Australia vs West Indies Live Cricket Scores & Schedules

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, has said his playing career looks to be over. Gilchrist, who retired from international cricket in 2008, captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL title in 2009 and took over the leadership of Kings XI in 2011. The defeat against Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala on Saturday, he said, was his last game, and added he would consider a full-time coaching role with Kings XI if offered; he’d been carrying the dual responsibility of captain and coach/mentor this season.

“I would say I’ve played my last game of cricket just there,” Gilchrist said after the match. “I’ll go away and have a think about it and talk to the franchise. If the franchise is still keen to keep me involved as coach, which is a role I’ve really enjoyed, I find that I still enjoy being around the group. To be honest I didn’t miss the cricket that much.
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Courtesy : www.espncricinfo.com

Kings XI Punjab missed out on the Indian Premier League play-offs as Delhi Daredevils asserted their number one spot in IPL with a comprehensive win.

SCORECARD

New-ball pair Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav combined for seven wickets as Kings XI, needing to win to prolong their season, were restricted to 141 for eight.

And David Warner then smashed 79 from 44 balls as the already-qualified Daredevils eased to a six-wicket win with almost two overs to spare.

Yadav took three for 19 as the home team crashed to 20 for four. Siddharth Chitnis (38), Azhar Mahmood (36) and Gurkeerat Singh, with 26 from 11 balls, fought back but Morkel removed the latter two and finished with four for 20. Read more
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Andrew Strauss’ rush of relief was plain for all to see after scoring his first Test century in 18 months.

Strauss’ 20th Test hundred, and his fifth on his home ground at Lord’s, is only his second in his last 51 attempts.

The England captain insisted there was no particular sense of vindication in “getting a monkey off his back” and silencing those who have increasingly questioned his Test future.

The bigger picture nonetheless dictates that his unbeaten 121, from 249 balls, not only puts England in control after day two of the first Investec Test against the West Indies but cements his own role once again in charge of the world’s best team. Read more
Courtesy : www.espnstar.com

Match facts
Sunday May 20, 2012
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)

Big Picture

The task is straightforward for Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have to win this game to secure a berth in the playoffs. Why it has come down to a last-minute scramble to make the final four for a team that possesses the likes of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Muttiah Muralitharan is a bit baffling. It shows how unpredictable this edition of the league has been. Here, they will be up against the bottom-placed Deccan Chargers, who have nothing to play for except to break a few hearts.

Chargers terminated Rajasthan Royals’ chances of progressing with a clinical win in Hyderabad, where they’ve won just two games in 19 attempts. This will be their chance to end another torrid season on a positive note. Their fielding remains shoddy, and they’ll be hoping to lift themselves in that department. Read more
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Kolkata Knight Riders set up a first qualifier match against table-toppers Delhi Daredevils as they took the No. 2 spot with a comfortable win over Pune Warriors. Like they had done against Mumbai Indians in their previous game, Knight Riders posted a decent total on a difficult pitch and their spinners choked the Warriors batsmen into a futile crawl. The home side ended a second disappointing season with their ninth consecutive defeat, an IPL record, and one that involved some questionable selections.

On a slow and low pitch which Man-of-the-Match Shakib Al Hasan said reminded him of Bangladesh, Warriors gave only two overs to Ali Murtaza, the lone specialist spinner they played ahead of their two first-choice spinners, Murali Kartik and Rahul Sharma. While Shakib, the only batsman on either side to feel at home on the pitch, rode his luck to provide the boost Knight Riders’ stumbling innings needed, Warriors left out his Bangladesh team-mate Tamim Iqbal for the 16th and final time this season. Read more
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It ended in stalemate with two weary – and, ultimately, wary – teams shaking hands on a draw after 11 sessions of cut and thrust cricket and one of cat and mouse.

A draw was not what either team anticipated for most of this terrific match and, for much of the final day, it seemed the least likely result. But with Surrey unable to maintain their early momentum in pursuit of an always daunting victory target of 305 and Somerset kept at bay for 34 overs by the skill and determination of seventh wicket pair Rory Hamilton-Brown and Gareth Batty, winning proved just out of the question.

It went almost all the way, mind. Batty’s dismissal with 11.4 overs remaining rekindled Somerset’s interest – especially as a second new ball was coming into view. Read more
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It is perhaps no surprise that Shivnarine Chanderpaul inhabits his own little world. It must be much safer there. When he made his Test debut 18 years ago, West Indies were No. 1 in the world. Now Test match victories are a rarity and the sound of Caribbean cricket is a prolonged lamentation for what has gone before.

West Indies, trailing by 155 runs on first innings, and already widely dismissed as no-hopers after the first two days of a three-match series, lost three top-order wickets for no runs in nine balls on the verge of tea and until Chanderpaul put up unyielding resistance with an unbeaten 34 in two-and-a-half hours (that he made so many was due to a late flurry) there was a possibility that they could lose in three days. Instead, they trail by 35 runs with six wickets remaining and have the right to a measure of respect. Read more
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Delhi Daredevils confirmed their standing as the team to beat with a fearsome opening burst from their fast bowlers, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, before a typically brutal David Warner innings pretty much guaranteed top spot. Kings XI Punjab, one of the lower-profile teams in the tournament, managed to stay alive till the final weekend of the league phase but couldn’t make it to the playoffs as a power-packed Daredevils line-up dismantled them with ease on a spicy pitch in Dharamsala. The result also meant that Mumbai Indians became the third team to qualify for the playoffs.

On one of the best tracks for fast bowlers in the IPL this season, Daredevils stacked their team with five quicks, four of whom could nudge the 90-mph mark. Morkel and Yadav were virtually unplayable with the new ball, and by the end of the Powerplay overs, Kings XI were reduced to 20 for 4 and their campaign was seemingly over.
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Courtesy : www.espncricinfo.com

Match facts
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

As the league phase enters its final weekend, the priorities are completely different for the two opponents meeting at the Sahara Stadium in Pune.

Kolkata Knight Riders are enjoying their best IPL season, and are looking for a victory that will grant them a chance of finishing at the head of the table, or at least secure them a place in the top two and guarantee them two shots at making the final. Pune Warriors, on the other hand, are striving to end one of the longest losing streaks in IPL history. Eight defeats in a row have crushed their chances of making the playoffs, and another reverse will leave them open to the possibility of finishing last, if Deccan Chargers win their final game.
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Kolkata Knight Riders sealed the second place in the points table with a crushing 34-run victory over hosts Pune Warriors India in their final group league encounter of the Indian Premier League on Saturday. Defending a total of 136 on a difficult pitch, the KKR spinners restricted Pune to a paltry 102 for 8. While KKR with 21 points will get a maximum of two matches in the playoffs to qualify, the Pune led by Sourav Ganguly hit a new low losing nine consecutive matches – a record in the IPL. If Deccan Chargers manage to win the last match, Pune will finish last in the points table. Read more
Courtesy : cricketnext.in.com

David Warner slammed a fluent 79 to guide Delhi Daredevils to a comfortable six-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League match at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday. Warner hit ten fours and four sixes in his brilliant knock. The Australian was dropped on 46.

Delhi’s win has also ensured Mumbai’s entry into the knockout stage as even if Mumbai lose Sunday’s match against Rajasthan Royals they will still end with 18 points, which is enough to get fourth position in the table. Read more
Courtesy : cricketnext.in.com

Pakistan’s newly-appointed Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez believes his players face a tough challenge against Sri Lanka in the coming series as they have been deprived of an opportunity to enhance their skills by not being invited to play in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

“My concern is that we last played an international series against England in February and since then we have focussed on domestic cricket events,” Hafeez said. “But in comparison, players from other international teams are taking part in the IPL, particularly the Sri Lankan players and that means they have a slight edge over us. If you compare the whole [cricketing-playing] world with us, everyone is there in the IPL getting practice in intense scenarios and enhancing their skills. But our players are missing out on that opportunity,” he added. Read more
Courtesy : cricketnext.in.com