Last night I had written a post regarding the bad luck that the Aussies were bound to witness the coming day which happened to be true for reasons best said by the scorecard of yesterday's semi finals between Australia and Pakistan. Though Australia won the match which was a thriller, the match almost took the breath away from the Aussies until the last run had been scored. This would not have been the case if Australia had been teamed up with any of the other two teams namely England and Sri Lanka. This will surely go down as one of the most fascinating thrillers that the cricketing world has ever seen.
The match showed all the signs that Pakistan would make it to the finals of a T20 world cup yet another time making it the only team to have done so. Right now also, Pakistan are the only team to have made it to the semi finals of a T20 world cup on three occasions and the only team to have made it to the finals of a T20 world cup on twice. Until yesterday's semi final match between Australia and Pakistan, the highest aggregate team total was 195 scored by Sri Lanka against the West Indies in the super eight of the same.
Now, the highest team total in this edition of the world cup is pocketed by Aussies and another fact that needs to be applauded is that they did it batting second which is great. This reminds me of the match between Australia and South Africa where South Africa chased down 434 to become the team that boasted for the all time highest total (at that time) in one day internationals by batting second. The first and the third highest team totals of this world T20 are now scored in the same match. This could have been another tight finish for Pakistan given their earlier ones against England and New Zealand.
Both Australia and Pakistan would have never wanted to face each other in any part of the tournament. Pakistan would have welcome any team to face in the semi finals but not Australia and Australia on the other hand would have been ready for any team but Pakistan. But, destiny had different plans which scheduled the semis that both the teams last sought for. Finally, justice was done when a team which at one stage ddn't even look like making it to the semis not only made it there but also threatened to walk away with the honors. It would not have been a tough choice to predict Pakistan as winners of the world T20 tournament had they won the semis.
Showing posts with label Mike Hussey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Hussey. Show all posts
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Ponting's yet another immaturity
Well what would have Australia lost if not for the match against New Zealand in the finals ODI of the bilateral series when the series has been pocketed by them a couple of days ago? Aussies made the most of it when they seriously had to win though they lost the first encounter which would have seen them go 1 down in the series. However, that was the match where both the teams fought in a very tight manner and as the convention goes, there could be only one winner and that happened to be New Zealand. And, then onwards, it has been the Aussie show until they sealed the series against their name.
And, there should be absolutely no reason for New Zealand to rejoice their victory in the 5th one dayer played at Wellington despite winning the match be a rather decent margin of 51 runs. This can be considered as Australia's loss and not a win by New Zealand for it was not New Zealand who fought for it. The match was gifted by Australia to New Zealand for which New Zealand has to be thankful to their Tasmanian rivals. However, things didn't start as though New Zealand would win the match when they lost 4 wickets for a score less than 100 on the board.
The score was 25 by the time the 2nd wicket had fallen and scorecard suggests that the New Zealand openers - Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill had scores of 1 and 7 respectively. New Zealand could score a total which was only somewhere near to the total that they could manage in their earlier games. In the 4th ODI at Auckland, they ended up scoring 238 runs and in the 3rd ODI at Hamilton, they were found to score just 245 runs compared to the 241 they put up in the last one dayer which they appeared to win convincingly.
One has to wonder as to how come New Zealand could manage to defend a similar total in the inconsequential match at Wellington when they could not even come close to doing the same in the previous one dayers at Hamilton and Auckland respectively. And, the way Australia played was just another instance of a captain's immaturity when Ponting went into the fifth ODI with a full strength Australian team when he could have rested some senior players like Watson & Johnson and instead played some lesser talent like Bailey. Neither did Ponting go in for a whitewash nor did he give some lesser talent a little bit of match practice.
And, there should be absolutely no reason for New Zealand to rejoice their victory in the 5th one dayer played at Wellington despite winning the match be a rather decent margin of 51 runs. This can be considered as Australia's loss and not a win by New Zealand for it was not New Zealand who fought for it. The match was gifted by Australia to New Zealand for which New Zealand has to be thankful to their Tasmanian rivals. However, things didn't start as though New Zealand would win the match when they lost 4 wickets for a score less than 100 on the board.
The score was 25 by the time the 2nd wicket had fallen and scorecard suggests that the New Zealand openers - Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill had scores of 1 and 7 respectively. New Zealand could score a total which was only somewhere near to the total that they could manage in their earlier games. In the 4th ODI at Auckland, they ended up scoring 238 runs and in the 3rd ODI at Hamilton, they were found to score just 245 runs compared to the 241 they put up in the last one dayer which they appeared to win convincingly.
One has to wonder as to how come New Zealand could manage to defend a similar total in the inconsequential match at Wellington when they could not even come close to doing the same in the previous one dayers at Hamilton and Auckland respectively. And, the way Australia played was just another instance of a captain's immaturity when Ponting went into the fifth ODI with a full strength Australian team when he could have rested some senior players like Watson & Johnson and instead played some lesser talent like Bailey. Neither did Ponting go in for a whitewash nor did he give some lesser talent a little bit of match practice.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Victory-The Aussie way
Well until the end of the fourth one dayer between Australia and Pakistan, I had accused Pakistan for not involving themselves into the game whatsoever. This included a number of factors like picking up the wrong combination in the playing XI, under using the bowlers, using part time bowlers more than necessary which are one of the few factors that justify for the Pakistani defeat in the first 4 one dayers. However, as expected, Pakistan lost the fifth and the final one day match also to Australia by 2 wickets but not the way the Pakistan team lost the first four.
It was in the 49th over when the Aussie tail-ender Ryan Harris was batting and Australia needed one run to win from 4 balls and a waist height full toss from Ifthikar Anjum was bowled. That hit the bat and landed safely in the hands of Shahid Afridi only to be signalled as a NO-BALL from the umpire Ashoka DeSilva that sealed Pakistani hopes of pulling off a thriller in the last one dayer. Rarely would have anybody seen such a ball signalled a NO-BALL in international cricket. As far as the rules of the game goes, the ball should cross the batsman's shoulder full-toss in case it is to be signalled a NO-BALL whatsoever.
One way the decision can be justified is by calling a waist as a shoulder. Had it not been for that, the match worst come, would have ended in a tie with still Pakistan going empty handed in the one day series. But, the way Australia has achieved this success makes a lot of tongues to wag. This no doubt reminds anyone about the Sydney test in 2007 where 8 decisions were wrong that was evident to even a common man let alone the cricket world. However, an outlook of the match suggests that Pakistan atleast in the last game tried to contain the Aussies, which was actually not the case.
Pakistan may have bought the Aussie batsmen close to 50 overs to chase the target of 213 they had imposed. The Aussie batsmen might have lost 8 wickets enroute to their run chase. But, still it was the Aussies who had lost interest in the latch that led to Pakistan cashing in on the chances. Australia, after having taken an unbeatable lead in any bilateral series played in the last couple of years have been found to neglect the last one. They had won the first 6 games against England after their loss in the Ashes 2009, only to lose the last one dayer and with that the chance to become the first team to have inflicted a 7-0 whitewash. So was the case against India in 2007, where Australia lost the last one dayer by 2 wickets in the match where Murali Karthik claimed his career best 6/27.
So, the onlyvictory tie the Pakistan team can boast about is owing to the fact that Ryan Harris was given a needless life which should have found the umpires raise his fingers owing to the same. Pakistan have been completely been outplayed.
It was in the 49th over when the Aussie tail-ender Ryan Harris was batting and Australia needed one run to win from 4 balls and a waist height full toss from Ifthikar Anjum was bowled. That hit the bat and landed safely in the hands of Shahid Afridi only to be signalled as a NO-BALL from the umpire Ashoka DeSilva that sealed Pakistani hopes of pulling off a thriller in the last one dayer. Rarely would have anybody seen such a ball signalled a NO-BALL in international cricket. As far as the rules of the game goes, the ball should cross the batsman's shoulder full-toss in case it is to be signalled a NO-BALL whatsoever.
One way the decision can be justified is by calling a waist as a shoulder. Had it not been for that, the match worst come, would have ended in a tie with still Pakistan going empty handed in the one day series. But, the way Australia has achieved this success makes a lot of tongues to wag. This no doubt reminds anyone about the Sydney test in 2007 where 8 decisions were wrong that was evident to even a common man let alone the cricket world. However, an outlook of the match suggests that Pakistan atleast in the last game tried to contain the Aussies, which was actually not the case.
Pakistan may have bought the Aussie batsmen close to 50 overs to chase the target of 213 they had imposed. The Aussie batsmen might have lost 8 wickets enroute to their run chase. But, still it was the Aussies who had lost interest in the latch that led to Pakistan cashing in on the chances. Australia, after having taken an unbeatable lead in any bilateral series played in the last couple of years have been found to neglect the last one. They had won the first 6 games against England after their loss in the Ashes 2009, only to lose the last one dayer and with that the chance to become the first team to have inflicted a 7-0 whitewash. So was the case against India in 2007, where Australia lost the last one dayer by 2 wickets in the match where Murali Karthik claimed his career best 6/27.
So, the only
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
If Hauritz can do it at Melbourne, Why not Kaneria at Sydney?
Well after boring two days of play at the Sydney cricket ground, with both Australia and Pakistan losing and 9 wickets respectively on a single day, despite a result being possible, the flavor of a test match had still not been achieved. However, it was fantastic to see the Pakistani bowlers targeting the Aussie batsmen with the right weapon that is spin bowling. Compared to the teams from the sub-continent, Aussies are bad players of spin, which is an indisputable fact. Though late, the word never doesn't seem to go well with this test match for Pakistan. Pakistan might have been playing Australia after a long time but, what if the wait pays!
With just 80 runs lead on the board and just two wickets remaining, the result has already been guessed by everyone including the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. With 9 wickets down on day 2 if the test match for Pakistan, it took the Aussies just 2 more runs to get the final Pakistani wicket. However, the only ray of hope for Australia that is Mike Hussey, batting on 73 can prove something and that too if he is assisted by luck. For, with a bowler like Danish Kaneria on his toes, the result is quite clear cut from the day's play wherein Kaneria takes 4 out of the 8 Aussie wickets that have fallen.
A win in the ongoing second test match for Pakistan against Australia would keep its hopes alive so that Pakistan can atleast dream of a win against Australia and great that it could do so on Australian soil itself. Pakistan has been whitewashed 3-0 in the last three series' that has been played between the two countries. However, two of the three defeats mentioned were in Australia and the third one at UAE in 2002. And before that, in 1998-99, Australia had beaten Pakistan 1-0 in the 3 match test series played at Pakistan. The lone win for Australia coming by an innings and 99 runs.
Statistics suggest that Pakistan have last won a series against Australia (be it at home, away or elsewhere) way back in 1994-95 when Rashid Latif's men took a 1 wicket win against Australia led by Mark Taylor at Karachi. Despite a series loss in the return series, Pakistan were able to snatch a 74 run win at Sydney after losing the first two tests. Though they (Pakistan) have lost their last battle against Australia at Sydney by 9 wickets on their earlier tour, the 1995 history can be expected to repeat itself if the first three days of play are considered. Though, Pakistan don't win the third test, a win in this one can bring smiles back on the faces of a lot many Pakistani fans and cricketers. And likewise, a match win on Australian soil is worth a series win for most nations.
With just 80 runs lead on the board and just two wickets remaining, the result has already been guessed by everyone including the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. With 9 wickets down on day 2 if the test match for Pakistan, it took the Aussies just 2 more runs to get the final Pakistani wicket. However, the only ray of hope for Australia that is Mike Hussey, batting on 73 can prove something and that too if he is assisted by luck. For, with a bowler like Danish Kaneria on his toes, the result is quite clear cut from the day's play wherein Kaneria takes 4 out of the 8 Aussie wickets that have fallen.
A win in the ongoing second test match for Pakistan against Australia would keep its hopes alive so that Pakistan can atleast dream of a win against Australia and great that it could do so on Australian soil itself. Pakistan has been whitewashed 3-0 in the last three series' that has been played between the two countries. However, two of the three defeats mentioned were in Australia and the third one at UAE in 2002. And before that, in 1998-99, Australia had beaten Pakistan 1-0 in the 3 match test series played at Pakistan. The lone win for Australia coming by an innings and 99 runs.
Statistics suggest that Pakistan have last won a series against Australia (be it at home, away or elsewhere) way back in 1994-95 when Rashid Latif's men took a 1 wicket win against Australia led by Mark Taylor at Karachi. Despite a series loss in the return series, Pakistan were able to snatch a 74 run win at Sydney after losing the first two tests. Though they (Pakistan) have lost their last battle against Australia at Sydney by 9 wickets on their earlier tour, the 1995 history can be expected to repeat itself if the first three days of play are considered. Though, Pakistan don't win the third test, a win in this one can bring smiles back on the faces of a lot many Pakistani fans and cricketers. And likewise, a match win on Australian soil is worth a series win for most nations.
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