Ballots best means of releasing tickets - Lorgat

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, shook off the World Cup ticketing fiasco, saying that the ticket ballot which is about to be instituted for the finals and semi-finals was the best way to deal with the heavy demand for the ruling body's "flagship event".

"It is a much fairer way," Lorgat said. "It will avoid the kind of physical risks we want to avoid and I am confident that will be a much better system to release tickets." The lack of a centralised ticketing system in the Indian arm of the three-nation World Cup has exposed two major issues: the lopsided availability of public tickets as well as a delayed distribution system by local associations, which has led to anger from fans and disgruntlement amongst sponsors.

Speaking in Bangalore, Lorgat described the police baton-charge on the crowd queuing outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium as, "unfortunate" but that "you have to accept that the rush for tickets is an indication of how popular this game is. Those are scenes we would not like to see, none of us would like to see that. It is also a fact that the local police and the local associations know best how to handle it. It is something we have no control over."

Lorgat said the letter written by the ICC's legal head David Becker to ICC president Sharad Pawar in his capacity as the chairman of the central co-ordination committee, "was not an issue". He said he had spoken to Pawar and the tournament director Ratnakar Shetty, several times since the letter became public and was sure the issue would be resolved.

"From time to time we turn to the President or in this case the chairman of the central co-ordinating committee, Mr Sharad Pawar, to intervene or to assist us with issues we are having difficulty with. In the past, whether it was issues related to visa or any other, the good offices of Mr Pawar have been very supportive and he has assisted us to sort out those issues. I'm sure that in this instance as well having turned to him for that sort of support, we will get it... Professor Shetty is entitled to react in the fashion that he did but I have no qualms about that."

He said that contrary to common perception, and the tone of the Becker letter, "there's no sponsor who wants to walk away. In fact many are wanting to come in. That's again a reflection of how fortunate we are and the strength of the game, but yes, we do have challenges with managing the requests of sponsors and their needs to receive physical tickets so that they can distribute it further to the public."

Lorgat did point out that the hosts of every ICC event were in charge of the sale of tickets and that the ICC sets and agrees on certain policies with them "well in advance" along with "several commitments" It is a fact of life that we have commitments to the sponsors who support us over a long period in our cycle. It is a fact that local hosts have a commitment whether it is to local organisations, whether it is to clubs, whether through the BCCI."

Lorgat said the diverse distribution of tickets through various means across Indian venues mean that they find their hands of cricket lovers. "What is unfortunate is that there is a few number that go to the public as a general sale, but whether it is through the clubs, through associates, through ICC channels they do arrive at the door of the public."

All through his media conference Lorgat repeated made the claim that the ticketing crisis and the official ticketing website crashing when tickets for the final went on sale, proved the 'strength of the game', and that the supply would never be able to catch up with demand. "This is how wonderful the growth in our sport has been. It is a reflection of the popularity of the game. It certainly negates those naysayers about the demise of 50-over cricket; it shows you what the flagship event means. Sure we need to find better ways of being able to distribute tickets, but the reality is if tomorrow [we had] a 100,000-seater, we would still not have enough tickets to satisfy the demand."

When asked when a centralised ticketing system would be put in place by the organisers of the 2015 World Cup, Lorgat said, "If my memory serves me correctly, that's exactly how the 2015 will work in any event in Australia and New Zealand. These are the reflections we will have to consider and look at improving the mechanisms in future."

With the World Cup being the first use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in an ODI, Lorgat said that he thought the "bold decision" had been a good one. The future of UDRS in ODIs, he said, would only be made after a review of the feedback of the World Cup experience at a ICC cricket committee meeting in May. "That expert committee will consider all of the feedback and will decide on the way forward in so far as one-day cricket is concerned."

Cricket World Cup 2011: we will raise our game for India, says England captain Andrew Strauss, after Holland scare

Andrew Strauss knows England must improve quickly and significantly if they are to prove a match for hosts India in their second World Cup match.

A six-wicket win over Holland came after an, at times, embarrassing fielding performance at the VCA Stadium - where Ryan ten Doeschate hit a career-best 119 as the minnows set England 292 for six.
England recovered their composure, on the back of half-centuries from Strauss (88) and Jonathan Trott (62), to pass a testing target with eight balls to spare.
Even so, it is hard to envisage Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team being too concerned about the threat likely to be posed by England on Sunday after their lacklustre first attempt.
"I hope India will take us lightly after this performance," Strauss said, with half a smile.
He is optimistic that England will prove themselves capable of much better when it is required.

Pakistan vary of Sri Lankan threat

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and deputy Misbah-ul-Haq termed the Sri Lankan cricket team as a tough side to beat in the ICC World Cup and added that there would be a quite a few challenges to them in their Saturday’s clash against the 1996 champions at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

So far, Sri Lanka have met Pakistan in six World Cup games, but have not won a single encounter. All those six games were during Sri Lanka’s formative stages in the big league with the last encounter being in the 1992 tournament when Aravinda de Silva’s side lost to Imran Khan’s ‘cornered tigers’ in the last over.

Although it’s strange that they haven’t met in the last four World Cups, the reason for that is in 1996 campaign, the teams were in separate groups while in 1999, Sri Lanka were knocked off in the first round. In 2003 and 2007, it was Pakistan’s turn for an early exit.

"The home advantage will be a major factor for Sri Lanka. They are playing as a unit as well and that is the key behind their success," Afridi, who picked up five wickets against Kenya in Pakistan’s opening encounter in Hambantota, told journalists in Suriyawewa on Wednesday (Feb. 23).

"The Sri Lankan team has always been good, but in the last two or three years, especially, they have been very consistent playing good cricket. In home conditions they are a very tough side and they do good planning and have fighting spirit. We’ve played a lot of cricket against them and understand each other’s games well," Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s vice-captain who plays in his first World Cup at the age of 36, said.

Sri Lanka Cricket said that reserved tickets for the game were sold out two months before the game while Rs.50 tickets were finished two hours after they were put out for sale. "I think, subcontinent conditions for Asian teams are equal. They will have home ground advantage but if we play the way we played against Kenya, then it should be a good match. I am very confident as a captain," Afridi said.

The last time Sri Lanka played Pakistan was in June last year in the Asia Cup in Dambulla and the hosts won by 16 runs with Lasith Malinga picking up five wickets.

Malinga was rested for Sri Lanka’s opening game of the World Cup against Canada on Sunday, but he’s expected to play on Saturday.

"I think he is coming back from an injury, so let’s see how strong he is and how much he can adjust to the conditions," Afridi said.

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has an excellent record against the Pakistanis having taken 95 wickets in 64 games with a best of five for 23 and playing against them possibly for the last time, he will be looking to go on a positive note.

"Due to the conditions of the pitches, he is always very dangerous. He could probably turn it on marble, anyway. He has so much experience and knows how to use them so well," Afridi said.

"We’ve played them so often in recent times and Younis (Khan) plays Murali so well and even some of the younger guys. We play Sri Lanka a lot and we play spinners generally well. There are quite a few guys in Pakistan who bowl with his action so we find it easier to play Murali. No doubt he is a world class spinner but because we are used to him, we can cope with him easily," Misbah added.

No irregularities in World Cup ticket sales: Srinath

Javagal Srinath, Secretary of Karnataka State Cricket Association and former Indian cricketer, on Thursday camouflaged the irregularities in sale of tickets by saying such incidents are natural in the country where cricket is akin to religion. Slamming the accusations of irregularities, he said the administration even gave up their 'quota' tickets to meet the demand.

Millions tune into India’s Cricket World Cup opener

The opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup on 19 February, which saw India beat , 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.

Cricket World cup records:South Africa vs West Indies cricket Teams

* The two teams have played three matches against each other. In two matches, West Indies cricket team won while one was won by South African cricket team
* Except for the match in which South Africa bull dozed West Indies batting line up, all other matches have seen fierce battle between the two countries.
* An important quarter-final in 1996 Cricket World Cup and an opening match of 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup has been played between them.
* West Indian Cricket Legend Brian Lara has scored two centuries in the last two matches played against South Africa in the world cups.
* In a world cup match between the two teams in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, South Africa was fined 1 over for slow over rate which caused them to lose the match by 3 runs.
* Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes and Allan Donald, all three legends have the part of these three matches.
* The best bowling performance was shown by South African fast bowler Meyrick Pringle when he took 4 wickets by giving 4 runs in 8 overs with 4 maidens in the 1992 Cricket World Cup match.
* South Africa was suspended from international cricket till 1991, so they did not take part in world cups from 1975 to 1983. The teams did not played against each other in the 1999 and 2007 Cricket World cup.

England beat the Netherlands by six wickets

England beat the Netherlands by six wickets in their opening Cricket World Cup match at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Brief Scores:

The Netherlands: 292 for six in 50 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 119, Tom Cooper 47; Graeme Swan 2/35, Stuart Broad 2/65).

England: 296 for 4 in 48.4 overs (Andrew Strauss 88, Jonathan Trott 62; Ryan ten Doeschate 2/47).

Teams:

England: Andrew Strauss (Capt), Kevin Pietersen, IJL Trott, IR Bell, PD Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (WK), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson.

Netherlands: AN Kervezee, W Barresi†, TLW Cooper, RN ten Doeschate, B Zuiderent, TN de Grooth, PW Borren(Capt), Mudassar Bukhari, PM Seelaar, BP Loots, BA Westdijk

Afridi desperate to avoid repeat of upsets

Pakistan face Kenya in their opening World Cup match tomorrow, desperate to atone for their tragedy-hit 2007 tournament.
Four years ago, Pakistan suffered an embarrassing three-wicket defeat by Ireland and crashed out in the first round. Captain Shahid Afridi said his team will take all opponents here seriously.
“There have been so many upsets in the World Cup in the past, like the one against Ireland four years ago,” said Afridi. “So we have that in mind and we will be on our toes in every match, be it Kenya or Sri Lanka.”
Waqar staying clear of controversy
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said that the spot-fixing scandal, which sparked lengthy bans for three players, will not haunt his embattled team at the World Cup.
“I don’t think it will haunt Pakistan at all,” said Waqar. “We all know that we have been through tough times in the recent past but that does not mean that we don’t have talent. “Despite the problems we are a good enough team to beat anybody.”
Meanwhile, Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said his team was looking forward to their first real test in the World Cup against Pakistan after crushing Canada in their opening match.
“We’re looking forward to our next match against Pakistan who are a very good side,” said Jayawardene. “Pakistan have got some great individual players and we know how dangerous they can be, so we have to prepare ourselves and go in with a very positive mindset.”

Netherlands VS England aiming to prove associates belong in World Cup

We are still waiting for a close game in the World Cup and England will be fervently hoping that this pattern remains. On Tuesday they take on the Netherlands in one of those matches that the professionals dread. Victory is expected, but never applauded. Defeat would be a calamity. The usual truism on these occasions is that the minnows have "nothing to lose" and therefore they have the luxury of a pressure-free game.

This is not quite the case on Tuesday.. There has already been much debate and considerable opposition to the fact that the next World Cup will comprise 10 teams rather than 14. The associate sides feel locked out. The Netherlands coach, Peter Drinnen, has explained their position. "The gains of playing against full members are significant. It is so important that we keep getting those opportunities as that only enhances our development and increases our progress."

To justify playing in the World Cup, however, the matches have to be competitive. So far Kenya and Canada have been thrashed so decisively that the games have offered a dreadful spectacle, albeit a brief one in Chennai where New Zealand beat Kenya with 252 balls to spare. So, curiously, there is an unusual pressure on the Netherlands for this game: to fly the flag for the little teams.

An alternative view – and apparently a minority one, which happens to be mine – is that the World Cup, a tournament whose attractions have withered over the past decade, is so diminished by so many one-sided contests that its very existence is jeopardised. Cricket cannot afford many more of these mis-matches.

The Twenty20 World Cup is a more appropriate place for associate sides to play the big boys and that is what is planned. Moreover, an arrangement that required the full member countries to play a certain number of 50-over games against associates would be a much better way of giving the minnows experience.

Andrew Strauss, speaking at the out-of-town stadium, which is expected to be very sparsely populatedfor the match, stressed that his side will give the Netherlands "due attention and respect. We will take nothing for granted".

For these games the backroom analysts earn their corn. The England players will know a bit about Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex and Alexei Kervezee of Worcestershire; Tom Cooper has one-day experience – and success for South Australia. Peter Borren and Wesley Barresi have full time contracts with the Netherlands. Otherwise, the opposition are amateurs. Those analysts may not dwell too long on the fact that the Netherlands famously defeated England at Lord's in the first match of the World Twenty20 in 2009, an outcome that is much more likely the shorter the game.

Strauss was determinedly upbeat ahead of the game, despite the recent exertions of his team. "We are very excited. The World Cup is one of those events that capture the imagination, especially in India. And arriving in a new country is a good way of refreshing."

Strauss has a new opening partner in Kevin Pietersen. "We have been thinking about that idea for a while, especially in the subcontinent," he said. "He did not need any persuading to do it; in fact he was very keen."

Another key player for England over the next six weeks should be Graeme Swann, who arrived in India on Sunday after witnessing the birth of his first child, Wilfred. "He's a bit jetlagged – and elated – and like everyone else is available for selection," said Strauss.

England are eager for the penetration that Swann might bring to the middle overs on pitches around India and Bangladesh that are bound to favour spinners. It would be very surprising if Swann were not pitched into the team straightaway for two good reasons: he needs the practice and England need his flair.

Strauss has one dilemma when selecting his best team. He must choose between the doughty Michael Yardy and the flighty Ravi Bopara. It is an interesting choice, leaving aside the different attributes of the two. Does he go for the archetypal, gritty old pro, who is solidly dependable, or the more gifted, but more wayward Bopara? It should not make much difference against the Netherlands, but it might later in the tournament.

Australia v Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe pin hopes on spin

Australia v Zimbabwe, Group A, World Cup 2011, Ahmedabad

Zimbabwe's coach, Alan Butcher, thinks it's unlikely his team will beat the defending champions on Monday. The captain of Australia, Ricky Ponting, is not expecting a surprise loss. The bookmakers have Australia as almost unbackable favourites. But somewhere in the back of the minds of this Zimbabwe group is a sliver of hope, the knowledge that upsets can happen.

And that if their three spinners can make use of an Ahmedabad pitch that could provide assistance, it might be just enough to bring Australia back down to a more even footing. Of course, everything must go right for Zimbabwe, who have not beaten Australia in an ODI since their shock win at the 1983 World Cup. Everything would also need to go wrong for Australia, who have not lost a World Cup match since 1999, back in the era of Steve Waugh and Alistair Campbell.

"The longer a winning run goes, the closer it must be to coming to an end," Butcher said on Sunday. "It may not be us that ends it but someone has got to. All we've done is tried to prepare as well as we can, on the basis that if we play as well as we can in six matches during this World Cup, we can't do any more than that. If on the way one or two of the big sides have a bad day and slip up, hopefully we will take advantage of that.

"If we play confidently, play our best cricket and Australia don't, then we may have a chance. Let's be honest, if both sides play their best cricket, it's very likely that we'll lose."

Butcher is nothing if not a realist. But the Zimbabweans have kept an eye on Australia's performance during the warm-up matches, when they struggled against top-quality spin. Ray Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer are not quite the same as Harbhajan Singh, but spin is the strength of Zimbabwe and Australia will need to force the pace for much of their innings.

It's nearly seven years since the teams have met in a one-day international, although the Australians will remember with frustration being upset by Zimbabwe at the 2007 World Twenty20. In the past year, Zimbabwe have had ODI wins against India, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh, so they know how to beat good teams, but Ponting is confident his side will have their measure.

"We had a good team meeting last night and talked about all their players, individually, and went through batters and bowlers," Ponting said. "They've got a lot of spin options, even a couple of part-time spinners and a quality left-arm offspinner and a legspinner as well, that I wouldn't be surprised if they play.

"We've had a good look at them. We know what their strengths and weaknesses are. We've also seen their record, and their record is not that strong either, and that's against some of the smaller nations. We'd expect to play well tomorrow and hopefully get the tournament off on the right note."

And after powerful performances from India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka against weaker sides in the opening matches of the tournament, it seems likely Australia will continue the trend. Zimbabwe's most ardent fans might say that it means a surprise is due.

New Zealand Complete World Cup Rout Of Kenya

New Zealand opened their Cricket World Cup campaign by routing Kenya to pick up a one-sided ten-wicket victory in their Group A game in Chennai.

After Kenya were dismissed for a paltry 69 in 23.5 overs, New Zealand raced to 72 without loss in just eight overs to get their campaign off to a winning start.

Kenya won the toss but were quickly in trouble, losing Alex Obanda for six, although they managed to reach 40 before New Zealand's bowlers precipitated a huge collapse.

Hamish Bennett returned four for 16 by dismissing Seren Waters (16), Collins Obuya (14), Steve Tikolo (2) and Morris Ouma (1) to leave Kenya at 49 for five.

Jacob Oram then played his part, removing Jimmy Kamande and Thomas Odoyo - both for two - and after Tim Southee bowled Nehamiah Odhiambo and had James Ngoche trapped in front, both men failing to score, Oram completed figures of three for two when he had Elijah Otieno caught by Scott Styris for a duck.

Southee returned three for 13 from six overs and New Zealand were barely challenged during their run chase, scoring at nine runs per over as they finished off the job swiftly.

Martin Guptill was unbeaten on 39 in 32 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes while opening partner Brendon McCullum made 26 not out in 17 balls.

Kenya's next match is against Pakistan on 23rd February while New Zealand are next in action when they play Australia on 25th February.

Cricket World Cup 2011: Sri Lanka vs. Canada Live!

Sri Lanka vs. Canada Live: 1996 champions Sri Lanka host minnows Canada at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota for the third match of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. The newly built arena is a venue that both sides know nothing about because no one has ever played on it.

The Lions are one of the favorites to win the World Cup, but skipper Kumar Sangakkara vowed not to take the Canadians lightly. Sangakkara said: “I am sure all of them (the smaller teams) are capable of doing something special when the occasion comes. You have to be very wary of these sides and make sure you play your best when you play them.”

And according to specialist batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who will be playing in his fourth and probably his last World Cup, it would be a “big disappointment” if Sri Lanka fails to win the competition.

This will be only the second time these teams are meeting in the One Day International format. In the 2003 World Cup, the North Americans were shot out for 36. It was the shortest match played in World Cup history lasting just 23.2 overs in total with Sri Lanka winning with nine wickets in hand inside five overs.

However, the entire cricketing infrastructure in Canada has improved since then. The North Americans, who had to win a playoff against Afghanistan to reach this tournament, had a pretty decent performance against England in their second warm-up match after beating the Netherlands in their first game by four wickets.

England, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India are the toughest teams. But we think Pakistan is really the dark horse, a team that can change the outcome of this tournament.

UPDATE:  Sri Lanka defeated Canada by 210 runs. Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 50 runs for the Lions, while Rizwan Cheema led Canada’s reply with 37.

India Vs Bangladesh - Cricket World Cup 2011

The first match of World Cup Cricket 2011 is being played between India and Bangladesh. The teams belong to group B of world cup cricket teams.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first. Fielding decision was decided for taking benefit from dew while batting in headlights. Both Captains had admitted before the start of the match that the game was going to be affected due to dew in evening.

While batting first, Virendra Sehwag scored an impressive 175 runs on behalf of India. Virat Kohli was the other man to chase 3 figure of runs. Dhoni at the place of Suresh Raina chose Kohli; Kohli proved that Dhoni was correct in his decision. The Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar, lost his wicket while running with Sehwag. He made 28 runs. Gambhir scored 39 runs; Mohmudullah bowled him out. Sehwag scored 175 runs when Bangladeshi bowler bowled him out. At the end of their innings, India scored 370 runs against Bangladesh. Bangladeshi crowd could not greet their team due to the Indian domination of the match.

In reply to Indian inning, Bangladeshi bowlers took an impressive start. Sri Santh was the most expensive bowler up to the 5th over of Match. He gave 24 runs in fifth over of the Bangladeshi Inning. Bangladesh had crossed 50 run mark in first five overs of the game. Tamim Iqbal was the top scorer with a score of 70 runs. Shakib Al Hassan who scored 55 runs followed him.

How To WATCH The Cricket World Cup Online: Live Cricket Streaming

Now that we've got you all excited for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, we should probably tell you WHERE you can actually watch it.

If you're in America your options are a little limited, in that you need a satellite dish. DirectTV and Dish Network have "Cricket Ticket" packages that you can purchase for all your wicket needs. But you're not going to see it on ESPN or any other cable stations.

The rest of you will have to go online. Willow TV is the only official online broadcaster in the United States. They charge $129 for the entire Cup, but you can watch it live on any browser or mobile device.

If you're not quite ready to plunge into that, you can try to find one of many pirated streams. A simple Google search will bring up dozens, but don't pay for these, as they aren't entirely legit and will probably get shut down on a regular basis.

For more commentary, try these live blogs. (Here's an explanation of how scoring is displayed, if you're still confused.)

Failing that, you can try to find a British, Australian, Indian, Pakistani, or other South Asia-themed bar some where in your area and hope they have access to a Sky Sports or some other international channel. Hurry now and you can still catch the second-half ... sorry, second inning ... of India-Bangladesh!

Here's a list of cable and internet providers for all regions of the globe >

Here's a schedule of all the future matches  >

Sehwag Opens Cricket World Cup In Style

Picture Supplied by Action Images
Indian batsman Virender Sehwag took strike to the opening ball of the Cricket World Cup 2011 against Bangladesh, and promptly opened proceedings in style by hititng it to the boundary.

India had been put into bat by co-hosts Bangladesh but Sehwag overcame the run out of opening partner Sachin Tendulkar to register the tournament's first century, as well as hitting the tournament's first six.