Story ICC Best Of The Rest Championship

[Cricket_60]

I'm backing the Aussies for a win here

 

[gary0808]

I'd say it's 50/50 but if i have to go for one it'll just about be the Aussies

 

[Short Leg]

Khan Gives India A Sniff​

1st ODI - Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Australia 4/196
40 overs

Ponting 58(84)*
Hussey 15(17)*

Pathan 1/45
Khan 3/37
Harbhajan Singh 0/57
R Singh 0/8
Karthik 0/46

Comparison After 40 overs
India 0/200
Australia 4/196

Australia Require 65 Runs Off 10 Overs At 6.50 Runs An Over

With Ponting and Martyn slowly taking the game away from India captain Rahul Dravid had no choice but to bring back paceman Zaheer Khan. To the joy of the crowd it worked as he trapped Martyn on the backfoot LBW and then picked up the wicket of Clarke soon after.

The downside to this ploy was that another bowler would have to bowl at the death. Khan and Kartik have just the one over left and R Singh has been left with 8. This means that a part time bowlers like Tendulkar or Sehwag will have to bowl the final overs.

India need wickets if they are to win this one especially the scalp of Australian skipper Ponting who has just gone past the 50 mark.

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Can India control there line and length in the fianl overs or will Australia be led home by there captain Ricky Ponting. Australia are running out of batsman but India are running out of bowlers so this match is still in the balance.

 

[Short Leg]

The Death​

With India?s bowling choices running slim the ball was thrown to centurion Sachin Tendulkar. India?s cause wasn?t helped as Hussey hit the final ball of Murali Kartik?s 10 overs for 6 over mid wicket.

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Singh looked to do his best with his medium pace from the other end as Australia continued to work down the total. India need a wicket badly or the Australians through Ponting and Hussey will get the total as they are striking the ball well and running like lightning between the wickets.

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Still requiring 6 an over for the final 5 but with 6 wickets remaining you would tip Australia to get home against the likes of Tendulkars part time leg spin.

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It looked to be all Australia as they now need only singles and the odd two to win away from home. A last ball 6 off Tendulkars over meant that this game was just a formality now.

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Hussey survived a near runout coming back for the second as Australia now only needed 6 from 12 balls.

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It was celebrations all round as Ponting knocked one down to fine leg for 2 to pick up victory for Australia in the first ODI with 8 balls remaining.

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A fine display from the Australians as tey all contributed to the success of this match. India can blame there loss on not getting enough runs in there final 10 overs and also some poor fielding that resultd in a loss due to misfeilds and overthrows all night.

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The worm shows just how closely matched these two teams are and this should be a promising series to follow.

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I have decided to start a poll to decide the Allan Border medal votes. Please vote for who you thought the 3 best players of the match are. The poll will close after the completion of the 2nd ODI.

 

[Wildwil]

Good win for the Aussies

 

[Short Leg]

Clarke?s Gateway To Heaven​

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Australian selectors have hinted that Michael Clarke isn?t to far away from returning to the Australian Test team. Former Australian batsman Keith Stackpole believes that Clarke must perform in the One Day arena to be called back to the 5 day game.

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Stackpole wrote his opinion on the matter in his column for Melbourne Newspaper The Herald Sun

Michael Clarke is one of Australians most promising youngsters. He moves so naturally into position for shots off both front and back foot an one feels that it is just a matter of time before he is back with the Baggy Green.

Form slumps are a thing of the past as Clarke has upped his game to keep up with the ever changing demands of International cricket. As well as making runs for New South Wales in the Pura cup Clarke has looked the goods in the One Day International game which will be his ticket back to fame in the Test side.

An Australian Test team without Michael Clarke is like taking your sister on a date it might make you look good but it gets you know where. With Symonds still yet to prove himself in Test cricket and Brad Hodge only making runs every now and then Clarke could well be in the side sooner rather then later.

 

[Short Leg]

Will Australia?s Third Seamer Please Stand Up​

After Australia?s victory in the recent 1st ODI against the Indians at home there are still questions that remain around the 11 players that step out on the field for the next match in the series.

Cricket expert and former Australian fast bowling genius Denis Lillee thinks that Australia is still in the hunt for a man to fill the position of 3rd seamer in the One Day team and maybe even the Test team.

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I am yet to see an Australian seamer that is capable of filling the position of third quick full time. In my job of coaching around the place I have seen some promise in the Pura cup ranks.

Queenslander Mitch Johnson looks to have a lot of promise at a young age and also bring something different with his left arm swing.

Brett Dorey from West Australia also looks to be good but offers again a different style with his height.

It was good to see the selectors trying something different with Mick Lewis in the 20Twenty game as it shows they are looking for the solution. However it is time to stop playing around with swapping and changing the bowling attack every other day. The selectors need to go with the man they think is best for the job. The sooner they rest on a decision the better.

 

[gary0808]

Good win for the Aussies and it always has to be Punter to knock the winning runs off.

 

[Short Leg]

Pepsi Preview
Australia In India
2nd One Day International

After a days break Australia and India are set to do battle again in the 2nd ODI. India will be keen to prevent Australia from singing ?beneath the southern cross? until the early hours of the morning in this match. To do this they will need to play smarter cricket then they displayed in the first match.

Australia has started the series off with a win but India is not far behind. India would feel that if Dravid had the luxury of bringing back Khan for the final overs the story could have been different. This is there chance for revenge.

Andrew Symonds has been cleared of his shoulder injury and will be back in the green and gold for the 2nd match. Question still remains however over who will play the role of third seamer. With some support from fellow Australians that took the long trip to India to cheer on there boys Australia will be tough to beat.

A little help from back home​

India shouldn?t be expecting to many changes as there team performed well it was just that Australia played better cricket at key points of the match. They will need to up the ante in the field to prevent Australia getting those unnecessary extra runs. Although they didn?t lose wickets India never really pushed for the extra runs that could of sent the match their way. They where poised for a total like 280 at the 40 over mark but failed to deliver.

India are showing that they are a tight unit on and off the playing field and they will be a difficult team to overcome on home soil.

India are a tight bunch of cricketers ​

Sachin Tendulkar said a few words to reports after there final training session before the 2nd ODI.

We had a good session today it is important to be focus on what you need to do before a match. The Indian team are all driven by the same goal and that goal is to beat Australia who have proved to be one of the best sides in world cricket for a long time. If we can beat them then we can win this Championship.

The Australians looked to try something different at an attempt to freshen up the players to get them through a long and demanding tour. The tourists gave some positive feedback after joining in on a local yoga class.

Cricketers and Yoga. A dangerous mix​

Damien Martyn offered a few words after the Australians session.

I think it?s good to do something different and get a sample of the culture in a place like India especially with such a long tour ahead. The lad?s are playing good cricket as usual and performing well in all three disciplines. When we are firing were the hardest team in the world to knock off.

 

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2nd Pepsi One Day International - Eden Gardens, Kolkata​

Yet another picture perfect day in India for the second One Day match in this Pepsi series. Welcome to one of the worlds most famous grounds here in Kolkata where a capacity crowd is waiting in anticipation for the start of the match between two of world crickets top sides Australia and India.

A great day for cricket​

Ravi Shastri Pitch Report

This pitch looks good. It is very dry due to the hot conditions we've been having over the past couple of weeks. The outfeild is alot quicker then it was for the first match here in Kolkata. The team winning the toss should elect to bat and post a big total. My thinking is that this will be a 280+ pitch. It shouldn't be to tough to chase tonight so we should be in for a good contest.

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Umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar

The Toss Rahul Dravid wins the toss

Yes we will bat first. It looks a good strip to bat first on and we will also like to make use of thhe quick outfeild. Hopefully we can bounce back in this match as we werent far off winning in the first match.

Um Yeah, We would of liked to bat first but it wont matter much if at all. The pitch will hold up nicely and provide alot of runs to make a good match for spectators. The boys are keen to get underway and pick up where we left off from last match.

The Indian batsman will join the Australians in the middle shorly so lets have a look at the Line ups

India Line-up

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A couple of interesting moves for India with Pathan being promoted up the order in a bid to hurry the scoring rate alone. Dhoni also moved up to number 4 as the Indians look to get the run rate up towards 6 an over early. Venugopal Rao is in the side for Kaif and slots in to number 7. Just the one bowling change as medium pacer Singh makes room for quick man Sree Santh.

Australia Line-up

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Symonds comes back into the team after recovering from injury and Bracken also fills the third seamer role that has been tlked about for a while. A strong team that will chase well tonight will make for a good contest.

The 2nd match is set to get under way from Kolkata

 

[Short Leg]

An Even Start​

2nd ODI - Eden Gardens, Kolkata
India 3/104
20 overs

Tendulkar 54(60)*
Yuvraj Singh 0(0)*

McGrath 0/30
Lee 1/35
Bracken 1/23
Symonds 1/16

Judging from the first 20 overs this is definatly a 300 run pitch. Its hard and fast with little in it for the bowlers and to top it off the outfeild is super quick if you can get it through the infeild it will go to the fence.

Australia had the better of the start when Brett Lee had Sehwag caught at point with the first ball of the 2nd over. A different result from the first match where the partnership had the better of the Australian attack.

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The early wicket of danger man Sehwag​

India played the trump card sending in Pathan as a hitter to get the scoring rate moving early. It worked as he went alone at a run a ball 35 before Symonds clean bowled him.

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Bowled Him! Symonds to good​

Tendulkar continued to accumulate runs with new partner Dhoni who wasnt taking on the all out attacking role. As the feilding restrictions expired Australia had done a good job to keep India at a run rate of just above 5 an over.

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Sachin Tendulkar shows he is a class act​

The match is just about in the balance but another wicket for the Australians will see them ontop. Yuvraj Singh needs a score here to support Tendulkar who is showing his class as he goes past the 50 milestone.

Bracken was the man to pick up the third wicket which was the scalp of Wicketkeeper batsman Dhoni. Bracken swung 5 balls back into Dhoni and then followed it up with one that went across the Indian taking the top of offstump with the last ball of the 20th over.

 

[indiancricketer]

nice stuff mate...keep it up

 

[Short Leg]

Yuvraj Singh Leads The Fightback​

2nd ODI - Eden Gardens, Kolkata
India 7/187
40 overs

Yuvraj Singh 34(52)*
Harbhjan Singh 1(6)*

McGrath 0/30
Lee 1/61
Bracken 2/30
Symonds 1/32
Hogg 3/30
Clarke 0/1

It started to go sour for India pretty quickly once they lost the little master Sachin Tendulkar who was caught on the fence by Katich. He was shortly followed back to the pavillion by captain Dravid and new recruit Rao as the home side where reduced to 6/135.

Yuvraj Singh stayed strong and with some support from lower order spinner Kartik they began to rebuild. Successfully seeing off Brett Lee's 10 overs things started to look up for India before Kartik played all around a Brad Hogg chinaman and was castled for a decent 22.

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Tendulkar hits out as Australia celebrate​

At 7/183 and Harbhajan Singh coming to the crease it was time for India to be realistic about an achieveable total. Obviously they aren't going to get to the 280 mark so they need to be smart in the final 10 overs to get somthing like 220 - 240.

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Hogg reckons he's a bit of alright​

You have to give credit to the Australian bowlers especially Brad Hogg who has picked up three key wickets and hopefully for him there are more to come. Bracken wil bowl at the death with Lee being bowled out and Clarke also taking up some of Symonds overs.

 

[Short Leg]

India Show Courage Under Fire​

2nd ODI - Eden Garden, Kolkata
India 8/261
50 overs

One hell of a close to the innings for India. They seemed dead in the water before the lower order revived the innings and the match. It wouldnt of ben possible without Yuvraj Singh who played an unbeaten knock of 61 from 76 deliveries.

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Some fantastic hitting in the final overs off McGrath and Bracken by Harbhajan sore him get to 47 in quick time before he was caught on the boundary at deep backward square.

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The final total was 1 run clear of the total they set the other day for Australia to win and they chased that so you would have to say Australia are favourites but a couple of early wickets especially the one of Gilchrist would have them in trouble.



When we come back Australia will require 262 runs to win at a run rate of 5.24 runs an over. Can India comback from the dead or will Australia prove to be to good yet again?

 

[Short Leg]

Australia Stumble In Run Chase​

2nd ODI - Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Australia 3/85
20 overs

Katich 32(61)*
Symonds 9(13)*

Pathan 1/33
Khan 0/18
Kartik 2/28
Sree Santh 0/5

Australia Require 177 Runs at 5.90 Runs an over

Australia are now trying to recover after a slow start that sore them lose 3 valuable wickets. An amazing comback from India as they have not only resurected thre innings earlier today but are now ontop with the early wickets of Gilchrist, Ponting and Martyn.

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Gilchrist proved his weakness outside the off stump as he edged to Yuvraj Singh at first slip who took a blinder. He really is having a great game.

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The early introduction of Murali Kartik brought about 2 wickets for the young offspinner. Both the captain Ponting and Martyn where bowled in unfortunate sercomstances. It is now up to Simon Katich who is playing well within himself as he looks to push the ball around and also Andrew Symonds who is holding himself back against the spinners before he will unleash later on.