Rain helps England to squeeze a 1-run win
England just managed to win the first T20I at the Wanderers in Johannesburg by a narrow margin of one run. South Africa needed to be at 128 for 3 in 13 overs when rain stopped any further action. The Proteas despite knowing the target of 8 from the over of James Anderson could manage only six runs to lose the match.
Earlier Graeme Smith put England in and his bowlers were at the receiving end from a sparkling knock of 85 from 45 balls (with 7 fours and 5 sixes) from left hander Eoin Morgan. The Irish man got the Man of the Match award. Skipper Paul Collingwood batted superbly as well to get 57 from 32 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes while one down bat Jonatthan Trott struck 5 fours in a crisp knock of 33 from 25 balls.
England smashed their way to 202 for 6 in 20 overs but the target looked under threat when Loots Bossman showed his true potential. Along with Graeme Smith, Bossman sent shivers in the English bowlers with some outstanding shots. Both Smith and Bossman were dismissed in quick succession in the space of 5 balls to reduce SAÂ to 101 for 2 in the 10th over. Bossman smacked 58 from 31 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes and Smith was equally effective with his 41 from 23Â balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes.
South Africa finished at 127 for 3 in 13 overs when rain had the last laugh. For the visitors, Graeme Swann did the turn around giving 15 runs off his last two overs at a time when the Proteas were looking at plenty of runs for a win. Anderson was also another crucial bowler as he could keep the pair of AB de Villiers and Albie Morkel down to just the singles in what turned out to be the last over.
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Rain helps England to squeeze a 1-run win was first posted on November 14, 2009 at 8:48 am.
Younis and Pakistan under pressure to win the Series
Not many would have fancied New Zealand’s chances of winning the second ODI. The Pakistani top order has shown us how to lose a match not once but twice if you got to include the first ODI as well.
Surprisingly, the Skipper himself – Younis Khan has been the culprit so far in both the matches. In the first match, he got out playing a reckless drive when Pakistan didn’t even open its account and in the second game, he never took any risks that were needed with the required run rate climbing up beyond the middle order’s reach. Younis will have to lead the team from the front and with Afridi being consistently successful, it looks like a lot of pressure is mounting on the present Pakistan Captain. Younis performs under pressure, one knock which proves is a century against India in the Kitply Cup Final when his team was chasing 300 plus target. So Pakistan can pin their hopes on him to come good in today’s third and final ODI. Watch Live Cricket
The Kiwis will be hoping to win the toss and bat again. Not sure if Brendon McCullum can strike gold twice so its important for someone like Ross Taylor to play to his potential. The young man is a class act but is not that mature enough to bring out the best from himself on a consistent basis. I guess just occupying the crease should be enough for this talented Ross Taylor. With the kind of shots he has got, a slow start can always be converted into a run-a-ball knock within no time.
Another player who is having a certain problem is Salman Butt. His temperament is surely proved after a century in front of a 100,000 people in Kolkata against India a few years back. Butt is a good player to watch because of his unique wristy drives on the off side. The left hander has plenty of problems, he has done enough damage I suppose for Pakistan with his slow batting. If I remember he was instrumental in Pakistan’s loss in the T20 World Cup final against India in 2007 because of playing too many dot balls. Well the same had happened in the second ODI as well, so Butt has got to change his game plan slightly. He needs to show the urgency in his batting so that the middle order batsmen do not get burdened of scoring runs quickly all the time. I have this gut feeling that in an ODI, Pakistan should not have two specialist openers. They should have atleast one opener who can do the demolishing act during the 1st powerplay when the ball is coming onto the wicket.
Pakistan seriously needs to tinker with its top order. It will be good if either Kamran Akmal or Shoaib Malik open the innings. The second ODI saw lot of six hitters including Mohammad Yousuf getting wasted under the pressure of achieving the tough task of getting about 160 runs in the last 20 overs. And again, Umar Akmal is needed for Pakistan, it was shocking to see him sit on the bench in the last ODI. Either Khalid Latif or Salman Butt should be dropped for this decider to make way for Umar Akmal.
Well to round off, Pakistan’s chances of a win today is more when they bat first, get about 250 and leave the rest to their bowling. New Zealand’s chances are by batting first too but they would need 300 like in the last game. Their fielding will make sure that Pakistan will have to chase that extra 20-30 runs always.
? 2009, CricketMove.Com. All rights reserved. Partner with APakistanNews.com
Younis and Pakistan under pressure to win the Series was first posted on November 9, 2009 at 9:28 am.
