ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 4

On the day 4 of the ICC World Cup 2011, Only one match was played. It was between England and Netherlands at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur, India. Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first.

Alexei Kervezee and Wesley Barresi opened the innings and gave a good start. The run rate was pretty good constant at an rate of 6 runs per over. First 2 partnerships did not add up a good total. Tim Cooper and Ryan ten Doeschate added up some decent runs that helped Netherlands team to gain confidence as well. Ryan ten Doeschate played magnificently and scored 119 runs in 110 deliveries that included 9 fours and 3 sixes. By 50 overs, Netherlands team scored a total of 292 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Graeme Swann was the economical bowler for England with an economy rate of just 3.5 runs per over and also took 2 wickets.

England opened its batting innings with the openers Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. They both started off well and put up a partnership of 105 runs that helped England to get more conifidence in winning the match. Andrew Strauss scored 88 runs 83 deliveries which included 9 fours. By 48.4 overs, England scored a total of 296 runs and lost only 4 wickets. Ryan ten Doeschate was the economical bowler for Netherlands where his economy rate was 4.7 runs per over and also took 2 wickets.

England won the match by 6 wickets. Man of the Match went to Ryan ten Doeschate from Netherlands for his brilliant performance shown in batting as well a in bowling. He scored 119 runs and took 2 wickets.

You might also like,

Opening ceremony of ICC WC 2011
Bangladesh's historic win
Airtel Champions League winner

England - Pakistan ODI series: Match 5

The final ODI match between England and Pakistan was played today at The Rose Bowl, Southampton. This was an important match to be considered for both the teams as the series has been leveled by 2-2. Who ever wins the match will win the series. The first 2 matches was won by England and the next 2 was won by Pakistan. This shows that Pakistan team has fought back well in the series and have leveled the series. They look very confident as they have won the previous 2 games of the series. England will also be having some good plans in this match as they had lost previous 2 games and would have come up with new strategy. England won the toss and elected to bat first.

The England batting innings was opened by the openers Andrew Strauss and Steve Davies. The start was very good as their run rate was around 6 runs per over. Steve Davies got out in the 6th over of the innings by edging the ball which straight away went to the keepers gloves. Paul Collingwood contributed some useful runs to the team. On the other hand Eoin Morgan played extra-ordinarily and scored his century which helped the team to come out of bad situation. With his help, England scored a very good total of 256 runs with the loss of 6 wickets. Eoin Morgan was unbeaten scoring 107 runs from 101 deliveries that included 8 fours and a six. Shoaib Akthar took 3 wickets with an economy rate of 4 runs per over. Pakistan needed 257 runs to win the match from 50 overs with 10 wickets on hand.


Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez were the openers for the Pakistan team. They played some good cricket and put up a first wicket partnership of 63 runs. After the fall of Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq came in to bat and departed without scoring a run. Pakistan team started to struggle a lot after the fall of Kamran Akmal which resulted in loosing of wickets in regular intervals. By 37 overs, Pakistan team lost all its wickets and scored a total of just 135 runs on board. Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann took 3 wickets each respectively. Man of the match was Eoin Morgan and the Man of the Series was Andrew Strauss.

England - Pakistan ODI series

Fouth ODI match of the Pakistan-England series was played at Lord's, London. England were leading the series by 2-1. England needs one more victory to win the series. Pakistan team got the toss right and they decided to bat first.

Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez opened the batting innings for the Pakistan team. Both opened well and made a first wicket partnership of 62 runs before Kamran Akmal gave a catch to Andrew Strauss. After the first fall, Pakistan quickly lost 2 more wickets which increased the pressure for their team. The middle order batsmen played well and came out of the critical situation by contributing some good runs to the teams total. At the end of the innings, Abdul Razzaq quick-fired scoring 44 runs from just 20 deliveries which included 8 fours and 1 six. After 50 overs, Pakistan ended up scoring 265 runs loosing 7 wickets. Graeme Swann was the most economical bowler for England with an economy rate of 3.7 runs per over and 4 wickets.


England needed 266 runs to win the match from 50 overs. Steve Davies and Andrew Strauss were the openers for their team and started off very well. They put up a very good partnership of 113 runs which made their team be very confident of winning this match. After the breakage of England's first wicket, Pakistan gained pace in gaining wickets. Soon, England started to loose wickets in regular intervals. They could not resist the bowling attack made by Pakistan. By 46.1 overs, England lost all its 10 wickets and ended up scoring a total of 227 runs. Pakistan won the match by 38 runs. All the credit goes to Umar Gul and Shoaib Akthar who took 4 and 3 wickets respectively. Man of the match was Umar Gul for his brilliant bowling performance.


After this win, the series has been leveled to 2-2. Now either of them can win the series.

Second test match: England vs Pakistan

Pakistan and England played their second test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

Imran Farhat and Salman Butt opened the batting innings for the Pakistan. At the last delivery of the 8th over, Pakistan lost it first wicket. It was Imran Farhat who was caught by Matt Prior, he departed without scoring a run. Pakistan lost its first wicket when its total score reached 8. Salman Butt followed Imran Farhat when Pakistan 1 more run to its total. It was really a poor start from the Pakistatotal nis. No one stayed for longer time as the wickets kept on falling regularly. Pakistan managed to score a of 72 runs only which was worst and lowest total in test cricket.

England opened its first batting innings pretty good. Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen scored their half centuries which helped England to put up a good total and lead the Pakistanis by a good margin. England scored a total of 251 runs thereby leading Pakistan by 179 runs before loosing all its 10 wickets.

In the second innings, Pakistan's top order batsmen failed to score a good score. But there was one good partnership which helped them to put up a decent total. it was between Saeed Ajmal and Zulqarnain Haider who partnered to add 115 runs. Haider scored 88 runs and Ajmal scored 50 runs respectively. Pakistan lost its 10 wickets after scoring 296 runs in its second innings. Pakistan were leading England by 117 runs only.

This total is a cake walk for England as their team was performing extremely well in recent matches. Alastair Cook got out when England's total was 7. After this fall, Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott partnered well and chased the score successfully. They both scored unbeaten 53 runs respectively. By 36.3 overs, England scored 118 runs with the loss of a wicket and won the match.

England are leading the series by 2-0. Man of the match award went to Graeme Swann.

ICC World Twenty20 cup 1st semi-finals

England played Srilankans in the 1st ICC World Twenty20 cup semi-finals at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet - St Lucia. Srilanka won the toss & elected to bat first.

Mahela Jayawardena & Sanath Jayasuriya opened the batting innings for the Srilanka. After giving a grand start in the first over, in the very next delivery they lost their first wicket. In 25 deliveries they lost 3 important wickets which were Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardena & Tillakaratne Dilshan. This was a big blow for them, their run rate was very low which was less than 6.0 runs per over. Angelo Mathews was the only player who lasted for longer period & helped Srilanka to recover from the big blow. He scored 58 runs from 45 deliveries which in turn helped Srilanka to put up a decent total.
After 20 overs, Srilanka had put up a total of 128 runs loosing 6 wickets.Graeme Swann was the most economical bowler for England whose economy rate was 5 rpo & also took Sangakkara's wicket, other economical bowlers were Stuart Broad, Michael Yardy whose economy rates were 5.25 rpo.

This was an easy target for the England team, Craig Kieswetter & Michael Lumb were the openers. Both played a good knock of 39 runs from 29 deliveries & 33 runs from 26 deliveries respectively. After loosing 3 wickets, Kevin Pietersen & Eoin Morgan partnered up nicely & led the team to reach the target. Kevin Pietersen finished the match in a grand style by hitting a six & a four. He was unbeaten scoring 42 runs from 26 deliveries which included 3 fours & 2 sixes. In 16 overs, England scored 132 runs, thereby winning the match by 7 wickets.

Now England are into Finals. This is their 2nd Entry to ICC finals after the 2004 ICC champions trophy.