After a one days play at the Bellerive Oval honours are even after Tasmania ended the day at seven without loss in reply to Victoria who closed at 9 for 279

Lawrie Colliver

09-Mar-2000

After a one days play at the Bellerive Oval honours are even after Tasmania ended the day at seven without loss in reply to Victoria who closed at 9 for 279.

On a chocolate-brown pitch Tasmania had the luck with the coin, sending Victoria into bat and they immediately struck with Jason Arnberger going in the first over as edged behind to Damien Wright without scoring.

Matthew Elliott was bowled four overs later for 12 to give Damien Wright his second wicket to have the visitors reeling at 2/16 inside the first half hour of play.

Mark Ridgway in his last game for Tasmania struck in his fourth over having Brad Hodge playing on for 7 and the visitors had their problems being 3/27.

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Blues recover from shaky start on rain-shortened day

At the Sydney Cricket Ground in a match with no bearing on finals placings, New South Wales recovered from a mediocre start to be 5/205 at stumps against Western Australia

Rick Eyre

09-Mar-2000

At the Sydney Cricket Ground in a match with no bearing on finals placings, New South Wales recovered from a mediocre start to be 5/205 at stumps against Western Australia. Play began at 2.30pm after surface water from two days of steady rain was cleared from the outfield.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was clearly the standout in a NSW lineup where three batsmen, including captain Michael Bevan (21) and Shane Lee (25 from 22 deliveries) failed to make it past the twenties. Brad Williams (2/45) was the most successful of the WA bowlers.

Six months ago Corey Richards was playing for Australia A and was being touted as the next number three batsman in the Test team. Today he was named twelfth man for New South Wales, this year's Pura Milk Cup woodenspooners.

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India win amid scenes of low farce

Sankhya Krishnan

09-Mar-2000

India won the first ODI against South Africa in a grandstand finish at Kochi's Nehru stadium which ended in a grotesque manner after the teams had walked off thinking the match was over and had to be called back to complete it a second time. The final over bowled by Pollock, with eight needed, saw frayed nerves as Pollock was called for overstepping by umpire MR Singh with his foot a clear two centimetres behind the line. It was left to Anil Kumble to streak the ball down to the third man boundary as Kallis made a despairing effort to save it. The match ended with the three that the batsmen ran being changed to four on communication from the 3rd umpire, as the players were preparing for the next ball. Or so we thought.

What happened next was utterly bizarre. The players left the field, the South Africans looking shattered and the Indians, especially Robin looking flustered by unwelcome attention from the fans who surged onto the ground. The dais for the presentation party was brought out onto the outfield. And just as quickly withdrawn. There was something fishy in the air and total confusion reigned before it slowly dawned on the crowd that the 3 which was ruled 4 was actually a 3. The stumps were put back, the umpires hovered on the edge of the field before finally deigning to step in. And sure enough the players soon followed.

Would the South Africans be motivated after having been emotionally drained? Would the Indians get over the extreme disappointment? Robin Singh managed to get bat on ball and the batsmen scampered through before the field could react. The disgruntled South Africans trooped off after losing the match a second time and the two batsmen did not even make a cursory display of emotion. At the end of the it all India had won by 3 wickets with 2 balls to spare.

The Indian reply to the target of 302 set by South Africa began on a suitably urgent note as Ganguly carved three fours off Pollock in the first over, all through the off side. Kallis opened from the other end and bowled a leg stump line trying to compensate for Ganguly's off side strength, even dispensing with the regulation slip. He did introduce two slips for Tendulkar when he first came on strike in the last ball of the over which the batsman slashed to backwardpoint for a couple.

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Peshawar Test evenly poised after 14 wickets fall

Peshawar, March 7: Pakistan rallied back in to the match through their bowlers after some spineless batting resulted in the loss of their last seven wickets for 45 runs on an eventful third day of the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka at the

Samiul Hasan

08-Mar-2000

Pakistan's bowlers make up for batting failure

Pakistan's middle and lower order batting collapsed so abysmally that a promising score of 154 for three just after lunch became 199 all out in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings 268.

The fall of 14 wickets during the day's play has made this Test evenly poised.

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Punjab complete innings victory over Bihar

Medium pacer Gagandeep Singh and off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had wreaked havoc in the first innings were again in the forefront in the second innings as they bowled Punjab to an innings and 20 run victory over Bihar shortly after lunch on the

07-Mar-2000

Bihar, at 94 for four overnight after finishing 259 runs behind on the first innings, were facing defeat and the only interest on the final day was whether they would avert an innings defeat. The not out batsmen skipper Sunil Kumar and Manish Kumar added 88 runs for the fifth wicket off 28.5 overs. Sunil Kumar scored 51 off 106 balls with six fours and two sixes. This was followed by a sixth wicket partnership of 47 runs between Manish Kumar and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni (26) before the former was run out for 51. He faced 120 balls and hit seven fours.

Then Harbhajan ran through the tail before a last wicket stand of 36 runs off eight overs between S Khan (30 not out) and Dhiraj Kumar (16) delayed the inevitable. Khan, in a last ditch fight, hit five balls and a six in his 39-ball knock, but Bihar were all out for 239. Gagandeep took three for 65 to finish with match figures of seven for 109 while Harbhajan with four for 68 had match figures of nine for 137. Punjab got eight points and now have 16 points from three games and remain in contention for a place in the knock out stage. Bihar completed their engagements in the Super League with only three points from four games.

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Railways salvage three points

Despite being outplayed for most of the game, Railways managed to salvage three points from their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match against Hyderabad at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Tuesday

07-Mar-2000

Despite being outplayed for most of the game, Railways managed to salvage three points from their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match against Hyderabad at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Tuesday.

Requiring 331 runs for victory, Railways who were eight for one at stumps on Monday never really had a winning chance. Indeed, there were in danger of losing the match outright at 115 for six and it was only a gallant rearguard action that saw the Railways finish the match at 182 for seven.

Abhay Sharma held the top order with a fine 59 for which he faced 113 balls and hit eight fours and a six. Then skipper PS Rawat defied the Hyderabad attack in which veteran off spinner Kanwaljit Singh was outstanding, for over three hours, during which he faced 149 balls and hit five fours in his unbeaten 39. Opener Vishal Sharma (17) and Abhay Sharma added 53 runs for the third wicket but with Kanwaljit striking form, Railways were 115 for six. However Rawat and wicketkeeper S Wankhade (15) added 35 runs for the seventh wicket off 27.2 overs and this was followed by an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 32 runs between Rawat and Z Hussain (15) in 19.2 overs. Kanwaljit sent down 35 overs and was rewarded with four wickets for 40 runs. With the five points from this match, Hyderabad have now 13 from three games. Railways with three points have 14 from the same number of matches.

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Mumbai snatch victory as Rajasthan collapse

07-Mar-2000

An amazing collapse during which they lost their last eight wickets for 32 runs off 11.5 overs saw Rajasthan lose their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match to Mumbai at the Wankhede stadium on Tuesday. Chasing a tough victory target of 393, Rajasthan got to 288 for two and seemed to be heading for what would have been a remarkable victory. But RV Pawar and Ramesh Powar in tandem took some quick wickets and Rajasthan were all out for 320 to go down by 72 runs.

Rajasthan resuming at 26 for one, did not lose a wicket in the pre lunch session with opener N Doru and S Bhatia adding 164 runs for the second wicket off 44.2 overs. Bhatia was then dismissed for 90, compiled off 127 balls and inclusive of 12 hits to the ropes. Skipper Gagan Khoda joined Doru and the two maintained the momentum by putting on 124 runs off 26 overs. Then Doru who had batted patiently was caught by Muzumdar off Pawar for 105. Doru batted 326 minutes, faced 240 balls and hit eleven fours. Once this stand was broken, Pawar and Powar got among the wickets. Not one batsman reached double digits as Pawar (4 for 93) and Powar (3 for 59) played havoc. Khoda, Rajasthan's last bastion of strength was fifth out for 70, compiled off 92 deliveries and inclusive of six boundary hits. This was Mumbai's third straight victory in the Super League and they now have 24 points from three matches, making sure of their entry into the knock out stage. Rajasthan ended a disappointing campaign with eight points from four games.

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Bengal-Karnataka game ends in tame draw

The Bengal-Karnataka Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match petered out into a tame draw at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday