Room with a view

After long hours in the gym and the nets we met up at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough for a four-day training camp before heading to West Indies for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20.

Everyone was so happy to be back as a full squad with Sarah, Claire and Holly in the side again. We then had a training day before playing two games against the England women’s academy side.

In the first game we batted first and scored 130 which we thought was pretty decent on that track. We picked up an early wicket but then Caroline Atkins went a bit psycho and hit the ball to all parts of the ground.

She got them within sight of getting the runs but on 74 she was stumped - it was one of the best T20 innings I have ever seen. After her wicket they struggled and we ended up winning by 15 runs.

In the second game we bowled first. We did alright apart from not bowling our overs in time which meant a one over penalty, so six runs were added to their score which meant 131 to win.

We kept up with the rate right the way through our innings but lost wickets. I came in at five and ended up batting with Danni Wyatt for the rest of the game. We hit some boundaries, ran well and managed to keep well up with the rate. I even hit a six (yes dad, I did hit one off the square). We ended up winning with two overs to spare which in T20 cricket is quite comfortable.

It was nice to have a couple of games before we headed to St Kitts.

T20 WC: Masakadza falls after steady start

Guyana: New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori elected to field against Zimbabwe in their Group B game of the ICC World T20 at the Providence Stadium on Tuesday. Zimbabwe have to win to keep themselves in afloat for the Super Eights stage.

In case, New Zealand win today, they will go through along with Sri Lanka to the next stage. But if Zimbabwe win today, it will be a three-way tie and the two teams to make it to the Super Eights stage will be decided on the net run-rate.

After stunning Pakistan and Australia in the warm-up games, Zimbabwe got a shock in their opening match against Sri Lanka as the heavens conspired against them. In a rain-affected tie that was decided on the Duckworth/Lewis method, Zimbabwe lost by 14 runs on Monday.

In the first game of the tournament, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by two wickets.

Teams:

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (C), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Shane Bond, Tim Southee

Zimbabwe: Andrew Blignaut, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Craig Ervine, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Greg Lamb, Alexander Cremer, Prosper Utseya, Ray Price, Timycen Maruma.

T20 WC: D/L gives SL crucial win over Zim

Guyana: Mahela Jayawardene struck a scintillating century as Sri Lanka thumped Zimbabwe by 14 runs via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-marred Group B match to brighten their Super Eight stage prospects in the Twenty20 World Cup here on Monday.

Rain did not give Zimbabwe even a chance to chase the big target. Zimbabwe were 29-1 in five overs when rained stopped play after the game was reduced to 11 overs with the target reduced to 104. Sri Lanka took two points from the game as Zimbabwe needed to be 43-1 at this stage according to the Dukworth Lewis method.

Mahela Jayawardene's scintillating century powered Sri Lanka to a commanding 173 for seven against Zimbabwe in a Group B match of the Twenty20 World Cup on Monday.

A win is imperative for the 2009 finalists to stay afloat for a Super Eight berth and Jayawardene shepherded the side with a masterly 64-ball 100 -- only the fourth century in the short history of Twenty20 Internationals -- bejewelled with 10 fours and four sixes.

The defeat against New Zealand in the Group B opener had pushed the Lankans to the brink of disaster and there was no way they could underestimate giant-killer Zimbabwe who have humbled Australia and Pakistan in warm-up matches.

Further compounding their crisis today was the news that Muttiah Muraliatharan will miss the remainder of the tournament with a groin injury.

Jayawardene's demeanour, however, betrayed no signs of any trouble whatsoever as the right-hander took the rival attack by the scruff of its neck once Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and decided to set Zimbabwe a total.