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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIshant Sharma blitzed Kochi’s batting line-up with a spell of 5 for 12•AFP

If you needed a punctuation mark to describe this game, you’d choose a big, bold exclamation mark and colour it a deep crimson red. Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s scorecard was stunningly woeful at the end of four sensational overs: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 were the scores of the batsmen sucker-punched by Ishant Sharma, who harassed them with seam and bounce. And Kochi never recovered from that soul-crushing spell.His hair bobbed up and down in characteristic fashion as Ishant ran in, fingers behind the seam and wrists snapping at the release, and the length was nearly always full. The first has been an ever-present theme with him in good and bad times, the second image hasn’t always been consistently repeated, and the third was a pleasant surprise.Ishant entered the scene after Dale Steyn took out Brendon McCullum in the first over with a delivery that jagged away to take the outside edge. It was the beginning of Kochi’s nightmare as Ishant stunned them with a triple strike. Parthiv Patel stabbed at a delivery that bounced and seamed away from him to the keeper, Raiphi Gomez (what was he doing at No. 4?) was taken out for a first-ball duck by a sharp incutter, and Brad Hodge combusted off the fifth delivery. He played a loose and ambitious off drive, wafting outside the line of the full delivery that cut in to rearrange the furniture.Kochi were 2 for 4 then and all their hopes rested on their opener and captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was a forlorn figure in the middle, watching the destruction unfold in front of him. Ishant wasn’t done yet; he reserved his best for Jayawardene. After trapping Kedar Jadhav in front with a sharp incutter in the fourth over, he produced a brute of a delivery to knock out Jayawardene, and Kochi, in the same over. It screamed up from back of a good length, held its line and kissed the edge of the defensive prod en route to the delighted Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene gave an inquisitive, and accusing, look at the pitch before he turned and departed the crime scene.Ishant’s figures read an incredible 5 for 6 and Kochi were 11 for 6 from four overs, and though there were a couple of face-saving contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera, they were rapidly heading along a cul-de-sac.In retrospect, the middle-over massacre led by Sangakkara – Deccan recovered from the depths of 37 for 3 after 10 overs to reach 105 for 3 in 16 – lulled one into a false perception about the nature of the track. In hindsight, Kochi will be ruing a no-ball from Sreesanth that allowed Sangakkara to break free. Sangakkara was on 5 when Sreesanth produced a jaffa – it bent back in from the off stump line to knock out the middle stump – but the third umpire confirmed the on-field umpire’s suspicion that it was a no-ball.It was the 11th over, bowled by Perera, that changed the landscape. Both Sangakkara and Cameron White, who was on 6 from 17 balls, pulled two short deliveries to the boundary to take 11 runs in that over. It wasn’t your massive “big over” that the IPL throws up on a daily basis but it was the spark that ignited Deccan, and Sangakkara in particular. In the 12th over, he dragged Vinay Kumar for two leg-side boundaries and threw in the conventional and the upper cut to collect two more fours in the 14th over, off Perera. He continued to slash and heave and even unfurled a paddle-swept boundary off Sreesanth but the next over over from Vinay brought Kochi back.Vinay had White holing out to deep midwicket off the fifth delivery and induced Sangakkara to edge a slower one off the next. The lower order couldn’t produce anything substantial and the question lingered at the end of their innings: Was 129 going to be enough? Ishant answered it in some style.

Elton Chigumbura, the Zimbabwe captain, has said the team’s return to Test cricket will help its players become more competitive at the international level. Zimbabwe ended their World Cup campaign on a positive note, beating Kenya comprehensively at the Eden Gardens to finish with two wins, both against minnows, out of six games. They are scheduled to end their self-imposed isolation from Tests in August this year, when they take on Bangladesh followed by Pakistan and New Zealand.”The next three months are going to be very important for us. We are all excited about playing Test cricket and we know it is going to improve us as players,” Chigumbura said. “We have to put in hard work in the coming three months. We know where we are and what we need to do before we start our first game.”The transition to playing Tests, Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher said, was not going to be easy. The Tests against Bangladesh later in the year will be Zimbabwe’s first since September 2005. “No doubt you might be wondering if we are going to be up for the challenge and the answer to that, honestly, is probably ‘no’,” Butcher said.”The only place to learn to play Test cricket is actually by doing that. There is no other place that can prepare you for that.”Zimbabwe completed an easy win in Kolkata•Getty Images

Internal problems led Zimbabwe to exclude itself from Test cricket in 2006 when it failed to field a competitive team. Zimbabwe have played 83 Tests since 1992, winning eight and losing 49.Zimbabwe’s batting, which Butcher had said had been affected by the lack of Tests, stepped up against Kenya with Tatenda Taibu, Vusi Sibanda and Craig Ervine striking half-centuries. The spinners then defended 308 by skittling out Kenya for 147.”We have to take the positives from today. When we go back home, we have to continue working on our batting,” Chigumbura said. “I’m very happy with the win. The guys played well all round today, especially with the bat, which is something that we’ve asked for the whole tournament. You can’t ask more from the bowling department, the guys have been consistent.”

Sri Lanka 146 for 1 (Tharanga 67*, Dilshan 44) beat Kenya 142 (C Obuya 52, D Obuya 51, Malinga 6-38) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kenya had no answer to Lasith Malinga•AFP

Lasith Malinga announced his return to full fitness by storming his way to an unprecedented second World Cup hat-trick with an exhibition of yorker-on-demand bowling that proved too much for Kenya’s tail at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The visitors imploded to 142 all out despite dogged half-centuries from the Obuya brothers, who enjoyed plenty of fortune in a determined 94-run stand that kept the varied threats of Sri Lanka’s bowling at bay for nearly 30 overs. Sri Lanka’s batsmen barely had to break a sweat in the chase, finishing it off in 18 overs.

Smart Stats

• Lasith Malinga became the only bowler to pick up two hat-tricks in World Cups. His previous one had come against South Africa in 2007. So far, six bowlers have taken a hat-trick in World Cups.

• This was also the first instance of bowlers taking hat-tricks in consecutive matches in a World Cup. The 2003 World Cup was the last edition to see two hat-tricks.

• Malinga’s 6 for 38 is the second-best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan bowler in World Cups, behind Chaminda Vaas’ 6 for 25 against Bangladesh in 2003.

• The 94-run stand between David Obuya and Collins Obuya is the fourth-best for Kenya for the third wicket in World Cups.

• Apart from David Obuya and Collins Obuya, the rest of the batsmen failed to reach double figures and aggregated just 20 runs among them. From a decent position of 120 for 3, Kenya lost the last seven wickets for just 22 runs to be bowled out for 142.

• David Obuya’s strike-rate of 48.11 and Collins Obuya’s strike-rate of 52 are third and seventh on the list of lowest strike-rates for scores between 50 and 99 in World Cups. The lowest is Ishwar Maraj’s 53 off 155 balls, at a strike-rate of 34.19 against South Africa in 2003.

• The 188 dot-balls in the Kenya innings is the second-highest in the 2011 World Cup, behind the 194 dots in Canada’s innings against Zimbabwe.

• Sri Lanka’s nine-wicket win over Kenya was achieved with 188 balls to spare. This is third on the list of victories with most balls to spare for Sri Lanka in World Cups.

The Obuyas weren’t exactly convincing – testing every edge of their bat, surviving close lbw calls, regularly air-driving outside off and rarely reading the spinner’s variations – but hung on obdurately to take Kenya into triple-digits. A solid platform was in place when they had hauled Kenya to 102 for 2, but Malinga’s burst demolished the tail as the final eight wickets were blasted out for 40 runs. None of the other Kenyan batsmen made it past single-figures.The Kenyan collapse was rapid: it took only 22 deliveries for them to go from 127 for 4 to being bowled out. Muttiah Muralitharan started it off by getting the set batsman David Obuya to slog-sweep to midwicket.Then it was Malinga time. Jimmy Kamande barely found his bearings after being struck by a toe-crusher, and decided to go for a single when the ball was only a couple of metres away from him. Chamara Silva pounced from midwicket and did a passable imitation of Jonty Rhodes from 1992 to crash into the stumps and dismiss Kamande.Tanmay Mishra was next, becoming the first victim of Malinga’s hat-trick after missing a full delivery on leg stump to fall for a 13-ball duck. It was the final ball of the over, and Malinga gave Peter Ongondo the warmest welcome possible to the tournament in the first ball of his next – a yorker that uprooted middle. The staggered dismissals meant many in the crowd weren’t aware that Malinga was on a hat-trick. He steamed in and middle stump was dismantled again next ball, the clueless batsman this time was Shem Ngoche.Attention then shifted to whether Malinga could repeat his outrageous four-in-four from the 2007 World Cup, but he sprayed a wild delivery for five leg-side wides. Elijah Otieno defended the next ball, but that was followed by another unstoppable yorker from Malinga that thud into leg stump to end Kenya’s innings. Malinga had taken four in five legal deliveries to finish with 6 for 38.A tiresomely familiar tale seemed set to play out earlier in the afternoon when Kenya slid to 8 for 2 in the third over. Nuwan Kulasekara and Malinga removed the openers cheaply with their favourite weapons – Kulasekara getting Maurice Ouma with an inducker, and Malinga dislodging Seren Waters with an inswinging yorker that left the batsman on his knees.The Obuyas ensured there wasn’t a repeat of Kenya’s house-of-cards performance against New Zealand. Kulasekara gave away only nine runs in a constricting six-over opening spell, but Kenya were more at ease against Angelo Mathews, who was taken for a couple of boundaries.Sri Lanka brought on the spin of Ajantha Mendis in the 14th over to break the frustrating stand, but though the batsmen weren’t sure which way the ball would turn, they survived his bag of tricks with some dour defence. Kumar Sangakkara then turned to Muttiah Muralitharan to get the wickets, but though there were leading edges and outside edges, Murali couldn’t break through, with the batsmen negotiating him with a series of sweeps.It was painfully slow progress from the Obuyas, and after more than two hours of defiance, it was that most deadly of weapons that separated them – a Malinga yorker. Some more of those left Sri Lanka chasing a tiny target in front of a raucous Colombo crowd.The fans had even more to cheer when Sri Lanka batted, as Tillkaratne Dilshan provided a typically fast start with an array of punches through cover. He picked up a couple of boundaries in three successive overs to power Sri Lanka to 51 in the sixth over. Upul Tharanga, who started sedately, then joined the party with three fours in the next over. Dilshan fell short of a half-century, but Tharanga went on to make 67 with a string of lofted boundaries in the batting Powerplay to hasten the finish, and push Sri Lanka to the top of the table on net run-rate.

Match Timeline

In October last year, Colin Ingram became the first South Africa batsman to score a century on ODI debut. Just three months later, on the eve of the World Cup squad selection, critics were calling for his head, saying the 25-year-old had not done enough to earn his place on the plane to the subcontinent.”I wouldn’t say I was nervous [about the squad announcement] but I knew that someone would have to be left out,” Ingram told ESPNcricinfo. With the ambiguity surrounding his role in the team, there was every chance that someone could have been Ingram.Ingram has spent his brief international career yo-yoing up and down the batting order, even though he is a regular No.3 at his franchise, the Warriors. At the national level, that place belongs to one Jacques Kallis. Even though Ingram has been tagged as Kallis’ successor in the future, it’s the present that’s left him in limbo in the batting line-up.He has played six of his 11 matches batting at No.3, either when Kallis was injured or opening the batting, and scored 268 runs at an average of 44.66, including his two ODI centuries. In five matches batting at No.6, Ingram has managed just 60 runs with a highest score of 27. From that small sample, it’s obvious that he is more suited to the No.3 role but, as Graeme Smith made clear in October, for as long as Kallis is part of the national set up, Ingram will have to be content with batting lower down the order, which is where he will find himself during the World Cup.”I pride myself on being adaptable and flexible as a cricketer so I look forward to batting at No.6,” Ingram said. It’s that adjustment process that worried commentators, including former Test batsman HD Ackerman, who said that asking Ingram to play a role at No.6 that is totally different to the function he fulfills at No.3, would be unfair.Ingram doesn’t see it that way and believes the move will be easier to fit into than most think. “When you are batting lower down the order, the situation dictates what you have to do, rather than when you are at number three and you can just decide for yourself,” he said. “You may have to go and smash a few runs to win a match or you may have to play a supporting role to someone who is doing the smashing or you may have to play a consolidator role.”On the face it, all of the three are jobs Ingram could do, but in reality he has only successfully done it once. Ingram scored an unbeaten for South Africa A against Sri Lanka A in a Tri-Series final in October last year, batting at No.5. South Africa A were chasing 255 to win and Ingram was there when they crossed the line. Ingram was on both South Africa A’s tours last year. The first was to Bangladesh in May and Ingram ended the tri-series as the highest South African run-scorer with 220 from five matches at an average of 44.00.During the Sri Lankan series, he scored 160 runs in five matches at a slightly lower average of 42.50. “CSA did really well to plan those tours because we got a lot of preparation in sub-continental conditions and some of the guys that were part of those A tours are now part of the national team,” Ingram said. Morne van Wyk was one of the other players who participated on the A tours and is now part of the World Cup squad.Despite South Africa taking a relatively inexperienced squad to the World Cup, Ingram feels they have a good chance of going far, because of the bond they share. “There’s a good feeling around the squad at the moment and I feel fortunate to be in the team given the environment we are in now. Not being as committed to each other as we are now was perhaps the one shortfalls of our game in the past and it’s something we identified and have changed. The guys are all so close.”It’s because of the friendships they are building that Ingram said he would not have been disheartened if he was the one left out, instead of David Miller. Fortunately for Ingram, he wasn’t.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsState Bank of Pakistan finally won the Quaid-e-Azam Division Two final after what turned out to be a seven-day match against Khan Research Laboratories at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. There were only four days of play, though; that too two days were curtailed, and SBP ended up with a 144-run first-innings lead, and with it the victory.After there was no play on Wednesday due to the murder of the Punjab governor, KRL resumed their innings at 74 for 2 in response to SBP’s 303. They did not last long on the seventh-day pitch, losing their last eight wickets for 85 runs in 30.3 overs on Thursday. Fast bowler Mohammad Naved did all the damage for SBP, finishing with 7 for 61. He got an early wicket, dismissing overnight batsman, KRL captain Mohammad Wasim, before he could add to his score of 8.Opener Ali Naqvi battled at one end to reach a half-century, but Naved kept picking away at the wickets at the other. Only three of KRL’s last eight batsman got to double figures.SBP had scored most of their runs on the third day after little play was possible on the first two. The fourth day was also washed out. The rules of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy state the final must go on till the first innings of both sides are complete, which is why the game was extended into a seventh day.

Batsman Ian Billcliff is the only notable omission from Canada’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. Ashish Bagai has been named captain and the squad also includes veteran allrounder John Davison who has been actively involved with Cricket Australia as a spin bowling coach.Chris James, the chairman of selectors, said it was a tough decision to omit Billcliff, who has played 19 ODIs for Canada averaging just under 28, including three games during the 2007 World Cup in West Indies. “It was an especially difficult decision for us when it came down to Billy (Billcliff). Internationally, he has been one of our top-rated performers. Unfortunately we were unable to line up our schedules with the preparation tours and we had to leave him out.”Canada have just completed a short tour of India where they played against several sides. They next head to the West Indies for the Caribbean T20 in January where they will also play a few 50-over matches against Antigua and Somerset.”We are confident that we have found the right mix of youth and experience to represent Canada at the World Cup and build a solid foundation for the future of Canadian cricket,” James said.The final 15-man World Cup line-up will be named after their participation in the Caribbean T20 tournament.Canada squad: Ashish Bagai (capt), Waleed Ahmad, Manny Aulakh, Akshay Bagai, Harvir Baidwan, Trevin Bastiampillai, Umar Bhatti, Grant Broadhurst, Rizwan Cheema, Khurram Chohan, John Davison, Parth Desai, Jeremy Gordon, Tyson Gordon, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Amabhir Hansra, Sandeep Jyoti, Nitish Kumar, Usman Limbada, Henry Osinde, Hiral Patel, Cecil Pervez,Balaji Rao, Manrick Singh, Junaid Siddiqui, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Zubin Surkari, Hamza Tariq, Karl Whatham, Zameer Zaheer

The Kensington Oval in Barbados has been chosen to host the final stages of the Caribbean Twenty20 2011.Barbados held off competition from Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago, who both submitted bids. The Barbados ground, which was the venue for this year’s World Twenty20 final, will host the second round, semi-finals and final of the domestic tournament which takes place in January next year.The Sir Vivian Richards ground in Antigua continues its rehabilitation from the ignominy of the 2009 Test against England, which had to be abandoned after 10 balls due to an unfit outfield, and will be the venue for the first round of Caribbean Twenty20.The 2010 tournament was won by Guyana in July, a success that booked them a lucrative place in the Champions League Twenty20.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has criticised the PCB and its selection committee for not consulting the coach and captain prior to selecting the squads for the upcoming tour of the UAE. The board announced a 15-man squad to take on South Africa last week, but didn’t initially name a captain. A day later, Misbah-ul-Haq was appointed Test captain and Afridi was retained as leader of the side for the shorter formats.”It’s a joke to select the team without consulting the coach and the captain,” Akram told . “The duo has to marshal the team in the series and tournaments and it is not the selection committee which will have to bring the best out of the players on the field.”If I was a chief selector, I would’ve definitely taken feedback from the coach and the captain before naming any squads. With the World Cup just a few months away, we’re still mulling over captains while other teams have their formations ready for the event. This shows poor leadership qualities in the current PCB setup.”Both limited-overs captain, Shahid Afridi, who was cautioned by the PCB for expressing his unhappiness at the team, and coach Waqar Younis had complained that their inputs on team composition weren’t taken by the selectors. Waqar reportedly told the national assembly’s standing committee on sports that this was not the first time such a thing had happened; he was not consulted by the selection committee for various other tours, including the tour to England earlier this year and the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.Pakistan’s chief selector Mohsin Khan, however, defended the decision to name squads without consulting the captain or the coach, saying that it was not stipulated in the PCB’s constitution that they must have a say in selection.Pakistan play two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs and two Tests against South Africa in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from October 26. Akram said Pakistan would be the favourites for the shorter formats but the Tests would be tougher. “The players will be under extra stress and pressure because of the spot-fixing controversy from the last tour and the series is going to be a tough test for them both on and off the field.”

South Africa 169 for 3 (Smith 52, Miller 36*) beat Zimbabwe 168 for 4 (Masakadza 72, Chibhabha 52, Parnell 2-29)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Smith may not have been captain of the side but his powerful fifty led South Africa to victory•Getty Images

Graeme Smith’s rapid half-century helped South Africa make light work of the 169 they had been set by a promising batting performance from Zimbabwe at Bloemfontein.Smith butchered 58 from 29 balls and received able support from Loots Bosman, JP Duminy and David Miller as South Africa rushed to an easy victory. He stepped down as South Africa’s Twenty20 captain to give himself a breather in the hectic international schedule but he came to the fore to spare his successor, Johan Botha, any embarrassment after a shoddy fielding display from South Africa gave Zimbabwe hope at the half-way stage.While Zimbabwe’s batsmen, led by fifties from Hamilton Masakadza and Chamu Chibhabha, may have shown the optimism surrounding the side is not entirely misplaced, the bowlers – shorn of the services of fiery left-arm spinner Ray Price – were not up to international standard.Though Bosman was under some pressure after making 8, 0, 7, and 0 in his last four innings he responded by smiting 33 in 16 deliveries to leave Zimbabwe’s new-ball bowlers reeling. Any time he found the ball in his half he cleanly dispatched it, with a pair of sixes off Ed Rainsford ending up in the stands over cover.Smith, meanwhile, had been almost anonymous in the field, but was back into the thick of the action with the bat. He punished the gentle new-ball offerings with his customary clubbing into the leg side and greeted the part-time medium pace of Masakadza with utter disdain on his way to a 26-ball fifty.By the time he was out, missing a sweep off Graeme Cremer to be trapped on the back pad, South Africa were coasting at 95 for 2 off 7.3 overs but they were given a slight scare as debutant Colin Ingram fell soon after.David Miller and JP Duminy ensured no slip ups though, as they followed in Smith’s aggressive vein. The 21-year-old Miller impressed on his Twenty20 debut against West Indies earlier this year and he again showcased his ability to see his side home. One over from Cremer was taken for 18 as he used his quick feet and power to punish the legspinner. Duminy finished the job in style, smashing a four and a six off the hapless Prosper Utseya as South Africa cantered to victory with 25 balls to spare.The rout masked a lethargic fielding effort from South Africa. Catches were put down and the ground fielding was clumsy as they responded poorly to the pressure placed on them from Zimbabwe’s lively line-up. Coming into the game all the talk was of the return of 39-year-old Grant Flower after a six-year hiatus but it was Zimbabwe’s young batsmen who impressed as Flower was left marooned at home, unable to leave the country due to a problem with his visa.Flower, who is also the team’s batting coach, would have been impressed with what he saw as Chibhabha broke the record for the quickest Twenty20 international fifty by a Zimbabwean, reaching the landmark off 29 balls, while Masakadza anchored the innings before finishing with a flourish to end on 72 off 63 balls.After a slow start in which South Africa’s new-ball bowlers impressed, Zimbabwe used the injury to Morne Morkel, who limped off the field after twisting his ankle, to their advantage and added 102 in the final ten overs. Though it looked like carrying the tourists to a good total, Smith’s onslaught ensured it wasn’t nearly enough.

Scorecard
Rusty Theron and Colin Ingram starred in the tri-series opener to give South Africa a convincing win over Pakistan A at the SSC in Colombo.Theron grabbed four wickets to help South Africa fight back after a 137-run third-wicket stand between Asad Shafiq and Aamer Sajjad, who struck half-centuries. Pakistan were resting easy at 156 for 2, but lost their next seven wickets for 61 runs. Theron was supported by Vernon Philander, who took 3 for 42, and helped restrict Pakistan for a chaseable 219.In their response, South Africa were boosted by a brisk opening start from Morne van Wyk, who scored a quickfire 33, and Ingram then took over to anchor the innings. He struck nine fours and a six in his 85 while Dean Elgar chipped in with an unbeaten 47 to steer his team home with 26 balls to spare.