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The two groups for the 2011 World Cup have been confirmed by the ICC today. Zimbabwe will play in Group A, along with Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Canada and Kenya; while Group B will contain India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands.
ICC - Groups confirmed for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

After ZC reportedly shelled out US$1 million to secure World Cup television rights for ZBC, the cash-strapped broadcaster apparently failed to show the matches as they couldn't afford ZW$1 million (about US$50) to have their satellite dish aligned, according to a report in The Independent. As you'd expect, there's no comment from ZBC on their "technical difficulties". It remains to be seen if ZC will be able to recoup their outlay, given that the matches weren't aired.
Zimbabwe Independent - ZBC botches World Cup deal

The final match of the group stage was a stop-start affair, thanks to plenty of rain in Port of Spain, and was eventually reduced to a 21-overs per side slogfest. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field, knowing that a win would secure their own place in the Super Eight and secure an early flight home for the Indians, and within the first over the wickets began to fall. Dean Minors top-scored for Bermuda with 23, as their usual mainstay David Hemp went for a 4th-ball duck. To their credit, Bermuda's final total of 94/9 was reasonable in the conditions, and when Saleem Mukuddem secured 3 early wickets it looked like the upset may have been on the cards. The arrival of Mohammad Ashraful at the crease signalled the end of the Bermudan dream, though, and Ashraful and Saqibul Hasan steading the Bangladeshi innings and saw their side home.
Bangladesh beat Bermuda by 7 wickets (D/L method)

Kenya met England in the final match in Group C - with England's form having been at best erratic of late, Kenya may have been harbouring hopes of reaching the second round for the second World Cup in a row, but sadly it wasn't to be. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Kenya found themselves on the receiving end of a determined English bowling display, and were bowled out for just 177. In reply, England wobbled early on with the loss of Michael Vaughan for just 1 run, but former Irish international Ed Joyce (75) and former South African Kevin Pietersen (56*) saw the English home with 17 overs to spare. Read that sentence again and see if you can spot the irony.

Australia v South Africa was billed as the group stage clash of the titans, but didn't quite live up to its billing. Aware of South Africa's run-chasing capability, Australia took the early fight to the Proteas and smashed their way to 377/6 from their 50 overs, showing particular contempt from the bowling of Shaun Pollock, who went for 83 runs from his 10 overs. In reply, Smith and de Villiers got off to a rapid start, but once de Villiers was run out by a superb direct hit by Shane Watson, thrown all the way from the boundary, the wheels came off the South African innings as Jacques Kallis was unable to score at the required rate, and most of the rest of the batsmen were unable to score at all. The Proteas were bowled out in the 48th over, 83 runs short of the target.
England beat Kenya by 7 wickets
Australia beat South Africa by 83 runs

Ireland met West Indies for the right to carry 2 points through to the Super Eight stage, and after West Indies' unconvincing win over Zimbabwe, Ireland may have fancied their chances. The luck of the Irish wasn't with them today, though, as the Windies found some form with both bat and ball. Batting first, Ireland were restricted to 183 from their 48 overs (match shortened due to rain delays), and a timely 102 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul saw West Indies home with plenty of time to spare.

India needed to beat Sri Lanka to be sure of their place in the Super Eight, but Sri Lanka refused to do them any favours despite having already secured their own slot. Led by Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka made 254/6 from their allotted overs, then proceeded to tear through the India batting lineup. Dravid (60) and Sehwag (48) put up something of a fight, but not enough to save the game for the Indians, who now rely on Bermuda beating Bangladesh in the final group match on Sunday to have any chance of progress.
West Indies beat Ireland by 8 wickets (D/L method)
Sri Lanka beat India by 69 runs

Netherlands pulled off a surprisingly thorough win against felow Associate side Scotland, although for both teams this was their final appearance of this World Cup. Going into the tournament, Scotland were the top-ranked of the 5 Associate sides (excluding Kenya, who appear on the main LG ICC rankings and not the Associate version), but they've underperformed in the West Indies and Netherland were pleased to take the opportunity to secure a win for themselves. Batting first, Scotland collapsed to 136 inside 35 overs, a total that Netherlands had no problems chasing down.

Canada weren't so lucky, although they did make New Zealand work during thier final group match. New Zealand batted first and raced their way to an impressive 363/5 from their 50 overs, including 101 from Lou Vincent. In reply, Canada got off to a speedy start thanks to John Davison, who until recently held the record for the fastest World Cup century - he seemed keen to repeat the feat here, and some lose bowling from the Kiwis, particularly Michael Mason, allowed Davison to cut loose. For a while it seemed Canada were on course for an unlikely win, but after Davison fell in the 10th over, the flow of runs dried to a trickle. Canada only just failed to bat out their 50 overs, but by then they were well off the total.
Netherlands beat Scotland by 8 wickets.
New Zealand beat Canada by 114 runs

Zimbabwe and Pakistan both ended their involvement in this year's World Cup yesterday, with Pakistan securing a 93-run win - under somewhat farcical circumstances - after a lengthy rain delay.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field, and Pakistan immediately set about building themselves a formidable total, with Imran Nazir being the cornerstone of the innings. He smashed his way to 160 runs, including 14 fours and 8 sixes, before finally departing in the 45th over, while around him most of the Pakistani batsmen made useful contributions, with the exceptions of Mohammad Yousuf (3) and Mohammad Sami (5). Pakistan were eventually bowled out for an impressive 349, their highest World Cup score.

The wicket of Inzamam-ul-Haq was marked by both sides, with Zimbabwe's players coming in from their fielding positions to wish the Pakistan captain well in his final one-day international, and the Pakistan team giving their iconic leader a guard of honour on his way off the pitch - gestures that moved the big man to tears in a day that was full of emotion.

In reply, Zimbabwe got off to another bad start as Vusi Sibanda, Justice Chibhabha and Friday Kasteni all fell early to leave Zimbabwe in trouble - again - on 14/3. Taylor and Matsikenyeri were left with the task of stabilising the innings, but never got the chance as the rain came down in the 11th over. After a lengthy delay, play eventually resumed late in the day, to the obvious disapproval of Zim coach Kevin Curran. With Zimbabwe's innings reduced to 20 overs, they were left with an impossible Duckworth-Lewis target of 193, leaving them needing 163 off 58 balls. With the match clearly beyond them, Zimbabwe opted for a Twenty20-style "hit-and-giggle" innings, putting on another 69 runs before being bowled out in the final over of the match.

Question: all World Cup matches have rain days set aside for them - would it really have hurt to allow Zimbabwe to come back on Thursday and try to complete a full 50 overs, and then at least have given them a chance (however unlikely) of running up the required total? Forcing the match to end within the day by giving Zimbabwe a clearly impossible target serves no-one's interests, and makes the whole idea of rain days redundant.

That said, though, this was Pakistan's day - they had dedicated this match to the memory of Bob Woolmer, and in many ways it would have seemed churlish if Zimbabwe had dared to win it. For the first match in the tournament Pakistan showed what they were capable of, and were deserved winners. For Zimbabwe, it's time once again to reflect of the failures of the top order - they'll have a good long break to do that before their next scheduled fixtures.
Pakistan 349 (49.5/50 overs; Imran Nazir 160, Chigumbura 3/50), Zimbabwe 99 (19.1/20 overs; Chigumbura 27, Shahid Afridi 3/20). Pakistan win by 93 runs (D/L method). Check below the cut for the scorecard.

Pakistan v Zimbabwe is dealt with elsewhere. The other match of the day was Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka were on the sort of form that has to mark them out as contenders for this year's title, as they powered their way to a 198-run win. Batting first, Sanath Jayasuriya's 109 led the charge for Sri Lanka against a Bangaldesh bowling attack that seemed toothless - especially compared to their display against India. Sri Lanka ran up 318/5 from their overs, while Bangladesh ran into early trouble in their innings with wickets dropped regularly and often - only 3 players hit double figures. A rain delay didn't save them, either - just gave them a 4-over reduction to the torture, as they were bowled out for just 112 in 37 overs. The result leaves Group B wide open, with it looking very possible that India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could each finish on 4 points, leaving Net Run Rate to decide who goes through to the Super Eight.
Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 93 runs (D/L method)
Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 198 runs (D/L method)

Next up: Netherlands v Scotland in Group A, and Canada v New Zealand an Group C.

Another day, another drubbing for the Associates, as Scotland met South Africa and Kenya met New Zealand.

Batting second seems to be the smart thing to do at this World Cup, so Kenya followed the trend and put New Zealand in to bat after winning the toss, a decision that scored immediate dividends as Lou Vincent found himself walking back to the pavillion after a 4th-ball duck. That was the brightest spot of the innings for Kenya, though, as Fleming, Taylor, Styris and McMillan helped themselves to a feast of runs off the Kenyan total on their way to a total of 331 from their 50 overs. In reply, it was really only a determined stand of 71 by Ravi Shah, assisted by Thomas Odoyo's 42, that saved Kenya's blushes - 7 other batsmen failed to make double figures, including the usually-reliable captain Steve Tikolo, and the Kenyans were bowled out for 183, with New Zealand securing their place in the Super Eight in the process.

South Africa likewise won their toss and put Scotland in to bat, having apparently tired of batting practice against the Netherlands. Scotland didn't disgrace themselves, working their way to 186/8 from their allotted overs, with Dougie Brown top-scoring on 45 not out, but once South Africa came to the crease it was clear the match would be over well ahead of time. Captain Graeme Smith clubbed his way to 91 off 65 balls, de Villiers 62 off 67 balls, with Prince, Kemp and Pollock finishing the job after their departure in an innings that lasted just 23 overs. South Africa are now assured of their Super Eight place, while Scotland are assured of their trip home.
South Africa beat Scotland by 7 wickets
New Zealand beat Kenya by 148 runs

Next up: Zimbabwe v Pakistan, a game that Zimbabwe must win to remain in the tournament, and Sri Lanka v Bangladesh.

West Indies v Zimbabwe is dealt with elsewhere. The other game of the day was India v Bermuda, which as with most Full Member v Associate matches so far turned into a one-sided walkover. India at least made it interesting, by running up a World Cup record total of 413/5 on the way to a World Cup record winning margin of 257 runs. Bermuda had a brief way of light as Dwayne Leverock took an amazing catch in the 2nd over to remove Uthappa (all the more amazing because of Leverock's sheer size), but it was very much a false dawn as the remaining Indian batsmen stepped on the gas and scored freely for the remainder of their innings. In reply, Bermuda were hapless - 5 batsmen removed for no score, with only David Hemp (the team's sole professional player) giving some respectability thanks to his score of 76 not out. While at one end of the Associate scale Ireland and Kenya are flying the flag, Bermuda have seemed hopelessly out of their depth during the tournament.
West Indies beat Zimbabwe by 6 wickets
India beat Bermuda by 257 runs

Next up: Scotland v South Africa in Group A, and Kenya v New Zealand in Group C.