Peshawar, March 6: Speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar bowled with fire, hostility and venom to place Pakistan in a position of strength against Sri Lanka at stumps on the second day of the second cricket Test at the Arbab Niaz Stadium here on Monday

Samiul Hasan

07-Mar-2000

The 25-year-old from Rawalpindi fired on all cylinders after Waqar Younis was ruled out of action because of a back problem. He finished with impressive figures of five for 75 on a track which had nothing much for the fast bowlers.

Shoaib's superlative performance saw Sri Lanka being bowled out for 268 after having taken lunch at 179 for three. Pakistan consolidated their position by reaching 67 for the loss of one wicket when stumps were drawn for the day.

Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar survived a very confident caught behind appeal off Muttiah Muralitharan to remain unbeaten on 37. His innings is spiced with seven excellent boundaries. With him was Yousuf Youhana who was promoted to the No 3 slot to allow Aamir Sohail revert back to his original opening spot.

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Azhar makes century but India lose by innings

South Africa needed just 14 overs to close out the second Test at Bangalore on Monday

Anand Vasu

06-Mar-2000

South Africa needed just 14 overs to close out the second Test at Bangalore on Monday. Mohammed Azharuddin, making a comback at the age of 37, dazzled from the start. Taking the attack to Nicky Boje, a flurry of boundaries took Azhar to his century. But India were neck deep in trouble by that stage. There was never going to be any match saving innings. Only some consolation for what has been a comprehensive 2-0 victory for the South Africans.

Continuing in an aggressive vein, Azhar was caught pulling a Pollock delivery straight to Gary Kirsten. Azhar's 102 included 13 boundaries and two sixes, reminding everybody that there were no gremlins in this wicket.

After Azhar's dismissal, the innings folded up quickly. Kumble's resistance was ended by Boje, who was enjoying superb form with the ball. Trapping Kumble plumb in front, Boje picked up his fifth wicket of the innings. Kumble had made a valuable 28. Murali Kartik lasted just five balls before he holed out to Herschelle Gibbs, again of the bowling of Boje.

When Donald had Chopra caught behind, there was obvious joy in the South African ranks. With Nayan Mongia unable to bat due to injury, it was all over for the Indians. Defeat by an innings and 71 runs ended a series without joy for the Indians.

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Punjab poised for victory thrust

Punjab were well on their way to completing an emphatic victory over Bihar at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Monday

06-Mar-2000

Punjab were well on their way to completing an emphatic victory over Bihar at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Monday. Bihar, in arrears by 259 runs on the first innings, were 94 for four at close of play.

Resuming at 268 for four in reply to Bihar's 244, Punjab were already in a position of considerable strength and on the penultimate day they consolidated. First, the batsmen did their job commendably and skipper Vikram Rathour was able to declare the innings at 503 for nine. Rathour, who was 137 overnight, was out for 158. But the other overnight not out batsman Dinesh Mongia who resumed on 67 went on to make 179. He and Rathour added 190 runs for the fifth wicket off 44 overs Then Mongia put on 113 runs for the sixth wicket off 26 overs with wicketkeeper H Jagnu (53). Mongia was dismissed at this stage after having faced 220 balls and hitting 25 fours. Jagnu and Sandeep Sharma then maintained the run spree by adding 57 runs for the seventh wicket off 12.5 overs. While Jagnu faced 131 balls and hit only one boundary, Sharma faced only 39 balls and hit four of them to the ropes.

When Bihar batted a second time, opening bowler Gagandeep Singh who had taken four for 44 in the first innings dismissed Javed Khan and A Hashmi in the same over. He later picked up the wicket of Rajiv Kumar. Harbhajan Singh, who had taken five for 69 in the first innings, forced N Ranjan into giving him a return catch. Skipper Sunil Kumar with an unbeaten 30 with three fours and a six was batting at stumps but a Punjab victory, probably by an innings, is surely round the corner.

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Mumbai in commanding position

Mumbai were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Rajasthan at the Wankhede stadium on Monday

06-Mar-2000

Mumbai were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Rajasthan at the Wankhede stadium on Monday. Ahead by 107 runs on the first innings, Mumbai declared their second innings at 285 for five. Requiring 393 runs for victory, Rajasthan were 26 for one at close.

Rajasthan, 224 for nine overnight, were all out for the addition of only five runs. Mumbai then spent almost the rest of the day consolidating their position. Skipper Sameer Dighe (64) and Amit Pagnis (19) put on 53 runs for the first wicket off 16.2 overs. Then Dighe and Jatin Paranjpe maintained the momentum by adding 91 runs for the second wicket off 26 overs. While Dighe faced 116 balls and hit nine fours, Paranjpe faced 114 balls and hit eight of them to the ropes. Finally, Amol Muzumdar (63 not out) and Sushant Manjrekar (61) added 117 runs for the fifth wicket off 22.2 overs. While Muzumdar faced 95 balls and hit six fours, the more aggressive Manjrekar faced only 77 balls and hit ten fours and a six.

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Record breaker Chatterjee helps Bengal take lead

The Indian selectors and BCCI officials always say that performance is the best criteria for selection and not age

Sakyasen Mittra

06-Mar-2000

The Indian selectors and BCCI officials always say that performance is the best criteria for selection and not age. Probably they do not keep in mind the name of Utpal Chatterjee. The left-arm spinner single-handedly guaranteed the first innings lead for Bengal against Karnataka in their Ranji Trophy Super League group A match at the Eden Gardens on Monday.

Bowling unchanged for 30.1 overs, save for a break of two overs, Chatterjee ended the Karnataka innings at 268 giving Bengal a slim hope of making it to the next stage. He had figures of 61.1-19-102-6 for the innings and his day's spell read 30.1-8-58 4. This was Chatterjee's fifth five-wicket haul in the season. He also broke Chetan Sharma's record of 45 wickets in a season for Bengal, achieved in 1993-94. Chatterjee ended the day with 48 wickets.

At the end of the day's play, Saba Karim felt that Karnataka played too defensively. Indeed, except for Dodda Ganesh and Venkatesh Prasad who added 54 runs for the ninth wicket in 70 minutes all the others allowed the bowlers to dominate.

Chatterjee started the slide in the eighth over of the morning when he had Barrington Rowland caught of the glove at slip. The batsman had scored 53. Then Devang Gandhi, whom Chatterjee used as a part time bowler had A.Vijay caught at mid wicket. The batsman mistimed his pull shot.

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Hyderabad hold all the aces

Railways faced an uphill task at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match against Hyderabad at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Monday

06-Mar-2000

Railways faced an uphill task at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match against Hyderabad at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Monday. After having conceding a first innings lead of 118 runs, Railways chasing a victory target of 331, were eight for one at close of play.

It was Hyderabad's day. First they restricted Railways, who resumed at 188 for six, to 229. Devendra Singh, their last bastion of strength, was ninth out for 87. VVS Laxman was chiefly responsible for restricting the Railways and finished with three for 11 off three overs. NP Singh however was the most successful bowler with four for 58.

In their second innings, Hyderabad were rocked by a double blow when Bhattacharya dismissed Nandakishore and Vinay Kumar with only 15 runs on the board. Laxman (45) and Vanka Pratap (38) however turned the innings around with a third wicket stand of 75 runs off 26.5 overs. Then P Satwalkar (45) and NA Yadav (43) chipped in with useful contributions, adding in the process 65 runs for the fifth wicket off nine overs. Finally, skipper Venkatpathi Raju declared the innings at 212 for seven.

When Railways commenced their second innings, Laxman again provided a vital breakthrough by dismissing Sanjai Bangar.

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Tamil Nadu hold the whiphand against orissa

Tamil Nadu continued their dominance over Orissa into the third day

06-Mar-2000

Tamil Nadu continued their dominance over Orissa into the third day. At the end of the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Super League at the Barabati stadium on Monday, the southern state were in a position of considerable strength, in keeping with their impressive record this season. Ahead by 132 runs on the first innings, Tamil Nadu hit up 309 for eight before declaring their second innings. Chasing an unlikely victory target of 442, Orissa were 36 for one at stumps.

It was a day when Tamil Nadu consolidated. Resuming at 55 for one, Tamil Nadu predictably went for quick runs. Rajat Bhatia made 60 off 119 balls with seven fours. For the second time in the match, the debutant made top score. He and Satyajit Medappa (29) added 56 runs for the second wicket off 18 overs. Almost all the batsmen who followed made useful contributions with JR Madanagopal (31), skipper S Sarath (42) and wicketkeeper Reuben Paul (44) standing out.

In the Orissa second innings, their in form opener and skipper Shiv Sundar Das was going strong on 25 with four hits to the fence at stumps. But Orissa still face an uphill task on the morrow.

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Sri Lanka reach 88 for two on curtailed 1st day

Pakistan picked up two early Sri Lankan wickets on a rain-curtailed opening day of the second Test which started here at the Arbab Niaz Stadium on Sunday

06-Mar-2000

Pakistan picked up two early Sri Lankan wickets on a rain-curtailed opening day of the second Test which started here at the Arbab Niaz Stadium on Sunday.

Shoaib Akhtar clipped Sanath Jayasuriya's bail off a delivery which kept low and Abdur Razzaq removed Russel Arnold off an outswinger to reduce the tourists from 58 for no loss to 67 for two.

However, the in-form Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva batted cautiously to see Sri Lanka through to 88 for two at stumps from the 37 available overs in the final session.

Atapattu, batting on 29, was lucky to see off the day when a very confident bat and pad appeal against him was turned down by Englishman John Hampshire. However, television replays confirmed that the ball had caught the shoulder of Atapattu's bat while rebounding from the pad before going into the hands of a waiting Yousuf Youhana at forward short-leg.

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Veenstra's bag of six helps Natal beat Gauteng

Patrick Compton

06-Mar-2000

In a match that had just about everything, including a Ross Veenstra hat trick (he took 6-34 overall) against his old province, the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins beat their traditional rivals Gauteng by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare before 5 500 excited spectators at Kingsmead last night. The victory kept alive the Dolphins' hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup. Their last pool match, against Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth tomorrow, will settle the issue. For Gauteng, whose record-breaking run of eight consecutive victories was broken, the defeat was academic as they have already qualified.

The nature of last night's match was determined by the very similar tempo of both innings. Both teams enjoyed a productive first 25 overs, then they both lost momentum.

KwaZulu-Natal enjoyed an excellent opening partnership of 112 between Doug Watson and Mark Bruyns chasing Gauteng's score of 197-8, but once Bruyns had departed, the scoring slowed as the softer ball came on more slowly and made strokes more difficult to execute.