In no mood to brook any Dutch mischief, South Africa steamrollered the Netherlands to top the group.
If Ireland’s win against England had rekindled hopes of a similar upset, Graeme Smith and his men quickly snuffed them out.
To begin with, the Proteas rode the marathon 221-run third wicket stand between Hashim Amla (113) and AB de Villiers (134, inset) and JP Duminy’s 40 off 15 balls to post 351-5 after batting first. Defending the highest ever total at the Punjab Cricket Association Ground, South Africa mowed down the Dutch top half by the time they reached the 100-mark and polished off the rest for a further 20 runs inside 35 overs. “We’re looking forward to playing England on Sunday,” an elated Smith said.
Scores. South Africa 351-5 (AB De Villiers 134, H Amla 113; R ten Doeschate 3-72); Netherlands 120 all out (I. Tahir 3-19)
Shahid Afridi will have gone to bed last night safe in the knowledge that Pakistan are probably one win away from securing a place in the World Cup quarter-finals but he knows his men were given a timely wake-up call by Canada.
In a tournament where most of the challengers are posting 300-plus scores on the dead sub-continental pitches, Umar Akmal was top scorer on 48 as Pakistan’s batsmen spluttered along for 43 overs before being bowled out for 184.
At the half-way mark, Afridi admitted memories of the 2007 defeat by Ireland came flooding back – but at the same time spurred his men to avoid defeat.
“I must say that was a poor batting performance and poor shot selection. I think if we want to play good cricket against good teams we should improve on this,” Afridi said after he took five wickets to ensure Pakistan’s 46-run win. “It’s a good wake-up call for us. The game against Ireland in 2007 was definitely on my mind. When we started the second innings I just told my boys ‘listen are we going to play this game for a win? Don’t think negative. We will definitely win this game’.” While the batting was a bit of a letdown, the bowlers more than made amends – with Afridi leading from the front. He now sits on top of the wicket-takers’ leaderboard with 14 victims.
Scores. Pakistan 184 all out (H.Baidwan 3-35); Canada 138 all out (Shahid Afridi 5-23)
If Ireland’s win against England had rekindled hopes of a similar upset, Graeme Smith and his men quickly snuffed them out.
To begin with, the Proteas rode the marathon 221-run third wicket stand between Hashim Amla (113) and AB de Villiers (134, inset) and JP Duminy’s 40 off 15 balls to post 351-5 after batting first. Defending the highest ever total at the Punjab Cricket Association Ground, South Africa mowed down the Dutch top half by the time they reached the 100-mark and polished off the rest for a further 20 runs inside 35 overs. “We’re looking forward to playing England on Sunday,” an elated Smith said.
Scores. South Africa 351-5 (AB De Villiers 134, H Amla 113; R ten Doeschate 3-72); Netherlands 120 all out (I. Tahir 3-19)
Shahid Afridi will have gone to bed last night safe in the knowledge that Pakistan are probably one win away from securing a place in the World Cup quarter-finals but he knows his men were given a timely wake-up call by Canada.
In a tournament where most of the challengers are posting 300-plus scores on the dead sub-continental pitches, Umar Akmal was top scorer on 48 as Pakistan’s batsmen spluttered along for 43 overs before being bowled out for 184.
At the half-way mark, Afridi admitted memories of the 2007 defeat by Ireland came flooding back – but at the same time spurred his men to avoid defeat.
“I must say that was a poor batting performance and poor shot selection. I think if we want to play good cricket against good teams we should improve on this,” Afridi said after he took five wickets to ensure Pakistan’s 46-run win. “It’s a good wake-up call for us. The game against Ireland in 2007 was definitely on my mind. When we started the second innings I just told my boys ‘listen are we going to play this game for a win? Don’t think negative. We will definitely win this game’.” While the batting was a bit of a letdown, the bowlers more than made amends – with Afridi leading from the front. He now sits on top of the wicket-takers’ leaderboard with 14 victims.
Scores. Pakistan 184 all out (H.Baidwan 3-35); Canada 138 all out (Shahid Afridi 5-23)
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