Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss lead England to 144/2 (25 overs) in World Cup match against Ireland
England were given a blistering start against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 by openers Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. The Poms reached 144 for the loss of just two wickets in 25 overs in a pool B match of the ICC World Cup 2011. The match is being played at the M Chinnaswamy
Stadium in Bangalore, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
The wicket at Bangalore was conducive for batting, as there was no assistance for the bowlers in it. The ball was coming nicely onto the bat, and England took full advantage of the good conditions, after winning the toss and electing to bat first.
The move to start the innings with Pietersen has been working well for England, as the team has got 50 plus run starts on all three occasions they have come out to bat in this tournament.
The English captain Strauss, who turned 34 today, has been in terrific form in the tournament so far. He would have been looking forward to making the most of the opportunity today with the favourable batting conditions.
However, Strauss managed to score 34 runs off 37 balls before he was cleaned-up by teenager http://www.senore.com/Cricket/George-Dockrell-c59135. The left-handed opener attempted a wild shot, but the ball missed his bat and crashed into the stumps.
Pietersen didn’t miss out on his start today, as the stylish player brought up his first half-century of the tournament in quick time. He would have liked to get a big score today, but he was dismissed after scoring 59 runs from 50 balls.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 had lost two wickets for 111 runs, when the first-drop Jonathan Trott was joined by Ian Bell at the crease. The pair took their team’s total close to 150 half way through the innings.
Trott was unbeaten on 34 from 38 balls whereas; Bell was not-out on 13 off 25 balls. The pair will be looking forward to putting together a big partnership for their team, as there are plenty of hitters down the order, who can make the most of the platform
laid by the top-order batsmen.
After the fast bowlers had taken a pounding, the Irish spinners put a break on the run-rate by picking up a couple of wickets. Dockrell and Paul Stirling took one wicket each for their team and troubled the batsmen with their accurate bowling.
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