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

[Varun]

Pretty easy win for England. They could only get a competition if that Naeem could get a good start.

 

[harrisb]

just an update,

I'm currently making a WT20 db for PCCS which the story will use, so once I've done that, the story will be running smoothly again.

 

[harrisb]

this story is back, i've created the Wt20 db, and i will be updating tomorrow with the warm-up match scores.

 

[harrisb]

World T20 2010 Warm-Up Round Up​

Craig Kieswetter celebrates one of his two fifties

Craig Kieswetter has been on amazing form in England's two warm-up matches ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 which starts tomorrow.

In the first warm-up match, England played a Bangladesh team which they had beaten 2-0 in a Test series just two weeks ago. However, after winning the toss, Collingwood chose to bat and England set about smashing the Bangladeshi bowlers into all corners of the Kensington Oval. Even after the early wicket of Denly, Kieswetter remained at the crease, hitting 11 boundaries in a fine performance, scoring 90 off just 52 deliveries. The story of the innings was the failure of England's batsmen to score a big innings after getting a few quick early runs. Bopara made 31 from 44, Pietersen a brief 18 and Morgan could only manage 14. Bangladesh made inroads, especially when Razzak came on, taking the wickets of Kieswetter, Morgan, Collingwood and Bresnan as England finished on 173/6. Bangladesh's chase couldn't have gone worse, poor communication lead to 3 run-outs, and Bresnan's spell of 3/18 combined with very tight fielding by the Englishmen meant that Bangladesh were all out for 135 with 5 balls to spare.

In England's second warm-up match against South Africa, Collingwood lost the toss and Graeme Smith elected to bat first. Smith made 59 from 33 deliveries, and opening partner Kallis batted throughout the whole 20 overs for only 50 from 42 deliveries. However, the combination of Gibbs, de Villiers and Boucher made 15 between them as Anderson, Swann and Wright all claimed one of those three wickets. South Africa were 127/4 after 16.2 overs when Boucher departed, bringing JP Duminy to the crease, and at that moment it looked like South Africa would only post a total of 150-160. However, Duminy smashed the English bowlers to make 48 not out from 19 balls to make sure that South Africa made 181 from their 20 overs. England's run chase could have started better, again an opener fell early, this time it was Trott who went for 7. This meant that Owais Shah, coming in at 3, joined Craig Kieswetter, and together the two of them created a partnership that won England the match. Although neither of the two were at the crease at the end, Kieswetter's 58, and Shah's man of the match 86 meant that England were well on their way to victory. Another poor display from Pietersen, run out for 7 meant that it was left for Eoin Morgan to hit the winning runs meaning that England go into the tournament unbeaten.

Elsewhere, Zimbabwe have threatened to shock a few major nations. Australia only just managed to get a 1 wicket win against them, and Pakistan were held to a draw, due to a sudden downpour washing away any hopes of a Super-Over to settle things.

Another warm-up upset was caused by Ireland, who successfully chased 180 with a ball to spare against New Zealand, after Brendon McCullum hit 114 from 71 balls. McCullum also hit 97 against West Indies as New Zealand were again beaten as WI chased down 172 to win with three balls to spare.

Sri Lanka have only played the one warm-up, against South Africa. Graeme Smith was run out on 99 by Dinesh Chandimal and Loots Bosman hit a quick 54 as South Africa posted a total of 179. South Africa would have been happy with that performance, but Dilshan and Jayawardene then hit 185 runs to win in just 18 overs without losing a wicket. Jayawardene with 60 from 44 balls, and Dilshan leading the charge with 113 from 65 deliveries. A superb performance from Sri Lanka who sent out a warning message to any potential favourites for the tournament.

India have decided not to play any warm-ups as their players had all played in the IPL which finished just a few weeks before. Although they have held practice matches amongst themselves during practice.



ICC Prediction Competition:

Who Will Win the WT20 2010?

Each person who nominated the winning team will win 50,000 vcash.

Only one vote per member.​

 

[just_cricket]

Nice update there. I'm picking Australia to do it this time.

 

[Gorro_124]

RSA

 

[Aussie Team]

Surely England.

 

[harrisb]

^ That's what I'm hoping, but you'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Varun]

Rather than saying it a poor performance by New Zealand, I would say brilliant performance by Sri Lanka. Welegedera's one over (1-0-1-2) was brilliant. Mendis and Mathews bowled beautifully and Jayawardene - What a player!!

 

[AkshayS]

England to win the World T20.

 

[harrisb]

WT20 Day 1 Round-Up

The World Twenty20 sprung into life today with two group matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and Ireland and tournament hosts West Indies, whose star players will be looking to put on a show for their home fans.

The first match saw the hosts West Indies go up against Ireland, whose stunning performances in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, made them a team not to be under-estimated, especially since the team has improved since then.

West Indies won the toss, and didn't hesitate in choosing to bat first. This seemed like the right decision, as opening partners Chris Gayle and Shiv Chanderpaul began hitting the ball to all parts of the field, however in uncharacteristic T20 style, all of the boundaries were along the ground for 4, even with the mighty Chris Gayle batting. In the 10th over however, ?Gary Kidd trapped Chanderpaul LBW on 42. West Indies were 90/1 after 10 overs, a score in excess of 200 was still possible from there, especially if the likes of Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard could pile on the runs. The wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan was the next to go, run out on just 2 after a terrible mix-up. Deonarine managed a quickfire 13 before he too was given out LBW, this time to the bowling of Nigel Jones, and Bravo stuck around until the beginning of the 18th over, when on 25, he was out LBW. After that, the West Indies became careless, and lost the wickets of Pollard and Ramdin in consecutive deliveries, however there was no hattrick for Nigel Jones, as Sulieman Benn played a nice cameo at the end before being caught on the boundary on the last ball of the innings, West Indies finishing on a seemingly unchaseable 186/7, Chris Gayle top scoring with 85 not out off just 54 balls.

Ireland started poorly, losing Will Porterfield for just 6, however a blistering knock of 41 from Andre Botha supported by decent scores from Niall O'Brien, and then Alex Cusack, whose partnership with Andrew White turned the match from a West Indies walkover into an interesting encounter, the overs continued, and Ireland continued to pile on the runs, almost matching West Indies run-rate, with a few overs to go, Ireland only needed 15 runs, but even when White was trapped LBW by Benn, Kevin O'Brien came in with confidence and combined with Alex Cusack, who went to 50 off 29 balls, Ireland knocked off the winning runs, knocked off the winning runs with a whole over to spare.

In the second match of the day, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. Sri Lanka were put into bat first, and piled on the runs, much like West Indies, Kumar Sangakkara opening the batting and making 84 from 58. Jayawardene also chipping in with 52, as Sri Lanka made 179/3 from their 20 overs.?

New Zealand were struggling early on in their innings, and were reduced to 43/3, however, a massive partnership of 122 between Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram paved the way for New Zealand to chase the total down, and even when a couple of wickets fell in quick succession, Ryder remained to hit the winning runs.

Thanks for joining us for the round-up of today's action, we'll be back tomorrow to review Afghanistan vs India, and Pakistan vs Bangladesh

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Apologies for the poor presentation, this will be written on my iPod touch from now on, so I can't really edit the posts too much

 

[HawkAussie]

New Zealand to win the comp

 

[harrisb]

Just to let you know, that prize money won't be 50,000

 

[harrisb]

WT20 Day 2 Round-Up

Welcome back to the West Indies for the round up of another days action. Today, we saw Afghanistan taking on the mighty India, and Pakistan lined up against Bangladesh.

We start our round up today with Afghanistan batting first against a slightly weaker India side. Afghanistan started slowly, and lost 2 wickets in 3 balls in the second over, leaving them reeling at 11/2. Many would have predicted Afghanistan to collapse and India would complete an easy victory, but Sadiq and Ahmadzai put on 74 in just 8 overs. A partnership that would prove vital later on in the match. Another short partnership followed, but following that was a few wickets in quick succession. At 121/7, Shafiqullah stuck around for a run-a-ball 21 to steer Afghanistan to a competitive 154/9. Maybe India might just be regretting leaving the likes of Sehwag and Kohli out of the team.

India's openers, Gambhir and Vijay started at a great pace, bringing the 50 partnership up in just 5 overs, victory seemed assured. Even when Vijay was caught and bowled by Mohammad Nabi, Dhoni came to the crease and another 50 partnership followed. At this stage, Afghanistan were being taught a lesson in batting. However when Dhoni departed on 32, Rohit Sharma came in and over the next 3 overs, India slowed to a complete halt, scoring 4 runs from those 18 deliveries. In the penultimate over, Gambhir went ballistic, and India only needed 4 from the last over. What happened next will go down in history as one of the greatest upsets in Cricket history, Dawlat Ahmadzai gave away two singles in the first half of the final over. Rohit Sharma was caught brilliantly at point, and following that, Yuvraj was lucky to survive an LBW shout, meaning that they needed 2 runs off the last ball, Afghanistan brought all their fielders in and Yuvraj could not find the gap, Afghanistan had pulled off the unthinkable, they had beaten India.

In the other game of the day, Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 27 runs. Batting first, Pakistan made 145/8, with Fawad Alam making 64 from 44 including 11 boundaries, all of them 4s. However, only 3 other Pakistani batsmen made it into double figures.?

Bangladesh's batsmen played horribly, as they managed to get to 118 before being bowled out. After losing a wicket in the second ball of the innings, Bangladesh's top order crumbled to 39/5, and if Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim hadn't put on 60 for the 6th wicket, they would have struggled to get past 100. Although once the partnership ended with the score on 99, Bangladesh's tail failed to provide any resistance and Pakistan bowled them out for 118, with all 5 of the Pakistani bowlers taking wickets.

Tomorrow, it's England's first match of the tournament as they take on the hosts, who were beaten by Ireland in the tournament opener and in the other match, Sri Lanka are taking on Zimbabwe. I hope you'll join us then for the round up of day 3 of the T20WC in the West Indies

 

[Aditya]

Some upsets going on in this world cup. Ireland beat West Indies, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka, Afghanistan beat India. Matches being fixed?

Good to see this story back. I like the presentation, it goes well with the story and the scorecards look good. Keep up the good work!