India end Australia dominance at World Cup Cricket

Yuvraj Singh was India's hero yet again as the hosts ended Australia's 12-year reign as World Cup champions with 5 wicket quarter-final win on Thursday.

Yuvraj Singh 's unbeaten 57 -- his 4rth fifty of a tournament where he is averaging over a hundred -- saw his team home after they'd been wobbling at 187 for five.

India reached their target of 261 with 14 balls to spare and victory set up a dream semi-final against Pakistan in Mohali on March 30.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting scored his 1st international century in over a year in a total of 260 for six.

But it wasn't enough to maintain his team's bid for an unprecedented fourth straight World Cup title and fifth in all.

Ponting credited Yuvraj and Suresh Raina for the win.

India, aiming for a first World Cup title since 1983, needed 54 to win off the final 10 overs.

Yuvraj eased fraying home nerves with a square-driven four off Brett Lee and, with erratic speedster Shaun Tait conceding 13 runs in the 41st over, the target became well under a run-a-ball.

Raina struck a brilliant straight six off Lee then Yuvraj ending the match with a four off Lee.

He was well-supported in an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 74 by Raina (34 not out).

Opener Sachin Tendulkar had earlier looked in sublime touch.

But Australia denied him his 100th international hundred when he was caught behind off Tait for a fluent 53 during which he became the first batsman to score 18,000 one-day international runs.

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli batted steadily in a stand of 49 before Kohli (24) slapped a full toss from part-time spinner David Hussey straight to Michael Clarke at short mid-wicket.

Now the question was could the remaining batsman avoid panic. Unfortunately for India, left-hander Gambhir couldn't. One ball after surviving a run-out, he set-off for a non-existent single and was well-beaten by Cameron White's throw to David Hussey having made 50.

Instead, at 168 for four, the pressure was back on India and that only increased when captain Dhoni fell for seven after a cut off Lee was well caught by a diving Clarke at point.

ICC Cricket World Cup: Quarter-Final Schedule

Date	Match Details	Time (IST)	Place
Mar 23, Wed	Pakistan v West Indies Pak won by 10 wickets	14:00	Mirpur
Mar 24, Thu	India v Australia Ind won by 5 wickets	14:30	Ahmedabad
Mar 25, Fri	New Zealand v South Africa NZ won by 49 runs	14:00	Mirpur
Mar 26, Sat	Sri Lanka v England SL won by 10 wickets	14:30	Colombo

ICC World Cup 2011: Team Standings

Group A
Teams	P	W	L	T	NR	NRR	Points
Pakistan	6	5	1	0	0	0.76	10
Sri Lanka	6	4	1	0	1	2.58	9
Australia	6	4	1	0	1	1.12	9
New Zealand	6	4	2	0	0	1.13	8
Zimbabwe	6	2	4	0	0	0.03	2
Canada	6	1	5	0	0	-1.99	2
Kenya	6	0	6	0	0	-3.04	0

Group B
Teams	P	W	L	T	NR	NRR	Points
South Africa	6	5	1	0	0	2.03	10
India	6	4	1	1	0	0.90	9
England	6	3	2	1	0	0.07	7
West Indies	6	3	3	0	0	1.07	6
Bangladesh	6	3	3	0	0	-1.36	6
Ireland	6	2	4	0	0	-0.70	4
Netherlands	6	0	6	0	0	-2.04	0

West Indies won by 9 wickets against Bangladesh

West Indies took a massive stride towards the World Cup quarter-finals by pounding lackluster Bangladesh by 9 wickets in a key Group B match on Friday.

Lanky spinner Sulieman Benn grabbed 4-18, and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and skipper Darren Sammy claimed three each, to bowl out Bangladesh for their lowest ODI Cricket total of 58 in 18.5 overs.

The West Indies surpassed the small target in 12.2 overs even before the lights came on for the day-night game at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka.

Chris Gayle, who had been ill at the start of the game, remained unbeaten on 37 off 36 balls, while Darren Bravo was on nine after Devon Smith was bowled by off-spinner Naeem Islam for six.

With only their 2nd win in the last 11 one-day internationals, the West Indies have four points from three matches, the same as group leaders South Africa, who have played one match less.

Bangladesh, with one win from three games, was left with a mountain to climb to stay in contention for the quarter-finals.

The hosts must win their remaining league matches against England, South Africa and the Netherlands to ensure a place in the last eight.

Man of the Match: Kemar Roach

Kemar Roach hat-trick, Windies won by 215 runs

Kemar Roach taken six wickets, including a hat-trick, and Kieron Pollard cracked 60 off 27 balls to help West Indies thrash the Netherlands by 215 runs in the ICC World Cup on Monday.

Kieron Pollard built on the platform laid by Chris Gayle, who made 80, as West Indies posted 330-8 before bowling out their hapless opponents for 115 off 31.3 overs in the Group B game at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

The Caribbean’s total was the highest at the ground, which is coming off a 12-month suspension over a dangerous playing surface.

The Netherlands hardly posed any threat in the lop-sided encounter, crumbling to 36-5 by the 11th over after early strikes from Roach, who took 6-27, and left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn (3-28).

The 22-year old Roach then returned to collect only the 6th World Cup hat-trick and the first of this tournament, when he sent back Pieter Seelar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdijk.

Dutch hope Ryan ten Doeschate, who scored 119 against England, failed to repeat his magic, trapped leg before wicket for seven by Benn. Tom Cooper provided the only resistance for Netherlands with an unbeaten 55 off 72 balls.

For the West Indies, Chris Gayle put on 100 runs for the opening wicket with Devon Smith (53) after the West Indies were put in to bat on a placid wicket in the day-night clash.

Kieron Pollard, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, hammered five fours and four sixes on his way to the third-fastest World Cup half-century before Ramnaresh Sarwan chipped in with a 42-ball 49.

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

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.