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Younis hits a ton as Pakistan Probables win comprehensively against Lahore Panthers

Younis Khan hit a magnificent hundred as Pakistan Probables, making 271 runs in the allotted 50 overs, beat Lahore Panthers by a comprehensive margin of 82 runs in the second of the trial series of five matches, which was played under lights at the

Mahmood Ahmad

27-Jan-2001

Pakistan Probables were led by Wasim Akram in the absence of Moin Khan in this match and the side looked depleted by the absence of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousaf Youhana, Shahid Afridi, Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar in their ranks. However, they put up a good show after being put into bat by the Panthers captain, Faisal Iqbal.

Younis, the attacking right-handed middle-order batsman, came to the crease after the fall of Saeed Anwar and Imran Nazir, the opening partners for Pakistan Probables. He added a quickfire 109 for the third wicket with Saleem Elahi (68) to provide a firm base for the late order to take the score past the 250-run mark, which was never going to be an easy target for the young Panthers side.

After the loss of Saleem with the total at 152 in the 28th over, Younis found a useful ally in Misbah-ul-Haq. These two scored at almost a run-a-ball to take the score to 230 by the 39th over.

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Another Ward hundred puts England A in command

By the close of play in Barbados today, Ian Ward had batted for 32 hours for a total of 575 runs in the Busta Cup after his outstanding run of form continued with a third century in three matches

Kate Laven

26-Jan-2001

By the close of play in Barbados today, Ian Ward had batted for 32 hours for a total of 575 runs in the Busta Cup after his outstanding run of form continued with a third century in three matches.

The England A opener put on 224 runs for the first wicket with Michael Powell and finished with an unbeaten 131 to put his side into a commanding position at the end of the first day's play in the fourth round match against Barbados.

He completed his century in just under four and a half hours making this third hundred of the tour his quickest so far. His previous two hundreds in Trinidad and Grenada took a total of 16 hours and but he has clocked up the equivalent of a day and a half at the crease since he arrived on tour.

"It went very well and I feel really good," said the weary Ward at stumps.

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East Zone scent victory against South Zone

At the end of another eventful day, East Zone were scenting victory in their Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala on Friday

Staff Reporter

26-Jan-2001

At the end of another eventful day, East Zone were scenting victory in their Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala on Friday. Eleven runs behind on the first innings, South Zone were all out for 177 in their second knock. Requiring 167 runs for victory, East Zone were 71 for two at stumps. With only 96 runs more required and eight wickets in hand, they must start the third day as favourites.

Resuming at three for no loss, South Zone were again rocked by Debasish Mohanty who dismissed both openers Sridharan Sriram (14) and A Nandakishore (18) with only 42 runs on the board. However, South Zone's fortunes were, for a short while, in the safe hands of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. The two India stars added 67 runs for the third wicket off 18 overs and at 109 for two, South Zone seemed poised for a challenging total. However Assam left arm spinner Sukhbinder Singh had Laxman caught and bowled for 40 and there was precious little substance in the South Zone batting thereafter. Laxman faced 66 balls and hit seven fours.

Mohanty came back to dismiss Vijay Bhardwaj (1) for his 13th wicket of the match. Sukhbinder then had VST Naidu leg before for eight. Sunil Joshi became the third successive lbw victim when he was dismissed by Mohanty. Aashish Kapoor and Javagal Srinath were dismissed off successive deliveries from Sukhbinder and South Zone had slumped to 138 for eight.

Dravid was holding one end up and he now found an able partner in WD Balaji Rao with whom he added 35 runs for the ninth wicket off eight overs. However Sukhbinder brought the innings to a swift end when in one over he had the wickets of Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad. Dravid, who batted a shade over three hours for 66, faced 143 balls and hit eight of them to the ropes. But the chief honours were claimed by Sukhbinder who finished with six for 57. Mohanty's bag of four for 45 gave him a match haul of 14 for 91.

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West Indians take the honours as KwaZulu-Natal draw first blood

KwaZulu-Natal drew first blood as the second match of the competition no team wanted to be in, the Supersport Shield, got under way, scoring 303 all out after winning the toss

Grant Shimmin - MWP

26-Jan-2001

KwaZulu-Natal drew first blood as the second match of the competition no team wanted to be in, the Supersport Shield, got under way, scoring 303 all out after winning the toss.

A huge six by number 10 Gary Gilder off left-armer Nicholas Mataboge in the 97th over ensured the Dolphins would reach 300 before the mandatory declaration after 100 overs, a factor which was rendered academic when last man in Jon Bastow was caught by Zander de Bruyn in the gully off the next ball, the first of Ottis Gibson's 22nd over, giving the West Indian his sixth wicket.

Gibson finished with six for 53, his best figures of a disappointing season for the re-named Highveld Strikers, who have failed to live up to the billing of their new team song, which refers to them as the "Extreme team" of South African cricket. The fact that they're playing in the Supersport Shield, the virtually meaningless competition for the only three provincial sides not to make the Super Eight phase of the Supersport Series, shows just how wide of the mark that has been.

By the close, having faced just two overs before bad light brought play to a halt, the Strikers had progressed to one without loss, that run going to Sven Koenig.

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Dinesh Mongia cracks another double hundred

Dinesh Mongia hit his second double hundred in this year's Duleep Trophy championship as North Zone piled up 690 for eight before declaring on the second day of their match against Central Zone at the Feroze Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi on Friday

Staff Reporter

26-Jan-2001

Mongia had hit 201 in the opening round encounter against South Zone. On Friday, the 23-year-old Punjab batsman hit 208 and added 316 runs for the fifth wicket with his Punjab colleague Reetinder Singh Sodhi.

Resuming at the North Zone score of 391 for four, Mongia and Sodhi carried on from where they left off and did pretty much what they liked with the bowling. The stand was not broken till the score was 620 after an association that lasted 80 overs. Then Mongia was finally dismissed after batting 433 minutes. He faced 319 balls and hit 27 fours and two sixes. Sodhi did not last long after Mongia's departure. His 137 was compiled in 375 minutes. He faced 245 balls and hit 13 fours and three sixes. Harbhajan Singh then flogged the tired attack for a breezy 42 off 43 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. The Central Zone bowling made for sorry reading with four of the bowlers conceding over 100 runs. Indian left arm spinner Murali Kartik was the most expensive conceding 178 runs off 53 overs and finishing wicketless.

When Central Zone batted, they lost the wicket of Amit Pagnis early but the other opener Jai P Yadav and skipper Amay Khurasiya then showed that there was nothing in the bowling or the pitch and rattled up 65 runs for the unbroken second wicket off only 9.3 overs. While Yadav has hit 23 off 37 balls with four hits to the fence, the more aggressive Khurasiya is batting with 45 off just 28 balls. He has hit eight fours and a six.

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South Zone coast to six wicket victory

South Zone did not waste much time in racing to a six wicket victory over West Zone at the Sunshine ground in Cuttack and advancing to the final of the CK Nayudu Trophy (under-19) tournament on Friday

Staff Reporter

26-Jan-2001

West Zone, who finished 73 runs behind on the first innings, resumed at 96 for six in their second innings. VM Joshi, the opening batsman who had put up somd defiance on Thursday, fell without adding to his overnight score of 32. He batted a shade over 2-1/2 hours, faced 123 balls and hit two fours. UN Karkera (26) and skipper CP Kulkarni (17 not out) put up a semblance of a fight before Md Faiq brought the innings to a swift end by taking three wickets in eleven balls and finishing with five for 31.

Needing 59 for a win, South Zone lost four wickets but faced no real danger and reached their target off 16.1 overs. KR Adhav took three of the wickets to fall in four overs for 14 runs.

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South African youth overcome valiant Otago resistance

Facing an uphill battle on the final day the Otago Under-19 side almost managed to hang on for an admirable draw, but fell just 14 deliveries short at the end, going down to the impressive South African Under-19s by 84 runs

Warwick Larkins

26-Jan-2001

With South Africa 113/1 overnight, and already 123 runs ahead on the first innings, the Otago youngsters needed some sort of miracle to get back into the game. James Schorn (73 not out) and Rivash Gobind (73) had other ideas and batted very well to enable South Africa declare for the second time in the match at 177/2.

This left Otago 301 to get in 330 minutes to win the match. Considering Johan Botha, South Africa's star bowler from the first innings, would not bowl due to an ankle injury, Otago had an outside chance of victory if their top order batsmen were able to knuckle down to the task ahead.

But it was not to be, as most of the team folded to a determined South African attack. Otago were disappointing, in a performance somewhat similar to their first innings effort, particularly considering the apparent ease with which the South African batsmen had earlier scored.

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Elliott makes Queensland see double

Matthew Elliott has endured a frustrating season

www.baggygreen.com.au

26-Jan-2001

Matthew Elliott has endured a frustrating season. But the last week of it has been as close to as enjoyable as it comes. Precisely seven days after plundering a one-day century from Queensland, the left handed Victorian opener was at it again today, leading his team to a fifty-nine run triumph over the Bulls in the Mercantile Mutual Cup match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In combining with opening partner Jason Arnberger (75) to produce a spectacular 161-run stand for the first wicket in the space of just thirty overs, Elliott (112) not only made a mockery of rival captain Stuart Law's decision to send the Bushrangers in. He also provided his team with an advantage that it never relinquished.

Aside from the always efficient Adam Dale (2/30 off ten overs), the Queensland attack came in for serial punishment. At both ends of the innings, Test player Andy Bichel (0/65 from ten) was treated with disdain, and fellow former Australian player Michael Kasprowicz (1/55 off nine) was another to be treated harshly.

As if the openers' efforts weren't enough, Brad Hodge (50*) also produced a typically effective innings from the relatively unfamiliar position of number three.

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Blues douse Fire in opening final

The NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sport) Blues have defeated the Queensland Fire by 33 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three final series of the 2000-01 Women's National Cricket League at Bankstown Oval, Sydney, today

Rick Eyre

26-Jan-2001

A powerful 80 by former Australian batsman Michelle Goszko, playing on her home ground in grade competition, carried the Blues to an impressive fifty-over total of 5/234 after NSW captain Belinda Clark won the toss and elected to bat.

Goszko shared a third-wicket partnership of 116 with Lisa Sthalekar (43) to lift the Blues' scoring rate in excess of 4.5 per over.

Pace bowlers Tricia Brown (2/57) and Kelly Klibbe (2/58) had the most success for the Fire, while Cindy Kross bowled her ten overs unchanged for the figures of 0/16. But the NSW bats always looked comfortably on target for a 200-plus score.

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Australia's day as West Indians crumble again

Australia's Brett Lee, Damien Fleming, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann donned the party hats at the Adelaide Oval today

John Polack

26-Jan-2001

Australia's Brett Lee, Damien Fleming, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann donned the party hats at the Adelaide Oval today. And, for its part, the West Indian batting order effectively brought along the gift of two points. On the occasion of the country's national day - a day that offers a celebration of all things Australian - the home team's ten wicket Carlton Series victory was possibly the most ridiculously easy of all in a season laden with massacres.

Cricket is not supposed to be a blood sport. But this most abject of performances from the tourists transformed it into something akin to it.