Report
A win in the nick of time for desperate Kiwis
New Zealand has spent much of the summer trying to get the formula right in its one-day game and offered a hint in beating Sri Lanka by 13 runs in Christchurch today that when everything falls into place it is not far away from being a much more
Lynn McConnell
11-Feb-2001
New Zealand has spent much of the summer trying to get the formula right in its one-day game and offered a hint in beating Sri Lanka by 13 runs in Christchurch today that when everything falls into place it is not far away from being a much more competitive side.
The game was a far better representation of the skills in the New Zealand side but which have been laying low for much of the summer.
But a total of 282/6 was always going to be competitive on what was the best pitch of the both the Zimbabwe and Sri Lankan series.
Sri Lanka made a bold effort to get the runs but once losing Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva for three and five respectively, the job got that much harder for them.
Full postSunday League Grand Final Match Report
Defending a modest target of 183 runs, Wanneroo bowled out Willetton in the forty-third over to win the Sunday League Grand Final at the WACA ground on Sunday night by forty-three runs
David Bebb
11-Feb-2001
Defending a modest target of 183 runs, Wanneroo bowled out Willetton in the forty-third over to win the Sunday League Grand Final at the WACA ground on Sunday night by forty-three runs.
An estimated crowd of 700 people enjoyed warm fine clear conditions as Wanneroo captain Mike Hussey won the toss and elected to set Willetton a target to chase in a day-night encounter in which fluorescent-orange coloured balls were used.
A seventy-five run eighth wicket partnership, that lasted sixty-six minutes, between Wanneroo top scorer Victor Lawes and the unbeaten Adam Lucas was the backbone of the Wanneroo innings. Run out off the last ball of the innings, Lawes scored 48 from seventy-seven balls with only one four and a six. Lucas made a tidy 33 from fifty-five balls with one four. Their partnership - at a strike rate of 73.5 - consisted mostly of graft as the majority of runs came from working the ball about for quick singles. Opener Joel Charles made the second highest score of 34 from fifty-eight balls with five fours.
Andy Gray was the pick of Willetton's bowlers. Used in a single spell of ten overs from the River End, Gray accumulated three wickets for the concession of thirty-one runs. Among his scalps were Charles and middle order batsmen David Hussey (7) and Wes Robinson (7). Gray and Phil Siljeg (2/39) bowled in tandem for eighteen overs in the middle part of the Wanneroo innings and were rewarded with five of the eight wickets that fell, conceding sixty runs at a rate of 3.3 runs per over.
Full postNortherns ease into final as Border crash to 84 all out
Northerns swept into the Standard Bank Cup final with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Border at Buffalo Park on Sunday which stood in sharp relief to the hard-fought first two legs of this semi-final
Telford Vice - MWP
11-Feb-2001
Northerns swept into the Standard Bank Cup final with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Border at Buffalo Park on Sunday which stood in sharp relief to the hard-fought first two legs of this semi-final.
Border crashed to a total of 84 in 31.3 overs on a slow but not unfriendly
pitch, to which Northerns replied with 85 for one in 24.3.
In the final, the men in blue will take on either Natal or Eastern Province,
who between Wednesday and next Sunday will stage their own best-of-three
semi-final.
Border's hopes of reaching the championship match were wiped out in a total
playing time of less than four hours. But perhaps they lost Sunday's match on Friday night, when Northerns showed remarkable chutzpah by overhauling Border's towering total of 271 for eight to square the series.
Full postBrilliant McCullum rescues New Zealand under-19s again
Another brilliant innings from New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum dominated the first day of the final under-19 Test against South Africa at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, one of the world's most beautiful cricket grounds
Peter Hoare
10-Feb-2001
Another brilliant innings from New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum dominated the first day of the final under-19 Test against South Africa at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, one of the world's most beautiful cricket grounds. Coming in after his team had lost four cheap wickets McCullum scored exactly 100, providing the most exciting cricket of the day.
New Zealand manager Dayle Hadlee told CricInfo that his team were keen to post 400, so a first day score of 266 for seven is something of a disappointment. McCullum did not hesitate in choosing to bat after he won the toss. The pitch had green tinges at the start, and offers the quicker bowlers cosiderable bounce, but the ball is coming on to the bat well and there is very little lateral movement.
The top five batsmen in the New Zealand top order all got out after they had played themselves in. Of this group, the top score was Shanan Stewart's 34. He hit six fours, but got out swiping a full toss to deep square leg off slow left-armer Ian Postman.
The captain demonstrated the art of judicious shot selection to his teammates. His boundaries tended to come in batches, because this was how the loose deliveries arrived. Early in his innings, for example, he hit four fours off the sharply-paced Thysen, peppering the fence from long leg to cover.
Full postEngland A take first innings points amid the rain
England A collected more bonus points today after skipper Mark Alleyne made his first half-century in the Busta Cup against Windward Islands in St Lucia
Kate Laven
10-Feb-2001
England A collected more bonus points today after skipper Mark Alleyne made
his first half-century in the Busta Cup against Windward Islands in St
Lucia.
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Mark Alleyne Photo CricInfo |
His innings gave England A a lead of 79 runs over their opponents but
weather permitting, they will have to double their total from 208 for six
tomorrow to gain the outright win they need from this match to make sure of
their semi-final place.
More rain fell over the Mindoo Phillip ground in Castries allowing just 76
overs to be bowled on the second day and it was an offer of bad light that
finally forced Alleyne and his partner Chris Read off the field with another
rain-affected day forecast tomorrow.
Full postHick states his credentials with timely innings
Graeme Hick stated his credentials for a Test place with an authoritative innings against the Sri Lankan board President's spinners at P.Saravanmuttu Stadium today
Charlie Austin
10-Feb-2001
Graeme Hick stated his credentials for a Test place with an authoritative
innings against the Sri Lankan board President's spinners at P.Saravanmuttu
Stadium today. He scored 75 crucial runs having come to the crease with
England in trouble in their second innings and ensured that they go into the
final day of this practice game with an excellent chance of securing
victory.
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Graeme Hick Photo CricInfo |
When Hick plays with the positive intent that he displayed today
there are few better players of spin bowling. With an economy of movement he
hit the ball with disconcerting power and regained the initiative from the
Sri Lanka spinners, who had taken three wickets in the space of three overs
to leave England teetering on 119 for five.
He signalled his intent from the beginning with a checked drive through extra
cover off Dinuk Hettiarachchi and then a clean straight six off the off spin
of Thilan Samaraweera. Unlike some of his colleagues, who rely heavily upon
the sweep shot, Hick prefers to hit straight down the ground and is
confident when using his feet. He hit ten fours and one six in his 112 ball
innings.
Full postQueensland romps home in Adelaide
For the second consecutive time, South Australia's batsmen have let their side down as it tumbled to a 101 run defeat at the hands of Queensland in a one-sided Mercantile Mutual Cup clash here at the Adelaide Oval
Lawrie Colliver
10-Feb-2001
For the second consecutive time, South Australia's batsmen have let their side down as it tumbled to a 101 run defeat at the hands of Queensland in a one-sided Mercantile Mutual Cup clash here at the Adelaide Oval.
Credit must go to Queensland, though, for getting to 8/244 - without one of its batsmen securing a half-century - after winning the toss and electing to bat.
By contrast, inconsistent batting continues to haunt the Redbacks. In Devonport three weeks ago, they were chasing a modest target of 195 for a win and failed rather emphatically, tallying just 161. Tonight - on an excellent pitch - they were set 245 to win at a ground where in previous matches this season they have made 6/248 (from forty-three overs), 7/260, 7/293. Yet they failed miserably and reached just 143 this evening.
How can this happen? Queensland's bowlers gave little away, but can the question of Darren Lehmann's absence be such a factor in a woeful showing with the bat? Maybe not; in SA's last win, Lehmann was not present as it totalled 293 against a New South Wales side which now seems likely to edge the Redbacks out of a spot in a Final that will now be played at the WACA Ground in Perth.
Full postNortherns hit back to level semi-final series
Only two days previously, Jacques Rudolph struck a magnificent century and still saw his side Northerns beaten by another plucky display from Border as they took the most dramatic of 1-0 leads in this best-of-three semi-final of South Africa's
Andy Colquhoun - MWP
10-Feb-2001
Only two days previously, Jacques Rudolph struck a magnificent century and still saw his side Northerns beaten by another plucky display from Border as they took the most dramatic of 1-0 leads in this best-of-three semi-final of South Africa's domestic one-day competition.
On Friday night he fell eleven runs short of three figures, but this
time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing his side produce a sterling
performance to level the series. It was a magnificent effort from the visitors, who had always looked the underdogs after Border had posted what seemed like an impregnable 271 for eight off 45 overs when they won the toss and decided to bat.
Chasing such a challenging target, a good start was always vital
and that was duly provided by Rudolph's young team-mate, Johan Myburgh.
He set the tone for the Northerns' run chase as he struck 44 runs at the
top of the order in double-quick time. When his was the first wicket to
fall, Northerns had already cruised to 50 without loss and the gauntlet had
been well and truly thrown down.
With solid support from Martin van Jaarsveld (76), Rudolph then saw
relative old hands Neil McKenzie and captain Gerald Dros finish the game off
with 16 balls to spare.
Full postTigers enjoy a happy anniversary
Anniversaries are generally supposed to be joyous occasions
John Polack
10-Feb-2001
Anniversaries are generally supposed to be joyous occasions. But they still have the tendency to evoke the opposite reaction too. In a cricketing sense at least, nothing could probably have proved the point much more emphatically than the differing responses of the Tasmanian and Victorian camps to the home team's dramatic forty-one run win in the teams' Mercantile Mutual Cup fixture here at the NTCA Ground in Launceston today.
In the crucial victory that now ensures that they will fight it out with New South Wales and South Australia next week for a spot alongside Western Australia in the competition's Final, the Tasmanians found much about which to be pleased. But, in the conditions which underpinned it, their opponents expressed significant displeasure. It made for an interesting and even controversial commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Australia's first ever first-class cricket match - the intercolonial game here in February 1851 in which the Gentlemen of Van Diemen's Land prevailed over the Gentlemen of Port Phillip by three wickets.
History looked unlikely to repeat itself when Victorian captain Paul Reiffel won the toss, invited the Tasmanians to bat first on a pitch too lively to appropriately befit the occasion, and watched as the locals crashed dramatically to a scoreline of 4/14 in just the third over. Deliveries were already flying at variable heights by that stage, especially from the Northern End of the quaint, tree-lined ground that doubles as the principal cricketing venue in Tasmania's second biggest city.
As new ball bowlers Mick Lewis (2/34 from nine overs) and Colin Miller (4/36 off ten) combined to dismiss Michael DiVenuto (0), Daniel Marsh (7), Shaun Young (0) and Shane Watson (3) and tear out the heart of a reshuffled Tasmanian order, the prospect of anything but a comfortable Victorian win seemed remote. DiVenuto had fallen to a dubious caught behind decision but, in the disappearance of Marsh to an inside edge back on to the stumps; the loss of Young to an outside edged drive; and Watson to a yorker, there was much about which the Victorians could enthuse.
Full postNorth Zone lift Vizzy Trophy
As expected, North Zone completed the formalities to win the Vizzy Trophy by virtue of their massive first innings lead over West Zone on the fourth and final day of the match in Nagothane in Raigarh district on Friday
Staff Reporter
10-Feb-2001
As expected, North Zone completed the formalities to win the Vizzy Trophy
by virtue of their massive first innings lead over West Zone on the fourth and final day of the match in Nagothane in Raigarh district on Friday.
North Zone had virtually clinched the title by taking a massive first innings lead of 355 runs. Resuming their second innings at 129 for three, they declared their second innings closed at 293 for seven. Middle order batsmen Sidharth Verma (105 not out off 174 balls with eleven fours and two sixes) and Sachin
Chaudhary (75 off 98 balls with eleven fours) were the main run getters. Left arm spinner Rajesh Bambri took five for 85 while medium pacer Sameer Naik got two for 49.
West Zone, who were set the impossible task of scoring 649 runs in 240 minutes, were 173 for six off 49 overs when the match was called off. Kulvindar Bagga top scored with 83 runs off 114 balls including eleven fours and a six.
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