Monday, March 21, 2011

Great World Cup matches-III




Bangladesh Vs England
11-03-2011 Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium,Chittogong

After the loss to WestIndies Bangladesh's must win match.On the other England after their unexpected loss to Ireland also needed a win to keep their campaign on track.After winning the toss Bangladesh chose to bowl.They bowled very well.Their fielding was also good.Except Trott , none of the batsman showed any character.He played slowly and steadily.Morgan on the other hand scored run at a brisk pace.Unfortunately for England the lower order did not score any runs and they were bowled out for 225.Bangladeshi spinners bowled beautifully.

Bangladesh started their chase briskly.Tamim, in particularly scored at neak-break pace.He hit some wonderful shots.Another opener Kayes played very sensibly Once Kayes got out , Bangladesh had a mini collapse, evenyone in the ground left hoping that they will lose.But the lower order batsmen Mahmudullah and
Shafiul proved everyone wrong.They played very sensibily.One of the best partnership by lower order batsmen in recent times.I liked the way the approached the target, they knew that no need of risky shots. Indian lower order (in fact middle order!!) should learn from these youngsters.England did bowled well but it was not good enough to win the match. Shahzad bowled wonderfully , we swung the balls both sides and got 3 wickets. Anderson , again missed his line and length.Hats off to Bangladesh.They played like a "Tiger".
England:225/10
Trott-67(99)
Morgan-63(72)
Naeem Islam-29/2
Bangladesh:227/8
Kayes-60(100)
Al Hasan-32(58)
Shahzad-43/3

Man of the match:Imrul Kayes

India Vs South Africa
12-03-2011 Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur

Great match!The highlight of this match was the spectacular collapse of Indian batsmen.Its shame that the last 9 wickets fell for just 29 runs.The openers gave India a dream start.Shewag in particular murder the South African attack.Sachin in his usual best, one shot i will remember forever was the straight drive of Morkel(am i correct?!)he is a genius.Gambhir played nicely but the way he got out was unacceptable.As mentioned earlier the 'great' collapse begun after the wicket of Gambhir.Steyn once again proved how good a bowler he is! Wonderful performance.I like Steyn's bowling , he is a genuine old school bowler.India  should have score
atleast 320.It was very sad that they did not complete the alloted 50 overs.

South Africa started steadily.Amla and Kallis batted nicely. AB de Villear's once again proved his class, played some wonderful shots.He along with Duminy and du Plessis took the score near the target.Indian bowling, one word to describe:pathetic.Except zaheer khan , none of them bowled nicely.Harbhajan is he India's wicket taking bowler!! He lost his stature as a good spinner- atleast for me.I was not sure whether Nehra was the correct choice to bowl the last over.But Dhoni had a point , Nehra had bowled the last over in previous matches with success. "Our batsmen played for crowds"- Dhoni told that during the presentation ceremony which was completely true, atleast in this match.Over all a match to forget for India.

India:296/10
Sachin-111(101)
Sehwag-73(66)
Steyn-50/5
South Africa:300/7
Kallis-69(88)
Amla -61(72)
Harbhajan-53/3


Man of the match:Dale Steyn




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