daniel Vettori’s men. As we know, this has been far from the case.

To say that it has been an eventful couple of weeks for Paul Collingwood would be an understatement.  He has taken wickets and scored some much needed runs but this has been overshadowed by controversy. First up, there was the ‘bad light stopped play’ incident in the second match. Then in the most recent game, it all kicked off for the England captain. He refused to overrule the Elliot run-out after the batsmen had collided with Ryan Sidebottom – something he has been widely criticised for.

Then, since the game, he has been banned from four one-day internationals for a slow over rate in New Zealand’s innings. This for me seems ludicrous, a four game ban for being two overs behind the rate? I would say that’s a bit harsh.

Now it is up to Kevin Pietersen to lead England to a victory in the final game against New Zealand this summer. It is a great chance for KP to show that he has what it takes to captain the side and if he does well then Collingwood – who is likely to be replaced by Dimi Mascarenhas in Saturday’s game – will start to feel under pressure.

After everything that has happened this week, a look at some cricket odds will probably tell you that New Zealand are slight favourites for this one. Their confidence is up after two victories and they will want to finish the tour well. As for England and Pietersen, it is vital that they finish the series on a high to carry some momentum into the South Africa series that starts next month.