ICC Twenty20 World Cup News

If Pakistan are a confidence team, their Twenty20 efforts over the past two days augur well for next week's first Test. A day after they ended their 12-match losing stretch against Australia across all formats, Mohammad Aamer helped them begin their own winning streak with an 11-run victory that brought 2-0 series triumph. Tests are a very different story, but their Twenty20 form has given the group a spark.

There was a distinct sense of déjà vu after Monday's game; again there was a big crowd of Pakistan fans, again Pakistan scored around the 160 mark and again Australia's batsmen were tied down and couldn't lift their tempo for a successful chase. The last pair was left needing 19 from the final over and despite a six from Dirk Nannes, they came up short.

It can't bring back the World Twenty20 trophy, but Pakistan extracted some sort of revenge on Australia in their first meeting since the semi-final in St Lucia. Again, a vigorous Umar Akmal half-century set up Pakistan's innings but this time their bowlers, led by Mohammad Aamer, did enough to strangle Australia's run-rate and deny Michael Clarke's men, who couldn't chase down 168.

In May, it took something special from Michael Hussey to drive Australia into the decider against England, as he monstered the 18 needed off the last over, bowled by Saeed Ajmal. This time, Ajmal fittingly collected the final wicket and was mobbed by his team-mates as Australia fell to a 23-run defeat, their first loss to Pakistan in any format in their past 13 meetings.

The ICC have awarded the next two World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2014 to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, while England will host the Champions Trophy in 2013. The 2015 World Cup will be held by Australia and New Zealand and the 2013 Women's World Cup will be played in India. The decisions were announced after a meeting of the ICC board in Singapore.

The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and Governance Review Committee (GRC) working groups met jointly to discuss the ICC events programme post 2015, the frequency and format for global events and qualification for those events, and the introduction of Test and ODI leagues to provide context to the traditional formats of the game.

Suresh Raina and M Vijay made light work of Zimbabwe's second-highest total in Twenty20 internationals, smacking five sixes and eight fours between them to set up a seven-wicket win, and with that the 2-0 sweep of the Twenty20 series. Sweeps and reverse-sweeps from Tatenda Taibu and a late cameo from Charles Coventry took Zimbabwe to their mildly competitive total, but it could be argued they lost the match in their Powerplay that went for only 21 runs.

After paying for too many strokes too early in the first match, Zimbabwe erred on the side of caution in the second. There were 48 dot balls in the innings, five of them because Hamilton Masakadza shouldered arms to the first six deliveries he faced, one of them a wide. He was out to the first aggressive shot he played, hitting straight down mid-off's throat. Brendan Taylor and Chamu Chibhabha didn't try any big shots off the seamers, and Chibhabha fell to an expansive slog-sweep in the sixth over, bowled by Pragyan Ojha.

So far this tour has been a misadventure for India. The experiment with rotation went awry during the tri-series, with the selectors sending a squad unbalanced in both experience and skill. The manner in which they lost their games, especially against the hosts, has led to doubts over the quality of India's next line of cricketers.

The visitors have two games to salvage the tour, and build some confidence for the players headed to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup. Can their batsmen shrug away their inhibitions and hit out in IPL-like conditions that won't test their vulnerability against the short ball? Can their inexperienced fast bowlers pull one back on the Zimbabwe top order that bullied them in the ODIs?

Australia's selectors have forgiven Michael Clarke for his poor form in Twenty20, naming him to captain Australia against Pakistan in England in July. Clarke will lead the side for the two Twenty20s in Birmingham on July 5 and 6 despite his struggles with the bat in the shortest format, where his strike-rate of 101 is well below par.

Clarke was praised for his attacking captaincy at the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, where he guided Australia to the final, but he needs to lift his scoring rate to justify his position as a batsman. He will lead the same squad that visited the West Indies, with Tim Paine the only omission due to the reduced need for a backup wicketkeeper.