England beats Ireland by 48 runs

England won over Ireland by 48 runs,thanks to Paul Collingwood's 90 off 82 balls which allowed them to reach 266 for seven and a four wicket hall for Flintoff.This was their third consecutive match against minnows as they cashed their first foothold in the super eights.But they still have to beat a test playing nation and that chance will come on wednesday when they play Srilanka.

South Africa victorious despite Malinga's late four in four

Malinga became the first bowler to take wickets with four consecutive balls in an international match.Malinga removed Shaun Pollock and Andrew Hall on the last two balls of his eighth over(the 45th) and Jacques Kallis caught behind and Makhaya Ntini bowled on the first two balls of his ninth.
South Africa at that time needed three runs from 21 balls.Robin Peterson edged Malinga for four down to third man to take South Africa to victory with 10 balls to spare. Peterson jumped jubilantly as he ran down the pitch in celebration and then smashed the stumps at the non-striker's end with his bat.
"It was a good opportunity to win the game,we needed only one more wicket. I bowled the next ball to take a wicket,it missed," said Malinga. "I'm just happy to take my first international hat-trick."

India's show rests on Bermuda after defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka

India saw their hopes of World Cup glory all but end in Trinidad with a 69-run defeat against Sri Lanka.Replying to Sri Lanka's 254 for six in their Group B match in Port of Spain, Rahul Dravid's side crumbled from 98 for three to 185 all out.Only Dravid with 60 and Virender Sehwag with 48 put up any resistance as Muttiah Muralitharan claimed three for 41.Sehwag's dismissal in the 23rd over,caught by Mahela Jayawardene off Muralitharan,turned the match in Sri Lanka's favour.Robin Uthappa,caught and bowled by Chaminda Vaas with the score on 25.Vaas struck again in the 11th over when Muralitharan held onto a spectacular catch,running back at mid-off to get rid of Sourav Ganguly with the score on 41.And four balls and one run later,Dilhara Fernando got the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, bowled for a duck.
India must now rely on Bermuda to defeat Bangladesh on Sunday or they will be eliminated.

India sets Record score in World Cup

19th March, 2007 - India maintained its challenge for a second World Cup title with the biggest winning margin by runs in one-day cricket against Bermuda.The Indians became the first team in nine tournaments to get across 400,smashing 18 sixes as they reached 413-5 in their 50 overs.Bermuda was all out for 156 in 43.1 overs and India won by 257 runs.
``We needed a big performance after the disappointment of the last game and the boys came out and played really well,'' said India captain Rahul Dravid.

Sehwag's innings included three sixes and 17 fours. Yuvraj hit seven shots over the ropes and another three boundaries in his 46-ball knock and Tendulkar's half-century took 29 balls, including five sixes that brought up the fifth score of 400 in one- day internationals.
``This innings was due a long time,'' Sehwag said after being named man of the match."
Hemp,36,former England `A' player,went on to top-score for Bermuda and was one of only three players to reach double figures.Together with Dwayne Leverock,he added 44 for the ninth wicket.

Bangladesh's Stunning Victory over India

17 March, 2007 - Indian got bundled out for 191 in an upset loss to Bangladesh on Saturday.Opener Virender Sehwag's poor form with the bat continued, bowled for 2 by Mushrafe Mortaza.The team management that has been backing him to strike form will be confronted with a question.Sehwag is going through the leanest period of his career,he has failed to stay long enough at the pitch to get his eye in.Sachin Tendulkar,the leading scorer in World Cups,was out for 7 and Dravid only made 14.Former skipper Sourav Ganguly was resilient though,top-scoring with 66.

"We have to learn lessons from the bad shots against Bangladesh," Dravid said.

Pakistan crash out of the world cup

Former champions Pakistan were eliminated from the World Cup when they lost an enthralling Group D match against part-timers Ireland by three wickets at Sabina Park on Saturday.The defeat of the 1992 champions by the debutants is one of the biggest shocks in the nine-tournament history of the World Cup which was first played in 1975.
"I've experienced a few bad days in my life and this ranks pretty highly with ones that I have experienced," Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said in a news conference.

Scott Styris guides New Zealand to win

Styris posted an unbeaten 87,sharing a 54-run stand with Craig McMillan which steadied the innings and an unbroken 138 with Jacob Oram to lift New Zealand to a six-wicket win over England in a result that should determine No. 1 and No. 2 in Group C.
"It's not a great start and we have to make sure we win the next two games to get into the Super 8s but it's certainly not the end of our tournament by a long way," said England captain Michael Vaughan.

Herschelle Gibbs rewrote the record books in St. Lucia

Sunday,Mar 18, 2007 -The South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes in one over in their ICC World Cup Group A match against the Netherlands at the Warner Park Stadium on Friday.South Africa won convincingly with a 221-run margin over the Netherlands.Herschelle Gibbs rewrote the record books along with teammate Mark Boucher who scored the fastest World Cup 50.

West Indies beats Pakistan by 54 runs

13th March,2007 - West Indies started 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign with a 54-run win over Pakistan at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Tuesday.Inzamam-ul-Haq blasted his batsmen for failing to complete a moderate run chase."We should have got those runs,I think 242 was a gettable score" Inzamam said."Pakistan were bundled out for 187 runs in 47.2 overs.
Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith shared three wickets each while Marlon Samuels contributed 63 runs with the bat to defeat Pakistan.Smith also made a valuable contribution with the bat as he scored 36 runs from just 15 balls at the end of the West Indies innings.At the end of the match,Dwayne Smith's small but impressive innings and a three wicket hall got him the man of the match.He slammed 32 of 15 which were contributed by three fours and two sixes.

India's schedule for ICC World Cup 2007

17th March -Bangladesh
19th March - Bermuda
23rd March - Sri Lanka
All India league matches will be in Trinidad & Tobago
India's very-likely Super-Eight Schedule ( unless there is an upset the result of the India-Lanka match will not influence this schedule)
Saturday 31st March : India vs Australia, Venue: Antigua & Barbuda

Monday 2nd April: India vs Newzealand, Venue: Antigua & Barbuda

Saturday 7th April: India vs South Africa, Venue: Guyana

Wednesday 11th April: India vs England, Venue: Barbados

the big one:
Sunday 15th April: India vs Pakistan, Venue: Barbados

Thursday 19th April: India vs West Indies, Venue: Barbados

At 37, Jayasuriya remains Dangerous

"I have not seen Don Bradman bat,but i have seen Sanath Jayasuriya"
- Sachin Tendulkar


Almost every cricket fan has seen Jayasuriya smack the best bowlers in this world all over the park.His records underline the fact that he is one of the best batsmen in limited overs game today.He holds the record of maximum number of sixes(224) and in a single match(11) both shared with Shahid Afridi.He also holds the record of fastest fifty(11 balls.He's the only player to score 10,000 runs and take over 200 wickets in ODIs.He revolutionised cricket by going all out in the first 15 overs alond with his opening partner Kaluwirtharna.

When it comes to big stage ,he has always risen to the occasion.Sri Lanka could not have even thought of winning the world cup in 1996 without this man.This will be his fifth and last world cup , most probably his last appearence in ODI.Fans will be sad to see him retire,bowlers would be relieved.

Fairytale Comeback

Sourav Ganguly has come back in India colours and back at his best. Sourav in his three innings against Sri Lanka scored 168 runs at an average of 84 and that included two half centuries.
In 2005, the runs had dried up for Ganguly. In his 13 games he scored 209 runs at a poor average of about 17. In 2006, he did not even get a single One-Day match to play but in 2007, he has played seven games,scored 347 runs and that too at an incredible average of almost 70.

September 26, 2005
Ganguly vs Chappell
It has been a sensational week for Indian cricket,to say the least.Even at a casual glance, it is obvious that coach Greg Chappell and skipper Sourav Ganguly have a major issue between them .Ganguly was asked to step down as captain.

December 14, 2005
Ganguly dropped for third Test.Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Indian squad for the third Test against Sri Lanka, beginning in Ahmedabad on Sunday.Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer replaces the deposed India captain in the squad, announced by the Indian selection committee in New Delhi on Wednesday.

February 23, 2006
Is that the end, permanently for Sourav?
"Yes, as far as this committee is concerned. We have taken a decision and that is the way we feel."said Kiran More unaware of Ganguly's capability

January 21, 2007
Sourav Ganguly scores a sparkling 98 on his ODI return after a 16-month absence to help India to a 14-run victory over West Indies.The 34-year-old opener struck 11 fours and three sixes to lead the hosts to a commanding total of 338 for three.

February 18,2007
Ganguly becomes man of the series against Srilanka.The biggest comeback story in sport right now."It feels good. You don't get a man of the series every year, but it feels good whenever it comes," says Ganguly.

Sourav Ganguly's reinstatement in the Indian team is a dramatic story matched perhaps only by his own fall from grace as captain.

Final shot at the World Cup Glory

This could possibly be Brian Charles Lara's last chance to live out an unfulfilled dream from his boyhood days.Lara has somewhat mastered the ignominious act of sporadic self-destruction. The fact that he is still his team's mainstay and the captain at 37 shows what he means to West Indian cricket.His backlift hasn't lost its volume, and when in the mood, he can seem merciless. When not on song, mediocrity flows out of his potentially sublime blade.If the jinx of the host is to meet its end in 2007, Brian Charles Lara will have to find a way out of his caprice, for one last time.

Sachin ready to set more Records

With perhaps the last chance to demonstrate his talent on the biggest one-day stage of all looming, Sachin Tendulkar is determined to prove that India can once again take World Cup honours.Besides the cup,he can further improve on his world cup records too.Few of previous world cup records are:

1. Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record for the most runs at a particular World Cup. He scored 673 from 11 games at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa .

2. Sachin Tendulkar of India holds the record for the maximum number of runs in the World Cup. He has scored 1732 runs from 33 matches at an average of 59.72.

3. Sachin Tendulkar is a long way ahead of others when it comes to fifties in the World Cup. He has 16 fifties to his name, seven more than second-placed Martin Crowe.

4. Sachin Tendulkar along with Saurav Ganguly and Mark Waugh ( Australia ) jointly hold the record for the maximum number of centuries at the World Cup. All of them have scored four centuries each.

5. Sachin Tendulkar bagged the Man of the Tournament award at the 2003 World Cup. He scored 673 runs, which included one century and six half centuries. He was unlucky not to have more hundreds as he was out in the nineties on a couple of occasions. He also took two wickets.

Vaughan captains England for the World Cup

England have confirmed that Michael Vaughan will skipper England in the World Cup. Injury-prone Vaughan, who is currently recovering from a hamstring problem, has played just three of England's last 35 one-day internationals.
He may have struggled a lot with injury over the last year, but when Michael Vaughan leads the side England tend to win more often than when he's not playing. However his performances in one-day cricket have never been amazing, and he has yet to score a one-day hundred.

England squad: Michael Vaughan, Ed Joyce , Ian Bell ,Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood , Andrew Flintoff , Ravi Bopara , Paul Nixon, Jamie Dalrymple , Liam Plunkett ,James Anderson , Sajid Mahmood , Jon Lewis , Monty Panesar .

Zaheer ready to rock at Caribbean

The left-arm seamer had gone for 15 runs in his very first over against Australia,a more mellowed Zaheer would be looking forward to set the record straight this time around.Ever since his return to the fold, Zaheer has not put a foot wrong. Having rediscovered his rhythm, a leaner and meaner Zaheer is now ready to rock once more on cricket's biggest stage,the World Cup.Luckily for him, everything has fallen in place and he is back at the top of his game,wiser and hungrier for success.
Experience has taught Zaheer to bowl within himself and not spray the new ball around. In his 'second coming' the seam positioning has been good, he is getting the new ball to move into right-handers and his yorkers are landing in the blockhole regularly. This has reflected in the wickets column.

Asif and Shoaib miss out

The injuries that ruled out fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have had one positive spin off for Pakistan ahead of the World Cup.Akhtar and Asif were deemed unfit for the World Cup in the hours before the team left for the Caribbean on Thursday.Akhtar,also known as "Rawalpindi Express" because of his sheer pace,has a knee problem and Asif was struggling with an injured shoulder.
There are reports that Pakistan board have secretly done dope tests on Akhtar and Asif which they have failed and they are purposefully not sending them to West Indies, though the board has said that these are just baseless rumours.
It's not an ideal situation for us," Inzamam said. "We are going there under intense pressure, but in the past we have played in such situations with tremendous team spirit and we can achieve best results even without our key players."
Coach Bob Woolmer said the absence of three frontline bowlers was a major disruption for his Pakistan squad.
While the bowling department has given Inzamam a headache, he is also yet to find the right two opening batsmen in the shorter version of the game.Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed and Taufeeq Umar all were described by chief selector Wasim Bari as "not technically correct opening batsmen."While the middle order looks strong where Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan can match the brilliance of any batsmen competing in the tournament.

Knee injury rules Razzaq out of World Cup

Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has been ruled out of next month's cricket World Cup in the West Indies after fracturing his left knee during a training session on Monday night.Doctors have advised him a rest of at least three weeks.Azhar Mahmood will serve as a replacement all-rounder for Razzaq, who joins a squad already struggling with injury ahead of their opening fixture against the hosts in Jamaica on March 13.

Sachin aiming for the World Cup

"To be honest, to play well and win the World Cup is our long cherished dream. Not only mine, but it's the team's dream," said Tendulkar, who will play in his fifth World Cup.

In an essay of records, Sachin Tendulkar also holds the World Record of scoring maximum runs in the World Cups. He has so far scored over 1730 runs in the World Cup tournaments. And with most of the people seeing this as his last World Cup, we cannot imagine what the Master Blaster has on his mind. Along with Sourav Ganguly and Mark Waugh , Sachin also holds the record for maximum number of centuries, 4 each, in the World Cups.

"I have to admit that the huge stage of the World Cup motivates me to showcase my talent. The best will play against the best. That's something which excites any player. I, too, am ready for the challenge."Vice captain Tendulkar said he was confident that the team would do well at the showpiece event.In this cup Mumbai maestro will have to relinquish a thriving opener’s role for a middle order batsman’s job.The decision, coming close on the heels of a disastrous season for the Indians.The seasoned campaigner that he is, Tendulkar settled down nicely to the task at hand, and in the seven matches that followed, logged 246 runs, which included one hundred and two fifties. In fact, he averaged (49.20) better than his career average (44.12). Importantly, the Indians are back to winning ways, with five victories in seven matches.

Indian team off to the Caribbean

The Indian cricket team flew on Wednesday night to the West Indies for the World Cup carrying a billion hopes and prayers of the country’s cricket-crazy fans.They commence their preparations for their opening Group B encounter on March 17 against Bangladesh after playing warm-up games against the Netherlands (March 6) and Cup hosts West Indies (March 9) at Trelawny.
The league opener is slated to be held at India's happy hunting Test ground - Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.India are to play their other two Group B ties at this venue on March 19 (vs Bermuda) and March 23 (vs Sri Lanka).
“I think we are in as good a position as we could hope to be. We have a good, balanced squad, good experience combined with youth,” coach Greg Chappell said at the pre-departure media conference on Tuesday.

The World Cup squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth. Coach: Greg Chappell.