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Sangakkara’s ton takes Lanka to win
Fast Track
Sehwag returns to nets, Sachin practises hard
Ireland end with a bang
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Bangladesh desperate to win do-or-die battle
Aus look to continue unbeaten run
‘Shoaib fastest bowler I have ever faced’
Bopanna, Qureshi lose in semifinals
Saina avenges loss to Eriko, enters quarters
IHF complains to Sports Min
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Sangakkara’s ton takes Lanka to win
Mumbai, March 18 The win catapulted the co-hosts, who were playing away from home for the first time in the tournament, to the top of the group but their final position will be determined only after Saturday's match between Australia and Pakistan. Captain Kumar Sangakkara (111) scored his maiden World Cup century to rescue his team after some early jitters and set New Zealand a 266-run target. But the Sri Lankan spinners, led by the wily Muttiah Muralitharan (4-25), never allowed the New Zealand batsmen to stage a fitting reply and skittled them for 153 in 35 overs. Earlier, skipper Kumar Sangakkara led from the front with a brilliant maiden World Cup century as Sri Lanka scored 265 for nine. Sangakkara (111, 128 balls, 12x4, 2x6) added 145 runs for the third wicket with former captain Mahela Jayawardene (66, 90 balls, 6x4) to lay the foundation for a competitive score. However the New Zealand bowlers and fielders fought back well at the death as they grabbed the last six wickets for only 55 runs. Sangakkara, arrived at the crease when Lanka were 13 for one and then saw it become 19 for 2, got his 11th ODI hundred and his first in his 28th World Cup match. The Sri Lankan captain also completed 9,000 runs in his 288th ODI and is the fourth from his country to achieve the landmark, and 14th overall. He needed 49 runs to reach the milestone before this tie and joined compatriots Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva and Jayawardene in the 9,000-club list. Jayawardene departed after making a composed 66 off 90 balls, before a Tim Southee delivery straightened enough after pitching and caught him in-front off the first delivery of the batting Powerplay. — Agencies Scoreboard Sri Lanka: 265/9 (50 overs) Tharanga run out 3 Dilshanc Oram b Southee 3 Sangakkara b Nathan 111 Jayawardene lbw b Southee 66 Mathews not out 41 Samaraweera c BB McCullum b Styris 5 Silva c & b Nathan 3 Kulasekara c Guptill b Southee 1 Malinga c BB McCullum b Oram 6 Muralitharan run out 7 Mendis not out 0 Extras: (lb 4, w 12, nb 3) 19 Bowling: Southee 10-0-63-3, Oram 10-1-57-1, Bennett 4.1-0-16-0, Ryder 3.5-0-18-0, Franklin 3-0-11-0, Styris 8-0-44-1, Nathan 10-0-48-2, Williamson 1-0-4-0 New Zealand: 153 (35 ovrs) Guptill lbw b Kulasekara 13 B McCullum c Jayawardene b Mathews 14 Ryder c S’kkara b Mendis 19 Taylor lbw b Muralitharan 33 Williamson st S’kkara b Murali 5 Styris c & b Murali 6 Franklin c Dilshan b Murali 20 Nathan c J’rdene b Dilshan 4 Oram not out 20 Southee lbw b Mendis 8 Bennett b Malinga 0 Extras: (lb 4, w 6, nb 1) 11 Bowling: Malinga 5-0-38-1, Kulasekara 7-0-19-1, Mathews 3-0-19-1, Mendis 6-0-24-2, Dilshan 6-0-24-1, Murali 8-0-25-4.
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fast track
A close and exciting match on Thursday, but not a very good one skill-wise. It was two mediocre teams playing bad cricket. The West Indies did well to make the match close, but it was a sloppy game. England and the West Indies were very average and guilty of making the same mistakes they’ve made throughout the tournament, and they both have issues to deal with. They should both qualify for the quarter-finals but have a lot of work to do.
For England, Tredwell was very good and when you consider he had been just an observer all tournament, his achievement really stands out. Wright also did reasonably well, bowling and batting decently. But these were a few positives in what was otherwise a poor game. I cannot understand Sammy batting at No. 3. If you see it as a tactic of taking advantage of the Powerplay overs and him batting that way then maybe, but the run-rate required did not warrant that approach. If England had posted a score of over 300 runs that could theoretically be a legitimate tactic. Such tactics smack of instability in the side and highlight the management’s uncertain thinking. And why did the West Indies drop Chanderpaul? You cannot bench your most experienced player. Similarly, batting Sarwan so far down the order made no sense. After the match, Sammy explained that Sarwan had been indisposed, apparently in the washroom when the wicket fell. OK, but why send Thomas? Is he the next best batsman in the dressing room? If Pollard is supposed to be a great one-day batsman, why didn’t he go? All this signals that West Indies aren’t sure of their thinking. Group B has been very tight, and now West Indies and England will look at the Bangladesh v South Africa game. Bangladesh did well to beat England, and anything is possible in one day cricket. A Bangladesh win will change how Group B looks; that will leave West Indies needing to beat India on Sunday. If Bangladesh lose, England and West Indies will progress. South Africa are far superior o Bangladesh but they do need to get a lot out of Kallis, who has been ordinary so far. But he is the world’s best all-rounder so watch out. Luckily for South Africa, Kallis’ average run and Smith’s poor form have been smoothed over by the likes of AB de Villiers and JP Duminy. South Africa haven’t been reliant on one or two players because others have done well. They have a well rounded and balanced team, which is encouraging from their perspective.
— PMG |
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Sehwag returns to nets, Sachin practises hard
Chennai, March 18 In a session that lasted three and a half hour, Mahendra Singh Dhoni sweated it out at the M A Chidambaram Stadium after two days of practice at the IIT-Chemplast ground. The Indian team members, including Sehwag -- said to be nursing a knee injury -- had batting, bowling and catching practice in hot and humid conditions. Sehwag had swelling in his knee after the game against South Africa in Nagpur, where he did not field for a long time. Before taking to the nets, the team members had a warm-up session inside the ground playing football. Eyeing his 100th three figure mark in international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, who has already scored two tons in this tournament, came out last to bat in the nets alongwith Sehwag. Tendulkar practiced at the nets for nearly one and a half hour after the other players left. He concentrated on playing spin asking the net bowlers to do the job. Then he faced throw-outs by coach Gary Kirsten and Virat Kohli. West Indies team members today opted for a day's rest after their 18-run loss against England last night. — PTI BCCI dismisses reports of Srikkanth-Dhoni rift over selection New Delhi: The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) today rubbished reports that Chairman of selector K Srikkanth and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni were involved in a heated debate over team selection during a meeting in Chennai. Media reports had claimed that Srikkanth met Dhoni to talk about the playing XI and the two exchanged heated words due to difference of opinion but BCCI said no such meeting took place. The reports had also said that secretary N Srinivasan was also present at the meeting. "This is with reference to reports in some newspapers about a 'meeting' having taken place between the Indian captain and Chairman of Selectors in Chennai yesterday, at which the BCCI Secretary was also present. Apparently some 'harsh' words were exchanged, and the captain 'urged' to change the playing XI. The BCCI would like to clarify that these reports are baseless. No such meeting took place," Srinivasan said in a release. Dhoni has been facing criticism for some of his decisions in the ongoing World Cup, the most prominent being his preference for Piyush Chawla in the XI despite a flop show from the leg-spinner. — PTI
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Kolkata, March 18 The Dutch had posted a competitive 306 from their 50 overs on the back chiefly of 106 from Ryan ten Doeschate and 84 from skipper Peter Borren. But their innings dramatically ran out of steam with their last four wickets falling in successive balls, all from run-outs, as they chased valuable extra runs in the final over from Kevin O'Brien. From early in the Irish innings it was clear that the Dutch total would probably be found wanting on a batsman's delight of a wicket. Stirling and captain William Porterfield (68) put on 177 for the first wicket and all their batsmen went on to make useful contributions before Kevin O'Brien lofted a huge six over long off to overhaul the Dutch total with 14 balls to spare. It was a low point for the consistently impressive ten Doeschate to finish his World Cup campaign as he joined a select band to score his second century at the Cup. — Reuters Scoreboard Netherlands: 306 (50 ovrs) Szwarczynski c NJ O'Brien b Johnston 1 Barresi lbw b Stirling 44 Cooper c Porterfield b Rankin 5 Ryan Doeschate c Mooney b Stirling 106 Kervezee c KJ O'Brien b Mooney 12 Borren c Porterfield b Mooney 84 Buurman run out 26 Bukhari run out 11 Seelaar run out 0 Adeel run out 0 Loots not out 0 Extras: (b1, lb8, w5, nb3) 17 Bowling: Rankin 9-0-74-1, Johnston 10-1-50-1, Mooney 10-0-59-2, Dockrell 3.4-0-15-0, Stirling 10-0-51-2, Cusack 2.2-0-15-0, KJ O'Brien 5-0-33-0. Ireland: 307/4 (47.4 ovrs) Porterfield c Buurman b Cooper 68 Stirling c Kervezee b Seelaar 101 Joyce c Buurman b Cooper 28 NJ O'Brien not out 57 Wilson c Buurman b ten Doeschate 27 KJ O'Brien not out 15 Extras: (lb 10, w 1) 11 Bowling: Bukhari 7-0-42-0, Adeel 8-1-44-0, Loots 2-0-29-0, ten Doeschate 9-1-58-1, Seelaar 9.4-1-55-1, Borren 5-0-38-0, Cooper 7-1-31-2.
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Bangladesh desperate to win do-or-die battle
Dhaka, March 18 And now the Tigers face an uphill task of beating the strong Protean side in order to have any hopes of advancing further in the event. With eight points from five games, South Africa are the only team from Group B to have qualified for the quarterfinals. Otherwise the group is wide open with four teams -- India, West Indies, Bangladesh and England -- fighting for the rest of the three spots. According to the equation, if Bangladesh lose to South Africa, their poor net run-rate of -0.765 will in all probability end their campaign in this World Cup, unless India get the better of the Windies by a huge margin in Chennai on Sunday. — PTI Match at dhaka starts: 9.00 am
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Aus look to continue unbeaten run
Colombo, March 18 Ponting said he is relishing the challenge of locking horns with Pakistan, the last team to beat the defending champions at a World Cup. Australia have been unbeaten for the last 34 matches in the World Cup since the defeat to Pakistan at Leeds in the 1999 edition. "The last game they played in Colombo was against Sri Lanka and they upset them there so they'll know the conditions pretty well. So it will be our first big test," said Ponting at the pre-match press conference. Australia have not been tested in the previous five matches in the tournament. Their match against heavyweights Sri Lanka were abandoned due to rains while they had an easy seven-wicket win. "It's always a great challenge playing against Pakistan because, as everybody knows, you're just never really sure what they're going to turn up and do on the day," Ponting said. "They can be a very, very good side one day and, as we saw against New Zealand, they can be very, very ordinary the next. They have that sort of unpredictability about them," he said. Ponting admitted Australia's pace trio of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson had not been at their best so far and he expects them to fire against Pakistan. "Against better teams and deeper batting orders, we have to make sure we don't let teams get off to that sort of start," said Ponting, speaking about Canada's brisk start against the Australians. Ponting said he hoped frontline spinner Krejza would benefit from his experience at the tournament so far. — PTI Match at colombo starts: 2.30 pm
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‘Shoaib fastest bowler I have ever faced’
"Congratulations to him for being an outstanding cricketer," Ponting said of Akhtar who yesterday announced his retirement from international cricket after the ongoing World Cup. "I had some great duels with Shoaib over the years. To this day I always said he is the fastest bowler I have faced in international cricket," said Ponting of Akhtar, who broke the 100mph barrier in 2003. Ponting said particularly he remembered a fierce spell from Akhtar at Perth in 1999. "There's one spell that everyone can watch on internet of him bowling to me at WACA. That was reasonably entertaining - more so for Justin Langer, who was at the other end laughing at me all the time when I was trying to keep Shoaib's deliveries out. He was express pace, a very good bowler," the Australian said. Ponting lamented the fact that Akhtar had a injury-prone career, which had reduced his international appearances. "Over the years he's had his fair share of injuries that have not allowed him to play as much as he would have liked. But even in this tournament so far, you can see that he's still got it with the new ball. He still has good pace, and his experience has helped him at different times as well," he said. Akhtar returned the compliments, describing Ponting as one of the best batsmen he had ever played against. — PTI
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Bopanna, Qureshi lose in semifinals
Indian Wells, March 18 There was not much difference between the two sides but the Ukrainian-Belgian pair managed to win 6-3 3-6 (8-10). The 15th ranked Indo-Pak duo, who had a successful tournament, beating World No 2 duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the second round before getting the better of the Serbian pair of Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki in the quarterfinals, failed to live up to their reputation at the crucial juncture of the match yesterday. Starting on a positive note, the Indo-Pak pair raced away with the opening set quite comfortably, winning it 6-3. But Malisse and Dolgopolov, who had earlier caused a major upset by beating top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the quarterfinals, came back hard to bag the second set. The issue was settled in the tie breaker in which the Ukrainian-Belgian duo held their nerves to emerge triumphant. — PTI
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Saina avenges loss to Eriko, enters quarters
New Delhi, March 18 Second seed Saina beat All England finalist Eriko 21-15 17-21 21-11 in a match which lasted close to an hour to set up a clash with sixth seed Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva in the quarterfinals. Nedelcheva defeated qualifier Karin Schnaase of Germany 21-12 21-11 last night. Eriko had beaten Saina in the quarterfinals of the All England Championships last week and the Japanese got off to a good start in the first game in Switzerland. She opened up a four-point lead at 9-4 in the second round but Saina caught up with her . — PTI
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Mumbai, March 18 The IHF, through a letter written by secretary Ashok Mathur to the secretary of the sports ministry, has protested the non-inclusion of its representatives. — PTI
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Chennai, March 18
In a desperate battle for survival, Bangladesh face an uphill task against the rampaging South Africans in their final group match here tomorrow to have any chance of making the World Cup quarterfinals. Bangladesh's chances of making the knockout stage of the mega-event were dented when England clinched a 18-run win against the West Indies in Chennai yesterday.
Colombo, March 18
Mumbai: In a major embarrassment to the organizers, the power went off in one of the four floodlight towers at the Wankhede Stadium when New Zealand were chasing Sri Lanka's total of 265 for nine in the Group A World Cup match here today. The lights in the tower at the south eastern part of the ground suddenly blinked off soon after the Kiwis lost their seventh wicket with only 115 on the board but play went on and one whole over was completed before the fault was rectified.
— PTI
Nevertheless, there were positives for both, in the form of fresh faces on either side. For the West Indies, Bishoo and Russell put in good performances. I thought Bishoo showed impressive control and bowled very well on debut to pick up three wickets. Russell bowled well and scored good runs. I don’t think anyone expected him to come out and bat so well and that put the West Indies into a position from where they should not have lost. As a bowler, he was successful because he bowled fast and straight, two key assets any fast bowler must have, and all the more so in the sub-continent.
Colombo, March 18