Srilanka vs Canada

For the many who slammed the ICC's decision to expel Associates from the next World Cup, this was a bad day. After Kenya were embarrassed by a modest New Zealand team, Canada desperately needed to showcase why minnow teams belong on the global stage. Instead they were overwhelmed by 210 runs against Sri Lanka, who opened their World Cup campaign as emphatically as their co-hosts India did on Saturday.

Mahela Jayawardene stroked his way to the fastest World Cup hundred by a Sri Lankan, sharing a 176-run stand with his captain Kumar Sangakkara, before the home side's pace bowlers rushed through a hapless Canadian line-up to deliver a crushing victory.

After India's fervoured opening in Mirpur, proceedings at Hambantota felt much more leisurely, and with a combination of sight screen problems and a few injuries, it took the visitors four hours to get through their fielding effort. For the first 20 overs of Sri Lanka's innings the scoring rate was almost as sluggish - despite a 59-ball half-century for Tillakaratne Dilshan - as Canada demonstrated the ideal model for Associate cricket. Disciplined dobbers combined with swift fielding and a slowish track to keep Sri Lanka in check.

It was only when Jayawardene arrived that Sri Lanka's campaign really kicked into gear. He was in total control, threading the spinners through the finest gaps and caressing boundaries at will. Sangakkara was not quite as fluent, needing 47 deliveries to find his first boundary. He survived two moments of alarm, when he was dropped on 12 by by 16-year-old Nitish Kumar, on as a substitute, and again on 48 by the rotund legspinner Balaji Rao.

Jayawardene barely mistimed a ball but twice survived reviews from Canada captain Ashish Bagai, who was convinced he was out caught behind. On both occasions the appeal was spontaneous and exuberant but the UDRS - without Snicko and HotSpot - revealed nothing. With those behind him, Jayawardene's glances, chips, pick-up-sweeps and even a reverse-thwack toyed with an attack that faded under pressure.

There was no route back for Canada as the pair cashed in against a tiring attack. It's becoming one of cricket's more quirky stats that Sangakkara can't seem to reach three figures in ODI cricket anymore. His last century was in June 2008 and he has now gone 60 matches without a hundred, despite scoring heavily over the period.

He had the ideal opportunity today, but inexplicably popped a gentle return catch to John Davison when eight runs short. By this stage the only trouble for Jayawardene was the heat and he looked exhausted as he crawled the single to bring up his record-breaking century.

While victory was always going to be beyond them, a competitive showing with the bat would have lifted the spirits of a dank World Cup day but Canada's top order folded against a sparky new-ball pairing. The hulking Thislan Perera proved too quick for John Davison and Zubin Sukari before returning later to snare Bagai. The looming threat of rain forced Sangakkara to swap seam for spin to rush to 20 overs - the minimum needed to constitute a match - but once that threat cleared Sri Lanka's job was as good as done.

At 40, Davison has had plenty of experience but appears to be trading off the World Cup century he made eight years ago. In the build-up Canada were keen to point to the clutch of youngsters who had come through their Under-19s side but come the day Kumar and Hiral Patel - their two bright batting talents - were left out. After today's showing both can expect to make their senior World Cup debuts soon.

Rizwan Cheema offered a glimpse of the big-hitting that gave England a fright but by that stage that game was meandering towards the inevitable. After two matches and two crushing defeats, the Associates are doing the ICC's case no harm at all.

SMART STATS:

• Sri Lanka's 332 is their second highest score in World Cup matches, behind their 398 against Kenya in Kandy in 1996. It is also the second highest score against Canada in World Cups behind New Zealand's 363 in 2007.
• Mahela Jayawardene scored his century off 80 balls, making it the fastest century in World Cups by a Sri Lankan batsman. The previous record was held by Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored his century off 85 balls against Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup.
• With their ninth century partnership, Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara went past the pairing of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga, who have eight century stands in ODIs. They are now second only to Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu, who have 14 century partnerships.
• The 179-run partnership between Sangakkara and Jayawardene is the second highest third-wicket partnership for Sri Lanka in World Cup matches.
• Sri Lanka posted their sixth score over 300 in World Cups, which is second only to Australia, who have 13 scores over 300. Three of Sri Lanka's 300-plus scores came in the 2007 World Cup.
• The 210 run victory margin is Sri Lanka's second highest in World Cup matches and the seventh highest overall in World Cup matches.

New Zealand vs Kenya

Hamish Bennett led New Zealand's humiliation of a Kenya outfit clearly out of its depth, attacking the stumps with metronomic accuracy to rip out four quick wickets as the minnows capitulated for just 69 - their lowest World Cup total and the fifth worst overall. Tim Southee helped himself to three cheap wickets, while Jacob Oram also picked up three in three overs before Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum eased their side to an unchallenged 10-wicket win.

Kenya's first showing at this tournament demonstrated both their lack of competency against good, but hardly exceptional, seam bowling and their incomprehension of the review system - borderline decisions were accepted without question and clear cut ones questioned out of sheer desperation.

Jimmy Kamande called correctly at the toss and opted to bat on a pitch expected to help slow bowlers, but that was Kenya's last success of the morning. The new ball barely deviated off the straight for Southee but Kenya's young opening pair, perhaps over-awed by the occasion, remained nervously rooted to the crease. They had cobbled together just 14 runs - all in singles - when Southee nipped one off the seam to strike Alex Obanda in front of leg stump.

Umpire Marais Erasmus' decision initially looked a good one, but there was a hint that a review might have been in order. The Kenyans were, of course, unfamiliar with the UDRS but that provides no excuse for Obanda's tame acceptance of his demise as replays showed that the ball would have gone over the top of the stumps by at least an inch or two.

With the innings drifting swiftly into mediocrity Collins Obuya got going with a couple of meaty blows off Nathan McCullum, who opened the bowling from the other end, but just as he and Waters were starting to gain momentum Bennett was introduced and soon had the innings in disarray. First, he fired one full and straight at Waters, the ball shooting through at a low shin height to pin the batsman in front of his stumps.

There would have been high hopes in the Kenyan camp of Steve Tikolo, their veteran batsman, sparking a revival but he was swiftly removed by a searing full delivery that burst through a lazy swish to make a mess of his stumps. With the ball keeping low and starting to nip off the seam Obuya was the next batsman to be rapped on the front pad, right in front of middle. Perhaps out of desperation, a completely superfluous review was called for but there was no second life for Obuya and the innings sank even further when Maurice Ouma was dispatched in identical fashion in Bennett's next over to leave Kenya staring into the abyss at 49 for 5.

That soon become 59 for 6, Jacob Oram finding the edge of Kamande's bat to end his brief resistance, and with that the fight went from Kenya's innings. Oram had Thomas Odoyo, who was fending at a rising delivery, easily caught by Jesse Ryder and Southee was on a hat-trick when he removed Nehemiah Odhiambo and Shem Ngoche with the last two balls of his sixth over. There was no second international hat-trick for him, however, with Elijah Otieno flicking Oram straight to midwicket shortly afterwards to end a miserable Kenyan innings.

Guptill took the lead as New Zealand completed the formality of the chase in just eight overs, thrashing two enormous sixes and peppering the boundary almost at will in a 32-ball 39. An uninspired McCullum chipped in with a rapid 26 as Kenya at least attempted to remain upbeat in the field despite the futility of their efforts.

While New Zealand would have been hoping for a successful start to their campaign, the ease of their win here is hardly the best preparation for sterner challenges ahead against the likes of Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. For Kenya, things can only get better after a day they would dearly like to forget, though their performance won't have done any favours to the argument that Associate nations deserve to be involved in future World Cups.

SMART STATS:

• Kenya's total of 69 is by far their lowest in World Cup games - it's their first sub-100 total in 24 games. They lasted 23.5 overs, which is the lowest for them.
• It's also the fifth-lowest total in World Cups. Canada's 36 against Sri Lanka in 2003 is the lowest.
• For the first time in a World Cup match, New Zealand dismissed a team for less than 100. The previous lowest against New Zealand in a full 50-over match had beenBangladesh's 116 in 1999.
• New Zealand won the match with 252 balls to spare, which is their most comprehensive World Cup win - and the third-best for all teams in World Cups - in terms of balls remaining. In all ODIs, it's New Zealand's second-most emphatic win.
• Hamish Bennett's 4 for 16 is his best ODI figures, bettering the 4 for 46 he had achieved against Pakistan in his previous ODI.

India vs Bangladesh

There was no reprise of the 2007 upset at Port of Spain in the opening game of this World Cup. Instead, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli gave evidence of the havoc this Indian batting line-up can create during centuries that demoralised Bangladesh's bowlers. Shakib Al Hasan's men failed to maintain their composure in the grandest match of their lives and conceded a total beyond the reach of their batting abilities.

There was wisdom in Bangladesh choosing to chase - the previous 12 day-night matches at the Shere Bangla were won by the team batting second - but their bowlers were wayward on a slow pitch that kept low and had loopy bounce not conducive to shot-making. Shakib wanted to keep India below 260 when he put them in because of the dew factor later in the evening. He watched the target surge past that as Sehwag and Kohli, who justified his captain's decision to leave out Suresh Raina, dismantled the attack in front of a shell-shocked crowd and powered India to 370.

Bangladesh, however, did not go quietly. Faced with an impossible chase, Imrul Kayes attacked from the outset after which Tamim Iqbal and Shakib took charge. They set off at a sprint, swinging fearlessly, edging luckily, and brought cheer to their supporters. What Bangladesh failed to do, though, was sustain the aggression for as long as Sehwag did, and the asking-rate soared irreversibly out of reach.

With a withering back-foot drive, Sehwag had slammed the first ball of the tournament to the cover boundary, the opening move of his maiden century against Bangladesh silencing a boisterous Mirpur crowd. Shafiul Islam had given Sehwag too much width, and in his second over he strayed twice on to Sachin Tendulkar's pads with dire consequences. His day would not get better and he conceded 69 off seven.

India raced to 36 after four overs, forcing Shakib to turn to his premier spinner, Abdur Razzak, in the fifth. Razzak looped the ball into Sehwag from round the wicket, following the batsman and cramping him for room as he tried to hit inside out through the off side. Sehwag had scored 12 off his first six balls and 13 off his next 24.

Bangladesh were listless, though, as Sehwag regained his touch and never lost it again, but they also had some good fortune. A mix-up, during which both Tendulkar and Sehwag were ball-watching, left both batsmen at one end and the Mirpur crowd found its voice again.

Sehwag, however, continued piercing gaps and hit the tournament's first six, hoisting Razzak over wide long-on to reach fifty off 45 balls. With Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag added 83 to build on the opening stand of 69. While Sehwag used muscle, Gambhir played with precision - dabbing, pushing and chipping into gaps. His dismissal for a run-a-ball 39, bowled by a straight one from Mahmudullah, was against the run of play.

The exceptional feature of Kohli's innings was his driving. On a surface this slow, he reached the pitch of the ball, gathering momentum with a forward thrust of his body, and drove crisply through the off side with a whip of his wrists. He did it against pace and spin, scoring effortlessly at more than a run a ball. In the 33rd over, Kohli drove Naeem Islam twice to the cover boundary and pulled him behind square, placing the ball just wide of the fielders each time. India took their batting Powerplay after the mandatory ball change and scored 48 for 0 during the fielding restrictions.

At one stage Sehwag, who had Gambhir running for him because of an injury, had a shot at a double-century. He fell in the 48th over, though, almost making good his pledge to bat through the innings. Kohli continued to motor towards a hundred in his first World Cup match and got there off the penultimate ball of the innings, possibly having secured his spot for the rest of the tournament.

The pitch quickened in the evening, making shot-making easier, and the dew greased the outfield, making the ball harder to grip. But Bangladesh's bowlers had conceded too much ground for their batsmen to regain. They tried, though, and the initial assault on the Indian bowlers was fierce.

The highlight of that brief blitz was the attack on Sreesanth. Kayes edged, flicked, pulled and drove him for boundaries, and a wayward wide contributed to Bangladesh taking 24 runs off the fifth over. They were 51 for 0. Kayes then tried to force the slower pace of Munaf Patel, who replaced Sreesanth, through the off side and played on, ending the opening partnership at 56.

Zaheer Khan's control and the introduction of spin resulted in an increase in dot balls and a reduction in boundaries, and by the half-way stage the asking-rate was already 9.36. Tamim and Shakib completed aggressive half-centuries and the rest of the batsmen also struck the ball fluently during a heartening display. Victory, however, had already escaped them. Bangladesh will hope to reproduce this batting effort in a match in which their bowlers get their act together.

SMART STATS:

• India had been on the receiving end in the first game of the 1975 World Cup, when England, propelled by a century from Dennis Amiss, amassed 334 in 60 overs. India's 370 against Bangladesh is not only the highest team total on the opening day of World Cups, but also the fifth highest in all World Cup matches.

• • The opening day of every World Cup except the 1999 and 2007 editions has seen a century being scored. Sehwag's 175 surpassed Glenn Turner's 171 against East Africa which was scored on the opening day of the 1975 World Cup.

Sehwag, during his 175, went past his previous ODI best of 146. His 175 is the joint second-highest score by an Indian batsman in World Cups, behind Sourav Ganguly's 183 and the fourth highest overall.

Sehwag's 175 is the highest score in ODIs in Bangladesh, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's 141 against Australia in 1998. It is also the highest score by an Indian batsman against Bangladesh and the second-highest overall against Bangladesh, behind Charles Coventry's 194 in 2009.

• 
  The 203-run stand between Sehwag and Virat Kohli is the fifth 200-plus stand for India in World Cups, the most for any team. Sehwag was involved a the previous 200-plus stand too, against Bermuda in 2007.
• 
  Kohli became the first Indian and the 13th batsman to score a century on his World Cup debut. The previous batsman to achieve this feat was Jeremy Bray of Ireland against Zimbabwe in 2007. Andy Flower remains the only batsman to score a century on ODI debut in a World Cup game.
• 
  Among bowlers who have bowled atleast five overs in an innings, Shafiul Islam's economy rate of 9.85 in his seven overs is the highest for a Bangladesh bowler in World Cups, and the fifth highest for a Bangladesh bowler in all ODI.

ICC CWC 2011, OPENING CEREMONY! © AFP

Boring yet Busy!

In the past few days I've been doing a lot of research on many different people who have been successful in their lives and have been able to achieve their goals in life with success and it has been a really knowledgeable experience for me.
As the World Cup is approaching near and hype is increasing with every passing day, my excitement is also on the top. The Warm up matches have started and Pakistan has been able to win their first match against Bangladesh quiet easily in the end. Most of the batting line up failed to made any sort of impact at all and only a couple of batsman got good scores and that's an area that Pakistan will have to look into and work out as soon as possible. Their next match is against England and that will give a good Idea of their preparation.
My days have been passing busy as well as boring at the same time. We have been planning to shift to another flat and the progress has been made. Studies have been going fine but I know I will have to work really hard this time to get any good grades. The behavior of some of the teachers have been really bad and it really makes me sad to see that the senior staff is so negligible. We haven't been successful in getting a TV device so far and neither has the old one worked so I will have to make some arrangements  for that as well.
The weather has been awesome in the last four days. It has been raining and hailing continuously and it's not too cold as well so overall this has been enjoyable. Hamza and Me have been alone in the flat most of the time and all we do is to watch the sitcom Naadaaniyan or videos on YouTube. We have been planning to visit home soon and I wish to see the first world cup match of Pakistan at home :)

Martin Luther King and Success!

Success:

In simple words success is defined as a state of prosperity or fame.

What is Success?

Many people set different goals for them during their life time and when these goals are completed we call it success. So we can say that it is an event that accomplishes its intended purpose.  In life people have many aims and goals which they want to achieve and sometimes they are successful but sometimes they fail. People who are successful turn out to be great one in the history.

My Choice of Personality:

The Successful Personality I have chosen is the famous American Leader, Martin Luther King.

     

Reason for my Choice:

I have chosen Martin Luther King because he was an iconic figure in the progress of civil rights in the US and around the world in the 1900’s. It was a time when the black people had no rights and were treated like slaves. He fought hard and later was able to convince the white Americans to consider blacks equal and give their rights.

Early Life and Influence:

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father Martin Luther King Sr. was a Baptist and an early civil rights leader himself. He got his early education from Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High School. In 1948, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.

At a very young age King was influenced by Civil rights leader and educator Howard Thurman, who was the classmate of his father. King was hugely influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his success with non-violent activism. Later, his visit to India affected King in a thoughtful way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights.

The Beginning of Struggle:

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks a 42 year old woman was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white man. This forced king for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, The boycott lasted for 385 days and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed and he was arrested. King, with other black leaders organized a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. Although the march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern United States, it later turned out to be the final frontier.

On his way of struggle for civil rights Martin Luther king faced many troubles. He was arrested many times, The FBI began tapping his phone, He was offered huge money for quitting his demands, and several killing attempts were also made. But he never gave up and continued his fight against the unlawful and that was the reason for his success in providing the blacks with equal rights in America and elsewhere in the world.

 King’s Philosophy:

King applied non-violent philosophy to the protests and these techniques were useful to King's campaign to change the civil rights laws implemented in Alabama. King believed that organizing, nonviolent protest against harsh laws for blacks would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. He led many movements such as Albany movement, Birmingham campaign.

His Famous Speech:

It was on this very occasion that Martin Luther King gave his famous speech “I have a Dream”, seventeen minute public speech which changed everything. In his motivational speech he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. It was only after that civil rights were put at the very top agenda in the United States and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Noble Prize:

     At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle in the Civil rights movement.

Assassination:

On April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, where he was to lead a protest march he was assassinated. He was just 39 at that time.

Lesson to be learned:

Keeping the life of Martin Luther King in mind and his efforts for the civil rights we come to know that success can only be achieved by working hard for our goals and by never giving up if we are on the right path. We might have to struggle and there will be many hurdles in between, but we should stay firm and one day we will be successful in what we want to achieve.

Exciting days are about to come!

The new phase has started off well. There are not that many courses to deal with but no doubt this will be the toughest few months for me. I really want to go back home and I was planning on it very hard. All was going according to the plan but unfortunately I had to miss a few classes due to the change of time table. So it might take some time now to fulfil my wishes.
The big motivation that has been carrying me all along is the start of Cricket World Cup 2011. Pakistan has performed well in the the last series they have played and we can hope that they will do well in this edition of the world cup unlike in 2003 and 2007. My only concern is my TV device that is out of order and I'll have to act quickly to find a replacement.
The weather has been really nice here in Islamabad and it rained heavily the other day. I'm not feeling well actually and have constant headache. Our room mate has left our flat and we have denied the replacement because we are planning to shift to a new place, may be with our old flat mates if things turn out well.
One more Important thing is that one of my big helpers here in Islamabad, the funniest sitcom Nadaaniyan is almost about to end, not in real but in my computer. I have watched almost 90 of its episodes in 4 months and only 10-12 a re about to go!