World Cup Warm-ups: A narrow escape and a runfest

World Cup 2011 - Day 4 Warm-ups: India and England win their matches in contrasting styles

Canada run England embarrassingly close

At Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah, Canada gave England a run for their money as they fell short of embarrassing them by just 16 runs. England opted to bat first and could not build significant partnerships throughout their innings due to some nagging line and length by the Canadian bowlers. Despite Trott’s 57 they were reduced to 209 for 8 in the 46th over. Medium Pacer Khurram Chohan ripped through the top order and finished with 3 for 34 from 9 overs. Matt Prior who was the top scorer with 78 off 80 balls made sure England post a big enough total for the minnows to chase. Broad contributed down the order before England ignominiously were dismissed for 227 in the last over. Baidwan too took 3 wickets.

Canada’s start was atrocious as Broad and Ajmal Shahzad baffled them with their swing and pace. At 28 for 5, they had no chance to come back in the match but ebullient Rizwan Cheema had other ideas. With Zuben Surkari who made valuable 22, he first made sure English are kept at bay, and then launched a wonderful counter-assault. Khurram again was the man who supported him brilliantly and at one stage it seemed England were on their way to humiliation. Cheema, as he is known for, hit the ball all over the park against the quicks as well as spinners. Again it was Chris Broad who made the vital breakthrough by getting Cheema out and bringing back the broad smiles on the faces of his team mates. He hammered 93 off just 71 balls including 10 fours and 5 sixes. Khurram Chohan was then trapped LBW for 44 to end the resistance. Eventually Canadians were all out for 227 losing the match by just 16 runs. Broad took 5 for 37.It was a valiant effort by them and they have shown the vulnerability of the English in ODIs especially on these tracks.

India maraud the Black Caps

India and New Zealand locked horns at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai for their last warm-up before the WC. On batting perfect, India slaughtered the Black Caps attack as if reminding them that they were white-washed last year. Sehwag and Tendulkar went cheaply but Gambhir and Virat Kohli played without any difficulty putting 106 in 20 overs. Kohli departed for 59 but Gambhir then changed gears and started murdering the attack. After taking BPP in the 36th over he hit Southee for 3 successive fours but fell to the same bowler caught behind for a quick-fire 89 off 85 balls with 11 fours. The flood gates had already opened but Dhoni and Suresh Raina plundered the attack with impetuosity and disdain. They scored 144 runs in the last 11.2 overs in a frenetic passage of play as the New Zealanders had no clue where to bowl and where to hide. After Dhoni hit 5 consecutive fours against Oram, Raina bettered it by hitting 3 huge sixes off the same bowler who gave away 70 runs in his 9 overs for 2 wickets. Raina was out for 50 off 26 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes) but Dhoni remained unbeaten for 108 off 64 balls with 11 fours and 3 sixes. His hundred came off 62 balls and would have been the second fastest by an Indian had it not been a practice match. They scored a mammoth 360 for 5.

New Zealand started the unlikely chase admirably as Guptill and Brendon McCullum put on 94 in 15 overs. But as soon as the spin quartet on Ashwin, Harbhajan, Chawla and Yuvraj came on to bowl, their batsmen could not handle their guile and lost wickets one after the other. Run out of McCullum did not help either. He made 58 off 54 balls with 7 fours. His brother Nathan provided some late order entertainment by hitting a few fours and sixes before they were all out for 243 in the 44th over. India won the match by a huge margin of 117 runs signaling their intention for the all important world cup. They mean business come the main event.