Sri Lanka win toss, invite Australia to bat

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and invited Australia to bat in this crucial Group C match of the ICC World Twenty20, here today.
Teams: Australia: Shane Watson, David Warner, Ricky Ponting (cap), Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Nathan Bracken.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (cap), Mahela Jayawardene, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Isuru Udana, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga

Ireland beat Bangladesh, reach Super 8 in T20 World Cup

O'Brien brothers -- Niall and Kevin's scintillating knocks fashioned Ireland's six-wicket victory over Bangladesh and propelled them to the Super Eight stage of the ICC Twenty20 Championship, here today.
Niall blasted a 25-ball 40, studded with three fours and as many sixes while Kevin fired an unbeaten 17-ball 39, smashing four fours and a couple of sixes to help Ireland reach the target with 10 balls to spare.

Earlier, all-rounder Trent Johnston's three-wicket haul restricted Bangladesh to 137 for eight in their Group A match.

Niall stitched a 55-run partnership for the first wicket with skipper William Porterfield (23) to lay the foundation of the win before the left-handed batsman was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan in the 10th over.

Ireland then lost two quick wickets in Porterfield and GC Wilson (10) before Kevin steadied the ship and forged a 49-run stand in 24 balls with John Mooney (17), to set the tone for a deserved victory.

For Bangladesh, Mashrafe Mortaza took two wickets for 30 runs, while Shakib and Abdur Razzak bagged one each.

Earlier, Johnston ripped through the Bangladesh top-order, removing opener Junaid Siddique (13), skipper Mohammad Ashraful (14) and Shakib (7) after Ireland skipper Porterfield had won the toss and invited Bangladesh to bat. PTI

Pakistan need to win match by 25 runs for S8 round

Pakistan’s fate in the ICC World Twenty20 Cup hangs in balance as they meet The Netherlands in their do or die Group B final game at the Lord’s on Tuesday, a match they must win by at least 25 runs to qualify for the Super 8 second round.

The Dutch side which got better of England on Friday on the last ball of the match are equal on points table with the home side that comprehensively defeated Pakistan by 48 runs at The Oval on Sunday.

Pakistan’s destiny is to be decided through a permutation and calculation of the scoring rate which is lower than their two group counterparts.

Pakistan, finalists at the 2007 inaugural tournament in South Africa, will have to significantly improve their performance in the outfield given their sloppy display against England.

The side dropped four catches at various points during the England innings with Saeed Ajmal (twice) and Yasir Arafat and Salman Butt (one apiece) being the main culprits.

Butt was the comfortably the worst fielder and captain Younis Khan did not hide his anger and disappointment. “Even if Butt scored 28 as an opener we’ll have to think about him for the next game because of his fielding.”

Pakistan were playing only their second Twenty20 in seven months and the rustiness was quite patent. They lost both their warm-ups and seem to be grappling with the cold conditions in the UK.

None of the Pakistan bowlers, apart from the inexperienced off spinner Ajmal, came to their team’s rescue, against England as they built on the platform laid by Kevin Pietersen early on.

In the Tuesday’s game Pakistan need to win with about three overs to spare to qualify for the second round. Younis has put the onus on his senior batsmen like Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Shoaib Malik and himself.

The Netherlands experience of international T20 competitions in restricted to the matches played at the qualifier in Belfast last year when it shared top honours with Ireland.

However, regarded as minnows the way they upstaged England show that the Dutch side is equally capable of pulling off surprises and Pakistan can ill afford to lower their guard.

Dirk Nannes, who will spearhead Dutch bowling has been described by Indian opener Virender Sehwag as the fastest bowler he had ever faced.

He was born and brought up in Australia but when he was omitted from Australia’s 30-man squad he accepted Holland’s invitation, qualifying on the back of his parent’s Dutch heritage.

Nannes has played with Middlesex in the UK, Victoria in Australia and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League. In addition to Nannes, Netherlands will be looking to their best player Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex to do some damage with the bat and ball with support from young Worcestershire batsman Alex Kervezee and the Man of the Match against England Tom de Grooth.

Captain Jeroen Smits will direct proceedings from behind the stumps while Peter Borren and Darren Reekers will provide valuable support to keep Dutch hopes alive.

The teams (From)

Pakistan-Younis Khan (captain), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Aamer, Iftikhar Anjum,Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shahzaib Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Misbahul Haq.

The Netherlands- Joeren Smits (captain), Peter Borren, Mudassar Bokhari, Tom De Grooth, Maurits Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Dirk Nannes, Ruud Nijam, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelar, Eric Szwarczynski, Daan Van Bunge, Bas Zuiderent.

Qadir quits, fresh crisis for Pak cricket

Pakistan cricket plunged into fresh crisis today with chief selector Abdul Qadir resigning in mysterious circumstances.

The announcement of the resignation came out of the blue and a day after Pakistan was trounced by England in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

Incidentally, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ejaz Butt wasted no time in accepting Qadir's resignation.

"We don't know the reason for his decision to resign but the Chairman, Ejaz Butt has accepted it," Saleem Altaf, the PCB chief operating officer, told PTI.

Qadir was not available for any comments as he switched off his cell phone but rumours were gathering momentum that the former test leg-spinner was told to resign or get the boot.

"Butt called him to his office and told him either he should resign or he will be sacked," one source in the board said.

Other sources said that the reason for Butt's sudden decision to get rid of Qadir might have something to do with rumors of corruption in the selection of the national team and Pakistan A squad for Australia.

But no board official, including Altaf, was willing to comment on the rumours.

"We only know he decided to resign that is all. We are as blank as everyone else why he decided to resign," Altaf said. Speculation was rife that Qadir faced a lot of scrutiny from the board over his insistence on selecting some players in the national and A sides.

Incidentally, even during the tenure of the last selection committee headed by Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of his selection committee was accused by a Pakistan player of indulging in corruption.

Sources said that Butt had asked Salahuddin to take action against the selector but the chief selector deemed it fit to resign himself in defence of his selector.

There were also reports about serious differences that Qadir has developed with captain Younis Khan and coach Intikhab Alam in recent weeks which even led to arguments between them.

Qadir also had differences with former player Aamer Sohail, who is director, game development in the board and Ejaz Butt over the selection of the Pakistan A team for Australia.

The board started paying monthly salaries to the national selectors since last year and Qadir was paid around Rs 250,000 a month besides other perks.

Interestingly, the PCB has now also asked former opener Shoaib Mohammad to choose between his job as national selector or his position with the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) where he is manager sports.

Twenty20 World Cup Betting: England win shows they can win the tournament

Frank Gregan talks medieval jousting and underwater bingo as he assesses England's mixed start to the Twenty20 World Cup...

The Jekyll and Hyde of cricket were at it again at the weekend as England discovered new levels of embarrassment when losing to the Dutch in the Twenty20 World Cup.

Cricket in Holland is not very popular, having the same kind of following as medieval jousting and underwater bingo! Matches are watched by a couple of tulip sellers and a few old blokes wearing clogs, yet England managed to slump to a defeat against a side that Somerset, Wiltshire or the Isle of Wight would be competitive against.

It was a desperate loss and could have cost England dearly. As soon as stumps were drawn the hosts faced the prospect of not qualifying for the super eight had they lost to Pakistan. Qualification was no longer in their hands, it was up to the likes of Michael Fish and co and there would have been much checking of the web weather forecasts on Saturday night. A washout would have been a disaster but fortunately it never happened and Collingwood and his men were given the chance to redeem themselves.

Pakistan were the opposition, a serious heavyweight in World Cricket and with about eight million supporters for every Dutchman that follows the game. Nothing short of a stellar performance would suffice and, given that this English side blows more hot and cold than an air conditioner in a Tenerife nightclub, nobody quite knew what team would turn up.

It was their 'A' team with their 'A' game and it was a great performance and a victory that keeps their hopes of winning the trophy on home soil alive. But how on earth did they find themselves in that position? How could they lose to Holland?

It's because of the format and with that the same old - same old is debated as to whether this form of cricket should be played at international level. It's an argument I've had many times with many different people; I am a great fan of this short game and defend it resolutely. It's cricketing Marmite - you either love it or hate it but one thing is for sure - Holland would not beat England in a five day game. It's the unpredictability that makes it riveting!

It's only the fourth day of the tournament and already there have been shocks galore dished up because of the format. There is no recovery time - if you have a bad spell then your team will have a bad result. And if you put together back to back poor performances, the tournament is over.

Incredibly, Australia could find themselves out of the competition if they don't manage to overcome Sri Lanka today. Even a win might not be enough because of their poor net run rate after their seven wicket defeat by a West Indian side that looked as if they had been seized by aliens and reincarnated. One guy was seen shaking the West Indian skipper by the shoulders and shouting: "Who are you and what have you done with Chris Gayle?"

New Zealand were almost humbled by Scotland after a weather adjustment meant that the game took on the format of a school yard match. It was over in a flash and you couldn't help wondering if they were going to invoke the "one handed catch off the wall" rule in conjunction with the "tip and run' that both sides played. Great entertainment!

Betfairians can't make their mind up who is going to win this event and it's a belting market because of that. It's time to build up a portfolio and keep working the market in play. I backed England before the Pakistan game at odds of 17.0 - they are currently at 10.0 but they are still a back because if they make the semis their odds will halve.

The West Indies are 10.5 to back and if they continue in the same vein of form that they displayed against Australia that is a massive price.

The Australians have lost their last four Twenty20 internationals and have little appetite for this format, referring to it as "a hit and a giggle" because they have been unable to master it. However, they have a massive competitive streak and the 9.2 currently available will shorten dramatically if they roll Sri Lanka.

It's a tough call but I'm going to recommend England and pray that they replicate their form against Pakistan rather than Holland for the remainder of the tournament. It's a great tournament and it is promoting the format in a very positive manner.

I was having a heated debate about Test cricket v Twenty20 at the weekend with a mate and defending the shorter version I was well on top. That was until he threw in an absolute gem which won him the argument. "So what have you been looking forward to most this summer, the Twenty20 World Cup or the Ashes?"

England stay alive, beat Pakistan easily

England stayed alive in the Twenty20 World Cup when their regained their composure, and put their defeat against the Dutchmen as bad dream and beat the Pakistanis by 48 runs at the Oval, here on Sunday.

After making 185 for five, England bundled the Pakistanis for 136. Had England lost this one, they would have tumbled out and it would have been galling to them and a terrible setback considering that they were playing in their own backyard.

The Pakistanis put pressure on themselves by their shoddy fielding which enabled the Englishmen to a big score. Pakistan will certainly rue their, which they could have turned to victory if they fielded better.

When the Pakistanis began their chase, they lost wickets at regular intervals and no batsmen really could get going Big guns Saman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik who made 20 off 21, the highly rated Sahid Afridi and Misbah Ul-Haq all failed to fire and that was that. Only skipper Younus Khan batted with purpose to make 48 in 31 balls. Stuart Broad the villan in the previous game took 3 wickets.

Pakistan gave one of the most shameful fielding displays in this game. They seemed to be ignorant of fundamental in fielding and that is that catches win matches. They dropped nearly five catches and their ground fielding too was atrocious.

England battled their way to a strong 185 for 5 in 20 and it was a score that they had to defend to stay afloat in the tournament.

The wicket was a good one for batting with the England batsmen determined to bat better than they did against the Dutchmen where after opening stand of over 100 by Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright, they squandered it all by losing their way in the middle England's team in the that game they lost felt the absence of Kevin Pietersen.

He was injured and quickly recovered to play in this game which was sink or swim game.

England also made the right decision in giving Dimitri Mascarhenas a game. His allround ability was what England needed. His dropping came as a surprise andr condemnation all round.

When England batted they lost the high scoring Ravi Bopra very early.

But Kevion Pietersen showed that he had lost form, as he began to cut loose and make thye bowlers suffer. He made a top score of 58 in 38 balls.

Others who supported him were Luke Wright with 34 and Ovis Shah with 33.

Umer Gul and Ajmal had 2 wickets each.

Sri Lanka tighten noose around Australia

Nottingham: Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bowl in a bid to knock Australia out of the ICC World T20 at Trent Bridge on Monday.

Sri Lanka, playing their first game in the competition, handed a Twenty20 international debut to all-rounder Isuru Udana. Australia, who lost their first match to West Indies, replaced James Hopes with off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.

Teams:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Nathan Hauritz.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Isuru Udana, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan.