All About Latest Sports Action: Pakistan’s Super Eight entry threatens fancied teams

There were a lot of discussions and debates on whether or not Pakistan would be able to force their way into the Super Eight, after having succumbed to a humiliating defeat at the hands of hosts England in their opening game.

My reply to all the queries in this regard was simple and straightforward. I told everyone, on and off the record, that I would be surprised if Pakistan didn’t accomplish their goal. The assessment was not based on any cricketing knowledge or anything like that. It had to do something with history and past record.


All About Latest Sports Action: Pakistan’s Super Eight entry threatens fancied teams

Match Preview: Newzealand vs South Africa

New Zealand (Playing XI): Brendon McCullum(c), Martin Guptill, Neil Broom, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Peter McGlashan(w), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Brendon Diamanti, Ian Butler

South Africa (Playing XI): Graeme Smith(c), Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Mark Boucher(w), Albie Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn

Team Information: Diamanti, Broom and Mills come in for New Zealand while Ryder, O'Brien and Franklin miss out due to injuries. South Africa have fielded the same eleven.
New Zealand have won the toss and elected to field
Ground Reality and Pitch:

Named after its founder Thomas Lord, the Lord's cricket ground also known as 'The Mecca of World Cricket', is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is home of the ECB. The three T20 World Cup matches played in the ground so far has seen the teams batting first score in excess of 160. Once again, the pitch is expected to favour the batsmen.

Temperatures: Min - 12 C Max - 16 C Conditions: Showers expected

Team Updates:
South Africa: The Proteas have by far been one of the best sides in the tournament. They began from winning all their warm-up matches and carried on to drub the Scottish team in their first match of the tournament. With a wide range of players at disposal, the South Africans are spoilt for choice with their team selection. Graeme Smith and Kallis looked in good touch during the match against Scotland while de Villiers, coming in the middle order, displayed his class with a splendid fifty. South Africa would count on their batsmen to produce a similar effort against the Kiwis and count on the likes of Dale Steyn, Botha and van De Merwe to fire with the ball.
New Zealand: The Kiwis had a truncated encounter against Scotland with their match being reduced to a 7 overs a side affair. They survived a scare after coming close to losing the match against the Scots. While their bowling was average, The likes of Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor shined with the bat. New Zealand would count on these three and the likes of Martin Guptill and Jacob Oram to fire with the bat. With the Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori likely to be out of the match due to a shoulder injury, the bowling department should pull their socks up and display a determined approach against the formidable batting line-up of the Proteas.
Numbers game:
2-1: South Africa have 2 victories against New Zealand in T20 Internationals while the Kiwis have managed one victory against the Proteas.
111.11: Graeme Smith's batting strike rate vs New Zealand in T20 games.

Pakistan handle Netherlands scare, stay alive

It was a comprehensive routing of a hapless Netherlands outfit, Pakistan were superior in all departments and notched up a crushing win to knock the Dutch out of the tournament. Still it was quite a pleasure to see the Orange brigade in action and they will be better off for the experience gained.

Kamran Akmal:T20 is a fun game. Very happy with the keeping and I worked very hard with the fielding coach on my keeping.

Younis Khan: It was all about the partnerships, everybody thought we will field first but we batted. We were positive all the way.

Smits: We did not play that well today, Afridi was outstanding today. We should have restricted them to 150. Batting did not come off today, congrats to Pakistan. It is a privilege to be here and we managed to make an impact in the tournament.

Kamran Akmal is the Man of the Match for his all-round performance today

Sloppy Pakistan face litmus test

Who'd have thunk it, that Pakistan and Netherlands would be taking on each other in a group game in which Pakistan might do and still die? Such has been the way with this strangest of groups but clarity has now emerged. Netherlands, to progress and thus consign Pakistan to a fate they seem worryingly resigned to, can afford to lose, but by no more than 24 runs. If Pakistan chase, then they must do so with roughly three overs to spare.

The problems are Pakistan's. Not for a moment since they landed in England have they looked like a team that is playing in a World Cup. Younis Khan's bizarre, careless dismissal of the format and the tournament seems to have filtered through to the side. Anyway you'd think, given their lack of international games recently, that Pakistan would be itching to rip through a Ramadan 20/20 night tournament in Karachi's Pakistan Chowk, let alone a World Cup. The attitude is, however, only the most overarching concern: on the field, they are the worst fielding side, have an unsettled batting order and are rusty with the ball. Beyond that, they're fine.

Netherlands, on the other hand, have accorded this tournament the respect it deserves and have shown, with that fabulous opening win, just why the format is celebrated. As well as skill, the Netherlands will remind one and all, Twenty20 rewards discipline, hard work and bravery. The problem for them, of course, is to recreate the intensity of Friday, something which often proves beyond associate nations and lower-ranked sides.

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All About Latest Sports Action: Ireland throw Bangladesh out of competition

Ireland had stunned everyone by making it to the Super Eight of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and they have done it again in the shortest version of the game.

What a great start they have made in the ICC World Twenty20 2009, hammering Bangladesh by six wickets with 10 deliveries remaining. They have progressed to the next round of the competition, alongwith the defending champions India, from Group A.


All About Latest Sports Action: Ireland throw Bangladesh out of competition