All Time Great Championship: Could Have Been T20 Heroes

[Wilted]

Round 6 Results

Round 6

WI defeated SA

NZ defeated AUS

SL lost to IND

ENG defeated PAK

Current Standings

Ladder	Played	Wins	N/R	NRR	Total
Australia	6	5		0.87	10
England	6	5		-0.22	10
West Indies	6	4		1.08	8
South Africa	6	3		1.17	6
India	6	3		0.25	6
New Zealand	6	2		-0.55	4
Pakistan	6	2		-0.87	4
Sri Lanka	6	0		-2.38	0

Top 6 teams will progress to the finals.

Tournament Stat Leaders

Player	Runs	Bowler	Wickets
M Waugh	234	W Younis	14
D Lehmann	222	B Willis	13
V Richards	208	M Marshall	13
G Hick	199	A Donald	13
S Anwar	196	P Pollock	13

Round 7 Fixture

Round 7

SL vs PAK

ENG vs NZ

SA vs IND

WI vs AUS

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Game 25: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan
Sri Lanka XI: T Paranavitana, S Jayantha, A de Silva*, D Mendis, A Ranatunga, R Kulawotharana+, T Samaraweera, U Chandana, K Dharmasena, N Zoysa, P Wickramasinghe
Pakistan XI: S Anwar, S Elahi, Z Abbas, J Miandad, I Ahmed, I Khan*, W Raja, M Khan+, W Akram, A Qadir, W Younis
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl.

Sri Lanka
Paranavitana started his innings off by launching Younis into the stands for 6. He followed that shot up with a brutal cover drive for 4. That's where his innings ended though as Younis trapped him LBW at the end of the first over. Akram also picked up an early wicket and Sri Lanka had lost three wickets in three overs. One of the worst-performing batsmen in this tournament would have to be Ranatunga. He came back into the Sri Lankan team and put on a mesmerising performance to get them back into the game. While he only scored 35 runs, it was enough to get Sri Lanka into a decent position. The star of the show for Sri Lanka was Kaluwitharana, who scored Sri Lanka's second 50 of the tournament. His innings helped Sri Lanka put on a very good 159-run total.

Sri Lanka 9-159

Pakistan
Wickramasinghe knicked off Elahi for a duck and Sri Lanka was well on their way to picking up their first win of the tournament. Zoysa had Anwar in the next over and two wickets in an over from Dharmasena made it four wickets down in the powerplay. The next few overs from Sri Lanka saw no boundaries scored and only a handful of runs, pushing the required run rate above 10. Abbas launched a 6 to bring up his half-century and keep the run rate in check but he would be making most of the runs himself if Pakistan were to be a chance. He was dismissed by Chandana for 66 runs and Pakistan still required 50 runs from their lower order to win. Needing 23 runs off the final over, Pakistan basically threw everything they had at the ball, only to throw away their wickets. Sri Lanka's long-awaited ATG T20 win had finally come.

Sri Lanka 9-159
R Kaluwitharana 58 no, A Ranatunga 34
W Akram 3-27, W Younis 3-39

Pakistan 138
Z Abbas 66, I Khan 31
U Chandana 4-32, K Dharmasena 2-22

Sri Lanka won by 21 runs
R Kaluwitharana was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 26: England vs New Zealand
England XI: W Grace, G Hick, F Woolley, D Gower, C Milburn, A Stewart+, I Botham, T Greig*, F Trueman, B Willis, D Underwood
New Zealand XI: B Sutcliffe, G Turner, A Jones, M Crowe*, B Congdon, R Hadless, C Harris, I Smith+, B Taylor, L Cairns, E Chatfield
England won the toss and elected to bowl.

New Zealand
Sutcliffe and Turner put on 14 runs from the opening over and a further 12 from the second. By the third over, the Kiwi openers had slogged their way to 0-47. Trueman had Turner caught in the deep to break the 50-run partnership. With only one wicket lost, New Zealand had scored 78 runs from the powerplay. Trueman had a second when he bowled Sutcliffe just short of his 50 and he finished his spell with three wickets when he caught Crowe off his bowling the next ball. Turns out Greig rocked up to the tournament with the golden touch. He bowled Congdon with his very first ball and had Hadlee out with his second. Not wanting to let any of the Kiwi's momentum fade away, Harris came out and hit the next four balls in the over for 4s. Scoring with a strike rate of 170, Jones was one of the slowest scorers of the innings but was the first to reach 50. Harris wasn't far behind and reached his half-century in the next over with a strike rate of 200! During the 18th over, New Zealand became the first team to reach 200 runs in an innings during the tournament. Woolley bowled the last over and took three wickets to end up bowling the dominant batting team out for a total of 215 runs.

New Zealand 215

England
The English batsman had a mountainous task ahead of them and the cloud coverage coming over didn't help them. Aggressive batting, particularly from Woolley kept the English in the game but the wickets they lost meant the game was quickly slipping away. Woolley's 21-ball 50 meant the English were keeping pace with their target. Halfway through the chase, the English already had half of the required runs but would need to not lose too many more wickets or else they'd be in strife. With the way Woolley was batting though, as long as he was at the crease, the English felt like they were winning. A five-run over from Harris pushed the required rate to 15 runs per over. The need to score boundaries constantly forced Woolley to play one too many reckless strokes and he was caught out for 80 off 39 balls. The English needed 75 runs from the final five overs but only managed 25, giving New Zealand a much-needed victory.

New Zealand 215
C Harris 69, A Jones 57
F Woolley 3-14, F Trueman 3-35

England 8-164
F Woolley 80, A Stewart 38
E Chatfield 3-37, C Harris 2-20

England lost by 51 runs
C Harris was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 27: South Africa vs India
South Africa XI: B Mitchell, K Wessels, J Rhodes*, L Klusener, H Cronje, A Faulkner, C Rice, D Richardson+, M Procter, P Pollock, A Donald
India XI: S Gavaskar, A Jadeja, M Azharuddin, V Kambli, A Malhotra, V Mankad, K Dev*, V Yadav, A Kumble, J Srinath, B Bedi
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.

South Africa
Mitchell and Wessels took on the Indian fast bowlers and scored above 10 runs per over to begin with. Seeing the quicks get hit around the ground, Dev looked to Bedi and the spinners to reel in the South African aggression. Bedi took a wicket in his first over and removed the other opener in his second. The spin bowlers troubled the South Africans. They produced some chances and bowled tight over but it was Bedi who took the spoils, finishing four wickets from his four overs. Faulkner and Richardson put on vital runs in the latter overs after Mankad picked up a couple of handy wickets. Together they helped South Africa reach a total of 153 runs.

South Africa 7-153

India
Jadeja looked to make quick runs to take the pressure off his teammates later in the chase. Taking a leaf out of India's book, South Africa called upon their spinner, Faulkner, who took the big wicket of Jadeja with his first ball. Faulkner bowled out his four overs and also took four wickets. He was backed up by some economic bowling from the like of Klusener which gave the South African an edge going into the final overs. Without too much batting left in the sheds, Gavaskar and Dev were left to make the most of the remaining 70 runs. In the space of two overs, the pair already had knocked over half of those runs and India could easily cruise with five runs an over to win. Gavaskar brought up his 50 with a single but Dev fell to Donald in the same over. Kumble didn't miss a beat and got off the mark with a couple of 4s but Donald struck with the late wicket of Gavaskar. With only the tail left, Procter had to defend three runs off the final over. Kumble edged the first ball to third man for a single, giving the strike to Srinath. Srinath pushed the ball into a gap on the leg side for a single to even the scores. Kumble mis-hit straight to mid-off, leaving two balls, one run and one wicket left in the match. Procter pulled out an inswinging yorker that Bedi had zero chance of ever getting bat to, tying the match up. No superovers will be played in the group stage, giving both teams split points as a result.

South Africa 7-153
B Mitchell 31, A Faulkner 29 no
B Bedi 4-31, V Mankad 2-28

India 153
S Gavaskar 56, K Dev 30
A Faulkner 4-29, A Donald 3-26

Match drawn
A Faulkner was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 28: West Indies vs Australia
West Indies XI: D Haynes, G Headley, V Richards, G Sobers*, B Lara, C Lloyd, C Walcott+, M Marshall, A Roberts, J Garner, C Ambrose
Australia XI: V Trumper, M Waugh, D Lehmann, D Bradman*, M Bevan, K Miller, R Lindwall, D Tallon+, S Warne, D Lillee, J Thomson
Australia won the toss and elected to bowl.

West Indies
The draw for the tournament was randomly made before the first ball was even bowled. Somehow, the last match in the first leg of the group stage will be between two teams for the top spot. The battle of two giants began with Lillee hitting Haynes on the pads, sending him back to the pavilion with the first ball. The Windies' batsmen were careful after that and only scored 34 runs by the end of the powerplay. Warne also had the West Indies rattled, dismissing both Sobers and Lara out early. A slow and steady partnership of 50 runs was put on by Llyod and Headley, allowing them to go all out in the death overs. Lillee bowled the final over and picked up both in-form batsmen, restricting the West Indies' total to 128 runs.

West Indies 7-128

Australia
Trumper got the Aussies off to a great start, putting away three boundaries in the opening over. He raced into the 30s before having his innings ended by Ambrose. Waugh and Lehmann cruised through the next few overs at a decent rate, dropping the required run rate to four runs per over, with 10 overs remaining. Lehmann was unable to carry his bat so it was up to Bradman to score the winning runs with seven overs to spare.

West Indies 7-128
G Headley 46, C Lloyd 39
D Lillee 3-27, S Warne 2-25

Australia 2-131
D Lehmann 43, M Waugh 40 no
C Ambrose 2-44

West Indies lost by 8 wickets
D Lehmann was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Round 7 Results

Round 7

SL defeated PAK

ENG lost to NZ

SA tied with IND

WI lost to AUS

Current Standings

Ladder	Played	Wins	N/R	NRR	Total
Australia	7	6		1.16	12
England	7	5		-0.67	10
West Indies	7	4		0.58	8
South Africa	7	3	1	0.97	7
India	7	3	1	0.47	7
New Zealand	7	3		.0309	6
Pakistan	7	2		-0.90	4
Sri Lanka	7	1		-1.91	2

Top 6 teams will progress to the finals.

Tournament Stat Leaders

Player	Runs	Bowler	Wickets
M Waugh	274	W Younis	17
D Lehmann	265	A Donald	16
F Woolley	249	F Trueman	15
V Richards	229	A Faulkner	14
G Hick	212	T Greig	14

Halfway Report
Aside from a few of the matches in the later rounds, the tournament so far has been completely dominated by bowlers. Fast bowlers to be exact. There are only three spin bowlers in the top 20 wicket takers. Oddly enough, the team that only has one bowler in the top 20 are on top of the table at the halfway point of the tournament, Australia. They seem to be one of the few teams who have taken on the bowling attacks and succeeded. They even have the top two run scorers, Waugh and Lehmann.

Despite only being halfway through the fixture, it's easy to see where some of the teams may end up when it comes time to qualify for finals. The top two teams will progress straight through to the semi-finals. At the moment those two coveted spots are likely to go to Australia, England or the West Indies. The next four teams will progress to qualifiers. Whoever of the previously mentioned three is pretty much guaranteed one of these spots while South Africa, India, New Zealand and Pakistan are currently in contention for the other three. Sri Lanka has had a shocking start with only one win so far and is unlikely to progress if they don't improve, butit's only halfway through so anything could happen.

You can see the top run-scorers above but in T20 cricket, it's all about the big hits. Woolley has the most boundaries, with 41 in total, including six 6s. Over 70% of his runs had come from boundaries. It's no surprise that Viv Richards has the most maximum so far with eight.

Despite the quicks being front and centre for the tournament, none have particularly stood out from the pack. No bowler has taken a bag of four more than once and only two bowlers had taken five-wicket hauls, Pollock and Hadlee. If you're not taking wickets in T20s, then it's dot balls you want to be bowling. Lillee and Ambrose have each bowled the most dots with 82 each. Over half of the deliveries out of Lillee's hands were dots.

The best all-rounder performance so far would be from Woolley, who is the third most prolific run scorer with an average of 41.50. He's also taken 5 wickets at an average of 15.20. Faulkner has also had a good time with bat and ball, taking 14 wickets at 9.64 and has scored 124 runs at 24.80.

Round 8 Fixture

Round 8

IND vs ENG

SA vs AUS

WI vs PAK

SL vs NZ

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Game 29: India vs England
India XI: S Gavaskar, A Jadeja, V Kambli, M Azharuddin, K Dev*, S Patil, V Mankad, V Yadav+, A Kumble, J Srinath, B Bedi
England XI: G Hick, W Grace, F Woolley, A Stewart+, D Gower, A Lamb, I Botham, T Greig*, F Trueman, B Willis, D Underwood
England won the toss and elected to bat.

England
The first of the reverse fixture games was off to a flier when Grace smoked his first ball to the boundary for 4. Unfortunately, he only lasted a couple of more deliveries before being caught behind off Srinath. Hick looked comfortable but may have gotten a bit too cocky when he pulled out the reverse sweep against Kumble, who is difficult to sweep at the best of times and found himself caught behind for 17. There were edges, run out chances and LBW shouts but England remained unperturbed. Kumble did manage to find a couple more wickets but after a disappointing first half of the tournament, Botham found his form just at the right time. He wasn't able to carry his bat through but his 39 runs off 25 balls helped England reach 149 runs. It could've been much higher if it weren't for a last-over wicket maiden from Dev.

England 9-149

India
Gavaskar started the chase with a first ball maximum and then proceeded to hit England's best fast bowlers around the ground. He was eventually caught in the deep off Trueman. Botham continued his red, hot form this match by bowling the in-form Jadeja for 26, followed up by removing Azharuddin for a duck. Dev and Kambli proceeded to put on a stunning partnership, which put India into an unassailable position. Neither Kambli nor Dev were able to able to carry their bats to the end, but India won comfortably with four overs to spare.

England 9-149
I Botham 39, D Hick 36
A Kumble 3-31, J Srinath 2-33

India 5-155
V Kambli 52, K Dev 33
I Botham 2-40, F Trueman 1-19

India won by 5 wickets
V Kambli was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 30: South Africa vs Australia
South Africa XI: K Wessels, B Richards, J Rhodes*, L Klusener, A Faulkner, H Cronje, C Rice, M Procter, D Richardson+, P Pollock, A Donald
Australia XI: V Trumper, M Waugh, D Lehmann, D Bradman*, M Bevan, K Miller, D Tallon+, R Lindwall, S Warne, D Lillee, J Thomson
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.

South Africa
Australia opted to let Warne have another go with the new ball and it paid off this time, removing Richards for a single run. Lillee produced an unplayable yorker to bowl Wessels and South Africa had lost both openers early on. In the same over he also demonstrated some great reflexes by taking a catch off his own bowling to get rid of Klusener. Warne and Lillee picked up two wickets each in the powerplay leaving South Africa's middle and lower order to do a lot of work. The only batsman who looked remotely comfortable against the Aussie attack was Faulkner who managed to reach 50 runs off 43 balls. Richardson also had a brief cameo to help South Africa get 118 runs on the board.

South Africa 8-119

Australia
It was like Waugh and Trumper had magnets in their bats that helped them find the middle with every swing. The only chink in their armour was running between wickets which caused Trumper to depart for just 15. Things did not look good from start to finish for South Africa but the lowest point was when Klusener was his for six 4s in one over by Lehmann. Australia won with eight overs to spare.

South Africa 8-119
A Faulkner 52 no, D Richardson 27
S Warne 3-17, D Lillee 2-30

Australia 2-123
D Lehmann 46, M Waugh 41 no
C Rice 1-9

South Africa lost by 8 wickets
D Lehmann was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 31: West Indies vs Pakistan
West Indies XI: G Headley, G Greenidge, V Richards, C Lloyd*, B Lara, C Walcott+, F Worrell, M Marshall, A Roberts, J Garner, C Ambrose
Pakistan XI: S Anwar, R Raja, Z Abbas, J Miandad, W Raja, A Sohail, I Khan*, M Khan+, W Akram, A Qadir, W Younis
West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl.

Pakistan
Anwar struck the first ball of the match back over Garner's head for 4. The next ball was a fiery, short delivery that caught a leading edge that Garner was able to catch off his bowling. An inswinger bowled Raja, giving Garner two wickets in the opening over. Abbas saw beach balls out in the middle and punished the West Indian quicks but Miandad wasn't as lucky and became Garner's third wicket. After a couple of mediocre performances, Sobers was replaced in the XI by Worrell. He didn't find success straight away but he caused some clear problems for the batsmen. Garner finished his spell with four wickets. A double-wicket maiden from Marshall propelled the West Indies into a strong position. A late 35-run innings from Sohail and a few last-over boundaries from Qadir helped Pakistan to a total of 138 runs.

Pakistan 1-138

West Indies
An edge through to the keeper from Akram to dismiss Headley in the first over was the perfect start Pakistan was looking for. Akram then bowled Richards in his next over. At least runs weren't an issue yet since Greenidge was just getting into his groove to find the boundary often. His innings finished with 26 runs but all the West Indies needed now was one decent partnership to get ahead in the match. Big hitting from Lloyd saw the required run rate drop below a run per ball. The partnership that the West Indies were looking for came from Lloyd and Lara. When the pair crossed the 50 partnership mark, Lloyd had contributed 40 of those runs. The pair easily guided West Indies to victory, led by an unbeaten 61-run knock from captain Lloyd.

Pakistan 9-138
A Sohail 35, Z Abbas 33
J Garner 4-27, C Ambrose 3-29

West Indies 3-140
C Lloyd 61 no, B Lara 36 no
W Akram 2-17, A Qadir 1-34

West Indies won by 7 wickets
J Garner was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Game 32: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand
Sri Lanka XI: T Paranavitana, S Jayantha, R Kaluwitharana+, A de Silva*, U Chandana, D Mendis, T Samaraweera, A Ranatunga, K Dharmasena, R Ratnayeke, P Wickramasinghe
New Zealand XI: B Sutcliffe, J Wright, C Harris, B Congdon, A Jones, M Crowe*, R Hadlee, I Smith+, L Cairns, J Saunders, E Chatfield
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl.

Sri Lanka
Paranavitana swung and missed three times and edged once in the opening over of the match. Despite the shaky start, he went on to hit four 4s from his next six deliveries. Three quick wickets from Chatfield changed the dynamics of the match, especially since it was Sri Lanka's top three that were dismissed. De Silva made a solid start and reached 25 in quick time but became Chatfield's fourth victim after a missed straight delivery. Saunder had two wickets in two balls and Ranatunga comfortably blocked out the hat trick ball. Sri Lanka's long tail meant they could just about bat down the order but the New Zealand bowlers were persistent with their bowling and prematurely finished the Sri Lankan innings with 107 runs to chase down.

Sri Lanka 107

New Zealand
Sri Lanka bowled well in the opening overs but as economical as they were, it was wickets they needed to win this match. Dharmasena picked up two quick wickets and would have had more if catches were held, but it wasn't enough to keep the New Zealanders from running away with the match. None of the Kiwi batsmen stood out but they comfortably chased down the total with just over six overs to spare.

Sri Lanka
U Chandana 29, A de Silva 25
E Chatfield 4-24, C Harris 3-0

New Zealand 4-108
J Wright 32, A Jones 27
K Dharmasena 2-39, U Chandana 1-5

Sri Lanka lost by 6 wickets
E Chatfield was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Round 8 Results

Round 8

IND defeated ENG

SA lost to AUS

WI defeated PAK

SL lost to NZ

Current Standings

Ladder	Played	Wins	N/R	NRR	Total
Australia	8	7		1.40	14
West Indies	8	5		0.63	10
England	8	5		-0.82	10
India	8	4	1	0.63	9
New Zealand	8	4		0.23	8
South Africa	8	3	1	0.48	7
Pakistan	8	2		-0.92	4
Sri Lanka	8	1		-2.00	2

Top 6 teams will progress to the finals.

Tournament Stat Leaders

Player	Runs	Bowler	Wickets
M Waugh	315	W Younis	17
D Lehmann	311	C Ambrose	16
F Woolley	268	A Donald	16
V Richards	244	F Trueman	16
Z Abbas	237	J Garner +2 others	15

Round 9 Fixture

Round 9

NZ vs WI

ENG vs SL

PAK vs SA

AUS vs IND

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Game 33: New Zealand vs West Indies
New Zealand XI: J Wright, B Sutcliffe, B Congdon, C Harris, M Crowe*, A Jones, I Smith+, R Hadlee, L Cairns, E Chatfield, J Saunders
West Indies XI: G Headley, G Greenidge, V Richards, C Lloyd*, B Lara, F Worrell, C Walcott+, M Marshall, A Roberts, J Garner, C Ambrose
West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl.

New Zealand
Garner had the New Zealand openers in all sorts and took two wickets with the last two balls of the first over. His hat trick ball in the following over was lofted straight to Worrell who put down a sitter! To rub salt in the wound, Sutcliffe put the next ball into the stands. Aside from the two wickets in the first over, New Zealand looked like they were handling the best bowling attack in the competition with ease. Harris and Sutcliffe had put on a 50-run partnership at just a tick under 10 runs per over. Ambrose broke the partnership by castling Sutcliffe for 28. A slog through the off-side for 6 brought up Harris's 50. Big hitting from Crowe brought up yet another 50-run partnership for New Zealand. Harris passed Waugh's high score of 81 and finished unbeaten on 93. New Zealand finished with 169, the highest score posted against the West Indies.

New Zealand 3-169

West Indies
The openers for the West Indies survived the opening overs without much hassle but struggled to beat the field and score boundaries. Hadlee removed Greenidge after 37 runs had been scored in the powerplay but the required run rate had already crept above 10. Harris had Headley LBW, which brought Worrell to the crease. When Cairns came back into the attack, Worrell launched him for 20 runs in just four balls. Cairns had the last laugh when he was caught in the deep. The five wickets so far had fallen to each of the five bowlers. Chatfield stood at the top of his mark for the final over where Lloyd and Walcott would need to hit 24 runs to win. They only managed four, giving New Zealand another upset in their favour.

New Zealand 3-169
C Harris 93 no, M Crowe 41 no
J Garner 2-31, C Ambrose 1-39

West Indies 5-150
G Headley 44, F Worrell 31
C Harris 1-22, R Hadlee 1-25

New Zealand won by 19
C Harris was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Game 34: England vs Sri Lanka
England XI: G Hick, W Grace, F Woolley, A Stewart+, D Gower, C Milburn, P DeFreitas, I Botham, T Greig*, F Trueman, B Willis
Sri Lanka XI: T Praranavitana, R Kaluwitharana, A de Silva*, T Samaraweera, D Mendis, S Jayantha, A Ranatunga, U Chandana, K Dharmasena, R Ratnayeke, P Wickramasinghe
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl.

England
A shock first-ball duck for Grace wasn't the ideal start England had in mind. It only got worse as Samaraweera dismissed both Hick and Woolley in the same over. Gower was the fourth wicket to fall in the powerplay, leaving the English 4-30 at the six-over mark. Stewart and Milburn settled things after the collapse and put on a 50-run partnership. Milburn was one of a few quick wickets by the Sri Lankan spinners but Stewart soldiered on and reached 50 runs off 32 balls. His innings helped England set a target of 141 runs.

England 8-140

Sri Lanka
Just like the English innings, the Sri Lankan chase began with a duck and a couple of boundaries. With a couple more wickets and batsmen struggling to find runs, the similarities didn't end there either. The biggest difference between the two sides so far was that Sri Lanka had no one to step up like Stewart did for England. Any hope of a comeback from Sri Lanka was put to bed when Botham and Willis took five wickets between them in the space of three overs.

England 8-140
A Stewart 59 no, C Milburn 37
R Ratnayeke 4-32, T Samaraweera 2-22

Sri Lanka 104
A de Silva 25, S Jayantha 22
I Botham 3-9, B Willis 3-17

England won by 36 runs
A Stewart was awarded Man of the Match.

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Game 35: Pakistan vs South Africa
Pakistan XI: S Anwar, A Sohail, Z Abbas, J Miandad, R Raja, I Khan*, W Raja, M Khan+, W Akram, A Qadir, W Younis
South Africa XI: B Mitchell, K Wessels, A Faulkner, J Rhodes, G Pollock, L Klusener, H Cronje, D Richardson+, C Rice, P Pollock, A Donald
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl.

South Africa
We've seen plenty of first-over wickets this tournament but I believe Wessels is the first time there's been a first-over run out when he attempted to turn an easy single into two. Mitchell and Faulkner bounced back, scoring 16 runs per over in the first three overs! A change of pace with Qadir coming on to bowl brought along the breakthrough Pakistan needed. Raja also picked up a couple of wickets with his leg spin but it didn't do much to slow the run rate at all. Klusener was run out without facing a single ball and Mitchell was bowled for 40 in the same over. Finally, Pakistan managed to restrict the runs a bit. Younis and Khan bowled well in the death overs until P Pollock put away boundaries worth 14 runs with the final three balls of the innings. South Africa's total finished on 146 runs.

South Africa 8-146

Pakistan
Pakistan took a more defensive approach to the powerplay, focussing on rotating strike and preserving wickets more than run rate. At the end of five overs of fielding restrictions, Pakistan had lost no wickets for 32 runs. Sohail was the first wicket to fall, which brought Abbas to the crease. I took the Pakistani legend just one over to raise the run rate from six runs an over to eight. The wickets of Anwar and Abbas turned the match around. Before their wickets fell, the required run rate was just below seven runs an over but within two overs of them being dismissed, it had crept back up to almost 12. Imran Khan and Wasim Raja increased the tempo and got within nine runs of winning with an over to spare but unfortunately, both got out doing so. Moin Khan and Akram had six balls to score nine runs off Klusener. Klusener managed to keep his over to a very tidy five singles and a wicket, nudging the South African to a very close victory.

South Africa 8-146
B Mitchell 40, A Faulkner 29
W Raja 3-23, A Qadir 2-31

Pakistan 8-143
Z Abbas 35, S Anwar 22
L Klusener 3-27, A Donald 2-36

Pakistan lost by 3 runs
B Mitchell was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Game 36: Australia vs India
Australia XI: V Trumper, M Waughm D Lehmann, D Bradman*, M Bevan, K Miller, D Tallon+, R Lindwall, S Warne, D Lillee, J Thomson
India XI: S Gavaskar, A Jadeja, V Kambli, M Azharuddin, M Kaif, K Dev*, V Mankad, V Yadav+, A Kumble, J Srinath, B Bedi
Australia won the toss and elected to bat.

Australia
Srinath squared Trumper up with a short ball that was shouldered through to Yadav behind the stumps in the first over. Dev had Waugh out and Australia were under a bit of pressure. It wasn't until four overs had gone until Bradman hit his team's first boundary of the innings. A few high-scoring overs and a 50-run partnership between Lehmann and Bradman got Australia's innings going. The Indian spinners kept the boundaries in check but the runs kept ticking over and the pair brought up a century partnership. Both batsmen passed 50 and looked to go big in the final overs. Though the two Aussie batters were well and truly set, Bedi and Dev were unable to be put away easily, leaving the Aussies with an unbeaten, record-breaking partnership and 137 runs on the board.

Australia 2-137

India
A middling score of 137 is still a big ask when you are facing the top side so far in the tournament but that didn't stop Gavaskar from slogging Lillee around in the first over. Lillee had the last laugh when he removed Gavaskar's off stump for 18. The Indian batsmen didn't slow down even after a couple of wickets fell and soon needed under six runs per over. Vamblie led the way, bringing up his 50 with a reverse sweep off Warne. Thomson bowled a double wicket maiden when there were just two runs left in the match but it was too little, too late. Mankad pulled Lindwall for 4 to give India a much-needed win.

Australia 2-137
D Lehmann 69 no, D Bradman 57 no
J Srinath 1-21, K Dev 1-22

India 6-140
V Kambli 53, M Azharuddin 30
J Thomson 2-19, R Lindwall 1-25

Australia lost by 4 wickets
V Kambli was awarded Man of the Match.