The Champions Trophy, which, under a new format, will feature the best eight teams. Recent form - over the last few years and in the South Africa where the tournament is being held - is any indication, the winners will be one of Australia, South Africa or India. The stats of teams since the last Champions Trophy back that Australia, South Africa and India are the front runner for the trophy. These teams had won more games than they've lost against the top eight teams since last Champions Trophy. During this period, India has won 11 out of 17 series, Australia have won 6 out of 12, and South Africa have won 7 out of 10 series. The eight ODI teams against each other since last Champions Trophy: Team ODIs W/ L = ratio Bat ave Bowl ave Australia 70 43/ 23 = 1.86 37.12 27.76 South Africa 46 28/ 16 = 1.75 35.37 29.10 India 78 42/ 30 = 1.40 33.87 33.69 New Zealand 55 22/ 25 = 0.88 31.00 34.53 Pakistan 44 20/ 23 = 0.86 30.97 34.15 Sri Lanka 60 25/ 31 = 0.80 28.98 28.58 England 62 25/ 34 = 0.73 28.74 31.40 West Indies 49 11/ 34 = 0.32 27.09 36.91 Above table clearly state that only these three teams been the best everywhere in the last three years having more wins than loss in there bag. Trophy front runner Australia has good record on South Africa soil. One will find South Africa and Aussis record exceptional if look at all the matches played in South Africa since beginning of this decade. Teams in South Africa in ODIs among the top eight since 2000: Team ODIs W/L = ratio Bat ave Bowl ave South Africa 87 58/ 21 = 2.76 37.14 28.04 Australia 27 17/ 9 = 1.88 34.45 29.19 India 14 5/ 9 = 0.55 24.82 35.93 England 14 3/ 9 = 0.33 27.77 27.22 Sri Lanka 17 4/ 12 = 0.33 25.53 39.73 New Zealand 19 3/ 14 = 0.21 27.52 37.07 West Indies 13 2/ 10 = 0.20 28.43 44.35 Pakistan 13 2/ 10 = 0.20 23.98 38.20 The individual batting stats of players in South Africa offer some interesting insights too. For one, it explains - partially at least - why Rahul Dravid was brought back into the Indian team. He leads the averages chart among batsmen who'll be playing in the tournament. If one looks in the table below, the top 8 out of 10 players are from these favourites. Batsmen against the top eight teams in ODIs in South Africa Batsman ODIs Runs Average 100s/ 50s Rahul Dravid 17 737 56.69 0/ 9 Ricky Ponting 22 1031 54.26 4/ 4 Jacques Kallis 113 4080 46.89 6/ 28 JP Duminy 13 398 44.22 0/ 2 Michael Hussey 10 338 42.25 0/ 3 AB de Villiers 34 1159 41.39 0/ 9 Graeme Smith 56 2079 39.98 3/ 16 Herschelle Gibbs 87 2739 34.23 9/ 9 Sanath Jayasuriya 29 899 32.10 2/ 5 Mohammad Yousuf 18 509 31.81 1/ 2 Sachin Tendulkar 26 822 31.61 1/ 4 Kumar Sangakkara 17 404 28.85 0/ 2 Mark Boucher 101 1522 27.67 0/ 5 Michael Clarke 10 243 27.00 0/ 3 Brendon McCullum 12 237 26.33 0/ 1 Paul Collingwood 10 181 25.85 0/ 1 Younis Khan 13 336 25.84 0/ 2 Yuvraj Singh 10 180 22.50 0/ 1 Among the bowlers, most of the wicket-takers have been the fast men. Brett Lee leads the way with an excellent haul of 41 wickets in just 19 games, with three four-wicket hauls and a five-for. Shane Bond and Makhaya Ntini have been among the wickets as well. The spinners have reasonable economy-rates, but apart from Muttiah Muralitharan, they haven't had a lot of wicket-taking success. Bowlers against the top eight teams in ODIs in South Africa: Bowler ODIs Wickets Average Econ … [Read more...]
Champions Trophy Cricket warmup matches
There are some warm-up matches before the beginning of Champions Trophy 2009 in South Africa. None of these matches will be given the ODI status and teams will be able to practice before they get into the big tournament. The big game on the Sep 18 is between the Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Pakistan has lost recent series in Sri Lanka so they can back themselves in the Warm Up match. India will be taking New Zealand on Sep 20 in another warm-up match. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies play two warm-up games while India and South Africa play one. Schedule for the warm up matches: Friday, 18 September - South Africa v West Indies (d/n) Friday, 18 September - Pakistan v Sri Lanka (d/n) Friday, 18 September - New Zealand v Warriors (d) Sunday, 20 September - New Zealand v India (d/n) Sunday, 20 September - Pakistan v Warriors (d/n) Sunday, 20 September - Sri Lanka v West Indies (d) Day-1 Maches review: Pakistan v Sri Lanka: Pakistan warmed up for the ICC Champions Trophy in style by winning there tie against Sri Lanka. Kamran Akmal’s superb 82 and Naved-ul-Hasan’s 5 for 41 help Pakistan to achive 108-run victory against Sri Lanka in Benoni. Pakistan was initially in trouble, slipping to 64 or 3, after the experienced top order pair failed to get going. Opener Kamran and Misbah-ul-Haq revived Pakistan by continuing to score at a brisk pace, and they went on to a massive score after Misbah-ul-Haq and highly rated youngster Umar Akmal made half-centuries. Mahela Jayawardene had called on the top order to fire last week, but it flopped in the face of a daunting target of 307. The biggest contribution from the top five was captain Kumar Sangakkara's 21, which meant Sri Lanka were struggling at 83 for 5 by the 23rd over. Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews resisted with a 102-run stand but could only bring some respectability to the margin of defeat as they couldn't keep up with the spiralling asking-rate. South Africa v West Indies: In another match South Africa laid down an early marker as they piled up 388 for 4 against West Indies at Potchefstroom. Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy all played superb inning and reached the 80s, while Roelef van der Merwe took four wickets. Duminy was the stand-out batsman with 80 off 49 deliveries and two of his five sixes required replacement balls. Mark Boucher also gave a reminder of his big-hitting skills by smashing 55 off 27 balls, adding 116 off 55 deliveries with Duminy. West Indies' openers made a spirited start but the middle order caved in - with the exception of Darren Sammy who made a fighting half-century - and West Indies limped to 200 before being bowled out. New Zealand v Warriors: While New Zealand start Champions Trophy campaign on poor note in Pretoria, where they lost their opening warm-up game by two wickets to the Warriors. After suffering consecutive defeats against Sri Lanka and India in the Compaq Cup due to batting failures, New Zealand's captain Daniel Vettori had stressed the need for partnerships. They managed one worth 95 for the second wicket between Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, with both scoring half-centuries, but the rest of the batsmen failed to build on a solid platform - New Zealand were 173 for 2 at one stage. They lost six wickets for 10 runs during a startling lower-order collapse and were dismissed for 237 in the 47th over. The Warriors' opening bowler, Juan Theron, caused most of the damage, taking 5 for 42 in 8.1 overs. The Warriors chase also suffered from the lack of substantial partnerships but all their batsmen chipped in with useful contributions. Their top eight reached double figures with wicketkeeper Davey Jacobs leading the way with 54. Ian Butler took 4 for 53 and Daryl Tuffey claimed 3 for 49 - brought the match to a close finish. The eighth wicket fell with the Warriors needing 24 runs to win but Theron came to the rescue with 21 off 19 balls to ensure victory in the penultimate over. Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi. … [Read more...]
Records
• The ICC Champions Trophy was originally known as ICC Knock Out tournament. It is now changed to the Champions Trophy in 2002. • New Zealand's 347/4 against USA at the Oval in 2004 is the highest score in a Champions Trophy game. • New Zealand won the first-ever match in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy. • New Zealand's 210-run win over USA is the biggest win margin in the Champions Trophy. • India is the first team to score over 300 in an innings in the ICC Champions Trophy. • India's highest score in the Champions Trophy is 307/8 against Australia in 1998 in Dhaka. • England had a miserable run in this tournament, winning only two matches in the first 3 tournaments. • USA's 65 all out in 24 overs against Australia at Southampton in 2004 is the lowest score in Champions Trophy. • Chris Gayle is the highest scorer in the Champions Trophy with 695 runs in 14 innings in three tournaments. • Herschelle Gibbs, Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly share the record for maximum three hundreds in Champions Trophy. • Sourav Ganguly is India's highest score in Champions Trophy. He has 665 runs with three hundreds and three fifties in 11 innings. • Nathan Astle and Andy Flower jointly hold the record for most runs in a Champions Trophy match. Astle made 145* against USA in 2004; Flower made 145 against India in 2002. • Craig McMillan holds the record for most 7 sixes in a Champions Trophy match. • Saeed Anwar, Sourav Ganguly and Herschelle Gibbs are the only players with back-to-back hundreds in the Champions Trophy. • Sourav Ganguly holds the record for most scores of fifty or more in Champions Trophy. He had made six in 11 innings. • Sourav Ganguly holds the record for most catches by a fielder in Champions Trophy. He took 12 catches in 13 matches. • Chris Gayle holds the record for most hundred in one edition of Champions Trophy. He made three hundreds in 2006. • Jerome Taylor holds the record for most 13 wickets in one edition of Champions Trophy. • Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for most wickets in the Champions Trophy. He had 23 at an average of 16.43 from 15 games. • Sachin Tendulkar's 4/38 against Australia in 1998 is the best figures by an Indian bowler in the Champions Trophy. • Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist hold the wicket-keeper's record for most 5 dismissals in a Champions Trophy game. While Sangakkara holds record 26 most dismissals in Champions Trophy. • Brian Lara holds the record for most 18 Champions Trophy appearances. While Rahul Dravid holds the record for most 16 Champions Trophy appearances by an Indian. • Kenya conceded 42 extra runs against India, a Champions Trophy record, in 2004. • Virender Sehwag holds the record for the fastest Champions Trophy hundred. He took just 77 balls for his 100 against England in 2002. • Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest fifty in Champions Trophy. He took 18 balls to score a fifty against Netherlands in 2002. Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi … [Read more...]
