CWC 2015 LIVE - AB Stuns Windies Again - Magical Innings

#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!!

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CWC 2015 LIVE - Gayle Stikes 2 Blows In One Over

#SA v #WI #LIVE at #SCG
27th Feb 2015

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

Score: 170 for 3 in 33 overs.

 

CWC 2015 LIVE - Where Are My Shoes? Amla

#SA v #WI at #SCG
#LIVE
27th Feb 2015

A funny incident happened at the SCG during the SA batting innings.

#HashimAmla flicked one of the pads to midwicket and set off for a run.
In the process, he stepped on one of his shoe and it came off. He limped over to the other end since it was a comfortable single.

#FafDuPlessis at the other end saw the funny side of it, smiled, picked up the shoe and handed it over to him. Some fun ...

 

CWC 2015 LIVE - SA Off To A Cautious Start at SCG

#SA v #WI at the #SCG

SA off to a cautious start
90 for 2 in 21 overs.

#HashimAmla and #FafduPlessis at the crease steadily building an innings.
#QuintonDeKock is out for 12 off #JeromeTaylor.

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CWC 2015 LIVE - SA Win Toss, Elect To Bat v WI

#SouthAfrica v #WestIndies , #SCG
27th Feb 2015

#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.

Let the game begin...

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CWC 2015 - SL Demolish Bangladesh To Regain Form

#SriLanka v #Bangaladesh, #MCG
26th Feb 2015

Touted as the #AsianBattle between the Lions and Tigers, the match did not live up to its expectations. SL clearly the better side and won the match comfortably by 92 runs.

#TilakratneDilshan and #KumarSangakarra stroked beautiful centuries to muster a mammoth 332 for 1 in their 50 overs. Dilshan being the more dominant partner of the two. All bowlers taken to the cleaners by these two outstanding batsmen.

The Banglas were never in the run chase really.
#TamimIqbal was bowled in the first over and they never really looked like being in the game after that. Some late order hitting by #ShakibAlHasan, #MushfiqurRahim and #SabbirRahman only delayed the inevitable for a while. #LasithMalinga came back to form with 3 wickets. Lakmal and Dilshan plucking 2 each.

An all round performance from Dilshan earned him the man of the match award.
Well done!

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CWC 2015 LIVE - Battle Of Nerves - SA v WI

#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

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CWC 2015 - Another Minnow Thriller - Afghanistan beat Scotland

#Afghanistan v #Scotland, #Dunedin
26th Feb 2015

Looks like the #minnows at the World Cup (the associate members of the #ICC) have decided to lighten up contests in what has seen many one-sided games between the top teams.

Yesterday, #Ireland pulled off a stunner against #UAE
Today it was #Afghanistan to repeat the dose on #Scotland.
What a fantastic game!!

On a beautiful Dunedin monring, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field first.
The Zadrans decided to weave their magic around the #Scots. They captured 7 wickets between them to restrict Scotland to a meagre 210 in their 50 overs. 7 off the 11 Scotland batsmen got starts but none of them could capitalize and play a big innings to put up a respectable total.

The Afghanistan chase of the target began briskly with #JavedAhmadi tonking the ball around a bit. The Scots came back through 2 quick wickets. #AlasdairEvans claiming both wickets.

In walked #SamiullahShenwari to play the innings of his life. He and Ahmadi set out chasing the target with ease and were cruising at 85 for 2 in 18 overs. Simple.

This is when the tide began to turn and how?
#RcihieBerrington and #RossDavey combined in a brilliant spell of bowling to dismiss 5 Afghan batsmen for a paltry 12 runs. Suddenly the score card was reading Afghanistan - 97 for 7.
Game completely in favor of the Scots now. They had it in the bag.

Thats when Shenwari decided otherwise.
He first stitched a 35 run partnership with #DawlatZadran and then an invaluable 60 run partnership with #HamidHassan. At 192 for 8, it looked Afghanistan had the game in their grasp. Shenwari coasting to a well deserved century.

In a moment of madness though, he slapped a delivery from #MajidHaq to deep midwicket boundary where Josh Davey kept his cool and took a wonderful catch. The Scots were delighted. Their biggest thorn and in form batsman was gone with another 19 runs needed to win. Certainly, the win was theirs!

Nope said #ShapoorZadran as he smashed 12 in 10 deliveries and completed the Houdini escape for Afghanistan to win the match by 1 wicket and 3 balls to spare.

Delight and Despair all round. Wonderful scenes of ecstacy from Afghanistan and agony from Scotland. Their first win in a world cup game. Cricket was truly the winner today. Well played both teams ... are the big teams listening? can we get some of these nail-biters from you too?

Man of the Match: Samiullah Shenwari

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