Over in a jiffy

Published : Mar 17, 2011 00:00 IST

The entire match lasted merely 31.1 overs as Bangladesh folded up in 18.5 overs and West Indies took 12.2 overs to complete the chase.

The West Indies raced to a nine-wicket victory against Bangladesh after bowling out the co-host for 58, the lowest World Cup total by a Test playing nation, in front of a stunned home crowd in a Group B league match in Dhaka.

Chris Gayle knocked off 37 of those runs, hitting six fours, and took the West Indies home with Darren Bravo (9) at the other end. Devon Smith (6) was the only batsman to get out.

The entire match lasted merely 31.1 overs. Bangladesh folded up in 18.5 overs and West Indies took 12.2 overs to complete the chase.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach (three for 19), who took a hat-trick against the Netherlands in New Delhi, dismissed opener Tamim Iqbal in the first over and Bangladesh never recovered from there. West Indies captain and seamer Darren Sammy, who was looking to hit form, joined Roach to take three wickets. Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn bowled impressively, getting turn from the wicket to take four wickets.

The three wrapped up the Bangaldesh innings in just about an hour. Dismayed and shocked, the crowd grew restless with every dismissal. Soon it was throwing placards, with 4s and 6s written on them, on the ground once the last Bangladesh batsman walked back to the pavilion.

Bangladesh put up an impressive performance in its first match against India when it went down fighting by 87 runs, chasing a big total of 370. It then beat Ireland in a low-scoring, thrilling match.

The previous lowest World Cup total by a Test playing nation was of Pakistan, which was all out for 74 against England in the 1992 World Cup.

Electing to bat, catastrophe struck the home team as the batsmen made a beeline to the pavilion. After Tamim left, caught by Sammy at second slip, wickets tumbled in quick succession. Junaid Siddique was the top-scorer with 25, while Mohammad Ashraful (11) was the only other batsman to reach double figures.

“We never thought we would bat this poorly. We have been playing good cricket for the last 12 months, but I don't know what happened today,” said Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan. “The anger from the crowd is acceptable because of the way we have performed.”

New Zealand v Zimbabwe (Group A)

New Zealand registered an emphatic 10-wicket win over Zimbabwe in a Group A match in Ahmedabad.

Electing to bat, Zimbabwe was all out for 162 in 46.2 overs and it took Martin Guptill (86 not out) and Brendon McCullum (76 not out) only 33.3 overs to chase down the total.

Zimbabwe was off to a disastrous start, losing opener Charles Coventry in the second over when he was run out by Hamish Bennett. Tatenda Taibu, who came next, failed to take advantage of being dropped by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and fell off the next delivery, trapped leg before by Tim Southee.

Opener Brendan Taylor top-scored with 44 and added 40 for the sixth wicket with Greg Lamb. He, however, ran out of partners and departed in the 24th over, lbw to Scott Styris as Zimbabwe was reduced to 86 for six.

Prosper Utseya (36) and Graeme Cremer (22) added 33 runs for the eighth wicket and took the score past 100 before Kyle Mills had Cremer caught behind. Southee took the wickets of Ray Price and Utseya to wrap up the Zimbabwean innings.

Canada v Pakistan (Group A)

At one stage, it seemed that Canada would pull off the biggest upset of the 2011 World Cup but it only flattered to deceive as Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi's five-wicket haul saw his side post a 46-run victory in a low-scoring match in Colombo.

Canada raised hopes of creating an upset for the second consecutive day in the tournament when it was 104 for four in 33.3 overs while chasing Pakistan's modest 184 all out. But Afridi ran through the batting order as Canada lost six wickets for just 34 runs.

Afridi conceded only 23 runs for his five wickets as Canada was bowled out for 138 in 42.5 overs. Afridi was also adjudged the Man of the Match as Pakistan won its third consecutive match.

For Canada, Jimmy Hansra was the top-scorer with 43 off 75 balls that included four fours and a six. Zubin Surkari chipped in with 27 off 67 balls.

“It is a wake-up call for us,” said Afridi. “We gave a poor performance with the bat and need to improve,” he added.

Ashish Bagai, the Canadian captain, said his team was disappointed to lose after an impressive performance in the first-half of the match. “Afridi was just too good,” said Bagai.

Earlier, making good use of the overcast conditions, Chandigarh-born Harvir Baidwan bowled well to get rid of opener Ahmed Shehzad, Younus Khan and Saeed Ajmal and gave Canada a realistic chance of causing an upset.

Umar Akmal (48) and vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq (37) managed to spend some time at the crease, while Afridi chipped in with 20 off 17 balls.

South Africa v The Netherlands (Group B)

It was A. B. de Villiers all the way. True, Hashim Amla too crafted a century, his eighth in ODIs, but de Villiers, hitting his 11th, stood out for his domination. The Netherlands had come to Mohali with high hopes of putting up a fight but it crashed to a 231-run defeat against a confident South Africa.

The margin of defeat said it all as far as the Dutch were concerned. The pressure was on the Netherlands following the poor show in the preceding match against the West Indies in Delhi. South Africa remembered to stick to the basics but the Netherlands proved it had a long way to go when playing in the big league.

“It's disappointing that we couldn't bowl full and straight in the end. We could have bowled in the slot and length deliveries at the end of the innings. I think against England we batted really well, but it's pretty disappointing here (in Mohali). We bowled pretty well in the first 15 overs. We bowled well till 38-40 overs. But we just didn't take wickets. If you don't take wickets against teams like this, it is going to hurt you.”

The South Africans prospered on the basis of the big partnership that Amla and de Villiers came up with after the cheap dismissals of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. It was the deciding factor in the contest and paved the way for South Africa's thumping win — the 221-run stand for the third wicket was South Africa's highest for that wicket.

Borren was tempted to field first because of the conditions. “There was rain last night and the conditions in the morning suited to bowl first.” Even though the Netherlands got Smith and Kallis early the bowling just could not capitalise.

Smith summed it up well. “We knew that the pitch would seam around because of the cool weather. The plan was to settle down and set a platform for a big score. Thanks to Hashim and AB we managed to do that. It was a good win for us today.”

Smith was pleased with the effort. “Keeping the nature of the pitch in mind, we went for an extra batsman (Morne van Wyk in place of Johan Botha). It was a tactical decision and something that will change from match to match.” This flexibility factor is South Africa's mantra to go the distance in this tournament.

Even though de Villiers did not keep the wickets due to a back strain, there were no fitness concerns for South Africa. Reflecting on his performance, Man of the Match de Villiers said, “I timed the ball really well. It was good to express my freedom as well. I just focussed on the basics.”

— Vijay LokapallyKenya v Sri Lanka (Group A)

Lasith Malinga recorded his second World Cup hat-trick and a career-best 6-38 to spark Sri Lanka's crushing nine-wicket win over Kenya in Colombo.

The 27-year sling-action bowler, who missed Sri Lanka's opening two matches due to a back strain, trapped Tanmay Mishra lbw with the last ball of his seventh over. At the start of his next, he bowled Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche off successive balls to complete his hat-trick. He finished the innings at 142 in 43.4 overs, by bowling Elijah Otieno to complete a four-wicket burst off six balls.

Sri Lanka polished off the runs in just 18.4 overs with Tillekaratne Dilshan (44) and Upul Tharanga (67 not out) giving the co-host a flying start with a first-wicket stand of 72 by the ninth over.

After Dilshan's 30-ball knock, which was spiced with eight boundaries, skipper Kumar Sangakkara (27 not out) and Tharanga polished off the runs with more than 31 overs to spare, completing another miserable day for Kenya.

Tharanga hit 12 boundaries during his rampaging 59-ball knock, his fifth World Cup half-century.

It was all Malinga in the afternoon after Kenya, which chose to bat, was on track for a near-200 total but lost its last eight wickets for a mere 40 runs. The destroyer-in-chief Malinga's previous best of 5-34 was recorded against Pakistan in Dambulla last year. His hat-trick is the seventh in all World Cup matches and came just a day after West Indian Kemar Roach took three-in-three against the Netherlands in New Delhi.

The curly-haired Malinga is the only man to have two hat-tricks in World Cup history, his first coming against South Africa in Guyana in 2007.

Kenya started disastrously with Nuwan Kulasekara dismissing opener Morris Ouma in the second over before Malinga had Seren Waters lbw in the next. Brothers Collins Obuya and David Obuya steadied the innings during their 94-run partnership which came off 178 balls before Malinga broke the association, by bowling Collins Obuya. With Malinga firing on all cylinders, four of the last seven batsmen failed to score.

West Indies v The Netherlands (Group B)

“Proud of myself,” said Kemar Roach. The hat-trick boy was the star of the match, a lop-sided encounter against the Netherlands at the Ferozeshah Kotla as West Indies won by 215 runs.

Pieter Seelar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdijk fell in succession to give the soft-spoken Roach a rare honour. It was the first hat-trick of the 2011 World Cup and the sixth in the history of the tournament.

The Netherlands was never in the race once West Indies set a target of 331. The match was expected to produce some exciting stuff following the performance by the Netherlands against England in the preceding fixture. But the Dutch crashed against a resurgent West Indies which did nothing wrong.

Roach was the pick. “I am a fast bowler and one of my goals is to bowl fast,” he said after the match. “It is tough coming here as a bowler to the sub-continent, you have to be very accurate and consistent, once you get that right, you get wickets. I will take this confidence forward,” said the fast bowler who gave lot of credit to Dwayne Bravo. “He is my big brother. He said go hard and enjoy it and be confident in whatever you do.”

Roach finished with six wickets. That was good news for the West Indies. On the batting front, the team management was delighted to see Chris Gayle find his touch. His value to the team is priceless because he sets the tone at the top.

In this match, Gayle used the platform to find his rhythm and some excellent batting by Kieron Pollard and Devon Smith served the team well on a pitch that played true.

The Dutch were a let down. It reflected in the assessment by skipper Peter Borren when he said, “If we are going to bat and bowl and field as poorly as we did today, it actually makes no difference if we bat or field first.”

It must have embarrassed Borren to have succumbed so meekly even as the debate regarding associate members playing the World Cup gained momentum.

Borren was convinced the team had more potential. “To be honest, it was a disappointing performance. We should have applied ourselves. We thought the pitch would get better but it did not. We did not put up a good enough performance. We have the potential, we have shown it in the past. We have to forget about what happened tonight.”

The Dutch obviously have not been consistent in the past and that was one aspect that Borren wanted the team to improve upon. As for the match, there was little to remember except the hat-trick by Roach.

— Vijay LokapallyZimbabwe v Canada (Group A)

Tatenda Taibu missed a maiden World Cup century while Raymond Price grabbed three early wickets as Zimbabwe crushed hapless Canada by 175 runs for its first win in a Group A league match in Nagpur.

Zimabwe was indebted to former captain Taibu (98) and Craig Ervine (85) for posting 298-9 before dismissing Canada for a paltry 123. Left-arm spinner Price finished with 3-16 off eight tight overs.

The African nation, which lost to Australia in its opening eccounter, virtually reduced the match to a no-contest when Price, sharing the new ball for a second successive game, took three wickets in his opening three overs.

The spinner bowled John Davison, the oldest player in the tournament at 40, before accounting for 16-year-old Nitish Kumar, the youngest player to feature in a World Cup, and skipper Ashish Bagai as Canada teetered at 7-3.

Nitish, who needed permission from his school to take a month off for the event, contributed just one before offering a return catch.

Leg-spinner Graeme Cremer (3-31), and off-spinners Prosper Utseya (2-24) and Greg Lamb (2-29) then built on Price's superb effort as Canada continued to struggle against spin to suffer its second successive defeat.

Taibu and Ervine earlier dominated the Canadian attack with impressive strokeplay to add 181 for the third wicket after the team had lost both the openers for seven runs. Zimbabwe made a shaky start after electing to bat as Khurram Chohan trapped Brendan Taylor lbw off the first delivery of the match and Harvir Baidwan dismissed Charles Coventry for four.

But Canada had to wait for nearly 28 overs for its next success as Taibu and Ervine applied themselves. India-born leg-spinner Balaji Rao broke the partnership when he had Ervine caught behind, but not before the batsman had smashed two sixes and six fours in an 81-ball knock for his second half-century in one-day internationals. Balaji Rao finished with a career-best 4-57 off 10 overs.

Taibu looked set to complete his third one-day hundred before slog-sweeping Balaji Rao to Davison at deep mid-wicket after hitting nine fours in his 99-ball knock.

“I wasn't really thinking about getting to 100. I was really thinking about the position of the team,” said Taibu.

When asked about the team's score, he said: “We're quite happy. That was our target in the morning, to get around 290/300 and anything past that was a bonus.”

Sean Williams (30), Cremer (26) and Utseya (22) also made useful contributions to help the side set a stiff target.

Sri Lanka v Australia (Group A)

The much awaited showdown between defending champion Australia and Sri Lanka at Colombo's R. Premasada Stadium was abandoned due to rain.

Play was officially called off with Sri Lanka at 146-3 in the 33rd over after captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and opted to bat.

Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera were batting on 73 and 34 respectively when rain intervened.

The two sides received one point each for the no-result.

THE SCORES

March 5: Sri Lanka vs. Australia (Group A), Colombo.

Result: Match abandoned due to rain.

Sri Lanka 146 for three in 32.5 overs (K. Sangakkara 73 not out, T. Samaraweera 34 not out).

March 4: Bangladesh vs. West Indies (Group B), Mirpur.

Result: West Indies won by nine wickets.

Bangladesh 58 in 18.5 overs (Junaid Siddique 25, Kemar Roach 3-19, Sulieman Benn 4-18, Darren Sammy 3-21) lost to West Indies 59 for one in 12.2 overs (Chris Gayle 37 not out).

March 4: Zimbabwe vs. New Zealand (Group B), Ahmedabad.

Result: New Zealand won by 10 wickets.

Zimbabwe 162 in 46.2 overs (Brendan Taylor 44, Prosper Utseya 36, Tim Southee 3-29) lost to New Zealand 166 for no loss in 33.3 overs (Martin Guptil 86 not out, Brendon McCullum 76 not out).

March 3: Pakistan vs. Canada (Group A), Colombo.

Result: Pakistan won by 46 runs.

Pakistan 184 in 43 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 37, Umar Akmal 48, Harvir Baidwan 3-35) beat Canada 138 in 42.5 overs (Zubin Surkari 27, Jimmy Hansra 43, Shahid Afridi 5-23).

March 3: South Africa vs. The Netherlands (Group B), Mohali.

Result: South Africa won by 231 runs.

South Africa 351 for five in 50 overs (Hashim Amla 113, A. B. de Villiers 134, J. P. Duminy 40, Ryan ten Doeschate 3-72) beat The Netherlands 120 in 34.5 overs (Wesley Barresi 44, Imran Tahir 3-19).

March 1: Sri Lanka vs. Kenya (Group A), Colombo.

Result: Sri Lanka won by nine wickets.

Kenya 142 in 43.4 overs (C. Obuya 52, D. Obuya 51, Malinga 6-38) lost to Sri Lanka 146 for one in 18.4 overs (U. Tharanga 67 not out, T. Dilshan 44, K. Sangakkara 27 not out).

February 28: West Indies vs. The Netherlands (Group B), New Delhi.

Result: West Indies won by 215 runs.

West Indies 330 for eight in 50 overs (Devon Smith 53, Chris Gayle 80, Darren Bravo 30, Ramnaresh Sarwan 49, Kieron Pollard 60, Pieter Seelaar 3-45) beat The Netherlands 115 in 31.3 overs (Tom Cooper 55 not out, Sulieman Benn 3-28, Kemar Roach 6-27).

February 28: Canada vs. Zimbabwe (Group B), Nagpur.

Result: Zimbabwe won by 175 runs.

Zimbabwe 298 for nine in 50 overs (T. Taibu 98, C. Ervine 85, S. Williams 30, G. Cremer 26, B. Rao 4-57) beat Canada 123 in 42.1 overs (Z. Surkari 26, Price 3-16, Cremer 3-31).

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