Ashes 2009 : Michael Vaughan retires from International Cricket

Michael Vaughan who is the former England captain announced his retirement from all forms of the game.He was very dejected when he came to know that he was not picked for the Ashes first Test.Michael Vaughan has scored 5,719 runs in Test at an average of 42.He has 18 hundreds to his name. He is the most prolific batsman and his form peaked during the 2002-03 Ashes.

Michael Vaughan adds another feather to his cap as his the most successful England captain with more than 50 percent wins.He will be remembered as Legend of Cricket this is what Flintoff had to say about Vaughan.He was mainly out of International Cricket due to his knee injury 2004 after which he could not make a solid come back in to the side

2011 World Cup : ICC confirms no matches in Pakistan

Pakistan are still hoping that they can host the 2011 World Cup.ICC has already ruled out this option.PCB as issued a legal notice that it wants the rights for 2011 World Cup.The ICC has already ruled out Pakistan and also ruled out neutral venues.So India,Srilanka and Bangladesh are going to host the 2011 World Cup.

The ICC has struck a deal with these nations and the 14 matches which where to be hosted by Pakistan are to hosted by India,Srilanka and Bangladesh.The mini World Cup is going to take place very soon and it is going to happen this September.Pakistan are still hoping that they can some how convince ICC to have matches in Pakistan

Symonds admits he is a binge drinker

Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds admits that he is binge drinker but not a addict for alcohol.Actually he admitted that he is not perfect and he has broken the team rule several times and also said that he was rude to his team mates many times and he has realized what he has done and he would not repeat that again.

The World Cup T20 which took place in England saw the end of Symonds who is know for controversies was caught for another one.He is generally a man who creates a lot of chaos on and off the field.Right now the Australian board has taken away his contract and he is out of the International Australian team.

Andrew Flintoff fit and ready for Ashes

Andrew Flintoff is fit and is raring to go against the Australians in the Ashes.The series is the most prestigious event for both England and Australia.Australia have been the dominating side generally but off late with the heroics of Flintoff and Kevin Pieterson England have also had the upper hand.

Mickey Arthur believes also feels that Flintoff is the real trump card for England and they should use him as a attacking option and give him some short spells so that he can go all out at the Aussies.Ricky Ponting and his men would like to make up in the Ashes for the early exit in the T20 World Cup.This sums it up and we are in for an exciting contest between to evenly matched sides.

Team India set to win the series against West Indies

Team India are looking strong and if thy continue this good cricket they can win against the West Indies.Yuvraj Singh is in prime form and he right now is unstoppable.Dinesh Karthik grabbed the opportunity with both the hands and scored a craft 61 runs in the 1st ODI vs West Indies.Dhoni might hav not got back to form but his 41 is surely a good sign of Dhoni getting back to form.

If Dhoni and his men can sweep the series against the West Indies they will get one point and they can climb up to the second spot in the ICC ranking list.Currently India are third and Australia are second in the ranking.India needs juts one point to reach the second spot.will Dhoni and his men get there.I hope they can if they continue to play this good cricket.

Umar Gul top performer in the T20 World Cup

Umar Gul has been the spearhead for Pakistan in this World Cup.It was a master move by captain Younis Khan to bring him at the death overs.The idea was to use him as a bowler who could control the flow of runs but he turned out to be the strike bowler of Pakistan.He bowled brilliantly and changed the complexion of the game single handedly.The match against NewZealand he bowled a dream spell and took 5 wickets,his figure of 5-6 is the best ever bowling in a T20 match.

STATS OF UMAR GUL

Matches : 7
Wickets : 13
Average : 12.15
Best figures : 5-6
Economy : 6.44

Shoaib akthar was considred as the spearhead of Pakistan line up after Wasin Akram.Now Pakistan team is safe under the hands of Umar Gul who seems to have a good cricketing brain and his yokers remind me of Waqar Younis who is famous for his toe crushers.

World Cup T20 Champions Pakistan

Pakistan have been crowned as the World Cup T20 Champions.They had so many problems within the team as well as inside the country.But Younis Khan and his man have done it in style.Shahid Afridi was instrumental for Pakistan's success and he shined both with the bat and the ball in the crunch situation.He played two match winning knocks one in the semi-finals against the South Africans and the other one against the Sri-Lankans.

The match summary of the finals is Pakistan had to chase 139 for victory.It is one of the modest totals that can be a match winning one for any team since the situation was a big one and teams generally fail to perform in crunch situation.Pakistani players never panicked.Akmal played well and then Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik did the rest to crown Pakistan as the new T20 Champions.

Younis Khan the captain of Pakistan must be a proud man because only Imran Khan has achieved this feat before in the cricketing history for Pakistan.After the match in the press conference Shahid Afridi told that he would like to be the captain of Pakistan side.He clarified that he has full respect on Younis Khan but this is just a desire that he has and he wants to full fill that before he retires from International Cricket.

World Cup T20 : Teams qualified for semi-finals

The World Cup T20 has almost to the end.The tournament saw some close matches.The excitement that IPL has was missing.Some very good teams were checked out of the tournament.The main teams being India and Australia.India the World T20 Champions lost all their Superb Eight Matches to be knocked out of the tournament.The final four teams are...

Semi-Final 1 : South Africa vs Pakistan

Semi-Final 2 : SriLanka vs West Indies.

The clear favorites for the finals are South Africa and Sri-Lanka since both the teams are unbeaten so far.The match from now should be really tight since it is a sudden death,knock out stage.South Africa are a formidabel side but SriLanka will fancy the chances since the wickets are spinning and SriLanka have to quality spinners in th side.Ajantha Mendis and Murali might play a huge part in the rest of the matches.

India knocked out of the T20 World Cup by England

Defending Champions India out of the T20 World Cup.Reason for this shocking exit is lack of consistency from this side.They were one of the most powerful sides on the paper but when it came to performance nothing much to speak about out.Sehwag's injury and the Indian captain Dhoni who is totally out of form proved to costly for India and so they failed to reach the semi-finals.

Dhoni won the toss and elected to field.England made a very moderate total of 153 in their 20 overs.Good bowling by the Indian bowlers,especially the spinners.India was right on track to win the match and keep its hopes alive for qualifying to the next level.

Rohit Sharma went early and Raina played a irresponsible shot and he went very early.Jadeja was sent in to consolidate the innings.I guess he forgot this is T20.He consumed too many balls in the process of consolidating.Yuvraj should have come at his normal slot,but this tactical move by Dhoni proved wrong. Off late all the moves made by Dhoni is not working.I mean I am not saying this because India lost.I would like to give a example for this.Dhoni batted at No 3 at the opening round and the warm up matches.If he did not have the idea of coming one down then why did he try that.

I personally feel Dhoni seems to be running out of ideas or in the other way round he has to many ideas to implement.Anyway this loss has put India out of contention for a spot in the semi-finals.World Champions are out of the tournament.Sickening to know but it is the truth.

Highlights of New Zealand vs South Africa

New Zealand won the toss and elected to field.This was one of the low scoring matches in this ICC World Cup.South Africa made a slow and sluggish start and the first wicket partnership was 49 in 7 overs when they lost Kallis.Smith showed some resistance but played a very slow innings.He scored 33 runs of 35 balls.South Africa managed only 128 runs in the alloted 20 overs.

New Zealand came in to bat and this target looked to be a very easy one and BB McCullum the stand in skipper scored a brilliant fifty.Vettori missed the match due to an injury. New Zealand managed to score only 127/5 in th alloted 20 overs and lost the match by 1 run.The match might have been a low scoring game but the tension was breath taking and with the Superb Eight starting very soon we can expect a lot more tight games.

Highlights of Netherland vs Pakistan

The match was a one sided one as expected.Younis Khan won the toss and he elected to bat.Pakistan made some huge strides with some lusty hitting.All the top order batsman chipped in with some runs.Kamran Akmal top scored with 41 and all other players also chipped in with some useful runs.Afridi was again a disappointment with the bat.

Afridi did not play his part as expected with the bat.He was bowled by Dirk Nannis.Eventually they scored 175/5 in 20 overs at (8.75 runs per over).Afridi who failed with the bat proved with the ball taking 4 wickets to seal a huge win for Pakistan.

Chasing 176 for win Ireland batsman never looked in control of the game.They lost wickets at regular intervals.They were all out for less than 100 , and Pakistan sealed a huge win before going in to the Superb Eight.

Australia crash out of the T20 World Cup

Australia who are one of the hot favorites of the tournament where knocked out after they lost both the matches. They lost the first match against West Indies and the second match against Srilanka.

Australia scored 159 runs in the alloted 20 overs.None of the batsman really played a big innings.In reply SriLanka played really well lead by the captain from the front.Sangakkara and Dilshan scored 50 each to take SriLanka to a comfortable win.Srilanka won the match by six wickets.

Highlights and scoreboard of Ireland vs Bangladesh

Bangladesh was expected to make it to the Superb Eights beside the defending champions "India" but Ireland had a different script for them.The climax of the script was that Ireland beat Bangladesh by six wickets to seal a Superb Eight birth along with India.Bangladesh reached a respectable total of 137 mainly because of the cameo played by Mortaza at the end.Mortaza cut loose at the end and hit some lusty blows.

BANGLADESH SCOREBOARD

T. Iqbal run out 22
J. Siddique c Bray b Johnston 13
M. Ashraful c K O'Brien b Johnston 14
S. Al Hasan c G Wilson b Johnston 7
Mahmudullah st N O'Brien b Cusack 7
R. Hasan b McCallan 13
M. Rahim c Mooney b West 14
M. Mortaza not out 33
N. Islam b Rankin 7
A. Razzak not out 0

Extras: (w-6 lb-1) 7

Total: (eight wickets; 20 overs) 137

Even when Ireland had to chase around 140 there where very little hopes on them to reach the Superb Eight.But they played really well to win the match by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare.

IRELAND SCOREBOARD

Bray c Raqibul Hasan b Mashrafe Mortaza 2
W. Porterfield c and b Razzak 23
N. O'Brien c Hossain b Al Hasan 40
G. Wilson c Ashraful b Mortaza 10
J. Mooney not out 17
K. O'Brien not out 39

Extras: (lb-4, w-3) 7

Total: (four wickets; 18.2 overs) 138

Highlights and scoreboard of England vs Pakistan : World Cup T20 Live

Picture 1 : KP was instrumental in England's win

Picture 2 : Owasis Shah bowled by Umar Gul

Picture 3 : Umar Gul celebrates with team mates

Picture 4 : Struat Broad picked 2 wickets in one over

The match between England and Pakistan was a do-or die for England after loosing Netherlands in the opening game.Kevin Pieterson who missed the first game came to the party along with Shah. KP was instrumental for England's batting display.He played really well before he got out in the death over when he was trying to slog.

ENGLAND SCOREBOARD

R. Bopara c Malik b Aamir 5
L. Wright b Gul 34
K. Pietersen c Gul b Ajmal 58
O. Shah b Gul 33 P. Collingwood c Afridi b Ajmal 15
D. Mascarenhas not out 16
J. Foster not out 14

Extras (lb-3 w-4 nb-3) 10

Total (for five wickets; 20 overs) 185

Pakistan was expected to give a good fight though the score was little high.Pakistan never look in control of the match,only Pakistan captain Younis Khan played a measured innings of 46 not out.Pakistan managed only 137 runs in the alloted 20 overs for the loss of six wickets.This win for England still keeps them in contention for a place in the Superb Eight.

PAKISTAN SCOREBOARD

A. Shehzad c Collingwood b Mascarenhas 4
S. Butt c Bopara b Broad 28
K. Akmal c Wright b Broad 6
S. Malik c Foster b Wright 20
Y. Khan not out 46
S. Afridi c sub b Swann 5
Misbah-ul-Haq c sub b Anderson 10
Y. Arafat c Wright b Broad 4
U. Gul not out 8

Extras: (lb-1 w-5) 6

Total (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 137

Highlights of South Africa vs Scotland : World Cup T20 Live

The match between South Africa and Scotland was a one sided match s expected.Scotland won the toss and elected to filed against one of the tournament giants South Africa.SA took this as an great opportunity to get a big run feast.

SOUTH AFRICA SCOREBOARD

G. Smith c Smith b Haq 38
J. Kallis b Haq 48 H. Gibbs st Smith b Watson 16
AB de Villiers not out 79
J. Morkel c Coetzer b Drummond 24
M. Boucher c Coetzer b Drummond 2
JP Duminy not out 0

Extras (w-1 nb-3) 4

Total (for five wickets, 20 overs) 211

Chasing 211 was a big task for the Scotland and they were not up to the task right from the beginning.Scotland where all out for 81 with half the runs being scored by KJ Coetzer.South Africa played ruthless cricket and now they look to be one of the hot favorites in the tournament along side India.


SCOTLAND SCOREBOARD

G. Hamilton c Duminy b Parnell 5
R. Watson b Steyn 4
N. Poonia run out 0 K. Coetzer c & b van der Merwe 42
C. Smith b Steyn 0 N. McCallum b Botha 8
J. Stander lbw b Botha 2
R. Haq b van der Merwe 15
G. Rogers not out 1
G. Drummond b Morkel 1
C. MacLeod b Morkel 0

Extras (lb-1, w-2) 3

Total (all out, 15.4 overs) 81

World Cup T20 Live :Highlights of India vs Bangladesh

India won the toss and elected to bat.Rohit Sharma and Gambhir made a solid start.Rohit continued his sublime form.Gauti played the second fiddle.When Rohit got out Dhoni came in and played a run a ball knock which made the run rate of India to get down.Then some fire power hitting by Yuvraj at the end helped in India to reach 180.

Bangladesh had a tough task but they are a good side and they started very well.Things were looking good until Ojha came in to the attack.He picked up 4 wickets and this changed the course of the game and India won by 25 runs. .

INDIA SCOREBOARD

G. Gambhir c Shakib Al Hasan b Naeem Islam 50
R. Sharma b Shakib Al Hasan 36
MS. Dhoni b Naeem Islam 26
Yuvraj Singh c Tamim Iqbal b Shahadat Hossain 41
S. Raina b Rubel Hossain 10
Y. Pathan not out 1
I. Pathan not out 11

Extras (w-5) 5

Total (for five wickets; 20 overs) 180

BANGLADESH SCOREBOARD

Tamim Iqbal st Dhoni b Y. Pathan 15
Zunaed Siddique c Harbhajan Singh b Ojha 41
Mohammad Ashraful c Gambhir b I. Sharma 11
Shakib Al Hasan c Dhoni b Ojha 8
Mohammad Mahmudullah c Yuvraj Singh b Ojha 8
Raqibul Hasan c Ojha b Khan 16
Mashrafe Mortaza b Ojha 11
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 11
Naeem Islam c Yuvraj Singh b I. Sharma 28
Shahadat Hossain not out 0

Extras: (lb-3 w-3) 6

Total: (for eight wickets; 20 overs) 155

RESULT : India won by 25 runs

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ojha.

World Cup T20 : Highlights of West Indies vs Australia

Australia were reduced to 15/3 after winning the toss and batting first against Engalnd.David Warner played well to score 63 and then the Hussey brothers played extremely well to take the team total to 169


AUSTRALIA SCOREBOARD

S. Watson c Sarwan b Taylor 0
D. Warner c Benn b Bravo 63
Ricky Ponting lbw b Taylor 0
M. Clarke c Benn b Edwards 2
B. Haddin c Benn b Pollard 24
D. Hussey c Fletcher b Bravo 27
M. Hussey not out 28
M. Johnson c Bravo b Edwards 9
B. Lee not out 1

Extras: (b-1 lb-5 w-7 nb-2) 15
Total (for seven wickets; 20 overs) 169


Chris Gayle showed his liking for the shortest form of international cricket by blasting 88 as the West Indies thrashed Australia by seven wickets in the World. Gayle played some unbelievable shots and he was severe against Brett Lee and scored 27 runs of his in one over. Finally with 4 overs to spare they won the match very easily by 7 wickets.

WEST INDIES SCOREBOARD

C. Gayle c Watson b Lee 88
A. Fletcher c D. Hussey b Johnson 53
X. Marshall c Hopes b Johnson 8
S. Chanderpaul not out 0
R. Sarwan not out 8

Extras: (lb-5 w-8 nb-2) 15
Total (for three wickets, 15.5 overs) 172

World Cup T20 :Highlights of New Zealand vs Scotland

The match between NewZealand and Scotland was a rain affected one in which each side got seven overs to play.Scotland scored 89 runs.They played well but final 3 balls they lost 3 wickets which restricted their score to 89/4 in 7 overs .Kyle Coetzer played well for his 33 run cameo which boosted their score.

NewZealand in reply played some ruthless cricket with Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder playing some small cameos to take themselves to 18 and 31 respectively.NewZealand scored 90 runs in 7 overs and won the match by 7 wickets.

ICC World Cup Match 1 : Netherland beat England by 4 wickets

The opening match of the tournament was between the the tournament host England and Netherlands.After the grand opening ceremony the match started between Netherland and England.Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.England team looked strong this time with Ravi Bopara performing well in the IPL and Luke Wright in prime form.

England openers played very well and put on a solid first wicket partnership.In fact it was a century stand and they lost the first wicket for 102.Finally England made 162 in the allotted 20 overs.Luke Wright top scored with 71.England in one stage looked as if they would reach 200 but but some good bowling by Netherlands restricted England to 162.

Tom de Grooth was the star when Netherlands came to bat.He scored at a brisk rate and he was instrumental for the momentum he created for his team which thrived them to win the match.The match which looked to be a mere formality became interesting and eventually turned out to be a nightmare for Engalnd.

LAST OVER

Stuart Broad had the ball in his hand and Netherlands needed 7 runs from 6 balls. Netherlands players did not play any big shots.They scored a single of each ball.Some the of running was foolish and it was equivalent to suicide.Eventually England players did not hit the stumps even once and Netherland stole 2 runs of the last ball with a overthrow and won the match by 4 wickets.

ICC World Cup 2009 schedule for T20

The teams are playing for the the T20 World Cup.Last time India were the champions beating the Pakistan in the finals.Lot of expectations are there on India and they are tagged as the favorites.Here is the T20 schedule which starts on June 5th.There are totally four groups.

There are totally 12 teams who are competing for this title and lot of action and drama could be expected and the winner will get the ICC World Cup trophy which looks amazing.Take a look at the picture of the trophy.





GROUP - A : INDIA , BANGLADESH , IRELAND

GROUP - B : PAKISTAN , ENGLAND , NETHERLANDS

GROUP - C : AUSTRALIA , SRI LANKA , WEST INDIES

GROUP - D : SOUTH AFRICA , NEW ZEALAND , SCOTLAND

Match 1. England vs Netherlands on 05, June 2009 - London - Day/Night

Match 2. New Zealand vs Scotland on 06, June 2009 - London - Day

Match 3. Australia vs West Indies on 06, June 2009 - London - Day

Match 4. India vs Bangladesh on 06, June 2009 - Nottingham - Day/Night

Match 5. South Africa v Scotland on 07, June 2009 - London - Day

Match 6. England v Pakistan on 07, June 2009 - London - Day/Night

Match 7. Bangladesh v Ireland on 08, June 2009 - Nottingham - Day

Match 8. Australia v Sri Lanka on 08, June 2009 - Nottingham - Day/Night

Match 9. Pakistan v Netherlands on 09, June 2009 - London - Day

Match 10. New Zealand v South Africa on 09, June 2009 - London - Day/Night

Match 11. Sri Lanka v West Indies on 10, June 2009 - Nottingham - Day

Match 12. India v Ireland - 10, June 2009 - Nottingham - Day/Night


SUPER EIGHT T20 WORLD CUP 2009:

11, June 2009

D1 v A2 - Nottingham - Day
B2 v D2 - Nottingham - Day/Night

12, June 2009

B2 v D2 - London - Day
A1 v C1 - London - Day/Night

13, June 2009

C1 v D2 - London - Day
D1 v B1 - London - Day/Night

14, June 2009

A2 v C2 - London - Day
A1 v B2 - London - Day/Night

15, June 2009

B2 v C1 - London - Day
India vs England - London - Day/Night

16, June 2009

D1 v C2 - Nottingham - Day
D2 v A1 - Nottingham - Day/Night


T20 WORLD CUP 2009 SEMI-FINAL :

18, June - 1st Semi-Final - Nottingham - Day

19, June - 2nd Semi-Final - London - Day/Night

T20 WORLD CUP 2009 FINAL :

21, June - Final - London - Day

World Cup T20 : Sourav Ganguly to become a commentator

Dada is ready to start his second innings in cricket.Ganguly is set to become a commentator soon. Reports reveal that Ganguly might speak in this T20 World Cup itself.When asked Ganguly who is the best Indian Commentator his answer was very fast and he pointed out Sunil Gavasakar has the best Indian commentator.

Sourav Ganguly was one of the most successful Indian captains and he was the first captain to bring a 4 bowler strategy.Sourav Ganguly has termed that Indian team are the hot favorites to defend the T20 World Cup title under the resolute leadership of M.S.Dhoni.

Ganguly has mainly opted for this because his International carrer as a batsman is almost over and with his poor performance in the IPL he might not play the next edition of IPL is well.So he has sought an alternative to stay connected with Cricket.

World Cup T20 : Symonds axed from Australain squad

Andrew Symonds has been axed from the Australian team for in disciplinary action. He was caught for consuming alcohol. It is not such abig issue but the Australian team has given enough chances for Symonds that they have finally decided to move on.Ricky Ponting said that Symonds is one of the best T20 players at present and loosing him from the squad could create imbalance to the side, but he also termed that they had no other choice.

Cameron While will replace Symonds , and he would be playing the T20 World Cup instead of Andrew Symonds. Cameron White is not part of the Ashes. This is a golden opportunity for Cameron White and he has to capitalize on this.I personally feel that though Symonds may be a world class player he lacks the disciple to compete in the International level.