Pakistan finally prevailed over Australia, ending a 13 game losing streak that stretched across all formats of the game, to win the first T20 International by 23 runs at Edgbaston. It was a lion hearted effort by young Umar Akmal whose 64 off 31 balls ensured Pakistan reached a respectable 167/8. The Pakistani bowlers chipped in, ensuring Akmal's efforts did not go in vain as just five Australian batsmen made it to double figures. Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Aamer were the most successful, picking up 3 wickets apiece.

Pakistan kicked off the series against Australia on the right note by winning the toss and choosing to bat in the first of back to back T20 games at Edgbaston. The T20 series, will be followed immediately by a 2-match Test series, also being played on neutral ground.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Saturday the appointment of Johan Botha as captain of the Proteas' Standard Bank Pro20 squad. He succeeds Graeme Smith who stood down earlier in the week.

"Johan was the unanimous choice of the Board," commented CSA CEO Gerald Majola, "and we have every confidence that he will do an excellent job leading up to the next edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in2012."

Botha's appointment is for the Pro20 squad only. The captain to succeed Smith in the ODI format will be announced later. Smith will retain this captaincy until the end of the ICC World Cup next year.

The young Indian team's African safari culminated on a positive note as they defeated hosts Zimbabwe in the second and final Twenty20 match of the series by 7 wickets to complete a clean-sweep. Zimbabwe's batsmen fared better than the first match, but their effort was still not good enough to compete with the Indians. The visitors had a roller-coaster tour as they lost three matches out of four in the tri-nation tournament, also involving Sri Lanka, and then came back strongly to register convincing wins in both the T20 internationals. A strong hint to the selectors that while this team may be ready for the 20-over format of the game, One Day cricket requires a lot more patience and skill.

Suresh Raina was once again lucky with the toss and as he had done in the previous match, decided to field. The Indians made just one change to their XI with Amit Mishra coming in for Piyush Chawla, one leggie for another. Zimbabwe on the other hand made three changes, hoping to put up a better show for the home fans. Tendai Chatara, Charles Coventry and Graeme Cremer came in for Prosper Utseya, Craig Ervine and Edward Rainsford, Chatara being a debutant. The hosts were off to a slow start, but a determined knock from Tatenda Taibu and a late charge from Coventry and skipper Elton Chigumbura helped them to 140. India never seemed to be in trouble during the chase as Suresh Raina, leading from the front with an unbeaten 72, and Murali Vijay, who got 46, helped reach the target comfortably.

India drew first blood in the two match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe at Harare, defeating the hosts by 6 wickets with 5 full overs to spare. Zimbabwe had defeated India in both the matches in the tri-nation tournament preceeding this series, but the young Indian team put up a solid display to overcome the hosts in a low scoring game. The Zimbabweans could manage only 111 in their 20 overs, and though the Indians lost a few early wickets, the Zimbabweans never had enough runs on the board to trouble the Indians.

India's skipper Suresh Raina won the toss and chose to field, a trend that was common even in the triangular series. India went in with three T20 debutants, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Naman Ojha. Piyush Chawla, flown in for the T20 series, got the nod ahead of Ravindra Jadeja whereas R Vinay Kumar returned from injury to be the second pacer alongside Ashok Dinda. Murali Vijay was given the nod ahead of Dniesh Karthik with Ojha taking over the gloves. Zimbabwe made two changes, with Ed Rainsford and Chamu Chibhabha coming in for Coventry and Cremer.

India and Zimbabwe face-off in a two match Twenty20 series at Harare, Zimbabwe. India's tour has not gone according to plan as the 'Boys' in Blue failed to qualify for the final of the tri-nation tournament held before this series which involved Sri Lanka, the eventual champions, as the third team. India lost both their matches against Zimbabwe and managed to win just the one match against Sri Lanka. And though most of the big stars from India didn't feature in the series, the team would have been expected to do better than just a single victory. The team will be determined to salvage some pride in the T20 series before catching their flight home. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, surpassed all expectations and made it to the final with three wins in their four matches. They might not have won the final, but their performance went a long way to show that there is no dearth of talent in the African nation.

India:
A young team, led by 23-year old Suresh Raina, has not quite lived up to the expectations of their fans back home. The losses to Zimbabwe were completely unexpected and the team would like to avenge those defeats. The youngsters have not performed to their potential and have failed to grab the opportunity to push the senior members of the squad for a place ahead of the 2011 World Cup. This T20 series is a rare last opportunity for most of these players to stake a claim for a regular place in the squad.

South Africa just about managed to keep their nerve under pressure and restrict the West Indies to snatch victory in a last-ball thriller at Antigua. At one stage, the West Indies seemed to be down and out of the game. But a remarkable recovery in the middle overs, led by Dwayne Bravo and Shvnarine Chanderpaul, and some good striking by Darren Sammy in the final over took them to the doorstep of victory, but in the end it was heart-break for the home fans as their team fell short by just a single run.

The South Africans were dealt a big blow before the toss as the previous match's half-centurion, Jacques Kallis was ruled out with a slight niggle. This paved the way for a debut for the youngster David Miller, who had come to the Caribbean with a reputation of being a hard-hitting batsman. Roelof van der Merwe and Charl Langeveldt also made way from the Protean line-up for Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.The West Indians decided to strengthen their batting line-up and brought in veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul in place of off-spinner, Nikita Miller. Chris Gayle won the toss once again and sent the South Africans in. The Proteas never found the going easy and worked hard to get to a total of 120, courtesy a 57-run prtnerhip between Miller and Johan Botha for the 6th wicket. The hosts in response lost early wickets, but Bravo and Chanderpaul got the chase on track. Unfortunately, neither of them could stay till the end. Darren Sammy nearly won the game in the final over, but fell just short.