Sri Lanka will be looking for the elusive test match and series win when they tour India for a Three Test, five ODI and Two T20 match series from November to December 2009. The team arrive in India on November 8th for the 55-day tour.
ENG v NZ, Twenty20, Old Trafford: England beats New Zealand by nine wickets
June 13, 2008
Ian Bell put a US$1 million Antigua payday in his sights Friday as he struck a half century to steer England to a nine-wicket victory Friday night in a one-off Twenty20 cricket international.
The England opener hit 60 not out off 46 balls in the lucrative format to consign the Kiwis to their seventh straight defeat and lowest total (123) in the shortened form of the game.
England, which won its Test series 2-0 last week, lost only one wicket and had 15 balls to spare before a capacity crowd of 17,000 at Old Trafford.
England's players were keen to impress, looking to earn spots on a team which will play an all-star West Indies team in a $20 million match, which was announced Wednesday.
There is just one more opportunity - against South Africa in August - before the Nov. 1 encounter funded by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.
England won both Twenty20 cricket internationals at New Zealand earlier in the year and the attack trio of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann claimed two wickets apiece to deny the tourists retribution.
England won the toss and the decision to bowl produced a wicket after just one run. Pace bowler Anderson used his first delivery to remove Jamie How, who edged into Owais Shah's hands at slip.
In the third over, wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose - making his limited-overs international debut - caught James Marshall for 13.
Ross Taylor scored an innings-high of 25 from 18 deliveries, including two fours and a six in four balls. But his partnership with Brendon McCullum was ended by England captain Paul Collingwood.
McMullum made another decisive breakthrough, bowling Luke Wright for 24 before spinner Swann's offstump delivery removed the bails of Peter Fulton for a second-ball duck.
Fulton had replaced allrounder Jacob Oram, who injured his left hamstring in the warm-up and is likely to miss Sunday's one-day meeting between the sides.
The tourists were reduced to 68 for five and the wickets continued to tumble.
Broad clipped Scott Styris's wicket, Daniel Flynn was stumped by Ambrose for 23, Kyle Mills (12) was caught by Ian Bell at mid-off and Michael Mason was run out for two off the last ball of the innings.
The Black Caps needed to chip away at England's wickets early on, but Bell began with a crowd-pleasing boundary and joined Wright for an opening stand of 48.
Pace bowler Michael Mason made the breakthrough in the fifth over, when Mark Gillespie caught Wright at long arm.
Kevin Pietersen went into bat with England requiring 76 from 87 balls and survived an immediate scare when he was dropped by Daniel Vettori.
But Pietersen and Bell cruised to victory with an unbroken 79-run stand.
ENG v NZ, Twenty20, Old Trafford: England 127 for 1 (17.3 overs) beat New Zealand 123 for 9 (20.0 overs) by 9 wickets
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
