Team India gear up for series whitewash

England will be desperate to avoid a second successive series whitewash in India, when they take on the Men in Blue in the fifth and final one-dayer at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Having come nowhere near beating the Indians in the four matches thus far, the England players who seem to running out of ideas, will have one final crack at the world champions, in an effort to end the tour with a victory to their name.

It was the same old story for the visitors in the fourth ODI at Mumbai, as the English team failed to put up a competitive total, and was blown away by six wickets with almost ten overs to spare.
England once again failed to provide the finishing touches to their innings, and was bowled out for 220 in 46.1 overs.
Apart from some of the self inflicted wounds, England have also been caught on the wrong foot by some fiery bowling by, what could be described as the next generation of Indian pacers.
After sitting out the first three matches of the ongoing series, Varun Aaron, well and truly announced himself on the big stage by castling three lower order batsmen, to bring an abrupt end to the England innings.
Even though it’s still early days to go overboard with Aaron, he could just turn out to be the ideal weapon to polish off the opposition tail.
Playing at home, the Indian batsmen seem have rediscovered themselves, and the situation was no different at Mumbai on Sunday.

 

 Virat Kohli once again steered Team India’s chase, as he finished with unbeaten innings of 86, and Suresh Raina more than played his part with a score of 80 from 62 balls.
England on their part seem to have completely lost the plot in conditions which have not quite suited their style of play.
Their batting has proved to be insipid and their bowling toothless; Tim Bresnan, batting at number eight was the highest scorer in the Mumbai clash with a run a ball 45.
Although Steve Finn continues to impress with his pace and bounce, the rest of the bowlers have consistently misfired, which have allowed the Indians to recover time after time, after the loss of early wickets.
Memories of the 5-0 hammering during the 2008 tour must already be doing the rounds on the minds of many of the England players, and it would take a brave man to bet in favour of the Poms preventing back to back whitewashes in India.

India vs England 5th ODI cricket match: Preview

The fourth match was again a hands down win for India.

It is amazing that when Indian batsmen are able to bat well against English bowlers, why English batsmen have consistently failed to score runs. They have shown their weakness against spin bowling, but Indian pacers have also done better than ‘world class’ pace bowling attack of the English bowlers.
Indian captain MS Dhoni is on cloud nine with the prospects of his side winning the series 5-0. “We wanted to win 5-0 in England, but we couldn’t. It’s not always just what you want – you have to play well. We’ll try to win it 5-0. But the main motivation is just to go out there and play good cricket”, says Dhoni.
Alastair Cook on the other hand is on the defensive. “There is always that balance, as we know, and part of our responsibility as a side is to get that. Sometimes on this tour, we might not have always got that balance – but I didn’t see too much wrong this time”, says he.
Team India: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Manoj Tiwary, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Varun Aaron
Team England: 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Meaker, 11 Steven Finn.

CLT20: Last-ball six takes RCB into semis

Royal Challengers Bangalore scripted a dramatic entry into the semi-finals of the CLT20 when Arun Karthik hit a six off the last ball while chasing a mammoth 215 set by South Australia Redbacks here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
The tormentors-in-chief for the Redbacks, though, were Virat Kohli (70) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (74) who put on a 100-run partnership after a not-out century from Daniel Harris (108) had propelled the visitors to a mammoth total.

 

In a roller-coaster match, Dilshan and Chris Gayle gave the hosts the best possible start, adding 65 runs off the first 6.1overs befre Gayle fell to Daniel Christian, but the steepler caused Redbacks captain Michael Klinger and Tom Cooper to collide even though Klinger held on to the catch.
Dilshan continued with Kohli and the pair pummeled the Redbacks' attack to all corners of the park for a 100-run partnership within nine overs before Kohli became Shaun Tait's first victim for 70. Kohli faced 36 balls and hit four boundaries and hity six sixes out of the park.
Dilshan continued on the quest, but the wickets kept tumbling around him as Shaun Tait found his radar, and dismissed Saurabh Tiwary, followed by the in-form Dilshan (74) with 15 runs still needed off 11 balls.
Tait was not finished, and he also got rid of Daniel Vettori and Raju Bhatkal in the 19th over to finish with 5/32 and give the South Australian team hope to still salvage a victory.
However, Sreenath Aravind made up for his woeful bowling by scooping a four over the wicketkeeper, running a bye and Arun Karthik hit the winning six off the final ball to see the Redbacks crashing out of the competition.
Earlier electing to bat, the Australian outfit made a mockery of the hapless RCB bowlers to post the highest total in the tournament. The Redbacks have four points and need a victory to take the top slot.
The last six overs produced 92 runs with Sreenath Aravind being hit for 69 runs in his four over spell. The manner in which the left-arm seamer was hit all over the park may seriously dent his chances of making it to the playing XI against England.
For the Australian side, Harris was the star of the innings.
The right hander took charge from the word go with his audacious strokes that stunned the RCB bowlers. His magnificent innings was laced with 17 hits to the fence and two sixes one of which was the one which helped him reach his maiden T20 ton.
Ferguson was equally brilliant at the other end, scoring a 43-ball 70, studded with four boundaries and three sixes.
After losing skipper Michael Klinger (7), Harris joined hands with Ferguson as the second wicket pair stitched a belligerent century partnership of 114 runs coming off only 75 balls.
Harris showed no respect to RCB's left arm seamer Dirk Nannes, hitting him for four consecutive boundaries taking 18 runs in the process. He was particularly severe on Arvind, creaming 28 runs in two overs.
For RCB, Syed Mohammad and Rajoo Bhatkal claimed a wicket apiece.

Live Score (Australia 3-133 at lunch vs SL)

A solid start to his Test career by Shaun Marsh was the highlight of a tough morning for Australia's batsmen on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy.
After resuming at 0-60 in reply to Sri Lanka's 174 on day one, Australia were 3-133 at lunch on day two with Marsh unbeaten on 26 and Michael Hussey not out on 15, trailing by 41 runs with seven first innings wickets in hand.
The day began quietly with Australia taking just under three overs before adding a run to their score, in the process losing the wicket of Shane Watson with the 10th delivery of the day.

 Watson went without adding to his overnight score of 36, leaving a length delivery from Suranga Lakmal (1-29) that came back enough off the seam to topple his off-stump.
It was a disappointing end for the Australian vice-captain who had been given a warning with the previous delivery which he also left after it just passed over the stumps.
Hughes and Marsh put together a steady stand of 35 runs for the second wicket but after reaching drinks, Hughes fell to a bat-pad catch in the first over after the break off the bowling of Suraj Randiv (1-30).

His dismissal with the score at 95 meant the NSW left-hander has now gone 10 Test innings without passing 50 and brought skipper Michael Clarke to the crease.
Clarke didn't last long however, edging a wide ball from Chanaka Welagedara (1-39) to Mahela Jayawardene at second slip to be removed for just 13.
The Australian captain's anger at getting out would have been magnified when play was halted by a short rain delay before another ball could be bowled.
When play resumed Hussey and Marsh took the tourists to the break with a minimum of fuss and will be keen to push Australia into a lead when play resumes. 

Ind vs Eng (India vs England) 2nd ODI

England have won three successive games at The Rose Bowl, Southampton for the first time - one each against Australia, Pakistan and India

Of the seven ODIs played at this venue, England have won five and lost two. India have lost both their ODIs to England at this venue - by 104 runs on August 21, 2007 and by 7 wickets on September 6, 2011. Under Alastair Cook's captaincy, England have won 7 and lost 2 out of ten played (NR 1) - winning % 77.77. Alastair Cook (80 not out off 63 balls) has recorded his first fifty against India - his seventh in ODIs Cook is averaging 67.25 as captain - 538 in ten matches, including one century and four fifties. His highest is 119 against Sri Lanka at Lord's on July 3, 2011.

Cook has got his first MOM award against India - his third in ODIs. He had got his first two awards against Sri Lanka in ODIs. Rahane (54 off 47 balls) has posted his maiden fifty in ODIs, eclipsing the 40 at Chester-le-Street on September 3, 2011.
Suresh Raina (40) has registered his highest innings in England, eclipsing the 38 against England at Chester-le-Street on September 3, 2011.
Graeme Swann (3/33) has produced his best bowling performance against India, bettering the 2 for 21 at Bangalore on November 23, 2008.
Bresnan has claimed ten wickets in just three games against India at an average of 14.50. raig Kieswetter (46 off 25 balls) has registered his highest innings against India.

Outstanding England

Andrew Strauss says England's 4-0 series whitewash over India is the best his side have ever played as a group.
The England skipper describes his side's performance as "outstanding" after they beat India by an innings and eight runs at the Oval.

The rags to riches story of England's rise from the bottom to the top of the world rankings features plenty of big-name stars but the roles of several supporting actors should not be overlooked.

Captain Andrew Strauss, his team-mates and Coach Andy Flowerhave received most of the plaudits, while many have noted the importance of former coach Duncan Fletcher and ex-skipper Michael Vaughan in steering England towards the summit.
But over the past decade or so, several other figures have played fundamental roles in helping transform England into an ultra-professional winning machine.
Here are five of English cricket's many unsung heroes.

Duncan Fletcher is new coach of India team

Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach and former Zimbabwe captain, has been appointed India’s coach, ending weeks of speculation over who will succeed Gary Kirsten. The BCCI announced the decision to give Fletcher a two-year contract after a Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. Eric Simons’ tenure as the team’s bowling coach was also extended.

Fletcher, though, is unlikely to be with the team during the tour of West Indies in June. “The contract with Fletcher is for two years,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, told reporters after the meeting. “He may not join the team in West Indies as he has some prior commitments.”
“After a lot of thought and consultation, the BCCI president and BCCI secretary placed Fletcher’s name before the Working Committee, which the Committee ratified,” Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president, said, adding that the terms and conditions of Fletcher’s appointment would be the same as Kirsten’s.
Fletcher, 62, was in charge of the England team when they beat Australia in 2005 to win the Ashes for the first time since 1986-’87, and was credited with turning around England’s fortunes in Tests during his eight-year stint, first with Nasser Hussain and then with Michael Vaughan.