Chances are limited for Mortaza, Langeveldt: Buchanan

Bulletin By Shwe Wai

PORT ELIZABETH: He is the man in the firing line because everything that he planned has gone wrong, but even in adversity, Kolkata Knight Riders director of cricket John Buchanan has maintained a calm exterior as was on display during the media conference at the end of the day.

Excerpts from Buchanan's press conference:

On Mortaza not getting a game: Yeah, look at the moment we have adopted a batting strategy. So that's where our international effort is. So does that mean that guys that are international bowlers, whether it be Langeveldt, Mortaza, Mendis whoever it might be their opportunities are limited at this time. It is a question that we have posed to IPL a number of times about the involvement of more players on the field. I have personally mentioned that a number of times. Hopefully IPL will look at that more seriously going forward into next season and beyond.

It was a good toss to lose today: Yuvraj

PORT ELIZABETH: It was a thriller in which Kings XI Punjab won their DLF Indian Premier League tie against Kolkata Knight Riders at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth off the last ball and Kings Xi Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh said that the win had come as a great relief as the hard-fought victory would go a long way in setting the momentum for his team.

"I also wanted to bat first. But then it was a good toss to lose today. We started off well with the ball but after 10 overs of dominance, Kolkata Knight Riders' batsmen came back strong and went on to set a good target. After losing Sangakarra cheaply, Sunny Sohal played a fantastic cameo. He was outstanding and later Jayawardene along with Irfan saw us through the pressure game. It was a very important win today," he said.

Meanwhile, nothing seems to be going right for Brendon McCullum as despite a defendable total, Kolkata Knight Riders lost the game on the last ball. "We put up a good total. A couple of misses on the field and some bad luck did us in. Brad Hodge played a fantastic inning but more than batting we lost because of our bowling and fielding," he said.

Jayawardene, who steered the innings along with Irfan Pathan and took the match away from the opponents with his crafty 52, said that his job was to finish off the game and he just managed to do that. "It wasn't easy. It was a pressure game and I must credit Irfan for his knock in that pressure situation.

Dominant Bangalore crush Mumbai

Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL, Johannesburg

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Royal Challengers Bangalore 150 for 1 (Kallis 69*, Uthappa 66*) beat Mumbai Indians 149 for 4 (Jayasuriya 52, Bravo 50*, du Preez 3-32) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Dillon du Preez had a debut to tell the grandkids about

What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore were at the bottom of the table, had slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat, and were looking ahead to surviving without two key batsmen, Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen. Now, after a thoroughly dominant performance against Mumbai Indians they are jostling for a share of the top spot. The reversal of fortunes was illustrated by the two men who blunted the powerful Mumbai bowling, Jacques Kallis and Robin Uthappa, who shrugged off their forgettable starts to the tournament with superbly paced half-centuries.

The star of the first half for Bangalore was little-known South African allrounder Dillon du Preez who had an IPL debut to tell the grandkids about, taking three early wickets with his medium-pacers. A resilient Mumbai though recovered, first through Sanath Jayasuriya's half-century before Dwayne Bravo and Abhishek Nayar slammed 48 runs off the last three overs to lift their side to what-had-seemed a competitive total.

Akmal ton ensures consolation win

Pakistan v Australia, 5th ODI, Abu Dhabi

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Pakistan 254 for 3 (Akmal 116*, Misbah 76*) beat Australia 250 for 4 (Watson 116*, Ferguson 41*) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Kamran Akmal stroked 13 fours during his 115-ball innings

A scintillating century from Kamran Akmal helped guide Pakistan to book-ending victories in the five-match ODI series against Australia. Akmal's knock off 115 balls, his fifth ODI century, meant he top scored in both of Pakistan's successful run-chases this series and begged the question as to why he had not batted in the top four throughout.

Akmal combined superbly with Misbah-ul-Haq to reel in Australia's total, the highest run-chase of this tough series, after being thrust together with Pakistan in trouble at 56 for 3. Their unbroken stand of 198 was an ODI record for the fourth wicket against Australia.

Misbah was the ideal foil for Akmal, who was ignited by Misbah's energetic running, and the pair complimented each other perfectly to frustrate the Australian bowlers. While Akmal pounced on any width from either the fast bowlers or spinners, flaying the majority of his 13 boundaries through the off side, Misbah walked across his crease frequently, working the bowlers into the vast expanses on the on-side. Their running between the wickets was outstanding but it was the constant flow of boundaries that kept the scoring rate high.

Pakistan began their pursuit horrendously with another terrible mix-up between Ahmed Shehzad and Salman Butt, resulting in Butt's run-out in the first over without facing a ball. The problems compounded when Younis Khan, after his most fluent innings of the series, holed out to deep long-on and Shehzad made a horrible error in judgement to gift Nathan Hauritz two wickets and leave Pakistan struggling at 56 for 3.

But the promotion of Akmal proved a master-stroke from Younis while the experience of Misbah was invaluable.

Indian Premier League, 2009

Team Standings

		MP	W	L	NR	RR	P
	Hyderabad	6	4	2	0	+0.73	8
	Punjab	7	4	3	0	+0.09	8
	Delhi	6	4	2	0	+0.08	8
	Bangalore	8	4	4	0	-0.20	8
	Chennai	7	3	3	1	+0.94	7
	Mumbai	7	3	3	1	+0.76	7
	Rajasthan	7	3	3	1	-1.03	7
	Kolkata	8	1	6	1	-1.18	3

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Dyson confident despite poor preparation

West Indies in England 2009

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

	Devon Smith's form is a concern for West Indies:46 runs from four innings

The West Indies coach John Dyson remains confident that his side will prove to be a challenge for England in the first Test at Lord's on Wednesday, despite a string of poor warm-up matches and the unavailability of key players.

West Indies have underperformed in the three warm-up matches, failing to reach 250 in three of four innings, and they were trounced by England Lions who bowled them out for 179 in their second innings at Derby. To compound West Indies' problems, they have been without key players: Fidel Edwards only arrived in the country today after his Indian Premier League stint, while their captain, Chris Gayle, has been given permission to extend his stay in South Africa to play for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Dyson, though, is certain West Indies "can perform at Lord's" on Wednesday and insisted that despite all the problems, England should be on their guard.

"We're a surprising lot and we bounce back from things," he told PA. "I just think back to the Caribbean a couple of months ago when everyone scored hundreds for England in the practice game before the first Test at St Kitts and got bowled out for 51 in the first Test.

"If you look at the guys who you would think would make the Test line-up, Shiv [Chanderpaul] has had a couple of good knocks, Lendl Simmons has had a couple of good knocks, [Brendan] Nash has done all right and Sarwan has had a couple of promising starts. It's a bit of a worry that Devon Smith or Dale Richards haven't had a start at the top of the order with the new ball so that's a bit of a concern, but there is still time before the first Test."

There is precious little time, however: Gayle will only have 48 hours to acclimatise to England's early summer, but Dyson was not unduly concerned.

"I've said all along with the IPL in conjunction with this tour, even if he was arriving as we expected that's not ideal," he said. "Chris handles a lot of pressure and has played some magnificent cricket over the past 12 months in all forms of the game and he seems to take these sort of things in his stride.

Shane Watson scored a brilliant hundred

Pakistan v Australia, 5th ODI, Abu Dhabi

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

50 overs Australia 250 for 4 (Watson 116*, Ferguson 41*) v Pakistan

	Shane Watson led Australia to 250 with an unbeaten 116

Shane Watson's second one-day international century has helped propel Australia to an impressive total of 250 for 4 in the fifth and final ODI against Pakistan.

Watson's 116 off 146 balls was a superb mixture of power and patience as Australia controlled the opening half of this dead rubber, setting the highest total of the series so far as they pushed for a 4-1 result.

The Queenslander continued a rich vein of form following his 85 not out on Friday, but today he was far more fluent. He punished the bad balls that were presented. He was particularly vicious on anything fractionally short, the highlights being two massive straight sixes complimenting six boundaries. But a real feature was his composure against the spinners that have so frustrated him throughout this series.

Watson was the anchor to three partnerships of more than 50. The highest was an unconquered 84 with Callum Ferguson.

Ferguson, starved for a bat through most of this series, overcame a nervous start to provide sound support for Watson finishing with 41 not out. Neither player panicked despite an unproductive Powerplay. However they did have a near-calamitous mix-up, with Ferguson fortunate to escape thanks to an awkward throw that was not collected by Saeed Ajmal. But for the most part the running was sound whilst Ferguson's placement and timing was superb.

Earlier, Watson and Brad Haddin produced the brightest opening stand of the campaign by racing to 51 in just eight overs with some glorious strokeplay on a very good batting surface. Haddin was the spark, striking seven crisp boundaries, before he got a little overambitious and holed out to mid-off after charging Shoaib Akhtar, who really struggled with fitness, rarely clocking more than 140kph.

After conceding 71 from the first ten overs, Younis Khan applied the brakes in the form of Ajmal and Shahid Afridi. The spinners operated through the bowling Powerplay, with Ajmal claiming Marcus North with a crafty piece of work from around the wicket. He delivered a doosra first before flighting an offbreak that lured a tentative North down the track and Kamran Akmal completed the simple stumping.

Gutsy Mumbai fight back to reach 149

Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL, Johannesburg

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

20 overs Mumbai Indians 149 for 4 (Jayasuriya 52, Bravo 50*, du Preez 3-32) against Royal Challengers Bangalore
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Dillon du Preez started with a dream over

Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled a rabbit out of the hat by picking little-known South African allrounder Dillon du Preez, who ripped through the Mumbai Indians top order with his medium-pacers. However, a resilient Mumbai showed why they are among the favourites for the title; Sanath Jaysuriya started the recovery before Dwayne Bravo and Abhishek Nayar slammed 48 runs off the last three overs to lift their side to a competitive total.

du Preez started off with that rarest of beasts in Twenty20s - the double-wicket maiden, and it included the scalp of Sachin Tendulkar. Handed the ball in the fourth over there were a quiet couple of balls before he induced an outside edge off Tendulkar to the safe hands of Rahul Dravid at slip, to spark wild celebrations. The hint of away movement in the next delivery had Ajinkya Rahane giving catching practice to slip. JP Duminy, already a regular at firefighting in his short IPL career, walked in on the hat-trick delivery and shouldered arms which rapped his pads, but was saved by the height.

The Boys' Own story continued for du Preez in his next over, with his first poor delivery also fetching him a wicket; Duminy went for an ill-advised pull to a long hop angling away from him, only under-edging it to the wicketkeeper. du Preez's figures were a scarcely believable 1.2-1-0-3, and Mumbai were gasping at 23 for 3.

They would have been in a bigger hole still had Roelof van der Merwe spotted a mishit from Jayasuriya early while fielding at midwicket in the fifth over. Jayasuriya capitalised on the reprieve, and began reviving Mumbai with a steady partnership with Bravo. After a watchful beginning - he was on 11 off 20 at one stage - he broke free in the eighth over, muscling a fractionally short ball over mid-on's head, and then hammering the next delivery into the crowd behind midwicket. There were also the Jayasuriya trademarks, powerful slaps over point and some nimble running between the wickets. Despite all that, Mumbai reached the strategic time-out at a unsatisfactory 53 for 3

Toss Mumbai Indians chose to bat against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL, Johannesburg
Bravo and Dhawan back, Mumbai bat

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and predictably decided to bat on what is expected to be one of the flattest tracks of the tournament so far. The Mumbai Indians have alternately won and lost games over their past five matches, and will be looking to break that trend after the victory against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, have strung together two successes and will need another to stay in touch with the pace-setters. Their shaky batting has a tough ask against a Mumbai side that has perhaps the most balanced bowling attack around. They got a boost, though, with the return of Rahul Dravid who missed a couple of games on paternity leave.
Bangalore also sought to sort their top-order batting worries by including Wasim Jaffer, who was in sensational form through the domestic season. Another player getting his first game is South African allrounder Dillion Du Preez, taking the place of the out-of sorts Jesse Ryder. Vinay Kumar also finds a place to beef up the fast bowling attack.
Mumbai have made a couple of changes, both Dwayne Bravo and Shikhar Dhawan returning from injury to replace Graham Napier, who has flown back to England, and Saurabh Tiwary.