India 159 for 1 (Rohit 80, Gambhir 52*) beat Pakistan 158 for 6 (Misbah 37*, Younis 32, Ishant 1-11) by nine wickets…

India underlined their status as ICC World Twenty20 favourites with a crushing nine-wicket win over Pakistan at The Oval.

A ruthless performance with the bat allowed India to cruise to their target of 159 with 18 balls to spare.

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir scored 80 and 52 respectively to beat Pakistan, who had been looking to avenge their 2007 final defeat against their rivals.

Pakistan had earlier looked to be in a strong position after they picked apart India’s pace attack of RP Singh and Praveen Kumar.

Misbah ul Haq (37 not out) and Yasir Arafat (25 not out) smashed 45 off 27 balls after Ahmed Shahzad (25) and Kamran Akmal (19) had set them on their way.

Younus Khan also chipped in with a quickfire 32 before being removed by Harbhajan Singh.

But India set about chasing their opponents’ total in emphatic fashion with Sharma and Gambhir giving the 23,000 sell-out crowd a masterclass in destructive strokeplay.

Yasir Arafat took particular punishment as he was dispatched for 25 off his opening three overs.

Umar Gul was also made to pay for his wayward bowling and was hit to the boundary four times before being hauled off by Younus after just two overs.

Younus changed his attack but neither of the four new bowlers, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Aamer, could stop Sharma and Gambhir from finding the boundary and racing towards the Pakistan total.

The pair brought up the 100 off 71 balls with Sharma reaching his 50 in the 11th over off just 37 deliveries.

India were scoring at more than eight an over by the time Sharma pulled Afridi over midwicket for six to take the score to 116-0.

Aamer then got the breakthrough in the 17th over when his short ball was mis-timed by Sharma, who sent the ball high into the air before being caught brilliantly by Shahzad at mid-wicket.

Gambhir reached his 50 in the 17th over before he and MS Dhoni steered India to victory.

Netherlands 130 for 3 (Kervezee 62, Zuiderent 46) beat Scotland 128 for 9 (Coetzer 39, Seelaar 3-25, Schiferli 3-33) by seven wickets…

In contrast to their previous game – a tie followed by defeat in the one-over eliminator against Ireland – Netherlands were clinical with ball and, to a lesser degree, with bat, executing a seven-wicket victory in their warm-up game against Scotland at the Oval. Alexei Kervezee led a calm chase, never letting the asking-rate get out of hand, and his century stand with Bas Zuiderent shut out Scotland. There was a moment of anxiety in the final over, when Zuiderent was dismissed, but Dan van Bunge hit the winning boundary with three balls to spare.

Netherlands’ victory, ahead of the tournament’s opening game against England on Friday, was set up by their bowlers, who performed impressively for the second game in a row. Dirk Nannes has proved extremely difficult for the Associate batsmen to score off and he conceded only 13 runs, although he did not take a wicket. Edgar Schiferli and Pieter Seelaar weren’t as economical but took three wickets each to trip up Scotland’s batsmen.

While Nannes was miserly, bowling 16 dot balls, his new-ball partner Schiferli made the breakthroughs. He sent Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton’s off stump cart-wheeling with his third ball, but he had overstepped. Not discouraged by his error, Schiferli had Hamilton miscuing a loft to mid-off in his second over. He picked up a wicket in each of his last two overs to finish with 3 for 33.

There were a fair number of people at The Oval for a match between two Associates and most of them were Asian, eagerly awaiting the ICC’s ‘Catch the Spirit’ clash between India and Pakistan later in the evening. The weather, which has been gloriously sunny over the last few days, had unfortunately turned cloudy and chilly, and the fans had a few hits to cheer as well.

Scotland’s batsmen hit only one six – Colin Smith hitting Schiferli over the long-off boundary before holing out to long-on the very next ball – between them and the innings’ top-scorer was Kyle Coetzer, who held up one end during the middle overs with 39 off 28 balls. Coetzer was done in by a well-flighted delivery from Seelaar which left him stranded outside his crease. Seelaar went on take two more wickets to finish with 3 for 25, his second consecutive three-wicket haul, and treated the crowd to his curious swaying-in-the-wind celebration.

Netherlands lost Darron Reekers in the first over of their chase, caught at mid-off, but that was their only setback for the next 15 overs. Zuiderent, who made his international debut as a teenager in the 1996 World Cup, and Kervezee, added 105 runs for the second wicket, denying Scotland the quick wickets needed to defend a small total. They took few risks, focusing on rotating strike, waiting patiently for the boundary opportunity from the bowlers.

Zuiderent and Kervezee hit only a six each and scored at about a run-a-ball. Kervezee was eventually caught and bowled by Majid Haq for 62, with 18 runs required, but Zuiderent ensured that Netherlands did not suffer any more losses until the final over, when he holed out while trying to hit down the ground. van Bunge came in and clouted his first ball to the long-off boundary to kill the possibility of another one-over eliminator.

George Binoy is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

England 145 for 1 (Wright 75*, Bopara 60) beat West Indies 144 for 6 (Sarwan 46*) by nine wickets

England finally settled on their opening partnership to lead them into the ICC World Twenty tournament after Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara smashed them to a nine-wicket warm-up victory over West Indies at Lord’s.

Since playing their inaugural Twenty20 international against Australia four years ago, England have tried 11 different pairings at the top of the order with little success in 15 matches.

But in their final warm-up match before the start of the tournament on Friday, Wright and Bopara settled any issues with a 119-run stand off only 76 balls to secure a thrashing.

It was a brutal response to West Indies’ total of 144-6, which they passed with 32 balls remaining, and provided the most emphatic signal of intent by an England side growing in confidence and belief that they can upset expectations and challenge in this tournament.

Their display was all the more remarkable because there were doubts whether Sussex all-rounder Wright, who finished unbeaten on 75 from 48 balls, was best suited at the top of the order and if his clean hitting would be better towards the end of the innings.

Those questions were answered in style after Wright overcome eight deliveries without scoring at the start of his innings to hit eight fours and five sixes, including three successive sixes off Kieron Pollard during an over which cost 22.

ICC regulations state none of the warm-up matches for this tournament are regarded as full internationals which leaves Wright’s 65-run partnership with Phil Mustard in Christchurch last year as England’s highest opening stand in a Twenty20 international.

But their dominance over West Indies tonight was so complete that it would be a surprise if do not overhaul it during the next few weeks of this tournament if England are able to sustain a challenge into the latter stages.

Essex all-rounder Bopara was the driving force at the start of England’s innings as Wright struggled for timing and fluency and hit Dwayne Bravo for three fours in an over.

But once Wright found his timing he delivered a brilliantly destructive innings, scoring his 31 runs off 11 balls to reach his half-century shortly before his opening partner.

Bopara, dropped on 29 by Sulieman Benn at mid-wicket off Bravo, finally holed out in the deep for a brilliant 60 off 35 balls, a setback which only seemed to strengthen Wright’s determination to finish the job off as quickly as possible.

Their performances justified England’s decision to give them a second successive run out together rather than look at Kent’s Rob Key, who sat out the Scotland match on the previous day, and decide on their best option for Friday’s opening match against Holland.

England’s faith was also rewarded in 21-year-old leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who had been hammered for 31 runs in only three overs during the six wickets triumph over Scotland at Trent Bridge, but responded to his inclusion today with a far more impressive display.

Yorkshire prospect Rashid began nervously again when he was introduced in the seventh over of West Indies’ innings and bowled a leg-side wide with his first delivery, but quickly found the right line and length to claim 1-20 from his four overs.

Rashid made an impact from an early stage of the game, helping to run out opener Andre Fletcher when he backed up to far with his throw from third man in the fifth over and Pollard ran himself out in his first over.

He built on that success by claiming the key scalp of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who was caught at long on trying to hit over the top after becoming frustrated by Rashid’s accuracy.

His impressive spell capped another eye-catching display from England in the field as they build up to Friday’s opening match of the tournament against Holland at Lord’s.

West Indies would have been encouraged by an impressive unbeaten 46 off 34 balls from Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was batting at No 6 to give other players experience of batting up the order, which guided them to a respectable total.

Their line-up was also weakened by captain Chris Gayle, their most influential Twenty20 player, sitting out the match to allow Denesh Ramdin to lead the side in his absence, but he was unable to change the fortunes of a side who have lost every completed match against England on this tour.

South Africa 113 for 4 (Gibbs 48) beat Sri Lanka 109 for 9 (Botha 2-9, Kallis 2-12)…

The South Africans got home with five balls to spare despite only being asked to chase 110 after a dramatic early collapse in the Asian team’s innings.

Sri Lanka had to get early wickets and Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera duly obliged by striking in each of their first overs to remove Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis cheaply.

South Africa had reached only 38-2 at the halfway stage although their paltry target meant they were still in the match.

Runs became easier to come by as a partnership between Herschelle Gibbs (48) and AB de Villiers (32) developed into a match-winning alliance of 70 before the latter fell to leave another 33 to get off 30 balls.

Gibbs fell with 14 needed but JP Duminy (12 not out) and Mark Boucher (8 not out) saw their team through with little fuss.

Sri Lanka’s innings never fully recovered from an early blast from pace bowler Dale Steyn, who finished with 2-14 from his four overs.

Tillakaratne Dilshan dispatched Steyn over midwicket for six off the third ball of the innings before he was caught driving to cover next delivery.

Steyn struck again in his next over when he trapped Sanath Jayasuriya leg-before, as the left-hander attempted to work the ball away on the leg-side. Another wicket fell at the end of the same over when Jehan Mubarak was smartly run out by Gibbs as he went for a quick single into the covers.

When spin was introduced Mahela Jayawardena’s reverse-sweep went horribly awry as he was bowled through his legs by Johan Botha.

Wicketkeeper Boucher then took a fine one-handed catch diving to his right as Chamara Silva dabbed Kallis tentatively outside off-stump.

Botha came around the wicket to Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara (17) and had a vociferous appeal for leg before upheld as the left-hander played back.

Indika de Saram then skied Kallis to Smith at mid-off to leave the innings in tatters at 44-7.

Angelo Mathews (28) and Farveez Maharoof (11) restored a semblance of respectability for the batting side in a stand of 31 before the latter was caught on the boundary off pace man Wayne Parnell.

Kulasekara (24 not out) helped Mathews take the Sri Lankans close to three figures before the latter fell in the last over.

Kulasekera then took 10 off Albie Morkel’s last two balls to ensure his team avoided the ignominy of failing to reach 100.

New Zealand 170 for 7 (Taylor 41, McCullum 31, Franklin 27*, Ishant 4-25) beat India 161 for 6 (Raina 45, Jadeja 41*, Vettori 3-24) by nine runs…

New Zealand’s unbeaten record against India in Twenty20s continued today by beating the world champions by nine runs in their warm-up outing at Lord’s. Several New Zealand batsmen chipped in with aggressive contributions to post an imposing total which their bowlers, led by the reliable Daniel Vettori, defended tenaciously against a powerful Indian batting line-up.

The India team had faced questions regarding fatigue and fitness because of their players’ involvement in the lengthy IPL and they took the field without Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Yuvraj Singh also did not play a part in the match although he was on the team sheet. However, it was because of the batsmen that performed in the IPL – Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja – that India challenged New Zealand’s total of 170.

Sharma, who opened with Gautam Gambhir, slotted seamlessly into his new role and attacked from the outset against Iain O’Brien. With an extravagant follow through, Sharma deposited the ball into the stands at midwicket, pierced the in-field at point again, and launched the ball over long-off to take 18 runs off O’Brien’s second over. The Indian fans had been gathering from the latter stages of the Ireland-Netherlands match, making themselves heard whenever the players were shown on the giant screen and now were shouting themselves hoarse.

Through all the excitement, though, Gambhir remained almost unnoticed, catching the attention only when he spooned Ian Butler to Martin Guptill at extra cover. India, however, raced to 55 in six overs and New Zealand needed more to curb the momentum. Vettori duly did the needful. He slipped one down the leg side as MS Dhoni advanced and had him stumped, despite a fumble from Brendon McCullum, before bowling Sharma a few balls later as the ball bobbled off the pads.

India suddenly had two new batsmen at the crease and New Zealand had an opening, but for a while it seemed Raina had slammed it shut. He plundered 19 runs off Vettori’s second over, slog-sweeping twice over the midwicket boundary and drilling the ball straight down the ground.

He and Jadeja produced an impressive stand, adding 69 off 48 balls for the fourth wicket. It was only Raina’s dismissal – caught by a diving Jesse Ryder off Jacob Oram for 45 – that turned the match in New Zealand’s favour. Vettori bounced back strongly to dismiss Yusuf Pathan in another miserly over to finish with 3 for 24 and left India with too much to do in the last three overs.

That the New Zealand bowlers had enough to defend was due to a collective performance from their batsmen. While no one went on to make fifty, New Zealand always had a well set batsman at the crease to keep the momentum going. Brendon McCullum provided the impetus at the start, while Ross Taylor continued his good form from the latter stages of the IPL during the middle overs. Scott Styris chipped in with a useful innings and Franklin enhanced his newly-developed status as a batting allrounder with massive strikes towards the ends of the innings.

Most of the New Zealand batsmen favoured the leg-side boundary and some perished while trying to clear it. McCullum eventually skied a catch to midwicket, while Ryder, who failed to get out of his IPL rut, was bowled trying to swing across the line. Ishant Sharma was the bowler who dismissed both, making up for the void created by the shoulder injury to Zaheer.

Taylor carted Pragyan Ojha for two consecutive sixes over deep-square leg and dispatched the left-arm spinner to the deep midwicket boundary as well. Ishant returned to peg New Zealand back by inducing a top-edged pull from Oram, which was held by Harbhajan.

Taylor, too, fell in the 16th over when one slog-sweep against Harbhajan did not clear RP Singh. Styris kept the momentum going with a breezy 29 off 19 balls but it was Franklin who hurt India in the end. He laid into RP in the 20th over and deposited the ball beyond the straight boundary twice before pulling to midwicket for four. New Zealand managed 50 runs off their last four overs and that acceleration proved to be the difference.

George Binoy is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

South Africa 186 for 7 (Smith 70, Gibbs 42, Ajmal 2-20) beat Pakistan 127 (Botha 2-20, Steyn 2-19) by 59 runs…

There wasn’t much of a crowd at Trent Bridge but those who were there witnessed a clinical performance from South Africa, with all three facets of their game seemingly in order for the bigger picture ahead. Batting first on a pitch that had eased out in the hot afternoon sun, they cruised along through an 80-run opening partnership before two clutch hitters contributed cameos picked up off Pakistan’s listless pace attack. By the time Younis Khan realised that taking pace off the ball was the way to go, South Africa’s openers had raced out of the blocks. And therein lay the crux of South Africa’s victory.

Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to bat first on the same strip of turf on which Australia had put up an imposing 219 in Monday’s opening fixture. Poor bowling let South Africa’s openers off the leash and allowed them to climb into the box seat, and they took full advantage. Jacques Kallis tucked into some juicy bowling on the pads, with fine leg up for the early part of the innings. Smith played a couple obligatory inside-edged drives but didn’t disappoint when offered room outside off stump.

South Africa posted their fifty in the fifth over with neither openers really dominating. It was a mixture of sloppy fielding and bowling, with extras and runs off free hits constituting 14 of the first fifty, and smart placement. Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, slower of pace and harder to hit, stemmed the flow and forced Smith to reach out and sweep against the turn. Smith got bogged down yet raised his half-century from 33 deliveries, and on cue Kallis tried to put his foot on the accelerator only to fall to Ajmal for 26.

That brought Herschelle Gibbs to the crease and with it some momentum. Gibbs was using his feet from the get-go, timing the ball fluently both sides of the track. Consecutive deliveries from Shoaib Malik were lofted either side, the second an effortless inside-out drive. Afridi returned to have Smith swing him for a flat six, but then had him stumped for 70 when he missed a wrong ‘un.

AB de Villiers was run out before he could get himself in, and Afridi then cut Gibbs off after being spanked for four and six. Unfortunately for Pakistan, Umar Gul couldn’t figure out what length to hit and Albie Morkel duly thumped him for three successive sixes in the 18th over, each of varied brutality.

Needing 187 for victory, Pakistan began their reply shakily. Salman Butt was bowled by Dale Steyn third ball, inside-edging a leaden-footed drive and Kamran Akmal lobbed a short ball from Kallis to midwicket in the sixth over. Ahmed Shahzad kept on swinging, driving Albie for consecutive boundaries, and came out to drill Roelof van der Merwe over extra cover. But van der Merwe kept his nerve and his line, and when Shahzad sized up a second boundary in the ninth over he was trapped lbw to a wild heave.

Two runs later Misbah-ul-Haq was run out by miles without facing a ball, sold down the river by his captain. Few batsmen have escaped when trying to pick singles straight to de Villiers, and the fielder found his mark with ease. Younis didn’t get a chance to atone for his lapse, chipping a return catch to van der Merwe. Pakistan were teetering on 65 for 5.

Afridi came and went, caught in front of the deep midwicket boundary, though he would have been the beneficiary of the third umpire had one been employed. After Johan Botha’s success Smith tossed the ball to JP Duminy and he delivered immediately by bowling Sohail Tanvir. Malik had emerged earlier but was soon heading off in the other direction, superbly held by Botha – one-handed – off his own bowling. It was one-way traffic and Pakistan fell miles short. Even in the last over, when victory was a foregone conclusion, Smith ran backwards from cover and plucked a catch with one hand.

Where Pakistan sprayed the ball around, allowed extra runs in their fielding effort and applied themselves poorly with the bat, South Africa were superior in all departments. It ultimately proved to be the difference between the sides.

Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo