England had a narrow victory over Canada winning by just 16 runs, mainly thanks to fast bowler Stuart Broad’s match winning performance.

England had a narrow victory over Canada winning by just 16 runs, mainly thanks to fast bowler Stuart Broad’s match winning performance.

Canada’s chase of 244 runs was in tatters early on as first five wickets fell for mere 28 runs. None of the top order batsmen could cross ten figure mark as Broad ripped through the top order. Broad took five wickets in  the match and struck at every moment whenever his team needed him the most.

Veteran batsmen Rizwan Cheema (93) and Zubin Surkari (22) steadied the innings and added quick 68 runs for sixth wicket. Rizwan Cheema in particular was ruthless throughout his innings. He smashed English bowlers all over the park, hitting five sixes and ten fours.

He added 70 runs for seventh wicket with Khurram Chouhan (36). Chouhan went on to add crucial runs along with other lower order batsmen and took his team close to victory.

In the end, Canada could reach 227, agonizingly close to an upset win. Ajmal Shahzad took two and Michael Yardy, James Tredwell and Paul Collingwood took one wicket each.

World Cup warm-ups confirmed

England will meet Canada and Pakistan in warm-up matches ahead of next year’s World Cup.

The schedule for the practice games was revealed by the International Cricket Council today, six months before the tournament - to be held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka - gets under way.

England take on Canada in Dhaka on February 16 and Pakistan under the floodlights at the same venue two days later, the last of the 14 warm-up contests across three countries in the space of six days.

England's first group game is against the Netherlands in Nagpur on February 22.

Reigning champions Australia complete their preparations for the defence of their title with matches against India and South Africa.

“Today means that the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is exactly six months away,” said ICC president Sharad Pawar.

“Let there be no doubt whatsoever that the ICC, along with the three co-hosts, will ensure that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is the best of all the World Cups staged so far.”

Tickets for the World Cup proper went on sale today. For more information visiticcevents.yahoo.com.

Warm-up schedule

February 12
New Zealand v Ireland (d/n), Nagpur
Zimbabwe v South Africa (d/n), Chennai
West Indies v Kenya, Colombo
Sri Lanka v the Netherlands, Pallekele
Bangladesh v Canada (d/n), Chittagong

February 13
India v Australia (d/n), Bangalore

February 15
Australia v South Africa (d/n), Bangalore
Ireland v Zimbabwe, Nagpur
Kenya v the Netherlands, Pallekele
Bangladesh v Pakistan (d/n), Dhaka

February 16
India v New Zealand (d/n), Chennai
Sri Lanka v West Indies, Colombo
England v Canada, Dhaka

February 18
England v Pakistan (d/n), Dhaka

WE HAVE BECOME THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD: ARJUNA

August 19, 2010: Sri Lanka has become the laughing stock of the cricketing world, says former cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga. Commenting on the recent No-Ball fiasco, he said that our Cricket Board, instead of letting the match referee to take a decision on the issue, had jumped the gun and had apologised to the Indian Cricket Board.

Following the recent No-Ball controversy, cricketer Suraj Randiv was suspended from playingin the 4th one day international against New Zealand, which was to be played today but was postponed for tomorrow owing to rain.

He was fined his match fee for the match against India, according to the official website of theSri Lanka Cricket.

Continuing his views on the debacle, Arjuna Ranatunga observed that:

“In one way, I will say that if Suraj Randiv was advised by the cricketers or he deliberately did this, I’m sure it is not proper cricket.

“But on the other hand, he hasn’t done anything wrong. If he has done something wrong, I’m sure that the Match Referee would have got involved, had an inquiry and after that he might have given the punishment.

“We are surprised to see our own Cricket Board punishing three of our cricketers for whatever happened in the middle. What they should have done was to wait till the tournament was over, and have an inquiry, discuss with the cricketers, and they should have advised the cricketers.

“And the worst part is, what is the reason for our Cricket Board to go and apologize to the Indian Cricket Board?”

“These are things that did not happen in the past. We looked very cheap, especially the Sri Lanka Cricket Board looked very cheap. I think that they are under the influence of the Indian Cricket Board.

“And the important part is, when these things happen, who takes the responsibility? We arethe laughing stock. While we do these things, foreign cricketers and people must be laughing at us.

“When we put the wrong people into these positions, we should expect these things. I’m sure the government should take the blame for this,” said Arjuna Ranathunga.

News First

This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 10:11 am and is filed under Sports News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

SOURCE : Onlanka News