Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 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."
"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."
England, India in dramatic World Cup tie
ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss said it had been a "privilege" to play in a dramatic World Cup tie with India yesterday.
India racked up a big 338 with Sachin Tendulkar hitting 120, but England came out firing. Strauss led the way with a composed 158 and Ian Bell hit 69.
With victory in sight, England slumped from 281-2 to 289-6, with Zaheer Khan taking three of the wickets, and the match appeared to be heading India’s way until a late flourish from England’s tail-enders tied the scores.
Strauss said he had mixed emotions after the nail-biting end to the game in Bangalore. "We were in a great position to win the game after 41, 42 overs. We had a shocking power play and from that stage onwards India were favourites to win the game. Ultimately it’s just been a great game of cricket, there’s no doubt.… Great advert for the 50-over format. In some ways we’re happy, in some ways we’re distraught."
But he said he felt "privileged to have played in a game like that".
Strauss brushed off fears that England would be tired amid their exhausting schedule, which included an Ashes contest in Australia.
"In this format there’s a lot of time to recover between games. We’re not tired at this stage. We’re excited about what’s to come."
Handed the man-of-the-match award for his knock of 158, he said: "It’s the best innings I’ve played and hopefully there’s more to come."
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised Khan for bringing India back into the contest by removing Bell, Strauss and Paul Collingwood in quick succession.
"The way they were going, I think they got off to a very good start, I think Andrew (Strauss) batted really well. There was a time where it seemed like they were going to chase the score in 48, 49 overs," he said.
"I think the partnership were just two wickets down and the way both the batsmen were batting, it was getting pretty difficult for the bowlers.
"Zaheer came in to bowl a really good spell and brought us back into the game."
He said he believed a score of 338 would be enough to win the game. "I think so because if 338 is not enough then every game you will have to look to score maybe 350 or 360 runs."
Said Khan: "I felt the wicket got better later on and Strauss obviously batted damn well to put pressure on us and it was a cliffhanger until the end. A win would have helped here but a tie is a also a good thing for the team. We’ve got some points out of this game."
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Pakistan vs srilanka world cup 2011 srilankan Team is stronger than Pakistan Prediction is Pakistan vs Srilankan Team will win the Match
Pakistani cricket Team
COLOMBO: In an important clash of Group A, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will lock horns today at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo for the first time in a world cup match since their meeting at 1992 World Cup, which Pakistan eventually won.
Sri Lankan teamRecords heavily favor Pakistan over their sub continent rivals as Sri Lanka have never defeated Pakistan in a world cup match. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have faced off each other in 120 One Day International matches so far where Pakistan enjoy a clear lead by 70-46, three matches ended with no result while one match resulted in a tie.
In the sub-continent, the two teams have played 65 matches, out of which Pakistan have won 34, Sri Lanka 29, while two matches failed to produce any result.
Sri Lanka world champion
On the World Cup stage, Pakistan have an absolute edge over Sri Lanka as they have won all the six matches played between the two quality teams of sub continent.
Muttiah Muralitharan
Shahid Afridi
Shoaib Akhtar
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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