Archive for » May 6th, 2010«

Scorecard:

South Africa: 170 for 4 (20 overs)

(DeVilliers 47* off 39 balls, Morkel 40 off 18 balls,  Kallis 31 off 26 balls,  Gibbs 30 off 24 balls,   Oram 1 for 22)

New Zealand: 157 for 7 (20 overs)

(Ryder 33 off 28 balls, N McCulum 26* off 17 balls, Morkel 2 for 23, Botha 2 for 27, Langveldt 2 for 39)

South Africa setup a good total largely due to a late burst by Morkel. All the Batsmen contributed towards the score but it was going a an average pace at just above 7 rpo. Morkel came a had a partnership of 72 off 6.2 overs with DeVilliers. And just imagine as he departed, the last 6 bals fetched just 1 run - can anyone explain the “Zulu Freeze”? However, this time the freeze came too late to have a major impact on the result.

New Zeland statistician was on a high as his team kept pace with the South African score over to over. However, later he realized that he had not accounted for the Morkel Burst and the batsmen he had were not capable of replicating that. “One Man’s Blueprint is another Man’s Deathwish“. Neil McCullum tried to become what he wasn’t but didn’t come better that Achille’s cousin in “Troy”. New Zealand arrived short with 2 guns still blazing away! In a battle you can’t be alive if you are losing - when would T20 stars realize that. Stats don’t count here, Mr. Duckworth!

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Scorecard:

Pakistan: 147 for 9 (20 overs)

(Salman Butt 34 off 26 balls, Akmal 30 off 25 balls,  Yardy 2 for 19, Broad 2 for 25, Sidebottom 2 for 28)

England: 151 for 4 (19.3 overs)

(Pietersen 73* off 52 balls, Lumb 25 off 13 balls, Kieswetter 25 off 27 balls, Ajmal 2 for 18)

Pakistan setup a nice start and were at 71 for 1 in 9.1 overs. It was all set to launch their assault at a 175-200 target which are more defensible as the tournament progresses. Salman Butt was getting good with time, Hafeez had also settled. But within a space of 9 balls and 6 runs they were 77 for 4 in 10.4 overs and the match was evenly poised now. Pakistan could just manage an even run rate through to the end and had a just defensible score of 147.

England never seemed in trouble nor did they even try to dominate. They went about scoring at just over the required rate throughout the innings. But still in the end they reached home with just 3 balls to spare. You can understand what was going on by knowing that they took 9 balls to reach home even when they needed to score just 8 more runs and they had 6 wickets in hand.

Pietersen was however very effective today and stood there to see his team arrive safe.

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