Match Notes
Toss : Team Zimbabwe Won the Toss and Chooses To field first
Innings Break : Sri Lanka – 327 /6 (50 Overs)
Results : Team Sri Lanka Won By 139 runs.

The Zimbabwe team Won the toss and decided to field first. The decison of fielding went wrong for the Zimbabwe team.Earlier Sri Lankan openers put up a record opening partnership in the world cup to power their team to a mammoth total of 327 runs. Tilkeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga combined together to amass 282 runs-best opening partnership in the world cup history-for the first wicket to punish hapless Zimbabwean bowling. Things could have been lot worse for Zimbabwe, who opted to field first, had Lanka not lost six quick wickets in a heap once for 26 runs once openers were separated.The win takes home side to the top of the table and seals a quarter-final berth for them. The Sri Lanka setting a huge score of 327 runs in the 50 overs.

Zimbabwe started off the chase in an aggressive fashion reaching 116 runs with both openers intact in 20th over but Dilshan and Murlitharan shared seven between two of them that forced Zimbabwe to slump to 188 all out.Brendon Taylor and RW Chakabwa gave Zimbabwe a chance stroking some beautiful shots against Sri Lankan opening bowlers taking attack to the Malinga and company. Taylor was an aggressive out of two scoring his 80 runs off 72 balls playing some innovative strokes while hitting nine fours and a six over mid-wicket. Chakabwa was very patient making sure Taylor got more strike but once he was bowled by Murlitharan, Zimbabwean chase receded. Angelo Mathews removed Taibu and Taylor in a quick succession to dash Zimbabwean hopes and Dilshan made it worse for African side getting Lamb and Ervine on two successive deliveries giving him a chance to take hat trick. He got close to getting one but Jayawardene failed to hold on to a regulation catch in the slips off Cremer’s edge depriving Dilshan from a well deserved milestone. Murlitharan, who was playing for the last time on his home ground, baffled batsmen with his off-spinners and doosras and claimed three wickets including the last Zimbabwean wicket to have fallen. Zimbabwe team tried hard but fall short. Sri Lanka team won by 139 runs and seal their place in the quarterfinals.

Match Notes
Toss : Team Netherlands Won the Toss and Chooses To bat first
Innings Break : Netherlands – 189 /10 (46.4 Overs)
Results : Team India Won By 5 Wickets.

The Netherlands team Won the toss and chooses to bat first Netherlands made a cautious but solid start to the innings crossing their fifty in first fifteen overs without losing a wicket. But once openers were separated at the score of 56 runs, Netherlands batsmen crumbled to Indian spinners and fast bowlers to slip to 127 for loss of seven wickets. Had it not been to 8th and ninth wicket partnerships in the end with both involving skipper peter Borren as one of the batsman, situation could have been more embarrassing for the Dutch. Piyush Chawla, who bowled lot better today, gave India first wicket by sneaking his googly through Eric Szwarczynski defences and Yuvraj continued on his wicket taking form removing Barresi for 26 runs. It triggered a collapse with wickets falling in a heap as Yuvraj got the wicket of danger man Ten Doeschate and Nehra came back to force an edge of Tom Cooper’s bat well taken by MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Things were made difficult for Dutch with Zaheer claiming the wicket of Zudirent and Indian fielders removing two batsmen by getting them run out. Piyush was lucky to have Kerveeze caught in the deep by Harbhajan after batsmen had failed to connect a long hop from Chawla. Skipper Borren showed some aggression and fight with his bat and combined with Mudasir Bukhari to put up 23-ball 38 run partnership for the ninth wicket giving some respectability to the total. Opting to bat first, Dutch batsmen couldn’t stand tall against average Indian bowling performance with whole team folded for only 189 runs on a batting beauty track at Ferozshah Kotla.

Sehwag and Tendulkar got India off to a rollicking start with both in a murderous mood and looking to finish a small target of 190 runs quickly.
The pair scored 69 runs inside eight over before they were separated by left arme spinner Peter Seelar who removed Sehwag for 26-ball 39 including five fours and two sixes by getting him caught at covers.He followed that with the wickets of Sachin for 27 off 22 balls and Yusuf Pathan promoted to number three for 11 holding on to return catch in his follow through. India lost two more wickets with Peter Borren getting through Virat Kohli’s defence and Mudasir Bukhari castling Gambhir leaving the chase in a spot of bother with 51 runs more needed. But Yuvraj who scored his third consecutive fifties in the tournament who was sedate to start with concentrating on picking up singles and keen to be at crease till the target was achieved. His fifty came off 73 balls with a flick over square-leg boundary that coincided with the winning runs. Dhoni as usual was calm picking up the runs easily and helping his partner and side to achieve another win in the tournament. For Netherlands, who fielded brilliantly during the chase, Peter Seelar was the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets and conceded 53 runs in his ten over bowling spell. India overcame the jitters in the middle of the chase to go to the top of Group B table by defeating Netherlands by five wickets at Ferozshah Kotla Ground, Delhi.

Match Notes
Toss : Team New Zealand Won the Toss and Chooses To bat first
Innings Break : New Zealand – 302 /7 (50 Overs)
Results : Team New Zealand Won By 110 runs.

The New Zealand team won the toss and decided to bat first. The Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill started the Innings of New Zealand team. It was a bad start for New Zealand as Akhtar got ride of McCullum in the first over of the match. New Zealand started off in a bizarre fashion with Shoab castling Brendon Mcullum in his first over but Guptil kept on scoring runs hitting some beautiful drives during his 86 ball 57.Ross Taylor mauled Pakistan bowlers in the death overs to power his side to mammoth 302 runs after opting to bat first against Pakistan in group A match at Pallekele, Kandy.Taylor scored his fourth ODI century and remained undefeated on 131 off 124 balls including eight fours and seven huge sixes to take hapless Pakistan bowling line up to the cleaners. Such was the hitting prowess of Taylor that 92 runs were scored off last four overs with Shoab going for 28 and Razzaq hit for 30 in their respective overs during those four overs. Rehman was carted for 44 in his two he bowled during the carnage period. Taylor, birthday boy, who was dropped on nought and four by Kamran Akmal in one Shoab Akhter over, consumed lot of deliveries for the first fifty but exploded in last four overs to make mockery of Pallekele boundary. For Pakistan, Umar Gul was the successful bowlers taking three wickets for 32 runs in his ten while Afridi took a wicket in his ten conceding 55 runs. Hafeez was also amongst wickets giving away 26 runs in his seven taking a wicket also but other bowlers went for plenty. Scott Styris, Nathan Mcullum and Jacob Oram’s 9 ball 25 runs contributed to Kiwi big score.

Chasing a target of 303 runs, Pakistan top order was rocked back early in the piece by disciplined bowling performance by new ball pair of Tim Southee and Kyle Mills reducing Pakistan to 66 for the loss of six wickets.Southee was in a terrific form swinging the ball from the both ways and removing three top order batsmen Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul Haq before contributing anything to the scoreboard. His partner Mills wasn’t far behind getting the wickets of Ahmad Shahzad and Younis and Pakistan slumped further when Jacob Oram had Afridi cleaned bowled at team score of 66. Umar Akmal and Razzaq tried to resurrect the sinking innings with partnership of 46 runs but couldn’t go further when Umar was hold out to Nathan Mcullum long hop in the mid wicket. Mcullum added to his wicket tally trapping Abdur Rehman leg before the wicket. The wicket brought Umar Gul to the crease which marked the best period of Pakistan batting effort and he along with Razzaq put on 66 runs at a good pace.

Razzaq who started very slowly, all of a sudden, exploded to unfurl some aggressive shots during his 74 ball 62 including nine hits to the fence while Gul was fluent playing some delightful strokes to give fans something to cheer. Scott Styris had last two wickets getting Razzaq and Akhter caught in the deep to round off brilliant all-round performance of the Kiwis. In the end the New Zealand team won by 110 runs.