A tie in the end ! ! !

The Epic battle of India and England at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore ended in last ball thriller tie. The match could have gone either way with both the teams remaining one shot away from victory till the end of the last over.
India batting first after winning the toss, started tentatively with Sehwag giving 3 half chances for a dismissal in the first over itself. He was lucky to survive and partnered with the awesome, solid Tendulkar on the other end. After Sehwag's dismissal, Tendulkar continued on to nudge and take singles with Gambhir being the aggressive of the two.

Everything took a super twist when Sachin changed his bat and went for a heavier one. He started to blast sixes with ease and looked to be in golden touch. He hit Swann over mid wicket twice to clear the boundary easily and hit a few straight shots which were superb. Sachin scored 120 runs off 115 balls and hit 5 sixes. After his assault, Dhoni and Yuvraj continued their carnage on the England bowlers with Yuvi scoring a half century. India though messed up in the end by losing 5 wickets in the last 2 overs and finally folded out on 338 all out. Tim Bresnan took 5 wickets in the end to restrict India to a chasable score,

Chasing a huge total, England got a rocking start with Strauss and KP taking the fight to the opposition. Strauss looked amazing with his cut and pull shots coming in nicely. KP was undone by a super catch by Munaf Patel on his own bowling,

Strauss got a life when he was on 22 when Indians dint appeal for a caught behind dismissal as the England Captain had Nicked the ball sailing safely into MSD's hands. Strauss then got together with Bell on a huge 170 runs partnership to take England to a commanding position to win the match. Bell who scored 61runs was given not out in a controversial LBW decision which was referred. Super Strauss made a well paced, sensible 158 runs before being dismissed by a great yorker by Zaheer Khan. England at that stage were cruising for a easy win with 48 runs needed off last 8 overs.

The match which had more twists and turns than a roller coaster ride, turned again as Zaheer Khan bowling the 43rd over which was probably the most crucial moment which affected the match result. He took 2 wickets in 2 balls sending both the set batsmen, Bell and Strauss back to the pavilion. He took another wicket in the same over and ended with figures of 3 for 63.

Then Indians put more pressure on the England and with 2 overs to go as they looked to run away with a win as England needed 24 runs. Piyush Chawla bowling 49th over was hit for 2 sixes and this changed the match again. Needing 11 off the last over, a six from Shehzad did India in and in the end, the last ball resulted in a single to end the mach in a tie and both the teams getting a well deserved point each.


India 338 in 49.5 overs
England 338 in 50 overs
Result : Match tied

Super Sunday !!!

The clash of the two big teams and the two favorites is already building up so much hype, its definitely going to be a biggy. England had a close encounter in their first match against Ireland while India have had a great start with their batsmen joining the party first up. 

Stastically speaking, there is not much between the two teams when it comes to world cups but India have had a upper hand over England for a while but they have not faced the rejuvenated England side.

On paper India have a better side with a very  deep batting line up and their major concern will be the bowling. Yuvraj averages over 70 against England and has always been brilliant against them. This might be the best stage for him to regain some form. Sreesanth and Harbhajan on bowling have also done better against England. 
For England KP has been brilliant in the sub continent averaging over 55 batting in India. The bowlers on the other hand have had very less success on flat wickets and hopefully they pull up their act together after a mess in their first match
Anyhow, its going to be one of the super clashes and sparks can be expected between Yuvi and KP.!!!

VS	INDIA	ENGLAND
In world cups	3	3
Against each other (70)	38	30

Last time the two met in the world cup India beat England by 82 runs in 2003.

Watch the match online in high quality at  http://www.espnstar.com/cwclive/

Pakistan continue their wc success against Lanka

In a cracker of a match, Pakistan won by 11 runs in the final over of the match. Afridi again produced his magic again and took 4 wickets.Umar Gul bowled the last over
Batting first on batting friendly but a tricky wicket, Pakistan got off to a great start with Hafeez looking in great touch. joined by Akmal, the partnership grew in confidence and they were scoring with a free flow when a terrible mistake in running cost the wicket of Hafeez. Soon Akmal also got out for 39 runs. Taking the battle from there, Younus Khan (72 runs off 108 balls) and Misbah (83 off 118balls) ensured the team total was a decent 277.
With highest chase record at the stadium standing at 271 runs, Sri Lanka got a good start but Tharanga never looked good. Dilshan though looked dangerous with some powerful shots but was undone by the captain Afridi.
Sangakarra missed his half century by 1 run but it was Silva who scored a 50 and Kulasekara who looked to take the game away. Kulasekara hit 24 runs off 14 balls which had a six and a couple of fours. In the end Umar Gul held his nerve in the last over and Pak won
Pakistan continue their wc success against Lanka to 7 wins to nil.
Shahid Afridi joined the 300 wickets club.

Pakistan 277 for 7 (Misbah 83*, Younis 72) beat Sri Lanka 266 for 9 (Silva 57, Afridi 4-34) by 11 runs

Bangladesh win at home

Bangla bowlers held their nerves to provide a decent 27 runs for their side.Batting first Bangladesh put up a decent score of 205 runs in a very slow pitch. Young Tamim Iqbal was the highest scorer with 44 runs. Ireland were very disciplined in their bowling and fielding.
Chasing this target, Ireland though losing early wickets were cruising along with Brian brothers scoring 37 and 38 runs respectively. But a couple wickets for Bangladesh at crucial time when Shafiul Islam took 2 wickets in a single over dismissing two set batsmen. Islam in the end took 4 wickets. Majority of wickets that fell on the day went to the spinners.

Bangladesh 205 (Tamim 44, Botha 3-32, Johnston 3-40)
beat Ireland 178 (Shafiul 4-21) by 27 runs

Australia win easy with all-round performance...

Fast Bowlers of Australian team won it for the team in the first 17 overs itself as New-Zealanders tumbled to a 73 for 6 . It was a show of fast bowling, with B Lee kept a tight line at one end with variations from Mitchell Johnson and pace of S Tait at the other end breathing fire. Johnson took 4 for 33 in 9.1 overs while Tait took 3 wickets and Lee 1 wicket. The New Zealand lower middle order showed some resistance in the end with Nathan McCullum scoring a half century and Captain Vettori scoring 44 to take them to a below par score of 206 runs
Chasing this total, Watson and Haddin, both scoring watchful half centuries sealed a safe win. They put on a 133 runs stand for the first wicket and got out trying some extravagant shots. Australia in the end reached the target in 34 overs losing only 3 wickets and thus sealing a 7 wicket win.

New Zealand 206 (Nathan 52, Johnson 4-33, Tait 3-35)

Australia 207 for 3 in 34 overs(Watson 62, Haddin 55) beat NZ by 7 wickets

AB and Tahir star in South Africa's win

South Africa had an easy outing against a struggling West Indies, beating by 7 wickets. South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first on a bowling friendly track.
West Indies who were bowled out for 222 runs, couldn't even complete there quota of 50 overs as they folded out in 47.3 overs. Darren Bravo batted sensibly for his 73 while Dwayne Bravo made a quick fire 43 which included 3 6's. For South Africa, Tahir was the most successful bowler claiming 4 wickets. West Indies batting order was shuffled without a clue around Chenderpaul, who was struggling all the way after Darren Bravo got out.
Chasing a moderate target on a good track, SA were 20 for 2 at one stage losing Kallis and Amla cheaply.
Ab de Villiers and Smith then steadied the ship with a 119 runs partnership, scoring at a good pace. Smith got out making 45 runs. AB batted brilliantly, showing why he is a class act, scored 107 runs off 105 deliveries which included some magnificent square and cover drives. AB along with Duminy guided SA home with ease in the end.

South Africa 223 for 3 (de Villiers 107*, Smith 45, Pollard 1-37) beat West Indies 222 all out (Bravo 73, Tahir 4-41, Botha 2-48) by 7 wickets

Pakistan Beat Kenya Comprehensively

Pakistan today beat Kenya by a huge margin of 205 runs to start their wc campaign in style.
Choosing to bat first, Pak made 317 in 50 overs supported by half centuries by the Akmal brothers, Misbah and Younis Khan. For Kenya Odoyo took 3 wickets.
Chasing a huge target, no Kenyan batsman could manage to stick long except a cameo from Obuya who made an entertaining 47 runs which included 3 fours and sixes.
For Pakistan, captain Afridi ripped through the batting line up of Kenya with a 5 for 16.


Pakistan 317 for 7 (Umar 71, Misbah 65, Kamran 55, Odoyo 3-41) beat Kenya 112 (Obuya 47, Afridi 5-16, Gul 2-12) by 205 runs

England Almost Mess It Up !!!

England finnally won a thriller in their first match against zimbabwe after making a mess of themselves.Zimbabwe looked better than England on all aspects of the game though.
Strauss and KP who opened, provided a solid start by adding 105 runs for the first wicket .KP never looked good at crease but still kept on playing at snails pace.Strauss on the other hand was classic and aggressive and was more attacking.Strauss finally got out making 88runs off 83 balls.Trott made a quick 62 from 65 which eased the required run rate before Bopara and Collingwood taking them home safely finally.

Image:http://www.dailymail.co.uk

For Zimbabwe who batted first winning the toss, Barresi provided a quick start with his 29 runs off 25 balls which had six fours. Then it was a Ryan ten Doeschate show who provided a solid innings scoring a hundred which was the main attraction . He scored 119 runs off 110 balls and hit 9 fours and 3 sixes.
For England, Swann continued his prime form with 2 wickets and S.Broad claiming 2. The biggest talk was not their bowling but their stupidity on the field. They were wayward in their bowling which might have been tolerable but in powerplay3 which was the batting powerplay taken by Zimbabwe from 46 overs.

The English players were confused to the core. The bowlers dint know where to bowl and the fielders dint know whether they were standing outside the circle or inside. Captain Strauss, it seems had no idea how many players were inside the circle.At one point when Zimbabwe's batsman Borren was caught out off Broad's bowling . The decision was reversed after the umpires realized that Collingwood was outside the circle. Probably the English captain should learn how to count for the next match.
This was not expected from a professional side like England which is the home of cricket !!!

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Australia win by 91 runs

Shane Watson and Johnson starred in Australia's emphatic win against Zimbabwe. Australia batting first scored 262 for 6 backed by a powerful performances of Watson who scored 92 and Clarke who made a valuable 58 runs. Zimbabwe's bowling was decent.
Chasing a good total, Zimbabwe never looked good and were bundled out for 171 in 46.2 overs. M Johnson took 4 wickets for Australia.

Upcoming Match

Australia vs Zimbabwe

The match will start at 14:30 IST at Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Australians may have been in slump but when it comes to world cups, they definitely do well. They will be looking to win this match with a huge margin so that they can sit pretty with some good net run rate on their points table.
If you have are playing fantasy league, you should definitely have Lee, Krejza, Ponting, Watson ,Dougy and Hussey on your team. These are definitely the players who are going to do well in this match.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka start with big wins!!!

New Zealand announce their entry into the world cup with an emphatic win against a hapless Kenyan side......Kenya were bowled out for 69 runs with Benett taking 4wickets and Southee and Oram taking 3 each.....New Zealand chased the lowest score in wc in 8 overs and just 37 minutes and won by a huge margin of 10wickets...
Kenya 69
New Zealand 72/0 (8 overs)
New Zealand won by 10 wickets

The hosts and one of the favorites justified their hype by winning their first match ruthlessly against Canada....Jayawardene again brought his class act into play with a fine hundred...The other senior in the side and captain Sanga missed a hundred by 8 runs.....Dilshan chipped with a half century.Candians bundled out for 122 while the Lankan bowlers Perera and Kulasekara bagging 3 wickets apiece and Murali continued his fine stats in wc with a couple of wickets.
Sri Lanka 332/7
Canada 122 (36.5 overs)
Sri Lanka won by 210 runs

Upcoming Matches

Kenya v New Zealand

New Zealand have a lot to prove in this match to announce themselves as a serious contenders. The performance of the team heavily depends on heavyweights Ryder and Taylor. The big change will be the captains return. Vettori will be very much the propellant they need to boost their ride. This match will be more like their 3rd warm up game against a very weak opponent.

Sri Lanka v Canada 

The Lankan tigers have been one of the favorites to win the tournament this time and they have been upto the mark in the warm-up matches. The match which is a day and night game will only help the Lankans to test their strength . Dilshan is just an innings away from his form and if the ever so dependable Jayawardene and Sangakkara get going , the Canadians will have a horrid team. The teams will be looking to get good wins by substantial margins as they can boost their run rates and get on the safer side in the beginning itself.

India rides on Sehwag Exploits

India got a great start today against their first match against Bangladesh making 370/4 in 50 overs....
V Sehwag scored 175runs off 140 balls which included 14 fours and 5 sixes
and Kohli scored a 100 not out off 83 balls
Batting second, with ball coming on nicely onto the bat and dew making it difficult to grip the ball. Indian bowlers were wayward especially sreesanth who went for over 10 an over in his 5 overs. Munaf took 5 wickets and was the pick of the bowlers and Zaheer and Harbhajan looked good.

The highlight of the innings would definitely be the swashbuckling knock of 175 runs from Sehwag who had Gambhir as the runner as he cramped up.Kohli was very solid and Bangla on the other hand gave quite a fight with their free flowing shots. As expected Shakib and Iqbal were the pick of their players.

Revenge is definitely on the card !!!

Virender Sehwag said in an interview "we know...we lost against them and we have been waiting for this, to meet them in this wc"

Dhoni declared Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan as fit for the first match.

However the Bangladeshi coach has told the reporters that he would like to see his
team beat one big team.He told "we have done it in the past and we must beat one big team this time"

Whatever the events may unfold into but Indians, it looks like are waiting for revenge in every aspect.

India versus Bangladesh

The World Cup campaign will start with the two hosts India and Bangladesh facing each other in the first
match in Mirpur, Bangladesh. Bangladesh have a very formidable record at Mirpur where they have won
majority of matches, also they will be pretty confident as they were the team that knocked out India in 2007
world cup. India on the other hand are looking the run away favorites with an impressive run last year and
fresh wins in the warm up matches.
Last 12 d/n games in Mirpur have been won by the team that has batted second!. So toss might become a
factor.
Ground conditions : There will be spin and dew may be for 10-15 overs.

V/S	India	Bangladesh
Last 5 odi's	L L W W L	W W W L W
Against each other (22)	20	2

Last time the two met in the world cup India were comprehensively beaten by Bangladesh in 2007.

World cup 2011 gets a colorful start

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina declared the tournament open in Bangbandhu stadium in Dhaka. The over 2 hours ceremony saw performances from Indian singer Sonu Nigam and Bangladesh based Runa Laila. Captains of all team were paraded in colorful Rickshaws.

 The ceremony then embraced the performance by Canadian singer Bryan Adams who sung "summer of '69", "18 Till I Die" and "Night to Remember" followed by wc theme song 'De Ghuma Ke' by Indian trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. The ceremony ended with wonderful fireworks all over the ground.

The 10th edition of the ICC Cricket will start with a match where India will  face Bangladesh on 19th.

Stats that matter

Impact index of some of the odi players of India who feature in the current wc squad

   Plater                II             career II
SR Tendulkar     2.16              3.42

V Sehwag          1.86              2.86

MS Dhoni          1.65              3.56

G Gambhir         1.63       

Y Singh              1.55              2.77

Z Khan               1.70              2.49

H Singh               1.88              2.80

A Nehra              1.59

Indian storm blows off New Zealand !!!

team win their second warm up game against the kiwis here in Chennai...Indians batting first posted 360 runs with Gambhir and Kohli steadying the ship before a Dhoni storm of 108 runs from 64 balls. Dhoni and Raina formed a strong and a quick partnership of a 124 from 56 balls which helped india to post a very strong total.

New Zealand chasing a total with over 7 runs required per over looked good at the beginning with McCullum senior and Guptil starting with a partnership of 94 runs. But the middle order was blown away by Indian spinners who shared 7 wickets among them. The black caps finally folded out for 243 runs in 43.1 overs.

 

Impact Index of Bowlers

Player     Top/Middle  Lower     Econ     Bowling
              Order           Order      Rate       II   
               wkts II        Wkts II     II
1.Joel
Garner       1.65         0.10        0.55        2.35

2.S.Bond   1.88         0.15        0.18        2.26

3.Glen
McGrath    1.60         0.13        0.39        2.17

4.Murali     1.57         0.11        0.35        2.13

5.B.Lee      1.89         0.11        0.08        2.13

17.H.Singh 1.42      0.07         0.31         1.89

Bowling II - Total wickets taken and runs saved, in each match context.
Of all these players Lee and Bhajji and Murali are the players who have
fared really well
in the world cups and still playing. Murali's average in wc's is
19.69 and his econ rate is 3.83per over. Lee has taken 22 wickets at a staggering average of 17.9!!!

Stats of teams performance in the tournament

Spinners do the job for India

The Indian team won their first warm up game against Australia by 38 runs in Bengaluru. India batting first were bundled out for 214 runs with Sehwag scoring 54 and Pathan 32 runs, Lee took 3 wickets. Australia started chasing well losing only Watson for 20 odd overs but then the spinners came into act and they took 9 wickets among them to dismiss Australia for 176 runs. Piyush Chawla was brilliant taking 4 wickets and the Turbunator took 3. For Australia Ponting stayed for a  long time at crease for his 57 getting his much needed match practice.

Know Your Team - India

And coming to the last team and run away favorites, the Indian squad is the team to die for in sub continent conditions. They look quite the best on paper with a young squad mixed with right amount of experience. And playing at home ,they ll have a crazy fan support which should make for their added 10 percent incentive each match. They have high pressure but the players of late have handled pressure really well and Sachin will again be the one with most expectations, but he is as cool as ever and as good as ever. The teams batting order is its main advantage and it is something any team would die to have. On top of the order the most destructive opening pair if they get going ,Sachin and Sehwag. Viru is still the most feared batsman and Sachin has always scored heavily in world cups and he can certainly repeat it one last time. Gambhir coming in at 3 can be good both defensive and offensive. My choice would be Kohli at no.4 and yuvi and MS and Pathan following ,but the way its looking, it could be a toss up b/n Raina and Kohli and the latter doing really well with an odi average of 46. The bowling department for the first time looks good with Zaheer being probably the best medium pacer at present .Munaf and Nehra can be good but they have to be consistent. Sreeshanth will bring the youthful energy with Harbhajan being the pick of the spinners. The only thing they have messed up is by selecting 3 spinners. We know its sub continent and the ball will grip and spin but common ,half the squad can bowl more than average spin and MSD admits he loves to use Yuvi. If they ever going to need that second spinner they should go for ashwin as he has done well under pressure especially in IPL. If they can get to finals i am sure  captain cool Dhoni will do the rest. All the best India.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Know Your Team - Sri Lanka

The winners of 1996 world cup are a very formidable side especially playing under home condition. The media is going a little haywire calling the team not to win the wc.....thats rt....not to win!!!. Some call it a strategy to get pressure off the team but i call total stupidity. Anyways I highly doubt team will be affected by it. They are the team to beat at home. Sanga has done a good job as  a captain and Jayawardene will be devastating in home conditions. Dilshan has not been that consistent but still can be good if he tries to attack more. They have a really good balanced side with all rounder Mathws and a good middle order....A lot depends on Sanga and Mahela in batting dept. In bowling Slinga-Malinga can crush toes with Murali playing the leading role for the last time. They have done it before and are quite capable of doing it again.


The Sri Lankan Squad :Kumar Sangakkara (c), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan ,Upul Tharanga ,Thilan Samaraweera ,Chamara Silva ,Chamara Kapugedera ,Angelo Mathews ,Thisara Perera ,Nuwan Kulasekara ,Lasith Malinga ,Dilhara Fernando ,Muttiah Muralitharan ,Ajantha Mendis ,Rangana Herath

Know Your Team - Bangladesh

One of the hosts of the tournament, Bangla is looking to be a really good squad and for the first time they ll be looking to get into the quarters rather than upsetting the other teams. They have a really good advantage as they will play all their initial matches at home and they are more than capable of causing an upset. They are ranked above windis and that should bring them some more confidence. The squad really looks good with Shakib leading and Ashraful doing really well. Players to watch out for would be these two along with Iqbal. Mortaza in the squad would have been a pleasure but he misses out of injury. They also have the factor of being unknown which will work out in their favor.

Bangla Squad : Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Tamim Iqbal , Imrul Kayes , Junaid Siddique , Shahriar Nafees , Raqibul Hasan , Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicketkeeper), Naeem Islam , Mahmudullah  Abdur Razzak , Rubel Hossain , Shafiul Islam , Nazmul Hossain and Suhrawadi Shuvo .

Know Your Team - South Africa

The Proteas have not won any major tournments since their 1992 re-entry barring the ICC 1998 Knockout Tournament. If any team deserves to win the world cup most, its got to be SA. They have been performing brilliantly for the past decade and have performed really well in the world cups initial stages all the time. They have a really good squad with Smith leading, Steyn has been breathing fire and is good in flat tracks too. He can get to reverse the ball and bowls at breathtaking pace. Amla has been the most consistent and the most successful batsman for the last year. Jaq will have to carry the middle order and AB is brilliant. If Duminy lives up to his potential they ll be one of the best batting unit. The only problem is they self destruct in key situations. If they can keep off that self destruction button and keep their nerves, they ll run away with the cup!!


South Africa World Cup Squad: Graeme Smith (Capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robbie Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (WK)

Know Your Team - England

England team seems to have finally come off a really bad patch after a very long time. They have been doing really good for the past 2 years by winning the T20 cricket world cup and beating aussies in ashes.....They have  a good squad with players booming with confidence and they know how to handle pressure. Strauss is an inspiring leader and the middle order looks formidable with collingwood and bell. The pace attack seems good with a Jimmy Anderson and a reformed Stuart Broad doing well. Swann has been the most successful spinnew last year. The only thing the team has to worry about is the fitness of the players. They are drained after the gruelling ashes mentally and physically. KP shouldnt be complaining about long gap between the matches as they look like the team that needs that break most. They have a really good chance of coming good and winning the tournament and capture the past glory, after all cricket was born in England.

England's World Cup squad:
Andrew Strauss ( capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan , Stuart Broad , Paul Collingwood , Eoin Morgan , Kevin Pietersen , Matt Prior (wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann , James Tredwell , Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright , Michael Yardy.Tremmlet is travelling as reserved player

Know Your Team - New Zealand

The original dark horse, men in black look off color this time....They have had a miserable series against bangla, india and pakistan to go into the world cup. Though Vettori has been a good captain who leads with example, the team has never looked together as they looked under Fleming. They have never had good success in world cups which they will be trying to erase off their memory and do well this time. They have no consistency in their batting though having a really good unit. The pace bowling looks pathetic, but the spin department is really the one to watch out for as Vettori is very economical and takes wickets on a regular interval. The only thing thats going good for them is fielding, but they can do only so much in the field. If Taylor and Ryder come consistent for them with Mccullum brothers doing the exploits, they will be very good.

New Zealand World Cup Squad: Daniel Vettori, Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock

Record of teams in ODI's for 2010

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	%
Australia	25	16	8	66.66
Bangladesh	27	9	18	33.33
Canada	11	4	7	36.36
England	17	12	5	70.58
India	27	17	10	62.96
Ireland	17	11	6	64.70
Kenya	11	3	8	27.27
Netherlands	12	5	7	41.66
New Zealand	21	6	14	30.00
Pakistan	18	5	13	27.77
Scotland	10	5	5	50.00
South Africa	16	12	4	75.00
Sri Lanka	22	15	6	71.42
West Indies	17	6	10	37.50
Zimbabwe	20	7	13	35.00

Know Your Team - Australia

The defending champs coming to the wc first time in over a decade as not so favorites to win.... But in contrast, considering their experience in big tournaments and how they keep their nerve,  they r definitely one of the favs.....The team though shattered completely in the ashes, came back quietly in the odi series to win. But that was only against a drained english side. They have a pretty well balanced unit with a very strong captain. Comeback man Lee has had a bad record in the sub continent and it will be very interesting what he does this time....With the ever so dependable M Hussey out of injury, the middle order lacks the bite. Hopefully White comes good for them...Ponting's rest might have done him good but he too has been miserable in the batting paradise...The main advantage is, they work as a unit and r good in doing so...watch out 

Australian team -R Ponting (c), M Clarke (vc), D Bollinger, B Haddin (wkt), J Hastings, J Kreja, D Hussey, Callum Ferguson, M Johnson, B Lee, T Paine (wkt), S Smith, S Tait, S Watson, C White.

Know Your Team - Pakistan

A blunder of a team but can win a lot of matches with consistency if they gel together which they normally do in big events. The team will be trying to prove a lot after the match fixing scandals.....They have performed well against New Zealand and are capable of lot of surprises. They are the real dark horse in the tournament. Md Yousuf continues his in and out routine,hope he retires soon. Afridi can be devastating with bat and ball and Akthar can only mean more trouble.....Watch out for Misbah s batting poweress and Gul's yorkers in wc  and the captain of the team....captain who?.....they have named afridi as captain but in this team every1 wants to be a captain.....The team- Shahid Afridi, 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, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad

An interview with the team......
Int - "who's the captain of ur team?"
team members - "ha ha ha....LOL......nice1", "Next question pls....."

Know Your Team - West Indies

Sir vivian richards team were called the devils as they were a phobia to their opposition and they never lost a test series from 1984 to 1991. The bowlers,batsmen and allrounders...It was the perfect combination. They were aggressive, ruthless and devastating towards their opponents.

But the present team has been quite pathetic for a while and can be expected to continue in the same way....some might call them the dark horse for the cup but really??? they dont play as a unit as the golden days of the past,dont be surprised if Chris Gayle uses wc as warm up for his T20 stint in IPL......They lack consistency and the will to play for the country and now they slipped below bangladesh in rankings....The only possibility of them performing well in wc would be if kieron pollard plays to his potential, but he looks like another Gayle in the making ..... Whats the use if u can win 1 in 10 matches in a knockout tournament.....The only thing they can be hopeful is that they know the sub continent condition well and have performed decently here.....Lets hope they don't become another minnows in the tournament. We already have a lot of teams in that category.

Legends of the Game

Legendary Players

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards

  Sir Viv Richards, the legendary west Indies batsman was born in Antigua in 1952.He has been rated as the best ODI batsman of all time by several commentators and cricket experts and ICC.He is rated as 5th greatest batsman in test cricket.
Throughout his career from 1974 to 1991 he never wore the helmet.He is probably the most destructive batsman in odi, the world has ever known
Under his captaincy from 1985 to 1991 west indies never lost a test series.Viv Richards has been rated by a lot of fast bowlers including Imran Khan and Wasim akram as the best odi batsman ever with Imran admitting that he is the best batsman he has ever bowled to. In 1976 Richards' finest year, he scored 1710 runs, at a staggering average of 90.00, with seven centuries in 11 Tests.This record was beaten recently by Md.Yousuf of Pakistan.
Impact index cricket,the new way of expressing cricket statistics has rated Sir Richards as the most impact batsman ever in limited overs game.
His average of 47 and strike rate of 90 earns him the highest career impact index of 4.75(in a scale of 0-5)and 2.6 for his performance in individual matches

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards

  Sir Viv Richards, the legendary west Indies batsman was born in Antigua in 1952.He has been rated as the best ODI batsman of all time by several commentators and cricket experts and ICC.He is rated as 5th greatest batsman in test cricket.
Throughout his career from 1974 to 1991 he never wore the helmet.He is probably the most destructive batsman in odi, the world has ever known
Under his captaincy from 1985 to 1991 west indies never lost a test series.Viv Richards has been rated by a lot of fast bowlers including Imran Khan and Wasim akram as the best odi batsman ever with Imran admitting that he is the best batsman he has ever bowled to. In 1976 Richards' finest year, he scored 1710 runs, at a staggering average of 90.00, with seven centuries in 11 Tests.This record was beaten recently by Md.Yousuf of Pakistan.
Impact index cricket,the new way of expressing cricket statistics has rated Sir Richards as the most impact batsman ever in limited overs game.
His average of 47 and strike rate of 90 earns him the highest career impact index of 4.75(in a scale of 0-5)and 2.6 for his performance in individual matches

Test Career Batting and Fielding (1974/75-1991)
                      M      I       NO    Runs    HS   Ave      100   50    Ct
West Indies   121   182    12     8540    291   50.23   24     45   122

One-Day International Career Batting and Fielding (1975-1991)
                     M     I     NO    Runs   HS     Ave    100    50   Ct
West Indies  187  167   24     6721  189*  47.00   11     45  100