Gul's rescue act guides Pakistan past Proteas

Updated September 28, 2012 23:53:22

Umar Gul turned an unlikely hero with the bat as Pakistan survived a middle-order collapse to beat South Africa by two wickets in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20 on Friday night.

Pakistan, chasing South Africa's modest 6 for 133, crashed to 7 for 76 in the 15th over before Gul and Umar Akmal combined to share a match-winning partnership of 49 in 27 balls.

Gul smashed two fours and three sixes in his 32 off 17 balls before he was dismissed off the last ball of the 19th over by fast bowler Dale Steyn with nine more needed.

But Akmal, who remained unbeaten on 43, and Saeed Ajmal steered Pakistan home with two balls to spare; Ajmal edging the winning boundary off Morne Morkel.

Pakistan's openers raced to 24 in 2.5 overs before the innings fell apart after Imran Nazir (14) was caught behind off Steyn.

Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who came to bowl the fourth over, removed skipper Mohammad Hafeez with his second delivery and Nasir Jamshed with the sixth to leave Pakistan reeling at 3 for 31.

Off-spinner Johan Botha also struck in his first over by bowling Kamran Akmal for 1, Jacques Kallis dismissed Shoaib Malik (12) and JP Duminy had danger man Shahid Afridi caught in the deep for a first-ball duck.

But Gul and Umar Akmal launched a blistering attack on the Proteas to earn Pakistan full points in the opening match of group two.

Earlier, Pakistan's spinners revelled on a slow wicket to restrict mighty South Africa to 6 for 133.

Hafeez claimed 2 for 23 and 20-year-old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan conceded just 12 runs in three overs after South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.

Seamers Yasir Arafat and Gul shared three wickets as the batsmen tried to hit out against them after failing to play the slow bowlers.

South Africa, the top-ranked side in the Twenty20 format, was reduced to 3 for 28 in 6.1 overs before recovering through skipper AB de Villiers and JP Duminy.

Left-handed Duminy top-scored with 48 off 38 balls, while de Villiers made 25, but no other batsman reached 20.

AFP

Tags: twenty20, cricket, sport, sri-lanka, south-africa, pakistan

First posted September 28, 2012 23:53:22

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Kallis guides Proteas to T20 victory over England

Updated September 09, 2012 06:20:36

Jacques Kallis guided South Africa to a seven-wicket win over World Twenty20 champions England in the first Twenty20 international at Chester-le-Street.

The Proteas were in trouble at 3 for 29, chasing a seemingly modest 119 for victory.

But opener Kallis, returning to international duty after being rested from the drawn one-day series between the two countries, made 48 not out off 44 balls with seven fours.

Together with left-hander JP Duminy (47 not out) he shared an unbroken stand of 90 in 91 deliveries as the Proteas, who won with an over to spare, went 1-0 up in a three-match series ahead of this month's World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

"We were 20 or 30 short, we didn't adapt to the condition of the pitch or bat to our average," England Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad told Sky Sports.

"We got a little bit stuck with the spin. We played nicely through the first six overs, but struggled in the middle period. We are aware of that and we know where to improve."

England can expect to face plenty of spin on receptive pitches in Sri Lanka but Broad, like Kallis returning after being rested from the one-dayers, had no undue worries about his team's ability to play slow bowling.

"It's not too much of a concern, we need to adapt and learn from this game," he said ahead of Monday's second match in Manchester.

South Africa captain AB de Villiers praised his attack, with man-of-the-match Dale Steyn taking 1 for 13 in four overs and spinners Robin Peterson and Johan Botha sharing four wickets, for setting up this victory.

"The bowling was brilliant, led by Dale Steyn. He bowled with a lot of pace and looked like taking wickets throughout," said de Villiers.

"We never allowed England to get momentum."

Steyn added: "I can live with bowling one-over spells. It's a lot easier than Test matches."

South Africa saw hard-hitting opener Richard Levi caught in the slips off Jade Dernbach and Twenty20 international debutant Faf du Plessis fall leg before to fast bowler Steven Finn.

De Villiers was then caught behind by Craig Kieswetter off Dernbach for 10.

South Africa were now 3 for 29 and England, all but out of the contest after their innings, was back in the game.

But if South Africa could produce one decent partnership they would win and in world class all-rounder Kallis and left-hander Duminy they had the men for the job in the absence of the rested Hashim Amla.

Ultimately England's 7 for 118 - their third lowest total in this format - did not give their bowlers enough of a score to defend.

Spin bowling, long regarded as the Proteas' Achilles heel, accounted for four England wickets with Botha (2 for 19) and left-armer Peterson (2 for 27), striking after de Villiers won the toss.

At 7 for 85, England were in danger of posting their worst Twenty20 total before an unbroken stand of 33 in 27 balls between Broad and Graeme Swann, who both finished on 18 not out, gave them a foothold in the match.

No England batsman made more than opener Kieswetter's 25.

England's collapse started with a needless run out.

Alex Hales, who made an England Twenty20 best 99 against the West Indies in June after replacing the still exiled Kevin Pietersen, charged down the pitch for a non-existent single and, turning back, was run out by Kallis's direct hit.

Kieswetter then fell when he was plumb lbw to Botha's first ball.

And Ravi Bopara, who averaged just 5.50 with the bat during the one-dayers, fell cheaply in familiar fashion when he edged Steyn to Botha at slip.

Botha then struck again when he bowled dangerman Eoin Morgan for 10, after the former Ireland left-hander bottom edged a pull-sweep.

AFP

Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, england

First posted September 09, 2012 06:20:36

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Warner ton guides Thunder to victory

Updated December 18, 2011 07:18:52

David Warner stole the limelight in Shane Warne's Australian comeback on Saturday night, blasting an unbeaten 102 to guide Sydney Thunder to victory over the Melbourne Stars.

The 42-year-old Warne, who was playing his first game at the MCG since retiring from elite cricket in January, took 0 for 19 from his two overs in the Stars' opening game in the new Big Bash League.

Chasing 154 to win, the Thunder reached their target with six wickets and one over in hand thanks to Warner's brilliant knock.

James Faulkner took 2 for 20 for the Stars.

David Hussey top-scored with 52 off 27 balls in the Stars' innings of 7 for 153 while Doug Bollinger and Scott Coyte took two wickets each.

In reply, the Thunder lost West Indies import Chris Gayle for 4, but Warner smashed six fours and six sixes in his 51-ball display of power hitting despite being in doubt for the game with a back injury.

Warner blasted Warne for a six over long-on in his first over and another over the sightscreen in the master leg spinner's second over, prompting skipper Cameron White to give the local hero a rest.

The stocky left-hander said he was determined to treat Warne as just another bowler.

"If he's going to toss it up in my area, I'm going to try to take him down," Warner said.

"Twenty20 cricket for a spin bowler, it's not ideal. I'm just happy that we won."

Warner will play for the Chairman's XI in a three-day tour game against India in Canberra starting on Monday ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

Melbourne captain Cameron White said Warne was still the best leg spinner in the world.

"With six or seven left-handers in their line-up, it was always going to be difficult," White said.

"He bowled well actually. He didn't bowl a bad ball.

"He (Warner) just played well. All credit to David.

"He played fantastic tonight. He took the game away from us."

Test opener Warner reached his century in the 19th over and leapt in the air with delight.

Warne's British fiancee Liz Hurley tossed the coin with the captains before the match as part of the BBL's push to broaden its fan base.

Saturday's game drew a crowd of 23,496 after Stars officials had been hoping to eclipse the Australian Twenty20 domestic record of 43,125 in January 2010 when Victoria hosted Tasmania.

The Stars play Brisbane Heat at the Gabba on December 20 while the Thunder host Adelaide Strikers at the Olympic stadium three days later.

AAP

Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, melbourne-3000, vic, sydney-2000, nsw, australia

First posted December 17, 2011 22:31:52

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Sharma guides India to opening win

Updated November 30, 2011 10:04:03

Rohit Sharma hit a responsible 72 under pressure as India survived a top-order collapse to post a thrilling one-wicket win over the West Indies in the opening one-dayer in Cuttack.

India was reeling at 5 for 59 following Kemar Roach's three-wicket burst and Andre Russell's double strike before reaching the 212-run target with seven balls to spare in front of 45,000 spectators at the Barabati stadium.

Sharma came to his team's rescue with an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (38) in the day-night game, which was held up for nearly five minutes during India's innings due to disturbances in the stands.

Man-of-the-match Sharma, returning to the side after recovering from a finger injury, then added 42 valuable runs with Vinay Kumar (18) to help his team to a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

He cracked one six and three fours in his ninth half-century in one-dayers.

The hosts needed nine runs to win in the last two overs before Umesh Yadav hit the winning boundary off seamer Darren Sammy as India posted its 10th successive one-day win at home.

"It's good to win another nail-biter. Whatever you tell number 10 or number 11, they always do what they want to do. I just told them to play till the end," said India skipper Virender Sehwag.

"Rohit and Jadeja batted really well in that partnership and we should have won it easily from there, but it's still good to end up winning. We hope to learn from our batting mistakes in coming games."

Paceman Roach removed Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli in his sharp opening spell before Russell accounted for Sehwag (20) and Suresh Raina to put pressure on India.

India earlier put in a disciplined bowling performance to restrict the West Indies to a modest total despite Darren Bravo's impressive half-century.

Left-handed Bravo, who hit two hundreds in the recent Test series against the hosts, top-scored for the West Indies with a 74-ball 60 for his sixth half-century in one-day internationals.

"Every time you lose it is quite disappointing. We just didn't have the last spark to take us past the finish line," said West Indies captain Sammy.

"The opening bowlers did well to give us a start and we fought all the way to the end, but it wasn't enough. We even conceded 23 extras, but I would like to commend the boys."

AFP

Tags: cricket, sport, india, jamaica

First posted November 30, 2011 06:58:02

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