Report
Tourists afford series a sting in the tail
It took until the penultimate day of the series, and relied on the inspiration of two players who have barely figured through its duration
John Polack
05-Jan-2001
It took until the penultimate day of the series, and relied on the inspiration of two players who have barely figured through its duration. But, at last, the sight of West
Indies refusing to yield to Australia arrived. As a result, we finally have a contest too; at stumps on the fourth day of the Fifth Test here at the Sydney Cricket
Ground, Australia is at 2/44 chasing a target of 173 to win.
The excellent form of Ridley Jacobs (62) has been a constant throughout this summer so it represented little surprise to see him at the heart of a mid-afternoon
recovery which transformed the complexion of this match. But to spot the sparingly used Mahendra Nagamootoo (68) and previously horribly out of form
Ramnaresh Sarwan (51) also applying themselves earnestly in its midst was certainly unexpected.
What made the revival even better still was that it came on the heels of another disastrous morning session for the West Indians. The loss of Jimmy Adams (5), Sherwin Campbell (54) and Marlon Samuels (0) in the
space of five deliveries only half an hour into the day - a surrender which saw them slide to a mark of 4/112 in their second innings - was a grave development given
that as many as 180 runs were required to even make the Australians bat again. And the miserable predicament was then exacerbated when a defending Brian Lara
(28) failed to capitalise on an earlier reprieve and lost his wicket to a beautifully pitched ball from off spinner Colin Miller (4/102) half an hour before lunch.
Until Sarwan finally lost concentration after close to two-and-a-half hours of unflinching resistance and sparred away from his body at a Glenn McGrath (3/80)
delivery, he and Jacobs added eighty-five runs for the sixth wicket in enterprising style. In the process, they ensured not only that the match would enter a fourth
innings but added a genuine touch of spine to the West Indian performance as well. It was difficult to believe that the former had entered this innings with a bare three
runs against his name in total for the series and with his confidence and demeanour at apparent rock bottom. For that sorry record counted for little today; he
survived a hat-trick ball from Jason Gillespie (2/57) first up, imperiously thumped the second delivery that he faced to the cover boundary, and then barely looked
back.
Full postOrissa gain handsome lead
Orissa, served well by most of their top order batsmen, were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at the Tinsukia District Sports Association stadium on Friday
Staff and agencies
05-Jan-2001
Orissa, served well by most of their top order batsmen, were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at the Tinsukia District Sports Association stadium on Friday. Replying to Assam's first innings total of 167, Orissa were 302 for seven off 77.2 overs at stumps.
The second day's play started only at 12.25 pm due to the wet condition of the pitch following overnight rain. Resuming at 99 for two, Orissa enjoyed a fruitful day. First, RR Parida (75) and Sanjay Satpathy (41) added 75 runs for the third wicket off 16 overs. Veteran left arm spinner Sunil Subramaniam broke the stand by having Satpathy leg before. Satpathy faced just 39 balls
and hit six fours. Parida fell a little later. He faced 151 balls and hit six fours and a six. Mullick (5) did not last long and suddenly Orissa had slumped to 198 for five.
However, Sanjay Roul (45) and P Jaychandra (13) initiated a recovery process by adding 37 runs for the sixth wicket off 12 overs. Roul, who made a valuable 45, was seventh out at 264. He faced 66 balls and hit five boundaries. The rest of the day belonged to Gautam Gopal who cracked an unbeaten 53 off just 36 balls with nine fours and two sixes. He dominated an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 38 runs off 8.1 overs with Debasish Mohanty (7) to push the Orissa score past the 300 mark by close. Ganesh Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with three for 64 off 17 overs while Subramaniam picked up two for 90 off 18 overs.
Full postLiebenberg steals victory for Free State over North West
If North West's scorecard in their Standard Bank Cup match against Free State was put into a time capsule, generations from now would still be asking how they managed to lose Friday night's encounter by five wickets
MWP
05-Jan-2001
If North West's scorecard in their Standard Bank Cup match against Free State was put into a time capsule, generations from now would still be asking how they managed to lose Friday night's encounter by five wickets.
After winning the toss and going on to post a healthy total of 265 for six wickets, the Dragon Express was somehow derailed as Free State cruised to victory on 267 for five.
Amidst the smouldering North West wreckage lay a record fourth-wicket partnership of 146 between Arno Jacobs and Mark Lavine, eclipsing the previous best of 127.
The duo rattled off their collective runs off only 118 balls and in 70 minutes, scoring 42 runs in two particularly profitable overs.
Full postWarne the trump as Victorians seek to establish command
Victoria's top order has capitalised on a four-wicket Shane Warne haul against the Western Warriors late on day two to hand its team control of the Pura Cup match here at the WACA ground in Perth
Scott Holdaway
05-Jan-2001
Victoria's top order has capitalised on a four-wicket Shane Warne haul against the Western Warriors late on day two to hand its team control of the Pura Cup match here at the WACA ground in Perth.
Warne (4/53) struck twice during the early stages of the morning session
and again just before tea to remove dangerman Marcus North (52) and help dismiss
the Warriors for 235 - a tally which left them nineteen runs short of Victoria's first innings total.
Bushrangers opener Jason Arnberger (63*) then survived a cautious forty-seven overs
and four partners over the course of the last two sessions to help his side to 3/146
at stumps and a 163-run lead which Victoria will want to turn into a mammoth
fourth innings target for their hosts.
Arnberger watched Matthew Elliott (30), Matthew Mott (15) and Brad Hodge (0)
lose their wickets in the last session of play, before Clinton Peake (24*) settled in with him at the crease.
Full postRao's century sets up solid platform for Rest
It was a day of mixed fortune for the visiting England Under-19 side at the MIG Stadium at Mumbai
Anand Vasu from Mumbai
05-Jan-2001
It was a day of mixed fortune for the visiting England Under-19 side at the MIG Stadium at Mumbai. When the second day's play started, they had the Rest of India Under-19 in a spot of bother at 47/2. With Justin Bishop taking two wickets yesterday, left arm spinner Robert Ferley had ample access to the middle order. That was all the Kent tweaker needed. Giving the ball plenty of air, Ferley extracted good turn from the wicket. If any England bowler looked like picking wickets, it was Ferley.
With 114 on the board, skipper Kashinath Khadkikar (36) was the first to go. Playing a lazy shot at a perfectly pitched Ferley spinner, Khadkikar ended up edging the ball through to Ian Bell at slip. The fall of Khadkikar's wicket pepped the England camp up and there was a spring in their step at once.
Eleven balls later, Rest of India were in trouble at 120/5 with stumper Parthiv Patel being cleaned up for a second ball duck and Gaganinder Singh being caught by Kadeer Ali fielding close to the wicket, the Rest of India middle order threatened to collapse. It was at this time that the unlikely combination of Gnaneshwara Rao and Maninder Singh changed the complexion of the day's play. The pair began by sizing up the bowling, the wicket and state of play. After an extended spell of sensible cricket, Rao began to open up a bit.
At the receiving end of Rao's punishment was Monty Panesar. After bowling tidily to notch up 9 maiden overs, the Sikh left arm spinner lost his way completely. Two overs costing fourteen each saw the ball disappear to all sections of the park and on occasion out of the park even. Panesar ended with figures of none for 59 and the partnership between Rao and Maninder Singh blossomed.
Full postBihar face uphill task to save match
Middle order batsman Mahinder Singh Dhoni's sparkling unbeaten 114 went in vain as Bihar faced an uphill task to save the match after being forced to follow on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy tie against Bengal at the Eden Gardens here
Staff and agencies
05-Jan-2001
Middle order batsman Mahinder Singh Dhoni's sparkling unbeaten 114 went in vain as Bihar faced an uphill task to save the match after being forced to follow on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy tie against Bengal at the Eden Gardens here today.
Resuming at their overnight score of 107 for three in reply to Bengal's mammoth total of 608 for five declared, Dhoni played a valiant knock to remain undefeated till the end as Bihar's first innings folded up for 323 about 45 minutes before close of play.
Forced to follow on, Bihar were struggling at 16 for one at stumps losing the wicket of opener Zishan-Ul-Yaquin for a duck. Nikhilesh Ranjan (6) and captain Rajiv Kumar (10) were at the crease at close of play on a wicket which was still quite good for batting.
Dhoni, who has been in good nick this season, was a picture of concentration as he handled the pacemen and the spinners with ease while wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Tariqur Rehman was the other notable contributor for the visitors with a power-packed 59.
Full postNortherns end Natal's winning streak
Doug Watson's highest limited overs score proved in vain as Northerns beat Natal by four wickets with 10 balls to spare
MWP
05-Jan-2001
Doug Watson's highest limited overs score proved in vain as Northerns beat Natal by four wickets with 10 balls to spare.
Natal totalled 230 for six, to which Northerns replied with 231 for six in 43.2 overs to end the home side's winning streak at four matches.
Man-of-the-match Watson scored 116 off 144 balls with eight fours and a six, surpassing the 102 not out he made against Free State in Bloemfontein in 1998-99.
He was given a life in the 20th over when, on 46 with the total 82 for one, Gerald Dros at extra cover somehow managed to drop the gentlest of catches off the bowling of Pierre Joubert.
Full postBoland secure victory over sorry Easterns
It wasn't so much a case of Easterns having their unbeaten record at Willowmoore Park this season wrestled from their grasp as of handing it over on a platter as they succumbed to Boland by seven wickets
MWP
05-Jan-2001
It wasn't so much a case of Easterns having their unbeaten record at Willowmoore Park this season wrestled from their grasp as of handing it over on a platter as they succumbed to Boland by seven wickets.
The visitors reached a moderate target of 184 in 43.1 overs, 11 balls short of their quota, with skipper Louis Koen (68) and left-hander Gerhard Strydom (43), playing only his fourth Standard Bank Cup match, combining for an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 82 to see Boland home comfortably.
But Easterns gave them all the help they could, with all their bowlers bar captain Deon Jordaan, who sent down just one ball when the scores were tied, contributing to an astonishing tally of 24 wides. Chief culprit was burly paceman Andre Nel, who contributed eight, including seven in a five-over first spell which only cost 13 runs in total. From the other end, Kenny Benjamin sent down five, along with two no-balls, and there were also five from Pierre de Bruyn, one for a "beamer", three from Gareth Flusk, two from Derek Crookes and one from Mike Rindel.
A sorry tale for Easterns was compounded by a high number of full tosses and some woeful fielding, which not surprisingly led Jordaan to label the match his team's "worst performance of the season" afterwards.
Full postWheel turns full circle as SA crush Sri Lanka
Six months ago, in Shaun Pollock's first Test match as captain, a ragged South African side lost by an innings and 15 runs to Sri Lanka in Galle
Peter Robinson
04-Jan-2001
Six months ago, in Shaun Pollock's first Test match as captain, a ragged South African side lost by an innings and 15 runs to Sri Lanka in Galle. At Newlands on Thursday the wheel turned full circle as South Africa crushed Sri Lanka by an innings and 229 runs inside three days in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match.
It was South Africa's largest margin of victory and Pollock, named man of the match after scything through the Sri Lankan first innings with figures of six for 30, had every reason to be proud of the achievement.
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Shaun Pollock Photo CricInfo |
"We've come a long since then as a team," he said afterwards. "We've got a really well-balanced unit and the guys are confident and playing good cricket."
Full postRathour, Chopra in 237-run opening stand
Skipper Vikram Rathour and Askash Chopra put on 237 runs off 61.4 overs for the first wicket as holders North Zone ended at the happy position of 336 for three off 90 overs on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the IGMC
Staff and agencies
04-Jan-2001
Skipper Vikram Rathour and Askash Chopra put on 237 runs off 61.4
overs for the first wicket as holders North Zone ended at the happy
position of 336 for three off 90 overs on the opening day of the
Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the IGMC stadium in
Vijayawada on Thursday.
Rathour won a good toss and he and Chopra laid the foundation for an
imposing North Zone total. On a batsman friendly wicket, they dealt
with the varied South Zone attack confidently. Neither the seam of
Dodda Ganesh, Thiru Kumaran or Robin Singh, nor the spin of
Venkatpathi Raju, Sunil Joshi and Aashish Kapoor bothered them and it
was not until just before tea that the stand was broken when Chopra
was caught at silly point by substitute Nandakishore off Raju for 110.
Chopra who batted 254 minutes, faced 207 balls and hit 17 fours.
Yuvraj Singh hit the first ball he faced to the boundary and was out
off the next. He charged down the wicket to Raju and was stumped by
Tilak Naidu.
Rathour and left hander Dinesh Mongia however prevented a collapse by
adding 88 runs for the third wicket off 24.2 overs before the captain
was well caught on the leg side by a diving Tilak Naidu off Ganesh.
Rathour, who batted 350 minutes, faced 237 balls and hit 16 fours and
a six.
Mongia, who batted aggresively, was unbeaten with 60 off 89 balls at
stumps. He has so far hit 12 fours. Keeping him company is Virender
Shewag with four. Raju took two for 86 off 28 overs and Ganesh one for
37 off 12 overs. But the other four bowlers, all of whom have played
for India, went wicketless.
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