MATCH-6 , PAKISTAN VS KENYA

Another day in world cup but same result . Again a big team of tournament just rolled over another minnows and fruitless journey of world cup 2011 is continuous.








Match 6 of world cup was between Pakistan and Kenya, where Pakistan register a big win of 205 runs. Pakistan after choose to bat first ,lost its opener in quick succession and seems crumbling but then came Yunis khan and Misbah ul Haq .Both these middle order batsmen then start snailing their team, using their vast experience and completed their half-centuries in quick succession.

Akmal brothers also contributed with half centuries each. Umar Akmal was top scorer with 71 runs on 52 balls, including 8 fours and 1 six.

Chasing a total of 318 in 50 overs , the game turn out to be a practice session for Pakistani bowlers. It was a fair chance for Pak bowlers to improve their bowling figures and so captain Afridi did. Afridi claimed 5 wickets and became the best bowler of world cup 2011 so far.

Collins obuya was top scorer for Kenya team with 47 runs on 58 balls including 3 fours and 4 sixes.

for more information on top wicket takers in recent world cup, click here

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MATCH 5, ENGLAND VS NETHERLANDS

We almost have 1st big upset in world cup 2011 on day 4 in a close encounter between England and Netherlands. In a exciting match between 2 European countries England clinch the match , thanks to their long, experienced batting line up.



Batting first Netherlands put a competitive total of 292 on the board. Ryan ten Doeschate was the hero of Dutch batting, as he used to be many times. He played a wonderful knock of 119 on 110 balls including 9 fours and 3 sixes before losing his wicket to Stuart Broad.

Dutch inning was also helped by the handy knocks of Tom cooper(47 on 73 bals) and captain Peter Borren(35 on 24 balls).

None of the English bowler (except Swann), was impressive on a dull and slow pitch,they were hammered by dutch batsmen all over the ground. The bad bowling performance was then joined by some very lazy fielding with Swann and Broad joining the party by dropping easy chances. Fielders have given 30-40 extra runs as admitted by Captain Andrew Strauss later.

With a competitive total on the board England start proceedings with their new opening pair of Peterson and Strauss. With the better experience and better batting line up England start snailing impressively, losing regular wickets after good partnerships.

Run getters among English team were Captain Andrew Strauss(88 for 83 balls including 9 fours) and Jonathan Trott(62 for 65).

Although the match goes till last overs but England was always looking comfortable. Collingwood and Ravi Bopara ended the match by adding 30 runs each.

Although Netherlands side lost the match but they must be prideful of what they have achieve. They simply prove that they are not minnows here and can upset any good team in the tournament.

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TOP 5 BOWLERS OF WORLD CUP 2011

	Name	Matches	Country	Total wickets	Economy
1	Shahid Afridi	2	Pakistan	9	2.77
2	Mitchell Johnson	2	Australia	8	2.81
3	KJR Roach	2	West Indies	7	4.2
4	Malinga	1	Srilanka	6	4.95
5	H.K.BENNET	2	New Zealand	6	6.58

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TOP 5 BATSMEN IN WORLD CUP 2011

	Name	Matches	Country	Total Runs	Average	Strike Rate
1	Andrew Strauss	2	England	246	123	107.89
2	Sehwag	2	India	210	105	126.5
3	Ian Bell	3	England	183	61	95.6
4	IJL Trott	3	England	170	56.66	101.5
5	Sangakara	3	Srilanka	168	84	97.5

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DHONI DECLARED INDIAN PLAYING 11 AGAINST BANGLADESH

Unofficially though but Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni has declared his playing 11 for the first match against Bangladesh.Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag
as expected will open the inning.

Gautam Gambhir will be the third batsman to come and the most wanted 4th slot is grabbed by Virat Kohli by his splendid knocks in past few matches. M.S.Dhoni, Yuvraj singh and Yusuf Pathan will be the other batsmen in playing 11.

The bowling department will have Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh for sure the other two bowling spots Dhoni has left with many options, which will be a headache for him.

The biggest surprise is the survival of Yuvraj Singh who is not among the run getter for last few months.Dhoni has given him a crucial and big chance, how to become an interpreter what Yuvraj need to do is a couple of 50's and wickets to retain the faith of his skipper.

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OPENING CEREMONY OF CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011

The stage is ready to welcome the world for cricketing extravaganza . The opening ceremony will take place tonight at Dhaka, proud capital of Bangladesh.



Bangladesh shares in the world cup were increased after Pakistan lost its shares of matches in world cup due to security concerns(After attack on Sri lankan players).

As world's richest organizations are co-hosting this event so every one must aspect something big.World renowned rock star Bryan Adams and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy(makers of official world cup song) will be the main attraction along with many dance and laser shows.

This time ICC is not taking any risk as it was in last sub continent world cup when the opening ceremony took place at Eden garden which damaged the pitch partially.

The world cup campaign will start after 2 days when co hosts India and Bangladesh will face each other at the Sher-e-Bangla National cricket stadium.

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MOST AWAITING INCOUNTERS IN UPCOMING CRICKET WORLD CUP

A lot of arch rivals will be head to head during the cricket world cup 2011. But the most awaiting encounters among those will be

1. AFRIDI(PAKISTAN) VS. HARBHAJAN(INDIA)




The first one has the reputation of destroying any bowling attack in slog overs and second one is known for keeping batsmen quiet.Their encounter will be special also because both are enjoying good form in their last series with New-Zea land and South Africa respectively.
They both can bowl and bat comprehensively. This makes their chances of encounter even more.

2. CHRIS GAYLE(WEST INDIES) VS. BRETT LEE(AUSTRALIA)


Although Brett lee makes an impressive come back in the national team of Australia and picking up regular wickets since then but it will be interesting to see how he will face west indies opener in this world cup. World must not have forgot 2009 t20 world cup match between these 2 teams when Chris gayle butchered the Australian bowling attack including Brett lee.
This will be probably the last time when Brett lee can take the revenge.

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JOY FOR KOLKATA AND EDEN GARDEN

ICC officials who visited the Eden garden are impressed by the speed of construction of new stands.ICC officials looking stunned praised the working speed.

They declared that although Eden garden lost its match between India and England but can comfortably host its other matches which are scheduled in march.

Eden garden has hosted some memorable matches and known for its pitch and crowd. This very pitch hosted the 1996 world cup semifinal match between host nations India and Sri lanka. Sri lanha won the match and further won the world cup.

Eden garden was slammed by ICC for unsatisfying construction during their visit on 25th January.

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PRAVEEN'S INJURED, DELIGHT FOR SREE

Indian cricket team and its hardcore fans get embarrassed just before the cricket world cup,when Indian pace bowler declared unfit for upcoming ICC world cup.

One of the in-form opening bowler of team India, Praveen kumar suffered from a tennis elbow injury during the only 20-20 cricket match with South Africa last year. BCCI have made the announcements that the injured Praveen will be replaced by SreeSanth .

Not able to hide his joy by getting this unexpected opportunity, Sreesanth told the reporters that he have performed well in south Africa and will try to continue his brilliant run.While showing his great disappointment Praveen kumar called it just a matter of time and hoping for the best in future.

India's pace attack will know be lead by Zaheer khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf patel along with Sreesanth. Every Indian cricket fan is know praying for other injured players including Sachin tendulkar and Virender sehwag.

BCCI officials are however confident with the past performances of Sreesanth but also agree that he has to control himself and put his energy on game only.

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Prasad and Robin sacked from coaching roles

Venkatesh Prasad: "I have no doubt that I have done my job for the Indian team to the best of my abilities."

Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh have been sacked from their respective positions of bowling and fielding coaches with immediate effect. A terse one-line release, issued on the eve of the Diwali festival, did not offer any explanation for the decision but a board official said the reason was the team's performance in the last two tournaments (the ICC World Twenty20 and the Champions Trophy).

Prasad, the former India new-ball specialist, told Cricinfo he had not been notified by the Indian board (BCCI) about his axing. "I have been not been informed about this but if this is true, I am deeply disappointed and hurt," he said. "I have no doubt that I have done my job for the Indian team to the best of my abilities. I will try to contact the BCCI and find out what I did wrong that has led them to take this decision."

The decision was taken by the BCCI's office-bearers on Wednesday and confirmed by the president and secretary, the official said, adding that the captain and coach were not part of the process. The vacancies, he said, would be filled shortly.

Prasad and Robin, it is understood, were working without a formal contract and on a retainer payment basis, but both had alternate jobs: Robin recently signed up with Mumbai Indians, and Prasad with Chennai Super Kings.

The two have been part of the coaching staff since the tour to Bangladesh just after the disastrous World Cup campaign in 2007. There hasn't been much improvement in India's fielding standards over the last two years, and there have been some embarrassing moments in the past few months. That makes it a concern for a team aspiring to become the best in the world and the board's decision on Robin is plausible.

Prasad's axing, though, couldn't have been that straightforward, especially on a day Praveen Kumar thanked him for helping him grow as a bowler at international level. It seems he has paid the price for the dip in Ishant Sharma's form, and a general depletion in the fast-bowling reserves. The BCCI is also understood to have been unhappy with him airing his views in the media repeatedly. Prasad has also been criticised in various quarters - former India swing bowler Manoj Prabhakar being the latest - for asking the bowlers to cut down on their pace.

Indeed the fast bowlers, with their additional baggage of poor fielding and fitness, have been India's main worry in the limited-overs game. It seems a long time ago but it was only last year that Prasad was being given credit for the bowlers' extraordinary show in Australia and in the home Tests against the same opposition, when they would start getting lethal reverse-swing as early as the first hour with the new ball.

The apparent paucity of fast-bowling reserves has to do with the recurring injuries to the fast bowlers too: Zaheer Khan is currently out, Munaf Patel is exasperatingly injury-prone, Sreesanth has had problems besides physical fitness to sort out over the last few years, and RP Singh has spent time out due to injury too. And it is common knowledge that the rehabilitation, the training schedules and fitness tests of injured players are not always communicated to Prasad - or any national coach.

Ishant's decline has been almost spectacular, from being one of the most exciting fast bowlers in the world to a point where he is being considered lucky to still be in the team. Sources close to Prasad claim Ishant's downward spiral began during the IPL, when he got into a few bad habits - bowling away from the stumps and losing his head and wrist positions. Coming on the back of a remarkable first season, the second-season blues have put him under extra pressure. The major criticism against Prasad here is that he hasn't been able to identify and arrest the technical flaws early enough. Ishant, experts point out, has lost the big off-cutter and the wrist position, and has started breaking away to his left just before getting into the delivery leap, and has consequently lost pace too.

Full Story....

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