Kamran likely to open against Aussies

Pakistan are mulling over the option of playing Kamran Akmal as an opener in their key World Cup clash against Australia here on Saturday. Pakistan’s strategy for the eagerly-awaited game against Australia will be to play attacking cricket and Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, believes that by promoting Kamran up the order he can strengthen Pakistan’s batting order.

Afridi told that Kamran is expected to replace Ahmed Shehzad as the opener for the match against Australia. The 19-year-old Ahmed has flopped in all five of his World Cup outings and has just scored 44 at an average of less than nine.

“Ahmed is a talented kid but he has not really learnt from his mistakes,” said Afridi. “We have been showing faith in his abilities but Ahmed has failed to give us a single good start and now we are thinking about going into the match against Australia with a new opening pair,” he said.

“The best option we have is to promote Kamran as an opener. He has scored a lot of runs playing at that position and has the sort of experience we will need against a top class bowling side like Australia at the start of our innings,” stressed Afridi.

Kamran played four of Pakistan’s initial World Cup games at the number three position but he was replaced by Asad Shafiq for that spot in Monday’s match against Zimbabwe at Pallekele. Asad, playing his first World Cup match, hit an unbeaten 78 to guide Pakistan to a seven-wicket win.

Afridi said that Asad will retain that position for the game against the Aussies while Umar Akmal will return to the line-up to replace Ahmed Shehzad. “Asad made full use of the opportunity that was given to him and that’s a sign of a good cricketer,” said Afridi. “We needed somebody to do well at the number three spot and are happy that Asad has shown a lot of promise.”

Afridi is hoping that Umar Akmalís return will bolster Pakistan’s batting. “Umar is fully fit and that’s good for us because he is one of our key players.”Umar missed the game against Zimbabwe because of an injured finger.

Ahmed Shehzad, meanwhile, faces a tough task in the bid to keep his place in the playing eleven. He really upset Afridi and the team officials by falling to Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price trying to slog only to get stumped.

Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the way Ahmed threw away his wicket. “It was a rash shot from Shehzad,” said Waqar. “It wasn’t really required at the time. But don’t forget he is a youngster, he is only 21 and brand new in this arena. It’s not easy sometimes. In the heat of the moment you play silly shots and that’s how you learn cricket.

He’s probably learnt a big lesson today that when the team needs you at the wicket, you should stay.” Pakistan took a day off on Tuesday and will return the nets on Wednesday (today) at the P Sara Oval.

Zimbabwe bowling was superb

Zimbabwe would have come to the ICC CWC 2011 with hopes of causing at least one upset but were left bitterly disappointed with an inept batting display throughout the tournament. However, Chigumbura took some positives out of a campaign, which could spell further disaster for Zimbabwean cricket. The Africans were handed a seven wicket (D/L) defeat by Pakistan on Monday but the skipper was happy with his bowlers and the fielding.

"We bowled and fielded superbly but the batting was poor. The bowlers were consistent right through. We of course have to work on batting in the first 15 overs against big teams," Chigumbura told reporters after the match on Monday.

The captain defended his decision of batting after winning the toss despite overcast conditions in Kandy, saying he had hoped to put some pressure on Pakistan by piling up a decent score.

"It was a good wicket to bat on and we had planned to set Pakistan a big score and put them under some sort of pressure," Chigumbura said.

Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher shared his captain's displeasure about the batsmen's listless approach for the fifth time in the ICC CWC but backed them to get better with time.

"The batsmen were unhappy about the way things are at the moment but they are trying to improve. Things are not going well for 80 per cent of our batsmen. We have to devise a way to improve. There is no magic formula to get better. On the whole, the bowlers did well and there was no lack of spirit," Butcher, seated beside Chigumbura, told the media.

Chigumbura himself has been under fire for his poor form in the tournament but he put a brave face, saying it was for the board to decide if he was good enough to continue as captain. "My performance hasn't been good since I took over as captain but I am working hard. It is now for the board to decide if they want me to continue as captain," Chigumbura said, almost with a sheepish grin. Zimbabwe are now slated to play Kenya at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 20 before flying back home.

Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis said on Tuesday that Pakistan team would look forward by putting the defeat aside and play positive cricket in the coming matches.Addressing a post-match press conference, Waqar Younis pointed to dropping of catches by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and some bad bowling,specially in last five overs where New Zealand struck 102 runs with an average of 20 runs. “We will do over best with some changes, obviously in the opening pair, who are not working since the first World Cup match. However, things will be good in the coming matches. Certainly changes will be made accordingly,” he added.

Replying to a volley of questions regarding dropping of catches, he said,”yes, with dropping of catches by Kamran Pakistan lost grip over the match and then bad bowling further dented the team.”He said that chasing 300-run traget was not that much difficult but today was actually the bad day and the team lost the match. “We will work on and sit together to discuss how to come back on the winning track,” he said. He also lauded Ross Taylor for his excellent batting , adding, “ I must appreciate Taylor for his excellent display, not blaming Kamran and the bowlers.”“We are not going to be panic, we have to play more tough matches like the one against Australia and we look forward to do the best,” Waqar said.

In his post-match talks Ross Taylor said that he was struggling in the first 60 to 70 balls he played but later on the remaining 25 to 30 balls helped him, making a vital century that enabled New Zealand to win the match.

Cricket-In-form Pakistan hold edge over patchy New Zealand

In-form Pakistan will have to guard against complacency and their tendency to implode when they take on New Zealand in a World Cup Group A match in Kandy on Tuesday. Possibly the most unpredictable outfit in international cricket, Pakistan have notched up successive victories against Kenya, Sri Lanka and Canada with skipper Shahid Afridi starring in all of them.

Their batting remains vulnerable but with Afridi on song and the pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul chipping in with the early breakthroughs, Pakistan look capable of defending even modest totals.

In contrast, New Zealand comprehensively beat Kenya and Zimbabwe but failed in the only true test of their form, going down to Australia by seven wickets. Despite former captain John Wright taking over the coaching reins, their top order comprising Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor looks patchy.

Their bowling does not really create panic among the elite teams either and that would make New Zealand's job doubly difficult against a Pakistan side which beat them in a home series before the World Cup.

Vettori: Pakistan Bowling Attack Can Defend any Score

New Zealand Cricket captain Daniel Vettori said that we have to give our hundred percent against Pakistan team dangerous bowling attack in the ICC World Cup match, which is to be played on tuesday, March, 08 2011.

Vettori said that its really very difficult to handle Pakistan bowling attack, as Pakistan have already defeated New Zealand in ODI Series. He further said that Pakistan Bowlers did great job to win matches against Canada and Sri Lanka.

New Zealand captain said that in order to win against Pakistan in this World Cup 2011 we have to play as one team and every player should contribute in it. However our opening batsman has given good performance against Zimbabwe.

In the end Vettori said that Pakistan bowling has a lot of varriety in shape of Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhter, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz.

Ireland beat England by 3 Wickets

Following the target of 328, Irish side lost the wicket of William Porterfield on the very first ball of innings. Opener Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling added 62 runs in the second wicket partnership. Joyce was lucky to get 3 chances, showing poor fielding the English fielders dropped easy catches.

The resistance of Ed Joyce finished on 32. Niall O’Brien was taken by Swann on 29. This time Kevin O’Brien came on the crease and started crashing English bowlers, he played powerful strokes all around the ground including boundaries and sixes along with Alex Cusack O’Brien scored the fastest hundred of World Cup on 50 balls. Cursack went left O’Brien after scoring 47 runs. Aggressive innings of O’Brien ended on 113. Trent Johnston and Mooney got their target in 49.1 overs.

Sri Lanka Cricket refutes 'baseless' fixing report, condemns channel

Sri Lanka Cricket has rubbished allegations of match-fixing that have cropped up against Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Smaraweera due to a TV report, condemning the channel for carrying a “baseless and demoralising” story.

While commentating on the World Cup match between the Lankans and Pakistan, which the hosts lost by 11 runs, the channel’s anchor had said that Jayawardene and Smaraweera could have deliberately “changed the game” by scoring just two and one run respectively during the game. The channel had also claimed that a local businessman had placed a $ 18,000 bet on the match.

“It is with deep regret that we note that a leading television channel in a special programme has stated that Sri Lanka has lost against Pakistan due to two of our leading players not getting runs in that game,” Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.

“Further they added that the two players had failed intentionally, thereby implying that our players might have been involved in match-fixing,” said SLC.

“SLC will take up the matter with the relevant authorities of this channel, based on the fact that this channel has brought great distress to two of our cricketers who have served the country with honour and dignity,” it added.

Sri Lanka were chasing 277 in the match and ended it 266-9. Jayawardene is already contemplating legal action against the channel. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan team manager Anura Tennekoon rejected suggestions that there might be an SLC or ICC inquiry against the players.

“Knowing both Mahela and Thilan, we feel there is no necessity to investigate the matter and, as far as the ICC has concerned, they have the right to investigate but so far they have not brought anything on this,” Tennekoon said. “But we will discuss the matter with our lawyer as well.”

World Cup Trophy made of EGG-SHELLS!

With cricket mania gripping the nation, S. Durga Shankar, an eggshell sculptor in Vishakhapatnam city of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state prepared a miniature of the World Cup trophy.

Shankar made the replica, which stands about six centimetres high, using four eggshells. The sculptor also put up the trophy for auction on the Internet for 10 million rupees ($221,115).

The original cricket World Cup trophy is made with about 11 kilograms of gold and its height is about 60 centimetres.

A billion dreams will rest on the Pakistani team's shoulders as they seek to become the second Pakistani team, after the 1992, to bag the trophy and title in one-day cricket championship.

The world cup is currently going on and is been jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.