Champions League T20 2010: Group A Schedule

Champions League Twenty20 2010 is being held in South Africa from 10 Sep 2010 to 26 Sep 2010. The top teams from each of the domestic Twenty20 competition will fight for the ultimate championship.

The ten teams are split into two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A consists of the following teams:

(1) Chennai Super Kings (India)
(2) Warriors (South Africa)
(3) Victorian Bushrangers (Australia)
(4) Wayamba Elevens (Sri Lanka)
(5) Central Stags(New Zealand)

The following is the schedule of round-robin matches in group A. In the round-robin league, each team will compete with every other team once.

11-Sep-10: Warriors vs Wayamba Elevens
11-Sep-10: Central Stags vs Chennai Super Kings
13-Sep-10: Warriors vs Victorian Bushrangers
15-Sep-10: Central Stags vs Victorian Bushrangers
15-Sep-10: Chennai Super Kings vs Wayamba Elevens
18-Sep-10: Central Stags vs Warriors
18-Sep-10: Chennai Super Kings vs Victorian Bushrangers
20-Sep-10: Victorian Bushrangers vs Wayamba Elevens
22-Sep-10: Central Stags vs Wayamba Elevens
22-Sep-10: Chennai Super Kings vs Warriors

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Indian Men Failed; Women enter semifinals

The semi-final line up is confirmed after the last two matches in the ICC World Twenty20 2009 tournament. India once again failed to rise its game and were handed their third defeat in as many games in the super eights stage. The first semi-finals will be played between winner of group E, South Africa, and second placed team in group F, Pakistan. Sri Lanka, winner of group F, will clash with West Indies from group E.

The schedule of semi-finals is as follows:

Jun 18: Pakistan vs South Africa
Jun 19: Sri Lanka vs West Indies

Interestingly, Pakistan is the only team to have reached the semi-finals stage of both the World T20 tournaments, in 2007 and 2009.

ICC Women's World Twenty20 2009
Nature has created men and women to complement each other. They have completely contrasting characters, beliefs and behaviour. This is completely reflected in the World Twenty20 tournament too. The countries that have qualified for the men's semi-finals have failed to reach the last four in women's tournament and vice-versa. South African men won all three matches to finish on top of the group while South African women lost all three matches to finish at bottom of the group.

While Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies would be competing in the men's event, it is left to India, Australia, New Zealand and England in the women's tournament.

The schedule of women's semi-finals is as follows:

Jun 18: India vs New Zealand
Jun 19: England vs Australia

It could be much consolation for most of the countries, as at least one of their teams had qualified to the last four stage.

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Leading Wicket Takers: ICC WT20 2009

The bowlers had been surprisingly effective in the shortest format of cricket. In the initial stages of Twenty20 cricket, the shortest format of cricket was believed to be a batsman's game and bowlers were just adding to the numbers. That belief is changing now and the bowlers are getting as much importance as the batsmen get. Particularly of interest is the success of spinners in T20 format. Every team is almost playing two spinners in their line-up, which was not even seen in the 50 overs format.

The following list provides the top five leading wicket takers in ICC World Twenty20 2009 tournament played in England. The list salutes the best bowlers in the tournament.

Bowler	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy
Umar Gul Pakistan	5	12	9.16	6.28
Saeed Ajmal Pakistan	5	11	10.18	5.60
Lasith Malinga Sri Lanka	5	11	13.00	7.52
Ajantha Mendis Sri Lanka	5	10	10.00	5.55
Roelof van der Merwe South Africa	5	9	11.77	5.30

Updated on 17 June 2009 after the completion of Super Eights stage

12 June 2009: Take a look at the list. Spinners are occupying the top four slots, which shows clearly how the Twenty20 game is evolving. The spinners are among the wickets.

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Teams Qualified for Super Eights: WT20

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Update: Pakistan has qualified as the last team into the super eights after defeating Netherlands in their second group match.

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The following teams have already qualified to the super eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20 2009 held in England. I have listed the qualified teams from each group with their respective seeding.

Qualifying Teams to Super Eights Stage
Group A: India (A1), Ireland (A2)
Group B: Pakistan or Netherlands (B1), England (B2)
Group C: West Indies (C1), Sri Lanka (C2)
Group D: New Zealand (D1), South Africa (D2)

So, seven teams have already qualified for the super eights stage. Today's match will decide the final team from group B. Pakistan is the number one seed in group B. But, if they don't beat Netherlands by a margin of at least 24 runs, they will be out of the tournament. Netherlands has a good chance to move into the super eights, but Pakistan still can come back if they get their act together.

There had been two upsets so far, one in group A and one in group C. Ireland has upset Bangladesh, the second seeded team in group A. So, Ireland takes over the seeding of Bangladesh and becomes team A2 for the super eights stage. Similarly, West Indies takes over the seeding of Australia in group C. Australia has been outplayed in both their matches, against West Indies and Sri Lanka. In fact, group C is a kind of "Group of Death" since they don't have an associate team in the group.

Super Eights stage Groups:
Group E: India (A1), England (B2), West Indies (C1), South Africa (D2)
Group F: Ireland (A2), Pakistan/ Netherlands (B1), Sri Lanka (C2), New Zealand (D1)

It seems group E is tougher with teams like India and South Africa competing against West Indies and the hosts England. Group F looks easier. If Netherlands make it to the super eights stage, then there will be two associate nations in group F. At this moment it looks like Sri Lanka and New Zealand will make it to the semi-finals comfortably from group F.

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Schedule of ICC World Twenty20 2009

The following shows the schedule/ fixtures of the preliminary round cricket matches to be played in ICC World Twenty20 2009 tournament. The 12 cricket teams are split into four groups of three teams each. In the preliminary round, each team will play two matches and the top two teams from each group will qualify to the Super Eights stage.

Group A
1. June 06 - Bangladesh vs India
2. June 08 - Bangladesh vs Ireland
3. June 10 - India vs Ireland

Group B
1. June 05 - England vs Netherlands
2. June 07 - England vs Pakistan
3. June 09 - Netherlands vs Pakistan

Group C
1. June 06 - Australia vs West Indies
2. June 08 - Australia vs Sri Lanka
3. June 10 - Sri Lanka vs West Indies

Group D
1. June 06 - New Zealand vs Scotland
2. June 07 - Scotland vs South Africa
3. June 09 - New Zealand vs South Africa

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ICC World Twenty20 2007: Leading Wicket Takers

The bowlers have played a major role in IPL 2008 & IPL 2009. The winning teams on both occasions, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers, had in them the leading wicket takers. If Sohail Tanvir did it for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2008, it was RP Singh for Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009. If this trend continues, then you would expect bowlers coming in handy in English conditions in ICC World Twenty20 2009.

In this article, we are going to see the best bowling performances in ICC World Twenty20 2007 held in South Africa. I am going to list the top five leading wicket takers, best bowling performances in an innings, bowlers with best bowling strike rates, bowlers who achieved best bowling averages and the most economical bowlers of the tournament.

Leading Wicket Takers
1. Umar Gul, Pakistan - 13 wickets
2. Stuart Clark, Australia - 12 wickets
3. RP Singh, India - 12 wickets
4. Shahid Afridi, Pakistan - 12 wickets
5. Daniel Vettori, New Zealand - 11 wickets

Bowlers with Best Bowling Performances
1. Mark Gillespie, New Zealand - 4 for 7 vs Kenya
2. RP Singh, India - 4 for 13 vs South Africa
3. Morne Morkel, South Africa - 4 for 17 vs New Zealand
4. Mohammad Asif, Pakistan - 4 for 18 vs India
5. Shahid Afridi, Pakistan - 4 for 19 vs Scotland

Bowlers with Best Bowling Strike Rates (Balls taken per wicket)
1. Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe - 6 balls
2. Darren Maddy, England - 6 balls
3. Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies - 6 balls
4. Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe - 6 balls
5. Jimmy Kamande, Kenya - 8 balls

Bowlers with Best Bowling Averages (Runs given per wicket)
1. Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies - 5.00
2. Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe - 7.28
3. Darren Maddy, England - 8.66
4. Shaoib Malik, Pakistan - 9.00
5. Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe - 9.00

Bowlers with Best Economy Rates (Runs per Over)
1. Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies - 5.00
2. Yusuf Pathan, India - 5.00
3. Daniel Vettori, New Zealand - 5.33
4. Chris Gayle, West Indies - 5.50
5. Chamara Silva, Sri Lanka - 5.50

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Leading Run Scorers: ICC World Twenty20 2007

ICC World Twenty20 was first held in South Africa in 2007. India entered the Twenty20 arena with not much background in the shorter format of cricket. They too went in with a new skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a relatively youth team, that missed the experience of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble. But they managed to lift the trophy beating off stiff competition from arch rivals Pakistan, who came very close twice but failed to overcome India.

In this article, I have compiled the list of best batsmen in the ICC World Twenty20 2007. The list includes the top five leading run scorers, highest individual scores in an innings, most sixes hit by batsmen, best batting strike rates and best batting averages.

Top Five Leading Run Scorers
1. Matthew Hayden, Australia - 265 runs
2. Gautam Gambhir, India - 227 runs
3. Misbah-Ul-Haq, Pakistan - 218 runs
4. Shaoib Malik, Pakistan - 195 runs
5. Kevin Pietersen, England - 178 runs

Highest Individual Scores
1. Chris Gayle, West Indies - 117 runs
2. Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa - 90 not out
3. Justin Kemp, South Africa - 89 not out
4. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka - 88
5. Kevin Pietersen, England - 79

Best Batting Averages (Most Consistent Batsmen)
1. Brendon Taylor, Zimbabwe - 107.00
2. Matthew Hayden, Australia - 88.33
3. Justin Kemp, South Africa - 86.50
4. Zunaed Siddique, Bangladesh - 71.00
5. Chris Gayle, West Indies - 58.50

Best Batting Strike Rates (Quick Scorers)
1. Shahid Afridi, Pakistan - 197.83
2. Chris Gayle, West Indies - 195.00
3. Yuvraj Singh, India - 194.74
4. Mohammed Ashraful, Bangladesh - 181.25
5. Craig McMillan, New Zealand - 181.11

* Only Batsmen who have faced at least 25 deliveries in the tournament has been considered in the above list

Batsmen with Most Sixes (Most Aggressive Batsmen)
1. Craig McMillan, New Zealand - 13
2. Yuvraj Singh, India - 12
3. Matthew Hayden, Australia - 10
4. Justin Kemp, South Africa - 10
5. Imran Nazir, Pakistan - 10

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Format of ICC World Twenty20 2009

ICC World Twenty20 2009 cricket tournament feature 12 teams in the men's tournament and eight teams in the women's competition. The following is the grouping of teams in the men's event:

Men's Event Grouping
Group A: India (A1), Bangladesh (A2), Ireland
Group B: Pakistan (B1), England (B2), Netherlands
Group C: Australia (C1), Sri Lanka (C2), West Indies
Group D: New Zealand (D1), South Africa (D2), Scotland

The symbol within the brackets indicate the seeding of the respective team. A1 means India is ranked number one in Group A. Bangladesh is ranked second in group A, so it is A2. Teams like Ireland, Netherlands, West Indies and Scotland are unseeded.

Preliminary Stage
The teams will play each other within the group once and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eights stage. As such, each group will have three matches. At group stage, there will be 12 matches in all.

Irrespective of where the teams finish within the group, they will carry over their seeding. If an unseeded team enters the Super Eights stage, then they will take over the seeding of the team that is eliminated.

Super Eight Groups:
Group E: A1, B2, C1, D2
Group F: A2, B1, C2, D1

In the Super Eights stage, each team will play the other team within the group once and the top two teams from each group will clash in the semifinals. At the Super Eights stage, there will be 12 matches again.

Semi-finals:
1st Match: Winner of Group E (E1) vs Runner-up in Group F (F2)
2nd Match: Winner of Group F (F1) vs Runner-up in Group E (E2)

So, ICC World Twenty20 2009 Men's Event will have 27 matches, which will be played from 05 June 2009 with the finals on 21 June 2009.

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IPL 2008: Best Batsman

Australian Shaun Marsh, playing for Kings XI Punjab, was the leading run scorer in IPL 2008. Shaun Marsh, son of famous opening batsman Geoff Marsh, scored most runs in the IPL tournament in spite of playing only in 11 matches. Shaun Marsh was almost immediately rewarded as he got the call to join the Australian international team. Shaun Marsh led the overall runs list in IPL 2008 followed by Delhi Daredevils' opening batsman Gautam Gambhir.

The list of top five scorers in IPL 2008 is given below:

1. Shaun Marsh, Australia (Kings XI Punjab) - 616 runs
2. Gautam Gambhir, India (Delhi Daredevils) - 534 runs
3. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka (Mumbai Indians) - 514 runs
4. Shane Watson, Australia (Rajasthan Royals) - 472 runs
5. Graeme Smith, South Africa (Rajasthan Royals) - 441 runs

Click here for IPL 2009: Best Batsman

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IPL Chennai Super Kings Team

Image via Wikipedia

Chennai Super Kings, the finalist of the first edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2008), would like to better one place in IPL 2009. In their quest for the title, Chennai Super Kings have acquired England star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff into the squad for a hefty sum of US$ 1.55 million which is more than the price tag of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The retirement of Australian Mathew Hayden from international cricket also means that he will be available for the entire season of IPL 2009. Sri Lankan bowler Thilan Thushara also comes into the Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2009.

On the bad note, Australian Michael Hussey has recently announced that he will not be playing in IPL 2009 for personal reasons. He offered to join the Chennai Super Kings team for the semi-finals and finals, if required. The position of New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram also seems to be in doubt. Jacob Oram was unable to play in the recently concluded India-New Zealand series due to his Achilles tendon injury.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team captain, will lead the Chennai Super Kings squad. New Zealander Stephen Fleming will be the player cum coach. The Chennai Super Kings team did not have much changes to their team that played in IPL 2008. The following is the list of the players in Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2009:

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain)
2. Stephen Fleming, New Zealand (Player cum Coach)
3. Jacob Oram, New Zealand
4. Andrew Flintoff, England
5. Matthew Hayden, Australia
6. Michael Hussey, Australia
7. George Bailey, Australia
8. Albie Morkel, South Africa
9. Makhaya Ntini, South Africa
10. Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka
11. Thilan Thushara, Sri Lanka
12. Suresh Raina
13. Parthiv Patel (Wicket keeper)
14. L. Balaji
15. S. Badrinath
16. Joginder Sharma
17. M. Vijay
18. Manpreet Gony
19. P. Amarnath
20. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan
21. Srikkanth Aniruddha
22. R. Ashwin
23. Napoleon Einstein
24. Shadab Jakati
25. Viraj Kadbe
26. Arun Karthik
27. Suresh Kumar
28. Abhinav Mukund
29. Sudeep Tyagi

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Harbhajan Singh Completes 325 Wickets in Test Matches

Image via Wikipedia

Harbhajan Singh has claimed 325 wickets in test match cricket. In the ongoing test match between India and New Zealand in Wellington, Harbhajan Singh dismissed Ross Taylor and Franklin in the first innings. With those two wickets, Harbhajan Singh had become the 20th bowler in test match history to claim 325 wickets or more. He is only the third Indian to reach thus far, Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev were the other two.

Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan leads the list of bowlers with most wickets in test match cricket, followed by retired spinners Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. The top five list is as follows:

1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) - 770 wickets
2. Shane Warne (Australia) - 708 wickets
3. Anil Kumble (India) - 619 wickets
4. Glenn McGrath (Australia) - 563 wickets
5. Courtney Walsh (West Indies) - 519 wickets

We hope to see Harbhajan Singh up there in the top one day. All the best Bhajji, keep going!

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