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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Cricket News and Cricket Highlights - Crichotline

Cricket News and Cricket Highlights - Crichotline

South Africa beat England in 5th ODI to level series

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 02:45 PM PDT


Hashim Amla piled on the runs once again as he led South Africa to a series-levelling seven-wicket win in the fifth and final one-day international against England at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

Scorecard | 5th ODI Highlights

South Africa, chasing a seemingly modest 183 for victory, collapsed to 14 for three inside five overs under the floodlights in this day/night fixture.

But opener Amla responded with a superb 97 not out and, together with Proteas captain AB de Villiers (75 not out) he shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 172.

Victory, with more than 15 overs to spare, saw South Africa share the series at 2-2.

Amla, who made a brilliant 150 in South Africa’s 80-run win in the second ODI in Southampton, was named man of the series for a tally of 335 runs in four innings at an average of more than 111.

That followed on from his corresponding award in the Proteas’ 2-0 Test series win over England where he scored a South Africa record 311 not out at The Oval.

Amla’s combined tally for both series was a colossal 817 runs at 116.71.

One consolation for England was that, despite this defeat, they remained top of the 50-over world rankings having won 12 of their last 14 completed matches.

Amla could only watch as the Proteas slumped at the start of their reply.

Left-hander Graeme Smith fell when he edged Jade Dernbach and James Tredwell held on at the second attempt.

International novices Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar then both nicked excellent James Anderson deliveries to wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter.

But de Villiers then pulled two successive short balls from South Africa-born seamer Dernbach for four.

Amla eased paceman Chris Woakes, in for Steven Finn who had a back problem, off the backfoot for a typically stylish four through the covers.

And when Woakes carelessly dropped short, de Villiers pulled him for four.

Amla then went advanced to drive left-arm spinner Samit Patel through the covers for four.

He completed a 63 ball-fifty, with de Villiers taking just 54 balls to get to the landmark.

Amla drove off-spinner Tredwell over extra-cover for six and ended the match with a wristily flicked boundary off Dernbach.

In all he faced 107 balls with a six and nine fours.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Robin Peterson took three for 37 after enterprisingly being given the new ball by de Villiers as England, without injured top-order mainstay Jonathan Trott and the still exiled Kevin Pietersen, were bowled out for just 182.

Fast bowler Dale Steyn, a more familiar new-ball operator, took two for 24.

Only England captain Alastair Cook (51), Kieswetter (33) and Woakes, with a career-best 33 not out, got past 30.

Peterson had in-form opener Ian Bell lbw for 10 before removing tailenders Tredwell and Anderson with successive deliveries.

Ravi Bopara, promoted up the order in Trott’s absence despite a run of low scores, and Eoin Morgan both exited for ducks.

England’s low total was built upon a third-wicket partnership of 55 between Cook and Jonathan Bairstow.

Cook completed a 69-ball fifty with six fours.

But the left-handed opener fell meekly when he chipped a return catch to spinner du Plessis.

Pakistan thrash Australia by 7 wickets in 1st T20

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 02:06 PM PDT


Pakistan’s spinners Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Raza Hasan bowled Australia out for just 89 to set up an easy seven-wicket win in the first Twenty20 international on Wednesday.

Scorecard | Highlights 1st T20

Ajmal (2-13), Hasan (2-15) and skipper Hafeez (2-24) shook the Australian batting before left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir (3-13) wrapped up the innings in 19.3 overs. Pakistan then romped home in 14.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

It was an easy win for Pakistan at Dubai Stadium after going down 2-1 in the preceding one-day series.

Shoaib Malik hit the winning boundary, finishing with nine not out while Kamran Akmal finished with an unbeaten 31 with three boundaries and a six.

The victory was never in doubt once Pakistan bowled well. Hafeez (17) and Imran Nazir (22) gave Pakistan a solid start of 30 before losing Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed (10) in quick succession.

Akmal and Malik saw off the target without any discomfort.

The second match will be played on Friday.

Earlier Australia were let down by poor shot selection against quality spin bowling after they were sent into bat.

Australia hit only three boundaries in the innings with their last coming in the fourth over as Pakistani spinners never allowed them to settle on a turning track, reducing their opponents to their second-lowest Tweny20 total.

Opener David Warner top-scored with 22 off 25 deliveries, hitting two boundaries.

Cameron White (15) and captain George Bailey (14) were the only others to reach double figures.

Paceman Umar Gul dismissed Shane Watson (eight) in the third over while Tanvir accounted for Michael Hussey (one) in the next before Warner and Bailey put on the best stand of the innings, adding 33 for the third wicket.

Pakistan’s spinners then came into their own, as the last eight wickets went for a mere 43 runs.

Australia’s lowest Twenty20 total of 79 came against England at Southampton in 2005.

England vs South Africa 5th ODI Post Match Presentation Nottingham 2012

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 01:58 PM PDT


Alastair Cook: Clearly 180 on that wicket wasn’t enough. It’s frustrating to have so many soft dismissals. The team is moving forward without a doubt. The win ratio in this year is encouraging. We have had a good year in ODI cricket. We will be looking forward to the series in India. We will have to turn our attention to the Test team.

AB de Villiers: It’s been an up and down series for us. Lot of positives though, we played well under pressure and showed a lot of guts. We are still trying to find our feet in a lot of combinations. We are a tight unit, working towards one goal. We will look to keep the same squad. 2-2 away from home is a good effort. I always felt like I was in good form, but never pushed on. Captaincy, wicketkeeping and batting in the top order is not really a big ask. I am enjoying it. It is important for us to play well in the T20s.

Hashim Amla: It was an intense game. It’s always nice to win a match. 180 was not a massive total, but we lost a few wickets early. Me and AB managed to knuckle down and take the side to a win. Playing against 2 new balls is a challenge. But at the same time, it goes off really well off the bat.

Hashim Amla is the Man of the Match and Series.
Posted by MohammaD IsmaiL at 1:44 PM

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