Monday, March 14, 2011

Kayes shines in Bangladesh win

The Castrol Predictor had given Bangladesh a 77% chance of beating Netherlands in their match up at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. And so it turned out to be. The hosts, given to chase a meager 161, chased down the target losing 4 wickets in the process, and got past the finish line with 8.4 overs remaining.

Despite losing the prolific opener Tamim Iqbal for naught in the first over of the run-chase, Bangladesh comfortably coasted past the finish line thanks to a mature half-century from the other opener Imrul Kayes, who seems to have grown into the role of holding the innings together. Kayes followed up his Man-of-the-Match award winning half-century against England with an unbeaten 73 – his eighth half-century in one-day internationals. The left-hander – unmindful of his strike-rate (64.60) – took the conservative method of knocking the ball into the open spaces and picking up the singles and twos, and then picked up the occasional boundary when a bad ball was dished out.

Despite the early setback, Bangladesh recovered almost immediately through a 92-run partnership between Kayes and Junaid Siddique (35 from 53 balls). Siddique was hitting the ball hard and timing them well, and looked good for a half-century. However, he perished in the 21^st over when he couldn’t put away one that was short and wide and was asking to be punished, and holed out to extra cover.

Shahriar Nafees (37), drafted into the Bangladesh XI today, added 59 with Kayes, before he and skipper Shakib-al-Hasan (1) perished with their team at the brink of victory.  Though the Dutch bowlers bowled a couple of maiden overs after picking up those two quick wickets, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim finished the match off in style as he slammed a boundary and a six off consecutive balls to remain unbeaten on 11 from 12 balls.

Mudassar Bukhari was the most impressive among the Dutch bowlers, finishing with figures of 1/14 from six overs, while Tom Cooper (2/33) and skipper Peter Borren (1/28) were the other wicket-takers.

Earlier in the day, the Dutch won the toss and opted to bat first, but couldn’t counter some disciplined and attacking bowling by the hosts. It was that man again - Ryan ten Doeschate – who shone with the bat again, this time finishing unbeaten on 53* (71 balls, 2x4, 1x6). Tom Cooper and Eric Szwarczynski contributed 29 and 28 respectively, while six batsmen were dismissed for single-digit scores.

Led by Abdur Razzak (3/29), the spinners picked up five of ten Dutch wickets to fall, while four run-outs added to Netherlands’ woes.

Briefly said, Bangladesh were definitely the better bowling side on the park; their Bowling Efficiency parameter in the Castrol Index stood at 350, almost double that of Netherlands’ 176, and that in the final analysis was the difference between the two teams.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Australia remain unbeaten and go through to the quarters

With a comfortable win against Kenya in Bangalore Australia remain the only unbeaten team at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Australia got off to a slow and steady start, making 44/1 in the Quick Start Overs. Brad Haddin (65) was a steadying influence, putting on 89 runs with captain Ricky Ponting. But it was Michael Clarke who played a masterful innings of 93; he also partnered with Michael Hussey (54) to put on a century partnership. Both batsmen scored at better than a run-a-ball and it was good for Australia that Hussey did well in his first match since injury forced him to stay back in Australia when the World Cup began.

As far as the Kenyan bowling went, there were two bowlers who come away from the match with respectable figures. Nehemiah Odhiambo took 3/57 and captain Jimmy Kamande picked up 2/46. It was Odhiambo who took the crucial wickets of Clarke and Hussey, but that could not stop the Aussies from posting a massive 324-run total.

Bangalore has been a haven of runs in the tournament so far and this match was no different. Not only did Australia make a big score, but Kenya did fairly respectably as well. Although they were 60 runs short of the total, they did manage to score at over five runs an over.

They started off a little shakily, making 46/3 in the Quick Start Overs, but a fine partnership by Collins Obuya and Tanmay Mishra rescued the team somewhat. The pair made 115 runs together before Mishra was dismissed, but Obuya continued on until the end of the 50 overs. There were two unfortunate run outs, but the Kenyans were never really in the running.

What was surprising was how tame the Australian bowlers appeared. Brett Lee picked up one wicket, Shaun Tait two, but he went at over six runs an over. Mitchell Johnson has been one of the most fearsome bowlers of the tournament, but did not take a wicket. And nor did any of the three spinners who were used.

The Kenyans had a ball during the Batting Powerplay, scoring 49 for no loss. Obuya was key to the overall effort; he ended the match unbeaten on 98, agonizingly close to a century against the World Champions! It becomes his highest ODI score, a great achievement. He was also named Man-of-the-Match.