Saturday, May 8, 2010
2:30 AM
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Boosted by their emphatic win against Pakistan and Kevin Pietersen’s return to form, a confident England side will line-up against hot on form South Africa in the Super Eights of World Twenty20 here Saturday.
Both teams produced clinical fare in their first Super Eights matches after not so good preliminary round matches. While England outsmarted defending champions Pakistan by six wickets, South Africa saw off a brief New Zealand challenge to win by 13 runs.
Both teams will rely on their strong pace attack to notch-up the decisive edge for a semi-final berth.
England were unlucky to start their campaign with a loss against West Indies despite a good batting display as rain and Duckworth-Lewis calculations conspired against them. They were given a fright by Ireland in their must-win match before rain came this time to their rescue and England moved into the Super Eights on the basis of superior run rate.
Against Pakistan, England excelled in all departments. The new opening combination of Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb has looked good while Eoin Morgan has been brilliant with the bat. They badly wanted Pietersen to fire and he did against Pakistan. It is certainly their best batting line-up in limited overs cricket in a long time.
“Every single bloke from one down to nine or 10 can hit sixes. That’s brilliant, a great improvement and great for English cricket,” said Collingwood.
However, the captain sounded a note of caution ahead of the match against South Africa.
“There are a few areas to improve on, we were a bit sloppy at the end, but I was pleased with how we took the momentum back in the middle of Pakistan’s innings.”
The pacers Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad, and Tim Bresnan have performed well while the slower bowlers Michael Yard and Graeme Swann have been equally to the task.
Collingwood is happy that Pietersen is among runs. “It was a great knock by KP against Pakistan. We all know what KP can do, and when he’s in that kind of form he’s very dangerous.”
England beat South Africa by five wickets in a warm-up match in Barbados. South African captain Graeme Smith believes his team is peaking at the right time
“Every game in this competition is now crucial,” Smith said.
“They (England) will have confidence but we faced them in a warm-up game so we have a pretty good idea how we’d like to play against them.
“If we can improve five or ten percent, then we will push England hard.”
South African put on a challenging total of 170 for four against New Zealand with big-hitting Albie Morkel hitting five sixes in his 40 off 18 balls.
South Africa boast of a strong batting line-up and the shuffle up the order is showing good results. Smith opens the batting with veteran Jacques Kallis who had been in exceptional form in the Indian Premier League (IPL). With Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and Albie Morkel, the middle order looks formidable and the team can always fall back upon Jean Paul Duminy.
The bowling department has a sharp four-pronged pace attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Charl Langeveldt and Jacques Kallis with variety and depth.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
10:05 PM
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Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, South Africa’s Graeme Smith and Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara have joined the ICC-promoted AIDS awareness campaign in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.
An ICC statement read, “Leading cricketers including Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stafanie Taylor have united during the ICC World Twenty20 2010 to show their support for cricket's global efforts to combat HIV.”
The ICC, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative have initiated the Think Wise partnership for promotion of AIDS awareness and reduce stigma and discrimination. Under this a series of community activities have been organized during the T20 tournament.
South Africa have been fined for a slow over-rate during their 13-run win against New Zealand in the World Twenty20 Super Eights, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday.
Match referee Alan Hurst imposed the fines after South Africa were ruled to be be one over short of their target at the end of the match, at the Kensington Oval here on Thursday, when time allowances were taken into consideration.
Teams are allowed an hour and 20 minutes to bowl their full 20 overs in a Twenty20 international although officials will allow some leeway for stoppages caused by incidents such as balls being hit way into the crowd and players who require on-field treatment for injuries.
South Africa could be seen rushing towards the end of New Zealand’s innings, seemingly aware a fine might be looming, but they failed to escape punishment from former Australia fast bowler Hurst.
Under ICC regulations, players are fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.
Consequently, South Africa captain Graeme Smith was fined 20 percent of his match fee and his players received 10 percent fines.
If Smith, as captain, is guilty of two further similar over-rate offences in Twenty20 internationals over the next 12 months he will, under the ICC’s code of conduct, receive a one-match suspension.
Thursday’s penalty was, said the ICC, accepted by South Africa without contest so there was no need for a hearing.
Thu May 6 13:30 GMT 13th Match, Group E - England v Pakistan
Thu May 6 17:30 GMT 14th Match, Group E - New Zealand v South Africa
Sat May 8 13:30 GMT 17th Match, Group E - New Zealand v Pakistan
Sat May 8 17:30 GMT 18th Match, Group E - England v South Africa
Mon May 10 13:30 GMT 21st Match, Group E - Pakistan v South Africa
Sat May 10 17:30 GMT 22nd Match, Group E - England v New Zealand
Each team will get 2 points for a win and 1 point for NR.
In case of a tie (i.e. both teams score exactly the same number of runs at the end of their respective innings), a super-over decides the winner. This is applicable in all stages of the tournament.
The ranking in a groupd will be decided based on following criteria:
Higher number of points
If equal, higher number of wins
If still equal, higher net run rate
If still equal, lower bowling strike rate
If still equal, result of head to head meeting.
Top 2 teams from the group will qualify for semi-finals.
India qualified for the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup after defeating South Africa by 14 runs in a group C match at Beausejour stadium.
Suresh Raina became the first Indian batsman to hit a Twenty20 International hundred and powered the team to 186 for five against South Africa in Group C World Cup match here today.
Raina is only third batsman to score a hundred in T20 internationals with the first two centuries coming from Chris Gayle, WI and Brendon McCullum of New Zealand.
India had made 2 changes from the squad that played against Afghanistan yesterday. While, Gautam Gambhir had to sit out due to upset stomach, Zaheer Khan was rested for the match. India had a bad start as they lost in form Murali Vijay in first over itself. The team were in the woods at 32 for two in the sixth over, before Raina (101) and Yuvraj Singh (37) reconstructed the staggering innings.
An Indian surrender seemed imminent but Raina and Yuvraj rose to the challenge, smashing the ball around the park, occasionally scattering the crowd in the mid-wicket stands with huge sixes.
Diminutive Raina matched Yuvraj's power, clearing the boundary with effortless ease. He hit clean and hard and found the gaps in the outfield with uncanny precision.
The third-wicket pair had raised 88 runs when Yuvarj, who had struck three fours and two sixes in his 30-ball 37, was snared by Graeme Smith off Rory Kleinveldt.
Raina stepped on the gas pedal during his brief association with Yusuf Pathan, accounting for 18 of the 25 runs that Kleinvedlt conceded in the 18th over. He hit the Protea bowler for three fours and a six in that over.
He lofted Albie Morkel over mid-wicket to complete his superb century. He got out next ball trying to take the score further.
Skipper MS Dhoni finished the innings in style hitting six in the last ball.
Proteas failed to build momentum in early part of their innings and never looked in hunt for the target. Infact, the score card doesn't give a correct picture as India never was threatened by South African batsmen. A late flurry of shots made sure that match result looked closer than it actually was.
Brief Scores:
India: 186 for five in 20 overs.(Suresh Raina 101, Yuvraj Singh 37; Rory Kleinveldt 2/48).
South Africa: 172 for five in 20 overs. (Jaques Kallis 73, Greame Smith 36; Yusuf Pathan 2/42).
Raina confimed his dominance in T20 cricket as he became first Indian to score a century in T20 International match.
He is third overall to crack a Twenty20 international century as he made 60-ball 101 against South Africa in a World Cup match. The timing of the knock was perfect as it may take India to Super 8s ahead of South Africa. At the time of writing this article, South Africa are about to begin their chase of 186 runs to defeat India.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum of New Zealand are the other two batsmen to have scored a century in the shortest format of the game.
Gayle's 57-ball 117 against South Africa had made him the first to achieve the rare distinction in 2007 and then the Kiwi joined the West Indian after hitting an unbeaten 116 off 56 balls against Australia earlier this year.
Rainahet nine 4s and five 6s in process to make his century.
"It's a nice feeling. So far this has been a good year for me, I am hitting the ball well. We had a good partnership (with Yuvraj Singh)," Raina said after the innings.
"I was looking to hit the ball straight but was not playing any pre-planned strokes. If you play 40 to 50 balls and you can score 80 to 85 runs.
"I had batted well in the IPL and knew that number three is crucial (position) and if you bat well, sure you can get a hundred," he said.
Raina is also the only player to have scored more than 400 runs in all 3 editions of IPL.
Twenty20 international century-makers:
117 Chris Gayle WIS v RSA, Johannesburg, Sep 11 2007
116* Brendon McCullum NZL v AUS, Christchurch, Feb 28 2010
101 Suresh Raina IND v RSA, Gros Islet, May 02 2010
India and South Africa will go into the match hoping to win and thus to firm up their claim to World T20 title. Expect lot of guile and tactics being played out when South Africa is on field. On the other hand, Indians have become more flamboyant with their cricketing success in last few years.
On the evidence available so far, the pitches are not the batting-fests that people got used to during most of the IPL, and the boundaries are over 80 m. That has, so far, provided for a compelling battle, where 140 is a good score, and 160 a match-winning one in all probability.
India did win against Afghanistan less than 24 hours before they will take on South Africa, but they will not bank too much on that win, though it would have been good for them in terms of easing into the tournament. However, all easing is done with and dusted, with South Africa being anything but easy opponents.
From India's point of view, amongst the positives from the Afghanistan match was that Yuvraj Singh spent some time at the crease and remained undefeated. A free-flowing Yuvraj is essential to India's fortunes, and the only way he will regain his touch is by spending time at the crease. The bowling was not too inspiring, even though Afghanistan were restricted to 115/8, but considering that India got to bowl first on an early morning pitch that had something in it for the bowlers, India should have been aiming to keep them below 100. Against the likes of Albie Morkel in the death overs, loose bowling will be severely punished.
South Africa have been traditionally better on faster pitches, so the slow ones in the West Indies won't be wholly to their liking, but they are no mugs on slow surfaces. The fact that the game will require less outright hitting from the start, should suit Jacques Kallis, who showed in the IPL that he is at his best when allowed to construct an innings at a reasonable strike-rate in Twenty20s. Of their top-order batting though, not too many impressed in the IPL. AB de Villiers was strangely off-colour, JP Duminy was decent enough in the chances he got but not outstanding, and Herschelle Gibbs was disappointing. Graeme Smith, of course, did not take part in most of the tournament, while Boucher and van der Merwe had to watch from the sidelines. Dale Steyn was impressive though, as was Langeveldt in the limited chances he got. The Indians had come a cropper against the short ball in the last Twenty20 World Cup, and Steyn is certain to pepper the batsmen with the short stuff. Since South Africa have both Kallis and Albie Morkel who can bowl at decent pace, they will consider including both Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha in the line-up, which would mean that Rory Kleinveldt and Morne Morkel would miss out.
Both teams carry big expectations with them, and both are part of the pre-tournament front-runners pack. Although this match is not likely to have any impact on qualifying for the next round, there is no question that both teams will want the confidence of a win against a major opposition before the Super Eights.
Five members of the Proteas squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies, are still doing duty in the Indian Premier League, and will fly directly to the West Indies from India.
Although the Mumbai Indians beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first semifinal in Mumbai in midweek, all-rounder Jacques Kallis and fast bowler Dale Steyn are both needed to help the Challengers win their third placed play-off match and secure a berth in the Champions League later this year.
However, spin bowler Roelof van der Merwe and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, were considered surplus to the Challengers' requirements, and returned home early.
"The teams can only play four foreign players, and so Boucher and Van der Merwe were released before the start of the knock-out stages of the competition," said Proteas spokesman Michael Owen-Smith.
Herschelle Gibbs (Deccan Chargers), JP Duminy (Mumbai Indians) and Albie Morkel (Chennai Super Kings) will all be in India until the end of the tournament.
Ryan McLaren will probably play for the Mumbai Indians in the final in Mumbai on Sunday, but he is not part of the South African T20 squad.
The remainder of the Proteas squad leave from OR Tambo International on Saturday evening. They have been able to revert to their itinerary of flying to the Caribbean via London.
Following the relaxation of air travel restrictions in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, the competing teams in the World Twenty20 cricket tournament in the Caribbean will revert to their original travel schedules for the competition.
The ICC had put in place a contingency plan to airlift teams direct from Dubai to the Caribbean if the travel disruption in Europe did not ease.
However, upon the reopening of air routes on Tuesday, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat said he was "delighted" that the teams would fly to the West Indies as originally scheduled.
"I want to thank both (ICC commercial partner) Emirates and the ICC executive for working so hard to ensure that we had a back-up plan to transport teams to the Caribbean," Lorgat said.
The Afghanistan team, who were scheduled to travel to Trinidad via London last week, will still fly via London to the Caribbean in the next few days.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Proteas this week also launched their 100% Behind Bafana Bafana campaign to coincide with 50 days to the World Cup.
The campaign, which aims to show South Africans that all national teams deserve their 100% support, has been endorsed by the South African Football Association (Safa).
Safa CEO, Leslie Sedibe, said: "SAFA and Bafana Bafana appreciate the support of CSA and the Proteas. We look forward to their 100% support during the World Cup."
The CSA family has been supportive of the Football Friday initiative, with head office staff regularly wearing their Bafana Bafana shirts, while counting down the days to kickoff with enthusiasm.
Proteas captain, Graeme Smith said: "I would just like to wish Bafana Bafana, and Aaron (Mokoena) in particular, a wonderful 2010 World Cup. We know they will make South Africa proud and they must just know that we are behind them 100% all the way."
Proteas speedster, Dale Steyn, said: "To Bafana Bafana, from the entire Proteas side, we wish you the best of luck for the World Cup. We won't be there but we will be supporting you all the way from the Caribbean."
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
1:32 AM
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South Africa is set for another assault on the ICC World Twenty20 title in the West Indies from 30 April. Graeme Smith leads a settled squad that includes just one new cap and the recall of a long-time absentee.
South Africa has been the most deserving team who has not won a single World Cup in last 18 years they have played cricket. In that sense, they have always played with one player less, and that is "luck" which resulted in their outrageous ousters in various editions of World Cups. They hope to do better this time.
Juan "Rusty" Theron of the Warriors and Rory Kleinveldt of the Cape Cobras have played themselves into the team, with both benefitting from the absence of Wayne Parnell, who has been out of action since injuring a groin while preparing for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Theron has recently been plying his trade for the Kings Eleven Punjab in the IPL, which means he will be well prepared for the ICC World Twenty20, although his hope will surely be for pitches that offer the batsmen a little more than the pitches in India which heavily favoured the batsmen.
He has proven himself to be a steady performer in the high-octane hitting world of 20 overs a side cricket and his record in South Africa's Standard Bank Pro20 Series is a good one, featuring a good mix of economy and wicket-taking. In the most recent Standard Bank Pro20 season, Theron tied for the third most wickets taken.
Kleinveldt enjoyed a solid Twenty20 season for the Cobras. He conceded 7.20 runs per over, which was a good return considering the difficult overs that he regularly was called upon to bowl.
SOUTH AFRICAN SQUAD
Graeme Smith (C), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Juan Theron, Roelof van der Merwe
South Africa cricket captain Graeme Smith could miss the World Twenty20 tournament in West Indies due to a finger injury.
Smith, who was hurt on Monday during the Indian Premier League, had said on Twitter that he had a double fracture of his right middle finger.
He is due back in South Africa later on Wednesday when the full extent of his injury will be made known but he is expected to be out for up to six weeks.
South Africa media officer Michael Owen-Smith said they had not heard any news from India about the severity of the skipper's injury.
"Our team doctor, Mohammed Moosajee, said that injuries similar to Graeme's usually take three to six weeks to heal," Owen-Smith added.
"Graeme is bringing all the X-rays back with him and we will be able to make a full diagnosis once the X-rays have been seen."
The World Twenty20 in West Indies starts on April 30, South Africa's first game is against India on May 2.
Smith has only just recovered from a finger injury to his left hand, which he suffered in training before a test match against India in February.
