Pakistan beat Australia by 11 runs in the second Twenty20 international at Edgbaston to wrap up a 2-0 series win.

After Kamran Akmal’s 33 from 25 balls helped Pakistan post 9-162, its bowlers were able to dismiss Australia for the second game running and spark noisy celebrations.

Left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer led the Pakistan attack with 3-27, matching the figures he returned in Tuesday’s 23-run win in the opening match at the same venue.

That win had ended Pakistan’s 12-match losing run against Australia in all formats and the series success should serve to provide a confidence boost ahead of the two-Test series, which begins at Lord’s next week.

Australia’s only real bright spot came in the form of left-arm orthodox spinner Steve O’Keefe who claimed 3-29 on his international debut.

O’Keefe’s selection was one of two changes to the Australian side. He came in along with James Hopes, in place of Shane Watson and Steve Smith, while Pakistan was unchanged.

With Watson out, Clarke moved to the top of the order for his side’s chase. Clarke took 15 from his first eight deliveries before David Warner (one) was trapped lbw by Aamer.

Tim Paine then drove Shoaib Akhtar to Umar Gul for a duck, and while Clarke looked to maintain his belligerence with back-to-back boundaries off Aamer, the captain chopped the next ball onto his stumps.

The right-hander’s 30 from 17 balls silenced some of his doubters, but his departure left Australia in trouble at 3-33 after four overs.

A stand of 50 from 46 balls between Hopes and David Hussey steadied the chase before quick glovework from Kamran ensured the vital breakthrough.

The wicketkeeper whipped off the bails with Hopes barely out of his ground to end his 28-ball 30 and spark the delight of bowler Afridi who celebrated in typically unguarded style.

Afridi then had dangerman Cameron White (seven) caught in the deep before David Hussey (33) offered a simple return catch to Saeed Ajmal as Australia’s batting began to creak against spin for the second game running.

But with Michael Hussey still at the crease Pakistan still feared a repeat of his World Twenty20 semi-final heroics.

The West Australian briefly threatened as he flicked Gul for back-to-back boundaries to leave Australia needing 27 from 17 balls.

Gul struck a vital blow two balls later when he trapped Michael Hussey (25) in front.

The impressive Aamer then pinned Mitchell Johnson in front for a duck and with 19 needed off the final over for last pair Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait, it proved too much.

Pakistan had earlier started badly with the bat when Shahzaib Hasan fell lbw for his second duck of the series as part-timer David Hussey opened the innings with an unlikely maiden wicket.

Kamran and Salman Butt recovered from the early setback in a stand of 61 from 42 balls before debutant O’Keefe struck with the final ball of his first over in national colours.

Salman (31) top-edged a sweep to short fine leg where White took a diving catch.

Kamran (33), having seen David Hussey carry his drive to long-on over the rope, departed from Johnson’s next ball when he skied to Clarke at mid-wicket, but that only brought Umar Akmal to the crease, after his match-winning 64 from 31 balls in Game 1.

The 20-year-old was soon peppering the boundaries alongside Afridi, although the skipper stole some of his limelight when he thrashed Shaun Tait over his head and into the construction site at the old members’ end.

The pair added 30 from 20 deliveries before they fell to back-to-back balls from Nannes.

Umar (25) skied a high steepling shot which Nannes did well to hold onto, before he produced a short ball to catch the gloves of Afridi (18) and fly through to wicketkeeper Paine. Aamer nicked the hat-trick ball through the vacant slip area for four.

Those dismissals began a tumble of late wickets, with O’Keefe finding the stumps of both Gul and Akhtar in the penultimate over.

Aamer was able to supply some late hitting, launching O’Keefe over mid-wicket, to finish unbeaten on 21 from 11 balls in an all-round display.

Source: Cricket Australia

David Warner hammered the second-fastest Twenty20 international half-century to hand Australia an eight-wicket win over West Indies and complete their dreams of an unbeaten summer. Warner raced to fifty from 18 deliveries, beating his own 19-ball effort from last season, as Australia reeled in the target of 139 with a ridiculous 50 deliveries to spare.

West Indies’ total looked semi-competitive until the first over of the chase when Warner and Shane Watson took 26 off Kemar Roach, who bowled too short and allowed Warner to swing through midwicket. There were three sixes in the over – as many as the visitors hit in their entire innings – and the contest was all but decided.

By the time Warner had cleared the boundary off Darren Sammy in the second over, he had 33 from eight deliveries and Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball half-century record was conceivably in danger. He struck seven sixes in total, all in the midwicket to long-on region and including at least one off each of the six bowlers he faced, before he holed out for 67 from 29.

At the other end, Watson was so good that he too entered the list of quickest fifties, when he reached the mark from 26 balls, but he was utterly cast into the shadows while Warner was at the crease. Watson finished with an unbeaten 62 from 33 and after Brad Haddin fell with one run needed, the debutant Daniel Christian struck a four to complete the triumph.

The win ended the summer on a high for Australia, who since the introduction of ODIs in the 1970s had only had one other summer – 2000-01 – when they didn’t lose a match. Warner and Watson blazed home but the result was really set up by an outstanding effort in the field as they again caused problems for West Indies’ top order.

The debutants Ryan Harris and Christian grabbed two early wickets each and Steven Smith was everywhere in the field, producing one of the most memorable catches of the summer. The trouble started when Chris Gayle tried to flick Harris over square leg and top-edged to Smith at third man for 12.

Harris followed two balls later with Runako Morton, who edged to Cameron White at second slip for a golden duck. White’s catch was sharp but there was far better to come from Smith, who had impressed in the first game on Sunday with two athletic takes on the boundary.

He eclipsed those efforts with a leaping catch at deep midwicket to give Christian his maiden international wicket when Travis Dowlin’s heave off middle stump looked to be sailing for six. Dowlin was the man who appeared most likely to guide a West Indies recovery and he made an admirable 31 from 32 balls without ever truly finding perfect touch.

Dowlin needed more assistance from the middle order but Morton, Kieron Pollard, Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith at Nos. 3 to 6 all failed to reach double figures. Hinds fell victim to Australia’s slick fielding when he tried to get off the mark with a perilous single only to see White at point throw to Smith at the bowler’s end where the batsman was short.

There was a late recovery from Narsingh Deonarine (36 not out) and Sammy, who hit 26 from 11, but the inadequacy of their total was shown by Warner and Watson. It was a memorable way to end a summer of Australian dominance.

Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo.

Shaun Tait proved he can still be a force at international level as he helped Australia to a tense two-run win that completed a clean-sweep across all three formats against Pakistan this summer. Tait bowled the fastest ball ever recorded in Australia and grabbed 3 for 13 including the key wicket of Kamran Akmal, who had threatened to end Australia’s streak with his highest Twenty20 score.

Pakistan’s trip has been notable for terrible fielding and the inability to capitalise whenever they got on top of Australia. This time their fielding was sharper than it had been at any stage over the past couple of months but their failure to keep Australia down remained a major issue. Despite dismissing Australia for 127 and being on track at 4 for 98 in the 15th over, they found a way to lose.

The problems began when Kamran chipped to mid-on for 64 from 33 balls to hand Tait his third wicket. Steven Smith then delivered two important breakthroughs on debut when he had Fawad Alam caught at slip and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan stumped, and the wickets kept tumbling. In the end, Pakistan needed 10 from the final Shane Watson over. Umar Akmal was on strike, having been the key after the loss of his brother, but when he holed out from the first ball the result was all but sealed.

It was a shame that Kamran’s team-mates couldn’t reward him after he led an impressive fightback when the visitors had stumbled to 2 for 10. Kamran was a one-man resistance movement and raced to a 25-ball half-century, the quickest ever by a Pakistan batsman in a Twenty20 international.

His fifty came up with a typically muscular pull for six off Dirk Nannes and at the time Pakistan were 4 for 81 and no other batsman in their line-up had reached double figures. It was an incredible turnaround for a man who was dropped from both the Test and ODI sides during the tour and had a best international score of 34 in any format on the trip.

In a match where Tait broke the 160kph barrier and his new-ball partner Nannes was fast and accurate, the first-change Mitchell Johnson was a welcome relief and Kamran helped blast 20 off Johnson’s first over. Despite the support of his brother Umar (21), there wasn’t enough of a spread in the runs from the rest of the Pakistanis.

The trouble began with the quick loss of both the openers. Nannes’ first over was a maiden that included the run-out of Imran Nazir as the pressure built, and Tait didn’t drop below 150kph in his opening spell. He hit 160.7kph, which was the fastest ball recorded in Australia, and from a 152kph offering had Imran Farhat caught at slip for 8.

That undid much of the good work from Pakistan in the field after they dismissed Australia with eight balls to spare. Only twice in a 20-over match had Australia scored less than their 127 and it was thanks to great bowling from Umar Gul and a sharp fielding effort from his team-mates. Three run-outs hurt Australia badly, including two that resulted in flat, accurate throws from the outfield from Umar Akmal.

But the most impressive was Fawad’s effort to get rid of Cameron White for 4. A Gul short ball lobbed off White’s body to point where Fawad took the catch, but while the umpire was turning down the appeal, White wandered out of his crease and was brilliantly snared by a smart throw.

It was the second good thing that Fawad did in the field after he held a sharp chance at point to send Michael Clarke on his way for 32 from 26 balls. Clarke’s innings was useful but didn’t exactly disprove the doubters who believe he is unsuited to Twenty20 cricket.

He began in promising enough fashion with a cracking cut for four from his first delivery but there was only one more boundary and most of his runs came from scrambled ones and twos. Neither of Australia’s debutants had innings to remember – Travis Birt was out second ball when he missed a paddle sweep and was bowled, and Smith was bowled by Rana’s slower delivery for 8.

The Twenty20 specialist David Warner made a handy 24 but his dismissal sparked a mini-collapse of 5 for 27. The last of those wickets was Brad Haddin, stumped down the leg side. It was one of several good things Kamran did for the match. He simply didn’t have enough support with the bat.

Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo.

New Zealand 170 for 4 (Ryder 52, McCullum 49) beat Sri Lanka (Sangakkara 69, Jayawardene 41, Bond 3-18, Nathan McCullum 2-18 ) by 22 runs…

The BLACKCAPS put the disappointing Test series behind them with back to back Twenty20 victories against Sri Lanka at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

From the minute Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat it was one-way traffic with the visitors putting in an inspired team performance to take out the series with a 22 run win.

Openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder got the team off to a flyer blasting 84 for the first wicket including one 19 run over off Lasith Malinga.

Sri Lankan Captain Kumar Sangakkarra had no answers to the onslaught using six bowlers in the first ten overs with Sanath Jayasuriya eventually getting the break through, catching McCullum off his own bowling for 49.

It was vintage McCullum who struck four boundaries and two sixes, displaying tremendous hand speed, nimble footwork and lightening fast speed between the stumps.

Ryder was the supporting partner in the opening stand but freed arms once McCullum was dismissed, lashing 52 off 37 with three fours and three massive sixes before holing out to extra cover.

With a solid platform set, the rest of the batting line up were able to continue on in a positive fashion with Ross Taylor reaching 16, Martin Guptill 32 and Jacob Oram 17 not out setting a target of 171 to win.

Strike bowler Shane Bond got the team off to the ideal start taking the huge wicket of Tillarkartne Dilshan in the first over for just one.

Kyle Mills then picked up Mahela Udawatte with the first ball of the following over for a duck and then dismissed danger man Jayasuriya for seven to have the home team reeling at three for 11.

The experienced Mahela Jayawardene lead a fight back sharing a 67 run partnership with Sangakkara but just as they started to look dangerous Jayawardene threw his wicket away – caught off the bowling of Nathan McCullum for 41.

Three balls later McCullum had his second victim with Angelo Mathews caught in the covers for one leaving the home team 80 for five with less than ten overs to play.

Sangakkara kept Sri Lankan hopes alive with a gritty half century but couldn’t get a partner to stick around as Bond removed Gilhan Rupasinghe for 18.

Needing 28 from seven Sangakkara needed to find the rope but only succeeded in finding Jacob Oram who took the catch off his own bowling as all hopes of a victory were lost.

Bond picked up Nuwan Kulasekara in the final over to finish with figures of three for 18.

The BLACKCAPS next match is a warm up game against Sri Lanka A on 6 September.

The third season of the prestigious Twenty20 tournament will be held from March 12 to April 25 and will feature an extra match to decide the third-place finisher, according to Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL governing council.

Modi told reporters Tuesday that the first game between defending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders will be played in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Nagpur, Vishakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Dharamsala were added as new venues, although Modi did not say where the final would be played.

This year’s edition was moved to South Africa because the dates of the tournament clashed with national elections and the Indian government said it would not be able to provide security.

Modi said the tournament would be expand further in 2011 by adding two more teams and increasing the number of matches to 94.

Modi also said that more than 70 former players of the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) could take part in next year’s IPL games, pending clearance by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Modi said the trading window for IPL players will be between Dec. 15 and Jan. 5, 2010 and the salary cap for each team would remain unchanged at $7 million.

England’s Test captain, Andrew Strauss, will play no part in Middlesex’s Twenty20 Cup campaign, after it was decided by the England management that he should concentrate solely on first-class cricket ahead of the Ashes, which begins in Cardiff on July 8.

Despite his current fine form in both Tests and 50-over internationals, Strauss opted to stand down from England’s World Twenty20 squad because the format didn’t suit his accumulative style. Now, despite Middlesex being the reigning Twenty20 Cup champions, he will remain on the sidelines until the resumption of the County Championship on June 6.

“Andrew Strauss will not take part in Middlesex’s Twenty20 Cup campaign in order to focus on the longer form of the game ahead of the Ashes,” the England team director, Andy Flower, said in a press release.

Strauss is one of four players currently involved in the ODI series against West Indies who will be unavailable to their counties ahead of the forthcoming World Twenty20. The England new-ball pairing of James Anderson and Stuart Broad have also been told to rest, along with Matt Prior, who is not in the Twenty20 squad, but who damaged his right ring finger during the closing stages of the second Test in Chester-le-Street.

“Anderson and Broad will be rested from this week’s Twenty20 Cup fixtures due to their recent heavy workloads … against West Indies,” Flower said. “We believe they will benefit from a brief rest ahead of the ICC World Twenty20. Prior will be rested from the Twenty20 Cup as he needs to allow time for his injured finger to recover properly.”

Prior and Strauss will be available to Sussex and Middlesex respectively for their County Championship fixtures against Yorkshire and Essex, starting on June 6. For the remaining 13 players involved in England’s Twenty20 campaign, they will be permitted to turn out for their counties from Wednesday through till Friday, before joining up with the national squad on Saturday.

England’s ICC World Twenty20 squad

Paul Collingwood (capt, Durham), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), James Foster (Essex), Robert Key (Kent), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Napier (Essex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

Source: Cricinfo

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is confident of his bowling options for next month’s ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England after his part-time bowlers performed surprisingly well in the recent-concluded Indian Premier League in South Africa.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), which ended yesterday after Deccan Chargers clinched the trophy, unearthed some new talent. Among them, some Indian team regulars who normally bowl part time performed surprisingly well.

Rohit Sharma, for example, took a hat-trick in a game against the Mumbai Indians while Indian middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh took two hat-tricks in the IPL. They were the only two bowlers to achieve this feat.

With the ICC World Twenty20 less than two weeks away, MS Dhoni is pleased that he has more bowlers at his disposal.

“The good thing you see in this tournament that will help us in ICC World Twenty20 is the emergence of part-timers who have done well. You see some of the hat-tricks that are taken in the tournament are by the part-timers, so that really is a big help.”

The Indian team practically boasts of a side where all the players, except skipper Dhoni and Gambhir, can bowl if required. Seven of the Top Ten IPL wicket-takers are Indians. Four of these seven bowlers, including the highest wicket-taker Rudra Pratap Singh, are part of the Indian team that will board the flight to England in a few days time.

“Most of the spinners are part-timers who are a part of the side, they have bowled in pressure situations. Not much of spin, maybe the ball holds on a bit over here. But overall the experience will really count.”

Naming a few of the bowlers who have been earmarked by Dhoni, based on their performances this season, the Indian skipper said, “’Yusuf Pathan bowled well when field restrictions were on. Even Harbhajan (Singh) and (Pragyan) Ojha bowled well for their teams during that period.”

The IPL, which witnessed 59 matches in five weeks, was a huge hit and many matches came down to the final few overs before the winners were decided. Dhoni said that these scenarios were good for the Indian team as it will help them learn to deal with pressure for the ICC World Twenty20.

“Most of the Indian batsmen and bowlers have been under pressure at different points in the tournament. They will handle the pressure well when it comes to an international T20 game also.”

“There are loads of positives that will help the players who were part of the side. We have seen new domestic players coming up and performing at this level. Some of the players who didn’t really perform in last year’s IPL have put up better performance this year.”

Defending champions India will open its ICC World Twenty20 campaign against Bangladesh on June 6 at Nottingham.

Sachin Tendulkar has stressed the need for adequate rest for Indian players ahead of the World Twenty20 in June, particularly so for the openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who failed to fire in the IPL. Tendulkar was by and large satisfied with the way Indian players performed in the IPL but pointed out that Sehwag and Gambhir had not been consistent. The pair only managed two half-century partnerships in nine innings together, and struggled with their form. Both batsmen were among the top ten run-getters last season, but Gambhir finished with a disappointing average of 22 from 15 games this year, and Sehwag with 19.38 from 11.

“I think individually the boys are doing well,” Tendulkar said upon arrival in India. “Look at Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS (Dhoni)… In the bowling department, Zaheer was doing well before he got injured and RP Singh has come up in leaps and bounds.

“Only our opening combination of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag hasn’t fired,” Tendulkar said. “I think the key would be how soon they can shed the fatigue factor. They have been playing back to back for a long time now and it would be difficult to keep up the tempo.”

The World Twenty20 is scheduled to begin on June 5 and India face Bangladesh in their first league game the next day. Asked if the IPL served as an ideal preparation for the tournament, Tendulkar said: “… It is. You are playing the same format and you are playing against the best bowlers and also not in home conditions. So, I think this is a good preparation except that the players should take adequate rest between the IPL and the ICC World Twenty20.”

Tendulkar was also sure he didn’t intend to represent India in the Twenty20 format. “I never thought that I would play the ICC World Twenty20. MS Dhoni and his Twenty20 team have done wonderfully well and I just hope they continue to do so. I have no plans to play T20 for India,” he said.

Tendulkar led an unsuccessful campaign as captain of Mumbai Indians, losing eight out of 14 games, and failing to make it to the semi-finals. “We blew hot and cold,” he said about his team’s performance. “There were times when we could have done better than we did. I think it is a batsman’s format and in our case it was the batsmen who let us down.”

Source: Cricinfo

Zaheer Abbas, the former Pakistan captain, has said his country will be better served with a specialist batting coach rather than a sports psychologist to help them perform better and cope with pressure situations, starting from the World Twenty20 in England next month. The Pakistan Cricket Board had, earlier this week, appointed psychologist Maqbool Babri to work with the team in the pre-tournament conditioning camp at a hill resort in Bhurban.

“I don’t understand what purpose it will serve to have a sports psychologist give lectures to the players,” Abbas told Dawn. “Because it is obvious that the team’s main problem is the batting not clicking consistently as it should. The board should think about having a full-time batting coach with the team. And it is clear their fielding also needs to improve.”

The poor batting was primarily responsible for the ODI series defeat against Australia in the UAE recently. They were bowled out for 207, 171 and 197 in the three games they lost and that cost them the series. They were well-placed for victory in the third ODI but collapsed due to shoddy shot selection and lost ten wickets for only 76 runs. They rebounded in the fifth ODI, winning the dead rubber by seven wickets before winning the one-off Twenty20 international.

Another former Pakistan international, Mohsin Khan, also didn’t support the idea of hiring a psychologist. ‘These players are not small children but professionals and they should know what they are supposed to do on the field,” Mohsin said. “I belong to the old school of thought and I don’t know if having a sports psychologist giving lectures will really help to improve the performance of these players in the (Twenty20) World Cup.”

Pakistan finished runner-up to India in the previous World Twenty20, in South Africa in 2007.

West Indies have stuck with largely the same women’s squad for next month’s World Twenty20 that represented them at the World Cup earlier this year in Australia. The only new face is batsman Juliana Nero, who had been in the original squad for the World Cup but missed out due to a hamstring injury.

Two players who made the trip to Australia miss out: Afy Fletcher, who took two wickets at 36.50 in five matches, and Geneille Greaves, who only got one game.

Merissa Aguilleira continues to be the captain, and Kirbyina Alexander will be her deputy. The pair had led West Indies to a creditable fifth-place finish in the World Cup in March.

The women’s World Twenty20 kicks off on June 11, with West Indies taking on South Africa in Taunton. The other teams in West Indies’ group are New Zealand and Australia.

West Indies squad Merissa Aguilleira (capt), Kirbyina Alexander (vice-captain), Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Cordel Jack, Stacy-Ann King, Pamela Lavine, Debbie-Ann Lewis, Anisa Mohammed, Juliana Nero, Shakera Selman, Danielle Small, Charlene Taitt, Stafanie Taylor