ICC World T20 Day 7 Super 8: England beat Pakistan as South Africa brush aside Kiwis.

Bridgetown witnessed a thrilling contest on Day 7 of the ICC World Twenty20, as the Englishmen beat defending champions: Pakistan in their first Super 8 match at the Kensington Oval. While on the other hand, the Proteas got off to a super start by defeating the Kiwis.

Pakistan dropped the match. A lot of it was funny to watch!

With perfect conditions to play and no signs of rain playing spoilsport, one had expected an exciting competition; and it turned out to be so. Pakistan got off to an impressive start with a six coming off the bat of Kamran Akmal on the very first ball. Salman Butt, too, started off well. But, the Pakistani batsmen just could not get the right momentum and with the middle order falling cheaply to the bowlers, the Proteas were already in the driver’s seat. Skipper Shahid Afridi ran himself out on a duck, while Misbah was bowled out by Yardy. With an ordinary and not-so-impressive batting display, Pakistan managed just about 147 in 20 overs. Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter got off to a blazing start for England. Lumb did not make good of this start, but there was still plenty of batting to come.

Pakistan’s performance in the field was poor, with lot of dropped catches, eventually self-destructing themselves. The man who struck for England was, Kevin Pieterson. Known for the big knocks, KP was extremely comfortable going against the Pakistani bowlers. With an electrifying 70 off 52 balls from him and some support from skipper Paul Collingwood, England won their first Super 8 match by 6 wickets, after struggling in their group matches. Kevin Pieterson was awarded the “player of the match” award for his sensational batting.

Pakistan had no one to blame, but themselves.

England batting second
Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
M Lumb	st Kamran Akmal	b Saeed Ajmal	25	13	3	1
C Kieswetter	c Umar Akmal	b Abdul Razzaq	25	27	3	1
K Pietersen		not out	70	52	7	2
P Collingwood	c Umar Akmal	b Shahid Afridi	16	15	1	-
E Morgan		b Saeed Ajmal	5	7	1	-
L Wright		not out	1	3	-	-
			6
	Total		148

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Abdul Razzaq	3	0	22	1
Mohammad Asif	4	0	43	0
Mohammad Aamer	4	0	25	0
Saeed Ajmal	3.3	0	15	2
Mohammad Hafeez	1	0	12	0
Shahid Afridi	4	0	28	1

Pakistan first innings
Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Kamran Akmal	c C Kieswetter	b S C J Broad	15	18	2	1
Salman Butt	c P D Collingwood	b G P Swann	34	26	3	1
Mohammad Hafeez	c S C J Broad	b M H Yardy	18	14	2	-
Umar Akmal	c K P Pietersen	b R J Sidebottom	30	25	2	1
Shahid Afridi		run out	0	1	-	-
Misbah-ul-Haq		b M H Yardy	13	14	-	1
Abdul Razzaq	c T T Bresnan	b R J Sidebottom	10	9	-	1
Fawad Alam	c C Kieswetter	b S C J Broad	1	3	-	-
Mohammad Aamer	c M H Yardy	b T T Bresnan	3	7	-	-
Saeed Ajmal		not out	13	5	1	1
Mohammad Asif		not out	0	0	-	-
Total 147

Bowler	O	M	R	W
R J Sidebottom	3	0	28	2
T T Bresnan	4	0	36	1
S C J Broad	4	0	25	2
M H Yardy	4	0	19	2
G P Swann	4	0	28	1
P D Collingwood	1	0	10	0

In the second match, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. The Proteas were out there to make some serious impression. The in-form Jacquue Kallis gave them a perfect start making 31 off just 26 balls. Herschelle Gibbs too scored an impressive 30 off 24. AB De Villiers and Albie Morkel showed some really good batting skills, scoring 40 and 47 respectively. South Africa finished at 170/4 in 20 overs.

Gibbs was his usual self in fielding, brilliant!

The Black Caps had a huge job to do. With the likes of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, the Kiwis could have expected some big hits. But, the momentum was always with the Proteas and it grew even more after the New Zealand batsmen fell one by one, strengthening their chances of winning the match. Gibbs was the man in field, with 3 catches in his kitty. None of the New Zeland batsmen could fire enough to take the Kiwis home. Ultimately, they fell short by just 13 runs. South Africa, thus grabbing their first Super 8 win. Albie Morkel was awarded the “Man of the Match” for his smashing performance.

South Africa beat New Zealand by 13 runs. New Zealand first innings Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s B B McCullum c H H Gibbs b C K Langeveldt 6 5 1 - J D Ryder c A B de Villiers b J Botha 33 28 2 2 M J Guptill c J A Morkel b J Botha 18 19 3 - R L Taylor c H H Gibbs b M Morkel 19 16 1 1 S B Styris c H H Gibbs b C K Langeveldt 13 12 2 - G J Hopkins c D W Steyn b M Morkel 18 13 - 2 J D P Oram lbw b D W Steyn 0 2 - - N L McCullum not out 26 17 3 1 D L Vettori not out 10 10 1 - Extras 0b 7lb 5w 2nb 0pens 14 TOTAL: 7 wkts , 20 overs 157 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (7 McCullum, 3 mins), 2-51 (44 Guptill, 27 mins), 3-67 (16 Ryder, 12 mins), 4-87 (20 Taylor, 5 mins), 5-109 (22 Styris, 16 mins), 6-110 (1 Oram, 1 mins), 7-123 (13 Hopkins, 1 mins) To bat: S E Bond, T G Southee Bowler O M R W C K Langeveldt 4 0 39 2 D W Steyn 4 0 25 1 M Morkel 4 0 27 2 J H Kallis 4 0 23 0 J Botha 3 0 23 2 J A Morkel 1 0 13 0 South Africa first innings Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s J H Kallis c T G Southee b J D P Oram 31 26 1 2 G C Smith c M J Guptill b T G Southee 14 12 2 - H H Gibbs c B B McCullum b N L McCullum 30 24 1 2 A B de Villiers not out 47 39 1 2 J A Morkel run out 40 18 - 5 M V Boucher not out 0 1 - - Extras 6b 0lb 2w 0nb 0pens 8 TOTAL: 4 wkts , 20 overs 170 Fall of wickets: 1-40 (40 Smith, 17 mins), 2-55 (15 Kallis, 12 mins), 3-97 (42 Gibbs, 18 mins), 4-169 (72 Morkel, 23 mins) To bat: J P Duminy, J Botha, D W Steyn, M Morkel, C K Langeveldt Bowler O M R W N L McCullum 4 0 35 1 S E Bond 4 0 33 0 T G Southee 3 0 39 1 J D P Oram 3 0 22 1 D L Vettori 4 0 21 0 S B Styris 2 0 14 0

Day 8 fixtures, 7th May, 2010: Men in Blue take on the mighty Australians. A neck-to-neck, cut-throat competition, It’s the “Survival of the Fittest”. Watch out!Host West Indies will be playing Sri Lanka in the second Group F match. It will be interesting to see who emerges victorious, with both teams in full form. A tough one, for sure!