England aiming to progress

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from England

Kennington Oval, London, Saturday - England who are making a strong bid to win a cricket World Cup for the first time, will make their second appearance in the Twenty20 World Cup today when they front up to Pakistan and in the second game and in the first game South Africa will meet Scotland.

South Africa is a Group D game and the England-Pakistan is a Group B game.

Both games will be contested at the Kennington Oval. The first one beginning at 13.30 BST - (6 p.m. SL time) and the second game at 17.30 - (7 p.m. Sl time).

South Africa if they play true to form, should have it easy against Scotland. South Africa led by Greame Smith are a formidable side and have some wonderful cricketers who have the ideal temperament for this style of game.

Smith and Herschelle Gibbs will be looking to give their side a good start for batsmen following in the calibre of Jacques Kallis, A.B.de Villiers, Jean Paul Duminy, Mark Boucher and the Morkel brothers Morne and Albi to consolidate.

De Villiers and Duminy had an enjoyable ride in the IPL on their own backyard and are in topping form. Gibbs and Smith had mixed fortunes in the IPL.

Dale Steyn is expected to lead the charge in the bowling supported by the Morkels, Kallis and with Johaan Botha providing the spin if he plays.Incidentally Botha would be a it frustrated because he is under instructions not to bowl his wicket taking delivery, the dreaded doosra.

Gavin Hamilton a dashing left hand batsman will have to lead the batting and show the way for Richard Berrington Kyle, Coetzer Gordon Drumond, Majid Haq and Neil McCallum to help swell the total. In bowling they will miss the services of John Blain who was sent home for having an argument and his seam and swing that batsmen found difficult to face will be missing.

However with their limited resources the Scots are expected to stretch the Proteas.

England-Pakistan should be close

The England-Pakistan game will be a no quarter asked or given game as both teams are evenly matched.In this encounter the winning of the toss could be important. Both teams have batsmen capable of batting first and putting up formidable totals and they also have batsmen who have the ability to chase big scores.

Players in the England side who will need watching in batting are the skipper Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad who could smash any attack, Kevin Pietersen and Ovais Shah.

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad are the bowlers to watch. Dimitri Mascarenhas has the ability to run through a side with his clever movement of the ball both ways.

Pakistan who were unfortunate not to win the final last time will be determinedly led by Younus Khan.

The Pakistanis are making a bold bid and they have some of the most exciting players in this style of game and should make headway in this tourney.Shahid Afridi will be one batsman England will be eagerly looking to dismiss early.

If he is allowed to bash it around, England will be hard pressed for victory. The captain will have to curb his impetuosity and show the batsmen following the way. Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Salman Butt should be among the runs.

In the bowling department, The Pakistanis will miss Shoaib Akhtar. With his lighting pace he was expected to lead the attack. But an unfortunate injury forced him to miss this tournament.

In Akhtar”s absence Sohail Tanvir is expected to lead the attack. Afridi has tremendously improved in his leg spin, googly bowling and will need watching. The off spin of Shoaib Malik could also prove troublesome.