England keep their Semi's hopes alive with win over New Zealand

Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)

• England 4-149 def. New Zealand 6-148 by 6 wickets with 7 balls remaining.

Summary:
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. Their batting order was inconsistent early falling to 4-67 off 11.4 overs. Ross Taylor (22) and James Franklin (50) came to the crease and restored some stability. Steve Finn was the deadliest bowler for the English with 3/16 off 4 overs. The Kiwi's were only able to achieve a modest target of 6 for 148.
England had an almost identical start. They reached 50 runs in 54 balls, the same as New Zealand but, had one more wicket in hand than the Kiwi's. Luke Wright (76) and Eoin Morgan (30) posted an 89-run partnership to steer England to victory with 7 balls remaining.

Match report: Sri Lanka puts one foot in semis with win

Source: Associated Press

• Sri Lanka 130/1 (Jayawardene 65*, Sangakkara 39*) defeated West Indies 129/5 (Samuels 50, Bravo 40)

Summary:

A stifling performance by Sri Lanka's bowlers has all but assured the hosts a place in the semi-finals of the 2012 T20 World Cup. A varied attack of off and leg spin coupled with the cunning of pace bowlers Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasakera restricted the powerful West Indian batting line up to just 129 despite taking only five wickets. That set the scene for an easy run chase, the lowest at the Pallekele ground, spearheaded by veterans Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara who reached the total with 28 balls to spare.

Containment strategy:

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene got a great read of the local conditions and used them to keep the West Indian line up off-guard. He regularly rotated his bowlers, often giving them just one over at a time to prevent batsmen adjusting to each bowler. His bowlers backed up his plan with a wide array of spinning deliveries, slower balls and yorkers to keep the West Indian batsmen in check. A victory for guile over strength.

West Indies upset Champions England with a 15-run win.

Source: Times of India

• West Indies 5-179 def. England 4-164

Summary:
What an awesome decision by the West Indies to bat first. Johnson Charles (84) and Chris Gayle (58) blasted the English bowlers all over the ground. The opening partnership finished on 103 when Steven Finn redeemed himself by catching Chris Gayle in the deep after dropping Johnson Charles the previous ball. Unfortunately, besides the two openers, everyone else failed to fire with the bat. Despite this, the West Indies posted a respectable figure of 179.
England had a steep task ahead of them chasing down 179. It could not have been a worse start for the Poms with Craig Kieswetter making a duck before the English could get a run on the board. Luke Wright was gone the next ball leaving them 2-0. Ravi Rampaul collected both wickets in the first over and set the tone for the fielding side. Alex Hales (68) and Eoin Morgan (71*) steadied the Poms but it wasn't enough to win, falling short with 4-164.
West Indies won by 15 runs.

Match report: Sri Lanka wins super over thriller

Source: AFP

• Sri Lanka 174/6 (Dilshan 76, Jayawardene 44) defeated New Zealand 174/7 (Nicol 58, Guptil 38) in a super over eliminator.

Summary:

A stifling super over from paceman Lasith Malinga has lifted Sri Lanka to victory in the best game of the T20 World Cup so far. After the scores were tied at the end of the Sri Lankan innings, both teams got to face one extra over to decide the outcome of the match. Sri Lanka took advantage of some wayward bowling from Kiwi Tim Southee (3 wides) to set New Zealand a target of 14 for victory. Malinga then produced a perfect example of death bowling to restrict the New Zealanders to just seven runs. This came after a dramatic finish to the end of the Sri Lankan innings. Needing just one run to win off the final ball Lahiru Thirimanne mis-hit the ball out to the point region, the return came in to Kiwi captain Ross Taylor, who fumbled the ball but deflected it onto the stumps, running out Thirimanne and forcing the super over.

That's what we're talking about:

After a fairly dreary opening week, this match has brought the tournament to life. This match had many twists and turns, with both teams having opportunities to seize the game by the scruff of the neck, only to be stymied by tenacious fight backs by the opposing side. New Zealand will be rueing the moderate finish it had to its innings, while Sri Lanka will be thankful they were still able to scrape a win after Tillakaratne Dilshan had seemingly set them on their way to victory in the regular 20 over period.

World Cup format is damaging T20 cricket

Source: Herald Sun

One of the biggest criticisms of Twenty20 cricket is that it is essentially meaningless, a hit-and-giggle game without the meaning attached to one-day internationals and especially Test cricket. With this criticism in mind, the International Cricket Council (ICC) should view the Twenty20 World Cup as an opportunity to debunk this idea by providing three weeks of exciting cricket packed full of important matches.  But unfortunately what we have got so far in this tournament has been a week of mis-matches with predictable results.

Super Eights preview (part 2)

GROUP 2:

By an odd quirk of the draw, the second Super Eight group features two past winners, the 2010 runner-up and the current No.1 ranked team. It also contains the four unbeaten teams in the tournament, none of whom were overly troubled during the group stage. India did what it had to do against Afghanistan before pummelling England, while Australia have been carried by some impressive performances from Shane Watson. Pakistan's top order has been firing in the group stage and South Africa has underlined it's number one ranking with two disciplined and clinical performances, even in farcical situations.

Who Progresses?

Pakistan looms as a real danger now that its top order, potentially a weak link, is up and running as they have a bowling line-up well suited to T20 cricket in the sub-continent. South Africa has been the most impressive team so far and would be favoured to go through, although it's getting close to the period when traditionally they struggle with a few mental demons. Australia needs it's top order to continue in the form that it showed in the group matches, as their middle order is potentially vulnerable, while India would hope for more of the conditions dished up against England, as their pace stocks look a little thin.

Super Eights preview

The end of the group stages has seen, somewhat predictably, the weakest four teams exit the tournament without threatening to upset the tournament heavyweights.
From here on in though the competition gets much tougher, with the remaining teams split into two groups, with the top two in each progressing to the knock-out semi finals.

GROUP 1:

This must be seen as the weaker group, both in terms of reputation and form. Defending champions England bullied Afghanistan in its opening game before being getting thrashed by India. New Zealand opened impressively against Bangladesh before going down to Pakistan, while both the West Indies and Sri Lanka have been hampered by the weather. The Lankan's could only take to the field for 14 overs in total in their loss to South Africa, while the West Indies second group match was washed out. This creates the curious scenario where the Windies have advanced to the Super Eights without winning a match.

Who progresses?

On form you would hesitantly pick hosts Sri Lanka and the under-rated New Zealand. Sri Lanka have the advantage of home support and conditions and have a good record in big tournaments. New Zealand have been more competitive and consistent then the other two teams in the group and have a good chance to spring a surprise to make it to the semi-finals. To progress from this group, England needs to show that its horrendous effort against spin was a one-off, while the West Indies' unpredictability could shape the outcome of this group.