ICC World Twenty20 2nd Semi Final

Sri Lanka are 2nd favourites to win the tournament. Both sides came through the group of death which saw Australia tumble out of the tournament at the first hurdle.

When the sides met at Trent Bridge in match #11, Sri Lanka won by 15 runs. West Indies, who were without captain Chris Gayle, chose to field after winning the toss and then witnessed Dilshan (74 off 47) and Jayasuria (81 off 47) pile on the runs. Part time bowler Lendl Simmons was alone in escaping punishment as he took 4 wickets for 19 in his 3 overs as Sri Lanka posted 192/5.

In reply, West Indies struggled to keep up with the rate but it was a spirited chase, much of it played in pouring rain. Bravo top scored with 51 off 38 balls and even Malinga went for 11 an over. The spin of Murali and Mendis was key to shackling the West Indians and proved the key factor in Sri Lanka winning the game.

Gayle will be back for the semi final and West Indies will hope to have Fidel Edwards in the side after he was forced to miss the recent win over England when he went down with a back strain in the warm up.

The men in form:

Dilshan is leading run scorer in the tournament with 221 runs averaging 44.2. Dwayne Bravo is West Indies leading run scorer with 154 closely followed by simmons who has 150. 

Malinga and Mendis have 21 wickets between them and are 3rd and 4th on the wicket takers log. Bravo, with 8 wickets is the only West Indian in the top 10.

The Verdict:

West Indies may struggle to shackle the Sri Lankan top order and their bowling clearly looks second best. The West Indian batting has performed surprisingly well even when Gayle has missed out and if conditions are good, we could be in for a high scoring as the Oval is the venue which has suited batsmen most.

ICC World Twenty20 1st Semi Final

Another slick performance on Tuesday saw the Proteas beat India by 12 runs and maintain their unbeaten record in the tournament.

Much will be made of South Africa’s recent history of “choking” in big tournaments but this side looks to have the temperament for the big occasion. We must remember though, this is Twenty20 cricket, an inspired performance from one or two opponents can, in theory, be enough to take the game away from you. 

We saw in the recent IPL how the two most fancied sides, Delhi and Chennai, bowed out at the semi final stage to sides who had been very inconsistent. In the ICC Twenty20, Sri Lanka, who meet West Indies on Friday in the 2nd semi final, are also unbeaten but one or both could be vulnerable in a straight knockout.

So does Pakistan have the ammunition to upset the Proteas?

Other than when they came up against the Associate members who they beat convincingly, Pakistan have only beaten New Zealand of the more fancied nations. In essence, that has proved enough to see them through to a semi final place. Their batting is erratic and in the early matches it was often irresponsible. Their fielding has at times been as poor as a local Sunday league side. Time and time again there is nobody at home at the bowlers end when a run out is on. If they were to ever approach Jonty Rhodes to be their fielding coach, he would surely need a 10 year contract!

If the above sounds like its game over, think again, so what do Pakistan have going for them? 

Support, Pakistan will have huge support in Nottingham and they tend to play on emotion, when they are on a roll with the crowd behind them, they are highly dangerous.

Younus Khan, the captain brings sanity to the batting, calmness amidst the woeful fielding and a fine bat to the crease. He is one class cricketer and a great man.

Umar Gul, as good as any with the death bowling in this format, he is usually held back for the latter overs and can get reverse swing, he also has a superb yorker as his killer delivery. Gul is the tournaments leading wicket taker with 12 victims.

Spin, Afridi with 9 wickets and Ajmal with 11 are economical as well as destroyers of the middle order, usually brought straight into action after the first 6 overs, the Proteas will need to be very careful.

Unpredictability – Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal with the bat – both are disappointed if the ball bounces once before reaching the boundary. They will be batting at Trent Bridge on Thursday but trying to smash the ball all the way to the Oval. It rarely works for any length of time but if one or both come off, carnage will follow.

India vs South Africa Live Scorecard

At the time of writing South Africa are priced at 6/4 to win the tournament. Although this could be considered a dead rubber, the Proteas will want to maintain their 100% record whilst India have plenty of pride to salvage after their agonising defeat to England put paid to their chances of retaining the title.

South Africa clinched a semi final place with a win over West Indies on Saturday. Wayne Parnell is rapidly becoming the most talked about bowler in the tournament. His 4 wickets for just 13 runs against WI increased his stock still further and he now has 8 wickets in the tournament and an amazing economy rate of 5.13. Kallis has taken over as the tournaments leading run scorer, averaging 58 with a strike rate of 125.

As for India, their failure to at least make the semi finals will not have gone down well. Although packed with talent, the have failed to handle the pressure of the Super 8’s against the better sides after they cruised past Ireland and Bangladesh in the first group stage. Both England and West Indies targeted their top order with some short pitched bowling and failure to handle it resulted in India’s undoing. With only pride to play for, they may well make a few changes and could still represent a threat to SA’s 100% record but the overall mood in the camp must be one of huge disappointment.

New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Live Scorecard

Sri Lanka were made to work hard for a 9 run win over Ireland on Sunday and although it was their least impressive display, they remain unbeaten in the tournament. They posted 144/9 which will have disappointed but still looked enough thanks to Jayawardene 78 of 53 which rescued Sri Lanka from a poor start. Mendis, Murali and Malinga then kept the lid on the run rate in the Irish reply. Malinga is joint leading wicket taker with 10 and Dilshan is 1 run behind Kallis in the race to be leading run scorer in the tournament.

At the time of writing, a semi final place is not assured just yet for Sri Lanka and if they do lose here and Pakistan beat Ireland, it will all come down to net run rate. 

New Zealand have been inconsistent, wins over Scotland and Ireland, defeats against Pakistan and South Africa. Their batting will be of particular concern, they have had no problem in scoring heavily against the Associate members but have battled against the better attacks. The Black caps could only manage 127 against the Proteas and they were humbled against Pakistan when they posted only 99 when they failed to see out the 20 overs.

Though the Kiwis have been unlucky with injuries to key batsmen, they need their senior men such as McCullum, Styris and Oram to click if they are to have any chance of making the semi finals. They do not have a single batsmen in the leading 15 of run getters in the tournament whilst Butler is leading wicket taker with just 5 victims.

India vs West Indies Live Scorecard

This is the first real test of India’s defence of the ICC WorldTwenty20 crown whilst West Indies are a side that need things to fall their way, but their early form has been good.

West Indies were without Chris Gayle when they were beaten by Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Gayle took a blow during his demolition of the Australian bowling attack in their opening game but should return. He is they key man and although reports suggest he will be fit to return. 

West Indies came up 15 runs short of Sri Lanka’s impressive 192 but it was a pretty spirited chase considering their most potent batting weapon was unavailable. The bowling had suffered as Dilshan and a previously out of form Jayasuria set the platform for Sri Lanka by putting on 124 in the first 12.3 overs. Lendel Simmons, a part time bowler, took 4 wickets but the normally dangerous Fidel Edwards went for 36 from 2 overs. Any shortcomings in the West Indies attack will be seized upon ruthlessly by a powerful Indian batting line up. The level of performance West Indies showed when putting the Aussies away by 7 wickets will need to be repeated here. 

As for India, Sehwag is out of the tournament injured but with Rohit Sharma looking very comfortable opening with Gambhir, they have a very capable deputy. Sharma tops the India run charts and Ojha is leading wicket taker with 6, they look in good nick despite not facing a significant challenge thus far and it’s hard to add much more about them at this stage.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Live Scorecard

The tournament is well and truly under way now and Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be looking to get off to flyer in their first game in the Super 8 stage.

Having lost heavily to England, Pakistan overcame the Dutch and a poor net run rate to avoid an embarrassing early elimination from the tournament. Sri Lanka came through the “group of death” from which Australia were eliminated and have made an impressive start to their campaign with victory over both the Aussies and the West Indies.

Let’s take a look at the key men on both sides.

Pakistan captain Younis Khan is their leading run scorer with 82 from 2 innings though we have only seen glimpses of the real fireworks potentially provided by Shahid Afridi and Kamram Akmal. With the ball, the spin of Ajmal and Afridi with 9 wickets between them have been more successful than the seamers.

Sri Lanka’s strength has been their top order, Dilshan leads the way with 127 runs in 2 games at a strike rate of 160. Jayasuria returned to form when he smashed 81 against the West Indies and Sangakarra made 55 against the Aussies. Spinner Mendis and “Slinga” Malinga have 5 wickets a piece, surprisingly Murali has just the one to his name though he has been economical. 

On the team news front, Sohail Tanvir was struggling with an injury in the game against the Dutch and could be doubtful.

Sri Lanka vs West Indies Live Scorecard

Mission accomplished for Sri Lanka and West Indies in the 1st Group stage as both beat Australia to send Ponting off to lick his wounds and get some early preparation in for the Ashes.

Now it’s about plotting a route through the Super 8’s and onto the semi finals. On the evidence we have seen so far, both are more than capable.

The West Indies shrugged off their nightmare season in England thus far to dish out a hammering to the Aussies. Taylor and Edwards took early wickets and despite a recovery of sorts the Aussies were restricted to 169.

A few overs into the “chase” it was game over, Chris Gayle clicked into gear and caused havoc on his way to 88 off just 50 balls. Andre Fletcher, who opened with Gayle made 53 off 32 and by the time the first wicket had fallen in the 12th over with the score on 133 , WI were in cruise control and eventually ran out winners by 7 wickets.

Sri Lanka also impressed in beating the Aussies by 6 wickets at this ground on Monday. Ajantha Mendis claimed 3 wickets for just 20 runs in his 4 overs and he could be one the stars of the tournament. Australia posted 159 after being invited to bat by Sangakarra who’s 55 off 42 along with Dilshan’s 53 off 32 provided the platform for victory.

Sri Lanka could do with some runs from Jayasuria who fell early to a fine catch on Monday but the experience of Dilshan and Sangakarra saw them home. They also have Jayawardene but there are question marks about the strength of the batting order outside of the top 4.

Here are the key battles:

In the bowling department, we have the pace of Edwards and Taylor for West Indies against Malinga and the spin of Murali and Mendis for Sri Lanka.
 
Sangakarra showed he was not afraid to spring a surprise or two in mixing up his bowling and will need to have the right plan for Gayle. Malinga took 3 wickets against Australia but was expensive, will Sri Lanka back him as the man to get the prize west Indian wicket?

The battle of the big hitters is between Gayle and Dilshan, both only have one gear with the willow. If one comes off and the other fails, it could go a long way to deciding the game. If both fire, it will be a cracking match.

India vs Ireland Live Scorecard

Ireland sprang a surprise when they beat Bangladesh in their opening game of the tournament on Monday. Their 6 wicket win has propelled them into the Super 8’s and tough they will remain huge underdogs, they should gain tremendous benefit from the experience and it’s potentially a real adventure for the little known cricket team of a great sporting nation.

The O’ Brien’s, Niall (40) and Kevin (39) were largely responsible for overhauling Bangladesh’s 137/8 and they eventually got home with 10 balls remaining. As India had also beaten Bangladesh in their opener, Ireland’s win was enough to see them through to the next stage regardless of what happens here.

India were pre-tournament favourites. They also disposed of Bangladesh in their opening game, successfully defending 180 to win by 25 runs. Sehwag missed the game through injury though he may no longer be an automatic choice to return if Dhoni sticks with Rohit Sharma as Gambhir’s opening partner.

Spinner Pragyan Ojha was the pick of the Indian bowlers against Bangladesh when he weighed in with 4 wickets for 21 runs in his 4 overs. Harbhajan failed to pick up a wicket but was also economical and with 3 other spinners in the side plus the pace of Ishant Sharma, Zaher Khan and Irfan Pathan, Dhoni is never short of options.

Bangladesh vs Ireland  Live Scorecard

Bangladesh lost the toss and found themselves fielding first against the joint favourites for the tournament. India posted 180 with a flurry of runs at the end and although Bangladesh managed to keep in touch with the run rate in the first half of their innings, they lost wickets at key stages and came up 25 runs short.

Opening bat Siddique top scored with 41 and Hossain who came in at #9 managed 28. Hossain may well be promoted up the order on the back of his display but the fact he came in so far down suggests Bangladesh do have strength in their batting line up. The India game was also played at Trent Bridge so Bangladesh may benefit from the experience of having played this venue in competitive conditions. 

As for Ireland, it’s a bit puzzling that Eoin Morgan, one of their more talented players to have come through the ranks recently now dons the England jersey.

Australia vs Sri Lanka Live Scorecard

Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first against the West Indies at Trent bridge on Saturday. Just 3.3 overs later he must have been regretting it as they slid to 15/3 with Shane Watson and Ponting himself, both having been removed without scoring.

David Warner repaired much of the damage with his 63 off 53 balls and the Aussies eventually posted 169. The target looked competitive though perhaps 15 or so short of what Ponting would have wanted. As it turned out, it was a stroll in the park for West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Andre Fletcher who blasted their way through the first 11overs and had taken the opening stand to 133 before Fletcher fell. It was a fierce display of hitting, especially from Gayle and you seldom see the Aussies so deflated in the field as it was game over a long way out. West Indies got home with 4.1 overs to spare for a 7 wicket win.

The impact of the opening result is illustrated in the net run rate of the Aussies which stands at -2.4. This could be critical as even a win over the Sri Lankan’s would not guarantee progress to the next group stage as net run is the first criteria used if teams finish level on points.

This is Sri Lanka’s first game of the tournament and though they looked out of sorts in their warm up against the Proteas, they have a talented squad with some experienced and dangerous campaigners in this format. Dilshan, Sangakkara, Murali, Jayawardene, Jayasuria, Malinga, Mendis and Kulasekara will be a real handful and are more than capable of leaving the Aussies kicking their heels waiting for the Ashes to begin.