Story Global Premier League - Lahore and Colombo both into quarters

[just_cricket]

Nice closing by Misbah and Karthik, but I would think Mumbai have a chance here...
Nice presentation as always, keep it going.

 

[CG123]

Second Innings​

I welcome you all back to Eden Park where the second innings is all set to begin. Kyle Mills has the ball for Lahore and it will be Herschelle Gibbs to take strike for Mumbai.

First 6 overs​

It was a quite start for Mumbai as they moved up to 33 without loss after 4. Gibbs was playing it slow, at one stage he was just 4 off 9 balls. Haddin was getting stuck into Australian team mate Stuart Clark who went for 21 off his first 2 overs spell but the pressure was coming from the other end. Kyle Mills was on the money ball after ball only going for 10 off his first 2.
Mills continued for the 5th over of the innings and pressure finally turned into points, as Brad Haddin was trapped LBW for 19 off 14 deliveries. Mills finished off a good 3 over spell taking 1 for 18.
Kyle Mills' New Zealand team mate Jacob Oram came on to bowl the sixth over of the innings and some spectacular fielding from batting hero Neil McKenzie sent big Kenyan Steve Tikolo packing, run out for just 3. That brought to the wicket Sachin Tendulkar who got stuck in finishing the over with 2 boundaries moving his teams score up to 54/2 at the end of 6.

Middle 8 overs​

The middle period started out a good one for Mumbai as they scored 44 off the next 4 overs. Even Muttiah Muralitharen couldn't stop the flow off runs as his first 3 overs went for 13, 7 then 9.
Misbah brought his other spinner Yusuf Pathan into the attack who bowled back to back no balls resulting in 13 coming off his first. But then he had a change of fortune. His next two overs were outstanding with Mumbai only managing to take 12 off them together.
It was only the matter off time as Tendulkar bludgeoned his way to another 50 this time one off his quickest coming off just 24 balls. Mumbai, with 6 to go needed 77 at 12.83 per over with 8 wickets in hand.

Last 6 overs​

Lahore captain Misbah-ul-Haq brought back Jacob Oram and that led to Gibbs bringing up his 50... a slow one at that lasting a painfully long 45 balls, almost twice as long as Tendulkars.
Next over which was the 16th of the innings turned out to be a miracle by Yusuf Pathan. Third ball he picked up Gibbs caught Kaif for a slow 57 and then off the last ball off his allocated 4 overs he cleaned up Tendulkar for a well played 54 from 30, with 8 boundaries, That firmly put Lahore in the box seat, with Mumbai now needing over 16 an over with two new batsmen at the wcket.
Oram bowled out finishing with the same figures as Murali, none for 41 off 4 and then the opening bowlers came back. Clark picked up van Jaarsveld smashing his middle pole out of the ground for a 9 ball 14. Then Mills finished off an outstanding spell of right arm fast medium bowling taking 1 for 27 off his 4.
Off the last over of the innings Mumbai needed an almost impossible 34. Clark picked up Albie Morkel as a consolation but the job had really already been done. Lahore ended up winning by 26 runs and become the first team into the quarter finals.

Summary​

It was an almost complete performance by Lahore as the hammered home a 26 run win at the hands of the Indians. They may be slightly worried by the form that Oram and Murelitharen showed but after only 1 game not much can be taken into account.
Mumbai will be heading home without any prize. Their disappointing campaign has drawn to a close after a first up loss. A lot of changes may be required if they are going to successful next time around. Seven bowlers used by Sachin was hardly ideal as only 2 off them impressed.
Lahore will head into the next round full of confidence and play the winners of the Colombo versus Canterbury game following this.

Scorecard​

​

After a short brake we'll be back for the post match presentation with the two captains the the Man Of The Match.

NOTE: I'm going away for a week, so the next update will be in a weeks time.

 

[CG123]

Breaking News​

We interrupt this add brake to bring you braking news. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has sent a threat to New Zealand saying that if they do not change the name of their cricket competition he will be forced to bomb them. Circumstances are still unclear as to what has provoked this threat.

World Premier League officials (now Global Premier League officials) have made a statement saying the official name will be getting changed from World Premier League to Global Premier League.

NOTE: I am going away from a week. I have changed the name at the moment, when I get back I will change some other things.

 

[just_cricket]

Guess this is inactive now:

http://www.planetcricket.org/forums...mier-league-2009-match-1-ssr-vs-dh-53265.html

But there's been plenty of World Premier Leagues going round! What if this starts up again?

Anyways good work CG123. Out of interest are you going to Hamilton?

 

[surendar]

What does Osama got to do with the change of the name & cricket? May be, bit of deviation in the story line?

 

[TheGreemSim]

OOh Plot twist....

Loving it so far, well done with the scorecards

 

[CG123]

Out of interest are you going to Hamilton?

No, I was actually going to Tonga.

What does Osama got to do with the change of the name & cricket? May be, bit of deviation in the story line?

Yeah, I was in a bit of a rush. I'll TRY to make something work.

 

[CG123]

More News​

More news has been released over the bomb threat made by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It is still unclear over what exactly caused the threat but some speculations have been made. It is believed that ever since Afghanistan got granted temporarily ODI status by the ICC, Osama has taken over the running of the countries cricket board. Again it is unclear why he has done this but Afghanistan have said that it has been done for the good of the game.

Some other speculations have been made saying that this will draw a lot more attention to the cricket in Afghanistan, hence maybe why the bomb threat was made. Because of all this attention it may make people stop and look at the power of Afghanistan cricket a lot closer, maybe making it better. But where there's positives there's normally going to be negatives. Others have said that this will not grow the game their but tear it to pieces. They have said that Osama will tear the game apart until they lose their ODI status and everything will go back to normal.

The BCCI have also made a statement saying that it is possible that Osama may be working with some of the Pakistani terrorist groups involved in attacks such as the Mumbai bombings and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers but this thought has been slammed by some saying it is impossible.

In New Zealand Cricket's statement they have said they will be monitoring the issue very closely making sure it doesn't get out of hand. They have also said the cricket will continue until there is any physical evidence that/if a bomb attack is going to take place. Also mentioned is that they will be taking back all old 'World Premier League' merchandise and replacing it with new 'Global Premier League' merchandise free of charge.

NOTE: I will continue on with the post match presentation for the Mumbai Indians versus Lahore Eagles match before I will give you a summary of the Colombo Bears versus Canterbury Wizards game, brought to you from AMI Stadium in Christchurch.

 

[CG123]

Post Match Presentation​

Presenter: Welcome back to Eden Park where we are all set for the post match presentation where I'll be joined by the two captains and the Man Of The Match. Firstly I'd now like to invite forward losing captain Sachin Tendulkar to say some words on behalf of his team. Sachin... giving up 207 runs with your bowling attack must have been really disappointing.
Sachin: Well yeah it was... I felt about 180 was par on the track, and to give away just so much more than that... well there's just no excuses. We failed to pick up wickets at crucial times, they managed to built good partnerships with almost everyone in their side getting starts. Neil was devastating at the top as well as Mishbah and Dinesh down the order. They just simply got to much.
Presenter: What did you say to Herschelle and Brad before they went out?
Sachin: Well they just had to attack. Herschelle wasn't hitting it so it just built pressure on the other end and that lead to wickets. Brad and Steve went early but me and Herschelle managed to built a partnership. I was hitting it amazingly but when we got out it just left too much for our middle to lower to do.
Presenter: Well Sachin we'll miss having you here for longer, but good luck and we hope to see you back in New Zealand sometime.

Presenter: We'll now bring in victorious captain Mishbah-ul-Haq. What an outstanding performance by your boys to today.
Misbah: Yeah it was... All of our batsmen stood up. Neil, Owais and Mohammed gave us a flier and that let me and Dinesh to let rip and push us up over 200.
Presenter: Kyle up the top and Yusuf in the middle... they were priceless today.
Misbah: Yeah they both bowled outstanding spells. Kyle gave us the start we needed and just managed to build up enough pressure to keep them way below the run rate from the start. Yusuf came on and took two wickets in that great over. At that stage it was crucial we brook through, as Sachin was smashing it.
Presenter: Well you'll be versing the winning of the next match, Colombu versus Canterbury... Good luck with that and the rest of your tournament.

Presenter: We now come to our man of the match award for today. He obliterated the Mumbai attack at the top bringing up his 50 off just 28 balls as well as picking up a vital run out in the chase. Lets welcome in our Man Of The Match Neil McKenzie... It just all went right today with the bat, anything you;ll do different next time.
Neil: Yeah, everything i hit seemed to just flow out of the middle of the bat an i just kept on finding the fence. I don't have any regrets about how I played.
Presenter: How pumped were you guys after setting that total?
Neil: Very... we new we must of had enough on the board after the way we batted and in the end it showed by over 20 runs.
Presenter: Thanks for treating us with such a high quality performance today and good luck with your next match.

That's it from us here at Eden Park. Join us later on in Christchurch for a summary of the match between the Colombo Bears and the Canterbury Wizards.

 

[OffCutters]

Lol at Osama`s bomb threat. It just doesnt make much sense.

 

[CG123]

Lol at Osama`s bomb threat. It just doesnt make much sense.

This IS NOT part of the story.
I completely understand that doesn't make that much sense and it's not the best plot. But it is unexpected when someone comes out, has a cry and says I need to change the name.
I will explain it to you in summary.
Firstly Osama makes a bomb threat to New Zealand.
I have mentioned numerous times it is unclear why that threat was made and I will try and develop this.
Then I have listed some speculations as to Osama's involvement in cricket.
This is all I have really said just in a lot more detail.
I will probably continue to grow the storyline now and write some more stuff up about it, as I kind of have to because I have started it.
BTW I do understand why it is unclear to most about my storyline.

 

[CG123]

Match B​

Welcome to AMI Stadium in Christchurch for this round 1 Global Premier League clash between the Colombo Bears and home side the Canterbury Wizards. Out in the middle the toss was won by Kumar Sangakkara who immediately elected to bowl. He said; "we feel the pitch might have something in it early on and that will be the best time for us to bowl."

We'll now take a look at the two line-ups:

Colombo Bears



Canterbury Wizards



First Innings​

It was just the start Sangakkara wanted after winning the toss, as Edwards and Harmison made short work of Canterbury's top order. It saw them drop to a dreadful 16/4 with McCullum staying on 3 while all the wickets fell. Symonds came to the wicket and went ballistic mauling 41 off just 17 including a mammoth 19 off Steve Harmison's 2nd over after taking an amazing 2 for 1 off his first. Once Symonds and McCullums 59 run partnership came to an end, the tail got wrapped up reasonably quickly as Canterbury set Colombo just 128 for victory. The innings by far and away belonged to Bangladeshi (not Pakistani) spinner Abdur Razzak who took the first 5 wicket haul of the tournament finishing with 5 for 30. All five bowlers Sangakkara used picked up wickets with the exception of Andre Nel who bowled just the one over.

Second Innings​

Canterbury came out knowing they needed an early blow and it was Sreesanth who picked it up dismissing Wasim Jaffer for just 11. Things never looked bad for Colombo from then on in as Guptill and Amla both picked up half centuries as they added 86 for the 2nd wicket. The only blemishes were at the end as they lost their skipper Sangakkara for just 8 before wrapping things up with 7 wickets and a whopping 54 balls remaining.

Summary​

Colombo move onto the next round where they will face the impressive Lahore in 4 days time. They only really struggled with their bowlers economy rates as they wrapped up Canterbury in just 11.3 overs before finishing it themselves in 11. Guptill and Amla both found some good form with the bat which will be another positive.

Post Match Presentation​

McCullum was really disappointed with how easily his top order collapsed and how almost everyone in their side just gave their wicket away including Andrew Symonds when he didn't need to. Sangakkara was very happy with the overall performance off his team complimenting Abdur Razzak on his outstanding spell with the ball. It was Razzak who deservedly picked up the Man Of The Match award for his 5 wicket haul.


That's all we have here for you from Day Two of the Global Premier League. This day produced our first quarter final paring which will see the Lahore Eagles from Pakistan take on the Colombo Bears from Sri Lanka. I'd like to say thanks for reading and hope you can join us next time for the Day Three game previews.

 

[just_cricket]

No, I was actually going to Tonga.

Sorry- I must have sounded like a bit of a nosey storker
It's just I know someone who has the initials CG and his highest score is 123, and would have been going to hamilton at that time. I apologise for posting a comment that was not related to the story- your public profile would have been a more suitable place to do that...

Anyway, good batting by Guptill and Amla- they ensured the victory after Razzak's man of the match winning performance.
Disappointing loss for the Wizards- on the other hand a confidence boosting victory for the Bears.
Keep it up!

 

[BKB1991]

Good win for the bears. I think special mention has to go down to their opening bowlers edwards and harmison cause it was their bowling that triggered the collapse. Looking forward to the next match