Report
Cable and Wireless ODIs: Jump and Wavell
If you weren't, you missed one of the most brutal and belligerent displays by two young Jamaican batsmen amidst unrestrained celebrations from 14 000 of their countrymen
Haydn Gill
03-Apr-2000
Kingston - Alison Hinds' voice kept emanating from the speakers in the
electrifying Mound Stand with the phrase: 'Are you there.'
If you weren't, you missed one of the most brutal and belligerent
displays by two young Jamaican batsmen amidst unrestrained
celebrations from 14 000 of their countrymen.
Sabina Park once more took on a Carnival-like atmosphere, especially
for one exhilarating hour when Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle destroyed
Zimbabwe's bowling with the type of fury of the hurricane that
devastated Jamaica 12 years ago.
The 23-year-old Hinds, taking advantage of a promotion in the order,
was the initial aggressor and was unbeaten on 116 off 125 balls when
the West Indies relieved Zimbabwe from their misery with the total 280
for three.
Full postCFX Academy valiant effort thwarted by weather
The CFX Academy made a valiant effort to win the match against Matabeleland at the Country Club, Harare, but the rain which had washed out more than half the second day's play proved too much for them, as they were unable to bowl their opponents out
John Ward
02-Apr-2000
The CFX Academy made a valiant effort to win the match against
Matabeleland at the Country Club, Harare, but the rain which had
washed out more than half the second day's play proved too much
for them, as they were unable to bowl their opponents out a
second time. The final will therefore be contested between
Mashonaland and Manicaland at Harare Sports Club in a three-day
match beginning next Friday, 7 April.
The Academy began the day needing 65 runs to reach 300 with three
wickets standing. The 300 was crucial since, as long as they won
the match, the extra batting point would take them ahead of
Mashonaland into the final against Manicaland next weekend. A
mere 250 would leave them level on points, and the Zimbabwe
Cricket Union had apparently not legislated for a tie-break were
two teams to be equal on points, although requested to do so by
the Academy before the match. An enthralling battle resulted in
their reaching their target, but they owed much to the Matabele
fielding, with at least six possible catches going down.
They soon lost new batsman Clement Mahachi (0), who hit a full
toss straight back to Keith Dabengwa for a return catch. But
then came a determined partnership between the injured Jason
Young and Gregg Haakonsen. Both had their luck: Haakonsen early
on gave a hard chance high to the right of slip off Dabengwa,
while Young, sweeping at Engelbrecht, skyed a ball high to
midwicket and had given up his innings as lost when the ball
popped out of the hands of the waiting fielder. They continued
to bat positively and the target was in sight, at 290, when Young
drove at Senyo Nyakutse, with the new ball, and was bowled.
This left the last pair to score ten runs, and they kept their
heads and their luck. An attempted pull by Haakonsen flew over
the slips for four, and Hondo gave a low sharp chance to slip on
299. He then skyed a ball towards square leg which the fielder,
running full tilt, just failed to hold, and the batsmen scampered
through for the critical run. They continued to look for runs
until Haakonsen was stumped off Dabengwa for a courageous 45,
leaving Hondo not out with 5 and the total 316, a lead of 140.
Full postTamil Nadu well placed despite Rathour's heroics
Punjab captain Vikram Rathour led a gallant Punjab fightback on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie against Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday
Partab Ramchand
02-Apr-2000
Punjab captain Vikram Rathour led a gallant Punjab fightback on
the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie
against Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday. But
the hosts were still poised for a berth in the semifinal by close
of play. Punjab, 203 runs in arrears on the first innings, scored
366 the second time around thanks in the main to Rathour's
marathon 127 which lasted 505 minutes. Requiring 164 runs for
victory, Tamil Nadu at stumps were 30 for one. And even though
the batsmen out is the in form Sridharam Sriram, they should
fancy their chances of getting the remaining 134 runs with nine
wickets in hand on the final day on Monday on a wicket that
is still playing reasonably well.
Punjab, 127 for two overnight, lost two more wickets fairly early
in the morning. Pankaj Dharmani was caught behind by Reuben Paul
off Kumaran for 15 and then Youraj Singh after a bright 24 off 35
balls with four boundaries and a six. He dominated a fourth
wicket stand of 41 runs off 10.2 overs with Rathour.
Punjab's hopes were lifted with Rathour and Dinesh Mongia (35)
adding 64 runs for the fifth wicket off 25.5 overs. Mongia, who
faced 94 balls and hit five of them to the ropes, was then caught
by Reuben Paul off Badani. A little later, Sanjay Sharma was
bowled middle stump by Sriram for a duck and Punjab were down
in the dumps at six down for 278 - lead of only 75.
But Rathour soldiered on and with Sandeep Sharma again revived
Punjab's hopes. Rathour reached his century with a boundary and
the two added 55 runs for the seventh wicket off 16 overs.
Rathour, who had played the sheet anchor role to perfection now
was a bit more aggressive before he was caught by Gokulakrishnan
off Mahesh. Opening the innings, Rathour was out at 333 in the
105th over. His 262-ball knock was embellished by 14 hits to the
ropes.
Full postGilchrist, Langer star as Australia dominates third day
The Trans-Tasman series continued its practice of record-setting as Australia rammed home the advantage on the third day of the third test in Hamilton
Chris Rosie
02-Apr-2000
The Trans-Tasman series continued its practice of record-setting as
Australia rammed home the advantage on the third day of the third test in
Hamilton.
Adam Gilchrist finished with 10 catches, breaking the Australian record for
a wicket-keeper's dismissals in a test, and Justin Langer's 50 off 42 balls
broke by one ball the previous Australian test speed record.
Around the individual Australian highlights, New Zealand were left rueing an
inability to develop substantial partnerships, the best being the 55 for the
eighth wicket between Chris Cairns and Paul Wiseman. The result was a target
for Australia of 210, which Langer's contribution threatened to see written
off in one session.
After a 20-minute delay in the morning, New Zealand resumed at 58 for 3.
Showers had arrived in Hamilton earlier than forecast and Glenn McGrath and
Brett Lee took up the attack under heavy overcast skies with further
interruptions expected.
Full postHyderabad-UP match poised for interesting finish
After four days of much good cricket, the well contested Ranji Trophy quarterfinal between Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh at Green Park in Kanpur is headed for a keen finish
02-Apr-2000
After four days of much good cricket, the well contested Ranji Trophy
quarterfinal between Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh at Green Park in
Kanpur is headed for a keen finish. Hyderabad, 71 runs behind on the
first innings, did well to get 381 for five before declaring their
second innings closed. Needing 311 runs for victory, UP were 38 for no
loss by stumps. With a whole day's play left on Monday, UP require 273
more for a win. Of course if they choose not to go for the target and
remain content with playing out time, they would still qualify for the
penultimate round on the basis of their first innings lead.
The onus is on Hyderabad but given their display on Sunday, they will
no doubt exert tremendous pressure on UP. Led by VVS Laxman, who
stroked his way to a splendid unbeaten 177, Hyderabad scored 309 runs
off 85.4 overs during the day. Resuming at 72 for one, Nandakishore
and Laxman took the score to 209 before the former was leg before to
Gyanendra Pandey for 93. The in form opening batsman faced 206 balls
and hit eleven of them to the ropes. The second wicket partnership
added 180 runs off 54 overs. Vanka Pratap did not last long and was
leg before to Zaidi for 10. But Vinay Kumar helped Laxman to add 109
runs for the fourth wicket off just 18 overs. Vinay Kumar's 48 was
scored off 68 balls with five fours. Venkatpathi Raju finally closed
the innings when Laxman was unbeaten on 177. He batted 377 minutes,
faced 241 balls and hit 16 fours besides three sixes.
Raju applied pressure on M Saif and Jyoti Yadav but the openers came
through successfully after 21 overs of batting. Saif was on 16 and
Yadav on 18.
Full postEast Zone slump to 69 run loss
Overnight rain at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College meant that a damp wicket delayed the start of play between East Zone and West Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi women's cricket tournament on Monday by almost two hours
Anand Vasu
02-Apr-2000
Overnight rain at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College meant that a
damp wicket delayed the start of play between East Zone and West Zone
in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi women's cricket tournament on Monday by
almost two hours. The wicket was one predominantly of clay and that
meant that the time taken to dry up was longer than usual.The match
was reduced to a 41 overs a side affair and as it turned out, a low
scoring game. West Zone were restricted to 124 off their alloted
quota. However, East were bundled out for 55 by some disciplined
bowling by West Zone.
While the umpires Gururajan and Sundar made inspection after
inspection, the players did some light warm up exercises.
Play finally got underway at 11.30. Winning the toss, the East Zone
skipper Pratima Chakravarty elected to take the field.
Opening the bowling for East Zone was medium pacer Zulan. For West,
southpaw Arti Vaidya got off the mark off the very first ball, easing
a ball on her pads through the on side. Her companion out in the
middle was Vaishali Landge.
Full postNorth Zone suffer a double setback
Air India completed a 70-run victory against North Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy for women (50 overs) at the Central Polytechnic ground in Chennai on Sunday
Natarajan Sriram
02-Apr-2000
Air India completed a 70-run victory against North Zone in the
CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy for women (50 overs) at the Central
Polytechnic ground in Chennai on Sunday. North suffered a double
setback with their captain, Richa Dubey, sent to hospital with a
ligament tear in her knee, which might put her out of the rest of the
tournament.
Set to score 196, North Zone made a sedate start with openers Gulshan
and Jaya Sharma adding only 19 runs before Gulshan, looking tentative
was caught in the slips off the bowling of Smita for 11 of 28
balls. Air India's Smita and Kusumlatha pegged North Zone further on
the back foot with some good bowling especially by the former who kept
pegging away at the batswoman's off stump but failed to find the edge.
The 14th over saw the off spinner Seema Pujari replacing Kusumlatha
and she immediately struck a good line and length. After Richa had
twisted her knee in the field, the 15th over witnessed the second
casuality of the day when Mamta Maben dislocated her shoulder trying
to dive and field the ball at mid wicket. Immediately after the
incident, Jaya Sharma (13 runs off 41 balls) was stumped off the
bowling of Seema Pujari with only 39 on the board. The start of the
22nd over saw Seema grass a second caught and bowled chance, but she
immediately struck back in three balls, having M Raji caught at mid
wicket,trying to get on with the scoring.
In the same over Seema again picked up a wicket with the last ball.
Beating the batswomen through the air she bowled Reema Malhotra
without troubling the scorers. The match shifted well and truly in
favour of Air India as a reault of that single over. Seema went on to
contain the newcomers Gurdeep Kaur and Seema Wadwa and in an eight
over spell she gave away only 15 runs.The North Zone innings lay in
shambles and even a valiant effort of 40 runs by B Rajini could not
come to their rescue as she quickly ran out of partners. The next five
wickets fell with only 65 more runs being added to the total.
Full postCentral breeze past South with minimum fuss
Central Zone eased past South Zone by seven wickets on the opening day of the CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament for women in Chennai at the Integral Coach Factory ground
Sankhya Krishnan
02-Apr-2000
Central Zone eased past South Zone by seven wickets on the opening day
of the CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament for women in Chennai at the
Integral Coach Factory ground. After being put in to bat South had
started confidently and were eyeing a useful score at 108/3 in the
31st over but the Central spinners led by Bindeshwari Goyal pulled the
rug from under them as South collapsed to 137 all out. Central
openers, Bharati Varma and Priyanka Sailey then put on an opening
wicket stand of 73 and although both were sent off in quick
succession, Central still had enough firepower to end the contest with
fourteen overs to spare. Central keeper Arundhati had a satisfying
day, snapping up five catches behind the stumps and stroking an unbeaten 27
that included four boundaries.
Amsavalli and Karuna Jain opened the batting for South and in the
fourth over of the day Neetu Singh struck first blood for Central when
she sent back Karuna for a duck. Harsha came in at one drop with the
score at 10/1 but there was poor coordination between the two
batswomen in their running between the wickets and almost inevitably
the stand ended in a run out, with Amsavalli the victim. Earlier
Harsha had scored the first two boundaries of the innings in the 10th
over bowled by Tara. She seemed to be in a belligerent mood when she
was stumped by the keeper off Preeti for 32 (49 balls, 3 fours), which
turned out to be the highest score for South.
The sun had come out in full splendour belying the weather office's
gloomy predictions of morning showers. Sudha Rani and Vinita Viola
then put on a significant if not entirely convincing stand of 48 for
the fourth wicket. But after Sudha was caught at long on for 29 when
she stepped to the pitch and drove Bindeshwari , South suffered an
inexplicable collapse. Vinita too departed at 119, bowled by Preeti
and the last six wickets fell for 18 as the innings folded up for 137
in the penultimate over. Bindeshwari Goyal was the most successful
bowler for Central with her nagging offbreaks claiming 3-26 in ten
overs. She was well supported by fellow spinners Preeti Dudhe and
Varsha Raphael with two wickets each.
Facing an asking rate of 2.76, Central openers Bharti Varma and
Priyanka Sailey began their reply on a strong footing. But GS
Lakshmi, the South captain, threw everything into a desperate effort
to derail Central. She bowled a torrid but luckless first spell in
which Bharati was dropped in the slips, the ball actually going
through the slip cordon for three runs. Priyanka was also not
comfortable with Lakshmi medium pace stuff and popped one just
out of reach of forward short leg. When Lakshmi came off after a first
spell of 6-1-15-0, the openers breathed easy. Priyanka was the more
resourceful of the two as she kept stepping out and lofting to long on
although the thickish grass in that region of the outfield prevented
the ball from going all the way.
Full postAustralia follows the New Zealand pattern with highs and lows
Australia came out of a day in which 306 runs were scored and 12 wickets fell maintaining the advantage they established in the first session of the first day - but only after seeing their first innings follow a disturbingly similar pattern to New
Chris Rosie
01-Apr-2000
Australia came out of a day in which 306 runs were scored and 12 wickets
fell maintaining the advantage they established in the first session of the
first day - but only after seeing their first innings follow a disturbingly
similar pattern to New Zealand's.
A top-order collapse, two mid-order partnerships and little from the lower
order saw the Australian first innings close with just a 20-run advantage.
In the process, Damien Martyn with an undefeated 89 and the New Zealand
left-armer, Shayne O'Connor (five for 51), returned their best test
performances.
Australia opened the second day under a clear Hamilton sky at 4 for 1. In
the fifth over of the morning, the left-armer Shayne O'Connor extracted legbefore decisions from Umpire Jayapakash against first an uncomfortable
Slater for 2 and then Warne for 10 with identical deliveries, pitching
centre and moving off the wicket.
At the other end, Cairns was not about to be left out of the action. In the
next over, he got through Langer's defence, the hint of an inside edge
assisting the ball into the stumps.
Full postKanwaljit restricts UP
Veteran Hyderabad off spinner Kanwaljit Singh helped restrict Uttar Pradesh on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Green Park in Kanpur on Saturday
01-Apr-2000
Veteran Hyderabad off spinner Kanwaljit Singh helped restrict Uttar
Pradesh on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Green
Park in Kanpur on Saturday. UP, 206 for three overnight in reply to
Hyderabad's first innings total of 291, were all out for
362. Hyderabad in their second innings had just about wiped off the
first innings deficit by scoring 72 for one by close of play.
The in form NP Singh struck an early vital blow when he bowled Md
Kaif. The India batsman was out without adding to his overnight score
of 66. The other overnight batsman skipper Gyanendra Pandey went on to
make 47 before he was bowled by Kanwaljit Singh. Pandey faced 98 balls
and hit seven fours. The innings was kept going by a seventh wicket
partnership of 46 runs off 22 overs between wicketkeeper Pradip Yadav
(20) and Ashish Winston Zaidi (52). But the persistent Kanwaljit Singh
then took three wickets late in the innings to keep the UP lead down
to manageable proportions. Zaidi faced 96 balls and hit six fours
before he was also one of Kanwaljit's victims. He finished with six
for 97 off 48.2 overs.
When Hyderabad batted a second time, they lost Manohar (14) at 29. But
A Nandakishore (35) and VVS Laxman (20) by watchful batting added 43
runs off 18.3 overs and were unbeaten at stumps with the match
tantalisingly poised.
Full post