Report
South Africa hit form at right time
South Africa were given the ideal preparation for their CricInfo Women's World Cup semi-final clash with Australia on Monday when, courtesy of a Linda Olivier century, they subdued a lively Ireland side at Hagley Oval today
Chris Rosie
16-Dec-2000
South Africa were given the ideal preparation for their CricInfo Women's World Cup semi-final clash with Australia on Monday when, courtesy of a Linda Olivier century, they subdued a lively Ireland side at Hagley Oval today.
In a first innings that ran the gambit of emotions, the Netherlands had Ireland in trouble early. Then they allowed a third-wicket partnership to develop, ripped through the middle order only to stumble over an unbeaten 37-run world-record 10th wicket stand between Barbara McDonald (22) and Sandra Dawson (13 in her retirement match) that allowed Ireland a very respectable 176 for nine off their 50 overs.
The key to South African bowling was their direction. Batsman after batsman hurt the Ireland cause as they played across the line. Five bowled and two caught and bowled told the story of Ireland's failure to post a big score after the third-wicket partnership between Anne Linehan (40) and Miriam Grealey (30 in her last match as captain) threatened big troubles for South Africa.
Hanri Strydom, rushed into the bowling attack early after Sune van Zyl injured herself fielding in the second over of the day, responded superbly, her late swing having all the batsmen in trouble. Strydom (10-1-33-3), Sunette Viljoen (10-2-27-3) and Cindy Eksteen (10-3-28-2) had supposedly done enough to ensure that South Africa would face a modest target of less than 140.
Full postKerala deny Tamil Nadu an outright victoy
Tamil Nadu were held to a draw by Kerala in a nail-biting contest at the ICL Gurunanak College Ground, Chennai, in the P Ramachandra Rao Trophy for the Under-22, on Saturday
Santhosh S
16-Dec-2000
Tamil Nadu were held to a draw by Kerala in a nail-biting contest at the ICL
Gurunanak College Ground, Chennai, in the P Ramachandra Rao Trophy for the
Under-22, on Saturday. The excitement came to an abrupt end as the match had to
be called off due to bad pitch conditions.
Invited to bat first by Kerala, Tamil Nadu did not make an impressive start to
their first innings as they lost three wickets with just 50 on the board. Tamil
Nadu Ranji player Hemanth Kumar who came in as one-drop steadied the innings
with a 57 run partnership with SS Viswanathan (18). R Satish came in next and
played a gem of an innings of 62 (76 balls, 9 fours) helping Hemanth to add 114
for the fifth wicket. Hemanth went on to complete his brilliant century and made
136 in 233 balls, lacing his innings with eighteen hits to the ropes before
being dismissed. At the end of the first day's play Tamil Nadu declared their
first innings closed at 313/6 in 90 overs. MR Shrinivas and K Manoharan remained
unbeaten with 37 and 20 respectively.
The second morning saw Kerala going out to bat and struggling all the way along.
L Balaji (12-7-14-3) and Ram Kumar (22-9-37-4) saw that Tamil Nadu gained the
first innings lead dismissing Kerala for 183 in 81.2 overs. V Girilal with a
patient 60 and S Baiju with 41 were the only batsmen to make any impression.
Tamil Nadu went on the offensive in their second innings with Vidyut
Sivaramakrishnan who opened the innings blasting a thunderbolt of a century in
84 balls. Sivaramakrishnan remained unbeaten on 100 including 9 fours and a six
as Tamil Nadu declared on 160/4 made in 22.1 overs.
Requiring 291 to win in 71 overs Kerala struggled on to 179/8 in 65.3 overs as
the match was called off. There were 5.3 mandatory overs remaining in the match.
S Baiju was the mainstay of the Kerala second innings remaining unbeaten on 80
(13 fours) at the close of play. Baiju and Tinu Yohannan (15) played for almost
18 overs putting on a defiant 64 for the ninth wicket. Rajat Bhatia was the pick
of the bowlers finishing with the figures of 8-3-21-3. Tamil Nadu collected five
points to Kerala's three.
Full postGibbs provides reminder in losing cause
Herschelle Gibbs reminded South African fans what they'd been missing in his enforced absence from the international scene and served notice to the country's selectors that he is running into form just in time for the lifting of his ban with a superb
16-Dec-2000
Herschelle Gibbs reminded South African fans what they'd been missing in his
enforced absence from the international scene and served notice to the
country's selectors that he is running into form just in time for the
lifting of his ban with a superb 105 for Western Province against the
Highveld Striker at the Wanderers on Saturday.
Unfortunately for Gibbs, his majestic knock, off just 94 balls with 13 fours
and two sixes, which earned him the man of the match award, was in a losing
cause. Apart from Claude Henderson's whirlwind 27 late on, none of the other
Province batsmen lent substantial support in pursuit of a mid-range target
of 227 and they were dismissed for 205 with 13 balls left in the innings, to
lose by 21 runs.
David Terbrugge, who returned from injury to face his team's biggest
domestic adversaries, was the real thorn in the Province flesh, grabbing
four for 31, including the vital scalp of Gibbs, caught behind by Nic Pothas
off a peach of a delivery when he had been brought back into the attack for
just that purpose.
At the time, Province were cruising, a situation due entirely to Gibbs as he
had made 105 out of a total of 152. Probably the home side's only chance of
turning it around was to get rid of Gibbs and Terbrugge came through for his
captain, Clive Eksteen.
Full postOtago heeds coach's advice to wrap up first win
Otago answered several of their new coach's calls when they outplayed Auckland to win their Shell Trophy cricket match at Eden Park today with six wickets and a day to spare
Don Cameron
15-Dec-2000
Otago answered several of their new coach's calls when they outplayed
Auckland to
win their Shell Trophy cricket match at Eden Park today with six wickets
and a day
to spare.
Otago, 157 ahead of Auckland on the first innings, stopped the more
stubborn Auckland second innings at 201 late this afternoon, and
cantered home
with 85 for four wickets, Matthew Horne leading the way with 50 not out.
Dennis Aberhart, the burly master-mind of so many past Canterbury teams
is having his first season with Otago, and on today's evidence his drill
is producing
the right results.
One of Aberhart's aims it to get a winning habit in the Otago side.
They
started badly in their first two games, against Central Districts and
Wellington.
Full postWellington make most of brief fine spells
Wellington knitted a collection of small and isolated fragments of play into an impressive patchwork on the third day of their Shell Trophy match against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve today
Steve McMorran
15-Dec-2000
Wellington knitted a collection of small and isolated fragments of play into an impressive patchwork on the third day of their Shell Trophy match against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve today.
They wove series of multicoloured strips, mostly grays and blacks, assembled between lunch and tea, another bright strip tacked on between tea and early stumps, into a seamless cloth which expressed their overwhelming control of a match which has only a day remaining.
From the threads and patches of the second session - three snatched fragments of play of respectively 10, 22, and 47 minutes, they advanced their overnight score of 297-5 to 369-7. And from the castoffs of the final session - snippets of 33 and 23 minutes - they reduced Central to 47-2.
The brightly coloured segments which stood out against the dull gray background of the day were the achievements of Chris Nevin, who moved his overnight score from 52 to 82 - within sight of his second Trophy century - before his progress was halted by an early declaration.
Full postCanterbury gain points but Northern may have last laugh
Canterbury narrowly won the first innings points, but Northern Districts is the only side with a realistic chance of achieving outright victory, after a schizophrenic day's cricket on day three
Steve Deane
15-Dec-2000
Canterbury narrowly won the first innings points, but Northern Districts is
the only side with a realistic chance of achieving outright victory, after a
schizophrenic day's cricket on day three.
In a dramatic first half-hour Stephen Cunis ripped the heart out of the ND
middle order with a devastating display of swing bowling. In muggy, overcast
conditions he picked up three wickets in a spell of six consecutive maiden
overs.
He first removed night watchman Bruce Martin (0) and overnight batsman Neil
Parlane (35). He then picked up the scalp of the unfortunate Grant Bradburn
for a duck in his one-hundredth first class match for ND.
Joseph Yovich fell before lunch, LBW to the left arm spin of Carl Anderson,
and Northern looked in dire trouble going to the break at 188/7.
Full postLara leads tourists through best day of series
An outstanding Brian Lara (136*) century has allowed West Indies to enjoy its best day of the series at the outset of the Third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval
Lawrie Colliver
15-Dec-2000
An outstanding Brian Lara (136*) century has allowed West Indies to enjoy its best day of the series at the outset of the Third Test against Australia at the Adelaide
Oval. The left hander's masterful performance, after two less than impressive outings to begin the series, helped the tourists to a healthy score of 4/274 by stumps
after they had won the toss at the start of the day.
Lara, fresh from a sparkling double century in Hobart in the match against Australia 'A' four days ago, raised the bat in front 18,315 appreciative spectators after a
delicious late cut off leg spinner Stuart MacGill an hour after tea. His knock to that point had contained sixteen fours and one big six into the Eastern Stand.
The loss of captain Jimmy Adams (49) in the second last over of the day - after more than three hours' resistance - provided a slightly sour note. But the big story by the
end of the day remained Lara's performance; at stumps, he was unbeaten on 136 from just 174 balls.
Lara inspired a very good day for the Windies after two appalling displays with the bat in Brisbane and Perth. He was grilled by paceman Glenn McGrath in the
fifteen minutes before lunch, was hit on helmet on 11 just after the interval, battled for just twelve runs in the hour after the break, but then unleashed his firepower in
the hour before tea, hitting eight fours in adding forty-three runs to his score. On two occasions, he smacked three consecutive boundaries, once off fast bowler
Jason Gillespie and once off McGrath. All but one of those boundaries came from authentic strokes.
Full postPositive thinking works wonders for the West Indies
The West Indies responded to the pressure on them to be positive by reacting ultra positively, even showing some bravado
Colin Croft
15-Dec-2000
The West Indies responded to the pressure on them to be positive by reacting ultra positively, even showing some bravado. Day one of the Third Test also suggested that the West Indian selectors have decided, either by chance or design, that they will take a gamble with the young players and also take the fight to the Australians.
Brian Lara led the way with some truly positive, sometimes breathtaking strokeplay. He completed his first 50 in the Tests so far with a series of drives, slashes and deft strokeplay that would have brought tears even to the eyes of perhaps the greatest, Sir Gary Sobers. That Lara hit 10 fours in his first 50 from only 90 deliveries, was indicative of the "plastering" the bowlers, including Glen McGrath, received. He even hit McGrath for 14 in one over. Perhaps, with a "crook" leg, Lara had decided that he did not want to run much. More of the same was to come later.
As has been the case when they saved the West Indies in Jamaica last year, putting on 322 against the Australians, Jimmy Adams also made his mark, coming in with the West Indies precariously placed, again, at 86-3. In the period between lunch and tea, the West Indies made 85 runs while losing only one wicket, from 31 overs. In that session, Adams and Lara added 60 for the fourth wicket, with Adams, positive, but careful, assured even, getting only 10. Adams bats so much better when he has Lara at the other end. It was, however, the Lara show, and rightly so.
When Adams was the last man out on the first day, he and Lara had put on 183 runs for the fourth wicket in just 191 minutes from 288 deliveries. This was the sixth time that these two have put on a century together. What a habit to have!
Full postTasmania holds on
With the aid of some rigid captaincy from Victoria's Paul Reiffel, Michael Di Venuto (62*) and Scott Kremerskothen (41) have rescued Tasmania from embarrassment on day two of their Pura Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Nabila Ahmed
15-Dec-2000
With the aid of some rigid captaincy from Victoria's Paul Reiffel, Michael Di Venuto (62*) and Scott Kremerskothen (41) have rescued Tasmania from
embarrassment on day two of their Pura Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
A ninety-six run partnership between the pair has salvaged the Tigers after their first five wickets fell for just twenty runs.
At stumps, the visitors are still 188 behind Victoria's first innings total with Di Venuto and Sean Clingeleffer (7*) at the crease.
Joined after Shaun Young's (0) dismissal at seven minutes past two, the pair worked hard to rebuild the Tigers' innings, staying together for three hours and nineteen
minutes. Knowing another wicket could finish their innings well inside the hundred-run mark, the two left handers took their time and batted to stay in rather than
compile runs.
Full postQueensland claims national under-19 title
Even though its conclusion occurred under cloudless skies, it was also - sadly - played out before banks of empty seats
John Polack
15-Dec-2000
Even though its conclusion occurred under cloudless skies, it was also - sadly - played out before banks of empty seats. The absence of patrons did not befit a match of this quality. Thankfully, Queensland's players did not allow the lack of atmosphere to diminish from their sense of achievement as they ploughed their way to an emphatic triumph over Victoria in the National Under-19 Championship Final here at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today.
In fact, the teenagers from the Sunshine State produced quite a remarkable performance during the two days across which this Final extended. With their opponents defending a proud unbeaten record in this Championship that extended as far back as the 1998-99 season, they had come into the match as distinct underdogs. But they revelled in the status.
"Everyone's ecstatic to say the least," said captain Nathan Hauritz in the immediate aftermath of the win.
"We really thought we had a good chance in this game after last night (when we had them two wickets down). And it just all fell into place beautifully today."
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