Cricket Fever

Now 13 days ago world cup. has started.Now by seeing until now it is likely that aussies are likely to take hat trick.
And now let us take overview of all performances of major team.
West Indies: I donot think they will make semi final. They are little confused team.Lat match they play 8 batsman and he gets there at no. 9. Also they open the bowling with Dwene smith who has not bowl in the last match.Also Brian Lara should bat at no.3 so he can control the game.Also Sarwan and Gayle and Chanderpaul should support him.But no mistake they are dangerous side.Also this die situation and vs SA ,they often bought best in WI.If they reach semifinal on roll with luck script canbe changed.
England:I think England has a very little chance to win world cup.Now also they have Andrew Flintoff is injured.Still they have world no.1 batsman Kevin Peterson and utility player like collingwood.In top order there is no one who will play ig inning.But with fragile top order and confused bowling line up ,I donot think they will get semi final spot.
SriLanka:SriLanka has a great chance to win this world cup.They have strong bowling line up.They have strong bowling attack which consist of ever green Chaminda Vaas and then attacking Malinga .Also their ploy of playing Fernando instead of Mahroof also very good because it gave more attacking option.In spin department they have experience spin duo of Muthaiyya Murlidharan and Sanath Jaysurya. But their main problem is lack of power hitter in middle overs.So if they have to score excess of 275 ,Jaysurya must play 35 overs.So opposite team have good chance in this departments.But semifinal will be sure.
South Africa:South Africa is very strong and attacking outfit.They are very fit side.They have aggressive outfit under aggressive captain Greme Smith.They have strong allrounder outfit which has allrounders include Jaques Kallis,Shaune Pollock,Mark Boucher,Andrew Hall and Justice Kemp.But their worry is lack of form of Shaune Pollock and Makhaya Natini.But bright spot is form of Charles Langerdevt.Also their middle order failure is worry.But their main concern that lack of spinner and ability to play spin if turning track encountered in latter stages.But i think semi final spot is sure.
New Zeland:New Zeland has started this world cup very well.This Fleming lead side can go all the way.Shane Bond is tournament's fastest and best bowler.Also he is threat to quality sides with old ball.He is main weapon in Fleming's armory.They possess all condition bowling attack.In swing condition they have Shane Bond ,James Franklin and Jacob Oram.Also for spinning track they have experienced and best Left Armer Daniel Vettori and also they have quality off spinner Jeetan Patel .Also they have good part timer Scott Styris and Craig Macmillan.Also they have good fielding side.They possess great lower middle order.They have Craig Macmillan,Jacob Oram and under rated Brandon Macmullum .Also they have all rounders like Daniel Vettori and James Franklin.Craig Macmillan and Jacob Oram are hardest hitter and bottom player in international field.Captain:Fleming is longest and experienced captain.And whole team backs him up.
Their top order consist of Stephen Fleming,Lou Vincet and Rossy Taylor is not still convincing against top attack like they found in champions trophy.Again Rossy Taylor fitness is important. They will likely go to semifinal .But there is chance that this tournament can be their.
Australia:They have a very chance to take hattrick.With hayden and Pointing in top form.Also Gilchrist is warming.Also waiting in the wings if these are out of form then Michael Hussey and Clarke and Symonds.Also bowling attack looks good under leadership of Macgrath.But Watson injury can be dangerous for balance of the team.Also their fortune depends upon how Bradd Hogg is bowled.It shows on his and aussies performance in NewZeland.

Labels: cricket world cup, World Cup, World Cup 2007

India captain Rahul Dravid admitted his team's loss to Sri Lanka was the biggest disappointment of his career.

"I have played in three World Cup tournaments and this is definitely my worst," Dravid said.

Needing victory to move into the Super Eight stages of the tournament - barring an improbabl Bermuda win over Bangladesh - India failed by 69 runs to chase down Sri Lanka's total of 254.

Dravid who top scored with 60, said his players were all disappointed but India failed to bat to their potential and therefore deserved to lose.

"Batting is our strength and there was nothing in the wicket to stop us from getting 255. It was gettable but we failed to put together a substantial partnership and kept losing wickets regularly," Dravid said.

"We had our fate in our own hands and could not live up to expectations."

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene paid tribute to the younger members of his team, highlighting the contributions of Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva and Lasith Malinga.

"It was a brilliant effort out there today and we are hoping that we can keep the momentum going," Jayawardene said.

"We are very happy with our back-to-back wins which means that we are playing really good cricket. Our batting was sensible while the bowlers were spot on.

"It is so good to see the younger players putting it together. We told them before that this was a big event and they have shown they are ready."

Jayawardene paid particular tribute to Silva, who scored half-centuries in all three games, and Chaminda Vaas.

"Chamara batted well today. The way he rotates the strike and plays spin is always heartening and he knows how to accelerate at the end," he added.

"Vaas created a lot of pressure and we knew that once we got some early wickets, they would become rattled."

Labels: Cricket, cricket world cup, Defeats, India, Loss, Rahul Dravid, Sri Lanka, World Cup 2007

For indian fan ,this is happy news that after Sri Lanka's win over Bangladesh on Wednesday, India now just needs to beat Sri Lanka without worrying about the net run-rate.

Bangladesh has done no good to its chances to qualify for Super-8 after being thrashed by 198 runs by Sri Lanka. Its net run-rate has come down to -2.0018 after that game.

Sri Lanka now heads the Group B with a net run-rate of +4.5937. India is second with a net run-rate of +2.507.

A victory by even one run (batting first) or off the last ball (batting second) over Sri Lanka will take India through to the next stage.

Suppose Sri Lanka scores 250 and India successfully chases the target off the last ball, then in such a scenario Sri Lanka will end up as the Group leader with a NRR of +3.0136. India will end up with a NRR of +1.6730.

Since Bangladesh will be playing its last league match against Bermuda after India-Sri Lanka game, theoretically it will have a chance to better India's NRR, but to do this Bangladesh has to produce something unimaginable.

If India beats Sri Lanka under the circumstances mentioned above, then to beat India on NRR the target for Bangladesh in the match against Bermuda will be:

If Bangladesh bats first
Bangladesh has to score 600 and restrict Bermuda to 168
Bangladesh has to score 550 and restrict Bermuda to 117
Bangladesh has to score 500 and restrict Bermuda to 67
Bangladesh has to score 450 and restrict Bermuda to 16

If Bermuda bats first
Bangladesh can not overhaul India's NRR even if it bundles out Bermuda for a total of 50 and achieves the target in first over itself!

India's NRR will remain around +1.65 even if it registers a win over Sri Lanka off the narrowest margin possible - batting first or second.

There will be a slight change in Bangladesh's target in the last league match depending upon the victory margin for India, but it is obvious that the target will only become more difficult for Bangladesh as the victory margin for India increases.

India can still make it to Super-8 despite losing to Sri Lanka on 23rd. But for that Bangladesh has to lose to Bermuda.

Labels: cricket world cup, India, india srilanka, net run rate, World Cup

Inzamam-ul-Haq Factfile.

Age: 37 (born March 3, 1970 in Multan Punjab)

Test debut: v England, Birmingham, 1992. 119 Tests, 8813 runs @ 50.07, 25 centuries, 46 fifties.

One-day internationals: Debut v West Indies, Lahore 1991. 378 matches, 11,739 runs @ 39.52, 10 centuries, 83 fifties, strike rate 74.16.

He is a a huge man with soft hands. He was also Fine slip catcher.But he is agreat batsman.He is elegant in strokeplay.His pulls like short arm pulls are best in world.Often his last over attack was always fantastic to watch..He was always very hard to contain in last overs.His most famous inning was 37 balls 60 in the World Cup semifinal against Newzeland where he snatched victory from NewZeland.He was ultra cool in the crease.Often Pakistan was benefited from his cool presence while chasing.
Only weaknesses are his laid-back attitude, suspect fitness and erratic running between the wickets, which delights his fans and frustrates his team mates. When he was on the crease, it was fun to watch his running between wickets with his teammate.r He was rated as the best batsman in the world against pace by Imran Khan.According to him he was better player than Tendulkar.He was part of the team in 1992 which secured the World Cup in Australia, beating England in the final under Imran's captaincy.Inzamam belted 329 in probably his most memorable innings in the first Test against New Zealand in 2002. It was the second-highest Test score by a Pakistani.Also he has secured victory for Pakistan in Karachi when he batted with Mushtaq Ahmad for 57 runs against Shane Warne and Macgrath and company.He also scored 57 runs.
He was Nicknamed 'The Big Man' and 'aloo' (potato). At this age when young cricketers are building muscles and clean shaven look.Inzmam always looks simple ,often beared.He was overweight by the standrad.But by seeing bermuda cricketer Peter Levercock he was like 'Urmila compare to 'Tuntun'.But his fielding also was not good.But he possess quite strong arm..At a one-day international in Toronto he once marched into the crowd wielding his bat after a spectator shouted through a loudhailer that he was too fat.
Also he became first captain to forfeit test match when in the fourth Test against England at the Oval last August, He refused to lead his men out following the tea interval on the fourth day after his team were docked five runs by the umpires who decided they had tampered with the ball. They were later cleared of that charge by an ICC hearing but Inzamam's action led to the only match forfeiture in the history of Test cricket.At the 2007 World Cup, his team become the first country to be eliminated from the tournament following defeats by hosts West Indies and a shock upset by debutants Ireland. Less than 24 hours later, coach Bob Woolmer dies and Inzamam retires from one-dayers and resigns as Test captain the same day.
He was dogged by poor form during the 2003 World Cup campaign as he scored just 19 runs from six innings.He also dropped from Pak team.But he made remarkable comeback by scoring 138 not out and by helpinhg his team to secure 1 wkt victory over Bangladesh.In his final one-day international game on March 21 he makes 37 and completes a 93-run World Cup win over Zimbabwe by holding a straightforward catch off the bowling of Mohammad Yousuf.
So now we will miss his cool presence in the middle while pakistan were chasing.Also his quotes like "Insha Allah,Our boys plays very well".Bye Inzmam we will miss u in one days

Labels: cricket world cup, factfile, Imran khan, Inzmam, Pakistan

Yesterday,Holland bowling was destroyed by South Africa. Like mad butcher who go on rampage in killing animals they destroy each bowl after each bowl of Holland for sixes. Poor Dutch they didn't know what had hit them. They are totally bamboozled by last assault. I think their neck should be also paining by seeing up in the sky so often.But Holland had fairytale beginning.If anyone had told me at the start of the match SA would be struggling at 4 for 1 in 5 overs I would definitely slap him.But due to brilliant fielding and discipline bowling this happen.Also they had several chances to run out Jaques Kallis but sadly they didn't take it. If they took then it would be different story.
After that Grame smith 'bully' and Jaques Kallis hunted like starved dogs against medium pacers by charging down the pitch and normal service was resumed.Jaque Kallis played his normal inning to perfectly.But it was Gibbs who stole the limelight for hitting Dan Van Bunge for 6 sixes in an over and winning million dollar price.For a cricketer who has a colourful career that has encompassed match fixing scandals,racism charges and dope smoking and who always rise from phoenix. He is a power hitter and always remembered for his drives.Only in contampory cricket only Michael Vaughen plays off drive better than him.But lofted front foot and back foot drives no one plays better than Gibbs.I still remember first when i saw him in India hitting Ajit Aagarkar for hitting 2 sixes over the cover.
Now this colorful cricketer Gibbs will always remembered for the first batsman who has hit six sixes in an over in international match.There is no denying fact that.He will stand still along with sir Garfield Sobers and our own Ravi Shastri who had achieved this feat.Also Gibbs also be remembered for his incredible batting in Wanderes match when he help SA to win that amazing match while chasing over 430.Also he is famous man who dropped world cup by dropping Steve Waugh in super six match.He has a chance to erase this name by helping
to team to win this world cup to SA.

Now Dutch has 2 sleepless night in store before meeting with Aussies.Now I understand why Andrew Symonds was itching to play aginst Dutch.But for rest of supposed super eight team, their sleep was robbed by SA's yesterday performance.
Here are some of records that happened on that day
Wet weather delayed the start at Warner Park, but when play did get underway it rained fours and sixes as South Africa amassed a monumental 353 in 40 overs. Here are the highlights from the game.

# Herschelle Gibbs made history by becoming the first batsman to hit six sixes in one-day internationals. The earlier record for most number of runs in an over was 30, which Sanath Jayasuriya managed twice, against Aamer Sohail (in Singapore in 1995-96) and Chris Harris (at Sharjah in 2000-01).

# Gibbs's seven sixes in the innings was only one less than the World Cup record for a single innings - Ricky Ponting had slammed eight in that memorable 140 not out in the World Cup final in 2003.

# Gibbs was at his violent best, but by no means was he the only one to wreck havoc. Mark Boucher slammed 75 from 31 balls, and on the way notched up the fastest half-century in World Cups: he got to the mark off 21 balls, bettering Brian Lara's 23-ball effort against Canada at Centurion in 2003. Boucher's half-century was also the first by a South African wicketkeeper in World Cups.

# South Africa's total of 353 for 3 is their highest World Cup score and the best total in a 40-over match, while it was also the fifth-highest by any team in all editions of the tournament. Their run-rate of 8.82 is the fourth-best in a World Cup innings, but the highest by a team batting first.

# The 18 sixes that South Africa slammed in the innings is an ODI record too, going past the earlier record of 16, which had been achieved twice: New Zealand got that many against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, while New Zealand were themselves at the receiving end against the Australians in the Chappell-Hadlee Series match at Hamilton
earlier this year.

# This was also the first time there were three century stands in a single innings of a one-day international. After AB de Villiers's second-ball dismissal, Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis added 114 for the second wicket, Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs put together 105 for the third, while Kallis and Boucher added 134 for the fourth.

# South Africa's 221-run victory is now the third-largest victory margin in World Cups. In fact in the last three days, there have been three games which have been won by a margin of more than 200 runs.


For watching Harschell Gibbs sixes click here

Labels: Cricket, cricket world cup, harschell gibbs, records, six sixes, videos, World Cup