Australia made an impressive start to their World Twenty20 World campaign with 34 run victory over defending champions Pakistan. Australians were helped by Shane Watson who hammered 81 from 49 balls.
Despite a lively 41 from Misbah-ul-Haq and 33 off 24 balls from Shahid Afridi, Australia never offered them more than a glimmer of hope.
There was some good bowling, with three wickets each for pacemen Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes, and outstanding catching from Australia which ensured they kept the upper hand, bowling out their opponents with the final ball.
Along with the resounding display from Michael Clarke's team, the game will be remembered for a remarkable final over to Australia's innings, in which left-arm pace bowler Mohammad Aamer picked up three wickets while Mike Hussey and Steven Smith were both run out.
After skipper Clarke was dismissed cheaply, David Hussey pulled up a 98 run partnership with Watson, who went on to score 84 runs. Australia ended up with a massive 191 on the board. Australia's innings ended in bizarre fashion with a five-wicket maiden but their total of 191 was always going to be tough for Pakistan. Aammer scalped three and the precision in his bowling produced two run-outs. Incredibly, the final over was a five-wicket maiden.
Dirk Nannes, former Netherlands player, teamed up with express pace-man Shaun Tait to give Pakistan early jolts. Kamran Akmal scored a golden duck opening the batting for the defending champions. Both Shaun Tait and Nannes ended up with 3 wickets each. Shaun Tait especially impressed with an economy rate of 5.0 an over.
Even after an attempt at resurrection by skipper Afridi and ace batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan team was always going to fall short. This defeat means that both Australia and Pakistan are likely to progress to the Super 8’s with only one game in the group to be played. Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Match for his explosive 84 and a neat bowling performance.
Brief score:
Australia: 191 (S Watson 81, D Hussey c Fawad Alam b Saeed Ajmal 53, Mohammad Aamer 3/23)
Pakistan: 157 (Misbah—ul—Haq 41, Shahid Afridi 33,S Tait 3/20 D Nannes 3/41)
Afghanistan's ICC Twenty20 World Cup-bound cricketers, currently in the UAE to play practice matches against the UAE national team and train at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, were unable to fly out to the West Indies due to air traffic disruptions on account of the volcanic ash in Europe.
"Afghanistan was scheduled to fly to West Indies through London but could not leave as their flight got cancelled due to volcanic ash disruption of flights to Europe. They will now extend their stay and continue to practice at the Sharjah Stadium," Mazhar Khan, the secretary of the Sharjah Cricket Council, told Gulf News.
"Afghanistan played three friendly matches against UAE. They won one match and lost two and had daily practice at the stadium since their return from Kuwait after winning the ACC Elite Trophy," added Khan.
Afghanistan is scheduled to play a practice match at Providence against the hosts on April 27 followed by a match against Ireland the next day. The team will then move to St Lucia to take on India in their first match of the World Cup.
The first friendly against the UAE saw the hosts posting 135 for 8 before Afghanistan were restricted to 114. In the second match, Afghanistan beat UAE by 59 runs. The third match saw UAE chasing down Afghanistan's total of 146 for 6 with two balls to spare.
Pakistan cricketer once again hit by a match-fixing allegation as with the start of the year’s county season, police announced they were investigating two Essex players for ‘match irregularities’ and despite a very precise release by the Essex County the name of Danish Kaneria has been dragged into the media reports as one of the suspect. A news report in Daily Telegraph claimed that spinner would be investigated by police over match-fixing along with another Essex player following incidents in one-day matches last summer. It also said that Kaneria’s future at Essex is now in doubt.
Acxording to the newspaper, Telegraph Sport has been conducting its own investigation for some time and after it had made some queries to Essex Police yesterday morning, the England & Wales Cricket Board suddenly issued a brief statement from Essex Police Friday evening stating that inquiries are currently being conducted into the actions of two Essex players, one of whom is believed to be Pakistan’s leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, in a match last season. Essex Police’s statement read: “Following allegations received about two Essex county cricket players involved in match irregularities, we have initiated an investigation and are working closely with Essex County Cricket Club and the English Cricket Board.”
Investigations are thought to centre upon a televised one-day forty-over match at the end of last season, and, whilst there appears to be no suggestion that the result of the match in question was fixed, it is likely the allegations concern what is called `spot fixing’, whereby the outcome of a minor aspect of a game is fixed. It is thought that the ECB, as well as the International Cricket Council’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit, headed by Lord Condon, were informed immediately upon suspicions being raised, but chose instead to hand the matter over to the Essex Police. Already a number of Essex players are thought to have been interviewed by police, but Kaneria has yet to return to the UK for the County Championship season that began last Friday, his arrival having been delayed last week by the sudden and surprise decision of the Pakistan Cricket Board to hold their RBS Pentangular Cup prior to their summer tour of England. Kaneria is now due to arrive in England on April 29th.
The County Championship season may have begun yesterday in glorious weather yesterday, but this story will rock the game in this country, where followers and administrators have long considered it immune from and above such gambling-related corruption. It does, though, come at a time when there is widespread concern over the return of illegal bookmakers to the game in general. Rumours abound about `spot-fixing’ at the Indian Premier League and it was confirmed there had been approaches to players during last year’s World Twenty20 competition in England, leading to Lord Condon warning at ICC board meetings last summer that cricket was facing its gravest threat since the bad old days of the late nineties and the disgrace of the late South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje. Although very different in nature, the last allegations of corruption to hit county cricket also involved Essex. In 1994 their seam bowler Don Topley, supported by team-mate Guy Lovell, alleged that during a weekend in August 1991 Essex contrived to lose a Sunday League match against Lancashire at Old Trafford in return for being allowed to win the County Championship match (and later take the title) that finished the following day.
Topley himself confessed that he had deliberately under-performed in the one-day match. Initially the allegations were dismissed by the old Test and County Cricket Board, however, the matter was revisited in 2000/01 and an independent inquiry was chaired by Gerard Elias QC . No action was taken. The ECB added last night of the current storm: “As this is an ongoing Police investigation there will be no further comment while the investigation is underway.”
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
7:33 AM
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Afghanistan has qualified for ICC T20 World Cup to be held in West Indies in Apr-May 2010. This will be first appearance for war torn country in World cup in any form of cricket.
Afghanistan qualified by making to the final of ICC T20 qualifier held earlier this year in Dubai. They eventually emerged as champions by defeating Ireland in the final.
Squad:
Nawroz Mangal (captain), Mohammad Nabi, Karim Sadiq, Mirwais Ashraf, Rais Ahmadzai, Dawlat Ahmadzai, Mohammad Shahzad, Hamid Hassan, Samiullah Shinwari, Noor Ali, Asghar Stanikzai, Shahpoor Zadran, Shabir Noori, Sayed Nasrat, Shafiq Shafaq.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
7:41 AM
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Ireland will make their second consecutive appearance at T20 World Cup to be held in West Indies later this year. Ireland made their T20 World Cup debut in 2009 where they qualified for Super 8s group.
This year, Ireland made it to World Cup by reaching final of ICC T20 qualifier tournament held in Dubai. They eventually lost the final to Afghanistan but got the ticket to WC as a result of their appearance in final.
Ireland Squad
William Porterfield (capt), Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, Gary Kidd, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
7:24 AM
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Sri Lanka cricket selectors have included the veteran batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and uncapped Dinesh Chndimal for the Twenty20 World Cup tournament in West Indies.
Chandimal who has been promising in domestic T20 arena is the only uncapped player in the 15-member Sri Lanka squad for the ICC World Twenty20.
Sanath Jayasuriya is the oldest member of the team at 40. He will be turning 41 in June.
Sri Lanka will be Group B with New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka will play against New Zealand in the opening match in Providence, Guyana, on April 30.
Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Muttiah Muralitharan (Vice Captain), T.M. Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Anjelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Chanaka Welagedara, Chamara Kapugedara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chinthaka Jayasinghe
Sunday, May 2, 2010
6:05 PM
