Report
Six for Saqlain
Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq warmed up for the second Test against the West Indies next week with a six-wicket haul against the West Indies 'A' team yesterday
Philip Hackett
13-May-2000
Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq warmed up for the second Test against the
West Indies next week with a six-wicket haul against the West Indies
'A' team yesterday.
The hosts struggled to 160 all out, and Pakistan replied strongly to
reach 154 for two off 40 overs in the final session.
Saqlain, despite sending down ten no-balls, took six for 48 as he
familiarised himself with Kensington Oval and probably removed any
doubt the selectors might have had regarding his place in the team for
the Test.
There was little to suggest such lucrative returns for Saqlain when
Darren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan took the 'A' team to lunch at 92 for
one.
Full postKenya XI, GCA President's XI ends in draw
The three day match between Kenya XI and the Gujarat CA President's XI at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad ended in a draw on Saturday
Natarajan Sriram
13-May-2000
The three day match between Kenya XI and the Gujarat CA President's XI
at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad ended in a draw on
Saturday.
Requiring 212 runs for a victory in 33 overs, the Gujarat CA
Presidents XI soon ran into troubled waters, when they lost both the
openers AS Kotecha (17) and Vivek Gandhi (9) cheaply. At 34 for 2, ND
Modi (45 runs off 70 balls) and TN Varsani (51 runs off 57 balls) came
together for a third wicket partnership worth 90 runs in 16 overs. But
the fall of Varsani triggered a collapse as Gujarat lost three more
wickets. With Gujarat tottering at 148 for six match was declared
drawn. For Kenya Odumbe picked four wickets for nine of three overs.
Earlier, resuming their innings at 41 for no loss, Kenya lost opener
Otieno (28) in the 28 over with the score at 86. But his partner RD
Shah (111 runs off 150 balls) carried on with the good work and along
with JK Kamande he put on 56 runs in 14 overs for the second wicket.
Then in the company of Steve Tikolo, Shah added 52 runs in 7.5 overs
for the third wicket. Kamande was the last batsman out with the score
at 200 before the Kenyans declared their innings at 212 for four.
Full postSri Lanka on top after Zimbabwean fight back
A fine unbroken 64 run partnership between Thilan Samaraweera (12*) and Indika De Saram (64*) means that Sri Lanka finish on top at the end of day two in this third and final test match
Charlie Austin
12-May-2000
A fine unbroken 64 run partnership between Thilan Samaraweera (12*) and Indika De Saram (64*) means that Sri Lanka finish on top at the end of day two in this third and final test match. Sri Lanka now trail Zimbabwe by just 7 runs with six wickets remaining. The partnership rescued the Sri Lankans who had slumped to 55-4 in reply to Zimbabwe's first innings score of 126.
Indika De Saram was the chief architect of Sri Lanka's strong position with an innings of real class. Keen to impress the selectors of the national team he has been the only batsman to come to terms with this difficult Matara wicket. His unbeaten half-century has so far spanned 165 minutes and included seven stylish boundaries.
Whilst the Sri Lankans may not be struggling on the pitch they certainly had difficulties getting to the ground on time. They arrived after the scheduled start of today's play and only had 12 minutes to prepare before the delayed start-time. The Zimbabweans looked on in a bemused fashion as the team coach finally arrived at three minutes past ten. The players were quickly ushered into the dressing room by an embarrassed management team and only had time for a couple of stretches before walking on the pitch.
Like many of us at the Stadium the previous night they had assumed that there would be no play until after lunch today. The tropical storm was so severe that the curator had actually written off playing for 48 hours! However the hot sun that blesses this land is Sri Lankan crickets greatest ally. Without it, little cricket would be possible throughout such monsoonal times. In this case it quickly burnt off the excess moisture and played was eventually delayed by just 15 minutes.
Full postSurrey v Kent at The Oval
After lunch the sky was cloudy and batting harder, after tea drizzle oozed intermittently from the skies and there were light meter on the manual scoreboard drifted from one light to two and at several stages from 5:30 there were three lit
Ed Green
12-May-2000
Close of Play Report:
After lunch the sky was cloudy and batting harder, after tea drizzle oozed intermittently from the skies and there were light meter on the manual scoreboard drifted from one light to two and at several stages from 5:30 there were three lit.
The ball became soft and squidgy from the damp outfield - so much so that Adam Hollioake complained to the umpires after one firmly punched drive crawled to mid off. Brown batted well his sixty runs without ever quite finding his form before he was caught injudiciously playing across the line to a slow ball from Masters that kept low.
Ben Hollioake came in for a brief visit and struck two shots sweetly before lazily holing out to square leg, the loss of his wicket may well have had something to do with the sponge like ball, but it also had something to do with the laconic nature of the shot played, Ben had looked impressive in the two one day matches before this and it was a shame for him to have got out in that way.
Full postKenya XI-GCA Pres XI match evenly poised
Kenya XI were 41 for no loss in their second innings with openers Francis Otieno (22 runs off 57 balls) and Ravindu Shah (18 runs off 44 balls) at the crease when play ended on the second day of their match against Gujarat Cricket Association
Natarajan Sriram
12-May-2000
Kenya XI were 41 for no loss in their second innings with openers Francis Otieno (22 runs off 57 balls) and Ravindu Shah (18 runs off 44 balls) at the crease when play ended on the second day of their match against Gujarat Cricket Association President's XI at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Resuming on the second day at 28 for 1, opener Vivek Gandhi (50 runs off 113 balls) added 52 runs for the second wicket in the company of Nilesh Modi. Then Tejas Varsani and Amit Sud put on 50 runs for the fifth wicket. GCA President's XI declared their first innings at 178 for six after taking a single run lead.
Earlier on the first day, Kenya won the toss and elected to bat. Opener Ravindu Shah (76 runs off 156 balls) held the fort for Kenya with a useful 56 run second wicket partnership with Tony Suji (22 runs off 71 balls). He then partnered Steve Tikolo for a 42 run second wicket stand. But after his dismissal wickets fell at regular intervals and Kenya managed 177 in 65.1 overs. The wrecker-in-chief of the Kenyan first innings was Kevin Desai who captured seven wickets for 41 runs.
Full postRain washes out opening day at The Oval
Once the combination of morning rain with heavy clay soil and poor drainage forced play to be abandoned for the day shortly before the sun came out at the Oval, a curious event for a ground at which a new sprinkler system was fitted over the winter
Ed Green
11-May-2000
Once the combination of morning rain with heavy clay soil and poor drainage forced play to be abandoned for the day shortly before the sun came out
at the Oval, a curious event for a ground at which a new sprinkler system
was fitted over the winter. As a result entertainment was limited for those
not keen on watching the pigeons and ducks on the outfield.
Supporters of the home side can take comfort in the knowledge that last summer when only two days worth of cricket were possible an under strength side defeated Kent, and three are expected to be possible this year, on the other hand, from more recent evidence (Surrey have scored a paltry 559 for the loss of 44 wickets in three four day matches since they scored 585 at Lord's last year) some might be glad to have survived a day without being bowled out! At home, in what should be warm, partially clouded conditions Surrey will expect to get their show on the road again this summer against a Kent side lacking either McCague or Headley.
Whether this is the case or not it will be a nice rarity for there to be a
full day of weekend county championship cricket at the Oval, last summers
series of one sided contests and Wednesday starts denied many the chance
to see any of this form of the game.
Full postFourth day's play washed out
Georgetown (Guyana), May 8: A tropical downpour flooded large parts of the Bourda pitch on Monday and washed out the fourth day of the first Test between West Indies and Pakistan
Qamar Ahmed
09-May-2000
Georgetown (Guyana), May 8: A tropical downpour flooded large parts of
the Bourda pitch on Monday and washed out the fourth day of the first
Test between West Indies and Pakistan.
It had been raining all through the night after play on the third day
had been called off before time with West Indies on 222 for seven in
their first innings in reply to Pakistan's 288.
Umpires Steve Bucknor of the West Indies and his South African
colleague did not even bother to step out on to the ground on th
fourth morning as rain continued to pour down.
From the steps of the pavilion balcony Koertzen signalled to the media
box the decision of the umpires that play will not be possible at all.
Full postHampshire skittled out of the B&H
Glamorgan recorded a remarkable 113 run victory over Hampshire in their quarter-final match of the Benson and Hedges Cup
Andrew Hignell
09-May-2000
Glamorgan recorded a remarkable 113 run victory over Hampshire in their quarter-final match of the Benson and Hedges Cup. The Welsh county bowled out Hampshire for just 69 to secure a home tie against Surrey in the semi-finals of the competition at Cardiff on May 27th.
Earlier in the day, Hampshire appeared to be in the driving seat after putting Glamorgan in to bat in rather sultry and oppressive conditions at Sophia Gardens. Glamorgan`s early batsmen struggled against Hampshire's veteran seamer Peter Hartley, who dismissed both openers - Croft and Elliott - in an opening spell of 8-4-15-2. When Dimitri Mascarenhas dismissed skipper Matthew Maynard for 6, Glamorgan slumped to 31-3. A partial recovery began with Mike Powell making a composed 29 with 4 fours, before being tempted down the wicket by Shane Warne and being stumped by acting wicket-keeper Derek Kenway. The wily Australian claimed a second scalp when Steve James was caught at slip, and with Glamorgan on 83-5 in the 32nd over, Hampshire seemed to be well on top.
But the complexion of the game changed in the next 18 overs, thanks to Adrian Dale and Keith Newell who shared a partnership of 99 for the sixth wicket. Mixing defence with aggression, Dale and Newell transfomed the game, adding 66 runs in the final 10 overs. Dale made a watchful 63* off 90 balls, whilst Newell struck 4 fours and their doughty partnership was only ended when Newell was run out off the last ball of the innings, one short an excellent fifty.
Despite their efforts, many in the crowd still fancied Hampshire, especially as the cloud cover had now disappeared over the Cardiff ground. But the slow, low Sophia Gardens wicket is notoriously one where the side batting first has an advantage, and Hampshire were soon in trouble against the accurate seam bowling of Owen Parkin. He took the first three wickets - all leg before - dismissing Kenway for 1 in his second over, Will Kendall for 0 in his third over, and Jason Laney for 5 in his sixth over, to finish with career best figures of 3-16 from 8 overs.
Full postLift From Lefties
Bourda, Guyana - Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Nixon McLean are two left-handers of utterly different physiques, methods and batting ability
08-May-2000
Bourda, Guyana - Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Nixon McLean are two
left-handers of utterly different physiques, methods and batting
ability.
They shared one common purpose on the third day of the first Test
yesterday - and a record seventh-wicket partnership that halted
Pakistan?s match-winning advance.
Their dogged, contrasting and timely defiance resisted bowling as
varied and potent as any in the contemporary game for over two hours
and yielded 74 runs, more than any West Indian seventh wicket in Tests
against Pakistan.
It may not have prevented the prospect of a daunting last day on a
worn pitch for the West Indies but, allied to the return of Guyana's
more familiar weather that limited play to 44 overs between a late
start and an early finish, it has appreciably diminished the degree of
difficulty.
Full postBattle on for runs
Bourda, Guyana - A definite pattern has developed after two days of the first Cable & Wireless Test between Pakistan and West Indies
07-May-2000
Bourda, Guyana - A definite pattern has developed after two days of
the first Cable & Wireless Test between Pakistan and West Indies.
The West Indies, 101 for three when fading light halted the second day
seven overs before schedule, are 187 short of Pakistan's first innings
288 and already finding Mushtaq Ah-med's tantalising mixture of
leg-breaks and googlies a handful.
Committed to batting last by Jimmy Adams' justifiable gamble on
winning the toss, they ideally need to bat through the third day,
compile over 300 and limit the time they will have to bat and the runs
they will have to make second time round.
It demands significant innings from Adams himself and Shivnarine
Chanderpaul, the two most seasoned batsmen in their inexperienced and
unproven order, who resume their difficult assignment this morning.
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