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Australia sneak home
This seesaw battle on the neutral turf of the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo ultimately went Australia's way.
Wisden CricInfo staff
20-Jul-2005
Australia 467 (Ponting 141) and 127 (Shoaib Akhtar 5-21) beat Pakistan 279 (Warne 7-94) and 274 (Taufeeq Umar 88, Younis Khan 51, S Warne 4-94) by 41 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
This seesaw battle on the neutral turf of the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo ultimately went Australia's way, but it had been a victory for Test cricket. Inspiration, vulnerability, turnaround - it was all here for five days.
Ultimately, Pakistan proved to be too volatile for their own good: the day began with them needing 137 runs with seven wickets in hand; they ended 41 runs short, and the last six wickets had fallen for 44 runs. Shane Warne was Man of the Match for his 11 wickets on a surface that suited just about everybody.
Surprisingly, it was Australia who gifted the first hour of the morning to Pakistan by dropping two simple catches. But they composed themselves and tightened the noose irrevocably in the next hour.
Full postEighteen wickets tumble at Mutare
It was a day for bowlers at Mutare Sports Club where Midlands, after losing the toss, bowled out the home side Manicaland for 181, and then finished the day on 161 for 7 themselves
Terry Brown
20-Jul-2005
Manicaland 181 (Utseya 5-32) lead Midlands 161 for 7 (Sibanda 62) by 20 runs
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It was a day for bowlers at Mutare Sports Club where Midlands, after losing the toss, bowled out the home side Manicaland for 181, and then finished the day on 161 for 7 themselves. The weather was hot and dry, the ground in good condition and the pitch, usually a featherbed, gave a little help to the seamers, but on the whole there was too much poor batting by both sides.
The offspinner Prosper Utseya took his best first-class figures of 5 for 32 when Manicaland batted, the top-scorer being Dion Ebrahim with a fluent 38. Eight batsmen reached double figures, but none went on to play a major innings, so they had only themselves to blame for their inadequacies.
Full postEssex bring Lancashire back down to earth
Lancashire's joy at reaching the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup was shortlived as Essex taught them a lesson in the 40-over format
Cricinfo staff
19-Jul-2005
Lancashire's joy at reaching the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup was shortlived as Essex taught them a lesson in the 40-over format, winning by eight wickets at Old Trafford. Batting first after winning the toss, Lancashire limped to a below-par 154 for 8, and were well beaten with more than seven overs to spare. Iain Sutcliffe topscored with 54 and Mark Chilton anchored the remainder of the innings with 48 not out, but Sajid Mahmood, the No. 10, was the only other batsman to reach double figures as Essex's spinners, led by Danish Kaneria (3 for 24) scythed through the innings. In reply, Grant Flower made 66 in even time and Ravinder Bopara completed the job with 45 not out. James Anderson, with 2 for 36, was the pick of Lancashire's attack.
Full postArnold seals victory for Sri Lanka A
Russell Arnold struck a fluent 69, from 64 balls, to take Sri Lanka A to an easy victory over West Indies A in the fifth one-day match in Colombo.
Cricinfo staff
19-Jul-2005
Sri Lanka A 227 all out (RP Arnold 69*) beat West Indies A 155 (Fernando 2-16) by 72 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Russell Arnold struck a fluent 69, from 64 balls, to take Sri Lanka A to an easy victory over West Indies A in the fifth one-day match in Colombo. Sri Lanka's score of 227 proved too much for West Indies, who were bowled for 155 with nearly seven overs to spare.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Upul Tharanga and Arnold put together a crucial partnership of 62 for Sri Lanka, at a time when they were 20 for 2. Dave Mohammed, with his left-arm chinaman deliveries, was the pick of the West Indies bowlers, taking four for 23 from 8.4 economical overs.
West Indies' innings never recovered from the loss of Lendl Simmons, bowled by Nuwan Zoysa, with the fifth ball of their innings. Despite a brutal lower order assault by Dave Mohammed, who cracked six sixes and a four in his 43, Sri Lanka's bowlers were too strong: Dilhara Fernando impressing with two for 16 from seven overs.
Full postBrowne and Bradshaw steal a thriller
The West Indies tail pulled off a remarkable victory in the gloom at The Oval, with Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw snatching a win from under England's noses with a record ninth wicket partnership of 71
Andrew Miller
19-Jul-2005
West Indies 218 for 8 (Chanderpaul 47, Bradshaw 35*) beat England 217 (Trescothick 104, Hinds 3-24) by two wickets
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Scorecard
Back in the 1970s, The Kennington Oval was to all intents and purposes an outpost of the Carribean. The legendary Test of 1976 - Michael Holding's 14 wickets, Viv Richards' 291 - was played out in front of a sea of exuberant conch-blowing supporters, who have all but disappeared in the intervening years. Tonight, at the climax of an extraordinary Champions Trophy final, the spirit of that era was summoned up once again, as West Indies reclaimed The Oval with a victory that will resound down the ages.
For a shell-shocked England, still heady from their efforts against Australia, it was almost too much to take in, as from the depths of 147 for 8, Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw set about forging an unbeaten eighth-wicket stand of 71 that at first irritated England, then alarmed them, and ultimately them them utterly aghast. It was the stuff of dreams, but very rarely the stuff of finals. After such a depressing start to the Champions Trophy, the climax trumped anything ever before seen at such a late stage of a global tournament.
To all intents and purposes, West Indies had been down and completely out. To a man, they had performed heroics in the field to secure themselves a meagre target of 218, but as the gloom intensified around them, England began to claim the upper hand. Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff bulldozed through the top-order - aided by some stunning catches from Vikram Solanki and Andrew Strauss - but the critical moment came when Shivnarine Chanderpaul holed out to Michael Vaughan in the covers for a magnificent but seemingly futile 48.
Full postGuyana and Trinidad clinch semi-final berths
Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago joined Barbados and Windward Islands in the semi-finals of the regional one-day competition with victories in the last round of matches
Wisden Cricinfo staff
19-Jul-2005
Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago joined Barbados and Windward Islands in the semi-finals of the regional one-day competition with victories in the last round of matches.
Guyana 236 for 7 (Arjune 62) beat Jamaica 234 for 5 (Marshall 125*) by 3 wickets
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Scorecard
A steady 62 by opener Krishna Arjune, and some vital contributions lower down the order by Neil McGarrell and Mahendra Nagamootoo, allowed Guyana to book a semi-final berth in the regional one-day competition with a three-wicket win against Jamaica.
Jamaica opted to bat first and were helped along to a challenging 234 for 5 by a splendid 125 not out from Xavier Marshall, their opener. Marshall added 84 for the first wicket with Chris Gayle, whose 35 was the next-highest of the innings. However, the middle order disappointed, with no-one getting more than Marlon Samuels's 18.
Full postSimmons seals West Indies A win
Lendl Simmons cracked a brilliant 97 from just 102 balls to lead West Indies A to an emphatic eight-wicket victory at Moratuwa
Cricinfo staff
18-Jul-2005
West Indies A 165 for 2 (Simmons 97) beat Sri Lanka A 164 (Kelly 4-38) by eight wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Lendl Simmons cracked a brilliant 97 from just 102 balls to lead West Indies A to an emphatic eight-wicket victory in the fourth one-day match against Sri Lanka A at Moratuwa. His efforts ensured that Sri Lanka's meagre total of 164 was overhauled at a canter, as victory was completed with more than 15 overs to spare.
After winning the toss and bowling first, West Indies were given a fine start by Richard Kelly, whose opening burst picked up the wickets of both Avishka Gunawardene and Shantha Kalavitigoda. Darren Sammy was also on the mark immediately, and at 26 for 4, Sri Lanka's innings was in tatters.
Russel Arnold and Prasanna Jayawardene salvaged the situation with a pair of 44s, but they had been left with too much to do, and Sri Lanka were eventually bowled out in 43.2 overs, as Kelly and Dwight Washington returned to the attack.
Full postHerath seals crushing win
A teasing spell of left-arm spin from Rangana Herath broke Pakistan's attempts at resistance as Sri Lanka recorded a thumping 201-run win and went one-up in the series at Faisalabad
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
18-Jul-2005
Sri Lanka 243 and 438 beat Pakistan 264 and 216 (Malik 59, Herath 4-64) by 201 runs
A teasing spell of left-arm spin from Rangana Herath broke Pakistan's attempts at resistance as Sri Lanka recorded a thumping 201-run win and went one-up in the series at Faisalabad. This was Sri Lanka's 11th Test win overseas, and staggeringly their sixth in Pakistan, and the victory extended their fabulous record of being undefeated in a series here for nearly 15 years.
Herath picked up four of the six wickets to fall this morning and had all the batsmen in a tizzy with his canny variations. He slipped in the arm ball occasionally, but the real surprise weapon was the one that was bowled almost completely with the thrust of the middle finger. The ball carried on straight after pitching and hurried on with extra zip. All three were delivered with similar actions, with smart use of crease-width and change in pace.
Yousuf Youhana and Shoaib Malik survived the first hour with some dogged methods. Both were tested by a short and pacy spell by Dilhara Fernando when he slipped in some well-directed bouncers that had them weaving and ducking. Both consistently left balls outside off stump and Malik drove confidently when the ball was in the slot. Pakistan had hung on for a draw in the last Test match that they had played at Faisalabad, against South Africa last year, and hopes of a repeat were gradually building.
Full postBarbados and Windward Islands notch up wins
Barbados thrashed Guyana by 80 runs while Windward Islands sneaked home against Trinidad and Tobago by just a solitary run
Wisden Cricinfo staff
18-Jul-2005
In two contrasting matches, Barbados thrashed Guyana by 80 runs while Windward Islands sneaked home against Trinidad and Tobago by just a solitary run in the latest round of matches in the regional one-day competition.
Barbados 244 for 7 (Reifer 72, R Hinds 71*, Browne 42) beat Guyana 164 (Daesrath 38, Collins 3-23) by 80 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Barbados recovered magnificently from a position of 17 for 3 to sail to a whopping 80-run victory against Guyana at Georgetown. Their recovery was set up by a magnificent 136-run partnership between Floyd Reifer and Ryan Hinds.
Even after the two were out, Reifer for 72 and Hinds for 71, Barbados carried on to make sure that the initiative remained with them. Courtney Browne, doing an Adam Gilchrist as wicketkeeper-captain, lashed 42 to take Barbados to 244 for 7 in their 50 overs.
Full postTasmania see off spin twins to stay unbeaten
Tasmania clawed their way to a three-wicket victory over New South Wales in the ING Cup match at Newcastle today
Wisden Cricinfo staff
18-Jul-2005
Tasmania 7 for 197 (Dighton 58, Krejza 3-45) beat New South Wales 9 for 193 (Bradstreet 45, Griffith 3-43) by three wickets
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George Bailey showed a cool head as he came in at No. 6 to lift the visitors over the line. after the openers Michael Dighton and Michael DiVenuto had cruised to 0 for 74 off 14 overs before MacGill was introduced.
Dighton looked like he would lead the Tigers to a bonus point, but he holed out, trying to loft MacGill over the fence just once too often. Then a rash shot soon after by the promising wicketkeeper-batsman David Dawson handed the Blues a glimmer of hope.
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