Would have suspected it was the ladies time, tbh.
After years of ballin, school work before *** ATM for me son..
txt,
Game 25: New Zealand vs Pakistan, Eden Park, Aukland, New Zealand
Coming off the back of an impressive home victory against arch rivals India, Pakistan knew that another solid team performance against the Kiwis was imperitive to chances of getting to the semi-finals. The Asian giants did their part lead by a brilliant all-round performance from captain & the greatest all-rounder the game has seen Imran Khan lead his side to a tense 2 wicket victory over the Kiwis.
Intially New Zealand were sent in by Imran Khan in overcast conditions and whethered the Pakistani pace trio brilliantly especially in the 141 run 3rd wicket stand between Andrew Jones & captain Martin Crowe, who has pretty much proven in this tournament that he is the greatest Kiwi batsmen off them all. But then as been the tale of New Zealand throughout the competition not being able to play 5 days of cricket, they collapsed although it was mainly due to high class fast bowling to be bundled out for 274 with Imran leading the way with 6 for 74 his second 5 wicket haul of the tournament well supported by Akram & Waqar who shared 2 wickets a piece. But a spirited bowling performance from the Kiwis restricted the Pakistani to 220 with Chris Cairns producing his best bowling performance of the tournament while Javed Miandad held the innings together with an uncharacteristic but vital 57 which took him all of 171 deliveries.
Conditions throughout the game continued to favour seam bowling & New Zealand capitulated for 223 second time around but Martin Crowe didn't seemed to flustered by the conditions of the quality of the bowling an accomplished 89 again fighting a lone battle with the willow for his side and Pakistan were set with a tricky of 278 to win in the last innings. It wasn't plane sailing by an means as Sir Richard Hadlee firmly came to party as the Kiwis fought desperately to gain that illusive tournament victory as he took 4 of the first 5 wickets as Pakistan sat precariously on 137 for 5. But entered skipper Imran Khan along with his cousin Majid Khan & both began to get Pakistan back into the contest before Majid was out for a fighting 74, from their on it was Hadlee vs Imran, Hadlee would beat him countless times with brilliant deliveries then Imran counter acted with some magnificent shots it was a true battle of attrition by two legends of the game single handling aiming to win a test for their countries and eventually Imran & Pakistan came out on top in a thriller of a contest.
New Zealand would look back in the tournament in various test matches where they failed to build on good positions only to capitulate and allow the opposition to claw back, Pakistan now will wait until further round matches unfold & hope they have done enough to reach the semi-finals.
Game 26: England vs Sri Lanka, Old Trafford, Manchester England
England coming into this test in 4th place knew a solid team performance against the Sri Lanka would be enough to put them in semi-finals. It wasn’t the most pretty performance by the English given that some of the players were probably feeling the strain after a long competition.
Sri Lanka won the toss on a flat Old Trafford deck and were moving along solidly lead by a well crafted Sanath Jayasuriya hundred. But were skittled out for 308 against some disciplined English bowling when it seemed they seemed set to score at least 400. When it came England’s turn 1 to 8 contributed as England gingerly accumulated 412 an overall lead of 104 with the Vaas/Murali combination leading the bowling efforts, Vaas with his first 5 wicket haul of the competition in an impressive 32 overs of left-arm swing bowling & Murali with 3 wickets.
Sri Lanka didn’t really make much of an effort second time around to try and give England a stiff 4th innings chase although it must be said England’s bowlers didn’t give them much of a chance as they collapsed from 128 for 2 to be bowled out for 253 to give the English exactly 150 to win in the 4th innings with the Harold Larwood continuing his impressive bowling performances since his call up with 4 for 62 in 22 hostile overs. England stuttered initially as the Great Muralitharan looked to weave his magic on a surface that was seriously beginning to assist him but lead by Denis Compton England safely achieved their target and also hope that the 26 points gained will be enough to book a semi-final place.
Sri Lanka like the kiwis had their moments in various test matches in this tournament but didn’t have the strength in bowling to be able to put the opposition batting line-up under enough pressure, even if some of the really classy batsmen in their ranks were able to stand up such as Aravinda De Silva & Kumar Sangakkara. They were too dependent of Murali given that Vaas didn’t always come to the party.
Game 27: Australia vs West Indies, The Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia
The two giants of the tournament & based on performances probably the two greatest sides in the history of this glorious game clashes in a battle for psychological advantage ahead of a potential semi-final or final meeting with both sides already secured a semi-final spot.
Thus both sides made changes for this SCG encounter, with the Australians recalling skipper Bradman, Lillee Miller & Warne while keeping the majority of the fringe players for their last test against Sri Lanka, while the windies kept an unchanged side except for Hunte coming back in for the rested Greenidge from the one that prevailed in that thrilling test match in India. The pitch as it traditionally at the SCG was dry looking was going to aid the spinners.
Richards won the toss & without hesitation decided to bat first. The Bajan opening pair of Hunte & Haynes batted sensibly against the pace trio of Lillee, Davidson & Miller while playing the spinners with great confidence in an entertaining opening stand. But they remainder of the batting continued to be ultra-aggressive against the Australia spin duo & didn’t build on that solid start and were bowled out for 324 with Warne taking 6 for 71 with a mixture of brilliantly bowling a loose shots by the West Indians. Australia were lead by a brilliant 149 by Bradman who finally played the kind of innings the his fans & his critics were looking for all tournament. Along with current generation maestro Ricky Ponting they took on the windies quicks in an enterprising 164 run 3rd wicket partnership mixing defense with aggression brilliantly. With a lead of 77 with the pitch beginning to take spin Australia were in the driving seat to restrict the calypso king second time around, but as they have shown throughout the competition the West Indians they have tremendous fighting qualities and are always in for a tussle, and a solid all-round team batting performance by all their batsmen lead by Desmond Haynes hundred as the windies got up 357 leaving the Australia 281 to win on a difficult 4th innings pitch.
The Australia’s tough even though losing Bradman cheaply seemed well in command at 187 for 3 but the windies came roaring back, suddenly the pacers began to find bounce & the ball began to turn alarmingly for Gibbs and an exciting run chase climaxed with Marsh & O’Reilly battling out the final 3 overs of the test to save the test for Australia. Both sides no doubt would have taken respective psychological points with a future meeting very much on the cards.
Game 28: India vs South Africa, MA Chinasammy Stadium, Bangalore, India
What a battle this was over 5 days, as India & South Africa battled away for a place in the semi-finals only to be denied as overs ran out. It was a disappointing end for both sides as India will probably look back at the fact that they didn’t take full advantage of the 4 home games that they were allocated but the South African would be more aggrieved after falling 1 point away from a semi-final birth. Many of their players especially the greats such as Barry Richards, Mike Procter, Clive Rice whose careers were cut short during the apartheid years in South Africa showed what they were capable of, but they can’t be too critical of this result since they will look back at games against Pakistan where they collapsed alarmingly to tie a test they should have won & in England where they struggled to bowl out England in the 4th innings after setting them 450 to win.
Both sides came into this crucial test with a strong spin diet, India kept the same side that lost shocking against the West Indies relying on the spin quartet that had done well in the tournament even though India didn’t always cash in on their good work while South Africa used their all-round depth to call up the unknown Allan Kourie a left-arm spinners of the apartheid era who skipper Mike Procter rated to bolster the spin ranks along with Hugh Tayfield & Aubrey Faulkner, and even though they lost top order linchpin Barry Richards in the first over of the match & were struggling initially at 4 for 69 they recovered to score a fighting 349 lead by a brilliant rearguard of 125 by all-rounder Clive Rice who was well supported by Denis Lindsay & the important lower-order contributions.
The Indian began their reply solidly and were looking very strong at 172 for 1 with hometown boy Rahul Dravid holding the innings together but the South Africa bowlers despite the hot conditions kept their disciplines in tact and were able to fight back to well to restrict the Indian for 308 with Tayfield leading an impressive exhibition of accurate off-spin bowling to some intelligently set fields.
With a first innings lead but with not much time left in the test & the pitch not proving to be the easiest to score runs freely on the South Africa went about their task of setting the Indian a stiff 4th innings chase and thanks to solid half-centuries by batting pillars Barry Richards & Graeme Pollock & an aggressive innings by skipper Mike Procter, South Africa achieved that task to give the Indian 365 to win with just over a days play to go. The Indians lead by a restrained by vital Tendulkar hundred India batted the best they could on a difficult wicket and were left just over 100 runs to win as time ran out as both sides hopes of reaching the semi-finals went up in flames.
