724 Responses to Cricket World Cup – 19 February 2011 to 2 April 2011

• 

  1

  superBul on 16 February 2011 at 6:45 am

  Cricinfo’s match report-

  The Australia bowlers were dealt a heavy snotklap (slap in the face) as South Africa chalked up a seven-wicket win in their warm-up match in Bangalore. Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla both retired to give the middle order some time at the crease during their chase.

  “It’s lovely to win especially since Australia are a really good team. We’ll take a lot of confidence from beating them,” Amla said at the post-match press conference. The emphatic nature of the win will buoy South Africa, who have a painful history against Australia in the World Cup, especially as they dominated with both bat and ball.

  Australia’s attack started promisingly when Shaun Tait bowled quick up front and almost took Amla’s head off in the first over. He ended up being his own worst enemy because of his inconsistency. Brett Lee also initially caused problems for the opening pair and had two loud appeals against Amla in his second over but was soon tamed. South Africa saw off the opening pair and that opened the floodgates as runs poured in.

  The contest between Mitchell Johnson and Smith was their first since the hand-breaking incidents of 2008 and 2009 but Smith won the battle comfortably this time around. Johnson struggled with his line and length and proved no real threat. With John Hastings and the spinners bowling fairly economically, but not too dangerously, Smith and Amla both found their groove. The former was still struggling a bit for form in the earlier warm-up game against Zimbabwe, but looked as though he found it here.

  The pair took South Africa to 131 before Smith went back to the dressing room to make way for Faf du Plessis, and three overs later Amla gave up his place for JP Duminy. The two middle-order men were cautious in their approach, and managed just 19 runs off 36 balls before frustration set in and du Plessis was run out.

  Duminy’s timing seemed to be eluding him, until the six he smacked on the up off Johnson, and he got better as he hung around to finish it with AB de Villiers. That meant there was no opportunity for Colin Ingram or Morne van Wyk to spend time at the crease. Amla said the team was not concerned about those who have not batted in a match situation because they are “working hard in the nets.”

  Despite Australia’s bowlers not claiming a single wicket, vice-captain Michael Clarke was not disheartened. “We understand that these are practice games and an opportunity to give everyone a run. I thought Jason [Krejza] and Smithy [Steven Smith] bowled really well. We will go about training and practising hard for Zimbabwe in a week’s time.”

  The South Africans have no such bowling concerns as the dynamism of their attack was evident when they restricted Australia to 217. The seamers did the damage up front and the end while the tweakers tore through the Australian middle order.

  Dale Steyn was sharper and quicker and able to achieve more swing than in the first warm-up match in Chennai. He was magnificent from the start when he trapped Shane Watson lbw with his fourth ball. What was equally impressive was the impact Tsotsobe had from the other end, from where he got some decent movement. His first ball presented Kallis with the opportunity to take a catch and dismiss Brad Haddin, but the allrounder put it down. Tsotsobe went on to beat the bat for three consecutive balls and was able to exact revenge on Haddin when he ran him out off his own bowling in his next over.

  Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting’s 126-run partnership provided some resistance, but the spinners struck in the middle overs to scupper the attempted recovery from the early wickets. Imran Tahir was even more impressive than on Saturday and was asking questions of the batsman with almost every ball.

  Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
• 

  2

  Tripples on 16 February 2011 at 6:51 am

  I just love seeing the convicts cringe!!!!
• 

  3

  superBul on 16 February 2011 at 7:07 am

  @ Tripples:
  But it is ominous signs when Ponting get his game on the go. They play better and better as the WC progress. So i hope they are eliminated before the semi finals.

  I just hope we are not playing our best games now.
• 

  4

  superBul on 17 February 2011 at 5:34 am

  South Africa promise but never deliver

  The plain truth about South Africa is that, as a World Cup team, they add up to less than the sum of their parts. You would think a side blessed over the years with players of the calibre of Peter Kirsten, Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith – and a host of only slightly lesser lights – would come up with a trophy between them somehow, somewhere. You would, of course, be wrong.

  South Africans have grown weary of trying to explain why their mighty team haven’t won a World Cup, or even reached a final. The real answer is; there is no real answer. They have talent in abundance. Their skills are eminently world-class. The country’s cricket infrastructure is acknowledged as the best in the game, and proven to be so by the country’s unofficial status as the default standby hosts for ICC events.

  It seems the problem lies either between the ears or in the heart, places even the best coaching struggles to penetrate effectively.

  What of this World Cup? The inclusion in the squad of Pakistani-born legspinner Imran Tahir among three frontline slow bowlers suggests a change in approach. But we’ve seen this movie before – promising form leading up to the tournament, stellar individual performances, the gut feeling that this time it might be different …

  World Cup pedigree

  Semi-finalists in 1992, 1999 and 2007; quarter-finalists in 1996; first-round casualties in 2003. Only once, in the World Cup they hosted no less, have South Africa failed to reach the second round. They have proved hard, competitive and ambitious. Just not hard, competitive and ambitious enough to go all the way.

  Recent form

  Since Novemeber 2009, South Africa have played 26 one-day internationals and won 18 of them. However, Zimbabwe and West Indies, who 10 of those games were played against, did not make for very competitive opposition. Against the bigger boys – England, India and Pakistan – they lost half of the other 16. Among South Africa’s victories were three in a five-match series against a Pakistan team desperate to show they took cricket seriously in the wake of the spot-fixing allegations. South Africa also hung tough to win the last two matches in a 3-2 series victory over India. Still, a success rate of 50% against credible opponents is not good enough.

  Expert eye

  Pat Symcox: “This is the best squad South Africa have ever sent to a World Cup, and the most balanced and experienced one. But our preparation has been predominantly concerned with ensuring the seam bowlers are ready for the tournament, when spin bowling will be more important given the conditions. However, if ever there was a time when South Africa will win the World Cup, this is it.”

  Where they’re likely to finish

  It’s difficult to imagine South Africa not finding their way out of the first round. It’s also difficult to imagine them progressing much further. They’re vulnerable in any knockout situation.

  Watchability

  To see fielding, South African style, is worth the price of admission to any match. They are lions and there will be blood. The same goes for South Africa’s fast bowling – aggressive, relentless and disciplined. Their batting will be adventurous and enterprising as long as the pressure remains off. Once it’s on, you would be forgiven for thinking the circus had come to town.

  Key Players

  This will be Graeme Smith’s last World Cup as South Africa’s captain, and perhaps his last all told. He is a proud, determined, demonstrative man who readily embraces emotive ideas. The thought that he could go out in glorious fashion, leading the finest team never to have won a World Cup to triumph, is made for him. He will bully most of the seam bowlers he will face on the subcontinent’s slow pitches, and he is much less clumsy against spin than he appears.

  Unbelievable though it may seem, there was a time when Hashim Amla’s suitability as a one-day batsman was openly questioned. As is his way, Amla didn’t take issue with the doubters. He simply went out and proved them very wrong, scoring runs, runs and more runs. He scored them stylishly and lickety-split like, and he never seemed to fashion a crude or an ungrammatical stroke as he did so. In the process he rose to the top of the ICC’s one-day batting rankings. Besides all that, he possesses that rarest of attributes for a South African: a cold mind.

  Look into Johan Botha’s eyes and you will see a journey from mediocre seamer to offspinner to chucker to nowhere man to rehabilitated offspinner to respected team man to South Africa’s Twenty20 captain and Smith’s natural successor to the one-day captaincy. South Africans expect their cricketers to be resilient, and Botha is an archetypical example. He will hang tough with the best at the World Cup.

  Something special is required Colin Ingram – a name that is added to a list that features the likes of Desmond Haynes, Andy Flower and Dennis Amiss. Ingram delivered that specialness when he scored 124 against Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein in October. That made him the sixth player – Haynes, Flower and Amiss are among the first five – to score a century on one-day debut. Left-handed and level-headed despite his love of lusty strokeplay, he could set any innings alight.

  Telford Vice is a freelance cricket writer in South Africa
• 

  5

  superBul on 17 February 2011 at 5:45 am

  Small fish, big teeth
  Minnows who showed up their stronger rivals

  Dwayne Leverock, Bermuda, 2007
  No man better epitomised the fat-cat mentality that pervaded Bermuda’s 2007 squad than their man mountain of a spin bowler, Leverock. Too many years of living upstairs from a curry house meant that his frame was as sturdy as the prison van he used to drive in his civilian life, but unlike England’s Samit Patel, the national selectors did not see his lack of athleticism as an excuse to omit him from their plans. Just as well, really, because in the second over of their match against India, Leverock produced one of the finest moments of the tournament, an outstanding one-handed pluck at (a very wide) slip, to dismiss Robin Uthappa for 3. The ball was the first that the 18-year-old Malachi Jones had ever bowled in a World Cup, and he promptly burst into tears.

  Sultan Zarawani, UAE, 1996
  A multi-multi-millionaire, Zarawani was the only native-born member among the expats and mercenaries masquerading as the UAE national squad at the 1996 World Cup. He probably owned more cars than he managed international runs (26), and possibly more brain cells as well, judging by his ill-advised confrontation with Allan Donald in Rawalpindi. “Al, this guy’s asking for it,” snarled Pat Symcox as Zarawani strode in to bat, helmetless, with his side at 68 for 6 chasing 321. And so Donald obliged. His very first ball was a bouncer that pinned his target direct on the head. As Zarawani staggered away, his sun hat all but flopped onto the bails. But he picked himself up, dusted himself down, and struggled on for six more run-less deliveries before Brian McMillan had him caught at mid-off by Hansie Cronje.

  Gavin Hamilton, Scotland, 1999
  It is a measure of England’s ineptitude at the 1999 World Cup that their leading run-scorer was in fact playing for the old enemy, Scotland. Hamilton’s England career was brief and unfulfilling. In his solitary Test, in Johannesburg in 1999-2000, he went wicketless and bagged a pair. But dressed in the St Andrew’s Saltire, he was a man transformed, as he showed in his country’s first World Cup campaign with 217 runs at 54.25, comfortably beating Nasser Hussain’s England tally of 194 in the same number of matches. Hamilton was unable to propel Scotland to victory at any stage, but having launched his campaign with a composed 34 against the eventual champions, Australia, his personal zenith came against Pakistan in Chester-le-Street. He took 2 for 36 in 10 tidy overs to restrict a powerful batting side to 261, then – with his team in disarray at 19 for 5 courtesy Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar – he salvaged some pride with a gutsy 76.

  Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh, 1999
  With his lack of stature, and anti-athletic figure, Mahmud never looked like your average world-beater, and at one stage of his subsequent Test career he boasted the horrendous twin averages of 406 with the ball and 11.25 with the bat – the worst by a designated allrounder in Test history. But he certainly knew how to swing a cricket ball, and in helpful conditions on an unforgettable May day in Northampton, he took out the cream of Pakistan’s cricket team to deliver a victory that would led directly to the creation of the world’s tenth Test nation. Earlier in the game he had swung from the hip to club a valuable 27 from 34 balls; now he followed up with 3 for 31 in 10 overs, reducing Pakistan to 42 for 5 in the space of his first seven.

  Duncan Fletcher, Zimbabwe, 1983
  As England’s coach from 1999 to 2007, Fletcher’s unashamed adoration of “bits-and-pieces” allrounders attracted its fair share of criticism. But as they say, better the devil you know, and in Fletcher’s case he has first-hand knowledge of how single-mindedness allied to a modicum of skill can land the biggest prizes. At the age of 34 he captained Zimbabwe in their very first international fixture, against Australia in the 1983 World Cup, and starred with both bat and ball to secure one of the biggest upsets of all time. With his side in some strife at 94 for 5, Fletcher guided the tail with an unbeaten 69 and then, defending a decent total of 239, grabbed each of the first four wickets in a probing 11-over spell of medium pace. Despite a brisk half-century from Rod Marsh, Australia fell 13 runs short. Fletcher meanwhile added an unbeaten 71 in Zimbabwe’s third match, against the favourites West Indies, but he was unable to secure another victory.

  John Davison, Canada, 2003
  An Aussie offspinner with a short-lived career for Victoria and South Australia, Davison was born in British Columbia and propelled the country of his birth into World Cup folklore in Centurion in 2003 with an astonishing onslaught against a stunned West Indian team. An average of 8.15 from 42 innings for Victoria, and an average batting position of No. 9, gave no clue as to the mayhem that he was capable of unleashing, especially as his previous three innings in the tournament had yielded just 39 runs. His half-century arrived from just 30 deliveries, with six fours and three sixes, his century from 67 – at the time the fastest in World Cup history – and it was completed with his sixth six, a mighty swipe over long-on off Merv Dillon, in just the 19th over. Canada at that stage were 140 for 1, a competitive Twenty20 total, but sadly Davison’s dismissal – to a remarkable back-pedalling pluck from Vasbert Drakes – signalled the end of the ride. Brian Lara, Wavell Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan hunted down a target of 203 in just 20.3 overs. Nevertheless the day belonged to Davison. “I guess playing for Canada gives me opportunities that I wouldn’t really get in Australia,” he demurred afterwards. “Like opening the batting for example.”

  Tariq Iqbal, Kenya, 1996
  Portly and bespectacled, and comically inept with the gloves, Iqbal’s claim to eternal fame was the catch that dismissed Brian Lara in Pune in March 1996, where Kenya produced a scarcely credible victory over West Indies. The Guardian noted that Iqbal was “wearing a blue headband and a double chin”, and added that he had dropped so many deliveries and conceded so many byes that his own fielders had resorted to laughter rather than fury. However, he got the one that mattered right. Lara, in a curiously frenzied assault, launched into a back-foot smear and Iqbal somehow clung onto a thick edge. “The ball sank somewhere into his nether regions,” reported the Daily Telegraph, “and the gloves clutched desperately, trying to locate it. Then, glory be, it reappeared in his hands and was raised aloft in triumph and relief.”

  Jan-Berrie Burger, Namibia, 2003
  The Namibian World Cup squad in 2003 was a punster’s delight, consisting as it did of three Burgers, a couple of vans, and a host of beefy strokemakers. The foremost among these was Jan-Berrie Burger, opening bat and fearless flayer of reputations. In Port Elizabeth he gave England the first of several frights in the tournament by creaming 85 from 86 balls in an onslaught that was more unsettling than the eventual margin of 55 runs would suggest. With rain in the air, everything might have hinged on the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, which Marcus Trescothick had tucked into his sock. But in a foretaste of cock-ups to come, he misread the sheet, and after 28 overs Namibia were 11 runs to the good. But the weather held off and England resumed the upper hand. “That was a very moderate performance,” Burger joked afterwards. “I’m usually more attacking.”

  Austin Codrington, Canada, 2003
  Canada had not featured in a World Cup since 1979, and back then their claim to fame had been a total of 45 against England at Old Trafford – the lowest score in the competition’s history. Twenty-four years later they atoned for that indignity at the very first attempt, with a memorable triumph against Test fledglings Bangladesh. Their hero on the night was Codrington, a dreadlocked plumber with an open-chested action who took advantage of some uneasy batting conditions under the Durban floodlights to take 5 for 27 in nine immaculate overs. Chasing 181 for victory, Bangladesh were bundled out for 120. Admittedly Canada reverted to type eight days later, when they collapsed to a new record-low of 36 against Sri Lanka. But it no longer seemed to matter.

  Collins Obuya, Kenya, 2003
  Everyone loves a legspinner, especially a match-winning underdog. Obuya, the youngest member of the Kenyan clan that includes Kennedy Otieno and David Obuya, became a national hero and the toast of the 2003 World Cup, when, in a performance that would have made the absent Shane Warne proud, he bowled his team all the way to the semi-final. His finest hour came in the group stages in Nairobi, when he took 5 for 24 (and chipped in with a handy unbeaten 13) to deliver the victory that toppled Sri Lanka. His reward, among other accolades, was a one-year contract with Warwickshire, but it did not prove to be a fruitful season, and after he was ruled out of the 2004 Champions Trophy with appendicitis, his bowling went into freefall – to such an extent that these days he plays exclusively as a batsman.

  Niall O’Brien, Ireland, 2007
  Arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history occurred on St Patrick’s Day 2007, when Ireland dumped Pakistan out of the tournament with a thrilling three-wicket win at Sabina Park. And while it was the bowlers who set up their shot at glory, it was their gnarled wicketkeeper, O’Brien, who pushed them towards the line with a redoubtable 72 in a match in which no other batsman passed 27. O’Brien’s skills had been briefly showcased at Kent where he served as Geraint Jones’ understudy before moving on to Northants, but this was his finest hour: he dealt nervelessly with the magnitude of the opportunity, as well as a pumped-up Mohammad Sami, to score two-thirds of Ireland’s runs in the time he was at the crease, and leave them needing just 25 to win by the time he was fifth out in the 34th over.
• 

  6

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 7:16 am

  who of you v=clever people know if one can connect a drifta on a normal PC, which is not an apple mac product?
• 

  7

  Scrumdown on 17 February 2011 at 7:52 am

  @ Tripples:
  If you find out please post it here. I’m getting so G vol of my pvr.

  Last night the signal on SS1 & SS2 was perfect. This morning nothing. When there’s k@k like show jumping on you can guarantee a perfect signal, when it’s Rugga or Cricket you can guarantee a 0% signal strength.

  Suppose I’ll have to first phone Multichoice and hang on for an hour only to be told I need someone to go out and check it.

  Flip the Cricket and Super Rugby start tomorrow!
• 

  8

  Scrumdown on 17 February 2011 at 8:13 am

  @ Tripples:
  From DSTV’s website:

  “The new Mobile TV decoder, the Drifta, is a separate device that receives the DStv Mobile broadcast signal and relays it over WiFi to a range of WiFi-capable laptops, PCs, tablets and smartphones. At launch the Drifta supports Windows and iOS devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Blackberry OS, Symbian 3 and Android applications are in development and more devices that work with the Drifta will be enabled soon.”

  So looks like if you have a wi-fi enabled pc it should work.

  Maybe the IT boffin GBS could enlighten us mere mortals.
• 

  9

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 8:26 am

  Hmmm so only Wi-fi, thats not good!!!! I am also in IT although not technical anymore, but more on systems and applications……dont think our pc’s are wi-fi
• 

  10

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 8:29 am

  Oh and Smallies, you will have to get a technician out, your LNB may be faulty or maybe your dish has moved slightly off position. there also might be a tree in the way that moves more when the wind blows etc. check your signal strength and quality. If your signal strength is 70% and up that is fine and your quality should not be less than 75-80%. if it is not that you will have to get a technician out. Pity you are in the states otherwise my husband could have come out to help you, he is a wizz with DSTV, has been doing it for more than 20 years
• 

  11

  Scrumdown on 17 February 2011 at 8:31 am

  Hell, just spent my 30 minutes on the phone to dstv listening to a range of solutions on how to fix many problems that I don’t have, and when I eventually get to speak to a human, they basically tell me that if I don’t come right next time I do a re-scan, I have to take it in.

  Grrrrrr.
• 

  12

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 8:32 am

  I wish they would finish developing the BB application for the Drifta!!!! friggin world cup starts this weekend!!!!
• 

  13

  grootblousmile on 17 February 2011 at 9:43 am

  The Drifta WILL work with any Wi-Fi enabled Windows PC.

  So, recent Notebooks have Wi-Fi built in… no problem… and for PC’s there are various solutions… a PCI Wireless Network Card installed (make sure you get a quality product like Intellinet or even better, Edimax). The other Alternative is a USB Wireless Network Card Dongle (looks much like any of these MTN or Vodacom 3G dongles, but of course it only provides Wi-Fi Connectivity)…. stick it into a USB port, load the drivers and Bob’s your Auntie….

  There are other options as well like, Wireless Access Points connected to your Ethernet Network (which basically creates your own local “Hotspot” and also PCMCIA Cards ect, but I’m not going to bore you with that!
• 

  14

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 9:48 am

  Hi daar julle, die mense hier by my werk het ook Drifta op ons gewone pc’s, nie wi-fi, gekoppel, jy koppel hom via USB kabel en dan maak die Drifta gebruik van sy eie DVB-H signal, Woop woop gonna get me one!!!!!
• 

  15

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 9:48 am

  #14 bygese jy moet darrem in ‘n sterk wi-fi omgewing bly vir hom om dan oor te gaan na DVB-H sein toe
• 

  16

  grootblousmile on 17 February 2011 at 10:52 am

  14@ Tripples:
  Ek sou steeds Wi-Fi gaan…. hou nie van Routers se USB koppelings in general nie

  Kry vir jou ‘n Drifta!!
• 

  17

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 10:54 am

  gaan nie deur werk se router nie, glad nie op werk se netwerk nie, die Drifta gaan self deur die DVB-H sein dan aanteken. ons het nie wi-fi pc’s hier nie…

  O ek gaan beslis vir my so outjie kry, dis net te erg, dis Krieket wc, dis S15 en natuurlik kom die Rugby WC ook……
• 

  18

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 10:55 am

  En hopelik binnekort is die applikasies vir BB’s ook gedoen, dan is ek eers reg 🙂
• 

  19

  grootblousmile on 17 February 2011 at 11:19 am

  17@ Tripples:
  Die Drifta self IS ‘n tipe van Router, hy verskaf dan Wi-Fi Access… en seersekerlik ook Funksies soos DHCP et cettera… dis wat ek bedoel het by Router.
• 

  20

  Tripples on 17 February 2011 at 11:25 am

  Oki doki…….al wat hy moet doen is Route na my friggin PC toe!!!! 🙂
• 

  21

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 3:37 am

  ICC World Cup: India v Bangladesh
  Sat, 19 Feb 2011 @ 10:00
• 

  22

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 10:33 am

  India
  Bangladesh
  Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field
• 

  23

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 10:45 am

  India 28/0 (2.1 ov)
  Bangladesh
• 

  24

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:00 am

  India 41/0 (5.5 ov)
• 

  25

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:09 am

  India 48/0 (8.1 ov)
• 

  26

  grootblousmile on 19 February 2011 at 11:17 am

  25@ superBul:
  India gaan Bangladesh slag… kuikenmoord
• 

  27

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:19 am

  India 68/0 (10.2 ov)
• 

  28

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:24 am

  Last Bat SR Tendulkar run out 28 (29b 4×4 0x6) SR: 96.55

  India 73/1 (11.1 ov)
• 

  29

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:36 am

  India 92/1 (13.5 ov)
• 

  30

  superBul on 19 February 2011 at 11:47 am

  End of over 16 (3 runs) India 107/1 (RR: 6.68)
  V Sehwag 61* (51b 7×4 1×6) Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-13-0
  G Gambhir 12* (16b 1×4) Abdur Razzak 5-0-32-0