Tag: T20 World Cup 2024

ANTIGUA: A ruthless bowling performance, followed by equally dominant batting led England to ease past Oman in the must-win ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 fixture here at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday.

Set to chase a modest 48, England chased down the total in just 3.1 overs, courtesy of Jos Buttler’s blitz.

Earlier, opening batter Phil Salt gave the defending champions a flying start by smashing back-to-back sixes on the first two deliveries of the innings.

Salt, however, perished on the next delivery as Bilal Khan hit back.

England then lost another wicket in the run chase as Will Jacks only managed five off seven before falling victim to Kaleemullah in the second over.

Meanwhile, Jos Buttler decimated Bilal in the third over of the innings and put England just two away from the victory.

Jonny Bairstow then smashed Fayyaz Butt for a boundary on the first delivery of the fourth over to complete England’s resounding victory. He scored eight off two deliveries.

Buttler top-scored for England with an unbeaten 24 in just eight balls, peppered with four fours and a six.

For Oman, Bilal Khan and Kaleemullah could pick up a wicket.

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Sent into bat first, Oman’s inexperienced batting unit was unfolded on a meagre total in 13.2 overs.

Oman, after a disastrous start, kept losing wickets at an alarming rate and were subsequently bundled out at a paltry total.

Shoaib Khan was the only Oman batter to amass the double figures as he top-scored for the associate nation with 11.

Whereas, Kashyap Prajapati (9) and skipper Aqib Ilyas (8) were the other notable run-getters.

Adil Rashid spearheaded England’s dominant bowling attack with a four-fer, followed by Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, who picked up three wickets each.

A dominant eight-wicket victory lifted defending champions England to third in Group B standings of the T20 World Cup 2024 with three points in as many matches while Oman ended their campaign with four defeats.

READ: Brian Lara picks USA over Pakistan to qualify for T20 World Cup Super 8

West Indies’ great Brian Lara has backed the United States of America (USA) instead of Pakistan to qualify for the Super 8 of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024.

The Men in Green are relying on the results of other teams after they lost two out of their three games in the group stage of the marque event.

The Babar Azam-led Pakistan faced USA, the co-hosts of the T20 World Cup 2024, in their opening game and were handed a shocking defeat in the super over.

In their second game, Pakistan faced another heartbreak as they failed to chase down the 120-run target set by arch-rivals India in New York on June 9.

However, they kept their hopes alive by defeating Canada on June 11.

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Reacting to the qualification scenarios of the team, Brian Lara said that Pakistan had a chance to qualify for the next round, however, he is backing the USA to join India in the Super 8s from Group A.

“Of course mathematically they (Pakistan) have a chance. I think the USA just got to take care of a win in their last game, they do that and they qualify,” he added.

“But we’re hoping that they get to win plus the USA lose their game. So my money is on the USA, I think they’re full of confidence and they would want to make it to the Super 8 that will be so huge, historic for US cricket,” the former West Indian batter said.

Babar Azam’s men are set to take on Ireland on June 16 in their last group-stage game.

They will not only need to defeat Ireland but also hope that the USA, who are second in Group A standings, lose their game.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 8 round of the T20 World Cup 2024.

READ: Florida’s weather casts dark shadow on Pakistan’s fate in T20 World Cup

ANTIGUA: Defending champions England have won the toss and elected to bowl first in a must-win ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 fixture against Oman here at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday.

England made one change to their Playing XI as Reece Topley came in for experienced Chris Jordan.

Notably, the defending champions are in a tough situation, pertaining to their qualification to the Super 8s stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 as they are fourth in Group B with just one point in two matches.

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The defending champions had their campaign opener against Scotland washed out before they succumbed to a 36-run defeat against arch-rivals Australia.

On the contrary, Oman lost all three matches they have played thus far and have already been out of contention to qualify for the Super 8s.

PLAYING XIs

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook,Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer. Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley

Oman: Pratik Athavale (wk), Kashyap Prajapati, Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Khalid Kail, Ayaan Khan, Rafiullah, Shoaib Khan, Mehran Khan, Fayyaz Butt, Kaleemulah, Bilal Khan

READ: Shakib, Rishad spearhead Bangladesh to comfortable win over Netherlands

The upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 fixtures, scheduled at Central Broward Park Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida are likely to be hindered by rain, which may lead to dent Pakistan’s fate in the mega event.

According to the National Weather Service, several areas of the state might face a life-threatening flood soon.

“Preliminary reports indicate that the rainfall and flooding has affected and may continue to impact the operational capability of critical infrastructure, including major interstates, state and county roadways, airports, schools, and other critical infrastructure throughout these counties,” Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, said.

For the unversed, Florida will host the final three matches of Group A between the co-host United States of America (USA) and Ireland, Pakistan and Ireland and India and Canada.

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If the match between the USA and Ireland gets washed out it would mark the end of Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 as the two teams would share a point each.

As a result, the USA will qualify for the Super 8s stage with five points in four matches while Pakistan could attain a maximum of four points if the former champions manage to beat Ireland in their final group-stage fixture, scheduled on June 16.

Earlier today, Pakistan’s scheduled practice session could not go ahead due to a wet outfield here at Central Broward Regional Park.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the national team will instead partake in light physical training.

“The Pakistan cricket team will not hold a practice session today in Florida due to a wet outfield. However, the team will attend a light physical training session,” stated PCB.

READ: Mitchell Marsh risks ban if Australia manipulate Scotland result

KINGSTOWN: Experienced all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan scored an unbeaten half-century and powered Bangladesh to a competitive total against the Netherlands in the 27th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Thursday.

Set to chase a daunting 160-run total, the Netherlands only managed 134/8 in the allotted 20 overs despite Sybrand Engelbrecht’s blistering knock.

The Dutch side got off to a shaky start to the pursuit as they lost both their openers Michael Levitt (18) and Max O’Dowd (12) in successive overs with just 32 runs on the board.

Coming out to bat at No.4, Sybrand Engelbrecht formed two important partnerships for the Netherlands with Vikramjit Singh (26) and Scott Edwards before Rishad Hossain dismissed him in the 15th over.

Engelbrecht remained the top-scorer for the Netherlands with a quickfire 33 off 22 deliveries with the help of three fours and a six.

Following his dismissal, the Netherlands lost three more wickets in quick succession and consequently slipped to 117/7 with 43 needed in 17 balls.

Aryan Dutt then retaliated briefly with an unbeaten 15 off 12 but his efforts were not enough to guide the Netherlands to glory.

Rishad Hossain was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh with brilliant figures of 3/33, followed by Taskin Ahmed, who bagged two wickets.

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Sent into bat first, Bangladesh registered 159/5 on the board, courtesy of an anchoring third-wicket partnership between Tanzid Hasan and Shakib.

Bangladesh, however, had a contrasting start to their innings as they lost their skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and wicketkeeper batter Litton Das inside the batting powerplay with just 23 runs on the board.

Following the early hiccup, Shakib joined Tanzid in the middle and the duo formed a stabilizing partnership.

They added a brisk 48 runs to the total at a brisk rate before Tanzid fell victim to Paul van Meekeren in the ninth over.

Tanzid Hasan remained a notable run-getter for Bangladesh with a 26-ball 35 with the help of six boundaries including a six.

Bangladesh then lost another wicket when Tim Pringle cleaned up Towhid Hridoy in the 13th over. He made a scratchy nine off 15 deliveries.

Shakib then took the reigns of Bangladesh’s batting charge against the Netherlands and formed an important partnership with in-form Mahmudullah, who made a 21-ball 25, before walking back to the dugout in the 18th over.

Later, Shakib Al Hasan and Jaker Ali (14 off seven) added quick runs at the backend for Bangladesh with their unbeaten 29-run partnership.

Shakib top-scored for Bangladesh with an unbeaten 64 off 46 balls, laced up with nine fours.

Paul van Meekeren and Aryan Dutt claimed two wickets each for the Netherlands while Pringle made one scalp.

For the unversed, Bangladesh are second in Group D of the T20 World Cup 2024 with two points in two matches, closely followed by the Netherlands, who boast a similar record but an inferior net run rate.

READ: England coach opens up on Josh Hazlewood’s comments

FLORIDA: Pakistan’s practice session ahead of their final group-stage fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 against Ireland could not go ahead due to a wet outfield here at Central Broward Regional Park on Thursday.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the national team will instead partake in light physical training.

“The Pakistan cricket team will not hold a practice session today in Florida due to a wet outfield. However, the team will attend a light physical training session,” stated PCB.

Former champions Pakistan will lock horns with Ireland in a must-win clash at the aforementioned venue on June 16.

The Babar Azam-led side are currently placed third in Group A standings of the T20 World Cup 2024 with two points in three matches.

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Pakistan had a disastrous start to the mega event as they suffered a shocking defeat against the co-host United States of America (USA) in the campaign opener.

The Green Shirts then succumbed to a frustrating six-run defeat against arch-rivals India on June 9 and were pushed on the verge of an early exit from the tournament.

But the 2009 champions regrouped and registered a convincing victory over Canada to taste their first triumph.

In order to qualify for the Super 8s stage of the T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan need to beat Ireland by a decent margin and would also want the USA to lose to the European side.

For the unversed, inaugural champions India have already booked their spot in the Super 8s after a hard-fought victory over USA at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

READ: England coach opens up on Josh Hazlewood’s comments

KINGSTOWN: Netherlands have won the toss and elected to field first against Bangladesh in the 27th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Thursday.

Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.

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Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma.

HEAD TO HEAD

Matches 4, Bangladesh 3, Netherlands 1

READ: England coach opens up on Josh Hazlewood’s comments

England head coach Matthew Mott has reacted to the comments made by Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood recently.

Hazlewood, after Australia’s nine-wicket victory over Namibia, hinted at the possibility of exploiting England’s difficulty in the tournament in the post-match press conference.

England are in a tough situation, pertaining to their qualification to the Super 8s stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 as they are fourth in Group B with just one point in two matches.

“We’ve had some real struggles against them [England] in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament, that’s in our best interest as well as probably everyone else’s I think,” stated Hazlewood.

However, the English coach stated that Australians have a mindset to win every game and expressed hope that Hazlewood was just ‘having fun.’

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“I am very much hoping it was an off-hand remark by a really good bloke who is having fun. Having grown up in Australia and the will to win every game, I am sure they will come to the fore,” Matthew Mott said.

“Knowing Josh, he has got a pretty dry sense of humour. I am hoping it was very much tongue in cheek.”

Notably, Australia will face Scotland in their last group-stage fixture which could decide England’s fate in the T20 World Cup 2024 even if they manage to beat Oman and Namibia in their remaining group matches.

Hazlewood’s comments hint at the possibility of Australia winning their match against Scotland with a narrow margin to knock England out of the tournament on net run-rate.

However, if they proceed with this tactic, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh may get banned for two matches ahead of the Super Eight stage, where each team will play three matches.

READ: Rutherford, Joseph help West Indies edge past New Zealand

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh could face a ban if his team is found guilty of manipulating any margin of victory over Scotland in an attempt to knock England out of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Former champions Australia blew away Namibia by nine wickets as they chased down the modest 72-run target in 5.4 overs to qualify for the Super 8s with one game to spare.

They will face Scotland in their last group-stage fixture which could decide England’s fate in the T20 World Cup 2024 even if they manage to beat Oman and Namibia in their remaining group matches.

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood hinted at the possibility of exploiting England’s difficulty in the tournament in the post-match press conference.

“In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and they’re probably one of the top few teams on their day,” stated Hazlewood.

“We’ve had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament, that’s in our best interest as well as probably everyone else’s I think.

“It will be interesting to see, never really been in this position before as a team I don’t think.

“Whether we have discussions or not, or we just try and play again the way we played tonight, that will be up to people, not me.”

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Hazlewood’s comments hint at the possibility of Australia winning their match against Scotland with a narrow margin to knock England out of the tournament on net run-rate.

However, if they proceed with this tactic, their skipper may get banned for two matches ahead of the Super Eight stage, where each team will play three matches.

Mitchell Marsh could be charged under Article 2.11 of the ICC’s code of conduct, which is designed to prevent the manipulation of games for “inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons… such as when a team deliberately loses a pool match in an ICC Event in order to affect the standings of other teams in that ICC Event.”

The code of conduct also applies to “the inappropriate manipulation of a net run rate” and the captain would be held responsible, and charged with a Level Two offence.

The captain may face a minimum sanction of a 50% match fee fine, with a maximum of four demerit points and two suspension points, depending on the severity of the offence. Two suspension points would rule Marsh out of Australia’s first two Super Eight matches.

It is worth mentioning that reigning champions England are in a tough situation, pertaining to their qualification to the Super 8s stage of the T20 World Cup as they are fourth in Group B with just one point in two matches.

The defending champions had their campaign opener against Scotland washed out before they succumbed to a 36-run defeat against arch-rivals Australia.

READ: USA hit by first-ever ‘stop-clock’ penalty against India

TAROUBA: Sherfane Rutherford played a blistering innings, followed by Alzarri Joseph’s four-wicket haul to help West Indies secure a narrow victory over New Zealand in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday.

Chasing a 150-run target, New Zealand were restricted to 136/9 in their allocated 20 overs.

The Kiwi side failed to get the desired start as they lost two wickets for 34 on the board in 5.4 overs. Finn Allen scored a 23-ball 26.

Gudakesh Motie then came to bowl and spun the web around the New Zealand batting line-up, taking three wickets in three consecutive overs to reduce the Kiwi team to 63-5.

Glenn Phillips and James Neesham (10) then stitched a 22-run partnership to pull the team out of the trouble but Joseph broke their momentum.

Phillips top-scored for New Zealand with a 40-run knock from 33 balls with the help of three boundaries and two sixes.

New Zealand kept losing wickets and ultimately required 33 runs in the last over with one wicket in hand. However, Mitchell Santner managed to hit only 19 runs with three sixes.

For West Indies, Joseph returned with figures of 4-19, while Motie claimed three wickets.

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New Zealand invited the West Indies to bat and reduced them to 22-4 inside the power play, with Tim Southee taking two wickets.

Nicholas Pooran was the only notable contributor from West Indies’ top order as he scored 17 off 12.

Rutherford came down to bat at number six and was soon joined by Akeal Hosein with the scoreboard reading 30-5 in 6.3 overs.

Together they helped the West Indies recover with an anchoring partnership of 28 off 27 before Mitchell Santner struck to remove Hosein (15).

Rutherford then added 27 runs for the eighth wicket stand with Romario Shepherd (13) but New Zealand bowlers halted West Indies’ progress with two quick wickets.

The last man Gudakesh Motie came out to bat and witnessed Rutherford turn the game on its head with belligerent hitting from the other end.

Motie faced only one ball, while Rutherford played the next two overs by himself and scored 37 runs to push West Indies’ total to 149-9 in their allotted 20 overs.

Rutherford scored an unbeaten 68 off 39 which featured two boundaries and six sixes.

For New Zealand, Trent Boult topped the bowling charts with figures of 3-16, whereas Southee and Lockie Ferguson managed two wickets each.

READ: USA hit by first-ever ‘stop-clock’ penalty against India