Zimbabwe win toss, elect to bat against Kenya

Zimbabwe

According to the fresh reports from the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Kenya is all set to face Zimbabwe in today’s Group-A last league match Played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (neutral venue).

Toss, 9.00 am: It is Tikolo leading Kenya today. Kamande not playing. Tikolo calls head, but it is a tail. Zimbabwe will bat.

Latest update of the match shows that Zimbabwe has lost two opening batsmen with just 54 runs on the board in 14 over.

Pakistan will face Zimbabwe in ICC World Cup today

According to the fresh reports from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Pakistan will take on Zimbabwe in today’s match Played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

Meanwhile, captain from Zimbabwe has won the toss and elected to bat first.

Reports from Pakistan team, Captain Afridi said, “Umar is fit, it is a light injury. He was fielding just now and looking better. He is fine and definitely inshallah he will play tomorrow.”

Now, ICC will take charge of Aus-Zim match Probe

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is now carrying out a scrutiny of the game between Australian and Zimbabwe played at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.

No doubt, the defending champions won the match quite easily, ICC's anti-corruptions and security unit is looking into the match after the Aussie openers, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin played unusually slow in the first 15 overs.

The two openers put on just 28 runs in 11 overs and 53 in the first 15 when two of the three powerplays were used.

With cricket still coming to terms with the spot-fixing controversy, the ICC is not willing to take any chances. But Australia coach Tim Nielsen sees nothing wrong in the openers' slow approach.

While talking to media, Nielsen said, “I thought they played well in game one. Everyone had this perception that they went slowly. But if Zimbabwe were going to be competitive against us, they needed to take early wickets with their spinners. We're playing the way we think is the right way to play.”

ICC World Cup- Ricky Ponting is a good captain but not a good leader

According to the latest news from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting got into the 'Angry Youngman' mode after his run out in the World Cup match against Zimbabwe and allegedly smashed the LCD in his dressing room at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Ponting Playing a short against Zimbabwe at Ahemdabad in ICC World Cup Cricket match.

The Aussi captain, who lost 3 Ashes series under his captaincy, still remains one of Australia's best captains.

Australia have played 72 Tests and won 48. In the same way, they have won 161 ODIs out of 222.

However, the two-time World Cup winning captain has off late been under fire for his leadership abilities

Whatever may be the reason, but it is not for the first time that the Tasmanian has got embroiled in a row.

Some of the facts about the player are as below;-

- It was during Australia's tour of India in 1998 when a drunk Ricky Ponting was kicked out of a Kolkata nightclub for his misdemeanour.

- After winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006, the BCCI president Sharad Pawar handed the trophy to the Australian skipper. Soon after, Ponting and his teammates pushed Pawar so that they could have a team photograph. This incident did not go down too well with the Indians.

- He did not let go a passing comment made by cricketer-turned-commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who said that the Australians were not popular winners, and said things which was not in good taste.

ICC World Cup: Australia will bat against Zimbabwe

The latest news from the sports desk reveals that Australia skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against Zimbabwe.

 The defending champions begin their World Cup campaign at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad.

Ponting said, “There were no injury worries for the four-time winner ahead of the Group A match at the Sardar Patel Stadium, and the Australians were eager to get going. Australia lost both its warm-up matches.”

As expected, Australia is going to play with three fast bowlers, with Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson and with only one off-spinner Jason Krejza.

Australia have been unbeaten in 22 matches in the last two tournaments played in South Africa (2003) and West Indies (2007), under Ricky Ponting.

The Aussies have a superb batting line-up in which Shane Watson, who opens the batting, and Ponting are crucial in the top order to lay the platform for others to build upon.

Watson has performed brilliantly with the bat in ODIs in the last year, having scored 832 runs and Zimbabwe's think tank would have talked about ways of stopping the Queenslander from taking the game away.

Teams:

Australia: SR Watson, BJ Haddin (wk), RT Ponting (capt), MJ Clarke, CL White, DJ Hussey, SPD Smith, MG Johnson, SW Tait, JJ Krejza, B Lee

Zimbabwe: BRM Taylor, CK Coventry, T Taibu (wk), SC Williams, CR Ervine, E Chigumbura (capt), P Utseya, SW Masakadza, AG Cremer, Regis Chakabva, RW Price

Umpires: Asoka de Silva and Richard Kettleborough

Third umpire: Amish Saheba

Match Referee: Jeff Crowe