Daily Sports News

Australia beat England in the third one- day international in Nat West at Rose Bowl to take a lead of 3-0 in seven match series. Cameron White strike his first ODI century a prime mover for Australia’s victory. England won the toss and decided to take the first strike they congregated 228-9.

Match- winning joint venture by White 105 and Michael Clarke 52 added 143 runs made easy for Australia to win. White’s century included of one six and nine fours batted coolly right through the match. England batted inadequately in all the three series. In spite of this captain decided to bat first. England did not loose their heart and they remained determined with the final score 228 with the loss of nine wickets. England did set some calculated sort of target to try to defend the team. With the win, Australia is in leading position in the seven matches of one-day series. On the other hand, England does have a lot many issues to struggle about it. Aussie striking lead indicates of getting Champions Trophy.

England boomed into 5-1victory over Croatia at Wembley. Fabio Capello coach of England team tagged as their best performance under him. England pay backed in a most wide-ranging manner thanks to a powerful performance from Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard both scored twice while Wayne Rooney finished off scoring succeed record.

Capello expressed his view stating, he is very happy as they accomplished the target pity early. He added saying, a best performance under him, they played quick, and movement of ball was awesome and first 20 minute of the game was mind bowling. Capello was enchanted, as his team was qualified for World Cup. Both performances next to Croatia team were delightful. Fall out from Euro Cup 2008 with the loss of 3-2 over Croatia was at Wembley when Steven Mc Laren was the precursor of the team. John Terry the captain of England team was uniformly pleased. Slaven Bilic Croatian Manger was surprised by England’s performance and he did not even assume in a nastiest dreams. England players did look quick and assertive from the start of first goal. At half- time, it was only 2-0 and then we accepted a third goal it was difficult to come back. He added saying if they enhance playing like this then definitely, they can win the World Cup.

After loosing the Test and the ODI series, luck has turned in favor of the visitors. They have not only won the last two ODI’s but also beaten the host in style in the last T20 game. Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in the only T20 game of the tour with a 52 runs. Last time the two countries had played a T20 match was in the final of the T20 world cup, and the results again went in favor of Pakistan.

Shahid Afridi was the reason for the Lankan loss, he scored a brilliant half century, bowled a very tight spell taking one wicket and then a run out to send back Kapugedera to the pavilion. Pakistan was excellent in all the departments of the game. There were some excellent batting performances by Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq scoring 40, 30 and 25 runs respectively. Although it was not the perfect start what visitors would have expected as opening batsman Kamran Akmal was bowled out on the very first delivery of the match. Pakistan quickly recovered for the early loss and compiled a challenging target of 172 runs with the loss of 5 wickets in there required 20 overs at a run rate of 8.60 runs per over. The Pakistani approach to batting was simple, hitting boundaries at regular intervals and that is what they precisely did.

Sri Lankan chase started in a good was and as expected Jayasuriya came out firing in his true style. First to go back to the pavilion was Udawatte on the fifth delivery of the third over and just two balls after that Jayasuriya was out as he tried to pull a delivery which turned much quicker then his expectation. Jayawardene and Sangakkara tried to get the chase back on track but Jayawardene gave a leading edge to Razzaq of the bowling of Iftikhar Anjum. The last hopes for a Lankan victory were over when Sangakkara was bowled by Saeed Ajmal. Sri Lanka was bowled out in 18.1 over’s and could just score 120 runs, still short by 52 runs.

Shahid Afridi was declared man of the match. One can just say in the end – Pakistan is one team that has a habit of throwing surprises.

Captaining the team for the first time, Sangakara lead the Lankan team to a series victory. This is the first home series win for Sri Lanka against Pakistan. Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeaten century and closed all doors for a Pakistani victory. The Lankan team made a clean sweep in the series 2-0. Sangakkara was 111 not out and now has 19 test centuries to his name. He had an excellent 122 run fourth wicket stand with teammate Thilan Samaraweera who contributed 73 runs to the Lankan score.  New comer in the team Angelo Mathews was not out at a score of 33 runs.

Lanka were give a world record chase target of 492 runs to chase for a victory but could not beat the record. The best chase in the history of the game has been of 418 runs by the West Indies team in 2003 against the Australian team in Antigua.

This has been a disappointing series for the visiting Pakistani team as they had lost the first test on the fourth day of the test and the second on the third day of the test.

This match was also the last test match for Sri Lankan pacer Chaminda Vaas who quit test cricket. He has been an inspiration to many young pace bowlers. Vaas was the first successful pacer in Lanka with has a history of producing excellent spinners. Vaas has to his credit of taking 355 wickets in 111 test matches.

Finally the 75 year wait is over; an Ashes test victory at Lords for England over rivals Australia at Lords. England are now 1-0 ahead in the Ashes as the first test at Cardiff resulted in a draw.

England gave the visitors a mammoth target of 552 to win, but Australia was bowled out by England for 406 in the post lunch session on the fifth day. The day belonged to Andrew Flintoff who just before the start of the match announced his retirement from test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series. He took five wickets in 27 over’s giving away just 115 runs with three on the fifth day. This is Flintoff’s third five wicket haul in test career of 77 matches. He was also awarded the Man of the match for his excellent effort.

Michael Clarke’s effort in the form of 136 runs to rescue Australia went in vain as the Aussie batting tumbled against England. There was good support from Off-spinner Graeme Swann who took four wickets for 87 runs.

A generous Ricky Ponting accepted defeat with grace and in a post match interview said that the Aussie team was outplayed by England from the very first delivery of the match. He also added that he looks forward to the next test at Edgbaston and his team would come back strongly in the third test. The biggest concern for the Punter is now his bowling attack, especially Mitchell Johnson.

SCORECARD

The Ashes 2009 – 2nd Test, Australia vs England,Played at Lord’s, 16-20 July 2009

Result – England beat Australia by 115 runs

The wonderful fact about football is that, the entire course of the game can change in a fraction of a few seconds, in a moment of a player’s indecision or brilliance. This can happen even in the final minutes of a game, where the losers, would have outshined the winners in all aspects, but still, lost because of the brilliance shown by an individual. Here, the losers were South Africa, who outshined Brazil, the winners, while the individual was none other than Daniel Alves and his free-kick was the cause for thousands of heartbreak across the host nation.

The South African team was without suspended midfielder Macbeth Sibaya who was replaced by Siphiwe Tshabalala while Luisao replaced Juan in central defence for Brazil. As expected, the game was an attack oriented one, as both the teams, aimed for the jugular from the very beginning. Khune, the keeper for South Africa, was forced to action to save a Ramires shot. Almost immediately, RSA replied with long range effort from Siboniso Gaxa, though Julio Cesar had it covered all the way.

But soon, spectators were left wondering whether Brazil was playing in green, as The South Africans dominated possession, though their efforts were either not on target or were fended off by Julio Cesar. Tshbalala’s freekick, on the 30th minute was struck with venom and Julio Cesar had to use both his hands to fend it off. While at the other end Khune had to deal with an Andre Santos volley.

Kaka produced his first piece of magic as he crept past the opponent’s defense, only to send his shot wide of the far post. On, the other end, Steve Pienaar’s shot had beaten Cesar, but alas had beaten the goal too, as it edged wide. Brazil must have thankful for this, otherwise they would have headed into the break, trailing. Brazil were not as active as South Africa, because the hosts scampered for the ball as if their very lives depended on it. On the hour mark, Teko Modise’s shot deflected off Luisao and forced Cesar to a make a magnificent save.

Brazil, have now found a goalkeeper, who is wonderful with his reflex saves, a quality of all Brazilian Goalkeepers, and also good with long range efforts, which is a true boon to the team which has struggled to find a good replacement for Dida.

With, eight minutes left, Dunga introduced Daniel Alves, who would then go on to break millions of hearts across the world with his free-kick. Just when everyone thought the underdogs would come out victorious, the goal, two minutes from time ensured Brazil a chance to defend their title against USA.

In a desperate attempt to win, Pakistan won their second group match by a convincing margin of 82 runs to book a spot in the super eights. Pakistan produced their best show on the field on this trip so far in the ICC T-20 championships including the warm-ups. Pakistan scored 50 runs for the loss of a solitary wicket in the power play to lay the groundwork for a total which in the end was too big to chase for an associate team like Netherlands.

Pakistan have chopped & changed their opening pair a number of times in the past, today was no different with Kamran Akmal coming on to bat with Salman Butt. They started off aggressively with Akmal scoring two boundaries in the second over of the innings bowled by Schiferli. Dirk Nannes, the standout performer for the dutch team on the day, started off economically conceding just 5 of his first two overs. Butt who looked threatening was finally caught at cover off a loose cut shot in the fifth over. That did manage to put a brake on the scoring as the next two overs went for 4 runs apiece before Akmal took to Borren in the eighth over fetching 13 runs. Malik was dropped off the first ball of the very next over of Ten Doeschate, a chance which proved costly as he ended up scoring a crucial 30. From there onwards Pakistan looked to dominate scoring 108 in the next 12 overs with 5 sixes as against 1 versus England which came in the seventeenth over from Misbah.

Netherlands though must be disappointed that after defeating England they weren’t able to go to the next round as they put up a poor show, failing to score 151 required to qualify for the super eights, they were bundled for a paltry 93. Shahid Afridi spun his web taking 4 wickets, it seems his hard hitting days are over considering his poor show with the bat over the last many years but his legbreak or rather toe breaking pacy balls are often hard enough for accomplished players let alone lesser teams to play. The dutch were never really in the game especially at the end of 6 overs of power play after which they required nearly 10 an over to win & 114 to qualify for super eights. The introduction of spin on either ends with Ajmal & Afridi proved to be their undoing as the two produced spells of 3 for 20 & 4 for 11 respectively taking Pakistan home & through to round 2.

Score Card

Result – Pakistan beat Netherlands by 82 runs

Fall of wickets: 1. Darron Reekers 13 (1.3), 2. Bas Zuiderent 42 (7.1), 3. Peter Borren 47 (8.4), 4. Alexei Kervezee 49 (9), 5. Tom de Grooth 61 (11.1), 6. Daan van Bunge 61 (11.3), 7. Ryan ten Doeschate 71 (12.5), 8. Edgar Schiferli 74 (13.3), 9. Dirk Nannes 90 (16.4), 10. Pieter Seelaar 93 (17.3)

Man of the match: Kamran Akmal

India wasted the excellent start if got in the warm up match against New Zealand and ended up getting defeated by just 9 runs. Rohit Sharma was asked to open the innings and showed his class with a 36 run knock. His batting caliber could be judged when he his Iain O’Brien for 18 runs is his second over for two massive sixes and a four. Other major contributors in the Indian chase were Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja scoring 45 and 41 runs respectively.

The blow to the Indian batting came when Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori struck twice in his first over with wickets of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. There was some joy in the Indian camp when Raina who played some excellent shots with great running between the wickets. It was surely not India’s day as they could not reach the 171 target even though Jadeja tried his best.

To everyone’s surprise, the bowler in question over his performance in the concluded IPL, Ishant Sharma showed character and took four wickets. He bowled Jesse Ryder for 2 run making sure that Ryder’s poor form from IPL continued in England too. He also dismissed the Kiwi danger man McCullum. Ishant Sharma in the later part of the Indian bowling dismissed Jacob Oram and Styris. The other wickets were taken by Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh in the form of Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor.

James Franklin scored 27 not out off 10 balls and on-course also hit RP Singh for two successive sixes which were followed by a four. This over in the end part of the Indian bowling certainly pushed the kiwi score. Though India lost the match but certainly it provided the team to make necessary changes to its tournament strategy.

MSD in a post game interview said that the last two over’s of the Indian bowling where they conceded 31 runs were the main reason for the loss. India also missed the services of ace batsmen like Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag. Yuvi was down with food poisoning and Viru missed the game due to a shoulder injury, but they are expected to be fit when the tournament starts. India is now going to play Pakistan in its next warm-up match on 5th June 2009.