Report
Ganguly and Laxman add to Pakistan's misery
Sourav Ganguly got his first Test hundred in Kolkata as India bruised, battered and pummelled Pakistan
The Bulletin by Osman Samiuddin
01-Dec-2007
Pakistan 50 for 1 (Butt 26*, Younis 3*) trail India 616 for 5 dec (Jaffer 202, Laxman 112* Ganguly 102, Dhoni 50*) by 566 runs
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How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Had India asked the Gods of cricket to script a perfect day, they would not have been able to better this. Wasim Jaffer completed a double-hundred, VVS Laxman added a dainty hundred and above all, the prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly hit his first hundred in front of a rapt home crowd as India declared on 616 for 5.
Then, in the hour available to their bowlers, they picked off an opener; Pakistan ended on 50 for 1, still a whole galaxy of runs behind. Escape is possible, but with every ball, every run, every over, every boundary that has passed over two days, their spirits have sapped further.
Full postEngland's bowlers take the honours
England enjoyed an impressive first day against Sri Lanka, bowling them out for 188 as Matthew Hoggard took four wickets then replying 49 for 1 at Kandy
The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan
01-Dec-2007
England 49 for 1 (Bell 36*, Vaughan 13*) trail Sri Lanka 188 (Sangakkara 92, P Jayawardene 51, Hoggard 4-29, Panesar 3-46) by 139 runs
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In the build-up to this Test, playing in Sri Lanka has been described as one of the game's toughest challenges and England responded with an outstanding bowling performance on the opening day at Kandy. Matthew Hoggard took four wickets in 25 balls during the morning session as Sri Lanka hit the depths of 42 for 5, then Monty Panesar chipped in with three after a partial resurrection from Kumar Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene who added 106 for the sixth wicket to lift them to 188.
The morning session was a dream for England as Hoggard, playing his first Test since June, swung the ball as though back on home soil at Headingley. Three of Sri Lanka's middle order were dispatched for single figures as Hoggard added Kandy to his list of overseas success stories, alongside diverse locations such as Nagpur, Adelaide and Johannesburg. However, home embarrassment was averted to some degree by Sangakkara and Jayawardene who mixed caution with aggression before the second collapse of the innings as the last four wickets fell for eight runs.
Full postChandigarh Lions clinch ICL opener
Daryl Tuffey claimed three wickets and Andrew Hall two, apart from bowling a tight final over to kick off the Indian Cricket League in Panchkula
Chandigarh Lions 134 (Hall 31*, Mortaza 3-16, Abhishek 3-16)
beat Delhi Jets 125 (Abbas 30, Tuffey 3-15) by 8 runs
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Daryl Tuffey claimed three wickets and Andrew Hall two, apart from bowling
a tight final over to kick off the Indian Cricket League in Panchkula. In
a match where Indian cricketers matched their skills with international
ones, the 'home team', Chandigarh Lions prevailed over Delhi Jets by eight
runs.
It was a day for both sport and entertainment but the intensity was hard to miss. The fielding was of higher standard, compared to what's generally on display in domestic cricket, and Abhishek Sharma running out Imran Farhat was one of the plays of the day.
Chris Cairns and Marvan Atapattu sparkled, apart from Tuffey and Hall, but
they had to slug it out against local talent trying to make a name. Ali
Mortaza, a left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh who was an India Under-19
star till recently, impressed with 3 for 16, including a wicket off his
first ball. Abhishek, the legspinner from Delhi, bagged three wickets too
and JP Yadav, the former Indian allrounder, contributed with both bat and
ball.
Full postHow and McCullum power New Zealand win
New Zealand, led by scintillating half-centuries by Brendon McCullum and Jamie How dismantled South Africa with clinical efficiency
The Bulletin by Kanishkaa Balachandran
30-Nov-2007
New Zealand 210 for 3 (McCullum 81, How 76) beat South Africa 209 for 9 (Pollock 52, Boucher 48, Mills 3-43, Gillespie 3-55) by 7 wickets
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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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New Zealand, led by scintillating half-centuries from Brendon McCullum and Jamie How, dismantled South Africa with clinical efficiency and brought the one-day series alive with a seven-wicket victory in the second one-dayer at St George's Park. The target of 210 was seen as fairly competitive under lights but McCullum and How tackled it with a level of confidence rarely seen from New Zealand in this series.
There was a refreshing consistency with which New Zealand dominated the game for most parts. The 89-run rescue act for the sixth wicket between Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher was the only lengthy passage of play dominated by South Africa - who had won eight of the last ten day-night games here - but the momentum was with New Zealand from the second ball of the match.
Full postTait impresses on return for Redbacks
Shaun Tait made a welcome return for South Australia with three wickets against Queensland
Cricinfo staff
30-Nov-2007
South Australia 0 for 33 trail Queensland 308 (Simpson 89, Hopes 59, Tait 3-69) by 275 runs
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Shaun Tait made a welcome comeback for South Australia with three wickets against Queensland and their attack again bowled encouragingly as the hosts were dismissed for 308. Chris Simpson and James Hopes held them up with a 118-run fifth-wicket stand, which helped the Bulls recover from the early trouble of 4 for 96.
Tait, who enjoyed working on a green track under overcast skies, continued to press his Test claims with 3 for 69 on his first-class return from an elbow injury and he was backed up by Jason Gillespie and Nathan Adcock, who each grabbed two wickets. This was the first match of the post-Lehmann era, but rather than rue his loss the Redbacks built on the momentum of his farewell victory, their first of the season in the Pura Cup.
Full postKatich fights off rampant Bushrangers
Simon Katich's third century of the season was not pretty but it did rescue New South Wales from annihilation as only three of his team-mates registered any score against Victoria
Brydon Coverdale at the MCG
30-Nov-2007
Victoria 1 for 19 trail New South Wales 9 for 253 dec (Katich 141, Nannes 4-49, Denton 4-54) by 234 runs
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Simon Katich's third century of the season was not pretty but it did rescue New South Wales from annihilation as only three of his team-mates registered any score against Victoria. Gerard Denton and Dirk Nannes rattled the Blues with four wickets each and after Katich departed late in the day for 141 the visitors declared at 9 for 253.
Victoria faced 7.1 overs and Nick Jewell survived on 2 but Rob Quiney edged Doug Bollinger behind for 8 as the Bushrangers went to stumps at 1 for 19. New South Wales had made an even shakier start - they fell to 2 for 1 after Brad Hodge sent them in and five Blues made ducks around Katich's defiant innings.
Full postMajestic Jaffer puts India in command
Wasim Jaffer's bat sparkled brightest on a day of total dominance for India's batsmen
The Bulletin by Osman Samiuddin
30-Nov-2007
India 352 for 3 (Jaffer 192*, Tendulkar 82, Dravid 50, Ganguly 17*) v Pakistan
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Wasim Jaffer's bat sparkled brightest on a day of total dominance for India's batsmen, as they ground Pakistan into the Kolkata dust on the opening day of the second Test at Eden Gardens. Jaffer was undefeated on 192 when bad light ended play six overs early, but his fifth hundred was his most joyous yet. With support from Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, he took India to 352 for 3.
For an ailing Pakistan, without their injured captain Shoaib Malik and hampered by a seriously unwell Shoaib Akhtar, it was, by some distance, one of their most dispiriting days in recent memory. Kamran Akmal led the way in the field with an untidy, fumble-ridden performance that included another dropped catch as their chances of winning this series ebbed away under a barrage of boundaries.
Full postZimbabwe clinch famous win
Zimbabwe stunned West Indies in the opening match in their five-ODI series with a 30-run win in Harare
The Bulletin by S Rajesh
30-Nov-2007
Zimbabwe 274 for 8 (Chibhabha 73, Matsikenyeri 55) beat West Indies 244 for 8 (Chanderpaul 127*) by 30 runs
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Exactly four years and four days after they had last beaten a major Test-playing team, Zimbabwe turned the clock back at the same venue, and against the same opposition. What must have seemed like a gentle start to their African tour turned into a nightmare for West Indies, as Zimbabwe pulled the rug from under their feet during a stunning 30-run win in the first ODI of the five-match series in Harare. The match was set up by a spirited batting performance, which gave them a challenging total of 274, before the bowlers stifled the runs so effectively that West Indies fell short despite Shivarine Chanderpaul's unbeaten 127.
The game was astonishing not just for the result, but also for the manner in which it came about. This wasn't a victory brought about by one batsman playing a blinder or a bowler bowling a dream spell: five batsmen scored more than 25 to propel Zimbabwe's innings, while most of the bowlers showed outstanding control, with Prosper Utseya and Ray Price - back in the team after more than three years in the wilderness - being exceptional in the middle overs. It was only their second ODI win in their last 23 games, and the celebrations after the game indicated just how much the win meant to them.
Full postHBL regain top spot with convincing win
A round-up of the fourth day of the seventh round matches of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy
Cricinfo staff
29-Nov-2007
Group A
Habib Bank Limited (HBL) returned to the top of group A after a convincing 138-run win against Lahore Ravi at Lahore Country Club. Set 318 to win, Lahore slumped to 58 for 4 on day three and lost three wickets for the addition of only 16 runs on the final morning. Quickfire 30s from Waqas Ahmed and Shahbaz Butt delayed the inevitable as Sajid Shah grabbed 6 for 67 to send the hosts crashing to 179 all out.
Faisalabad produced another solid batting performance against Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) at Sargodha Stadium, taking three points from a drawn encounter on first innings lead. SSGC were bowled out for 374 in their first innings, and though they just managed to avoid the follow-on, it wasn't enough to prevent Faisalabad taking some points. Helped by a hundred from Usman Arshad, to go with his first-innings 82, Faisalabad reached 254 for 5 as the match closed.
A hundred from former international Zahoor Elahi and a pair of contrasting 90s from Bilal Shafayat and Asif Iqbal helped Pakistan Customs move up from the bottom of the table against Multan at Gymkhana Ground. A seventh-wicket stand of 149 between Iqbal (93) and Yasir Hussain (77) was crucial in taking Customs to 580. That meant they had taken a slender 13-run first-innings lead and three vital points. There was just enough time for Gulraiz Sadaf to hit a second half-century of the match, as Multan began aggressively but it was ultimately a futile one.
Full postImad shines in convincing win for Pakistan
Imad Wasim shone with the ball as Pakistan Under-19s registered an 80-run win over Bangladesh U-19 at Hyderabad in the second of the five-match series to take a 2-0 lead
Cricinfo staff
28-Nov-2007
Pakistan Under-19s 211 for 9 (Masood 49, Shehzad 43, Shuvo 3-27) beat Bangladesh Under-19 131 (Mahmudul 45, Wasim 4-20) by 80 runs
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Imad Wasim, Pakistan's captain, led the way with the ball as Pakistan Under-19s registered an emphatic 80-run win over Bangladesh U-19 at Hyderabad, in the second of the five-match series. The home side now lead the series 2-0.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan got off to a confident start as the opening partnership yielded 75 runs. However, once Ahmed Shehzad (43) and Shan Masood (49) were out, the rest of the batsmen failed to capitalise on the start given to them. None of the middle order took charge and only a 27 from Ali Asad, the wicketkeeper, allowed the home side to crawl past 200. Suhrawadi Shuvo was the pick of the Bangladesh bowling attack, picking up three wickets while Mahmudul Hasan provided honest support with 2 for 27.
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