Australia not fazed by Buck's new gig

THE English had hoped the appointment of John Buchanan to a consultancy role would help deliver the Ashes they will be sorely disappointed, according to Australian all-rounder Shane Watson.

Buchanan's temporary defection to England, which will coincide with an England Lions game against the Australians just before the first Test, was greeted without indignation in the Australian camp, with Watson believing the former national coach's presence will have little bearing on the Ashes result.

Though it will be strange to see Buchanan in the opposition dressing room, Watson said his appointment was a reality of modern cricket in which information flows freely around the world, and even suggested Australia would hold the advantage because of the presence of Troy Cooley, the bowling coach who helped the England quicks topple the Australians on English soil in 2005 and then returned to his native Australia.

"Coaches these days are able to coach around the world," Watson said. "For example, Troy [Cooley] and Rod Marsh were at the Australian cricket academy and then went over to help the English out. I think it's great for world cricket to be able to use the knowledge, and it can work both ways. We've got Troy to be able to make the most of the information he got from coaching the England [quicks].

"We've had two years with Tim Nielsen now and obviously John Buchanan has coached Kolkata and done some other things as well, so to me it's part of his job and what he is trying to do as a coach, to get around and help people out whether it's Australia-wide or internationally. He's got great experience so I think that's his call and we're lucky to have Troy on our side now."

Asked whether the Australians would be disappointed if Buchanan divulged information gleaned during his eight-year tenure as Australia's most successful coach, Watson said: "Not at all. There are no real secrets to what we do in the Australian team. It's just the way we prepare … I don't think it's rocket science, what he'll be able to give them, anyway."

Buchanan's assignment will focus predominantly on England's junior teams and the England Lions. He is expected to spend time at the academy in Loughborough and meet coach Andy Flower, but has hinted at an expansion of his role.

"It is my own business who I choose to talk to and what I talk about," Buchanan told Cricinfo. "Both myself and the ECB have indicated that in terms of their elite program I could fulfil a role. I will fly over on June 28, have a good look at the elite program, and sit down with them to see what potentially lies ahead.

"This trip will be largely about looking at the coaching programs, and working with the under-19s and the Lions team."

His most recent coaching triumphs with Australia were the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash and the 2007 World Cup triumph, but he remained affiliated with his home country until Cricket Australia did not renew a coaching ambassador's contract last year.

"John is free to do whatever he wants," said Brett Lee before Buchanan's role with the ECB was formalised.

Buchanan added: "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get over there and look at the general set-up. I think it's fair to say that there has been a fair amount of interest from both parties and I suppose the situation will become clearer in early July."

Watson is hoping to force his way into the Test team through tour matches in Hove and Worcester, but there is intense competition for the No.6 spot after the successful debut of Marcus North in South Africa.

"It comes down to performing in the tour matches," Watson said. "That's what I am setting my mind to, to be in the best technical and mental state to give myself the best chance to perform in those games."
Source: www.smh.com.au Read more

Australia's coach Nielsen wants new Twenty20 approach

Australia's coach Tim Nielsen has conceded his team needs to revisit its approach to Twenty20 to avoid being bundled out of the next ICC World Twenty20. It is less than a year until the next tournament, in the West Indies, and Nielsen wants individual players to consider "where they're at" so the selectors can prepare a competitive squad.

"We have to start approaching it differently when we play the Twenty20 stuff in our normal calendar, because we've seen those as one-off games and it's difficult to get guys across overseas, or it's maybe been seen as a chance for blokes to have an extra day's rest here and there," Nielsen told the Age. "We might have to revisit that. The players will have to think about where they're at with it, and where we go from here."

One of Australia's problems is the lack of Twenty20s that their stars play. The domestic competition takes place while the Test and ODI season is in full swing, so fringe internationals have more opportunity to take part than men like Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey.

National teams are restricted to three Twenty20 internationals per season, except for the ICC World Twenty20, and Australia have treated those games as a chance for the busiest players to rest. But that contributed to the Australians' early exit this year and Nielsen has spent the past few days analysing the disappointing result.

"I didn't have much sleep last night, tossing and turning about what we could have done better," Nielsen said. "I felt like we were in a pretty good place going into the tournament, and that's what is so disappointing about it.

"We came here thinking we had a nicely balanced squad, and I think we showed in the practice games that when they're playing at their best they can play any form of the game. We need to look at why things didn't work well, and we need to be honest with ourselves."
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Poulton powers Australia to victory

Leah Poulton powered Australia to an exciting 5-run victory against England in the final warm-up match in Taunton on Tuesday.

Poulton's 66 contained three towering sixes and helped her side to a challenging 142 for 5 which proved just enough of an edge in a useful warm-up.

Caroline Atkins and Katherine Brunt took England close to the target with a thrilling last-wicket partnership after their team had looked dead and buried on 92 for 9. England ended up only five runs short following the duo's battling and an earlier 42 from Claire Taylor.

Ellyse Perry dismissed three of the top four batsmen. She had Charlotte Edwards caught at deep gully for 1, Claire Taylor caught behind and then the catch of the day came when Lisa Sthalekar dived hard to take Beth Morgan's pull to midwicket.

Sthalekar also took three wickets as the spinners took hold and checked England's batsmen. The Australia bowlers kept up the pressure throughout and were backed up by tidy fielding. In contrast, England was guilty of unusual errors, including putting down Poulton on 28.

Karen Rolton brushed off the significance of Australia's win, instead emphasising the usefulness of the practice. "The result didn't really bother me," Rolton said. "We couldn't ask for a better hit-out going into Friday's second game against the Kiwis."

She was not concerned, either, about how England's last-wicket pairing came back at them late on. "To have a close one that comes down to the last couple of overs, I would rather that sort of hit-out than having an easier win."

England coach Mark Lane said he was disappointed with a couple of areas. "Our ground fielding wasn't too good, our middle order didn't perform as well as I wanted. But there were some solid performances.

"We've had such a successful time everyone wants to beat us. We have to make sure that we don't ever have a bad day. The fact we're playing more and more cricket means there are more opportunities to have a bad day. Today wasn't a bad day for us, it was an average day and we will get better."
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Bangladesh and Australia thrown out of the tournament

Ireland and Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh & Australia respectively to confirm their berth in Super Eight

Australia v Sri Lanka – Sangakara and Dilshan dumped Australia out

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakara and T.Dilshan played an important role in run chase against Australia to achieve the target of 160 runs with one over to spare and beat them by six wickets. For the first time Australia faces so much early exit from the tournament in a decade.

The win for Sri Lanka confirm their and West Indies berth in the Super Eight Stage. Chasing the target of 160 runs for victory Sri Lanka got off to flying start with the help of in-form T.Dilshan (53 runs of 32 balls) despite loosing opener Sanath Jayasurya (2 runs of 7 balls) in the third over of an inning. Dilshan and K.Sangakara (55 runs of 42 balls) put on a valuable partnership 62 runs of just 42 deliveries to make the run chase comfortable for other batsman to follow.

However once Dilshan got out Australia did manage to get the match closer to the end overs but in the end it was captain cool Sangakara and Jehan Mubarak (21 runs of 12 balls) achieved the target with an over remaining.

Earlier Australian after put into bat got off to disastrous start loosing opener David Warner in the very first over. However R. Ponting (25 runs of 15 balls) and Shane Watson (22 runs of 21 balls) tried hard to put Australian inning back on track but once spinner introduced into attack they were struggled and kept loosing wickets at regular intervals.

At one stage they were struggling to get pass 150 run mark but thank to M.Johnson (28 runs of 13 balls) and David Hussey (28 runs of 22 balls) innings as they both collected 65 runs in the last five overs of Australian inning.

Kumara Sangakar was declared Man-of-the-Match for his superb unbeaten knock of 55 runs of 42 balls.

Match Summary (Sri Lanka won by 6 Wickets)

Australia – 159/9 in 20 Overs

M.Johnson- 28 D.Hussey –28

A.Mendis– 4-0-20-3 L.Malinga- 4-0-36-3

Sri Lanka – 160/4 in 19 Overs

K.Sangakara- 55* T.Dilshan–53

B.Lee – 4-0-39-2 M.Clark- 3-0-19-1

Ireland v Bangladesh – Ireland beat Bangladesh by 6 wickets to enter Super Eight

Ireland played an exceptional cricket on a day when require to make it to the Super Eight of ICC world twenty20. They have beaten test playing nation Bangladesh quite convincingly by 6 wickets.

The hungrier side was always going to come up tops and Ireland took a massive stride by keeping a reckless Bangladesh to 137. Bangladesh batted with the freedom of a team that believed they were already in the next stage and paid the price, stumbling after a shaky start. Thanks to M.Mortza quick fire 33 runs of 16 balls that gave some respectability to Bangladesh.

Ireland didn’t got-off to good start but the O’Brien brothers make it possible for their team by playing some good cricket with bat. First it was N. O’Brien who smashed 40 runs of 25 balls and then K. O’Brien finished the game with blistering 39 runs of just 17 balls.

N. O’Brien was declared Man-of-the-Match for his quick fire 40 runs of 25 balls.

Match Summary (Ireland won by 6 Wickets)

Bangladesh – 137/8 in 20 Overs

M.Mortaza- 33* T.Iqbal –22

T.Johnson– 4-0-20-3 K.McCallan- 4-0-17-1

Ireland – 138/4 in 18.2 Overs

N.O’Brien- 40 K.O’Brien–39

M.Mortaza – 4-0-30-2 A.Razzak- 3-0-18-
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Australia out of the T20 super eight

Nottingham: Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan hit robust half-centuries as Sri Lanka showed Australia the door in World Twenty20 with a six-wicket win on Monday.

Australia, asked to bat by Sangakkara in his first match as captain, managed only 159-9 in good batting conditions as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and fast bowler Lasith Malinga claimed three wickets each.

Opener Dilshan then plundered 53 off 32 balls and left-handed Sangakkara made an unbeaten 55 to fire Sri Lanka home with six deliveries to spare. Read more

Australia things for must-win Sri Lanka fight

Ricky Ponting's Australia must perform or face an embarrassing early exit from the World Twenty20 when they take on emotionally-charged Sri Lanka on Monday.

The Australians, stunned by a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies on Saturday following Chris Gayle's explosive 88 off 50 balls, cannot afford another loss.

Even if they emerge victorious, Ponting's men are not assured of advancing to the Super Eights because a Sri Lankan win over the West Indies on Wednesday will throw up a three-way tie to be decided by net run-rate.

The loss to the West Indies with 4.1 overs to spare could spell further disaster for Australia, who must not only beat Sri Lanka, but do so by a big margin to improve their net run-rate.

"It all lies ahead of us," Ponting said ahead of the group C match at Trent Bridge.

"We know exactly what we have to do and if we are good enough, we we get it done."

The defeat against the West Indies was Australia's fourth Twenty20 loss in a row.

The shortest version of the game has not been particularly kind to the undisputed kings of Test and one-day cricket, who have won only 11 of their 22 games so far.

Ponting, however, was quick to stress that all was not lost for his team.

Australia suffered a shock defeat by Zimbabwe in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, but still managed to reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions India.

"This form of the game can change very quickly," Ponting said. "We're in exactly the same position as we were last time.

"I guess some of the guys that were in the tournament last time will know what we have to do. There is nowhere else where we can go now."

Sri Lanka will be charged up for their first international match since the horrific terror attack on their team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore in March while on their way to resume a Test match.

Seven Sri Lankan cricketers and an assistant coach were injured in the attack, which left eight Pakistanis dead.

Kumar Sangakkara, leading Sri Lanka for the first time after good friend Mahela Jayawardene quit the job after the Pakistan tour, said the team looked forward to the game against Australia.

"The pressure will be on them, but we are not taking victory for granted," said Sangakkara. "They will come hard at us and we have to be ready to stand tall.

"We know a side must win at least one game to stay in the race. We have just got to take our chances."

Sangakkara wanted his team to qualify for the semi-finals after being stuck in the Super Eights stage in 2007.

"We have a great mix in both batting and bowling, but at the end of the day it all depends on executing your plans well," he said.

"I am not sure Twenty20 is only a slog. One still needs to plan an innings to ensure you get a good total on the board."
Source: www.cmdn.com Read more

Australia vs Sri Lanka ICC T20 Live Streaming

"He'll just get better and better the more overs he gets under his belt. The more he bowls to better players as well he'll benefit from that a lot. He gives us great flexibility."

Another positive for Ponting was the mature 63 from opener David Warner, who in his short career has cultivated a boom or bust reputation.

Warner was forced to rein in his explosive strokeplay after the loss of early wickets.

Making the most of the opportunity

Ponting said Warner would most likely not have played had Andrew Symonds not been sent home.

"We were looking at doing some slightly different things with our team in this game if Symmo had have been in the middle order there," he said.

"But he wasn't so it was good for David that chance at the top of the order to score and I think he showed everybody just how good he can be in this form of the game. Read more

Ricky Ponting tells Australia to hone up after loss to West Indies

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said his side would have to raise their game after a seven-wicket loss to the West Indies in their opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Oval.

Although not a shock on the scale of hosts England's four-wicket loss to the Netherlands, the result was certainly far from expected and left Australia effectively needing to beat Group C rivals Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge on Monday to have a chance of getting through to the second phase Super Eights.

“We'll have two weeks in Leicester if we have an early exit here - that won't be good for anybody,'' said Ponting, who is set to lead Australia in the Ashes Test series in England starting in July.

But, joking aside, Australia could well be spending more time in the English Midlands than they would like should they turn in a similar performance against Sri Lanka to the one they produced at the Oval.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle's breathtaking 88 off just 50 balls - featuring four towering sixes including one off fast bowler Brett Lee that went over the top of the pavilion and out of the largest ground in England - saw his side to their victory target of 169 with more than four overs to spare.

Australia, without the hard-hitting Andrew Symonds, sent home on the eve of the tournament following an “alcohol-related incident'', had been on the back foot from the start with Jerome Taylor removing Shane Watson and Ponting for ducks in the first over.

“We've just got to win on Monday,'' Ponting said.

“We were sloppy and they were a bit sharper than us.''

Reflecting on the West Indies match, he added: “We spoke about getting the first over of each innings right.

“As it turned out we lost two wickets in our batting innings and they took a lot off our first bowling over as well.

“I thought 169 was going to be a competitive total if we could take wickets up front with the new ball but they took us on, hit some early boundaries and got the momentum going their way. They outplayed us for sure.''

Gayle and Andre Fletcher (53) took the game away from Australia with an opening partnership of 133 - the third highest stand for any wicket in the history of Twenty20 internationals.

“We didn't under-estimate them,'' insisted Ponting.

“We know how dangerous a side they can be and in this format of the game I don't think you can afford to take your foot off the accelerator against any opponent as we saw last (Friday) night with the Holland-England game.

“The shorter the format of the game, the closer it brings teams together and when the opposition have players like Chris Gayle they can beat anybody.

“This form of the game can change very quickly. We know there's nowhere else we can go now and we will work on our skills in this form ahead of the Sri Lanka game.''
Source:www.foxsports.com.au Read more

Australia things for must-win Sri Lanka quarrel

Ricky Ponting's Australia must perform or face an uncomfortable early exit from the World Twenty20 when they take on emotionally-charged Sri Lanka on Monday.

The Australians, stunned by a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies on Saturday following Chris Gayle's explosive 88 off 50 balls, cannot afford another loss.

Even if they emerge winning, Ponting's men are not assured of advancing to the Super Eights because a Sri Lankan win over the West Indies on Wednesday will throw up a three-way tie to be decided by net run-rate.

The loss to the West Indies with 4.1 over to spare could spell further blow for Australia, who must not only beat Sri Lanka, but do so by a big margin to improve their net run-rate.

"It all lies ahead of us," Ponting said ahead of the group C match at Trent Bridge.

"We know exactly what we have to do and if we are good enough, we get it done."

The defeat against the West Indies was Australia's fourth Twenty20 loss in a row.

The shortest version of the game has not been particularly kind to the undisputed kings of Test and one-day cricket, who have won only 11 of their 22 games so far.

Ponting, however, was quick to stress that all was not lost for his team.

Australia suffered a shock defeat by Zimbabwe in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, but still managed to reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions India.

"This form of the game can change very quickly," Ponting said. "We're in exactly the same position as we were last time.

"I guess some of the guys that were in the tournament last time will know what we have to do. There is nowhere else where we can go now."

Sri Lanka will be charged up for their first international match since the horrific terror attack on their team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore in March while on their way to resume a Test match.

Seven Sri Lankan cricketers and an assistant coach were injured in the attack, which left eight Pakistanis dead.

Kumar Sangakkara, leading Sri Lanka for the first time after good friend Mahela Jayawardene quit the job after the Pakistan tour, said the team looked forward to the game against Australia.

"The pressure will be on them, but we are not taking victory for granted," said Sangakkara. "They will come hard at us and we have to be ready to stand tall.

"We know a side must win at least one game to stay in the race. We have just got to take our chances."

Sangakkara wanted his team to qualify for the semi-finals after being stuck in the Super Eights stage in 2007.

"We have a great mix in both batting and bowling, but at the end of the day it all depends on executing your plans well," he said.

"I am not sure Twenty20 is only a slog. One still needs to plan an innings to ensure you get a good total on the board."
source:www.iol.co.za Read more

Ponting says We were outplayed

Matches:
AUS vs WI, 6th Jun 2009
Australia captain Ricky Ponting had few arguments after his sides were lengthily outplayed by West Indies in their opening match at the Oval.
West Indian complement Chris Gayle hit 88 as the Aussies were believably beaten by seven wickets.

Ponting accepted his side were made to pay for slow starts in each innings, firstly when both he and Shane Watson fell in the first over of their innings and then when Gayle and opening partner Andre Fletcher (52) destroyed his attack from the off in reply.

"We were just a bit sloppy," Ponting conceded. "We'd spoken coming into the game about making sure we get the first over of each innings right and, as it turned out, we lost two wickets in our batting innings and they took a lot off our first bowling over as well [10 from Brett Lee). With the game being as short as it is you can't afford to give momentum away likes that early on in either innings and we did it in both innings. You've got to give them credit. I felt 169 was going to be a competitive total if we took some wickets up front with the new ball but they took us on, hit the boundaries early and got all the momentum going their way. They outplayed us today, for sure."

Ponting's men head into their second match - against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge on Monday - in the knowledge that they must win to stand any chance of reaching the Super Eights. Australia were in a similar spot of bother during the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 - when they lost their opener against Zimbabwe - so will hope history can repeat itself.

"We are in exactly the same position as we were last time and we managed to beat England well," Ponting recalled. "I guess some of the guys who were in the tournament last time will know that, it will be in the back of their minds and we know that we have to do that - there is nowhere else for us to go now. We'll have a chat about the game on the way up to Nottingham tonight and hopefully when we hit the ground on Monday we can start a bit better."
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