Younus Khan won the toss and elected to bat, but Pakistan was soon in trouble at 130-4. Then came Umar at the crease and crafted an excellent revival of the innings and scored a magnificent ton. He had excellent support from his captain who played a role of an anchor making 89 runs of 111 deliveries. Elder of the Kamran brother’s Kamran also contributed 57 runs as he opened the Pakistani innings. Pakistan managed to set an excellent target of 321 runs with the lost of 5 wickets in there designated 50 overs. It was also a sad day for the Lankan spear head bowler Malinga as he conceded 26 wides.

Lankan batting was a disaster, as Mahela Jayawardene was bowled out at 19. Sangakkara did try to revive the Lankan innings but he was also sent back to the pavilion at a score of 80. Tharanga was the only one to offer resistance with a score of 80 runs but after his dismissal all chances of Lankans coming back in the match were over. Lankan team was all out in 36.1 over and could just manage a score of 175.

Umar Akmal was awarded the man of the match. Post this win Pakistan has been able to restore some pride as this was there first victory in the current series. Sri Lanka leads the series 3-1.

Contributions to the Pakistani score of 289 came from Akmal Brothers, Kamran scoring 45 and Umar scoring 66. Younis Khan contributed with 44 and Afridi with a quickfire 32 or 18 balls. For Lanka, Mathews bowled superb taking two wickets with a low economy rate of 4.10 runs per over, Murli even though took two wickets but was a bit expensive giving 6.4 runs per over.

During the Lankan Batting Pakistan managed to take four wickets but it was two late in the match as the openers have provided the rite platform for an easy victory.

It has been amazing for Sangakkara since he took captaincy and now has won both his opening series in the test and ODI format of the game. He scored the winning runs to sail Sri Lanka to a serious victory. Jayawardene was declared the Man of the Match for his impressive batting performance.

The result came as no surprise as the Windies’ captain was vindicated in his views of upholding T-20’s as his preferred format of the game. The match though was even shorter as the game was curtailed in the end with heavy showers which persisted throughout the match. England scored 161 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss & electing to bat. They never had any momentum to their innings as wickets fell regularly in their laborious effort at the end of which Ravi Bopara was the top scorer with 55 off 47 balls. England were hit hard as Luke Wright failed yet again at the top of the innings falling to Pollard in the second over scoring 6 runs. Pieterson was in form though as he scored 31 off 23 before Simmons got him out. There onwards wickets fell regularly as the batsmen to follow failed to convert their starts into big score especially since the next five batsman went to double figures without getting past 20 runs. In the end this might have been the thing which helped Windies as they chased a revised total of 80 from 9 overs successfully, M/S Duckworth Lewis favouring them this time.

The Windies were in action, hardly 17 hours after their victory over India and hence the tiredness factor would have come into play. Gayle on winning the toss had no hesitation to send the Proteas to bat and it almost worked out as Jerome Taylor gave off only 2 runs from the opening over. But they got the scoreboard ticking as they raced to 50 in less than 6 overs. But after getting Smith off Benn’s delivery was caught off Fletcher at backward point. windies deserve credit for the way they plugged away and, after Taylor had splattered Albie Morkel’s stumps with a beautiful yorker, JP Duminy top-edged Fidel Edwards to Ramnaresh Sarwan at deep fine leg to fall for a golden duck. Moreover, they bowled brilliantly in the dead to reduce the Proteas to 183-7.

But as mentioned in my earlier articles, the S.A pace attack has been astonishing and they proved no less in this match too as they took the prize scalp of Gayle. But Parnell, a new find for the Proteas, continued to show his impressive form as he took Fletcher’s scalp too. But Bravo and Simmons steadied the innings, before Bravo and his replacement fell in quick contention. But Simmons kept up his cool but the required run rate crept upto 12/over as he reached his 50.

“To make 180 was a great effort batting first. We lost our way slightly but it was a good total to post as the West Indies have an experienced batting line-up and they like to chase,” said Smith.

“Lendl Simmons had a great knock but we fought hard and pulled them back. It’s great to have won six in a row in total. But there are still big matches to play.

“We will regroup and have a good run to the final hopefully.”

Yes, and now we all hope that Gayle keeps his word……

As usual, Dhoni won the toss and elected to field as he believed that due to the rain, the Duckworth-Lewis theory may come into play. And from then on, it was India all the way. J.P. Bray, Irish opener, has been having a terrible series and this match proved to be no better as he was bowled out by Zaheer for a duck after facing 7 balls. When Zaheer began his second over, Porterfield, was dismissed after a wonderful catch by Yusuf Pathan in the slips. Zaks was declared man of the match for his four wicket haul.

Then, if the Indian seamers proved to be bad for the Irish, it got worse as the spinners stepped up. Ojha, who is having a wonderful series, once again showed why his captain trusts him by taking KJ. O’Brien off an inside edge, on the first ball of his spell. It is amazing to see an orthodox spinner like Ojha, who lacks the carom ball, seldom bowls the doosra and other special deliveries, take wickets thanks to his flight and simple pace variation. But the Irish did strike back at the spinners, this time with sweeps as a few balls ran to the boundary. Moreover the Irish exploited the short boundary at Trent Bridge at Nottingham. And then R.West got himself run out thanks to his diabolical running because when he was run out, his leg and bat, despite being well inside the crease, were well, above it (didn’t touch the ground), and hence he was declared run out.

But as it has been happening in the previous matches, the Indians seem to relax a bit at the death, thereby helping the Irish to cross the 100 run mark, at a time when tight bowling could have restricted the Irish to a score well below 100. So this a major concern for the coach Gary Kristen as the Indians are yet to face serious opponents who would challenge their bowlers more than the Irish. But when it was India’s turn to bat, it was all smooth sailing for the openers Rohit Sharma and Gambhir who are in the top of their form. They played a sensible innings spiced with boundries. They steered India to the finish line, though Gambhir fell for 37 to West, the tone was set for a victory. As the captain too fell for 14, Rohit Sharma stayed till the end with a well earned half century.

So all is set for India to scorch the super eight. However the Indians have to improve their bowling in the death if they are to retain the coveted ICC T20 crown …

The day started off brilliantly for Sri Lanka as Angelo Mathews struck in his very first over getting rid of the dangerous David Warner. Australia’s top scorer of last match not was able to replicate his earlier success in the tournament & instead getting out on a duck with Tillakaratne Dilshan taking a simple catch at point. An over which was a precursor of things to come & the radical changes that Sri Lanka put in against Australia which the latter was simply not prepared for. Kumara Sangakkara in his very first match as captain was to excel with his batting being the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s innings during their successful pursuit of 160 at the end of the day. Sri Lanka knowing the importance of slow bowlers, having witnessed their stranglehold over batsman in the earlier matches, left the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara & Farveez Maharoof in the process as was evident with Sanath Jayasuriya coming on to bowl the second over of the match.

Lasith Malinga, their premier fast bowler, came on to bowl only as a second change after which Ajantha Mendis was introduced in the powerplay. After getting a single run of the very first over Ponting & Watson took the attack to the opposition smashing debutant Udana & Malinga for 15 runs in each of the fourth & the fifth over respectively. Enter Mendis, who got rid of Ponting as he tried to smash him losing his leg stump in the process. This started a period of 10 overs in which Australia lost 5 top order wickets adding just 47 runs. Mendis picked up Watson in his next over as he tried to sweep him but fell leg before wicket on 22. Mendis took care of the top order with Mike Hussey was trapped lbw before Johnson took over his possible role as an allrounder remaining unbeaten in the end.

Some might say that Sangakkara was the man of the match but Mendis was the X-factor in the match which went Sri Lanka’s way.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle was hitting Aussie bowlers with ease and in the course of the match hit the longest six in the tournament when he sent to ball 105 meters out of the stadium on to the adjacent road. During the match Gayle hit three sixes of the bowling of Brett Lee, two of the bowling of David Hussy and one of the bowling of Michael Clarke. He also hit six boundaries in his innings, scoring 88 of just 50 deliveries.

He was well supported by his opening partner Andre Fletcher who scored 53 of just 32 deliveries. One can judge the devastation by just looking at the economy rate of the Aussie Leading bowler, Lee ended the match with 1/56 in his four over’s and at an economy rate of 14.

Australia is placed in the ‘group of death’ which has Sri Lanka apart from West Indies. If the Ponting’s men have to keep their dream alive of capturing the ICC world twenty20 Trophy which is the only championship that has eluded them, then they have to beat the Lankans in there next game on Monday.

To make maters worst, Ponting himself got out on a duck apart from Shane Watson who started the Aussie bating with a duck. The other worry for the Punter is his deputy Michael Clarke who got out after just scoring 2 runs. Ponting with face a formidably challenge when they go out against Sri Lanka, the team which has Jaysuriya…

Chris Gayle was declared Man-of-the-Match for his vicious knock of 88 runs of 50 balls.

Match Summary (West Indies Won by 7 Wickets)
Australia – 169/7 in 20 Overs
D.Warner- 63 M.Hussey –28*
J.Taylor– 4-0-33-2 D.Bravo- 4-0-31-2
West Indies – 172/3 in 15.5 Overs
C.Gayle- 88 A. Fletcher –53
M.Johnson – 3.5-0-36-2 Brett Lee- 4-0-56-1

The English gods were to against their own team with the match starting late due to rain and then it was the toss, Paul Collingwood lost the toss and the English team was sent to bat. England got a dream start to the game with Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright providing a 102 run stand for the first wicket. Once Bopara was out in the 12th over after scoring an impressive 46 of 34 balls the English team fell and could just manage to score 162 runs in the 20 overs. Luke Wright scored an impressive 71 of 49 deliveries. Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood were disappointing and were out in just a single digit.

The misery for the English did not end with there batting, but continued in there bowling too. Missed run outs, dropped catches and some exhibition of lousy fielding made sure that the English were digging their own grave. Netherlands got to off to a disastrous start and lost both their openers in the first four over’s with just a score of 23 runs.  Tom de Grooth kept the Dutch hopes alive with an excellent innings and scored a magnificent 40 of just 30 deliveries. Peter Borren contributed with 30 runs of 25 deliveries and it was left to Ryan ten Doeschate to finish for the Dutch. The match was decided on the last delivery of the match and Stuart Broad gifted the Dutch a victory with an over throws. In the same over he all missed a run out and also dropped a catch.

English batsman’s failed to exploit the final over’s as they could just manage to score 60 runs of the last 52 balls and that is where I think England lost the game. Tom de Grooth was given the Man-of-the-Match for his dazzling display with bat that made sure Netherlands had an unforgettable win against home side.