The most awaited game of the world cup 2011 - India vs Australia

India vs Australia
It is going to be a crunch of a game. The most awaited game of the tournament. Both the teams are the big contenders of lifting the world cup trophy. Australia being 4 times world champion will give their all to stay in the tournament and keep the chances of winning it. On the other hand India is the team with good bunch of a match winners who can turn the game in their favor any moment.
Australia's strength is their fast bowling while India heavily relies on their strong batting line up. 
This game will be a decider for great players like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, who's team looses the player might not be seen on any future ODI's. 



Pakistan vs West Indies -1st quarter final
It was a dull game, pakistan out played west indies in all departments and they beat them very comprehensively and progressed to semi finals.
It wa sthe first quarter final of the world cup 2011. The toss was won by west indies and without any hesitation they elected to bat, but their batsman failed to give any impression as the team was all out on only 112. Chanderpaul was the top scorer with 44 not out, he was left on one side ran out of partners. Afridi picked up 4 wickets with hafeez and ajamal picked 2 wickets each.
In reply Pakistan easily chased down total and they won with 10 wickets. Hafeez made unbeaten 61 and he was declared man of the match for his all round performance.

World Cup 2011: Shoaib Akhtar declared retirement from international cricket after World Cup

Shoaib akhtar will say good bye to international cricket at the end of this world cup. This will be end of a player who has seen peaks and valleys in his cricketing carrier. 
Since he made debut in the internaional cricket he played only 46 out of 84 Tests pakistan played and appeared in only 163 ODI. Because  of injuries ,fitness, misbehavior, indiscipline and controversies like doping he was in & out of the team many time in his 13 years long carrier.
He will be remembered for getting wickets of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in 2 successive deliveries in the Asian test championship match at Kolkata.


I have found some good comments at cricinfo :
A man with humble arrogance and undaunted attitude who turned out to be a threat for great 2W's. Shoaib who became the competitor of his ideals Wasim and Waqar is a man of will and determination. His career full of glitz glamor and controversies a wild man with sane head on his shoulder who challenged himself on his will and still bowling 90+ miles at the age of 36 with Flat feet. I'm gonna miss da arrogance of the ball while leaving from the shoaib's hand.
He is no doubt the fastest bowler in the world and i think his attitude throughout his career matches his personality, pace and aggression. he is one of the greatest entertainers world cricket has ever produced. only pak can produce such a rare talent. he proves his worth while being part of sub-continent team. had he played more matches outside sub-continent he might have been the greatest fast bowler world has ever produced.
Its useless to talk about what Shoaib COULD have achieved...had be been more disciplined..or properly handled...or whatever...Cuz had he achieved ALL those things.
Being an Indian Cricket Supporter- I always followed Indian Team Playing everywhere they go and no doubt India has produced some real batting entertainers like Sachin,Sehwag,Ganguly,Dravid-Now Pathan. But when it comes to bowling department my heartiest congrats goes to PAKISTAN- You all have produced one of the most feared bowlers the world have ever seen- I cannot imagine a match Pakistan have played without a genuine quality express pace fast bowler- Shoaib Aktar was and will continue to be my most cherished fast bowler- I rate Waqar,Wasim and Imran Khan very highly but Shoaib Akhtar is in a differently league all together- He is a real crowd puller- I can pay a heavy ticket just to see this legend runing in to bowl- that feeling and that excitement rush that Shoaib bought to the minds of billions around the world cannot be imagined or measured- SHOIAB AKHTAR will be remembered as very rare fast bowler who never given up on pace just to extend his career-true commitment from heart.

England clinches yet another thriller !

The world cup game between England and west indies was a thriller , England just managed  to win it by 18 runs.

England won the toss and batted first. England batsman started up well adding 48 runs for the first wicket but the middle order failed to cash on the platform given and most of the batsman got out after having a good start.Trott top scored with 47 and luke wright added useful 44. For west indies russel picked up 4/49.  Bishoo picked 3 and Roach also picked up 2 wickets. England team failed to bat out their 50 overs and were all out  on 243 in 48.4 overs.
It was not going to be easy to chase the respectable total of 243 but the west indies top order had their ideas. Chris gayle played a blazing innings of 43 from 21 balls which included 8 fours and 1 six. The cameo innings by sammy 41 runs of 29 balls 2 fours and 3 sixes took the west indies in a comfortable position. They lost regular wickets and at No 8 Russel came and made 49 runs off 46 balls with 2 fours , 3 sixes.For England Tredwell picked up 4/48 and was declared man of the match. Swann picked up 3 and Bopara picked up 2 important wickets. West indies were all out on 225 with 32 balls left and they lost the game by 18 runs.
 At one stage WI were 222  for the loss of 6 wickets and they lost their rest of the 4 wickets in 20 balls adding just 3 runs.
By winning this game England have kept their hope alive to qualify for the quarter finals.

South Africa vs Ireland at Kolkata

South Africa won easily by 131 runs. Batting first South Africa made 272 for the loss of 7 wickets with half century by Duminy who was unlucky to miss a century and got out on 99.
Van vyk added 42 and Ingram added 46 useful runs.
In reply Ireland batters failed to reach the task by a big difference and the team was all out on 141runs. Morkel and pietersan picked up 3 wickets each .
J P Duminy was declared man of the match for his useful batting performance.

The fastest hundred of the world cup history

The fastest hundred of the world cup history didn't came from the test playing nation's cricketer.  Kevin O'Brien of Ireland made the fastest hundred in the world cup history.
 It was only 50 balls taken to make  100 runs and guide his team to the famous victory. In his 100 he hit 13 fours and 6 sixes.

His innings eventually came to end when he was run out on 133 made from only 63 balls with a stunning strike rate of 179.36

He made a 162 run partnership with Cusack to bring back Ireland in the game after they lost 5 wickets for 115 runs.

Mathew Hayden, the Australia left handed opener, was in mesmerising form during 2007 world cup championship he made 101 from only 66 balls.


Davison was a very unknown player when he made his 67 ball century against mighty West Indies at Supersport park in Centurion as he played for Canada in the 2003 world cup.


In 1983 world cup Kapil Dev of India held the record of fastest century for a long time, 100 in 72 balls and scoring 175 unbeaten that day at Trent bridge which saved Indians a sorry defeat against debutant Zimbabweans when they were five wickets down for almost nothing on board.


Adam Gilchrist of Australia also scored 100 in 72 balls against Sri Lanka in the final of the 2007 world cup. 

Yorker a lethal weapon

The ball comes direct or near the feet of the batsman is called a yorker. Over the years the yorker has been the the most effective ball to get the batsman out. Very few batsman can successfully play out (dug out)that type of a delivery, which makes yorker a lethal weapon.

In the old days the great fast bowlers of the west indies used to bowl those deliveries very effectively.The duo of pakistan bowlers  Wasim akram and Waqar younis mastered the skill of bowling great yorkers, they got their ball to in swing very late and batsman felt very hard to pick those. In the recent time Lasith Malinga, Dale Styen , Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul , Brett Lee and Zaheer Khan are carrying forward the art of bowling a yorker .






In the matches of world cup 2011 we have seen many good yorkers bowl by the bowlers which got them the desired results.
The performance of Lasith Malinga against Kenya was just so superb, he was unplayable by the batsman and wickets fell like house of cards.

Time table of world cup 2011

Cricket World Cup 2011 venue: India , Sri lanka and Bangladesh together host of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Cricket World Cup 2011 matches to be played at venues in cities like Dhaka, Mumbai, Kolkata, Mohali, Colombo, Chennai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, chittagong and Bangalore and  Pallekelle & Hambantota from Sri Lanka.

Cricket World Cup 2011 teams: Cricket World Cup 2011 teams includes  Australia,  West Indies, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, England and Kenya. Groups in which Cricket World Cup 2011 teams are divided:

Group A – Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

Group B – India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Netherlands and Ireland.

Match	Date	Teams	Venue
1	19 Feb	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
2	20 Feb	New Zealand vs Kenya	Chennai
3	20 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Canada	Hambantota
4	21 Feb	Australia vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
5	22 Feb	England vs Netherlands	Nagpur
6	23 Feb	Pakistan vs Kenya	Hambantota
7	24 Feb	South Africa vs West Indies	New Delhi
8	25 Feb	Australia vs New Zealand	Nagpur
9	25 Feb	Bangladesh vs Ireland	Dhaka
10	26 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Pakistan	Colombo
11	27 Feb	India vs England	Bangalore
12	28 Feb	West Indies vs Netherlands	New Delhi
13	28 Feb	Zimbabwe vs Canada	Nagpur
14	1 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Kenya	Colombo
15	2 Mar	England vs Ireland	Bangalore
16	3 Mar	South Africa vs Netherlands	Mohali
17	3 Mar	Pakistan vs Canada	Colombo
18	4 Mar	New Zealand vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
19	4 Mar	Bangladesh vs West Indies	Dhaka
20	5 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Australia	Colombo
21	6 Mar	India vs Ireland	Bangalore
22	6 Mar	England vs South Africa	Chennai
23	7 Mar	Kenya vs Canada	New Delhi
24	8 Mar	Pakistan vs New Zealand	Pallekelle
25	9 Mar	India vs Netherlands	New Delhi
26	10 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
27	11 Mar	West Indies vs Ireland	Mohali
28	11 Mar	Bangladesh vs England	Chittagong
29	12 Mar	India vs South Africa	Nagpur
30	13 Mar	New Zealand vs Canada	Mumbai
31	13 Mar	Australia vs Kenya	Bangalore
32	14 Mar	Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
33	14 Mar	Bangladesh vs Netherlands	Chittagong
34	15 Mar	South Africa vs Ireland	Kolkata
35	16 Mar	Australia vs Canada	Bangalore
36	17 Mar	England vs West Indies	Chennai
37	18 Mar	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand	Mumbai
38	18 Mar	Ireland vs Netherlands	Kolkata
39	19 Mar	Australia vs Pakistan	Colombo
40	19 Mar	Bangladesh vs South Africa	Dhaka
41	20 Mar	Zimbabwe vs Kenya	Kolkata
42	20 Mar	India vs West Indies	Chennai
43	23 Mar	First Quarterfinal	Dhaka
44	24 Mar	Second Quarterfinal	Colombo
45	25 Mar	Third Quarterfinal	Dhaka
46	26 Mar	Fourth Quarterfinal	Ahmedabad
47	29 Mar	First Semifinal	Colombo
48	30 Mar	Second Semifinal	Mohali
49	02 Apr	FINAL	Mumbai

Cricket World Cup 2011 teams: Cricket World Cup 2011 teams include 4 times winner Australia, 2 times winners West Indies, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, England and Kenya. Groups in which Cricket World Cup 2011 teams are divided:

Group A – Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

Group B – India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Netherlands and Ireland.