AUS vs SL, match 12, Melbourne: Sri Lanka score consolation win - Australia suffered a jolt ahead of their cricket tri-series finals against India when they lost an inconsequential cricket tri-series game against Sri Lanka by a narrow margin of 13 runs in Melbourne on Friday.
Feb 29, 2008
Australia suffered a jolt ahead of their cricket tri-series finals against India when they lost an inconsequential cricket tri-series game against Sri Lanka by a narrow margin of 13 runs in Melbourne on Friday.
Chasing Sri Lanka's competitive total of 221, the world champions got off to a flying start with Adam Gilchrist (83 off 50 balls) launching a blistering assault but completely lost the plot after his dismisal to be bundled out for 208 in 48.1 overs. It was dramatic collapse by the Australians who were cruising comfortably at 113 for one at one stage before losing their remaining nine wickets for just 95 runs in a thrilling floodlit encounter at the MCG, allowing the islanders to salvage some pride.
The Sri Lankans, who have already been eliminated from the title race, fought back brilliantly after an early collapse to not only end the series on a winning note but also dent Australia's confidence a little bit ahead of the best-of-three finals against India beginning in Sydney on Sunday.
The two Aussie tailenders Brett Lee (37) and Nathan Bracken (14 not out) raised hopes of a stunning victory by putting on 35 runs for the last wicket leaving the Sri Lankans a little worried. With the home team needing 14 runs in the last two overs, the Sri Lankan captain gambled by bringing in Sanath Jayasuriya and the wily veteran struck in his first ball by castling Lee. The victory was the perfect gift the Lankans could give to their two senior teammates -- Sanath Jayasuriya and spin wizard Muthiah Muralitharan -- who played their last match on Australian soil.

CS vs CL, ICL, Final: Chennai Superstars win the inaugural ICL T20 tournament - The Chennai Superstars pulled it off when it mattered the most as they won the finals of the inaugural Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 championship here Sunday evening, beating the local favourites Chandigarh Lions by 12 runs.
The Chennai Superstars pulled it off when it mattered the most as they won the finals of the inaugural Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 championship here Sunday evening, beating the local favourites Chandigarh Lions by 12 runs.
The Superstars also took away the winners' prize of Rs.39 million ($1 million). Put into bat by the Lions who won the toss at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium, the Superstars put up a score of 155 runs in their 20 overs, losing 8 wickets. Opener Ian Harvey, who has been among runs in this championship, gave them a good start, scoring 36 runs from 31 balls. Captain Stuart Law contributed with a 28-ball 34 runs.
In reply, the Lions kept losing wickets at regular intervals after their opening batsmen Imran Farhat and Hamish Marshall failed to give them a good start. Tejinder Pal Singh put up a fight with 35 runs from 33 balls. He top-scored for the Lions. As the match seemed drifting away from the fold of the Lions, Andrew Hall and Sarabjit Singh put up a fight, scoring 30 not out runs from 27 balls and 28 runs from 18 balls respectively, but failed to finish it off for their team. Skipper Chris Cairns could not do much Sunday, scoring just 5 runs from 10 balls. The Lions could muster 143 runs from their 20 overs, losing 8 wickets.
Player of the Match, former Pakistan bowler Shabbir Ahmed took 4 wickets, including a hat-trick, giving away 23 runs. The Chandigarh Lions ended up runners-up, picking up their cheque of Rs.19 million.

Dhoni focuses on the positives

Instead of being disappointed over the narrow loss to Australia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose to focus on the positives; he praised his bowlers for recovering from the initial assault and lauded Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa for being undaunted by the big total following an early collapse.

"It was quite difficult to recover from the kind of the start," Dhoni said, after India fought back from a dismal 50 for 4 to come within 18 runs of the 317 Australia had amassed. "It was getting closer and closer with the way Gautam and Robin batted. We were fortunate enough to make it a close match."

Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, also felt his bowlers, who have consistently pulled the team out of holes the batsmen had been creating during the series, relaxed after another bright start. "We started our bowling very well and Brett [Lee] once again showed the knack at getting breakthroughs," he said. "The game got closer than we'd have liked to. It's the first time our bowlers have been under a bit of pressure and we've got some work to do to make sure we get our stuff right."

Ponting was also unstinting in his praise for the architects of India's turnaround. "Gambhir and Uthappa played well," he said. "Gambhir worked the ball around well, especially to third man, hit some good clean shots, ran well. His innings was terrific."

Despite a disastrous start to their chase, India recovered with Gambhir and Dhoni steadying the innings with a 98-run stand. Once Dhoni fell to the accurate Lee, Uthappa - who made a brisk 51 - stitched together a valuable partnership that kept Indian hopes alive. "There was a time when we weren't thinking about getting 300 runs," Dhoni said. "We were just thinking of partnerships."

IPL is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days, involving 59 matches. The prize money for the league will be around Rs 13 crore (US $3million).

Each team will have a pool of 16 players, with a maximum of eight foreign players and a minimum of four under-22 players. Additionally, at least four players must be from the catchment area where the team is based.

The governing council consists of Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi, Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri, Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin, Inderjit Singh Bindra and Arun Jaitley.

Although it is going to be a franchise system, some foreign players have already been contracted by the BCCI to play in the IPL.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a private cricket league that runs parallel to the existing cricket league managed by BCCI. Matches in the ICL follow the Twenty20 format. Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, hosted the ICL for the 2007 season.