Afridi: Irish defeat played on my mind

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has admitted he was haunted by the infamous loss of 2007 when Canada were pushing hard for a win on Thursday.

Pakistan cruised to a comfortable 46-run victory in a mesmerising Group A clash thanks to another mesmerising spell from Afridi (5 for 23, but the captain conceded he was under pressure at the Premadasa in Colombo .

Ireland had chased down Pakistan 's paltry total in the West Indies in the last ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007 and Afridi was in no mood to let another minnow ruin their party.

"I knew what would have happened had we lost against Canada . The 2007 defeat was of course on my mind but the conditions in Sri Lanka have been perfect for spinners," Afridi told the media after a Man-of-the-Match effort.

The conditions and the wicket were more to Pakistan 's advantage than the one where Ireland helped themselves to one of the greatest upsets in ICC CWC history. The leg-spinner shot to the top of the wicket-takers' list with his second five-wicket haul of the tournament. However, Afridi was rather humble about his game-changing spell.

"The conditions have been so good for spinners here. In fact, this wicket was slower than the one we had against Sri Lanka . It was a very good one-day surface," Afridi said.

The skipper was happy with the way his bowlers have come along so far in the ICC CWC 2011 and thanked the coaches for a consistent attack: "The coaches have been doing a very good job with the bowlers and that is showing on the park."

However, Afridi was livid with the side's shoddy batting, which gave Canada a whiff of hope. Set 185 runs to win, the Canadians were well on their way till Afridi struck some meaty blows.

"It was a good decision to bat first but it wasn't good shot selection. It's all about responsibility. We needed partnerships but that's what we were missing. Partnerships are very important..

"It's a very good wake-up call for us for the next game. Myself and coach Waqar Younis will talk to the boys and it will definitely not happen again."

"We are not going to repeat this batting performance," Afridi said, visibly angry with his batsmen.

None of Pakistan 's wins have come without a flaw. If it was the early loss of wickets against Kenya , the fielding caused some headaches for the management in their victory over Sri Lanka . The batting no-show, Afridi admitted, had to be rectified quickly if Pakistan were to make more impact in the rest of the tournament.

"If we want to play better cricket against some of the better teams, we have to improve out batting. Against Canada , the batsmen had to stay put at the wicket. It was a little overcast to begin with and the ball was stopping on to the batsman but we needed to show better application," Afridi said.

Pakistan play their next match against New Zealand in Kandy on March 8 - enough time time to get rid of their batting worries.

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Ponting apologises for damage to TV at Cricket World Cup 2011

Ricky Ponting has apologized for his unruly behaviour when he was declared runout in the match against Zimbabwe on Monday.

The incident happened on Monday during the 4th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. In the 33rd over of the first innings, Ricky Ponting was given runout. He had gone for a second run, but a throw from Clarke Mpofu reached the stumps before he could reach the crease.

Ricky Ponting, obviously in a fit of rage, threw his gloves at a LCD television set in the dressing room and damaged it. The behaviour from a captain of a cricket team is specially demeaning.

Australia had won that match against Zimbabwe by 91 runs.

It is learnt that the captain of Australian team has since then apologised. A spokesman of the team had come forward with a statement that Ponting had accidentally damaged the television set in the dressing room.

Now it remains to be seen how the International Cricket Council reacts to the incident.

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http://merabsp.com/UrNews.aspx?News=0001370

Ponting smashes LCD in Aus dressing room

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting smashed a LCD television, apparently in a fit of anger, in the team's dressing room here after he was run out against Zimbabwe, sources in the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) said on Tuesday.

The incident took place immediately after Ponting was run out on Monday by a direct hit from deep wicket by Zimbabwe's Chris Meofu in the Group A clash between the two teams. The captain was run out on 28.

GCA said they have informed Australian cricketing authorities about the incident. However, when contacted Australian media manager Lachy Patterson said he was not aware of any such incident.

GCA officials said that they would be meeting today to decide on further action in this connection.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Ponting-smashes-LCD-in-Aus-dressing-room/753147

Ricky Ponting confident Australia can make it 'difficult for anyone'

AHMEDABAD Feb 21 (Reuters) - Australia will look to take a leaf out of New Zealand's book and thump opponents Zimbabwe to make a statement in their World Cup opener later on Monday.

On Sunday, New Zealand bundled out Kenya for 69 and then returned to reach the target in eight overs and with 10 wickets in hand in a lop-sided Group A match.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said they would love to follow their neighbours' examples.

"I would like to go out and have a very similar result like New Zealand had. That's what we would like to do," Ponting told reporters ahead of their practice on Sunday.

"We will not take anybody lightly. If we can start the tournament by making a big statement in the event, it will be good for the team."

The Australian pace attack of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait should prove to be quite a handful for unfancied Zimbabwe, who will look to tie their opponents in a spinners' tangle.

But Ponting was not worried.

"Lots of teams have tried spin against us and tried different things against us in this part of the world and we have always managed to find a way to play good cricket here and win games," the Australia captain said.

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http://af.reuters.com/article/zimbabweNews/idAFSGE71J01J20110221

Clarke quits Twenty20

Michael Clarke has opted to turn his back on international Twenty20 cricket in order to focus on his Test career.

Clarke, who replaced the injured Ricky Ponting as Australia's captain for the final Ashes Test in Sydney, had previously skippered the side at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

However the 29-year-old batsman has now decided to quit the shortest form of the game - meaning he will now miss the two T20 games against England.

"I'm retiring from international Twenty20 cricket," Clarke confirmed.

"Looking back on this series, my Test cricket isn't where I want it at the moment - so I guess this gives me the opportunity now to focus wholly and solely on Test and one-day international cricket.

"I'll use that time to play more domestic and first-class cricket for New South Wales, and become a better Test player.

"I've always said Test cricket is the ultimate for me, and this gives me that opportunity."

Cameron White is the most likely replacement for Clarke as Australia's Twenty20 captain.


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