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- Preview: England vs West Indies, Super 8, T20 World Cup 2012
- India rise to 3rd spot in ICC T20 Rankings
- Preview: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, Super 8, T20 World Cup 2012
- Statistical Highlights Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup 2012
| Preview: England vs West Indies, Super 8, T20 World Cup 2012 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 07:40 AM PDT
After starting their campaign on a high with a comprehensive win over minnows Afghanistan, Stuart Broad’s men failed big time against India in their last group match. Chasing a competitive 171-run target, England were found wanting against the turning ball as spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla ripped apart the opposition batting line-up to bundle them out for a paltry 80. Against India, the only English batsman to show some teeth was wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter, who scored a 25-ball 35.
English opening combination of Alex Hales and Kieswetter has been inconsistent in the tournament so far. But come tomorrow, the onus would be on them to provide a perfect launch pad against the West Indies, which comprises of a wayward opening attack. In Luke Wright, England possesses a dangerous number three batsmen who can tear apart any bowling line-up on his given day. Even though he failed miserably against the Indians, Wright showed his big-hitting prowess in England’s tournament opener against Afghanistan with a 55-ball 99 and skipper Broad would be banking heavily on the right-hander to produce a substantial knock again. But come tomorrow, the task won’t be easy for the English batting line-up as in mystery spinner Sunil Narine and Chris Gayle, the Caribbeans possess a dangerous spin attack. Considering England’s weakness against spin, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy could well be tempted to play leg-spinner Samuel Badri ahead of all-rounder Andre Russel. The Englishmen, however, can fancy their chances against an erratic West Indian seam attack, which so far has looked pretty ordinary in the tournament. Pacer Fidel Edwards has managed to produce early breakthroughs for the West Indies in both the group matches, but he has been accused of bowling far too many lose balls. Ravi Rampaul, on the other hand, looked pretty ordinary against the Australians but gave good account of his skills in the match against Ireland. The rest of the West Indies pacers, including skipper Sammy, have been ineffective in the past two outings and would certainly like to make amends against England. The return of experienced Dwayne Bravo, who missed the last match against Ireland, will certainly boost West Indies’ bowling unit. The West Indies batting department, led by big hitting Gayle, played well to post a challenging total against a formidable Aussie attack, but they need to address their opening woes ahead of tomorrow’s game. And the feeling is that the West Indies should open with a genuine opener like Lendl Simmons. Just like their batsmen, the English attack also had lot to ponder about going into the match, especially after leaking 170 runs against the Indians. Off-spinner Graeme Swann has, by far, been England’s best bowler in the tournament with figures of 2-22 and 1-17 in the two group matches. With the Sri Lankan pitches offering considerable amount of turn as the tournament progresses, England might well play left-arm orthodox bowler Samit Patel, who is also a good hitter down the order. (PTI) Teams: England (Probable): Craig Kieswetter (wk), Alex Hales, Luke Wright, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jonathan Bairstow, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad (c), Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach. West Indies (Probable): Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy(c), Denesh Ramdin(wk), Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Fidel Edwards.  |
| India rise to 3rd spot in ICC T20 Rankings Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:20 AM PDT
India spanked defending champions England by 90 runs in a Group A match, which propelled Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men to 116 rating points. The crushing defeat meant England slipped a position to second spot with 124 ratings points. South Africa head into the Super Eight stage as the number-one ranked team.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 list for the T20I Player Rankings for batsmen. Even though Raina dropped two places in the recently-released chart, the left-hander still occupied the fifth position with 730 points in his kitty. Another Indian to rise in the chart is opener Gautam Gambhir who is 13th (up by three places). New Zealand’s wicket-keeper batsman Brendon McCullum retained his number-one batting spot with Chris Gayle in second place. McCullum’s knock of 123 against Bangladesh, the highest in the history of Twenty20 International cricket to date, also helped him achieve a career-best rating of 849. Australia’s Shane Watson jumped four places to a career-high third position. Watson, who won successive Player of the Match awards against Ireland and West Indies, also garnered his career-best rating of 758. The batsmen from Asia have made the most impressive movements in the batting table ahead of the Super Eight stage, which starts in Pallekele tomorrow. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara broke back into the top 10 and now sits in eighth position (up by three places). Others to make upward movements are Virat Kohli in 19th (up by 10 places), Rohit Sharma in 26th (up by 12 places), Nasir Jamshed in 32nd (up by 51 places), Shakib Al Hasan in 37th (up by 29 places) and Imran Nazir in 43rd (up by 42 places). No Indian, however, found a place in the top-10 bowlers ranking, which is being headed by the spin trio of Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan), Graeme Swann of England and Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis. Comeback man Harbhajan Singh, who claimed four for 12 against England, India’s best figures in a Twenty20 International, broke into the top 20 and is now at 17th place (up by five). By virtue of his all-round performances in the two group matches, Watson continued to retain his number one position among all-rounders. Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez also maintained his second spot in the all-rounders chart, but compatriot Shahid Afridi dropped a place to third. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan vaulted four places to fifth in the list. (PTI)  |
| Preview: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, Super 8, T20 World Cup 2012 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:38 AM PDT
Sri Lanka were runners-up to South Africa in Group C, while New Zealand finished second to Pakistan in Group D after both of teams lost to strong opponents on their way to the Super Eight stage. Sri Lanka after crushing Zimbabwe by 82 runs in their opening match of the tournament, subsequently lost to South Africa by 32 runs in a rain-curtailed seven-over-a-side game. New Zealand, on the other hand, entered the knock-out stage after posting a 59-run win over Bangladesh, riding on Brendon McCullum’s superb 123 off 58 balls. They lost to Pakistan by 13 runs in the next match but the result had no bearing on their chances, as the net run rate was healthy enough for the Kiwis to emerge from their group.
Thus, there is very little to choose between the two sides ahead of Thursday's contest at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. In fact, out of the nine T20 Internationals the two teams played so far, New Zealand won five and Sri Lanka four. Interestingly, two out of nine of those ties were staged in Sri Lanka and the Black Caps managed to win both the matches at the RPS Colombo in 2009. New Zealand can also take heart from the fact that they would be playing at the same venue where they had played both their league games, while Sri Lanka’s two matches took place at Hambantota. Inspite of this, the Islanders are expected to bank heavily on the home advantage. Apart from the rain-shortened game against South Africa, most of the Lankan batsmen looked in good shape during the two warm-up matches and against Zimbabwe. But come tomorrow, the scenario could be different as New Zealand are a quality side. For Sri Lanka, a matter of concern is the form of opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has been completely off-colour, while Dilshan Munaweera also didn’t look too impressive so far at the top order and the latter might be replaced by a more experienced Dinesh Chandimal on Thursday. The onus would be on captain Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to deliver the goods with the bat. Their lower middle-order also has enough fire power with the likes of Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera in the ranks. Sri Lanka, in all probability, will be boosted by the return of mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis, who missed the match against South Africa as he was not 100 per cent fit. His figures of 6/8 against Zimbabwe is the stand out bowling performance of the tournament so far. However, the form of Lasith Malinga, who has been very expensive in the competition till now with an economy rate in excess of 10 per over, still remains a concern for the team. They would hope that Malinga gets his act together against the Kiwis and is well supported by the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara and Perera. The New Zealanders, on the other hand, have looked more or less a solid side even during their loss to Pakistan in a close game. But they need to work out their opening combination. They started with Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill in their warm-up tie against Australia, while James Franklin opened along side Guptill in the following tie against South Africa. They continued with the same combination in their first league match against Bangladesh, but chose to field Nicol and Kane Williamson as openers against Pakistan. But with McCullum having scored enough runs in the previous encounters, captain Ross Taylor may well be tempted to start with Guptill and McCullum at the top against Sri Lanka. Taylor’s main worry though will be his side’s inconsistent run with the bat. Kiwi batsmen have shown lack of application and they certainly have their work cut-out against a quality Sri Lankan bowling attack. They would hope that the likes of McCullum, Taylor, Jacob Oram and James Franklin fire in unison tomorrow. As far as bowling is concerned, the form of veteran Daniel Vettori has been a cause of worry. The left-arm spinner didn’t look his best against either Bangladesh or Pakistan and it remains to be seen how he comes up against the Lankans. But Kyle Mills and Tim Southee are expected to stick to their jobs for the Black Caps. (PTI) Teams (probable): Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilshan Munaweera, Akila Dananjaya, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne. New Zealand: Ross Taylor (c), Doug Bracewell, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson. Time: 15.30 local (15.30 IST).  |
| Statistical Highlights Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup 2012 Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:28 AM PDT
# Mohammad Hafeez’s 45 off 47 balls is his highest score in the ICC World Twenty20. The innings is his highest against Bangladesh in T20I. # Imran Nazir has received his third Man of the Match award in Twenty20 Internationals — one against New Zealand and two against Bangladesh. # Nazir (72 off 36 balls) has registered his highest innings in T20Is. His third half-century in T20Is is his second in the ICC World Twenty20. # Imran’s marvellous strike rate of 200.00 is his best in an innings in T20Is when he has made at least 40 runs.
# Imran’s strike rate is the highest by a Pakistani player with an innings of fifty or more in the ICC World Twenty20. Overall, the said strike rate is the second highest by a Pakistan batsman posting 50 or more in T20Is. Umar Akmal had made 64 off 31 balls, producing a strike rate of 206.45 against Australia at Birmingham on July 5, 2010. # Tamim Iqbal (24 off 12 balls) has registered his highest score against Pakistan in T20Is. # Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir have added 124 for the first wicket — Pakistan’s second highest for the first wicket in the ICC World Twenty20. Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt had put on 142 against Bangladesh at Gros Islet on May 1, 2010. # The pair had recorded run-rate (9.18) during their partnership — the highest in an opening partnership for Pakistan in Twenty20 Internationals (minimum 100 runs). # Mohammad Ashraful and Tamim Iqbal have shared a stand of 34 — Bangladesh’s highest opening partnership against Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20. # Yasir Arafat (3/25) has registered his best bowling figures in the ICC World Twenty20. # Abul Hasan (2/33) has produced his best bowling figures in T20Is. # Bangladesh have registered their tenth defeat in a row in the ICC World Twenty20 between September 15, 2007 and September 25, 2012. They became the first team to lose ten games — an unwanted record. # Pakistan have won all six games against Bangladesh in T20Is. # Pakistan, with an eight-wicket victory, have become the first nation to win 14 games in the ICC World Twenty20. # Pakistan’s 178 for two is their highest successful chase in Twenty20 Internationals. # Bangladesh (175/6) have recorded their second highest in T20Is, behind the 190 for five against Ireland at Belfast on July 18, 2012. The total is their highest in the ICC World Twenty20, outstripping the 165 for four against the West Indies at Johannesburg on September 13, 2007. # Shakib Al Hasan (84 off 54 balls) has recorded his maiden fifty in the ICC World Twenty20. The innings is his second fifty in Twenty20 Internationals — his previous highest was 57 off 33 balls against Ireland at Belfast on July 18, 2012. # Shakib’s marvellous knock is the highest individual innings by a Bangladeshi batsman in T20Is, eclipsing the 81 by Nazimuddin against Pakistan at Nairobi (Gymkhana) on September 2, 2007. (PTI)  |
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