New Zealand crush Ireland…[icc wt20,Sup8-match 1]

Nottingham,England…icc w t20 day 7…Super 8′s, match 1. In an expected way superb beginning to the super 8 stage witnessed miserable defeat of Ireland in the hands of the Kiwis. B.McCullum and new find Redmond started the proceedings for New Zealand with a stabilizing opening partnership of 51 runs.Redmond was brought in as a replacement and to fill the slot of Jesse Ryder.He fit his portfolio the best way he could and without wasting the given opportunity came with a fiery knock of a 30 ball 63 including 13 hits to the fence.He did the bulk of scoring for the first wicket.McCullum was the first to go when the board read 51,making just 10runs,masked at the other end by Redmond.Guptill and Styris made useful contributions of 45 and 42 runs respectively coming at a brisk pace aswell.Guptill made a fest hitting 4 sixes in his 32 ball 45 and Styris too hit 3 more in his 25 ball 42.Oram made a breezy 15 with 1 four and a six.Losing 5 wickets in the proceedings,the black caps made 198 which appeared too much for the Irish team,as they later proved the point.For Ireland McCallan and Cusack took 2 wickets each.New Zealand was still playing without their assigned cptain Vettori,who couldnt play even a single match since the start of the world cup,being rested for shoulder injury.McCullum has taken up as the stand in skipper.

In reply Ireland lost more than half of their team even before reaching the 3 digit mark when the score read 86 for 6 at a stage.Brilliant fielding by New Zealand saw 4 Irish batsmen getting run out or may be due to pressure too.Botha top scored for Ireland with a 17 ball 28.All the bowlers were up to the mark and were doing what the doctor have ordered for New Zealand.Mills was impressive with 2 for 12.But impressive figures with the ball were produced by N.McCullum taking 3 for 15 in his 5 overs.Ireland were bundled out for 115 runs within 16.4 overs enabling Kiwis to take a comfortable victory with a margin of 83 runs.So no surprises in the first super 8 match,New Zealand taking all the honours.The dejected Irish team should think different if they have to do something in their remaining 2 encounters with Pakistan and SriLanka,so as not to surrender cheaply donating points to the opposition.Whether Ireland can create sensation again as they did in their initial match and give a run for money to their stronger opponents is to be seen……..

Proteas better Kiwis by 1 run…[icc wt20 day 5]

We have often seen in cricket that a cloud of negligence and ease creeps over on the team chasing especially when the target is low. Low scores are often taken for granted. But it is always thes petty scores in cricket that have successfully upset the opponents and have produced unexpected results.Similar results came along in the way of the Black caps…New Zealanders when they underestimated a small total and ended up losing the battle with a sneak edge,a margin of just 1 run in the final ball of their match against South Africans on tuesday,the 9th of june 2009 at London.

Chasing a formidable score of 128, the kiwis fell short of one run to finish off clean in the league after doing all their homework in the first session. Earlier the mighty Africans were bundled out for 128 by a disciplined bowling and fielding performance by the Kiwis. The Proteas struggled all the way to reach that total.All plans worked out in favour of McCullum,the Kiwis captain.In the context of the game and seeing what happened in the end,it can be concluded that the first wicket partnership of 49 runs in 7 overs between Kallis(24 in 23 balls, 2 fours and a six) and skipper Smith(33 off 35, 4 fours) was worth a million.McCullum effected a beautiful run out to dismiss Kallis,who was looking in good nick.When the score was on 63,the Proteas lost 3 quick wickets of Smith,Gibbs and Merwe for 2 runs in a space of 13 deliveries.They never recovered from this collapse and things went tougher for them since their reliable players were back.Duminy and DeVilliers tried to get going adding some runs to the board slowly,not until the later was run out for 15 effected by Guptill.Duminy made some hitting work in the last over and aided Africa to reach 128. The Proteas lost 7 wickets in the proceedings. For S.Africa Duminy made 29 off 23 balls with a four and a couple of sixes.Smith top scored with 33.All the Kiwi bowlers bowled well but the pick of them was Butler with 2 for 13 in 4 overs.N.McCullum and Styris were consistent and picked a wicket each.Mills took 1 wicket too.

What seemed to be an easy chase looked difficult when New Zealand lost 2 wickets quickly in the form of Guptill and Broom who didnt trouble the scorers.B.McCullum and Taylor did the repair work. The scoring pattern was not different from what the Africans did.The match looked lifeless. Couldnt the Kiwis really play or whether they were playing casual and safe sensing a comfortable win even before it came was the question which arose seeing the proceedings.Whatever….things went too slow for the Black caps.McCullum made a drafted 57(54 balls,6 fours) and Taylor made 22(31 balls) in the partnership of 56 runs off 63 balls for the 3rd wicket which kept momento going in favour of Kiwis.Their smile was not to go any further.Merwe introduced into the attack removed both these set batsmen and turned the match in favour of Proteas.His match winnin effort in which he took 2 important wickets for just 14 runs in 4 overs fetched him the man of the match honours.The next part of the story would belong to those who held their nerves at crunch…no prices for guessing that the Proteas had stronger nerves which cot control of the nervous Kiwis….but the guess couldnt have been made until the last ball was bowled.Oram gave a stiff fight at the death scoring 24 off 18 deliveries for his team,but in vain.The Kiwis needed 15 runs off the last over with 6 wickets in hand.But in pressure situations it is not the number of wickets in hand that matters but it is how you handle it with cool….and thats what New Zealand couldnt do.4 runs required from the last ball…one hit to the fence would have done it for Kiwis…but thats the difference between hit and miss…. and it was miss which was written in the fate of black caps.Oram managed 2 and was run out trying for a third which was never there,denying the possibility of even a tie and…..then a super over…..but thats a distant story.Kiwis lost the match with an agonizing 1 run margin…..a moral to plan the chase or never to carry the chase till the last over in a t20 match.Both teams were anyhow in the super 8′s …not to worry much.But the team which held the nerves emerged better among the two……