Pakistan hold nerve in low-scoring Match

Pakistan 134 for 5 (Umar Akmal 41*, Tonge 4-25) beat West Indies 133 (Miller 51, Aamer 3-24, Gul 3-28) by five wickets.

Pakistan tripped and stumbled and chased with the assurance of sleepwalkers, but ultimately a superior fast-bowling attack and depth in batting sealed them a low-scoring showdown. A fine bowling performance where wickets were shared all around ensured a woefully inexperienced West Indies were bowled out for an unthreatening 133 after they opted to bat. Pakistan's batting has floundered repeatedly this year and today they nearly lost it, bewildered by Gavin Tonge's four-wicket haul, before Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi added 58 to finish the deal. This match as a contest ended well before Pakistan could come out to bat. Floyd Reifer had spoken of the importance of this tournament for fans in the Caribbean, and vowed at the toss that his team would play "the best cricket possible". What followed was anything but, as a combination of accurate fast bowling and not-so-clever batting decided the direction of this match. Afridi, captaining Pakistan for the first time in ODIs, had said after losing the toss that he would have fielded first on a surface he reckoned had a bit in it for his bowlers. He was spot on, and Pakistan's trio of fast bowlers exploited whatever juice there was. There were no magic deliveries or exaggerated reverse swing, just good old line and length but that proved sufficient for an inept line-up. The professionals stuck to the basics: Mohammad Aamer found a bit of seam movement, Naved-ul-Hasan swung it gently and varied his pace, and Umar Gul hit the deck hard to apply the chokehold. At one point it looked as though the game would be finished before the lights came on. West Indies' woes started in the first over, when Dale Richards spooned a return catch to Aamer. Andre Fletcher found it wasn't easy slogging Naved and when he got one that wasn't full enough to stab at, he scooped to backward point. Aamer got Travis Dowlin for 0, trying to cut one that was too full. With the batsmen uneasy defending and playing off the back foot, Aamer settled for back of a length and beat the bat numerous times. Naved found movement when he pitched it up and the slips were kept interested. He hit a tidy line with the new ball and cleverly changed his pace, conceding just 12 off his first five overs. Gul took a few deliveries to find his length, and when he changed his angle to around the stumps he immediately had Devon Smith - the most experienced batsman - lobbing a sharp, rising delivery to second slip. West Indies went from deep trouble to catastrophe in a matter of minutes when Aamer changed ends after a break and ripped one through David Bernard, and Gul nipped out Reifer and Chadwick Walton off successive deliveries. Gul was the pick of the lot, finding a superb line and getting the ball to sit up sharply. Had it not been for some enthusiastic hitting from Nikita Miller, West Indies may have folded for their second lowest score ever. Miller, beginning shakily but gaining in confidence with three boundaries off Saeed Ajmal's second over, showed a technique and temperament that his batting team-mates so desperately lacked. He was last out for 51 off 57 balls as West Indies collapsed in 34.3 overs. A target of 134 was easily going to be in Pakistan's range, but they still managed to make it a tough chase. The openers, with ten overs to negotiate before the lunch break, took the frenzied approach and paid for it. Tonge set the tone for a very good evening by bowling Imran Nazir with a full ball in a wicket-maiden opening over, and then undid Kamran Akmal for seam and carry. Tonge understood the virtue of pitching the ball up, yet also got it to bite off the pitch on more than one occasion. He smacked Mohammad Yousuf in the ribs and should have had him on 1 but Darren Sammy erred at second slip. Tonge bowled a very consistent line, showing an aptitude to test the batsmen by pitching it up; Shoaib Malik was drawn into a fatal drive. Tonge's length was immaculate and Yousuf's was the only wicket he got off a shorter length. Otherwise his variation was generally full or on a good length. At 76 for 5, after Misbah-ul-Haq edged Bernard, the match could have swung either way. Umar's entrance brought some stability to the proceedings and with Afridi, calmed nerves and sealed victory. Umar displayed the virtues required to negate the pressure and turn the heat back on the fielders, backing himself to go over the top. Even a severe rap from a Tino Best beamer didn't deter young Umar from finishing the job. West Indies displayed remarkable fight, but were a few runs short as Pakistan crossed the finish line in the 31st over.

South Africa cruise to five-wicket victory

South Africa 217 for 5 (de Villiers 70*) beat New Zealand 214 (Taylor 72, Parnell 5-57) by five wickets.

South Africa, led by Roelof van der Merwe and Wayne Parnell with the ball and AB de Villiers with the bat, recovered from their opening-game loss to beat New Zealand in Centurion. New Zealand struggled to put up runs after being put in under slightly overcast conditions, with van der Merwe starring with ten cunning overs while Parnell claimed five wickets. Ross Taylor played a responsible innings that gave New Zealand stability after they were reduced to 92 for 3, but losing their last seven wickets for 51 was a crime. With this win, impossible without de Villiers' cool half-century, Group B is now wide open with England yet to play a match. The pitch was the same one used a couple of days ago when South Africa were mauled by Sri Lanka, but the result was very different. Early on it offered more pace and bounce than the track on which Tillakaratne Dilshan blazed away, but as the afternoon wore on stroke play became increasingly tougher, especially against the older ball. By the time New Zealand were midway into their innings, after Parnell took two early wickets, the spinners found appreciable bounce and the abrasive nature of the pitch made the ball grip the surface. van der Merwe and Johan Botha bowled with control and the effort was complemented by the attacking fields Graeme Smith set, which played a major role in suffocating the batsmen. Runs came at a trickle with New Zealand managing just 72 between the 15th and 35th overs. During that span, the spinners conceded just three boundaries. Taylor had a few close shaves against van der Merwe but overcame his nerves to play a substantial role. He was pleasing when cracking the ball in the arc between point and gully but more than those odd field perforations his contribution was valuable for the manner in which he shored up the pressure of seeing New Zealand through difficulty. Grant Elliott had his moments of indecision when balls from van der Merwe just about missed the edge of the bat, yet managed to pierce the wall of fielders with some excellent shots through cover. His dismissal for 39, bowled by a peach from van der Merwe, snapped a 71-run stand and allowed South Africa back spectacularly. The last five fell for 11 runs in 18 balls, with Parnell nipping out three in the batting Powerplay, and that decided the match. Taylor had carried the innings but the lack of sizeable partnerships hurt them: there were four stands of 30 or more, but none topped 71 as South Africa plugged away. The bowlers did a fine job, and the sharp turn the spinners achieved suggested that batting in the evening would be even more difficult. This is where de Villiers made the difference. Smith failed to get going, chipping Daryl Tuffey to mid-on, after which Jacques Kallis briefly put New Zealand on the back foot. Kallis biffed a 39-ball 36, batting as if the world was his stage, but his dismissal left de Villiers to shepherd the chase. Warning of de Villiers' intentions came early with two sumptuous drives down the ground off Daryl Tuffey. He didn't lag thereafter, embellishing his presence with lovely clips off the pads and excellent judgment of singles and doubles. Daniel Vettori got sharp bite and used his arm ball well, and it was with one that gently turned that he sent Hashim Amla on his way for 38 from 65 deliveries. Kyle Mills returned and was the beneficiary of a wicket as an attempted cut from JP Duminy went off the bottom edge and Brendon McCullum took a sharp catch. de Villiers refused to panic. He collected the singles, punished the loose balls, and didn't buckle under the pressure exerted by a tight spell from Vettori. Singles were vital to South Africa's progress yet sporadically, to give the fans something to purr about, de Villiers found the boundary. He brought up his 19th ODI fifty off 54 balls and Mark Boucher seemed set to seal the win with him until he lost his concentration in the 36th over. South Africa, though, already had the game wrapped up.

spirited England shock Sri Lanka

England 213 for 4 (Morgan 62*) beat Sri Lanka 212 (Kandamby 53, Mathews 52) by six wickets.

Sometimes you just have to get away from it all to find what you are really looking for. After embracing embarrassment throughout a lamentable one-day series against Australia, England's cricketers travelled 6000 miles south from Durham to Johannesburg, where to the astonishment of players, spectators and pundits alike, they atoned for their shortcomings by toppling the tournament pace-setters, Sri Lanka, in their opening match of the Champions Trophy. Dossier-compilers across the cricketing world will doubtless enquire exactly how England passed the time during their 11-hour long-haul flight on Monday, but if their performance stopped short of being sexy cricket, it did at least last rather longer than most of their recent efforts. An ecstatic new-ball onslaught from James Anderson and Graham Onions set England on course for victory as early as the sixth over of the match as Sri Lanka slumped to 17 for 4, and though Thilan Kandamby and Angelo Mathews responded manfully with a pair of well-paced half-centuries, Sri Lanka's eventual total of 212 was chased down with something approaching assurance, with 30 balls to spare. After the early loss of both openers, including the potentially devastating dismissal of Andrew Strauss for 9 via a stunning one-handed interception by Kandamby at midwicket, Paul Collingwood lifted England's intensity with a bullish 46 from 51 balls that included three leg-side sixes, before Eoin Morgan sealed the deal with his highest score in ODIs for England. In between whiles, Owais Shah put his recent jitters behind him with a calm and comfortable 44 that drew the sting of Sri Lanka's spinners, particularly the off-colour Muttiah Muralitharan, before Matt Prior partnered Morgan to the close with an aggressive unbeaten 28. It truly was an upset of the highest order, because the two teams could hardly have come together with their form and fortunes more polarised. In Sri Lanka's opening fixture at Centurion on Tuesday, they racked up the small matter of 319 for 8 as they routed the hosts and tournament favourites, South Africa, in a rain-curtailed contest. England, on the other hand, sloped belatedly into the country with their morale at their bootlaces and their form under a cloud, after the humiliations of their 6-1 trouncing by Australia. This time, however, being under a cloud suited England perfectly. On a green-tinged surface that might have been imported from Uxbridge in April, Strauss won his seventh toss in eight ODIs, and was delighted to unleash a seam-heavy attack in which Onions had been chosen in preference to Tim Bresnan, despite having played only one previous 50-over international. Sure enough, his faith was quickly repaid, as Onions extracted the out-of-form Sanath Jayasuriya with his fifth delivery, caught behind nibbling outside off for a second-ball duck. Four balls later, and Anderson extracted the prize scalp of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka's centurion against South Africa, who had been frustrated for 11 probing deliveries in which his only scoring shot was a prod down to third man. He fell to a scything slash to point off the fullest delivery of Anderson's spell, whereupon Mahela Jayawardene - who seemed to have decided to go down swinging from the outset - was pinned lbw for 9 as he attempted an over-ambitious flick across the line. Kumar Sangakkara endured a torrid mini-innings - he was struck amidships first-ball by a wicked inducker from Onions, but then chased a ball that might well have been called wide, had he not connected with his edge and flashed a high chance to Andrew Strauss at first slip. At 17 for 4 after 32 deliveries, Sri Lanka were staring at the sort of humiliation that West Indies (47 for 7) encountered on this same surface against Pakistan on Wednesday. But Anderson and Onions could not continue indefinitely, and the arrival of Stuart Broad loosened the shackles enough for Sri Lanka to wriggle free. From his second delivery, Samaraweera drove an indifferent length ball through the covers for four, before following up with a handsome slash through point for a second boundary, and before long, England had truly lost the plot. In total, they served up an unforgiveable 21 wides, as they searched for killer deliveries in a bid to skittle the Sri Lankans inside 30 overs, whereas the more patient approach adopted by the Sri Lankan batsmen would have been far more appropriate. Broad took a while to gauge the pace and length for the surface - often his biggest failing as a bowler seems to be his inexperience - while his indiscipline spread to Onions' bowling as well, who beat Samaraweera with a vicious bouncer that almost knocked the batsman off his feet, only to squander that surprise element by beating the life out of the middle of the wicket, instead of pitching it up and inviting the ball to swing. Samaraweera followed up two overs later with back-to-back fours off Onions, before guiding another Broad bouncer over the slips and away through third man.

But, just as England were beginning to strain for inspiration, Broad rediscovered a good length outside off, and Samaraweera's enterprising innings of 30 from 48 balls came to an end thanks to a sharp catch from Paul Collingwood in the gully. Collingwood then followed up with an eight-over spell of accurate cutters that didn't realise any wickets, but conceded just 24 runs in the process - almost half the rate at which Onions and Luke Wright were dispatched. It took a run-out for England to truly regain their control of the contest, as Kandamby set off for a second run from a push into the covers, only to find Mathews rooted to the crease at the striker's end. Two overs later, they claimed their second run-out ... but Strauss, with visions of Collingwood's vilification in a similar situation against New Zealand last summer, asked the umpires to reverse the decision. Mathews had turned Onions into the leg-side, and set off for an intended two, only to collide with Onions, who had tracked back towards the non-striker's stumps, and with no apparent intent in his actions, was standing right next to Mathews as he turned blind on completing his run. Mathews was visibly unimpressed with the decision, and gesticulated as such as he left the crease, but it wasn't until he was in the pavilion tunnel that Strauss called him back to the crease. Three balls and one run later, his generosity was repaid, as Mathews nibbled outside off, and edged Wright low to Prior behind the stumps. As he left the crease for the second time, he acknowledged Strauss's sportsmanship with a wave. Cricket was the winner, and several forests-worth of newsprint were spared. Muralitharan cashed in with an enterprising slogged 18 before he and Malinga had their stumps demolished in consecutive deliveries from Broad, but at the halfway mark, Sri Lanka appeared to have a more-than-competitive total on the board, especially when Kulasekera struck to remove Denly and Strauss inside his first four overs. But the dewy conditions did not play to Sri Lanka's strengths in the slightest. The same, however, could not be said for England, who have now stormed to the top of their group. Wonders truly will never cease.

Australia survive West Indies scare

Australia 275 for 8 (Ponting 79, Johnson 73*, Miller 2-24) beat West Indies 225 (Dowlin 55, Fletcher 54) by 50 runs.

On paper it looked like being a mismatch. On paper, it appears Australia had an easy 50-run victory. In reality there were several nervous periods for Ricky Ponting's men throughout a game they were expected to win comfortably. In the end, the target of 276, set up by strong batting from Ponting and Mitchell Johnson, was too big for a second-string West Indies outfit. But not by much. Ponting will demand more discipline from his bowlers against India and Pakistan after they lacked incision against a starless West Indies top order. West Indies showed plenty of fight, first through the middle overs with the ball and then through Andre Fletcher and Travis Dowlin with the bat. They were 124 for 1 during the 25th over and on a pitch that had dried out and lost some of the demons from earlier in the day, an upset could have been on the cards. Fletcher worked hard and showed uncharacteristic restraint to post his second half-century in one-day internationals. He was scratchy early but worked his way into the game, using his sheer strength to thump four fours and a six, before the chasm in experience - the 11 West Indies players entered the game with a combined 117 ODI caps compared to Australia's 927 - began to show. An outrageously poor piece of running cost Fletcher his wicket when he pushed Brett Lee to mid-off, took off slowly and rather than diving to try and make his ground, jumped in the air outside his crease as he wrongly anticipated Johnson's throw missing. The Australians saw Fletcher's carefree - or careless - attitude to crease management on his ODI debut last year, when he was run out strolling aimlessly out of his ground, and he clearly hasn't learnt his lesson. That was followed by an unfathomable decision to promote the wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton, fresh from his golden duck on debut against Pakistan, to No. 4 with Dale Richards injured and unable to bat. Walton improved - he made a second-ball duck to James Hopes this time - but his horrid attempted slog that was edged back onto the stumps when so fresh to the crease reeked of inexperience and panic. These things can happen with young players but West Indies needed everything to go their way to beat Australia and they quickly moved from a position of potential to a state of vulnerability. Dowlin (55), though trying admirably, just couldn't score his runs quickly enough and was caught top-edging Lee. Nor was there fast scoring from the captain Floyd Reifer, who at 37 appears to have reflexes just a fraction too slow for international cricket. Reifer's only experience against any Australian side came in 1990, when he played against a touring Australian youth team that featured the likes of Damien Fleming and Michael Bevan, and the current selector Jamie Cox. Against the speed of Lee and Johnson, he was unable to do much but defend and made 28 from 56 balls. He couldn't follow the earlier lead of Fletcher and Dowlin, who rotated the strike so well that until Fletcher's run-out they had managed 24 singles from the previous 33 balls. Two consecutive sixes from Darren Sammy off Johnson gave Australia another fright when the equation came in to 66 required from 50 balls, but when Sammy was caught on the boundary their momentum disappeared. It was a shame that West Indies' chase petered out like that, for they had provided a much greater contest than anyone anticipated. But the longer the format the more likely the best team will win; were it a Twenty20 contest anything could have happened. Australia began the match as almost unbackable favourites, fresh from a 6-1 win over England, and facing a team that is the cricket equivalent of an office full of temp workers. Less than a week after playing in Durham at the end of a four-month tour, this was effectively Australia's warm-up match for their next games against India and Pakistan. Things didn't begin well for Australia when they were sent in and Shane Watson was bowled by a cracking late inswinging yorker from Kemar Roach with the first ball of the match. A spicy Wanderers pitch added some heat to what could have been a lifeless encounter and Roach, Sammy and Gavin Tonge enjoyed hitting the cracks.

Several balls jagged sharply back or found extra bounce from a good length and one steep riser from Sammy surprised Ponting so much that he dropped the bat when the ball rapped him on the hands. It was more of a concern for Tim Paine (33), who stayed with Ponting for an 85-run second-wicket stand but was much less fluent than his captain. Ponting latched onto anything wide from the seamers and twice Roach went for 17 off an over, straying to leg too often. The West Indies fast men needed to do more early damage in the wickets column given the uncomfortable bounce, and it was left to the spinner Nikita Miller to peg things back. Australia had reached 148 for 3 in the 31st over when Miller turned one past Ponting, who was stumped by Walton, and Miller then spun one through Cameron White's defences to clip the off stump. A superb 10 overs from Miller earned him 2 for 24 without conceding a boundary, but when the fast men returned the danger for Australia eased. The key for Australia was Johnson's late unbeaten 73. His fierce, clean hitting brought back memories of his highly entertaining 96 in the Test against South Africa at the same venue this year, when he sent several Paul Harris deliveries into the stands. This time, he had the benefit of gaps in the outfield as Australia took the batting Powerplay from the start of the 45th over and added an incredible 69 in those five overs. Johnson cleared the boundary three times and finished with his highest ODI score as he and Lee posted a 70-run stand. It was enough to give Australia 275, thought not without their murmurs of worry. They experienced further palpitations during West Indies' innings before getting across the line. A sharper effort will be required against India and Pakistan.