Abu Dhabi may host WC 0211 matches

Abu Dhabi and Dubai may host Pakistan's share of 2011 World Cup matches as the International Cricket Council is looking into such a proposal by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

United Arab Emirates hosted a one-day series against Australia in April-May in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and a meeting of delegates from the ICC and the four host nations at Lord's on Monday did not rule the two cities hosting matches of the 2011 showpiece event.

"The options are that the games could be reallocated amongst the three other host nations, but we have not ruled out the prospect of some of Pakistan's games perhaps being played in what might be termed a fifth country," Morgan said after the meeting.

As per the previous decision of ICC Development International (ICC's commercial arm), Pakistan will not host any match, but Morgan said the IDI will again take a call."We have our plans in place for the majority of the matches, if not all of them, to be staged in the Indian subcontinent.

"It is the commercial board of ICC that has to make the decision in terms of the location of those 14 matches. Ideally it would be very good if the four host nations could come up with a recommendation. Whether that will occur or not is uncertain at the moment," he said.

The cricket Boards of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also agreed to Pakistan getting $10.5 million as hosting fees of 2011 World Cup even if the trouble-torn country did not host a single match. As per IDI's previous decision, Pakistan will not host matches but the PCB will still be recognised as hosts and retain fees from its original allocation of 14 matches.

Each World Cup host country is guaranteed a payment of $750,000 for every allocated match, and co-hosts Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka accepted that if any of Pakistan's 14 matches were to take place in their countries, they would not be due a fee for hosting them.

"Pakistan remains a co-host and retains its host fees for the 14 matches originally scheduled to take place there before the decision to remove the country as a host location for the tournament," the ICC statement said. "Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka all accepted that if any of those 14 matches were to take place in their countries, then they would not be due any fee for hosting them," it said.

Morgan ruled out switching the 2011 World Cup to Australia and New Zealand, the designated hosts of the 2015 event."We did discuss the possibility of giving the 2011 World Cup to Australia and New Zealand, but that is not an option. Those two countries will hold the tournament in 2015", he said

West Indies in the Semis

The experience of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul guided West Indies into the ICC World Twenty20 semi-finals after the top order threatened to lose their heads in a reduced chase of 80 in nine overs. A succession of wild shots meant West Indies were 45 for 5 in the sixth over, but Sarwan and Chanderpaul calmly added 37 to complete the victory with four balls to spare and send the hosts out.

Chris Gayle wanted to have the final say in the extended duel between these two teams which dates back to February. He briefly threatened to carry the chase on his own but was yorked by a beauty from Ryan Sidebottom and he was grateful for calmness of his two senior batsmen. A second brilliant piece of glovework from James Foster to stump Dwayne Bravo had put England on top, but Sarwan and Chanderpaul showed there is room for sensible batsmanship even in a nine-over thrash.

When Sarwan hit the winning boundary with four balls to spare the rest of the team - apart from Gayle who strode out at his own pace - sprinted onto the outfield in scenes reminiscent of their 2004 Champions Trophy victory on the same ground. Weeks of moping around England for the Tests and one-dayers were long forgotten.

A heavy thunderstorm after England's innings concluded on 161 for 6 meant Duckworth-Lewis came into use. It would have been understandable if West Indies were nervous at the prospect after John Dyson's embarrassing error during the one-day series, when he handed England victory, but the calculations benefited West Indies as much as they knew what was needed and could attack hard.

However, they almost went too hard. Andre Fletcher bagged his third duck in a row when he top-edged a pull off James Anderson, although Gayle was only going to play one way. He slammed Sidebottom's first ball over midwicket and then cracked him over cover, but the bowler responded in fine style as he speared a yorker under Gayle's bat.

Stuart Broad struck with his first ball when Lendl Simmons carved to third man and there was a manic nature about the run-chase that threatened to unravel West Indies' hopes. Paul Collingwood used his bowlers in one-over spells and when the three-over Powerplay was finished he brought Graeme Swann into the attack. The offspinner responded with five excellent deliveries that yielded three runs, but the sixth ball was lofted over long-off for six by Kieron Pollard.

Collingwood then gambled by tossing the ball to Adil Rashid - preferred in this game to Dimitri Mascarenhas - and his first delivery was magnificently driven over extra cover by Bravo. In two shots, West Indies were back in front and the pressure was on a young spinner. That Rashid responded with a top-spinner to bowl Pollard is a huge credit to him and shows great promise for the future.

Then came what looked a pivotal moment as Bravo was beaten by Swann's flight and Foster made a split-second stumping as the batsman raised his foot. At that moment West Indies needed 35 from 22 balls, but this time Foster wasn't a match-winner.

Sarwan drove Anderson through cover and whipped him behind square for a second boundary and that was to prove the final twist. Chanderpaul nudged, nurdled and responded to his partner's screams to run hard (despite an injured thigh) and swung a priceless boundary past fine leg that meant Sidebottom would have little to work with in the final over.

England will look back and think the reduction in overs was harsh on them, but once again the batting had failed to build on a solid start against an attack lacking Fidel Edwards who was forced out moments before the toss with a back injury.

As Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen added 56 all was looking good, but once Pietersen picked out deep square-leg with a top-edged lap the innings stalled and nearly went backwards. There wasn't a boundary from the 11th over until the penultimate ball of the innings, when Broad swept Sulieman Benn and followed it up with a clean straight six as the bowler struggled with a wet ball.

Bopara's 55 from 47 balls was full of elegance and class, with two on-drives as perfect as you could wish to see, but at times it seemed as though others were playing with hollow bats. Bopara and Pietersen managed 10 of the 13 fours between them and a lack of power in the middle order was cruely exposed. It is that absence of brutal hitting that was decisive, not the rain.

Testing time starts for India in ICC Twenty20 Cricket

The business end of the tournament is about to begin for India, who have gone into the Super Eights under-tested. They have gone about their task effectively though, and without fuss, and facing them are a side who have been a total contrast. West Indies have been unpredictable, mercurial at times and pedestrian otherwise, and have relied on individual performances to lift them up.

Beware the individual spark though. The kind of innings Chris Gayle played against Australia can beat any team in the world on its own. The team officials are confident Gayle will be back for this match after he missed the inconsequential league game against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. India's counterpart of Gayle, the man capable of playing a similar innings at the top, Virender Sehwag, is not in town. Now starts the real test of how well Rohit Sharma can fill the opener's slot.

Form guide

India: WWLLW

The only worry so far has been their bowling at the death. In their two warm-up games, they gave away 31 and 39 in their last two overs, and Ireland managed 39 off the last three in the final league game.

West Indies: LWWLW(T)
Lendl Simmons, Gayle's replacement for the match against Sri Lanka, has given West Indies plenty to think about. His bowling figures of 3-0-19-4 first kept Sri Lanka to under 200, and then his 19-ball 29 got West Indies to some sort of a start in their chase.

Watch out for...

India's spin twins: West Indies clearly relished the pace of Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, but against Sri Lankan quality spin bowling they struggled. Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha are not compartable with Murali and Mendis, but they are good enough to test West Indies.

Gayle comes back with immense possibility at the top, inspirational leadership, and canny offbreaks. How long he stays at the crease could spell West Indies' fate.

Team news

India don't really have major reasons to fiddle around with their winning combination. Except for Irfan Pathan, who provides them with an interesting dilemma. Against Bangladesh, he came out in the last over and hit a six and a four right away, which proved to be the difference between a difficult and an improbable chase. But his bowling has been the weak link in the Indian attack: against Bangladesh his two overs went for 20, and against Ireland his 15-run over in the end took the total past 100. Specialist bowlers in Praveen Kumar or RP Singh, or bits-and-pieces allrounder in Irfan Pathan?

India: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Irfan Pathan/Praveen Kumar/RP Singh, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Ishant Sharma

West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Andre Fletcher, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6&7 Lendl Simmons/Xavier Marshall/Kieron Pollard, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Suleiman Benn.

Easy win for India against Ireland

Reigning champions India warmed up for the Super Eights of the World Twenty20 by crushing hapless Ireland by eight wickets on Wednesday.

Left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan claimed four for 19, including three wickets in seven balls, to restrict Ireland to 112-8 in a match reduced to 18-overs-a-side due to rain.

Young opener Rohit Sharma then hit an unbeaten 52 off 45 balls as India romped home with 15 balls to spare to end the preliminary league with two successive wins.

Gautam Gamhir chipped in with 37 in a first-wicket stand of 77 with Sharma in front of a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.

The Irish, surprise qualifiers for the Super Eights, never recovered from Zaheer's triple strike which reduced them to 28-4 by the seventh over.

Andrew White top-scored with 29 as four of the top six batsmen failed to reach double figures.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha picked up two for 18 in his four overs.

Both teams had already advanced to the Super Eights after knocking Bangladesh out of the competition.

Ireland took the field without star batsman Niall O'Brien, who was resting a sprained ankle, and burly seamer Trent Johnson also missed out to freshen up for the second round.

Zaheer said he enjoyed the four-wicket boost as he continued his rehabilitation from a shoulder injury.

"I had not played for four or five weeks so it's great to be back in the wickets," he said. "It's a real confidence-booster. I'm very pleased with my performance.

"The shoulder is coming along well. I feel better day by day and I am improving, I feel 100 per cent now."

Zaheer had missed most of the Indian Premier League in South Africa and the two practice matches ahead of the World Twenty20 due to the injury in his left shoulder.

India play the West Indies in their first Super Eights match at Lord's on Friday. South Africa and England are the other teams in the group, from which the top two advance to the semi-finals.

Ireland return on Thursday to face New Zealand here with Pakistan and Sri Lanka also in the same group.

ICC Twenty20 Point Table: As on 10 th, June

ICC Twenty20 :Point Table as on 9,june,2009

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