Ruthless Australia thump Kiwis by seven wickets

NAGPUR: Ruthless Australia compounded the miseries of rivals New Zealand by notching up a seven-wicket victory in their World Cup match on Friday.

Chasing an easy target of 207 runs for victory, Australia openers Shane Watson (62) and Brad Haddin (55) piled on 133 for the first wicket in just 18 overs as they punished the erratic bowling of New Zealand in the Group A encounter.

The start ensured that there were no hiccups, though both openers departed in the same over to paceman Hamish Bennett.

Captain Ricky Ponting (12) followed soon after, stumped brilliantly down the leg side by Brendon McCullum off Tim Southee.

Vice captain Michael Clarke and Cameron White saw Australia home in just 34 overs with an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 40
runs to extend their team’s unbeaten run in World Cup to 31 matches.
The Kiwi bowlers did not help their cause by bowling 32 extras, which included 29 wides.

The match was played against a somber backdrop following the devastating earthquake in Christchurch earlier this week.

Both teams observed a minute’s silence and wore black arm-bands, while the New Zealand flag flew at half mast in memory of the victims of the earthquake, which has claimed at least 113 lives with 228 people still missing.

Some of New Zealand players struggled to keep their emotions in check as they linked arms while their national anthem was being played before the start of the match.

After the solemn start, the Australian pace duo of Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait vindicated Ponting’s decision to field first by skittling New Zealand for a 206.

Overnight rain and a little cloud cover prompted Ponting to bowl first in the day match and some fiery fast bowling saw the
Kiwis lose their first six wickets with just 73 runs on the board.
Johnson (four for 33) and Tait (three for 35) shared seven wickets among themselves, while Brett Lee and Shane Watson also chipped in with a wicket apiece.

Steve Smith was the only spinner to pick up a wicket. AGENCIES

England angrily reject corruption allegations

LONDON: Pakistan were embroiled in bitter new corruption row before play even began in the fourth one day international against England at Lord’s on Monday.

In a strongly worded statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) rejected an allegation of match-fixing in the third match on Friday which Pakistan won by 23 runs.

The allegation came from Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt in a television interview on Sunday in which he said “there is loud and clear talk in bookies’ circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose (Friday’s) match”.

Butt and other Pakistani officials had been angered by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to investigate Pakistan’s innings at the Oval after receiving information from a British newspaper about an allegedly suspicious scoring pattern.

Although Butt appeared to

Serbia beats 10-man Germany 1-0 at WCup

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: Milan Jovanovic scored one minute after Germany striker Miroslav Klose was sent off Friday, giving Serbia a 1-0 win over the three-time World Cup champions in Group D.

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Serbia beats 10-man Germany 1-0 at WCup

Sri Lanka notch 312-4 against Bangladesh

DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 71 runs in 51 balls and shared a 111-run opening stand with Upul Tharanga as Sri Lanka amassed 312-4 against Bangladesh in the third Asia Cup match on Friday.

The rest is here:
Sri Lanka notch 312-4 against Bangladesh

Khalid Latif not good enough at this level!

Khalid Latif might have scored 64 in the first ODI yesterday in Pakistan’s thumping 138-run win, but I strongly feel that the opener should be dropped and make way for the classy Shoaib Malik in the playing XI for the next match on Friday.

Having watched 112 balls played by Khalid Latif in the first ODI, I think he is not that fit to play international cricket at this stage. A poor technique, rash shots, lack of timing and what not, nothing really seemed to be impressive about this former U19 Pakistan Captain. The 23-year-old Latif will have to spend a lot of time in the nets and fix his game with proper Coaches if he has to be a successful cricketer at the highest level.

I remember the 3rd over bowled by Shane Bond faced by Latif and the right hander played really ugly cricket which hardly had any grace. I thought that this guy was a natural hitter and looking to counter attack the Kiwis. But instead he went into a shell, was playing a Test Match rather than a One Dayer. It was no excuse at this level that Pakistan were 0 for 2 and that required Khalid Latif to forget about scoring runs and just stay onto the wicket. And his type of knock was against a toothless Kiwi attack. It was just playing off a few overs from Bond and the inexperienced Southee for a while and the rest of the attack was just wafer thin with the exception of Vettori. Latif just remained in Gear one almost throughout his 112-ball stay except for a couple of rash shots early on against Bond.

Pakistan will have to really thank Shahid Afridi to pull them off from a disastrous situation in the middle overs when the runs were trickling by. Afridi was also very generous in telling Latif to take his own time, he even told him – first get your fifty. Once Afridi brought Pakistan back into the game, the rest was left to the experienced duo of Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq who certainly didn’t disappoint their fans. Pakistan smashed 287 out of nowhere and Latif’s tortoise innings was well covered up by the heroics of Afridi and Kamran Akmal.

I would be surprised to see Khalid Latif continue for a long time in international cricket if he plays the same way like he did in the 1st ODI. There will be a lot of quick bowlers to handle than what he had faced against the Kiwis which is for sure. The likes of Bond, Mills must be looking to bowl the sharp induckers to Latif in the next two games and get him out bowled or lbw. Ideally he needs to be dropped and replaced with Shoaib Malik who surprsingly was left out of the team in the first ODI. People might be looking to have Salman Butt dropped but I think he is a quality batsman and one failure or two doesn’t make him a bad cricketer. Another talented batsman is Imran Farhat and I rate both him and Butt to be miles ahead of Khalid Latif.

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Khalid Latif not good enough at this level! was first posted on November 4, 2009 at 11:44 pm.