Cricket: "Three different captains in England for three different formats"

As expected ECB (England Cricket Board) announced three different captains for three formats. Andrew Strauss had earlier said that he would step down as England captain for One Day Internationals to prolong her career in tests. On this note ECB has announced Alastair Cook as the new captain for England One Day Internationals. This was on expected lines after Alastair Cook's exceptional form in the recent Ashes against the Australians. Alastair Cook had captained England against a series with Bangladesh and won all the matches and had scored in all matches to top it.

There was another change which ECB announced, that was of T20 International captain. Stuart Broad has been named captain for T20 Internationals. He will replace Paul Collingwood, who will under fire to perform to retain his place in starting XI for atleast T20 Internationals. After being overlooked for One Day Internationals and quitting test matches. This will be first of a kind for Stuart Broad at captaincy level and will improve his chances to succeed one day as the leader in all formats.

So wishing all the three captains the best in their respective formats and hope to see some great cricket coming ahead.

Captain	Format	Replacing
Andrew Strauss	Tests	Retained his Captaincy
Alastair Cook	One Day Internationals	Andrew Strauss
Stuart Broad	T20 Internationals	Paul Collingwood

Cricket: "Ravi Rampaul helps West Indies win against Pakistan"

Hello and Welcome to the 5th One Day International between Pakistan and West Indies. Pakistan have already won the series, West Indies after loosing first three matches have pulled one back with the help of rain. What interest remains in this dead rubber is whether West Indies can maintain their momentum after winning the 4th One day International.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. For Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar opened the batting, for West Indies R Rampaul opened the bowling. R Rampaul bowled brilliantly for West Indies and gave a great start when he got the wicket of Taufeeq Umar for 3. DJG Sammy joined R Rampaul and destroyed the middle order with 2 quick wickets of Ahmed Shehzad and Misbah-ul-Haq. D Bishoo too joined the party when he got rid of Usman Salahuddin for 8. Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Akmal tried to build a partnership but DJG Sammy castled well set Mohammad hafeez and Pakistan kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. Pakistan managed to score 139 all out in little more than 41 overs. For Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez scored 55 and Umar Akmal scored 24, for West Indies R Rampaul too 4 wickets and DJG Sammy took 3 wickets.

In reply West Indies opened the batting with LMP Simmons and KA Edwards, for Pakistan Shahid Afridi opened the bowling. LMP Simmons continued his good form in this series and played his shots with ease and KA Edwards who was under no pressure settled down initially and played his shots once he settled down. Pakistan bowlers where wayward and gave away 23 extras in 23 overs and further helped West Indies chase down the low total really fast. LMP Simmons and KA Edwards didnt took much chances and played their shots with ease and took West Indies home with 10 wickets in hand. For West Indies LMP Simmons scored 77* and KA Edwards scored 40*.

Man of the Match is given to LMP Simmons for his 77*.

Man of the series was given to Mohammad Hafeez for his Allround performance.

Score : West Indies 140 for 0 (LMP Simmons 77*, KA Edwards 40*) beat Pakistan 139 (Mohammad Hafeez 55, R Rampaul 4/45, DJG Sammy 3/30) by ten wickets

Cricket: "Rain helps West Indies win against Pakistan"

Hi and Welcome to the fourth One day International between Pakistan and West Indies. Pakistan has already won the One Day International series and will try to test their bench strength, on the other hand West Indies is struggling to win a single game against strong teams. Is this the time for West Indies to prove they are settling down or will they go down, lets see what happens.

West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first. For Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad opened the batting and KAJ Roach opened the bowling for West Indies. Pakistan lost Ahmed Shehzad early to Roach. Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then played brilliantly and scored 153 runs of 34 overs. After Asad Shafiq was out for 71 to DJ Bravo pakistan crumbled under D Bishoo spin web. Mohammad Hafeez who was batting superbly and scored a century too was bowled by D Bishoo. In no time Pakistan where 220 for the loss of 7 wickets. Late strikes from Tanvir Ahmed took pakistan score to 248 for the loss of 9 wickets in their alloted 50 overs. For Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez top scored with 121 and Asad Shafiq scored 71, for West Indies D Bishoo took 3 wickets.

In reply West Indies opened the batting with LMP Simmons and KA Edwards, for Pakistan Junaid Khan opened the bowling. KA Edwards was out of the very second ball to Junaid Khan. LMP Simmons and DM Bravo played brilliantly and scored 56 runs of 8 overs. Junaid khan took his second wicket in the form of DM Bravo. RR Sarwan gave good support to LMP Simmons and both of them scored 75 runs of 16 overs. Then West Indies lost RR Sarwan and LMP Simmons to Mohammad Hafeez and Tanvir Ahmed respectively. Rain was in the air and west indies where well ahead with the par score. In the 30th over bowled by Shahid Afridi west Indies where little short of the par score, for which DJ Bravo hit a match winning six and the very next moment rain arrived and West Indies win by 1 runs under D/L method. For West Indies LMP Simmons scored 76, for Pakistan Junaid Khan took 2 wickets.


Man of the Match was given to Mohammad Hafeez for his brilliant 121 and for his spell of 1/26.

Score : West Indies 154 for 4 (LMP Simmons 76, Junaid Khan 2/26) beat Pakistan 248 for 9 (Mohammad Hafeez 121, Asad Shafiq 71, D Bishoo 3/37) by one run under D/L method.

Cricket: "Pakistan win the series against West Indies under Misbah's Brilliance"

Hello and Welcome to the Third One day International between Pakistan and West Indies. Pakistan have already won first two One day Internationals and poised to win the series by winning todays game on the other hand West Indies are trying hard not to go down tamely this time. Lets see if West Indies can come out of their shell and give a fight to keep this series alive.

Pakistan won the toss and selected to bowl first. LMP Simmons and DS Smith opened for West indies, Junaid Khan opened the bowling for Pakistan. Mohammad Hafeez stuck with his very first ball when he trapped DS Smith for a golden duck. LMP Simmons and DM Bravo then played some beautiful shots and gave hopes of a huge total for west indies when they were at the crease. LMP Simmons played some amazing shots in his half century. When west Indies where looking good, LMP Simmons was out to Saeed Ajmal and the same old story continued and West Indies kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and in no time they were all out for 171 in less than 44 overs. For West Indies LMP Simmons scored 51 and DM Bravo scored 47, for Pakistan Wahab Riaz and Saeed Ajmal took 3 wickets each.

In reply pakistan opened the batting with Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad, West indies opened the bowling with KAJ Roach. R Rampaul was on fire and took three pakistan top order wickets in just 7 balls to raise the west indies hopes of a win. After the burst from R Rampaul Umar Akmal counter attacked the west indies attack and was partly successful and trying to score more runs was the 4th wickets to R Rampaul. Once R Rampaul completed his successful spell with 4 wickets, pakistan began their rebuilding process under experienced Misbah-ul-Haq. Misbah-ul-Haq and new comer Hammad Azam added another 78 runs. Once Hammad Azam was out to D Bishoo, Pakistan had another mini collapse when D Bishoo had another 2 quick wickets to give a slight chance of hope for West Indies. But the super cool Misbah-ul-Haq with Wahab Riaz saw pakistan home without any more casualties. For Pakistan Misbah-ul-Haq scored 62* and Hammad Azam scored 36, for West Indies R Rampaul took 4 wickets and D Bishoo took 3 2ickets respectively.


Man of the Match is Misbah-ul-Haq for his brilliant and calm half century

Score : Pakistan 177 for 7 (Misbah-ul-Haq 62*, Hammad Azam 36, R Rampaul 4/32, D Bishoo 3/42) beat West Indies 171 (LMP Simmons 51, DM Bravo 47, Saeed Ajmal 3/29, Wahab Riaz 3/38) by 3 wickets.

Cricket: "Duncan Fletcher to succeed Gary Kirsten as Indian Coach"

The wait is over for the new coach of World Chapions India. Indian Cricket board BCCI (Board of cricket control India) has named Duncan Fletcher as the new coach. He will succeed the very successful Gary Kirsten under whom India won the most prestigious World cup recently.

Expectations will be hell high to take over the reigns form Gary Kirsten as Gary Kirsten has set very high standard with his coaching, under whom India became Number one in tests and won the 2011 World cup.

Duncan Fletcher was born on September 27th 1948 in Salisbury, Zimbabwe which is now called Harare. His complete name is Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher, In short DAG Fletcher. He represented Zimbabwe in six One day Internationals. He was the first person to captain Zimbabwe and that to in a worldcup. His international representation was just the worldcup in 1983 where he captained and steered Zimbabwe to their first One Day International victory on their debut against the mighty Australians. In his 6 innings he scored 2 fifties against Australia and West Indies. The former was most crucial as they defeated Australia in their inaugural debut into the international arena.

He was the first foreign coach for England from 1999 to 2007. Under his coaching England won the most prestigious Ashes against Australia after 18 years and rewrote England fortunes with his exceptional coaching in 8 years to bring England team from low level to top 3 in tests. After loosing the ashes in 2007 with 0-5 margin to Australia and disappointing world cup in 2007 which led to his resignation. He was credited as one of the best coach england has ever produced.

His contract is for 2 years and due to prior commitments he might not join the indian team for the West Indies series which is to follow soon after the IPL 2011. All the best to Duncan Fletcher, and lets hope he keeps the form of Indian team intact and India will be number one in ODI and sustain their number one position in test arena.

Cricket: "Pakistan make it 2-0 with Shehzad's Century"

Hi and welcome to the 2nd One day international between Pakistan and West Indies. After loosing the first One day International West indies are eager to pull one back and pakistan on the other side wants to keep their winning moment intact. Lets see what is the outcome fo the 2nd One day International between Pakistan and West Indies.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. West indies opened with LMP Simmons and DS Smith, both had a slow but steady start until Mohammad Hafeez had DS Smith leg before. LMP Simmons played beautiful shots on one side and west indies started loosing wickets at other end. LMP simmons was out attacking afridi after completing his fluent half century and west indies kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. West Indies finished with a below par 220 of their allotted 50 overs. For West Indies LMP Simmons scored a fluent 51 and MN Samuels 29, for Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez, wahab riaz, saeed ajmal and shahid afridi took 2 wickets each.

In reply pakistan had a cautious start from their openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad. They scored 66 when hafeez was out to D Bishoo trying to increase the runrate in 19th over. Asad shafiq joined Ahmed Shehzad and played sensible cricket and made sure they didnt loose another wicket and added another 66 in next 15 overs until asad shafiq was run out for 23. Then came Misah-ul-haq who made run a ball 43 and gave good support to Ahmed Shehzad in completing his century. Once everything was set in final 5 overs of power play pakistan with wickets in their hands launched the attack and where home with 2 overs to spare. For Pakistan Ahmed Shehzad scored a brilliant 102 and Misbah-ul-haq run a ball 43, for West Indies again D Bishoo bowled brilliantly for his 2 for 36 of 10 overs.


Man of the Match is Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad for his patient 102

Score : Pakistan 223 for 3 (Ahmed Shehzad 102, Misbah-ul-haq 43*, D Bishoo 2/36) beat West Indies 220 (LMP Simmons 51, MN Samuels 29, Saeed Ajmal 2/23, Mohammad Hafeez 2/38) by seven wickets

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