Saeed Ajmal still ‘heartbroken’

Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal has said the pain of losing the semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 to Australia still lingers, having bowled the last over which conceded the game.

Pakistan were firm favourites with Australia needing 18 off the final over, but Michael Hussey bludgeoned Ajmal for three sixes and a four to hand his team a miraculous win, with a ball to spare.

“When Hussey hit the last six I was absolutely heartbroken, I am still heartbroken,” Ajmal told “It was a very emotional and difficult time for me. My teammates all came up to me and consoled me and told me not to worry, but I was very upset. The pain is there, when you lose a game of this magnitude it hurts really badly”.

Ajmal said he received overwhelming support from everyone involved.

“All of the squad, from the players to the coaches to the backroom staff have said to me that I wasn’t to blame for the defeat and they have all said that we played as a unit, we won matches as a unit and we all take responsibility as a unit for the defeat,” Ajmal said. “There is no question of anyone pointing the finger at any individuals”.

That Ajmal bowled the over was part of a plan, having succeeded in shutting South Africa out of the contest in their previous game. He said he wanted to fire in yorkers to keep Hussey in check, but things didn’t go according to script.

“The first delivery was perfect, it was what I had planned, it was a perfect yorker to Mitchell Johnson and it only went for a single,” he said.

“However, then the wind seemed to pick up and I was bowling into the wind which made me lose my line and length. I dragged the next delivery down and instead of bowling yorkers into the blockhole for the remaining deliveries as I tried to fire the ball in at the batsman, the deliveries ended up being quick and became length deliveries, which was what Hussey was hoping for. He was then able to get the elevation on the deliveries, instead of having to dig them out”.

Ajmal said the best way to shrug off the disappointment was to start bowling again. “The best way for me to get over this match is to start playing cricket again, get the ball in my hand and to start bowling again.

“Thankfully the Asia Cup is not far away and I am looking forward to playing in that tournament in Sri Lanka. I have faith in my ability and I am confident that I can bounce back after the match in St Lucia”.

Source: The News

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England won T-20 worldcup 2010

South Africa born batsmen Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen starred as England won their first major one-day title in a seven-wicket victory over Australia in Sunday’s World Twenty20 final.

England, chasing 148 to win, after reducing a previously unbeaten Australian side at this tournament to eight for three, saw Kieswetter (63) and Pietersen (47) put on 101 or the second wicket at the Kensington Oval.

They eventually won with three overs to spare when captain Paul Collingwood struck Shane Watson for a boundary as his side finished on 151 for three. It was the first time England had won a major international one-day event after losing in three World Cup finals (1979, 1987 and 1992) and the 2004 Champions Trophy.

England, who held Australia to 147 for six, had an early setback when Michael Lumb’s exit left them seven for one. But Kieswetter and Pietersen then dominated the Australian bowlers. Pietersen, who faced 31 balls, with a six and four fours, was out when he hoisted leg-spinner Steven Smith to David Warner on the long-off boundary.

And, worryingly for England, 118 for two became 121 for three when Kieswetter was bowled by left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson, having faced 49 balls, with two sixes and seven fours. But Collingwood and former Ireland batsman Eoin Morgan (both 15 not out) saw England home.

Defeat in what was a first World Twenty20 final for both the Ashes rivals left an Australia side previously unbeaten at the tournament still searching for the one major title that has so far eluded them.

Earlier, David Hussey’s 59 kept Australia in the match during an innings where the next best score was Cameron White’s 30. Kieswetter and Pietersen were in commanding form against Australia’s quicks, with Kieswetter striking two fours in as many balls off left-armer Dirk Nannes and cover-driving express quick Shaun Tait. Pietersen then hammered left-armer Johnson for four and pierced the offside field with a boundary off Smith.

Kieswetter, a former South Africa Under-19 international, then struck medium-pacer Watson for two fours in as many balls. He later launched the all-rounder for a huge six over midwicket. At the 10-over halfway mark, England were 73 for one compared to Australia’s 47 for four.

Australia badly needed a breakthrough but, in Tait’s comeback over, Pietersen drove him over his head for a boundary and then struck an even more impressive six high over long-off to bring up England’s hundred. David Hussey’s 59 kept Australia in the match during an innings where the next best score was Cameron White’s 30.

Danish Kaneria arrested-match fixing issue

World cricket’s top administrator has insisted officials are “extremely vigilant” when it comes to ‘spot-fixing’ after Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria was arrested in a betting probe.

But International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan, in an interview with AFP here in Barbados on the eve of the World Twenty20 final between Australia and England, insisted: “I can honestly say to you that I have no knowledge of any spot-fixing that I am refusing to tell you about.”

Kaneria and a colleague at English county side Essex, Mervyn Westfield, have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into betting, a club official confirmed on Saturday.

Both Test leg-spinner Kaneria, 29, and 22-year-old pace bowler Westfield were questioned on Friday before being released on bail.

It is understood the match under scrutiny was a 40-over win against Durham last September. The investigation centres on the practice of ‘spot-fixing’ whereby money is placed on individual details in a match.

“I’ve been aware of the potential problem at Essex for a little while,” Morgan told AFP at his Barbados hotel here on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s showpiece match at the Kensington Oval.

“And I was made aware by Mr (Haroon) Lorgat (the ICC chief executive) yesterday (Friday) that those two cricketers had been seen by the Essex police,” Morgan added.

“There is a police inquiry and therefore there is absolutely nothing I could or would wish to say (about Kaneria and Westfield’s arrest),” insisted Morgan, a former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

In its recent past, cricket has had to deal with several match-fixing scandals, most notoriously including betting scams involving the late former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje.

But in an era of spread betting, the issue of spot-fixing, where events such as the number of wides in an over can be gambled on, is potentially even a bigger problem for cricket as results do not have to be “fixed” for an underhand betting coup to take place.

Turning to the issue of spot-fixing in general, Morgan said: “Cricket is full of discreet events — overs of six balls, powerplays, in first-class cricket the morning, the afternoon and the evening (sessions).

“There are lots of these discreet events that attract people who gamble.”

However, he insisted the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit, which is about to be headed up by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, formerly the senior police officer in the British province of Northern Ireland, was on the case.

“What is very clear is that we are extremely vigilant. We have the anti-corruption and security unit,” Morgan said.

“They look very carefully at movements in terms of the amounts bet on particular issues and so on.

“I think cricket is very fortunate in that we’ve had 10 years of operation of the anti-corruption and security unit,” he added of an organisation which has effectively been run for that time by Lord Paul Condon, a former head of London’s Metropolitan Police, who steps down in June.

“There is no more I can say about spot-fixing. We are vigilant and will continue to be so,” Morgan said.

“But I can honestly say to you, that I have no knowledge of any spot-fixing that I am refusing to tell you about.”

Both of the bailed Essex players will be free to continue playing until September 15, meaning Kaneria will be available for Pakistan’s Test tour of England, which also includes a ‘neutral’ Test series against Australia.

Kaneria told AFP in April he was “surprised and shocked” to see his name linked with the investigation.

“The story is baseless,” he insisted. “I have played my cricket for Pakistan as well as for Essex, with pride and honesty... For the last two years I have been Essex’s best performer and have never done anything wrong.” Kaneria has taken 254 wickets in 58 Tests since making his debut against England in 2000.

Duckworth Lewis defends rain rules

Frank Duckworth, the co-creator of the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method for settling rain-affected matches, has leapt to its defence after it came under fire from England captain Paul Collingwood.

But he said the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to look at the minimum length of an innings required to constitute a Twenty20 match.

Collingwood was left fuming after England suffered an eight-wicket loss to the West Indies in the visitors’ tournament opener, despite scoring 191 — a challenging Twenty20 total.

Rain, though, left the West Indies with a target of 60 from six overs.

At present, five overs of the second innings of a Twenty20 International must be played in order for a winner to be declared and Duckworth told The Wisden Cricketer: “The ICC ought to look into whether five overs for a valid match is appropriate because you can get this apparent distortion.”

Collingwood was damning in his assessment of D/L as it applied to Twenty20, having seen his side bow out of last year’s World Twenty20 to the West Indies in similar circumstances at the Oval.

But Duckworth, who devised the system with fellow statistician Tony Lewis, countered by saying: “While Paul Collingwood may have been angry at Messrs Duckworth and Lewis, he might have been angry at (England bowlers) Messrs (Tim) Bresnan, (Graeme) Swann and co who added to the four wides that they bowled before the rain by adding four more wides.

“So, the West Indies target wasn’t just 60, it was effectively 52. Since Twenty20 came into the world in 2002, there have been about 70 cases of T20 with a D/L revised target or result.

“And there’s only been two moments of dissent, both by Paul Collingwood or ECB people, both following England not doing very well against the West Indies. It’s the high-profile matches that attract attention.

“The other 68 matches — like the one that occurred earlier (between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe), nobody queried that and in fact the result went the other way. The side batting first (Sri Lanka) won.”

Duckworth and Lewis updated their system in October last year after examining data that Duckworth insisted proved the method did not require wholesale revision for Twenty20 matches.

T20 cricket plays havoc with DL system

Angry Collingwood calls for change in rain rules

The Duckworth-Lewis method used for rain interruptions in limited-overs cricket has been made to look foolish by the cramped equations of Twenty20.

On a shower-interrupted day that saw Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe in a shortened fixture at the ICC World T20, the West Indies chase of England’s formidable 5-191 was somehow shrunk to a requirement of 30 runs from 22 balls with 10 wickets in hand.

The hosts reeled it in with a delivery to spare at the Guyana National Stadium, leaving England captain Paul Collingwood and his West Indian counterpart Chris Gayle agreeing that England got the raw end of the deal and that the Duckworth-Lewis — used since 1997 — was not standing up to the demands of T20.

Collingwood’s frustrations were clear.

“There’s a major problem with this Duckworth-Lewis in this form of the game,” he said.

“I’ve got no problems with it in the 50-over form. But I know it’s made us very frustrated tonight.

“It certainly has to be revised for this form of the game.”

England’s total was built on a brutal stand of 95 in 56 balls between Eoin Morgan (55) and Luke Wright (45no) after they had earlier subsided to 4-88.

Morgan and Wright belted seven sixes between them, but the rain rules left Collingwood with the exasperated air of a captain who’d been cheated.

“I’m trying to take the emotion out of that defeat,” he said.

“But I think 95 per cent of the time when you get 191 for five on the board you are going to win the game.

“Unfortunately, Duckworth-Lewis seems to have other ideas — bringing the equation completely the other way.

“It’s the second time it’s happened to us now against West Indies, so it is very frustrating — because tonight we’ve played a near perfect game but we’ve lost.”

Gayle tempered understandable West Indian joy at reaching the next phase of their home tournament by empathising with England.

“It’s something they’re going to have to look into,” he said.

“I’d support what Collingwood just said. I could have been in the same position as well.

“It’s something that can be addressed, so it can be ‘even Stevens’ for both teams in the future.”

Devised by the English statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, the Duckworth-Lewis method was introduced after less complicated rain calculations had shown too many flaws.

At the 1992 World Cup, South Africa went from needing 22 runs from 13 balls in their semi-final against England, to an impossible 21 runs from one ball.

While Duckworth-Lewis has eradicated such glaring errors, it was devised before the introduction of T20 cricket and so does not account for the steep run-rates that can be achieved in the format.