Du Plessis backs batting combination

Crowe: Duminy excellent under pressure

So this is how South Africa want their T20 line-up to work. Start slowly, build calmly and then have a full go at the end, like they did today against New Zealand.

That is the reason they insist on keeping Hashim Amla, who is too often labeled 'not a T20 player,' at the top of the order, and why they do not want to promote AB de Villiers into it. They see Amla as having the right measure of conservatism and class to kick things off and de Villiers, along with David Miler and Albie Morkel, as having the creativity to close things off.

When it works, even when not exactly according to plan, it results in totals like today which South Africa will back themselves to defend. Despite the squeaky-bum ending, the score would have left most teams comfortable and was a nod to what South Africa are aiming for with the combinations they have in operation now.

South Africa have divided the innings up into segments, starting with the powerplay. Faf Du Plessis said in Chittagong they've decided "45 seems to be the par score so I wanted to get close to that and not more than two wickets down." South Africa were 42 for 3 in the first six overs, a little short and an extra man down but they were there and thereabouts, especially because the man they want to survive the opening exchanges, Amla, was still there.

"Hashim's role is to bat with someone. If someone else on the other side keeps scoring boundaries, Hashim can be the structure and the solidness through the batting line-up," du Plessis explained. "If we look at our top five, it's made up of guys who, apart from Hashim, naturally play aggressively so he fits into that game plan. It's his role to manoeuvre the rest of the innings."

Amla is not required to go at a strike rate of much more than 100, which is where he hovered throughout his innings today. He is not required to take risks either which is what has earned him so much criticism from those feel he is not fit for this format. It's worth remembering Amla occupied the top spot on the ODI batting rankings not long ago and du Plessis is confident Amla can change tack if he needs to. "If there is a day where those guys don't score runs then Hashim knows that he has to play a little bit quicker."

Today was not that day because JP Duminy was on the other end, timing the ball and finding the boundary. All Amla had to do was "stay with JP for a period of time to make sure that our hitters at the back didn't come in when there were too many balls left." In other words, Amla has to keep things going for as long as possible in the second-third of the innings because only after that, should the rest be needed.

South Africa do not subscribe to the theory that the most destructive hitters need to face the most balls. They don't want de Villiers, Miller and Morkel batting when the majority of overs are still to be bowled. Perhaps that is because, as Miller and Morkel showed, they are only up for a quick boom-boom before the bust. Perhaps they only do that because they don't have any time to settle but the chicken-egg debate is not one South Africa are aiming to solve.

They've decided what comes first and it's not the men they have labeled finishers. "We need to make sure we have Miller and Morkel coming in towards the end of the innings not when they have to still worry about rotating the strike but where they can just play their natural game," du Plessis said.

The big-hitters don't always come off but they have the best chance to if Amla and then Duminy allow them the freedom to, as they did today "JP controlled the innings beautifully. He took risks when it was needed and made sure the strike was rotated," du Plessis said. "As a blueprint of a T20 innings, that's one of the better ones you will see."

It was textbook because Duminy was circumspect to start and upped his tempo later without getting carried away. "In a perfect world, you always want that freedom to express yourself but with freedom comes a little bit of responsibility," Duminy said. "We are finding the right mix. If we can perfect that, we stand a good chance of producing results in these kinds of tournaments."

Duminy has found the balance and it resulted in two top-scores for the team in two matches. More importantly for him, it gave South Africa's bowlers something to work with, which is what the batsmen are there for, after all. "I'm glad that it gave us a chance to defend because at one stage we didn't think we'd get to 170," Duminy said. "I'm pretty happy with the innings but if Dale and the rest of the bowlers didn't produce something it wouldn't have meant anything." That it did will give South Africa confidence what they are doing with their batting line-up could work.

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Bowlers, Paliwal take North Zone into final

North Zone 265 for 7 (Paliwal 107*, Gurkeerat 77, Vinay Kumar 3-57) beat South Zone 165 (Nair 51*, Harbhajan 3-35, Rasool 3-15) by 100 runs
Scorecard

An unbeaten century from Rajat Paliwal and a strong bowling performance led by Harbhajan Singh and Parvez Rasool helped North Zone march into the final of the Deodhar Trophy with a 100-run win over South Zone.

Put in to bat, North Zone lost Gautam Gambhir early and were struggling at 63 for 4, before Paliwal and Gurkeerat Singh Mann added a 151-run stand to set the base for a challenging score. After Gurkeerat was out for 77, Paliwal stepped up the run-scoring, reaching his third List A hundred to propel North Zone to 265 for 7.

In reply, B Aparajith and Robin Uthappa gave South Zone a safe, sedate start, adding 72 for the first wicket. However, Rishi Dhawan and Ishant Sharma combined to dismiss the South Zone top order, as Aparajith, Uthappa and KL Rahul fell within three overs. The middle order, too, failed to push the chase along as Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey were out cheaply, falling to the spin pair of Harbhajan and Rasool. That left Karun Nair with a tough target and the tail-end, and the batsman responded with a fighting fifty off 57 balls, including two sixes. His innings, however, was too late in the day for South Zone, who were out for 165 in the 37th over.

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Patchy India lose to Sri Lanka by 22 runs

Sri Lanka Women 128 for 8 (Atapattu 43, Yadav 2-20) beat India Women 106 for 9 (Pandey 22, Prabodhani 2-9) by 22 runs
Scorecard

A poor batting performance from India Women saw them lose their opening game of the World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka Women by 22 runs, after their bowlers did well to restrict the opposition to 128.

India lost Smriti Mandhana in the second over and were always struggling for impetus in their innings. Like Sri Lanka, only three of their top six batsmen managed to score at more than a run-a-ball but the difference between the sides was that India's run-scoring in the latter stages of their innings slumped due to wickets. Mithali Raj did not have a great start in her new role at the top of the order, scoring 16 off 23 balls. Jhulan Goswami promoted to No 4 also failed to add any momentum to the innings and by the halfway stage, India were 57 for 3 with the required run rate over 7.

Sri Lanka struck in successive overs between the 16th and 19th, putting an end to any hopes India had of a late flourish. Udeshika Prabodhani was the pick of the bowlers with miserly figures of 2 for 9 in her four overs.

Earlier, India's bowlers did well to stifle partnerships as Sri Lanka were restricted to 128. The most substantial stands of their innings were 29 and 31 for the third and fourth wickets respectively and opener Chamari Atapattu was involved in both. Her 44-ball 43 anchored the early part of Sri Lanka's innings and the side was given a push at the end by Eshani Lokusuriyage, who hit 34 off 29 balls.

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South Africa openers set up thumping win

South Africa Women 163 for 0 (van Niekerk 90*, Lee 67*) beat Pakistan Women 119 for 9 (Dar 32, Abidi 28, Kapp 3-16) by 44 runs
Scorecard

South Africa Women's openers Dane van Niekerk and Lizelle Lee shared an unbroken 163-run opening stand, setting Pakistan Women a target that eventually proved well out of their reach.

Pakistan Women failed to strike even once after putting South Africa in to bat as Lee and van Niekerk put behind a quiet opening to push up the scoring rate in the second half of the innings. Lee was unbeaten on 67 off 55 balls with eight fours and a six, while her partner van Niekerk ended on 90 off 66 balls with 13 fours and a six.

In reply, a 48-run partnership for the third wicket between Nain Abidi and Nida Dar rallied Pakistan's innings after two early setbacks. Both batsmen were dismissed in successive overs, however, and their wickets allowed South Africa to stifle the scoring, effectively denying Pakistan any impetus. Marizanne Kapp took 3 for 16 and was well aided by fellow fast bowler Shabnim Ismail (2-20) and legspinner Suné Luus (2-18).

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West Indies shackled by swing and spin

West Indies have often started slowly before, but this time their big-hitters weren't allowed to open out when the innings prospered

In Twenty20 cricket, West Indies are often known to start slowly with the bat and look to preserve wickets, banking on their big hitters to make up with rapid scoring later in the innings. Against India, their openers began slowly yet again, but this time it might not have been entirely out of choice. India bowled beautifully with the new ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in particular, swung the ball both ways and will wonder how he ended up with no wickets.

Against this sort of bowling, the openers struggled to put bat to ball. Bhuvneshwar had Dwayne Smith tied down for 15 deliveries, conceding just one run. Chris Gayle faced three deliveries from the medium-pacer, taking just a single. That is 18 deliveries within the Powerplay that brought West Indies three runs, which included a wide.

Having just watched impressive young batsmen like Umar Akmal and Glenn Maxwell enliven the Sunday afternoon, the Mirpur crowd had been waiting to see how Gayle and Smith, established T20 stars, would go about attacking the Indian bowlers. Instead, they got to see a struggle.

West Indies' run rate didn't go up by all that much even after Bhuvneshwar went out of the attack. It didn't help them that Gayle was run out just when he was starting to warm up, having hit Mohammed Shami and Amit Mishra for sixes over wide-ish long on.

But those two blows were all West Indies could muster, and you sensed that previous successes with a go-slow strategy at the start may have been at the back of the batsmen's minds. There was no attempt to go after the Indian bowlers, and even Suresh Raina managed to get through two quiet overs.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy gave credit to Bhuvneshwar for bowling 16 dot balls in the Powerplay overs. He did say, though, that West Indies would need to play the spinners with much more authority.

"I think credit must go to the opening bowler," Sammy said. "Kumar swung the ball both ways and bowled in good areas. He kept two of the most dangerous batsmen in world cricket quiet. There is no need to panic for us, it is just one wrong.

"We have three more games left, and we back ourselves to win them. I think we just didn't respond well enough to their spinners. We have a strong feeling that we will meet again, and we are looking forward to that."

India wouldn't have dreamt up a start like this but Suresh Raina did say in the pre-match press conference that West Indies bank more on hitting sixes rather than rotating the strike. This probably is an off-shoot of their usual strategy to start slowly and look for big hits in the later overs. This happened in the 2012 World T20 as well, both in the semi-final against Australia and the final against Sri Lanka.

In the semi-final, Gayle exploded after starting slowly in the first 10 overs while in the final, Marlon Samuels played one of the greatest innings in this format to bail them out. On both occasions, one batsman made it big while others contributed with rapid runs in the end overs.

That didn't happen today. They lost too many wickets in the middle overs, so they never got any momentum going. Their start, thanks to Bhuvneshwar, was even slower than it normally would have been.

Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine hit three sixes in the last over while Andre Russell hit one in the 18th over. West Indies' average RPO in the first six overs is 6.95, but it was exactly 4.00 in this game. They came close to matching their average RPO of the last five overs in this game, but fell short of a competitive total.

What all of this showed was wickets in hand usually helps for a final push. Today West Indies neither had wickets, nor the runs at the start.

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Panesar begins season with five

Durham 248 (Jennings 64, Panesar 5-63, Hogg 4-35) v MCC
Scorecard

Monty Panesar begins the new season with more questions to answer over his future but he opened a new campaign with another reminder that on the field is his most comfortable environment.

His five wickets ensured the MCC enjoyed the first day of the new season - another pink ball day-night affair in the middle east. Panesar removed three of the top six as county champions Durham posted a moderate total having won the toss.

They were propped up by Keaton Jennings and Scott Borthwick who both made half-centuries. While they were together, Durham were comfortable at 87 for 1 but Borthwick's dismissal to Panesar for 50 ended the only meaningful partnership of the day.

Borthwick, restored to the top order after playing as a legspinning lower-order batsman for both England and England Lions over the winter played a feast-or-famine innings of 11 boundaries. His partner was more circumspect taking 177 balls for his top-score of 64.

But bother batsman fell to Panesar who went on to dismiss Gordon Muchall and Paul Coughlin cheaply. When last man Chris Rushworth was caught behind for a dashing 29, Panesar completed his five-for.

Ollie Rayner also enjoyed conditions with 10 overs that conceded only 18 runs but it was quick bowler Kyle Hogg who also got among the wickets with four scalps.

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Mishra, Kumar head bowlers improvement

As always, it was the most criticised component coming into the tournament. And not as always, India's bowling has clicked so well in their first two World T20 matches, they have even been able to let a misfiring batsman get some practice in the middle.

As surprises go, it could not have come more pleasantly for the Indians. Three of the frontline bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra and R Ashwin, have gone at less than a run a ball against two dangerous opponents in Pakistan and West Indies.

The conditions have been a huge help to the spinners, of course. But they have also stuck to their strengths - Ashwin using his carrom balls and bowling largely fuller lengths and tight lines, barring overdoing it into the pads at times.

Mishra has been a revelation. When you use so much flight in a T20, you often get carted for six, but Mishra has used it the old-fashioned way - to get wickets. There has been turn available, but Mishra has made the most of it by fooling batsmen in the air.

About an hour earlier, even Saeed Ajmal was finding it hard against Australia and Glenn Maxwell and before that, Pakistan had roughed up Brad Hogg. What were the Indian slow bowlers doing differently? Darren Sammy said they had been able to, and also been allowed to, settle down enough to bowl what they wanted to.

"They bowl wicket to wicket," Sammy said. "Normally if you let a spinner settle he will get his line and length and pace and variation at which he wants to bowl. In both games they have settled into a nice rhythm. They controlled the pace of the innings from there."

That they did so against a side that boasted explosive batsmen of the calibre of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels was what pleased MS Dhoni.

"I am really happy to see how the spinners are bowling," Dhoni said. "Yes, there is a bit of help for them but at the same time you have to execute your plans well, especially in this format. You have got some of the big hitters in the opposition that you will have to carefully plan for and innovate at times. So I was really happy that our spinners so far, along with the part-timers and the fast bowlers, have done really well."

With the limelight on the spinners, Bhuvneshwar has quietly gone about his job at the start of the innings. For a while now, the swing had more or less gone missing for him, and Bhuvneshwar without much movement in the air is not even half the bowler with it. But he has been making it dart around in Dhaka and the way he toyed with Dwayne Smith is not a sight one usually sees in T20s, where batsmen usually fall on their own because they play too many shots. In this case, to put bat to ball against Bhuvneshwar was proving difficult for Smith, as he took several away before bringing the odd one back in. A spell of 3-0-3-0 in a T20 is pure gold for a captain.

Sammy praised Bhuvneshwar when asked about West Indies' crawl of a start. "I think credit must go to the opening bowlers," Sammy said. "Kumar swung the ball both in and out and he bowled good areas. We know they were bowling to the two most dangerous openers in this format of the game. They kept them quiet."

Bhuvneshwar was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket, because he seemed to be on the verge of breaking through almost every ball. His role is to make good use of the new ball, Dhoni said, and that is exactly what he did, bowling some big away swingers.

"Make sure he does not give too many loose deliveries," Dhoni said. "The batsmen have to go after him to play the big shot. That will be like a winner for him and today there was a bit of help and he made sure he was bowling in the right areas. That is how he will contribute throughout. Especially in this game I thought he bowled brilliantly. His length was very crucial and he was able to swing the ball."

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Kusal salvo hides seniors' foibles

Sri Lanka's august senior batsmen made 23 collectively, but a 23-year-old's belligerence ensured his team triumphed nonetheless

When a team has three players of the calibre of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan approaching the twilight of their careers, there are bound to be fears about the future. That august trio have nearly 4000 T20I runs between them; against South Africa they made 14, 9 and 0 respectively. That those failures did not extinguish Sri Lanka's chances of victory was largely down to a 23-year-old named Kusal Perera.

If you have heard Kusal's name mentioned without that of Sanath Jayasuriya in close proximity you probably weren't listening hard enough. With his low, southpaw stance and flashing blade, particularly in a wristy ability to clip the ball off his pads, Kusal has an uncanny likeness for the man who is now Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors. Jayasuriya built his reputation with a series of dashing assaults as opener during the 1996 World Cup and Sri Lanka will believe that Kusal can have a similar catalytic effect at this tournament.

T20 continues to push back the limits of the possible in cricket, as anyone who has seen the scorecard from Friday's afternoon match in Sylhet - let alone the shots played by Netherlands' batsmen - would know. This was a more sedate affair, despite the tension at the end, but still it showed how the world has changed, from Kusal's early assault to Albie Morkel's brief dalliance with seeing South Africa home.

Coming into this match, after 11 innings, Perera's T20 strike rate was a touch under 130 - coincidentally, almost the same as Jayasuriya's when he retired (eventually) in 2011. Jayasuriya may have been ahead of his time as a batsman, but that does not mean time won't eventually catch up. Of players to face 500 balls in T20 internationals (Jayasuriya faced 487 despite being indelibly linked to the expansion of one-day cricket a decade or so before) 14 currently score at above 130 per 100 balls, led by Yuvraj Singh at 152.72. Kusal seems likely to join them.

The beefy silhouettes of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Aaron Finch tower over the World T20 but power comes in different guises. Kusal and, during South Africa's innings, Quinton de Kock showed that you've got to look out for the little guys as well.

The opening over of the match contained most of the ingredients used to spruik the tournament as a non-stop feast for the senses. Dale Steyn, a man who has razed small towns with a 145kph swinging ball, was slapped for two fours and a six - flicked over deep midwicket from outside off - by Kusal, three impudent blows that mocked the senior man.

Steyn bowled wides on both sides, perhaps a little peeved at being buttonholed like this so early on, having only passed a fitness test on the morning of the game. Then Kusal took a single. Dilshan, also coming back from recent injury, is perhaps at the age where he hopes for a little time to limber up before he gets going. Instead he got ripper that clattered through him and into the top of off. Zing went the bails - they really do look good from the stands - and Steyn's figures read 1-0-17-1 (2w)

	"I think he's got a bright future ahead. For many years to come he'll be a dangerous player to bowl to" AB de Villiers on Kusal Perera

While South Africa worked out what to do with Kusal, they attempted to mitigate the damage he was causing by keeping him off strike. Having faced 16 of the first 24 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, he was given only 24 of the next 57. Steyn came back - Steyn always comes back - and tested him against the short ball, a top edge landing safely between the bowler and mid-on. Irman Tahir worked further on his patience by pushing his top-spin through wider and Kusal succumbed.

"I think he's got a bright future ahead. I'm not sure how old he is, but for many years to come he'll be a dangerous player to bowl to," South Africa's stand-in captain, AB de Villiers, said afterwards. "I thought he played really well, put us under pressure from the word go, probably caught Dale by surprise with the first couple of balls, going after him. I don't think Dale expected that but he recovered really well after."

The short ball had hinted at a vulnerability and Sri Lanka reported afterwards that Kusal had suffered a blow to the head which required hospital treatment for concussion. But, just as he did last month during a T20 against Bangladesh on the same ground, Kusal had laid the platform for victory. Sri Lanka have played plenty of cricket in this country over the last few weeks and navigated their way around the terrain a little better than South Africa.

Spin proved a little more influential than had been expected, with Sachithra Senanayake and Tahir the most successful bowlers, as pace on the ball merely seemed to help it off the bat. Sri Lanka's seamers, having been able to size up the pitch from the dressing room, shortened their lengths accordingly - with the exception of Lasith Malinga who dealt with another punkish assault from de Kock with a low-slung yorker and proved himself just too difficult to put away until the final ball, with the match already won.

Ahead of the game, Sri Lanka's captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was under orders not to talk about the impending retirements of Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Afterwards, thanks to Kusal, nobody was.

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'We lost momentum at the death' - de Villiers

'Conceded 15 runs too many' - de Villiers

With five overs to go in their opening match at the World T20, South Africa were 115 for 3, needing another 51 runs to win. At the same stage of their innings, Sri Lanka had been 117 for 4. That South Africa failed to get over the line owed something to Sri Lanka's wicket-taking ability and something to a familiar failing of nerve by the chasing side.

Sachithra Senanayake had delivered a tight spell and he capped it by having the set batsman, JP Duminy, caught on the boundary in the 16th over. The lurking threat of Lasith Malinga, who still had two overs to bowl, was perhaps the reason that Albie Morkel tried - and failed - to hit a third consecutive six over long-on against Ajantha Mendis in the 17th. Although the required rate continued to hover around ten an over, South Africa were now five down and the incoming batsman would find he had been left with too much to do.

AB de Villiers, captaining the side in place of the injured Faf du Plessis, said that the plan had been to make sure that no more than eight runs were required off the final over, knowing that Malinga would bowl it. They were left needing 15 and Imran Tahir's six off the last ball perhaps made the result seem closer than it had been.

"There were two areas where we lost the game," de Villiers said. "They certainly got 15 too many, we were very poor in the field. They ran twos on way too many occasions. Too many extras and we've been guilty of that in the past, so something we have to work on and have to get right if we're going to do well in this tournament.

"Then we lost wickets at bad times, I got out at a bad time. When it gets close like that and it's a crunch game, you lose wickets at the wrong time and you lose the game. We lost our momentum towards the end, we needed to get it down to no more than eight off Malinga's last over because he's a really good death bowler, we couldn't do that. Unfortunately we were just not good enough on the day, I thought we were nowhere near 100 percent and that's the disappointing part. I don't mind losing games if we play at 100 percent but we just weren't good enough today."

South Africa have been reluctant to move de Villiers up the order, despite calls for him to be given more time to affect the course of matches, but the dismissal of Quinton de Kock, a left-hander, meant JP Duminy was preferred. De Villiers reiterated the view that his skills were more required in the middle overs.

"With Sri Lanka's spinners, we felt it was important to keep that right-left combination at the crease, so when Quinton de Kock got out we thought it was the best option for us to send JP in, to keep them guessing," de Villiers said. "That's why if Hash got out, I would have gone in, just to keep them on their toes. But we feel it's important with the good spinners."

As it transpired, Amla struggled for fluency and after eight overs South Africa were 47 for 1, with the pressure beginning to rise. Duminy tucked into Thisara Perera and Mendis to help add 28 more by the halfway stage and, with de Villiers alongside him, South Africa appeared to be edging back into the contest, only for both to fall trying to force the pace. De Villiers said going after Mendis had been premeditated but his dismissal of Albie effectively ended the chase.

"It was touch and go. It could have been a six but that's the game, that's the nature of Twenty20 cricket again," de Villiers said. "One inch further and it's a six, that's how it goes. He didn't hit it in the middle - I think it comes down to execution. I think he knows he probably could have hit it better. That's how it goes sometimes, you can't blame one player. I thought we batted quite well for most of the night and unfortunately got out with that fifty-fifty chance going to hand and not over the boundary."

Losing to Sri Lanka, ranked the No. 1 side in the format, need not be terminal for South Africa's semi-final chances and they can take some encouragement from a narrow defeat. Dale Steyn recovered from his first over being hit for 17 to bowl with familiar precision and hostility on his return from injury, while de Kock and Duminy hinted at what the batting may be able to produce. Sri Lanka had raced out of the blocks thanks to Kusal Perera's sparkling innings but de Villiers said Imran Tahir "turned the game around for us" with his 3 for 26.

De Villiers was also hopeful that Faf du Plessis would return to take charge of South Africa's second game, against New Zealand on Monday.

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