Pakistan through to semis after beating India
Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf shared a record fourth-wicket stand to help Pakistan beat India by 54 runs on Saturday to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals.
Pakistan compiled 302 for nine after winning the toss and batting before restricting their Group A rivals to 248 all out.
Shoaib (128) and Yousuf (87) put on 206 in 193 balls, the biggest stand for any wicket in the Champions Trophy and a fourth-wicket record for Pakistan.
The previous record in the competition was 192 for the first wicket, shared by Indians Virender Sehwag and Saurav Ganguly against England in Colombo in 2002 and Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds for West Indies against Bangladesh in Southampton in 2004.
England beat SriLanka by Six Wickets
JOHANNESBURG: Eoin Morgan steered England to a morale-boosting six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka with a solid half-century in the Champions
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Trophy on Friday.
England achieved a 213-run target on a lively track with five overs to spare in the day-night match, thanks to Morgan (62 not out), man-of-the-match Paul Collingwood (46) and Owais Shah (44).
South Africa and Sri Lanka now have one win apiece from two games in the four-team group, while England were playing their first match after being thrashed 6-1 by Australia in a recent home One-day series.
New Zealand have lost their opening match. The top two sides will make it to the semi-finals.
Sri Lankan spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, who were expected to keep the pressure on England, could not make an impact on a pitch which hardly helped slow bowlers.
England’s win was set up by pacemen James Anderson (3-20), Stuart Broad (3-49) and Graham Onions (2-58) who bowled well to restrict Sri Lanka on a seamer-friendly track.
They were struggling at 19/2 when they lost openers Andrew Strauss and Joe Denly, but Collingwood put the innings on the right track with a vigorous counter-attack.
Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara did the early damage when he removed Strauss (nine) and Denly (five) in his sharp opening spell. Skipper Strauss fell pulling, with Thilina Kandamby taking a superb one-handed catch at short mid-wicket.
Collingwood then eased the pressure with his attractive cameo, advancing down the pitch to swing Kulasekara over mid-wicket for a six and then smashing the next two deliveries for boundaries.
He did not spare seamer Angelo Mathews, hitting two boundaries in an over and later swung Lasith Malinga for two sixes. His flourish ended when he inside-edged a Malinga delivery on to his stumps.
Shah was involved in two partnerships, adding 63 for the third wicket with Collingwood and 76 for the next with Morgan.
Morgan then batted steadily to see England home, hitting seven fours in his seventh half-century in one-day internationals.
Kandamby and Mathews earlier hit impressive half-centuries under pressure as Sri Lanka recovered from a horror start to post a competitive total.
Sri Lanka were struggling at 17-4 before Kandamby (53) and Mathews (52) led the fightback with an 82-run stand for the sixth wicket.
It was a rare sporting gesture by Strauss that allowed Mathews to resume his innings after he was run out.
Mathews turned Onions to square-leg and completed the first run before colliding with the bowler going for a second, with wicket-keeper Matt Prior effecting the run out after receiving the throw.
The Sri Lankan batsman stood briefly at the pitch before walking back to the pavilion, but Strauss called the batsman back.
Mathews, who was then on 51, failed to make the most of the opportunity as he added just one run more to his score before being caught behind off Luke Wright.
Kandamby added 64 for the fifth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera (30) and 82 for the next with Mathews.
South Africa back in Champions Trophy contention
CENTURION: South Africa bounced back into contention for 2009 ICC Champions Trophy glory with a five-wicket triumph over New Zealand at
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SuperSport Park on Thursday.
Upset by Sri Lanka in the opening match of the ODI tournament two days ago, the Proteas had to win and did so with relative ease before a large, holiday crowd.
New Zealand were all out for 214 in 47.5 overs and South Africa cruised to 217/5 in 41.1 overs and another win Sunday over England would virtually assure the hosts of a place in the knockout phase.
The ‘Black Caps’, who may have erred in excluding Jeetan Patel for a match on a spin-friendly pitch, face Sri Lanka and England at the Wanderers stadium and a couple of victories would bring them back into the frame.
AB de Villiers was a fitting match winner, sealing success with a four having top scored for the Proteas with an unbeaten 70 in 76 balls, including nine boundaries.
“This was a big day for us and we stood up to deliver a much improved performance. Our bowlers set the tone in the first 15 overs with good intensity and they hit the right areas hard,” said South Africa skipper Graeme Smith.
“It was a clinical job well started and well finished and the result will improve our run rate. Now we are going to prepare well for our match against England.”
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori said: “Our batsmen got bogged down as we sought a competitive score of about 250 runs. Ross (Taylor) and Grant (Elliott) handled the spinners well but the partnership did not last long enough.”
Once again Smith won the toss and once again he opted to field on a dry, slow, uneven early season track that gave the spinners assistance in warm, partly cloudy conditions.
Vettori stressed the need to build partnerships, but his plea fell largely on deaf ears with the 71-run stand between Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott a notable exception.
The stubborn 95-ball stand ended when South Africa-born Elliott chose the wrong line and his middle stump was pushed back by a deceptive delivery from spinner Roelof van der Merwe.
Taylor was the top Kiwi scorer with 72 off 106 balls before missing a low full toss and being trapped leg before by revitalised Wayne Parnell, who was voted man of the match.
Opener Brendon McCullum was the only other New Zealand batsman to make an impact, scoring 44 before trying a sweep off Johan Botha and getting a top edge to JP Duminy at short fine leg.
Parnell, rebounding from a nightmare outing against Sri Lanka, finished with five wickets, impressive Van der Merwe and speedster Dale Steyn claimed two apiece and Botha one.
Set a 4.30-runs-an-over target, Smith managed just seven before departing because he played a Daryl Tuffey too early and Vettori took a simple catch at mid-on.
Jacques Kallis was next to go, adding 52 runs for the second wicket with Hisham Amla before an attempted drive off Shane Bond was snapped up by wicketkeeper McCullum.
Although ahead on run rate, South Africa were also struggling to build big partnerships and much-improved Amla returned to the pavilion having made 38 after being trapped leg before by Vettori.
Duminy did not last long, scoring just 11 off 13 balls before becoming the victim of a spectacular McCullum catch after trying a cut that took a bottom edge.
Sri Lanka sink hosts S Africa in Champions Trophy opener
Tillakeratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis led Sri Lanka to a 55-run win over South Africa as the opening match of the Champions Trophy was decided by the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method on Tuesday.
Dilshan struck 106 off 92 balls as Sri Lanka amassed 319 for eight, their highest one-day score against South Africa. Spinner Mendis then claimed three for 30 as the hosts finished on 206 for seven from 37.4 overs after rain intervened.
The 24-year-old Mendis was playing against South Africa for the first time and frequently bamboozled the opposition batsmen in the Group B match.
Captain Graeme Smith raced to 58 off 44 balls before being bowled by Mendis’s first delivery which zipped back into the left-hander and went through his ‘gate’.
Mendis also removed Jacques Kallis (41), who added 81 for the second wicket with Smith in 11 overs, when Angelo Mathews took a fine diving catch at mid-off.
JP Duminy was then bowled first ball by Mendis by the same delivery that accounted for Smith.
Earlier, Sri Lanka were sent in to bat and Dilshan powered to his third one-day international century in 87 balls, thumping 16 fours and a six.
Dilshan was ably supported by captain Kumar Sangakkara, who compiled 54 in a record Sri Lanka second-wicket stand against South Africa of 158.
Mahela Jayawardene (77) and Thilan Samaraweera (37) then added 116 for the fourth wicket.
South Africa next meet New Zealand at Centurion on Thursday while Sri Lanka, looking to seal a semi-final place, travel to Johannesburg to play England on Friday.
South Africa take on Sri Lanka in opener
JOHANNESBURG(timesofindia): Once the financial engine driver of the game, One-day cricket will get a definitive chance at restoring its fading aura when South
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Africa and Sri Lanka kick off the Champions Trophy at Centurion from Tuesday.
With England having scrapped the 50-over format from its domestic calendar and a largely predictable pattern – coupled with the sheer deluge of meaningless tournaments all blurring into one another – having facilitated the public fascination with Twenty20, these are testing times for One-day Internationals.
What the Champions Trophy, a quick feast of 15 contests between the top eight teams, is hoping to provide is a contest. With the excess having been cut out of the tournament format, fact remains that this is the biggest cricketing event of the year, in spite of the Ashes.
‘There can only be one winner’, scream the adverts across Johannesburg. But a flurry of exciting contests to serve as a reminder of One-day cricket’s varying nuances will be the best medicine for the ICC, which is struggling to secure the long-term future of the format.
Much depends, though, on what sort of match-ups the key teams serve up. South Africa skipper Graeme Smith hit the nail on the head when he said, “The ICC have put a lot of effort into this tournament. You can feel it, but ultimately, it’s how cricket is played that is going to define if the tournament is a success. The good point is that it is short and to the point, and hopefully it can capture the imagination.”
Ground realities offer hope. Day-night cricket isn’t usually played in South Africa at this time of year and the juice and bounce in the pitches will keep even the home team guessing.
The One-day ranking too is expected to change hands and South Africans are hoping to get over the ICC Awards snub by drumming up the ‘cut-throat’ nature of the competition. On the face of it, the hosts, along with India and Australia, are ahead of the pack judging by recent run of form and win-loss ratio in South Africa.
But the more adventurous but wildly exuberant Pakistanis and the wily and well-rounded Lankans too are eyeing the kill, hopefully making for a fortnight of swinging fortunes and memorable highs.
What will be interesting to see, though, is whether captains, enthused by the freshness and bounce in the pitches, break the mould by thinking out of the box in the much-maligned middle overs, from the 15th to the 40th.
Any early break in set patterns will set off the spark that could light up this event, even in spite of the disappointment of having to see the West Indies field a second-string team.
Squads:
Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dammika Prasad, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Thushara.
South Africa: Graeme Smith, Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe.
