Report

Youhana hundred saves Pakistan again

Pakistan have survived well to be 267 for 8 at the close of Day One of the Third and deciding Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground after being 33 for 3

Colin E. Croft

25-May-2000

Pakistan have survived well to be 267 for 8 at the close of Day One of the Third and deciding Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground after being 33 for 3. They can give thanks yet again to Yousuf Youhana, who made a century in the last Test in Barbados. Here, he batted with tremendous maturity and concentration to complete another century.

He will resume this morning on 102 not out, including only eight 4's and a six; his 3rd test century overall. He has already batted for approximately 5 1/2 hours.

Pakistan were sent into bat first after the West Indies had won the toss on a pitch that is giving considerable help to the faster bowlers. For the West Indies, Franklyn Rose, who passed a late fitness test, replaced another fast bowler, Nixon McLean.

On a pitch that is offering considerable bounce and some pace to the West Indian fast bowlers, Pakistan have moved shakily to 60-3 at lunch.

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Barbados Test ends in a tame draw

Bridgetown (Barbados), May 23: If not for 'safety first' tactics a decision would have been possible on the final day of the second Test at the Kensington Oval but as it turned out to be, the match ended in a tame draw here on Monday with both

Qamar Ahmed

24-May-2000

Pakistan, having resumed the fifth day's play at 345 for seven in their second innings, left it a bit too late to force a result as they allowed their innings to drag on till 20 minutes after lunch when they declared their second innings closed at 419 for nine. That left West Indies a formidable 275 to save the match in the remaining 57 overs.

West Indies started their second innings shakily as they lost openers Adrian Griffith and Sherwin Campbell with only 15 runs on the board.

And when Shivnarine Chanderpaul was also dismissed for 16, it seemed that Pakistan could still force a win but Wavell Hinds and captain Jimmy Adams pulled the West Indies innings together to share a partnership of 72 for the fourth wicket and take their side to safety.

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Somerset v Derbyshire, Day 1

Somerset wasted a good start by openers Jamie Cox and Marcus Trescothick on a rain-affected opening day to the PPP healthcare County Championship first division match with Derbyshire at Taunton

24-May-2000

Somerset wasted a good start by openers Jamie Cox and Marcus Trescothick on a rain-affected opening day to the PPP healthcare County Championship first division match with Derbyshire at Taunton.

The decision of Derbyshire captain Dominic Cork to put Somerset into bat appeared to be going wrong as Cox and Trescothick comfortably compiled a stand of 69 in 19 overs.

But by the time rain arrived just after lunch to end play for the day, Derbyshire's all-seam attack had bowled the midlands county back into the game with Somerset on 117-4 from 40 overs.

Cork's decision to field first was probably influenced by the persistent rain on Tuesday. But there proved to be no dampness in a brown coloured pitch and Cox and Trescothick endured few problems in the opening hour's play.

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Gloucestershire v Worcestershire, Day 2

Ian Harvey is hungry for first class runs following a disappointing debut season with the bat for Gloucestershire

24-May-2000

Ian Harvey is hungry for first class runs following a disappointing debut season with the bat for Gloucestershire.

The talented Australian all-rounder averaged only 22 last summer, despite a highest score of 123, and was generally regarded as more effective in one-day cricket.

But when he gets his head down Harvey can battle it out with the best bowlers in the world, as he proved by rescuing his side from the perils of 31-5 on the second day of the rain-ravaged Championship match at Bristol.

Coming in at 19-4, Harvey had to face fellow countryman Glenn McGrath and Alamgir Sheriyar with their tails up. It was no time for the flamboyant shots which too often cost him his wicket last year.

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Late declaration puts spectators to sleep

Aided by a timid, belated Pakistan declaration, the West Indies grimly, but in the end comfortably, held on for a draw in the second Test

Tony Cozier

23-May-2000

Aided by a timid, belated Pakistan declaration, the West Indies grimly, but in the end comfortably, held on for a draw in the second Test.

Pakistan captain Moin Khan kept his second innings going until after lunch, needlessly wasting valuable time that could have been better used by his high-class spinners, Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq, on a worn, if still easy-paced, pitch.

It left the West Indies with the token challenge of scoring 275 to win from the last 57 overs of the match.

More significantly, it reduced the chances Mushtaq and Saqlain had of working their way through the batting.

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Zimbabwe: Lords without a prayer

This wasn't a Test match, this was cricketing slaughter

Neal Collins

22-May-2000

This wasn't a Test match, this was cricketing slaughter. England's innings-and-209-run victory over Zimbabwe in three-and-a-bit rain-soaked days was our first at Lord's in five years.

But the any triumphalism in the ground - and particularly in the press box - was soon replaced by an overwhelming sense of sympathy for a sadly sub-standard opposition. It was all too easy.

The English are never comfortable with winning. They are even less happy about winning comfortably.

Nobody was surprised by the result; nobody was too bothered about the inconsistent umpiring and, most damaging of all, not many people turned up to watch it.

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Match in the balance

True to its established custom, Kensington Oval has contrived another Test match of intriguing possibilities

22-May-2000

True to its established custom, Kensington Oval has contrived another Test match of intriguing possibilities.

Pakistan and the West Indies have battled tooth-and-nail over four days of absorbing and fluctuating cricket and enter the last day of the second Test this morning with any one of the four results possible.

Led by a glittering 131 by 18-year-old Imran Nazir, who became Test cricket's third youngest century-maker, and his opening partnership of 219 with Mohammed Wasim, Pakistan converted a significant deficit of 145 into a lead of exactly 200 when the fourth day was called seven overs early because of fading light.

They were 345 for seven and, but for their baffling diffidence over the final two sessions and two extraordinary feats of endurance and excellence by the two oldest men in the game, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, would have been in a position to dictate terms for the remaining 90 overs.

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Rain forces draw at Derby

Rain was the inevitable victor in this PPP county championship match, when it halted play with 21 overs remaining

Neil Whitaker

21-May-2000

Rain was the inevitable victor in this PPP county championship match, when it halted play with 21 overs remaining. Before play started on the final day 115.3 overs in the first three days had been lost to rain.

Yorkshire resumed their innings on 216 for seven with the not out batsmen Lehmann and Middlebrook. The pair rarely looked in trouble as they put on 114 for the eighth wicket. This was the highest eighth wicket partnership by Yorkshire against Derbyshire. The previous highest was made in 1976 by Geoff Cope and Graham Stevenson. James Middlebrook brought up the 50 partnership with a cover drive which went for four of Kevin Dean. In the same over Lehmann square cut him for two fours which took him to 80. However Lehmann did have a life on 94 when he was dropped by Cassar at mid-on of Lacey's bowling.

The 100 partnership was brought up by a square cut four by Middlebrook. The stand was broken when Middlebrook was leg before sweeping Rob Bailey on his highest first class score of 45. Lehman then found solid support from Hoggard and and debutante Ramsden to take the score 349. Lehmann now begun to take more chances, his hundred came up in 209 balls and included 10 fours.

Hoggard was out when he top edged a slog to Krikken of Cassar. Lehmann and Ramsden took Yorkshire to lunch but the innings was only to last seven balls after lunch. Lehmann negotiated the first five ball of the first over but he was out to the first ball of the second. He was caught round the corner by Cork of the bowling of Cassar. Cassar's bowling figures of six for 76 are the best of his first class career.

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Zimbabwe: That Aston Villa feeling

Chelsea-mad Alec Stewart went beyond the call of duty for his country at Lord's yesterday, batting through his beloved Blues' FA Cup final triumph at Wembley

Neal Collins

21-May-2000

Chelsea-mad Alec Stewart went beyond the call of duty for his country at Lord's yesterday, batting through his beloved Blues' FA Cup final triumph at Wembley.

Stewart registered his 45th first class century just as Chelsea's players entered the tunnel at 13 minutes to three - and batted on through 90 Cuplifting minutes to further humiliate doomed Zimbabwe.

The Gaffer, whose love of Stamford Bridge tends to overwhelm any cricketing conversation, was still there with 124 not out by the final whistle - his highest Lord's score, but (sob) he'd missed Roberto Di Matteo's winner against Aston Villa.

Such supreme sacrifices weren't really required against this lot. England ended with 415 in reply to the visitors' paltry 83 all out. By tonight, unless ark-launching rains set in, Zimbabwe, 39-5 in their second innings, will be about as happy as Aston Villa.

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England v Zimbabwe - First Test, Day 4

It took England less than two hours to sweep aside the remaining five wickets and send Zimbabwe to a most ignominious defeat

Andy Jalil

21-May-2000

It took England less than two hours to sweep aside the remaining five wickets and send Zimbabwe to a most ignominious defeat.