Bangladesh look for spin to hustle windies

Bangladesh take on the West Indies in a must-win World Cup match on Friday hoping the barren wicket in Dhaka finally provides help to the home team's spinners.

There was no evidence of turn on the Sher-e-Bangla stadium pitch in the first two matches where Bangladesh lost a high-scoring game to India by 87 runs before beating Ireland by 27 runs.

But frontline spinner Abdur Razzak said the wicket being prepared for Friday's game looked as if it will favour the slow bowlers.

"It did not happen in the first two matches, but I think this one will help us," the left-armer said. "It will give us a good chance to beat the West Indies."
With one win each from two matches, another defeat could ruin either team's chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals from the tough Group B.

The pool, which includes India, South Africa and the Netherlands, was thrown wide open when Ireland stunned England by three wickets on Wednesday after Kevin O'Brien struck the fastest ever World Cup century.

West Indies manager Richie Richardson rubbished suggestions that his team will struggle to cope with unfamiliar conditions in Bangladesh, where they have not played since 2002.

The three senior pros in the current squad -- Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul -- are the only survivors from that tour.

Richardson, who led the West Indies to the semi-finals when the World Cup was last played in the Indian sub-continent in 1996, said pace could play an equally prominent role.

"In this part of the world, the wickets have a reputation for favouring spinners," he said. "But at the end of the day if you are good enough as a seam bowler or fast bowler you can do well in any conditions.

"It's all about assessing conditions, assessing the pitches and making the adjustment."

Richardson was buoyed by his team's emphatic 215-run win over the Netherlands in New Delhi on Monday where fast bowler Keman Roach grabbed 6-27, including a hat-trick.

"My target is to win every single match and lift the World Cup," he said. "I am very confident we can do it. We are playing positive cricket and the guys are improving every day."

The West Indies will be inspired by their 99-run victory over the Tigers in the Super Eights round of the previous World Cup in the Caribbean, with Sarwan leading the way with 99.

If spin comes to the fore on the slow wicket in Dhaka, the West Indies will hope towering left-armer Sulieman Benn, who claimed 3-28 against the Dutch, will deliver.

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said the West Indies will feel the absence of star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, opener Adrian Barath and wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh, who were all ruled out with injuries.

"Those injuries will make this game very difficult for them," Siddons said, adding the home team will have a distinct edge in the match.

"They have a few match-winners like we do. But I am confident our match-winners will blow their match-winners away.

"But we need to play good cricket. This is a big match for us since a quarter-final place will be at stake."

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37547/bangladesh-look-for-spin-to-hustle-windies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CricbuzzFeed+(Cricbuzz:+Cricket+Scores+and+News)

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Dhoni should read rules first: ICC

The International Cricket Council on Tuesday advised India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to read the rules related to Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) before questioning the implementation of technology during the matches. Dhoni, who is not in favour of using the UDRS, had yet again posed a question mark over the system following the controversy surrounding Ian Bell's decision in the tied World Cup game with England on Sunday. "Adulteration of technology with human thinking is bad.

That's why we didn't get that wicket. Hopefully, next time it will be either technology or human intention," Dhoni had said after the match. ICC general manager, Dave Richardson, said Dhoni should be aware of the rules before commenting. "There are a set of rules along with the hawk-eye to assist in making the decision when UDRS is implemented ... Most of the time, a player is not fully aware of all the rules," Richardson said.

"If Dhoni is made aware of the specifications of these rules, then I am sure that he will accept the Bell decision," Richardson told a television channel. The TV replays had showed that the ball bowled by Yuvraj Singh would have hit stumps but umpires ruled not out even after the review of the call. "If the Hawkeye says it's going to hit the stumps, then there is no reason (why an appeal should be turned down)," Dhoni had said. UDRS is being used in the World Cup for the first time.

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37403/dhoni-should-read-rules-first-icc

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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."

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37255/cup-force-with-us-now-says-ton-up-strauss

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Ervine, Taibu star as Zimbabwe score 298/9

Nagpur: Canada fought their way back into their World Cup tie against Zimbabwe by picking up wickets at regular intervals at Nagpur's Vidarbha stadium on Monday.

Earlier, steely counter-attack by Craig Ervine and Tatenda Taibu had put Zimbabwe in pole position to consolidate and move towards a competitive total.

Harvir Baidwan sent back Charles Coventry as Zimbabwe lost their second wicket.

Opening batsman Brendan Taylor was trapped leg before wicket for a golden duck by Khurram Chohan after Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and elected to bat first.

Both teams will be desperate for a win after losing their opening fixtures to more fancied opponents.

While Canada received a sound thrashing at the hands of Sri Lanka by 210 runs at Hambantota, Zimbabwe went down by 91 runs in their match against four times World Champions Australia at Ahmedabad.

Teams:

Zimbabwe: BRM Taylor, CK Coventry, T Taibu, CR Ervine, E Chigumbura (capt), SC Williams, GA Lamb, P Utseya, AG Cremer, RW Price, CB Mpofu

Canada: NR Kumar, JM Davison, R Gunasekera, A Bagai (capt), AS Hansra, ZE Surkari, TG Gordon, Rizwan Cheema, Khurram Chohan, HS Baidwan, WD Balaji Rao

Source: http://cricketnext.in.com/news/zimbabwe-elect-to-bat-against-canada/54799-13.html

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Kiwis struck by 'White Lightning' Donald impact

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori hailed former South African spearhead Allan Donald on Thursday, claiming he has revived the faltering confidence of the Black Caps seam attack.

Donald, known as "White Lightning" during his career, was hired as bowling coach in January by a New Zealand team which arrived at the World Cup having lost 14 of their previous 16 one-day internationals.

But they stopped the rot with a quickfire 10-wicket demolition of Kenya in their World Cup opener with fast bowler Hamish Bennett taking four wickets for 16.

Vettori was quick to praise Donald's effect on Bennett and fellow seamer Tim Southee.

"He's brought a wealth of experience but the biggest thing he has brought is confidence," the captain said.

"When a team hasn't been winning, to have him come into the side and instil the sort of confidence that he has and the knowledge that he has in some of our bowlers has been great.

"Tim Southee and Hamish Bennett particularly have worked really hard with him and enjoyed his expertise.

"Hopefully for a long time we get the fruits of that because he (Donald) has been a great fit and he's well revered within world cricket so that brings a lot to the team."

New Zealand face Australia here on Friday in their next Group A game.

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37010/kiwis-struck-by-white-lightning-donald-impact

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De Villiers' IPL knowledge boosts South Africa

AB de Villiers put his Indian Premier League experience to good use on Thursday when he led South Africa to a comfortable seven-wicket World Cup win over the West Indies.

De Villiers smashed an unbeaten 107 and shared a crucial third wicket partnership of 119 with captain Graeme Smith as his side surpassed the West Indies' total of 222 with 43 balls to spare.

The 27-year-old said his time with local IPL side Delhi Daredevils had allowed him to share vital inside information with Smith on the playing conditions at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

"My time here helped. I chatted to Graeme before the game and said that the outfield gets very damp at night here therefore it's better to bat second," he said.

"It's really hard to defend a total on this outfield."

De Villiers hit the fastest ever World Cup century by a South African with his landmark coming off 97 balls.

"I wasn't timing it in the nets last week, but it came off well tonight," he said.

Smith, who has been nursing a cold, made a dogged 45 off 78 balls and said he was happy with his team's overall performance.

"Winning the toss was nice, we started well. Darren Bravo (73) played really well, but we managed to peg it back in the middle," he said.

"My batting wasn't the best - I have been a little ill coming into the game, so I just wanted to bat through with AB and build a partnership. AB went faster than run a ball and paced it real well."

West Indies captain Darren Sammy was disappointed with his team's batting after they had stood at 113-1 at one stage.

"We had an opportunity to get a lot more runs. We needed someone to play like AB did," he said.

"Darren Bravo played really well and we hope he can continue. We kept losing wickets in clusters which didn't help. Losing Dwayne Bravo (with a knee injury) wasn't good. We don't know the extent of the injury. Hopefully he'll be OK."

South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir was also celebrating after enjoying a four-wicket debut, but his World Cup bow was almost shattered by a double warning for running on the pitch.

The 31-year-old Pakistan-born player claimed 4-41 but Australian umpire Simon Taufel twice warned him about straying onto the pitch.

A third warning would have seen him pulled out of the attack.

"I'm not comfortable bowling away from the stumps, but I'm working hard on it," said Tahir

"I want to get it right. I don't want to get a third warning and not be able to bowl."

Tahir, who was born in Lahore and has married a South African girl, dismissed Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Thomas and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in his 10-over spell.

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/37042/de-villiers-ipl-knowledge-boosts-south-africa

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