Sydney Sixers beat Highveld Lions by five wickets

Champions League Twenty20 2012 in South Africa

Highveld Lions Vs Sydney Sixers, Group B,

Newlands, Cape Town,

South Africa

18th Octobet 2012

Umpires: Kumar Dhamasena, Rod Tucker

Third Umpires: Aleem Dar

Match Refree: Ranjan Madugalle

Shane Watson's all round performance with bat and ball and Mitchell Starc 3 for 19 helped Sydney Sixers to beat Highveld Lions at Cape Town on Thursday. Sydney Sixers reached semi finals of the Champions League Twenty20 2012.

Scorecard:

Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to field first

Highveld Lions 137/9 (20)

Gulam Bodi     61

Jean Symes    23

Mitchell Starc       3-19

Josh Hazlewood    2-18

Shane Watson      2-25

Target 138 runs from 20 overs

Sydney Sixers 141/5 (19 overs)

Shane Watson    47

Brad Haddin        32

Steven Smith      25*

Aaron Phangiso       3-14

Sydney Sixers won by 5 wickets

Man of the Match - Mitchell Starc

Australia beat South Africa by 8 wickets

Shane Watson's good form continued in the ICC World Twenty20. Australia go through the semi finals of the tournament with a comfortable eight wicket win over South Africa in the Super Eights at Colombo on Sunday.

Chasing the target of 147, Watson smashed 70 off 47 balls. and also take two wickets. Australia reached their target in 17.2 overs. Shane Watson's 70 consists of eight fours and two sixes. Shane Watson scored 234 runs and also take 10 wickets in this tournament. Michael Hussey made 45 runs, Shane Watson and Hussey added 99 runs for the second wicket. 

Earlier South Africa loss wickets in early. Robin Peterson top scorer for South Africa with 32 runs. Xavier Doherty take 3 wickets for 20 runs. Shane Watson got 2-29. South Africa ended the innings with 146 for 5 in 20 overs. Shane Watson got his fourth consecutive Man of the Match award. Australia will take on Pakistan on Tuesday.

Australia thrash India by nine wickets

After beating 90 run over defending Champions England that carried them into the Super Eights on a high. India crashing down by Australia in Colombo on Friday. Australia chased down the target in just 14.5 overs that credits goes to Shane Watson and David Warner.

India dropped Virender Sehwag and played with 5 bowlers its not worked yesterday. The Indian batsmans are struggled to score against aussies. Irfan Pathan top scorer for India with 31 runs and Suresh Raina 26 runs, MS Dhoni contribute 15 runs. India ended the innings with 140 for 7 in twenty overs. Shane Watson take 3 wickets for 34 runs and Mitchell Starc got 2-16.

In the Chasing India's target 141, Shane Watson and David Warner strong start for their team. they really hurt the Indian bowler. Shane Watson and David Warner add 133 runs for the first wicket. finally Yuvraj singh got Shane Watson wicket, but it was too late. Shane Watson Smashed 72 off just 42 balls and David Warner scored unbeaten 63 of 41 balls. Australia reached their target in 14.5 overs with one wicket loss. Shane Watson awarded as the Man of the Match.

Australia beat West Indies on D/L method

ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka

David Warner and Shane Watson blitz Australia to a rain hitted 17 run win over West Indies in D/L Method in the World Twenty20 on Saturday. Australia are qualified for the super eights.

West Indies scored mamooth 191 for 8 from agressive half centuries from Chris Gayle (54) and Marlon Samuels (50), David Warner start solidly with 28 off 14 balls which consists of three boundaries and two sixes.

Watson made 41 off just 24 and Michael Hussey were at 28 off 19 balls. Australia at 100/1 (9.1) overs. rain interupted the match. Australia 17 run ahead of the 83 par score on the D/L Method. Finaly Australia declared winners. Shane Watson named as a Player of this Match.

Shane Watson scripts Australia won by 7 wickets

2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka

Shane Watson's 51 and 3 for 26 with the ball helped Australia to a comfortable seven wicket win against Ireland.

While chasing the target of 124, Shane Watson made 51 runs and David Warner scored 26 runs. both of them add 60 runs in the first seven overs. Australia reached target in 15.1 overs.

Watson's 51 consists of five fours and three sixes. Earlier he got 3 for 26 runs including the wickets of Kevin and Niall O'Brien. Australia restricted Ireland to 123 for 7.

At 33 for 4, Kevin O'Brien and Niall O'Brien recoverd Ireland to post decent total on the board, Kevin O'Brien got 35, Niall O'Brien made 20 runs.

Scorecard:

Ireland 123 for 7 in 20 Overs

Kevin O'Brien 35, Shane Watson 3-26, Mitchell Starc 2-20.

Australia 125 for 3 in 15.1 Overs.

Shane Watson 51, David Warner 26

Man of the Match : Shane Watson

Australia beat Pakistan by 94 runs

Dubai: David Warner's whirlwind half-century, and bowling exploits of Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc enabled Australia to defeat Pakistan by 94 runs in the 3rd T20.

David Warner and Shane Watson smashed a century opening stand to propel Australia to 168 for 7 in the third and final Twenty20 match against Pakistan.

Warner hit 59 off 34 balls and Watson scored 47 off 32 deliveries in an electrifying 111-run first wicket stand — the best Australian partnership for any wicket in the shortest format of the game.

Pakistan, already leading 2-0 in the series, stumbled in their run-chase at 36 for 6 before being bowled out for 74 in 19.1 overs.

Pakistan were out of reckoning once the top order crumbled, with seamers Mitchell Starc 3 for 11 and Patrick Cummins 3 for 15 taking the bowling honors. It is Pakistan's heaviest ever defeat in T20s.

IPL 5: Watson powers Rajasthan to big win over Pune

 

Pune: Riding on a splendid unbeaten 90 from Shane Watson, Rajasthan Royals notched up a seven-wicket win over Pune Warriors India with 22 balls to go at the Sahara Subrato Roy Stadium on Tuesday.

Watson was fluent and looked at ease in his 51-ball 90 which was studded with 10 fours and four sixes. Wayne Parnell, Michael Clarke and Bhubaneshwar Kumar claimed a wicket each.

Chasing a modest target of 126, Rajasthan lost in-form Ajinkya Rahane (0) in the second over off Wayne Parnell caught at backward point where Steve Smith took a brilliant diving catch.

The new ball was doing a bit earlier on and Rahul Dravid struggled to connect, but with Shane Watson got a good partnership going before falling to a slower ball off Parnell caught at covers by Clarke. Dravid scored a 16-ball 14 which included two hits to the boundary.

Then Watson took charge and stitched in a 56-run stand with youngster Ashok Menaria to take Rajasthan close to win. But when Menaria fell in 13.4 over, Rajasthan were 105 and after that Watson ensured no further hiccups. 

Earlier, Pune Warriors' skipper, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat and managed only 125 for 6.

Right from the start, Pune batsmen struggled to score freely as Rajasthan bowlers maintained a tight line and length. Anustup Majumdar making his IPL debut scored a quickfire 30 off 20 balls, which included one four and two sixes. Even their man in crisis, Smith was unable to accelerate the scoring and got 18 off 22 balls.

For Rajasthan, Shaun Tait was the pick of the bowlers and returned with figures of 3 for 13, while Johan Botha and Stuart Binny chipped in with one wicket each.

However, Ganguly's bad run with the bat continued as the former India captain failed to revive the batsman of the old and scored 14 off 18 balls. While Clarke on the other hand looked scratchy and could not survive for long before he fell to Binny leg before for 16.

IPL 5: Rajasthan thump Punjab to stay alive

Rajasthan Royals produced an all-round show as they thumped Kings XI Punjab by 43 runs to end their four-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday. Chasing 178 for a win, KXIP were in the game only for a brief while when opener Shaun Marsh (34) was going great guns with some lusty hits but once he was out in the ninth over it was all over for the home side as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Chasing a competitive 178, Punjab got off to shaky start losing opener Mandeep Singh in the second over to Shane Watson. Marsh then up the ante with some big shots but soon Punjab lost their skipper David Hussey and Punjab were reduced to 55 for 3 in eight overs. But just when Marsh looked settled, Johan Botha unleashed a peach of a delivery to clean bowled the left-hander. 

Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeerat Singh tried to stabilise the innings but with the run-rate rising with every passing over, Punjab's defeat looked inevitable and the home team managed 134 for 8 in their allotted overs.

Earlier, the Rajasthan Royals compiled a challenging 177 for 6 in their IPL encounter with the Punjab. Skipper Rahul Dravid crafted a classy 46 and was ably complimented by Shane Watson, Ashok Menaria and Brad Hodge. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Dravid lost his opening partner Ajinkya Rahane (5) in the second over, as he was caught behind off Ryan Harris' second ball.

Dravid and the powerful Shane Watson then shared a 71-run stand, with Watson scoring 36 off just 17 balls, including two massive sixes. But the legspinner scalped him, as he was caught in the deep by Harris. Dravid then follwed back to the pavilion in the fourteenth over. Dravid hit eight four in his 39-ball innings. He had added 41 with Menaria (34) for the third wicket before he took long walk back. Maneria carried on the tempo with some lusty hits. He was though lucky as he was dropped near the boundary by Mandeep Singh. He was eventually in the 16th over and became Chawla's second victim.

Brad Hodge then played a cameo of 36 off 23 balls, with a pair of sixes and fours. Johan Botha chipped in with a couple of fours himself, as Rajasthan set a testing target. Harris, however, had the last laugh as he claimed Hodge's wicket in the final over. For Punjab, Ryan Harris and Piyush Chawla picked up two wickets apiece. Praveen Kumar once again remained wicketless and went for 32 runs. Awana gave away 34 runs and Mahmood proved expensive giving away 37 in the four overs he bowled.

Australia beat West Indies by eight wickets in first T20

St Lucia: Australia romped to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the first Twenty20 cricket international on Tuesday, led by allrounder Shane Watson slamming 69 off 43 balls and taking 1-16 from four overs.

Watson lashed five boundaries and six sixes at Beausejour Stadium to guide Australia to 153-2 from 18.1 overs after West Indies had been restricted to 150-7.

Michael Hussey contributed an unbeaten 59 off 45 deliveries, adding 107 runs with Watson after David Warner went for a duck off the fifth ball of the innings with Australia yet to score.

Earlier, Kieron Pollard cracked five sixes and two fours in an undefeated 54 off 39 balls.

Watson's misersly spell with the ball backed up the good work from Daniel Christian (3-27) and Brett Lee (2-30).

The second and final match in the series is in Barbados on Friday.

Australia's pursuit made a horrid start when Warner was bowled playing across the line while facing Krishmar Santokie.

But Watson, Australia's one-day international captain, quickly put the pressure back on West Indies with some superb strokes all around the ground. He raced to 50 off 38 balls to silence a big crowd of close to 11,000 people.

Hussey played the anchor role, only flourishing after Watson fell to ensure West Indies didn't gain any momentum. He reached his 50 off 40 deliveries, and finished with four fours and two sixes.

Captain George Bailey struck the winning runs, helping himself to an unbeaten 21 off 17 balls.

In West Indies' innings, Pollard's big hitting lifted what looked like being a pedestrian total to respectability. His 50 came off only 20 deliveries and he shared a partnership of 62 off 29 balls with Dwayne Bravo, who contributed 14.

Johnson Charles and Nkrumah Bonner had earlier both scored 24.

West Indies' innings had been stuttering at 72-4 in the 13th over. Lee removed Dwayne Smith for 10 and Watson added the scalp of Charles to stall the hosts. Smith edged to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and Charles was plumb leg before playing across the line.

Christian added to the pressure with the wickets of Bonner and Darren Bravo.

Bonner tried to up the tempo and was bowled, while Bravo, in a slump, miscued a pull to deep mid-wicket.

Pollard's late hitting ensured he beat the previous record for the fastest 50 by a West Indian of 23 balls, set by Chris Gayle.

India out of CB series as Sri Lanka beat Australia

Melbourne: Lasith Malinga sparked a top-order collapse as Sri Lanka claimed a thrilling nine-run win over Australia to book their place in the limited-overs tri-series finals.

David Hussey hit 74 runs off 74 balls in a last-gasp attempt to salvage a win for Australia, but was dismissed in the first ball of the final over.

Sri Lanka needed a win on Friday in front of a large crowd of supporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to advance to the finals against Australia. A loss would have seen India go through.

"We lifted our game," Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said. "I'm sure the crowd will follow us now, the lift that we got (from them), it pushed us in the last few overs."

Malinga (4-49) claimed the important wickets of David Warner, Peter Forrest and Shane Watson to help Sri Lanka defend their innings of 238.

Australia's Dan Christian earlier claimed a hat-trick among his five dismissals, but half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne proved enough to guide Sri Lanka to a winning total.

Australia made an assured - albeit short-lived - start to their run chase as Warner made 6 from six balls before being dismissed by Malinga in the third over. Fellow-opener Matthew Wade was out two balls later after making 9 off 12 balls when he was trapped lbw by Nuwan Kulasekara. The collapse continued as Forrest was caught behind for 2 off Malinga in the next over, leaving Australia at 26-3.

Shane Watson set about restoring Australia's impetus, sharing 87 runs with Mike Hussey until Hussey was caught behind for 29 off Thirimanne.

Watson made 65 off 83 balls before he was bowled middle stump by Malinga and Christian was caught and bowled by Sachithra Senanayake for 3.

James Pattinson, who returned from injury to play his first ODI of the series, was caught by Tillekeratne Dilshan at mid-wicket for 12 off Rangana Herath and Australia's hopes looked to be fading when Clint McKay was run out for 6 two overs later.

David Hussey hit a big six into the stands in the 48th over to leave Australia needing 17 runs off 17 balls, but Xavier Doherty popped a catch to Dilshan off Malinga in the next over to leave the target at 13 runs off 10 balls.

"A brilliant game of cricket," Watson said "You never knew who was going to win. Dave Hussey batted beautifully, as he's shown through the summer so far."

Allrounder Christian earlier had figures of 5-51, while paceman Pattinson took 4-51 as Sri Lankan opening pair Jayawardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan got the tourists off to a poor start after Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat.

Jayawardene (5) was run out in the second over, as he attempted a risky single and was beaten by a David Hussey direct hit.

Pattinson claimed his first wicket a short time later when he had Dilshan (9) caught behind.

Sangakkara and Chandimal then combined to steady the innings, while building up the run rate with a 123-run third-wicket partnership.

Sangakkara was eventually caught at deep square leg by Forrest off Pattinson for 64 and Chandimal became Pattinson's third victim when he was caught by Clint McKay at mid-off. His 75 came off 84 balls with three fours and a six.

Dan Christian removed Angelo Mathews for 5 when Doherty claimed an athletic running catch near the mid-on boundary.

Perera (5) was caught off a Christian ball two overs later on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Michael Hussey, who grabbed the ball, threw it into play and re-caught it to save six runs. Christian struck again with the next ball to trap Senanayake lbw for a duck and completed the hat-trick when he dismissed Kulasekara in similar fashion without scoring.

Thirimanne was out for 51 in the 49th over when he played a Pattinson ball onto his stumps, and Christian completed his five-wicket haul by bowling Malinga for 2 with the last ball of the innings.

87-run defeat pushes India to the brink

Sydney: India's hopes of making it to the CB Series final are hanging by a thread after they suffered another massive defeat – by 87 runs – at the hands of Australia at the SCG on Sunday.

With four losses in seven games, India are at the bottom of the points table and they will not only have to win Tuesday’s encounter against Sri Lanka with a bonus point but also have to wait for the result of the last league match between Australia and Sri Lanka, which the latter should lose if India are to seal their progression.

It was another inexplicable batting display by India as they failed to chase down an Australian total of 253. None of their famed batsmen could get going as their innings finished at 165 in 39.3 overs. Australia, on the other hand, have qualified for the finals following the win.

As has been the case throughout the summer, Ben Hilfenhaus provided Australia the breakthrough by taking a return catch of Virender Sehwag (5), whose poor form with the bat continued. Sachin Tendulkar played some pretty shots before he fell prey to a moment of madness. The veteran batsman responded to a quick call for a single by Gautam Gambhir (23) but was well short of his crease at the striker's end and was run out for 14. Tendulkar showed his dismay as Brett Lee seemed to have obstructed his way by extending his follow through, but per the rules he had to walk back to the pavilion.

India's middle order then came a cropper. First it was Virat Kohli (21) who failed to keep his flick down and was caught at midwicket by Daniel Christian. Later it was Gambhir, who ended his painful 48-ball stay at the crease by playing on an away going delivery from Clint McKay. Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja justified critics questioning their stay in the Indian playing XI. Both scored eight runs each before leaving India in a deep lurch.

MS Dhoni had consumed 49 balls for his 14 before being trapped in front by Hilfenhaus. R Ashwin (26) and Irfan Pathan (22) hit a few lusty blows, but it was always going to be well short of what was required.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers had done well to restrict Australia to 253 after they had been well placed to reach 300. Umesh Yadav, who gave away 20 runs in his first two overs, came back strongly in his second spell to take the important wickets of Matthew Wade (56) and David Hussey (54), who were both caught behind. The wicket of Wade came at the right time for the Indians as he and Hussey were taking the game away from them with a partnership of 94.

Praveen Kumar made a good return to the side, providing two early breakthroughs. First he had the stand-in Australian skipper Shane Watson (1) caught at mid-on, and followed it up with the wicket of an in-form Peter Forrest (7).

The fall of wickets at the other end hardly affected David Warner, who continued batting in his aggressive style. He punished the Indian bowlers and brought up the Australian 100, along with David Hussey who joined Warner after the wicket of his brother Michael (10).

The dismissal of Warner gave India an opening but the magnificent stand for the fifth wicket between David Hussey and Wade didn't allow them to claw their way back. After an injury to Irfan, who was involved in a terrible collision with Raina while trying to take Warner's catch, Dhoni opted for an unusual choice of Sehwag's offspin in death overs.

Dhoni's gamble paid off until the 50th over when he went for 13 runs. In spite of that, he was the most successful Indian bowler, taking three wickets for 43.