Brief Australian encounter with World T20

In the ICC World T20 Australia lost its first game to an unfancied West Indies

Next Sri Lanka defeated Australia and thereby eliminated them from the tournament.

As Ricky Ponting said after the game Australia have now lost five international T20 fixtures on the trot . Well short of world champion standard.

No excuses: it's clear that our national team just hasn't adapted to the new format which even purists like me have to acknowledge has its own appeal. The 20 over a side format means that upsets (eg England's loss to the Netherlands ) are more frequent but class should still trump good luck most of the time (even if Ireland seem to have ridden their luck and that of their draw well enough to move on to the next stage).

Results from Cricinfo.

New Zealand and Netherlands prevail: World Cup day 10

In the Group C match at St Lucia, Canada followed the strategy (if it can be called that) adopted by many of the minnow countries and put New Zealand in after winning the toss. The outcome: batting practice for the Black Caps who rattled up 5/363 from 50 overs, their highest ODI total. The major beneficiary of Canada's largesse was Lou Vincent, who recovered from a poor run to post 101/117b. Everyone who batted got a start; skipper Fleming 66/67b and keeper McCullum 52 (in an amazing 21b) particularly enjoyed themselves.

The Canadians, with captain Davidson firing on all cylinders, fought back vigorously. It took the NZ attack 9.4 overs to make the first breakthrough: 1/76 of which Davidson made 52/31b. This was the high water mark of the innings, but the tide did not ebb rapidly until the 4th, 5th and 6th wickets fell between 201 and 207. The team survived until the final over before the 9th wicket fell (one player had retired hurt) for 249.

Scorecard.

In the other game, a contest between minnows, saw Netherlands (whose captain had omitted himself from the eleven) comfortably defeat Scotland.

Scorecard.

No major surprises: World Cup Day 6

As expected, both Australia and England won their matches against Netherlands and Canada respectively.

At Warner Park, St Kitts in a very one sided contest Australia walloped the Netherlands 5/358 (50 overs) to 10/129 (26.5 overs). Brad Hodge 123/89b, Michael Clarke 93 n o/85b, and Adam Gilchrist a relatively slow (by his standards) 57/64b were the batting stars for Australia, while all four Australian bowlers used enjoyed some success.

The Netherlands have a long cricket playing history, as this piece from Cricinfo explains (though it's incorrect to say that the country was occupied by the Germans in WW1), but at the moment they are confirmed minnows, despite their eyecatching bright orange uniforms.

At Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia England, sans Andrew Flintoff (omitted for disciplinary reasons) 6/279 (Ed Joyce 66/103 b, Paul Collingwood 62/48b) comfortably if not convincingly defeated Canada 7/228 (Mulla 58/60b) in a match which went for a full 100 overs, from which it might reasonably be inferred that the England bowling was not very penetrative.

Scorecard