ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 2:BangladeshvsIndiaLive from Trent Bridge 6th June, 2009
Sizzling Sehwag brushes Bangladesh aside
A blistering and valiant knock from opener Virender Sehwag ensured his team won their opening game of the ICC World Twenty20. Bangladesh had previously beaten India in the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies but today, India gave the Bangladesh team a reality check despite their batting line-up not in full gear.
Set 152 to win, the Indian opening pair strode out towards the middle as the thousands of British-Indian fans cheered them on. However that cheer was to be dampened out very quickly. As Gambhir took guard Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful talked to opening bowler Mashrafe Mortaza regarding the swing and conditions. After a breif chat play could commence as Mortaza ran towards the popping crease with the wind behind him. The ball was pitched up and came back into Gambhir. Attempting to work the ball away onto the legside Gambhir was late on the shot as the death rattle of the middle stump cartwheeling out of the ground silenced the Indian crowd, and ignited the Bangladeshi crowd. Mortaza celebrated as he pointed to his captain with a huge grin on his face as Gambhir trudged back to the pavilion for a first ball duck.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni appeared to be off-guard as he was seen quickly adjusting his helmet and wearing his gloves before stepping down the steps into the middle as the "Chak Lein De" song played in the background. Immediatly, Sehwag approached Dhoni and gave his some useful words regarding the movement and the condition of the pitch. Sadly these words would not have an effect as Dhoni was to go quite quickly.
Mortaza discussed the approach to Dhoni with his captain Mohammad Ashraful. The plan was to probe outside off-stump and let the ball attain movement off the pitch. Dhoni left two consecutive deliveries which were out-swingers. The third ball was to be more straighter and Dhoni attempted to seize the opportunity by lofting the ball over mid-off. Dhoni immediatly knew he had mistimed it as his head looked up to the sky. Shahadat Hossain at mid-off was moving left to right and for a moment it had seemed as though he had mistimed it. However he made up lost ground and took the catch. The Bangladeshi crowd went into an immediate frenzy as Indian captain MS Dhoni walked back for the second duck of the Indian Innings. India were 0/2 after 4 balls.
The seemingly dull Indian crowd were expected to be livened up as according to the majority of them Yuvraj Singh should have been striding out to the middle. Instead. the crowd saw "ROHIT" written on the back of the medium framed player. It was Rohit Sharma. He strode doing plenty of stretches on his way to the wicket aswell as looking wide-eyed at the non-striker Sehwag. The crowd was in a frenzy as Mortaza bowled his 5th ball of the match which Rohit glided down to third man to open India's account. Sehwag accounted a single off the final ball of an eventful over.
Despite the wicket playing up and the sudden loss in wickets Sehwag did what he did best as an out of form Shahadat Hossain, who was getting pace and constantly hitting 140kmh bowled the wrong line to Sehwag. I.E: Outside off-stump. With minimal footwork Sehwag lunged forward and hit the second and third balls of Shahadat's over for boundaries. However Shahadat did comeback well giving a sharp bouncer aswell as a glare to Sehwag.
Rohit on the other hand was being cautious of his offstump and glancing his way to singles. He did however crack a glorious cover drive past Mithun Ali at extra cover for his first boundary. That was the best it got though. Shahadat had been a fraction expensive and was bowling too full on occasions aswell as too short. The pitch aided his first wicket of the match. Shahadat bowled the 5th ball of his second over. It was pitched up and it was as though it would be a repeat of the previous delivery. BUT the ball swung away late from Rohit a fraction which made him lunge towards the ball. Despite middling it, captain Mohammad Ashraful took a sharp catch in front of him as the celebrations continued. India 19/3 after 4 overs.
After much anticipation, the so-called "King of T20" Yuvraj Singh strode to the middle with his side in deep trouble. With the pressure on, captain Ashraful brought Junaid Siddique into the first slip position. An upish drive which was mis-fielded at mid-off by Abdur Razzak brought Yuvraj his first boundary. Mortaza's figures were still however impressive. Sehwag knew that the innings had taken a turn for the worse and thus unleashed a savage attack on Shahadat aswell as the new introduction of Sakib Al Hasan. In the final ball of the 7th over, Sehwag swept a flighted half-volley outside leg-stump all the way over the stands and into the stadium's parking lot accounting for the biggest six hit yet totalling a massive 114 metres! Despite this, Abdur Razzak was keeping things neat and tidy at the other end and was troubling Sehwag with the uneven bounce. Would he get his man?
Fourtunatly for the Indians, Sakib Al Hasan took another walloping at the hands of Yuvraj Singh as the King Of T20 smashed 2 consecutive sixes straight back into the crowd. This brought the Indian 50 up. The thoughts of the Indian fans were if there could be a repeat of Durban. Could UV accomplish the same feat he accomplished 2 years before. Before the start of Sakib's 3rd ball, captain Ashraful went over to him and discussed some tactics. It must have been Ashraful's day as finally Sakib got his man. Realising that Yuvraj would attempt to go big Ashraful placed Abdur Razzak at deep square leg and right back on the boundary. A full flighted delivery outside off-stump was bowled and in an attempt to hit big for the third time Yuvraj lunged over and swept. He knew he had got the splice of the bat as shouts of "CATCH IT!" from wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim bellowed out over the stump microphone. Razzak came in a few yards and took the catch under his eyes as Sakib gave Yuvraj a send-off. India 54/4 after 8 overs.
With the middle-order collapsing Sehwag needed to get a partnership going and fast. He was the set man and knew how the pitch was playing. In strode Yusuf Pathan. Could Bangladesh get him early and cruise to victory? With Sehwag on 20 it was time to take charge. He and Yusuf Pathan began to take singles per ball as Yuvraj's cameo had put them ahead of the rate. Occasionally, Sehwag would hit the odd boundary with ease to ease the pressure of the non-striker Yusuf Pathan. Pathan was adapting well to his role as the boundaries and the mature approach set by Sehwag was easing the pressure off him. Eventually Sehwag reached his half-century with a punch down to long-off as he rose his bat towards the Indian dressing room. At this stage India were 107/4 after 15 overs with 44 required off the final 5 overs. Shanthakumaran Sreesanth brought on a fresh pair of gloves aswell as drinks for both Sehwag and Y Pathan. The final surge was imminant as Sehwag and Y Pathan had casually guided India out of a hole. Sehwag put the final touches his 4th six of the innings brought down the equation to 20 off 3 overs. Even the silent Yusuf Pathan smashed a low full toss by Shahadat over long-on for a maximum.
Captain Mohammad Ashraful brought the field in as with 3 runs required off 8 balls required for this action to take place. Syed Rasel who was bowling plenty of cutters bowled a slower ball on a short length. Yusuf Pathan opened the face of the bat and galloped down the pitch. Sehwag did not move as a loud shout of "NOOOOOO!" was heard. Y Pathan did not look back as a direct hit from Tamim Iqbal at point saw the end of a 94 run partnership. Despite the job being partly done the dissapointment could be shown on Y Pathan's face as he walked off the pavilion for 46 off 49 balls. His brother Irfan Pathan replaced him. Rasel bowled his final ball of the match, a yorker outside off-stump which I Pathan wanted to squeeze down to the vacant third-man area. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim took a smart take as I Pathan grinned at Rasel.
With 3 runs required off the final over the field still remained up. Captain Ashraful brought himself on to bowl the final over with a bit of pressure upon himself, his twam aswell as his counterparts the Indians. A couple of dot balls could twist the game into the Bangladeshi's favour. Ashraful jumped in to bowl his leg-breaks. Sehwag seized on a long hop and hooked it elegantly, one bounce into the purple "Yahoo" advertising boards. Sehwag hugged his partner I Pathan and handshakes were immediatly issued. The Indians had gotten out of a huge hole thanks to the destructive Virender Sehwag who was unbeaten on 75 off 56 deliveries including 7 fours and 4 sixes.
Well, this is back. I'm happy. And one suggestion. Why dont you put up the details of next match even like 'will south africa defeat australia.? Hang on to check it'
Well, this is back. I'm happy. And one suggestion. Why dont you put up the details of next match even like 'will south africa defeat australia.? Hang on to check it'
ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 5:ScotlandvsSouth AfricaLive from The Brit Oval 7th June, 2009
Scotland up for the challenge
After the washout at The Oval in their previous game, Scotland will go into their second game of the tournament against the South Africans knowing that a loss here could seriously jepordise their chances of progressing to the next stage of the tournament.
Against the New Zealanders, Scotland looked in fine nick with the top and middle order performing. However today it will have to be a joint effort with bat and ball to see Scotland cause a mighty upset.
Scotland captain said:
All the cricketing world knows that the South Africans are a tough unit aswell as tough to beat. And being ranked the number #1 side in the World makes it seem a mismatch when they and spectators see Scotland vs South Africa. Today, we will go out full of confidence and will play to the best of our ability and see where it leads us from there
For the South Africans this will be their opening game of the tournament. They know a win today will most likely propell them into the Super Eights of the competition. Their warm-up game against Pakistan was played at Trent Bridge so The Oval surface will be new to them.
South African captain said:
This is our opening game of the tournament today. We want to get off to a winning start especially after the rest we have had during our previous series against the Indians. The label that other spectators put on the South Africans are that we are "chokers." And as a captain it gets to you as it makes it seem as though your captaincy is not to its standard and including that I have to look at my personal performance. Hopefully we will try our level best to come out of this tournament with that label being removed.
Despite the rain which fell on The Oval two days ago, the groundsman at The Brit Oval have done a fantastic job to clense the damp water out of the pitch. In addition tomorrow's forecast has forecasted Sun with bright blue skies. Should be fun to watch for the spectators.
Team Probables
Scotland: 1)F Watts 2)Navdeep Poonia 3)K Coetzer 4)R Watson 5)N McCallum 6)Majid Haq 7)*G Hamilton 8)+C Smith 9)J Stander 10)R Drummond 11)C MacLeod
South Africa: 1)H Gibbs 2)*G Smith 3)J Kallis 4)AB de Villiers 5)JP Duminy 6)A Prince 7)+M Boucher 8)R van der Merwe 9)W Parnell 10)M Morkel 11)D Steyn
Live coverage of Scotland vs South Africa will commence at 10:00am GMT. Stay tuned to ESPN STAR SPORTS!
ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 5:ScotlandvsSouth AfricaLive from The Brit Oval 7th June, 2009
BREAKING NEWS:Dale Steyn suffers injury during net session
South African paceman Dale Steyn has suffered a fractured index finger on his bowling hand during a net session. The incident occured when Steyn was bowling to Herchelle Gibbs in the nets. A full ball was smashed back at Steyn at a rate of knots. Taking evasive action, Steyn attempted to catch the ball however the speed at which the ball was coming at caused Steyn to drop the catch and immediatly afterwards he could feel an excruciating amount of pain as his index finger swelled up rapidly.
Steyn may miss up to 2 weeks, enough time to not participate in the tournament
Craig Smith, the South African team's official physiotherapist attended to Steyn and shortly afterwards, Steyn was taken out of the stadium and took to the nearest hospital. South African coach Mickey Arthur has now got to look for a replacement for the paceman. However the news from the camp is that left-arm pace bowler Yusuf Abdulla may make only his 2nd International Twenty20 appearance. With play a mere 3 hours away, Arthur will have to make his decision.
ESPN Star Sports will keep up with the latest happenings. Stay tuned to ESPN Star Sports!
Typical Gibbs :laugh Doesn't even matter if it is a net session he is still treating it like baseball. That is a big big blow for the Saffers though. Yusuf Abdulla is an interesting choice, I personally have not heard of him and he would have big shoes to fill.
Now all the Scots need to do is hobble the rest of the Saffers and they'll be perfect
ICC World Twenty20 2009 Game 5:ScotlandvsSouth AfricaLive from The Brit Oval 7th June, 2009
Resiliant Proteas restrict Scots to 130
Some late hitting from Majid Haq and Ryan Watson brought some hope to the mere Scottish fans sat in The Brit Oval. Overall there were some starts however the Scottish batsman did not expand on the starts which resulted in them achieving 130/8 in their alloted 20 overs.
Winning the toss Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton elected to bat first on a flat wicket ideal for batting. It had been confirmed at the toss that the South Africans had elected to play the extra left-arm seamer Yusuf Abdulla and decided to retain Ashwell Prince over all-rounder Albie Morkel.
Scotland's innings started off well as openers Frazer Watts and Navdeep Poonia took the attack to a nervous looking Abdulla. Whereas at the other end young left-armer Wayne Parnell was generating shear pace aswell as swing and a tight line. All of this was making it difficult for Watts and Poonia to score off. In this second over, Abdulla started to get his wrist position correct aswell as getting some in-swing. Despite the changes his second over went for 8 runs to accumulate 20 runs off his 2 overs not reflecting Wayne Parnell's 2-0-8-0. It was Parnell who struck first.
Frazer Watts had not been comfortable with Parnell's extra pace. As Parnell steamed in, Watts cleared his left leg out of the way and attempted to heave the ball similar to that of his counterpart Navdeep Poonia for a boundary or if lucky a six with Parnell's pace. Sadly, the ball hit the bottom end of the bat and went flat to AB De Villiers situated at square leg who took a relatively simple catch to dismiss Watts for just 12. Scotland 29/1 in the 5th over.
The fall of Watts brought Durham batsman Kyle Coetzer to the wicket. He aswell as Poonia had played at the Brit Oval on countless occasions and were familiar with the characteristics of the pitch. Immediatly Coetzer rotated the strike as Poonia was ready to face Parnell. It was Parnell again who provided yet another breakthrough. Before Parnell was to bowl at Poonia, South African captain Graeme Smith jogged across from first slip for a brief chat regarding the field placement. Roelof van der Merwe at square leg was told to go back on the boundary, tempting Poonia to go over the top. With the new field set Parnell ran into the wind and bowled a length delivery on Poonia's leg-stump. With a wristy flick, it had seemed as though to the spectators aswell as the crowd sat in The Brit Oval that Poonia had flicked the ball fine for the second six of the Scots innings.However it was a shout of "CATCH IT ROLLY!" heard over the stump microphone by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher that turned the attention of the crowd aswell as the fielders out in the middle. The trajectory of the ball was seeming as though the ball would go over the top of van der Merwe's small frame. He also knew that if he stepped towards the boundary the ball would fly past him. In a fantastic attempt to catch the ball van der Merwe leapt into the air getting some fantastic elevation in the process as he grasped the ball with both hands and came tumbling back down to Earth. The crowd aswell as the commentators were in utter silence as they did not know if he had taken the catch cleanly or not. It was evident that van der Merwe though otherwise as he threw the ball a mile into the blue sky as various South African fielders sprinted towards him. Poonia could not believe his luck but he had to go. Scotland now 33/2.
The fall of Navdeep Poonia saw Neil McCallum join Kyle Coetzer at the crease with Scotland in a fraction of bother at 33/2 in the 6th over. The main destroyer being Wayne Parnell. It was here that both Coetzer and McCallum ground out and finally began to use the flat wicket to their advantage. The introduction of left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe saw a flurry of boundaries as some short bowling aswell as little assistance from the pitch saw McCallum take advantage. Coetzer was playing the anchor of the innings whereas McCallum was targetting van der Merwe.
At the pavilion end Graeme Smith intoduced medium pacer Jacques Kallis into the attack and he was proving to be a handy customer clocking up 84 mph! aswell as the additional movement off the pitch and in the air. It was becoming clear that the wicket was favouring the seam bowlers. However, McCallum aswell as Coetzer were playing conservatively.
van der Merwe finally broke the 53 run partnership by dismissing Coetzer for his patient 17 off 34 balls. Throughout his time bowling it had been noted by captain Graeme Smith that van der Merwe had been bowling it quick aswell as a fraction short. A flighted, harmless delivery decieved Coetzer as he attempted to improve his strike rate but was caught at mid-off by Yusuf Abdulla. His counterpart Neil McCallum also fell soon after at the hands of Jacques Kallis for a well played 32 off 29 balls. In his final over, Kallis decided to hit the blockhole early on as it would stem the flow of runs. With a hint of reverse swing playing part Coetzer attempted to run the ball fine to a vacant third man. However moving across his stumps too much aswell as some pin-point accuracy by Jacques Kallis saw McCallum LBW as now Scotland were 86/4 and did reach 90/4 after 16 overs.
It was the unlikely pair of the allrounders Majid Haq and Ryan Watson that caused Graeme Smith to re-think his tactics. With just 4 overs to go and with his main bowlers bowled out, Smith decided to bring Morne Morkel into the attack. The result was 22 runs from the over with a few delicate dabs for four aswell as some aggression. The result 112/4 after 17 overs. Smith knew that he required one more bowler to bowl a minimum of 1 over. He immediatly called part-time bowler JP Duminy into the attack. And to his suprise, Duminy was on a hattrick on the opening 2 balls of his spell. He dismissed dangerman Majid Haq who attempted to slog-sweep a full delivery and was trapped LBW. The next batsman was captain Gavin Hamilton. Duminy decided bravely to flight one delivery up towards the bat of Hamilton. He was too early on the shot as Graeme Smith took an easy catch at point.
Despite this it was now Ryan Watson's turn to lash out again at Morne Morkel who conceeded 9 runs off his final over. Watson did however hit the Scots second maximum of the innings. After a single off the last ball, Scotland finished up on 130/8 in their 20 overs which is a par score it has to be said. The South African camp was looking confident heading into the dressing rooms.
So Scotland have posted 130/8 in their 20 overs meaning that South Africa will require 131 runs to win at a required rate of 6.55. We will take a 20 minute interval and after that we will have the South African run chase live. Stay tuned to ESPN Star Sports!
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Despite this, Abdur Razzak was keeping things neat and tidy at the other end and was troubling Sehwag with the uneven bounce. Would he get his man?
