New Zealand Vs Kenya 12 September 2007

New Zealand Vs Kenya 12 September 2007

Pakistan Vs Pakistan 12 September 2007

Australia Vs Zimbabwe 12 September 2007

Team New Zealand

The excellent all round talents of New Zealand with bat, ball and in the field, will make it one of the main contenders for the ICC World Twenty20 event.

Consistent performers at major ICC events, having reached the semi-finals of both the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 and the ICC CWC 2007, it is expected that the Kiwis will feature in the latter stages of the event.

At the CWC 2007, Scott Styris was the star with the bat, scoring 499 runs, while Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond were the leading bowlers, with 16 and 13 wickets respectively, and New Zealand will again look to these experienced players to help them progress in the tournament.

In a tough group with Kenya and Sri Lanka at the ICC World Twenty20 2007, New Zealand will try and use all its experience of previous Twenty20 international matches to help it progress. The Black Caps played in the first ever Twenty20 International against Australia in February 2005, which they lost by 44 runs, before recording their first win against South Africa by five wickets in October 2005.

New Zealand also played out the first ever tie in international Twenty20 cricket, against the West Indies at Auckland in February 2006, with the match being decided by the Kiwis’ comprehensive 3-0 win in the bowl-out.

They then drew a two-match series against Sri Lanka in December 2006, at Wellington and Auckland.

New Zealand has a thriving state Twenty20 competition, which was won in February 2007 by Auckland, when it defeated Otago by 60 runs in the final. Chris Harris was the leading run-scorer in the 2006/07 competition, while Ewen Thompson’s 12 wickets made him the leading wicket-taker.

Team Kenya

Kenya will be hoping to repeat its success of the last time it played at a major event in South Africa, when it reached the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 semi-finals.

Some fantastic cricket by the Kenyans at that tournament, which saw them famously defeat Sri Lanka by 53 runs, before eventually falling to India, helped put Kenyan cricket on the map and it will be hoping to build on its reputation at the ICC World Twenty20.

Solid performances at the CWC 2007, where it recorded a seven-wicket victory over Canada, and respectable displays against both England and New Zealand, will provide Steve Tikolo’s side with some confidence, despite its lack of experience of Twenty20 cricket.

The veteran Tikolo, who became the first Kenyan to score 2,000 ODI runs, will again be a key player for his side, as shown by his valuable half centuries against Canada and England at the CWC 2007.

New Zealand will once again provide opposition for Kenya in a major ICC event, having enjoyed a 148-run win when the teams met in St Lucia at the CWC 2007, while Sri Lanka make up the other team in Group C.

Kenya qualified for the event after it won the ICC World Cricket League 2007 in Nairobi in February, securing not only a place in the ICC World Twenty20 but also a reward of $US 250,000.

Despite losing to Scotland in the group stages of that event, it exacted revenge in the final when David Obuya’s 93, for which he won man of the match, helped the host nation to an eight-wicket victory.

Kenya will be looking to some of its key performers at that event, including its leading run-scorers David Obuya and Thomas Odoyo, as well as Peter Ongondo, whose 15 wickets made him the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, to reproduc similar form in South Africa.

12 september world20 cricket match world cup, new zealand vs kenya, pakistan vs pakistan, australia vs zimbabwe