Cricket

West Indies captain Darren Sammy has said his team has the self-belief to go all the way and lift the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka, starting later this month. Sammy said he was touched by the support from the fans and urged them to continue showing faith in the team. "This is a huge tournament for the team and the fans as well, so we will go to Sri Lanka and give it all we've got," Sammy said before the team's departure for Sri Lanka. "We believe we can win, but it will be hard, tough work. Once we play together and continue to get the backing of the fans, we know we can lift the title." The squad had been training at the High Performance Centre in Barbados for nine days. The World T20 will be the team's first international assignment after the home series against New Zealand. "The camp went very well and we are all in the right frame of mind," Sammy said. "We will head off to Sri Lanka believing in ourselves and belie...

James Franklin believes the upcoming World Twenty20 could be the final time some of the New Zealand players take part in a world event together and feels the experience in the side could take it to the latter stages of the tournament. "Probably it is the last World Cup for this group of players playing together," Franklin said after the first of two Twenty20 internationals between India and New Zealand was washed out in Visakhapatnam. Franklin, Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram, Brendon and Nathan McCullum, and Kyle Mills - part of the New Zealand squad for the World T20 - are all well over 30 years. "It is a pretty experienced T20 team. A lot of guys have played T20 all over the world so if individuals get in form then I think we have got a real chance of going fairly deep in this tournament." Franklin skipped New Zealand's recent tour of West Indies and focused on playing T20 cricket for Essex with an eye on the World T20 but said he wanted to play for ...

Australia may have already lost the Twenty20 series against Pakistan, but their middle-order batsman Cameron White has said the series is "fantastic preparation" for the upcoming World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. Australia collapsed to 89 all out in the first T20 but turned in an improved performance in the second, going down on the last delivery of the Super Over. "We'd like to be winning, we made great steps from the first game to the second," White said, a day ahead of the third T20 in Dubai. "We are heading in the right direction, and from a prep point of view this is fantastic." The conditions in Dubai have been helping spinners, with Pakistan packing the side with three/four slow bowlers. White said the testing series would hold Australia in good stead in the World T20. "I don't think you can ask any more than what we are experiencing at the moment (in terms of preparations)," he said. "I know we are experiencing very to...

Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan's new Twenty20 captain, has said there was no excuse for his team not chasing 132 in the first match against Sri Lanka, despite them returning to the international circuit after a two-month layoff. Hafeez made an encouraging start to his new role by restricting the hosts' strong batting line-up, but his first-ball duck was the start of Pakistan's slide. After the defeat in his maiden game as captain, Hafeez was philosophical, admitting that Pakistan were beaten by a better team. He said the pitch was difficult to bat on, but didn't offer that as an excuse for his side crumbling to 95. He didn't attribute the loss to Pakistan's lack of match practice over the last couple of months either. Pakistan had the upper hand at the start thanks to Sohail Tanvir's incisive new-ball spell and some poor shot selection. Sri Lanka were struggling 96 for 7 at one stage but Thisara Perera's late 32 converted a paltry score to a match-winning...

Port of Spain (West Indies), Apr 13: Australian captain Michael Clarke has stressed on the need of starting better in the second Test match against the West Indies at Port of Spain, and believes his players needs to pull up their socks. Clarke specifically pointed out Australia’s poor fielding performance, which saw them drop a total of seven catches in both Windies innings, and said no top team can afford to do that. Australia won the Barbados Test match after looking dead and buried for the first three days of play, but they eventually sealed a victory in fading light as they chased down 192 on the final day. Clarke also rued the fact that none of his batsman went on to score a century in the match, and has urged his boys to start strongly in the second Test match. “We need to continue to learn about the conditions here and make sure we start better, whether that be with bat or ball in Trinidad,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Clarke, as saying. “But on good wickets again...