South Africa thrown out

South Africa, having suffered a big defeat against a much improved English side by 22 runs, is out of the tournament. This is the second defeat for South Africa; the first one coming against Sri Lanka by 55 runs in a rain curtailed match.

Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to field first. Joe Denly and Andrew Strauss began the innings for England. England had a reasonable start. After a couple of wickets, it was Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah, who gave strength to the team and soon these two started hitting South African bowlers all over the park. Especially, Owais Shah was crueler on South African bowlers, hammering 5 sixes. He was unlucky, not to get a hundred and was dismissed for 98. Paul Collingwood then took the charge with Eoin Morgan, who hammered 67 runs in just 34 balls. Collingwood made a well crafted 82. Eoin Morgan got out with few overs left but he managed to secure a strong total of 323 for the team. For South Africa, Wayne Parnell took 3 wickets and Johan Botha chipped in with 2 wickets.

In reply, Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith started well and South Africa looked to adopt the right path to chase such a huge target. But wicket of Gibbs came sooner and Kallis followed him shortly. Then South Africa came back in the game with a great partnership between Smith and AB DeVillers for the third wicket. Together, they put on 78 for the 3rd wicket. Again, after DeVillers got out, it looked that South Africa might collapse, but J P Duminy played well for his 24. Together with Smith, Duminy put on 67 for the 4th wicket. After Duminy’s wicket, South Africa started to lose their wickets at regular intervals. Though, Albie Morkel did hit some lusty blows, but they weren’t sufficient. Graeme Smith almost carried his bat and was the last one to got out. His innings was an outstanding one, scoring his 9th ODI century off just 104 balls. He made 141 in 134 balls, with 16 fours. After it looked that no one could stay at the wicket, Smith decided himself to finish the job; though he couldn’t do so. His innings were larger than life and would be remember for days to come. James Anderson and Stuart Broad were the pick of the bowlers to take 3 wickets each.

Owais Shah was declared the Man of the Match for his thundering innings of 98 runs.

Meanwhile, another player has got out of the tournament. The latest victim is England’s wicketkeeper batsman Matt Prior due to illness.

Kiwis thump Sri Lanka

In a huge match of ICC Champion Trophy 2009, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs. This could be possibly the end of road for Sri Lanka as they lost second game in a row.

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangkkara won the toss and elected to field. He didn't though that New Zealand would make such a start. Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum destroyed the Sri Lankan bowling and made 125 for the first wicket. Ryder, in particular, was more sever on the bowlers. Also, he was the first to go. McCullum soon departed, when he was dismissed for 46. Ryder made a brutal 74 off just 58 balls. He sent 11 balls to the boundary, 10 fours and 1 huge six. New Zealand then seemed to lost their way, as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Captain Daniel Vettori, though stood tall and contributed 48 from the bat. His 48 came off just 44 balls, with 4 fours and a six. James Franklin and Kylie Mills ended the Kiwi innings in style, as Mills scored 18 off just 6 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Both of them ensured that New Zealand get passed 300. New Zealand finished on 315. For Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya took 3 and Angelo Matthews took 2 wickets.

In reply, Lanka started in similar fashion with Jayasuriya and Dilshan scoring 66 off just 8 overs. But then, just like Kiwis, they also began losing their wickets at regular intervals. Though, there were 2 half centuries, one came from ex captain Mahela Jayawardene and second from young Angelo Matthews. Jayawardene scored 77 off 85 balls and along with Matthews, he took Sri Lanka very close to victory. But then, there were some disciplined Kiwi bowling at the end and all the bowlers contributed well. For New Zealand, Mills took 3 wickets, whereas Tuffey, Franklin and Vettori took 2 wickets each.

Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori was declared Man of the Match for his allround performance.

Meanwhile, Jesse Ryder has been ruled out from remaining matches of New Zealand in the tournament due to pulling out of left abductor muscle. He become the second Kiwi player to get knocked out of the tournament after Jacob Oram.

Pakistan wins against India

The much awaited game between India and Pakistan was electrifying and ended with Pakistan defeating India by 55 runs. It was second victory for Pakistan against India in Champions Trophy.

Pakistan's skipper Younis Khan won the toss and elected to bat first on a dry pitch of Centurion. India started off reasonably well having struck 3 Pakistani wickets for just 65, as Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal and skipper Younis Khan got out within the first 15 overs. It was then Shoaib Malik and Mohd. Yusuf who set the things for their team and shared a 206 wicket partnership for the 4th wicket. Shoaib Malik went on to score his 7th One Day international century. Yusuf was the first to depart, from the two when the score was 271. Yusuf made a well crafted 87 off 88 balls with 7 fours. The Pakistani middle and lower middle order failed miserably and wickets tumbled at one end. Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul and Mohd. Aamer departed one after the other. Shoaib Malik also lost his cool and got out when the team's total was 300. He made 128 off 126 balls with 16 fours. Pakistan ended their innings at 302-9 off their 50 overs. For India, Ashish Nehra bowled superbly and took 4 wickets for 55. Ishant Sharma also bowled very well and took 2-39 off his 8 overs.

In reply, India lost the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar very early, when the score was just 23, but Gautam Gambhir was joined by Rahul Dravid and together they scored 67 off just 64 balls. Gambhir in particular was severe on Umar Gul and he went on to score his 16th ODI fifty. When he departed, Indian score was 90 in 13.5 overs. Virat Kohli, who was included in place of injured Yuvraj Singh and skipper M S Dhoni didn't do anything special. But When Suresh Raina joined Dravid, it looked that the two will pull the victory for India, as Raina, especially was severe on the bowlers. Together they brought the required run rate down to 6 runs per over, which, at one time, got to 7.50 runs per over. Raina was adjudged LBW off the bowling of off spinner Saeed Azmal. Raina scored a quickfire 46 off 41 balls with 5 fours and 2 towering sixes. Yusuf Pathan didn't scored much and felt to Mohd. Aamer. A severe mix up between Dravid and Harbhajan resulted in Dravid's departure and India's hope. Rahul Dravid got run out, when he was trying to take the 3rd run. Dravid scored 76 off 103 balls with the help of 4 fours. With Dravid's departure, India's hopes also got over and the Pakistani bowlers cleaned up the Indian tail pretty cheaply. For Pakistan, young pacer Mohd. Aamer and Rana Naved took 2 wickets each; also, spinners Saeed Azmal and Shahid Afridi also took 2 wickets each.

Shoaib Malik was the unanimous choice for the Man of the Match award for his brilliant century.

India will now play against Australia on Monday, 28th Sept; and mind you, they have to win this game in order to stay in the competition.

Australia manages to win

It looked at one point of time, that we might have the first upset in the ICC Champions Trophy 2009, but Australia managed to pull off the things, just in time, thanks to some controlled and disciplined bowling by Shane Watson and Nathan Hauritz.

West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first. They couldn't have better start, Kevin Roach bowled out Shane Watson on the very first bowl of the game. Tim Paine also looked in 'Pain' and scored a slow 33. However, on the other hand, skipper Ricky Ponting made a patient 79. Hussey again missed out today and apart from him, Ferguson, White and Hopes felt cheaply. At that point of time, when Australian score was looking normal, tailenders Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson shared a 70 runs partnership that strengthened the things for Aussies. Brett Lee scored 25 off 28, but the real hero of the day was Johnson, who scored 73 off just 47 balls, with 8 fours and 3 massive sixes.
For West Indies, Kevin Roach, Nikita Miller and Dave Bernard took 2 wickets each.

West Indies started off brilliantly and till the 45th over, they were very much in the game; thanks mainly to half centuries by Andre Fletcher and Dowlin. Captain Reifer and Darren Sammy made useful contributions, but just when the knockout punch was required from the Windies, they failed to do so and were bundled out for just 225. The worst thing was that they lost their last 5 wickets for only 10 runs. Pacers Peter Siddle and Shane Watson took 2 wickets each. Off spinner Nathan Hauritz also took 2 wickets.

Mitchell Johnson was the obvious choice for Man of the Match.

The Real won starts now

This is it; India v/s Pakistan. India will miss Yuvraj Singh, who is out for six weeks, but Pakistan would be having a full strength side. India, though looking as hot favourites, you still can’t predict anything in this format. India’s main strength lies in batting, with Sachin Tendulkar having scored a century in the finals of Compaq Cup, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and captain M S Dhoni. The bowling attack involves offie Harbhajan Singh, pacer R P Singh, Ishant Sharma and good looking Ashish Nehra.


On the other hand, Pakistan would be banking on their pace bowling trio of Umar Gul, Rana Naved and young Mohd. Aamer and spinner Saeed Azmal. Their batting line up includes names like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir and Misbah-ul-Haq. The X factor lies in Umar Akmal. One should not even forget the lusty hitting of wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal.

This should really be a cracker of the tournament.