ICCWT20: England warm up with 9-run win over arch-foes Australia

By Fathima Zanaida

Alex Hales proves his worth yet again

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (TheSportsNext) September 17, 2012: ICC World Twenty20 defending champions England showed exuberance in their nine-run victory over arch-rivals Australia at Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo on Monday.

The top-performers of the match were Alex Hales from England Michael Hussey from Australian as the two batsmen played central role in making the match very interesting one.

Australian skipper George Bailey won the toss and invited England to bat first to test his young bowlers in Sri Lanka conditions.

England lost Craig Kieswetter (8 from 15 – 1 four) early in the innings but Alex Hales (52 from 38 – 7 fours) – who has replaced the controversial Kevin Pietersen in the team – made his presence felt and proved his selection right with a gutsy half century at ICCWT20.

Mike Hussey

Alex Hales and Luke Wright (35 from 29 – 3 fours, 1 six) added 88 runs for the second wicket from 57 balls which provided the strong England middle-order a perfect platform to launch a strong attack in the death overs of the innings.

England scored 69 runs from the final seven overs of the innings where Eoin Morgan (30 from 16 – 4 fours, 1 six) and Jamie Bairstow (18 from 10 – 4 fours) enjoyed freedom to hit out.

England finished with an impressive total of 172 for six from their 20 overs as Mitchell Starc captured two wickets for 32 runs while Brad Hogg also grabbed two wickets for 39 runs.

Australia needed a brisk start to chase down a massive target but lost David Warner (Duck) in the first over as Steven Finn got rid of the aggressive left-hand batsman.

Alex Hales

However, Michael Hussey, who has been given the responsibility by the Aussie team management to use his experience to streamline batting line-up, joined forces with opening batsman Shane Watson (37 from 26 – 1 four, 3 sixes) to added 74 runs for the second wicket.

Michael Hussey continued his good work after Watson’s departure but a bad decision by his captain George Bailey to send an out-of-form Cameron White (9 from 11 – 1 four) who couldn’t as the pair could only manage 23 runs from 28 balls at a point when Aussies needed to increase the run-rate for ICCWT20.

Glenn Maxwell (18 from 13 – 1 six) then used long handle to some effect before losing his wicket to Finn but George Bailey (3 from 5) failed to provide that final punch as Australia could manage 163 runs for the loss of six wickets from their 20 overs.

In the end, England – who had defeated Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 2010 Final – maintained their advantage over their arch-rivals as they won the match by nine runs.

Michael Hussey scored 71 runs from 51 balls hitting five sixes and three boundaries but failed to help Aussies cross the line.

Steven Finn was the pick of the bowlers for England as he took two wickets for 26 runs while Graeme Swann also bowled exceptionally well to capture one wicket for only 21 runs.

Michael Hussey

Read More

Pakistan selection blunders and ICC World Twenty20 2012

By Shahzad Firdous

KARACHI (TheSportsNext) September 5, 2012: As the One Day International series between Pakistan and Australia ended on Aussie victory I would like to point out Pakistan’s selection blunders which were responsible for the defeats.

First of all, Junaid Khan had emerged as the best Pakistan pacer on Sri Lanka tour picking up 14 wickets in the test series at an average of 25 whereas his fellow pacers experienced Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami and Aizaz Cheema could only manage two wickets between them in the whole series.

Yet Aizaz Cheema and Sohail Tanvir were preferred over Junaid Khan in the first match of the series which is a huge shame for the selectors and the team management. These two pacers failed to pick up any wickets in the first encounter.

Furthermore, squad for the upcoming ICC World Twenty 2012 was hastily announced and Junaid Khan and seasoned spinner Abdur Rehman were ignored for the mega event which came as a huge shock for the local cricket lovers.

Selectors have picked unreliable pacers like Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Sami who have nothing to show for merit and a place in the World Twenty20 team.

Mohammad Sami you could still say can be handy because of his pace and when he gets it right he is dangerous. But the other two are just poor selections! Ignoring a player like Abdur Rehman who is a seasoned campaigner and preferring someone who hasn’t even made his debut yet for an event like World T20 is poor to say the least no matter how good he might be.

Argument given for exclusion of Junaid Khan from World T20 squad is that he is not suitable for T20 format. Now I don’t buy this argument! Saying that if someone is excelling in tests he will not excel in T20s is a joke unless if the player is all block type of player. Junaid has his confidence high and he will perform in any format which he showed in the ODI series by picking 5 wickets in just two matches.

Pakistan finally picked their best eleven in the final game and if not for two events match would have been in Pakistan’s favor. 1. Hussey given notout and our players not going upstairs for review and Hussey conning Ajmal by showing all his stumps. 2. Misbah taking Ajmal out of the attack when he was picking up wickets.

It’s true that we are relying on Ajmal alone these days and Ajmal can only bowl 10 overs in an ODI match therefore if there is a test series in Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharjah …. In Test format Ajmal can bowl nonstop we will whitewash Australia or any other team just like we did that to World No. 1 team England.

Coming back to my point, the combination was right in the final ODI as far as I am concerned. It was the best we had available. Now the T20 matches are going to be played. Going by reports, Shahid Afridi might miss two matches which will be an opportunity to test out Raza Hassan before World T20.

Imran Nazir is back and it would be great fun watching him bat today. Abdul Razzaq is also there in T20 format. Wahab Riaz could have been selected too for World T20. When you can play a spent force like Aizaz Cheema once every series then why not talented Wahab Riaz!

Big question will be who should open in T20s now. We have plenty of options. Kamran Akmal likes the ball coming onto bat. Imran Nazir is a must at opening in T20s. Nasir Jamshed had a great ODI series. Mohammad Hafeez is there as well. I will prefer Imran Nazir and Nasir Jamshed opening with Kamran Akmal at three and I will move Hafeez down the order.

Read More