Andrew Strauss calls for changes to county cricket

The England captain, Andrew Strauss, would like to see county cricket restructured to aid the development of players for the Test side. Strauss will play in Middlesex's opening game of the season against Worcestershire this week and could play six times for his county before returning to England duty.

"The lack of preparation for games which the schedule allows is something that needs to be addressed," Strauss told Cricinfo. "I think there are two things – reducing the overall volume of cricket would be useful, as long as those days off are used wisely, and secondly, I think it could be better structured into blocks of four-day and one-day cricket, which would help you to prepare for each format better."

A US-style conference system has been suggested as one possible solution, but Strauss is a keen fan of the current two-tier set-up and would also like the one-day game at domestic level to continue to reflect the international version. "I've heard all the proposals and each has its merits. But I think you want the best teams playing the best teams as often as possible," he said. "Two divisions has been useful in that respect so finding something similar would be good from my point of view.

"Some people mentioned international cricket could turn into 40-over cricket, but while the international game remains 50 overs I think the county game should replicate that."

Source & Image:  The Gaurdian

Sehwag offered to play with painkillers

While confusion has reigned in England over the last five days over the status and exact nature of the shoulder injury suffered by Virender Sehwag, who was on Tuesday, ruled out of the World 20 championships, some clarity was provided on Wednesday by some of the his Delhi and Team India colleagues.

Sehwag's team mates in the IPL confirmed that the opener had suffered the injury during the tournament's semi-final match against Deccan Chargers in Centurion on May 22. "He dived to stop a shot from Adam Gilchrist off Ashish Nehra's bowling when he strained his shoulder," a Daredevils team mate, who did not wish to be identified, told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

Sehwag, he added, bowled an over after that but experienced slight pain once his body had cooled down after the match.

Another player close to Sehwag said he was advised rest so that his shoulder could heal in the two weeks leading up to the World T20 championships. Sehwag then proceeded to England with the Indian team, still in slight pain, and it was only after an MRI scan in England that a Grade I tear was revealed, the player said.

An Indian team source added: "Viru could still bat with pain-killer injections but there was a problem while throwing and bowling. He offered to get through this tournament if the team needed. But because he would've been a liability in the field, the management decided to ask for a replacement."

Zaheer Khan went through a similar injury in the days leading up to the World T20. He was initially ruled out until he Super 8s but recovered quicker than expected, in time for India's first match against Bangladesh.

Sehwag will now consult Dr Andrew Wallace, who had treated Sachin Tendulkar in the past, in London to decide his next course of treatment.

Dinesh Karthik, named as replacement for Virender Sehwag, will have to wait a little longer before officially joining his team in England.

England Keep Hopes alive in World Cup T20 By beating Pakistan

England Vs Pakistan ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) - England kept its World Twenty20 hopes alive after beating Pakistan by 48 runs at The Oval on Sunday. Kevin Pietersen struck 58 and Stuart Broad took 3-17 as England qualified for the Super 8 stage thanks to its superior run rate.

Chasing 186 to win, Pakistan lost early wickets and fell well behind the required run rate.

England struck an early blow when Ahmed Shehzad was caught for four by a tumbling England captain Paul Collingwood off Dimitri Mascarenhas in the third over.

Pakistan must beat Netherlands convincingly at Lord's, on Tuesday, to avoid elimination.

Collingwood graceful in defeat

LONDON (ICC T20 WC, 2009): The Netherlands stole England’s thunder with a four-wicket win in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s on Friday.

England’s captain Paul Collingwood gave the Netherlands credit for the sensational win, saying that they chased down a total England thought was defendabel. "They played exceptionally well. We could have defended the total. Whenever we got a wicket we assumed that we could stop them but every Dutch batsman just came out and hit boundaries. They played better than us today,” he said.

Collingwood said that that they were looking at a total between 170 and 180 but the Netherlands put up a fine performance. Asked if it was tough for his players to control the ball when it got wet because of the rain, the skipper was candid, “We didn’t perform in pressure situations; there are no excuses for this loss. We have to pick up our chins and get ready for a better performance against Pakistan,” he said.

The Netherlands captain, Jeroen Smith was a pleased man, calling the win ‘unbelievable’. The minnows took a victory lap at Lord’s after the game, thanking supporters who came to the ground to cheer for them. “It is something very special. We believed that we could win after the first 10 overs. We knew we were right in the game”, he said.

The 36-year-old admitted that they had their share of luck as England missed a lot of run out chances but said they deserved to win. Smith said his team wanted to show what they were capable of. “We were total control of the match right from the beginning,” he said, dismissing that he was worried when two tailenders were at the crease in the last two overs.

Tom de Grooth, man of the match for his knock of 49 runs off 30 balls, said that the event was big for the players but he knew that they had to play to the best of their abilities and not let themselves crumble under pressure.

Having hit six fours in his match winning knock, he said, “Nothing was playing on my mind. I was taking up the challenge at each moment. A few months back we planned to upset a major (cricket-playing) nation and we have done just that,” he said.

Netherlands shock England with last-ball victory

LONDON (ICC T20 WC, 2009): The Netherlands simply refused to go Dutch and defeated England by four wickets in a dramatic last ball finish to give the second ICC World Twenty20 competition a memorable start at Lord’s on Friday. Chasing 163 to win, the Netherlands got home thanks to a Stuart Broad overthrow off the final ball.

It is not as if the Dutch rode on good fortune alone. It must be said they worked hard to deserve every bit of luck that went their way on the inaugural day of the tournament. England openers Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright put on a century stand in 11 overs but the team was made to lose their way in the remaining nine overs of their innings.

From 102 without loss, England finished with 162 for five, striking just one four in that inexplicable spell of sluggish scoring – and wishing that Kevin Pietersen had not pulled out of the game with an injury. The century stand was the only time that England had something going for them. In fact, a one-sided match looked on the cards.

The Netherlands kept faith and clawed their way back into the game with disciplined bowling and enthusiastic fielding. And when their turn came to bat, the Dutch continued the show of self-belief that characterised the team on Friday. Even though paceman James Anderson claimed three for 23 in his four overs, the Netherlands were always in the frame.

Tom de Grooth made 49 off 30 balls (six fours, one six) and Peter Borren made 30 off 25 balls to lead the way but opener Darren Reekers and Ryan ten Doeschate had small but significant contributions too.

Stuart Broad’s final over was eventful – he missed three run out opportunities and was unable to latch on to a catch off ten Doeschate. Edgar Schiferli had to secure a single off the final delivery to tie the match and had Broad not attempted to run him out and conceded an overthrow, the game would have gone into the Super Over.

ICC T20 Cricket World cup will be broadcast on ESPN

While all cricket fans anger to enjoy ICC T20 World Cup 2009, The next ICC T20 cricket world cup live match will be aired on Star Cricket Channel a power of ESPN in England.

While DD(Doordarshan) will be shown only India’s match including semi-final and final match of T20 World cup. DD has its own clarification panel. They will present commentary in Hindi both on Star Cricket and Doordarshan. Hindi commentary will be given by Sunil Vaidya on Doordarshan.

ESPN also broadcast the warm matched which have already started. They will broadcast live all Ten warm-up matches.

It has a big group of commentators including Nasser Hussain , Wasim Akram, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, David Lloyd, Kepler Wessels, Ranil Abeynayake, Athar Ali Khan , Ian Bishop and Jeremy Coney.

While Manjrekar and Bhogle are hosted of Star Cricket TV for ‘Cricket Extra’ and will be showing before and after match show.

Here are a list to TV channels broadcasting T20 world cup 2009 live:
* India — ESPN (Live) - English

* India — STAR Cricket (Live) - Hindi

* Canada — Asian Television Network -ATN (Live)

* South Africa — Supersport (Live)

* United States — DirecTV (Live)

* Australia — Fox Sports (Live)

* Australia — Nine Network

* Europe — Eurosport2 (Live)

* Middle East —Arab Digital Distribution (Live)

* New Zealand — SKY Network Television (Live)

* Pacific Islands — Fiji TV

* Pakistan — Pakistan Television Corporation - PTV (Live)

* Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (Live)

* United Kingdom — Sky Sports (Live)

ICC World Twenty20 2009 - Match Schedule

ICC World Twenty20 2009 - Match Schedule

Based on groupings as follows:

Group Matches:

Super Eight - Groups

GROUP E	GROUP F
A1	B1
B2	A2
C1	C2
D2	D1

The top two ranked teams in each group are seeded 1 and 2. They will retain this seeding for the Super Eights stage, irrespective of whether they finish first or second in their group, unless they are knocked out by team 3 in their group. In this instance, team 3 replaces the position of the team they knock out.

For example, if Bangladesh wins Group A and India comes second, for the purposes of the Super Eights, India will still be A1 and Bangladesh will be A2. If for example, Ireland qualifies instead of India, Ireland will become A1.

This formula provides spectators with certainty as to the location of team matches.

Semi Finals & Final