World Of T20 Cricket

Dimitri Mascarenhas’ all-round effort overwhelmed the Middlesex Panthers in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd at Lord’s. He blasted 32 of Rajasthan Royal’s final 37 runs at a strike-rate of 200 to haul them to a competitive score, and then took two wickets, including the big one of Owais Shah, with the new ball.

Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan then showed off some unconventional strokes but they weren’t too effective, as Middlesex could only cobble together 24 runs in a seven-over period, leaving them at 47 for 3 after 10. Nearly two runs were needed off each ball after that, a task which proved well beyond Middlesex, especially against the likes of Shane Warne and a rejuvenated Sohail Tanvir.

It was Warne’s final competitive game at Lord’s and the legspinner had flown in from Las Vegas, where he’s playing poker, on Sunday evening to play the match today. He bowled impressively for someone who admitted to being out of practice, taking 1 for 24 off four overs, and is due to fly out to Las Vegas again on Tuesday morning. He came on to bowl in the 10th over of the Middlesex innings, and received a massive cheer from the substantial crowd.

At the start of the match, though, typically British weather, swinging between heavy showers and bright sunshine, had the festive crowd wondering whether there would be much play but a full game was squeezed in. With Rajasthan’s anthem of ‘Halla Bol’ ringing around Lord’s, the spectators were chanting and dancing right through.

In both seasons of the IPL, Warne has relied on the performances of youngsters and two of them, Swapnil Asnodkar and Faiz Fazal, provided Rajasthan with a solid start when they were sent in. They guided Rajasthan to 55 in the seventh over before Murali Kartik had Fazal caught at sweeper cover, bringing in Moahmmad Kaif, who had been left out of the Rajasthan’s squad to South Africa for the IPL earlier this year.

Though there were no further breakthroughs for a while, Kartik kept the brakes on Rajasthan. Just as Asnodkar started to open out, swinging a full toss over square leg in the 15th over, he was dismissed by Malan. There were a couple more quick wickets, Naman Ojha and Justin Langer, before Mascarenhas came in.

He started with a four to third man and a savage pull over midwicket providing the required impetus. Kaif had little of the strike towards the end and helped Mascarenhas steal a flurry of twos to lift Rajasthan to a total which the misfiring Middlesex batting never looked like chasing down.

written by Swapnil \\ tags: England, India, Middlesex, Rajasthan Royals

A rain curtailed match left England out of the T20 World Cup. England must have felt disheartened at the fact that after scoring a hefty 161 runs the target for West Indies was just 80 runs in 9 overs. Ravi Bopara fared well with the bat scoring 55 runs but all efforts of England batsmen went in vain as West Indies under the safe hands of the Ramnaresh Sarawan & Shivnarine Chanderpaul scampered West Indies for an important win which gave them a spot in the Semi Finals.

Brief summary of the Match:
West Indies 82 for 5 (Sarwan 19*, Chanderpaul 17*) beat England 161 for 6 (Bopara 55, Pietersen 31) by five wickets (D/L method)

Scorecard and Highlights:

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written by Swapnil \\ tags: England, ICC T20 2009 World Cup, West Indies

A sad end to the world Champions of T20 cricket. India out of the race to become the World champions once again as it was thrashed by West Indies earlier and now by England. by just three runs.

England held nerve to restrict India just three runs from staying in the tournament. A close finish at the end with MS Dhoni and Yousuf Pathan at the crease didn’t have enough firepower to out score the required run. Swann and Sidebottom hampered India chance with great control on the ball scalping two wickets each to do the damage that stopped India’s campaign to defend the championship title. India indeed mised Virendra Sehwag as the highlight of the success of India was a strong opening pair of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Match summary:
England 153 for 7 (Pietersen 46, Harbhajan 3-30, Jadeja 2-26) beat India 150 for 5 (Pathan 33*, Sidebottom 2-31, Swann 2-28) by three runs

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written by Swapnil \\ tags: England, ICC T20 2009 World Cup, India

First match played in the ICC T20 2009 world cup between England Vs Netherland was a thriller. Netherland truly deserved the Win and it was an grand opening for the ICC T20 World cup.

England scored 162/5 from there 20 overs. Netherlands scored 163/6 of 20 overs. Match Result – Netherland won by 4 wickets. As I said, the game was a killer, everyone was on there seat and things got more tensed till the last ball of the match.

I hope Netherland will make it though the Super Eight, the way they performed last night – I think they can grab the ICC trophy!

If you have missed the match or want to see the Netherland winning moments, then check out these videos.

These ICC T20 highlights will be updated and provided for every ICC cricket Worldcup held till the ICC finals

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written by Swapnil \\ tags: England, Netherland

England’s record in major global competitions is less of a millstone, more a long-discarded supermarket trolley at the bottom of the Regent’s Canal. Thirty-four years of hurt stopped them dreaming a long, long time ago, not least in Twenty20 cricket, which may only have been around since 2003, but has been developed at a supersonic pace on the subcontinent in the past 18 months. On the eve of the tournament, Sri Lanka’s captain, Kumar Sangakkara, emitted a barely suppressed scoff when reflecting on the fact that England actually invented the game. Not for the first time, they forgot to register the patent.

Nevertheless, a lack of expectation can be liberating. Though Paul Collingwood’s pre-tournament pledge to “surprise a few people” wasn’t exactly Churchillian in its origins, their combination of home advantage and handy momentum should enable them to surpass their feeble efforts in 2007, when Zimbabwe were their only conquests in five attempts. Let it not be forgotten that the last time the world’s leading teams were all gathered in this country, for the Champions Trophy in 2004, England reached the final only to be undone by a memorable West Indian run-chase.

The mistakes that England made in 2007 have, on the face of it, been rectified in the interim. Stuart Broad is an older, wiser and better cricketer than the wide-eyed rookie whom Yuvraj Singh slapped for 36 in an over at Durban, while the so-called Twenty20 specialists that sank without trace in that tournament (Darren Maddy, Chris Schofield, Jeremy Snape and James Kirtley) have been superseded by a new breed; men such as Graham Napier whose world-record 16 sixes for Essex against Sussex in 2007 propelled him to the big-time, and James Foster, whose silken glovework, especially when standing up to the stumps, has increased the value of the slow- and medium-paced members of England’s attack.

It’s not impossible that England will spring a surprise in this tournament, merely improbable. But even that is an improvement on their prospects in years gone by.

Strengths

Home advantage might seem a spurious benefit in a 20-over thrash, but England have at least spent the early part of the summer reminding themselves how to take wickets. Their new-ball attack of Broad and James Anderson are as close to the top of their game as they ever have been, while the confidence in the current squad is best exemplified by the irrepressible Graeme Swann, who fine-tuned his second string by smacking 90 not out from 47 balls against Derbyshire last week.

Weaknesses

There’s no Andrew Flintoff – and while his impact is less dramatic than in years gone by, his absence does mean four fewer overs of bat-rattlingly accurate pace, and one less go-to man for those crucial overs at the death. And then, of course, there is the question of focus. Are England really bothered with this tournament, or are their eyes already trained on Cardiff on July 8?

(Lack of) X-Factor

In every other format, you would surely have to nominate Kevin Pietersen as England’s king-pin. But as the man himself admitted last week: “I’m not very good at Twenty20, am I?” His highest score in 35 matches (international, domestic and IPL included) is 79, against Zimbabwe in 2007. Younis Khan said on Sunday that 120 balls is actually a very long time to bat. You sense that Pietersen, ever manic at the crease and in a hurry to impose himself, hasn’t yet allowed himself the time to realise this.

Key player(s)

Regardless of his lack of success (and dodgy Achilles heel permitting), Pietersen is, of course, crucial to England’s fortunes. So too is a man who has taken on board many of his same cocky characteristics, Ravi Bopara. He was England’s stand-out performer at the IPL with a sensational 84 from 59 balls for King’s XI Punjab, and he translated that confidence into back-to-back hundreds in the West Indies Tests last month.

T20 form guide

Six victories, nine defeats, in 15 matches since 2005, though nothing has ever topped that heady first contest against Australia at the Rose Bowl.

Squad: Paul Collingwood (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Robert Key, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Eoin Morgan, Graham Napier, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright

Source: Cricinfo.com

written by Swapnil \\ tags: England, twenty20 world cup 2009