Report
Marsh powers Punjab to easy win
Shaun Marsh made an unbeaten 84 on his IPL debut to carry the Kings XI Punjab to a convincing seven-wicket win, their third on the trot, and fourth place in the points table
The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran
01-May-2008
Kings XI Punjab 167 for 3 (Marsh 84*, Jayawardene 45*) beat Deccan Chargers 164 for 8 (Rohit 76*, Laxman 48, Chawla 3-28) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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There were plenty of star batsmen on show but the two best innings of an absorbing encounter came from two youngsters. Shaun Marsh's unbeaten 84 on his IPL debut, carrying Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable seven-wicket win - their third on the trot - and fourth place in the points table, followed Rohit Sharma's 76, which lifted the Deccan Chargers to a respectable 164.
Each side also saw cameos from more experienced hands; VVS Laxman provided the early aggression for Deccan with a typically fluid 48 off 34 balls, while Mahela Jayawardene shrugged off his indifferent form to date with an assured unbeaten 45 to shepherd Marsh - the son of the former Australian opener Geoff Marsh - as they ran down the target with ease.
Full postAll-round Rajasthan win convincingly
An irrepressible Rajasthan Royals side got their fourth successive win of the tournament and nudged past Delhi to second place in the points table with a win over a listless Kolkata Knight Riders
The Bulletin by Nishi Narayanan
01-May-2008
Rajasthan Royals 196 for 7 (Asnodkar 60, Yusuf 55, Gul 3-31) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (Ganguly 51, Tanvir 2-30, 2-Trivedi 2-31) by 45 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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An irrepressible Rajasthan Royals side got their fourth successive win of the tournament and nudged past Delhi to second place in the points table with a 45-run win over a listless Kolkata Knight Riders. 'All the King's men' might be Kolkata's advertising tagline, referring to team owner Shah Rukh Khan, but here it was a more apt description of Shane Warne and his team. His decision to bat first - allowing his bowlers respite from the Jaipur heat - was justified by attacking half-centuries from debutant Swapnil Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan, and disciplined bowling by the Rajasthan quicks.
Kolkata felt the absence of Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting, who left for the upcoming Test series in the West Indies, as they slumped to their third defeat in a row. In the only other match in which they chased, Kolkata needed 111 to win, a far less daunting target than the 197 they were set to chase today.
Rajasthan's preferred method has been to chase a target, but this time Warne changed the tactic, and Asnodkar, who opened the innings with Graeme Smith, got into his stride immediately. He cut, drove and slogged for his 60, playing cautiously against Ishant Sharma and Umar Gul - who eventually had him caught trying to pull - and targeting the wayward Ashok Dinda and Ajit Agarkar. He hit Agarkar for three successive fours and reached his fifty off 29 balls.
Full postIndia seek to maintain winning streak
Nishi Narayanan
01-May-2008
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The fourth edition of the women's Asia Cup gets underway in Colombo on Friday and for India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan this will be their first competitive tournament in preparation of the World Cup in Australia in 2009. New entrants Bangladesh, meanwhile, will be hoping they put on a decent performance.
India, who have won all three editions of the tournament so far without dropping a game, are favourites and Pakistan and Sri Lanka are eager to end their domination "We have a strong batting and fielding department and the team comprises six allrounders," Shashikala Siriwardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said. "Our final target is to qualify for the Asia Cup final and win it." Bismah Maroof, the young Pakistan opener, expected to beat Sri Lanka and give India some good matches.
Jhulan Goswami, the Indian fast bowler who was named ICC Women's Player of the Year, said she hoped the Asia Cup would give the younger players the confidence to play at the international level. "This is a great opportunity to be the four-time champions," said Goswami, who needs four wickets to reach 100 wickets in ODIs. "It's our first tournament after the Quandrangular Series last year and we are going to approach the World Cup step by step from now on."
Full postRain plays havoc on county circuit
A round-up from the latest County Championship matches
Cricinfo staff
30-Apr-2008
First Division
Click here to read John Ward's report on a dour opening day between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire at Headingley.
No play was possible on the first day of Sussex's clash with Surrey
at Hove.
Second Division
Dour Yorkshire grind through the wet
Yorkshire ground to 51 for 1 from 30 overs on a rain-affected first day against Nottinghamshire
John Ward at Headingley
30-Apr-2008
Yorkshire 51 for 1 v Nottinghamshire
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Scorecard
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It was a surprise that Yorkshire chose to bat against the only other Division One team to win a match so far this season, but their batsmen performed creditably in the best Yorkshire tradition. Most pleasing would be the innings of Vaughan, who had survived for 81 balls at the close.
The sun shone early on, which meant that play on a damp outfield started after an early lunch, but more rain fell before tea and forced a premature end. Importantly for Yorkshire they only lost one wicket, that of Joe Sayers, who made 9 off 72 balls. Slow it may have been, but it was an intriguing battle.
Full postGambhir and McGrath put Delhi back on track
Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan laid out the carpet and Glenn McGrath, returning the best figures in the IPL's brief history, walked over it as the Delhi Daredevils got themselves back on track after a blip in their last game
The Bulletin by Jamie Alter
30-Apr-2008
Delhi Daredevils 191 for 5 (Gambhir 86, Dhawan 50) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers (Kallis 54, Dravid 38, McGrath 4-29) by ten runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan laid out the carpet and Glenn McGrath, returning the best figures in the IPL's brief history, walked over it as the Delhi Daredevils got themselves back on track after a blip in their last game. It wasn't a comfortable win, as the Bangalore Royal Challengers kept them to 191 for 5 when 205 seemed an easy total and later when Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid threatened to chase it down, but another choke from the visiting side - who for the third game running left Misbah-ul-Haq on the bench - put Delhi at second in the points table.
The Feroz Shah Kotla track wasn't known for any major assistance to seam or swing and Dravid's decision to field on a sluggish surface with variable bounce ultimately turned out to be a mistake. After a quiet first over, Gambhir waded into the Bangalore attack in stunning fashion. First he took Zaheer Khan for three fours, a delectable square cut tucked between two shots off the pads, and then hit Dale Steyn for a couple more. Virender Sehwag hit a few lusty shots before he was run out for a 12-ball 24, but Gambhir applied himself excellently.
Full postBangladesh pip Ireland into semi-finals
A review of the third round in the group stages of the CLICO International Under-15 Championship
Cricinfo staff
29-Apr-2008
Bangladesh beat Ireland by five wickets to secure the one remaining semi-final berth. In a winner-takes-all contest, Ireland, led by Hugo MacDonnell's 53, looked well on course for a decent score as they reached 77 for 1 but lost their way and were bowled out for 140 - Nazeef Ahmed did most of the damage with 5 for 18. Bangladesh found themselves in all kinds of bother before Didar Hossain (61*) and Rakin Ahmed (48*) bailed them out.
Kenya's wretched form continued as they crashed to a ten-wicket defeat by West Indies. Ramon Senior led the attack with 4 for 16 at Kenya mustered 86, and West Indies' two in-form batsmen - Kraigg Brathwaite (37*) and John Campbell (43*) - knocked off the runs with no alarms. While West Indies march into the semi-finals, Kenya must be wondering quite why they bothered after four heavy defeats.
Pakistan, who with West Indies look by some way the best side, had no difficulty in recording an eight-wicket win over Malaysia. With both teams already into the last four, this was a low-key affair. Malaysia limped to 76 in 38.4 overs, a score Pakistan took only 19.1 overs to overhaul.
In a rain-affected match where only pride was at stake, ICC Americas beat Netherlands, who stumbled to 71 for 7 chasing a Duckworth-Lewis adjusted target of 145, by 74 runs. Nitish Kumar took 3 for 7 to go with the 52 he made earlier as the Americas side made 187 for 7. Abhijit Joshi, who has been in good form throughout, top scored with 65.
Full postHow and Marshall find form for Kiwis
Jamie How and James Marshall helped themselves to some important time in the middle as New Zealand reached 76 for 1 by tea on a rain-interrupted second day against Kent
Andrew Miller at Canterbury
29-Apr-2008
New Zealanders 92 for 1 (How 53*, Marshall 20*) trail Kent 324 for 1 dec (Key 178*, Tredwell 123*) by 232 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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New Zealand's star players are starting to dribble into the country after their stints with the Indian Premier League. Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram arrived this afternoon, ready for this week's second warm-up against Essex at Chelmsford, while Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor will all have landed by Thursday. Until then it's all about the second-stringers, in particular the battle for batting places ahead of the first Test at Lord's on May 15.
How, the stand-in captain, opened up with Aaron Redmond, the son of the former Kiwi opener, Rodney, who scored a Test century in his solitary appearance against Pakistan at Auckland in 1972-73. Redmond Jr impressed during New Zealand's one-day curtain-raiser at Arundel on Sunday, scoring 72 in a rain-curtailed encounter with MCC, but he was less effective in this outing.
Full postJayasuriya and Bravo seal Mumbai win
Inspired by Sanath Jayasuriya's 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, the Mumbai Indians put their off-field troubles aside and pulled off their first win
The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran
29-Apr-2008
Mumbai Indians 138 for 3 (Bravo 62*, Uthappa 37*) beat Kolkata Knight
Riders 137 for 8 (Shukla 40*, Jayasuriya 3-14) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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Inspired by Sanath Jayasuriya's 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, the
Mumbai Indians put their off-field troubles aside and pulled off their first win. On a slow Eden Gardens pitch, though not the minefield of the previous game, Mumbai had a nervy start and were 25 for 3 before Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa put on a century stand to see them home.
After Kolkata Knight Riders chose to bat, Mumbai's stand-in captain Shaun Pollock stunned the huge crowd, removing local hero Sourav Ganguly and the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the
first over. Ganguly chased at a wide delivery and only managed a thick edge that was
smartly held by Jayasuriya at wide slip. McCullum was trapped lbw for 1 two balls
later, leaving Kolkata at 6 for 2.
Full postDhoni scripts narrow Chennai win
The Chennai Super Kings overcame two adverse situations, the first with the bat and then with the ball, to extend their unbeaten streak in the IPL to four matches
The Bulletin by George Binoy
28-Apr-2008
Chennai Super Kings 178 for 5 (Dhoni 65, Hussey 47, Zaheer 3-38) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 165 (Taylor 53, Jaffer 50, Gony 3-34) by 13 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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The Chennai Super Kings overcame two adverse situations, the first with the bat and then with the ball, to extend their unbeaten streak in the IPL to four matches, defeating the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 13 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Chennai were struggling for momentum during their innings, having scored only 102 for 3 off 15 overs before Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who struck a blistering 65, and Michael Hussey clouted 76 off the last five overs. Their bowlers were under pressure as Bangalore, chasing 179, cruised to 102 for 2 in 11 overs but Chennai's medium-pace attack persevered and the hosts' middle order panicked towards the business-end of the chase. Bangalore were dismissed for 165, falling to their third straight defeat at home.
Full post