IPL Twenty20 Cricket 2010 Live Coverage

Thursday, June 4, 2009

ICC World Twenty20 2009: Team Preview: South Africa

Many feel South Africa were robbed of a rightful semi-final berth in the inaugural edition. To recap, they played five matches and won four of them. Their only loss came against India, but it was enough to deprive them of a semi-final spot on net run-rate. Ironically, they ended the tournament with a better winning percentage than any other team, including India. With a history littered with so-near-yet-so-far stories, South Africa will be hoping that their recent resurgence continues into this World Cup too.

Strenghts: The team as a whole has been in terrific form recently, and the players' confidence will be very high. Their winning spree has also inculcated a self-belief and a 'can do' attitude in the side. Their team seems to blend its different parts seamlessly together, living out the maxim 'the whole is greater than the sum of the parts'. Their side is packed with all-rounders - some of them of exceptional quality, some of the bits-and-pieces variety - but all effective in their own domains. So they have Kallis to play anchor and support bowler, Albie Morkel for explosive finishes and flexible bowling, van der Merwe for lower order support and spin, Ontong for bits-and-pieces batting and bowling and Boucher as an excellent wicket-keeper batsman. To top it all, JP Duminy has been coming on nicely as a bowler and Botha has shown that he's no rabbit with bat in hand.

Weaknesses: They have a reputation for 'losing it' in the big moments, and choking during big matches. Even though the current side has not displayed that tendency so far, their history is littered with matches where even some of their greatest players failed to seize the day that counted.

Their most potent bowler is Dale Steyn, and although nobody will be taking him lightly, he is yet to prove as effective in Twenty20 cricket as he has been in Test matches and ODIs. Every team that has serious ambitions of lifting the trophy, will look to have in its ranks at least one bowler who can guarantee four spotless overs alongwith being a wicket-taking option. India have Zaheer Khan, Sri Lanka have Malinga, Australia have Brett Lee, Pakistan have Sohail Tanveer - but Steyn, though he has undoubted class, hasn't yet developped into that kind of a T20 bowler.

Opportunities: Their growing stature in world cricket was slightly dented with their home series loss to Australia, and they were brought rudely back to earth after the heady Australian tour. This is the perfect opportunity to get back some of the lost lustre. Some of the young guns have not yet established themselves as certainties in the squad and this could be the stepping stone they want. A good performance here will almost certainly guarantee that they come into the selectors' radar for ODIs at the very least.

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Symonds sent home in disgrace after incident involving alcohol

LONDON: Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds is being sent home from the World Twenty20 tournament in England for disciplinary reasons, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Thursday.

CA chief executive James Sutherland told a hastily-arranged news conference in Melbourne broadcast on national television that Symonds had been ordered home for alcohol related issues.

‘The decision has been made after Andrew, in the last 24 to 48 hours, has broken a number of team rules,’ Sutherland said.

‘In isolation those breaches are not significant but in the context of the commitment that Andrew has made to his team mates and Cricket Australia over the last six to 12 months they are the final straw.’

Symonds was a notable absentee from Australia training at The Oval in London where captain Ricky Ponting held a news conference.

‘He has let himself down, his team mates down and Cricket Australia down,’ Ponting said. ‘There is no doubting his credentials as a player but there are a number of his own commitments that he has broken over the last 24 or 48 hours.

‘This decision is all about the bigger picture, all about having the best team we can possibly have and bringing on the next generation of Australian players.’

CA said it was seeking clarification from the International Cricket Council about whether they can name a replacement for Symonds in their Twenty20 squad.

Sutherland said Symonds was expected to fly back to Australia immediately and his international career remains in doubt with his contract due to expire at the end of this month.

Symonds had been offered a new deal but Sutherland said that was now under review.


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ICC WT20 Warm Up Matches Results

June 2009
Date Time (GMT) Match Details Venue
Mon 01 12:30 Australia v Bangladesh, 1st warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow Australia won by 38 runs
Nottingham
Mon 01 12:30 Ireland v Netherlands, 2nd warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow Match tied (Ireland won by super over)
London
Mon 01 16:30 India v New Zealand, 3rd warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow New Zealand won by 9 runs
London (D/N)
Mon 01 16:30 Pakistan v South Africa, 4th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow South Africa won by 59 runs
Nottingham (D/N)
Tue 02 12:30 Ireland v West Indies, 5th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow West Indies won by 9 wkts
London
Tue 02 12:30 Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, 6th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow Sri Lanka won by 4 wkts
Nottingham
Tue 02 16:30 Australia v New Zealand, 7th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow Australia won by 7 wkts
London (D/N)
Tue 02 16:30 England v Scotland, 8th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow England won by 6 wkts
Nottingham (D/N)
Wed 03 12:30 Netherlands v Scotland, 10th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow Netherlands won by 7 wkts
London
Wed 03 12:30 South Africa v Sri Lanka, 9th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow South Africa won by 6 wkts
London
Wed 03 16:30 India v Pakistan, 12th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow India won by 9 wkts
London (D/N)
Wed 03 16:30 England v West Indies, 11th warm-up match, ICC World Twenty20 Warm-up Matches, 2009
arrow England won by 9 wkts
London (D/N)

Complete Schedule of ICC World Twenty20, 2009

Date Time (GMT) Match Details Venue
Fri 05 16:30 England v Netherlands, 1st Match, Group B, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Sat 06 09:00 New Zealand v Scotland, 2nd Match, Group D, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Sat 06 12:30 Australia v West Indies, 3rd Match, Group C, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Sat 06 16:30 India v Bangladesh, 4th Match, Group A, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham (D/N)
Sun 07 12:30 South Africa v Scotland, 5th Match, Group D, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Sun 07 16:30 England v Pakistan, 6th Match, Group B, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Mon 08 12:30 Bangladesh v Ireland, 7th Match, Group A, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham
Mon 08 16:30 Australia v Sri Lanka, 8th Match, Group C, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham (D/N)
Tue 09 12:30 Pakistan v Netherlands, 9th Match, Group B, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Tue 09 16:30 New Zealand v South Africa, 10th Match, Group D, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Wed 10 12:30 Sri Lanka v West Indies, 11th Match, Group C, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham
Wed 10 16:30 India v Ireland, 12th Match, Group A, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham (D/N)
Thu 11 12:30 D1 v A2, 13th Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham
Thu 11 16:30 B2 v D2, 14th Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham (D/N)
Fri 12 12:30 B1 v C2, 15th Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Fri 12 16:30 A1 v C1, 16th Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Sat 13 12:30 C1 v D2, 17th Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Sat 13 16:30 D1 v B1, 18th Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Sun 14 12:30 A2 v C2, 19th Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Sun 14 16:30 A1 v B2, 20th Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Mon 15 12:30 B2 v C1, 21st Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London
Mon 15 16:30 B1 v A2, 22nd Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Tue 16 12:30 D1 v C2, 23rd Match, Group F, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham
Tue 16 16:30 D2 v A1, 24th Match, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham (D/N)
Thu 18 16:30 1st Semi-Final, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 Nottingham
Fri 19 16:30 2nd Semi-Final, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London (D/N)
Sun 21 14:00 Final, ICC World Twenty20, 2009 London

 

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