SOMERSET won by 1 wicket
20-20 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, IND, 10 Oct 2009

Somerset won the toss & elected to field

Somerset have defeated the Deccan Chargers by 1 wicket, winning narrowly on the final ball of the day. This was undoubtedly the closest match in the Champions League so far. Chasing 154, Somerset started off well but lost wickets in clusters. They lost three wickets for nine runs at one point and then lost three more wickets for 14 runs after a brief partnership. The Deccan Chargers used as many as nine bowlers as Gilchrist tried to mix around his options. Edwards let him down as he was banned for bowling two beamers. The winning partnership, for Somerset, came in the form of Hildreth (25) and Thomas (30) who put on a 50-run eighth-wicket stand. Two wickets by Styris in the final over gave the Chargers a slight glimmer of hope, but Thomas held his nerve to hit two sensational boundaries under immense pressure. It was touch and go and it all depended on which team held their nerve better. Today, that team was Somerset who begin with a win. Alfonso Thomas is named Man of the Match for his all-round performance. He opened the bowling and ended with respectable figures of 25-2 and he then single-handedly took his team home with an unbeaten 30 runs, which included four boundaries and one six. That’s all we have for you today, folks.

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Pakistan’s batsmen came out looking for an early knockout; India’s under-pressure pace bowlers took the blows, lost the first round, but came back to lead on points halfway through the innings. Pakistan’s middle order, muddled in its thought process, undid an explosive and entertaining start wherein they fell from 51 for 1 in seven overs to 65 for 3 in 15.

This was the first time the two teams were playing each other in an international match in close to a year and a half, and both Kamran Akmal and Imran Nazir could hardly wait. The action was breathless in first seven overs as both launched into India’s left-arm opening bowlers. A diving and exuberant Virat Kohli, playing Pakistan for the first time, saved boundaries in the first over, but RP Singh didn’t enjoy the same luck as Ashish Nehra did.

In the next six overs, Nazir drove on the up, punched down the ground and through covers, and also cut in front of square to beat Kohli and Suresh Raina. Akmal drove on the up too, and pulled emphatically. Those six overs yielded nine boundaries, and one gift from an over-zealous Nazir who top-edged while pulling Nehra. Akmal counterattacked pulling out the same shot twice, but when he was kept away from strike from a comparatively mellow Younis Khan, he too looked to manufacture a shot. Like Nazir, he mistook a ball for shorter than it was, and dragged Nehra onto the stumps.

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Centurion: AB de Villiers scored an 70 to steer South Africa to a five-wicket win over New Zealand in ICC Champions Trophy Group B on Thursday.

The hosts, who lost their opening match to Sri Lanka, will now go into their final group game against England on Sunday knowing that victory would almost certainly book them a place in the semi-finals.

New Zealand were sent in to bat and compiled a mediocre 214 all out built around Ross Taylor’s 72 off 105 deliveries.

South Africa lost wickets regularly in reply, but De Villiers ensured that they were always ahead of the required run-rate as he breezed to 70 not out off 76 balls, including nine boundaries.

The home side gave a much-improved bowling display on a pitch that had more of a green tinge than in the loss to Sri Lanka, with Dale Steyn (two for 32) and Jacques Kallis particularly economical.

Left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe showed that he can both contain and take wickets as he completed figures of two for 35 in 10 excellent overs.

New Zealand opening batsman Brendon McCullum scored 44, before Taylor and South African-born Grant Elliott (39) combined for a fourth-wicket stand of 71.

But the Black Caps suffered a late collapse in which they lost their last five wickets for 11 runs.

Wayne Parnell, expensive in his first two spells, returned to claim three more wickets and finish with career-best figures of five for 57.

Hashim Amla (38) and Kallis (36) put on 52 for the second wicket to keep South Africa on target after the early loss of captain Graeme Smith.

Kallis looked particularly impressive, being quick to get on the front foot as he stroked six fours off 39 deliveries, before edging a leg-cutter from Shane Bond to wicket-keeper McCullum.

The glovework of McCullum was the highlight in the field for New Zealand as he also took fine catches standing up to pace bowlers Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills to remove JP Duminy for 11 and Mark Boucher for 28.

Centurion: After their heart-breaking defeat in the first match, South Africa would look to bring their campaign back on track when they clash against a diffident New Zealand at SuperSport Park here tomorrow.

The hosts lost by 55 runs to Sri Lanka yesterday but would take confidence from the fact that the Black Caps are coming into the event after a morale shattering Lankan tour.

The Kiwis lost their Test series in the Island nation and also failed to make the final of the tri-series, losing both the league matches. New Zealand have a decent attack, bolstered by return of Shane Bond, but have to overcome their batting woes.

They mostly depend on the trio of Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor who have been far from impressive in the recent past. Skipper Daniel Vettori has made contributions with the bat coming down the order but their main batters will have to make sure that it does not reach that stage that they are forced to look to the tail to rescue them.

Although South African bowlers struggled against Sri Lanka, they can fancy their chances against Kiwi batsmen. Tillakaratne Dilshan plundered runs at will against them and made Dale Steyn, who had confidently avowed that no team can beat them, eat his words.

Karachi: Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam today exuded confidence that his team has the potential and depth to win the ICC Champions Trophy which begins in South Africa on September 22. Intikhab said Pakistan has the firepower and can repeat their T20 World Cup success in South Africa.

“The ICC Champions Trophy is a tournament in which we have not done well. We have never won it. I think the depth we have in our side if we play to our potential we can win the event,” Intikhab told reporters at the Karachi airport before leaving for South Africa for the eight-nation tournament.

The former Test captain said a very balanced side had been selected for the tournament keeping in mind the conditions in South Africa.

“The batting has experience, youth and firepower. While I think our bowling remains our strongest point. We have quality pace bowlers and in Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal we have to world class spinners,” he said. The 67-year-old Intikhab, who has been under scrutiny in recent times for his age, said the team needed to show the same form and resolve they had shown in the T20 World Cup in England.

“We are carrying a lot of expectations to the ICC Champions Trophy. We are the T20 World Champions and we need to perform like Champions. I have told the boys to focus on the group matches which are going to be tough and challenging against teams like India and Australia,” he added.

Colombo, Sept. 11 — Saturday’s match against Sri Lanka becomes of only academic interest – and of this there is no shortage as India temporarily took the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings. From an aesthetic point of view, though, what is even less edifying is watching quality batsmen struggle and ordinary bowlers sneaking wickets because of the pitch.

In a strangulated ODI where bowlers ruled, India got the better of New Zealand by six wickets, knocked the Kiwis out of the tournament and assured themselves of a place in the final.

Saturday’s match against Sri Lanka becomes of only academic interest – and of this there is no shortage as India temporarily took the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

India, with 128 points are technically ahead of South Africa, who have 127, but to stay at pole when the rankings are officially announced in a week the men in blue have to ensure they don’t lose either of their two matches against Sri Lanka.

In the ICC’s complex method of determining points, India receive considerably less points for defeating New Zealand or Sri Lanka than would be the case if the result went the other way, on the basis that India are higher ranked than both.

None of this had any bearing on the play, though, as Daniel Vettori won a crucial toss and watched helplessly as his batsmen fluffed their lines. Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott managed to do worse than in their opening game of the tournament, being reduced to 66 for 5 as opposed to Tuesday’s 69 for 5.

Ashish Nehra picked up three wickets to take his ODI tally past 100 and Yuvraj Singh winkled out as many with his loopy left-arm spin. In the end, New Zealand managed 155.

Dinesh Karthik was unlucky to be given out lbw to a ball that appeared to strike him high on the pad and be heading down leg. Rahul Dravid’s return seemed anything but auspicious as he struggled to get the ball away. After a tortured hour and five minutes that yielded 14 runs from 45 balls, Dravid failed to get bat to an attempted flick and was trapped in front by Jacob Oram.

Sachin Tendulkar (46), who had been largely purring along, working the ball off his toes with elan and piercing the off-side field with controlled cuts, was out to a soft dismissal, presenting Guptill at cover with the simplest of catches.

Yuvraj then sent the ball up in the air and was caught by Guptill. At 84 for 4 India’s top-order had done their bit to keep the game alive, but Dhoni (45 not out) and Suresh Raina (35 not out) kept their heads and walked India past the target.

Scoreboard:

New Zealand: B McCullum lbw b Nehra 3, J Ryder lbw b Nehra 0, M Guptill c Dravid b Yuvraj 22, R Taylor c Dhoni b RP 11, G Elliott c Dhoni b Yuvraj 22, J Oram c & b Ishant 24, N Broom c Raina b Yuvraj 21, D Vettori b Ishant 25, K Mills b RP 6, I Butler c Harbhajan b Nehra 6, S Bond not out 10

Extras (lb-4, w-1) 5

Total (all out; 46.3 overs) 155

Fall of wkts: 1-1, 2-4, 3-19, 4-51, 5-66, 6-101, 7-116, 8-134, 9-142, 155.

Bowling: Nehra 8.3-0-24-3, RP Singh 8-2-22-2, Ishant 10-2-26-2, Yuvraj 10-0-31-3, Harbhajan 8-0-39-0, Raina 1-0-4-0, Yusuf 1-0-5-0

India: D Karthik lbw b Mills 4, S Tendulkar c Guptill b Vettori 46, R Dravid lbw b Oram 14, Yuvraj Singh c Guptill b Vettori 8, MS Dhoni not out 35, S Raina not out 45

Extras (lb-3, w-1) 4

Total (for 4 wkts; 40.3 ovs) 156
Bowling: Mills 5.3-1-25-1, Bond 10-3-30-0, Butler 4-0-25-0, Vettori 10-0-33-2, Oram 7-1-19-1, Elliott 2-0-9-0, Guptill 2-0-12-0

Such is the aura around skipper MS Dhoni and his team these days that irrespective of the geographical location, the spotlight diligently follows them.

At the Premadasa Stadium – where they headed after a quick pit stop at the team hotel – the arrival of the Indians triggered hectic activity.

The security cordon might have kept the fans following the team bus out of the stadium, but the ground staff and the net bowlers inside were also star-struck.

The Indians have been frequent visitors to these parts, and have developed a bond with the locals.

The smattering of Sinhalese emerging from the ground staff is all about Sachin, Dravid, Dhoni and Yuvraj – and, a bit surprisingly, Ashish Nehra.

The comeback man has a Colombo connection that the old-timers don’t seem to forget. He made his Test debut here in 1999, and his last high with Team India before his long injury break was the six-wicket haul in Colombo four years ago.

The Indian team took the extra attention in their stride as they got to work under lights.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had long batting stints and seemed happy to find the middle of the bat.

Changed line-up

With their inclusion in the XI, the Indian batting line-up will be very different from the one that took the field in the last series against the West Indies.

Tendulkar is expected to open the innings, with Dravid coming at one-drop.

That would mean that Dinesh Karthick, who opened in the Caribbean with Gautam Gambhir, will find it hard to retain his place in the XI, while skipper Dhoni, in all probability, will vacate the No 3 spot and drop down the order.

Indian coach Gary Kirsten, before boarding the flight from Chennai, suggested that players would be rotated during the series.

“We have tremendous depth in our team. Some of the younger players have proven their worth and are capable of cementing their places in the team. Wherever possible, we need to give them opportunities to play, give them as much exposure as possible leading up to World Cup,” he said.

But the most important thing, he asserted, was winning as many matches as they could.

Keeping that in mind, the Indians are unlikely to experiment too much in this tri-series – with each team playing the other just once, the margin for error is small.

As all-rounder Yusuf Pathan took a great diving catch, Kirsten seemed pleased.

“Good stuff, keep it going,” he said. With one false move enough to cut this trip short, each member of the side will need to stay on his toes.

Devendra Pandey

Colombo, Sept. 10 — The Indian cricket board set the ball rolling, offering players from the Indian Cricket League an amnesty scheme recently, but already other boards are reaping the benefits. When a chunk of players were banned from international cricket for signing up with the rival league the country most affected was New Zealand. With a small player base to choose from, the Kiwis could not afford a major exodus, and felt the pinch even as Shane Bond and his partner in crime, Daryl Tuffey, were lost to them.

So it came as no surprise that the board and the team management wasted no time in fast-tracking the pair back into international cricket once the option was open to them. In the opening match of this series the difference was apparent. Bond (3 for 43) and Tuffey (1 for 35) accounted for the Sri Lankan top order, and it’s another matter that the bowlers who followed could not finish the job from 69 for 5.

Coach Andy Moles was quick to draw attention to the impact Bond had. “He has already played T20 cricket and he’s now back to ODIs. He got off to a good start and has been pretty upfront with the white ball,” said Moles of Bond. “He has showed a bit of pace and aggression and we certainly look a better side with him in the team. We are delighted to have him back and he is really keen to make his mark.”

Critically, though, the New Zealand set up has not viewed their ICL players as having committed some major infraction. There is no stigma attached to them, and the selectors are not holding it against them that they left the fold in pursuit of a better livelihood.

“The players made that choice [to join the ICL] and it’s their decision, that’s all I can say. We have a small number of players compared to other Test playing nations and we don’t want to lose them,” said Moles. “With two of them back it helps our side, the competition among bowlers helps. It’s good for our cricket.”

Colombo, Sept. 10 — If some of India’s players are a bit confused about just who they are playing for, you can’t blame them.

Less than 24 hours after they were slugging it out for Air India at the Corporate Trophy in Bangalore, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Suresh Raina found themselves at a centre-wicket net under lights at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The players barely had time to change clothes, heading straight from their hotel to a practice session that everyone attended.

One of the first things they noticed, and there was some shaking of heads involved, was the manner in which the practice pitches played. After Gautam Gambhir had the briefest hit, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were repeatedly forced to check their strokes as the ball gripped the surface and came onto the bat at varying pace.

In conditions like this India will feel the absence of Virender Sehwag all the more, for he is the one player who can force the pace irrespective of the conditions. Sehwag’s absence can be overcome, but it will need one of Tendulkar or Dravid to play a big hand.

While younger players like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina often power the team in the shorter version of the game, conditions here call for careful innings construction and experience will come to the fore.

Dravid was understandably the focus of much attention, returning to the team after two years out, but the 36-year-old showed no signs of being out of the loop.

An extended net session, the last third of which was spent launching bowlers for towering sixes straight back over their heads, some sharp slip catching, capped off with ground fielding, left Dravid sweating profusely in the Colombo humidity.

In the recent past practice sessions have almost always been optional, and to see all the players turn up for a lengthy work out was a pretty clear declaration of intent.

Coach Gary Kirsten said that the team believed they needed two solid practice sessions before their first ODI. After two months off, the Corporate Trophy eased the players back into the groove, but the intensity will really be cranked up to full volume in the coming days.

Three wins in this tournament will put India at No. 1 in the International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings, but they will not be thinking of this yet. There will, however, be no escaping this fact, and the reminders from the media and the public began on Wednesday. “I saw the New Zealand- Sri Lanka match. The pitch played how I expected it t,” he said. “It’s almost a pitch of two halves. We understand what we need to do whether we’re batting first or bowling first.” Soon the time for talking will be over, as the Indian cricket juggernaut gets rolling once more.

SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) – Australian batsman Cameron White scored a trouble-free century to consign England to a six-wicket defeat in the third one-day international in Southampton on Wednesday.

Chasing England’s 228 for nine, White (105) put on 143 for the third wicket with captain Michael Clarke (52) to take Australia to the brink of victory and the tourists rounded off the win with nine balls to spare.

Australian opener Tim Paine contributed with 29 and Callum Ferguson (20 not out) sealed the result as England’s bowlers struggled to capture wickets under the floodlights.

England captain Andrew Strauss once again led from the front with a solid 63 though he was poorly supported by the top order, and only Eoin Morgan (43) batting at six and Tim Bresnan (31 not out at eight) really took any fight to the Australian attack.

Mitchell Johnson bowled a controlled 10 overs, taking two scalps for 39 runs, while Shane Watson picked up three wickets later on in England’s innings.

The tourists now lead the seven-match series 3-0 and a win in the fourth one-day international at Lord’s on Saturday would clinch the series.

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