Report
South Australia slip into more trouble
An absorbing contest unfolded at the Adelaide Oval with 17 wickets falling for over 300 runs during the second day of the Pura Cup match between South Australia and Victoria
Cricinfo staff
03-Feb-2006
South Australia 134 and 8 for 195 (Lewis 3 for 19) lead Victoria 249 (Mash 77, Hodge 70, Gillespie 4-50) by 80 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
An absorbing contest between bat and ball unfolded at the Adelaide Oval with 17 wickets falling for over 300 runs during the second day of the Pura Cup match between South Australia and Victoria. South Australia's batsmen failed to complement the hard work done by their bowlers, accumulating a lead of only 80 with two second-innings wickets in hand. Jason Gillespie continued his roaring form, bagging 4 for 50 off 20 overs.
Brad Hodge and Lloyd Mash began the proceedings for the Bushrangers adding 124 for the second wicket before Hodge was bowled by Paul Rofe for 70. From then on, Victoria's hopes of piling on a huge first-innings lead were dashed when Gillespie and Cullen Bailey triggered a batting collapse, sharing seven wickets between them.
Gillespie ran through the middle order, accounting for the wickets of Cameron White, Adam Crosthwaite and Shane Warne, in quick succession, all caught behind the wicket. Bailey snared Mash with a biting legbreak for 77, the top score of the innings. Victoria slipped to an embarrassing 8 for 194, after which Harwood and Denton helped take the final score to 249, with a lead of 115. Bailey finished with 3 for 90 off 25 overs.
Full postNagamootoo's five-for sinks Windwards
Mahendra Nagamootoo grabbed a five-wicket haul to sink Windward Islands for a paltry 189 as Guyana seized the honours on the opening day
Cricinfo staff
03-Feb-2006
Guyana 6 for 1 trail Windward Islands 189 (Sebastien 63, Nagamootoo 5-68) by 183 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Mahendra Nagamootoo grabbed a five-wicket haul to sink Windward Islands for a paltry 189 as Guyana seized the honours on the opening day of the Carib Series match in Grenada.
Nagamootoo spun out the key wickets of Junior Murray, Rawl Lewis and Liam Sebastian at vital junctures to break the Windwards backbone. An 85-run sixth-wicket partnership between Murray (34) and Sebastian (63) threatened a Windswards fightback when Nagamootoo trapped the duo in space of two overs to put Guyana back on top.
For Windwards Craig Emmanuel (32) put up a brief fight at the top before Murray and Sebastian lifted them out of ignominy from a wobbly 62 for 5 to 147. Sebastian was the aggressor, blasting six fours and a six but once the duo fell Narsingh Ramnarine mopped up the tail. Guyana lost Krishna Arjune, the opener, off the last ball to reach 6 for 1 at stumps.
Full postPoulton guides Breakers to eight-wicket win
Women's National Cricket League, 1st Final
Cricinfo staff
03-Feb-2006
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A powerful batting performance gave the New South Wales Breakers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals series against Queensland Fire at North Sydney Oval.
Set 175 for victory, NSW started well with a 51-ball 50 to Alex Blackwell before Leah Poulton's unbeaten 70 and Michelle Goszko's 48 sealed the eight-wicket win.
Kasee Marxson guided Queensland with 72 but only three other batters reached double figures as they were dismissed for 174 in 48 overs.
Full postRogers and Marsh seal easy WA victory
Pura Cup roundup
Cricinfo staff
03-Feb-2006
Western Australia 215 and 3 for 148 (Marsh 63, Rogers 55) beat Tasmania 86 and 276 (Di Venuto 105, Bailey 76) by 7 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Western Australia strode to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Tasmania in their Pura Cup encounter at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Despite beginning the day on a confident note, the Tigers suffered a late-order collapse which ensured the visitors had only 148 to chase.
Resuming on 6 for 229, Tasmania had a lead of 100 and George Bailey and Brett Geeves added 69 for the seventh-wicket. Geeves was bowled by Ben Edmondson for 13 and two balls later Bailey was caught by Steve Magoffin off David Bandy for 76. Bandy struck again, dismissing Adam Griffith, and wrapped up the innings in his next over by clean bowling Ben Hilfenhaus for zero.
Western Australia lost Justin Langer for 1 in their chase, but Chris Rogers and Shaun Marsh made light work of the target. Rogers was named the Man of the Match for his scores of 135 and 55 while Marsh finished with 63.
Full postSouth Africa routed by pace of Lee
Australia will head into next week's VB Series finals with all major areas firing after an 80-run victory
The Bulletin by Peter English
03-Feb-2006
Australia 7 for 281 (Symonds 65, Hussey 62, Ponting 53) beat South Africa 9 for 201 (Lee 4-30) by 80 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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However, the side's one serious concern is the health of Glenn McGrath's wife Jane, who has been diagnosed with cancer again, and his pre-match withdrawal meant Lee's mid-tournament holiday was called off. South Africa must have wished for the original team as Lee made the start of their chase almost impossible, dismissing Graeme Smith to an unlucky lbw from the second ball of the innings, and leading a wonderful team bowling performance.
Swinging the ball at around 150kph under the Telstra Dome roof, Lee was brought back three times to cause trouble and produced an impressive 4 for 30 to take his series tally to 14 wickets. His opponents were under pressure from the first ball to the last and with the required run rate starting at more than five an over they could not stay in touch.
Full postBangladesh underline their credentials
A round-up from the second day of warm-up matches of the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka
Cricinfo staff
02-Feb-2006
The second round of warm-up matches in the Under-19 World Cup showed how open the competition with victories for two of yesterday's losers - Uganda and Sri Lanka - and defeats for two of the winners - Pakistan and Ireland
England shocked tournament favourites India by pulling off a 28-run win in a low-scoring thriller on the second day of warm-up matches (click here for a full match report).
The United States of America were given a tough introduction to the tournament as they were hammered by ten wickets by a Bangladesh side who showed why they are regarded as one of the favourites for the tournament. The USA lost the wicket of Sumon Bari to the first ball of the match and things scarcely improved after that as they crawled to 143 all out with Bangladesh using nine bowlers. Nabil Chowdhury was the only one to deliver his full allocation of 10 overs and finished with 1 for 12 while Rezaul Islam took 3 for 12. No USA batsman reached 30 and respectability was only achieved thanks to fighting innings from wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson (29), Dunae Nathaniel (27) and Nisarg Patel (23). That respectability was, however, short-lived as Tamim Iqbal thrashed an unbeaten 104 from only 64 balls to make a mockery of the target as Bangladesh won with 32.4 overs to spare.
Sri Lanka bounced back from the mauling they received at the hands of the West Indies to record a morale-boosting 78-run win over the defending champions Pakistan, themselves winners over Australia yesterday. Such a convincing win looked unlikely when the the Sri Lankans collapsed from 116 for 1 to 228, with Dimuth Karunaratne top-scoring with 50. For the second day in a row they were on the receiving end of a hat-trick, Jamshaid Ahmed picking up the last three wickets to finish with 4 for 45. Pakistan would have expected to score those runs for victory, especially against a Sri Lanka side without captain Angelo Mathews, who missed the match with a throat infection, but they collapsed from 53 for 2 to 85 for 7 and although the lower order rallied, it was nothing more than a face-saving operation as they were eventually dismissed for 150 with 16.1 overs left unused.
Full postManiar gives Saurashtra a great platform
Saurashta took the honours on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Plate Group final at Rajkot against Rajasthan
Cricinfo staff
02-Feb-2006
Saurashtra 36 for 0 trail Rajasthan 201 (Jadeja 71, Kanwat 50, Maniar 5-59) by 165 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Saurashta took the honours on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Plate Group final at Rajkot thanks to an impressive spell of fast bowling from Sandip Maniar that dismissed Rajasthan for just 201.
Maniar struck blows at vital junctures: he drew first blood by forcing Mithun Beerala to edge behind in the fourth over, and then, broke a threatening 89-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Nikhil Doru and Ajay Jadeja, Rajasthan's captain. Following Doru's dismissal, Maniar ran through Rajasthan's tail en route to his fifth first-class five-for.
Maniar's initial strike opened the gates for Sandeep Jobanputra to prise out additional wickets at the top, leaving Rajasthan at 91 for 4 going in to lunch. Rajasthan's fightback came in two spurts: in the first session Rahul Kanwat smacked a 58-ball 50 to add 44 with Doru, while in the afternoon Jadeja scored an impressive 71. Barring these three, no other Rajasthan batsman contributed anything of note, and this may prove costly as the match progresses.
Full postEngland claim the warm-up honours
England claimed a highly encouraging 28-run win against India in their first warm-up match
The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan in Colombo
02-Feb-2006
England 186 (Stoneman 64, Bandekar 3-36) beat India 158 (James 3-20, Nelson 3-37) by 28 runs
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Scorecard
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England were cruising along after choosing to bat, as Stoneman and Robert Woodman blasted a 97-run stand in 14.2 overs. However, they then lost 5 for 13 in 35 balls, leaving Mark Nelson to halt the slide with a gritty 34. Those runs proved vital, and so would his early strikes with the new ball.
Rohit Sharma's boundary-studded 34 countered Nelson's early brace, sending India's run-rate to the heady heights of 10-an-over and, at times, India seemed too intent on maintaining that blistering pace. However, credit must go to Ali, who was quick to adapt by bringing on the left-arm spin of Graeme White as early as the sixth over, followed by his fellow left-armer Nick James, the Supersub. The moves paid off as first the run-rate slowed, then India played some injudicious shots, at times appearing in too much of a rush when application was the key.
Full postKaif leads Uttar Pradesh to maiden Ranji Trophy title
Mohammad Kaif lead Uttar Pradesh to their first-ever Ranji Trophy final victory when the hosts beat Bengal on the basis of their first-innings lead
Nagraj Gollapudi at Lucknow
02-Feb-2006
Uttar Pradesh 387 and 342 (Kaif 109, Raina 52) drew with Bengal 373 and 109 for 5 (Kumar 5-33). Uttar Pradesh win on the basis of a first-innings lead
Scorecard
How they were out
Scorecard
How they were out
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Mohammad Kaif lead Uttar Pradesh to their first-ever Ranji Trophy final victory when the hosts beat Bengal on the basis of their first-innings lead. Bengal had fallen short by just 14 runs to UP's first innings total of 387. On the final day, chasing an improbable target of 357 in 43 overs, Bengal managed to get to 109 for 5, with Praveen Kumar, the UP medium pacer, taking all five wickets.
Kaif made the opposition pay for granting him two lives - once dropped when he was yet to open his account and then Deep Dasgupta, the Bengal captain, missed a stumping chance when his counterpart was on 43 - by reaching his first century of the season early today with some aggressive batting. In the morning Kaif and Suresh Raina started off rapidly and with that took the game away from Bengal.
Bengal of course contributed in no small measure to their own undoing. After Shib Paul and Ranadeb Bose had initially restricted UP in the first innings with some steamy opening spells, they let up on the pressure subsequently. Later, some of Bengal's fidgety batsmen were to gift away their wickets. A couple of questionable umpiring decisions didn't help either. Fielding was another crucial area where Dasgupta's men let themselves down - Kumar, Raina and Kaif were dropped early on in their first-innings knocks (Kumar went on to make a blistering 48, while Raina and Kaif got out in their 90s).
Full postDi Venuto and Bevan revive Tasmania
Tasmania v Western Australia, Pura Cup, Bellerive Oval, 2nd day
Cricinfo staff
02-Feb-2006
Tasmania 6 for 229 (Di Venuto 105, Bevan 61) and 86 lead Western Australia 215 (Rogers 135, Griffith 5-80) by 100 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Michael Di Venuto, the Tasmania opener, scored 105 as his team staged a spirited comeback against Western Australia in the Pura Cup match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Tasmania ended the day at 229 for 6, giving them a lead of exactly 100.
Di Venuto, by far the best Tasmanian batsman in either innings, added 140 for the second-wicket with Michael Bevan, who made 61. Di Venuto took the attack to the bowlers, scoring 16 boundaries while Bevan played a more sedate knock, giving good support to his partner. Tasmania eased past their deficit with nine second-innings wickets remaining and looked set to cause a few worries in the opposition camp.
However, after Bevan's dismissal, Western Australia came right back, picking up four wickets in the space of 36 runs. Shawn Gillies, the Jamaican-born medium-pacer in his Pura Cup debut, orchestrated the collapse, accounting for Di Venuto, Daniel Marsh and Sean Clingeleffer in a four-over burst. George Bailey (38) and Brett Geeves survived until stumps.
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