Patient Pietersen helps England to safety

Updated December 13, 2012 22:50:11

An uncharacteristic stealthy knock from Kevin Pietersen and a lower middle-order rearguard effort brought England near parity at the end of the first day of the fourth Test with India.

The tourists ended the day on 5 for 199, with debutant Joe Root unbeaten on 31 and wicketkeeper Matt Prior with him on 34.

It was Pietersen's innings of 73 from 188 balls which stopped the Indians from setting up a much-needed victory to draw the series, which England currently lead 2-1.

Controversially, India went into the game with four spinners and Ishant Sharma the only recognised pace bowler, but he did the job of two men taking the wickets of openers Nick Compton (3) and crucially Alastair Cook (1).

Jonathan Trott (44) put on 86 with Pietersen to take England past the three figures mark before shouldering arms to a straight delivery from Ravinda Jadeja (2 for 34).

Ian Bell's indifferent run of form continued as he fell for one to leg-spinner Piyush Chawla playing in his first Test for India in four-and-a-half years.

Debutant all-rounder Jadeja frustrated the England bowlers with 13 maidens from his 25 overs and eventually Pietersen's patience ran out as he gited a catch to Ojha.

At 5 for 139 England was in trouble but Root and Prior held on for the rest of the final session to leave the match finely poised going into the second day.

Tags: sport, cricket, india, england

First posted December 13, 2012 22:50:11

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Wright's 99 helps England thrash Afghanistan

Updated September 22, 2012 08:01:51

Luke Wright's unbeaten 99 in 55 balls helped holders England crush Afghanistan by 116 runs in their Group A opener at the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday (AEST).

England's victory means they will advance to the Super Eight stage along with group rivals India because both have defeated rank outsiders Afghanistan.

The defending champions amassed 5 for 196 after being put in to bat, Wright recording his highest Twenty20 score for his country after smashing six sixes and eight fours.

Left-arm paceman Shapoor Zadran bowled opener Craig Kieswetter for a duck but Wright, going in at number three, then shared a stand of 69 for the second wicket with Alex Hales (31).

The Sussex all-rounder also put on 72 for the third wicket with Eoin Morgan (27) as England collected 122 runs in the second half of their innings.

Wright narrowly missed out on his century when he could only manage two runs off the final ball.

"It is always a disappointment not to finish with a hundred," he said.

"I was just tired at the end and I was happy to keep the scoreboard going.

"The most important thing was a big total. I think the scoreboard pressure was important for our bowlers."

Afghanistan, in reply, were bowled out for 80 in 17.2 overs with only Gulbodin Naib (44) reaching double figures.

The Afghanis slumped to 8 for 26 after nine overs but Naib gave their total a respectable look.

Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Jade Dernbach all picked up two wickets for England.

Afghanistan, participating in their second successive Twenty20 World Cup, are now out of the tournament.

"We are very disappointed. The expectations were pretty high back home, everyone was following these games closely," Zadran said.

"Today was a tough day for us. We have learnt a lot and hopefully we can come up with some good results in the future."

Reuters

Tags: sport, cricket, england, afghanistan, sri-lanka

First posted September 22, 2012 08:01:51

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Ton-up Pietersen helps England to whitewash

Updated February 22, 2012 09:50:34

Kevin Pietersen hit his second successive century to help a resurgent England beat Pakistan by four wickets in the fourth and final one-day international for a 4-0 whitewash.

The 31-year-old right-hander held the innings together during his 153-ball career-best 130 - his ninth one-day hundred - to help England chase down a 238-run target in 49.2 overs at Dubai Stadium.

Pietersen helped England recover from 4 for 68 with a 109-run stand for the fifth wicket with Craig Kieswetter (43) to maintain his team's domination in the series in which they won the first match by 130 runs, second by 20 and the third by nine wickets.

By virtue of this win England overtook Pakistan at number five and pushed their rivals to sixth in the ICC one-day rankings and partially made up for its 3-0 loss in the preceding three-Test series.

Pietersen hit Junaid Khan for a six and took a single in the next over to reach his hundred off 136 balls and finished with 12 fours and two sixes. His previous best of 116 came against South Africa at Centurion in 2005.

Pietersen had lost his opening partner Alastair Cook - who hit back-to-back hundreds and 80 in the first three matches - off the second ball of the innings to paceman Khan for 4.

Jonathan Trott (15), Eoin Morgan (15) and debutant Jos Butler fell in the space of 18 runs before the Pietersen-Kieswetter stand lifted them from 68-4 to 5 for 177.

When Kieswetter was run out, England still needed 61 but Samit Patel (17 not out) in the company of Pietersen brought England within two runs of the win when Pietersen fell to Saeed Ajmal.

Tim Bresnan hit the winning boundary.

"We really had a very good one-day series," said Cook. "It was a great challenge and we stood up and won."

Misbah said Pakistan did show some fight but England was too good.

"We showed improvement from the last game but England and Pietersen were too good for us," said Misbah.

"Credit to England for playing well in this series and we were below par."

Pakistan promised more than what it made after half-centuries by Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali but were pegged back in the final overs with paceman Jade Dernbach taking a career-best 4 for 45.

Shafiq made a 78-ball 65 for his sixth one-day fifty while Ali notched a 89-ball 58 for his first to help lift Pakistan from the early loss of opener Mohammad Hafeez (1) after they elected to bat.

Misbah chipped in with a 52-ball 46 which included one four and a six.

Both teams now play three Twenty20 internationals in Dubai (February 23 and 25) and Abu Dhabi (February 27).

AFP

Tags: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom, pakistan, united-states

First posted February 22, 2012 07:31:11

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Hussey helps Chennai to IPL title

Published:Sunday, May 29, 2011 8:31 AEST

Chennai Super Kings batsman Michael Hussey plays a shot during the IPL Twenty20 cricket final against Royal Challengers Bangalore at The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 28, 2011.

Tags: sport, cricket, australia, india

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