Report

North sniffing victory after stunning Nehra spell

North Zone took a pincer grip on the second day of their Duleep Trophy clash against East Zone at Guwahati's North-East Frontier Railway Stadium

Staff Reporter

19-Jan-2001

North Zone took a pincer grip on the second day of their Duleep Trophy clash against East Zone at Guwahati's North-East Frontier Railway Stadium. A magnificent spell of 7/14 in 14 hostile overs by Ashish Nehra wrecked the hosts for just 81. Batting again, North were bowled out for 268 in less than 58 overs with Yuvraj Singh and Vijay Dahiya slamming aggressive half centuries. East are left with the task of scoring a daunting 394 in two full days to close out an unlikely victory.

Having taken both wickets last evening, Nehra lost little time this morning in establishing his stamp over the proceedings as East resumed on 26/2. With just two runs added, nightwatchman Mihir Diwakar was removed in the third over of the day. The year old paceman followed this up by dismissing Rashmi Parida for 28 and Rohan Gavaskar for a second ball duck. East were down to 49/5 and Nehra had scalped all five.

Skipper Rathour proceeded to introduce a double spin attack in the form of Sharandeep Singh and Rahul Sanghvi. Both lived up to the faith reposed by their captain, scalping three wickets between them in the space of 3.3 overs to leave East floundering at 80/8. Nehra returned to fire out the last two men in the same over, as North grabbed a lead of 125. Parida's score remained the highest in an innings in which only two men reached double figures, the other being stumper Deep Dasgupta.

Debashis Mohanty struck immediate retribution, having Akash Chopra caught behind with the first ball of North's innings. Rathour stuck a brisk 35 but it was Yuvraj Singh who set hearts aflutter, blasting 77 (78 balls, 14 fours) in just over two hours. The rest of the middle order failed but keeper Vijay Dahiya, back after missing the entire action in North's first two games, smacked 70 (81 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes).

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KwaZulu-Natal take Duckworth-Lewis win over Free State

BLOEMFONTEIN, Jan 19 - Kwazulu-Natal turned this game on its head and in the process almost guaranteed themselves a place in the last for of the Standard Bank Cup with a 12-run win over Free State in Bloemfontein under the Duckworth/Lewis method on

MWP

19-Jan-2001

Controversy, contention and complication are never too far away when Mr Duckworth and Mr Lewis are asked to bring their statistical minds to bear on a weather-affected match, but experience is proving that cricket has discovered a system at least less objectionable than those that went before.

Unless you were a Free State fan at Goodyear Park on Friday, that is. Several scratched heads must have been struggling to come to terms with a target of 152 off 33 overs after Natal had managed just 124 for six and faced four more deliveries when the rain brought an early close to the innings and an early dinner.

But whatever the vagaries of the Duckworth/Lewis method, Free State should still have won this game. As it is they now know their time in the competition is running out. After reaching 102 for one with plenty of overs in hand, the game was theirs for the taking.

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Deshpande helps Vidarbha make a solid reply

Thanks to an unbeaten 114 by stumper AV Deshpande, Vidarbha made a spirited 189 for 2 in reply to Rajasthan's first innings total of 380 at stumps on the second day in their Central Zone Ranji trophy match at the Vidharba Cricket Association cricket

Staff reporter

19-Jan-2001

After letting the Rajasthan tail wag considerably, Vidarbha got off to a solid start with openers Deshpande and AS Manohar (30) adding 72 runs in 20 overs. Manohar became the first casuality for Vidarbha when he was caught by Krishnakumar off AM Dave. With only two runs added to the total the new batsman SU Harbade departed with out opening his account, caught by S Bhatia off Dave. But RS Paradkar joined Deshpande and batted out the final session of play to guide Vidharba to safety.

Deshpande who took most of the strike has so far faced 190 balls for his 114 which were studded with 16 boundary hits.

Earlier resuming at the score of 287 for 7, Rajasthan total swelled to 351. The overnight batsmen Vineet Saxena (117) and RB Jalani (63) extended their eighth wicket partnership to 101 runs. Saxena was finally dismissed for a catch by Harbade off PV Gandhe. During a 464 minute stay at the crease, Saxena faced 328 balls and found the signboards 16 times.

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Madhya Pradesh gain handy lead despite Zaidi's efforts

Madhya Pradesh took a 140 run first innings lead over Uttar Pradesh on the second day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy clash at the Green Park in Kanpur on Friday

Staff Reporter

19-Jan-2001

Madhya Pradesh took a 140 run first innings lead over Uttar Pradesh on the second day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy clash at the Green Park in Kanpur on Friday. After bowling out Madhya Pradesh for 283, Uttar Pradesh were 12 without loss from six overs in their second innings at stumps.

Useful knocks by Harvinder Sodhi and Nikhil Patwardhan were the feature of MP's innings after they resumed on 121/3 this morning. UP's left arm paceman Shalabh Sriwastava struck for the third time when he had Devendra Bundela leg before on his overnight score of 39. Sodhi (57) and Patwardhan (49) added 82 for the fifth wicket before the latter was dismissed leg before by Aashish Zaidi at 204.

It was the first of four wickets in a row for Zaidi, including the ones of Sodhi and 39 year old skipper Chandrakant Pandit. The third seamer in the attack, Mrityunjay Tripathy, mopped up the tail by trapping the last two men in front. MP were bowled out in the 121st over, Zaidi finishing with 4/89. Five of the ten victims were leg before. UP openers Nasir Ali and Jyoti Yadav played out the remaining 26 minutes without mishap, the hosts needing another 128 to make their opponents bat again.

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Bushrangers prove too strong for Bulls

Steve Magoffin

19-Jan-2001

The Victorian Bushrangers have defeated the Queensland Bulls by sixty-three runs in the sides' Mercantile Mutual Cup match here at the `Gabba ground in Brisbane after thoroughly dominating the day's play. The Bulls could only muster 206 in reply to the Bushrangers' 7/269 in an innings that was hampered by continual rain interruptions, surrendering a bonus point in the process.

Earlier in the day, it had been the efforts of Victorian opening batsman Matthew Elliott (107) that laid the platform for Victoria's triumph - only its second in seven attempts in this season's domestic one-day competition. Elliott was in complete control from ball one, striking nine boundaries and two massive sixes on his way to a lovely century that spanned a total of 106 deliveries.

Starting with a bang, Elliott and opening partner Jason Arnberger (20) took the attack up to the Bulls bowlers, punishing loose deliveries and finding the boundary with ease. Elliott included seven of his boundaries and both of his sixes inside his first fifty runs as he and the remainder of the top order set about capitalising on a rare victory for captain Paul Reiffel at the toss.

Normally tight bowlers Ashley Noffke (0/61 off eight overs) and Andy Bichel (0/33 from four) proved anything but. They were rapidly hit out of the attack as a result of Elliott's onslaught - an onslaught which compelled Queensland captain Stuart Law to call on his ever-reliable pairing of Michael Kasprowicz (1/45 off eight) and Adam Dale (2/47 from ten) to try and salvage something from the situation.

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Western Province stay alive with five-run win over Boland

Cape Town, Jan 19 - Western Province had to work hard for a narrow five-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in the process keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup

MWP

19-Jan-2001

It couldn't have come much closer for Province, who bowled and fielded extremely well to defend a total which had always looked vulnerable. The sides were playing on the same strip on which South African rattled up nearly 300 just over a week ago, and the home side's failure evern to pass 200 looked to have signalled the end of their Cup hopes.

Defending champions Boland will rue a missed opportunity in the lion's den of Newlands, but their biggest disappointment will be the fact that the defence of their title ended with so much of the season still remaining. With the exception of Justin Ontong with 66, their batsmen struggled as Province's spin atack of Paul Adams and Claude Henderson took a grip on the match.

Even so, a belligerent career-best 27 from Neil Carter took Boland to within a couple of lusty blows of victory, but when he was brilliantly caught by vice-captain Alan Dawson at the second attempt, the equation had become too great an ask.

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Goodwin, Hussey combine to hand Warriors top spot

The Western Warriors have shot to the top of the Mercantile Mutual Cup standings following a seventy-three run win over New South Wales at the WACA Ground tonight, a result built on a mammoth third-wicket partnership

Scott Holdaway

19-Jan-2001

Murray Goodwin
Photo AllsportAust

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Warriors managed a record-equalling total of 5/325 thanks to the largest-ever third wicket partnership (257) in domestic one-day cricket in Australia, between Murray Goodwin (167) and Mike Hussey (94).

In reply, the Blues were dismissed for 253 in the forty-seventh over, their inability to build a run chase around an impressive Brad Haddin (58) half-century handing the Warriors victory and the bonus point.

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North West defeat Strikers

The Highveld Strikers ended the limited-overs portion of their season of discontent with another defeat, their seventh in 10 Standard Bank Cup outings, although they mounted a courageous attempt to reach a target that rain had seen revised to 220 off

MWP

19-Jan-2001

In the end, they needed three off the last ball and number 11 David Terbrugge was unable to beat the field, hitting it back to the bowler, Garth Roe, on the bounce, to leave the Strikers on 217 for nine, three short of their victory target.

The match was a meaningless one, with both sides long out of the semi-final frame, but turned out to be a thriller, with rain adding to the frenzied nature of the encounter. First it reduced the match to 41 overs a side before it had even started and then it shaved a further 10 overs off the visitor's innings by returning during the supper break, after the home side themselves had gone at more than six an over in setting a challenging 249 for nine.

Gary Outram, with an unbeaten 46 off just 32 balls, gave North West a flying finish after contributions down the order, including a swashbuckling 41 from Mark Lavine, whose West Indian counterpart, Ottis Gibson, was flayed for 67 off just seven overs.

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EP's semi hopes in the balance after tie with Easterns

Eastern Province and Easterns tied this match at St George's Park to leave the home side still unsure of their semi-final fate