crazycricketers

Bob Woolmer's death has taken a sudden twist with the WI Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of police in an interview told that there are traces of poision found in Autopsy and finger prints are collected from the room of woolmer.

Mean while pakistan will be playing the Zimbabwe in their last encounter of the world cup,Inzi made a statement that they will win the match and dedicate it to Bob...and Zimbabwe are really eager to win their first match of the series.

Coming to Bob's case police aleady have talked with the the entire team and taken a note of it, as well as with the media manager and the assistant coach, accoring to the report by police there are traces of poision and they are investigating the case in all nooks.

There are rumors that pakistan players are not allowed to travel after their final match, but the media manager Ali denied these things and said that they will be flying back as planned on saturday back pakistan, he also added that they were not even told that there are traces of poision as most of the reports suggesting.

An sudden and interesting twist to the case is a radio commentrator revealing that there are strangulations marks on woolmers body and according to him this is the news which he got from the internal sources, but he rejected to reveal the identity of the insider.Police have condemned the news and said that in a day or two we are expecting the autopsy reports by Mark Shields.

Sri Lanka played really like Big brothers against the Bangladesh and won the match easily.Sri Lanka scored 318 after being put in to bat, but even the second half, interrupted by rain as it was, gave Bangladesh little hope as they caved in to a 198-run loss.Habibul Bashar's decision to put Sri Lanka in was not the most straightforward one. Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya seemed dead set on putting a big score on the board from very early on, when the ball was doing a bit in the air and off the pitch.

Sri Lanka were off to a bright start, reaching 50 off 54 balls. There were a Rafique, coming into the attack first-change, dropped one a touch short and wide outside the off, and Tharanga could not keep the cut shot down. Aftab Ahmed juggled the catch but held onto it at point and Tharanga was gone for 26, with Sri Lanka on 98.Jayasuriya traipsed on merrily, interrupted first by the rain, and later by an injury, but never by the bowlers. When he turned quickly for a run, stopping awkwardly, Jayasuriya strained his left knee, and walked off the field on 83. . But he back after the fall of 5th wicket and scored 109.

Chamara Silva capped the Sri Lankan innings with a typically audacious knock, hitting an unbeaten 52 off 48 balls. He went after the bowling with total freedom, and his knock ensured a score of over 300 for Sri Lanka.Then, for a time, Bangladesh resisted, but Muttiah Muralitharan is the sort of bowler who you can't resist for too long. Saqibul Hasan had batted all of 20 balls for 4 runs, but he failed to pick a doosra and had his leg stump pegged back. Soon after there was more trouble as a mix-up in the running left Habibul Bashar well short of his crease. From there to oblivion it was a short, if not swift, road. Bangladesh were all out for 112, and Sri Lanka had swept to victory.

Player of the Match Sanath Jayasurya.

Player of the match GC Smith (South Africa)

South Africa chose to bowl first against Scotland but could'nt accomplished what theyreally want to do..demolish the minnows for a low score but that didnt happen,Scotland, though, didn't disgrace themselves. The spirited batting by the lower order saw 55 coming off the last five overs to bring up their highest total in World Cup games.


Yet they didn't have too many answers when Smith and AB de Villiers the start SA got while chasing the, added 134 in less than 16 overs and stamping their authority at Warner Park.Having missed out on a golden opportunity to cash in on the run-orgy against Netherlands, de Villiers made up with a fire-starting 62. Whipping off his pads and scurrying between the wickets, he provided Smith good company. There were two towering sixes against the left-arm spin of Glenn Rogers but he fell to another overambitious attempt, holing out to Dougie Brown at long-on. Earlier in the day, South Africa's seamers didn't exactly tear Scotland apart but winkled out wickets at regular intervals.

Scotland's openers, Duncan Watts and Majid Haq, approached the task sensibly, biding their time on a pitch with good bounce but offering little seam movement. Makhaya Ntini,who'd missed the opening game,played this one.South Africa's second-string seamers were more successful. Andrew Hall bowled briliantly.Scotland weren't willing to fold up, though after Scotland had struggled to 71 for 4, and guided the tail impressively.

New Zealand entered the next stage as they bet Kenya convincingly a 148-run victory in St Lucia. Ross Taylor struck an elegant 85 and Craig McMillan a brutal 48-ball 71, as the Kiwis compiled their highest World Cup total. Kenya's top order then fell in a heap and Ravi Shah's determined 71 only delayed the inevitable.Lou Vincent's poor start to World Cup continued with a fourth-ball duck it appeared New Zealand would be tested. but what will be more disappointing for the coach, Roger Harper, is the poor standard of fielding; at least four catches were shelled while Maurice Ouma was poor with the gloves.


Kenya's attack was toothless and second wicket came from an aberration by Fleming; Scott Styris quickly showed the confidence gained from his match-winning effort against England. Kenya again let themselves down, this time Jimmy Kamande dropping a simple chance at midwicket with Styris on 19.
The third-wicket stand with Taylor was coursing along, Taylor's half-century arriving off 80 balls, and Kenya quickly resembled a club side - not a true reflection of their ability. But Taylor, who'd bounced back after his opening duck against England, was then struck by the hamstring injury.

Kenya never had a real chance of making the runs, but their batsmen could have taken the opportunity to show their wares. Instead they were four down within 12 overs; Shah could have gone at any point in his first 20 runs - more than once to a run out - but he slowly became more fluent and unfurled some classy strokes,including a lofted drive for six off McMillan, as his half-century came off 63 balls. The margin of defeat did no favours to Kenya's net run-rate, which has now slipped below England's.



Player of the match RL Taylor (New Zealand)

Bob Woolmer's death has taken a sudden twist with the WI Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of police in an interview told that there are traces of poision found in Autopsy and finger prints are collected from the room of woolmer.

Mean while pakistan will be playing the Zimbabwe in their last encounter of the world cup,Inzi made a statement that they will win the match and dedicate it to Bob...and Zimbabwe are really eager to win their first match of the series.
Coming to Bob's case police aleady have talked with the the entire team and taken a note of it, as well as with the media manager and the assistant coach, accoring to the report by police there are traces of poision and they are investigating the case in all nooks.There are rumors that pakistan players are not allowed to travel after
their final match, but the media manager Ali denied these things and said that they will be flying back as planned on saturday back pakistan, he also added that they were not even told that there are traces of poision as most of the reports suggesting.

Andrew Flintoff has been sacked as England's vice-captain and will not now take over the leadership in the event of an injury to Michael Vaughan.Flintoff later apologised for his actions: "I know that what I did on Friday night was completely wrong and I have to take full responsibility for it," he said.

"To my team-mates and the England supporters that I let down, all I can say is that I am extremely sorry and assure everyone that I will be giving 110 per cent for England for the rest of this tournament." Flintoff was one of several members of the squad to be fined for a "breach of team discipline" in the aftermath of that match, although the other players alleged to have been involved were named against Canada.

Ravi Bopara, the young Essex allrounder, stepped into Flintoff's role for his second ODI, and first World Cup outing. "Andrew Flintoff has been given warnings about his conduct and disciplined for previous incidents of this nature," said England's coach, Duncan Fletcher. "In light of this and due to the serious nature of the
incident which he was involved in at the hotel on Friday night, we have decided to take further disciplinary action against him. "Andrew has been made fully aware of the team management's concerns and the fact that the ECB considers this type of behaviour to be totally unacceptable. He will remain with the World Cup squad and be available for selection for our next match against Kenya.

West Indies overcame a determined challenge from Zimbabwe to book their place in the Super Eights, and although the Zimbabweans are still in the competition, they are holding on by their fingernails. They need to beat Pakistan on Wednesday and then rely on having a better run-rate than Ireland.

The match never really got out of second gear, which was perhaps understandable given events in Kingston over the last 24 hours. The only time the large crowd really came to life was when Chris Gayle hammered three consecutive sixes off Tawanda Mupariwa, but the fireworks were short lived and the remainder of the proceedings were decidedly low key.

There was a very brief moment - when Marlon Samuels drove loosely to point and West Indies were 129 for 4 chasing 203 - that the spectators' lethargy turned to anxiety. But Brian Lara, aided by Dwayne Bravo, steadied the ship and then eased West Indies home. Zimbabwe had chances, twice Lara should have been run-out when a long way from home, and then late - probably too late to make any difference - Elton Chigumbura spilt a tough return catch. The final insult came when substitute Gary Brent
dropped Bravo at third man, the ball spilling out of his hands as he hit the ground.

That they eventually posted 202 for 5 was thanks to Brendan Taylor, who played a vital anchoring knock when the innings was coming apart at the seams, Sean Williams, who chanced his arm to good effect to finish with a career-best 70 not out, and Elton Chigumbura, whose boldness was rewarded even if he never really looked settled.

Full credit to Zimbabwe, who never gave up even after they slid to 59 for 4. Against Ireland their middle order and tail gave up the ghost. Here they battled. It wasn't pretty but it did a job. And when Taylor was run-out for the second match running - and last week that had been the turning point - Chigumbura took up the challenge.

Ramnaresh Sarwan drove a return catch to Ireland and Samuels holed out. But Lara is clearly determined to make his mark in this tournament, and he was not about to let the likes of Zimbabwe spoil his day out, even if it meant playing a very un-Laralike innings. It wasn't pretty, although he finished proceedings with a glorious six, but it was good enough.

Player of the match SC Williams

India played virtually perfect cricket against Bermuda at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. A display of creative and powerful batting, where four of the big six fired India to 413, a record total in World Cups and the bowlers then did their
job, bundling Bermuda out for 156, winning the game by 257 runs, the largest margin in terms of runs in all ODI cricket. David Hemp resisted with an unbeaten 76.

Virender Sehwag, pushed down to the middle-order he settled down, and began thumping the ball over the off side with the same lack of footwork that has been his undoing in recent times. But the straight strikes down the pitch, and one loft over extra-cover that landed in the second tier, suggested that it would be Sehwag's day. And it most certainly was. Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar played strokes of such purity and majesty that it was batting at its very best. The crowd were on their
feet for the duration of their association.

Yuvraj was quick to plant one knee down and scorch the ball over the ropes in the arc from square-leg to midwicket, hitting cleanly as anyone has in this tournament. Tendulkar lofted one delectable six over long-off, swept one startling six over fine-leg, and almost unnoticed got to 57. And it's not often that you score 57 off only 29 balls without using brute force.

Yuvraj certainly used excessive force, but not one of his 83 runs, which came off only 43 balls, with seven sixes, came off an ugly shot. Rahul Dravid, who pushed himself down the order, finished the innings of with a six, and India had 413 for 5,
something that would have gone some way in erasing the memory of the forgettable batting against Bangladesh.

Bermuda never had any realistic chance of chasing 414, yet India's aim was not a simple victory. Rather, they needed to win by at least 243 runs, the margin Sri Lanka beat Bermuda by. And they achieved that without too much difficulty. Dean Minors and David Hemp added 43 for the sixth wicket, the best stand of the innings, but Minors was dismissed mis-hitting a pull to mid-off. Lionel Cann was then smartly snapped up by Uthappa in a slightly controversial catch at short cover, where the ball was snatched up very close to the turf. From there on there was little to play for, and Bermuda only managed 156, handing India victory by 257 runs.

Highlights of the match:

Sehwag's 2nd Century in the last 3 years.
Victory by Highest Margin.
Highest score in World Cup.
Highesr score for India.
Equals Maximum number of Sixes in an innings.

Player of the match V Sehwag

A dark shadow over the World Cup on Sunday following the death of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, in hospital in Jamaica on Sunday, after he was found unconscious in his hotel room. He was 58.

Woolmer was known as an innovative coach and a scholar of the game. The Pakistan team, already liminated from the World Cup on Saturday, said it would play its final match, against Zimbabwe, on Wednesday as scheduled.
a couple of hours after it first became known that he had been taken ill. "Bob Woolmer has passed away."Bob's family and wife were informed by the management about his condition when he was brought to hospital", Mir said, adding that Woolmer's wife was on her way from South Africa.

Woolmer's death comes less than 24 hours after Pakistan were knocked out of the World Cup following their defeat by Ireland. After the match, Woolmer spoke of the pressures of coaching. "Doing it internationally, it takes a toll on you," he said. "The endless travelling and the non-stop living out of hotels.

"I am deeply hurt and cannot tell you how it is going to affect me," Woolmer told.And it was |Mir who announced the news to media,he added that Pakistan would still play their final World Cup group match on Wednesday. "The Pakistan team will continue its participation in the tournament. We are due to play Zimbabwe and we will play that match," according to Mir..he added that theentire team was in shok after the news that Bob was no more there...

Its sad that it happened to a fantastic player and coach like Bob, who played crucial role in moulding SA and after that he tried his hand on Pakistan for the last 3 years but the internal politics had'nt made thinga easier for him and he has to fought with the board to get things work in favour of Crciket in Pakistan and finally with the teams's performance in the World Cup has upset and most propably cardiac arrest was the reason for his demise."There was a lot of stress in his job and it may have been stress that caused the demise.

The bating given by Australia was not as brutal as South Africa's, but Australia motored along nicely and exploded during the final overs to bat. The Netherlands were set a target of 359. After being stranded in the nineties twice this year, Brad Hodge reached his maiden one-day hundred during what was a perfectly paced innings. Defending 359 was always going to be a cake walk and Australia's battery of fast bowlers was too hot for The Netherlands to handle and they were all out for 129.

The pitch was a belter and Ricky Ponting jumped at the chance of more batting practice. Adam Gilchrist provided the propulsion at the start, but once Australia lost him and Ponting with the score on 116, Michael Clarke and Hodge were impossible to contain during their partnership of 204.

Hodge who is a replacement for symonds proced again that he is a player worth to be in the team with a wonderful century.Hodge finished with 123 off 89 balls with seven sixes, one short of equalling Ponting's World Cup record. He had taken 61 deliveries to get to 50, but in his next 28 hammered 73.The Netherlands did themselves no favours by dropping both Gilchrist, on 34, and Ponting, who continued where he had left off against Scotland. Fortunately for them Gilchrist holed out on 57 and Ponting (23) was caught and bowled splendidly by Ryan ten Doeschate.


The Netherlands openers showed stomach for a fight when Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers managed 36 for the first wicket at nearly six an over. But when Nathan Bracken deceived Reekers with a slower ball and trapped Alexei Kervezee leg before two balls later, and then at 36 for 3 when Glenn McGrath was brought on at first change. Two balls later he nailed Luuk van Troost before making Daan van Bunge his 50th World Cup wicket and finally folded Netherlands for 129 in 26.5.


Player of the match BJ Hodge.

After the disciplinary problems after their first match England managed to keep their focus, dispatching Canada by 51 runs in St Lucia, to open their World Cup account. Ed Joyce and Paul Collingwood made 50 in themiddle order and helped England reach a good score.But while England have avoided adding their name to the list of upsets from Saturday, the performance didn't quell the major doubts surrounding the team.

After Liam Plunkett grabbed two in his first spell, Ashif Mulla provided the England attack with a wake-up call as he launched 58 off 60 balls in a fifth-wicket stand of 97 with Abdool Samad. The runs came with ease, but after falling to 65 for 4 in the 17th over the target was always out of reach, although the lower-order kept the entertainment going. It highlighted the importance of the breathing space created by the 81-run stand between Collingwood and Ravi Bopara plus the eight-ball 23 from Paul Nixon.

Collingwood was his usual self, biding his time before unleashing in the closing overs as Canada lost their disciplines. Samad was banned from the attack in his sixth over after bowling two waist-high full tosses, although England didn't have much trouble scoring off them with Collingwood's fifty taking 41 balls. The 65-ball stand put England into a comfort zone, then Nixon provided a thumping finish as he reverse-hit the death bowlers over the ropes. The final ten overs brought 98 runs. Bopara continued to impress in his first World Cup match with a delivery that nipped away to take Ian Billcliff's offstump.


Player of the match PD Collingwood

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan's shattered captain, has announced his retirement from one-day cricket. The match against Zimbabwe, Pakistan's last of this World Cup, following their shock defeat against Ireland on Saturday, will be his valedictory appearance in that form of the game.

The announcement was made on the same day that Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's coach, tragically collapsed and died at the team hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Inzamam, visibly distraught at the news, told reporters: "I am shocked and badly hurt. We have lost a good coach and a good person, he added that he is very close to the team and always helped members to come out of lean patches."

Afridi said that he is the best captain he has ever been with and said that he isa good team member and always helped us to come out of bad patches of form..he also added that returning back from the world cup in the first round also hurts h
im.
Inzamam's one-day career was legendary. He played 377 matches over a 15-year career, scoring 11702 runs at 39.53 including 10 hundreds and 83 fifties. He shot to fame as a 22-year-old in Pakistan's triumphant World Cup campaign in 1992, belting his side into the final with a blistering 60 from 37 balls in the semi-final against New Zealand at Auckland.

This is another upset for pakistani's after their first defeat to WI.Pakistan batted first and they were going well with 72-2 but the pack of cards they started to collapse and they ended up at 132 allout, could'nt even bat out the full quota of overs...for a first time cricket watcher it looks as if pakistan is playing the world cup first time and Ireland is the experienced side.

Pakistan fought back but the total they have put up is not enough for their bowlers.and finally Ireland won the match and this is their first Internation match win..that too in an world cup against Pakistan there was no stopping Ireland hopefully from entering the next round after drawing their first match...

Player of the match NJ O'Brien

A day of big upsets on this day for the sub continent gaints(atleast for our satisfaction I called them atleast from the perspective of revenue generation).The day started badly for India as they lost the most out of form batsman for an inside edge and it all started to collapse till there was decent enough partnership between Yuvi and Dada...but after the strong on paper and fragile middle order was exposed to the minnows and they made the most and never allowed India to make a come back.Finally India were allout for 191 leaving Bangladesh to score 192 from 50 overs.

Frankly speaking Bangladesh were in control right from the start of the match,Indian bowlers could not stop them from scoring runs briskly, and thanks to wonderful Fielding from Dhoni,Munaf who dropped catches all added to the woes and bangladesh made it look easy and won the match by 5 wickets.

Player of the match Mashrafe Mortaza

At last the world cup 2007 started and I am back in business...blogging....Every one eagerly started for the world cup to start and the match started between the hosts and indian arch rivals(pakistan),WI batted first but to the disappointment of the hosts Gayle was caught by kamran akmal when the score was 6 in second over, to the anguish of pakistan's the next ball a catch was dropped by the slip fielder, this proved to be costly as Sarwan went on to score 49 valuable runs.

Things turned the other way and west went on scoring steadily with a run rate of 3-4 runs per over.Later the pair of Lara and samuels scored briskly and in trying to increase the tempo further they lost 3 quick wickets, but Dwyane Bravo 30 runs from 15 balls helped the WI reach a fighting total of 241/9 in 50 overs.

It was a challenging total for pakistani batsman, to the deligh of the pakistan's first ball went for six but this is for a very brief period of time as they lost their first wicket in the first over, and two more to follow before the team score was 40, however Inzi and Yousuf tried to steady the ship, but they were never in control specially checking the required run rate.Finally Yousuf was out for 39 runs and in the next over

Inzi was trapped leg before by Smith.The hopes of pakistani victory were over with the fall of Inzi bhai..even Shoaib Malik's resistance could'nt bring the smile back on pakistani's.Finally pakistan were all out for 187 in the 42nd over of the match.

Score Card:

West Indies innings
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 241

Pakistan innings
Total (all out; 47.2 overs) 187


Man of the match: DR Smith (West Indies) fo his quick fire 30 runs and 3 crucial wickets.

Does captaincy excite ganguly any more...to him it is no more exciting as he has done for it for a longer period of time
and Ganguly downplayed his comeback,and said that he'd made a few changes with his technique. "I have changed my technique, bit with my stance, bit with my initial movement. I use a slightly lighter bat compared to my earlier days.

But he insisted that captaincy hadn't affected his batting but hinted that he might have given it up had he not been dropped. Certain phases as captain I've played outstandingly, certain phases I've not played well but that is more to do with a career over a longer period of time that it's with captaincy. But I have made useful contributions as captain. Obviously when you're not captain, things are different. I've always said captaincy is hard work.

Remark by Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, regarding Virender Sehwag's inclusion in India's World Cup squad. Vengsarkar in his interview to a news channel on Saturday as saying that the out-of-form Sehwag was selected only because of the insistence Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain .He admitted Sehwag did not feature in the initial scheme of things due to his prolonged run-drought but enjoyed backing from some quarters in the team. "It was a bit of gamble and hop it works in our favour ... but I think he has done extremely well in the past. Besides, he has won a lot of matches for India. We are hoping that he would do well in the World Cup."On Irfan he has no issues, it seems he said that the team needs the like of these two players and importantly all-rounders(Irfan) that help them bring back the glory of 1983.

Reacting sharply to this "It is not right to comment on team selection now," said Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the board. "I wish Vengsarkar had refrained from making such comments at a time when the team had already left for the event. The Code of Conduct applies to everybody, players and selectors.", it only creates unnecessary controversy before the Cup.

Shoaid Akthar and Asif are finally clean bowled by the in-swinging yorker

finally by PCB? may be the pair tested positive last year for Nandrolone

in internal dope tests conducted just before the Champions Trophy is this

is the main reason for them to be out of the pakistan world cup team?

It was announced that Asif is down with an elbow injury while Shoaib is

nursing a crocked knee.What ever may be the reasons minutes before the

pakistan teams departure to west indies this as come as a schok to

Pakistani fans and to the millions of fans around the world who love

these two bowlers firing in their yorkers, and making the ball to talk

with their swing.PCB has to think a lot before making this decision as

this has become the major issue for couple of days with Mathew Hayden and

Symonds aired their views over the duo's participation in WC despite

being caught in the dope tests.

This time ICC has decided to conduct dope test randomly during the world

cup. Doping has never been conducted in cricket but these days this has

been the regular practise by the organisers as more and more allegations

of drugs being used by the players.As questioned rightly by Hayden for

players to be more athletic this should'nt be the correct path for

players to choose.