Cricket Tournaments

Pakistan chased down the target of 162 that was set by Zimbabwe in their Group A game at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at the Pallekele Stadium near Kandy. Pakistan ended on 164/3 in 34.1 overs. Umar Gul was the man of the match for his good bowling.

Zimbabwe needed to win this game to have any chance of qualification for the next round but after heavy losses to Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, they wouldn’t have harboured too many hopes. Pakistan, on the other hand, were almost through to the quarter-finals but a loss here would have made that path more difficult as they would either have to beat Australia in the last game or lose by a small margin.

Chasing 162 for a win, Ahmed Shehzad’s poor run of form continued to haunt him. He made only eight but he will be disappointed by the shot he played when he tried to charge Ray Price but was stumped by the wicket-keeper Taibu.

However, playing in his first game of the tournament, Asad Shafiq joined Mohammad Hafeez and the pair took the side to the realms of safety. Hafeez fell when he was one short of his half-century but Shafiq went on to make his 50 and despite the early dismissal of Shahid Afridi (3), he ensured that the win was Pakistan’s.

It was a surprising decision by Zimbabwe to win the toss and elect to bat first, that, on a track which was evidently moist. To add to that, the conditions were overcast and one would have expected the side wanting to bowl first. Especially given that the Pakistanis have a bowling attack which can exploit the conditions rather well.

The other surprise was the playing eleven. Under such conditions, it was difficult to comprehend the rationale behind going into the game with only one medium-pacer in S Masakadza. Masakadza was playing his first game of the tournament and the two from the previous game, Tinashe Payangara and Christopher Mpofu were both consigned to the dressing room.

Zimbabwe were quickly pegged back in the very first over of the game as Brendan Taylor was dismissed by Abdul Razzaq for four. Taylor edged one to Kamran Akmal, who seemed to have overcome his catching issues and the batsman had to take the long walk back. In the very next over, Umar Gul had Regis Chakbva dismissed lbw for a duck and then, when Vusi Sibanda departed for five, the Zimbabweans looked like they were in a soup at 13/3 in the sixth over.

Tatenda Taiu added 30 with Craig Ervine but Waha Riaz sent him back to peg the side to 43/4. Ervine batted on and in partnership with the likes of Greg Lamb first and then captain Elton Chigumbura, ensured that they weren’t going to fall away for nothing.

Rain played its part in reducing the overs to 43 but with Zimbabwe’s score reading 151/7 in the 40^th over, rain fell again to reduce the game to 39-a-side. Duckworth-Lewis came into the picture and Pakistan were set a total of 162 in 38 overs. Ervine made 52.

Tatenda Taibu scoring 98 against Canada

It was a battle between the two minnows Zimbabwe and the associates, Canada. It was expected to be a predictable encounter and a tepid crowd gathering vindicated the assumption. The only interesting thing in the match was the colour of the outfit both teams had, as both of them were in red. Zimbabwe scored a massive 298 for 9 of their 50 overs and knocked Canada out for 123 with almost 8 overs to spare. The wicket keeper batsman, Tatenda Taibu was awarded man of the match for his exemplary 98 of just 99 balls.

It was the city of oranges, Nagpur with wonderful pitch and a fast outfield as most of the grounds in India. The battle was open for a run feast. Zimbabwe won the toss and rightly, elected to bat first. Zimbabwe received severe blows from Canada as both openers, Brendon Taylor and Charles Coventry, were back in the pavilion with the score at seven in the fourth over. Taibu and Ervine took command from thereon and managed a mountain stand of 181 of 161 deliveries. Ervine departed to Rao when the ball bounced a little more than expected while he was all set to convert into a ton. Taibu placed some elegant drives, cuts and sweep shots but was unfortunate to run out of gas when he was at 98 and got out to Rao sweeping the ball and top edging it. Chigabura was sent back by Cheema and the man of the moment, Balaji Rao, soon helped his side by picking up Gregory Lamb and Sean Williams before Williams could have converted his start to a big score. Zimbabwe lost momentum amidst wickets falling at regular intervals. Zimbabwe closed shop at 298 for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Balaji Rao was pick of the bowlers while Chohan and Baidwan shared two wickets a piece.

Canada had to bank heavily on veteran, Davison and Rizwan Cheema if they had to come anywhere close to what the opposition had forth for them to chase. The oldest and youngest player of the tournament in John Davison, 40 and Nitish Kumar, 16 came out to open the innings for Canada. Davison’s early departure in the second over didn’t do any good the Canadian confidence. Kumar soon departed chipping one straight down the throat of Ray Price who is having a gala time opening the bowling for Zimbabwe this season. Price soon got his third scalp as captain Bagai swept one straight in the hands of square leg. Canada was tottering at 14 for 3 after 10 overs. Gunasekra and Hansara tried to steady the ship but were always playing the catching up game, they both departed in consecutive overs leaving Canada at 50 for 5 in 22^nd over. Cheema was cheaply dismissed by Utseya. It was then a formality for Zimbabwe to wrap up the Canada innings and their spin attack didn’t let them down as they shared all the wickets amongst them.

Although the result of the match wouldn’t affect the standing too much but will certainly give Zimbabwe zeal to make amongst the best four who will crossover for the quarter-finals.

Australia defeated Zimbabwe by 91 runs

On a placid track, Zimbabwe was successful in restricting the mighty Australia for only 262 for 6 victims in the allotted 50 overs.

Australia started their march with, the man in form of his life, Shane Watson and the wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin. Despite the class of Watson and Haddin, they could only manage a meagre 28 in the first 10 overs but importantly, without a wicket. Ray Price shared the new attack with Mpfou and maintained tidy line and length.

Zimbabwe struck gold in form of Haddin, through the first ever successful technology review (DRS) in CWC 2011, of the bowling of Utseya. After Haddin, next successful scalp, came through another DRS review, was in form of dangerous Watson who was sending the white leather to stands with his brutal power. Australia were restricted to 144 for 3 when a direct throw from Mpofu, who was alert in the outfield, claimed the captain Ricky Ponting. The responsibility to resurrect the innings came on the able shoulders of Clarke and White who managed a decent partnership till Mpofu uprooted White’s timber, resulted in scoreboard to read 207 for 4. Yellow brigade lost two more quick wickets after cameos from Hussey and Smith.

Zimbabwe openers had to face some music from, arguably the fastest pair in world cricket today, Lee and Tait. They came out early from the hiccups with Coventry creaming the ball over cover
point soon before Lee claimed his first victim of the innings, catching Coventry on his own bowling. Taylor started to build the innings before he was sent back and shortly followed by Taibu, who guided a seamy delivery to the slip cordon. Craig Ervine was caught napping to Johnson, which was eventually claimed through the help of another successful DRS of the game and Zimbabwe was tottering for 44 for the loss of 4 wickets in the second power play.

Williams was later claimed by Johnson after his decent stand with Chigumbura who was caught behind by the safe gloves of Haddin for 14 in the 22nd over and Williams’s wicket reducing the score to 96 for 6. The lone battle was further held by Utseya and Cremer to give some respect to the final total and Zimbabwe’s thanks giving happened at 171 with Australia registering their 30th consecutive
win in the world cup.

Overall, Zimbabwe put up a good show in bowling by restricting Australia to a fighting total, which could have been restricted further had they had a specialist 5th bowler, but couldn’t manage to see through with their limited batting resources. Johnson bowled some immaculate line and duly supported by the fire power of Tait and Lee. Shane Watson was aptly chosen man of the match for his knock of 79.

Australia would like to put the past back and regain momentum with this win and continue their unparalleled success in last three world cups and make a mark again.

The T20 Cricket has it roots in England where it was introduced for the first time in professional county cricket tournament. The shortened version of oneday cricket played for only 20 over each side has drawn audiences worldwide and is extremely popular as compared to other versions of cricket. This form of cricket was to provide a short version of the game to worldwide audiences. It was never meant to replace or degrade other forms like oneday and test match cricket. However, to ICC’s surprise, the governing body found that this form of cricket can help introduce the game to many more nations across the world.

The first International T20 match featured the likes of Australia and New Zealand played at the scenic Eden Park stadium in Auckland. The game has made rapid strides since then with the inaugural T20 World Cup Men’s competition being held in South Africa during September 2007. The competition played over duration of two weeks show very entertaining cricket from all the teams. It was the first time that T20 had made it this big and all the teams were uncertain about their performance in the tournament. The first bowl out in the history of T20 cricket was played between India and Pakistan in Durban after the teams were tied in the mandatory 20 over’s period.

Bangladesh proved once again that they are no longer the minnows in World Cricket with their shock defeat of the West Indies; Zimbabwe had also contributed their bit to make the tournament exciting by defeating the Australians in Cape Town. The group stages itself had laid the foundation for the tournament ahead. A young Indian team led by their inspirational captain MS Dhoni, steam rolled over England, South Africa, and title favorites Australia to set up the summit clash against arch rivals Pakistan. The final was an exciting affair with Misbah Ul Haq almost ensuring victory for Pakistan with a big six in the last over of the tournament. However, his miscalculated shot helped India achieve a dramatic 5-run victory over Pakistan and be crowned the T20 champions of the World.

The highlight of the tournament was an over in which Yuvraj Singh of India hammered Englishman Stuart Broad for six sixes of consecutive balls in that over. The most number of runs in the tournament was scored by Gautam Gambhir of India, while Umer Gul of Pakistan snapped up the maximum number of wickets. The Highest strike rate of 183.68 was achieved by Yuvraj Singh and the highest score in a T20 match was 117 scored by Chris Gayle of West Indies against South Africa. Daniel Vettori of New Zealand had the best economy rate amongst the bowlers conceding only 5.28 runs per over in a competition that favored the batsman. The highest score in a T20 match of the tournament was achieved by Sri Lanka when they amassed 260 against the minnows Kenya.

The second edition of the T20 World Cup is currently underway in England with 12 teams making it to the Men’s competition. The tournament is scheduled to be conducted after every two years except for West Indies hosting the tournament in 2010. The matches are being played in locations such as Lord’s, Trent Bridge, The Oval, and Taunton. The group stages have recently finished with Ireland and Netherlands being the surprise package of the tournament. The Dutch had raised their hopes of qualification into the Super 8 round of the tournament with an emphatic victory over England in one of the group games. However, Pakistan steam rolled them and ended all their dreams in the competition.

Ireland has been constantly improving since they first entered the big stage, a memorable win against Pakistan in the Oneday International World Cup held in West Indies, they also went on to beat Bangladesh to qualify for the Super 8 round of the competition. The in form teams of this tournament South Africa and Sri Lanka are playing solid cricket to keep their hopes alive of a summit clash, but West Indies, Pakistan, and New Zealand along with the Defending champions India will not make things easy for them. The last half of the tournament promises to be as exciting as the first half, which will throw many surprises and entertain the audiences with display of exciting cricket.