Fastest Century in World Cup by Kevin O'Brien
Man of the match Kevin O'Brien lashed 13 boundaries and six sixes in his memorable One-day century to silence the spirited, in majority, English supporters at the Bengaluru stadium. The stadia were all on their feet after witnessing a stunning display of sportsmanship by the Irish team over their old enemy.
Kevin, a lookalike of Andrew Flintoff from the stands, played his strokes fearlessly on a wicket where the ball came nicely on to the bat. The destructive middle-order batman played a typically attacking innings, racing to his century with a flick towards the mid-wicket. The crowd and Irish box went up in roar to celebrate Kevin's second One-day hundred.
O'Brien alongwith Alex Cusack (47) made the most of an ordinary English attack to bring the match from a no-contest zone to a winning one in a roller-coaster day-night match.
The pair added 162 runs for the sixth wicket with much ease and exposed the limitations of English bowlers in containing runs on a track like Chinnaswamy. Kevin and Alex gave an outstanding exhibition of power-hitting under extreme situation to remind England team of their strength.
Ireland lost their five top-order batsmen cheaply but O'Brien and Cusack dug in to lend firmness and force an improbable win.
Chasing 328 runs to win, Ireland got off to forgettable start when they lost their most experienced campaigner and skipper William Porterfield in the first ball of the second innings. Jimmy Anderson, who has had a tough time in India, bowled the opposition skipper in the first over to spark some doubts about the huge chase.
Paul Stirling tried to up the ante after losing his skipper early with some forceful boundaries before falling to Tim Bresnan. Stirling smacked five fours and a six during his 32-run stay at the crease.
England poor fielding contributed in their defeat as they manage to drop at least six catches in the middle. Generous England bowlers also helped with 33 extras.
Paul Stirling (32), Ed Joyce (32) and Niall O'Brien (29) were the other main contributors in Ireland's stunning victory.
Earlier, Jonathan Trott (92) and Ian Bell (81) propelled England to 327 against Ireland in their Group B World Cup match at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The experience duo added an invaluable 167 runs for the third wicket to help England to an imposing total.
Skipper Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen continued from where they left last Sunday at Chinnaswamy against India. The English openers, electing to bat first, got off to a flourishing start scoring seven runs per over. Pietersen, in his opening role, looked rather impressive today with some exquisite strokes to light up the afternoon.
The former England captain took the Irish bowling to the cleaners with some lusty hits to the fence and over it. The naturally aggressive player completed his 22nd half-century, fourth in World Cups, off just 41 deliveries. Andrew Strauss was more than happy to give the strike to Pietersen, who was having a beautiful time with the willow. The duo shared a first-wicket stand of 91 runs before Ireland fired the first salvo.
Seeing his pace bowlers being smacked all over the park, skipper William Porterfield introduced spinners in the 12th over. Teenager George Dockrell in his second over obliged his captain by claiming Andrew Strauss with a beauty. The England skipper was bowled out for 34 on his 34th birthday.
Three overs later, a confident Pietersen tried to do something unusual with disastrous results. Offie Paul Stirling pitched the ball outside off-stump and KP, itching for a switch-hit, tried a reverse sweep but miscued it completely for an easy catch to keeper Niall O'Brien. His 59 runs included seven fours and two huge sixes.
England's run-rate dropped from 7 to 5 once England had lost their openers but Trott and Bell overcame a subdued start once they got the feel of the pitch. The Englishmen dominated Irish attack with impressive strokeplay from 17th over to 43rd over before Bell's stay was cut short by John Mooney during a batting powerplay.
Trott and Bell both fell within sight of a century; however the former equalled the record for the fastest 1,000 runs in ODI's. He needed 64 runs at the start to equal the record of Vivian Richards and Kevin Pietersen, when he came to bat. Trott struck nine fours before being dismissed by Mooney.
England lost some quick wickets at the end before posting a huge target for Ireland. John Mooney finished with the best figures claiming four wickets in nine overs for 63 runs.
Why Ponting break LCD during World Cup
Box broke TV, not bat, says Ponting
Australia captain Ricky Ponting said it was his box, employed to protect a batsman's most sensitive area, and not his bat which damaged a World Cup dressing room television set.
But he insisted on Thursday that the incident had been blown wildly out of proportion.
"Just to clarify, the television wasn't hit by me with my bat at all, it was hit by my box that I'd thrown down at the end of cricket kit," said Ponting, ahead of his team's clash against New Zealand on Friday.
"I'm not sure where a lot of those stories have come from but I have accepted what the ICC have come up with as far as a reprimand is concerned from the incident."
"There was some small damage to the TV set and I went and reported it to the team manager straight away. They actually replaced the television set there and then."
"Some of the stories I have been hearing the last couple of days have been a little bit different to what the list of events actually were."
"Hopefully we can put this all behind us and start worrying about a big game of cricket. There's a limit I guess (to how much) you can let off steam in a dressing room. It is a pretty sacred sort of place in international cricket."
"But there's a line you can't over-step. I accept responsibility for that happening, albeit by total accident and with no malice involved whatsoever."
"What's happened has happened, I'd like to be able to take it back but I can't."
As far as Friday's match is concerned, Australia, despite their overwhelming win against Zimbabwe, found batting tricky when left-arm spinner Ray Price took the new ball.
Ponting said his side were ready for more of the same from either Vettori, also a slow left-armer, or off-break bowler Nathan McCullum.
"We know New Zealand will probably have two good spinners in their side and we know as tournament goes on we are going to have to play spin well if we want to be there when the big games come around. I've got total confidence in the players that they can all do that."
"Our record in the subcontinent over a long period of time shows we can do that. We are also prepared for New Zealand opening the bowling with spin and we are ready for that."
Ponting is bidding to win his third straight World Cup as a captain and Australia their fourth in a row, both unprecedented achievements.
Yet with stars such as Adam Gilchrist, Mattew Hayden and Shane Warne having retired, many feel now is the best time for another team to topple Australia.
"We haven't been spoken about much as being contenders for this World Cup, which sits pretty well with me," Ponting said.
"We can just go along and get our work done and prepare well and hopefully play well."
"We'll let the other teams such as India worry about the pressure of being favourites for a tournament like this."
"All I can do is prepare well and prepare the team well and hopefully go out and play and we'll see how far our talent takes us."
"But I think we've got a talented enough team here at the moment to be able to give the World Cup a really good shake."
Sehwag fit despite ribs blow
India's in-form opener Virender Sehwag will be fit for the crucial World Cup clash with England despite receiving a painful blow to the ribs in the nets on Friday.
"A thorough examination has been done and a scan is not required. There is no major worry and he is fit enough to play," Indian team manager Ranjib Biswal said.
India, who meet England in the day-night match on Sunday, defeated Bangladesh by 87 runs in their opener in Dhaka last Saturday.
Sehwag was instrumental in setting up his team's victory, hammering a blazing 175 off 140 balls with the help of five sixes and 14 fours.
He has so far scored 7,555 runs in 229 one-day internationals.
India had already been sweating over the fitness of fellow opener Sachin Tendulkar who needed a scan of his left knee after the win against Bangladesh where he made 28.
Tendulkar, 37, had only recently recovered from a hamstring strain which forced him to miss three games of the recent five-match one-day series against South Africa.
Sehwag, Kohli set up strong Indian win in World Cup opener
Bangladesh's famed spin attack bled before a stunned Mirpur crowd as Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli plundered hundreds to set up a strong 87-run win to begin the World Cup. The home fans had little to cheer today except Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan's brisk fifties, the dismantling of Sreesanth's five wayward overs and Sachin Tendulkar's clumsy run-out.
On a slow wicket at a venue where sides chasing under lights are significantly advantaged, India were inserted by Shakib Al Hasan. They had to out-bat Bangladesh because of the dew and they did by posting a mammoth 370-4.
Sehwag batting with a runner threatened to score the second ODI double hundred. He eventually fell on 175 in the 48th over before the consistent Kohli completed an 83-ball hundred on World Cup debut. Munaf Patel (4-48) and Zaheer Khan (2-41) bowled tidily but there had to be only one result today.
Sehwag has stated his desire to last the full 50 overs. He came out in a mood to attack, and it didn't seem he'd last the course. The first ball of the tournament --- a short, wide ball from the young Shafiul Islam, was slashed through point for four. Sehwag was in a mood to bash everything, and Bangladesh's seamers seemed nervous.
Shafiul and Rubel Hossain bowled trash in the first three overs --- short and wide to Sehwag, and on the shins to Tendulkar --- and 32 runs were quickly added. Shakib then brought on spin and the inevitable slow down occurred.
Sehwag wanted to attack them too but Abdur Razzak and Shakib initially gave him no room to free his arms. Sehwag kept making room or stepping down to them, getting the odd ball away for four, and it seemed this risky approach would cost him soon. It was only after Tendulkar's wicket that Sehwag settled down for a long innings.
Tendulkar fell trying to steal a single to Shakib's throwing hand at midwicket. The veteran playing his sixth World Cup ran blindly down the pitch only to see Sehwag remaining firmly behind his crease. Gautam Gambhir then joined Sehwag for a quick 39, but this was the sideshow compared to what was follow.
Kohli quietly moved to a fifty (46b) while Sehwag led the show, frequently going aerial against the spinners. As Kohli's innings blossomed, the two attacked the straight boundary and midwicket with scary regularity.
Kohli later said Sehwag was egging him on to hit a bigger six than him. "He was teasing me that I was just clearing the ropes and he was hitting sixes into the stands," Kohli said after the innings.
Bangladesh's bowlers had no degree of control during the 203-run partnership for the third wicket. Even the cool-headed Shakib seemed so freaked out at the thought of bowling at the batsmen, he began bowling wide outside off-stump and got penalised three times for wides.
Sehwag had to call Gambhir to run for him after being struck on the knee. He was on course for a double-hundred but the blow softened him up. Thereon, his one-point agenda became bashing every delivery in his arc. He played on to Shakib and seemed quite tired by then.
Imrul Kayes gave Bangladesh the ideal start, tearing into Sreesanth who went for 24 in his third over. Bangladesh moved to 51 in five but Kayes fell as soon as Munaf Patel replaced Sreesanth.
Munaf operated within the stumps and was difficult to hit. Kayes played on trying to force him through the covers and Tamim pulled a straight ball to midwicket.
There will be better days for Bangladesh in the World Cup, but India's campaign as hot favourites couldn't have begun better.
Sehwag hits first century of World Cup
The dashing opener played a typically attacking innings, racing to his half-century with a six that sailed over the long-on boundary into the packed stands.
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He reached the three-figure mark with a single to the mid-wicket against off spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah. It was his first century against Bangladesh and second in World Cups.
Sehwag's attacking knock made light of the dismissal of his more accomplished opening partner Sachin Tendulkar, who was run-out after a crazy mix-up in the middle, for 28.
Sehwag is one of the most devastating openers in the world with more than 7,000 runs in one-day internationals scored at a strike rate of over 100.
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His record in Tests is no less impressive, having aggregated 7,694 runs from 87 matches at an average of 53.43.
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Before the start of the World Cup, Sehwag had revealed his secret desire to bat out the entire 50 overs.
"I think I have never played 50 overs in one-day cricket. The maximum I have played is 43 or 44 overs."
"But this time, I will try to bat 50 overs and give a good start to the team. I have been unsuccessfully trying this for the past 10 years, but the effort is still on.
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