Report
Rain delays start
A summary of the first day in the sixth round of Carib Beer Series matches
Cricinfo staff
21-Jan-2006
A soggy outfield, caused by persistent rain, has resulted in the abandonment of the opening day of the Carib Beer Series match between the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands at Mindoo Phillip Park. The area just off the pitch was soggy and major part of the outfield had small puddles of water which would take a great of sunshine to dry up. The prospect of an early start on day two seems unlikely.
Eddie Nicholls and Lawrence Thomas, the umpires, made the decision just before the scheduled tea time interval at 2:40pm local time as intermittent drizzles had the grounds staff pulling the cover off and on the pitch which seems to be unaffected.
Full postInzamam and Afridi make India suffer
The Pakistan batsmen made a resounding opening statement, walloping breezy cameos and wrenching away the advantage on an absorbing first day
Pakistan 379 for 4 (Younis 83, Yousuf 65, Afridi 85*,
Inzamam 79*) 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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Just as they had done at Lahore, the Pakistan batsmen made a resounding opening statement, walloping breezy cameos and wrenching away the advantage on an absorbing first day of the second Test at Faisalabad. Drama off the field, with selectorial decisions creating a buzz, and entertaining action on it, with a vociferous crowd basking under sunny
skies, provided the backdrop for Pakistan's plunder, ending the day on 379 for 4, and gaining a firm grip on the contest.
In a series where the batsmen have been in irrepressible touch, Pakistan's top order refused to let up. The openers were swiftly off the blocks; Younis Khan blossomed with an assertive 85; Mohammad Yousuf produced a composed 65; Inzamam eased to an authoritative 79; and Shahid Afridi, displaying a refreshingly responsible air, reeled off 85 off 84 balls. One by one, with each batsman looking more assured than the previous, they
solidified Pakistan's position and the final-session blast, when Inzamam and Afridi rattled 131 off 27 overs, stole the thunder. Against five specialist bowlers, the first India had picked in five years, they managed to score at 4.21 runs an over, and if not for three superb catches from the Indian fielders, more merry-making might have been in store.
Full postCobras clinch a thriller
A summary of the latest action from the Standard Bank Pro20 Series
Keith Lane
21-Jan-2006
A thriller that went all the way to the second last ball at Newlands in Cape Town saw the Cape Cobras ease out the Dolphins by 8 runs. The Cobras were put in to bat and made a slow start to their innings. Ian Harvey scored 13 off 16 while Andrew Puttick went to 29 off 33 balls. With the two openers out of the way JP Duminy, returning from injury, scored a flawless 67 off 50 balls. He was well assisted by the rest as the Cobras scored 102 off the final 10 overs to end on 161 for 5.
The Dolphins innings was just as slow to get off the ground, except for Kyle Smit who struck 46 off 36 balls. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, Smit could not find a willing partner. With Dale Benkenstein taking 23 off a Paul Adams over the Dolphins eased closer to the target. With the
last over to be bowled the Dolphins needed 16. The first ball went for four, the second, a perfect yorker from Ian Harvey ended the Benkenstein (48 off 25) onslaught. In strode Lance Klusener needing 12 to win but two balls later he was run out by Harvey and the Cobras had won their
first limited overs match of the season.
For 18,500 spectators at the Wanderers in Johannesburg the Standard Bank PRO20 match between the Lions and the Eagles turned in a complete mismatch as the Lions ran away winners by 8 wickets with still seven overs to be bowled.
Winning the toss and batting first the Warriors blazed away to 43 in the first five overs, but at the same time had lost three wickets. Justin Kreusch top scored at better than a run-a-ball but his 30 could only help the warriors to 98, bowled out in 17.2 overs. The Warriors destroyer was the Lions seamer, Eugene Moleon, who took 4 for 9 in 3.2 overs.
Full postPowar hits ton but Shib Paul's five-for restricts Baroda
Praveen Kumar and Shalabh Srivastava shared seven wickets between them to rock Mumbai as Uttar Pradesh shot out the 36-times champions for a paltry 199
Cricinfo staff
20-Jan-2006
Baroda 241 (Powar 116, Martin 51, Shib Paul 5-53) v Bengal
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Scorecard
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Kiran Powar starred with a century and added 102 runs with Jacob Martin for the fourth wicket but Shib Sankar Paul removed both of them enroute to his 13th five-wicket haul to restrict Baroda to 241 by the end of the opening day in the Ranji Trophy semi-final encounter at the Eden Gardens.
Baroda, unbeaten this season and who started the game as slight favourites, struggled early after choosing to bat. With Satyajit Parab, the regular opener, missing the game owing to injury Pinal Shah, the India Under-19 wicketkeeper, opened the batting with Connor Williams but the move failed - Shah fell to Paul off the very second ball of the match. Almost immediately Ranadeb Bose, who has had a lukewarm season so far, trapped Rakesh Solanki in front before Paul had Williams lbw in the 11th over to leave Baroda struggling at 28 for 3. Jacob Martin, the captain, and Kiran Powar put their head down to pull Baroda out of trouble.
With a run tally of 486 Martin has been the leading Baroda run-getter, averaging 69.42, with one century - a superb 251 not out - and three half-centuries and today once again, he led from the front, shepherding his side to 93 for 3 at lunch. Post-lunch the big-hitting Powar took over and led the charge - 40 runs came in less than eight overs - as the duo brought up their 100-run partnership in 127 minutes and off 176 balls, lifting Baroda to 132 before Paul castled Martin and soon removed the next man in, Yusuf Pathan, to pull things back for Bengal.
Full postRaina and Kaif star but Mumbai fight back
A double strike by Aavishkar Salvi reduced Uttar Pradesh to a shaky 13 for 3 before half centuries from Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif propelled Uttar Pradesh to a first-innings lead but Mumbai fought back through a three wicket haul from Ramesh Powar to
Cricinfo staff
20-Jan-2006
Mumbai 199 and 21 for 0 trail Uttar Pradesh 250 (Raina 72, Kaif 64) by 30 runs
Scorecard
A double strike by Aavishkar Salvi reduced Uttar Pradesh to a shaky 13 for 3 before half centuries from Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif propelled Uttar Pradesh to a first-innings lead but Mumbai fought back through a three wicket haul from Ramesh Powar to restrict UP to 250 in their first innings. The Mumbai openers steered the side to 21, 30 runs still in arrears, by the close of play. It was a day of buzzing activity - a flurry of wickets at the start, a big partnership in the middle and then wickets went down in a heap again- as advantage swung both ways.
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The young Raina, the left-hand bat averaging 72.40 this season, impressed with his temperament in a semi-crisis situation. On a wicket which aided a bit of seam-movement with the new ball Salvi removed Jyoti Yadav, the opener, and Praveen Kumar, the first-day hero with the ball, before Usman Malvi got rid of the 21 year-old Shiva Shukla to leave UP struggling at 13 for 3. It was then that Raina, who learnt his game under the tutelage of Deepak Sharma in the sports college in Lucknow in the late 90's, displayed his skill under duress and put up a solid consolidation job, along with Kaif, to rescue UP. Raina reached his half-century at the stroke of lunch and with Kaif just two-runs short of his, UP had reached 111 for 3 at the end of the first session.
Kaif, who missed out on the national duty in Pakistan, once again led from the front. He does not boast a great first-class record, averaging just 37.13 in 70 matches, but this season he has been in good nick, averaging 74.50 though he played in only two games. He has led from the front not only with the bat but has infused a fighting spirit in a beleaguered UP side that had a rough start to the season. UP lost the first two matches to Haryana and Baroda and drew their next two games, against Services and Punjab, before Kaif joined the camp to charge them to a place in the semi-final. Kaif guided his younger colleague and the duo kept the scorers busy - 100 runs of the partnership came in 138 minutes off 174 balls - before Raina was removed by Ramesh Powar at the score on 136.
The 36-times champions sensed blood and moved in for the kill. The tall Nilesh Kulkarni, the Mumbai captain and left-arm spinner, castled Kaif's stumps and 20 runs later, caught the veteran Gyanendra Pandey off Swapnil Hazare's bowling to push UP on the back foot at 180 for 6. But Rizwan Shamshad, no stranger to bail-out jobs, stuck in and put up a dogged innings (40 off 80 balls) to guide UP - with a little bit of help from Piyush Chawla, the 19-year old legspinner - to a valuable first-innings lead.
Full postAuckland canter to 9-wicket victory
New Zealand Twenty20 roundup
Cricinfo staff
20-Jan-2006
A disappointing batting display by Northern Districts ensured an easy 9- wicket victory
for Auckland at the Westpac Park in Hamilton. Richard Jones, the Auckland captain scored an unbeaten 46 and was well supported by Paul Hitchcock and Martin Guptill as Auckland chased the modest target of 113 with just under five overs to spare.
Choosing to bat first, Northern Districts were in complete disarray after losing their first six wickets for just 43 runs. Tama Canning and Chris Martin rocked the top-order, sharing 4 wickets between them. Anton Devcich, coming in at number 8, top scored with 28, saving his team from the embarassment of being bowled out for less than 100.
Full postNarayan Kambli's five-for puts Goa in command
A summary of the first day in the last Plate Group round
Cricinfo staff
20-Jan-2006
Goa 117 for 5 and 347 lead Himachal Pradesh 216 (Dogra 61, Kambli 5-58) by 248 runs
Scorecard
Plate Group Points Table
Scorecard
Plate Group Points Table
Powered by an five-wicket haul from Narayan Kambli, his best first-class figures, Goa shot out Himachal Pradesh, overnight on 112 for 3, for 212 before reaching 117 for 5, 248 runs ahead, by the end of the third day at Panjim. Paras Dogra's first first-class fifty lifted HP before becoming the fifth wicket to fall at the score of 155. Immediately Kambli got into the act restricting HP to small total. HP fought back through Vijay Kumar, who grabbed three quick wickets, but with the lead almost 250 and with five wickets still left Goa holds the advantage
Full postLee and Jaques star in Aussie win
Brett Lee secured a career-best return and Phil Jaques enjoyed a record-breaking one-day entry as Australia easily accounted for South Africa
The Bulletin by Peter English
20-Jan-2006
Australia 245 (Jaques 94, Hopes 38, Hall 4-35) beat South Africa 186 (Pollock 46, Dippenaar 41, Lee 5-22) by 59 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out
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Brett Lee secured a career-best return and Phil Jaques enjoyed a record-breaking one-day entry as Australia easily accounted for South Africa at Melbourne's Telstra Dome. The match was played with the roof closed, but while the tourists were protected from the rain they could do little to escape the power of Jaques, who fell six short of a century, and Lee as he charged Australia to a 59-run victory.
The breathless arrival of Jaques, which included 14 fours from 112 balls, pushed Australia's first innings, but it faltered on his departure and they lost 7 for 73 against testing bowling and scrambled to 245. Lee, who finished with 5 for 22 from ten overs and the Man-of-the-Match award, proved it was enough on a pitch with variable bounce in two devastating spells that rocked the top order and rolled the middle.
Full postRedbacks win battle of the Baileys
The legspinner Cullen Bailey propelled South Australia to equal first on the Pura Cup table with a five-wicket haul as they beat Tasmania
Cricinfo staff
19-Jan-2006
Tasmania 212 and 368 (Bailey 130, Bevan 83, Bailey 5-146) lost to South Australia 9 for 581 dec and 6 for 193 dec by 194 runs
Scorecard
Pura Cup points table
Scorecard
Pura Cup points table
The legspinner Cullen Bailey propelled South Australia to equal first on the Pura Cup table with a five-wicket haul as they beat Tasmania, who were led by George Bailey's 130, at Adelaide Oval. The Tigers made a brave bid to force a draw through Michael Bevan, who reached 83 from 181 balls, and Bailey, the last man out as they were beaten by 194 runs.
South Australia joined New South Wales on 20 points in a dramatic improvement after they sat at the bottom for most of last season. Darren Lehmann, the captain, grabbed three second-innings wickets to add to his run double of 182 and 58, but Bailey was the most penetrative bowler on a worn surface with 5 for 146 from 37.5 overs.
He teased Bevan out of his crease shortly after lunch to give Graham Manou a juggling stumping, and tricked Sean Clingeleffer and Shannon Tubb into hitting close-in catches to ease any South Australian worries over the victory. Lehmann then chipped in with two wickets and Shaun Tait added one before Bailey ended the match with the scalp of his namesake. Bailey's century, his third in a season of 610 runs at 50.83, came from 118 balls and his aggressive innings included 15 fours and three sixes.
Full postvan Jaarsveld stars in Titans' win
Martin van Jaarsveld blazed a half-century as the Titans walked away with a nine-run win in a rain-interrupted match against Dolphins
Keith Lane
19-Jan-2006
Titans 179 for 7 (van Jaarsveld 57) beat Dolphins 126 for 5 by 9 runs (D-L Method)
Scorecard
Scorecard
Martin van Jaarsveld blazed a half-century as the Titans walked away with a nine-run win in a rain-interrupted match against Dolphins in the first game of the Standard Bank Pro20 tournament at Durban.
Winning the toss and batting first, the Titans got away to a flyer with
AB de Villiers (27 off 19) and Goolam Bodi (20 off 18) setting the pace
for the innings. van Jaarsveld increased the tempo, scoring his runs off just 44 balls,
before a few quick wickets brought the Dolphins back into the picture.
The final onslaught came from Pierre de Bruyn as he struck a six and a four in
his 19 off nine balls to take the Titans to a creditable 179 for 7 in
20 overs.
Zahir Abrahim was the pick of the bowlers for Dolphins, taking 3 for 30 in
his four overs while Nantie Hayward picked up 1 for 25 in his full
allocation.
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