Maxwell ton puts Oz in QFs despite Lanka's heroic chase!

Australia stormed into the World Cup quarter-finals with a 64-run victory over Sri Lanka, fired by a spectacular maiden one-day international century from Glenn Maxwell at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Sri Lanka signalled that they are also in fine form for the knockout stages by having a good crack at what would have been a record run chase with Kumar Sangakkara becoming the first man to score three successive centuries at a World Cup. 


They were always up against it after Maxwell's 53-ball 102 had helped Australia to 376-9, however, and it is the co-hosts who are now almost certain to finish second in Pool A and avoid champions India or South Africa in the quarter-finals. 

On a night when the 40,000 crowd were thrilled by a feast of batting, it was Maxwell's deployment of the full array of shots in his prodigious armoury that proved decisive. 
 
His hundred came off 51 balls, just one shy of the record for the quickest World Cup century, and he shared a 160-run partnership with Shane Watson, who hit 67 to celebrate his recall to the team. 

Maxwell was dropped by a back-peddling Sangakkara on 95 and there was a nervous wait on 99, his chance of sharing the World Cup record with Irishman Kevin O'Brien disappearing when the umpire ruled a leg bye off the 50th ball he faced. 

The century came up soon enough with two runs to mid-off, though, and his emotional celebration after reaching the milestone in his 43rd one-day innings was a graphic illustration of what it meant to a player often dismissed as a show-pony. 

Steve Smith (72) and skipper Michael Clarke (68) had earlier steadied the innings with a partnership of 134 after openers David Warner (nine) and Aaron Finch (24) had been dismissed inside the first 10 overs. 

Maxwell hit 10 fours and four sixes in his innings and the pyrotechnics continued when Sri Lanka came out to bat, Tillakaratne Dilshan setting the tone by spectacularly hitting six fours off Mitchell Johnson's third over. 

Johnson had already dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne caught behind for one in his opening over to bring Dilshan and Sangakkara together at the crease. 

While their 130-run partnership continued, it looked like Sri Lanka had a chance but once James Faulkner (3-48) trapped Dilshan in front for 62, it looked like an uphill struggle. 

Sangakkara had already become only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to score 14,000 runs in one-day internationals and was not going to be denied his century, which he reached in as many balls with two runs to backward square. 

He departed soon afterwards for 104, leaving Dinesh Chandimal, who hit 52 off 24 balls before retiring hurt(turning point of the match), and Angelo Mathews (35) to lead the rearguard action. They were finally dismissed for 312 after 46.2 overs.

Vettori passes 300 as NZ ease to win over Afghans!

Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor got some valuable time at the wicket as New Zealand did what they needed to looking ahead to the World Cup quarter-finals with a six-wicket victory over Afghanistan at McLean Park on Sunday.

Guptill, who had got starts in all four of his previous innings, was run out for 57, while Taylor, who had scored just 29 runs in four previous innings, was 24 not out as New Zealand scored 188-4 in 36.1 overs.

Afghanistan had been dismissed for 186 in 47.4 overs with Daniel Vettori becoming the 12th man to take 300 one-day international wickets when he produced another impeccable spell of left-arm spin bowling.

Captain Brendon McCullum had given his side a rollicking start with 42 runs from 19 balls before Kane Williamson (33) and Guptill took them to 111 for one without looking troubled.

Williamson, however, was caught by Samiullah Shenwari at mid-wicket off Shapoor Zadran in the 19th over before Guptill was run out with 44 runs needed and Grant Elliott dismissed in the same fashion 12 runs short of the target.

Taylor and Corey Anderson (seven not out) saw New Zealand home after Vettori had taken 4-18 from 10 overs.

The 36-year-old has taken 12 wickets in the tournament at an average of 11.33 and economy rate of three runs per over.

Vettori bowled the third over of the match to enable Tim Southee and Trent Boult to swap ends and bowled Usman Ghani on his first delivery, then took Nawroz Mangal's (27) wicket in the 16th over for number 300.

He is the ninth player to take more than 300 wickets in both tests and ODIs and later took two wickets in successive deliveries in the 20th over but missed the hat-trick.

Vettori's first over had put Afghanistan on the back foot after captain Mohammad Nabi had chosen to bat on a wicket considered the best batting surface in New Zealand, before Boult struck twice to reduce them 24 for three.

Mangal and Shenwari managed to see off the opening bowlers before Vettori struck again and then had Nabi caught by Taylor for six and trapped Asfar Zazai lbw on the next delivery to reduce Afghanistan to 59 for six and in danger of being bowled out for under 100.

Najibullah Zadran, who survived the hat-trick ball, and Shenwari (54) then combined for an 86-run partnership that helped them post a score in excess of 150.

Sensational Saina sails into All England finals!

London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal today scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the final of the All England Badminton Championship, the most prestigious tournament, with a straight-game victory over Sun Yu of China in the women's singles competition here. 

The World No. 3 Indian, who reached the semifinals of the event in 2010 and 2013, defeated the unseeded Sun 21-13 21-13 in a match that lasted for 50 minutes at the Barclaycard Arena. 

Saina is now just one step away from joining Indian legends Prakash Padukone (1980) and P Gopichand (2001) who have bagged the prestigious title in the past. 

The girl from Hyderabad, who will turn 25 in 10 days, will face reigning world champion Carolina Marin, seeded sixth, of Spain, who defeated Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying 21-18 21-11 in another semifinal clash tomorrow. Saina has a 3-0 record against the Spaniard.

After disposing her nemesis Yihan Wang of China, third seed Saina was faced with the task of taming the towering Sun, ranked World No. 18, who had seen off the likes of Nichaon Jindapon, Li Xuerui and Ratnachok Intanon over the last three days.

The Indian had come into the match with a 1-1 record against Sun, who had defeated her during the 2013 China Open but all that didn't matter as Saina stamped her authority with her wide repertoire of stroke. 

Saina, who had beaten Sun at the Australian Open in June last year, lagged 0-2 behind early on as Sun showed her intent to move to 4-1. 

A couple of quick points and Sun led 6-1, but Saina soon drew her rival in long drawn battle of rallies, as she scripted her recovery to move to 8-10 before the Chinese surged ahead into the break with a slender 11-10 lead. 

After the interval, Saina changed her tactics and was soon rewarded with a couple points as she stretched her lead to 16-12. 

The Indian soon made it 19-13. An unforced error from Sun gave Saina the advantage of seven game points and the Hyderabadi sealed it when the Chinese hit the shuttle hard and long. 

In the second game, Sun once again opened up a narrow 3-2 lead but Saina kept drawing her to the net, where she looked comfortable.Finally Saina wrapped the game and match 17-13.

Ireland stun Zimbabwe by clinching last over thriller!

Ireland pulled off another World Cup upset over a test-playing nation after big innings from Ed Joyce and Andy Belbirnie proved just enough to hold out by five runs in a Pool B match Saturday.

Alex Cusack (4-32) claimed four wickets after Joyce smashed a century at more than a run-a-ball to help Ireland to a big score of 331-8.

Joyce made 112 runs off 103 balls with nine fours and three sixes at Bellerive Oval and shared Ireland's biggest-ever third-wicket stand of 138 with Belbirnie, who scored 97 off 79 with seven fours and four sixes before he was run out in the final over.

Despite imperious centuries from Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams, the Irish bowlers' early inroads ensured the target was narrowly out of reach.

Earlier, two brilliant innings from Ed Joyce (112) and Andy Balbirnie (97) guided Ireland to a mammoth 331/8.

Asked to bat, left-handed Joyce led the Irish by scoring his third One-Day International (ODI) century while Balbirnie smashed a quick fire 97 off 79 deliveries to give Ireland another chance of beating a Test playing nation at the World Cup.

Ireland started poorly, losing opener Paul Stirling (10) early in the third over. Captain William Porterfield stuck it out in the middle to score a patient 29 off 61 deliveries but eventually gifted his wicket to left-arm spinner Sean Williams (3/72) with Ireland at 79 in the 21st over.

Thereon, a brilliant 138-run third-wicket partnership between Joyce and Balbirnie gave the Irish the platform to put up a big total. Joyce stroked nine beautiful boundaries and three sixes in his 103-ball knock while Balbirnie hammered his second ODI half-century which included seven fours and four huge sixes.

Right-hander Balbirnie had a super chance of scoring his maiden hundred in his 15th ODI but was run out while trying to accelerate on the first ball of the last over.

Kevin O'Brien (24) and wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Wilson (25) also played important cameos at the fag end of the innings to take Ireland to the highest total by an Associate team in World Cups and third highest in ODI history.

The Zimbabwean bowlers looked totally unimpressive even though Tendai Chatara (3-61) and Williams picked up three wickets each.

Pakistan show how dangerous they can be!

Pakistan made a winning return on Saturday to the venue where they defeated New Zealand in their 1992 cricket World Cup semi-final before going on to win the tournament for the first and only time. 


After a shaky start to the Cup, including a crushing defeat by West Indies in Christchurch, Pakistan showed enough at Eden Park on Saturday in their 29-run win over pre-tournament favourites South Africa to demonstrate what dangerous opponents they can be. 

The match proved a triumph for Sarfraz Ahmed who came into the team in the dual role of opening batsman and wicketkeeper. 

Sarfraz took three sixes of a JP Duminy over before he was run out for 49 attempting the second run which would have taken him to his half-century. 

He then equalled the one-day world record by holding sixcatches when South Africa batted.
"I am very thankful to the world and Pakistan for this opportunity. I want to thank all those who supported me, including my family. This is my World Cup debut match," Sarfraz said in Urdu after he was chosen as man-of-the-match. 

"Beating South Africa, who are playing really good cricket, after that everybody believes now, the players, the team, can take a lot of confidence from it. When runs are on the board, it is always pressure on the opposition," added Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq. 

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis told a news conference he had always known how good Sarfraz was and added his team had started to play the good, aggressive cricket it had been known for in the past. "We have started finding the right combinations, people have started believing in themselves. They have started trusting their abilities. I am very thrilled but there is a long way to go," he said. 

Pakistan's batting was again fragile and their fielding often erratic although the catching was sound. But their fast bowlers rose to the occasion and the three-left armers Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali each took three wickets. 

"They bowled with real pace and purpose," said Waqar, a former master of the fast bowling art. "We knew we had to get them out to win this game. Teams who are playing aggressively have been more successful." 

Asked if the present side could emulate Imran Khan's 1992 side, who had also made a bad start to the tournament, Waqar said: "Look, I hope, I hope that it turns out to be the same. But we really have to work hard. World Cup are pressure games. 

"In 92 Pakistan lost early games, they came back very strongly. They had they had the belief, Imran Khan had the belief and I believe and I hope that that belief is coming into our dressing room."

Bangladesh tame spirited Scotland!

Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan hit fluent half-centuries as Bangladesh overcame a spirited Scotland at the Saxton Oval in Nelson on Thursday.

Chasing a tough total of 319 to win, Bangladesh made 322 for the loss of four wickets and ensured they kept their hopes alive in the tournament.

Scotland rode on Kyle Coetzer's brilliant 156 to post 318 but the Bangladesh batsmen mixed caution with aggression and with calculated risks overhauled the target. 

Earlier, a splendid century by opener Kyle Coetzer (156) helped Scotland post an imposing total of 318/8 against Bangladesh in a World Cup Pool A encounter.

Coetzer's second One-Day International (ODI) century and the first against a Test playing country is also a first by a Scottish player in World Cups. The highest score by a batsman from an Associate team helped the minnows put up the second highest team total for an Associate at the quadrennial event which can give Scotland their first win in World Cup history.

Scotland did not start well after being put in to bat, losing two wickets in the first 10 overs. However, two important partnerships thereon helped create the platform for them to post the 300-plus score.

A 78-run third-wicket partnership between Coetzer and Matt Machan (35) and a fourth-wicket stand of 141 between Coetzer and skipper Preston Mommsen (39) guided the minnows.

Right handed bat Coetzer produced the innings of his life, smashing 156 off 134 balls to give the non-Test playing nation a chance to earn their first win against Bangladesh in four meetings.

Pacer Taskin Ahmed was the pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers, picking 3/43, while spinner Nassir Hossain clinched 2/32.

Amla, Du Plessis hit tons as Proteas decimate Ireland!

South Africa buried a hapless Ireland under a mountain of runs as Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis smashed centuries in Proteas' comprehensive 201 run win in a Pool B match of the cricket World Cup. 

Amla's attacking 128-ball 159 and du Plessis' 109 off as many balls powered South Africa to a mammoth 411 for four, the second highest score in the World Cup history.  

India's 413 for five against Bermuda in the 2007 edition remains the highest score.
The two batsmen put up an impressive 247-run partnership for the second wicket as Amla hit 16 fours and four sixes, while du Plessis struck 10 boundaries and a six. 
 
Later David Miller and Rilee Rossouw went hammer and tongs as South Africa scored 230 in the last 20 overs, leaving the Irish bowlers bruised and battered. The last 8.3 overs fecthed 110 runs. 

During their belligerent unbroken partnership, Rossouw found the fence six times and cleared it thrice in his 30-ball 61, while Miller hit four boundaries and two sixes in his 23-ball 46. 

Andy Balbirnie (58) and Kevin O Brien (48) were the only Ireland batsmen who resisted the fierce Proteas pace attack with their fighting knocks while others crumbled as the team was bowled out for 210. 

Kyle Abbott gave away only 21 runs in his eight overs and took four wickets while Dale Steyn (2/39) dismissed two batsmen as Ireland were shot out in 45 overs.