Feb 25, 2011

South Africa crushes West Indies in style

Debutant leg-spinner Imran Tahir took four wickets and AB de Villiers struck 107 not out as South Africa coasted to a 7-wicket win over the West Indies in the World Cup 2011 on Thursday.

Tahir (4-41) and off-spinner Johan Botha (2-48) shared six wickets to help South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 222 off 47.3 overs before de Villiers slammed his 10th one-day century to seal the fate of their rivals.

JP Duminy (42*) hit the winning run as South Africa reached the target with 43 balls to spare in their opening day-night Group B clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

De Villiers put on 119 runs for the third wicket with skipper Graeme Smith (45) after South Africa had been reduced to 20-2 following the dismissal of Hashim Amla (14) and Jacques Kallis (4) in the space of five runs.

Man of the match: AB de Villiers

Feb 24, 2011

Pakistan have completed a huge victory against Kenya

Pakistan opened their World Cup campaign with a thrashing win over mediocre Kenya side by 205 runs in a group A match at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.

For Kenya it is their 2nd following defeat in the mega-event after being demolished by New Zealand by 10 wickets in their tournament-opener on Sunday.

Pakistan will next play Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday.

Against Kenya, Pakistan produced superb all-round display to seal the match in easy circumstances. After piling up a mammoth 317/7 on the board, they dismissed the minnows for a paltry 112 in 33.1 overs.

Even though he failed with the bat, Captain Shahid Afridi (5/16) led from the front while defending the target. For Kenya only four batsmen reached double figures with Collins Obuya top-scoring with a gutsy 47 off 58 balls.

Apart from Afridi, pacer Umar Gul picked up two Kenyan wickets while giving away just 12 runs.

Earlier, Pakistan's middle-order came up with a superb batting display to guide the team to a massive 317/7 after opting to bat. Shrugging off a poor start, Kamran Akmal (55), Younis Khan (50), Misbah-ul-Haq (65) and Umar Akmal (71) chipped in with valuable half-centuries each to post a challenging total.

Feb 8, 2011

Praveen Kumar ruled out World Cup, replaced by Sreesanth

Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the ICC World Cup 2011 after failing to recover from an elbow injury.

S. SreesanthS. Sreesanth, who undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy, was named as the replacement for Praveen Kumar.

"The ICC has confirmed that Praveen Kumar can be replaced in the squad by Sreesanth," BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement.

Praveen Kumar, who returned early from the ODI series in South Africa to recover in time for the World Cup, went to England for further treatment but doctors took a final call on his fitness and ruled him out after the medical check-ups.

The Uttar Pradesh bowling-all rounder underwent a fitness test at the NCA but it seems the injury had not healed as fast as was expected, a BCCI source said.