ENGLAND SHOWED A GREAT COMEBACK BY BEATING PAKISTAN

Kevin Pietersen made a timely return from injury to secure England's progress into the next stage of the World Twenty20 tournament following an emphatic win over Pakistan.
The former England captain missed Friday's humiliating defeat by Holland with a recurrence of the Achilles problems which have plagued him since this winter's tour of the Caribbean.
But after passing a strenuous fitness test before the must-win encounter at The Oval, Pietersen hit a match-winning 58 off 38 balls as England bounced back from their opening match embarrassment to secure a 48-run victory.
Tonight's triumph, which was achieved before a 23,000 capacity Oval crowd, guarantees England's progress to the Super Eight stage of the tournament on run-rate regardless of the result between Pakistan and Holland at Lord's on Tuesday.
It was a startling turnaround from the nervous performance they delivered against the Dutch to one with more intent and purpose with England setting a competitive target of 185 for five before restricting Pakistan to 137 for seven.
England's triumph also served to underline just how they depended on Pietersen's firepower if they are to progress further in the event - and the consequences if he suffers another recurrence of his Achilles problems.
Knowing they faced certain elimination if they were beaten, England suffered a shaky start with in-form opener Ravi Bopara brilliantly caught at backward point off the seventh ball of the innings.
It brought Pietersen to the crease earlier than he would have hoped, but in doing so it gave him an opportunity to shape the innings and lay the foundations for their impressive total.
Content at first to allow opener Luke Wright to be the aggressor, which he did impressively during his 34 off 16 balls which included England's first six of the tournament pulled over mid-wicket off 17-year-old left-arm seamer Mohammad Aamir.
Wright became one of two victims for seamer Umar Gul, the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 international history, when his off-stump was removed with a perfectly-executed yorker.
But his demise merely served to insight Pietersen into one of his most influential innings in this format, dominating a 66-run stand with Owais Shah off only 51 balls and looking nothing like a player seemingly doubtful for the match until minutes before the toss.
England benefited from a slapstick fielding display from Pakistan, which included missing Pietersen on 30 when off-spinner Saeed Ajmal missed a difficult return catch as one of four dropped catches - and a series of fielding errors.
The only time Pakistan, playing at The Oval for the first time since their controversial Test against England in 2006, asserted any control over England's run spree was a four-over spell when Ajmal combined with Shahid Afridi and restricted them to only 24 runs.
Their stand was finally broken once Gul returned to the attack and took out Shah's leg-stump and just as Pietersen looked all set to launch a fierce onslaught in the final overs, he became one of two victims to fall in an over from Ajmal.
Captain Paul Collingwood was caught in the deep attempting to hit down the ground and four balls later, Pietersen finally mis-timed a shot and was caught close to the wicket having hit five fours and three sixes in his display.
It left England without any power-hitters for the final overs, but by then they had already secured a competitive target for Pakistan to chase on a surface favouring spin bowling.
England had responded to what they had seen in the earlier match between Scotland and South Africa by bringing in off-spinner Graeme Swann to partner leg-spinner Adil Rashid and both played their part in preventing Pakistan from keeping up with the required run rate.
Having claimed wickets early during Pakistan's reply with Stuart Broad making amends for his final over horror show against Holland to dismiss Salman Butt and the dangerous Kamran Akmal, they were always struggling to match England's strokeplay.
The key wicket was secured by man of the match Wright, who had hard-hitting Shoaib Malik caught behind as he attempted to force the rate in the 13th over leaving captain Younis Khan with the responsibility of attempting to overhaul England's total with their middle and lower order.
Younis batted superbly to score an unbeaten 46 off 31 balls but the performance of England's spinners swung the match firmly in their direction with Rashid conceding only 24 runs in his four overs while Swann grabbed one for 27 from his spell.
But in the end it was Pietersen's display of brilliance which secured England's progress and they can now look forward to the possibility of facing South Africa, India and Australia - assuming they all qualify - in the next stage.

PROTEAS BEAT SCOTLAND CONVINCINGLY

Scotland bowed out of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament with the second lowest score in the event's history as South Africa lived up to their billing as one of the favourites.
Needing victory to avoid an early exit from the competition following yesterday's defeat to New Zealand, Scotland were unlikely to cause a shock from the moment South Africa powered to a daunting 211 for five after being put in to bat at The Oval.
But the real gulf in class was exposed when Scotland began their reply and were dismissed for just 81 in only 15.4 overs, a total which was only marginally better than the worst ever in this event of 73 recorded by Kenya against New Zealand in Durban two years ago.
It was also the seventh worst total in Twenty20 international history despite Kyle Coetzer hitting a determined 42 off 32 balls before becoming the first of four wickets to fall in a 10-ball spell to end their innings.
South Africa's total, their highest in this format, was achieved by a stunning display of hitting towards the end of their innings by AB de Villiers which helped them add 83 runs from the final five overs.
Teaming up with Albie Morkel after off-spinner Majid Haq and left-arm spinner Glenn Rogers had halted South Africa's earlier run spree, the pair hammered 51 off 19 balls to end any hopes of Scotland limiting them to a modest total.
Openers Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who was dropped by Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton at extra cover on 43, had given South Africa a solid start with an 87-run stand.
It took the introduction of off-spinner Haq, who was strangely overlooked for yesterday's match, to halt their progress after he dismissed both batsmen in the space of four balls.
Kallis, who scored a superb 48 off 31 balls, was bowled off an inside edge attempting a drive down the ground and Smith fell at the end of that over for 38 mis-timing an attempted sweep.
Ryan Watson's off-spin also accounted for Herschelle Gibbs when he advanced down the wicket and was comfortably stumped, which prompted the destructive partnership between de Villiers and Morkel.
All-rounder Morkel was initially the most destructive of the pair and hit two sixes and a four off one Watson over before holing out in the deep for a brilliant 24 off 11 balls.
But de Villiers picked up the mantle and helped add a staggering 83 off the final five overs, finishing unbeaten on 79 off 34 balls including five fours and six sixes.
Scotland's innings suffered a disastrous start when they lost four wickets inside the first four overs and looked to be heading for an even more humiliating total.
But Coetzer, who had earlier taken a stunning one-handed catch at long off to remove Mark Boucher, provided impressive resistance to put Scotland on course to at least reach three figures.
He hit all-rounder Morkel for two of his three sixes, but attempting to hit off-spinner Johan Botha back over his head he instead mis-timed it high in the air and was caught with six overs remaining.
Coetzer's demise sparked a late collapse with Morkel wrapping up the lower order with two wickets in three balls to secure South Africa's emphatic 130-run triumph

OJHA'S SPIN MAGIC PROVIDES VICTORY FOR INDIA BEATING BANGLADESH

Pragyan Ojha's four wickets helped India get their ICC World Twenty20 defence off to a winning start against Bangladesh - so avoiding a second major shock in successive days.

Twenty20 international debutant Ojha's four for 21 ensured India's 180 for five proved plenty - and a frenetic Bangladesh reply finished 25 runs short in this Group A opener on a cloudy night at Trent Bridge.
It was Yuvraj Singh's whirlwind 41 which provided the India innings with much-needed late impetus, after Gautam Gambhir had found the boundary only four times in his 50.
Once Yuvraj had hit four sixes and three fours from only 18 balls, it always seemed India - who chose to bat first - had a total which would prove beyond their opponents.
Bangladesh nonetheless deserved credit for restricting most of their illustrious opposite numbers with some well-directed bowling and keen fielding.
Very little got away from the Tigers - and the only semblance of even a missed half-chance came when Raqibul Hasan, diving full stretch to his right at point from a ferocious cut by Gambhir on 13 off Shahadat Hossain, just failed to cling on.
The left-handed opener shared half-century stands for both the first two wickets. But with Rohit Sharma already gone, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was bowled by Naeem Islam - operating at a clever, full length.
It was therefore down to Gambhir and Yuvraj to up the tempo in the last five overs - a challenge relished by the latter, who hit Naeem for three leg-side sixes in the 17th.
Gambhir, however, was unable to press the same accelerator and instead holed out at extra-cover off Naeem.
Yuvraj eventually mistimed a catch to long-off when Shahadat returned, but he and India had done enough with the bat.
That was far from certain, however, in the early stages of Bangladesh's response.
After a typical early blitz, Tamim Iqbal was stumped on the charge at Yusuf Pathan. But his partner Junaid Siddique, dropped on 19 off Yusuf by Ishant Sharma running back at mid-on, also survived his captain Mohammad Ashraful - caught in the off-side ring.
Junaid began with a hook for six first ball off Irfan Pathan and added two more maximums in an innings which quickly replicated Yuvraj's 41 - from just four balls more.
Once the left-handed opener had been caught at deep midwicket, though - the second of two wickets in slow left-armer Ojha's first over - Bangladesh never looked capable of regrouping for a significant challenge.
So it proved as wickets continued to fall too regularly, Ojha doing most of the damage.

WEST INDIES EASILY CRUSHES AUSTRALIA

Australia became the second shock casualty of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament after West Indies emerged from their desperate tour of England to secure a stunning triumph at the Oval.

But after restricting Australia to 169 for seven after they won the toss and decided to bat first, West Indies cruised to a superb seven-wicket victory with 25 balls to spare after blistering half-centuries from Chris Gayle and fellow opener Andre Fletcher.
Reeling from their decision to send all-rounder Andrew Symonds home for an "alcohol-related incident" on Thursday, Australia were given no respite and slumped to 15 for three inside four overs following an eventful first over from Jerome Taylor including three wides.
Opener Shane Watson drove the third ball of the match to mid-off and captain Ponting fell to his first legitimate ball lbw while Michael Clarke guided Fidel Edwards to third man in the next over to leave Australia reeling.
They were able to overcome such a start and reach a respectable score largely due to a determined half-century from opener David Warner, whose 63 off 53 balls ensured Australia did not completely capitulate.
Warner found an ally in wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who helped Australia recover with a 66-run stand which allowed their middle order to play with a greater expression during the closing overs.
Haddin fell by mis-timing a drive to mid-wicket and Warner's innings was ended when he drove to extra cover, setting the stage for David and Mike Hussey to propel Australia to a competitive target in the final overs.
David did his best by hitting three sixes in his 27 off 16 balls before being caught at long on, but it was Mike's unbeaten 28 off 15 balls which proved valuable, including 16 off the final over.
Facing a testing but by no means formidable target, West Indies virtually settled the issue by the end of the five overs of fielding restrictions with Gayle and Fletcher racing to 71 without loss.
Gayle was particularly fearsome, hammering 27 off the fifth over of the innings from Brett Lee which included three sixes and two fours and dominated a 133-run opening stand off just 76 balls - the third highest partnership in Twenty20 international history.
Fletcher fell for a sparkling 53 from 32 balls by driving Mitchell Johnson to extra cover, but Gayle continued his onslaught and was finally dismissed with West Indies only 13 runs away from victory.
The West Indies captain hammered six fours and six sixes during his explosive 88 off 50 balls and his departure inevitably signalled a slowing in the scoring rate but such was their start, they could celebrate an overdue victory on English soil with several overs to spare.