Published: Nov 12, 2015, 06:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 31, 2016, 04:23 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of the second of the three-match Twenty20 (T20) series between Sachin’s Blasters and Warne’s Warriors of the Cricket All-Stars League 2015 at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. Following a huge start to the campaign and the series with the opening game at the Citi Field in New York on Saturday, the focus and gear shgifts to it’s next destination in Houston as the city is all set to witness it’s first ever cricket game. The Warriors made it a game up at New York, beating the Blasters convincingly and in a friendly manner.
Man of the Match: Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 205/8 in 20 Overs: Batting: Graeme Swann 22(8), Muttiah Muralitharan 8(3): SIX! Pollock completes his fifty with a massive six off Symonds, smashing a yorker-length delivery over long-off! Brings up his half-century in just 21 balls! OUT! Pollock’s brilliant cameo finally comes to an end! Attempt another big hit, but doesn’t get enough bat on it to get caught by Matthew Hayden at long-on! FOUR! Symonds bowls a bouncer to an unsuspecting Akhtar (who isn’t wearing a helmet right now), as the ball dodges the wicketkeeper’s gloves to run away towards the long-stop boundary for a four! OUT Symonds gets his fourth wicket off the innings when Akhtar miscues a ball towards extra-cover, where Kallis holds on to an easy catch! Murali arrives at the crease, and gets a double off his first ball before smashing the final ball for a massive six over long-on! Warne’s Warriors win by 57 runs, and clinch the three-match series 2-0! OUT! Shaun Pollock c Matthew Hayden b Andrew Symonds 55(22), Shoaib Akhtar c Jacques Kallis b Andrew Symonds 0(1)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 186/6 in 19 Overs: Batting: Shaun Pollock 49(20), Graeme Swann 22(8): Couple of singles to start the over with, before Pollock smashes the Sultan of Swing for a six over long-on! Not even the master has been spared by Polly! SIX! Consecutive sixes for Pollock! Can he get to his fifty now? Picks a good-length delivery and flicks it towards backward square-leg! SIX! That’s three in a row! Picks a half-volley beautifully to smash it over deep extra-cover to complete a hattrick of sixes! Meanwhile the partnership is worth 55 of 19! Single to end the over, with 21 coming off it!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 165/6 in 18 Overs: Batting: Shaun Pollock 30(15), Graeme Swann 21(7): FOUR! The former SA pacer smashes the first ball for a boundary towards square-leg, before despatching the second ball for a massive six over midwicket! Pollock’s onslaught of Symonds continues! Who will have the last laugh between the two in the end? Meanwhile Polly seems to have some serious fitness issues to deal with at the moment. A four and a six by Swann in the last two deliveries for Symonds to concede 21 runs off his third over of the match! Not that it matter for the Warriors though!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 144/6 in 17 Overs: Batting: Shaun Pollock 19(11), Graeme Swann 11(5): Akram back into the attack now. After a single off the first ball and a dot off the second (courtesy some brilliant bowling), Swann manages to despatch the third ball over the extra-cover’s head for a one-bounce four! Seven runs off the over, with singles coming off the final two deliveries.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 137/6 in 16 Overs: Batting: Shaun Pollock 17(9), Graeme Swann 6(1): SIX! Polly smashes Symonds over backward sqauare-leg for a massive one! SIX! Polly on fire with the bat! Smashes the second ball over the cow corner (what would the Americans percieve about that term?) Single off the third ball to get Klusener back to strike, who needs to hammer now to atleast get his side close. OUT! Warne takes a superb catch at extra-cover after Klusener gets a top-edge off the fourth ball of the over. Should be an easy win from here onwards. Meanwhile, Swann arrives at the crease, and smashes the ball towards midwicket for a six off the final ball! 20 rus off the over, with a wicket! OUT! Lance Klusener c Shane Warne b Andrew Symonds 21 (18)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 117/5 in 15 Overs: Batting: Lance Klusener 21(17), Shaun Pollock 3(5): Agarkar back into the attack, with the match pretty much in the tight grasp of the Warriors at the moment. Klusener moves to the 20s with a boundary towards fine-leg off the last ball of the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 110/5 in 14 Overs: Batting: Lance Klusener 16(15), Shaun Pollock 1(1): Symonds into the attack now, with Lara getting a single off the first ball towards extra-cover. Klusener hits the following ball well towards long-on, where Rhodes stops the ball from crossing over the boundary for another single. BOWLED! A major dismissal, this time of Lara. Comes down the track, but misses the line of the yorker-length delivery completely for his leg-stump to get rattled! Fellow South African Shaun Pollock joins him at the crease right now. SIX! Klusener smashes the last ball for a massive six towards long-on! OUT! Brian Lara b Andrew Symonds 19(21)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 100/4 in 13 Overs: Batting: Brian Lara 18(19), Lance Klusener 9(11): SIX! Klusener gets into the act now, smashing Saqlain over square-leg in a well-timed shot for his first six of the innings! Just two singles off the remaining deliveries of the over however, as Saqlain concedes eight off the over. He still has brilliant figures of 3-1-12-2 however.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 92/4 in 12 Overs: Batting: Brian Lara 17(18), Lance Klusener 2(7): The Blasters have an air of defeat about them right now, with the brilliance of the spin duo of Saqlain and Warnie seems to have choked the life out of the chasing side at the moment. Just four off the 12th over.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 88/4 in 11 Overs: Batting: Brian Lara 15(15), Lance Klusener 0(4): Saqlain back in the attack now. OUT! Saqqi gets his second wicket of the day, this time trapping Mahela lbw after the latter attempts a sweep towards fine-leg! This time pitched between middle and leg, and would’ve crashed into the batsman’s leg-stump. Lance Klusener comes out to bat now! Wicket-maiden for Saqlain this over! OUT! Mahela Jayawardene lbw Saqlain Mushtaq 5(7)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 88/3 in 10 Overs: Batting: Brian Lara 15(15), Mahela Jayawardene 5(5): Sachin passes the baton over to Mahela now. Warne comes in to bowl his second over, and will look to extend the pressure after Sachin’s dismissal. Some confusion between the batsman in the running, with Lara surviving another close chance. Warne is giving nothing away at the moment, with only five runs coming off the 10th over! The run-rate is climbing with each passing delivery at the moment, as the Blasters need 175 runs from the last 10 overs at 17.5 RPO! Looks like the classic style of batting has to give way for some slogging at the moment! Maybe the Blasters need someone like Klusener!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 83/3 in 9 Overs: Batting: Brian Lara 13(11), Mahela Jayawardene 2(2): Saqlain into the attack now! First ball is a wide. OUT! Sachin’s innings finally comes to an end, much to the chagrin of a majority of the audience (barring the Pakistanis in the crowd of course)! The balls angles into the batsman, and deflects off his pad to crash into the stumps, much to the heart-break of the Master Blaster! Pitched along the middle and leg, the somewhat flatter delivery cramps Sachin for room. Saqqi appears to have invented a new delivery, which Sachin failed to pick. OUT! Sachin Tendulkar b Saqlain Mushtaq 33(20)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 79/2 in 8 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 33(18), Brian Lara 12(10): Warne himself into the attack now, and Lara sweeps him for a classic boundary! Vintage Lara! The legendary batsmen are looking good right now. FOUR! Another classic from Lara! Comes down the track and smashes Warne over his head for another boundary! Sachin vs Warne Part 2 right now! Dot to end the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 69/2 in 7 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 32(17), Brian Lara 3(5): SIX! Top-edge by Tendulkar off Agarkar — one that would have been caught at backward square-leg anywhere else in the world — goes for a home run here at the Minute-Maid park. Couple of singles off the next few deliveries. FOUR! Tendulkar guides the fourth ball of the over down towards long leg! SIX! Classic Sachin hook towards fine-leg for a beautiful six! Dot off the last ball.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 49/2 in 6 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 16(13), Brian Lara 1(3): OUT! Second major blow for the Blasters, as Ganguly gets a top-edge off a rising delivery pitched along the off-stump. Ganguly gets a top-edge, that gives Sanga a simple catch. Brian Lara comes in to bat now, and the legendary pair perhaps bat for the first time in their lives. How much ever these two collect, this has to be the most legendary partnership right now. FOUR! Tendulkar gets a boundary off the last ball, getting an outside edge which is too wide for Sanga to hold on to. OUT! Sourav Ganguly c Kumar Sangakkara b Jacques Kallis 12(12)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 43/1 in 5 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 10(10), Sourav Ganguly 11(6): FOUR! Ganguly gets a thick outside edge, that flies through the vacant slips towards the long-leg boundary! Couple of close chances in the over though. Single by Ganguly to end the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 37/1 in 4 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 10(10), Sourav Ganguly 7(4): Just two singles off the first four balls of the over, which sees Jacques Kallis introduced into the attack now, as the bowling gets tighter with each passing over! SIX! Ganguly gets his first big hit of the over! Gets room for himself, and smashes the ball over long-off, one of his favourite scoring areas back in the day!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 29/1 in 3 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 9(8), Sourav Ganguly 0(2): Akram back into the attack now, and Ganguly joins Tendulkar, as we now have the classic Indian opening partners back together! Sachin gets a single off the third ball, with the focus now shifting to the Ganguly vs Akram contest at the moment. Ganguly gets off the mark with a single towards short fine-leg off the penultimate delivery. Meanwhile the predominantly Asian crowd at the Minute-Maid Park in Houston are already chanting “Sachin, Sachin!”. FOUR! Sachin finishes the over with a beautiful shot that pierces the arc through gully for a boundary!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 20/1 in 2 Overs: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 2(4): Dropped! Agarkar drops a chance to dismiss Tendulkar. Perhaps the ball came in too quickly into the bowler’s hands for him to react! SIX! Sehwag murders Agarkar over deep extra-cover for his second home-run! Meanwhile, Sehwag begins to hum one of his favourite tunes on the mike — ‘Chala jaata hun’. Typical Sehwag, who did the same during his memorable 219 at Indore. OUT! Agarkar gets Sehwag, who plays on to his stumps while attempting to smash towards the offside. Massive blow for the Blasters OUT! Virender Sehwag b Ajit Agarkar 16(8)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Sachin’s Blasters 13/0 in 1 Over: Batting: Sachin Tendulkar 1(1), Virender Sehwag 10(5): And the Blasters’s innings gets off to a steady start, with two singles off the first three balls. Brilliant yorker by Wasim Akram in the fourth ball to contain Sehwag! WIDE! One bad ball by Akram after a brilliant over so far. SIX! Finally Sehwag gets the big hit, getting the better of the legendary Pakistani pacer to get 13 off the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 262/5 in 20 Over: Batting: Jonty Rhodes 18(8), Andrew Symonds 19(6): Tight over from Klusener so far! Good tight over till the fourth delivery, conceding only three singles. And Rhodes smashes his team-mate from the late 90’s and the early 00’s over square-leg and backward square-leg to fetch 15 runs off the final over! Warne’s Warriors beat the highest T20I score off all time — 260/6 by Sri Lanka in the 2007 ICC World T20 — by two runs. Klusener hugs Rhodes at the end of the over — well isn’t that what this tournament is all about?
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 224/5 in 18 Over: Batting: Kumar Sangakkara 65(27), Ricky Ponting 22(9): Klusener into his second over. FOUR! Ponting’s shot beats the fielder at short fine-leg to race towards the boundary! FOUR! Ponting smashes this time over long-on! Will Klusener end up with sorry figures as Murali did? OUT! What was that! A clever slower one pitched outside leg, with Ponting getting a top-edge towards the wicketkeeper, as the 69-run partnership comes to an end, and Ponting falls short of a fifty by 9 runs. OUT! Klusener on fire! This time removing Sangakkara, who does not have a ton to his name today! FOUR! Symonds finishes the over with a boundary to end what has been a brilliant over so fa/r. OUT! Ricky Ponting c Mahela Jayawardene b Lance Klusener 41(16), Kumar Sangakkara c Shoaib Akhtar b Lance Klusener 70(30)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 215/3 in 17 Over: Batting: Kumar Sangakkara 70(29), Ricky Ponting 33(13): Muralitharan into his final over now. Can he finish with a wicket or two? Clearly not! FOUR Sangakkara smashes the flatter delivery over cover! FOUR! This time, Ponting shows his skills against spin, this time towards square-leg! SIX! Ponting completes Murali’s torture by smashing him over midwicket!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 199/3 in 16 Over: Batting: Kumar Sangakkara 65(27), Ricky Ponting 22(9): Pollock comes in to bowl his second over. Can Ponting catch up with the scoring rate at the moment? SIX! Ponting smashes old foe over midwicket! Two fours and a six follow! Ponting catches up with the scoring rate now, as Warriors are on the verge of bringing up the 200!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 178/3 in 15 Over: Batting: Kumar Sangakkara 65(27), Ricky Ponting 2(3): Swann back into the attack now! FOUR! Short-pitched along the middle-stump, Sanga smasges him over the square-leg boundary! SIX! Sanga smashes Swann over square-leg again! The southpaw looks unstoppable today! Four to end the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 161/3 in 14 Over: Batting: Kumar Sangakkara 50(23), Ricky Ponting 1(1): Virender Sehwag into the attack now. SIX! Kallis smashes the former India opener and the destroyer-in-chief with the bat from the previous game over midwicket for a massive one! Meanwhile, VVS Laxman rates Sehwag as one of the better spinners from his era. SIX! A mere replay of the previous shot! Kallis moves to 45, and is just one hit away from his half-century! The pair look indomitable right now, and could end up with their centuries! No sooner have I said that when Kallis is caught by Murali off a slightly faster one from Sehwag. The TV umpire checks for a no-ball, and all is fine. The Blasters finally get the much-needed breakthrough! Meanwhile, Sanga brings up his half-century with a six over midwicket, which is turning out to be his favourite scoring region! OUT! Jacques Kallis c Muttiah Muralitharan b Virender Sehwag 45(23)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 142/2 in 13 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 33(19), Kumar Sangakkara 44(22): Muralitharan back into the attack, and the wizard desperately needs a breakthrough right now. SIX! Sanga goes after Murali again, slogging him over midwicket! SIX! What a shot for Sanga to finish the over with, as a total of 200 looks likely now! Sangakkara moves to 44, just one hit away from a half-century now, as the former wicketkeeper-batsman clearly is in a terrific form at the moment, perhaps the best among the lot!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 128/2 in 12 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 33(18), Kumar Sangakkara 31(17): Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener — aka Zulu — into the attack now! FOUR! Fellow Saffa Kallis smashes him over his head for a boundary! Brilliant stuff by Kallis! FOUR! Zulu is giving away easy run-scoring opportunities right now! SIX! Kallis is annihilating Klusener right now, this time smashing him over the square-leg boundary for a six!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 111/2 in 11 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 18(13), Kumar Sangakkara 30(16): DROPPED! Kallis pulls one off Akhtar, and gets a leading edge towards square leg, where Ganguly does not give enough effort to complete the catch. This might prove to be majorly expensive later! Meanwhile Akhtar is disappointed, having created an opportunity to get his first scalp of the day! Consecutive boundaries off Sanga’s bat to end the over!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 100/2 in 10 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 16(11), Kumar Sangakkara 21(12): SIX! Kallis is now getting into the act at the moment! A few singles before Swann gets hammered again, this time by Sanga over midwicket!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 85/2 in 9 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 8(7), Kumar Sangakkara 14(10): It’s been a day of compatriots having a go at each other! If Swann and McGrath got Vaughan and Hayden respectively, it is the turn of Sangakkara to go after the legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, smashing for a four and a six over mid-wicket and square-leg respectively! 13 off the over, a huge one!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 72/2 in 8 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 6(5), Kumar Sangakkara 3(6): Swann bowls another tight over, conceding only four runs off it! The pressure is back on the Warriors, who have lost both openers by now.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 68/2 in 7 Over: Batting: Jacques Kallis 4(3), Kumar Sangakkara 1(2): McGrath has been introduced into the attack again, in an attempt to get another quick breakthrough after finally managing to get a breakthrough in the opening partnership. SIX! Hayden, who knows his former team-mate all too well, smashes McGrath over his head for a massive one! SIX! Consecutive big hits for the burly former Australian opener, this time dispatching over long-off, where Brian Lara fails to stop the ball. OUT! The Warriors lose their second wicket, this time Hayden playing onto his stumps while attempting to drive towards cover! Meanwhile, Kallis survives a run-out chance off a direct hit from Sachin at point. OUT! Matthew Hayden b Glenn McGrath 32(15)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 51/1 in 6 Over: Batting: Matthew Hayden 15(9), Jacques Kallis 0(2): Another retired great introduced into the attack, this time Graeme Swann coming in. FOUR! The former England off-spinner gets hammered by Hayden in the first ball! OUT! Swann gets his former captain Michael Vaughan, trapping him plumb, with the ball appearing to be travelling towards the middle stump! Vaughan misses the line of the delivery completely, while attempting to go for a pull. OUT! Michael Vaughan lbw Graeme Swann 30(22)
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 46/0 in 5 Over: Batting: Michael Vaughan 30(21), Matthew Hayden 15(9): Tendulkar finally gets Muralitharan into the attack now, and the smiling assassin concedes just four runs in his first over of the day — courtesy four singles. Good over for Sachin’s Blasters, given how things are shaping up at the moment.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 42/0 in 4 Over: Batting: Michael Vaughan 28(17), Matthew Hayden 13(7): Pollock into the attack now. Let’s see what the former South African pacer can pull off today. SIX! Haydos into the act now, as he smashes the ball straight over the bowler’s head! FOUR! Vaughan is playing one brilliant innings right now, pulling this time over midwicket!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 30/0 in 3 Over: Batting: Michael Vaughan 24(15), Matthew Hayden 6(3): FOUR! Vaughan smashes the penultimate ball of the third over for a fine boundary towards midwicket! The former England captain is spicing things up at the moment, while Hayden is sitting relatively quietly at the other end. SIX! Vaughan smashes the Rawalpindi Express over cover for a massive one, much to the pacer’s disdain!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 18/0 in 2 Over: Batting: Michael Vaughan 12(9), Matthew Hayden 6(3): McGrath is set to bowl his first delivery of the tournament, after having missed out on the first match. DROPPED! Vaughan survives first ball after McGrath can’t hold on to the return catch! FOUR! The former England captain smashes the legendary pacer over midwicket! FOUR! It’s McGrath’s former team-mate Hayden who pummels him over the covers!
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Warne’s Warriors 7/0 in 1 Over: Batting: Michael Vaughan 6(5), Matthew Hayden 1(1): FOUR! Vaughan manages to get a boundary off the bowling of Akhtar, who was vicious in the previous game and opens the bowling today. Six runs off the first over of the day! Gets a thick edge towards the slips.
TOSS: Sachin’s Blasters win the toss and elect to bowl first. The Blasters have rested Ambrose, Laxman, Moin and Hooper, and brought in Ganguly, McGrath, Klusener and Swann. Meanwhile, Warne’s Warriors have rested Vettori, Walsh and Donald and brought in Vaughan, Saqlain and Ajit Agarkar are in.
After a successful first game in New York, Cricket All Stars featuring Sachin Tendulkar (Sachin’s Blasters) and Shane Warne (Warne’s Warriors) will face-off in the second Twenty20 match of the three-match series at Houston’s baseball ground, Minute Maid Park, here on Thursday. The first match had around 20,000 fans in the ground cheering for their cricketing stars right throughout the match and the second match being held on the Diwali night is expected to attract even more. Warne’s Warriors are already 1-0 up in the three-match series and Tendulkar-led Sachin’s Blasters will aim to get back into the contest with a win on Thursday. Despite Virender Sehwag’s (55) swashbuckling batting at the start, Ricky Ponting’s unbeaten 48 ensured that Warriors chased down the 141-run target with six wickets in hand, reports IANS.
Squads:
Sachin’s Blasters: Sachin Tendulkar (c), Moin Khan (wk), Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lance Klusener, Carl Hooper, Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shaun Pollock, Shoaib Akhtar, Curtly Ambrose, Graeme Swann.
Warne’s Warriors: Shane Warne (c), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Vaughan, Jonty Rhodes, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori, Courtney Walsh, Ajit Agarkar, Allan Donald, Wasim Akram.
