Cricket World Cup: Week Two

If the first week of the 2011 Cricket World Cup offered some close contests but nothing in the way of genuine upsets, then week two has seen the cat well and truly put amongst the pigeons. The pigeons in question represent the England team, whilst the cat stands for Ireland, and specifically Kevin O’Brien. In a brutal innings which lasted just 63 balls, but was worth 113 runs, the Irishman took the game away from England. His century came off exactly 50 deliveries, making it the fastest in World Cup history. It was a knock which featured some spectacular shots, the pick of which was a 102 metre six over long-on, and will surely never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. England, however, will be desperate to put everything to do with the game behind them. Not wishing to take anything away from Ireland’s batsmen, ebullient as they were, England were atrocious. An otherwise solid batting performance was marred by the now familiar failure to make the most of the power plays, whilst an apparent inability to accelerate the run rate towards the end of the innings is also a major concern. Still, a total of 327 looked reasonable enough for a major test playing nation against an associate team. But another wayward bowling performance, Graeme Swann apart, combined with more lacklustre fielding and some uninspiring captaincy let the Irish off the hook when at one stage they had been 111 for 5. England have some serious soul-searching to do, along with presumably some rigorous fielding drills and bowling practice, if they are to achieve anything approaching their potential.

Wednesday’s performance was all the more frustrating for England’s supporters having witnessed the surprise tie with India just three days before. A sublime hundred from Sachin Tendulkar looked to have set the hosts well on their way but a late burst from Tim Bresnan restricted them to 338. England started their chase in style with Kevin Pietersen taking the attack to the Indians. When he was out for 31 Andrew Strauss came to the fore. He played one of the finest one day innings by an English batsman in recent memory before falling lbw to Zaheer Khan for 158. When Zaheer then dismissed Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood in quick succession England looked to be out of it. Some late order hitting from Bresnan, Swann and Ajmal Shahzad, however, ensured an unbearably tense finale with Swann steering the final ball of the innings for a single to secure the tie.

Before the drama in Bangalore the week had begun with Pakistan defeating Sri Lanka by 11 runs in Colombo on Saturday. Younus Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq led the way with the bat before Shahid Afridi again came up trumps with the ball, taking 4 for 34. On Thursday Afridi became the leading wicket taker of the tournament so far with his second five wicket haul, this time taking 5 for 23 against Canada. That was probably just as well considering that Pakistan had only managed a total of 184 but, inspired by their captain, they dismissed the Canadians for 138.

Sri Lanka bounced back from their defeat to Pakistan with a resounding 9 wicket victory over Kenya. Despite defiant fifties from the Obuya brothers Lasith Malinga proved far too hot for the Kenyans to handle as he tore through their batting line up with a series of devastating yorkers. His figures of 6 for 38 off 7.4 overs also included his second World Cup hat trick. Sri Lanka reached the target of 143 inside nineteen overs with the loss of Tillakaratne Dilshan for 44 the only blemish. They were denied the opportunity to build on this victory by a torrential downpour which forced the abandonment of their clash with Australia after just 33 overs.

With the very honourable exception of Ireland, the second week of the tournament was not kind to the associate nations. Zimbabwe comfortably beat Canada by 175 runs on Monday but then succumbed to a 10 wicket defeat against New Zealand on Friday. Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum easily chased down the 163 runs required. The Netherlands could not emulate their performance against England in week one as they lost to the West Indies by 215 runs. Kemar Roach claimed excellent figures of 6 for 27 after Chris Gayle had made 80 and Kieron Pollard a 27-ball 60 in a total of 330. Four days later the Dutch slipped to a 231 run defeat against South Africa as Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers both registered impressive centuries. The biggest disappointment, however, was arguably Bangladesh’s performance against the West Indies at Mirpur on Friday. The co-hosts endured a torrid time with the bat as they were bowled out for just 58 inside 19 overs. Their opponents used just three bowlers to dismiss them before reaching the target in 12.2 overs for the loss of one wicket. The passionate Bangladeshi supporters surely deserve better from their team.

Week two provided the World Cup with its first major upset; are there more on the cards? Things are hotting up as we move into the third week and teams look to secure their places in the quarter finals. England fans in particular will be hoping that their side can get its act together. It’s all still to play for.