Story LionHearted - England's Quest - WT20 - England Vs Ireland

Cheers Aditya, it's all being done by ICC10 for iphone, and I'm only playing the England matches, so the results are down to the game

I'll try and get another update done tomorrow
 
WT20 Day 3 Round-Up (England vs West Indies)

Welcome back to the West Indies for Day 3 of our daily round-up series. Today, it's England's first appearance in the tournament proper, and after a couple of promising performances in the warm ups, Paul Collingwood's team will be looking to start with a win today as they take on the hosts. In the other match, Sri Lanka are playing Zimbabwe in what should be a straightforward victory, but as we've seen so far in this tournament, nothing is straightforward.

Back to the England game, on a pitch that looked like it might yield some bounce, and with a forecast predicting cloud later on, it would be a ?toss to win and bat first on.

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Paul Collingwood won the toss, and duly elected to bat first, England's openers, Kieswetter and Shah, strode out to the middle, and prepared to face a fired up West Indies who would be knocked out if England win. Kieswetter looked sharp, but at the other end Shah was struggling, eventually edging one behind off Bravo at the end of the second over. England then lost 2 more wickets over the next two overs and at 21/3, the outlook wasn't great. Next in was the skipper, Paul Collingwood, who combined with Kieswetter, steadied England and took the score along nicely until Collingwood was caught in the deep off Sulieman Benn, 67/4. Kieswetter stayed for a couple more overs, but never looked like scoring a particularly large score, departing on 38. Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright were now at the crease, both with something to prove. Their big-hitting partnership of 57 moved England on to a competitive score of ?144/5 from 20 overs.?

West Indies needed just over 7 an over to stay in the tournament, but after losing 4 wickets for just 8 runs, this seemed like an impossible task. Chanderpaul went first ball, LBW to Anderson, Gayle was caught behind on Broad's first ball, and Anderson took 2 in 2 in his second over, Bravo edged to slips, and Pollard was bowled next ball. Deonarine and Wavell Hinds stuck around to form a 40 partnership, but 48/5 after 10 overs was a very long way away. Ramdin tried to lower the required run rate, but it was just to big a mountain to climb. He was caught behind on 25, and although Sulieman Benn stuck around for a decent 31, West Indies fell 32 runs short, and are out of the tournament.?

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In the other match played today, Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets. Zimbabwe elected to bat first, and were reduced to 4/2 after Malinga's first over. Zimbabwe never upped the run rate dramatically, and at 51/6, it didn't look like they would even bat out the 20 overs. They did, and with a wicket to spare, they posted 83/9. Lasith Malinga (4/11) and Ajantha Mendis (3/7) were the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Sri Lanka reached the total with relative ease, only losing the wicket of Kapugedera in the 6th over. Sangakkara, who opened the batting, scored a great 50 off just 29 deliveries, and accompanied by Mahela Jayawardene, reached the total in the 11th over.

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Tomorrow, South Africa take on India, who need to win in order to stay in the tournament, and Pakistan play their second group match against Australia.
 
I'm still writing, but obviously exams are going to take priority at the moment, i'll and get an update up soon, and things will get back to normal after next friday
 
WT20, Day 4 Round-Up

Welcome back to the West Indies, today we'll look back on South Africa vs India, and Pakistan vs Australia. India need to beat South Africa to stay in the tournament, after their surprise loss to Afghanistan a couple of days ago. And in the other match, a win for Pakistan would see them progress to the Super8s.

Today's first match was between South Africa and India. MS Dhoni elected to bowl first and for the first few overs, Smith and Gibbs toyed with the opening Indian bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar. However both openers soon perished, along with AB De Villiers, with South Africa on 75/4, the match was in the balance. Duminy and Albie Morkel also followed after trying to dig in and form a partnership. At 94/6, South Africa were struggling, but Mark Boucher, batting at 8 and Roelof van der Merwe added priceless runs to the South Africa total with some extravagant stroke play towards the end of the innings, South Africa eventually finishing on 158/7.

India's openers, Gambhir and Sehwag strode out to the crease knowing that a strong opening partnership would lay the foundations for a successful chase. This didn't happen, both perished to Steyn within the first 5 overs and India were left reeling at 22/2. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni took the score along to 58 until Kallis dismissed Sharma and Yuvraj Singh for a duck, India were 64/4, Dhoni needed to produce something special if India were to win from here, and the captain tried, but eventually failed along with the rest of the middle order, who all made starts, but couldn't get beyond 20. Steyn and Kallis were on fire, Steyn eventually finished with 4/38, and Kallis with 3/20 as India were eventually bowled out for 146, 12 runs short of the required total, and as a result, the winners of the inaugural WT20 were out of the competition.

What they said:

MS Dhoni (Indian Captain)

"Obviously it's disappointing to go out at such an early stage, but we can't have any complaints, we were poor against Afghanistan and we should have made the most of our chances"

Dale Steyn (Man of the Match)

"It's always nice to get a few wickets, especially against a team like India, we played a good game today, we restricted them early on, took a few wickets and then kept it tight, we know we can't underestimate Afghanistan, but we're pretty confident"

South Africa: 158/7 (20 Overs)?

M Boucher 37*
G Smith 27
H Gibbs 21

R Jadeja 2/23 (4)
Harbhajan 2/29.(4)
Z Khan 2/44 (4)

India: 146/10 (19.1 Overs)

MS Dhoni 36
S Raina 15

D Steyn 4/38 (4)
J Kallis 3/20.(4)
J Botha 2/35 (4)

South Africa beat India by 12 runs


In the other game of the day, Pakistan secured their progress to the next stage with another convincing win, this won against Australia, the reigning champions are already looking like favourites.

After being put in to bat in overcast conditions, Australia lost 6 wickets for 47 runs, however this was better than 14/4, which they were reduced to at one point. Shane Watson, batting at 5, made 19, however he was soon out LBW, Mitchell Johnson made 17, but Afridi soon saw off him. Cameron White looked good for a decent score, but he soon ran out of partners, and Australia were all out for 82 from 15 Overs.

Pakistan made light work of chasing the total, the clouds that made batting difficult during the first innings had been replaced with blue skies, and it only took Latif and Kamran Akmal 10.2 overs in which to chase the total. Akmal lead the charge with a blistering 50, including four huge 6s. Dirk Nannes was the pick of the wicketless bowlers, he bowled 3 overs for just 11 runs, including a maiden. Australia can't take many positives from this game, and will need to improve considerably if they want to beat Bangladesh and progress.

Australia: 82/10 (15 Overs)

C White 20*
S Watson 19

S Afridi 3/10 (4)
M Asif 3/13 (3)
M Aamer 2/26 (4)

Pakistan: 83/0 (10.2 Overs)

K Akmal 52*
K Latif 27*

Pakistan beat Australia by 10 Wickets (with 49 balls remaining)

Tomorrow, England will play Ireland, and New Zealand will be looking to secure top spot in Group D when they play Zimbabwe. Thank you for?joining us today at the World Twenty20.
 
WT20 Day 5 Round-Up (England vs Ireland)

Today we will look back on England vs Ireland, and New Zealand vs Zimbabwe. The England Ireland match was simply a contest for top spot in group D after both teams had beaten the hosts, who had consequently been eliminated from the tournament. New Zealand vs Zimbabwe was more of a dead heat, unless Zimbabwe could pull off a dramatic upset and their net run rate increased significantly as a result.

England were put in to bat by Ireland, and thanks to some spirited bowling by Ireland, in particular Boyd Rankin, who took 3 wickets in his 3rd over, England were reduced to 52/6, Ireland were firmly in control at that point, but once again, England's lower-middle-order would prove to be the game changing component of the England team. Luke Wright and Graeme Swann took the score along to 99 before Swann departed on 24, Bresnan and Wright then continued, and by the end of the innings, Wright and Broad had taken the score up to 135/8. Not a match winning score by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely one that England's bowlers wouldn't mind defending.

Ireland's top order pretty much matched England's through the first few overs, as they too were 6 wickets down with just over 50 runs on the board. For England it was Anderson and Broad who did the damage. Ireland, who had surprised West Indies with a great innings from one of their batsmen, unleashed Andrew White upon England's bowlers, he dispatched the likes of Swann, Collingwood and Bresnan to the boundary with ease. However as White remained, the others fell, White would eventually be left on 69 from 44 when the last wicket fell, but the real story of the match would be the score Ireland were on when the last wicket fell, along with White's contribution, the few runs that Ireland's batsmen had contribution added up, and at 131/7, it looked like Ireland might pull off yet another upset. Tim Bresnan bowled the penultimate over, and took 2 wickets, Ireland's victory was thrown in jeopardy, Boyd Rankin had to face the final over from a fired up James Anderson. His first ball was hit for four, Rankin had levelled the scores, but was bowled next ball. Both teams were ecstatic, yet destroyed at the same time, England had snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat, and Ireland had seemingly thrown it away after only needing 5 runs with 3 wickets remaining.

What they said:

Paul Collingwood (England Captain)

"On a personal level it was an average match, but you can't think about your own performances in a match like this, Ireland were amazing, it just goes to show that you can't underestimate the smaller teams in this kind of match, thankfully our bowlers saved us and we've topped the group"

Boyd Rankin (Man of the Match)

"Even though we couldn't win today, we've more than proved that we're good enough to compete at this level, we beat the hosts, and we're in the super8s, so we've got a chance. Personally i had a great match, i've been in and out of form recently, but it looks like things are turning around"

England: 135/8 (20 Overs)

L Wright 33*
G Swann 24

B Rankin 4/42 (4)
P Connell 1/12 (4)

Ireland: 135 all out (19.2 Overs)

A White 69
T Johnston 20

T Bresnan 3/20 (4)
J Anderson 3/27 (3.2)

England Tied with Ireland,

Group D:

England P2 W1 T1 L0 3Pts +0.79
Ireland P2 W1 T1 L0 3Pts +0.26
West Indies P2 W0 T0 L2 0Pts -1.06

In the other game of the day, New Zealand eventually bowled a spirited Zimbabwe out for 163, completing a victory by 17 runs after New Zealand had earlier put on 180/6 from their 20 Overs.

New Zealand's top order did the majority of the damage, McCullum and Ryder both scored 29, but departed after building strong starts. Ross Taylor was the highlight of the innings, his scintillating 82 from just 48 deliveries including 16 4s turned New Zealand's innings from an average score into a big one. Barring a minor hiccup from the middle-order, New Zealand eased to 180 without being caused too many problems by the Zimbabwean bowlers.

Zimbabwe have to be given credit where it is due, and they would've caused New Zealand more problems had a couple of batsmen been able to stick around after settling in at the crease. Only Elton Chigumbura made it beyond 20, he went on to a lonesome 54 before being dismissed. Having said that, New Zealand's bowlers were on top form, in particular Tim Southee and Shane Bond, who both took 3 wickets. Eventually, Zimbabwe ran out of wickets and had to settle for defeat and elimination from the tournament.

New Zealand: 180/6 (20 Overs)

R Taylor 82*
B McCullum 29

P Utseya 1/29
E Chigumbura 1/30

Zimbabwe: 163 all out (20 Overs)

E Chigumbura 54
V Sibanda 20

S Bond 3/29
T Southee 3/36

New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 17 runs

Thankyou for joining us today, we've seen some great cricket so far in this tournament, and hopefully this will continue tomorrow when we'll look at Australia vs Bangladesh and South Africa vs Afghanistan. These two matches will conclude the group stages and decide who progresses and whose journey must end here. Until then, thankyou for joining us today, and we hope to see you soon.
 
I'm not going to be writing any more for this story for a while. My school summer holidays are coming up, which means I'm off to Spain for a month with no internet. However I'll have the game on my iPod with me, so I'll probably write a bit and post it when I get back.
 
I think Zimbabwe chased well though they lost it. NZ is way better team than Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe needs some appreciation for their chasing effort.
 

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