Chockers Chocked Again, Pakistan in the Finals yet again

Afridi’s inspirational performance led Pakistan to a 7 runs victory

Match Summary

Pakistan 149-4(S Afridi 51)
South Africa 142-5(M Guptill 43)
Pakistan won by 7 runs.

Match Review

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Shahid Afridi starred as Pakistan progressed into a second successive ICC World Twenty20 final on Thursday, at the expense of South Africa.

After Pakistan skipper Younus Khan elected to bat, it was Afridi - promoted to number three - that gave their innings impetus with a 32-ball half century, containing eight boundaries.

He shared in a third-wicket stand of 67 with Shoaib Malik (34) as the 2007 runners-up posted 149 for four.

Afridi then shone with the ball, dismissing Herschelle Gibbs and AB De Villiers and conceding just 16 runs in his four overs, as the Proteas were beaten by seven runs at Trent Bridge.

Jacques Kallis made a half-century off 46 deliveries with seven fours for South Africa but lacked support, meaning the Proteas gradually fell behind the required run-rate, and his dismissal for 64 in the 18th over all but ended their already fading hopes.

Even an innings of 44 not out from JP Duminy proved too little too late as Graeme Smith’s side slumped to their first defeat of the tournament, closing on 142 for five.

Pakistan will now play the winners of the second semi-final between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Sunday’s final at Lord’s, where they will be looking to go one better than in 2007 when they lost the final to India in South Africa.

ICC T20 World Cup, Today’s matches are as follow,

16:30 GMT, 17:30 local - Pakistan v South Africa (First Semi Final)
Nottingham, England

Sri Lanka crush poor Kiwis

Mendis puts Black Caps in a spin with two wickets in one over

Match Summary

Sri Lanka 158-5(T Dilshan 48)
New Zealand 110 all out (M Guptill 43)
Sri Lanka won by 48 runs.

Match Review

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Sri Lanka secured the last remaining semi-final spot at the ICC World Twenty20 with a 48-run win over New Zealand at Trent Bridge.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis claimed 3-9 in three overs as the Kiwis collapsed to 110 all out in reply to their opponents’ total of 158-5.

Martin Guptill made a valiant 43 but the Black Caps lost their last six wickets for 17 runs in the space of 25 balls to tumble out of the tournament.

Unbeaten record
Sri Lanka’s victory, which maintains their 100 percent record in the event, means they join Pakistan in qualifying from their Super Eight group.

Once again Kumar Sangakkara’s side produced a disciplined bowling performance after New Zealand had made a positive start in their run chase.

Aaron Redmond blasted 23 from 13 balls before being undone by Lasith Malinga, who deceived the opener with a superb slower ball that was chipped straight to mid-wicket.

By then the Kiwis had already lost Brendon McCullum, one of several players picked despite concerns over his fitness, at the end of the third over.

Mendis then turned the screw on a dry, worn pitch, removing both Ross Taylor and Scott Styris in his second over. He also tempted Peter McGlashan to cut straight to Jehan Mubarak as the innings fell away in a hurry.

Isuru Udana clean bowled the dangerous Jacob Oram for just seven and when Sanath Jayasuriya tempted Guptill into one big shot too many, Sri Lanka knew they were on their way to a comprehensive victory.

Golden duck
Jayasuriya had earlier failed with the bat, though, departing for a golden duck to the third ball of the innings from off-spinner Nathan McCullum.

But Tillekeratne Dilshan continued his fine run of form with a 37-ball 48, while captain Sangakkara made a run-a-ball 35.

It was left to Mahela Jayawardene to provide some much-needed fireworks in the closing overs, his unbeaten 41 coming from just 29 deliveries.

The former skipper hit Daniel Vettori for a six off a free-hit and also managed six boundaries to help post a challenging target that proved well beyond New Zealand.

Proteas remain just perfect

Proteas power on after low-scoring game at Trent Bridge

Match Summary

South Africa 130-5(A B de Villiers 63)
India 118-8 (R Sharma 29)
South Africa won by 12 runs.

Match Review

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South Africa maintained their unbeaten record at the ICC World Twenty20, ensuring reigning champions India bowed out of the competition with a defeat in the process.

Chasing just 131 for victory at Trent Bridge, India capitulated from 48-0 in the seventh over to 118-8 - meaning the Proteas will stay in Nottingham to take on Pakistan in Thursday’s semi-final.

South Africa’s combined spin-bowling figures were 9-0-32-5, to India’s 14-0-75-4 - and that, combined with AB de Villiers’ 63, proved decisive in front of another dominant Indian crowd.

Already eliminated from the tournament following Super Eight defeats to West Indies and England, India lined up against the Proteas with nothing but pride to play for.

Impressive
Under-fire captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss but was soon celebrating the early wicket of Herschelle Gibbs after Graeme Smith had opted to bat first.

The dangerous Gibbs (five) under-edged a pull onto his stumps off RP Singh in the second over, and Smith (26 off 26 balls) followed in the ninth when he holed out on the leg-side off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh.

However, de Villiers regularly found the boundary on both sides of the wicket as he took complete responsibility for South Africa’s total.

He struck Yuvraj Singh over extra-cover for his team’s first boundary in nine overs and added a second - his sixth in all - wide of long-on from the very next delivery to bring up a 41-ball half-century.

Despite the departure of JP Duminy, stumped off the bowling of left-armer Suresh Raina for 10, de Villiers tried to up the ante, and when he skied a return catch back to Ravindra Jadeja he had made significantly more than half his team’s 110-4.

South Africa managed to add only 32 in the last five overs and finished on a below-par 130-5.

That saw score didn’t look nearly enough when India openers Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir got their side off to a near-perfect start with a 48-run stand off just 38 balls.

Turning point
But it was at that point Smith turned to the off-spin of Johan Botha (3-16) for the first time, and with only his second delivery he had Gambhir caught at extra cover.

Four wickets then fell for 14 runs in 28 balls as a succession of batsmen failed to deal with spin on at both ends.

Even the big-hitting Yuvraj, dropped on nought when he offered a return catch to off-spinner Duminy, could not make the difference, and by the time he went caught behind off Dale Steyn in the 19th over, the game was up.

Steyn finished with 2-25 off three overs and left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe continued his fine tournament with 1-13 off his four overs.

Duckworth Lewis crushed English hopes, West Indies Joined South Africa and Pakistan in Semis

West Indies won by 5 wickets. (Revised target - Duckworth-Lewis system)

Match Summary

England 161-6 (R Bopara 55)
West Indies 82-5 (R Sarwan 19)
West Indies won by 5 wickets. (Revised target - Duckworth-Lewis system)

Match Review

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West Indies at the Oval on Monday.

Showers in London reduced the Windies target to 80 from nine overs, which they did with five wickets in hand and four balls to spare.

England had earlier posted 161 for six from their 20 overs, with Ravi Bopara hitting a maiden Twenty20 international half-century.

But rain then caused a halt in play and, despite breakthroughs in each of the first three overs, Chris Gayle’s team completed their first win in five attempts against England this summer to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition.

Tension
The Windies made hard work of the chase, though, as first Andre Fletcher fell for his third straight duck when he skied a cross-batted shot off James Anderson to wicketkeeper James Foster.

The ever-dangerous Gayle was next to go when bowled by Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad then got Lendl Simmons caught at third man for a golden duck as the Windies were reduced to 16-3.

But the Caribbean men bat deep and Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo rallied before recalled leg spinner Adil Rashid got the former bowled for nine.

Bravo swiftly followed as James Foster and Graeme Swann combined for a stumping - a repeat of the superb work done by the duo in getting Yuvraj Singh out in Sunday’s win over India.

But the bowlers’ efforts proved of no avail, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan held their nerve to guide the Windies home with an unbeaten 37-run stand.

Problem
Bopara had earlier top scored for England with 55, but no other batsman made more than Kevin Pietersen’s 31.

Their partnership of 56 was ended when Pietersen was caught by Fletcher at deep square leg off medium-pacer Simmons for 31.

And Bopara, having made a fine fifty, could not press on and was lbw to occasional off-spinner Gayle, which ultimately meant the revised target always looked below par.

Pakistan entered the semis, a fine victory over Ireland

Pakistan won by 39 runs.

Match Summary

Pakistan 159-5 (K Akmal 57)
Ireland 120-9 (W Porterfield 40)
Pakistan won by 39 runs.

Match Review

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Pakistan booked their place in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 with a fine 39-run victory over Ireland in their must-win Super Eights match.

Younis Khan’s men made a shocking start to the tournament but their enigmatic team produced their best form to dominate the Irish and they now move into the last four of the tournament.

Kamran Akmal made a half-century and Shahid Afridi a lively 24 as Pakistan made 159-5 from their 20 overs, Kyle McCallan taking two wickets for Ireland and Boyd Rankin excellent when conceding just 11 runs from four overs.

The target looked gettable but Pakistan’s bowlers produced a stunning display of consistency to frustrate the Irish batsman early on before wickets tumbled towards the end of the innings as the run rate became too much.

Umar Gul added two more wickets to his tally along with a run-out while Saeed Ajmal took 4-19 as Pakistan easily defended their total.

Solid start
Pakistan made a solid start with Shahzaib Hasan making a spritely 23 before falling to Alex Cusack with the score on 38, and Afridi was sent in early to push the pace along further.

Afridi did just that with 24 off 13 balls, but he went for one big shot too many as he was caught in the deep by John Mooney off McCallan.

Younis Khan went for ten but Akmal was standing firm at the other end, and he made 57 from 51 balls, including five fours and a six, by the time he was bowled by Regan West with the score on 133-4.

Rankin was superb for the Irish in conceding just 11 runs from four overs, while McCallan took 2-26 as Pakistan eventually ended on 159-5, a score that could see the game go either way.

Ireland struggled from the start in their reply as they lost opener Niall O’Brien in the third over for seven, and 18-year-old Paul Stirling followed in the seventh after he made a decent debut score of 17.

Ajmal strikes
Skipper Porterfield made 40 off 36 balls when Ajmal got the breakthrough, leaving Ireland on 87-3 in the 14th over and the asking rate was rapidly rising out of control.

Mooney was caught in the deep by Abdul Razzaq, for Ajmal’s second wicket, as he tried to hurry the scoring along but at 98-4, Ireland now needed 62 to win from just four overs.

Gul was brought on relatively late but the tournament’s leading wicket-taker made his mark by cleaning out Trent Johnston’s off stump for a duck, to make it 99-5.

Kevin O’Brien made a manful 26 before being stumped by Akmal off Ajmal, and the duo repeated the dose to send Cusack packing in the same 18th over to give the off-spinner his fourth wicket.

110-7 became 110-8 with the very next ball as Gul again made a mess of the stumps behind Andrew White with yet another deadly yorker, and the man of the moment then ran out West off his own bowling after a mix-up.

ICC T20 World Cup, Today’s matches are as follow,

12:30 GMT, 13:30 local - Ireland v Pakistan
The Oval , England
16:30 GMT, 17:30 local - England v West Indies
The Oval , England

England sent India Packing, Former Champs out of the T20

England crushed Indian emotions by 3 runs

Match Summary

England 153-7(K Pietersen 46)
India 150-5 (Y Pathan 33)
Englan won by 3 runs.

Match Review

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England knocked defending champions India out of the World Twenty20 tournament with a nerve-jangling three-run victory at Lord’s.

Paul Collingwood’s men looked to have fallen a bit short when they could only muster 153-7 when asked to bat first, but a superb bowling and fielding effort saw India fall just short.

Despite a fine late stand between skipper MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan India fell just three runs short on 150-5 and, after losing their Super Eights opener against West Indies, they now cannot make the semi-finals.

As well as dumping out the defending champions, England kept their campaign alive and they will now face West Indies in 24 hours’ time with Monday’s clash being a straight shoot-out for a semi-final spot.

Early loss
After losing Luke Wright in the second over, Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara added 71 before the latter was bowled by 20-year-old spinner Ravi Jadeja for a run-a-ball 27.

Pietersen also fell to Jadeja (2-26), as he was trapped lbw just a ball after clubbing the youngster high into the stands, leaving the hosts on 92-3.

England’s innings stalled as a result, with Dimitri Mascarenhas unable to get going after being promoted up the order and sent in at number four, and runs came exclusively in ones and twos.

Owais Shah perished in the deep for 12 when he finally tried a big shot, and skipper Collingwood went for five in the penultimate over when trying a reverse dab against Zaheer Khan.

Harbhajan Singh then took two wickets in two balls, James Foster and Graeme Swann, to restrict England to just 153-7, which looked a small target to defend.

The re-called Ryan Sidebottom got an early breakthrough as Rohit Sharma chopped on in the second over for nine, and he then removed Suresh Raina as he finally succumbed to the barrage of short balls by finding Wright out at deep mid-wicket.

Jadeja struggle
Young Jadeja came in at four, but he and Gautam Gambhir struggled to keep up with the asking rate, and when Gambhir went in the 11th over India were on just 62-3.

Danger-man Yuvraj Singh came in and smacked his first ball for six off Swann to signal his intent and also signal that the victory target was still well in sight.

The 14th over proved crucial, as just after Yuvraj had slugged a second six Jadeja tried the same only for Broad to pluck a fine catch out of the air right on the fence.

Three balls later and Yuvraj was heading back to the pavilion for 17 after some excellent work from wicket-keeper Foster, who showed lightning quick hands to stump the Indian after he had over-balanced out of his crease when missing a Swann delivery.

Dhoni and Pathan gave it everything, taking 11 from the 17th and 18th overs to leave 29 from 18 balls to win, and that came down to 19 off the last after Broad had gone for just nine in the penultimate over - although he did fluff a sitter of a run-out chance.

Perhaps showing that the duo should have come in earlier, Pathan hacked a straight six off the fourth ball to leave nine required from two, but Sidebottom came back with a superb Yorker for a single.

Dhoni reached the fence off the last ball but it was too late and champions India saw their title defence end far too prematurely after losing a three-run thriller.

Sri Lankan Team Proved to be too good for Ireland

Sri Lanka won by 9 runs

Match Summary

Sri Lanka 144-9(M Jayawardene 78)
Ireland 135-7 (J Mooney 31)
Sri Lanka won by 9 runs.

Match Review

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Ireland are out of the ICC World Twenty20 after losing by nine runs to Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Mahela Jayawardene’s rapid half-century helped Sri Lanka to a total of 144-9 after they had opted to bat first on a slow pitch at Lord’s.

And Ireland looked capable of claiming their second scalp of the tournament, having beaten Bangladesh in the initial group phase, when opening pair William Porterfield and Niall O’Brien put on 59 in nine overs at the start of the run chase.

But Sri Lanka’s star bowling trio of Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga bailed out their team with a flurry of wickets, the required rate spiralled and Ireland finished up short on 135-7.

Defeat ends Ireland’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals, while Sri Lanka are now top of Group F on four points and almost certain to progress to last four.

Collapse
Muralitharan (1-13) started the collapse by having Porterfield caught behind for 31 with the first ball of the 10th over.

Andrew White (21) helped Niall O’Brien add 28 for the second wicket but fell to Nuwan Kulasekara, top edging an attempted scoop.

O’Brien was joined by his younger brother Kevin with the score at 87-2 but both departed in the space of four Mendis (2-22) deliveries.

Kevin top-edged a slog to Tillakaratne Dilshan at midwicket for a duck and Niall (31) was stumped after charging down the pitch and missing.

And Malinga speared in the yorkers superbly in the death overs, bowling Trent Johnston (9) and Andre Botha (0) with successive deliveries in the 18th over to reduce Ireland to 106-6.

Ireland required 36 off the final 12 balls and, after taking Kulasekera (1-47) for 18 off the penultimate over, still retained glimmer of hope.

But Malinga conceded just eight, including the run out of Alex Cusack attempting to take one to the wicketkeeper, to complete figures of 2-19 as Ireland closed just shy.

Poor start
Jayawardene had earlier hit 78 off off 53 balls as Sri Lanka recovered from a poor start to their innings.

Dilshan, the tournament’s second highest scorer, fell second ball when he mistimed an attempted pull off Boyd Rankin (2-27) to became one of four victims for wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien.

Dilshan’s early departure was quickly followed by captain Kumar Sangakkara (3), brilliantly caught stood up to the stumps by O’Brien off seamer Trent Johnston (1-18), to leave Sri Lanka struggling on 14-2.

Ireland restricted Sri Lanka’s powerful line-up to 28-2 at the end of the six powerplay overs - easily their worst start of the tournament.

But Jayawardene teamed up with 39-year-old opener Sanath Jayasuriya in a 67-run stand off 49 balls, including a spell of 37 off just three overs, to put them on course for a much bigger total.

Instead of pushing on to a major score, however, they stumbled again with Jayasuriya falling lbw to Kevin McCallan’s off-spin for 27.

Jayawardene departed to Alex Cusack in the 18th over having hit nine fours and a six, one of five Sri Lankan batsman to fall for 14 runs in 16 balls to leave Ireland facing a far more modest total than they would have expected.

Medium pacer Cusack finished with figures of 4-18 from three overs, all his victims coming in the space of nine balls.

Ireland face Pakistan in their final Group F fixture at the Oval on Monday, while Sri Lanka take on New Zealand at Trent Bridge the following day.

T20 World Cup

ICC T20 World Cup, Today’s matches are as follow

12:30 GMT, 13:30 local - Ireland v Sri Lanka
Lord’s, England
16:30 GMT, 17:30 local - England v India
Lord’s, England