ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 1:EnglandvsNetherlandsLive from Lord's 5th June, 2009
Desired Dutch blow off England (Dutch win handsomly by 10 wickets)
After the 15 minute interval, Paul Collingwood and his troops strode onto the field repeating the same drills they had done time and time again. Collingwood knew that he had to get it right today or face the consequences of getting dumped out of the tournament in the group stages if they were to lose to Pakistan. For now though, the Dutch were in his firing line.
Openers Daan van Bunge and 20 year old Alexei Kervezee stepped out into the middle knowing that the required rate for Netherlands to win was near 7 runs per over. James Anderson was to open the bowling and in Collingwood's view get a couple of early wickets. They played Anderson and left-arm seamer Sidebottom cautiously as the Dutch had obviously done their homework and knew that these two were to be the main threat. With the first 6 overs being powerplay overs, the Dutch then took the attack to Sidebottom and Anderson. Out of the two, it was the more experienced van Bunge who lead the attack. After taking 10 runs from Anderson's final over, he was lucky to survive as Sidebottom bowled a half-volley swinging away from van Bunge. Attempting the drive he got a healthy edge however Wicketkeeper James Foster and Owais Shah at first slip both left the ball for each other as it sailed in the vacant gap much to the dissapointment of an angry Sidebottom. With Anderson & Sidebottom bowled out, Collingwood had to make 2 2 bowling changes. Stuart Broad was scheduled to come on however, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Luke Wright bowled in tandem during overs 8-16. With Netherlands 52-0 after 8 overs requiring another 84 runs off 72 balls, Collingwood had to stop the flow of runs. The Dutch dug-out was fairly relaxed.
When drinks were brought on after 10 overs, van Bunge and Kervezee got a message from the dug out which was to play sensibly and get the odd boundary. van Bunge seemed to take the message into account, however Kervezee simply ignored it and started his portion of the assault on the English medium pacers. With the ball having less shine, the element of swing was eliminated. Mascarenhas bowled consistant line and length however his counterpart Luke Wright was bowling wayward and thus giving both openers especially Kervezee the room to lash his arms and pick the boundary.
van Bunge did recieve his opportunity to slog as a front foot no ball from Wright ended up with the ball in the second row of the Grandstand ultimatly leading to a much deserved half-century from the experienced opener. The fans and the commentators were baffled as to why Luke Wright continued to bowl. The 16th over of the Innings went for 16 which was apparantly the final nail in the coffin for England and brought up a well played half-century for 20 year-old Alexei Kervezee off just 37 deliveries.
Now as 17 runs were now required off 4 overs. Heads dropped and realising the game had gone out of England's grasp, Collingwood gave the ball to young leg-spinner Adil Rashid. But it was all over bar the shouting. With 8 required, the skipper finally turned to Stuart Broad. Everyone including the fans at home must have been baffled. Consecutive fours off balls 2 and 3 by Kervezee finished the job as numerous England players dropped to the floor.
In contrast to the Orange Army pushing, shoving, sprinting onto the pitch and hugging the 2 openers. The Dutch had pulled off an almost impossible feat. England looked dazed, shocked at the current happenings. Here are the scorecards of this memorable victory.
Netherlands Batting Card
England Bowling Card
Result:Netherlands win by 10 wickets
Collingwood's views and preview of New Zealand vs Scotland will be included in the next update. Stay tuned to ESPN Star Sports!
Woahhh! The English really got it handed to them! That was some rubbish bowling to not be able to take any of the Dutch Wickets! Can they recover from here is the big question!
Well the English batsman were unable put a good total on the board and that led to their downfall. Actually the no one went for many runs in the English bowlers except for Luke Wright but the total was too less to defend. Brilliant allround display by the Dutch and hoping they can cause some more upsets over here and enter the next round.
ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 2:New ZealandvsScotlandPreview 6th June, 2009
Vettori's men are confident
A mere 24 hours after the Dutch's remarkable 10 wicket victory over hosts England, Danial Vettori's side will face off against a Scotland team on a high. Despite knowing this, Vettori seemed confident and fairly relaxed. In a press conference following the England vs Netherlands match he clearly spoke about his personal thoughts and intentions.
Vettori: It is a known fact that the Kiwis always make the Semi-Finals
"If you look at the records of World Cups and even the previous World Twenty20 2 years ago in South Africa, approximatly 5 out of 6 times we make the Semi-Finals. With this information I feel that we should not worry that much about our opposition today. We are going to expect Scotland to come hard and we will try our level best to win today's game and gather momentum heading into the South African game."
Their opponents the Scots were working hard practicing fielding drills aswell as the batsmen and bowlers getting a much needed practice. In last year's inaugural tournament, Scotland had Pakistan in real trouble at 60/4 however thats when Shahid Afridi let loose smashing a quickfire 27 in his swashbuckling fashion. Scotland started well and were 52/2 in no time. Sadly, 52/2 became 60/6 as Afridi tore the heart out of the middle-order.
Their second game of the tournament, scheduled to be against India was rained-off and meant that Scotland were out of the Inaugural Twenty20. Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton gave his thought about Scotland's chances in a press conference following Vettori's words.
Hamilton: Going one step further is our main aim
"In 2007 we saw many upsets. Ireland winning Pakistan, Bangladesh beating India, Zimbabwe beating Australia. In 2009 I feel Scotland have come a long way and the effort and commitment the lads have out in is truly uncomparable. With this I feel Scotland have the ability to go one step further into the Tournament which would boost morales aswell as enlighten the fans back home."
The weather looks to be blue skies with the Sun beating down with temperatures rising to a maximum of 28 degress celcius. However, there has been talk of heavy showers to arrive in the next couple of hours.
Team probables: New Zealand:1)Guptill 2)+McCullum 3)Taylor 4)Ryder 5)Broom 6)Styris 7)Oram 8)Diamanti 9)*Vettori 10)Mills 11)O'Brien
Like how Netherland have taught a lesson to English team, Scotties can also teach a good lesson to Kiwis.. Who knows? In T20, no-one can predict till that final delivery of that 40th over.
ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 2:New ZealandvsScotlandLive from the Brit Oval 6th June, 2009
The Brit Oval was half full which was expected in today's encounter between New Zealand and Scotland. At the coin toss, Kiwis captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to field first on a hard, flat pitch expecting turn but allowing the ball to come onto the bat nicely.
Vettori gathered his 10 other team-mates into a huddle and discussed the strategies and what was expected. With that Scotland openers Frazer Watts and Navdeep Poonia emerged onto the field. Watts had been playing for his national side for quite a while and is an experienced customer. At the non-striker's end stood Navdeep Poonia. Poonia had played for Warwickshire for a Season and knows the conditions well which maybe to his advantage.
As Vettori set his field, he handed the new ball to seamer Kyle Mills. Mills had been hit with injury quite a while back and has not performed as well as expected upon his return. Now however, was his chance to make his mark as the spearhead of the New Zealand pace attack against a mediocore Scottish side. As umpire Aleem Dar shouted play, Mills ran in and delivered his first ball which was a length ball tucked away to the boundary elegantly by Frazer Watts to open his account. Mills' only sense of joy came when Poonia inside-edged the ball onto his pad. Mills went up for the appeal but was dissapointed as Dar shook his head and ended the first over.
At the Pavilion End was Iian O' Brien pulling and stretching his leg muscles. O'Brien had been called up as a late replacement for ICL Rebel Shane Bond as the NZCL did not give the decision in time. Watts and Poonia were not able to open their arms as O'Brien bowled a stump to stump line and just short of a length. Watts was calm and collected however Poonia was struggling for his timing and was not watching the ball onto the bat.
As Mills bowled his second over, Watts pulled an attempted bouncer over fine leg to bring up Scotland's first six of the Innings and Watts' first six. Sadly this was to be his last six. Vettori immediatly raced up to Mills and signalled the arrival of a slower ball. Mills took the message from his skipper onboard and got ready to bowl his second ball of the over. Mills pitched the slower ball outside off-stump. Unknowingly, Watts was through the shot to early. A rise shout of "Catch it" was bellowed from Mills' mouth. On the edge of the circle, Jacob Oram timed his jump correctly and sniffled the catch. Watts was livid as he stormed off towards the Pavilion for 10 runs off 9 balls as Scotland were now 14/1 in the third over.
The fall of Watts' wicket brought in McCallum into bat at number 3. McCallum had recently joined the Scotland side and a match against the Kiwis was sure to test him. Suprisingly it was him and Poonia who accelerated during overs 3-13. After a lapse in concentration, Poonia started finding the boundary regularly against both seamers especially O'Brien. However, captain Daniel Vettori brought himself on into the attack earlier than expected. In his first over, Vettori was getting some turn off the wicket. At times Poonia was finding it a tough task to rotate the strike but eventually did off the 5th ball of the over. McCallum had not seen much of Vettori and needed a boundary to get the score ticking over. Vettori bowled a flighted delivery which was pitched up. McCallum appeared to have been beaten in flight as his straight drive appeared to have been mis-timed. Fortunatly it had just the correct amount of elivation to send the ball into the stands. Vettori took his cap from Umpire Taufel and kicked the dirt in disgust.
Working in tandem with Vettori would be newcomer into the New Zealand side, Diamanti an bowling all-rounder bowling medium pacers. Vettori thought that this would add even more pressure on Scotland's run rate. Diamanti started his opening over very well conceding just 3 runs off it, bowling a tight line and length. McCallum then decided to launch a strong offensive against Vettori. His second over went for 13 runs putting Vettori's 2 overs for 20 runs. McCallum swept a huge six over fine leg and followed up with a late-cut in the vacant third-man area. Poonia also attempted to use the long handle when a slower-ball from Diamanti was skied up high into the blue sky. Neil Broom on the boundary lept up almost behind himself but the ball crossed his reach.
Scotland had reached 79/1 in 12 overs. With McCallum being the main threat on 34 off just 26 deliveries. It was Vettori who persisted and finally got rid of him. Knowing McCallum was the dangerman, Vettori positioned his field tempting McCallum to go over Extra Cover which would be going with the spin creating less risk. Vettori flighted the delivery and simultaneously McCallum advanced down the pitch. Vettori had bowled the Googly and had decieved McCallum as the ball crashed into the leg-stump. Vettori directly ran after McCallum celebrating as this was a big breakthrough for the Kiwis.
Kyle Coetzer then joined Poonia who was on 35. Coetzer had played Domestically for Durham and was a good player of spin. Poonia then hoisted a couple of boundaries away off Diamanti to raise his half-century off 49 deliveries including 4 fours and 2 sixes. At the other end, Coetzer was not rotating the strike enough as he struggled to 3 off 11 balls. Due to some slow scoring, Scotland had reached 109/2 with just 4 overs to go.
With all of his main bowlers bowled out, Vettori turned to All-Rounder Jacob Oram to bowl at the death. It was Coetzer who took advantage of a rusty Jacob Oram. Oram was not expected to bowl however Vettori had no other bowlers to turn to. Coetzer took this opportunity as a rusty Jacob Oram lost his line and length as Coetzer took 14 off the over which set up Scotland nicely for the last 18 balls of the Innings.
Vettori then turned to Scott Styris who was expected to bowl at the death. Styris made Poonia play and miss on 2 occasions and was thrid time lucky when an off-cutter from Styris was easily caught by Diamanti at Mid-Off ending a good knock by Navdeep Poonia. This brought former Scotland captain Craig Wright to the wicket. Styris' over went for just 3 runs as Scotland were finding it difficult to take the valuable singles.
Oram then started his second over, hoping to make amends to his previous over which went for 14. It was Oram who had the last laugh as Kyle Coetzer attempted to hoist another maximum over mid-off. Oram kept it full and straight and as the saying goes "You miss, I hit." Ryan Watson then emerged knowing a few boundaries were required. In an attempt to do that, Craig Wright spliced a cover drive to Scott Styris who took a magnificent catch. Jacob Oram was on a hat-trick and to Scotland it was another dot ball. Watson drilled a low full toss straight into Oram's left shoulder causing the ball to rickashay and allowing Hamiltob on strike. Oram seemed unphased about it as he cracked a joke with Daniel Vettori. Fortunatly for Scotland it was the Gavin Hamilton show as he hit sucessive sixes and finished the over with a boundary over long-on as Scotland had reached 143/4 heading into the last over.
Styris had bowled a superb over considering it at the death by just going for 3 runs. However, even he could not stop the wrath of the Scotland captain as he bludgened the penultimate and final balls of the Innings towards the boundary getting Scotland past 150 and ending up on 24 from just 7 balls. Scotland had posted a decent total of 153 which would mean that Daniel Vettori's side would require 154 runs to win at a required run rate of 7.70.
As the players were heading off the field, a thick, black cloud hovered over The Oval. The crowd had anticipated what was coming as various colours of umbrellas shot up. The ground staff raced onto the field just 4-5 seconds after the first fall of rain, doing their level best to cover the pitch.
Scotland Batting Card
New Zealand Bowling Card
Will rain affect the Kiwis' Innings? Find out only on ESPN Star Sports.
Let's hope that the rain can stay away and not affect this match. It was a pretty decent total scored in a 20/20 game. But the Kiwi's are looking in trouble here, with the rain just starting to get a little heavier.
Thats a respectable totaly by Scotland but you would expect that with the strength of the NZ batting line up it should be an interesting chase. If the scottish bowlers stand up there is a chance that they could restrict the NZ batting line up. It won't be easy for them but there is a small chance they could do it.
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