Report

Sandher thwarts Namibia's charge

Five wickets from Kevin Sandher and a hundred from John Davison guided Canada to a crucial win over Namibia

Cricinfo staff
01-Jul-2005
Canada got just the start they needed against a powerful Namibian side in the opening round of the ICC Trophy. A century by Man-of-the-Match John Davison, well supported by 90 from vice-captain Ian Billcliff, allowed Canada to set a big total. Namibia came within two runs of victory, but brave captaincy, coupled with five wickets at the death from Kevin Sandher, gave Canada a thrilling win.
Canada were put into bat by Deon Kotze and immediately Davison celebrated Canada Day by smashing two boundaries off the first over. However Desmond Chumney was dismissed in the third, caught by Louis Burger off the bowling of Sarel Burger. The other opening bowler, Kola Burger, struck next, with Zubin Surkari judged lbw for 4, leaving Canada on 26 for 2 in the sixth over.
Billcliff also started aggressively, taking two boundaries from Kola Burger's fourth over. The fifty came up in the 11th over, and Davison reached his personal half-century (out of 73) four overs later. Davison treated the bowling of his counterpart, Kotze with scant respect, and the hundred came up in the 20th over. At the halfway stage of the innings Canada were 141 for 2.
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Weerakoon spins Sri Lanka to victory

Sajeewa Weerakoon took another match haul of nine wickets as Sri Lanka A crushed West Indies A in the second Test in Colombo

Sa'adi Thawfeeq
30-Jun-2005
Sri Lanka A bounced back immediately from their defeat at Dambulla, to rout West Indies A by an innings and 16 runs in the second unofficial Test at the Colombo Colts ground and level the series. Sri Lanka needed fewer than three days to wrap up victory and the three-match series is now intriguingly poised at 1-1 ahead of the final Test at the Saravanamuttu Stadium which starts on Tuesday.
It was a stunning reversal of form for a Sri Lanka A side which had, just five days ago, lacked direction when they threw away the first Test in spectacular style. This time they made no mistake, skittling out West Indies for a paltry 148 runs.
Earlier that day, Sri Lanka A extended their overnight score of 356 for 6 to were 417 all out shortly before lunch. Their captain Russel Arnold top scored with 159, which took him just under six hours. His innings contained 18 fours.
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Australia seal unconvincing win

Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first, as the ninth and final group match of the NatWest Series prepared to get underway at Canterbury



Ricky Ponting was in scratchy form, but made a vital 66 © Getty Images
In their final match of the NatWest Series, Bangladesh demonstrated all the lessons they have accumulated on an arduous tour, as Australia were forced to fight for every scrap in an unconvincing six-wicket victory at Canterbury. After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, Bangladesh recovered from a dreadful start to post an impressive total of 250 for 8, and it wasn't until Andrew Symonds entered the fray in the final 15 overs of Australia's run-chase that the gulf between the sides was finally exposed.
In the end the margin of victory was comfortable enough, but for the departing Bangladeshis, it was very much their day. Their heroes were the young left-handed opener, Shahriar Nafees, who kept his head while the top-order crumbled to reach a career-best 75, and their veteran wicketkeeper-batsman and crisis-manager, Khaled Mashud, who consolidated at first, and then spanked 24 runs from the final two overs, bowled by Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, to post his seventh and highest one-day half-century.
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Morton century revives West Indies

Runako Morton's rollercoaster career took another remarkable turn on the opening day of the second unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A

Sa'adi Thawfeeq
29-Jun-2005


Sajeeva Weerakoon took three wickets to restrict West Indies A to 253 in their first innings in Colombo © Cricinfo Ltd
Runako Morton's rollercoaster career took another remarkable turn on the opening day of the second unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A in Colombo, as he rescued West Indies A from a woeful start with a chanceless century. By stumps Sri Lanka A had reached 66 for 1 in reply to West Indies' 253, of which Morton had contributed 114.
The 26-year-old Morton's career looked to have ended four years ago when he was expelled from the West Indies Academy for a series of regulation breaches. Worse was to follow when he lied about the death of his mother to skip the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002 and was then arrested in January last year following a stabbing incident.
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Stormy end to a stormy match

There were fireworks aplenty as Australia raced to 46 for 2 from their first ten overs



Paul Collingwood squares up to Matthew Hayden © Getty Images
There were fireworks aplenty at Edgbaston as England and Australia set about using this dress rehearsal for Saturday's final to wage mental war. The stormy weather may have been the eventual winner but, with psychological points aplenty at stake, neither team wanted to save their efforts for a rainy day: and they made this clear from the outset, with each naming a full-strength side. Both sides emerged with honours even in a match stacked with plenty of needle.
Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist ran on to the pitch to start Australia's innings after Ricky Ponting chose to bat, to lay down an early marker, and Australia soon had the edge with both openers clattering Darren Gough out of the attack after just his second over, before Simon Jones struck back with two wickets. Then Andrew Symonds swung the momentum Australia's way with 74, Mike Hussey joining him in a fourth-wicket stand of 101. Australia lost a flurry of wickets as England's bowlers recovered to peg them back to 261 for 9. "I think it became apparent today that we're still a little bit off," admitted Ponting on Sky Sports after the match. "We lost wickets at crucial times, but we have been very competitive in the last couple of games."
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Strauss guides England into final

England beat Bangladesh by five wickets to gain their place in the NatWest Series final



Andrew Strauss sweeps on his way to 98, sealing England's place in the final © Getty Images
Andrew Strauss filled his boots against the Bangladesh attack for the third time in the NatWest Series as England comfortably sealed their place in the final with a five-wicket win at Headingley. Strauss was out with just one run needed, for 98, following Andrew Flintoff's 4 for 29 which restricted Bangladesh after they made a promising start.
Strauss attempted to finish the match in the grand manner, by reaching his century, but was bowled by Manjural Islam, the ball after hitting a six to get within two runs of his milestone (208 for 5). It was another impressive innings from Strauss and it is important that he now starts to take this form into the remaining matches against Australia - starting at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
A target of 209 was never going to be enough to trouble England, especially when Strauss and Marcus Trescothick continued to gorge themselves on the Bangladesh bowling. Trescothick was in great touch again and it was a surprise when he got a feathered edge against Manjural for 43 - a relative failure against after his previous scores of 100* and 85 against Bangladesh in the tournament.
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India made to work hard on fourth day

After New Zealand avoided the follow-on India faced a battle against time in the first Test at Ahmedabad

India were severely vexed on the fourth day of the first Test, as New Zealand's tailend resistance ensured that they had to spend much of the day batting when they would rather have been bowling. New Zealand began the day needing 19 to avoid the follow-on, with two wickets in hand, but Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman not only got them there, but also cut India's lead to 160 with some determined batting.
India then had to bat for nearly 45 overs before they could amass a lead (369) that was sufficient to allow them to declare. And then they encountered more stiff resistance from another pair of New Zealand batsmen, the openers Matthew Richardson and Lou Vincent. Only the wicket of Richardson (44 for 1) late in the day, caught by a diving Akash Chopra at short leg off Anil Kumble, allowed them to leave the field believing that they still had a realistic chance of winning this Test.
India's troubles began when it took them 22 overs, and the best part of the morning session, to take the last two New Zealand wickets. Vettori and Wiseman were not troubled by either pace or spin, and with Wiseman defending doggedly Vettori kept out the good balls and put away the bad ones to extend his overnight 28 to 60.
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Injury concerns for Australia as Zimbabwe stare at defeat

The fast bowlers cut short Zimbabwe's first innings, after Stuart MacGill had made the early inroads

Lynn McConnell
25-Jun-2005


Brett Lee nails Trevor Gripper © Getty

Australia's march to victory over Zimbabwe wasn't derailed, but it was moved onto a siding during the last session of the third day when both Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill went off the field - and later to hospital for scans - with injuries. It was a situation Mark Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle turned to their advantage as Zimbabwe went to stumps on 87 for 2 in the follow-on, still 409 runs behind Australia.
Vermeulen, playing his fifth Test, scored his second half-century, off 79 balls, in an innings where he accumulated runs against the lesser bowling of Darren Lehmann and Damien Martyn. Carlisle was 26 not out at stumps.
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Injury concerns for Australia as Zimbabwe stare at defeat

The fast bowlers cut short Zimbabwe's first innings, after Stuart MacGill had made the early inroads

Lynn McConnell
25-Jun-2005


Brett Lee nails Trevor Gripper © Getty

Australia's march to victory over Zimbabwe wasn't derailed, but it was moved onto a siding during the last session of the third day when both Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill went off the field - and later to hospital for scans - with injuries. It was a situation Mark Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle turned to their advantage as they went to stumps on 87 for 2, still 409 runs behind Australia.
Vermeulen, playing his fifth Test, scored his second half century, off 79 balls, in an innings where he accumulated runs against the lesser bowling of Darren Lehmann and Damien Martyn. Carlisle was 26 not out at stumps.
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