Tag Archives: New Zealand

It is back to catches and sixes at the T20 World Cup

I sat down to watch the first match in the T20 World Cup featuring Sri Lanka and New Zealand. I saw some boundaries and sixes being hit. There were a few catches too but the good news is that when someone dived and took a catch it was a ‘catch’ not a ‘Karbonn Kamaal Katch’ and neither were those big hits over the fences called ‘DLF Maximums’ they were simply called ‘Six’. IPL can truly be forgotten now, its time for International cricket all over again.

The T20 World Cup started off with a thrilling match. The venue was Georgetown, Guyana which is the only cricket ground on the South American continent. The match started of quite slowly reflecting the slow nature of the pitch in the middle. The Kiwis bowled a tight line but a brave and courageous innings by Mahela Jayawardene who scored 81 Runs of 51 balls. Sri Lanka ended up with a low but fighting total of 135/6.

Image credits: Cricinfo.com

New Zealand started of aggressively but were grounded and slowed down but continuously losing wickets. New Zealand finally needed 10 runs to win of the last over and Lasith Malinga was due to bowl. Nathan McCullum the brother of Brendon McCullum the super start T20 batsman decided to arrive to the part and scored of the runs with one ball to spare.

This way New Zealand pick up 2 points and will be expected to top the group as their next match is against Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka now play Zimbabwe and they have to win otherwise they are out of the World Cup. I doubt the Lankans will allow that to happen, but only two days ago Zimbabwe did beat Australia in a practice match.

After the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka match, West Indies squared off against Ireland. Ireland has great memories of winning against Pakistan during the World Cup in 2007. It also was played in the West Indies.

But any such hopes of Ireland were quite easily dashed of by a under strength West Indies who had Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor and Suleiman Ben on the injured list. Dwayne Bravo led the West Indies and the Windies never really soared with the bat and managed only 138/9. But the West Indies bowling was far too good for Ireland and they were bowled out for a meager score of 68.

Darren Sammy from West Indies took 3 wickets an scored 30 runs and also took 4 catches. No prizes for guessing who was man of the match there.

Tomorrow India take of Afghanistan in St Lucia and Bangladesh take on Pakistan at the same venue.

Fascinating Test cricket battles in the week ahead

The week that lies ahead will see some fascinating Test cricket action. It is quite a unique time as all Test playing nations except Bangladesh are involved in a test series. England is touring South Africa, West Indies are touring Austrialia, Pakistan are playing in New Zealand and closer home Sri Lanka will play the final Test of the three match series tomorrow against India.

India play Srilanka at the historic Brabourne…

India takes of Sri Lanka tomorrow at the Brabourne Stadium. It is a stadium that has been known to be the bastion of culture and legacy when it comes to cricket in India. The association which runs the stadium (CCI) had a falling out with the Mumbai Cricket Association back in the early 70s. This led MCA to construct a new stadium called the Wankhede. The two associations have gotten closer now a days and with the Wankhede stadium undergoing a major re-building exercise Brabourne gets its chance to host one more Test match after 36 long years. Last time Test cricket was played at the Brabourne, Sachin Tendulkar was not even born!

India will be keen to win this Test match as it will haul it upwards to being the No 1 ranked Test team in the ICC rankings. This will be quite an achievement for the Indian team who are not particularly hailed for their ability in Test cricket.

New Zealand host Pakistan…

Not sure if New Zealand will have their confidence high after last weeks win over Pakistan. The Pakistan team came very close to an unlikely win over the Kiwis. But I still feel Pakistan have some inherent technically challenged opening batsmen along with some sparkling yet not reliable batting lineup. They have a great bowling line up too but I still feel it would not be able to match up to New Zealand’s usual dose of resoluteness and professionalism. The Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan begins on 3rd December 2009. If you are in India you should be able to catch the action on Ten Sports in early morning around 430 am.

Australia host West Indies in Adelaide…

In the first Test Match Australia declared their innings at 480/8 and bowled out West Indies twice in less than 2 days. The match was over on the 3rd day itself and was one sided more of less from the first day’s first session. This sort of a defeat does not speak very highly of West Indies’ chances in the second Test at Adelaide. This match starts on Friday morning at 5.30 in the morning. Indian viewers should be able to catch the game on Star Cricket.

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