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Rolton stars in bowl-out thriller
Australia won a thrilling women's Twenty20 international against New Zealand in a bowl-off after the match had finished in a tie
Cricinfo staff
18-Oct-2006
Australia 5 for 141 (Rolton 71*) tied with New Zealand 7 for 141 (Fahey 43, Rolls 41). Australia won the bowl-off 2-1
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Karen Rolton was Australia's hero with the bat, cracking 71 off 59 balls. With Australia needing three to win from the final delivery, she smacked the ball to deep midwicket but could only manage to run two.
In the bowl-off, both sides missed with their first two attempts before Australia's Sarah Andrews hit the stumps in the third round, only for Nicola Browne to level things up immediately. Julie Hayes, who took 2 for 19 during the New Zealand innings, secured Australia's victory when she hit with the fifth and final ball.
Full postPakistan pull it off as Razzaq treads the razor's edge
Backed into the corner by the late withdrawal of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, Pakistan showed incredible self-belief and no little skill to pull off a splendid four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first high-quality match of this Champions Trophy
Pakistan 255 for 6 ( Yousuf 49, Malik 46*, Razzaq 38*) beat Sri Lanka 253 (Jayasuriya 48, Sangakkara 39, Razzaq 4-50) by four 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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Backed into the corner by the late withdrawal of Shoaib Akhtar and
Mohammad Asif, Pakistan showed incredible self-belief and no little skill
to pull off a splendid four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first
high-quality match of this Champions Trophy. Sensational allround
performances from Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik inspired them, after Sri
Lanka's spin duo had threatened to tilt the game their way. But Razzaq,
such a clean striker of the ball when in the mood, just wasn't to be
denied, on a night that Pakistan cricket aficionados will cherish for a
long time to come.
When Razzaq, who had earlier taken 4 for 50, came to the middle, Pakistan
needed 53 more, with just 47 balls remaining. By the time he thumped
Dilhara Fernando for a massive six over long-off to finish matters, 11
balls remained. In the excitement created by his booming strokeplay,
Shoaib Malik's role was nearly forgotten, but his 59-ball 46 was just as
crucial after Pakistan appeared to lose their way in mid-innings.
Full postNicholson fights back to restrict South Australia
Matthew Nicholson made a quick recovery from his horror last over against South Australia on Sunday by picking up three wickets to blunt the Redbacks' progress
Cricinfo staff
17-Oct-2006
South Australia 6 for 263 (Ferguson 63, Harris 53, Nicholson 3-55) v New South Wales
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Matthew Nicholson made a quick recovery from his horror last over against South Australia on Sunday by picking up three wickets to blunt the Redbacks' progress on the first day of the Pura Cup match at the SCG. On a day cut by 23.1 overs due to bad light, the visitors moved to 6 for 263 at stumps, with Daniel Harris and Callum Ferguson both registering half-centuries.
Nicholson leaked 20 runs in four balls when New South Wales lost the one-day match at the weekend, but he was back on line during an overcast day and was rewarded with the dismissals of Harris, Darren Lehmann and Cameron Borgas in a return of 3 for 55. Borgas, the South Australia hero on Sunday with three sixes in the final over, fell to a lifting ball that provided Brad Haddin with one of four catches while Nicholson also prevented Harris (53) and Lehmann from converting useful starts.
After opening with a 79-run stand between Harris and Nathan Adcock, South Australia slipped to 4 for 130 when a slashing Mark Cosgrove became Moises Henriques' maiden wicket on his first-class debut. However, Lehmann breezed to 41 from 48 balls and Ferguson collected five fours and two sixes in his 63 to steady the side. Shane Deitz finished unbeaten on 38 while Doug Bollinger and Stuart MacGill each picked up a wicket.
Full postFleming leads New Zealand to convincing victory
The trend of low scores and poor pitches continued at the Champions Trophy, as New Zealand crushed South Africa by 87 runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai
The Bulletin by S Rajesh
16-Oct-2006
New Zealand 195 (Fleming 89) beat South Africa 108 (Patel 3-11, Mills 3-18, Oram 3-26) by 87 runs
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How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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The trend of low scores and poor pitches continued at the Champions Trophy, as New Zealand crushed South Africa by 87 runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. In conditions where batting was an onerous task, Stephen Fleming played an outstanding knock for the second time in a major one-day competition against South Africa. In the World Cup, he had creamed 134 effortless runs; here, his 89 was the difference between the two sides, enabling New Zealand to mount 195. His opposite number for South Africa, Graeme Smith, was the second-highest score with 42 - but none of the other batsmen had much of a clue.
The pitch was a different one to what had been used a couple of days back when West Indies were mauled by Sri Lanka, but the result wasn't much different. Early on it offered more pace and bounce than the track on which West Indies got rolled over, but as the day wore on strokeplay became increasingly tougher, especially against the older ball. By the time South Africa were midway into their innings, there was a puff of dust every time the ball landed on the turf, and the abrasive nature of the pitch made the ball grip the surface - it was all far too much for the South African batsmen, and for most of the New Zealanders as well.
Full postIrfan is a proven matchwinner - Dravid
' I mulled over the decision for a while,' said Rahul Dravid at the end of the day. 'In the end I went in with who I thought could, when playing well, make a genuine difference'
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Jaipur
15-Oct-2006
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If there's one person who would have delighted in the opening hour of the
game at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium at Jaipur, it would have to be Mehdi
Sheikh, head coach at the Baroda Sports Club. Sometime in 2001, within a
span of six months, two young men - a swinging prodigy called Irfan
and a pacy seamer called Munaf - caught his fancy. Sheikh remembers the duo opening the bowling for his club and wished that they would one day go on to share the
new ball for Baroda.
Both went a step further and their combined effort today (16 - 5 - 38 - 5)
would have thrilled him no end. Both kept up the pressure from the word
go, both cranked up a more-than-decent pace and both, immaculately, kept
it straight. Munaf was rewarded with his first Man-of-the-Match award and
Pathan was rewarded with large dollops of confidence that had temporarily
deserted him.
When looked at purely from a bowling angle, Munaf's was probably the
better performance but it was Pathan, not even a certainty in the side
today, who proved the revelation. The faith that Rahul Dravid reposed in
him was paid back, handsomely. "I mulled over the decision for a while,"
said Dravid at the end of the day. "In the end I went in with who I
thought could, when playing well, make a genuine difference.
Full postA fudged statement of intent
The verdict on a woeful England by Andrew Miller
Andrew Miller
15-Oct-2006
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Eight interminable days into the competition, and the Champions Trophy is still searching in vain for a contest, any contest, remotely worthy of such lofty billing. If anyone thought that last week's diet of drivel would come to an end once the so-called "big guns" came out to play ... well, they forgot to take into account England's unrivalled ineptitude in one-day cricket.
Ignore the nonsensically close finish to this match - had it not been for a momentum-altering tea interval (which doubtless allowed Duncan Fletcher to have a few strong words with his underperforming charges), India would probably have romped to victory inside 20 overs. Instead, they slammed on the brakes when the spinners entered the fray, and turned a cakewalk into a stodgefest.
"I was pleased with the character the side showed," claimed Andrew Flintoff afterwards. "At one point, we thought if we got 160 or 170, we would be in the game, but as it turned out, even with 125, we did compete well. We managed to pick up six wickets and there was a glimmer of hope. But with another 30 or 40 runs on the board, it might have been a different story."
Full postPathan dismisses the blues
From the first delivery he bowled, Irfan Pathan was swinging the ball away, with the speed gun showing figures closer to 80 than 70
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Less than a month ago, Irfan Pathan's nascent career appeared to be in
danger of slamming into the buffers. While his team-mates finished
practice and went into the dressing room to prepare for a winner-take-all
match against Australia at the Kinrara Oval, Pathan was encouraged to bowl
at one stump with Jeff Thomson in attendance. His body language was poor,
and there was no zip in his bowling, and the little spell in full view of
the media and the crowd fuelled endless debate about whether he should be
retained in the squad.
Luckily for him, the 14 for the Champions Trophy had been named much
earlier, and Pathan, despite bowling six insipid overs for 54 runs in
Malaysia, had a berth at the expense of Sreesanth, lively and hostile in
the one outing he was given. Pathan's slump was all the more perplexing
because he had enjoyed such a stellar season in 2005-06, contributing
weightily with the bat and almost guaranteeing a breakthrough each time he
was handed the new white ball.
He had cut a swathe through top orders, picking up 49 wickets from just 25
games, but the long journey to the Caribbean appeared to take away his
allround mojo. In seven subsequent matches, he could score only 88 runs,
and his seven wickets came at a cost of 33.28 apiece. More worryingly, the
economy rate had ballooned to 6.13, and he was struggling to nudge 75mph
on the speed gun.
Full postMumbai get the points in contrived finish
Inspired by Nilesh Kulkarni's five-wicket haul, Mumbai gained a surprise seven-run win against the Australians in the final warm-up game at the MIG Ground
Mumbai XI 218 for 8 (Watson 3-42) beat Australians 292
(Gilchrist 61, Ponting 55, Kulkarni 5-43) by seven runs (target revised to 300)
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Inspired by Nilesh Kulkarni's five-wicket haul, Mumbai gained a seven-run win in a contrived match against the Australians in their final Champions Trophy warm-up game at the MIG Ground. Although Mumbai batted first and ended up scoring only 218, both teams agreed to bend the rules. Australia's target was revised to 300 to allow their batsmen to gain more practice and make the game more competitive for the large number of spectators who filled up the temporary stands erected outside the ground.
Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner who had troubled Australia in the past, returned to haunt them again in a productive display. Australia got off to a typically aggressive start as Adam Gilchrist, who pulled a slew of short-of-a-length deliveries, and Shane Watson added 96 at the required rate, punishing anything off line from Zaheer Khan. Gilchrist was the first of Kulkarni's victims, beaten in flight after slamming a huge six over long-on to the previous ball. After Watson, who again opened ahead of Simon Katich, quickly departed to the same bowler, Australia appeared on track with Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn adding 106 and registering half-centuries.
Full postIndia clinch a low-scoring affair
India hiccupped their way to a nervy four-wicket win over England in their opening Champions Trophy encounter at Jaipur
The Bulletin by S Rajesh
15-Oct-2006
India 126 for 6 (Tendulkar 35) beat England 125 (Collingwood 38) by 4 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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India hiccupped their way to a nervy four-wicket win over England in their opening Champions Trophy encounter at Jaipur. Sixteen wickets fell for 251 runs on a day when neither team's batsmen covered themselves with glory, but India just about managed to hold it together under lights after they had done superbly in the field, bundling England out for a paltry 125 in 37 overs.
Though India struggled in their run-chase, England had little chance once their batsmen had folded up so meekly. For the second time in two days, the team batting first came unstuck on a pitch which, while by no means a shirtfront, certainly wasn't a minefield. In the early overs there was a fair amount of pace and bounce on offer for the fast bowlers, but soon there was also more than a hint of uneven bounce as a few deliveries shot through to the wicketkeeper, while some reared up from a length. The need of the hour was for the batsmen to knuckle down, graft their runs, and put away the premeditated strokes, but apart from Paul Collingwood and Jamie Dalrymple, none of the England batsmen were prepared to adopt that route.
Full postAkmal leads Pakistan to six-wicket win
Kamran Akmal scored a quickfire 69 off 49 balls to guide Pakistan to an easy six-wicket win in their second practice match against Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI in Jaipur
Cricinfo staff
14-Oct-2006
Pakistanis 199 for 4 (Akmal 69) beat RCA President's XI 198 for 4 (Kanwat 53, Doru 51*) by six wickets
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Chasing 199, Akmal opened the innings with Mohammad Hafeez and the pair put on 86, scoring at a quick clip. An occasional opener, Akmal scored 58 of his runs in boundaries, including three sixes. All the Pakistan batsmen had a good hit in the middle, including Shahid Afridi, who also tonked three sixes in his 28. Faisal Iqbal and Shoaib Malik coasted past the target in the 33rd over.
The Pakistan bowlers however failed to role over the opposition, as RCA XI chose to get bat out the 50 overs, losing only four wickets in the process. Choosing to bat first, the RCA openers, Mumbai's Rohit Sharma, and S Vijay got off to a good start, adding 54 in just over ten overs till Umar Gul got the first breakthrough.
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