Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2015

New Zealand wins the World Cup 2015 Opener against Sri Lanka at ChristChurch

 Sri Lanka loose the opening match to Co-hosts New Zealand at ChristChurch by 98 runs.

Earlier Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first hoping to get early wickets in overcast conditions. But Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum stitched a 111 run partnership for the first wicket propelling New Zealand into a strong position. 

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor stitched another 57 run partnership for the fourth wicket. And after that New Zealand lost both Williamson and Taylor in quick succession to leave the New Zealand total at 193/4.

And after that Corey Anderson joined Grant Elliot to build another 65 run partnership. Elliot was out for 29 runs.

Luke Ronchi the wicket keeper batsmen joins Anderson for the last six Overs building a quick partnership of 51 runs in just 26 deliveries. With some tight hitting by Ronchi and Anderson the team total reaches 331/6. It was altogether71 run partnership between the two.

Some sloppy fielding give Corey Anderson a new life who skied one from Lakmal and in the next Over Malinga yorks Ronchi to take his wicket off a no ball.

For Sri Lanka it was one wicket apiece for Lakmal and Herath, while Mendis scalped two.

Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga were little bit expensive for Sri Lanka today,  Herath bowled a tight spell for 37 runs in 9 Overs taking wicket of McCullum.

Sri Lanka replying to New Zealand's 331/6 scores 40 runs of first 10 Overs, with Dilshan and Thirimanne building the first wicket partnership. At the score of 67, Dilshan returns a simple catch to Vettori in the 13th Over. 

Thirimanne is joined by Sangakkara and the two take forward the Sri Lankan innings then Thirimanne 65 is bowled by Trent Boult at 124/1. 

Sangakkara 39 is trapped LBW by Trent Boult and then Adam Milne clean bowls Karunaratne for 14. 

Jayawardene 0 is out edging to the keeper Ronchi of the bowling off Vettori. Jeevan Mendis could not keep one down from Milne and is out edging to the keeper for 4.

Sri Lanka looses the initiative by losing six wicket for just 44 runs, score now reading 172/6 with Mathews and Kulasekara at the crease. 

Sri Lankan has been bowled out for 233 in 46.1 Overs. by 98 runs.

Sri Lanka has been completely outplayed in all departments by New Zealand as they rise for the occasion and take a winning step forward in the World Cup campaign. 

New Zealand are competitive and strong contenders for the title in this edition. Vettori bowls a splendid spell taking two wickets for 34 runs in 10 Overs. Milne, Boult, Anderson and Southee take 2 wickets apiece.

Sri Lanka as common with the Sub Continental teams loose the initiative while batting, not feeling comfortable with  the pace of the wicket.

Corey Anderson is the Man of the Match for 75 runs and two wickets and all round performance.




Valleyz.Blog

Thursday, February 5, 2015

The World Cup winning team of 2011 for India was easily the most experienced and talented of the time in the world

The World Cup winning team of 2011 of India was easily the most experienced and talented in the world at the time. And it was no wonder that India won the cup so handsomely.

When you have Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Mahender Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir then you could easily be on top of the world. The champs had to do it in front of the world and they did it in style, dominated the world with their eloquent style of Cricket that is not found in any part of the world.

Yuvraj Singh with his remarkable form with the bat won the Man of the Tournament award, which is one  award any player playing the World Cup cherishes for lifetime. And Yuvraj Singh won the award after match winning performances through out the tournament. 

Zaheer Khan with all his experience in One Day Cricket was the main spear head of the Indian team, and go to man in times when team needed him during the course of a match. Harbhajan Singh was the India's spin wizard who lend the team with a reliable spinning abilities and providing crucial break through at regular intervals.

In Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, India had a safe opening pair. Particularly Virender Sehwag with his amazing stroke play used to put pressure on any opposition with in no time. And the legend, maestro Sachin Tendulkar himself was there to provide that touch of solidity to the team, any team in the world would like to have such a player in the ranks. Dhoni was the captain cool, shrewd and tactical that kept India in the hunt and ensured the team won the World Cup, he was handful behind the stumps and was demolisher with the bat. Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli were experienced enough to keep India in good stead through out the tournament.

The players like Praveen Kumar, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan all provided the team with the cushion the team needed and with that strong bench India proved insurmountable to any opposition in the World.

Here on sub-continental wickets the ball does not rise as much and the tracks are batsmen friendly so to say, but still the batsmen had to play their strokes to put a score on the board for bowlers to defend. Or chase down runs as the Indian team did against Sri Lanka in the finals.

Sri Lankans as always are a respectable side with likes of Mahela, Sangakkara, Dilshan, in their side. But it was India's day and they finished their campaign in 2011 by coming out on the top. History has been created. India became the World Champions true to their repertoire.

After four years this World Cup edition is less than a week to start in Australia and New Zealand and most of the teams have warmed up for the occasion and ready to start their campaign.

In the preliminary stages we will see developing cricketing nations rub shoulders with their more experienced counter parts. Ireland, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Zimbabwe all the other teams have some element of surprise they carry in them. It is the exposure to more and more cricket that will make them more experienced. These teams have many times sprung a surprise by defeating top teams in the World Cricket. 


Valleyz.Blog