Tuesday 8th March, 2011

REX CLEMENTINE delighted with the reporting form Pallekele form of , the akistan have maintained an leading wicket taker unbeaten run in Group ‘A’ so far in the competition Pbut some of their performances so far with 14 wick- in this World Cup have been far from ets including two convincing. After a comprehensive five wicket hauls. win at Suriyawewa against Canada, “He’s done well Pakistan recorded a hard fought win for us. The pitches over Sri Lanka by 11 runs at R. are really helping Premadasa Stadium and were bowled the spinners, espe- out for 183 by Canada in their last cially a bowler like game. They will play their fourth Afridi. He has a lot game in the first round today when of variations and he they take on New Zealand, who have bowls leg-breaks, Teams struggled in ODI in the last googlies, faster ones and the ball New Zealand (From): Daniel six months as World Cup matches that’s comes drifting in, that ‘s really Vettori (Captain), Hamish Bennett, shifts to Pallekele International difficult for a batsmen to handle. The James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Stadium. main thing in his bowling is his Jamie How, Brendan McCullum, Vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq has aggression,” Misbah added. Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob been the in form batsman for The Kiwis, meanwhile, had a for- Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Pakistan having amassed 185 runs in getful time in the sub-continent as Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane three innings including two half-cen- they were whitewashed in their last Williamson and Luke Woodcock. turies and he admitted that Pakistan two series. Bangladesh beat them 4-0 Pakistan (From):Shahid Afridi need to improve in certain areas. while India thrashed them 5-0 and (Captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul “Sometimes you have bad days, just before World Cup when they Razzaq, , Ahmed that’s part of the game. In the last hosted Pakistan they were defeated 3- Shehzad, , , game the conditions suited the 2. Kamran Akmal (Wicketkeeper), Canadians and the wicket was a little “There is always more work to be , , bit slower and there was cloud cover done. We’ve got a big game against , , Umar too so they exploited those condi- Pakistan and fortunately we have Gul, and . tions. But everyday is not like that, played a lot against them, so we are Umpires: Daryl Harper (Aus) and our has done really well espe- pretty familiar, but they are pretty Nigel Llong (Eng) cially in New Zealand and against familiar with us as well. So it’s going Third Umpire: Ian Gould (NZ) South Africa. We hope that we will do to be a tough game but hopefully we Match Referee: Chris Broad well tomorrow. We are looking for- have some confidence from the (Eng) ward to the contest,” Misbah told Zimbabwe game where we batted journalists yesterday. pretty well. Hopefully we can bring that same performance to this game. Pakistan’s openers have been a File Picture: New Zealand captain concern having added 11, 28 and 16 It’s going to be huge for our confi- Daniel Vettori bats at a practice ses- runs for the first wicket in the last dence,” New Zealand captain Daniel sion in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, three games. They would be, however, Vettori told journalists. March 3, 2011. Royal Group of 88 Bagai, Hansra set up rare fellowship dinner on W Cup win for Canada Wednesday The old boys of Royal College BY GERALD IMRAY NEW DELHI (AP) - Captain Ashish Bagai Group of 88 have planned their annual and Jimmy Hansra both made half-cen- fellowship dinner to be held tomorrow turies in a 132-run stand to set up just a sec- (09), on the eve of the Royal-Thomian ond-ever World Cup win for Canada as it Big Match 2011. beat Kenya by five wickets on Monday. The organising team anticipates a Bagai was 64 and Hansra made large participation this year as well, 70, lifting Canada from 48-3 and helping it similar to previous years. past Kenya’s 198 all out in the battle of The fellowship dinner will be held Group A’s bottom teams at the Feroz Shah at “Events Avenue”, No.41, Maitland Kotla stadium. Crescent, Colombo 07 which is next to Kenya slumped to a fourth successive loss at this tournament. CH & FC Club House. Tickets are avail- Tamnay Mishra had earlier made 51 able at the entrance. and anchored consecutive half-century partnerships with captain Jimmy Kamande and Thomas Odoyo, who also Pietersen out of made 51, as Kenya avoided an embarrass- ing collapse. World Cup, replaced Canada fast bowler Henry Osinde pro- duced an opening burst of 3-7 to help send by Morgan Kenya reeling at 57-5. Osinde finished with BY STUART CONDIE a career-best 4-26. CHENNAI, India (AP) - was ruled out of the rest of Brief scores: the World Cup and replaced in Kenya 198 all out in 50 overs (Tamnay England’s squad by on Mishra 51, Thomas Odoyo 51; Henry Monday because his hernia surgery is Osinde 4-26). more urgent than initially suspected. Canada 199 for 5 in 45.3 overs (Ashish The 30-year-old Pietersen had been Bagai 64 not out, Jimmy Hansra 70.) scheduled for surgery after the tourna- ment, but his condition worsened after batting and bowling in England’s six- run, Group B win over South Africa on Sunday night. Canada’s captain Ashish Bagai, In a Tweet to confirm what he called left, and Jimmy Hansra run the “breaking news,” Pietersen said: “I between the wickets during their fly home tonight. Out of the WC & IPL. partnership in the Cricket World Absolutely devastated!!” Cup Group A match between “Sad to leave India.. Love the people Canada and Kenya in the in New & the hospitality,” he continued. “Not a Delhi, India, Monday, March 7, lot u can do about injuries.” 2011. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan) The International Cricket Council later approved England’s request to replace Pietersen with the 24-year-old Morgan, who would have been in England’s original 15-man squad but for a broken finger.

Tuesday 8th March, 2011