Showing posts with label overs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overs. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Monday, 28 February 2011
Cup force with us now, says ton-up Strauss
England captain Andrew Strauss said his side's sensational tie with India proved they were a World Cup force to be reckoned with after his superb century so nearly saw the visitors to victory. England, chasing what would have been a new World Cup winning total batting second of 339, finished on 338 for eight in reply to co-hosts India's 338 all out at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, with Strauss making 158.
His was the first World Cup hundred by an England captain and the highest World Cup score by any England batsman, surpassing Dennis Amiss's 137 against India at Lord's in the competition's inaugural fixture back in 1975. England's performance was an improvement upon their lacklustre six-wicket opening win over the Netherlands, where Strauss made 88. "Coming into this game after the Holland performance, it was a great bounce-back and showed everyone around the tournament that we're going to be a force to be reckoned with," said Strauss. When Ian Bell (69) and Strauss, who put on 170 for the third wicket, fell in successive balls to left-arm quick Zaheer Khan, the match swung back the way of India, who'd earlier seen cricket great Sachin Tendulkar become the first player to score five World Cup hundreds.
England had a poor batting powerplay towards the finish, losing four wickets for 25 runs in five overs. And it needed tailenders Graeme Swann and Ajmal Shazhad to secure only the fourth tie in World Cup history, as 13 runs came off the final over. This was the match a World Cup full of lopsided early encounters desperately needed and Strauss said: "We've got to celebrate the fact it was an unbelievable game of cricket -- probably the best advert for the 50-over format you could possibly get." Strauss has now scored five of his six ODI hundreds in the past two years. But he was in no doubt Sunday's innings was the best of the lot. "Given the importance of the game, against India in India in the World Cup, it was obviously crucial one of our players went on and got a big score.
"It was an innings I'm very proud of. It would have been great to have been not out at the end and seen the boys home. "It was my best one-day knock." Asked what he told his players during the interval between innings, Strauss replied: "I said 'Lads, that is an unbelievably flat wicket -- we can chase this." However, he was left lamenting England's poor powerplay performance, saying: "We got ourselves in a position at 41 or 42 overs where we just needed to have a good powerplay, and we were there. "But these powerplays can affect you both ways -- and unfortunately, it affected us in the negative way. "Then in the end, we did pretty well to scramble a tie out of it. "There were some great performances on both sides. "When we take stock of this game we'll probably both say: 'Look, we've got a point' -- which is an important point -- and go on and play better as the tournament goes on."
Tough to improve fielding, says India skipper Dhoni
India's sloppy fielding nearly cost them defeat against England but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted it would be difficult to lift standards in his ageing side. India racked up a huge score of 338 in their clash on Sunday in Bangalore, helped by a century from Sachin Tendulkar, but the match ended in a dramatic tie after England skipper Andrew Strauss hit 158. The host nation's powerful batting line-up has fired in both World Cup matches so far but there are growing concerns about their bowling and fielding after conceding 283 in their win against Bangladesh and 338 against England. Dhoni said it would be tough to boost fielding standards due to the make-up of the squad after a cumbersome fielding performance. "I don't think we can improve the fielding very much because we have got quite a few slow fielders in the side," he said. "But as far as the bowling department is concerned I think we have got a talented group so hopefully in the coming games we can improve a lot." Tendulkar is the oldest player in the squad, at 37, with Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan both 32 but a number of other players are also nearing 30. Giving his reaction to the sensational tie, Dhoni said: "I am not disappointed, not excited. I have got mixed feelings. There were times when we could have lost, and times when we could have won the match." "It was a thrilling match because both the teams were facing defeat or victory at some point. All credit to England for the way they batted," he added. Asked about his frequent discussions with Sehwag during the England innings, Dhoni said he consulted senior players for the good of the team. "There are quite a few decisions you have to make. We have some experienced guys and we are always trying to make the best decisions for the team," he said. "I always let the fast bowlers set the field when they are bowling. It's only when they don't work I set my own." Asked about the inclusion of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, Dhoni said he was not sure whether three seamers would have given the right balance. He said paceman Ashish Nehra needed to be 100 percent fit to be considered for selection. Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37269/tough-to-improve-fielding-says-india-skipper-dhoni
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Bangalore: James Anderson might have returned the worst bowling figures by an Englishman in the World Cup but skipper Andrew Strauss remains confident about the pacer rediscovering his form in the coming matches of the mega event.
Andreson's 1/91 in 9.5 overs against India on Sunday was the worst bowling performance by an English bowler in World Cup, overtaking Derek Pringle's none for 83 against the West Indies in 1987.
India posted a mammoth 338 in the match and England managed to tie the game riding on Strauss' brilliant 158-run knock.
Strauss said it would be unfair to write off Anderson just yet.
"Opening the bowling out here is hard work, and bowling most of your overs in powerplay is not easy," Strauss said of Anderson.
"Jimmy's got a lot of skills. Anyone who writes a guy of that quality off is pretty naive."
Anderson has been struggling for form, going wicket-less for 72 runs in his 10 overs against the Netherlands in the opening match.
Source: http://cricketnext.in.com/news/strauss-comes-to-andersons-defence/54807-13.html
TweetBangladesh score dramatic win over Ireland
Dhaka: Bangladesh stung flat-footed Ireland to resurrect their World Cup campaign with a 27-run victory in front of some 25,000 boisterous home fans on Friday.
Bangladesh, bowled out for 205 after taking first strike in the day-night match, hit back to dismiss the leading non-Test nation for 178 in 45 overs at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
Former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who scored just one run, turned an unlikely hero with the ball by claiming two top-order wickets with his part-time off-spin.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan also picked up two wickets with left-arm spin before seamer Shafiul Islam polished off the tail in quick time with 4-21 from eight overs.
Bangladesh, who had lost their first match to India last week, lapped up the pressure in a game they had to win to stay in contention for the quarter-finals from Group B.
But the co-hosts, who play all their league matches at home, must still beat the Netherlands and at least one of the established teams among England, South Africa and the West Indies.
The win helped Bangladesh avenge two successive defeats by Ireland in major events, having lost during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and again in the 2009 World Twenty20 in England.
"It was a good game. I thought we played really hard cricket although we didn't bat well. Our bowlers and fielders showed great character and our support was excellent," said Shakib.
Disappointed Irish skipper William Porterfield said a poor batting display cost his side a crucial win.
"It's not hard to work out where we lost the game. We never settled down with the bat. The first 50 overs was pretty good," he said.
But he added: "You can't afford that many soft dismissals."
Shakib turned to spin after just one over from Shafiul, bringing on left-armer Abdul Razzak in the second over and off-spinner Naeem Islam in the third.
The move paid immediate dividends as Paul Stirling was stumped off Razzak for nine, before Irish captain William Porterfield fell to Shakib's first delivery for 20.
Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien carried the score from 36-2 to 75 when Ashraful struck with the first delivery of his second spell.
Joyce, the former England batsman, made a fluent 16 when he was beaten in the air by a flighted ball and gave a delighted Ashraful an easy return catch.
Ashraful then bowled Andrew White for 10, while Shakib claimed his second wicket when Niall O'Brien fell to a diving catch by Tamim Iqbal at deep mid-wicket after making 38.
Kevin O'Brien slammed three fours and a six in 37 during a sixth-wicket stand of 41 with Andre Botha when he pulled Shafiul to mid-wicket to reduce Ireland to 151-6 in the 37th over.
Shafiul, who had recovered in time from a shoulder injury to play the key match, claimed three of the last four wickets to send Ireland crashing.
Earlier, seamer Andre Botha picked up three wickets and George Dockrell and Trent Johnston claimed two each to bowl out the hosts in 49.2 overs.
The hosts made a blistering start, racing to 49 without loss by the end of the fifth over, 37 of those runs coming from the blade of Tamim.
But the advantage was soon lost as four wickets fell for 33 runs in the next 10 overs.
Man of the match Tamim, who top-scored with 70 against India, began by taking 10 runs in Boyd Rankin's opening over and stroked seven boundaries in his 44 off 43 balls.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan lifted the hosts with a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket, before tailender Naeem Islam boosted the total with a defiant 29 towards the end.
Source: http://cricketnext.in.com/news/bangladesh-score-dramatic-win-over-ireland/54709-13.html
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