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An early help for bowlers is expected as it rained in Nagpur yesterday which would leave some moisture underneath the pitch.
Ricky Ponting has won the toss and chose to field first. Ponting said at the toss, “”Solid start in the first game, not spectacular, but this is a very different wicket. Some moisture around, and cloud cover, we expect to do well with the ball. Not often that you begin in conditions like these in India, so this is interesting.”
Aussies are going into this match with an unchanged side while New Zealand have replaced Jacob Oram with Jamie How.
Vettori said at the toss, “He would have liked to bat in any case”.
The New Zealand captain also reflected his thoughts on the earthquake back home and said the thoughts are with the people in Christchurch.
Australian squad includes Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting (Captain), Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, and Shaun Tait.
Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Jamie How, Daniel Vettori (Captain), Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, and Hamish Bennett.
The ICC World Cup 2011 match for today, the seventh one, featuring Australia vs New Zealand (NZ vs AUS), is happening at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium at Nagpur.
Australia won the toss against New Zealand and chose to field.
FOLLOW our over-by-over coverage of the group A World Cup pool match here.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of today's World Cup clash between Australia and New Zealand.
Australia has just won the toss and captain Ricky Ponting has elected to bowl.
There has been some rain around in Nagpur but at this stage play is scheduled to get underway on time.
There's certain to be plenty of emotion out there on the ground at Nagpur, India, with the Kiwis desperate to do well and lift the spirits of their country following Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch.
Skipper Daniel Vettori has vowed his team will be doing all it can to achieve a win. Both sides will observe a minute's silenece before the match as they pay their respects for the victims of Tuesday's tragedy.
As for the match itself, it could prove a decisive fixture as the two teams - each with a win under its belt - attempts to establish themselves as the top dog in Group A.
This match is somewhat unusual in that Australia and New Zealand will be vying for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, but on foreign soil.
Play commences at 3pm (AEST).
Teams:
Australia - Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke, Cameron White, David Hussey, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Shaun Tait
New Zealand - Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Jamie How, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to use the overcast conditions by bowling first in their World Cup game against New Zealand at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Friday.
Australia fielded the same side that beat Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad, while New Zealand included top-order batsman Jamie How in place of all-rounder Jacob Oram.
New Zealand thrashed Kenya by ten wickets in their earlier game against Kenya.
Though, Australia won the their previous encounter, their weakness of playing sping bowling was once again exposed by the Zimbabwe tweakers.
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori would like to post a competitive total and put pressure on the Kangaroos by bringing himself and Nathan McCullum on as soon as he could.
Teams:
Australia: Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting (Capt), Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait
New Zealand: Matin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Jamie How, Daniel Vettori (Capt), Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett
New Zealand’s success ratio against Australia in World Cups is not something the Black Caps can boast of, but Daniel Vettori sees an opportunity to get the better of the Aussies in a Trans-Tasman contest, here, at the Vidarbha Stadium on Friday.
There’s not a great deal of pace in the Jamtha wicket and with spin looming as the hot-button issue of this World Cup, the New Zealand skipper is hoping to get their opponents in a tangle of inspired line and length bowling. “We will try to bowl straight at the wickets. The key is to be consistent against the big teams and the big players who have the talent to improvise,” the New Zealand skipper said ahead of Friday’s contest.
Australia struggled against spinners in a warm-up game that they lost to India on a wearing Bangalore pitch and was stymied by Zimbabwe slow bowlers at Ahmedabad on Monday.
So don’t be surprised if Nathan McCullum bounds in to open the New Zealand bowling or Vettori himself takes the new ball like Ray Price of Zimbabwe or Johan Botha of South Africa.
After Monday, Ricky Ponting will be acutely aware that better execution to spinners is required if this is to be a Cup of triumph.
Ponting admitted they failed to respond collectively against Zimbabwe’s spinners. He said the same after their drubbing against India in the practice match. Australia, therefore, have to do a lot better as a batting unit rather than resorting to their skipper’s candid admissions, “If you say we should have played better against the spinners, I will agree. But at the same time, we do know the right way to handle spinners…”
Australia’s bowling attack will be predominantly based on pace with three fast bowlers, a spinner (Jason Krejza) and some part-time contribution from Michael Clarke, David Hussey, and all-rounders Steven Smith and Shane Watson.
While Watson’s will be more about medium-pace, the kind of stuff suited to the sluggish Jamtha strip, Clarke, Hussey and Smith will make up for the absence of the second specialist spinner in the side.
Clarke, of course, will play a pivotal role in anchoring Australia’s hopes as he is also the best player of spin in the side. It was the vice-captain’s late heroics (58 not out from 55 balls) that propelled the Aussies to a defendable total against Zimbabwe.
Unlike New Zealand, the Aussies are in better mental shape. The devastating Christchurch earthquake has dented the Black Caps’ morale. The team’s physiotherapist (Dayle Shackel) and trainer (Bryan Stronach) had to rush home to attend to their loved ones. Even some of the players have been laid low by the incident. “It has been an incredibly tough build up considering what’s been going on… ,” Vettori said on Thursday.
New Zealand thrashed Kenya by 10 wickets in their first game. Barring openers, Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, none of the other batsmen got a chance to play. That doesn’t leave much scope for a change in the line up and Hamish Bennett will keep his place as Kylie Mills isn’t feeling hundred percent yet.
Unless the dew plays havoc on Friday morning, the Jamtha wicket will assist batsmen. Both sides have some big hitters, but it will ultimately boil down to application on match day. For Australia, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait or Doug Bollinger can bowl quick as Hamish Bennett and Tim Southee can turn the screws on the Aussie batting with their pace.
Australia survived resistance against Zimbabwe unlike the Black Caps’ cakewalk against Kenya. Both teams have the momentum, but the one who remains sensible in a crunch game will have a better chance Friday.
Teams
Australia (likely): Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Cameron White, David Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait/ Doug Bollinger, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee.
New Zealand (likely): Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori (capt), Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett.
Australia versus New Zealand cricket matches are always special. The same way as India Pakistan matches are. The interest is always very high in the two teams fighting it out in the cricket ground. New Zealand always comes up with the best performance against Australia.
New Zealanders claim that Aussies behave like big brothers or worse treat them as belonging to one of its states. So to prove it that they are as competitive in the game of cricket New Zealanders always reserve their best performances against Kangaroos.
So when the two teams meet here in Nagpur tomorrow, brace yourself for great action. It is going to be fiercer than all the matches played so far including the one between South Africa and West Indies, played in new Delhi yesterday.
The match was won by South Africa with relatively ease, though at one point of time it looked as if the match will be interesting till the last over. But because the West Indian bowlers failed to come up with good performance, they failed miserably against a better side.
But there are some big question marks and dots and we have to answer those question and fill the dots.
New Zealand came up with a great show against Kenyan side in their first and only World Cup match played so far. They bundled out Kenya for just 79 runs.
Can New Zealand bowlers come up with the same show against Australians. Kangaroos are not in their best form and have been beaten by South Africa and India in their warm up matches. But the same team played superb game and came up with easy win against Zimbabwe.
Most of their batsmen are in good form and their bowling has been strengthened by return of Brett Lee. Captain Ricky Ponting too has once against hit his form and so has his deputy Michael Clarke.
New Zealand team on the other hand has been beaten by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India in one after the other series. Their batting is unreliable at best and bowling not very effective.
Southee and Bennett have the potential to do great damage to the opponents, but only when they try. Can they hit form again their arch rivals, is a question that will be answered in the next couple of hours.
Meanwhile Watson is the key to any Aussies success. Will he be able to bat and play a long inning or will lose his wicket like he did in the last match.
Ponting another regular performer too is in news for all the wrong reasons. He hit and broke a TV after being bowled out at 28 in Nagpur. He has said sorry for his bad behavior while claiming that he didn’t break the television set.
So brace yourself for a great an entertaining match tomorrow in Nagpur. It is going to be paisa wasool.
Once more the England team has come to the selfless aid of world cricket. After days of predictably boring mismatches, the English turned up in Nagpur determined to light a fire cracker under this tournament's soporific torpor.
In a display of clearly altruistic ineptitude, they produced a spectacle of diabolical out cricket that nearly gifted the match to the unfancied Dutch. Perhaps Ravi Bopara and walking wicket Paul Collingwood could have taken it to the last ball, but I predicted a win in the penultimate over and shall now collect my leather jacket from the virtual bookmaker of my imaginings.
Why it was thought a good idea to start day 2 of the World Cup with such heady delights as New Zealand v. Kenya is anyone's guess; followed up shortly thereafter (as it turned out) by Sri Lanka v. Canada.
I'd have made the top sides play each other from the outset while the minnows did likewise thus putting the favourites under more pressure later in the group stages when the slightest slip against a Canada or Ireland would mean elimination there and then. But what do I know? I just watch the game for fun. Maybe some Canadian construction magnate was on a tight schedule and millions of tons of Ambuja Cement doesn't just buy itself, you know.
At last, however, we have reached that point in the group stages when the organizers felt we were ready for a clash of the big boys, so following yesterday's first sightings of South Africa and West Indies, we get a potentially tasty clash of the Antipodean giants (though perhaps that's somewhat over egging the Australians).
Both teams had good wins in their first matches with New Zealand's crushing of Kenya being the performance of the tournament so far. Australia got bogged down by Zimbabwe's spinners, but there's no disgrace in that. Ray Price has been weaving his nagging web of prosaic magic for around 60 years now, and in Cremer and Utseya they possess genuine variety, as well as the worst rat tail hair extension (Cremer) in world cricket bar possibly Ishant Sharma's.
Australia v. New Zealand often produces close matches. For the best part of thirty years, the Aussies refused even to play the Kiwis, thinking them too inferior. But the Black Caps have proved to be no pushovers and are especially effective on slow low wickets that are the norm now on their home grounds.
Don't be fooled by that 4-0 reverse in Bangladesh last year. This New Zealand is a very different side with all the big names back as today's guest commentator on Test Match Sofa, Iain O'Brien, the former Kiwi medium-pacer, will no doubt remind me ad nauseam.
In Taylor, McCullum, Ryder, Oram and Vettori they have five potential match winners. Their seam bowling doesn't look up to much but I would expect Vettori to have three spinners on hand to suffocate the Aussies. By contrast, Australia continue to pursue a predictable strategy of brute force through Lee, Tait and Johnson with Watson filling in.
Australia play New Zealand in the eighth game of the World Cup 2011 at the VCA in Nagpur on February 25, 2011. The match will begin at 9:30 am local, 04:00 GMT.
The two teams have played one game each and won their first game but this will be a much more important and a tough game than their first game. See live scores.
Australia played Zimbabwe in their first game and after a quiet start, went after the Zimbabwe bowling to get 200 in the last 30 overs. New Zealand’s win was even more impressive. Click to see ball-by-ball commentary.
They bowled Kenya out for 69 and then took only eight overs to get to the target and not only win the game but also improve their net run-rate.
Watch live streaming.
Australia will look to Shane Watson to deliver while Brendon McCullum will be New Zealand’s best bet. Watch out for the highlights videos here after the match is over.
NAGPUR: Ask Ryan ten Doeschate whether he feels his superb all-round show against England would prompt his native country South Africa to avail his services in the next World Cup, you get a curt and honest reply, "No, I don't think so."
When asked the diminutive South Africa-born all-rounder whether he thought his Tuesday's performance against England was his last chance to showcase his skills at the big stage considering the fact only 10 teams will feature in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, he replied in the negative.
"I don't think like that. I know this might just be my last World Cup considering next edition will have 10 teams. But I have been playing county cricket (Essex) where I have played with lot of top cricketers. In a few months time, I would be playing in the IPL which will be another big stage," Ten Doeschate said.
Talk about the upcoming IPL, where he would be playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, Ten Doeschate said he is eager to meet team owner Shah Rukh Khan and coach Dav Whatmore.
Asked whether he got a chance to speak to Shah Rukh after he was bought by KKR for $150,000 during last month's auctions, he said, "No, I didn't get a chance."
The best part about Ten Doeschate is his realistic assessment about his cricketing abilities.
"I started off pretty late. I am 30 now and it's only the last two years that I have been playing some quality cricket," he said.
Ten Doeschate did not hide the fact that it was a special effort to score a century in the World Cup and that too against a formidable opponent like England.
"As far as my century is concerned, it was pretty special for me. For the past six weeks, I've struggled with the bat but I've worked really hard in the last two weeks and it was just one of those days," he said.
"It was a really good deck and I picked up the ball pretty early and it was one of those days when everything came naturally," he added.
Holland captain Peter Borren said that there are a few positives that they will take from Tuesday's match.
"A total of 292 was a very good score but we were found wanting while defending. England batted very well, credit to them," he said, adding, "We wanted to be competitive against the top teams and we did just that."
MUMBAI: A storm is brewing in the International Cricket Council (ICC) corridors due to the pressure and compensation threats it has been facing from World Cup sponsors over sale and distribution of tickets.
This issue was raised by ICC's legal head David Becker in a letter to ICC president Sharad Pawar, leaving the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) red-faced.
Becker also suggested that the window sales of 2000 tickets for the final should be cancelled for fear of injury to ticket-seekers - as happened in Bangalore on Thursday. Instead, the ICC has said that it will take care of distributing these tickets.
Shetty termed it a case of overreaction.
"We feel that it (letter) was totally uncalled for. The Wankhede Stadium was officially approved for the final on January 27 and it takes time for the ticketing process to be completed. You can't expect tickets to be made ready beforehand," said Shetty.
Countering the charges about the delay, Shetty added, "we have delivered tickets to the ICC for the first two league matches (on March 13 and 18). The tickets for the final will be delivered by March 2 which is a month ahead of the final on April 2."
Shetty also differed with the legal head's suggestion of scrapping the window sales for public saying, "We just don't agree with that. The common public has to be obliged no matter how small the number of tickets maybe. We shall send a reply to the letter very soon," he added.
Trivandrum: An Australia-New Zealand clash is always a big occasion and Ireland make their debut in this year’s World Cup with a tough match against Bangladesh.
If the prestige of the World Cup was not reason enough, then putting the Chappell-Hadlee trophy on the line should definitely reinvigorate one of the great rivalries in cricket when Trans-Tasman neighbours Australia and New Zealand clash in a Group A match in Nagpur.
Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket have taken the bizarre decision to contest the annual bilateral series during this one-off meeting as both sides do not have any other vacancy during the year to face each other. This would mean that Ricky Ponting’s men would be defending the trophy they won in New Zealand during 2009-10.
With the placid deck in Nagpur having already given us the first memorable match in the tournament between England and the Netherlands, all the factors are in place for another cracker. With this being a day game, dew will not be a factor to contend with and that should ensure that the better team comes out on top on the day.
Both teams have gotten off to rollicking starts in the event – New Zealand convincingly thrashing Kenya by 10 wickets and Australia recording a resounding 91-run win over Zimbabwe. Whatever the result of this game, both sides will still fancy their chances of progression to the quarterfinals, but there is a lot more than pride at stake for either team.
The Kiwis have been rocked by the news of a devastating earthquake in Christchurch during the week, and even though none of the players have had any family casualties, they will be relishing the prospect of providing some relief for their countrymen with a beating of the Kangaroos. Indeed, the Australian camp is very much aware of the fact that the Black Caps could be a dangerous lot with this additional factor egging them on.
Both teams have a few unanswered questions in terms of their squad depth. Australia got off to a sluggish start against Zimbabwe and none of the batsmen could really step up the scoring rate even towards the end. For New Zealand, the middle-order has been known to be rather suspect in subcontinent conditions and could come under the scanner against a solid Aussie pace attack.
The match should make for interesting viewing but in the end, I would think the result will come down to two things: How the Aussie batsmen play Daniel Vettori and how the Kiwi openers tackle Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson (and Shaun Tait if he plays). Whichever set of batsmen manage to do the better of the two; their side should be on course for the win.
The day-night match of the day pits the two giant-killers of the 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh and Ireland, against each other. After the hiding at the hands of India in their first Group B match, the Bangla Tigers will have a point to prove. Mohammad Ashraful should return to the side for them and will provide some much needed dynamism in their batting.
But Ireland are a dangerous side and somewhere down the line in this competition, they are bound to spring a surprise. The 2007 Pakistan side will testify to the fighting spirit that the Irish have. In opener Ed Joyce, bowlers Trent Johnston and Boyd Rankin, all-rounder Kevin O’Brien and his brother, the wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O’Brien, they have some classy players.
But in this particular encounter, I would expect the Bangladesh spinners to really put a stranglehold on the Irish batsman and come out with the win. Bangladesh should play to their strengths and their biggest plus is the abundance of economical, quality spinners.
Even though the ploy of bowling first spectacularly backfired on Shakib al Hasan in the match against India, I feel he should do the same if he wins the toss. The Irish will find the likes of Abdur Razzak, Shakib himself and Mahmadullah, a lot more difficult to get away than the Indians did.
Prediction: Australia to retain the Chappell-Hadlee trophy with a win and Bangladesh to put the misery of the defeat against India behind them.
CHENNAI: Ravi Kumar - a cricket buff and a techie whose job entails a lot of travel - is hooked on to his mobile phone these days. With the World Cup (WC) in progress, his phone is his only way of getting quick updates.
"I will be closely following the World Cup, especially India's progress. With so many variety of cricket apps available, I can easily get scores or watch highlights of the matches while travelling. When bored, I also play some WC tournament-like cricket games," said Kumar.
A spokesperson of Informate Mobile Intelligence, a telecom research company, said there was a 102% increase in access of cricket sites on mobiles in IPL 2010 as compared to the 2009 season. "We believe this World Cup would have an even bigger following on smartphones," he said.
Others echo that view. "The downloads during a big tournament like World Cup are anywhere from 50% to 100% higher than dry days. During the last IPL, our cricket game clocked around 5 lakh to 7.5 lakh downloads," said Abhijit Jayapal, CEO of Mumbai-based Synqua Games. The mobile apps company developed a gaming app - 'Ultimate Cricket '11 World Cup' - which runs on BlackBerry and Nokia.
If cricket is the religion of India, smartphones could very well turn out to be the new altar. "Our cricket feed aggregator app CricketWC2011 is currently No. 3 in sports category of iTunes app store for India. The Java version of the same app was released two weeks back and clocked 20,000 downloads in the first week itself. We will be going live on the BlackBerry platform in a couple of days," says Vaideeswaran Sethuraman, founder and CEO of Divum, a mobile development company in Bangalore.
On a global scale too, the greatest interest in cricket apps is shown mainly by Indians. "We currently have 2.5 lakh active users for our CricThrill app. Close to 95% of our users are from India. Within the country, we see pan-India usage with no particular region clearly dominating showing the widespread popularity of cricket," said M A Ramachandran, head of mobile operations at Chennai-based KrishCricket, founded by former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Information apps, Ramachandran said, fare better than games in terms of downloads. They are generally in a 60:40 ratio.
Apart from these developers, most of the big brands in cricket like ESPN, CricInfo and CricBuzz have also launched apps, either independently or in collaboration with app development houses like Divum, which designed an app for ESPN. Even regulator International Cricket Council (ICC) has released an official World Cup app for its WC 2011 tournament. Mobile phone companies like Nokia have also jumped into the fray and tied up with ESPN to release an ESPN widget exclusively for their flagship smartphone device N8.
Sethuraman said Divum is now getting around 5,000 downloads per week. In periods between tournaments, the figure hovers around a few hundreds. "This trend of more downloads starts around three weeks before a major tournament. Everybody launches their apps in this period. We started planning our own app in January and released it close to World Cup," he said.
The downloads will peak around mid of the World Cup when decisive matches begin. Awareness of mobile games and apps also goes up during this period. "We are ramping up promotional activities in this period with targeted mailers and mobile advertising," said Jayapal of Synqua Games.
The Purple Blackberry Curve 8520 is now available on Vodafone, and has been confirmed as being in stock.
The Blackberry 8520 is a member of RIM‘s popular Curve series, and reigns as one of the most popular Blackberry smartphones on the market. The handset, available in a wide range of colours, offers a full QWERTY keypad and a 2.4 inch display, alongside Facebook and Twitter integration, Blackberry Messenger and email support. That’s not all, as the Blackberry Curve 8520 also packs a 2 megapixel camera, a built-in media player and up to 2GB of storage via microSD
The Blackberry Curve 8520 Purple is now available to order on pay monthly deals with Vodafone. Prices start from just £12.50/month, once cashback for 14 months half price line rental has been claimed from a 2 year £30.00/month contract. This deal includes a free handset, 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB data. The handset is also available on O2 and Orange, from £10.21/month.
The Purple Blackberry Curve 8520 is also available on Pay As You Go with O2 and Vodafone, from just £140.00.
Click to check out all Purple Blackberry Curve 8520 Deals.
The West Indies vs. South Africa ICC cricket world cup 2011 match had been played with the star for South Africa Imran Tahir dazzling the crowd. The West Indies team was all out at 222 for the match.
Tahir grabbed four wickets to lead the South Africa team to overcome the charge by West Indies. The match ended with South Africa winning by seven wickets and had 43 balls remaning.
The match was played at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi for this seventh match of the tournament. The match was a group B tournament duel with South Africa winning.
PingChat! is new as well as a free cross-platform mobile chat program that supports the mobile phones like iPhone, Blackberry and Android. You are free to download the chat application directly from their website. The users of Blackberry who are not having access to the Blackberry App World can still use this PingChat App by downloading it.
Once downloaded, all you need to do is just register the app where you require to enter a unique username, which is linked with your mobile number.
Now you can easily chat with your friends, send picture messages, share videos, recorded voice messages and many more…All you need is, have their username.
One more interesting feature of this PingChat App is that you can send your exact location using Google Maps, a great feature that definitely comes handy in specific situations like, if your car has broke down or you are in great help etc…
If you plan to change your mobile number, there is no need to change the username. You can still use your old username by un-registering the old account and register a new account with new mobile number.
The app works over 3G, EDGE and WiFi so you can keep in touch with your dearest buddies no matter where you are.
Also Download Trilliam Messenger for Android Phone and Best Keyboard Apps for Android Mobile.
Are you using any other Mobile Chat Application? then do share the app with us..
Cricket is possibly the hardest sport for newcomers to get to grips with.
Games lasting five days at a time, confusing phrases such as ‘leg-side’ that actually switch sides depending on the batsmen, Geoffrey Boycott - it’s enough to make a sports fan sigh in resignation and return to watching thugs kick a ball around.
Jump Games’s series of cricket titles has provided a refreshingly simple take on the gentleman’s game for some time now, offering up many tutorials and hints for newcomers along with positioning and shot-selection for those more in-the-know about reverse sweeps and so on.
ICC World Cup 2011 does little to innovate in this regard, offering up more of the same high quality cricket we’d expect from the team.
Hitting it for four fours
As the title suggests, this latest entry concerns the Cricket World Cup taking place in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh at the time of writing.
The official ICC license is emblazoned on the game, meaning that every player name and squad is true to the current teams on the field, along with relatively accurate stats for each player and all the correct team colours.
Presentation-wise, World Cup Cricket 2011 looks extremely similar to (as in, it’s basically the same as) Ashes Cricket.
Considering that game was one of the best-looking cricket games on mobile - complete with smooth animations and fun cut-aways to the umpire and video screen - we’ll let that point rattle past for a no ball.
Time for tea
Along with up to 50 overs per innings one day play, complete with the real fixtures for this year’s tournament, World Cup 2011 also includes a series of challenges, which task the player with taking up the reins of one of the 14 international teams chasing/preventing a target score.
These are quick and fun bursts of action for those who don’t have time to sit through a whole match, even if they are a little on the easy side.
Everything can be made harder, of course, if you decide you’re good enough to use manual batting.
In this mode, every ball requires a decent understanding of where to place your batsmen, where the ball is likely to skim off the surface, and what shot is required to pierce through cover towards the boundary.
Thankfully, even those not au fait with cricket technique are encouraged to switch to this mode, thanks to a series of helpful tips after every ball that focus on timing, position, and shot selection.
Reverse sweep
All of which was true to some degree with Ashes Cricket of course, which makes recommending World Cup 2011 to players of that earlier title a little harder to do.
It’s a shame also that there’s no way of selecting difficulty levels or randomising the World Cup groupings by mixing up the associate teams - two features that would have added a bit more longevity to the game.
However, there’s still plenty here for cricket fans of all nations to savour, even if the English and Australians may be left feeling a little ‘urn’-der whelmed (sorry).
Cricket, the most popular game that all Indians are crazy about . At present, it’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that is ruling the world (going on in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). If you are a busy person who don’t have enough time to watch cricket, simply install any of the below mobile applications that suits your phone and Viola! You can get the latest cricket score updates direct on your mobile live.
Cricket Android Applications
ESPNcricinfo
Cricket World Cup 2011 – Live
Cricket 365
LiveCricket Free
ICC World Cup 2011
World Cup Cricket Live Score
CricScoredroid – Live Cricket
iPhone Apps for Live Cricket Updates
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – Official App
MobiCast
ECB Cricket
iCricket
NDTV Cricket App
Blackberry Apps for Cricket Scores
Cricket Club App
Symbian Mobile Applications for Live Cricket Updates
Cricket for Nokia
Yahoo Cricket Scores
Mobile ESPN
ECB Cricket
Java(.Jar) Mobile Applications for Cric Info
Live ICC Cricket WorldCup 2011 Updates
Enjoy this World Cup Season with Free Live Cricket Updates on your Mobile. If you use the apps that are not listed here and works good, please share it here so that the other cricket fans can use it.
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Police with batons charged supporters and three people were taken to hospital suffering from heat exhaustion and leg injuries after a crush developed as thousands of fans tried to buy the 7,000 World Cup tickets that went on general sale at 8.30am. Some fans had begun queuing 12 hours earlier as the public allocation went on general sale for the first time. The tickets were sold out within three hours, leaving thousands more disappointed and angry. Police took action when fighting broke out and several casualties were taken away on stretchers.
“They started demanding more tickets, and started trying to get in – because they thought there were more,” said Ratnakar Salunke, the stadium security officer. “But there aren’t so the police had to disperse the people forcibly. It is normal practice, anywhere in India, when people refuse to disperse. It is like that not only for a cricket match but anything – the cinema, for example.”
Security will be tight for England’s second match, on Sunday, with extra measures taken when India play. A bomb exploded outside the stadium before an Indian Premier League match last year, injuring eight people.
After the sterile atmosphere of England’s opening match against Holland, played at a near-deserted VCA Stadium in Nagpur, the players will be left in no doubt this weekend they have really arrived in India.
On Sunday roads around the ground will be closed and a 500-metre exclusion zone set up, with 800 police officers on duty inside the stadium and 1,000 outside. The allocation of tickets has been farcical with supporters angry that so few have been released on general sale because of the number taken by the state associations and sponsors. Only 4,000 are available for the final on April 2.
The scenes in Bangalore yesterday fulfilled the prediction in a letter written by the International Cricket Council’s head of legal affairs and leaked to the Indian media. David Becker warned of the “potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open”.
Tickets are issued by the state association hosting the match, which has led to multiple problems and added to suspicion over the number on public sale.
The online agency handling distribution has not received tickets from several state associations, leaving many who purchased seats empty-handed.
“We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago and being informed at the time that these would be couriered to them by early February,” Becker’s letter stated.
A High Court in Delhi yesterday limited the number of complimentary passes for matches held in the city to 10,000 and ordered that in future 30,000 tickets are made available for the general public.
The match against England will be India’s first of the World Cup on home soil and the level of excitement has intensified since their victory over Bangladesh in Dhaka last week.
“There is a limit to how much we can fulfil people’s expectations,” said Javagal Srinath, the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association in Bangalore. “It is a big challenge but even our hands are tied. For a match of this stature, even if you double or triple the amount of tickets for the public, it won’t be enough. That’s the tradition in India and we expected this mad rush.”
This match was originally scheduled to take place at Eden Gardens in Kolkata but was switched to Bangalore when it became clear renovations to the stadium would not be finished in time.
There are few England fans in India with sales of tour packages slow largely because many supporters appear to have chosen to spend money on trips to Australia for the Ashes instead.
The Indian fans waiting to see World cup 2011 final on April 2nd at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai have good news to share. BCCI has decided to sell 1000 more tickets for general public for the final of World cup 2011 to be played at Wankhede Stadium. The stadium has total capacity of 40,000 spectators and out of which 36,000 will be given to sponsors, state cricket association and others and rest 4,000 tickets will be for general public. Previously only 3,000 tickets were meant for general public.
This came after ICC was unhappy with the online ticket sale process few days back and also people not getting tickets even after booking 6 months in advance. Speaking to the media Ratnakar Shetty, tournament director of the World Cup, 2011 denied that only 4,000 cricket fans will be getting tickets. He explained that people who will be given 36,000 tickets are also fans of cricket and shall be counted for. He also said that tickets were given to members of different clubs like Gymkhana club who are also cricket fans.
The tickets for final match of World cup 2011 were sold available online at Kyazoonga.com (official online ticketing partner) but due to heavy traffic the site crashed and could not be opened for a long period. Company claimed that it received more than 10 million hits which are 25% hits Facebook and hence it’s difficult to keep site running at that scale of traffic. The company also attributed that ticket booking involves transaction which further put pressure on server and hence problem occurred.
The final of ICC Cricket World cup 2011 will be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on April 2nd. Given the craze for cricket in India, many fans have to content with seeing match at home only.
Bookies expected heavy betting at the start of the World Cup of Cricket but they weren't ready for one of the biggest bets in the history of this tournament, when a punter from the North of England wagered a staggering £82K that India will win.
Ladbrokes reported that the single bet come in on Thursday night. What makes it even more surprising is that the wager was made so early in the competition.
"This is one of the largest single bets in one-day cricket we've taken," said Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes. "One of the largest in any sport, outside of football and horse racing."
Traditionally, bets of around £10 - £20 are made on the outcome of the tournament, although higher bets are not unusual. However, for a single player to wager such a high amount is almost unheard of.
Should India win, the mysterious bettor stands to make himself a cool £246,000!
Betting action is high on the World Cup of Cricket, and bookies say that there is support for most teams.
Strangely, the English team is being shunned, despite its recent Ashes victory.
India are the current favourites to win the World Cup with odds of 3/1, followed by Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
Bookies hope to take in around £10 million worth of bets by the end of the tournament.
"In games like the World Cup, you tend to get more bets as the matches progress," explained Rupert Adams, speaking for William Hill.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has fetched record page views for ESPNSTAR.com and delighted cricket fans around the globe.
In only six days of the ICC CWC, www.espnstar.com has attracted nearly 15 million page views, digital content that includes FREE, LIVE streaming and video highlight packages from cricket's most glamorous event.
Cricket fanatics in as many as 68 countries have been able to enjoy high quality and FREE, LIVE streaming of ICC CWC matches. Viewers and visitors from across the world have been quick in their praise for the efficient streaming and excellent editorial content on the website.
But you don't just have to take our word for it, here is what just some of our readers have had to say:
Saji.S.Nair: "Incredible.congratulations espn-star.i am watching your online streming indeed its very good."
Apurva Rudra (Via Facebook): "I loooooooooove the way espnstar.com has brought LIVE streaming. Watching cricket online has never been such fun."
Sandesh: "I love ESPN Star Cricket Live on Web. I am able to enjoy WorldCup Matches even i am not in India. Thank you ESPN."
Ali Pathan: "espn star world no;1 sports channel "we love you" india will win the world cup."
Tannya (Via Facebook): "I think Pakistan have this one under control. Congratulations to Umar Akmal on a well played innings also to espnstar.com. love the LIVE streaming and the excellent content. Keep it up."
Sanchit Prabhakar (Via Facebook): "Oh yes, I agree. Excellent stuff from espnstar.com. Live streaming is very impressive and they are good quality. Espn Star Sports is the best in the world."
Joshiparas: "Many thanks to espn star for bringing such a high quality experience of cricket all over the world to india."
and last, but by no means least, Vipin Kumar: "ESPN is a best for world cup match.I like it."
The opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup on 19 February, which saw India beat Bangladesh, scored an average television rating (TVR) in India of 7.47 and peak of 12.2, according to new figures from Tam Sports (C&S4+).
The average TV rating rose slightly to 7.8 in India’s six metro areas. Bangalore leads the pack with average TVR of 9.17 for the first match followed by Mumbai (9.14 TVR), Kolkata (7.7 TVR), Delhi (7.65 TVR), Hyderabad (6.43 TVR) and Chennai (4.94 TVR).
The figures show 33 million viewers in India watched the opening match from Dhaka on Star Cricket; 28 million watched the state channel Doordarshan 1; 25 million tuned into ESPN; and 17 million to Star Sports.
Of these viewers, 12 million watched on terrestrial television, and 76 million on cable and satellite, according to Indiantelevision.com. A total of 14 million viewers watched the initial cricketing action via digital transmission on either direct to home (DTH) satellite platforms or digital cable.
Fourteen million Indian viewers also tuned into the opening ceremony of the tournament on 17 February.
Broadcast rights holder ESPN Star Sports has also announced that requests for its live streaming of the Cricket World Cup on its website had reached over 3 million in the first four days of the tournament. Of these, one million were unique video viewers.
“We are indeed delighted with the ratings,” said Sanjay Kailash, Executive Vice President – Advertising Sales & New Media, ESPN Software India. “There have been lots of discussions and comparisons with rival properties over the past few months but the opening match of the tournament has clearly proved the fact that ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is indeed the ‘The Cup That Counts’.
"In fact, the ratings of the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup are substantially higher than the corresponding opening match of IPL 3 for starters,” he added. “And here we are talking of a larger time duration vis-à-vis a T20 match in IPL. We expect the ratings to go up even further as the Indian cricket team marches on in its quest for victory and we wish them all the best.”
The opening match between India and Bangladesh began at 2pm on Saturday 19 February, and lasted for 470 minutes. The ICC Cricket World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, runs until 2 April 2011.
Minar Travels having its main office in Delhi, Connaught Place, has announced special packages for tourists visiting India during 2011 World Cup. The tours are focused at Cricket matches as well as an enjoyable holiday experience in India for their customers. The General Manager stated that “We are expecting a huge crowd this year during the 10th World Cup. Minar Travels has always been keen in promoting destinations at highly competitive rates our mote has always been that we need to keep our clients satisfied”.
He also added, “We have made special efforts in arranging the rooms and local sightseeing for our tourists visiting the World Cup”. This company is keen to pamper the guests with tour packages like exploring the land of Buddha, Golden Triangle tour, tour to the Heart of India, Wildlife tour, Yoga tour, Luxury Trains tour etc.
The 2011 World Cup will be played in three countries India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh starting from 19th Feb continual till April 02 2011 and there will be 14 teams contesting this year’s World Cup. The 14 teams have been divided into two groups with the top four from each qualifying for the quarter-finals. This company is arranging exclusive deals for the tourists visiting India for all the 8 matches of World Cup.
Offering million experiences, countless roads to wander on, and many doorways to walk through in your explanation of the land India is the hub on this trip with flights throughout the country as needed depending on World Cup tickets secured. This company guides you with a travel partner who knows the where and how and what and who of making a visit to India - a journey into the multitudes of sights, colors, customs interactions - a true discovery. So visit the unique aura of India with the special packages catered by Minar Travels during this festive season of World Cup 2011.
Minar Travels is one of the leading ISO Certified Aviation Management Company. Their target is to accomplish tourist’s combat every time they excurse with them. Minar Travels swirls ahead as the most ideal organization marked by a technology focus, coupled with being a business oriented travel service provider. With almost two decades of service, and expertise in every area of travel, tourism, aviation services and conferences, Minar Travels is India’s inaugural aviation and travel company that travelers and associates turn to for everything.
For more information, please visit www.minartravels.net (or) write to their Corporate Office at minar@del2vsnl.net.in
MUMBAI: The hard talk over, PVR has stitched a deal with cricket World Cup rights holder ESPN Star Sports (ESS) to show the matches in its select multiplexes.
Starved of big ticket movie releases during the world Cup, other plex chain operators could be chasing similar deals with ESS.
ESS has inked a pure revenue share deal with PVR but could be asking for some 'minimum guarantee fee' from the smaller multiplex operators.
"We will be showing all the India matches. We have a 50:50 revenue share with ESS. Not finding good films in the World Cup period, we thought of screening the matches as part of 'alternate programming'. We will show these matches in 8 to 9 screens in the cities across the country," PVR Cinemas CEO Pramod Arora tells Indiantelevision.com.
PVR will kick-off its World Cup screenings with the India-England match on 27 February.
"We are working on the ticket pricing. This being a cricket-heavy year, we had to think of some positive strategy to get in footfalls," says Arora.
Several multiplex operators are continuing their talks with ESS. Says Cinemax India CEO Sunil Punjabi, "We will go ahead only if they do a pure revenue share deal with us. It doesn't make commercial sense to pay a minimum fee. The World Cup will stretch for over seven hours and in no way will there be a packed hall. In case we fail to strike a deal, we will continue with our alternate programming plan which we had experimented during the IPL (Indian Premier League) matches. We will show Marathi cinema."
Multiplex owners are sure to feel the heat of the cricket season this year as IPL follows the World Cup frenzy.
"Multiplexes will have to review their strategies following the PVR deal. Surely, the last ball has not yet been bowled. The cat-and-mouse game will continue between ESS and the plexes," says a media analyst.
However, some multiplex owners believe that a better strategy will be to offer alternate programming rather than agree to a minimum fee and revenue share model with ESS. "We showed the IPL matches last year but that didn't work. So we are not sure if it is a good idea to pay and show the World Cup matches," the chief executive of a Mumbai-based multiplex said on condition of anonymity.
They say that music knows no boundaries and that stands true for cricket also in India. With the biggest cricketing extravaganza, ICC Cricket World Cup, award-winning musical-duo Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire have created an anthem for Youngistaan that celebrates the new unorthodox yet immensely popular face of modern cricket and the game-changing attitude of the youth.
Shantanu has composed the song with lyrics by Swanand and vocals are also by the music director-lyricist duo themselves. The song is titled Bindaas Badlo Yeh Game, which aptly captures the uninhibited spirit of today’s youth. The anthem is an extension of Pepsis high-decibel Cricket World Cup Campaign, Change The Game in addition to the series of TV commercials featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Kevin Pietersen and Virender Sehwag that have already gone on air and the upcoming one with Tillakaratne Dilshan.
The anthem is being played on radio and the video is playing on leading TV channels. The anthems video is unique in itself as it features the Change The Game moments from actual cricket matches over the years. From innovative shots to on-field aggression to celebration and victory dances to emotional outbursts, the 2 minute 49 seconds anthem video is an experience for all cricket buffs.
The composer-lyricist jodi of Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire, is best known for their outstanding work for movies like Parineeta, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Khoya Khoya Chand and 3 Idiots, amongst others. With this Cricket World Cup anthem, they have brought alive the magic yet again with lyrics that go straight for listeners hearts and beats that give goose-bumps. The sound track beautifully brings out the exuberance and passion of every cricket fan.
“We had a great time creating the Change The Game anthem as it is all about the youth and passion for cricket. The song has loads of attitude and we are confident that it will appeal to Youngistaanis who will sing it to cheer team India to change every game that they play this World Cup,” said Shantanu Moitra.
“We have tried to bring about a complete Indian yet youthful feel to the song to fire up the passion amongst cricket fans and those who like to change the game. The song is all about breaking the rules and changing the norms with a bindaas attitude,” said Swanand Kirkire
Sandeep Singh Arora, Executive Vice President – Marketing, Cola, PepsiCo India said, “The idea behind the anthem was to give Youngistaanis, a catchy track that celebrates new age cricket and their Change The Game attitude towards life. We are very proud of what Shantanu and Swanands creation and are confident that it will be loved by youngsters across the country.”
Chaos reigned supreme outside the Chinnaswami Stadium here today as police lathicharged thousands of disgruntled fans who had camped outside the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) office to buy tickets for Sunday's high-voltage World Cup showdown between India and England.
Police were seen hitting fans with sticks as chaos broke out among those who had been waiting outside the arena since yesterday to buy tickets from the box office.
"Mad rush is expected for any good match. A lot of people desire to watch the match. About 6,000 tickets have been sold at the gate," said Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary and former India pacer Javagal Srinath.
Only 1,000 tickets out of 45,000 -- the capacity of the stadium -- are for sale, it was learnt.
"We are still waiting for tickets to come back from the ICC and BCCI. If they come back, the only way we can give the public is through net, through Kyazoonga, the official ticketing partner for the event," Srinath said.
He said that it's always difficult to satisfy everyone's needs ahead of such high-voltage clashes.
"We are trying to cover as much as possible. But for a match of this magnitude, even if you double (the capacity) or triple, it's not enough."
The Indian Cricket Board and and the KSCA, meanwhile, have said that the stadium capacity is limited and the International Cricket Council's (ICC) demand for tickets have to be accommodated.
"The biggest challenge we are facing now is trying to meet the expectation of the people, and that's not possible. There is a limit till where we can keep people happy. Beyond that, unhappy people will always say things which we can't answer," Srinath said.
The two best cricketing teams in the world will come face to face in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2011 on Thursday, February 24, 2011, when South Africa will take on West Indies. As if the stalwart status of the two teams was not enough to heighten the excitement, the virgin pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi, India, where the match is to be played, will add to the anxiety and enthusiasm.
Feroz Shah Stadium in New Delhi was banned early last year after the match between India and Sri Lanka in which players on both the sides suffered bodily harm due to excessive bounce in the pitch. After that, no One Day Internationals have been played on the grassy pitch and the last time a home match was played here was in November 2010. Invoice
The ICC pitch analyst and consultant is in the city since a week, supervising over the pitch preparation. He will sit through the entire match and observe the performance of the pitch. Andy Atkinson, the ICC pitch analyst has not expressed any concerns over how the pitch may behave, but then even if he were concerned, he wouldn’t let his concern show or if things were not in good shape, he wouldn’t have given the nod for the match to be played here.
Coming to the today’s teams’ line up, South Africa has an edge over West Indies. Its batsmen and bowlers have better performance rate, strike rate, average and economy. Jacques Kalis, Abe De Villiers and Hashim Amla are in their best forms. This does not imply that one is to underrate the West Indies players like Shivnarayan Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo.
The spectators anticipate an exciting match and the odds for winning are very narrow for either of the teams. Talk about the Clash of the Titans!
South Africa takes 1st wicket of West Indies in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. South Africa won the toss today here in New Delhi and decided to opt for fielding. Smith justified his decision when Botha scalped Gayle's wicket on the third ball of the match and his over.
New Delhi: Delhites are fortunate to host one of the headline matches of World Cup’s first round. Firoz Shah Kotla will witness the debut of two top rated teams of world cricket. The picture perfect South Africa is all set to meet the young fighters of Caribbea.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith and his West Indies counterpart Darren Sammy have built their hopes on a host of brilliant players of the game. Being the top title favorites Proteas have a lot to cherish thanks to their ranking and game history. The hosts of last edition WC but believe in the present rather than past.
The WC records give a 50- 50 chance to both Smith and Sammy to finalize who is the real champion. South Africa can boast on their performance over West Indies in 2007 while Caribbeans cherish their spectacular victory in 2003 and 1996.
Windies had lost to the black horses back in 1992 as well as surrendered to them in 37 out of 50 ODIs. However, both captains hardly look in to the record book while each team has their own caliber to make the mega event their own.
“They have got some top notch players. On their day they can punish you really hard. One off day and your Cup dreams are over,” Smith shared his hopes about Windies having young Turks like Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Darren Sammy never looks to the score board rather than saying “All you have to do is play well. That’s the only key to success.” “Nothing less than a trophy will do for us. We are not here just to participate, we are here to win, win the title,” said Dwayne Bravo who deputes Sammy.
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup is upon us! This means we'll be spending more evenings at home, our cola intake will see a rise, and if we win, which no doubt we will, it's going to send the noise pollution radar into a frenzy. So by the end of this month, we will be, in no particular order, fat, deaf and mad. No, read it like this. You will soon be sharing road space with deaf and mad people with slow reflexes.
How to counter this? Well, start with leaving really early for work. Ride/drive out at 5am. Bribe your office security chap and catch a good three hours of snooze on your office desk. If possible, don't go back home at all. Certainly avoid going shopping with your better half, because then you'll have to pretend to be deaf and mad as well. Well, mad at least. Deaf you will turn into anyway. Stay away from Indicas, or generally any cars, that have a leather ball sticker tearing the bootlid open or knocked out stumps or any such cricket-centric livery. They will be overtly charged with emotions, whether we win or lose, and will be as flexible about sharing lanes as the bark of a Banyan tree.
If you're the 'been all over the world' type, make sure you peel off all stickers of other cricket playing nations' flags from your car. You may be pelted with stones or collectively manhandled. None of which, I'm sure, you desire. Also, make sure you wear clothes as close to blue as possible. Certainly avoid green, yellow, dark green, dark blue, maroon, orange and for purely aesthetic reasons, pink.
Oh, and hopefully by the end of the tournament, exciting motorcycles like the Honda CBR 250R, the Mahindra Mojo and the Hyosungs should be amongst us. This means you'll have enough horsepower to compensate for those extra kilos you've piled on. As for me, well, Germany doesn't play cricket, so I couldn't be bothered.
Mumbai: Cricket Power, the official video game of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is now available to audiences worldwide, just in time for the ICC World Cup season. The game is published by Karkadann Game. The game is also made available on CD especially for the Indian consumers.
Cricket Power is a browser based simulation game developed around the tenth edition of the tournament, featuring all real-life teams and favourite players participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The game includes an offline single player, online tournament mode, statistics tracking, challenging opponents and a myriad of other features that create a compelling and authentic gameplay experience, instantly transforming gamers from couch potatoes into heroes with the swing of a bat!
"We are all huge fans of gaming and cricket. With Cricket Power we leveraged our resources to deliver the best cricket playing experience possible online: a game that captures the unique elements of the sport itself - its physicality, technicality and skill, while creating an entertaining and immersive experience for gamers and cricket fans all over the world, said of David Ortiz, General Manager of Karkadann Games. Securing this license to produce the online game based on the pinnacle event in the world of cricket is a strategic step in our positioning, commented Ortiz. We are also pleased with the partnership with Mindstorm, the Pakistan-based studio we chose to develop the game, concluded Ortiz.
Nokia have partnered with ESPN to release an ESPN ICC CricketWorld Cup 2011 widget on the Ovi Store, which will keep users updated on the goings on in the Cricket world.
ESPN on your N8
The standalone mini web-based application offers the following features:
Live News feeds
Live Scores and ball-by-ball text commentary
Statistics and Expert Comments
Schedules and Standings
Points
Video Clips
Jasmeet Gandhi, Head – Services & Devices OPM, said, “The entire nation is abuzz with the World Cup fever and we are happy to be associated with ESPN to reach out to our cricket-loving consumers. The widget will enable cricket lovers to stay on top of their game, providing them with live news feeds, scores, video clips and much more. We will continue to engage with our consumers with services and information relevant to them providing them an enriched mobile lifestyle.”
The ESPN N8 app is available on the Ovi Store and is free of charge, except for the data charges, that is. And if you ever feel you’ve overloaded on Cricket, you can even turn the widget off, thus giving you a reprieve.
NEW DELHI: ICC Head of Media and Communications Colin Gibson today said that the governing body is awaiting a response from its president Sharad Pawar regarding the controversy involving sale and distribution of tickets for World Cup final.
Left red faced after World Cup's official ticketing website - kyazoonga.com - crashed because of overload, the International Cricket Council shot off a letter to Pawar asking him to intervene in the controversy involving the sale of tickets for the summit clash.
"The ICC is awaiting a response from him to decide on further course of action," Gibson, also the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Media Director, told PTI.
The move from the ICC came after rush for tickets saw the ticketing site crashing in just 20 minutes after tickets for the final at the Wankhede stadium on April 2 were put on sale.
Tournament organisers were forced to scrap plans to sell the tickets on the web and organise a ballot system instead.
The ICC was also furious with the state of affairs in which the ticketing for the final was handled. The Mumbai Cricket Association, of which Pawar is the president, has made only 4,000 tickets available to the general public for the summit clash.
The remaining 27,000 seats at the refurbished stadium will be shared by MCA members and ICC's commercial partners.
In a letter dated February 23, the ICC's legal head David Backer wrote to Pawar, who is also the chief of the World Cup organising committee, "We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago. Apart from threat of claims for compensation, this is causing a significant public relations issue for the ICC."
"With the significant demand and little availability (i.e. after 20,000 reserved for MCA and 7,900 for ICC partners) there is potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open. We strongly recommend the sale of tickets be cancelled and tickets sold to defined fans.
"We have not received any tickets for Wankhede Stadium. We have received numerous complaints from our commercial partners, who have paid millions of dollars to receive rights and benefits which include the timely provision of tickets and hospitality. This is placing our sound relationships at breaking point.
"ICC is being seriously challenged and is bitterly disappointed by the above state of affairs, which threaten to undermine everything that all of us have worked so hard to achieve over recent months. We will be grateful for your intervention and assurance that the above issues will be addressed as a matter of urgency," Becker wrote.
The problems with ticketing arised because the BCCI chose to print and distribute tickets through multiple state associations rather than one central ticketing agency. This led to delays in the physical tickets being made available for those who have bought them online and the inability to forward the sponsors share of the tickets for matches.
When it comes to the World Cup, lady luck has always eluded team South Africa. They hold the dubious distinction of 'Chokers' at the biggest platform of cricket. The hard luck that this team has faced in the World Cup history is unparalleled by any other team.
Who can forget the 1999 World Cup semi-final match between South Africa and Australia? Needing just one run in three balls, South Africa were so close to reaching the finals, but Allan Donald refused to take that run while Lance Klusener plunged from the other end leading to run out of Donald. The match was tied, but South Africa could not make it to the finals due to lower run rate.
Presently ranked fourth in the ODI rankings, South Africa's team for the current edition of the World Cup looks like a match winner on paper. Can they translate it on the field and finally claim their dominance in world cricket? Here's a look at the South African squad and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the team.
SQUAD: Graeme Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (WK).
STRENGTHS: The deadly duo, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel are considered the best pacemen combo in the world today. The team also has Jacques Kallis, undoubtedly one of the top allrounders cricket has seen. As this could be the last world cup for Kallis, he would definitely want to finish it on a high note. Apart from this, South Africa has a strong batting line up with Amla and de Villiers leading the way, closely supported by Smith, Kallis and Duminy.
WEAKNESSES: The tag of Chokers follows the team and so on a big stage like this, the team can throw up a surprise by underperformance. South Africa does not have enough to boost in its spin department, which is a prime requirement for playing in the sub-continental conditions. Dropping the experienced Mark Boucher in favor of young guns could prove costly to the team, as the middle order does not look too strong.
OPPORTUNITIES: The team is composed of new blood who will try all their might to prove themselves. The senior players too, for some of whom this world cup could be the swansong, will also give in their best to get rid of the title of Chokers. Their uncapped leg-spinner Imran Tahir could wake up to be the find of this world cup. Placed in a group with India, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Netherlands and Ireland, South Africa's chances of making it to the quarter finals look pretty high.
THREATS: Injury concerns are looming large over key players like Kallis, which could prove to be a major mood dampener for the team. With most of their opposition teams having strong spinners, their batting could be vulnerable.
Reaching the semi-finals three times in 1992, 1999 and 2007 has been South Africa's best performances in World Cup so far. Will it change this time?
The Indian branch of car hire firm Avis has offered substantial discounts for customers headed to the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The move comes as part of the company’s campaign to promote its self-drive services. All customers renting self-drive as well as chauffeured vehicles during the ICC Cricket World Cup will receive a 20% discount on booking throughout the games.
The long-awaited event began with the opening ceremony on the 17th of February with matches commencing two days later. It will continue through the 2nd of April and will include stops in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Avis India chief executive Sunil Gupta said as he announced the promotion that cricket was like a religion in India. He added that during the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Avis wanted not only Indians to be able to take advantage of its world-class services but also people from around the world.
The company said that in addition to convenient self-drive vehicles available, Avis India offers reliable, disciplined and well-trained chauffeurs. Self-drive vehicles are available for daily, weekly and monthly rates.
Company officials said that the discount would remain available until the 3rd of April and would be applicable for bookings made via the company’s website as well as those made via its call centre.
BANGALORE: The World Cup ticketing fiasco which came to light on Wednesday (February 23) has left the ICC red faced. With just 4000 tickets put on general sale by the tournament organisers.
The ICC's legal head David Becker wrote to ICC's president Sharad Pawar on behalf of the ICC's CEO Haroon Lorgat. The ICC has asked Pawar to intervene after a rush for tickets saw the ticketing site crash moments after tickets for the final were put on sale.
The BCCI appears to have reserved the bulk of the tickets at the final for their own members, leaving the ICC furious with the state of affairs. The ICC also raised questions about the tickets not having reached the fans, despite the fact that some of them had purchased tickets as long as six months ago.
In a letter dated February 23, the ICC's legal head David Backer wrote, "We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago. Apart from threat of claims for compensation, this is causing a significant public relations issue for the ICC."
"With the significant demand and little availability (i.e. after 20,000 reserved for MCA & 7,900 for ICC partners) there is potential for chaos & physical injury when the box office sales open. We strongly recommend the sale of tickets be cancelled & tickets sold to defined fans."
"We have not received any tickets for Wankhede Stadium. We have received numerous complaints from our commercial partners, who have paid millions of dollars to receive rights & benefits which include the timely provision of tickets and hospitality. This is placing our sound relationships at breaking point."
"ICC is being seriously challenged and is bitterly disappointed by the above state of affairs, which threaten to undermine everything that all of us have worked so hard to achieve over recent months. We will be grateful for your intervention and assurance that the above issues will be addressed as a matter of urgency."
The ICC has asked its president Sharad Pawar to intervene in a growing controversy over the sale and distribution of tickets for the World Cup. A letter written to Pawar by David Becker, the ICC's legal head, and published by the Indian channel NDTV, warns of the growing discontent among the ICC's commercial partners over tournament tickets due to them and the possible financial fallout.
It has also recommended that the 4,000 general tickets for the World Cup final not be sold at the "box office" but instead "sold to defined cricket fans that are associated with the event and have requested purchase". This, it said, was because the high demand for these tickets created the "potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open".
Pawar is the chairman of the tournament's Central Organising Committee and a former president of the BCCI, where he still enjoys considerable influence (He is also president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, which is responsible for the Wankhede stadium). As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the hosting agreement makes the national boards (the hosts) responsible for the distribution, stamping and printing of gate tickets and hospitality tickets; it also says the hosts "will exercise strict control" to conduct efficient orderly production and distribution and hospitality. "It is apparent that certain Hosts have failed to comply with this requirement," the letter said.
The sale and distribution of tickets among the public has become a matter of concern for two main reasons: the small number of tickets available for the final, and the poor distribution system, online and through snail mail, of tickets to buyers. Becker's mail says the issues have been regularly highlighted at Board level in recent months.
"We understand that Kyazoonga have been unable to distribute all of the tickets purchased online by customers some months ago for the reason that they have not as yet received all the physical tickets from the respective cricket venues/associations," the letter said. "We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago and being informed at the time that these would be couriered to them by early February. Apart from the threat of claims for compensation from these customers, this is causing a significant public relations issue for the ICC.
"We also know that the Kyazoonga website crashed on several occasions yesterday due to the massive demands placed on the system when tickets for the final were placed on sale."
The letter also deals with the supply of tickets to the ICC's commercial partners. It said the ICC had not received any tickets for matches in the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and had received complaints from its commercial partners, "who have paid millions of dollars to receive rights and benefits which include the timely provision of tickets and hospitality". It notes the impact this could have on the relationships with these partners and says it is "highly likely that some or all of them" will seek compensation from the ICC and/or withhold payments. The letter quotes an ICC commercial partner writing to CEO Haroon Lorgat saying, "This is an $80m sponsorship and to say you are bound by the BCCI is inexcusable."
The problems with ticketing have arisen because the BCCI chose to print and distribute tickets through multiple state associations rather than one central ticketing agency. This has led to delays in the physical tickets being made available for those who have bought them online and the inability to forward the sponsors share of the tickets so they can invite their guests to games.
For example, the tickets for Sunday's India v England match which has been shifted to Bangalore were only received on Wednesday. Whenever it was brought into discussions over the course of the past year, the hosts had informed the ICC that matters were under control. As the tournament got underway, the lack of centralised control that has led to ticketing chaos. Organisers say that the official ticketing agency, Kyazoonga.com, has not been informed about how many tickets will made available for online sale and at what cost for the Mohali semi-final on their website. It says, however, that such claims for compensation from either disgruntled fans or unsatisfied commercial partners will be set off against any distributions due to the relevant hosts.
ICC chief Pawar is in New Delhi today and will be at the Kotla match between England and South Africa and is expected to discuss the issue with officials. The ICC said did not wish to comment on, "private letters that have been leaked out into the public domain by persons other than the ICC."
In what will be the first clash of the World Cup between two ‘strong’ teams, South Africa and West Indies face off at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Thursday, promising to be a mouth- watering encounter.
Both teams have their own sets of challenges coming into the tournament. South Africa will be trying out an untested spin combination in the sub- continent and also have Jacques Kallis returning from a rib injury.
For the West Indies, a change in captaincy which sees Darren Sammy leading the pack, Adrian Barath and keeper Carlton Baugh ruled out due to injury right before the World Cup, and an unsuccessful tour of Sri Lanka makes things tricky.
For the Proteas, they have a lot things going for them on paper. Their batting looks settled with skipper Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla at the top of the order. AB de Villiers has developed into a world- class middle- order batsman and their pace duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can dispose of any line-up on any wicket.
However, with AB de Villiers keeping wickets, the Proteas lose their best fielder in the circle and his ability to handle the sub- continent wickets and keep against the spinners, especially new import Imran Tahir, hasn’t been tested yet. Also, lack of proven big- hitters lower down the order means the South Africans have a fairly long tail.
The West Indies, on the other hand, have a lot on their plate. Sammy was not even a certainty the ODI squad a year or so back and now finds himself leading the side at the World Cup after Chris Gayle gave up the captaincy.
They were already missing fast bowlers Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor due to injuries and two more were added to the list last week. The West Indies will rely on Gayle and Kieron Pollard for big hitting and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to anchor the innings. One of the fastest bowlers in the world, Kemar Roach will be their pace spearhead. Dwayne Bravo and Pollard will be responsible for bowling in the middle overs.
The last time the two met in a series, South Africa trounced the West Indies in their own backyard 0. So when the two teams lock horns at the Kotla on Thursday, it would be difficult to give a favourites’ tag to either team, especially since their head- tohead at the World Cup is 2- 2.
What will add to the mystique of the game is the Kotla pitch itself. This will be the first international match since the Delhi wicket International ‘ dangerous’ between November There game months matches So scores The to play this captains first possibly hope deteriorate HOPE South Smith wicket
spective perspective, But put Let’s tomorrow,” For will chances. “ Spin part have spinners off- all these best ajit. wicket was banned by the International Cricket Council for a dangerous’ track during an ODI between India and Sri Lanka in November 2009. There has been no first- class game on the wicket for three months and only a couple of Ranji matches have been played on it. There is little expectation of scores close to 300.
The weather, too, will have a role play as dew is expected during this time of the year. So the captains will be in a dilemma to bat first and bowl when the dew possibly comes in, or bowl first and hope the wicket doesn’t deteriorate later on while batting.
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) on his side, Multi Screen Media (MSM) is standing on a strong wicket. According to Rohit Gupta, President, MSM, IPL was sold out as early as November 2010, and as was the case with the previous seasons, MSM has held back 20 per cent inventory with the intention of selling at a premium. With less than two months left for the IPL, Gupta has once again donned his IPL hat and speaks more on the tournament in this conversation with exchange4media.
How is the IPL experience, given that the World Cup is preceding it? IPL is a very safe bet from an advertiser perspective, given the format of the game. There is a consistent delivery match after match across all 74 games, whereas in the World Cup, even if you assume that India goes to the final, there are only nine games; the rest 40 are non-India games. When India will be playing, ratings will be high, but in the other games, ratings will drop substantially. This does not help brands to build up reach. For us, 90 per cent of our past sponsors have come on board this year too. We started in September and by November, we closed all our sponsors – that is the power of IPL. It is the biggest event on television in India. In fact, the response this year was so positive we had to open another slot and increase our number of sponsors to 11. There are two new players – Cadbury and L’Oreal – this year. Havells is another brand that has come back this year as a sponsor after season one. We have not felt any hurdles in trying to sell the inventory due to IPL versus the World Cup. The issue is more on their side than ours.
How have the ad rates for the IPL grown season after season? We have had about a 20-25 per cent growth in ad rates since last year. This year, our pricing for sponsors was about Rs 5 lakh for 10 seconds. For spot buyers, our rates stood at Rs 5.5 lakh per 10 seconds, which we have now increased to Rs 6 lakh. In terms of viewership, in season one, IPL touched 100 million people, rose to 121 million in season two and last year, it rose to 143 million people. We expect this growth to continue, and so will the ad rates.
But there is a constant complaint about the number of cricketing events… … There are two ways to look at it. There is no overkill of the T20 format. If you look at any series, there is maximum one or two T20s per series. Therefore, IPL stands out and T20 is a format that, as we have seen over the past seasons, touches a wider audience as compared to an ODI format. Hence, the IPL advertisers’ profile has players across categories. IPL is entertaining and lasts for a short 3.5 hours and has managed to attract female audience and youth.
Was there any apprehension about the various controversies surrounding IPL adversely impacting the property? Any controversy, where more negative things flow, is not good for a property. But you need to understand where the controversy was happening; it was more around the administration and things such as that. As far as the broadcaster is concerned, it is all about viewership. So long as there is no controversy involving the players, I think IPL will continue. For the consumer on the road, he comes to watch extremely competitive cricket by the top players in the world. As long as he gets that and has a great experience and a good family outing at the stadium, none of these things matter. The problem may arise if there are controversies around the players, which may take the sheen out of IPL.
The Pakistan-related decision does not seem to have impacted the property much… Today, IPL is not about a single player; it is about a team. So, you have Simmons and Dhoni playing together, which would otherwise have been unheard of. While in season one, the Pakistani players did extremely well, nobody has missed them because so many new players have emerged. Another thing that has worked well this year is that due to the bidding, there are no favourites or strong or weak teams. This year, no predictions can be made as all the teams are new, which is good from a broadcaster’s perspective as we are back to the interest levels that we saw in Season one.
CHENNAI: If you thought you had enough reason to skip the cinema halls over the next two months, with cricket fever slated to reach its peak with the World Cup and the IPL to follow, think again.
This summer, Kollywood is gearing up to give cricket lovers a run for their money, with the year's most awaited films, all set for release.
At least eight popular movies are expected to hit the big screen over the next two months.
Dhanush's Seedan, a remake of blockbuster Malayalam film Nandanam, slated for a February 25 release, will be the first of the long line of big ticket flicks. His much anticipated remake of Rajini's Mappilai, is scheduled for an April 8 release.
Also, two films of upcoming star Jiiva Singampuli and Ko will be released in the same period.
And the list goes on Simbhu's Vaanam, Jayam Ravi's Engeyum Kaadhal, Vishal-Arya's Avan Ivan and Sneha's Bhavani are the other films scheduled before the IPL 4 finals, apart from small films like Aivar, Aaranin Kaaval, Margazhi 16 and Nimidangal.
Less than one week since the World Cup began, theatre occupancy has fallen.
Audience turnout at Sathyam Cinemas fell by 10 per cent on Saturday said Preetha Ramaswamy, PR Manager, Sathyam Cinemas.
Lower audience turnout was a common casualty of cricket matches, she pointed out.
But the big spoiler is the exams. Earlier, only students would stay away Now, even parents don't watch movies during the cricket season to support their kids.
Industry experts believe that the release of big films this summer is inevitable as the cricketing season, will be a long nine weeks, a period too long to be on hold for films.
After months of comparisons and speculations between the two marquee events of the year, ICC World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL), the ratings for the first match of the season pronounce a visible and undeniable response to the tournament and the format.
As per data from TAM Media Research, the opening India-Bangladesh match has pulled in a gross rating of 7.47 TVR, with a peak rating of 12.2 TVR, for CS 4+ All India market.
exchange4media spoke to media planners and buyers to gauge the industry’s pulse on the first Wednesday of the tournament…
Good, Bad or Ugly? Sudha Natrajan, recently promoted to Deputy CEO, Lintas Media Group, said that the opening numbers were encouraging and she saw the traction and momentum building up in the coming matches. “The next couple of matches will surely see a rise in viewership, especially if the Netherlands puts up a good fight against England. The matches so far, such as with Canada, have been interesting too and people are looking forward to the Pakistan and Kenya match too.”
Vidyadhar Kale, Client Leader, Maxus Mumbai, echoed the industry’s sentiment when he said that the ratings for the first match were “in sync with our estimation or expectations”. When asked if he saw the interest levels being maintained through the tournament, he replied, “With a higher number of India games, strategically scheduled over weekends, interest levels will remain and the buzz could only pick up if India goes through to the semis.”
According to Sushma Jhaveri, Senior Vice President, Carat, the ratings had delivered higher than expected numbers. Elaborating further, she said, “The match being scheduled on a Saturday, coupled with an exciting Indian innings, did the trick. Ratings will score higher for India matches, but one must not expect as much for other matches. We can expect good numbers for the next India-England match too.”
“This was a first match, and that too an India game. There were lots of expectations and it pretty much delivered as per the expected lines. Going forward, India matches are expected to perform better, and if India reach the Finals, the ratings would be all the more, however, the non-India matches would deliver fairly modest ratings,” remarked Rajneesh Chaturvedi, National Director, MEC Access.
Commenting on the occasion, Sanjay Kailash, Executive Vice President, Advertising Sales & New Media, ESPN Software India, told exchange4media, “The ratings are what we thought it would be and are in line with expectations. We strongly believe, in the coming days, interest levels and thus, TRPs will only increase. It is safe to say that India was tuned in and despite all the talk about ODIs having died as a format and it being an eight-hour show, the numbers prove that India watched the World Cup.”
With the feelers now out and the response positive so far, one can only wait and see how deep into the tournament the interest levels last.
. At present, it’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that is ruling the world (going on in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). If you are a busy person who don’t have enough time to 
