England defeated even scoring highest against Aussies

Australia beat England by two wickets as they achieved their highest one-day international run chase and took a 5-1 lead in the seven-match series.

In an improved England batting display in Sydney, Jonathan Trott scored 137 to set a total of 333-6 - their highest against Australia in one-dayers.

The home side's reply began positively, thanks largely to Shane Watson's 51.

England halted the hosts' progress with regular wickets, but Michael Clarke's 82 helped his side to a final-over win.

Australia's score of 334-8 is also their highest one-day total against England and the fourth highest run-chase by any side in ODI history, emphasising further the gulf that exists between these two sides.

Fuelled by their Ashes success, England came into these one-day internationals looking to build towards what seemed a genuinely realistic 2011 World Cup challenge, but due to poor form and fitness, such buoyant optimism has diminished in conjunction with their hopes of victory over these seven limited-overs matches.

Four defeats from the first five games made this, and the final encounter in Perth on Sunday, dead rubbers, but with pride to restore and World Cup starting places to secure, they remain important fixtures. And despite the defeat, the tourists can take many positives from an improved showing to that in Brisbane last Sunday.

That they were able to do so was largely thanks to Clarke, who put his recent poor form firmly behind him and built on the 54 he scored at Brisbane with a superb 82 off 70 balls.

He was ably assisted by Hussey, who scored 38 before he was caught behind by Prior off Finn - one of two wickets for the Middlesex seamer who finished with figures of 2-51 in 10 overs.

Smith - for whom Haddin was a runner - was run out by Finn for a duck to briefly raise England's hopes and Clarke fell soon after to another run out, this time by Trott, but Lee and John Hastings kept cool heads to see Australia to victory with four balls to spare.

Japan confirms Asian Cup final

Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was the hero as Japan reached the Asian Cup final by beating South Korea 3-0 on penalties at Al Gharafa stadium.

South Korea had been celebrating wildly at the end of extra time after defender Hwang Jae-won hammered home an equaliser with just seconds to play to make it 2-2.

But Kawashima saved two spotkicks and saw another sail wide of his post before Yasuyuki Konno scored his kick to put the Samurai Blue in sight of their fourth Asian Cup trophy.

The win in Qatar was the first time Japan had beaten South Korea in six years, and they had earlier fallen 1-0 behind when Ki Sung-yong scored from the penalty spot in the first half.

But Ryoichi Maeda levelled later in the first half, before Hajime Hosogai pounced on a rebound from Keisuke Honda's controversial penalty in the seventh minute of extra-time after a goalless second half.

The Koreans, hunting their first Asian Cup in more than 50 years, grabbed a reprieve when Hwang forced home the ball seconds from the final whistle.

But South Korea blew their lines in the shootout to send Alberto Zaccheroni's Japan into a final with either Australia or Uzbekistan - their fourth final appearance in six tournaments.

The early exchanges of the East Asian derby saw Japan's precise passing moves almost bear fruit as Yasuhito Endo played Yuto Nagatomo behind the Korean defence.

The free-running left back whipped in a cross that Shinji Okazaki powered low towards the corner, but Jung Sungryong dived to his left to claw the ball onto the inside of the post.

South Korea were winning possession through the tenacity of captain Park Ji-sung, whose commitment in the challenge was barely toned down by a yellow card for an elbow on opposing skipper Makoto Hasebe.

Their graft was rewarded on 23 minutes when Konno obstructed Manchester United midfielder Park in the box, with Ki hammering the penalty past Kawashima.

That gave the Korean half of a colourful and noisy East Asian crowd of 16,171 the upper hand in the decibel stakes, and they could have seen their side go two up when Ji Dong-won went on a teasing solo run down the middle before his shot was blocked by Nagatomo.

Some delightful Japanese passing soon gave the Samurai Blue an equaliser.

After a quiet performance in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Qatar, CSKA Moscow midfielder Honda patiently held up play before threading a pass through for Nagatomo, who charged into the box before squaring for Maeda to force the ball into the net.

Honda set up Maeda again a minute before half time, but the Jubilo Iwata striker's chested volley was fired over the bar.

That was the story of the second half, as the Koreans in particular peppered the general area of the goal.

Ji took off on another solo run, but Koo Ja-cheol could only pop the ball into the side netting after latching onto the forward's pass.

It took extra time before the deadlock was broken in Japan's favour via a controversial penalty decision from Saudi referee Khalil Al Ghamdi.

A through-ball to Okazaki saw the Japan striker deliberately bodychecked by Hwang as he charged into the area, but replays showed the original contact was just outside the box.

South Korea's appeals to the linesman were of no avail and after Jung Sungryong saved Honda's kick, Hosogai hared forward to slam the rebound high into the net.

Hwang looked to have gone from zero to hero as he slammed home the last-minute equaliser, but Koo, Lee Yong-rae and Jeong Ho-hong all missed their chances as South Korea extended their long wait for a continental trophy.

Leaders in World Cup 2011

Australia

Captain:   Ricky Ponting

 Coach:    Tim Nielsen

Bangladesh

Captain:   Shakib Al Hasan

Coach:     Jamie Siddons

Canada

Captain:   Ashish Bagai

Coach:     Pubudu Dassanayake

England

Captain:   Andrew Strauss

Coach:     Andy Flower

India

Captain:   MS Dhoni

Coach:      Gary Kirsten

Ireland

Captain:   William Porterfield

 Coach:     Phil Simmons

Kenya

Captain:   Jimmy Kamande

 Coach:    Eldine Baptiste

Netherlands

Captain:    Peter Borren

Coach:      Peter Drinnen

New Zealand

Captain:  Daniel Vettori

 Coach:   John Wright

Pakistan

Captain:Shahid Afridi

 Coach: Waqar Younis

South Africa

Captain:  Graeme Smith

Coach:    Corrie van Zyl

Sri Lanka

Captain:  Kumar Sangakkara

 Coach:    Trevor Bayliss

West Indies

Captain:  Darren Sammy

 Coach:   Ottis Gibson

Zimbabwe

Captain:   Elton Chigumbura

 Coach:    Alan Butcher

ICC World Cup 2011 Schedule

Serial No.             Date & Time                      Match                              Venue
Match-1          19 Feb,2011 08:30 AM GMT IND vs BAN Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Match-2         20 Feb,2011 04:00 AM GMT NZ vs KEN MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Match-3         20 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT SL vs CAN Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

Match-4         21 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT AUS vs ZIM Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera

Match-5         22 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT ENG vs NED Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Match-6          23 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT PAK vs KEN Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

Match-7         24 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT SA vs WI Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Match-8         25 Feb,2011 04:00 AM GMT AUS vs NZ Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Match-9         25 Feb,2011 08:30 AM GMT BAN vs IRE Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Match-10 26 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT PAK vs SL R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match-11 27 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT IND vs ENG Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match-12 28 Feb,2011 04:00 AM GMT ZIM vs CAN Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Match-13 28 Feb,2011 09:00 AM GMT WI vs NED Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Match-14 01 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT SL vs KEN R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match-15 02 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT ENG vs IRE M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

Match-16 03 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT SA vs NED Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali


Match-17 03 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT PAK vs CAN R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match-18 04 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT NZ vs ZIM Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera

Match-19 04 Mar,2011 08:30 AM GMT BAN vs WI Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Match-20 05 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT AUS vs SL R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match-21 06 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT SA vs ENG MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Match-22 06 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT IND vs IRE M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru (Bangalore) To be played

Match-23 07 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT CAN vs KEN Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi


Match-24 08 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT PAK vs NZ Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy

Match-25 09 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT IND vs NED Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Match-26 10 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT SL vs ZIM Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy

Match-27 11 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT WI vs IRE Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali


Match-28 11 Mar,2011 08:30 AM GMT BAN vs ENG Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

Match-29 12 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT IND vs SA Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Match-30 13 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT NZ vs CAN Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Match-31 13 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT AUS vs KEN M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

Match-32 14 Mar,2011 03:30 AM GMT BAN vs NED Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong


Match-33 14 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT PAK vs ZIM Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy


Match-34 15 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT SA vs IRE Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match-35 16 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT AUS vs CAN M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru (Bangalore)


Match-36 17 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT ENG vs WI MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Match-37 18 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT NED vs IRE Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match-38 18 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT NZ vs SL Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai


Match-39 19 Mar,2011 03:30 AM GMT BAN vs SA Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Match-40 19 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT AUS vs PAK R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match-41 20 Mar,2011 04:00 AM GMT ZIM vs KEN Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match-42 20 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT IND vs WI MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai



Quarter Final
Match-43 23 Mar,2011 08:30 AM GMT A1 vs B4 (1st Quarter Final, C) Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur


Match-44 24 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT A2 vs B3 (2nd Quarter Final, D) Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera


Match-45 25 Mar,2011 08:30 AM GMT A3 vs B2 (3rd Quarter Final, E) Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur


Match-46 26 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT A4 vs B1 (4th Quarter Final, F) R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo


Semi-Finals
Match-47 29 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT Winner C vs Winner E (1st Semi Final) R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo


Match-48 30 Mar,2011 09:00 AM GMT Winner D vs Winner F (2nd Semi Final) Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali


Final
Match-49 02 Apr,2011 09:00 AM GMT SF1 vs SF2 (Final) Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Source: The Official ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Website: http://cricket.yahoo.com/series/icc-cricket-world-cup_1241/schedule 

Pakistan Squad for Cricket World Cup 2011

Pakistan, the country was firstly a co-organizer of the event and later left by ICC on security ground, has named their 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup, leaving out experienced batsman Mohammad Yousuf and not naming a captain or vice-captain.

Also missing out is fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed, who has burst onto the scene with impressive performances against South Africa and New Zealand in the ongoing Test series.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal have been picked as specialist slow bowlers while Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz will offer pace bowling options alongside all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.

Shahid Afridi will captain the side for a six-match One-Day International series in Pakistan with Misbah-ul-Haq as vice-captain with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expected to decide on their World Cup captain following the conclusion of that series on 5th February.

Tanvir is the player who misses out having been named in a 16-man squad for the six-match series in New Zealand.

Pakistan's World Cup campaign gets underway on 23rd February when they play Kenya and the 1992 champions also play Sri Lanka, Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Australia in Group A.

Pakistan World Cup squad: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir

14 Teams to compete in Two groups in WC 2011

A total of 14 cricket teams are going to participate in the upcoming World Cricket Tournament scheduled to kick off on February 19, 2011 in Bangladesh also co-organised by India and Sri Lanka. The participating teams will join the mega arrangement in two groups.

The teams are: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya, India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands. These teams are split into two groups. Each team will compete with 7 teams in a group.

Group A : Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands.

Marsh, Bollinger help Australia to 2-0 lead against England

World Cup reject Shaun Marsh's second one-day international century and a fine all round performance from Doug Bollinger helped Australia to a 46-run victory over England in their second one-day international in Hobart, Australia on Friday. 

Australia's celebrations, however, were tempered with Nathan Hauritz appearing to dislocate his right shoulder and a groin injury to fast bowler Shaun Tait. Both were named in their 15-man World Cup squad earlier this week. 

Hauritz had been chasing a ball to the boundary at Bellerive Oval when he slid, rolled over and as he put his hand down to push up off the ground collapsed in considerable pain before he walked off and was taken to hospital for X-rays. 

Tait limped off shortly afterwards when he grimaced in his follow through on the fifth ball of his sixth over. 

Marsh (110), who was only playing in Hobart after Mike Hussey injured his hamstring, combined with Cameron White (45) for a 100-run partnership that steadied Australia after they plunged to 33-4. 

He also combined for an Australian record ninth-wicket partnership of 88 with Bollinger (30) that pushed the hosts past 200 and gave them a challenging total to defend after their batsmen had struggled with the pace of the pitch. 

England's run chase was always behind the required run rate after the early loss of Matt Prior for a duck and Bollinger's two wickets in two balls when he had Andrew Strauss trapped in front for 19 and then bowled Kevin Pietersen for a duck. 

Bollinger also captured two quick wickets in the tail to finish with figures of four for 28 from nine overs. 

Australia won the first match of the seven-game series by six wickets in Melbourne last Sunday after Shane Watson scored 161 not out to help them chase down the 295 needed for victory. 

The third game is in Sydney on Sunday.

At a Glance

Australia vs England - 2nd ODI

January 21, 2011, 2:20PM AET

Bellerive Oval, Hobart

England won the toss and elected to bowl

England All Out 184 (45.0)

Australia All Out 230 (48.2)

Australia won by 46 runs