A round-up of the second day’s action in the fifth round of matches of the 2009-10 Regional Four-Day Competition

Cricinfo staff14-Feb-2010A career-best eight wickets from the legspinner Odean Brown secured Jamaica a first-innings lead over Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Guyana National Stadium. Today it was CCC’s turn to struggle against spin – on day one Jamaica collapsed to Ryan Austin – and their failure allowed Jamaica turn the tables around on day two. Brown snared 8 for 54 from 28.4 overs to send CCC crashing to 161 in reply to Jamaica’s 202; the main contributors to that poor total were Kjorn Ottley (44) and the opener Kyle Corbin (34). Tamar Lambert, the Jamaican captain, backed up Brown with 2 for 21 from 13 overs of offspin. At stumps Jamaica were 37 for 2 with a lead of 78.Brown’s star turn triggered CCC’s collapse from 48 for 0 at lunch. He began the second session by bowling Corbin, 19, with a sharp legbreak and dismissed Omar Phillips via a return catch. Jamal Smith soon followed when he snicked one to Carlton Baugh jnr behind the stumps, and after a 48-run stand Ottley and Floyd Reifer fell in succession before tea. From 115 for 5, CCC folded for 161.At the Bourda, former West Indies allrounder Omari Banks snatched career-best figures to put Leeward Islands in a strong position against <b<Windward Islands. Banks ran through the Windwards’ line-up to finish with 7 for 41 as they fell to 204 in reply to Leewards’ 325, and that stellar performance gave his team the first-innings points and a lead of 121. That was extended to 143 runs at
the close, without any loss.Windwards had begun the day well, taking the last five Leewards wickets for 71, and were well placed at 81 for 1. Then came a dramatic collapse that saw eight wickets go down for 123 runs. Leading their demise was Banks and his tidy spin, which flummoxed the batsmen for flight and variation. Shane Shillingford’s 52 contained eight fours and a pair of big sixes and after that the other contribution was Andre Fletcher’s stroke-filled 50 off 82 balls. Banks struck after Windwards were 81 for 2. First he had Liam Sebastian held at slip and then sent back Donwell Hector for 1 as the scoreline became 92 for 4. Lyndon James survived the hat-trick but became Banks’ third victim at 102 for 5 when he was snapped up by Mali Richards at short mid-off for 10. The rest came and went without much conviction.Tino Best and Ryan Hinds combined to leave Guyana on the ropes at 189 for 7 against Barbados at the Albion Sports Complex. Best picked up four wickets and Hinds three – following a half-century on day one – and Guyana were 214 runs behind Barbados at stumps. The visitors had extended their score from an overnight 326 for 5 to 403, with Devendra Bishoo taking four wickets on day two, and Best and Hinds combined to shut Guyana out. Only the No. 3 Gajanand Singh, with 66, offered any resistance..

Cricinfo previews the 14th match of the IPL, between Mumbai and Bangalore at Brabourne Stadium

The Preview by Sriram Veera19-Mar-2010

Match facts

Mumbai v Bangalore in Mumbai
Saturday, March 20
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big picture

Watch out for former India U-19 captain Ambati Rayudu to impress (file photo)•Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians have been the team to beat so far. Even a stunning hundred by Yusuf Pathan wasn’t enough to derail them. Neither could Virender Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils rein them in. Tendulkar has been playing like a dream and unlike last year, the Indian youngsters, such as Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu, have begun to respond. They have two fast bowlers of quality in Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga, two canny medium-pacers in the West Indians, Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard, and they have Harbhajan Singh and Sanath Jayasuriya for spin.Royal Challengers Bangalore had a false start to their campaign when their batting collapsed in the first game, but have since gone from strength to strength. Their bowlers have shown a tendency to try and bounce out the opposition, especially the domestic Indian batsmen, and their batting too has grown more potent once they got their order right. In their first game, they had Shreevats Goswami to open, and it messed up the whole order. Goswami tried to slog every ball, Manish Pandey didn’t look settled and once Virat Kohli too perished early, their batting just fizzled out. They corrected it in the second game, promoting Pandey to the opening slot but what must have given them a real boost is Robin Uthappa’s return to form with a whirlwind fifty against Punjab.That both the teams look the most settled of the units should make it an interesting match.

Team talk

Tendulkar constantly backed the Indian youngsters and they are beginning to repay his trust this year. Expect no major changes in either team, for both look to possess well-settled combinations.

Previously…

Both teams have won two games apiece, sharing fortunes in both seasons. In 2008, Bangalore won the first match at the Wankhede Stadium by five wickets, and Mumbai crushed Bangalore in the return leg by nine wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. In 2009, Bangalore won the first encounter easily in Johannesburg, and Mumbai came back to clinch a 16-run win in Port Elizabeth.

In the spotlight

Dale Steyn starred in the last game against Rajasthan Royals. He was consistently pacy and cramped the batsmen with short-pitched deliveries. In the past, his speed has been his enemy in the Twenty20 format, and it would be interesting to see how he shapes up against Tendulkar and Jayasuriya. Expect him to test Jayasuriya with bouncers.Ambati Rayudu has made a good start to the competition, and has looked the part in the middle order. Ever since his return from ICL, he has been really ambitious and hungry to make a name for himself and try to get into the reckoning for the Indian team. This IPL is as good as platform as any for him to come back into public imagination.

Prime numbers

• Jacques Kallis is yet to be dismissed in this IPL. He has scored 198 runs at a strike-rate of 140.42 and has been the pillar of Bangalore’s batting.
• Mumbai’s R Sathish has the unflattering record for conceding the most number of runs in an innings – he went for 51 runs from three overs against Rajasthan Royals.

The chatter

“It is a way of working together. I would like to help the youngsters in the team. It’s not that only the senior players can help. Even a junior player’s view is important. I’ve learnt that the more you talk cricket, the more you learn about the game.”
“Mumbai have done very well and we will be playing at their home ground, but our confidence is high and we are in great shape. The middle order has not spent significant time at the crease, but we have experienced players there in Rahul Dravid and Mark Boucher.”

Kyle Mills, the New Zealand fast bowler, has said he is eager to return to international cricket following a lengthy lay-off due to injuries on his knee and shoulder

Cricinfo staff23-Apr-2010Kyle Mills, the New Zealand fast bowler, has said he is eager to return to international cricket following a lengthy lay-off due to injuries to his knee and shoulder. Mills is one of five New Zealand players in the World Twenty20 squad to make a comeback after sustaining injuries that had threatened to affect their participation in the tournament.”It’s been quite hard to rehab the knee and shoulder at the same time,” Mills, who just completed a training camp in Brisbane with the rest of the squad, said. “It’s been good to get bowling again and get back into the team environment.”Mills last played an international game in November 2009 but had to return home to attend to a persistent knee problem and a shoulder injury he suffered while fielding. Mills attributed his recovery to an “aggressive” rehabilitation process, which has enabled him to make a return a month earlier than anticipated. “If I just had shoulder surgery I could keep running but I had to lay off because of my leg. Then I couldn’t do a lot of weights,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride because we’ve pushed it (rehab) pretty hard.”Mills admitted the demand to bowl shorter spells in Twenty20 cricket made his return possible, and that if it had been a 50-over tournament a comeback would have been unlikely. “It will take a wee bit of time to get back into the rhythm of playing international cricket,” Mills said. “If it was a one-day World Cup I probably wouldn’t be ready. It’s only four overs but it’s an intense sort of game. They (batsmen) come after you and you have to be on your toes with every ball.”Hopefully I can cope with all that and repay the team with some good performances.”Mills was bracing for a high-scoring tournament on pitches that he felt would be of little assistance to fast bowlers. “You read all the books from the ’80s and they’re hard, fast bouncy wickets. That’s a bygone area,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be pretty flat and they’ll bring the boundaries in a bit to make it a big spectacle for the fans to watch.”New Zealand have warm-up games against Ireland and West Indies, and then play last year’s runners-up Sri Lanka in Georgetown next Friday.

Group D in the World Twenty20 is resembling Friends Reunited. Ottis Gibson and Phil Simmons, former West Indies team-mates, have already gone head-to-head as the coaches of the hosts and Ireland while Eoin Morgan will also face his former colleagues on Tu

Andrew McGlashan in Guyana02-May-2010Group D in the World Twenty20 is resembling Friends Reunited. Ottis Gibson and Phil Simmons, former West Indies team-mates, have already gone head-to-head as the coaches of the hosts and Ireland while Eoin Morgan will also face his former colleagues on Tuesday. However, the most intriguing match-up will be when Gibson is brought up against England little more than three months after leaving the role of bowling coach.It was a rapid turnaround between jobs for Gibson who was given permission to speak to West Indies just a week after finishing England’s tour of South Africa. A few days later it was confirmed he would return home to take on the head coach role, but he still keeps in close contact with a number of the England squad which will create an added edge to the contest at Providence.”I speak to Colly [Paul Collingwood] a lot and also Broady [Stuart Broad],” he said. “We [West Indies] are excited and there’s a bit of banter going around about that game, but I don’t play cricket anymore so can pretty much say what I want. It’s up to the players in the middle to produce and it will be fun seeing those guys again. It was only two or three months ago that I was spending a lot of time with them. Somebody reminded me that West Indies have a good record against England in T20 so we’ll look forward to the game.”There are some new guys in there I don’t know much about. Craig Kieswetter is one, Michael Lumb another and Yardy I haven’t been involved with much. In T20 plans can change every day so what I knew about them three months ago could have gone full circle now so we just have to make sure we are well prepared.”Gibson’s appointment as West Indies coach was generally viewed as a positive move, bringing in someone who understands the culture and can relate to the players. However, Viv Richards’ recent outburst, relating to a Test against South Africa in 1998-99, has been the loudest descenting voice and took many people by surprise.”I saw the now present coach Ottis Gibson with his two feet on the balcony, earphones in,” Richards said. “West Indies were just about to go down the chute – and he was having fun, where the music was concerned. That has left an impression on me, seeing him in the present position he is now.”That is not saying he will not be a good coach, but I doubt he would like to see one of his players [behaving as he did] at that particular time, with him being in the position he is now.”Comparing Gibson 11 years ago to the coach he now is forgets the prolific form in the closing stages of his first-class career with Durham and the work he has done to gain his coaching credentials with England. Gibson, speaking before Richards’ comments were made, said he was settling into his new role and felt confident about the future.”I have a passion for West Indies cricket and now the challenge is to bring people together which slowly is happening,” he said. “The signs are very good and the guys are getting used to how I operate. This tournament will give us a good indicator of where we actually are.”With his bowling background that remains the area where most of Gibson’s hands-on coaching continues. He has brought in Jimmy Adams to help on the batting front for the World Twenty20 and is eyeing a permanent batting coach in the future. He admits that moving from working with just one part of a team to oversee a whole operation has been a challenging experience.”When I was bowling coach I generally only had four or five people to look after on a tour or a net session and now I’m in charge of the whole team,” he said. “You have to make sure they are getting what they need in training and when people are left out you have to make sure people are okay about that as well. Then you are scouring the internet at time trying to get stats and information on opposition teams so it keeps me up at night I can tell you that.”However, Gibson’s remit extends beyond the West Indies side. He has been charged with looking at all levels of the game and he has already implement new systems including a High Performance Centre in Barbados which is headed by Toby Radford, the former Middlesex batsman, who played a key role in Andrew Strauss’s return to form two years ago.Radford has also worked closely with Morgan so should be able to pass on some useful advice about England’s new Twenty20 star. “He will try and instil the right attitude into those people who have been picked for the HPC and hopefully when they get into the senior team they will know what is required and can make a contribution to international cricket,” Gibson explained of Radford’s role.He also emphasised what he said when he first took the role, that it’s vital West Indies cricket only looks forward. “We want to stay away from the glory days and start a new era of glory. They are long gone and we have to start again. We should never forget the past but we can’t keep looking back. We want to get players from that era to come in and share their experiences, but it is about this group of players to set new standards for themselves and start a new page.”

Stephen Peters and Alex Wakely scored a century apiece as they shared a third-wicket partnership of 182 to take Northamptonshire to 280 for 4

05-Jun-2010

ScorecardStephen Peters and Alex Wakely scored a century apiece as they shared a third-wicket partnership of 182 to take Northamptonshire to 280 for 4 in reply to Middlesex’s 347 all out in their County Championship Division Two clash at Lord’s. Peters, who scored a career-best 183 not out in leading Northamptonshire to a six-wicket victory over Middlesex at Wantage Road in April, simply carried on where he left off to make an unbeaten 115 off 231 balls with 13 fours.Wakely was more enterprising on the way to only his second hundred in 26 first-class matches, hitting 15 fours in his 108 off 193 balls. They were together for 54 overs and Middlesex captain Shaun Udal, who had just been off the field for repairs to his left hand after stopping a fierce drive, was wondering where their next wicket was coming from when Wakely chipped him to mid-on to offer Gareth Berg a simple catch.Six overs later, Rob White gave Udal a second wicket when he lofted him to Danny Evans at mid-off but it had been a dispiriting afternoon for Middlesex after they had made a promising start with the ball. Pedro Collins, the former West Indies left-armer, was rewarded for a demanding opening spell when he had Ben Howgego leg-before and Berg, the South Africa-born allrounder who was presented with his county cap at teatime, put Mal Loye out of his misery by having him caught at second slip for a 22-ball duck.Middlesex then ran into an immovable object in Peters, who had scored only 65 runs in his previous seven innings at Lord’s at an average of 9.28 and was obviously determined to put the record straight.Now 31, he has never quite fulfilled the potential he showed when he scored a century on his first-class debut for Essex at 17 and won the Man-of-the-Match award with a hundred in the Under-19 World Cup final in South Africa, but he has become one of the most consistent opening batsmen in the championship with three centuries and three fifties this season.Wakely, 21, has found runs harder to come by since making his maiden hundred against Glamorgan at Cardiff last summer but there were signs of real promise in some of his strokeplay.Earlier, Middlesex added six to their overnight 341 for 9 before Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lanka left-arm seamer, had Collins caught behind to finish with the excellent figures of 4 for 49 in 21.2 overs against one of his former counties.

Two Ws and Imran unanimously voted in. Yousuf misses out

Cricinfo staff24-May-2010Three fast bowlers have been picked unanimously in Cricinfo’s all-time Pakistan Test XI. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan each received 10 votes from a jury that included Ramiz Raja and Intikhab Alam among others. The only other unanimous selection was Javed Miandad, in the middle order.No current Pakistani player makes it to the side – unlike in five of the six all-time XIs named by Cricinfo so far. The most recent retiree was Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is at No. 5 in the order, with nine votes. Mohammad Yousuf, who received four votes, and Shoaib Akhtar (one) were among those who didn’t make the cut.Historically fast bowling has been Pakistan’s strength, and it is a sign of how highly the fearsome and influential spearheads of the side’s 1990s attack were rated that both were picked unanimously. While the two Ws made the XI purely as bowlers, Imran also serves as the side’s allrounder. There was no consensus over the third quick bowler, though: Fazal Mahmood, who received three votes, edged out Sarfraz Nawaz and Shoaib Akhtar.Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were tied with four votes each for the wicketkeeper’s place. Latif was picked for his superior batting.The jury opted for an opening combination that would provide a mix of strokeplay and stoic defence: Saeed Anwar (six votes), who attacked no matter what the format or situation, and Hanif Mohammad (nine), who gave up his naturally aggressive style and dug in for several marathon innings to complement the stroke-making of his team-mates.At one-down is Zaheer Abbas (six), the only Asian batsman to make over 100 first-class hundreds.Only two members of the jury did not pick Abdul Qadir, who revolutionised legspin in the 80s and paved the way for the likes of Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, as the team’s lone slow bowler.Qadir also made it to the readers’ XI, getting more than half the votes polled in the spin category, comfortably ahead of Saqlain Mushtaq. Latif narrowly missed getting the gloves in the readers’ XI, losing out to Bari. The readers preferred Shoaib as the third fast bowler over Fazal. All their other choices matched those of the jury.The jury included Salahuddin Mulla, who played Test cricket for Pakistan in the 1960s, cricket writers Qamar Ahmed (who also played first-class cricket and coached Netherlands) and Kamran Abbasi, and former administrators Shaharyar Khan, Arif Abbasi and Chishty Mujahid.The XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar YounisMore on the XI hereThe readers’ XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Wasim Bari, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis.The nominees
Openers: Aamer Sohail, Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan.Middle order: Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Mushtaq Mohammad, Younis Khan, Asif Iqbal, Saeed Ahmed.Allrounder: AH Kardar, Imran Khan, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Akram.Wicketkeepers: Wasim Bari, Imtiaz Ahmed, Rashid Latif, Moin Khan.Fast bowlers: Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar.Spinners: Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Iqbal Qasim, Danish Kaneria.

Pakistan got a fair look at the four contenders drafted into the Test squad to fill the void for a couple of spots vacant in the batting order ahead of the first Test against Australia next Tuesday

The Bulletin by Nagraj Gollapudi at Grace Road09-Jul-2010
ScorecardPakistan got a fair look at the four contenders drafted into the Test squad to fill the void for a couple of spots vacant in the batting order ahead of the first Test against Australia next Tuesday. A history of unreliable openers in the few years and the absence of Younis Khan at No. 3 prompted the selectors to pick extra batsmen in the 17-man squad to insure against any top-order collapse over the next seven weeks where Pakistan will take part in six Tests.Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Azhar Ali and Umar Amin are vying for the two positions, and the last three boosted their chance with impressive scores. Farhat, who opened with Salman Butt, the third player to cross the half-century mark on Friday, was the lone disappointment on an otherwise satisfactory outing for the visitors, who finished 16 runs adrift of Leicestershire’s first-innings total at Grace Road when the teams decided to abandon the match.Butt started in a composed fashion before playing a couple of punched drives off the new ball. He combined well with Hameed, who last featured for Pakistan in the Test series in India three years ago. Back then the pair had opened in the three Tests, including a century partnership in the second innings in Delhi, raising hopes that finally a stable opening combination had been found.Sadly, though, Hameed was lost to injury and then form issues kept him out of the team. Today, however, Butt, leading the side, took the onus upon himself and chased the Leicester bowling pack by farming the strike comfortably while dispatching the short balls with ease. He hit three successive boundaries off Duncan Masters, with the second one, a raging cut, taking him to his half-century, immediately after which he retired out at lunch.Hameed, whose last Test was in Bangalore in 2007, played some crisp shots and picked 10 off an over from the offspinner Jigar Naik to kickstart his innings. He continued to run the ball past the ropes with ease with some neat cover drives. At the other end, Azhar Ali, a favourite of both Waqar Younis and Shahid Afridi, was happy to just knock the ball around even if he scored at a very steady pace. But a worrying factor was his struggles against the fast bowlers which would definitely be a talking point when the think tank sits to choose the final XI for the Lord’s Test.There were no such worries for Umar Amin, who played some wristy drives on both sides of the wicket to race to the fastest fifty on the day – in 70 balls before retiring out. The 20-year-old has strengthened his chances after his 73 in Canterbury two weeks back.

A 98-run stand between Claire and Sarah Taylor and three wickets for Katherine Brunt in front of her home crowd sealed England the series against New Zealand

Cricinfo staff17-Jul-2010
ScorecardA 98-run stand between Claire and Sarah Taylor and three wickets for Katherine Brunt in front of her home crowd sealed England the series against New Zealand as they eased to a nine-wicket win in the 4th ODI at Barnsley.England came out on top in a more free-scoring encounter in the their last match to go 2-1 up in the five-match series but runs were harder to come by on this occasion. On a difficult track the home side cautiously chipped away at the modest total set by New Zealand, taking 46.1 overs to chase down 136.The tone was set by Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight, as they saw off the new-ball shine in a patient 41-run stand before Knight was bowled by Sophie Devine’s medium pace in the 18th over. It proved New Zealand’s last success in a forgettable day.Claire Taylor began slowly before regaining her old confidence to hit six boundaries and a six on her way to an unbeaten half-century. It was her second fifty of the series and is a good sign for England after she struggled for form earlier in the season. At the other end Sarah Taylor was happy to accumulate at her own pace, hitting just four fours and taking 130 deliveries to reach an undefeated 49.It meant England coasted to their target with 23 balls to spare. The hard work was done, however, in the first half of the game by England. Brunt enjoyed the familiar surroundings and burst through New Zealand’s top order, removing Lucy Doolan and the dangerous Suzie Bates.Isa Guha provided excellent support, dismissing Sara McGlashan and bowling four maidens in a miserly spell of 1 for 11 from her 10 overs. Having watched the opening pair do the damage, Jenny Gunn chipped in with two wickets as New Zealand crumbled to 78 for 6.Once again it was captain Aimee Watkins who provided the bulk of the resistance. She made 42 from 82 deliveries to carry the total over 100 but it was never going to be enough.”I never thought we would play here, it has been a dream come true for me,” Brunt said. “The conditions haven’t suited me in recent matches, but today it was a nice little seaming wicket. It meant the world to me to pick up a few wickets in front of my family.”

ECB Women’s Development XI cruised to a seven-wicket victory against Ireland to win the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier competition in Stirling

Cricinfo staff13-Aug-2010
Scorecard
ECB Women’s Development XI cruised to a seven-wicket victory against Ireland to win the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier competition in Stirling.Continuing their impressive form after defeating Scotland the game before, captain Jo Cook won the toss and put Ireland into bat on a surface looking helpful for the bowlers. A sensible decision soon seemed inspired when ECB Women’s Development XI ran through the Ireland top order to leave them floundering on 72 for 5. It was Deanna Cooper who made the initial breakthrough, trapping Eamer Richardson in front and thereafter it was a procession.Laura Delany tried her best to stand firm while wickets tumbled around her but when she fell for 36 to become the first of three wickets for Alex Hartley, there was not much left for Ireland. Only the top three reached double figures as Ireland were bundled out for 105.The ECB Development XI made the conditions look far more benign as they rattled off the total in just over 26 overs, losing three wickets along the way. Fran Wilson (35) led the way before before Kathryn Doherty (13) joined MacLeod at the crease to hit the winning runs.MacLeod was untroubled throughout and hit five boundaries in her unbeaten 42 to carry the side to the title. “We kept them down to a good run rate early, the pitch made it hard for them to get our spinners away,” she said after the match. “We started reasonably steady, but with our top order putting away the bad ball we managed to keep the run rate ticking over. I’m really happy with the win, it’s great how we have progressed as a team throughout the tournament.”Reflecting on the performance of the side throughout the competition Paul Shaw, the ECB performance manager, said: “This tournament has provided us with a number of great opportunities for our young players. It has been very pleasing to see the players progress both as individuals and cricketers, cumulating with a professional performance against Ireland today.I would like to thank Phil Hudson and the ICC for organising this tournament and giving the ECB this very importance development opportunity.”

Lions have four points, but a slightly poorer net run-rate than Royal Challengers Bangalore, their opponents and the other contenders for the remaining semi-final slot from Group B

The Preview by Sidharth Monga20-Sep-2010

Match facts

Tuesday, September 21
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)
Anil Kumble will be desperate to make amends for a match-turning dropped catch against Mumbai Indians•Indian Premier League

Big Picture

This is as good as a quarter-final. Lions have four points, but a slightly poorer net run-rate than Royal Challengers Bangalore, their opponents and the other contenders for the remaining semi-final slot from Group B. Bangalore have two points, but they need not worry about net run-rate either. Bangalore have Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid to thank, for they took their last game until the last ball, which ensured their net run-rate stayed higher.With all those net run-rate complications put aside, this straight knockout promises to be a knockout in the other sense too. There will be South African fast bowlers, and they have all been bowling fast. Dale Steyn for Bangalore, Ethan O’Reilly and Craig Alexander for the Lions. Sitting in the dugout, when he watches his team-mates bat, Steyn could be looking at future international team-mates bowling.

Teams

Bangalore seem to have a good combination going, except for B Akhil, who neither bowled nor batted in their defeat to Mumbai Indians. At any rate, he was slated to bat in at No. 7. They could look to go with either the better batsman, Manish Pandey, or the specialist spinner, Nayan Doshi.Royal Challengers Bangalore: (probable) 1 Jacques Kallis, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Cameron White, 6 Virat Kohli, 7 B Akhil / Manish Pandey / Nayan Doshi, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Anil Kumble (capt), 11 R Vinay KumarLions have a difficult choice to make after Alexander, brought in ahead of the experienced Shane Burger, impressed everybody with his pace. They will hope to have Neil McKenzie fit and playing.Lions (probable): 1 Alviro Petersen (capt), 2 Jonathan Vandiar, 3 Richard Cameron, 4 Vaughn van Jaarsveld, 5 Neil McKenzie / Jean Symes, 6 Robert Frylinck, 7 Zander de Bruyn, 8 Thami Tsolekile (wk), 9 Shane Burger / Craig Alexander, 10 Aaron Phangiso, 11 Ethan O’Reilly

Watch out for…

Those who have played under Anil Kumble know him to be a tough captain, severe on mistakes. He was just as severe on himself when his drop let Dwayne Bravo off the hook. That drop cost Bangalore the match. Watch out for a charged-up Kumble, looking to make up for that error.Besides being a livewire in the field, Aaron Phangiso is a pretty clever Twenty20 bowler, which shows in his economy-rate of 6.30, the fifth-best among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs in the tournament. A supreme athlete, he is a good squash player too.

Key contest

Dale Steyn v Alviro Petersen Petersen, like other opener-captains in the tournament, has been Lions’ most consistent batsman and highest run-getter. Steyn has been Bangalore’s impact man. The tussle between these Test team-mates could decide the match.

Stats and Trivia

• Bangalore’s Ross Taylor has hit 148 sixes in Twenty20 cricket, five ahead of the second-paced David Hussey, who has played 36 more innings than Taylor.
• Jacques Kallis has registered 17 scores of 50 or more, which is joint-third on the all-time list, behind Brad Hodge’s 23 and Hussey’s 19.