ICC Champions Trophy 2013: England vs. New Zealand

England secured the place in the Semi-Finals of the Champions Trophy in a triumph over both The Blacks and the rain with a 10-run win. 

It was raining in Cardiff and this delayed play for several hours before the game was reduced to 24 overs.

England were bowled all out for 169 runs, starting off with a solid 64-run innings by captain Cook proving a pivotal part of England’s batting total.

There was a drastic deterioration for England, who were 159 – 6 but found themselves 169 all out.

Kyle Mills’ 4 – 30 was of paramount importance for New Zealand in their attempt to restrict England of further adding to their score.

England slowly edged their way to victory against New Zealand, and the wickets continued to fall – however New Zealand completed the overs with 2 wickets to spare.

There was a late resistance effort by New Zealand in an attempt to revive the effort but it was too little too late.

Captain Alistair Cook admitted that it was a ‘stressful’ win for England, saying “It was quite a stressful day – it was a nerve-wracking time”.

England now qualify for the Semi-Finals, but could either face South Africa or India, dependant on Australia’s performance against Sri Lanka.

Stay tuned with TheSportMatrix.com for extensive Champions Trophy Coverage.
Image Courtesy: GETTY IMAGES – No copyright infringement intended

ICC Champions Trophy 2013: Australia vs. New Zealand

New Zealand and Australia walked away with a point each after their Champions Trophy encounter was abandoned due to rain.

Australia put together a score of 243 runs, whilst conceding 8 wickets during the fifty overs. The notable performance came from Adam Voges, who hit 71 for The Aussies.

Adam Voges had the best batting performance in the match. Image Courtesy: Associated Press ©AP

There was a lot of controversy surrounding Australia, as they had dropped David Warner. This comes following an alleged attack from Warner on England’s win over Australia in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Claims that it was an ‘unprovoked’ attack on Joe Root and the ECB have stated that Warner has since then apologized following the altercation.

Warner was dropped from the side following the incident. Image Courtesy: GETTY IMAGES

Just 15 overs in to New Zealand’s innings, they were 51 – 2. Australia’s Clinton McKay picked up both wickets against New Zealand, but things were cut short as rain stopped play.

Had there been 5 more overs, a result would be determined and one team would probably take the win.

The English weather is back to it’s typical form. It gave us some great days to start the tournament, but now has stopped a game short resulting in a draw.

Its always a shame to see a game abandoned especially due to the rain. Australia and New Zealand both take the one point. #CT13 #AUSvNZ
— The Sport Matrix (@TheSportMatrix) June 12, 2013

The draw between New Zealand and Australia means that England are just a win away from qualifying for the Semi-Finals, in their way stands Sri Lanka.

A shame that the rain ends what could have been an interesting game, but the English weather comes to the despise of many cricket fans, once again.

Full ICC Champions Trophy Coverage is available on TheSportMatrix.com
Stay tuned and Follow @TheSportMatrix!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);

ICC Champions Trophy 2013: New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka and New Zealand’s battle in Cardiff proved for a fantastic game of cricket with a very tense and exciting finish. Sri Lanka scored only 138, but a superb bowling performance almost revived their attempt.
 
Sri Lanka’s innings did not get off to a good start, as opening batsman Kusal Perera went for a Golden Duck bowled by Mills. His opening partner, Dilshan managed to score 20, but an effort of which came to an end. Sri Lanka’s best batsmen was Sangakkara with a score of 68 – near to half of Sri Lanka’s final score of 138. Sri Lanka’s Jayawardene only put up a total of 4 runs. Three of their batsmen went for ducks (including one golden duck). Sri Lanka were bowled all out for 138 runs following an innings lasting 37.5 overs, and their last three wickets fell for just 3 runs. New Zealand’s McClenaghan had an excellent bowling display taking 3 – 43 leaving Sri Lanka’s bowlers with a huge task of protecting their score.

To put things into context, only three of Sri Lanka’s batsmen scored more than 10 runs in their innings. #CT13 #ChampionsTrophy
— The Sport Matrix (@TheSportMatrix) June 9, 2013

An enigmatic bowling display by the Sri Lankans proved to be a mammoth challenge for New Zealand. New Zealand’s first wicket fell 14 runs in, when Ronchi was dismissed by Eranga. The Sri Lanka’s bowlers made for a staggering game of cricket, restricting New Zealand to a low run rate. A significant turning point in the game was when New Zealand were 48 -1, but then after three wickets found themselves at 49 – 4. Malinga’s bowling display was a true factor in the match with 4 – 34 including 2 maiden overs. There was a very tense and nail-biting finish to the match, as New Zealand found themselves in a precarious situation – plenty of time, a few runs to win, but only one wicket to defend. Following Malinga’s last over, New Zealand were able to capitalize for the victory following a few singles and a single off a wide ball. It went down to the wire proving for an amazing game of cricket.

New Zealand win by a wicket in a very exciting and entertaining game of cricket to watch. Sri Lanka simply did not score enough, yet New Zealand’s complacency could have been their downfall. Maybe reviews played a part, but that does not take away the fact that this game was a thriller. It was a game which had all cricket fans on the edge of their seats and a game of which the fielding was more of a factor than the batting. Malinga’s top bowling display just fell short of a victory for Sri Lanka. 
Brilliant game. Instant Classic.

Image Courtesy: AFP
Stay tuned with The Sport Matrix for full Champions Trophy Coverage.

ICC Champions Trophy 2013: Preview Series – New Zealand

The ICC Champions trophy is underway. In this article we look at one of the combatants, New Zealand. This is part of The Sport Matrix’s ICC Champions Trophy Preview Series where we analyze, predict and preview each team in the tournament.

Star Player: Ross Taylor
Captain: Brendon McCullum
World Cup Place: Semi Finals
Final Prediction: Winners

Squad:
Doug Bracewell
Ian Butler
Grant Elliott
James Franklin
Martin Guptill
Mitchell McClenaghan
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Kyle Mills
Colin Munro
Luke Ronchi
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
Daniel Vettori
Kane Williamson

The Kiwis are in perilious form, brushing aside the hosts England in their 3-match one day series prior to the tournament thanks to back to back centuries from stalwart Martin Guptill. They are arguably the favourites for TSM to be victorious in the tournament and have a better chance of progressing to the knockout stages after being placed in the easier group of the tournament alongside England, Sri Lanka and Australia. We expect them to reach the final with their new look team which has a unique mix of experience fresh legs.

Will New Zealand triumph in the ICC Champions trophy again? Will their ODI series win over England give them the boost they need? Find out with TSM during the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.