Eng vs Afg: England humble Afghanistan by 116 runs

September 22, 2012
England116run_win

Defending champions England started their campaign in style as they thrashed Afghanistan by 116 runs in a group league match of the ICC World Twenty20, on Friday.

Riding on Luke Wright's superb unbeaten 99, England set a daunting target of 197 for the Afghans who could only manage 80 in 17.2 overs after being precariously placed at 26 for eight at one stage, and in serious danger of recording the lowest total in a T20 international.

Gulbodin Naib who made 44 was the only Afghan batsman to reach double figures and his innings helped them cross the 'magic figure' of 67 that was scored by Kenya against Ireland.

The England bowlers had the cushion of defending a big total and their pace trio of Steven Finn, skipper Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach made life difficult for the inexperienced Afghan batsmen and by the end of first Powerplay, half of the them were back in the dug-out. Unlike their match against India, this one turned out to be a lopsided contest.

Earlier, Wright smashed the Afghan bowlers all around the park during his unbeaten knock of 55-ball-99 that contained eight fours and half a dozen of sixes.

In the process, Wright became England's highest individual scorer in World T20, surpassing Kevin Pietersen's 79.

He also got good support from the likes of Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan who chipped in with useful scores of 31 and 27 respectively.

Jos Butler (15) and Jonathan Bairstow (12) hit a few lusty blows to keep the momentum going for the defending champions.

Wright was unlucky to miss out on a three-figure mark as he got only two off the last ball of the innings. Earlier, he quickly reached 94 from 76 with three big hits off Izatullah Dawlatzai.

Dawlatzai, who gave away 56 runs in his three overs was hit for 32 in the penultimate over.

Having opted to field, Afghanistan seamer Shapoor Zadran provided a dream start to his team as he forced English opener Craig Kieswetter to chop one onto his stumps in what turned out to be a wicket maiden over.

Till the end of the fourth over, the unheralded Afghan bowlers did a decent job with England at 15 for one.

However, Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal's decision to give Shapoor an extra over opened the floodgates.

The nippy left-armer couldn't hold onto his nerve as he gave away 23 runs in the fifth over of the innings, which included three boundaries and a huge six from Wright.

Wright lifted Shapoor over long on boundary and prior to that hit a four. Hales also got a couple of boundaries in that over. In the very next over, England again scored 15 runs from seamer Dawlatzai's over.

With 38 runs from two overs, England were off the blocks. Hales and Wright added 69 runs for the second wicket.

Hales was unfortunately run-out having backed too far with Wright's firm push as the ball deflected off bowler Karim Sadiq's hands to hit the stumps. The opener made 31 off 27 balls with help of five fours.

There was no stopping Wright though as he went from strength to strength. He lifted leggie Samiullah Shenwari over deep mid-wicket for a big six to reach 49 and then completed his half century with a single. His 50 came off 34 balls.

Left-hander Eoin Morgan also joined the party as they completed their half-century partnership off 38 balls.

The 16th over bowled by off-spinner Mohammed Nabi saw England plunder 22 runs with both Morgan and Wright hitting a six and a boundary each. By then England had set itself for a big total.



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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
May 7,2020

Melbourne, May 7: Australia opener Joe Burns is eyeing the Tests against India should they take place later this year, to stabilise his stop-start international career, saying "you want to play in and do well in" in this kind of series.

India is scheduled to play four Tests in Australia in December-January, a series which is currently in doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 2.5 lakh lives across the world.

"They are obviously world class team. I think the two teams going at each other will be very exciting to watch and players playing against each other as well," Burns told reporters in a video conference on Thursday.

"You look at the world ranking, they were number one and now we have got to number one, so I know that series will be anticipated by everyone and as a player this is a sort of series you want to play in and do well in."

With the coronavirus also threatening the T20 World Cup, Cricket Australia is under financial stress and has gone on a cost-cutting drive, which included standing down 80 per cent of its staff at 20 per cent salary.

There are also speculations that the Sheffield Shield for 2020-21 would be curtailed to cut costs.

Burns, however, hoped it won't be tinkered with.

"I love the fact we have a really strong first-class system. The 10 games, where you play everyone twice," Burns, who was struck down by a fatigue illness after an indifferent season, said.

"It leads to world-class players coming into Test teams. You don't want to see that get changed.

"Obviously it is unique circumstances at the moment and There's a lot of things to work through ... the players' association is consulted on those things."

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Claiming to be saddled with faulty equipment from China, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on Monday called for a boycott of sports apparatus made in that country after the violent face-off in eastern Ladakh killed 20 Army personnel last week.

The IWLF ordered four weightlifting sets, comprising barbells and weight plates, from Chinese company 'ZKC' last year. The body said that the equipment turned out to be faulty and the weightlifters are no longer using them.

"We should boycott all Chinese equipment. The Indian Weightlifting Federation has taken the decision that it will not use any equipment made in China," IWLF secretary general Sahdev Yadav said.

The IWLF, in a letter, has informed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about its decision to stop using any equipment made in China.

"In a letter to SAI we have written that IWLF won't be using the Chinese equipment," he said.

"In future also we will not use made in china sets. We will use sets made by Indian origin companies or any other company but not from China," Yadav added.

National coach Vijay Sharma revealed that the plates were found to be sub-standard when the lifters started training again earlier this month following the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

"The sets were spoilt. We can't use them now," Sharma said.

"All the weightlifters in the camp are against China. They have stopped using Chinese apps like Tik Tok. Even while ordering things online, they check where the product has been manufactured," he added.

Asked why the sets were even ordered, Sharma said they had no option as the equipment from China is to be used in the Tokyo Olympics and lifters needed to be familiar with it.

"We had ordered four sets from China for Olympic training a year ago. Now, since we have resumed training post the lockdown we haven't used them. All the lifters are against the use of Chinese equipment," he said.

He said equipment was ordered from China for the first time.

"We don't order equipment from China as the quality is very bad. This was the first time we got it."

The weightlifters are currently training with equipment made in Sweden.

"Post the lockdown we started training on sets from Swedish company 'ELICKO'. SAI has issued 10 sets for us. The main training takes place with those. Maximum international competitions have sets from ELICKO," Sharma said.

Yadav also said that there are ready alternatives to Chinese equipment.

"We have a lot of alternatives. We already have good Indian sets and we also have equipment from Sweden. We will use that, why should we use Chinese?" Yadav said.

Calls to boycott China-made goods erupted across India after the Galwan valley clash last Monday. It was the most violent face-off between the troops from the two countries in more than four decades.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has said it is open to boycotting Chinese products in the wake of the incident.

The BCCI will also review IPL's sponsorship deals, including the title deal with Chinese mobile manufacturing company Vivo later this week.

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