Twenty20 Warm Up round up

Australia pulled off an unlikely win in their Twenty20 practice match against New Zealand, ahead of the World Cup starting on Tuesday in South Africa.

The trans-Tasman rivalry showed itself yet again as Australia ended up victors in this hard fought classic. New Zealand won the toss and attacked all the way through. Ross Taylor continued his good form against Australia with a 43 ball 53 and Craig McMillan blasted 60 runs off 29 deliveries to put New Zealand in a good position at 8-182. Ben Hilfenhaus was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 3-11, whilst Symonds and Hogg both had outings they would rather forget.

New Zealand looked well on the way to victory when Shane Bond had Australian openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden out for ducks in his first over and Mark Gillespie had Hodge out not long afterwards to have the tournament favourites on the ropes. However as they have done time and time again, Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds rescued the side by blasting their way to a thrilling four wicket victory. Hussey scoring 72 off 44 balls and Symonds 70 off 42 in the 113 run partnership.

Over at Sedgars Park, Potchefstroom, Sri Lanka had little trouble in beating the home side, South Africa, after being set 161 to win. Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya, led from the front with 46 off 34 and captain Mahela Jayawardene saw his side home with 37 off 21 to win by five wickets with seven balls to spare.

Bangladesh made light work of their encounter with Scotland at SuperSport Park, chasing down their required 145 in 16 overs to win by six wickets. Only Poonia showed much fight with the bat for Scotland, scoring 54 off 43. However the Bangladesh bowlers bowled well to take wickets regularly to restrict any flow to Scottish innings. Nazimuddin stole the show in Bangladesh’s reply with a quickfire 74 off 42 to leave the result in little doubt in Bangladesh’s favour.

At the same venue, Pakistan convincingly beat Zimbabwe after being asked to bat first. Skipper Shoaib Malik starred with 64 off 37 deliveries to set 181 for Zimbabwe to win. However, excellent bowling from Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi who took 3 wickets each from 11 and 17 runs respectively, saw to it that Zimbabwe never had a chance at reaching the total. Pakistan comfortably home by 54 runs.

Kenya were no match for the West Indies at Benoni, when Marlon Samuels hit a whirlwind 63 off 30 balls which included a riveting six 6s and three 4s. Chanderpaul also helped in the chase to 156, set earlier in the day by Kenya with 43 at a little over a run a ball as the West Indies won easily by six wickets.

New Zealand 182/8
Craig McMillan 60, Ross Taylor 53
Ben Hilfenhaus 3-11, Nathan Bracken 2-34

Australia 187/6
Michael Hussey 72, Andrew Symonds 70
Shane Bond 3-26

Australia won by four wickets

South Africa 161/9
Graeme Smith 46, Justin Kemp 32
Farveez Maharoof 3-31, Lasith Malinga 2-10

Sri Lanka 162/5
Sanath Jayasuriya 46, Mahela Jayawardene 37
Thandi Tshabalala 2-26

Sri Lanka won by five wickets

Scotland 145/8
Navdeep Poonia 54
Abdur Razzak 2-6, Shakib Al Hasan 2-28

Bangladesh 148/4
Nazimuddin 74, Aftab Ahmed 33
Ross Lyons 2-21

Bangladesh won by six wickets

Pakistan 181/6
Shoaib Malik 64, Younis Khan 37
Elton Chigumbura 3-24

Zimbabwe 127/8
Hamilton Masakadza 41, Tatenda Taibu 34
Umar Gul 3-11, Shahid Afridi 3-17

Pakistan won by 54 runs

Kenya 155/5
David Obuya 42, Thomas Odoyo 33
Dwayne Smith 2-32

West Indies 156/4
Marlon Samuels 63, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 46
Peter Ongondo 2-21

West Indies won by six wickets