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Bangladesh Squad for ICC T20 World Cup Cricket in England 2009

Here is the Twenty 20 Squad from Bangladesh for the upcoming T20 World Cup Cricket in England. The team is young and is capable of pulling surprises. They are in group A along with Ireland and defending Champions India. So must be fairly easy for the team to make it to the next round.

Mohammad Ashraful (captain)

Masrafe Mortaza (vice-captain)

Tamim Iqbal

Zunaed Siddique

Roqibul Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan

Mushfiqur Rahim

Naeem Islam

Abdur Razzak

Shahadat Hossain

Syed Rasel

Mohammad Mahmud Ullah

Rubel Hossain

Shamsur Rahman

Mohammad Mithun

New Zealand Squad for ICC T20 World Cup Cricket in England 2009

Here is the squad from New Zealand for the T20 ICC World Cricket Championship being played in England. The Kiwis are in group D along with South Africa and Scotland. There are lots of new names in this team and will be interesting to see how they perform in this version of cricket.

Daniel Vettori (captain)

Neil Broom

Ian Butler

Brendon Diamanti

James Franklin

Martin Guptill

Brendon McCullum

Nathan McCullum

Peter McGlashan

Kyle Mills

Iain O’Brien

Jacob Oram

Jesse Ryder

Scott Styris

Ross Taylor

Fake IPL Player Blog

Normally I follow cricket alot in newspapers and in websites. I came across this interesting article in timesofindia yesterday with the title Knight Riders hit by mental blog.

As usual after reading the article I searched for the original blog and finally found it at http://fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com.

He had started this blog on April 18, 2009 on the first match of IPL 2009 season 2. Everbody is searching for the guy who is writing this blog. The person is using alot of nicnames to refer the peoples. A guy in his blog have written a dictionary for the nick names he was using in his blog. Very interesting to follow that blog. His blog is having 1802 Followers. Hmm not bad in so short time . To read the dictionary visit http://skateserbia.com/.

Live Streaming FREE – Cricket March 2009 Sun 1 – Thu 5 2nd Test – Pakistan v Sri Lanka Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Australia vs South Africa 1st ODI Highlights Cricket At MCG

Cricket Highlights: Watch SA vs Australia – 1st One Day match at Melbourne (MCG) from the CB Series 2009, played on January 16, 2009.

Albie Morkel 40 (18) with hitting reminiscent of his IPL (Chennai) performances pulled South Africa out of a losing situation to make for an exciting finish to the game.

Scoreline: Aus: 271/8. Shaun Marsh 79 (97), David Hussey 52 (50) SA: Win, with 3 deliveries to go. Albie Morkel 40 (18), JP Duminy 71 (93), Neil McKenzie 63 (80).

Shaun Marsh finally struck some form and strung a decent partnership with a lucky Ponting before Australia finished quite well, getting 32 runs off the last 3 overs.

Herschelle Gibbs looked cool and then got out in the 20s. Duminy who has been strutting different facets in each game he’s turned out in, played a 70 run knock that didn’t have a single boundary in it and yet was perfect for this sort of a chase. McKenzie turned all nonsense about form on its head with important blows that got the run-rate moving. But there were twists to follow with SA almost adding to the mess they’d created while fielding, losing 4 quick wickets. In earlier times you’d be shaking your head with South Africa 7 down and another 50 to get. But those who watched Albie in the IPL were instead nodding vigorously – Captain Botha though, added drama playing out some dot balls, but by then it was less than run-a-ball. A fantastic knock by Morkel that won him the Man of the Match.

Aus Batting

SA – I

SA – II

Australia vs South Africa 5th Day Highlights SCG 3rd Test Cricket

Cricket Highlights: SA vs Australia 3rd Sydney Test Day 5. Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith and Paul Harris dramatically drag the test match into the 2nd last over of the day. When Mitchell Johnson bowled Smith, SA were short of a stunning draw by 5 minutes/ 10 balls.

A win today was never really on, so though AB de Villiers got a half century, his wicket just before tea saw Harris and Steyn having to guts it out for a while with the lightning-weather looming around the SCG giving them hope. Ntini then came out and did a Courtney Walsh (with Brian Lara years ago). Only Ntini did it longer and better.

Watching Makhaya and Steyn was breathtaking – Steyn continued to play his shots while Ntini played like he knew his three stumps better than any top batsman: every ball on the stumps hit the middle of the bat and every ball outside offstump was played and missed perfectly.

Graeme Smith who was sitting in the balcony changed into his test match clothes when it came down to 20 odd overs left. When Steyn was finally out, the SCG gave Smith a standing ovation as he walked out despite his broken finger/part of the hand just above the little finger. That’s his left hand. The right elbow was also damaged and though he deserves all the credit he has been getting, he probably had no choice anyhow, considering the Steyn-Ntini stand.

Mitchell Johnson who broke Smith’s hand bowled his first 4 balls to Smith on a leavable line and got booed in the process. But he eventually got him with 10 deliveries left in the day with a super ball and what could have been a sensational draw ended in a loss for SA much like it did a year back for India at the same ground – though this was a deserved win for Australia unlike a year back where it was handed to them by Bucknor and Benson

Boucher got a poor decision that probably didn’t matter in the end. On the Aussie front, Matthew Hayden was probably the happiest with the win, not because it might give him another shot at test cricket but because he dropped Ntini a few overs before the game eventually ended.

Part 1

Part 2

SA vs Australia SCG Day 4 Cricket Highlights 3rd Sydney Test

Cricket highlights: Australia vs South Africa 3rd Sydney (SCG) test, 4th day’s play.

Scoreline: Australia 257/4 declared. South Africa in pursuit of 376: 62/1.

Matthew Hayden played some of his trademark strokes en route to his highest score in recent times (39). Australia through useful knocks by Ricky Ponting (53), Michael Clarke (41) and Mike Hussey (45) pushed the target and then declared – a declaration based on the dicey pitch, Graeme Smith’s unavailability and the safe notion that getting 300 runs on Day 5 is tough – even during the Perth Test Day 5, SA needed only 187 runs on the final day.

Matthew Hayden was given a rousing sendoff after he fell, by the SCG crowd, considering it’s upto the selectors to decide if that was indeed his last knock for Australia. If good sense prevails it shouldn’t be. Especially when you consider the return of Simon Katich to glorious form today – over the last few days, everyone (or at least I) have been stunned by his strokeplay. Today, Katich regained his touch by not scoring a single run for an hour at one stage. The eventual streaky single that ended his supreme form had all his fans disappointed and led to a moment of acrimony between Ntini and Boucher.

Just as Day 3 had a bizarre bunch of moments, Day 4 too had a couple:

Hashim Amla played some stunning drives on his way to 30 not out as South Africa after the fall of Morkel (sent in as opener) felt their way around this chase.

Australia vs South Africa 3rd SCG Test Highlights Day 2 Cricket

Watch Cricket Highlights: South Africa vs Australia 2nd Day, 3rd Sydney (SCG) Test.

Scoreline: Australia 445 all out. Michael Clarke 138. Mitchell Johnson 64.
SA 125/1. Jacques Kallis 36 no. Graeme Smith 30 retd hurt.

Michael Clarke got rid of his poor record at the SCG, while Mitchell Johnson played a bunch of spectacular shots in a partnership that pushed the Australian 1st innings total way beyond expectations. Two dropped catches (Clarke on Day 1 and Johnson today) by SA probably defined the eventual Aussie total. It also helped that the Australian tail unleashed a mighty shake through Hauritz (41) and Siddle (23).

Graeme Smith who looked sublime in comparison to Neil McKenzie at his worst today had to retire hurt after having his little finger jarred by a rising Mitchell Johnson delivery. With the pitch doing weird things on Day 2 and the Aussie 1st innings total, they probably should back themselves going into Day 4 and 5.

Smith who is already struggling with a bad elbow that will see him miss the ODI series could well miss the 2nd innings, judging from the heavy strapping on his finger en route to the hospital.

Kallis came out and pushed the momentum big time – I’ve never been fond of Kallis, but this series has been something else for him in his approach and intent.

There was a strange moment on a cricket field, when police invaded the ground following a weird looking chap attempting we-don’t-know-what-as-yet. And that was that on Day 2 at Sydney.

South Africa vs Australia Day 5 Highlights Perth Test Cricket | De Villiers Hundred

AB De Villiers: 106. Jean Paul Duminy on debut 50.
Watch South Africa win vs Australia chasing the 2nd highest ever total – 414 runs, on the 5th day of the Perth Test. If Graeme Smith set it up on Day 4, AB De Villiers was at it today with a super century – 106 n.o. Great scenes at the end for a team that has messed up so many times over the years.

Kallis with his surprisingly attacking strokeplay yesterday made a useful 57. The main attraction today however was Jean Paul Duminy who came into this test in place of the injured Ashwell Prince. It’s quite remarkable – the similarities between the two. I remember Ashwell’s debut against Australia – the Aussies had piled on a mammoth 1st innings total and while South Africa disintegrated, Prince scored a brilliant 40 odd. Once Duminy settled in, he took on the role of the aggressor, while De Villiers played a I’m-not-going-to-get-out-of-this-place-until-I-see-it-through.

South Africa vs Australia Day 5 Highlights Perth Test Cricket | De Villiers Hundred

AB De Villiers: 106. Jean Paul Duminy on debut 50.
Watch South Africa win vs Australia chasing the 2nd highest ever total – 414 runs, on the 5th day of the Perth Test. If Graeme Smith set it up on Day 4, AB De Villiers was at it today with a super century – 106 n.o. Great scenes at the end for a team that has messed up so many times over the years.

Kallis with his surprisingly attacking strokeplay yesterday made a useful 57. The main attraction today however was Jean Paul Duminy who came into this test in place of the injured Ashwell Prince. It’s quite remarkable – the similarities between the two. I remember Ashwell’s debut against Australia – the Aussies had piled on a mammoth 1st innings total and while South Africa disintegrated, Prince scored a brilliant 40 odd. Once Duminy settled in, he took on the role of the aggressor, while De Villiers played a I’m-not-going-to-get-out-of-this-place-until-I-see-it-through.