11th April 2007
SOUTH AFRICA VS NETHERLANDS Another contender to win the World Cup this year, South Africa faced Netherlands in their first match. On a flat looking pitch, Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to bat first.
An opening partnership of 148 runs set South Africa up to scoring a big total. H. Gibbs (76) was first to fall to Khan's bowling, before Graeme Smith (119) and Jaque Kallis (45) forged another big partnership that saw their team past the 200 milestone. Some good work from D. Van wyk (42*) let South Africa reach a very strong 309-4.
Netherlands never had much hope of chasing down such a big score, and this showed in the batsmen's total lack of confidence at the crease. One by one they fell to the South African bowling attack- P. Joubert was easily the best bowler with superb figures of 3-23.
12th April 2007
INDIA VS BERMUDA India eased their way into the World Cup by facing Bermuda in their first match. Bermuda won the toss and decided to bat first.
G. Singh got the early breakthrough and dismissed O. Pitcher (9). A small partnership between M. Ricketts (39) and C. Foggo (23) saw Bermuda past the 50 mark before H. Singh and Anil Kumble tore through the batting order and restricted Bermuda to 175-9 off their 50 overs. H. Durham was the only batsman to offer resistance with a gritty 45* but the Indian spinners had clearly dominated, picking up 8 wickets between them.
Bermuda got a glimpse of hope as they too got an early breakthrough by dismissing opener D. Jadhav for a duck. But after this however, it was an Indian show all the way. Sehwag ended up with an unbeaten 107*, with good support from the other end in the form of Tendulkar (60*). India ended up with a crushing victory, winning by 9 wickets.
btw, who is your second International player?
