Tuesday, July 06, 2010Umars power Pakistan to victory in first T20IPakistan drew first blood in the two-match Twenty20 series against Australia at Edgbaston by defeating them by 23 runs. After opting to bat on a good track, the Pakistani openers failed to give a good start but Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt led a brief recovery and added 43 runs in the Quick Start Overs. They departed in quick succession and after that we witnessed a rollicking innings from Umar Akmal, who scored the fastest fifty by a Pakistani off just 21 balls which included 7 fours and 3 sixes, as he and Shoaib Malik steady the ship and prevented the opposition from making further inroads adding 51 runs for the fifth wicket followed by another 39 runs for the sixth wicket between Umar Akmal and Razzaq as Pakistan added 54 runs in the Extreme Performance Overs. Akmal finished with a Batting Momentum of 132 while Tait picked up 2 wickets in his 4 overs, earning a Bowling Efficiency of 96 but none of the other bowlers were impressive.
Pakistan finished with a Castrol Index of 162 as compared to the Aussies’ 128 and the only time Australia were ahead was in the Quick Start Overs, but not by a huge margin. Umar Akmal’s imperious knock of 64 earned him the Man-Of- The-Match award and he finished with an overall Castrol Index of 209. Australia have less than 24 hours to pick themselves up and try and level the series on Tuesday. Pakistan, meanwhile will be looking to finish the 2-match encounter on a high with a 2-0 whitewash ahead of the 2-match Test series. The game on Tuesday is at the same venue and starts at 1600 GMT.
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Saturday, July 03, 2010HUSSEY and TAIT power Australia to second consolatory winAfter electing to bat, Australia struggled in the first half but Hussey led a spirited fightback, taking the Aussies to 277 followed by a morale-boosting opening spell from Tait who destroyed the top order and came back towards the end to stop a late onslaught to hand OZ their second successive win. After opting to bat, Australia got off to a poor start, losing Watson early, scoring just 31/1 in the Quick Start Overs, followed by 17/0 in the Bowling Powerplay. The batsmen struggled to score on a good track and continuous loss of wickets left the Aussies struggling at 106/4 in the 30th Over. But two terrific partnerships, first, 107 in 92 balls for the fifth wicket between Marsh(59) and Hussey followed by 50 in just 26 balls for the sixth wicket between Hussey and Smith, propelled Australia to 277/7 as they scored 63/0 in the Batting Powerplay amassing 115/3 in the Extreme Performance Overs. Michael Hussey top-scored with 79 from 60 balls, with 5 fours and 2 sixes, getting his 31st ODI Fifty, finishing with a Batting Momentum of 136. Stuart Broad once again tormented the Aussies, though he did receive a bit of a stick in the end, finishing with 4/64 in his 10 overs and a Bowling Efficiency of 187 picking up his 7th ODI 4-for with good support from Swann(3/32), who finished with an amazing Efficiency of 225.
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Chasing 168 for a win, Australia suffered early set backs when Watson departed for a duck followed by skipper Michael Clarke. After that, David Warner and David Hussey launched a stunning counter-attack as the Aussies bludgeoned 56 runs in the Quick Start Overs. But once these two batsmen departed the Australian middle-order collapsed and from 85/4 in the 11.2 overs, they were bundled out for 144 in 18.4 overs. Mohammed Aamer and Saeed Ajmal were the pick of the bowlers claiming 3 wickets apiece but Umar Gul earned the best Bowling Efficiency of 138 as he took 2 wickets for 13 in his 3 overs while David Warner finished with a Batting Momentum of 54. Although Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi failed with the bat but he was spot on with his captaincy and also picked up a wicket along with two brilliant catches which turned the game in his side’s favour.
In reply, Tait was charged up right from the word go and decimated England’s top order as the hosts raced off to 50/3 in the Quick Start Overs, but managed only 16/0 in the Bowling Powerplay and were further reduced to 73/5 in the 17th Over. But England’s old warrior, Paul Collingwood, staged a fightback with two meaningful partnerships, first, 56 for the sixth wicket with Luke Wright and followed that up with 65 in 62 balls for the seventh wicket with Tim Bresnan. However, Tait’s comeback spell in the 41st over spelt doom for the home side who were just dreaming about a win, as Bresnan got run-out and Tait cleaned up Collingwood a couple of balls later. Graeme Swann tried to put up a fight towards the end but it was just too much for him as Australia won by 42 runs and ended the 5-match series 2-3 which could have been 0-5 after the third ODI. Paul Collingwood scored a fighting 95 off 121 balls, with 7 fours and two sixes, finishing with a Batting Momentum of 113 while Shaun Tait led the attack with a fiery 4/48 in 8.3 overs, ending with a Bowling Efficiency of 212.
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