England beat Canada in Cricket World Cup warm-up match in Dhaka

KEVIN PIETERSEN will open all hours for England at the World Cup – and believes he will be a hit at the top of the shop.

As England scrambled a 16-run win over no-hopers Canada in their opening warm-up match in Dhaka, ­Pietersen’s surprise promotion to face the new ball with Andrew Strauss was unveiled as their shock weapon.

From skunk hairstyles to red carpets, little of KP’s career has been subject to the Official Secrets Act. But England kept his latest incarnation under wraps so keenly they did not even try it during the one-day series in Australia.

After chiselling out 24 on a track with less life than a mortuary slab, Pietersen cannot yet claim he has mastered his new role.

And after nearly being ­embarrassed by big-hitting ­Canadian Rizwan Cheema, England were grateful for a five-wicket ­comeback from Stuart Broad and Matt Prior’s feisty 78.


Pietersen’s brief experience of opening includes a century against India’s A team, and his ability to clear the ropes will set him apart from the nudgers and nurdlers on sluggish pitches in India and Bangladesh.

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Warm-up Match India Vs New Zealand ICC World Cup 2011 on Feb 16

India will take on New Zealand at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, February 16. Both India and New Zealand have won their first warm-up match against Australia and Ireland respectively.

On Sunday, team India had won against Australia in their first warm-up match by 38 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. After batting first, India scored 214 runs in 44.3 overs. At one stage Indians had lost their eight wickets for 128 runs. For the ninth wicket, Yusuf Pathan and R. Ashwin added 49 runs and for the last wicket Ashwin and Nehra added 27 runs. Virender Sehwag was the top scorer, he scored 54 runs.

In reply, Australia were 118/2 at one stage, but the Indian spinners, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh clinched victory from the jaw of defeat. They shared seven Australians wicket costing mere 46 runs. Ricky Ponting and his team were all-out for 176 runs.

In an another warm-up match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, New Zealand beat Ireland by 32 runs at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on February 12. New Zealand scored 311/6 in 50 overs with the help of opener Martin Guptill's hundred. Guptill struck 12 fours and three sixes in his 130 runs inning. In reply Ireland were all-out for 279 runs in 49th over. Captain William Porterfield was the leading run getter for his side, scored 72 runs in 74 deliveries.

In the last ODI series between India and New Zealand in November - December 2010, India sweeped the series of five matches 5-0.

India and New Zealand's warm-up match on February 16 in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will start from 02:30 PM IST and will be telecast live on ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket.

Pakistan demolished Bangladesh by 89 runs in their first warm-up match on Tuesday.

Bangladesh and Pakistan will play a warm-up match at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Venue: Shere-e-Bangla stadium, Dhaka

Shahid Afridi has played down fears that Pakistan have a depleted pace attack. But the fact remains that they will rue the absence of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. There is also the danger of the spot-fixing scandal affecting the team’s morale, something that Afridi was quick to dismiss.

Pakistan’s reliance on an aging Shoaib Akhtar, who will be assisted by Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq in the pace department, may not be enough. Also, Junaid Khan can, at best, be a surprise package as he is an unknown entity. But, Afridi is adamant Pakistan will fire.

Along with two specialist spinners in Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, Pakistan will also rely on Afridi and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez to add variety to their spin attack.

Captain Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Abdur Razzak will all be vital cogs in Bangladesh’s scheme of things and would provide the much-needed experience to a young side with an average age of around 24.

Bangladesh brushed aside Canada in their first match while this will be Pakistan’s first practice match. Imran Khan recently called them the 'worst-prepared' side. The team can prove him wrong, come Tuesday.

Fixtures and Schedules-Warm-up Matches of ICC World Cup 2011

The world Cup matches starts from the Feb-19. (Click Here for the schedule) Before playing the mega-evebt the teams will play warm-up match with other participating teams in the soil of World Cup hosting nations. 14 warm-ups are scheduled starting from 12th of Feb to 18th of Feb. Each team will play 2 matches as the wrm-up matches. Here is schedule of the matches:

Date	Match Details	Time		Venue
Feb 12 Saturday	West Indies v Kenya	04:00 GMT	09:30 IST	R.Premadasa Stadium Colombo
Feb 12 Saturday	Bangladesh v Canada	04:00 GMT	09:30 IST	Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Chittagong
Feb 12 - Saturday	Ireland v New Zealand	04:00 GMT	09:30 IST	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground Nagpur
Feb 12 - Saturday	Sri Lanka v Netherlands	04:00 GMT	09:30 IST	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Pallekele
Feb 12 - Saturday	South Africa v Zimbabwe	09:00 GMT	14:30 IST	MA Chidambaram Stadium Chennai
Feb 13 - Sunday	India v Australia	09:00 GMT	14: 30 IST	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium Bengaluru
Feb 15 - Tuesday	Kenya v Netherlands	04:00 GMT	09: 30 IST	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Pallekele
Feb 15 - Tuesday	Ireland v Zimbabwe	04:00 GMT	09: 30 IST	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground Nagpur
Feb 15 - Tuesday	Bangladesh v Pakistan	08:30 GMT	14: 00 IST	Shere Bangla National Stadium Dhaka
Feb 15 - Tuesday	Australia v South Africa	09:00 GMT	14:30 IST	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium Bengaluru
Feb 16 - Wednsday	Canada v England	03:30 GMT	09:00 IST	Shere Bangla National Stadium Dhaka
Feb 16 - Wednsday	Sri Lanka v West Indies	04:00 GMT	09:30 IST	R.Premadasa Stadium Colombo
Feb 16 - Wednsday	India v New Zealand	09:00 GMT	14:30 IST	MA Chidambaram Stadium Chennai
Feb 18 - Friday	England v Pakistan	08:30 GMT	14:00 IST	Shere Bangla National Stadium Dhaka