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Hambantota: The hosts Sri Lanka will be the one to start the ICC World Twenty20 2012 against Zimbabwe. Huge crowed is expected as the home team will be looking to mark impressive victory.

ICC World Twenty20 2012 – Match 1 : Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe

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Sri Lankan team under the command of Mahela Jayawardene are ready to send a strong message to all the participants by winning the starter whereas Zimbabwe under the leadership of Brendan Taylor; the least favourite of winning the tournament is determined to upset the hosts.

The sizzler, the yorker specialist; yes the Malinga will be a treat to watch as his fans all around the world are expecting his toe crushers. From Zimbabwean side, it’ll be their captain Taylor from which not only their fans but also players of opposite teams are expecting a good fight, both as a captain and as a batsman.

Probable XI for Sri Lanka:

Dilshan Munaweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Akila Dananjaya.

Probable XI for Zimbabwe:

Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Elton Chigumbura/ Malcolm Waller, Prosper Utseya Graeme Cremer, Richard Muzhange, Kyle Jarvis, Chris Mpofu.

Weather situation:

Showers are expected in the morning and afternoon but at night when the match will start, it’ll be partly cloudy.

At the time of match: 27°C – 96% humidity – visibility will be good

Pitch Condition:

It may have something for seamers but not much turn for spinners. Matches played here have been low scoring but because of the explosive batsmen in the Sri Lankan line-up we can expect a high scoring game (if SL bats first). Boundaries have been made shorter because of the T20 mode.

What mind of captains speaks?

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said: “Having looked at the wicket I’m pretty confident that it will be much better than what it has been, and there should be plenty of runs.”

Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor said: ”We’ve got some good strikers in the top order, some good spinners and young, talented fast bowlers that will bowl well at the death. If we get those things right, it will be tough for Sri Lanka.”

worldocricket.com prediction:

Sri Lanka will beat Zimbabwe easily by huge margin of either runs or wickets.

Dubai: International Cricket Council (ICC) updated the rankings for T20I on September 07, 2012 & surprisingly Australia is ranked at no.10; means under Ireland.

Australia captain Geroge Bailey talking with media © PCB

Australia who lost 2nd T20I against Pakistan after an intense battle at Dubai Sports City Stadium in super-overs has received another critical blow as it has been dropped down in the ICC rankings for T20I. Even Ireland which is an ‘associate member’ of ICC is ranked above Australia.

In the current rankings period, which began on August 1, 2010, Australia have won only four of their 13 games, which have all come against South Africa, Pakistan, England, India, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Click here view the latest ICC Rankings

By comparison, Ireland have won eight of 11, but all of their victories have come against Associate nations: Kenya, Scotland, Canada, Netherlands and Afghanistan. The only matches they have played against full ICC members came during a three-match series against Bangladesh in July – and Ireland lost all three games.

Australia T20I captain George Bailey on talking with reporters said: ”It doesn’t look very good. I’m still not sure how the rankings work. So Ireland go past us tonight. I’m not sure if we’ve ever played Ireland in a T20. Make of that what you will. If Ireland are a better side than us I guess they’ll show it in a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka.”

Australia will try to win the 3rd T20I against Pakistan in order to avoid clean-sweep, it’ll be at DSC on September 10, 2012.

Birmingham: West Indies’ Denesh Ramdin has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the third Test between England and the West Indies, which ended in a draw on Monday at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Denesh Ramdin has a message to broadcast on getting to his ton, England v West Indies, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, 4th day, June 10, 2012 © Getty Images

Ramdin was charged on Monday morning with a Level 1 offence, contrary to clause 2.1.8 (a), which relates to “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”.

Ramdin pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing.

The incident took place during the West Indies innings on Sunday when, in the 121st over, while celebrating his second Test century, Ramdin withdrew a note from his pocket in an obviously premeditated fashion to show to the public.

Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, explaining his decision, said: “It is important that we do not allow a precedent to be set with such a premeditated celebration by Mr Ramdin. We all understand the importance of celebrating a milestone, however, one should not use that time as an opportunity to hit out at one’s critic or send messages to the world.

“I hope Mr Ramdin has learnt his lesson from this incident and that we will not see such behaviour by him or any player in the future when celebrating an achievement within a game of international cricket.”

The charge was laid by on-field umpires Tony Hill and Kumar Dharmasena and third umpire Aleem Dar, all from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, as well as fourth official David Millns.

All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee.

Birmingham: Rain saw play abandoned without a ball being bowled for the second successive day in the third and final Test between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston here on Friday.

A huge amount of rain fell for a second day at Edgbaston, England v West Indies, Edgbaston, 3rd Test, 2nd day, June, 8, 2012 © Getty Images

Courtesy: AFP

It was the first time since 1964, during an Ashes clash between England and Australia at Lord’s, that the first two days of a Test in England had been washed out without any play whatsoever.

After a fourth straight session was wiped out, the decision was taken — with rain still falling — shortly after the end of the scheduled lunch break at 1.50pm local time (1250GMT) to abandon play for the day.

Now the total refund bill to the 31,300 spectators who bought tickets for the first two days in total could exceed £1 million ($1.5 million), although the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are insured.

As the toss has yet to take place, neither side have named their team.

England, controversially, decided to rest spearhead seamer James Anderson from this match although, given the weather, it now appears an increasingly prudent decision ahead of a three-Test series against South Africa where their world number one ranking line will be on the line.

They also have the option to give Anderson’s new-ball partner Stuart Broad, included in their 12-man squad, a break as well with back-up seamers Steven Finn and Graham Onions eager for Test action.

For the West Indies, Friday’s washout gave key batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul an extra day to recover from a side strain, although it also reduced the time available to the tourists to improve on a record of just two wins in their last 32 Tests.

The uncapped Sunil Narine is in line to make his Test debut at Edgbaston in place of fellow spinner Shane Shillingford.

With Kemar Roach already ruled out with a shin injury, either Tino Best or Fidel Edwards could take the new ball alongside Ravi Rampaul.

But top-order batsman Kirk Edwards, who has scored four noughts in eight innings this tour, may be dropped.

England have an unbeatable 2-0 lead in this three-match series, with this match representing West Indies’ last chance this tour to win a Test in England for the first time since 2000.

Not since 1954, when England played Pakistan at Lord’s, have the first three days of a Test in England all been washed out with no play at all.

However, Saturday is expected to be dry, before the rain returns on Sunday.

Kandy: Pakistan has started series with flying colours as they defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets (D/L method) in a match which was interrupted by rain several times.

Pakistan's Umar Gul (2nd L) celebrates with teammates taking the wicket of Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene during their first One Day International (ODI) in Pallekele June 7, 2012 © Reuters

Captain of Sri Lanka, Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and decided to bat first. It was a surprise decision as it was raining continuously for some days and the conditions were damp too.

Pakistani fast bowlers Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir ripped-off the Sri Lankan top order and froze the flow of runs. Dilshan (5) got out by playing a stupid shot. Jayawardene was given a lucky break by umpires who gave a poor decision without seeing all camera replays, he was caught out on Tanvir’s delivery but question was whether his foot landed behind the line or on the line, umpires saw the 1st replay camera angle which wasn’t clear and showed that Tanvir’s foot was over the mark and gave signal of no-ball. But later television replays from different camera angles showed that the foot of Tanvir was landed just before the line/mark and Mahela must had been given out.

Gul in the next overs took the revenge and beat Jayawardene (3) with pace and swing. The ball came back sharply and umpire didn’t hesitate in raising his finger for giving lbw. The pressure which Pakistan had built on Sri Lanka’s batting resulted into another wicket when Chandimal (0) played one back onto stumps, Umar Gul was the bowler once again.

The misery continued for Sri Lanka as their another top class batsmen Kumar Sangakkara after scoring 9 runs off 31 balls got out to the yorker of fast and furious Mohammad Sami.

Fall of Mathews wicket added salt to the wounds of Lankan Loins. Thrimanne tried to become a wall in front of Pakistani bowling line-up but Thanaga left him after getting out at the ball of M. Sami.

Perera tried to become the bridge between the score and Sri Lanka by supporting Thrimanne. Couple of interruptions confused Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq as he tried to use his spinners against them but didn’t get things very fine. Part time spinner Mohammad Hafeez who is now at no.4 in ICC ODI bowlers got rid of Perera (17) with an arm-ball.

Kulasekara extended the stay of Sri Lanka by adding 18 vital runs but he was caught out by Tanvir at the ball of M. Sami. Lahiru Thrimanne remained not-out at 42 with Herath; who faced only 1 ball but didn’t score.

8 overs were deducted because of the interruptions caused by rain. Sri Lanka ended up with the score of 135/8 in 42.0 overs. Pakistan who started with flying colours scrapped their performance by giving 31 extras (lb 7, w 23, nb 1) and dropping 4 catches. Sri Lankan top order once again misfired and put the weight on middle and lower order.

Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami took 3, 3 wickets whereas Mohammad Hafeez took 2 wickets. Bowling figures of Pakistani bowlers were pretty economical.

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Pakistan started the chase with Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali. Both openers adopted cautious approach as ball was wobbling. This approach cost Pakistan when Azhar Ali gave his wicket to an ordinary delivery of Malinga, it was going away and Ali tried to slice it but the scenario ended with a catch in the gloves of wicket-keeper Sangakkara.

Stay of Younis Khan was not small, he stayed at the wicket for 23 min. , faced 16 balls but scored only 5 runs. He fell to a beautiful delivery of Nuwan Kulasekara. The score of Pakistan was 27/2 in 7.1 overs.

Once again captain Misbah-ul-Haq came in to rescue Pakistan from this situation. He build partnership with Mohammad Hafeez and also gave him confidence in raising his arms. He kept blocking the deliveries but on couple of occasions struck handsome boundaries.

Mohammad Hafeez after settling on the crease played some fine shots but unfortunately got stumped. His foot was on the line and 3rd umpire gave him out at the ball of Herath. Before getting out he scored 37 runs off 57 balls in his stay of 95 minutes and struck 5 FOURS & 1 SIX.

Young Umar Akmal came in to finish the things, he took the bowlers on and slashed them hard. It was an eye-catching moment to see two generations on crease, at one end there was 37-year old Misbah-ul-Haq and on other end there was 22-year old Umar Akmal. Both supported each other and played their game in favour of Pakistan.

Just when Pakistan was at the brink of victory, Misbah-ul-Haq got run-out. He faced 79 balls, stayed at the crease for 119 minutes, struck 4 FOURS to score 30 runs. His innings gave Pakistan a stability which was the team was looking for in uncertain situation.

His departure brought BOOM BOOM Afridi on the crease who clinched the victory for Pakistan by taking 2 runs. Umar Akmal also remained not-out at 36 runs including 6 FOURS which he scored off 48 balls.

Pakistan chased the target of 135 in 34.1 overs and sacrificed 4 wickets. Sri Lankan bowlers gave 22 extras (b 2, lb 13, w 6, nb 1). Malinga, Kulasekara and Herath bagged 1 wicket each.

Umpiring standards were down to earth as umpires gave several wrong decisions. The 2nd ODI will be played here again at Pallekele on June 09, 2012.

Result: Pakistan won by 6 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Umar Gul (Pakistan).

Barbados – Former captain Chris Gayle has been chosen by West Indies for the first time in 14 months as part of its one-day squad to tour England later this month.

Powerful hitter Chris Gale during IPL - 5

The 32-year-old opener, whose public spat with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) resulted in him being ineligible for nearly a year, was included in a 15-man squad announced Monday for the three match series that begins on June 16.

The powerful Jamaican left-hander is the most prolific West Indian century-maker in ODIs, with 19 hundreds in 228 matches since his debut in 1999.

But Gayle played his last match for West Indies on March 23, 2011, the quarterfinal defeat to Pakistan in the World Cup.

He was critical of the WICB in a radio interview in April 2011 after being omitted from the subsequent one-day series at home against Pakistan.

Those comments, many hostile to current coach Ottis Gibson, led to his lengthy spell out of the team. Gayle instead played lucrative Twenty20 tournaments in India, Zimbabwe, Australia and Bangladesh.

Last March, a meeting between Gayle and the WICB, facilitated by CARICOM government ministers, cleared the way for his return. Last Sunday, the few residual matters in the long-running impasse were sorted out to clear the way for his return.

The squad is again led by Darren Sammy and includes a number of players who were recently playing in the Indian Premier League, which clashed with the current test series in England.

One of them, Dwayne Bravo, returns as vice captain while fellow allrounders Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Dwayne Smith also boost the squad.

Opener Lendl Simmons is chosen again after recovering from a finger injury that ruled him out of the home series against Australia in March.

There was no place for test openers Adrian Barath and Kieron Powell, who have struggled in the first two matches in the series in England.

Denesh Ramdin, the incumbent test wicketkeeper, returnes to the side at the expense of Carlton Baugh, who appeared against Australia earlier in the year.

Squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith. Coach: Ottis Gibson.