Rain reduces game to 43 overs at Pallekele

Updated at: 1818 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

PALLEKELE: Pakistan had Zimbabwe reeling at 96-5 in their World Cup Group A match before heavy rain stopped play at the Pallekele International Stadium on Monday.Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat but lost Brendan Taylor, Regis Chakabva and Vusi Sibanda in quick succession to be 13-3 before Craig Ervine helped stop the rot with an unbeaten 48.When play resumed 90 minutes later, the game was reduced to a 43-over per side match.The start was also delayed due to light drizzle.This is the second World Cup match to be affected by rain after Sri Lanka's showdown with Australia was washed out in Colombo earlier this month.

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Zimbabwe reeling at 96-5 before rain stops play

Updated at: 1700 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

PALLEKELE: Rain stopped play in Pakistan's World Cup match against Zimbabwe here at the Pallekele International Stadium on Monday.Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat but lost Brendan Taylor, Regis Chakabva and Vusi Sibanda in quick succession to be 13-3 before Craig Ervine helped stop the rot with an unbeaten 48.Zimbabwe were struggling on 96 for five in the Group A contest when the light showers forced the players off the field at 1105 GMT. The start was also delayed due to light drizzle.This is the second World Cup match to be affected by rain after Sri Lanka's showdown with Australia was washed out in Colombo earlier this month.

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Tigers down Dutch, keeping quarters hopes alive

Updated at: 1526 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

CHITTAGONG: Imrul Kais guided Bangladesh to an easy six-wicket victory against the Netherlands in Group B match, keeping alive their hopes of playing the World Cup quarter-finals, here at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Monday The Dutch were shot out for 160 in 46.2 overs after electing to bat first on the slow wicket, a target Bangladesh surpassed in the 42nd over with left-handed batsman Imrul Kayes making 73 not out.Bangladesh's three left-arm spinners shared five of the six wickets to fall to bowlers with Abdur Razzak leading the way with 3-29 in 10 steady overs.Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Suhrawadi Shuvo, who was brought in to replace off-spinner Naeem Islam, claimed one wicket apiece.Kayes put on 92 for the second-wicket with Junaid Siddique (35) after opening partner Tamim Iqbal was bowled by Mudassar Bukhari off the fourth ball of the innings without scoring.Shahriar Nafees, one of the five left-handers at the top of the batting order who replaced right-handed Raqibul Hasan, made 37 in a third-wicket stand of 59 with Kayes.Kayes, who followed his 60 against England with another half-century, was named man of the match for the second time in a row.Bangladesh joined the West Indies and South Africa on six points, one behind Group B leaders India and a point ahead of England.A West Indies win over England in Chennai on Thursday will enable Bangladesh ease into the last eight even before their final league match against South Africa in Dhaka on Saturday.But an unlikely Irish win over the Proteas in Kolkata on Tuesday will once again throw open the quarter-final race from the pool.Ryan ten Doeschate top-scored for the Netherlands with an unbeaten 53, but none of the other batsmen managed 30, six failed to reach double figures and four ran themselves out.Openers Wesley Barrisi and Eric Szwaraczynski plodded to 28 runs in nine overs, following a tidy opening spell by seamer Shafiul Islam, who conceded just seven runs in his first six overs.Tom Cooper (29) and Szwaraczynski carried the score to 66-2 by the 23rd over when both batsmen were run out in the space of 13 runs to set the Dutch back again.Szwaraczynski, who made 28, was unfortunate to be dismissed at the non-striker's end when Shakib deflected a straight drive from Cooper onto the stumps.Wicket-keeper Musfiqur Rahim, who had dropped Cooper on six, made amends when he lunged for a wide throw from the deep and threw the ball at the stumps before the batsman had regained his crease.Shuvo had Alexei Kervezee stumped by Rahim for 18, before Razzak dismissed Tom de Grooth and Atse Buurman in three deliveries to reduce the Netherlands to 127-7 in the 38th over.Skipper Peter Borren and Adeel Raja also ran themselves out, leaving ten Doeschate stranded at the other end.

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Zimbabwe win toss, elect to bat against Pakistan

Updated at: 1336 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

PALLEKELE: Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura has won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan in their crucial World Cup Group A match here at the Pallekele International Stadium on Monday.Pakistan were forced to make two changes from the side that lost to New Zealand by 110 runs on Tuesday, bringing in Asad Shafiq for injured Umar Akmal and paceman Wahab Riaz for Shoaib Aktar who was rested.Umar hurt his finger on Thursday and then sprained his ankle on Sunday.His under-fire brother Kamran, who had a disastrous performance against New Zealand, kept his place in the team.Zimbabwe replaced pacemen Christopher Mpofu and Tanishe Panyangara with seamer Shingirai Masakadza and opener Vusimuzi Sibanda in two changes from the team that lost to Sri Lanka by 139 runs on Thursday.Mpofu, who took four wickets in the last match, has suffered side strain.Pakistan, with six points from four matches, will qualify for the quarter-finals with victory.Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Ahmed Shahzad.Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (captain), Regis Chakabva, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Raymond Price, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Vusimuzi Sibanda.Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) and Tony Hill (NZ), TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (SA)Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

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Netherlands 160 all out against Bangladesh

Updated at: 1156 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh boosted their chances of improving their negative net run rate as their trio of left-arm spinners skittled Netherlands for just 160 in a World Cup match on Monday.With the exception of Ryan ten Doeschate (53 not out), Dutch batsmen struggled to score against Bangladesh's miserly spin attack on the slow track at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.Captain Shakib Al Hasan, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Abdur Razzak's left-arm deliveries flummoxed Peter Borren's men, who struggled to find the gaps in the field to build up any form of momentum in their innings.The spinners shared five wickets between them with Razzak proving to be the most destructive as he finished with 3-29.The Dutch also pressed the self-destruct button as Eric Szwarczynski (28), Tom Cooper (29), Borren (3) and last man Adeel Raja (0) ran themselves out chasing tight runs.Ten Doeschate, who scored a brilliant century against England in their opening World Cup match, again produced some fluent strokes to delight the smattering of Dutch supporters in the crowd but eventually ran out of partners.He was dropped on 14 by Imrul Kayes at midwicket and made the most of his let off by slashing Razzak to the boundary to complete his half-century off 65 balls.While victory over the winless Dutch will help Bangladesh to get one step closer to a quarter-final spot, the co-hosts will want to knock off the runs as quickly as possible since it may come down to net run rate to decide who goes through from Group B to the last eight if teams are tied on points.First innings scoreboard in the World Cup Group B match between Bangladesh and the Netherlands at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium on Monday:
The Netherlands:
E. Szwaraczynski run out 28
W. Barresi lbw b Shakib 10
Mudassar Bukhari c Rahim b Razzak 6
T. Cooper run out 29
R. ten Doeschate not out 53
A. Kervezee st Rahim b Shuvo 18
T. de Grooth lbw b Razzak 4
A. Buurman c Kayes b Razzak 0
P. Borren run out 3
P. Seelaar lbw b Rubel 0
Adeel Raja run out 0
Extras: (lb9) 9
Total (all out, 46.2 overs) 160 Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Barresi), 2-37 (Bukhari), 3-66 (Szwaraczynski), 4-79 (Cooper), 5-113 (Kervezee), 6-127 (de Grooth), 7-127 (Buurman), 8-139 (Borren), 9-141 (Seelaar), 10-160 (Raja).Bowling: Shafiul 9.2-3-15-0, Razzak 10-2-29-3, Shakib 8-0-38-1, Rubel 9-0-36-1, Shuvo 10-1-33-1.Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim,Mohammad Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Suhrawadi Shuvo.
Toss: Netherlands
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and and Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV umpire: Daryl Harper (AUS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
(AFP/Reuters)

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Pakistan must win to ensure quarters’ post

Updated at: 0955 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011

PALLEKELE: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is positive of wrapping up a World Cup quarter-final spot on Monday despite another twist in the ongoing Akmal brothers soap opera.Pakistan's build-up to the game against Zimbabwe has been dominated by Kamran and Umar Akmal.Ever since Kamran put in a blundering performance behind the stumps in the 110-run defeat to New Zealand last Tuesday, it had been widely-expected that younger brother Umar would take the gloves.Umar was then accused of feigning a finger injury to save his brother's job.On Sunday, the 21-year-old Umar managed to sprain his right ankle while playing football during practice although Afridi said the batsman was not seriously hurt."We want to put everything behind us, the defeat and any other thing which could hurt our preparation. We are in a positive frame of mind and will play for a win," said Afridi."Umar is OK. As far as Kamran is concerned he has realised his mistakes and we have given him full confidence and at this moment he is our best option," said Afridi, ruling out any make-shift changes.Pakistan also still have a problem with their openers whose inability to put on a healthy partnership is straining the middle-order.But despite the headaches, captain Afridi insists his team will not repeat the first round exits of the 2003 and 2007 World Cups."I have a lot of confidence in my players. We will win against Zimbabwe to reach the quarter-finals," said Afridi, whose team face defending champions Australia in their last group match on March 19.Pakistan, with six points after four matches, need a win to join co-hosts Sri Lanka into the last eight.Pakistan are likely to rest express paceman Shoaib Akhtar, who went for 71 in his nine overs against New Zealand, and if Umar is ruled out, bring in paceman Wahab Riaz and batsman Asad Shafiq.Zimbabwe still have a slim chance of making the last eight despite having so far collected just two points.But they need to beat Pakistan and Kenya, dramatically improve their run-rate and still hope Australia beat Pakistan."We'll believe that if we can play our best cricket then we can proceed but we must not repeat the mistakes of our last two matches," said Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura, who will celebrate his 25th birthday on match day.Chigumbura said his side will be wary of leg-spinner Afridi, who is the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 15."With Afridi we have to make sure we look to play him straight. We have noticed that he's had plenty of dismissals either bowled or lbw so we must make sure we don't look to go across the line too much," said Chigumbura.Pakistan have beaten Zimbabwe in three of their previous four World Cup matches, with the 2003 match abandoned due to rain.Pakistan v Zimbabwe head to head:
Head-to-head record for the World Cup Group A match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at the Pallekele stadium on Monday:
Matches: 40
Pakistan wins: 36
Zimbabwe wins: 2
No result/Tied: 2
First meeting: Feb 27, 1992, Hobart - Pakistan won by 53 runs Last meeting: Feb 2, 2008, Sheikhupura - Pakistan won by 7 wickets World Cup teams:Rival squads, officials and pitch conditions for the World Cup Group A match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at Pallekele stadium on Monday:Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Ahmed Shahzad.Coach: Waqar YounisZimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Terry Duffin, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Tinashe Panyangara, Raymond Price, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Vusimuzi Sibanda.Coach: Alan Butcher (ENG)Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) and Tony Hill (NZL)TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)Match start: 02:00 PMPitch condition: Teams will play on the third pitch of the stadium, which has no grass but has bounce. It will help spinners as the game progresses. (AFP)

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Netherlands elect to bat vs Bangladesh

Updated at: 0824 PST,  Monday, March 14, 2011
CHITTAGONG: Dutch captain Peter Borren won the toss and elected to bat against Bangladesh in their World Cup Group B match on Monday.A win for co-hosts Bangladesh, who have won two of their four matches so far, will boost their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.

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