Story World Championship in WI....

[nightprowler10]

I know what you're thinking. No I haven't abandoned the series just yet.

I've had some bugs in my computer past couple of days, that I finally got fixed, but I played the Bang. match while it was still screwed up. My computer tended to slow down wit too many programs running so I played the game without turning Fraps on, so sorry, no screenshots of this particular match.

It was a good batting pitch, so Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. That decision would've been a good one if they had a decent batting lineup, but with the exception of Alon Kapali (who got run out at 41) there were no major contributions form the top order batsmen. It was infact the tailenders who ended up putting bigger contributions towards the end of the inning dragging the target upto 152 all out. Everybody from the Pakistani side took atleast one wicket with Kaneria taking 3.

Pakistani openers were able to put up a 103 run partnership in 21 overs but then got overconfident and lost four quick wickets. Both openers were able to achieve half-centuries, and the match ended with 18 overs to spare. A very decisive win for Pakistan.

From here on, I will be taking screenshots.

Also, based on the standings I posted earlier, who do you predict will make it to the Super-Sixes and then the semifinals?

 

[nightprowler10]

After Pakistan beat Bangladesh, here are the matches that were played and their results:

• Ned vs. Kenya - Ned win by 6 wickets
• England vs. NZL - NZL win by 21 runs
• WIN vs. SL - SL win by 24 runs
• Namibia vs Zim - Nam win by 9 runs
• SAF vs. Aus - Aus win by 3 wickets
• India vs. Bangladesh - India win by 22 runs
• Canada vs. Kenya - Can win by 25 runs
• SRL vs. Ned - SRL win by 3 runs

The next match to be played is between Pakistan and England, two of the teams struggling to be number 1 in their group. Going to go play part of it now, can't promise I'll finish it though.

 

[Johann]

Hope you finish the championship. I'm enjoying it! Good luck! :cheer

 

[nightprowler10]

Thank You Johann.

Just thought I'd post this before I begin:

As you can see, England esperately need this win, meanwhile Pakistan can't risk losing it either.

 

[nightprowler10]

First Inning...

'Twas a nice batting pitch, but there wasn't much in it for the bowlers, so any team playing first would've achieved a decent target, but it wouldn't have been hard chasing it either.

England won the toss and elected to field, let's see if this was the right decision or not.

 

[nightprowler10]

Inzi has been debating with himself about moving Shoaib Malik down the order instead of one down, he's only been averaging 9 runs a game, so here's his last chance to prove himself to his captain.

A terrible start from Pakistan as Imran Nazir tries to play a backfoot square-cut on the very first ball of the inning, getting caught by Anderson. A golden duck!!! Pakistan 0/1.

But the Pakistani batsmen picked it right up after that dismissal, scoring 31 runs off of 5 overs. Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik were on a roll as they frustrated the English bowlers. Pakistani fans watched as the batsmen took their partnership to 50, then a 100, and then 150!!!! It wasn't until Johnson came in to bowl that the Pakis showed signs of slowing down. His very accurate bowling forced them to rely singles instead of boundaries, on one such single, Vaughan's quick throw got Younis Khan runout at 87 runs, thus ending a majestic 167 run partnership.

After stepped in, him and Malik kept scoring slowly until Malik finally reached his first century of the tournament. He got a bit careless a few balls after that when he tried to he a square cut on Clarke's delivery and ended up edging it back to Ried.

After Malik's dismissal, it was time to slog, and slogging is what they did. In the next few overs, Inzi and Shahid Afridi got out thanx to loose shots off of Johnson's bowling. Youhana stepped in and scored some quick runs, and the inning ended with Pak team scoring 257/5.

England's reply later in the day.

 

[Johann]

257 should ne enough...I hope. Nice screenshots!

 

[nightprowler10]

Whoops, forgot to post scorecard and other stats.

Going to go start the second inning now. Its a good batting pitch and the wickets are hard to come by, so it should be interesting.

 

[nightprowler10]

England's reply...

England needed 258 runs to win.

The openers started off by playing great shots in the first few overs, scoring at a runrate of 9 after only 4 overs. This was a sign for Inzi to take out those pacers and try somebody more economical. But that didn't slow England down, until Trescothick played a powerful shot off of Danish Kaneria's ball in the 7th over and got caught in deep cover by Shoaib Malik.

England were still able to reach 63 runs in just 10 overs, but slowed down quiet a bit after that, especially since Vaughan, the new man in, was playing most of the deliveries. After not being able to hit any major shots off of Muhammad Amir or Danish Kaneria, the frustrated captain left the crease to play a square cut, but completely missed it. Here's the result:

A few balls later, Solanki, who was closing in on his 50, tried to take a double where there wasn't one and caused McGrath to get runout without ever facing a delivery. A few overs later, Afridi stepped in and got Solanki leg before on a cracking delivery in just his first over. England 79/4.

England had gone from scoring 9 an over to 3 an over. Their batsmen, Flintoff and Clarke, seemed to have given up. They scored 12 runs in the next 8 overs, and then in Sami's second spell, Clarke tried to play a cover drive but instead edged it off right into Shoaib Malik's hands.

Ried stepped in and put up a quick 30+ partnership with Flintoff, which ended abruptly when Flintoff tried to hit a six off of Afridi but got caught on the boundary. The rest of the batsmen got out off loose shots, and the whole English team went out with 9 balls remaining at only 155 runs.

 

[nightprowler10]

Pakistan win by 102 run!!!!

Here is the scorecard and stats, I'm having a hard time deciding who the man of the match should be; Shoaib Malik (for his century), Shahid Afridi, or Danish Kaneria? You decide based on the stats:

As you can see, economically, the spinners were very effective on this pitch.

 

[nightprowler10]

After their decisive victory over England, Pakistan had assured for themselves a spot in the 'super six'. Here are how the next few matches turned out:

• WI vs. SAF - WI won by 9 runs
• NZL vs. Namibia - NZL won by 103 runs
• Aus vs. Canada - Aus win by 8 wickets
• Zim vs. India - Zim won by 5 wickets!!! This probably kicked India out of the championship.
• SL vs. Kenya - Kenya won by 6 runs!!!!
• Eng vs. Bang - Eng win by 6 wickets
• SAF vs. Ned - SAF won by 21 runs
• Canada vs. WI - WI win by 8 wickets

Next match, Pakistan vs. Namibia:

From group A, Sri Lanka, Australia, and South Africa have made it into the super six competition. From group B, Pakistan and New Zealand are definitely in, even if they lose their respective last matches. England on the other hand is in some serious trouble since Zimbabwe's last match is against Bangladesh, and if Zim win, England is out!!!

I will play the match against Namibia later in the day. Hope you're all enjoying this.

 

[Johann]

I definitely am! Namibia should be a walk-over. :cheer

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Here is the scorecard and stats, I'm having a hard time deciding who the man of the match should be; Shoaib Malik (for his century), Shahid Afridi, or Danish Kaneria?

Malik, definately

 

[m_vaughan]

Very Entertaining stuff!! What happened in the Zimbabwe-Bangladesh match???

 

[nightprowler10]

Very Entertaining stuff!! What happened in the Zimbabwe-Bangladesh match???

That is yet to come, I believe it will be the last match played at group stage, but Zimbabwe's performance will definitely be the deciding factor for their inclusion in SS.