Malinga's toe crushers destroy Kenya

Malinga took his second hat trick of the world cup becoming the only bowler to have 2 hat tricks in the tournament. His previous was against SA in 2007. Malinga took 6 wickets overall and was the obvious choice for man of the match.
Kenya batting first lost 2 wickets in 2 overs. Then the Obuya brothers offered lot of resistance batting for 30 overs but they could only manage 92 runs.At this run rate, they never looked good but they did manage to frustrate the Lankans. Malinga then dismantled the tail by taking a hat trick off his last 3 balls destroying the Kenyans completely. His toe crushers were so good that the Kenyan batsmen couldnt even see them before they took out their stumps.
Chasing 142 runs to win, Lankans did it in style with a quick fire 44 from Dilshan and Tharanga's 67.They completed the chase in 18.4 overs losing just 1 wicket.

Kenya 142 in 43.4 overs(C Obuya 52,D Obuya 51   Malinga 6 for 38)
Sri Lanka 146 in 18.4 overs(Dilshan 44, Tharanga 67) won by 9 wickets

The 2.5m rule of doom

UDRS which stands for umpire decision review system is a new system which based on technology helps in reviewing a decision given by the on field umpire. The teams will have 2 unsuccessful reviews per innings.
The system has been under controversy from the word go. First it was ECB which opposed it and then the BCCI got against it. The system got under way as there were not enough boards opposing it.
In the last match where India played England, Yuvraj bowled a ball which hit Ian Bell's pads and the on field umpire Billy Bowden ruled it as not out. Dhoni referred it and the tv umpire reviewed it and gave the decision back to Billy as the distance between the impact of the ball and the wicket was 2.5m and he ruled it as not out.

The controversy is the 2.5m rule which says that if a batsman is outside crease for over 2.5m, then the tv umpire can rule it back to the on field umpire and he can choose either to go with his original decision or changing it.
The gimmick is that the ICC says that hawk eye cant be trusted beyond 2.5 meters.
If ICC is so sure that the rule cant  be a hundred percent  perfect then why using it? The UDRS in itself is good as it helps minimize the errors of the on field umpires and helps in keeping the game clean and makes it more fair.
The problem for ICC is the hawk eye which is still not complete and i doubt if it is going to be perfect. ICC instead can use more reliable technologies like the snickometer and hot spot which are a 100pc perfect. Now ICC wants to save some money and that's why they dint install either hot spot or the snicko.
ICC will have to pay up now with more controversy in the world cup.
If the on field umpire had given it not out and if there was no review system, the players and the fans would not have gone against the UDRS and there would not have been any controversy as we believe that umpires can err and we can live with it.
But if ICC wants to use technology, they better use the reliable ones which are already perfect and leave the LBW decisions to luck and the on field umpires accuracy unless there is an edge.

India's Dilemma!!!

Indian team has been touted as one of the best in the world cup and a lot of experts say they are one of the favorites to win the world cup. But India's performance in the first two matches has not been what the fans would have hoped for. Of course the win against Bangladesh was a big one in the first match, but it was not the perfect one.
There are flaws in Indian armoury and everyone can see it. The problem India facing is not a new one, they have had for a very long time. But it becomes only evident when they play matches in competitive tournament.
A draw against England, not a bad result but it showed India's weekness in team balance.
Indian batting has been great and it will keep doing great until they start tinkering with the batting order. Dhoni's decision to send Yuvraj at 4 dint work as well as he had hoped for. Ofcourse he can give his prime player some chance and match practice but at what cost? Virat Kohli at 4 could have a better choice.
The problem is, when Yuvi and MS got out, a lot depended on Yousuf Pathan to deliver the huge sixes in the last 2 overs. But you might say 338 was enough, but as Strauss showed, it was rather too close for comfort.
Dhoni should stop promoting Yuvi up the order. The batsmen at positions 1 to 4 are perfect at their respective positions. And its Dhoni Yousuf who must hit a few boundaries in the end and not Virat Kohli. Dhoni and Yuvraj coming up the order against England was the difference between India's 370 against Bangla and 338 against England.


The second problem is bowling. The selection is a huge problem here. Zaheer Khan is a regular and can be trusted completely. But other bowlers are causing big problems for Dhoni. The choice of second and third seamer is becoming more difficult. Nehra can become unfit at any point of the tournament and he is not built to play in long and gruelling cricket. Sreesanth can pick up wickets but he is a huge problem with his wayward line and character.
The second spinner option doesnt work all the time. If the main spinners go for runs, the part time bowlers, who are  also spinners can be expected to get hit for a few. The hole in the armour is the flat pitches. The pitches must be made to support spin bowling rather than becoming batsmen's paradise. Indian bowlers always struggle to maintain a decent line and length and struggle to pick up wickets.They always depend on some assistance from the pitch and if the pitches become too flat, it will be difficult for India to win matches.
The fielding, some might say is a problem, but really, they are doing what they have been doing and they have improved a lot. The fielding cannot be trusted but the batting must do a little bit more to provide cushion of 20 to 30 extra runs.
Whatever they need to sort out its best they do it now itself. Hopefully they sort out their problems and peak at the right moment for the knock out rounds.

Roach's hatrick propels Windies to a win !!!

Kemar Roach took 6 wickets which included a hatrick in 32nd over which was incidentally the final over as Netherlands folded out for just 115runs. Cooper was the only one who offered some resistance with a well made 55 runs. Benn, the spinner took 3 important wickets in the early overs to spell doom for Netherland.
Offered to bat first, by Netherlands on a pitch which kept low but was flat, West Indies made a par score of 330 runs. Gayle was the top scorer with a measured 80 runs off 110 balls which was very unlike him. This provided the much needed stability to the Windies batting line up.
Pollard blasted the fastest 50 for West Indies, surpassing Lara's record scoring a blistering 60 runs off 27 balls which consisted of 5 fours and 4 huge sixes.

Zimbabwe win against Canada

Zimbabwe beat Canada comprehensively by 175 runs. Batting first, they posted a big total of 298 runs losing 9 wickets. The highlight was Captain Taibu's 98 runs and Ervine, who scored 85 to build the highest partnership ever for Zimbabwe with 181 runs. Balaji Rao for Canada took 4 wickets.

Chasing this target on a spinners friendly track, Canada folded out for 123 runs .Price and Cremer took 3 wickets each. Taibu was the man of the match.