WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 44

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April 25th, 2007 : Quiztion of the Day - 44

Never before in the history of World Cup was a semi final started in such a disastrous note for one team as it did for South Africa. Not even the first ever semi-final in 1975 when England were bundled out for 93 when Gary Gilmour returned with unbelievable figures of 12-6-14-6. The result of this second semi-final of the World Cup between Australia and South Africa was a foregone conclusion even before the South African fans settled down in their seats at picturesque Beausejour Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, St Lucia. Except for the coin toss everything went wrong for the Proteas. Their imbecile thinking of piling up a huge total going after the Aussie bowlers in the power plays is the only way to get better of Australia backfired terribly.

With still one ball left in the first Power Play South Africa was decimated to 27 for 5 with some accurate bowling from the ageless wonder Glen McGrath. McGrath took three wickets and broke the back of South African top order after their captain Graeme Smith was clean bowled by Nathan Bracken with just 2 runs on the board and Kallis continued his out of character batting style to gift his wicket to Shaun Tait. Then Ashwell Prince too followed Kallis example and chased a widest of the wides that McGrath bowled in his entire career to present a practice catch to Adam Gilchrist. When Boucher edged next delivery from McGrath to give one of the four catches that Gilchrist accounted behind the stumps, there were no two arguments about who will be playing against Sri Lanka at Kensington Oval in the 2007 World Cup final.

Shaun Tait took four wickets for 39 runs with Watson and Hogg chipping in with a wicket each. There were just three batsmen who could reach double figures in entire South African innings. Justin Kemp top scored with 49not out where as Herschelle Gibbs made 39 and for a while their partnership looked like resurrecting South African total to a reasonable number. AB de Villiers with 15 was the only other batsman who could score more than 8 runs.

Though Australia lost out of form Gilchrist to the first ball of the second over bowled by Langeveldt a target of 150 was never going to be an insurmountable for the current Australian team on any surface under any conditions against any opposition. Hayden made 41 and went past 600 runs for this tournament. Ricky Ponting made a relatively low score of 22 for the standards he setup in this tournament. But Michael Clarke flourished again with his fourth fifty (60*) of the tournament whereas Andrew Symonds made an unbeaten 18 and hit the winning boundary to take Australia to the World Cup finals for the sixth time and fourth in succession.

The brains trust of South Africa must be wondering what hit them to come up with such a pathetic display in a World Cup semi-final. They not only lived up their chokers tag but also were bowled out for their lowest total.

Today's 'Quiztion of the day' relates to another semi-final match which was started on equally disastrous note. Here it is:

In another semi-final encounter which too involved Australia, the match was started on even worse note than this semi-final match. Surprisingly Australia was at the receiving end. In fact their fourth wicket fell at a much lower score than South Africa's in this semi-final. But Australia went on to win that match with a huge fifth wicket partnership between an unlikely pair. Name the players and provide the details.

Remember to email your answers for each quiz individually to vijay@dreamcricket.com with the subject line as ‘Quiztion of the Day - X’ (X being the question number) through out the tournament duration. Results will be first posted on http://www.dreamcricket.com/ website within a week of the World cup Final.

Cheers…

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 26, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 43

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April 24th, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 43

An absolutely brilliant innings by Mahela Jayawardene shattered the hopes of New Zealand getting past the semi-final stage for the first time in their fifth attempt. Jayawardene's superbly paced innings, which had almost all the necessary qualities of being labeled as one of the greatest innings in World Cup history, gave a lesson to all those non-Australian teams how can a team build big totals without having the heavy hitters and massive batsmen with the physiques of Hayden, Symonds & Watson in the team and even after going through the PowerPlays without a boundary.

The match everyone thought would be decided by who wins the battle between Bond and Jayasuriya. In fact no showdown took place between the duos as Jayasuriya lasted just six deliveries before he completely missed the line of a Franklin's incoming delivery and was clean bowled for a single even before he could take guard against Shane Bond. In the end neither of them really mattered in the outcome of the game, if you discount Bond's dropped catch of Jayawardene when he was on 70 and Jayasuriya's couple of wickets at a stage when it was clearly known which direction the match was headed.

Jayawardene's innings might have changed the mindsets of South Africa's Coach Micky Arthur, Captain Graeme Smith and the media back in Jacques Kallis' home country. Their chances will be higher against Australia if they allow Kallis to continue playing in his natural style. The results may be devastating as they have experienced in their Super 8s game against New Zealand, if he is asked to alter his way of building an innings. Jayawardene proved today that you definitely need his type of batting in a One Day game especially when the flamboyant openers like Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith, and Virendra Sewhag are out early and you still want to build big totals around a batsman who is willing to bat it out till the end of 50 overs.

During the initial phases of his innings Jayawardene crawled even slower than the usual suspects Wall 'Dravid' and Jacques Kallis. He came into bat when Sri Lanka lost Sangakkara to the first ball of the 14th over and the score was just 67 with Upul Tharanga batting on 40. He opened his account only in the 16th over after blocking nine deliveries and did not reach double figures till Tharanga got out for 73 with the score card reading Nelson (111) in spite of playing 33 balls. After playing 47 balls Jayawardene's strike rate was still under 30. His first boundary came off the 48th ball he faced, the second of 66th and the 3rd of 73, but then runs flowed from his bat as he hit seven more boundaries and three sixes as he hammered 60 runs of the last 27 deliveries he faced and from a dismal 29.82 he ended the innings with a strike rate of 105.50. With their skipper in full flow Sri Lanka moved their score from 187 to 289 during the last ten overs losing just one wicket. A staggering 102 runs were added during that period as none of the Kiwi bowlers could restrict the barrage of boundaries. If it was Tharanga at the start of the innings who went head on with the New Zealand bowlers and made a valuable 73 under tremendous pressure of still being in the team in place of Marvin Atapattu, Dilshan provided the same kind of impetus at the start of the slog overs with a quick-fire 30

One of the most remarkable features of Jayawardene's innings was the tremendous nonchalance and calmness he displayed. Being the captain and standing at the opposite end he witnessed two of the worst umpiring decisions of this tournament handed over by two of the best in the business going against his side at crucial times. He did not show a wee-bit of anger on his face and became more resolute to stay at the wicket till the end with some kind of total in his mind. If at all there was any anger or displeasure over the horrendous decisions was shown by him it might have been experienced by only the Kiwi bowlers and their captain through his array of strokes which put Sri Lanka in a commanding position half way through the match.

Fleming's poor run of scores against Sri Lanka continued when New Zealand started their 290 run chase. He almost got out to the first ball he faced from his nemesis Chaminda Vaas when he edged Vaas wide off the first slip but ended up scoring his first run against Sri Lanka for the first time in five ODI innings. His relief did not last long as Lasith Malinga with one of the fastest deliveries of the match hit him plumb in front of the wicket. Malinga then tortured both Ross Taylor and Peter Fulton with scorching deliveries and rarely missing the line and length. They played and missed and somehow managed to last Malinga's fiery first spell. Malinga's replacement Dilhara Fernando's first over consisted of 9 balls with 3 no balls and was a lot worse than Shane Bond's first. He was also warned twice by Rudi Koertzen for running onto the danger area, which in turn may have upset his bowling rhythm as he ended up conceding 45 runs of 5 overs he bowled.

After Malinga completed his first spell, Ross Taylor may have thought he could go after the other bowlers. But luck did not favor him as he was adjudged leg before coming forward to a good length delivery from Vaas and was stuck on the pads with score reading at 32 for 2. Hawkeye did suggest the ball may have missed the off stump, but like Ross Taylor, Simon Taufel too was going through a rough day.

Styris then joined Fulton for the umpteenth time in this tournament and started repairing the damage and succeeded somewhat in doing so. They both for a moment raised the hope of Kiwi Landing in a World Cup final as they took the score to 105 for 2 at a much faster rate than their opponents. Styris hit three sixes with one of them coming of the bowling of Muralitharan.

As soon as Power Plays completed Tilakaratne Dilshan was introduced into the attack in a masterly move by Jayawardene and he got the much needed breakthrough right away by inducing Styris to go at him. Styris did try to go at Dilshan but ended up presenting a catch at midwicket which was gleefully accepted by Jayawardene. Styris ended the tournament with one run short of 500.

Once the breakthrough was provided by Dilshan Muralitharan and Jayasuriya ran amuck with the middle order as wickets fell in a heap and Kiwis were reduced from 105 for 2 to 149 for 9 in a matter of ten overs. Oram was brilliantly caught and bowled by Muralittharan and his next delivery accounted for McCullum with Chamara Silva coming up with a fantastic diving catch at short fine leg. Fulton then departed four short of his half century again caught by Silva at short mid-wicket.

Meanwhile Craig McMillan tried hitting at everything as he came to the crease with the help of a runner and made 25 of 20 balls with a boundary and two sixes. But he was clean bowled by Jayasuriya playing one shot too many. Then one of Murali’s doosras claimed Daniel Vettori plumb lbw though slightly coming forward for a duck. Bond could not certainly do what he can not do with bowling and was duly out clean bowled by another doosra by Muralitharan to leave the match a mere formality. Murali bamboozled the Kiwi batsmen to return with figures of 4 for 31 and now leads the wicket-takers table for this tournament.

Jeetan Patel (34) and James Franklin (30*) then just extended the innings and reduced the victory margin to 81 runs before Tilakaratne came back again to end the innings by getting Jeetan Patel out caught in the deep by Dilhara Fernando.

Its celebration time now for the Sri Lankans, they reach the finals after a decade since their 1996 victory. Whereas the disappointed Kiwis head back home once again, failing to get past the Semi-Finals. Their eternal captain Stephen Fleming has just announced that he will be quitting as their ODI captain owning the responsibility. In the hindsight it appears New Zealand's team selection for their last Super Eights game against Australia seems to have made Jacob Oram and Shane Bond 'rusted rather than rested'.

They both took a wicket for which credit should be given to the umpires than to the bowlers. Ironically Shane Bond had his hand literally in the only chance that was offered during the entire Sri Lankan innings. A difficult catch that went through his hands when Jayawardene was on 70 resulted in a six.

Today's 'Quiztion of the day' relates to the centuries scored in Semi-final games in the World Cup history. Here it is:

With his match winning knock of 115 not out Mahela Jayawardene becomes only the fourth batsmen in the history of World Cup to have scored a century in the semi-finals.

Who are the other batsmen with a hundred to their names in World Cup semi-finals and What common factor of all those three innings does Jayawardene want to avoid when his team takes on Australia in the finals on April 28th?

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 25, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 42

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April 23rd, 2007: Quiztion of the Day-42

As the World Cup enters it’s final week and just three more games remaining, I hope at least these games would live up to the expectations of connoisseurs of cricket. My prediction is whoever bowls first tomorrow in the Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand game will win the first semi-final. In the second semi-final Australia should come out winners unless they have their worst day of this tournament and South Africa has it’s best day in entire World Cup history.

Today’s ‘Quizton of the day’ is one for those who are real cricket trivia buffs like me. Here it is:

As of today, which ODI cricketer holds the distinction of being the oldest living cricketer to have played in a World Cup?

Remember to email your answers for each quiz individually to vijay@dreamcricket.com with the subject line as ‘Quiztion of the Day - X’ (X being the question number) through out the tournament duration. Results will be first posted on http://www.dreamcricket.com/ website within a week of the World cup Final.

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 24, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 41

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April 22nd, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 41

Finally the final game of Super Eights produced all the drama, excitement and crowd involvement that the general cricket loving public and ICC management were hoping for ever since the tournament kicked off. In an emotional thriller which saw a long standing Coach of England and a one of the game’s greatest batsmen and holder of several records both representing their sides for the last time, England won the match by one wicket with the penultimate delivery of the innings after chasing down West Indies’ total of 300.

England cricketers played their best cricket of the tournament in Duncan Fletcher’s farewell match as a coach whereas Brian Lara bowed out of International cricket making just 18 runs as Marlon Samuels ran out his captain when Lara was looking good and entire cricket loving community was hoping for a big innings from him.

“At least I had the opportunity to say goodbye, I saw Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, all these guys wanted to go that little extra step. Unfortunately they were not granted the opportunity to.” - is what Lara said in the post match press conference. It’s true to the dot as he really got a rare opportunity that many of his preceding West Indian Cricket Legends did not get. I sincerely hope it would be good for West Indian Cricket if their Administrators can persuade and force him out of his retirement at least for Test Cricket. I will be posting a statistical tribute to Lara once the World Cup fever dies down.

Today’s ‘Quiztion of the Day’ has got nothing to do with Lara; in fact he had not even started playing serious cricket when it happened. Here it is:

Name the player whose name is in the World Cup record books as the first cricketer to have died after representing his side in the World Cup?

Remember to email your answers for each quiz individually to vijay@dreamcricket.com with the subject line as ‘Quiztion of the Day - X’ (X being the question number) through out the tournament duration. Results will be first posted on http://www.dreamcricket.com/ website within a week of the World cup Final.

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 23, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 40

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April 21st, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 40

Like Sri Lanka did in their game against Australia after ensuring a spot in Semi-final, New Zealand too rested two of their key players Jacob Oram and Shane Bond in one of the most anticipated Super Eights game, there by killing the contest before it even got started. The outcome was even more embarrassing for the Kiwis than their opponents of the semis suffered. Australia like a true professional side did not bother about the constitution of the opposing team and fielded their best possible players including Shane Watson in the team in place of Brad Hodge. Watson made everybody know that he is now totally recovered from his injury by blasting the erring Kiwi bowling attack for 65 runs of just 32 balls in another display of power hitting.

But it was Matthew Hayden's amazing power hitting and Ricky Ponting's continuing good form with the bat during the first PowerPlay that quickly dissipated any chances of New Zealand making inroads into Australia's top order. Their partnership set the platform for the later batsmen to take Australia past the 300 total for seventh consecutive time in the matches they batted first. This has now become a norm for them than an exception. They started this phenomenal run in the 2nd ODI of the Chapell-Hadlee Series by making 336 for 4 at Auckland and 346 for 5 at Hamilton. The 300 plus core in their last super 8 game against New Zealand is their 5th out of the 9 matches they batted first in World Cup. They made 334 for 6 against Scotland , 358 for 5 against Netherlands and 377 for 6 against South Africa in their Group matches at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts. In their first Super Eight game against West Indies they made 322 for 6. In the matches they did not bat first they chased the down targets quiet comfortably by 10 wickets against Bangladesh, by 7 wickets against England, by 9 wickets against Ireland and by 7 wickets against Sri Lanka. But none of those wins may have given the Australian the kind of pleasure they derived out of the thrashing they inflicted on Kiwis to take the revenge of their 3-0 loss of Chappell-Hadlee series. The 215 runs margin of victory is the biggest in any ODI between two test playing nations and beats the previous worst of 202 runs suffered by India in the first ever World Cup match against England which became famous more for Gavaskar's sedate batting of unbeaten 36 of 60 overs than the margin of victory.

Another feature of the current Australian team in this tournament is that they have bowled out the opposition in all of their nine matches barring one against the Bangladesh. But the reason for that has more to do with Messrs. Duckworth and Lewis than with the Australian bowlers as that match was reduced to 22 overs a side and Bangladesh made 104 for the loss of six wickets.

If Sri Lanka and New Zealand were thinking that they are saving their trump cards for the potential outing against the defending champions in the World Cup final on April 28th, then the first thing they must realize is that only one of them will have a chance to do that and then for a team which has shown the kind of remarkable consistency in every department of the game, the only way to encounter them is to take them by horns at every chance you get.

In that aspect South Africa has a better chance of defeating the Aussies in the semi-final than either Sri Lanka or New Zealand in the final. The Proteas were the only team who played the game the way Australia does in the group stages and for the first 20 overs it looked as if they would run away with a victory like they did at Johannesburg on March 12th, 2006 in the greatest ODI chases ever

Coming back to the match in question here, after Adam Gilchrist slashed at James Franklin's out side the off-stump delivery and was very well caught at third man by Mark Gillespie to the 1st ball of the innings' second over, Kiwi bowlers were tortured by both Ponting and Hayden for 22 long overs which yielded 137 runs.

Hayden muscled his way for another hundred, his third of the tournament whereas Ponting made same number of runs that he made against Sri Lanka before he scooped up a catch of Jeetan Patel's tossed-up delivery to Ross Taylor at mid-wicket who grabbed it with an utmost glee. Michael Clarke made 49 before he was frozen in time and let a Franklin delivery hit his stumps. Hussey spent the much needed time at the crease and made 37 before getting out in the final over. Symonds with 11 and Gilchrist with 1 were the only ones to have missed the party. Shane Watson took the match away from New Zealand in a matter of 18 deliveries by making 47 out of the 51 runs made during the last three overs. Watson seems to have more amazed at himself than the crowd did when he finished the innings with a remarkable six over the extra cover of the last ball of the innings Watson in the process equaled Tom Moody's record for fastest fifty by an Australian in World Cup.

With the memories of Chappell-Hadlee series still fresh one would have expected a close game when Kiwis started their batting and made 21 runs by half way through the fourth over. But a horrible umpiring decision which resulted in Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming losing his wicket for 12 after Shaun Tait's short pitched delivery brushed his left fore-arm and went straight to Ponting at second slip, opened up the gates for the Australian bowlers and they ran through all over the Black Caps. McGrath for the sixth time took a wicket in the first over he bowled in a match in this World Cup. He finished with 2 for 25 where as Brad Hogg took 4/29 and mopped up the tail. Tait took 3 for 32 and Shane Watson gave further evidence that he is completely recovered from his injury by taking 1 for 20 of 5 overs. Peter Fulton fought a lone battle and made 62 and the match ended when he was out as the last batsman. Apart from Fleming and Fulton only Scott Styris with 27 could reach double figures.

Australia's flawless and resounding victories in every match they have played in this tournament means that they are destined to become the first team ever to make it a hat-trick of World Cup titles. It appears the only way to stop them is to make them not to show up for the final. I doubt either Graeme Smith's team or anybody else will be able to achieve that. But strange things have happened in World Cup finals before. Ponting should ask either Clive Llyod or Kapil Dev, the opposing captains of 1983 finals, if he wants to know.

Today's 'Quiztion of the Day' is about the crushing defeats of highest order like the one suffered by New Zealand.

The highest margin of victory in a World Cup match has also witnessed two other major World Cup records. Provide the details.

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 21, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 39

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April 20th, 2007 : Quiztion of the Day

On a day more significant events have taken place outside the Kensington Oval Pitch than on it where the Bridgetown crowd witnessed an insignificant World Cup encounter that took place between Bangladesh and West Indies. Duncan Fletcher predictably resigned as coach of England, but Lara's decision to quit from International Cricket was a real shocker. Just a couple of weeks ago he mentioned that he would be quitting One Day Cricket at the end of the World Cup to concentrate more on the longer form of the game for a longer time. I believe his continuing poor form and a visible lack of motivation in the ongoing World Cup may have played a part in Lara's sudden announcement about his retirement. His three dropped catches in this game convinced the onlookers that his decision was a right one as he does’t seem to be enjoying his game any more.

Since the Coach of England and the Captain of West Indies will be bidding adieu to their respective teams' emotions will be playing major part when West Indies and England take on against each other in the last game of the World Cup and that should make the game really interesting.

Coming back to the match between Bangladesh and West Indies which resulted in a big victory for Lara's men , Ramnaresh Sarwan , who in all probability will be taking over the mantle of leading the West Indians on their England tour made an emphatic 91 not out to take his team's total to a defendable 230. Sarwan's composed yet a very critical innings deservedly won him the Man of the Match award. After they were put into bat by Habibul Bashar, West Indies started their innings disastrously losing both their openers by fourth over with just 8 runs on the board. Chanderpaul made an even fifty and added 47 runs for the third wicket with Marlon Samuels (31) to stabilize the innings. Lara made a rapid 33 of 27 balls with two massive sixes in his penultimate innings and added 60 runs for the fifth wicket to get some respectability to the final total.

But Bangladesh's top order collapsed after a lucky break in the form of Tamim Iqbal's run-out opened opportunities for Collymore and Powell. They seized them with both hands and by 17th over Bangladesh were reeling at 35 for 5. The match from then onwards was only of an academic interest. And when Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar was superbly caught by Bravo at third slip of Powell's bowling whatever little fight they could offer to get closer to the target of 231 was quickly evaporated. Mashrafe Mortaza played a cameo innings of 37 and Mushfiqur Rahim made one run more to remain not out on 38 as the tigers folded out for 131 giving West Indies their first win of Super Eights.

Today's 'Quiztion of the Day' relates to a curious record about the Man of the Match of the Bangladesh and West Indies encounter.

What curious ongoing bating record does Rmanaresh Sarwan hold in the history of World Cup among the batsmen who have played in at least ten or more innings?

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 21, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 38

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April 19th, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 38

There isn't much to write about the Ireland and Sri Lanka game with Ireland getting thrashed for their lowest total of 77 in the tournament and Sri Lanka blitzing through with an 8 wicket victory as the match ended in less than 3 hrs and in 37.4 overs. But the amount of entertainment Ireland has provided during their existence in the tournament in their maiden attempt at game's premier event will be cherished by many for a very long time to come including the players themselves.

The fighting Irish finally bowed out of World Cup, without giving enough fight as they have done in almost all of their games except against Australia. However, they did win many hearts around the Caribbean Islands. They truly were a joy to watch and many of the members of the current team will be remembered for a long time for their antics on the field including the new form of celebratory dances we became familiar with.

Today's 'Quiztion of the Day' relates to the below hundred totals in World Cup. Here it is:

Majority of the totals less than 100 runs in World Cup were recorded by non-test playing nations. Since the inception of the World cup in 1975, out of the 11 such totals including Ireland's 77, ten of them were achieved by non-test playing nations.

Sri Lanka never achieved a total below 100 as a test playing nation. Though they were bowled out for 86 against West Indies at Manchester in 1975, at that time they were still playing as a non test playing nation. Which are the only test playing nations that were dismissed for less than 100 in a World Cup match? Provide the details.

Remember to email your answers for each quiz individually to vijay@dreamcricket.com with the subject line as ‘Quiztion of the Day - X’ (X being the question number) through out the tournament duration. Results will be first posted on http://www.dreamcricket.com/ website within a week of the World cup Final.

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 20, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 37

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April 18th, 2007 : Quiztion of the Day - 37

South Africa stormed into the semi-finals utterly humiliating England and leaving them in total disarray to ponder over what went wrong with their World Cup campaign. There will definitely be more questions asked than answers told about their worst World Cup performance ever since Michael Atherton’s 1996 World Cup debacle in which their only wins were against UAE and Netherlands. Everything went wrong after Michael Vaughan won the toss and elected to bat first. South African fast bowlers took advantage of bowling first and ran through the England’s innings with the biggest celebration of the match taking place when Kevin Pietersen was caught by Graeme Smith off Andre Nel. Shaun Pollock though went wicket-less in the innings, was as economical as ever conceding just 17 runs of his 10 overs. Andrew Hall finished with 5 for 18 becoming the third bowler from South Africa to claim 5 or more wickets in this tournament. Earlier Charl Langeveldt took 5 for 39 against Sri Lanka and Andre Nel took 5 for 45 against Bangladesh. South Africa almost lost the match against Sri Lanka with Malinga’s four in four during the final stages of the game whereas they did lose the match by 67 runs against Bangladesh in tournament’s biggest upset.

Smith and de Villiers wasted no time in going about the task of chasing England’s paltry total and finished off the match even before the powerplays ended. Graeme smith was at his belligerent best in making unbeaten 89 of just 58 balls and de Villiers made 42 of 35. The chasm between the two teams was so big that South Africa scored 64 runs of their first seven overs where as England could make just nine runs during the same number of overs in a pathetic display. England now plays against West Indies, another demoralized unit like themselves in the last game of the Super Eights and will be looking for salvaging some prestige and end their World Cup campaign on a winning note.

Today's ‘Quiztion of the Day’ relates to their England’s other miserable World Cup campaign in 1996. England failed to reach the semi-final stage in that tournament too and could not win a single game against any test playing nation.

England won the first game of the 1996 tournament against a team which had only one native-born player in their playing eleven. Shown below is the picture of this player who was believed to have owned more cars than the number of runs he scored in One Day Internationals. Identify the Player and the team he played for in 1996 World Cup.

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 18, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 36

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April 17th, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 36

Sri Lankan cricket team management came out with a shocking decision of resting two of their key players in one of the most anticipated matches of Super 8s stage disappointing both the fans and experts alike. That stunning move killed the contest even before it started. Though they had the luxury of experimenting and resting some players the motive behind the omission of Vaas and Murali from the playing eleven stunned everyone including Australian Captain Ricky Ponting, who fielded his strongest side available and crushed the Lankans with a seven wicket defeat. Only the time will tell if the ploy of resting or hiding Chaminda Vaas and Muralitharan from bowling at the Australian batsmen is the right one or not.

If Lankan team Management was thinking by not exposing Vaas and Murali in this game to Aussies now, they can pose problems to them later in the finals, well, then they must be kidding and also taking New Zealand for granted, which I honestly fell is a great mistake. But if the real reason as claimed by Sri Lankan skipper Jayawardene was not to take risk with Vaas and Murali as they are prone to recurring or aggravating the injuries they suffered in recent past, especially since having already qualified for the semi-final, then it definitely is justifiable to give them a break.

But not having Vaas and Murali in the side on top of injured Malinga may have prompted Jayawardene not to bowl first which has become a norm for the captain winning the toss in this tournament to take advantage of early morning conditions. Instead Sri Lanka batted first and found themselves at the receiving end as Bracken and McGrath sent top three Sri Lankan batsmen back to the pavilion for just 27 runs. The score would have been even lower had Shaun Tait been not so erratic and inconsistent during his first spell. Both Bracken and McGrath bowled brilliant and miserly opening spells and troubled the Lankan batsmen getting three wickets in space of fourteen deliveries with a wicket each in fifth, sixth and seventh over of the innings. Jayasuriya was first to go lbw to Bracken for 12, Then McGrath replacing Tait had Sangakkara lbw for a duck. Sangakkara was a little bit unlucky that the decision went in favor of bowler giving a wicket to McGrath in the first over he bowled in a match for the fifth time in eight games of this tournament.

Jayawerdene (72) and Chamara Silva (64) then resurrected the innings adding 140 runs for the fourth wicket. Their partnership proved out to be the only bright spot for Sri Lanka and promised an even contest in an otherwise a boring one side affair. Brad Hogg, who seems to be improving by leaps and bounds with every match that he has been playing, broke the partnership getting the top edge of Chamara Silva's bat when he tried to sweep. Then two overs later he had Jayawardene stumped with a beauty. Sri Lanka from being in a great position of 167 for 3 during the 38th over with two set batsmen and plenty of batting to come and were all set to take the score to 300 plus suddenly found themselves struggling to touch the 200 run mark. Hogg's intelligent yet economical spin bowling and his two wickets at a very critical stage changed the momentum in Australia's favor completely. And with the re-introduction of Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken they lost 5 wickets for just 17 runs and quickly became 184/8. It's only some lusty late order hitting by Bandara and Maharoof that took the Sri Lankan total to 226.

Defending a total of 226 against Australia, that too not having three of your best bowlers in the side was never going to be easy and Jayawerdene soon found it. With the kind of form their top order batsmen are in which has given just 72 balls of batting for their No. 5 batsman Mike Hussey Australia cruised to a comfortable victory again without requiring the services of Mr. Cricket.

Sri Lanka never looked like interested in giving a fight let alone winning. Gilchrist and Hayden provided another 50+ opening stand in an ODI, their 40th together, surpassing the previous record of 39 between Greenidge and Haynes. Ricky Ponting who doesn't seem to be getting out in this tournament finished the match with a six and remained not out on 66 where as Symonds played his first big innings of this tournament and remained unbeaten on 63.

Whether Sri Lanka's tactics to rest their best bowlers will have an impact on Aussie batsmen if at all they meet again in this tournament is something that only their team management can address. But if you have resorted to losing an inconsequential match and did not give your best shot at beating them, 99 out of 100 times you won't be able to win when it matters. Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene and their coach Tom Moody must be thinking about the remaining one percent.

Today's 'Quiztion of the day' is about that one percent occasions of not exposing a bowler to the opponents in an inconsequential match and then making use of him when it mattered most. Here it is:

This incident did not take place in the World Cup but both the captain and the bowler represented their country in the World Cup games. Captain of the team instructed this bowler in a tour match to just play around instead of showing what he was capable of doing so that he won't get exposed.

The bowler followed the orders and just had fun while bowling within himself. This led to the touring team forming a different impression about the bowler and their subsequent demise at his hands in the Test Series that followed. Name the Captain and bowler and provide the details of the incident.

Remember to email your answers for each quiz individually to vijay@dreamcricket.com with the subject line as ‘Quiztion of the Day - X’ (X being the question number) through out the tournament duration. Results will be first posted on http://www.dreamcricket.com/ website within a week of the World cup Final.

Cheers…

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By TestCricket Statistician – April 17, 2007

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WORLD CUP CRICKET : QUIZTION OF THE DAY - 35

WORLD CUP CRICKET QUIZ:

April 16th, 2007: Quiztion of the Day - 35

A setup for the marquee match-up between India and Pakistan ended up being the venue for the Battle of Minnows. For the Administrators who were looking for a sell-out crowd and in fact added a stand to accommodate an extra ten thousand spectators allowing them free of charge after one and half hours play must have been a real anti-climax. But it did not bother either Bangladesh or Ireland fans as they thought their teams deserved to be there for their sterling performances in the tournament so far.

An opening partnership of 92 between Jeremy Bray and William Porterfield which was a run more than their complete innings total against the mighty Australians laid a solid foundation for the later batsmen to capitalize after Irish captain Trent Johnston called the toss of the coin correctly and decided to bat. It was somewhat a surprising move as many experts present in the stadium were expecting the toss winners to bowl first with the likes of Boyd Rankin and Mashrafe Mortaza being in their teams. But Trent Johnston may have read the pitch differently and better than anybody else as his decision to bat first did not backfire and in fact helped his bowlers as the pitch became slower and slower when Bangladeshis batted.

Both the Irish openers took their time to settle and made sure that no wicket fell during the first half of their innings. Although Ireland bungled a little during the middle of the innings when boundaries were hard to come by they managed to muster 243 for 7, a total which would have needed some hard work from any team on that wicket. Ireland's total would have been even bigger had they not resorted to accumulating the runs during the first 38 overs of the game mostly through quick and some times impossible singles and twos.

Four of the seven wickets that fell during Ireland's innings were unnecessary run-outs which resulted when they tried stealing runs or going for a non-existent single. There were just 10 fours and 3 sixes in whole of Irish innings. Only five boundaries were hit during the first 38 overs and it was only after the burly hitter Kevin O'Brien came into the crease boundaries started to come. Kevin O'Brien made a quick 48 of just 44 balls with the help of 2 fours and 2 sixes. William Porterfield made 85 of 136 balls displaying Kalllisesque type of batting and anchored one end of Irish innings to win the Man of the Match award. Bray's 31 at the start of the innings and Johnston's 30 at the end swelled the total to a defendable 243/7.

Though the pitch played slow when Bangladesh started their chase with an occasional bounce to the tallest bowler of the tournament Boyd Rankin, it was more of their cavalier approach towards chasing the target that led to their defeat more than anything else. True, Ireland bowled well and their fielders did a much better job on the field than their counterparts, but except for Shahriar Nafees, who was beaten by the extra bounce of a Boyd Rankin's delivery and an unfortunate run-out dismissal of Saqibul Hassan while backing up, all the other wickets were not really wicket-taking deliveries.

Ashraful played a short and sweet knock of 35, but his choice of the shot when Bangladesh needed them to be present at the wicket must have not only annoyed his captain watching him from the other end but also his coach Dave Whatmore who was watching him from the dressing room. Tamim Iqbal settled threw his wicket away when both he and Ashraful were going great guns. Trent Johnston showed what smart bowler he is when he spotted Tamim's pre-meditated move and chased him with a yorker and cleaned up his stumps. Indeed, his customary after wicket celebration did follow the dismissal to get rapturous applause from the Barbados crowd, who have given a new name to his famous jig - “Funky Chicken Dance". That started a slide which could only end with Bangladeshi captain Habibul Bashar losing his wicket to his counterpart as the last batsman and resulting in a 74 run win for Ireland.

It is a great win for the Ireland and they certainly deserved to be in Super 8s. They batted within their limitations through out the tournament and only once when they batted against Australia they looked like minnows. Their bowling and fielding was excellent and economical and they proved it again today when all of their bowlers who bowled ended up taking at least one wicket. And except for a dropped catch they did not make any major mistakes compared to four dropped catches and plentiful of misfields and bad throws by Bangladeshi team on the field.

Ireland now will be heading to St. George's, Grenada where they will be playing their last game against Sri Lanka. Whatever may be the outcome, they have already made an indelible mark on this 2007 edition of World Cup whereas Bangladesh would like to put this defeat behind them when they meet West Indies at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. Meanwhile Whatmore and Habibul Bashar must be teaching the Bangladeshi young guns it is the consistency that is the hallmark of good batsman not the occasional flamboyance.

Abundant talent can leave them with just handful of victories but will never make them a successful team in the long run. Unless their natural flair for stroke making is backed up by mental toughness to adapt themselves to the demands of the situation Bangladesh will be suffering the kind of defeats against Ireland more often than their fantastic wins against India and South Africa.

Today's 'Quiztion of the Day' is related to the four run-out dismissals of Ireland's innings. Here it is:

Eight times before the Ireland vs. Bangladesh match, at least four run-outs have taken place in a single innings in the World Cup history. But the record for most number of run-out dismissals in an innings of a World Cup match is five. Provide the details and identify the remarkable coincidence that has taken place on both those occassions.