CT 09: Match 1: SL v. SA: Dilshan Rocks! SL beat SA!

Though the Proteas are leading the ICC ODI rankings, in this match, SL had different plans. Dilshan rocked in the opening match of this year's edition of Champions Trophy. His blistering century gave the Sri Lankans a great chance to win the opening encounter against the hosts SA.

Though Jayasuriya went early for 10, skipper Sangakkara joined Dilshan and the pair did not miss the opportunities given to them for scoring. They added 158 for the 2nd wicket in 154 balls. Sangakkar made 54 from 74 balls which had 5 boundaries.

No SA bowler was able to stop Dilshan from reaching his 3rd ODI hundred. His first 50 (38 balls) was quicker than the second 50 (49 balls). When Dilshan departed for 106 (92 balls, 16x4, 1x6) the score was 181 in 29.1 overs. Jayawardene and Samaraweera added 116 for the 4th wicket. Jayawardene played wonderful strokes and ensured that the scoreboard was moving. He contributed 77 to the total in 61 balls which had 8 fours and a six.

Merwe was the economic bowler with 0 for 42 in his 10 overs. Parnell was punished for his poor bowling and he ended with 3 for 79 in 10.

Chasing a difficult target of 320, until Smith departed, SA had hope of reaching the target. He showed class and courage in handling the attack. He took risk by stepping out and hitting the fast bowlers.

Mendis stopped the SA progress with his first ball wicket of SA captain. Smith did not read the ball and the ball went between the bat and pad to knock the leg stump. Few overs later, Kallis was caught of Mendis at mid off. He bowled Duminy in the next ball. Boucher saved the hatrick, but could not save the match.

Both Muralitharan and Mendis put a break to SA innings and increased the required run rate. At the 38th over, rain stopped play. Based on D/L method, SA should have been at 262 and were found short by 55 runs.

Dilshan was rightly given the man of the match for his match winning century.

Scoreboard:

Match # 1, Group B
Date: Wednesday Sep 23, 2009
Teams: Sri Lanka v. South Africa
Captains: Sangakkara and Smith
Toss: South Africa, decided to field
Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
Result: Sri Lanka won by 55 runs (D/L Method)
Points: Sri Lanka 2; South Africa 0
Man of the Match: Dilshan off Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Dilshan	c A Morkel b Steyn	106	92	16	1
Jayasuriya	lbw b Steyn	10	9	2	0
Sangakkara	c & b Duminy	54	74	5	0
M Jayawardene	c Duminy b Parnell	77	61	8	1
Samaraweera	c Merwe b Parnell	37	47	1	0
Mathews	b Steyn	15	14	0	0
Kandamby	c Duminy b Parnell	6	5	1	0
Kulasekara	run out (Merwe/Steyn)	1	1	0	0
Muralitharan	not out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(lb 5, w 5, nb 3)	13	-	-	-
Total	for 8 wkts in 50 overs	319	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-16 (Jayasuriya, 2.2 ov), 2-174 (Sangakkara, 27.6 ov), 3-181 (Dilshan, 29.1 ov), 4-297 (Jayawardene, 46.3 ov), 5-297 (Samaraweera, 46.4 ov), 6-314 (Kandamby, 48.6 ov), 7-317 (Kulasekara, 49.4 ov), 8-319 (Mathews, 49.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Steyn	9	2	47	3
Parnell	10	0	79	3
Kallis	7	0	43	0
A Morkel	4	0	39	0
J Botha	9	0	53	0
Merwe	10	0	42	0
Duminy	1	0	11	1

South Africa Innings: (320 to win in 50 overs, but revised to 262 in 37.4 overs when rain stopped play)

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
G Smith	b Mendis	58	44	9	1
Amla	b Mathews	2	10	0	0
J Kallis	c Mathews b Mendis	41	48	4	0
AB de Villiers	c Jayawardene b Malinga	24	38	0	0
Duminy	b Mendis	0	1	0	0
Boucher	lbw b Mathews	26	29	2	0
A Morkel	not out	29	32	3	0
J Botha	c Mathews b Malinga	21	20	4	0
Merwe	not out	3	4	0	0
Extras	(w 2)	2	-	-	-
Total	for 7 wkts in 37.4 overs	206	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-9 (Amla, 2.6 ov), 2-90 (Smith, 14.1 ov), 3-113 (Kallis, 20.3 ov), 4-113 (Duminy, 20.4 ov), 5-142 (de Villiers, 26.2 ov), 6-163 (Boucher, 31.2 ov), 7-198 (Botha, 35.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Malinga	7.4	0	43	2
Kulasekara	7	0	44	0
Mathews	8	1	43	2
Muralitharan	8	0	46	0
Mendis	7	0	30	3

1st ODI: Ind v. NZ: India win by D/L method!

India beat New Zealand to take 1-0 lead in the five match ODI series. Rain interrupted the match several times and the officials had to reduce the over on each occassion. Understanding the weather, Dhoni decided to bat first after winning the toss.

The overs were reduced to 38 overs a side and India scored 273. Sehwas was at his best with blistering knock of 77 in 56 balls with 11 fours and a six. Though the ground was small compared to other grounds in Australia and India, one really has to score. Sehwag started the ODI series well for himself and the Indian team.

Tendulkar departed early on 20. Dhoni scored unbeaten 84 in 89 balls with 6 fours. He played the captains innings and lead from the front. Though Yuvi was run out for 2, Raina played master innings. He scored 66 in 39 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes.

The three blocks of powerplay were for 8, 4, and 3 overs. Raina's knock really turned the match with the Indian team scoring quick runs in the third power play which had 3 overs limit. India scored 40 runs in the 3rd powerplay in which Raina scored 25 runs and Dhoni scored 14 runs. In the last 10 overs, India scored 109 runs which really gave India winning score.

New Zealand was given a revised target of 278 in 38 overs. In the 21st over, rain intervened and the target was reduced to 216 in 28 overs which is next to impossible against the Indian bowling attack. New Zealand never looked winning and India was on top from the beginning.

During the presentation, the captians said:

Vettori: "Disappointing result and some serious lack of execution cost us. We bowled pretty poorly and Raina's innings, in particular, took the game away from us. We put ourselves in a difficult situation while batting second and the revised target was never within reach."

Dhoni: "The important thing was to get a good start, and when you manage that you'll often end up setting a good enough target for the bowlers to defend. Raina batted really well, and so did Sehwag. There were times in the Twenty20 games when we went all guns blazing and lost too many wickets doing so, but our overall approach has been very good. Praveen Kumar bowled well too, he's a street smart cricketer, has some good variations and bowls according to the conditions."

Dhoni was declared man of the match for his wonderful batting.

Scoreboard:

Tour: India to New Zealand
Series: ODI
Match #: 1
Date: Tuesday March 3, 2009
Venue: Napier
Captains: Daniel Vettori (NZ) and MS Dhoni (Ind)
Umpires: AL Hill and RE Koertzen; GAV Baxter-third umpire
Toss: Indai won the toss and decided to bat
Match: India won by 53 runs by D/L method
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni off India
Additonal Information: Match reduced to 38 overs a side; In the 21st over of NZ innings, the target was revised to 216 in 28 overs

India 273 for 4 in 38 overs (V Sehwag caught Taylor bowled Vettori 77, Tendulkar caught McCullum bowled Butler 20, MS Dhoni 84 not out, Yuvaraj Sing run out (Vettori/Guptill) 2, SK Raina caught O'Brien bowled Elliott 66, Yousuf Pathan 20 not out, Extras--4 (b 1, lb 1, nb 2), KD Mills 7-0-69-0, IE O'Brien 8-1-52-0, IG Butler 8-1-42-1, JPD Oram 2-0-19-0, DL Vettori 8-0-42-1, JD Ryder 3-0-27-0, GD Elliott 2-0-20-1)

Fall of Wickets: 1-69 (Tendulkar, 9.4 ov), 2-121 (Sehwag, 18.2 ov), 3-131 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.4 ov), 4-241 (Raina, 34.6 ov)

New Zealand (target revised in 21st over: 216 in 28 overs) 162 for 9 in 28 overs (JD Ryder caught Sehwag bowled Kumar 11, BB McCullum caught Harbhajan bowled Kumar 0, MJ Guptill caught Gambhir bowled Harbhajan 64, LRPL Taylor caught Tendulkar bowled Y Pathan 31, GD Elliott run out (Dhoni/Sehwag) 11, JDP Oram caught Dhoni bowled Yuvaraj 0, NT Broom st Dhoni bowled Harbhajan 2, Butler caught Patel bowled Zaheer 0, Mills caught Sehwag bowled Harbhajan 0, Vettori 26 not out, O'Brien 3 not out, Extras--14 (lb 10, w 3, nb 1), Zaheer Khan 6-1-19-1, Praveen Kumar 6-1-28-2, Munaf Patel 2-0-14-0, Yuvaraj 6-0-42-1, Yousuf Pathan 4-0-22-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-3)

Fall of Wickets: 1-0 (McCullum, 1.5 ov), 2-23 (Ryder, 7.4 ov), 3-81 (Taylor, 15.5 ov), 4-111 (Elliott, 20.5 ov), 5-111 (Oram, 20.6 ov), 6-132 (Guptill, 23.3 ov), 7-132 (Broom, 23.4 ov), 8-132 (Mills, 23.6 ov), 9-132 (Butler, 24.1 ov)