The #Sanga masterclass has ended but he has inspired the middle order to take this chase head on.
Sangakarra scored a brilliant century earlier in the innings. The first batsman to score three consecutive centuries in #CWC. His innings was pure delight of touch and artistic batsmanship.
#Live #Score Sri Lanka: 261 for 4, 39 overs #DineshChandimal - 37* #AngeloMathews - 29*
#TilakratneDilshan has exploded at the #SCG. The Sri Lankans have decided to take the Aussies ON in their chase of huge target of 376.
Dilshan has smashed 6 fours in one over off #MitchellJohnson 4-4-4-4-4-4
This shot play rubbed on #KumaraSangakarra as well. He's opened up and hit a few boundaries as well.
The onslaught caught the Aussies off-guard and they got back to their "gamesmanship" ways of "talking ot the batsmen" :). Dilshan gave it back to them. Umpires intervening to cool things down.
Chase on...
#LIVE #Score Sri Lanka 69 for 1, 10 overs Dilshan - 42* Sangakarra - 26*
Wow ... Australia have piled it on big time against Sri Lanka in a Pool A game at #CWC15
In the midstages, it looked like 300 would be a good score but a #GlennMaxwell blinder followed by #ShaneWatson blitze ensured they really drove it in and reached 376 for 9 in 50 overs.
#StevenSmith and #MichaelClarke steadied the innings after an even start in the first 10 overs. Sri Lankans looked like they had plans for the Aussies and scalped two danger wickets (Warner and Finch).
But, once the Smith-Clarke steadied things, Maxwell and Watson took it over and skyrocketed the Australian innings to an amazing level.
Sri Lankan bowlers pummelled into oblivion. #Malinga, the only bright spot in that bowling line up.
Australia seemed to be pulling away with
the contest through a superb stand between #MichaelClarke and #StevenSmith.
Just when they seemed to really pile it on, Sri Lanka has a double strike.
Clarke, trying to up the ante, was cleaned
up by a Malinga #yorker. Timber broken. Smithwho looked fluent tried to smash
#TillaktratneDilshan out of the ground but skied one to long off. Excellent
catch by #ThisaraPerera.
But, strokemakers, #ShaneWatson and
#GlennMaxwell, have unleashed mayhem in SL ranks.
#LasithMalinga and co have their work cut out.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat at the SCG.
The first 10 overs have seen a very even contest between the two sides. Sri Lanka used spin at one end to start proceedings on this dry pitch and cut off pace on deliveries. It was also a ploy to curb #DavidWarner and #AaronFinch to smash deliveries coming on to the bat.
It was #LasithMalinga, the Slinga, who came up with a breakthrough though. A brilliant change of pace and the dangerous Warner was foxed into spooning a simple catch to cover. Lankans over the moon.
#SeekugePrasanna, brought in as replacement for #RanganaHerath, then bowled a beauty to beat in the air. Finch trying to dominate him, danced down the track and was beaten down the leg side. #KumarSangakarra did the rest, flicking the bails. Finch yards out of his crease.
The two best batsmen at the crease for Australia now. #MichaelClarke and #StevenSmith
#LIVE #Cricket #Score Australia: 82 for 2, 18 overs Clarke - 16* Smith - 32*
Australia have won the toss and elected to bat on dry SCG pitch vs Sri Lanka.
In a battle of position in Pool A, these two teams will jostle to finish second in that group. A 2nd position in a group would mean they will play 3rd placed team in Pool B (probably Pakistan or West Indies or Ireland)
#SA v #WI, #LIVE at the #SCG 27th Feb 2015 Stunned and Blown away by a batting masterclass from ABcD of cricket (#ABDevilliers), Windies have floundered miserably in their run chase of 408. #KyleAbbott removed their biggest threat #ChrisGayle in his first over, crashing his middle stumps. The celebrations by SA after that wicket just showed how much that meant to them. He then induced #Marlon Samuels to hit one down DeKock's throat for nought. #MorneMorkel had #JamesCarter caught by #ABD for 10 (can you keep AB out the game for long?) #ImranTahir, then induced a double breakthrough, claiming #DwayneSmith for 31 and trapping #LendlSimmons for nought. West Indies 63 for 5. #DeneshRamdin and #DarrenSammy at the crease. End doesn't seem far away. Windies left to lick their wounds. As it stands (assuming a SA victory), Pool B - 4 teams at 4 points each now. This is getting exciting. Powered by: http://www,whowillwinthecup.com
#SA v # WI, #LIVE, #SCG 27th Feb 2015 Wow ... Wow ... Wow is all you can say about the "Man" - #ABDevilliers. Just don't know what he eats for breakfast when he goes out to bat against the West Indians? In a span of month or so, he has broken multiple one day records courtesy the men in red. His outrageous batting explosion at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the late stages of the match had everyone spellbound and in awe. Take a bow AB, take a bow. 162 from 68 deliveries!! Unreal or surreal stuff from the best cricket athlete in the world. He was ably supported by Rilee Rossouw who smashed 62 in 36 deliveries to set the tempo in that innings after losing two quick wickets in the middle. The West Indies bowlers' had nowhere to hide or were clueless, as AB tore them apart. The best example was the last over bowled by captain #JasonHolder. The over read 2-6-6-4-6-6 (30 runs). 80 runs were scored in the last 3.2 overs. Astonishing power hitting, ingenuine audacity and sublime batting skills by ABD. Hats off. South Africa ended with 408 for 5 in 50 overs, highest score batting first in #Australia West Indies have never chased 300 before. This is 400 ... Can Gayle storm it out once again. He has to match ABD otherwise it game-set-match SA already. AB's records after this innings - fastest ODI 50 (Jo' burg) - fastest ODI 100 (Jo 'burg) - fastest ODI 150 (Sydney) ** all against West Indies Whats next? fastest 200 maybe? or how about the first 300 in one dayers? Teams yet to play against him are already shivering at those thoughts!! Powered By: http://www.whowillwinthecup.com
Just when South Africa seemed to be beginning to turn the heat on scoring, #ChrisGayle has struck twice in one over!
Firsr, he had #FafDuPlessis caught behind by #DeneshRamdin. Two balls later, he trapped the well set #HashimAmla plumb in front of the stumps. Both set batsmen out makes it even-steven yet again!
Two new batsmen, #ABDevilliers and #RileeRossouw at the crease. Need to rebuild their innings again. WI will look to attack and put more pressure on the SA middle and lower order
#ABDevilliers, the SA captain has won the toss and decided to bat first at the picturesque #SCG. He talked about being embarrassed against India at MCG and took time away from the game.
AB also emphasized that the #toss isn't something in your control, you need to bat or bowl well first/second to win the World Cup.
#Jason Holder looked sad at losing the toss but mentioned bowling well upfront and capturing wickets to restrict the Proteas to a 250 odd score.
#SouthAfrica v #WestIndies, #SCG 27th Feb 2015 In an exciting Pool A match, South Africa will take on West Indies at the classical Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in a short while. This game has attained far more importance than anticipated before start of the tournament. The Proteas had a nightmare outing against India on Sunday at the MCG where they lost by a whopping 130 runs. Their first game win against minnows #Zimbabwe wasn't very convincing either. Being tagged as frontrunners for the world cup crown, their performance has been far from expected and hence they are under tremendous pressure to win this game and get their confidence back. Ireland's emergence as a #darkhorse in this group has made it even more interesting in this pool. West Indies on the other hand are on a upswing. #ChrisGayle's storm against Zimbabwe a couple of days ago will have brought renewed enthusiasm and vigour in the Windies camp. They also won comprehensively against #Pakistan before that. These two wins have overshadowed their shock defeat to #Ireland in their opening game. The match promises to be a real big one and we should now start seeing the big teams pull out some thrillers in a bid to reach the next stages of the world cup. Coupled to that, the venue, SCG, is just right to deliver a cracker of a game. All the best to both teams Players to Watch South Africa - A B Devilliers - Faf Du Plessis - David Miller - Dale Steyn - Imran Tahir West Indies - Chris Gayle - Marlon Samuels - Darren Bravo - Jerome Taylor - Suleiman Benn Powered by: http://www,whowillwinthecup.com
Defining Moments at #ICCWorldCup Miandad vs More and the kangaroo jumps!
This amazing incident from the 1992 World Cup marquee game between India and Pakistan is permanently etched in hearts of millions of cricket fans.
Miandad known for his antiques to provoke opposition players said something that riled up More.
He started mouthing from behind the stumps. This continued for a while until Miandad stopped the bowler (Sachin Tendulkar) and decided to have a word with More about it.
Both exchanged words before complaining to the umpire about each other.
The very next ball ... Miandad plaeyed towards mid on, ran a bit but came back since Sachin had fielded and thrown the ball back to More. He was well inside but More still flicked the bails and appeared to appeal. This got Miandad annoyed and he did the now legendary "Kangaroo" jumps in kangaroo land (venue: Sydney Cricket Ground)
Absolutely hilarious to see but raised tension between the two teams on the night.
India went on to win the game comfortably. Miandad bowled by Javagal Srinath.
Venue: SCG, Sydney (D/N match) In what has to be termed as the biggest "joke" in history of one day cricket, the funny rain rule applied to matches then, turned an absolute cliff hanger into a farce! That's the best way to describe this incredible semi final between Eng and SA. Both teams had it fairly easy enroute the semifinals, #England winning 6 of their 8 games while SA winning 5. #SA had just been readmitted to cricket after the #apartheid ban on them for 20 odd years. Hence, there were no expectations from them as such. However, under #KeplerWessels, this team rewrote history by appearing in the semis of a Cricket World Cup on debut! On a gloomy SCG afternoon, SA won the toss and inserted England into bat. Considering forecast of showers later in the day, the #Proteas wanted to know their targets and revisions just in case (little did they imagine about the cruel realty that was about to strike them later that evening). SA broke through the openers very cheaply. #Gooch edged behind off #AllanDonald for 2 and #IanBotham was castled by Meryck Pringle for 17. Eng 39 for 2. #GraemeHick joined #AlecStewart and both of them started repair work of the English innings. Steadily they reached 100 before deciding to open up and take charge. #BrianMcMillan snapped their partnership claiming Stewart for 33 but Hick had settled down by then and he unleashed a barrage of strokes to push the England scoring ahead briskly. Middle order support from #NeilFairbrother (28), #AllanLamb (19) and #ChrisLewis (18) ensured England breezed past 200 through small but quick partnerships. Hick was dismissed for a solid 83. But, it was #DermotReeve who stole the late order show for the #Poms. His quickfire 25 of 14 (including 3 consecutive boundaries in one over) ensured England reached a respectable 252 at the end of their 45 overs. (Match had to be shortened due to rain interruptions at the top leading to time overrun of the first innings cut off of 6:10 pm) At 5+ runs per over (in the 90s this was a big deal!!), the target was definitely stiff and everyone felt England would nail the game swiftly. SA had different ideas though. Wessels and #Andrew Hudson made a breezy start before Wessels was claimed by Botham. #PeterKirsten, their best technical batsman, didnt last too long either and was out for 11. SA 61 for 2. Hudson was in fine nick though and he was just appearing to open up when he was trapped leg before by #RichardIllingworth for a well compiled 46. SA 90 for 3. It was now left to the younger generation of SA cricket to steer their ship. And boy did they march? #AdrianKuiper struck a super 36, #HansieCronje 24 and #JontyRhodes a breezy 43 to inch close to their target. A victory was in sight. Although all these youngsters eventually got out, the score was reading .. SA 206 for 6 Very even contest. #DaveRichardson and McMillan then put a very steady partnership of 29 to reach 231 in 42.5 overs. Victory in sight. 23 to win in 13 balls. You'd put your money on SA the way these two were batting. Gooch looking clueless and desperate for a breakthrough. And then it happened... the heavens opened up. Play had to be stopped due to the showers. When play resumed, the rain rule was applied to adjust the time lost in the break. The scoreboard read 22 runs to win in 7 balls. Bah! the target was revised by just 1 run but 6 balls were taken off the batting team. Then more drama .... The officials had actually made a mistake displaying 7 balls. They corrected the scoreboard again. Now it read .... 22 runs to win in 1 ball
What? What the $#%@? Speechless.. there was a dead silence in the crowd. How on earth was that possible? But, it was a rain rule being applied those days and had to be put into force. What a shame! The game was tantalizingly poised for a humdinger of a finish and then this farcical rain rule spoilt it all. Chris Lewis sent down the one delivery and McMillan tapped it down to long on for a single. The match had ended, technically. No one was happy. The Englishmen knew victory was handed over to them by the rain rule. The Proteas knew it was pure divine intervention that didnt want them to win the game.
England qualified for the final against Pakistan at the #MCG. SA returned home, bruised but not humiliated. They had put up an amazing performance throughout the tournament and were only robbed of a possible finals berth by rain gods. MOM: Graeme Hick Watch the game highlights here...
#AustraliaDay and #RepublicDay on 26th Jan. #India v #Australia at the #SCG on 26th Jan 2015
India's last chance really to beat Australia and higher their morale before the #ICCWorldCup2015. Need to really pull up their socks and beat the Aussies.
Australia sitting pretty with 3 wins out of 3 and can experiment. However, given the big occasion they would definitely want to win this one too! #Chakde India
Test Match Cricket Series 1991-1992 Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Trailing 0-2, the Indians were under immense pressure to redeem themselves (they lost at the #Gabba by 10 wickets and then at #MCG by 8 wickets).
They won the toss to begin with and put Australia in. It was a surprising move, and it seemed liked backfiring with #DavidBoon and #MarkTaylor going smoothly but as wickets began to fall the trio of #KapilDev, #ManojPrabhakar and #SubrotoBanerjee ensured Australia didn't runaway with a huge total. They were bowled out for 313. Boon scored a fluent 129, while the three fast bowlers snapped 3 wickets each.
India started their innings shakily but through brilliant centuries from #RaviShastri (206) and #SachinTendulkar (148), they amassed a good score of 483. The #wonderboy had arrived on world stage and his honeymoon with the #SCG was about to become legendary in the years to come!
A lot of Day 3 was washed out due to rain. When India's first innings closed on Day 4, they had a sizable lead of 170 but did they have enough time and good weather to push for a win?
With commentators and experts clearly stating a draw as the only result possible, things began happening at the SCG on Day 5. All Indian bowlers spun a web around the Aussie batsmen collectively. Suddenly, the Aussues were looking down the barrel at 6-114 (56 runs adrift on the first innings and only the bowlers to come)
This is when captain courageous #AllanBorder took over. He steadily marshalled the tail and started working out towards a respectable draw. More rain meant India's push for victory was being thwarted.
Late wickets in the day made the situation further exciting. Indian's threw everything they had at Border and his tail but they survived .. albeit the weather helped Australia immensely. Border saved the game for them. India felt dejected coming so close to beating the Aussies by an innings! A great game indeed...
Watch stunning highlights Sachin's century from this awesome test match here
From the most memorable game of cricket to the most disgraceful one. This one comes from Sydney 2008.
The much vaunted series of 2007-2008 started off with Australia steamrolling India at #MCG easily and going 1-0 up in the series. The teams then met in the #NewYearsTestMatch at Sydney. India had a point to prove to beat Australia on their home soil and restore parity in the series.
What transpired over the next five days was embarrassing, ugly and disgraceful between the two teams including
- The Symonds-Harbhajan #Monkeygate episode
- The Benson-Bucknor umpiring on Day 5
- The aftermath of the cricket test where India planned to boycott remainder of the series
- The court trials on Monkeygate episode ... ouch! are we talking #cricket here?
What all this also did was overshadow some scintillating performances in the game from both sides
- Symonds' matchwinning scores (163 and 61). He was MOM.
- Superb hundreds from Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman in first innings
- Maginificent hundreds from Matt Hayden and Mike Hussey in second innings
- Sterling bowling efforts by Anil Kumble and Brett Lee in both innings
- Michael Clarke's 3 wicket burst in one over to win the match
- Anil Kumble' valiant batting vigil worthy of an army general defending his national pride.
- This was Australia's 16th consecutive win (a record they equalled with Steve Waugh's side from few years ago)
Having seen everything unfold on that fateful 5th day, it was a game for India to draw and move ahead. Instead they succumbed to pressure and yes the umpires! The Aussies didn't show sportsmanship by not shaking hands with Indians after the game, Indians purposely passed time to draw the game which they couldn't save eventually. All love lost. Sadly the game of cricket lost that day!
Here are highlights of Day 5 of that test match
Would test match cricket be ever the same after this test match?
Venue: SCG, Sydney From the most memorable game of cricket to the most disgraceful one. This one comes from Sydney 2008. The much vaunted series of 2007-2008 started off with Australia steamrolling India at #MCG easily and going 1-0 up in the series. The teams then met in the #NewYearsTestMatch at Sydney. India had a point to prove to beat Australia on their home soil and restore parity in the series. What transpired over the next five days was embarrassing, ugly and disgraceful between the two teams including - The Symonds-Harbhajan #Monkeygate episode - The Benson-Bucknor umpiring on Day 5 - The aftermath of the cricket test where India planned to boycott remainder of the series - The court trials on Monkeygate episode ... ouch! are we talking #cricket here? What all this also did was overshadow some scintillating performances in the game from both sides - Symonds' matchwinning scores (163 and 61). He was MOM. - Superb hundreds from Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman in first innings - Maginificent hundreds from Matt Hayden and Mike Hussey in second innings - Sterling bowling efforts by Anil Kumble and Brett Lee in both innings - Michael Clarke's 3 wicket burst in one over to win the match - Anil Kumble' valiant batting vigil worthy of an army general defending his national pride. - This was Australia's 16th consecutive win (a record they equalled with Steve Waugh's side from few years ago) Having seen everything unfold on that fateful 5th day, it was a game for India to draw and move ahead. Instead they succumbed to pressure and yes the umpires! The Aussies didn't show sportsmanship by not shaking hands with Indians after the game, Indians purposely passed time to draw the game which they couldn't save eventually. All love lost. Sadly the game of cricket lost that day! Here are highlights of Day 5 of that test match Would test match cricket be ever the same after this one?
