de Grooth leads Netherlands to famous win

Netherlands 163 for 6 (de Grooth 49, Borren 30, Anderson 3-23) beat England 162 for 5 (Wright 71, Bopara 46) by four wickets

How they were out

	Jeroen Smits leaps for joy as Netherlands celebrate their dramatic last-ball win ©

Cricket's rich history of thrilling upsets was given another chapter as Netherlands sensationally beat England by four wickets in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord's. Needing seven off the last over Ryan ten Doeschate and Edgar Schiferli ran for their lives and with two needed off the last delivery Stuart Broad missed a run-out from his follow through and the resulting overthrow set off wild scenes of celebration.

Tom de Grooth played the innings of his life to hit 49 off 30 balls and Netherlands paced their pursuit of 163 so expertly that they were always ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis when steady rain began to fall to add to the drama. But the game deserved to be played to a finish and crucially Netherlands had the experience of ten Doeschate, who plays professionally for Essex, up their sleeve as he didn't come in until No. 6.

Each time England nipped out a wicket the next Netherlands batsman held their nerve until the final-over equation with seven needed. England missed three chances off the first three balls as the fielding crumbled under pressure in the closing stages, with two run out opportunities and a dropped catch as ten Doeschate cracked a chance back to Broad.

Gayle and Fletcher blast past Australia

West Indies 172 for 3 (Gayle 88, Fletcher 53) beat Australia 169 for 7 (Warner 63, David Hussey 27, Bravo 2-31) by seven wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details How they were out

	Chris Gayle hit perhaps the biggest six seen at The Oval, during his 50-ball 88 © Getty Images

Don't call this an upset. Twenty20 is where it is at for West Indies, by their captain's admission, and they have copped a fair amount of flak for that comment and their subsequent poor performances in more traditional forms of cricket. So there was a sense of anticipation over how they would fare in their "preferred" format. Come match day in the Group of Death, and West Indies, and Chris Gayle, turned up for the first time in two months. They fielded pathetically but that characteristic trait was sandwiched between superb opening bowling and explosive batting.

Australia ended the match as they entered it - yet to beat West Indies in this format. Their previous meeting was a similar comprehensive defeat, by seven wickets in Barbados. This, though, was a full 20-over contest on a belter of a pitch that was flat and fast. West Indies still had 4.1 overs to spare in the end.

The pace off the surface worked for both the West Indies bowlers and batsmen. While Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards used the briskness and clever variations to take early wickets, the ball traveled as fast off the bats of Gayle and Andre Fletcher as it came on to them.

West Indies took the lead right from the first over of the match, bowled by Taylor. That over had everything: the outswinger, the slower ball, the slower bouncer, sharp straight delivery, and two wickets. But for three wides Australia would have been 0 for 2.

Can Australia bounce back?

Australia have their work cut out recovering from the loss of Symonds © Getty Images

Related Links Player/Officials: Ricky Ponting | Andrew Symonds Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20 Teams: Australia | England | India | New Zealand | Pakistan |South Africa | Sri Lanka

In trying to decide which teams might do well in the World Twenty20 tournament, the first question that leaps at you - apart from "Who was the psychiatrist who passed Andrew Symonds fit to resume his international career?" - is, "Can lightning strike twice for Ricky Ponting?"

In 2003, Ponting did a magnificent job of re-focusing the Australian team after Shane Warne was banned for a drug offence on the eve of the World Cup. This time the task of picking up the pieces will be more difficult because Ponting has fewer senior players in the squad.

The timing of Symonds' indiscretion couldn't have been worse. Australia already had a difficult enough task just trying to qualify for the semi-finals. With their loss against West Indies, it's now that much tougher for them to get past Sri Lanka and move on to a Super-Eight Group E that's loaded with talent.

With due respect to West Indies, the most likely scenario is a group that will include India, Australia and South Africa. That's the three best teams in the tournament, all in one Super Eight group. The lop-sided nature of the draw means that one of the big three will miss out on a semi-final berth. Following Symonds' demise, the chances that team will be Australia just rose like a sky rocket on New Year's Eve.

Because Twenty20 matches are brief there's very little time to recover from a setback. Therefore teams

ngland 185 for 5 (Pietersen 58, Wright 34, Ajmal 2-23) v Pakistan

England 185 for 5 (Pietersen 58, Wright 34, Ajmal 2-23) v Pakistan

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Kevin Pietersen was at his explosive best as he lifted England to a decent total © Getty Images

With England's place in the ICC World Twenty20 hanging by a thread, Kevin Pietersen returned to the side and hit 58 off 38 balls to help them reach 185 for 5 against Pakistan. Pietersen unleashed some memorable shots as England showed far more intent than against Netherlands and proved how crucial he is to the batting line-up, but if this total proves enough they will also have to thank some sloppy Pakistan fielding.

England's boundary count was more impressive with six sixes to go along side 18 fours and their best period of batting came as Pietersen and Owais Shah added 66 for the third wicket. Pakistan bowled well at the death, but they weren't supported by the fielding - a problem that so often hurts them. However, Saeed Ajmal - who put down a fierce return catch off Pietersen when he had 30 - claimed vital wickets and Umar Gul's pin-point yorkers meant no boundaries in the final over. The innings, though, ended with a little flourish as Dimitri Mascarenhas and James Foster added 29 in 19 balls.

The atmosphere when play got underway was electric with huge support for both teams and opening-over boundaries by Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright came either side of a direct hit from Shahid Afridi that almost ran-out Bopara as the decibel levels rose. If there had been a roof on the ground it would have come off when Shoaib Malik pulled off a good catch at backward point to remove Bopara, handing debutant Mohammad Aamer his first wicket.

That brought Pietersen to the crease early after his return to the side following the Achilles injury that ruled him out against Netherlands. Desperate times called for desperate measures, but the fact he started by dealing in quick singles suggested the problem wasn't causing too much concern.

NEWS UPDATE 08JUN09

Kevin Pietersen top edges the ball for six during his

58 off 38 balls at The Oval © Getty Images

Alam pleased with Twenty20 conditioning camp

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam has said he was pleased with the results of the conditioning camp his players participated in as part of their preparations for the World Twenty20 in England in June.

The members of the Pakistan squad were in Bhurban for a high-altitude camp supervised by the team's fitness trainer David Dwyer and Alam said the exercise was a success. "The idea behind this camp was to help the players improve their speed, strength, agility and mental toughness and the test results on the players show that the exercise was a success," Alam told the News. "We really needed such a camp to get fully prepared for the England assignment."

The team's assistant coach Aaqib Javed singled out four players for their exemplary fitness. "Quite a few of the players have proven to be very fit but there are four that have really stood out. Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul and Fawad Alam are the four fittest players in the camp," Aaqib told Pakpassion. "They set the standard for the others to follow but everyone in the squad has worked really hard. We've also organised other fitness related activities like hiking to keep them focused and entertained."

The players will now assemble in Lahore to play practice Twenty20 games at the Gaddafi Stadium from May 20-22 after which they will compete in the National Twenty20 Cup which begins on May 25. Pakistan captain Younis Khan will captain the Patron's XI in three games against a Chairman's XI that will be led by Misbah-ul-Haq.

Pakistan need batting coach, not psychologist - Zaheer Abbas

Zaheer Abbas, the former Pakistan captain, has said his country will be better served with a specialist batting coach rather than a sports psychologist to help them perform better and cope with pressure situations, starting from the World Twenty20 in England next month. The Pakistan Cricket Board had, earlier this week, appointed psychologist Maqbool Babri to work with the team in the pre-tournament conditioning camp at a hill resort in Bhurban.

"I don't understand what purpose it will serve to have a sports psychologist give lectures to the players," Abbas told Dawn. "Because it is obvious that the team's main problem is the batting not clicking consistently as it should. The board should think about having a full-time batting coach with the team. And it is clear their fielding also needs to improve."

The poor batting was primarily responsible for the ODI series defeat against Australia in the UAE recently. They were bowled out for 207, 171 and 197 in the three games they lost and that cost them the series. They were well-placed for victory in the third ODI but collapsed due to shoddy shot selection and lost ten wickets for only 76 runs. They rebounded in the fifth ODI, winning the dead rubber by seven wickets before winning the one-off Twenty20 international