Warming up to the World Cup !

Just before teams take a dash at the others in their group, there are a couple of warm-up matches scheduled for each one. Let's take a look at how the action unfolder on March 05, the first 'unofficial' day of the World Cup ...

West Indies vs Kenya
Result : West Indies won by 21 runs
Brief Scores :
WI : 268/6 (50 overs)
Chris Gayle 75, MN Samuels 100 ret., TM Odoyo 2-26
Kenya : 247/7 (50 overs)
RD Shah 41, CO Obuya 54*, DB Powell 2-23, CD Collymore 2-42

When WI and Kenya play one another, thoughts go back to the historical defeat that Kenya imparted on the WI in an earlier version of the World Cup. Would they have been able to do that again ? Difficult, since WI is a much better team now...

Bermuda vs England
Result : England thrashed Bermuda by 241 runs
Brief Scores :
ENG : 286/8 (50 overs)
IR Bell 46(55), K Pietersen 43(55), J Dalrymple 76(79), DC Borden 3-71
BER : 45 (22.2 overs)
DL Hemp 11, J Lewis 3-7, J Anderson 2-8, A Flintoff 2-3

Well played, England ! Just back from a 2-0 whitewash of the Aussies in the finals down under - They are one team which should be right UP there on confidence (regardless of whatever happened in the rest of the series). Pietersen is one of my personal favourites... He keeps the game alive ! (Even if that is only through his hairstyle) ;)

Ireland vs South Africa
Result : SA won by 35 runs
Brief Scores :
SA : 192 (50 overs)
AJ Hall 67(98), RJ Peterson 29(66), DT Johnston 4-40, D Langford-Smith 3-30
IRE : 157 (44.2 overs)
WTS Porterfield 37, AC Botha 40, CK Langeveldt 4-31, AJ Hall 3-26

Ireland almost had the reigning World Champions choking yet again !! SA, batting first, collapsed to 91-8, but thanks to a splendid knock by Andrew Hall, they managed to reach a respectable total. As Ireland went out to bat, their confidence would have been high up, which they took even higher when they reached 139-4. However, Langeveldt and Hall struck gold, and made sure that SA rule the roost !! Ireland then lost the next 6 wickets for a meagre 18 runs... But they made sure that they are a team to watch out for !

Scotland vs Sri Lanka
Result : SL won by 169 runs
Brief Scores :
SL : 294/7 (50 overs)
ST Jayasuriya 77(62), WU Tharanga 70 (114), KC Sangakkara 81(87), JAR Blain 2-51
SCO : 135 (41.2 overs)
GM Hamilton 25(51), TM Dilshan 2-8, ST Jayasuriya 2-19

Pretty much a one-sided match, with SL clearly ruling over Scotland. SL is slated to be one of the favourites for this WC - A lot of expert panel discussions have led to this opinion... Let's see how they gear up in their other warm-up match, and in the matches to follow (The most interesting proposition for SL is that India is in the same group as them... And since India are the other favourites for the WC, the IND-SL encounter will be something to watch out for !!!)