#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
#WestIndies v #Pakistan, #Christchurch 21st Feb 2015 Whats happening here? Pakistan have lost 4 wickets in no time with just 1 run on the board!! Amazing start by West Indies. #Jerome Taylor claiming #NasirJamshid and #YounisKhan for nought each in the first over itself. He followed it up with wicket of #HarisSohail for 1 in his next over. #JasonHolder then got #AdmedShehzad for nought. Score board 4 For 1 Where do they go from here? #MisbahUlHaq at the crease. Any answers??
#Pakistan v #WestIndies, #Christchurch 21 Feb 2015
#DarrenBravo, after getting a #diamondduck in the first game (out without facing a ball), was getting into his groove in this match. He was also getting lucky with Pak dropping a few catches.
However, he seemed to be injury prone all the way through.
First he received a throw flush on his #helmet by #ShahidAfridi, trying to run him out. Then he pulled up a #hamstring and had to be carried away off the ground.Looking good for his 49 but #retiredhurt at the wrong time. Could this be Pakistan's chance to come back?
Defining Moments of #ICCWorldCup Aus v WI , 1996, World Cup Semifinal, Mohali If the first semi final between Sri Lanka and India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata had drama, this second semifinal had its share too! Boy .. what a game!
Again two critical moments in the game 1. The Stuart Law and Michael Bevan partnership Batting first the Aussies got off to the worst possible start 15/4 (Taylor, Mark Waugh, Ponting, Steve Waugh all come and gone).
The Windies were harboring thought of a 100+ run chase and cantering into the World Cup final. The two however had different ideas. Slowly, they started building a solid partnership. Once they got their eyes in, Law took the attack to the opposition while Bevan held fort. A magnificent parttneship of 127 followed before Law was run out but not before laying a foundation for a somewhat fightable score. The Aussies eventually made 207 in their stipulated 50 overs. Something to bowl at... 2. Shivanrine Chanderpaul's wicket Chasing a modest score, the Windies began cautiously. Chanderpaul and Browne took the score to 25 before Shane Warne got rid off Browne for 10. In came Brian Lara and tore into the Aussie bowling in his inimitable style. The two put on a 50+ stand in no time before Lara was bowled by Steve Waugh for 45. The West Indian captain, Richie Rcihardson joined Chanders and they set about chasing the target like it was a walk in the park. At 165 for 2 in 41 overs, the game seemed done and dusted. 43 off 54 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Then tragedy struck for the Windies (just like it had for the Indians when Sachin was out after dominating the opposition bowling). In a rush of blood, Chanderpaul spooned a catch to mid on to be dismissed for 65 and the game turned course dramatically. Warne claimed 3 wickets in no time after that. The seamers applied run pressure and Windies started collapsing. Richardson was still around and kept pushing the score along. However, he was loosing partners at the other end and fast. As the last over began and 10 needed to win with two wickets in hand, Richardson smote a boundary followed by a single attempt that led to Ambrose being run out. In walked Courtney Walsh, the batsman with most ducks to his name then. And what happened, first ball, Damien Fleming castled his off stump. Windies all out for 202, 5 runs short of the Aussie total. Extaordinary scenes in Mohali and Aussies celebrated while the West Indian captain sadly walked back unconquered but defeated! Amazing game of cricket with awesome memories. We were watching this game on Doordarshan (India's TV broadcaster) when there was a power outage in our locality. This is when the Windies fuse went off too. They were coasting at 158 for 2 then and we felt it was a matter of time before they crossed the winning line. We switched over to All India Radio (India's Radio broadcaster) and the commentary was magical. Hats of Gautam Bhimani and Abhay Chaturvedi for bring the match alive for us. The drama, twists and turns, wickets, runs were so beautifully presented, we felt we were at the stadium. By the time the power came back, Windies needed 10 in the last over and the rest as they say is all history!!
1975 and 1979 Champions (still considered by many as the best One day side of all time with names like Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge, Dujon, Roberts, Marshal, Holding, Garner, and the list goes on) 1983: Shock defeat in the finals at the hands of India started their decline in world cricket. 1987: Did not qualify for the semi-finals 1992: Did not qualify for the semi-finals 1996: The gut wrenching loss to Australia from an easy win position in the semi-finals 1999: Did not qualify for the super sixes 2003: Did not qualify for the super sixes 2007: Eliminated in quarter finals 2011: Eliminated in quarter finals The solid powerhouse that this team once was ... cut a sorry picture in every following world cup. It became worse in the new millennium. All throughout that period, there were only glimpses of greatness mostly through Lara, Walsh and Ambrose So how does it look for them at the 2015 edition of the cricket world cup?
Batting: Gayle, Samuels, Darren Bravo, Simmons will need to pull out one special innings after another to upset other teams in their group. Lack of middle order stability will be concerning. Bowling: Can crank up pace and suprise oppositions. Roach, Taylor, Carter. Especially the Australian pitches will suit their seamers well. Spin with Narine is a bright spot but Benn and others looks a bit weak. All round ability: Samuels, Gayle, Holder, Sammy, Russell can wield both bat and ball effectively. Overall, very outside chances considering a lot of factors including their players squabblinh with WICB every other month, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have been huge omisions leading to lot of criticism. All the best Team West Indies for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Jason Holder Chris Gayle Dwayne Smith Marlon Samuels Darren Bravo Lendl Simmons Darren Sammy Denesh Ramdin Sulieman Benn Sunil Narine Johnathan Carter Sheldon Cottrell Kemar Roach Andre Russell Jerome Taylor
#ABDevilliers has done it.... Century in 31 balls ... OMG ... unbelievable batting from the most valuable player in cricket today. #SouthAfrica vs #WestIndies Venue: Wanderers, Johannesburg Date: 18th Jan 2015 Batting first and riding well on #HashimAmla and #RileeRossouw hundreds, South Africa looked to build momentum for a big score through some quick runs from their middle order. #AB decided scoring quick was not good enough. He decided to take the bullet train route. And boy, did he explode? Absolute carnage followed. The hapless #Windies could do nothing but see the bowls flowing over their heads into the crowds in what has been one of the most audacious batting display in cricket history. Scoops, Sweeps, Paddle shots, Flicks, the runs flowed from everywhere... and AB the magician provided them all .. in just 31 balls.. And that didn't end there. He carried on and piled up 149 in 49 deliveries (including 16 sixes, a SA record) Records set 50 runs - 16 balls - World record #ABDevilliers 100 runs - 31 balls - World record #ABDevilliers 16 sixes - South African record #ABDevilliers Total score 439 - just four short of that magical 443 SA scored against Australia (again at Wanderers in that classic massive scoring game few years ago) West Indies were so blown away by that onslaught, that their reply ended before it actually started. Although #DeneshRamdin and #DwayneSmith got half centuries, they lost the game by 148 runs. Had they plucked AB early in his innings, they could have made a game of it. Not to be. AB take a bow!
