Given first choice of the wicket, the Mumbai top order said `thank you' to Rajasthan as they performed commendably to help their team to get 280 for five wickets at close on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match at the

04-Mar-2000

Skipper Sameer Dighe (32) and Amit Pagnis (47) led the way with a first wicket partnership of 101 runs off 36.5 overs that lasted three hours. Dighe faced 128 balls and hit four boundaries. Jatin Paranjpe, in good form this season, for once did not last long and was out for three. A little later Pagnis was dismissed after having faced 142 balls and hitting six of them to the ropes.

At 127 for three, Mumbai had surrendered the initiative. But Vinod Kambli (59) and Amol Muzumdar (63) set Mumbai on the road to recovery with a fourth wicket partnership of 102 runs off 24.4 overs. The left handed Kambli stroked the ball fluently and faced only 75 balls in compiling his knock which included nine hits to the fence. After his departure, Muzumdar and Sushant Manjrekar then continued the good work by adding 51 runs for the fifth wicket off 17.5 overs before the former was run out in the last over of the day. The in form Muzumdar faced 144 balls and hit three fours. At close Manjrekar was batting on 34 off 66 balls with six hits to the ropes. The Mumbai total was inflated by as many as 42 extras, 27 of them being no balls.

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Rennie saves Mashonaland from embarrassment

John Ward

04-Mar-2000

CFX ACADEMY v MASHONALAND: DAY 2

By John Ward

If it had not been for a superb innings of 152 by discarded Zimbabwe opener Gavin Rennie, Mashonaland would have been in a position of considerable embarrassment at the end of the second day's play at the Academy headquarters at Country Club, Harare. As it was, they emerged with a first-innings lead of only 27 and the match is well poised going into the final day.

The Academy resumed their first innings at 194 for six, and the overnight pair of Paul Strang and Jason Young took their partnership to 103 before Young, trying to hit off-spinner Dan Peacock over the top, hit a catch straight to Anton Hoffman at midwicket to be out for a highly commendable 47 on his debut. The Academy were now 214 for seven.

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Nandakishore and Laxman hit centuries

04-Mar-2000

Centuries by opening batsman A Nandakishore and VVS Laxman helped Hyderabad to reach 274 for three shortly before stumps on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Railways at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi on Saturday. But in the last hour, Railways recovered some ground and Hyderabad had to settle for a closing scor Centuries by opening batsman A Nandakishore and VVS Laxman helped Hyderabad to reach 274 for three shortly before stumps on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Railways at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi on Saturday. But in the last hour, Railways recovered some ground and Hyderabad had to settle for a closing score of 309 for eight wickets.

Electing to bat, Hyderabad suffered an early reverse when Youraj Singh was out without a run being scored in the second over of the match. But a second wicket stand of 186 runs off 44.5 overs between Nandakishore and Laxman saw Hyderabad quickly take the initiative. Laxman dominated the partnership and when he was second out, he had made 109 off 139 balls with 15 hits to the fence in a stay of almost three hours.

The momentum was maintained with Nandakishore and Vanka Pratap adding 66 runs in 21.3 overs for the third wicket. Pratap was then out for 26 but the obdurate Nandakishore carried on till he was fourth out at 274 in the 75th over of the day. Playing the sheet anchor role to perfection, he batted almost five hours, faced 223 balls and hit 16 fours.

Leg spinner WD Balaji Rao then helped Railways come back into the game. He took three quick wickets to finish the day with four for 52. RR Parida also did well in taking three for 106.e of 309 for eight wickets.

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UP hit back against Saurashtra

After being dismissed for 206, Uttar Pradesh hit back to take four Saurashtra wickets for 89 runs by close of play on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group C match in Rajkot on Saturday

04-Mar-2000

UP lost four wickets for 58 runs but Pervendra Singh (59) and S Shukla (26) added 49 runs for the fifth wicket. Pervendra who faced 112 balls, hit four boundaries. Then Md Saif, at No 7, hit a valuable 31. Niraj Odedra (4 for 56) and Hitesh Parsana (3 for 36) were the main wicket takers.

Saurashtra in their reply lost wickets at regular intervals with Gyanendra Pandey picking up two of the four that fell for 24 runs.

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Bhatia, Gokulakrishna in record last wicket stand

Tamil Nadu made a superb recovery on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Orissa at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Saturday and symbolising this was a record last wicket partnership of 137 runs off 34.3 overs

04-Mar-2000

The two came together shortly before tea with Tamil Nadu in trouble at 190 for nine. They took the score to 222 at tea and dominated the bowling in the last session. Both went boldly for their strokes. The 20-year-old Bhatia was slightly more aggressive and hit 72 in 166 minutes. He faced 93 balls and hit nine of them to the ropes. The 27-year-old Gokulakrishna who remained unbeaten with 59 batted 147 minutes. He faced 126 balls and hit five boundaries. Bhatia was out shortly before the scheduled close.

The partnership is the fourth highest for the tenth wicket in the 66-year-old national competition. It surpassed the previous best for this wicket for Tamil Nadu, 130 between NJ Venkatesan and CR Rangachari against Madhya Pradesh in 1951.

Tamil Nadu made a poor start losing five wickets for 74. A sixth wicket partnership of 58 runs off 15 overs between skipper Sridharan Sarath (60) and Vasanth Saravanan (27) retreived the innings. Sarath played the sheet anchor role, batting 196 minutes, facing 115 balls and hitting 12 fours. Coming in at 47 for three, he was ninth out at 190. Wicketkeeper Reuben Paul chipped in with a valuable 22. Then came the last wicket stand that boosted the Tamil Nadu total to 327. Mohanty, A Barrick and Bipin Singh all took three wickets each.

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South Africa ready to move in for the kill

The Indian goose is as good as cooked and South Africa, wanting it well done, batted throughout the third day of the second Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday

Anand Vasu

04-Mar-2000

The Indian goose is as good as cooked and South Africa, wanting it well done, batted throughout the third day of the second Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. In scoring 472 for eight by stumps and obtaining a first innings lead of 314 runs, the visitors have certainly sharpened the nails. After all, that's all South Africa need to do now. Put the lid on the coffin and slam the nails home.

Resuming with a lead of almost a hundred, South Africa made steady progress. Daryll Cullinan showed his aggressive intent yesterday and today he continued in the same vein. After getting to his half century, Cullinan lost his wicket. The fall of Cullinan's wicket was completely against the grain of play. Just when things were looking good for the Gauteng batsman, he was undone by a Kumble delivery. As is becoming customary on tracks like these, the ball bobbled off the bat to the fielder standing close, Wasim Jaffer in this case. Cullinan's 53 included five boundaries and that unforgettable straight six off Kumble.

Lance Klusener, who has not looked at ease with the bat all tour came in next. Indian bowling 'attacks' have a habit of bringing struggling batsmen back to form. Today was no exception. Klusener got a good measure of the Indian bowling on a wicket that was slow and low. Though the ball was turning, it was along predictable lines and Klusener had no difficulty in picking his spots and scoring fluently.

At the other end, Kallis brought up his half century with a big six. Kallis has played the sheet anchor role to perfection on this tour.

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Strang rescues Academy

The CFX Academy enjoyed mixed fortunes on the first day of their inaugural Logan Cup match against the league favourites Mashonaland

John Ward

03-Mar-2000

LOGAN CUP MATCH REPORT: CFX ACADEMY v MASHONALAND

By John Ward

The CFX Academy enjoyed mixed fortunes on the first day of their inaugural Logan Cup match against the league favourites Mashonaland. After struggling to 111 for six in the late afternoon, after a long break for rain, they were rallied by a fine partnership between Test player Paul Strang and debutant Jason Young, who took them through to a more promising 194 for six at the close one-day play.

This match introduced first-class cricket to the Academy headquarters at the Country Club, in the eastern Harare suburb of Highlands. It is a very pleasant and spacious ground overlooking a golf course, and the new Academy pavilion is in the process of being completed. Because of the golf, and since there is also a gymnasium there, it is difficult to tell how many of the hundred or so spectators at the close were genuinely there for the cricket, but the fine Academy fightback seemed to have won some converts.

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India will have to do exceptionally well to avoid defeat

Nicky Boje, sent in as a night watchman, has ensured that the Indians will have a sleepless night with his purposeful innings on the second day at the Chinnaswamy stadium

Woorkheri Raman

03-Mar-2000

Nicky Boje, sent in as a night watchman, has ensured that the Indians will have a sleepless night with his purposeful innings on the second day at the Chinnaswamy stadium. He negotiated the Indian attack almost with elan and some of his shots must have made a few Indian batsmen blush. He spent over four hours at the crease and scored runs at a faster pace than Kirsten. In fact, Boje's knock has underlined the fact that runs could be made on this wicket with a little bit of application.

The advantage of winning the toss was squandered away by some very ordinary batting by the Indians on the opening day. Ramesh opting out on the eve of the game meant that the Indians had to go in again with a stop gap opener. Dravid's elevation to the opener's slot has surpassed all the surprises that the team management has sprung in the last few months. At the moment, Dravid is struggling with his self-imposed curfew and the added pressure of having to open the innings is the last thing he would have wanted. Considering that the Indians batted first, Mongia would have been the ideal choice for opening and it is not an unfamiliar role to him in any case.

The bug of bad shot selection seems to have eventually infected Tendulkar as well and his departure left the Indians in a hopeless situation. Anil Kumble batted with determination and emerged as the top scorer, which is an indication of the current form of the Indian batting line-up. He had a bit of support from Mongia but the latter would not be proud with his mode of dismissal. Any team getting bowled out on the first day of a Test match is liable to be in deep trouble as the Indians found themselves in at the end of the second day.

Kirsten, in the company of Boje squashed whatever hopes Gibbs' early departure might have produced. He is not one to dominate but can grind any attack with his tenacity and grit. Not for nothing is he one of the leading run getters for South Africa. "Attack is the best form of defence" seems to be Cullinan's motto and he can be very dangerous if he survives the first half-hour on the third day. The Indians have to do something miraculous to keep the South African lead to manageable levels and thereby give themselves a chance of staying in the match. Otherwise the South African batting line-up has the required platform as also the depth to bat the hosts out of the match.

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Natal beat Gauteng by 7 wickets

Such is the nature of sport that old friends often turn into formidable foes

Vani Naidoo

03-Mar-2000

Such is the nature of sport that old friends often turn into formidable foes. Gauteng found to their dismay in their Standard Bank limited-overs game at Kingsmead last night, that Ross Veenstra may have donned the custard yellow for three seasons but yesterday his six wicket haul in the Natal strip kept the Dolphins' quest for a semi-final place on track.

Mark Bruyns and Doug Watson may have been prominent in stroking the 197 needed for victory but it was the 27-year-old left-arm seamer who's two wickets in three balls in his sixth over only eclipsed by a last over hat-trick, that stopped the Gauteng surge from evolving into unbridled fury.

His hard work could so easily have come to nought, however, was it not for a 62-run fourth wicket stand between oldhands Andrew Hudson and Jonty Rhodes which took the Dolphins to a seven wicket victory after a decidedly quiet mid-match spell had left honours near even.

Natal started their reply in steady fashion but Bruyns and Watson picked up the pace making easy work of a Gauteng attack which failed to make an impression as the ball softened.

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Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by two wickets in a thriller

Rawalpindi, March 1: Sri Lanka carved out a remarkable two-wicket victory over Pakistan on an enthralling final day of the first Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at Pindi Cricket Stadium here on Wednesday

Farhana Ayaz

02-Mar-2000

Romesh Kaluwitharana scored the winning runs in a stubborn ninth wicket partnership of 43 with an injured Arjuna Ranatunga when he edged Waqar Younis to the third man boundary to cap Sri Lanka's fourth win against Pakistan in 22 Tests.

Kaluwitharana finished on an unbeaten 36 off 74 balls while the courageous Ranatunga defied 94 balls to score 29 not out.

The absorbing Test went down to the wire after a Sri Lankan victory looked a mere formality with visiting side reaching tea at 143 for four - 77 away from their target of 220 in the remaining 38 overs.

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Alex Malcolm

Danyal Rasool

Karthik Krishnaswamy

Andrew Miller

Sidharth Monga