Melbourne Cricket Ground

January 16, 2011- Sunday

Result:- Australia 297/4 ( 49.1 overs) beat England 294 all out by six wickets.

Shane Watson’s fine century allows Australia to draw first blood in the One Day International Series between the two countries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Watson struck an unbeaten 161 off 150 balls to guide Australia home after England had reached 294 in their innings thanks to Kevin Pietersen’s 78.

Pakistan had raced to 58/1 within the first six overs before Southee turned the game on its head. He claimed the wickets of Younis Khan, Mohammed Hafeez and Umar Akmal in consecutive deliveries and eventually finished with impressive figures of 5/18 in his four overs.

Chasing only 144 to win, New Zealand’s task was made easier by the rollicking start given to them by Martin Guptill, who hit four sixes in his 29 ball 54.

After Guptill’s dismissal, Ross Taylor played a patient knock of 39 not out to ensure that New Zealand won with plenty to spare.

Pakistan ( 143/9) lost to New Zealand 146/5 ( 17.1 overs)

Man of the Match of Pakistan vs New Zealand- Tim Southee.

There is no place for quick bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards in the Windies’ 30 man squad.

Lionel Baker, Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh Jr, Sulieman Benn, Dave Bernard Jr, Tino Best, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kirk Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Jason Holder, Anthony Martin, Nikita Miller, Nelon Pascal, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith, Gavin Tonge, Devon Thomas.

Australia started the day at 119/3 and eventually were bowled out of 309. England ended the day at 81/5 in their second innings.

Ashes 2010- England vs Australia at Perth- 3rd Day Highlights- Video.

Part 1 ( Courtesy Youtube)

Part 2 ( Video- England vs Australia)

While playing in form Mitchell Johnson, Trott edged one to Ponting at second slip. Ponting ended up parrying the ball to Australian wicket keeper Brad Haddin, who eventually completed the catch to dismiss Trott.

JP Yadav took five wickets for Railways in the second innings against Bengal.

The victory earned Railways, who finished second in Group A behind Mumbai,  a quarterfinal match against Baroda.

Bengal 201 and 134 all out lost to Railways 345

Surprisingly enough, there is no place for all rounder Irfan Pathan, but his brother, hard hitting batsman Yusuf, is in. Rahul Dravid has also not been named in the squad.

There is only one uncapped player in the 30 man Indian preliminary squad- Mumbai’s Ajinkya Rahane.

India 30 member World Cup 2011 preliminary squad.

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar

- Here is hoping that the Indian team carries its good form forward. Jai Ho!!!

( From an Indian cricket fan)

But that didn’t happen for India as New Zealand got upto a rollicking start. Ryder and McCullum batted sensibly and laid the foundation for rest of batting . Zaheer provided the break through when he got rid of the dangerous Ryder . Ross Taylor took charge of the Kiwi innings along with McCullum after Guptill fell . Then came the turn of the Indian spinners to put a led on the scoring rate.They were succesfull for some time. Just when you thought New Zealand were running away with the game,  Irfan Pathan came in and got two wickets in one over to provide India some hope. He  got rid of Taylor and the dangerous Jacob Oram in consecutive balls . Then in the penultimate over McCullum scored 13 runs of that over which brought new Zealand back on track. The Kiwis needed 11 runs from the last over.The crowd too were tensed.First three balls Pathan bowled well but McCullum kept his cool and smashed consecutive fours to tie the scores. On the last ball, Pathan pitched it short, and McCullum’s heave fell centimetres short of a diving Rohit sharma.

Their move to send Indians to bat proved to be costly in the initial overs as  Sehwag got off to a brisk start smashing 3 sixes in first over. Just when you thought India were gaining momentum they lost Gautam Gambhir to a irresponsible shot. The shot which was not needed at that stage as the two openers had got 7 runs of the first 4 balls. O’Brien provided the much needed break through by getting rid of Gambhir. Then on the other end Sehwag was going great guns but he too perished for getting over ambitious. Well wickets kept tumbling after Sehwag’s dismissal.Yuvraj, Dhoni and Sharma fell  rather quickly. Suddenly Indian team lost momentum. But then came the Pathan brothers.  A lot was expected from them as they had guided India to  emphatic win against Sri Lanka.

Yusuf was going great guns by hitting Nathan McCullum for 3 successive sixes but got out perishing trying to go for the fourth one and the catch was taken well by Oram.Irfan to followed soon. Suddenly Raina had ran out of partners as wickets kept tumbling at the other end.But Raina had a good partner in Harbhajan who gave him good support and provided India the much needed impetus in the final 5 overs which which guided India to total of 162 which they thought it was enough considering they were in a precarious position at one stage.

Then came  New Zealand’s turn to bat.They got off to a bad start losing Jesse Ryder. But McCullum and Guptill put on a very good partnership to make sure they were in the hunt and they were with the run rate. Martin Guptill too played well before he fell to Harbhajan. One moment you thought India were gaining momentum but Taylor came and he too attacked the Indian bowlers.

Khan provided the much needed break through by removing the dangerous Taylor. Just when you thought India were in the game, here came  Oram. He took the attack to the bowlers and he along with McCullum guided New Zealand to a good victory.

Plenty of lessons have to be learned by the Indian team if they have to come back .Thet have to plan and play according to the situation and not go bang bang right  from the first ball. Dhoni claimed that their players played too  many shots too early. Well lets hope India comes up with a better plan and does well in the next 20- 20 match. Hope we have a  good Twenty Twenty match at the Westpac Stadium on Thursday.