Buzzin Cricket

andrew strauss

Both England captain Andrew Strauss and South African captain Graeme Smith feel that their respective teams are capable of better performances than they have so far achieved in the five game ODI series and both will be hoping for a dominant performance in the final game tomorrow.

England, perhaps surprisingly, have the edge over South Africa in this competition so far, leading 2-1 with one to go following the first match wash out, they are in a position where they cannot lose the series and a far cry from the dreadful ODI series against Australia earlier this year.

Smith meanwhile will be spitting feathers whenever he reads the scoreline, he said ahead of the final game;

“If we had played to our potential England would have had to take a few more risks up front while they were batting instead of us allowing them to play a certain way. We haven’t pushed them to perform under pressure and that is disappointing.”

Strauss acknowledged that England had put South Africa under pressure in the series, and says that the team have progressed quite a long way but adds that England are far from the finished article and still have a long way to go.

The England captain said; “We have to play well tomorrow and have to expect another South African backlash.”

rahul dravid

Rahul Dravid’s 144 runs for India in the second day of the second test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur took him past Australian Allan Border’s 11,174 runs in Test cricket and into fourth place in the all time scorers list.

Dravid sits behind his Indian team mate Sachin Tendulkar, West Indies’ Brian Lara and the current leader Australian captain Ricky Ponting on the list.

It was also Dravid’s 28th test century, coming in an innings in which India’s two opening batsmen had already scored well over a century each themselves, Sehwag getting 131 and Gambhir a brilliant 167, as the home side built an impressive lead.

India did finally succumb to the bowling of Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath who claimed five of the last six wickets as India finished on 642 all out. It might have been worse for Sri Lanka but at last the wicket appeared to be showing signs of some turn and the spin bowler Herath was able to take advantage.

Things did get worse for Sri Lanka as they came out to bat, Zaheer Khan took the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan, before Sri Lanka had scored a run. But the visitors rallied and finished the day on 66 for 1, with both  Paranavitana and  Sangakkara on 30 not out.

england cap record holder

Paul Collingwood was instrumental in England’s win over South Africa on Sunday in the second of five One Day Internationals. Leading with the bat to earn an unbeaten 105, taking a superb catch off AB de Villiers and taking two wickets for 24 of six overs.

A superb all round performance from Collingwood on his record beating 171st England appearance in which he scored his fifth ODI century and helping England to a 1-0 advantage in the series following the the first game wash out.

Having eclipsed the record of 170 England appearances held by Alec Stewart, 33 year old Collingwood has emerged as the country’s most potent threat in one day cricket, even though his form at Test level remains indifferent.

Collingwood has undoubtedly worked hard on his game since making his first international appearance in 2001, not gifted with the natural ability of the likes of crowd pleasers Andrew Flintoff or Ian Botham, he has worked on his weaknesses throughout the years and developed his one day game not just with the bat but as a genuine all rounder.

His bowling has improved beyond compare, starting as a medium pace bowler, Collingwood has mastered variations in his bowling style and is able to mix it with some of the best, while his fielding as an England player is second to none.

Collingwood said that he was proud to have broken the record of England caps and added, ” To go out there and put a performance in like that, it makes it a very special day.”

In typical fashion Collingwood chose to deflect the spotlight from his own achievments and pointed to England opener Jonathan Trott’s 87 runs, saying;

“He played a lovely anchor role and put us into a really strong position. When someone comes into international cricket, it’s easy to tell them to keep doing what they do in county cricket, be he’s just focussed on what he does well for Warwickshire. Today was a prime example of that.”

Meanwhile with over 4,000 runs, 99 wickets and 98 catches in his England career, Collingwood is on the threshold of  becoming the first Englishman, and only the ninth overall, to reach the unique ‘treble’ of 1,ooo runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches.

India batsman Rahul Dravid failed to add to the incredible 177 runs he took into this mornings session of the first Test match in Ahmedabad and with the collapse of India’s tailenders, Sri Lanka were left chasing a total of 426 runs.

Sri Lanka braved the early menace of India’s Zaheer and quickly took a hold on the game, particularly off the superb batting of Dilshan who managed an excellent 112 to put his country back into the match.

It was the second consecutive century for Dilshan since being elevated to opener for his country and it is his tenth test hundred.

Dilshan had formed solid partnerships with both Paranavitana (35) and Sangakkara(31) during the day, before Zaheer snared both Dilshan and Sangakkara leaving Sri Lanka on 194 for 3.

Samaraweera and Mahela then picked up the gauntlet for Sri Lanka by putting on an unbeaten 81 runs between them and ending the day with the scores:

First Innings

India – 426 all out    Sri Lanka – 275 for 3

The match looks quite finely balanced ahead of the third day and you wonder which way it will twist next. Both India and Sri Lanka have put on some excellent displays with the bat, you have to wonder if either side can conjure some magic with the ball.

rahul dravid

Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni assumed control for India in the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, after Sri Lanka’s Chanaka Welegedara claimed three wickets in his first four overs with the new ball to leave the hosts reeling at 32 for four.

In only his second Test match,  Welegedara made the most the moisture in the pitch in the morning to prise out Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply, while Dammika Prasad added the fourth Indian wicket of WS Laxman.

Dravid joined by Yuvraj managed to take stock of the situation and piece together an innings worthy of the best as weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s bowling became evident during the day with their inexperienced attack.

There was no respite for Sri Lanka when they did eventually snare Yuvraj (68) with the score at 157 for 5, as it was Dhoni who came on and quickly settled into his stride to continue to build the score alongside Dravid.

Dhoni fell for 110, with three overs to go by which time India had built up an incredible 381, ending the day on 385 for 6, with Dravid scoring an incredible 177 not out.