ICC to check out match fixing in ICC Trophy 2009

ICC’s anti-corruption unit will investigate the charges of match-fixing in the semi-final match between Pakistan and New Zealand.

Talking to Pakistan TV channel Geo News, Chairman Jamshed Ahmed Dasti said that the national cricket team lost the match to New Zealand deliberately.

The dropped catch by Pakistani skipper Younus Khan of Grant Elliott is one of the incidents under scanner. However, Younus has denied dropping the ball deliberately, but conceded that the dropped catch cost his team the Champions Trophy semi-final tie in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Pakistan captain also admitted that he missed the catch because he was trying to protect a fractured finger.

Australia Hold their Second consecutive ICC Champions Trophy Final

Australia 206 for 4 (Watson 105*, White 62, Mills 3-27) beat New Zealand 200 for 9 (Guptill 40, Hauritz 3-37, Lee 2-45) by six wickets

For the first time since the 1996 World Cup, a team gave them a scare in a global final, but Australia still remain the team to beat on the big day. If Australia were typically aggressive and opportunistic in setting themselves just 201 to chase, they were made to play out of character in the chase against exceptional opening spells from Kyle Mills and Shane Bond, something Shane Watson and Cameron White did with smartness and with determination.

Watson’s best innings at international level, a century that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award in back-to-back Champions Trophy finals, was critical to Australia’s win. The opening spells of Mills and Bond even overshadowed that of Brett Lee and Peter Siddle. In defence of a meagre total, their lengths were immaculate. The ball that got Ricky Ponting was a perfect example: neither full enough for him to come forward, nor short enough to carry over the stumps, and the inswing trapped him in front. By then Bond had nailed Tim Paine with a full outswinger.

From 7 off 28 he motored along to 49 off 72 by the 25th over. During that Watson onslaught, White presented New Zealand with a top-edge that Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain, got under after having run backwards but dropped. That would have reduced Australia to 41 for 3 in the 18th over.

The momentum wrested, Watson took the back seat, and allowed White get into action. McCullum realised the second string of bowlers wasn’t doing him any good, and called Mills and Bond back. Mills gave him another big-hearted effort, taking out White and Michael Hussey, in the process crossing Richard Hadlee’s tally of 158 wickets. Both the leading bowlers’ quotas were exhausted, and Watson turned it on again, bringing up his hundred and the win with back-to-back sixes.

All three fast bowlers were fast, accurate and menacing. Nathan Hauritz was canny on a pitch that assisted him, and Watson was stable. New Zealand were never allowed space: the first time their run-rate crossed four an over was at the end of the 43rd over, but they had lost seven wickets by then and had consumed the batting Powerplay. Ponting was proactive in attacking – even during two sizeable partnerships, he set aggressive fields, and brought back all his three strike bowlers in the middle overs to try and get breakthroughs.

A bad start for New Zealand got worse when McCullum fell for a 14-ball duck, which seemed almost inevitable. Right from the off, Lee and Siddle hit the mid-to-high 140s, with Lee getting consistent outswing as well. Three tight overs were enough to frustrate McCullum into cutting a Siddle delivery that was too close to him.

We are ready for the big Moments:Ponting

Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson were ruthless in the demolition of England in the semi-final, and the same XI is likely to be trusted to do the job in the summit clash. Australia have lost just one game [to West Indies in Mumbai, in 2006, when Jerome Taylor took a hat-trick] in a global 50-over tournament in the last five years [18 wins], and it will take a Herculean effort from New Zealand to deny them on a Centurion pitch that’s been full of runs.

“I went and looked at the wicket and they’ve done a bit of maintenance work on it,” Ponting said. “We don’t exactly know how that’s going to come up yet. We’ll probably wait until morning and have a closer look at how the surface is. The way we’ve been playing the last couple of games would indicate that we don’t need to make too many changes. We know the conditions here pretty well, and all the guys are in good touch. It’s always nice to keep a winning combination together if you can.”

There were suggestions before the tournament began that South Africa and India would be the teams to watch, having flirted with the No. 1 ranking in recent months. But neither could deal with the pressure of expectation and yet again, the overriding theme of a major tournament has been Advance, Australia Fair. “It’s always satisfying when you win, it doesn’t matter if you’re expected to or not,” Ponting said. “But it’s the first time in a few years that we haven’t been the No. 1-ranked team coming in. We were probably the No. 3 team in the world, and a lot of the experts probably thought that’s where we’d finish up.

“But we’ve done everything that we’ve needed to so far. As I said after the England game the other night, it’s been about making sure we were ready for the big moments. We were in the semi-final, and we’ll make sure we’re ready for the big moments tomorrow as well.”

Having overwhelmed England in a one-day series after the Ashes, Australia were quietly confident coming into this tournament. “I was really encouraged by what I saw from a lot of the younger guys during the one-day series in England,” Ponting said. “It just goes to show, with England making the semi-finals here, just how well we did play against them. Our first couple of performances in this tournament was very good. We had a little bit of a glitch against Pakistan, the last half of our batting, but we rectified that very quickly against England. My expectations have always been very high.”

Australia had a day off on Saturday, and some of their players spent it watching the second semi-final. “I’m not a big cricket-watcher, I must admit, especially when I’ve got a day off,” Ponting said with a grin. “A lot of the guys, though, did sit back and watch the game last night, to see how both sides played and what they were doing.”

The All Blacks may hold Rugby Union’s Bledisloe Cup, but it’s been all Australia in recent times on the cricket pitch. Though New Zealand managed a 2-2 draw in the Chappell-Hadlee Series earlier this year, Australia have won 18 of 27 [losing seven] games over the past five years. “It’s always been a great rivalry, whether it be cricket, rugby or netball,” Ponting said. “The countries always seem to have some very good clashes in sport. It’s one that we’re looking forward to. The thing that I stress to the guys is not to get too carried away with the size of the occasion. We just have to put up a performance and not try too hard for anything spectacular.”

New Zealand have won more than a few admirers for their resolve in this competition, especially given the appalling litany of injuries that they’ve had to cope with, and Ponting certainly won’t be taking anything for granted. “They play to their strengths and they do it very well,” he said. “They’re a very disciplined side and have been for a number of years. Even looking at the way [Grant] Elliott went about it last night, he calculated and worked things out very well. He played the situation.

“You know that’s what New Zealand sides will do. They may not be the most flamboyant players going around, but you know that they’ll always stand up and try and give their 100%. We have to match them in that department and let our skills take over everything else.”

It’s been a turbulent year for Australian cricket, with South Africa ending their unbeaten run on home soil, and an Ashes defeat as well. The players have been away from home for close to five months, and Ponting admitted that tomorrow’s result could have a big bearing on how the overseas campaign is viewed. “We’ve played a lot of very good cricket,” he said. “Obviously, there’s the disappointment of losing the Ashes, but here in this tournament we’ve been focussed on building things up right the way through. We’re certainly on the right track to do that.

New Zealand want one more team performance

If ever in cricket a side has decisively shifted the emphasis from the individual battles that form each contest to the more collaborative jousts that shape the broader battle, it is New Zealand. They’ve had great individuals to be sure, but more times than not, their triumphs have been built on a number of smaller, lesser celebrated individual wins, especially the modern-day New Zealand. If not always an attractive or thrilling trait, it is an endlessly admirable one.

How on earth have they managed to get to the final of this, the most competitive Champions Trophy? Every game they have played after their opening loss to South Africa they have had to win. Every game since, they have won. Almost every game has wrought some serious toll on their squad, now almost unrecognisable from the one that landed here. And Daniel Vettori aside, they have no player in either the top five run-getters or wicket-takers of the tournament.

But right through their path lie scattered vital contributions here, there and everywhere; Jesse Ryder and the top and lower order against Sri Lanka, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Shane Bond and Grant Elliott against England, Vettori, Ian Butler, Elliott again against Pakistan. When – and if at all – they hand out medals to the side after this is over, there will be no shortage of men standing tall.

Only the captain has been a man apart, a giant among giants. He has an embedded slacker cool about him, so if you saw him jamming with the early 90s Beck somewhere he wouldn’t seem out of place. In a way more stable than it seems, he’s been many things over two weeks; brooding, spiky, witty, intelligent and understated. The beard and deep voice adds gravitas, but his performances haven’t needed it. He has scored runs when they have needed scoring and his bowling has been so good it’s hardly been noticed.

“Basically the reason we have come so far is because we’ve had team performances,” said Vettori, a day before he leads his side out against Australia at Centurion. “The whole time a number of guys have stepped up and allowed us to win. While we may not have had too many stars in the tournament, if you look at every game, we’ve had six to seven guys step up and really perform.”

They will need that and then some in the final. Aura or not, no team is looking as monstrously impressive as Australia currently. Historically and famously, New Zealand have upped their game against Australia but that theory has been ground to dust recently, in fact, turned on its head: in the last five years, Australia have won 18 of 27 games against New Zealand. Vettori knows it.

“We’ve been poor as of late against them,” he said. “We got a 2-2 result in the Chappell-Hadlee series but before that we haven’t played as well as we can. Probably we’ve had a reputation for getting up against them but the results haven’t been there. We’re hoping we can call on that form from our first two games from that series but we know Australia is a pretty impressive side and they’ve hovered around that top ranking for a long time.”

Other factors will be up against them as well, just in case nobody thought Australia was enough of an obstacle to triumph. They played the second semi-final and so have one day’s rest less. Vettori admitted that the win over Pakistan was exhausting. Not having played at Centurion since their opening game could also possibly be a disadvantage. And a bit of the battle will be against the self.

New Zealand have been, for the longest time, honest semi-finalists. This is their first big tournament final since the 2000 Champions Trophy and that was the only other time they made a final in a global event. “I think you have achieved what you set out to achieve but once you reach that level you realise there is immense desire to go all the way,” said Vettori. “There’s no relief in the camp and after the win last night, it was all about how we are going win tomorrow as opposed to it’s great we made it. It’s pleasing for me as captain to hear those sentiments and make sure we put it in practice tomorrow.”

They will be up against it tomorrow, but they have survived and thrived on that through this tournament. They have done it so long as a cricket nation, it is probably a default setting. But in this tournament, the real surprise would be if there was no surprise at all tomorrow at Centurion.

We need two more good days:Younis Khan

Sri Lanka will now be a distant memory for these two teams. Leading into this tournament, both Pakistan and New Zealand took turns in getting battered and bruised in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka. They came to South Africa with doubts looming over their ability to stick it out with other teams in formats longer than Twenty20. Both duly won their Twenty20s in Sri Lanka, and lost both Tests and ODIs comprehensively.

The weather in South Africa has been different, and so have been the results. New Zealand extracted swift revenge, knocking Sri Lanka out. But with every passing match they seem to be losing one player to injury. During their must-win game against England, Grant Elliot joined Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey on the injured list, and Scott Styris has been flown in as a stand-by. Their travel agent won’t mind flying another man in, if that means making it to the next stage.

Their opponents have no such problems. Unlike their famous triumphs, the 1992 World Cup and the World Twenty20 earlier this year, Pakistan have looked solid from the off in South Africa. They have looked more like the Pakistan of the 1999 World Cup. Their bowling attack has appeared the most settled, the most varied, and the most skilful of the lot in this tournament. Their batting is the weak link – it has fluctuated from very good, against India, to circumspect, against Australia and West Indies. If Pakistan lose the toss and are put in at the Wanderers, that passage of play will be New Zealand’s best chance of making this a close contest.

On paper Pakistan are favourites, and over the years they have used New Zealand as a stepping-stone in big tournaments. In 1992, New Zealand’s first defeat in the World Cup opened doors for Pakistan’s progress to the semi-final, where they were beaten by the same opposition. The semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup and 2007 World Twenty20 were a repeat. In the World Twenty20 in 2009, it was against New Zealand that Pakistan discovered momentum, and never lost it. New Zealand supporters, though, would want to look back at the semi-final of the Champions Trophy in 2000, when they beat Pakistan, and went on to win the final too.

Pakistan – LWWWW
New Zealand – WWLLL

Pakistan: (probable): 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Kamran Akmal, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Mohammad Aamer, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Umar Gul.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot/Scott Styris, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.

Source@CricInfo

Ponting and watson mash England

Centuries from Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson inspired Australia to a comfortable nine-wicket win against England in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.

After winning the toss, England recovered from 101-6 to post a respectable total of 257 all out, with a brilliant innings by Tim Bresnan (80), who received excellent support from Luke Wright (48) as they put on a seventh-wicket stand of 107.

In reply, although Tim Paine fell early, Shane Watson (136 not out) and Ricky Ponting (111 not out) added the highest ODI partnership in Australia’s history to coast to an excellent win.

Ponting also became the first Australia player and only the third batter overallto reach 12,000 ODI runs.

Australia will play the winner of tomorrow’s semi-final between New Zealand and Pakistan in Monday’s final.

Earlier, Tim Bresnan hit a gritty 80 and erected a crucial 107-run stand with Luke Wright (48) to steer England to a competitive 257 against Australia in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Electing to bat, England innings was in tatters having lost six wicket without reaching the half-way mark but Bresnan and Wright batted with steely resolve to extricate their team.

Bresnan, who replaced Stuart Broad in today’s match, dug in with Wright to redeem the England innings with some clever batting under pressure.

From a depressing 101 for six in 20.2 overs, England went on to put up at least a fighting total, making sure that holders Australia work hard to earn another shot at the title.

Bresnan’s splendid knock, adorned with 11 boundaries, came off just 76 balls while Wright helped himself with two boundaries and two massive sixes – both coming off tweaker Nauthan Hauritz.

Peter Siddle separated the pair when he had Wight caught behind but there was no let up in England’s assault as Bresnan in company of Graeme Swann (18) continued the good work.

Swann supported his partner well with some smart batting before running himself out.

Bresnan’s excellent innings ended when Brett Lee castled him in the fag end as England innings folded in 47.4 overs.

Peter Siddle (3/55) was the most successful bowler while Brett Lee (2/46) and Shane Watson (2/35) took two wickets apiece.

Indian bowlers set up comfort win

India 130 for 3 (Kohli 79*) beat West Indies 129 (Praveen 3-22, Nehra 3-31) by seven wickets

Until 5.21pm, September 30 was the most dramatic day of simultaneous ODI cricket a scriptwriter could have thought of. In Johannesburg, India tried their best to beat West Indies, while Pakistan pulled Australia back from what seemed a facile win in Centurion. For most of West Indies’ innings, Australia’s score remained the more important one. Chasing 206, Australia collapsed from 140 for 2 in 31.1 overs to 187 for 8 in 45.5 overs by the time India shot West Indies out for 129.

To qualify for the semi-finals, India needed Australia to lose to Pakistan in Centurion, and then thump West Indies in Johannesburg. By the time MS Dhoni walked out for the toss, though, Pakistan were hurtling towards defeat, having wasted a solid start with the bat and then having let Australia get off to a flier. For good measure, Sachin Tendulkar had been ruled out of India’s match because of a stomach infection.

And then the game started turning in Centurion, and at the same time India kept making inroads. In the dressing room India’s support staff, glued to Australia’s choke, watched the visuals from Centurion as opposed to the live action unfolding in front of them. Soon as Praveen Kumar bounced out Gavin Tonge, his third wicket and the innings’ last, the Indian players rushed to their balcony and crowded around the TV.

Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik had to tear themselves from the action and start their chase, with Australia needing six off eight balls with two wickets in hand. Even a tie would be enough to knock India out. The Indian openers didn’t watch Umar Gul bowl a special last over and Brett Lee scrambled through for the score-levelling single, off the penultimate ball, at 5.21pm. And out went the excel sheets to calculate net run-rates.

For the first half of the game, though, West Indies hardly turned up. Dhoni’s pace bowlers – minus Ishant Sharma – enjoyed the friendly conditions, getting consistent swing and ripping through a hapless top order. With Australia’s win looking certain at that time, and India running out of Ashish Nehra and Praveen’s overs, and with that choices to exploit the conditions, Dhoni decided to have some fun. Before the start of the 17th over, he gave his keeping gloves to Dinesh Karthik, and decided to bowl, something he does to good effect in the nets.

The first two balls Dhoni bowled were long hops, and were duly pulled and cut for boundaries by Travis Dowlin. The fourth ball, though, was fuller, and took the inside edge onto the stumps. And everybody had a bit of a laugh. Dhoni then proceeded to merrily seam his way through one more over, and also had a difficult edge dropped by Karthik.

If Dhoni was the surprise package, Nehra and Praveen expectedly exploited the helpful conditions. Praveen bowled a dream over to Andre Fletcher first up. Three outswingers, two of which beat Fletcher, were followed by two inswingers, one producing a close lbw shout. By now Fletcher should have been expecting an outswinger to cap off the over. He got one, but it started too close to the stumps for him to not play a shot. The edge was safely taken by first slip.

West Indies got their first loose delivery in the fourth over, and with that their first runs. That delivery was the aberration as Nehra gave Kieran Powell the left-armer’s version of the perfect outswinger. Two balls later, Devon Smith went chasing another delivery moving away, and West Indies were 27 for 3 in eight overs. Floyd Reifer then edged Praveen to make it 31 for 4.

Australia reach semis after suspenseful story

Australia 206 for 8 (Hussey 64) beat Pakistan 205 for 6 (Yousuf 45) by two wickets
Pakistan’s bowlers were magnificent in their defence of a modest total, but could not deny Australia a thrilling last-ball victory that ensured their progression to a fourth consecutive Champions Trophy semi-final. The Australians were at one stage coasting at 140 for 2 in pursuit of Pakistan’s target of 206, only to lose six wickets for 47 in a dizzying 12-over sequence that temporarily opened the door for India to leap-frog them into the next round of the tournament.

In the end, Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz guided Australia to a two-wicket win that secured them a rematch with England, and made a dead-rubber of India’s match against the West Indies down the road at the Wanderers. It was anything but convincing though. Mohammad Asif, playing his first international in 18 months, claimed two wickets in an excellent second spell to draw Pakistan back into the contest, and Saeed Ajmal continued to mesmerise the Australians with 2 for 31 from 10 superb overs. Adding to the intrigue was Naved-ul-Hasan, who at one stage conceded a solitary run from three overs at the death, turning Australia’s comfortable stroll into a nerve-shredding climb.

Australia entered the final over requiring five runs for victory, and Umar Gul gave them a torrid time. Bowling full, straight and with a hint of movement, Gul forced the Australians to edge and scamper for their runs, with victory eventually coming from a frantically-run bye from the last delivery of the match. Lee, who had played an instrumental role in restricting Pakistan’s batsmen earlier in the day, finished with an unbeaten 12, highlighted by a dancing drive to an Ajmal doosra in the 48th over that broke Australia out of their funk.

Neither opener made it through the first 12 overs – Watson edged a quicker Gul delivery to Akmal, while Paine was trapped leg-before by Afridi – but Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey ensured there would be no top-order capitulation with an 81-run third-wicket stand. Ponting contributed a stoic 32 from 64 deliveries, and Hussey a more energetic 64 from 87 as Australia eyed an early shower.

Their dismissals, however, triggered a collapse that evoked painful Ashes memories in several members of the squad. Callum Ferguson, Cameron White, James Hopes and Mitchell Johnson were all dismissed for single-digit scores as Pakistan roared back into the contest on a difficult Centurion pitch. But their resurgence fell just short, allowing Australia safe passage through to the semi-finals.

Earlier, Mitchell Johnson claimed his 100th ODI scalp, but run-restriction rather than wicket-taking proved the key to Australia’s strong bowling performance. Pakistan’s batsmen laboured through the middle stages of their innings and batted with little urgency with wickets in hand at the death, leaving Australia a modest run-chase on a flattening wicket.

Mohammad Yousuf (45 off 69) and Kamran Akmal (44 off 63) were the most prolific of the Pakistan batsmen, however neither mastered the conditions nor the bowlers. Misbah-ul-Haq looked more assured during his knock of 41 from 53 deliveries, but his dismissal – stepping on his stumps to a Watson wide in the final over – summed up a Pakistan innings that faltered out of the blocks.

Asif Could come back against Aussie

A Pakistan win, on the other hand, would throw the race for the semis wide open. Monday’s wash-out in Centurion may have allowed India to avoid a mountainous run-chase against Australia, but it also placed them in the precarious position of having to rely on other results to advance to the next round. A resounding Pakistan victory over Australia will keep alive the hopes of MS Dhoni’s men, but only if India can inflict a heavy defeat on the West Indians at the Wanderers the same day.

Weighing heavily on the Indians’ minds will be Australia’s recent 3-2 victory over Pakistan in an attritional one-day series played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. On that occasion, the superior discipline of the Australians proved too much for an out-of-practice Pakistan side although, as punters the world over are aware, form guides are seldom of use when trying to assess Younis Khan’s team. That logic is all the more applicable with Pakistan likely to rest a number of first-choice players ahead of the semi-finals, clearing the way for Mohammad Asif to make his return to international cricket after a 19-month absence.

Australia – WLWWW
Pakistan – WWWWL

Australia: (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Callum Ferguson, 6 Cameron White, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.

Pakistan: (probable): 1 Shoaib Malik, 2 Kamran Akmal, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Umar Akmal, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Mohammad Aamer, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Asif.

India look for a good day in Jo’burg and Centurion

India need the reverse of Murphy’s Law. If they are to make it to the semi-final, everything that can go right needs to go right, and then some. They need Australia to lose to Pakistan, then they need to beat West Indies, and by such a margin that their net run-rate goes over Australia’s. If any of these doesn’t happen, they are out.

If Pakistan’s match against Australia is even as much as washed out, India can kiss their campaign goodbye. The saving grace for them is that by half time during their match they’ll know what exactly they need to do – if Australia lose, that is.

A difference of 2.08 in India and Australia’s net run-rates looks huge on paper, but since it is based on the results of one match each it is not impossible to wipe out. It will be mighty difficult, though. Pakistan and Australia will make for a tight contest either way, so even if Australia lose India will need a huge win over West Indies. A perfect day is difficult to define, but India fans will know what it is if their team makes it to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.

West Indies have been no pushovers in this tournament, giving Pakistan and Australia a scare. They would love nothing better than to spoil a party on their way out. It won’t be a surprise if they even wish for Australia to lose to Pakistan, so that they have a chance to actively contribute in sending a team out. September 30 will be one complex day.

India – LWLWW
West Indies – LLLLL

India: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 6 Virat Kohli, 7 Yusuf Pathan/Amit Mishra, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Dale Richards, who dislocated his shoulder during the Australia match, is definitely out. Either Keiran Powell or Royston Crandon could get a game in his place.

West Indies: (probable) 1 Devon Smith, 2 Andre Fletcher, 3 Keiran Powell/Royston Crandon, 4 Travis Dowlin, 5 Floyd Reifer (capt), 6 David Bernard, 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Chadwick Walton (wk), 9 Nikita Miller, 10 Tino Best, 11 Gavin Tonge.

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