Saturday, March 19, 2011

Historic win for Pakistan over Australia

The Australian juggernaut had to come to a halt sometime – and it finally did! And it was Pakistan – the team that last beat them back then in the 1999 World Cup – who brought the record unbeaten run to a halt after 34 matches. Pakistan, after bowling out the Australians for 176, returned to chase down the runs in 41 overs with 4 wickets in hand to take the top spot in Group A. But not without any drama.

Australia gave it their all trying to defend the 176 they’d posted on the board. But even for a bowling attack as good as theirs, the runs on the board were too little to defend.

Brett Lee charged in every single ball he bowled in his f irst spell of five overs and even picked up the wickets of the two Pakistan openers. But the lack of support from the other end cost Australia dear as they couldn’t quite prise out wickets as regularly as the Pakistan bowlers had done earlier in the afternoon. But Pakistan’s approach of keeping the scoreboard ticking in the Quick Start overs meant the Australian bowlers weren’t to settle into any kind of rhythm.

Younis Khan, in the company of Asad Shafiq, added 53 runs in 14 overs. Both batsmen were prepared to bide their time knowing well they weren’t faced with too much pressure of the required run rate. However, just when the Australian shoulders started to droop, Lee struck twice in two deliveries to put the match back in the balance. Younis attempted to cut a wide delivery from Lee only to feather one to the wicketkeeper, while Misbah fished outside the off stump and managed to tickle one straight through to Haddin behind the stumps the following delivery.

That meant there were two youngsters in the middle – Umar Akmal and Shafiq – left with something of a mountain to climb. And the duo did not disappoint; both the batsmen – still finding their feet in international cricket – played mature knocks (defying their age), rotating the strike well and forcing the Australians to constantly change their tactics, and then punished the bad deliveries when they came their way. In between, whenever the Australians would settle into a rhythm, Umar would walk down the ground and play some stunning shots which would force the Australian bowlers to change their strategies once again.

Shafiq too was impressive in his 46 (81 balls) before he received a brute from Mitchell Johnson, which he only managed to fend to the man at slip. Umar Akmal though lived on and ensured his team did not make a meal of all the good work in the afternoon – despite losing skipper Shahid Afridi to a wild slog. He remained unbeaten on 44 (59 balls), and in the company of Abdul Razzaq (20 from 24 balls) steered the team past the finish line. Kamran Akmal, who had a safe match behind the stumps, was promoted to open the innings and he chipped in with 23 useful runs at the top of the innings.

Lee was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers; he bowled fast, straight and even generated some discerning bounce off the pitch to leave the batsmen facing a lot of grief; he finished with figures of 4 for 28 from eight impressive overs. Chairman of selectors of Cricket Australia had asked Shaun Tait to lift his game prior to this clash, but the speedster disappointed yet again, conceding 15 runs in his two-over first spell, and evenually finished wicketless in his 8-over spell.

Earlier in the afternoon, on a typical Khettarama Stadium pitch – albeit with a sprinking of grass - the Australian captain Ricky Ponting (who too suffered his first defeat as World Cup captain) won the toss and elected to bat first. While the Pakistan opening bowlers (Umar Gul and Abdur Rehman) definitely bowled disciplined lines and lengths, it was rather surprising to see the Australians take the first-gear approach to their batting. Shane Watson perished in the fifth over, while Ricky Ponting’s woes with the bat continued as he was dismissed for 19. Brad Haddin, despite scoring 42 runs, made it difficult for himself and his team, getting his runs at a strike rate of 52.50.

Michael Clarke (34), Mike Hussey (12) and Steven Smith (25) all got starts, but none could convert it to a big innings. Australia also suffered because of the lack of partnerships in the innings; off the ten partnerships in the innings, one was worth 65 runs, while there were six others between 10 and 30 runs.

For Pakistan, Umar Gul was definitely the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 3 for 30 from his 7.4 overs, while Abdul Razzaq (coming in as the sixth bowler in the innings) picked up 2 for 8 from 4-tidy overs. Rehman (1/34), Shahid Afridi (1/34), Wahab Riaz (1/39) and Mohammad Hafeez (1/26) chipped in with wickets.

Bangladeshi World Cup dreams end in heartache

In a must-win encounter Bangladesh are bowled out for under 100 runs for the second time in the tournament and are out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Bangladesh came to this match knowing that if they won, they would reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It would be a tough ask to beat the Proteas, but there was still every chance that they would be able to pull it off.

Interestingly the Bangladeshis did not open their bowling with spin. Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain opened the attack and the South African openers Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith had little trouble in negotiating their bowling. The pair nearly put on a century partnership before Smith was stumped off the bowling of Mahmudullah. Amla reached his fifty before being dismissed by Razzak and there were further half-centuries from Jacques Kallis and Francois du Plessis.

Johan Botha and Robin Peterson added a few quick runs at the end and South   Africa closed their innings on 284/8, after adding 92 in the last 10 overs, which included their Batting Powerplay. Hossain was the top wicket-taker, taking 3/56, but he and Shafiul gave away far too many runs.

The Proteas were resting their ace fast bowling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, but the result could not have been more embarrassing for the Bangla Tigers. Only the captain made it into double figures (30) as the team was bowled out for just 78 runs.

It was a great day for Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who accounted for three of the first four batsmen, and for Robin Peterson, who picked up 4/12 in seven overs. Imran Tahir also picked up a wicket in his first match after a fractured finger ruled him out after the third game. Although Peterson was the top performer according to the Castrol Index, Tsotsobe was named Man-of-the-Match for his opening spell of bowling that took the game away from Bangladesh.