Vidarbha drew with Uttar Pradesh on Thursday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur, in the Vijay Merchant (under-16) Central Zone league match

Santhosh S

15-Dec-2000

Vidarbha drew with Uttar Pradesh on Thursday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur, in the Vijay Merchant (under-16) Central Zone league match. UP middle order batsman A Alam with a fine knock of 109 and Vidarbha bowler Sohil Bhengade with 5/35 shared the honours.

Electing to bat, Vidarbha got off to a bad start losing their first wicket in the first over of the match, with captain Ali Akbar out for a duck. That was followed by a retrieving stand of 108 for the second wicket between Faiz Fazal (52) and Pushkar Menghal (50). From a relatively strong position of 109/1, the Vidarbha innings collapsed and came to an end on 149 in 70.2 overs. Devendra Singh (Jnr) was the pick of bowlers with figures of 9.2-3-36-3.

UP were struggling at 24/2 when T Abbas and A Alam got together. They put on a partnership of 122 for the third wicket. Abbas was dismissed for 68 made in 96 balls and included 11 fours. Captain R Elahi joined Alam and kept the momentum going with a partnership of 91 for the fourth wicket as Alam was dismissed reducing UP to 237/4. Alam's innings lasted 232 minutes and he got his runs off 180 balls. Alam was severe on the bowlers, smashing 15 boundaries. The UP innings folded up with the dismissal of Alam though captain Elahi made 62. Sohil Bhengade did most of the damage capturing five of the last six batsmen to fall. UP finished at 286 all out in 90.1 overs.

Vidarbha in their second innings made a splendid start with openers Ali Akbar and Faiz Fazal putting on 115 runs. Ali Akbar made 71 of those runs, striking 10 fours. Faiz Fazal went on to score a patient 84 (8 fours) in 229 balls. Devendra Singh ripped apart the batting, picking up 4/49 as Vidarbha's second innings came to an end at 238 in 101 overs. The UP chase was never on as there was little time left in the match. By the close, UP were 70/0 in 12 overs. UP took home five points and Vidarbha had to remain content with three.

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Bulls on top after day one

The Queensland Bulls are in a strong position at the close of a first day's play of the Pura Cup match against South Australia that was cut short by rain and bad light

Steve Magoffin

15-Dec-2000

The Queensland Bulls are in a strong position at the close of a first day's play of the Pura Cup match against South Australia that was cut short by rain and bad light.

After morning rain delayed the start of play by an hour, South Australian captain Darren Lehmann won the toss and elected to bowl on a pitch with a covering of grass that could not help but encourage seam bowlers. Through a tough opening, Jimmy Maher (62) and Jerry Cassell (5) survived a number of lbw decisions and played and missed at a number of deliveries. The pressure finally told on Cassell, in fact, when he unsuccessfully attempted a powerful cover drive and was bowled between bat and pad by a delivery from left armer Brett Swain (1/59) that swung back at him in the air and then seamed through the gate.

As it turned out, though, the dismissal only brought the Redbacks some strife of their own by joining the in-form pairing of Maher and Martin Love (59) at the wicket. Both players starred in their outing for Australia 'A' against West Indies in Hobart earlier in the week, and quickly set about showing that they were in similar mood again today. Together, they weathered some accurate bowling from a four-pronged pace attack to compile a partnership of ninety-four that went a long way toward assisting their team to the very respectable scoreline of 3/229 by stumps.

Love, in particular, played a masterful innings, displaying the craftsmanship that has seen him win a reputation for himself as one of the most highly rated batsmen on the domestic stage in Australia. Off the front and back foot, the elegant right hander was able to effortlessly place the ball into gaps in the field and was ruthless in his punishment when the bowlers overpitched, finding the boundary on as many as six occasions.

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Deodhar: South Zone's batting ensures semifinal entry

Natarajan Sriram

15-Dec-2000

With the top order in crackling form, South Zone proceeded to the semifinals of the Deodhar Trophy Tournament with an easy seven wicket win over East Zone at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur on Friday. South are now slated to take on North Zone in the semifinals at the same venue on Sunday.

It is never an easy task to chase a target of 274 but the South Zone openers J Arun Kumar (89) and AS Pathak (66) took the game away from their opponents by authouring a 160-run partnership which came in 30 overs. It was Debang Gandhi, coming on to bowl very late in the innings, who made the first inroads into the South Zone line up, with two quick wickets. Arun Kumar was the first to be dismissed caught by Sanjay Raul. Eight balls later, Pathak also departed, caught by Shiv Sundar Das.

Arun Kumar, during his 111-minute stay, faced 95 balls during which he essayed eight boundaries while managing to clear it twice. On the other hand, Pathak was in the middle for close to two hours and needed 93 balls for his 66. He found the signboards on seven occasions. Then VVS Laxman (32 not out) and S Sharath (11) came together to take the score to 190. Sharath after a brief stay returned to the pavilion, caught behind by Dhoni off Jai Chandra.

South Zone skipper Robin Singh entered at this stage. With another 88 runs to be scored in 13.3 overs, Robin Singh hammered an unbeaten 63 off 52 balls to take South Zone home.

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Assam take honours on second day

Riding on the allround abilities of Sukhbinder Singh, Assam took a massive 271-run first innings lead over Tripura on the second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala on Friday

Natarajan Sriram

15-Dec-2000

Resuming at the overnight score of 79 for 1, skipper SZ Zuffri (50) and opener SB Saikia (38) took the score on to 123 when the captain departed for a catch to GH Banik off S Das Gupta. Thereafter, two more wickets fell to leave Assam in a spot of bother at 143 for 4. But Ganesh Kumar (47) and R Borah (77) added 122 runs for the fifth wicket. Ganesh Kumar, during his 106-minute stay at the crease, faced 87 balls and hit two fours and a six. Borah was at the crease for a minute over two hours and faced just 95 balls for his 77. In all he found the boundary ropes eight times and cleared it thrice.

After the departure of Ganesh Kumar, Sukhwindar Singh with the help of the lower order batsmen took the score to 387 for 8 when Assam declared. Sukhwinder who remained unbeaten on 68, was involved in a unfinished 66-run eighth wicket stand with S Subramaniam (13). In reply, Tripura were 18 for no loss in the 11 overs they received towards the end of the day.

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Haryana virtually assured of title

Haryana took a first innings lead of 266 runs over Madhya Pradesh in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy at the Deccan Gymkhana on Friday

Waleed Hussain

15-Dec-2000

Haryana took a first innings lead of 266 runs over Madhya Pradesh in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy at the Deccan Gymkhana on Friday. Madhya Pradesh were shot out for 197 in 75.2 overs shortly after lunch on the third day. Haryana chose to bat again in the second innings and were 167 for one off 39 overs at stumps on the third day for an overall lead of 433. They are thus virtually assured of the title.

Resuming at the overnight score of 86 for two, the MP batsmen failed miserably to overhaul the massive Haryana total of 463. Mohnish Mishra (40) was the first man to be dismissed in the morning giving keeper Ajay Ratra his first victim of day when he edged an outswinger from Joginder Sharma. His fall ended a 71-run partnership for the third wicket off 23 overs. Mishra played 109 balls and hit seven of them to the fence. Maninder Singh, his overnight partner, soon followed, falling to the same duo. Singh scored 39 off 83 balls with six hits to the fence. The dismissal of both the overnight batsman triggered a collapse in the middle order, as they lost six wickets for 67 runs. Haryana took control and mounted the pressure on the batsmen who faltered against some accurate bowling. Amit Mishra tempted and toyed with the batsmen with his variations in flight and turn. The close in fielders were in business throughout the session. At the lunch interval, MP were reeling at 165 for eight off 63 overs.

The post lunch session witnessed a fightback of sorts by the lower order batsmen. Ambalal Patidar (28) and Jitendar Likhar (18) added 46 runs off 14.5 overs for the ninth wicket. MP were finally dismissed, 46 minutes after the interval. Medium pacer Joginder Sharma, a product of the National Cricket Academy, bagged four for 72. Amit Mishra bowled his spinners to good effect picking up three for 39. Ratra had a fine day behind the stumps, collecting five catches.

Despite having a big lead, Haryana chose to bat in the second innings. Openers Manvinder Bisla and Bhuvanesh Sharma put on 45 runs off 12.3 overs. Then Ambalal Patidar tempted Sharma with two flighted deliveries before trapping him leg before wicket with the third ball with a faster delivery that kept low. His dismissal brought in Sumit Sharma to the crease. Sumit and Bisla were concerned in an unbroken partnership of 122 runs off 161 balls for the second wicket. By stumps, Bisla was unbeaten on 96 off 134 balls with nine boundaries and two massive sixes. Sumit Sharma was batting with 51 off 65 balls, inclusive of nine hits to the fence.

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Mall brightens lacklustre match

Ashraf Mall's career-best 77 brightened and otherwise lacklustre match, which Natal won by five wickets with 3.4 overs to spare

Telford Vice

15-Dec-2000

Ashraf Mall's career-best 77 brightened and otherwise lacklustre match, which Natal won by five wickets with 3.4 overs to spare.

Boland seemed to try and do their best to get it wrong with the bat, and they succeeded in totalling a mediocre 167 for six. Natal endured a wobble or two of their own before reaching 171 for five to complete their third consecutive victory.

That Boland came as close as they did to a respectable total was almost entirely due to an unbroken stand of 79 struck off 84 balls by Steven Palframan and Con de Lange, a seventh-wicket record for the Wine Farmers. Palframan, the experience of his 93 matches coming through, was 56 not out off 68 balls with seven fours. Nineteen-year-old De Lange played beyond his years in finishing unbeaten on 30.

The rest of Boland's batting was more than a bit like the plot from Dumb and Dumber - one silly stroke followed another and not one visiting batsman can claim to have lost his wicket to a threatening delivery.

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Gait leads Free State to victory in high scoring match

Free State batted themselves to a 33-run Standard Bank Cup victory over Griqualand West on a superb batting surface which yielded almost 600 runs

Andy Colquhoun

15-Dec-2000

Free State batted themselves to a 33-run Standard Bank Cup victory over Griqualand West on a superb batting surface which yielded almost 600 runs.

Andrew Gait scored a Free State record 138 not out to set up his side's 315 for two and there were five other half-centuries in a match in which two other men also reached the 90s without being able to go on to three figures.

Griquas made a decent fist of their run chase with debutants Brett Tucker and Johan Louw each scoring 59 but the mountain was just too high to climb.

Gait was only playing in his sixth one-day match, having previously been regarded as more suited to the first class game.

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De Bruyn and Nel guide Easterns to victory over North West

Another solid batting performance by Pierre de Bruyn and a five-wicket haul from Andre Nel enabled Easterns to claim a comfortable 59-run victory over North West in their Standard Bank Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday evening

15-Dec-2000

Easterns won the toss and elected to bat first, putting on an impressive total of 210 for nine wickets in their 45 overs.

North West were bowled out for 151 in 43.3 overs of yet another rain-delayed match.

Easterns got off to an inauspicious start with the loss of openers Derek Brand and Mike Rindel for no runs.

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Rhodes back with a bang as South Africa win by four wickets

Six weeks off while South Africa played out the Test series against New Zealand have clearly done Jonty Rhodes no harm whatsoever

Peter Robinson

15-Dec-2000

Six weeks off while South Africa played out the Test series against New Zealand have clearly done Jonty Rhodes no harm whatsoever. Rhodes bounced back into the South African one-day team at St George's Park on Friday night to guide his side to a four-wicket victory over Sri Lankan in the first game of Standard Bank series.

Rhodes retired from Test cricket last month, but he's been at the nets and has played for Natal during his R and R and he was in good enough touch to make an unbeaten 61. More important, the experience picked up in more than 180 ODIs enabled him to steady a shaky innings and, in harness with Lance Klusener, see South Africa home with more than two overs to spare.

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya said afterwards that he thought his team and bowled and fielded exceptionally well, but simply hadn't scored enough runs. He said that another 30 or 40 on top of the 221 made by Sri Lanka would have made it a very interesting match.