Published by Nanda on 18th September 2007
New Zealand continued on its merry way with another win, albeit by only 5 runs, and seem to have booked an early spot for the semi-finals. England now need to win both their matches to have any chance of reaching the semis and they have to prepare quickly as they fight it out with India in a do-or-die clash tomorrow. As for New Zealand, no one would have expected them to be leading their group, and the red hot form of South Africa is going to ensure a mouth-watering match at Durban.
Let’s get back to the match. Paul Collingwood won the toss and has been the case in the tournament, he decided to field first. The Kiwis never got off to a good start as the top order collapsed to Anderson, Broad and Flintoff. Lou Vincent was the only top order player to reach double figures, but even that wasn’t a lot - only 13 runs. The old guard took charge of the match for New Zealand with Scott Styris and Craig McMillan joining hands together for a match-winning 60 run partnership. Styris dominated this one scoring 42 runs from 32 balls with 4 big hits and 1 boundary.
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Published by Nanda on 16th September 2007
South Africa continued their unbeaten run in the Twenty20 World Cup with a comfortable 19 run win over England. This is England’s second straight defeat in the tournament and all is not well at the moment. After winning the toss, Collingwood had no hesitation to put South Africa in. At 42-3, it seemed that his decision would be proven right.
Still, this being a twenty over match, unless you pick up half the team for under 50 runs, the batting side always has a big chance of posting a big enough total. This is exactly what happened here. Albie Morkel, Shaun Pollock and Justin Kemp played their part in ensuring that the South Africans reached a decent 154-8 in their allotted 20 overs. James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff were the most economical bowlers for England. Jimmy finished with 4-0-22-1 and Freddie had figures of 4-0-23-2. Stuart Broad was expensive as he went for 37 runs from his quota of 4 overs, however he was also the most successful picking up 3 wickets.
Cricket is a funny game, and Twenty20 seems to be even more comic. 155 should have been reached easily. Hell, we saw the South Africans chase in excess of 200 runs in the opening match. Yet, it seems England, despite being the country that gave birth to Twenty20, does not seem to get a correct combination when competing with international teams. What they should do is send their county Twenty20 winners to play in these tournaments.
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Published by Nanda on 8th September 2007
Filed Under
England, India
Here we are. The most exciting summer of cricket in a long while is almost over, with one last flourish still left. India and England are going to fight out at Lord’s for the final one-dayer in this long and grueling tour. Just a week ago, India were staring at defeat with the series slipping out. They were 1-3 down and had to win all their matches. So far they have done exactly that with one final hurdle left.
This will, for a few Indians, be the last time they ever play in England. The Big 3 - Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid - have done their country proud over the years. They have helped in laying the foundation for the next generation, they have provided role models for aspiring cricketers. They have gained respect in the eyes of the entire cricket fraternity. This will be their final hurrah in England and nothing better than to win the match and the series will do.
The momentum is surely with India at the moment, however, in the past we have seen how India have failed to carry on the momentum. But this time it ought to be different. These three have had a wonderful summer so far. Sachin and Saurav have smashed the bowling to all parts. Dravid has been having a much better time as a skipper, seeing his team perform to its potential. No coach, no problemo. I have to give credit to the way the Indian team has got the job done without a head coach. A lot of people ask if they need a coach. The answer is simple, a big fat Yes. Sure the team is on the verge of winning an ODI series. Sure they have won the test series. But this can’t keep up for too long. It is too much to ask the captain to strategize everything all by himself. The Indians have handled themselves admirably both on and off the field.
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Thread Tags:
alastair cook,
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ian bell,
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james anderson,
luke wright,
match preview,
owais shah,
paul collingwood,
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preview,
rahul dravid,
ramesh powar,
sachin tendulkar,
saurav ganguly,
stuart broad
Published by Nanda on 5th September 2007
Filed Under
England, India
What a match! Nerve-wracking right till the last over. Frustrating and joyful at the same time if you are an Indian fan. I, for one, did not believe that India would go an and win after being down 5 wickets and still requiring 83 runs from 58 balls. But the youth brigade held on to their nerves and in a cool, icy, tone won the match for India which they never should have won after conceding 30 runs off the last over with five consecutive sixes. Yes, you heard me correct, if you did not watch England’s innings you have missed out on something spectacular. Dimitry Mascerenhas smashed Yuvraj Singh for 5 straight sixes in the 50th over of the English innings. More on that later.
Paul Collingwood won the toss for the second time in a row and this time he decided to bat first on a flat surface that was going to help the spinners in the second innings. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Dravid and his men. Zaheer Khan was charged up and got one to move just enough for the ball to get the outside edge of Alastair Cook. England were 0-1. India could sense that if they snag a couple more wickets early on, they could put England on the backfoot.
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peter hartley,
piyush chawla,
sachin tendulkar,
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uthappa,
video,
yuvraj singh,
zaheer khan
Published by Nanda on 4th September 2007
Filed Under
England, India
Another day, another must-win situation, another team selection dilemma. This type of thing seems to follow India wherever they go. Today is no different. The Oval has not been a happy hunting ground for the Indians in ODIs with the country winning only 2 out of 9 matches played here. However, it was this ground when a few weeks ago Team India registered a
series winning draw in the third match of the test series. So stats can go to hell for the moment, as another explosive contest is expected from these two teams.
Dravid insists that playing 7 batsmen + 4 bowlers or 6 batsmen + 5 bowlers does not make much of a difference and he may be right. Whenever India have gone for the extra bowler they have stumbled. Yet, Dravid may still go ahead with 5 bowlers in this crucial match. With the pitch offering support for spinners in the second innings, India need not go for the fifth bowler as Powar and Chawla have performed magnificently throughout the ODI series so far.
The problem for India has not so much been their bowling than their batting. The batsmen have got runs but have not been consistent enough. For India to be able to be in a match-winning situation they need the openers to put on around 75-100 runs atleast so that Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni can come and blast the bowling. I still think that rather than sending Karthik up the order, Dhoni should be used as a surprise weapon in these final two matches. Once this man settles down, England can forget that they are going to win this match.
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