One more batting disaster for WI and its very hard for them to comeback in to this match anymore. Only thing which can save West Indies is either a rain or blistering innings from Gayle.
South Africa need couple of wickets early to level the series. You can catch all the live action using the links exchanged in comments.
They way things have gone on Day 3, Aussies will be under more pressure compared to India as they will be looking to win the match rather than a draw to extend their winning streak. Considering Aussies still trailing by 56 runs, even if they score 350 today it may not be a good idea to declare with a target of 300 considering the form Sachin/Sourav/Laxman are in. But somewhere in the corner I feel they are going to do that exactly and if that happens I would like to see a bit shuffle in Indian batting order.
Sourav and Sachin resumed the innings on Day 3 and Sourav started playing aggressive cricket and scored 67 in no time before getting out because of lazy shot while Sachin slowly accumulating his runs. Once Sourav departed, limited over star Yuvraj arrived at the crease and was confused soul against the spin and Hogg literally made him dance. Ponting took a bit of gamble and went for new ball and Lee dismissed Yuvraj, Dhoni and Kumble in no time. Everyone must had lost the hope that India will touch 400 figure but under Sachin guidance harbhajan, RP and Ishant put together 180 runs along with Sachin. Sachin was not explosive but it was very matured and planned innings.
May be for the first time in recent times, Aussies are put under pressure and it will be tested how well they can handle the situation which they have never been in before.
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As expected Bangladesh could not withstand much longer after New Zealand winning the toss and put them to bat. Except Tamim Iqbal’s performance who managed to score half century without any support from the other end there is nothing much to be discussed about the Bangladesh innings. Bangladesh getting all out for a score of 137 makes this match definitely a one sided and only New Zealand can win from here on.
Bell, the comeback player for New Zealand scored unbeaten 75 at the end of day 1 taking the innings lead to 19 runs with another five wickets remaining put the Bangladesh on back foot for the rest of the match.
As observed yesterday we did not have any links once the India vs Australia match started. Looks like the same will be the case today as well but hope for the best
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South Africa were right on money with the ball and cleaned the WI tail without letting them score much runs. West Indies almost carried their bowling performance from 1st match to this one and managed to pick couple of wickets in the 1st hour and when Kallis and Amla seemed to set for a big partnership, Bravo did the job of removing both of them along with the man in form AB devilliers.
Boucher and Prince did almost the same job as Samuels and Chanderpaul did for West Indies and good thing for South Africa is both of them are still there at the crease.
SA is just behind by 25 runs and with 5 wickets to go, ideally they should be getting a lead of 100 runs and put pressure back on WI and chase the score less than 200. With another 3 days to go, there will be a definite result.
Aussies had one more century partnership between Symmonds and Bret Lee followed by quick 28 from Mitchell Johnson to take the 1st innings total to 463. Australian team must be happy with their batting performance boosted by umpires to post a total of 463 from a stage where they were 136/6.Indian innings on day 2 was mostly one man show and its none other than Very Very Special Laxman. He scored his 3rd consecutive century on SCG. Dravid also scored a painful 50 before both Dravid and Laxman got dismissed in quick time. With not more than 10 overs to go, Sachin and Sourav played cautiously without losing any wicket and at the stumps India were 216/3
With another 200 plus deficit, only one third of the job is done and the rest of the players need to bat responsibly if at all they want to have any chance. India should be looking to have a lead of ateast 50 by end of day and Aussies will be hoping for one more Indian batting collapse.
Also weather forecast for the rest of the match is not as promising as it was for the first two days.
Bangladesh and test series sound very unnatural. They will be playing their 50th match today and they had won only one till date and lost almost 85% of them.They may be a surprise package in ODI cricket where the fate of the match will be decided in 8 hours but 5 days is too long to have luck on their side.
New Zealand will be looking for a clean sweep weather permitting.
Seriously doubt if we will have any stable live links for this match but the trend had been that links will be available here if there are any live cricket links on any other site.
The way things have gone both the teams had got something to cheer about. West Indies did not collapse like many expected after losing Morton and Gayle in quick succession and South Africa fought their way back into game with Steyn doing some damage to the tail.
One more fifty plus score from Chanderpaul and good partnership with Marlon samuels to put WI back on track and in game.
With tail already in, SA would like to bowl them out and get a good lead by end of day and put pressure back on West Indies and try to win and level the series.
What a turnaround to the match, India dominated the 1st two sessions of the match and Symmonds and Hogg turned the match in favor of home side with some tremendous hitting in the last session.
RP singh and Bhajji bowled exceptionally well and luck was with Aussies whole day. Even 3rd Umpire giving a wrong decision in favor of Aussies apart from 3 clear appeals turned down by standing umpires to favor the home nation shows the luck Aussies were riding on. Well that’s cricket and umpires to make mistakes but each of those mistakes cost India dearly with Ponting scoring half century and Symmonds scoring century when both of them had been out before scoring even 30.
India will be looking forward to pick the rest of the wickets and bat as early as possible on a pitch which still looks good to bat and put a decent total on scoreboard by end of day 2.
Can West Indies show some consistency or was the last match just one of those days when Windies throw surprises to cricket fans like they had done in past few times in ODI’s. SA will make some changes to their batting line up with Neil Mc Kenzie replacing Gibbs. Its good to see Mc Kenzie back in side. WI will likely to play the same team unless there is some injury scare to some one.
Hope we get to see good cricket and in next day or so we will know if WI can be consistent or not.
Wish All Your Viewers a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.!!
India has history of starting the series badly and bounce back strongly. Every Indian will be hoping for India to bounce back strongly and bring the series to life.
India has to deal with few fitness problems with in form batsman Sourav down with fever and Pace Spearhead Zaheer Khan’s ankle injury resurfaced. From the news reports it seems like India is gonna retain the openers and it would be interesting to see how Dravid approaches his game in this match if he is at all to open the innings today.
Australia most likely will field the same team as they did in the MCG test.
Hope it will be interesting match unlike the 1st test where India surrendered themselves in 1st innings itself.
