ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 18

On the 18th day of the ICC World Cup 2011, Pakistan and New Zealand faced each other at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Kiwis won the toss and they chose to bat first. Today an unbelievable batting performance in the World Cup history was been displayed by the Kiwis. In the last 4.1 overs i.e, in 25 balls, they scored 92 runs. The main player who was behind this was my all time favorite "Ross Taylor".

Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum opened the batting innings for the Kiwis. Brendon did not stay long, he departed after thrashing Shoaib Akthar for a six. Jamie How came in to bat and he played really slow. He just scored 4 runs in 29 deliveries. Only Martin Guptill was playing at this moment. Ross Taylor entered the crease and he was very defensive at the start. Pakistan were dominant in bowling and they successfully removed 6 wickets in 45.5 overs giving away only 210 runs. At this point of time, New Zealand were in bad position as their run rate was less than 5 runs per over. After this, Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor just belted the Pakistani bowlers in all the ways as much as possible. They destroyed the Pakistani bowling attack, they both scored 85 runs partnership in just 22 deliveries, that means 3.86 runs per delivery. This was the major turning point for the Kiwis. Finally they ended up scoring a magnificent 302 runs in total loosing 7 wickets in 7 overs (NZ - 302/7, 50 over). Ross Taylor was unbeaten scoring 131 runs in 124 deliveries that included 8 fours and 7 sixes. Brendon McCullum had hit a six, Nathan McCullum 2 sixes and Jacob Oram 3 sixes. In total, Kiwis had hit 13 sixes in their batting innings. Only Umar Gul the economical bowler from Pakistan, his economy rate was only 3.2 runs per over and took 3 wickets.

Pakistan after the bad bowling performance, needed 303 runs to win the match. They could not go for big runs as they were loosing the wickets in quick successions. In 17.1 overs, they lost 6 wickets and scored a total of 66 runs only. Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul some how managed to play for longer time and scored some useful runs. But they failed to make it big. Abdul Razzaq made his half-century. Finally Pakistan gave all its wickets to the Kiwis and ended their batting innings scoring a total of 192 runs in 41.4 overs (PAK - 192/10, 41.4 over). Tim Southee took 3 wickets.


New Zealand won the match by 110 runs. Man of the match was Ross Taylor who showed an brilliant batting performance and also took a catch.


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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.

Test match highlights between Pakistan and England

Pakistan is playing a test match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England. England won the toss and elected to bat first. On the first day of the play, England opened its first batting innings with a good start where there was some good partnerships which helped England to put up a good total. The biggest partnership was between Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan which was 205 runs. After the break of this partnership, England lost all its remaining 5 wickets in quick succession. England had put up a total score of 354 runs and lost all its 10 wickets. Eoin Morgan scored a beautiful 130 runs which helped the England a lot to put up this good total. Mohammad Asif took 5 wickets and Mohammad Aamer took 3 wickets.

Pakistan opened its first batting innings with the openers Imran Farhat and Salman Butt. First wicket to loose was Salman Butt where he gave a easy catch to Matt Prior and he departed scoring only 1 run. This was a bad start for the Pakistan team which turned the entire innings. Pakistan soon lost 6 wickets with a total score of 47 runs on board. After this Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Aamer put up a partnership of 48 runs. Shoaib Malik and Aamer got out when Pakistan total was 105 and 108 runs. Later on, Umar Gul came in to bat where he remained unbeaten till the end of the Pakistan's first batting innings. He scored a magnificent 65 runs from just 46 deliveries which included 8 fours and 4 sixes. This magnificent performance helped Pakistan to come out of the Follow on. Pakistan by 54 overs, lost all its 10 wickets putting up a total of 182 runs. England was leading Pakistan by 172 runs.

In the second batting innings, England lost its first wicket in the very first over itself. It was Andrew Strauss who departed without scoring a run. England soon started to loose wickets with very less runs adding up in the score. Matt Prior came into bat at 5 down where he stayed till the end of the England's innings and remained unbeaten. He gave a good partnership with Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn which helped England to put up a very good total. Matt Prior was unbeaten scoring 102 runs. England declared its second batting innings with after putting up a total score of 262 runs with one wicket remaining. Last wicket resulted in a unbeaten 489 runs. Umar Gul took 3 wickets in this innings.


Pakistan needed 435 runs in total to win the match. Currently Day 3 session 3 has been completed and the play for the day has been called off. Pakistan in between 3.1 over to 4.1 over lost 3 important wickets. This was again a poor start from them as they have lost 3 top order batsmen. Right not Pakistan has scored a total of 15/3. Pakistan needs 420 runs to win the match with 7 wickets remaining and 2 days left. 

Stuart Board and James Anderson are bowling brilliantly. Lets see what they will do in tomorrows play. See you all with some more updates on tomorrows play :-)