England stunned South Africa

One day with dull matches and the another day washed by rain, the weekend was all set to be spoiled,but the spin paradise of Chennai produced one of the thrilling game of the world cup.England , which was once determined as one of the team that could face an early elimination stunned the South African team by beating them by just 6 runs in a titanic encourter.Starting from a thrilling tie against India to the shock of losing to Ireland they have now produced a stunning fight back to beat South Africa in a low scoring contest. England won the toss and choose to bat first.Robin Pieterson opened the bowling and dismissed both the openers in the very 1st over.Bell followed quickly and England was struggling at 15/3.Then Bopara and Trott made a vital partnership of 100 runs.Bopara played one of the finest knock at a devastating pitch.He scored 60 runs off 98 balls before getting out.Trott supported him with his innings of 52 runs.But after they got out English lower order was totally failed due to excellent bowling performance by Tahir and Morkel.Tahir managed to bowl really well and got the figure 4/38 and Morkel got 2 wickets.Only Swann(16) and Prior(10) managed to past double digits.England managed to score only 171 runs in 45.4 overs.In response to run chase the Protea's started watchfully .Left arm spinner Yardy opened the attack.Amla was hitting really well but Smith was struggling to play Anderson and Swann.Amla and Smith made 63 for the 1st wicket in 14.1 overs before Smith dismissed at 22.Kallis did n't extend his innings and dismissed for 15.Amla played on to wicked off Broad at 41.South Africa was in trouble.AB bowled on a brillant delivery by Anderson and Du Plessis was run out by a good throw of Bell.South Africa was struggling at 7-127 but the partnership from Van Wyk and Steyn threatened to take the match away.They had made a good partneship of 33 runs and SA was at 160 for 7 with just 12 runs to win.But Bresnan bowled Van wyk and that was the turning point.Stuart Broad finished the Proteas tail and Sa were 6 runs short of target.A fighting innings from Steyn(20 off 31 balls) had gone in vain.Broad took 4 wickets. Bopara won the M.O.M due to his well made half century.

Indian Bowling:A matter of concern

It is too early to examine the performance of the team but Indian bowlers are totally unimpressive in previous games.India conceded 287 runs to Bangladesh and shared points against England after posting a huge total of 338.If the game against Bangladesh had showed some of the holes of Indian bowling,the match with England has exposed its weaknesses completely. Indian batting line -up is solid and they are performing excellently.Sachin and Sehwag are at their prime form.Kohli and Gambhir are supporting them very well too.Yuvi has regained his form.But the bowlers are totally off coloured.Zaheer is the only bright spot in Indian bowling so far.His tripple blow to England at the crucial stage brought back India in that game.Zaheer has got figures of 2-40 and 3-63 so far,but other bowlers have failed completely.Munaf has been consistent without inspiring,Bhajji has yet to strike.Sreesanth and Chawla gave away too many runs.The fifth bowlers Yusuf and Yuvraj has gone for 67 runs in 10 overs at last game.With Nehra and Aswin sitting on the bench India have to rethink its bowling strategy.Nehera is recovering from an injury.He is a wicket taking bowler and he should be their in the playing XI.On the other hand Aswin has to fight with Chawla for the second spinner spot.Chawla has gone for 72 runs last match.If India has to win the world cup they have bowl excellently and have to take wickets at the dead flat pitches. There has been suggestions coming from former players to play 5 specialist bowlers in final XI.Many teams are playing in this world cup with five pure bowlers.Even South Africa has played with 3 spinners and 2 seamers in their final XI.Pakistan and Srilanka are playing with 5 bowlers every game.Australia has a good combination too.It is now a million dollar question that whether India will play with 5 specialist bowlers or remain with its 7 batsmans theory.With top order striking consistantly Dhoni could take the risk of playing another bowler by droping a batsman.But that will add additional pressure to the top order. it is unlikely that Dhoni will change his configuration. India will face the highly motivated Irish side on next sunday that thrashed the English side with a record breaking chase .India should play another paceman by droping Chawla in this match.

Ireland upsets England

They can beat Australia at their home and retain the ashes one day but they could face a humiliating defeat the very next day. History repeats once again for England. England,which tied the high voltage clash against India few days ago lost to low profile Ireland today. It was the same Chinnaswamy stadium of Bangalore which resistered a thrilling tie last Sunday,became the part of history of Irish cricket. but it was not the heroic of Strauss or Bresnan,It was one man's show.Kevin O'Brian who had hit 6 sixes and 13 fours during his innings of  unbeaten 113.Kevin smashed the english bowlers brutally all around the park and resistered the fastest century at world cup scoring in just 50 balls. Kevin was looking solid against Bangladesh but unfortunately failed to win that game.But this time he delivered nicely for Ireland . We cant ignore the performance of Cusack and Mooney.Both played vital knocks.But it was kevin's night.

England, which was always inconsistant with its performance won the toss and decided to bat first.KP and Strauss started solidly and Trott and Bell capitalised the innings.Bell made 82 and Trott score 92.Collingwood's lack of form continued and england tell collapsed quickly.Mooney took 4 wickets but england was able to post a good total of 327. In responding the chase Porterfield fell on a duck.Joyce,Striling played slowly but once Ireland was struggling at 115/5.Kevin and Cusack combined a match winning partnership.Cusack fell after scoring 47 but Mooney finished the game for Ireland with 5 ball to spare.England bowling was so out matched and well supported by their fielders.Even Strauss dropped one catch.


With this shocking result the battle for quarterfinal place is going to be more competative and the point shared with India will be vital for England.