Report
Natal defeat North West to finish top of the table
Natal claimed a consummate seven-wicket win to finish on top of the final standings and earn a semi-final against the fourth-place finishers
Telford Vice
24-Jan-2001
Natal claimed a consummate seven-wicket win to finish on top of the final standings and earn a semi-final against the fourth-place finishers. An inept North West were dismissed for 141 and Natal cantered to 142 for three to win by seven wickets with all of 12.5 overs to spare.
Not for nothing do North West turn out in maroon, because on the night - and for much of this seaon - they performed as mournfully as the bedraggled West Indies themselves. Played 10, lost eight was Potch plodders' lot in this competition this summer, and it wasn't difficult to see why. They batted as if they knew something Natal didn't, namely that the home side would not have many runs to chase, and their bowling and fielding fairly creaked with the resignation of impending defeat.
All that was left to Natal was to get the basics right, and this they managed without undue fuss. First they kept it tight to scythe through North West's batting, before building their reply around the composed Wade Wingfield's 73 not out.
Shaun Pollock was a late inclusion in the Natal squad following the early finish to the third Test against Sri Lanka and the South African captain plainly revelled in the relatively stress free conditions to take two for 10 off 8.2 immaculate overs against batsmen who didn't even try and forget who he was.
Full postRaja Ali holds the fort as Central make 284
Though they lost a few wickets at the fag end of the first day's play, Central Zone ended at 284 for 5 in their CK Nayudu Trophy semifinal encounter against North Zone at the Engineering School ground in Cuttack on Wednesday
Staff Reporter
24-Jan-2001
Though they lost a few wickets at the fag end of the first day's play,
Central Zone ended at 284 for 5 in their CK Nayudu Trophy semifinal
encounter against North Zone at the Engineering School ground in
Cuttack on Wednesday.
Put into bat, Central Zone were pegged on the back foot early on with
opener Surender Singh (13) retiring hurt after facing just 19 balls.
Then Anshul Kapoor (10) joined him soon in the pavilion. In the 13th
over of the innings, Anshul was caught by Paras Dogra off Joginder
Singh. Sachin Dholpure joined the other opener Amit Deshpande (40) and
took the score to 83. Amit Deshpande was the next to depart stumped by
M Vishal off J Sachdeva.
Raja Ali now came to the crease and with Sachin forged a 114 run stand
for the fourth wicket. But in the last session of play, Sachin (71)
departed caught by Sumit Sharma off Sandeep Sanwal off the last ball
of the 62nd over. Three balls later new batsman Manoj Sriwastava (0)
was bowled by Joginder Singh. Joginder came back in his next over to
dismiss Vashal Shitoot (0). Though being caught in a spot of bother,
Raja Ali (85 not out) and Afroj Khan (32 not out) forged a unbeaten 80
run partnership for the sixth wicket taking the team to stumps with
out further hiccups.
Full postPakistan Domestic: Lahore Blues hold nerves to lift Quaid Trophy
Lahore Blues pulled off a sensational one-wicket victory over Karachi Whites to clinch the 43rd Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship on the third day of the five-day final at the National Stadium on Monday
Khalid H. Khan
23-Jan-2001
Lahore Blues pulled off a sensational one-wicket victory over Karachi Whites to clinch the 43rd Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship on the third day of the five-day final at the National Stadium on Monday.
The visitors held their nerves on a day of high drama to win only Lahore's fourth title. On the last occasion Lahore City won a low-scoring final, also by one wicket, inside three days was at Thatta in 1996-97 because debutant Abdur Razzaq claimed a career-best seven for 51 and then struck the winning runs.
On this occasion, it was another tailender, Waqas Ahmed, who had the satisfaction of striking the winning hit when he top-edged a pull just beneath the sightscreen for a boundary that brought the proceedings to an end at 5.40 p.m.
Karachi Whites had all but sealed the match when they had their opponents on the ropes at 66 for six. The target of 184 seemed a long way off at that point for Lahore Blues. However, from then onwards everything started to go wrong for the home side.
Full postEngland A play it safe against Guyana
Though harvested by the container load in Grenada, spice was in short supply at St George's today, although the drawn match against Guyana provided an opportunity for John Crawley to return to form with a worthy century
Kate Laven
22-Jan-2001
Though harvested by the container load in Grenada, spice was in short supply at St George's today, although the drawn match against Guyana provided an opportunity for John Crawley to return to form with a worthy century.
Ian Ward was also back in the runs continuing his extraordinary stretch of good form with another long innings of 86, putting him firmly at the top of the Busta Cup table for most runs in the tournament with 444.
Neither innings were entertaining, as another dull draw was played out to earn England A six points and keep them in second place, behind Jamaica who had their match against Leeward Islands rained off.
The format of the competition where emphasis is on first innings points has attracted criticism from the England A players who believe it leads to dull cricket and takes away the fun of engineering outright victories.
Full postPollock gives series a ginger tint
Man of the match, man of the series, winning captain - about the only accolade Shaun Pollock was missing at the conclusion of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test match was man of the century, and it's a fair bet that if a vote was taken now for the
Peter Robinson
22-Jan-2001
Man of the match, man of the series, winning captain - about the only accolade Shaun Pollock was missing at the conclusion of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test match was man of the century, and it's a fair bet that if a vote was taken now for the honour he'd be up there among the contenders.
Not that he doesn't deserve the plaudits: South Africa's innings and seven runs victory over Sri Lanka at SuperSport on Monday completed a magnificent season for the home team. South Africa won four out of six home Test matches this summer, with the two missing matches both suffering from interference from the weather, and 10 out of 11 one-day internationals.
This is an impressive record, whichever way you look at it, and the quality of the cricket played by the South Africans, particularly in the last two Test matches as Sri Lanka were crushed by an innings, has done much to help the country consign Hansie Cronje to his unfortunate place in history.
For Pollock, the Sri Lankan series was an almost uninterrupted triumph. He took his 200th Test wicket in the first Test in Durban, claimed six for 30 to blast Sri Lanka out for 95 in the first innings at Newlands and then hammered out a maiden Test century at better than a run a ball - after South Africa had been 204 for seven - at SuperSport Park.
Full postQEA Final: Lahore Blues snatch Trophy on sporting Karachi wicket
Lahore-B beat Karachi by one wicket in a thrilling encounter to lift the Quaid-e-Azam (Grade I) Trophy as the five-day final concluded within three days, mainly due to the sporting nature of wicket prepared especially for the final at Karachi's
Mahmood Ahmad
22-Jan-2001
Lahore-B beat Karachi by one wicket in a thrilling encounter to lift the Quaid-e-Azam (Grade I) Trophy as the five-day final concluded within three days, mainly due to the sporting nature of wicket prepared especially for the final at Karachi's National Stadium.
The outcome of the match remained uncertain right up to the last moment as Lahore, chasing a target of 184 for victory, had lost their ninth wicket with 179 runs on the board. The match could have gone Karachi's way but the last wicket pair of Waqas Ahmed and Adnan Naeem negotiated some fiery bowling by Shahid Iqbal and Mohammad Sami in the closing minutes of the third day. However, luck favored the visitors. They squeaked through and the winning hit was a chance! The ball, after taking the outer edge of Waqas's bat flew just wide of Sami fielding at third man for four, bringing up instant joy in the Lahore camp.
Irrespective of the outcome, the match was evenly contested throughout the three days, as a number of players - both young and experienced - from either side displayed memorable performances for their sides. The match had an added appeal for cricket fans, as some frontline cricketers of the country took part in it. Apart from the presence of names like Shahid Afridi, Asif Mujtaba and Shadab Kabir, Moin Khan, the skipper of the national team, donned the wicket-keeping gloves for Karachi. Lahore-B, on the other hand, boasted of the inclusion of Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaq in their ranks.
Helped by a magnificent hundred by Shahid Afridi, Karachi scored 297 in their first innings on a pitch that had a fair amount of grass on it. The bowling squad of Lahore, led by the Pakistani all-rounder Abdur Razzaq, bowled really well considering the fact that the home side had reached 286 for six at the end of the first day. However, some accurate bowling from the visitors ensured that the home side did not go past three hundred.
Full postSurinder Singh helps Central enter CK Nayudu Trophy semifinals
Though the match meandered along to a tame draw, Central Zone entered the semifinals of the Inter-Zonal CK Nayudu Trophy Under-19 tournament on the basis of their 27-run first innings lead over East Zone in the quarterfinal encounter at the Barabati
Staff Reporter
22-Jan-2001
Though the match meandered along to a tame draw, Central Zone entered the
semifinals of the Inter-Zonal CK Nayudu Trophy Under-19 tournament on the
basis of their 27-run first innings lead over East Zone in the quarterfinal
encounter at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.
Opting to bat first on the opening day on Friday, Central Zone progressed
slowly to 158 for 7 at close of play. The highlight of the innings was a
patient 66 by opener Surinder Singh. However, none of the other batsmen
made an impact. He was the seventh batsman to be dismissed at the fag end
of the day, caught by A Hashmi off SS Lahari. During a 326-minute stay at
the crease, Surinder Singh faced 218 balls and hit nine boundaries. Central
Zone lasted for 16 more overs on the second day before they were bowled out
for 178. SS Lahari (3 for 63) and S Ali (3 for 41) were the pick of the
bowlers.
But when it was East Zone's turn to bat, Surinder Singh returned to torment
the East Zone batsmen to finish with 5 for 41. East Zone fell shy of lead
by just 27. Only four of their batsmen managed to reach double figures with
A Hashmi topscoring with 42.
Central Zone in their second innings fared slightly better, scoring 194.
Surinder Singh (60) was again the mainstay of the batting. He was ably
assisted by opening partner SS Dholpure (31) and skipper A Kapoor (38). Set
to score 222 for a win with not even a session of play left on the final
day, East Zone, in 15 overs, made 62 runs for three wickets.
Full postWest comfortably force draw against South
West Zone comfortably batted through the final day, stalling South Zone's hopes of forcing an outright result in their Duleep Trophy clash at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Sunday
Staff Reporter
21-Jan-2001
West Zone comfortably batted through the final day, stalling South
Zone's hopes of forcing an outright result in their Duleep Trophy
clash at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Sunday. Nayan
Mongia, Vinod Kambli and Abhijit Kale all posted half centuries as
West finished their second innings at 330/6. South's first innings
lead of 219 gave them five points, taking their tally to eight from
two games, while West moved to nine from three games.
West entered the final day at 64/1, needing another 155 to make South
bat again. In the course of an obdurate 60 off 187 balls, skipper
Mongia, who opened the innings, was involved in four successive fifty
partnerships, three of them on the final day. He added 50 for the
second wicket with Hrishikesh Kanitkar, 54 for the third with Jacob
Martin and 53 for the fourth with Kambli. The latter was his usual
bludgeoning self in carting 66 (65 balls, 11 fours, 2 sixes).
Kale, for his part, made an enterprising 52 off 55 balls, inclusive of
nine boundaries. Wasim Jaffer and Sairaj Bahutule carried North
through to stumps. Of the eight South bowlers used, Sunil Joshi
produced the best figures of 3/62. South take on East next from
January 25-28 at Agartala while West also square off against the same
opponents in their next and final encounter, at Rajkot from February
1-4.
Full postDazzling century by Shahid Afridi
A dazzling century by Shahid Afridi laid the foundation of a healthy Karachi Whites score on a fluctuating opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I final against Lahore Blues at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday
Khalid H. Khan
21-Jan-2001
A dazzling century by Shahid Afridi laid the foundation of a healthy
Karachi Whites score on a fluctuating opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam
Trophy Grade-I final against Lahore Blues at the National Stadium in
Karachi on Saturday.
Afridi, stroking the ball in his inimitable style, hammered a
sparkling 102 off 107 deliveries with 10 fours and one six in just
over three hours.
Then a mini middle-order collapse saw Karachi Whites crashing to 190
for six shortly after tea, before an unfinished crucial 96-run stand
between Aamir Hanif (43) and Mohammad Masroor (57) lifted the score to
286 by stumps.
It was an excellent comeback by Karachi Whites on a pitch that is
somewhat inconsistent in bounce.
Full postEngland Under-19s in a commanding position
Chris Tremlett and Andrew McGarry took the honours on Day two in the second 'Test' between India U19s and England U19s, played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday
Santhosh S
21-Jan-2001
Chris Tremlett and Andrew McGarry took the honours on Day two in the
second 'Test' between India U19s and England U19s, played at the MA
Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.
The tall English lad Tremlett played one of the best innings of his
young career with a commanding effort that earned him 61 runs. It was
a treat to watch the young lad play with such ease against the young
Indian spinners. He smashed six boundaries and two towering sixes, the
second one to reach his fifty. He scored the bulk of the 45 precious
runs added for the last wicket with Monty Panesar, whose contribution
was just two runs.
Chris saw two of his partners get run out just before lunch and kept
his concentration to score the valuable runs. Later in the day,
Tremlett bowled well and picked up the wicket of the dangerous Gautam
Gambhir. There was a happy face in the stadium, that of the English
manager, Tim Tremlett. He was delighted with his son's remarkable
performance. Just before embarking on this Indian tour, Chris lost his
younger brother in a tragic car accident. The Tremlett family will be
proud of their son tonight.
Resuming on 286/3, the English colts lost overnight batsman GJ Pratt
for 30, edging a sharp rising ball to the keeper off the bowling of
Aggarwal. Ian Pattison was lucky to be dropped by Mane in the slips,
but did not last for long, bowled by SK Trivedi for 7. The ball kept a
shade lower than what Pattison had expected it to bounce.
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