T20 world Cup....match updates !!!!!!

Day five of the Super Eight clashes was quite perdictable. Pakistan beat ireland to book a semifinal berth, while party spoilers West Indies tamed England for a berth in the semis.

Pakistan vs Ireland :

Pakistan won the toss & elected to bat, in an attempt to put up a large score & choke the rookie Ireland. Kamran Akmal & S Hassan started in style & put up 38 runs before Hassan holed out to midoff. next in Afridi was better today, & scored a good 24 of 13 deliveries. Small but meaningful contribution from all the batters, got the Pakistan total to a healthy 159 for 5 at the end of the alloted 20 overs. Kamran Akmal shone with a sparkling 57 of 51 deliveries. Ireland needed someone to bat out of the skin, but that was not to be. Despite a brave 40 runs of 36 deliveries by their skipper Williams Portersfield at the top of the order, Ireland had very little resistance to put up. With fiery Umar Gul (2 for 19) & wily spinner Saeed Ajmal(4 for 19), ripping through the batting order, Irish batsmen did not stand any chance. The team folded at 120 runs for 9 wickets, giving Pakistan a healthy win of 39 runs. It was a sweet revenge for them against the minnows, who had humbled them in the last ODI World Cup in the Carribeans in 2007. It had also led the team to a lot of controversies then, with the mysterious & shocking death of their coach Bob Woolmer. Akmal was the deserving man of the match. Pakistan now meet South Africa in the semis, a match, which promises to be a humdinger.

West Indies vs England :

This was a do or die, knockout match for both the teams. The winner would move to the semis, while the loser would be out of the tournament. At the toss, the Windies were in jeopardy, as their pacer Fidel Edwards had got hurt just minutes before the toss & was ruled out, bringing in mediu pacer D Sammy. Gayle, actually looked pale (pun intended) & concerned, as his attack now looked quite feeble. England won the toss, & Colingwood decided to bat. Despite losing Wright early on, Bopara & Peiterson were in good nick & runs started flowing. When all looked good for the English fans, Peiterson got needelessly carried away & spooned himself out in the 8th over to Simmons. the score read 64 for 2. The going became tough form here on, as no other batter could push the scoring. England laboured to 150 & only two giant hits off the last two deliveries of the inings by Stuart Broad, took the final score to 161 for 6. a competitive score but definitely not out of reach. Ravi Bopara at the top had lend foundation to the total with steady 55 of 47 deliveries. With rains threatening to disturb the turf, Duckworth Lewis was surely coming into play. Steady rains kept everyone guessing & finally when the covers were removed & D/L calculated, the Windies were handed a target of 80 runs from 9 overs....advantage had definitely shifted away from the Barmy army. The English team was ruing the loss of crucial wickets towards the end of their innings. Chasing the new target, Windies were in trouble straight away with Fletcher falling for a nought(his 3rd successive duck), & Gayle, after a couple of belligerent pulls to the fence, fell too in the 2nd over. Simmons, their most consistent batsmen also fell for a duck at beginning of the 3rd over, spooning a catch to sidebottom off the bowling of Broadwith score reading 16 for 3. After a very brief resistence, even hard hitting Bravo & Pollard fell, & Windies were clearly in trouble with score reading 45 for 5 in the 6th over. England fans were already celebrating as the asking rate had climbed over 10 an over, when two of the most experienced batsmen walked to the crease. Chanderpaul & Sarwan had a job at hand & they delivered. They added 37 runs of just 18 deliveries & took their team past the winning mark, as the English fans were left red faced & speechless. Sarwan had hit 19 of just 9 deliveries & was declared the man of the match while Chanderpaul had kept company with 17 from 10 balls.

The Windies have been the biggest party spoilers in this tournament, scalping Aussies, India & now the England. the now meet the winner from Sri Lanka & New Zealand in the semis. As Gayle said in the post match presentation, that the team is focussed on one more victory which will place them in the finals, after which it is anybodys game..... With the team coming good, at the right time, Gayle could well look at one more glory.