Bangladesh vs Ireland ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Live Score Card

IN THE ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, co-hosts Bangladesh will take on Ireland in the ninth match of the event at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to bat first, while keeping in mind the dew factor.

Bangladesh, who is playing their second match in the ICC World Cup 2011, has made one change in playing XI from the first match against India. All-rounder Mahmudullah was replaced by middle order batsman Mohammad Ashraful so as to make their batting attack stronger.

In the inaugural match of the Cricket World Cup on February 19 against India, Bangladesh lost by 87 runs. However, Bangladeshi players resisted Indian bowling attack and scored 283 runs for the lost of nine wickets in 50 overs.

Ireland starts their Cricket World Cup 2011 campaign with this match. Prior to the ICC World Cup, Ireland lost one match against New Zealand and won one against Zimbabwe in the warm-up matches.

Bangladesh and Ireland have played six ODIs against one another, where Bangladesh won four matches and Ireland two. In the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, Ireland had defeated Bangladesh by 74 runs in the Super Eights stage.

Here is the playing XI of Bangladesh and Ireland for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011:

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain.

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien (wk), Andrew White, Kevin O'Brien, Andre Botha, John Mooney, Trent Johnston, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin.

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Australia vs New Zealand ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Live Score Card

IN THE eight match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 between Australia and New Zealand at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in orange city Nagpur, Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bowl first on a cloudy morning.
Yesterday in Nagpur, there was some rain which could have motivated Ponting to bowl first. However the wicket of VCA Nagpur is dry and there is little grass on the pitcy. However, the fast bowlers might get some assistance in the morning.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has made no changes in his team from the last match against Zimbabwe. The Aussie team defeated Zimbabwe by 91 runs in their opening match at Motera, Ahmedabad on Monday.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has made one change from the last match against Kenya. The Kiwis included Right-hand batsman Jamie How in place of all-rounder Jacob Oram in this very important match against Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. New Zealand won their first match against Kenya by 10 wickets in just eight overs.
In the last three ICC Cricket World Cups matches played between tthe wo countries, Australia has won on two occasions, whereas New Zealand won a match in 1999. In the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, the Aussie team defeated the Kiwis by a huge margin of 215 runs.
Here is the playing XI of South Africa and West Indies for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011:
Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Shaun Tait.
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (capt), Brendon McCullum (wk), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Jamie How, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett.

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England Vs Netherlands ICC World Cup 2011, Live Score Card

IN A group 'B' match between England and Netherlands in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in orange city Nagpur, the Dutch captain Peter Borren won the toss and elected to bat first.
The English team has made one change in their playing XI from their last warm-up match against Pakistan. Right-arm off break bowler Graeme Swann secured his berth in playing XI in place of left-arm orthodox bowler Michael Yardy.
In the warm-up matches before the start of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the English team won their both matches against Canada and Pakistan, whereas Netherlands had lost one match against Sri Lanka while it won the match against Kenya.
Netherlands openers Wesley Baressi (wk) and Alexei Kervezee started their inning on a positive note at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium ground in their opening match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
England and Netherlands playing XI in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
England playing XI:
Andrew Strauss (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson
Netherlands playing XI:
Peter Borren (Capt), Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Baressi (wk), Tom Cooper, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots, Berend Westdijk.

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Indian batting on top against Bangladesh, bowlers must wake up

IN THE opening match of the ICC World Cup 2011 India defeated co-hosts Bangladesh in style. All this action took place at Mirpur’s Sher- e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday. While hosts Bangladesh wanted to win the match, India wanted to avenge their defeat in the 2007 World Cup, where they were defeated quite badly.

The early exit of Sachin Tendulkar in the match came as a blow for the team, which batted first. However,swashbuckling Indian opener, Virender Sehwag took the Bangladeshi bowlers to the cleaners and scored his 14th ODI century, off just 94 balls. His next 50 runs came off just 30 balls. Together with his teammate Virat Kohli, who completed his ton in just 83 balls, Sehwag was able to script a magnificent win for India.

On the bowling side too, there were both pros and cons. Medium pacer Munaf Patel took four wickets by giving away just 48 runs in 10 overs but pacer Sreesanth was wayward giving away 53 runs in just five overs. With Munaf’s bowling, India was taken a step closer towards a predictable yet patchy victory.

It was also a day of setting up of new records. Virender Sehwag’s 175 runs became the highest individual score for the opening match of the World Cup, beating New Zealand legend Glenn Turner’s record of 171 in 1975 opener. India’s 370 mark also became the highest score for the opening match of World Cup beating England’s 334 in the 1975 edition. Sehwag’s score of 175 is also his personal highest breaking his earlier record of 146.

He also equaled Kapil Dev’s knock of 175 not out in 1983 World Cup match against Zimbabwe. This 32 year old, Indian opener smashed 14 boundaries and hammered five sixes in his knock of 175 runs. Though he was successful in breaking many records but couldn’t break record of highest score by an Indian by Saurav Ganguly which is 183 runs and also the highest ever World Cup score of 188 by Gary Kirsten- now the Indian coach.

His teammate Virat Kohli too scored his fifth one day ton and became a part of the group of cricketers, who have scored a hundred on the World Cup debut. At a fast rate of 8.4 runs per over, he and his partner Sehwag yielded 203 runs for the third wicket partnership. The partnership was also the fifth double century partnership for India in the World Cup with Sehwag featuring in all of them.

On the other hand, Bangladesh batsman also challeneged India belligerently. By the end of the first power play they were at a score of 68 runs for the loss of one wicket, with the first 50 runs coming off just less than five overs. Imrul Kayes scored 34 runs out off 29 balls. Captain Shakib-Al-Hassan scored a magnificent 55 runs off just 50 balls and the opener, Tamim Iqbal scored 70 runs out off 86 balls.

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ICC World Cup 2011: Review Team Pakistan

WELL TO start of with it is actually quite absurd that a sub-continent team playing in sub-continent won't have that much pressure to perform. The reasons are obvious, ravaged by spot fixing scandals and infighting, the Pakistan cricket fraternity is on a recovery mode. And no one really expects them to give that much of a fight. With Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amer suspended, the first choice bowling attack of Pakistan is gone. With the captaincy issue yet to be resolved, the team morale won't be that high. But still a sub-continent team in sub-continent cannot be ignored.

THE SQUAD

Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad.

THE YOUNG BLOOD

Out of the 15 chosen, 8 are those who have never been part of an event of this importance. Clearly the Pakistan selectors did not have an option and leaving out Imran Nazir reaffirms the fact that they wanted to start afresh. If we start taking the replacements for the suspended tainted trio, Ahmed Shehzad is in for Butt and Shehzad is clearly a fire brand if there was any.

He has a distinction of playing at the highest level and then going back to represent Pakistan in the Under 19 World cup. He only has one gear and that is to clear the in-field any how, he is not afraid to take on the fastest of the bowlers and even on bouncy wickets he has played some magnificent  shots on the rise. He won’t get that pace in sub-continent and moreover his 7 match experience might not be enough.

Umar Akmal, a prodigy in the making, probably a complete batsmen Pakistan have produced after the era of Saeed Anwar. Though Younis Khan is probably the best Pakistan has got at the moment. This would be the make or break tournament for Umar. And to utilise his complete ability he must be slotted at No.3 nothing below that.

Wahab Riaz, is the replacement for Mohhammed Asif and to be fair on him he is a decent catch from the bowling factory. He has not exactly filled in the shoes of Asif but his approach ahs been commendable and as with Umar it would be make or break trip that he would be making to India.

THE WORRIES

One the other hand there is Mohammed Hafeez, Pakistan selectors does seem to have a blind faith on this chap. With an average of 22 in 62 ODIs, how the hell he made it to the squad, only reason I can think of is, he is not swashbuckling as Shehzad so they assumed he would be the calmer and wiser partner.

Mohammed Amer could have been the potent weapon for Pakistan instead they had to content themselves with the old potent weapons, Shohib Akhtar. As an old war veteran, it is not his pace or form which has made him survive this long, it’s probably his never say die attitude. And this never “say die attitude” unfortunately looks good on paper or say a blog only.

Being hit for an economy of more than 8 and again coming back to bowl the full quota of overs to end up with run rate of 7 does not fit the bill for never say die attitude. That plainly is poor bowling but Pakistan selectors as I mentioned earlier tend to assume a lot of things.

Kamran Akmal, putting Kamran in the slot is just because of the poor form he is in; he tried his hands as an opener then at number 3 with no effect. In recent times, he has been very successful in the sub-continent primarily against India and his being in form would be of prime importance. He is more like Suresh Raina of Pakistan, unpredictable yet assuring figure.

Inspirational Misbah Ul Haq, is a player of calibre but I doubt his big match playing credentials.

Abdul Razzak is more of confusion; unpredictability has hovered all around his cricketing career. Not as strong a bowler he used to be but he is the variation guy of the team. He can pack a punch and on a given day could be more barbaric than Yusuf Pathan, but its all about him clicking or not. Not exactly a worry but wont put him in chances section as well.

CHANCES

Here chances have to be read as Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. Gul is the strike bowler, best exponent of death bowling and Shahid Afridi along with Saeed Ajmal, I think is the best spinning duo in the world cup. Classic ODI spinners, with one having the knack of picking up wickets and other choking down the batsmen.

Younis Khan just cannot afford to have a bad day at the office as he would be the spine of Pakistani batting attack.

Semi-final could be the maximum they could reach but again unpredictability is what Pakistan cricket lives with.

ICC Cricket World Cup Tickets

The Cricket World Cup is just 17 days away, but there’s still a chance to get tickets for many of the first round matches, provided you don’t mind watching some of the less fancied teams.

Unsurprisingly tickets for India’s key games have been snapped up, though the shifting of India vs. England on Feb. 27 from Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to Chinnaswamy Stadium might free up a few, since some people won’t be able to change plans and travel to Bangalore.

The only India match for which tickets are still available is the Ireland game on March 6, also in Bangalore. It’s unlikely to be a classic, but you never know, bearing in mind Ireland dumped Pakistan out of the World Cup in 2007.

If you’re looking for tickets, check on the official World Cup Web site. There is a tickets section, which takes users through to a page run by Kyazoonga.com, the official ticketing partner for the World Cup. Hopefully they’ll have an easier time handling online traffic than the Commonwealth Games ticketing partner, IRCTC, the state-run railways reservations portal, did.

A quick hunt around the site shows that there are still tickets for some exciting clashes, including South Africa vs. England in Chennai on March 6 and Australia vs. New Zealand in Nagpur on Feb. 25. Tickets for the semis (in Colombo and Mohali) and final (Mumbai) are not on sale yet, but it’s possible to sign up on the official website so you can be alerted when they become available.

India is hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Tickets for matches in Sri Lanka can be bought on the official website, while Bangladesh has designated a number of City Bank and Agrani Bank branches as retail outlets.

For online purchases, local customers can use credit or debit cards, while those buying from outside India will need to use a valid international credit card. Tickets are delivered by courier, although the site FAQs don’t say whether they courier to international addresses. Tickets can also be picked up at the venue. If you’re in India already, I’d go for the courier option to avoid extra hassle at the stadium.

Fans can also buy tickets directly from the venues, though be prepared to queue and be wary of the dangers that seem to crop up whenever India hosts a major sporting event.

According to a NDTV report, a wall at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium collapsed today as hundreds of people waited in line to buy tickets. Two people were injured, the report said. For the second time in as many weeks, the World Cup preparations veered along worryingly similar lines to the mess seen in the run-up to last October’s Commonwealth Games.

So much for learning the lessons from that debacle, and all the more reason to book tickets through the relatively safer Internet route. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, forget I asked that.