Ali century sets up comfortable England win!

England completed a clinical 119-run victory over Scotland in their cricket World Cup Pool A match at Hagley Oval on Monday to record their first win in the tournament. 


After they were crushed in their opening games by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England posted 303 for eight after being asked to bat then dismissed Scotland for 184 from 47.2 overs on a day which began under dark clouds and concluded in bright sunshine. 

Moeen Ali (128) produced a stream of delightful drives to reach his second one-day international century and shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ian Bell (54) to give England a grip on that match they were never to relinqish. 

Although wickets fell regularly after their departures, captain Eoin Morgan at last found some form to strike 46 with four boundaries and two sixes and guide his team past the 300 mark. 

Left-hander Ali was in prime form from the outset, driving the ball fluently through the off-side and punishing any short-pitched deliveries with some booming pulls. 

He reached his century from 91 deliveries with his fourth six of the innings, lofting off-spinner Majid Haq high over mid-wicket.

Bell, who had been content to rotate the strike to give Ali the bowling, fell in the following over when he pushed a simple catch to Kyle Coetzer at cover from the bowling of Richie Berrington.
Ali pulled a fifth six into the crowd but then lofted Haq straight to Freddie Coleman at long-on. 

After the interval, England's pace attack, which had been slaughtered by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in Wellington last Friday, took control. 

Opener Kyle Coetzer took two boundaries off James Anderson's opening over and continued to drive and cut confidently to reach his half-century off 64 balls. 

Runs dried up at the other end against disciplined bowling and his dismissal for 71 with 11 boundaries was the beginning of the end. 

Ali took two for 47 from 10 overs, bowling in tandem with another occasional off-spinner Joe Root, as the wickets fell and the required run rate rose. 

Finn, who was smashed for 49 from two overs in the humiliating loss to New Zealand last Friday, returned to help clean up the tail. He finished with three for 26 from nine overs.

Southee, McCullum pound England at Wellington!

Tim Southee produced a brilliant spell of swing bowling for career-best figures of 7-33 before Brendon McCullum plundered an 18-ball half-century as New Zealand destroyed England by eight wickets in their World Cup Pool A match on Friday. 

Southee's performance saw England dismissed for 123, with Joe Root top-scoring with 46, before New Zealand captain McCullum's 77 from 25 balls helped the co-hosts roar to victory in 12.2 overs at Wellington Regional Stadium. 

 McCullum took 18 runs off pace bowler Stuart Broad's first over, the second of the innings, and then 20 off seamer Steven Finn, who had immediately replaced Broad. 

He then belted four successive sixes off Finn's next over, which went for 29 runs. New Zealand were 96-0 after six overs with their captain seemingly intent on pushing an already dispirited England further into despair. 

McCullum was bowled by Chris Woakes with a full toss after hitting eight fours and seven sixes.
Kane Williamson (nine) and Ross Taylor (five) completed the win. 

McCullum's innings, the fastest half-century at a World Cup, threatened to overshadow the superb bowling effort by Southee, who produced the best figures by a New Zealand bowler in one-day internationals. 

Shane Bond's 6-19 against India in 2005 was the previous best. 

Southee did not get much movement in sunny conditions at the top of the innings after Eoin Morgan had won the toss and decided to bat but still managed to bowl Moeen Ali (20) and Ian Bell (eight) with yorkers that did swing late. 

Southee was ably supported by Trent Boult, who put pressure on the top order with an eight-over opening spell in which he took one wicket for 30 runs. 

Left arm spinner Daniel Vettori then dried up the runs in the middle overs and captured the wicket of the out-of-form England captain. 

Root and Morgan, who had scored a total of two runs in his previous five knocks, tried to consolidate England's innings, though their run rate was pedestrian with the skipper struggling with his timing and confidence. 

Vettori heaped more pressure on the beleaguered Morgan when he was brilliantly caught in the deep by Adam Milne for 17. 

Southee then produced a spell of five for 10 in four overs to set up the platform for victory.

Secure your future!

Kiwis beat Scotland but batting less than impressive!

New Zealand almost wasted a superb bowling effort to bumble their way to a three-wicket victory over Scotland in their cricket World Cup Pool A match in Dunedin on Tuesday.

The co-hosts finished on 146 for seven, although they made it harder for themselves than they should have after bowling Scotland out for 142.

Scotland's opening bowler Iain Wardlaw took three for 57 in 9.5 overs to give New Zealand some nervous moments in their run chase with many of their batsmen guilty of throwing away their wickets in an effort to improve their net run rate.

Daniel Vettori (eight not out) and Adam Milne (one), however, saw them home in the 25th over at University Oval.

New Zealand had earlier destroyed Scotland's top order with a superb display of swing bowling from Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who reduced Preston Mommsen's side to 12 for four in the fifth over.

Matt Machan (56) and Richie Berrington (50) rescued Scotland's innings with a 97-run fifth-wicket partnership but once they were dismissed the tail collapsed.

Corey Anderson grabbed three middle order wickets, while Vettori finished off the tail with three, the last two of which were on successive balls.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum had been cautious before the game, refusing to take Scotland for granted particularly after Ireland did wonders for the associate nations on Monday.

Ireland stunned West Indies by four wickets to give the non-test playing nations a massive confidence boost as the International Cricket Council looks to reduce the size of the 2019 World Cup to 10 teams.

McCullum had indicated that the pitch, which has produced scores in excess of 300 in its last two one-dayers, typically aided the bowlers early on but got better as the day wore on.

Southee and Boult proved him right in the early overs of the match, both carving out hat-trick opportunities but unable to achieve the feat.

The pressure they were putting on the batsmen suggested the Scots were heading for the lowest World Cup team total - 36 by Canada in 2003 - before Machan and Berrington saved their embarrassment.

Ireland shock West Indies by 4 wickets!

Ireland justified their giant-killer tag by creating the first major upset of the cricket World Cup, shocking West Indies by four wickets in their opening encounter at Saxton Oval.

Chasing 305 for a win, Ireland rode on brilliant half-centuries from Paul Stirling (92), Ed Joyce (84) and Niall O'Brian (79 not out) to canter home in 45.5 overs.

Stirling, registering his seventh ODI half-century, stitched a 71-run opening stand with captain William Porterfield (23) and then managed 106 runs with Joyce (84) for the second wicket to make the chase look easy.

 

Stirling finally departed in the 28th over, but his 84-ball stay laced with nine fours and two sixes, had already done the damage.

Joyce, whose 67-ball knock was studded with 10 fours and two sixes, then stuck it out with Niall O'Brien (79 not out) for a 96-run third-wicket partnership to take the team forward.

Joyce, who registered his 10th ODI fifty, was confidence personified as the left-handed batsman dominated proceedings against a hapless West Indies attack.

But medium-pacer Jerome Taylor put some roadblocks in the Irish way after sending back Joyce in the 40th over and then picked up two more wickets in Andy Balbirnie (9) and wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Wilson (1). 

Kevin O'Brien was run out for a duck creating some uneasiness in the Irish camp, but older brother Naill stayed on to ensure the big upset.

Jason Holder's West Indies was at the receiving end of some clinical batting by the Irish batsmen as the eight bowlers used by the think-tank bled way too many runs.

Earlier put into bat, West Indies were in early trouble at 87 for five before Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy (89) rescued the Caribbean side to a decent-looking score of 304 for seven.

Young left-arm spinner George Dockrell made an impact with three wickets to rattle the West Indies top-order only to be stabilised by the 154-run sixth wicket stand between Simmons and Sammy.

Ireland, who shot to prominence by defeating Pakistan in the league stage of the 2007 World Cup to make it to the knockouts in West Indies, are once again being seen as a dangerous outfit in Pool B comprising India, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Four teams from each pool will make it to the quarter-final stage and Ireland have already beaten a potential final-eight prospect in the first game itself.

South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 62-runs in enthralling contest!

Jean-Paul Duminy and David Miller smashed spectacular centuries as South Africa got past a fighting Zimbabwe by 62 runs in their World Cup opener at Seddon Park on Sunday.

The left-handed duo of Miller (138* off 92 balls) and Duminy (115* off 100) lifted South Africa to 339 after struggling at 83 for four. In the process, the two shared a world record fifth-wicket partnership with an unbeaten 265-run stand off 178 balls.

Zimbabwe gave their best during the steep chase but a middle-order collapse led to their downfall and they ended at 277 with 10 balls to spare. The contributions from Chamu Chibhabha (64), Hamilton Masakadza (80) and Brendon Taylor (40) went in vain.They kept themselves in the game until Masakadaza's dismissal in the 33rd over triggered a batting collapse.

From 191 for two, Zimbabwe were reduced to 246 for seven, ending all hopes of an upset win. South Africa's premier pace bowler Dale Steyn had an off-day, conceding 48 runs in eight overs.  

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 36 runs in 10 overs.

Earlier, Miller and Duminy led South Africa's recovery after Zimbabwe bowled well on a pitch offering assistance to the fast bowlers. A big upset looked on the cards when Zimbabwe had their fancied rivals reeling at 83 for four with their in-form skipper AB de Villiers (25) also back in the hut.

It was a moment to remember South Africa's shock loss against their African counterparts in the tournament's 1999 edition.

As it panned out, Miller and Duminy got together only to take the game away from the opposition.

It's 6-0 for India against Pakistan in World Cup!

Virat Kohli scored an imperious century as India opened their World Cup defence in convincing fashion with a 76-run victory over Pakistan in a frenzied atmosphere at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.


The much-anticipated Pool B grudge match, the latest chapter in one of the great rivalries in sport, attracted a passionate crowd of 41,587 to the revamped ground with up to a billion more tuning in on the sub-continent and around the world.

It was the two thirds of the crowd dressed in the blue of India who had most to cheer, though, as Kohli brushed aside concerns over his recent one-day form with a knock of 107 to drive his side to an imposing tally of 300 for seven. 

Pakistan started their reply steadily before a three-wicket blitz in two overs at the halfway mark of the innings saw opener Ahmed Shehzad depart for 47 and reduced them to 103 for five.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (76) and Shahid Afridi flirted with a match-changing partnership but once the latter departed for 22 and Wahab Riaz followed in the same over, Pakistan's hopes of a first win over India in six World Cup attempts was gone.

Indian seamer Mohammed Shami took four for 35 but it was Mohit Sharma who drove the final nail into the coffin when Sohail Khan holed out for seven to end the Pakistan innings at 224 all out.

Kohli's century was the first by an Indian in those six World Cup encounters and took his impressive tally to 22 in one-day internationals, joint fourth on the all-time list with his former skipper Sourav Ganguly.

Dropped from a difficult chance by Yasir Shah off Afridi on seven and again by wicketkeeper Umar Akmal on 76, Kohli otherwise played well within himself and gave few chances in his 126 balls at the crease.

The 26-year-old put together a dominant partnership of 129 with Shikhar Dhawan (73) and, once the opener had been run out, another of 110 with Suresh Raina (74), whose innings was as aggressive as Dhawan's had been considered.

Kohli reached his hundred with a single to long on, whipping off his helmet to celebrate his fourth century in five one-day and test matches at the Adelaide Oval.

Sohail Khan took 5-55 in his first one-dayer since 2011, removing both Kohli and Raina as well as India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as three Indian batsmen were sent back in the last couple of overs.

That gave Pakistan some momentum but they lost it completely when Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood (0) and Akmal (0) were dismissed in two overs.

Misbah played the captain's role in his 84-ball 76, which included nine fours and a six, but the 40-year-old's quest for a maiden one-day century will go on to his 157th match.