England and West Indies to meet in final
The West Indies will play the home team, England, in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy on Saturday.England won through, beating the Australians for the fist time in 5 years, cementing the Champions Trophy hoodoo for the Aussies.
After the usual good start, the England slow bowlers applied the breaks and held down the middle order. On a wicket that favoured batsmen, Giles gave up only 40 runs off his 10 overs, picking up the vital wicket of Ponting with Captain Vaughan taking 2 for 42 off his 10 overs.
With regular wickets falling the Australians could only post 259 runs. While a good score, the wicket had another 20-30 runs in it.
England chased well with Vaughan and Trescothick in a punishing 140 run stand. Australia's fast bowlers took a hammering with Lee being hit for 65 off just 8.3 overs. England looked in control for the entire innings and closed out the match with 3.3 overs to spare.
The Calypso Kings of Cricket, the West Indies had an easy win over the Collapso Kings of Cricket, Pakistan. After a shaky start, Pakistan recovered to be 1 for 65, before losing their last 9 wickets for 66. Only opener Hameed and Captain Inzamam Ul Haq managed to score more than 20. Ducks were plentiful, with 4 batsmen not bothering the scorers.
The low score was never going to be enough and the West Indies won with more than 20 overs to spare. After losing Gayle & Hinds early, Sarwan and Lara settled in to build a good score until Lara was struck by a Shoaib Ahktar bouncer and had to retire hurt. By this time, the result was academic and the West Indies cruised to victory.
In Saturday's final, the home team are favourites to win. England has shown a revival with young players coming into form and setting the scene for a resurgence in the old country.
posted by Kevin Paine @ 11:42 am
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