Cricket Game

Sri Lankans were awestruck when England pulled off a dramatic victory by an innings and 14 runs in the first test. The victory was claimed with the help of off spinner Graeme Swann and pace bowler Chris Tremlett, who took four wickets each.

England declared its first innings on 496-5 with a lead of 96 and a draw seemed inevitable after rain delayed play until 3 p.m. local time, but Sri Lanka had other plans, as they were bowled out for 82 at Sophia Gardens. Swann took 4-16 and Tremlett 4-40. The collapse of the Sri Lankan batting line up was spectacular as it took barely believable 24.4 overs on the final day in Cardiff to claim the test match.

Graeme Swann and Chris Tremlett shared eight wickets and Stuart Broad bounced out the last two batsmen. Considering the amount of time lost to rain, this was one of England’s more remarkable wins in recent memory. Sri Lanka was shell-shocked and in the final session, they could not handle the pressure, losing eight wickets. The tourists’ top scorer was Prasanna Jayawardene with a brilliant 112. Thilan Samaraweera reached 58, while Tharanga Paranavitana was out for 66.

England’s most effective bowler, James Anderson took 3-66 but was forced off with back and side injuries and may miss the rest of the test.

Although England secured a brilliant win against Sri Lanka, there are few things England skipper Andrew Strauss needs to learn from this Test match. His decision to bat on for Ian Bell to reach his century could have easily spoiled England’s chances to win the first test. If at the close, England had got Sri Lanka nine wickets down, there would have been questions asked about the four overs wasted while that happened.

The 2nd test starts from June 3-7, 2011. The betting sites have England as the favorite. The odds for England (4/6) and for Sri Lanka are (39/5).

Indian side will be led by Gautam Gambhir for the upcoming limited-overs leg of the West Indies tour. Five first-choice players are either rested or injured, including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. As anticipated, the national selectors have rewarded and given much weightage to performances and the results in the more traditional domestic competitions, instead of the performances in the IPL.

Muscling their way into the squad and helped by the weight of runs in both formats of the Ranji Trophy are Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath.

Gambhir will savor the chance for another crack at the captaincy after regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was left out. He captained India to a 5-0 win over New Zealand in a one-day series last year. Against the West Indies next month, Gambhir is set to captain India for their six limited over games.

India’s cricket officials said that in the limited overs games, Dhoni along with Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan would not feature but the trio would return for the Test series.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have been rested and they will also be available for the test series. To undergo shoulder surgery, opener Virender Sehwag will also miss the ODI series and he remains uncertain for the tests.

With the three Test series beginning on July 10, the first of the limited overs internationals takes place on June 4 in the Caribbean.

S Badrinath has said that after three years in the wilderness, he was anticipating his selection for the ODI series against West Indies. After losing his central contract last season, he was disappointed but that motivated him to regroup and reset his targets.

As soon as bookmaker prices become available, sports betting odds for India vs. West Indies ODI Matches will be featured soon.

West Indies have the opportunity to show their rain-affected triumph was no stroke of luck when the one-day series concludes on Thursday against Pakistan. In Barbados last time out, West Indies stopped the rot in the fourth match with a one-run winner on the Duckworth/Lewis method. They have lost the opening three games to surrender the series.

The Windies did just enough to creep ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, thanks to Dwayne Bravo‘s premeditated six over midwicket in the fourth ODI in Barbados. However, Pakistan would have been confident of defending their total of 248 for 9, had the match gone the full 50-over distance. The score of 248 for 9 was the highest yet recorded in a low-scoring series.

To sign off the white-ball action on a high at Guyana’s Providence Stadium, both sides remain keen, as very soon, two Test matches will follow.

When the final match is contested on Thursday at the Guyana National Stadium, Pakistan will be looking to give unshakeable proof that the West Indies were lucky to achieve a victory in the One-day International series.

Following victories in the first three matches, the visitors have an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series, but they will want to sign-off with a strong performance to knock West Indies back down a few notches. For the fifth and last one-day international against Pakistan, the 13-man West Indies squad is unchanged.

The online sports betting sites have their odds in favor of the Pakistani team. The best odds for West Indies are 15/8 and Pakistan 18/35.

After pulling out of this summer’s tour of England, Sri Lankan slingshot Lasith Malinga has quit test cricket in a bid to prolong his career in one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches.

The 27 year old fast bowler from Galle hastily announced his retirement from Test cricket citing injury problems, under pressure from the Sri Lanka selectors over putting IPL over the country.

Malinga, 27, said he was fit to play one-day cricket but needed to carefully manage a “long-standing degenerative condition in my right knee”, who is currently playing for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

For Sri Lanka’s forthcoming tour of England he had made himself unavailable which prompted his board to ask him to return from the IPL to undergo rehabilitation.

Malinga said he had realized that the heavy workload of test cricket could lead to permanent injury and his decision to retire would help him achieve his goal of representing Sri Lanka in next year’s Twenty20 World Cup and the 2015 50 overs World Cup.

After he made himself unavailable for the Test series in England citing a knee problem, the SLC had asked Malinga to return from the IPL for rehabilitation. The BCCI’s priority is clear; IPL is at the top. It is at least bigger than the West Indies series or else the top players could have been rested for it. It seems as if playing for the country is no longer the best option for some players.

ICC has made a decision to cut down the next World Cup to just the ten Full Members nations and this has not gone down well with the Associate Nations. Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, has criticized the ICC’s pronouncement. He has described the entire thing as outrageous.

After the ICC decided against a qualification system for the tournament, the 2015 event in Australia and New Zealand will only include the ten Test-playing nations, which denotes no opportunity for the likes of Ireland or Netherlands to earn a place. The pronouncement has effectively frozen them out of the game’s showpiece event for eight years, even though for 2019, there is the hope of Associates and Affiliates finding a way back in through qualification.

The judgment is predominantly hard on Ireland, although it is tough on all the other Associate nations too. During the 2011 event, Ireland has demonstrated that they have been a cut above the rest of the second-tier teams. On their World Cup debut in 2007, they overwhelmed Pakistan, while in this edition of the World Cup; they had an outstanding triumph over England in Bangalore. They were more time after time competitive than either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, even though they still finished sixth in Group B. The two main benefactors of ICC’s decision are Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Deutrom said that they will persist to fight this decision and they will not take this lying down, as they believe this is significant. Having administering plenty of behind-the-scenes developments in Irish cricket, he is predominantly annoyed to be dealt such a blow.

Ireland have augmented their funding through government and private sponsorship, improved their infrastructure and as a result, Deutrom fears whether all of those enhancements can be maintained without the appeal for a World Cup appearance.

One of the beneficiary team, Bangladesh will soon face Australia on 9 April 2011. The betting odds for this upcoming match are Australia (1/4) and Bangladesh (7/2).

2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Quarter finals witnessed a big turnaround of events. New Zealand made it into the semifinal of the ICC World Cup after upsetting South Africa with a 49-run win over the pre-tournament favorite at Mirpur on Friday.

New Zealand batted first and on the slow-moving track, they posted a total of 221 for eight. Jesse Ryder was the main scorer in the NZ team. He scored 83 in 121 balls. South Africa had a good start and they seemed finish off the game easily. They had reached 108 in 24 overs and had lost just couple of wickets.

Veteran Jacques Kallis (47, 75b, 3×4) and fluent A.B. de Villiers (35, 40b, 4×4) were in full command of the game. Unfortunately, the Proteas lost remaining eight batsmen for just 64 runs, thereby falling short of victory. They were bowled out for 172 in the 43.2 overs. Jacob Oram was declared the man-of-the-match, as he had claimed four crucial wickets.

Before the World Cup, the New Zealand team had been largely written off at home because of their pitiable performance in the 50 over format. In the previous six months, they had just won two of 16 one-day internationals.

Cricket writer David Leggat wrote in the New Zealand Herald that for the last few months, the NZ team had muddled along by building up an atrocious losing record and had arrived at the World Cup without a prayer.

In the first semifinal, New Zealand will face the winner of Saturday’s England-Sri Lanka encounter, while South Africa widened its unwanted record of being chokers at the World stage.

The sportsbooks are offering great Cricket odds for 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup quarterfinals. Sri Lanka is the favorites to win the match against England. The odds for Lanka are 8/15 and for England 13/7.

Defending champions Australia will have their cricketing prowess tested by the resurgent Pakistan at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Saturday.

Captain Ricky Ponting believes that when they take on Pakistan in their final group encounter, Australia’s unbeaten World Cup record could be under real danger. With a seven-wicket victory over Group A opponents Canada in Bangalore, the three-time defending champions extended their serene run to 34 games without loss. Ponting expects a tricky encounter with Pakistan, even though four-time world champions have made a flawless start to this year’s event.

Pakistan for their final Group A match against Australia on Saturday is set to drop struggling opener Ahmed Shehzad. At the World Cup, in five innings, the teenager has managed just 44 runs and Kamran Akmal with Mohammad Hafeez, will now form a new partnership at the top of the order.

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis seeks a win over Australia in their final Group A fixture and wants his side to move into the World Cup quarterfinals in style.

For the knockout phase, both sides have already qualified and Younis Khan believes that the match in Colombo on Saturday is a chance to make a big statement that will send a strong message to other teams competing for the title.

The real fight will be between Australia’s solid and formidable batting line up consisting of Shane Watson (256 runs), Brad Haddin (237 runs) and Michael Clarke (191 runs) versus the Pakistan’s sharp bowling attack, courtesy leading wicket-taker Shahid Afridi (16 wickets) and Umar Gul (10 wickets).

Head to head, both teams have played each other 85 times. Australia has claimed 52 wins compared to Pakistan’s 29 wins. 3 matches had no outcome while 1 had ended in a tie. In the World Cups, Australia edges out Pakistan by 4-3.

The betting odds have Australians as favorites (4/7) to win while Pakistan is (17/11).

On Thursday, March 17, a confident West Indies side will aim for their fourth successive win, when they face the English side in Group B at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Windies look to book a berth in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

According to popular internet sportsbooks, the odds for England are 8/11 and West Indies are 11/8.

Ever since losing the opening game of the campaign to South Africa in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, the Caribbean side has found itself in a winning grove by scoring handsome victories over Netherlands, Bangladesh and Ireland. Besides Devon Smith (202 runs), the West Indies batsmen have not been in the greatest of forms.

Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan (nine wickets each) are being the only dependable bowlers, while English bowlers have really struggled against most opponents, other than South Africa.

England could present a stronger challenge, although their form has been depressing. Coach Ottis Gibson said his side would be looking to maintain their remarkable winning form.

During this tournament, the leader of the England attack, Anderson has looked more and more out of sorts. He has been powerless to stem the flow of runs against Bangladesh, in which England nose-dived to a pricey defeat on Friday.

Having played in Chennai earlier, England will have a slim advantage over the Windies. Since the venue is at MA Chidambaram Stadium, the English side will intend to replicate their last performance against South Africans. Good line and length balls were rewarded.

The pitch was not a very high scoring one. Batsmen need to look out for spin attack, as it will be the key factor, which will decide the outcome of the match.

New Zealand will meet Canada on Sunday March 13, at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai for a Group A match. This will be decisive one for the New Zealand team as their place in the quarter final berth is yet to be confirmed.

New Zealand is a clear-cut favorite to win the match, although Canada would be aiming for an upset similar to what Ireland did to the English team. The best betting odds for Canada are 15, while New Zealand is 1/19.

Sunday’s World Cup match against Canada will miss New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori. He is sitting out to rest his injured knee in a bid to be fit for match against Sri Lanka. The Group A match against Sri Lanka could decide who tops the group. For New Zealand, the 11th top run scorer at this World Cup, Martin Guptill with 192 runs at an average of 96 will be the key man. Smashing 131 in 124 balls with a whopping seven sixes, stand-in skipper Ross Taylor will another exhilarating player to watch out for in the upcoming matches. New Zealand, from their final five overs had hit an astounding 100 runs. Nathan McCullum and Jacob Oram also found their lost batting touch at the right time of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The problem with Canadian players is that they played a lot more weakly planned cricket, even though they have been inspiring with their cricketing skills. Their batting lineup is awfully feeble. When they started to chase a not-so big total of around 200 in the match against Kenya, they lost some early wickets very quickly. Hansra and Captain Bagai displayed cool and composure while batting and resulting in a Canada’s win. Their top of the line batsmen need to score and the bowlers need to maintain discipline against the New Zealanders.

Ireland will play the West Indies at the PCA in Mohali in the 27th game of the Cricket World Cup 2011. It will be a fascinating game as when it comes to getting to the quarterfinal, the winner of this match will have a greater advantage.

Kevin O’ Brien has been the batsman who will look to go on where he left off in his last ODI against West Indies when he got 54 runs (52 balls) with a couple of sixes. He has been the one who has been the batsman to bring this World Cup alive. The fight Ireland showed against India and the win against England and the comparatively close match against Bangladesh must have positively boosted their confidence levels against West Indies.

Ireland has a formidable batting line up and a promising bowling attack too. Trent Johnston leads the Irish bowling attack with six wickets at 4.88. Left-arm spin of George Dockrell has been impressive too. He has claimed five wickets at economy of 4.66 in this World Cup. John Mooney too is a reliable bowler with five wickets at economy of 5.88.

Against Ireland, West Indies have a clean record. They have beaten the Irish in 2007 World Cup and again in one off ODI in 2010.

In recent matches, the batters from West Indies have looked very promising. It seems they are in superb touch. Chris Gayle has scored 119 runs this World Cup. Darren Bravo has made a remarkable 112 runs until now. To really feel confident going forward in this tournament, West Indies will need to convert their starts. Kemar Roach has been the pick of the bowlers, claiming10 wickets including a hat-trick and an economy rate of 3.91. Suleiman Benn has eight wickets at economy rate of 4.06.

The Irish are definitely going to give the West Indian team a tough fight. The betting odds from various sports betting sites have Ireland with 21/5 and West Indies 2/9.