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Tigers pounce after dismissing Queensland for 176
Tasmania's brave push for a spot in the Pura Cup final received a huge boost when they dismissed Queensland for 176
Cricinfo staff
10-Mar-2006
Tasmania 2 for 91 (Di Venuto 47) trail Queensland 176 (Love 66, Griffith 3-35, Geeves 3-38, Hilfenhaus 3-46) by 85 runs
Scorecard
Pura Cup table
Scorecard
Pura Cup table
Tasmania's brave push for a spot in the Pura Cup final received a huge boost when they dismissed Queensland for 176 on the first day at Bellerive Oval. Stuck in last spot two games ago, the Tigers have a chance of making the decider if they win outright and at stumps were 85 behind with eight first-innings wickets in hand.
Queensland sealed hosting rights for the final last week, but their preparations for the match starting on March 24 turned sour from the third over. Lachlan Stevens, who replaced Matthew Hayden, fell for 2 to Adam Griffith and he added his 45th and 46th wickets of the season with Jimmy Maher (20) and Clinton Perren (6) as the Bulls slid to 3 for 52. Brendan Nash soon became Brett Geeves's first victim before Martin Love and James Hopes steadied the situation slightly with a 34-run stand.
However, they never escaped the trouble and were 7 for 146 when Love departed for a calming 66 from 123 balls with eight fours. Scrambling from Ashley Noffke and Nathan Hauritz, playing his opening first-class game of the season, pushed Queensland to 176 as Geeves wrapped up the innings with 3 for 38. Ben Hilfenhaus also performed strongly to claim 3 for 46 and continue his impressive debut season.
Full postGloom has the final say
The curtain came down on a dull, dreary unsatisfactory day a little before 3.30pm when play was called off
The Bulletin by Anand Vasu in Mohali
10-Mar-2006
England 200 for 5 (Flintoff 26*, Jones 7*) v India
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 curtain came down on a dull, dreary unsatisfactory day a little before 3.30pm when play was called off. A steady drizzle had begun to fall, and the covers which lay on the square were getting a thorough drenching when Simon Taufel and Darrell Hair decided that enough was enough, after four inspections.
After a first day pregnant with possibilities yet falling short on delivery the second day was almost a total write-off. Just over an hour of play was possible, and the forecast is not great for tomorrow either. In what little play was possible Anil Kumble inched closer to 500 Test wickets, picking up Paul Collingwood, but the game barely moved forward, with 37 runs being added in 14.3 overs as England reached an even 200 for 5 when bad light stopped play.
If the light was a problem, though, Andrew Flintoff seemed not to notice, striking five boundaries, two each off Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel and one off Kumble. Collingwood was not as assured and it cost him dear. He played a defensive shot down the wrong line to a Kumble delivery that drifted in, pitched and turned just enough to beat bat and hit the top of middle stump.
Full postSri Lanka close in on victory
Muttiah Muralitharan became the second bowler in history to claim 600 Test wickets as Sri Lanka seized control and paved the way for a certain 2-0 series win
The Bulletin by Charlie Austin
10-Mar-2006
Close Sri Lanka 316 and 77 for 0 (Tharanga 48*) need a further 43 runs to beat Bangladesh 234 and 201 (Bashar 73, Rafique 64)
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How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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When Sri Lanka return on Saturday morning, Upul Tharanga (48 not out) will aim to follow his marathon first innings century with another half-century, having unleashed a string of beautifully timed offside strokes in the final session. For the third successive night, he walked off the field unbeaten. His partner, Michael Vandort, was more crabish and uncertain on 22 not out when the umpires called it quits.
As was the case in the Chittagong Test, Bangladesh wilted in the second innings having conceded an 82-run lead - not mountainous but useful on a pitch offering the kind of pace, bounce and turn that makes Muralitharan almost impossible to hold at bay. When the day started, he appeared destined to join Shane Warne's 600 club and the only surprise was that he claimed only two more scalps to his five in the first innings, finishing with 7 for 141 in the series.
Full postWest Indies hit back with crucial wickets
The advantage swung back and forth on the second day with New Zealand and West Indies balanced on a knife edge as neither team was able to capitalise when they held the upper hand
The Bulletin by George Binoy
09-Mar-2006
New Zealand 275 and 98 for 4 lead West Indies 257 (Sarwan 62, Bravo 59) by 116 runs
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How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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The advantage swung back and forth on a fascinating second day at Auckland, at the end of which the game was balanced on a knife edge with neither New Zealand nor West Indies being able to capitalise when they held the upper hand. West Indies stemmed an early-morning collapse and looked set to surge ahead but frittered away the chance to consolidate, conceding an 18-run first-innings lead. New Zealand rebuilt after an early loss in the second innings but gave it away with some indiscrete strokeplay, ending the day 116 ahead with six wickets in hand.
West Indies however might feel that they ended the day on a high. They had one bowler, Jerome Taylor, struggling with a hamstring, and another, Ian Bradshaw, warned for running on to the danger area on the pitch. After the loss of an early wicket, New Zealand had strung together a 56-run partnership. But just when the tide seemed to be turning other way, Bradshaw and Fidel Edwards produced a three-wicket burst, with generous assistance from the New Zealand batsmen of course.
Full postNorth blaze to Deodhar Trophy title
A round-up of matches that took place on March 9
Cricinfo staff
09-Mar-2006
Mithun Manhas and Reetinder Sodhi scored blazing centuries to help North Zone retain the Deodhar Trophy title beating East Zone by 52 runs at Jaipur. With rain intervening, East reached 146 for 6 in 30.4 overs and once play failed to resume by the cut-off time, North were declared winners by the VJD method. It was another forgettable day for Sourav Ganguly, this time with the bat, dismissed for a first-ball duck, edging the ball to Pankaj Dharmani, the wicketkeeper, off Joginder Sharma.
Batting first, Sodhi joined Manhas with the score on 82 and the pair added 155 for the third wicket. Manhas scored 11 fours in his innings of 105 off 128 balls while Sodhi's undefeated 108 came at very nearly a run a ball, striking three sixes. North finished with 284 for 3 off 49 overs, with one over being reduced owing to damp conditions. The rain intervention made the task harder for East, faced with a much higher asking-rate. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala stood out for his undefeated 77 but was hampered by the lack of support from the other end. North were buoyed by the three-wicket haul by Vikram Rajvir Singh, the fast bowler who was excluded for the Mohali Test against England.
South Zone held their nerve, beating West Zone narrowly by two runs in a rain-curtailed Deodhar Trophy match at Udaipur and finishing runners-up in the tournament. Ajit Agarkar's fiery knock down the order gave South a real scare, but wasn't able to pull off any last-ball heroics, run-out off the last ball of the match. Agarkar finished with 76 off 40 balls with four boundaries and four sixes.
Overnight rain reduced the match to 33 overs per side and West's decision to insert the opposition backfired from the start, with openers Dinesh Karthik (66) and S Vidyut (56) scoring at a frenetic pace, bringing up the hundred in the thirteenth over. Ramesh Powar later struck back with two wickets in two balls to leave South at 145 for 4 but Hemang Badani (68*) and S Badrinath (47) played positively, adding 108 for the fifth wicket. Chasing 278, West looked out of contention at 145 for 7 before Yusuf Pathan (56) started the fightback. Zaheer Khan and Agarkar propelled their team close to the target with some lusty blows but fell short.
Full postNorth West battle towards final
A round-up from the first day of the latest round of SAA Provincial Challenge matches
Keith Lane
09-Mar-2006
North West held on to the chance of a place in the SAA Provincial Challenge final as they restricted Gauteng to 197 for 9 at Potchefstroom and then put on 101 for 5 when play ended on day one. Gauteng, who won the toss, started promisingly with Enoch Nkwe scoring
50 and William Motaung making 41. Dumisa Makalima (32) helped build their total before they collapsed from 162 for 4 to the declaration at 197 for 9. Richard Stroh (4 for 24) and Jaco Campher (3 for 54) were mainly responsible for the Gauteng wickets. Jimmy Kgamadi (46) and Mohammad Akoojee gave North West the start they wanted but 3 for 35 from Johnson Mafa reduced them to 101 for 5 at the close.
At Port Elizabeth the match between Eastern Province and Boland is evenly poised after Boland reached 288 and Eastern Province replied with 55 for 1. Having been sent in to bat, Boland recovered well with a 147-run third-wicket partnership between Warren Swan (74) and Henry
Davids (69). Three late wickets from Colin Ingram, who ended with career best figures of 4 for 16, ended the Boland innings on 288.
Full postIndian women keep the series alive
Trailing 0-2 in the five-match one-day series,India scraped to a three-wicket victory in a must-win game at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln
Cricinfo staff
09-Mar-2006
India Women 185 for 7 (Chopra 60) beat New Zealand Women 184 for 6 (Drumm 94*, Browne 51) by 3 wickets
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Trailing 0-2 in the five-match one-day series, India scraped to a three-wicket victory in a must-win game at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. Set a target of 185, the Indians were guided home by Anjum Chopra, who made 60, and some useful contributions by the tail, ensuring that Emily Drumm's contribution earlier in the day - she remained unbeaten on 94 - went in vain.
Chasing a modest total, the Indians got off to a disastrous start, losing both their openers for ducks. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals despite Chopra's knock, and at 115 for 6, India were looking at their third defeat in a row. Reema Malhotra and Jhulan Goswami then got together in a crucial 65-run stand which sealed the game with ten balls to spare. Goswami was finally dismissed for 25, but Malhotra remained not out on 36.
Full postIndia wrest initiative
On a pitch which did not really have much in it for any breed of bowler, under overcast skies with a cool breeze blowing, through interruptions for bad light and rain, India slowly but steadily wrested the initiative from England, ending the first day wit
The Bulletin by Anand Vasu in Mohali
09-Mar-2006
England 163 for 4 (Pietersen 64, Collingwood 19*, Flintoff 4*) v India
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On a pitch which did not really have much in it for any breed of bowler, under overcast skies with a cool breeze blowing, through interruptions for bad light and rain, India slowly but steadily wrested the initiative from England, ending the first day with four wickets, conceding 163 runs off 50.3 overs.
India, who went into the match with five bowlers in the hope of pressing for a result, lost the early advantage as Andrew Flintoff won the toss and chose to bat. Rahul Dravid, swapping his five bowlers around, managed to prise out wickets at regular intervals, but he'd be the first one to concede that it was loose cricket on the part of England's batsmen more than spectacular bowling by the Indians that brought about dismissals.
England began well enough, with Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook seeing off a brisk opening spell from Munaf Patel, who appeared a touch nervous having his first bowl in Test cricket. England's openers had eased themselves to 35 without so much as being beaten when Irfan Pathan, in the middle of an eight-over spell struck twice in succession.
Full postMurali bowls out Bangladesh for 234
Muttiah Muralitharan took 5 for 79, his 50th five-for in Tests, as Bangladesh frittered away the advantage of winning the toss and were bowled out for 234
Charlie Austin
09-Mar-2006
Sri Lanka 25 for 2 trail Bangladesh 234 (Bashar 69, Muralitharan 5-79) by 209 runs
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Muttiah Muralitharan's tour of milestones continued as he followed up 1000 international wickets in Chittagong with another full harvest in Bogra, claiming 5 for 79, his 50th five-wicket haul in 101 Tests. Bangladesh started with an early run splurge against the new ball but were soon pegged back after Muralitharan's introduction and they were soon bowled out for 234.
However, although the day remained Sri Lanka's, Bangladesh struck back before the close of play with two quick wickets. First, Syed Rasel, swinging the new ball extravagantly, trapped a leaden-footed Michael Vandort lbw and then their nightwatchman, Malinga Bandara, was superbly caught at square leg while trying to pull Shahadat Hossain. Sri Lanka finished on 25 for 2.
Full postTharanga powers Sri Lanka to safety
Upul Tharanga starred with a career-best 160 not out, his maiden Test century and highest first-class score, to revive a Sri Lanka innings that was in a parlous state in the morning
The Bulletin by Charlie Austin
09-Mar-2006
Sri Lanka 308 for 8 (Tharanga 160*, Hossain 3-81) lead Bangladesh 234 by 68 runs
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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Tharanga's fine knock, a mixture of studious defence and adventure, saved Sri Lanka from potential embarrassment as they slumped to 43 for 4. First, he consolidated the innings in partnership with Mahela Jayawardene (49), settling dressing-room nerves as they added 124 runs, before carrying Sri Lanka to first-innings parity with Tillakaratne Dilshan (33).
But once again, when a run fest had beckoned after Muttiah Muralitharan's first-day wizardry, Bangladesh displayed resilience and a never-say-die spirit. Perhaps, with hindsight, they might rue not being more aggressive in the first session, but they could not be faulted for application or effort.
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