Report
Sri Lanka make clean sweep of one-day series
Lahore, Feb 19: Sri Lanka outplayed Pakistan comprehensivelyin the third and final one-day international by a decisive margin of 104 runs at the Qadhafi Stadium here on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the limited-overs series
Ilyas Beg
20-Feb-2000
Lahore, Feb 19: Sri Lanka outplayed Pakistan comprehensivelyin the
third and final one-day international by a decisive margin of 104 runs
at the Qadhafi Stadium here on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of
the limited-overs series.
It was an abject surrender by Pakistan, who failed to click as a team
once again and allowed Sri Lanka gain their first 3-0 wipe out against
them. Chasing an achievable 242 for a face-saving victory, Pakistan
crashed to an abysmal 137 all out in 39.3 overs.
On an easy-paced pitch, which got easier to bat on with the passage of
time, Pakistan's batsmen were out to atrocious selection of strokes.
Skipper Saeed Anwar, who top-scored with 30, was out to a fine,
tumbling catch by Russel Arnold at short mid-wicket while attempting a
flick.
For the third time in the series, Saeed called correctly at the spin
of the coin and like in the previous two games, elected to field
first. His decision once again proved disastrous in the end as none of
the Pakistani batsmen batted with application, determination and
concentration.
Full postThe same old story as England women lose again
The one day series between the New Zealand and England is taking the appearance of one of those tales that old cricketers tell: the same story a little more exaggerated each time
Peter Hoare
20-Feb-2000
The one day series between the New Zealand and England is taking the
appearance of one of those tales that old cricketers tell: the same story a
little more exaggerated each time. It goes like this. England bat first,
fail to make enough of a score, New Zealand knock them off.
Given that this pattern was already apparent England's decision to bat on
winning the toss was a surprise. Their team was unchanged from the defeat at
Auckland on Thursday. New Zealand replaced Katrina Keenan with Helen Watson.
The first overs of the England innings set the pattern for what followed.
The bowling was tight, the batting cautious. Only ten runs came from the
first nine overs for the loss of Connor, lbw to one that nipped back off the
seam from Rachel Pullar. Since being handed the poisoned chalice of the
England captaincy in mid tour Connor has scored only 24 runs in four
internationals.
The other opener, Claire Taylor, had scored only four by the thirteenth over
when frustration overcame her. Attempting a cross bat swipe off Ramel, she
spooned a catch to Campbell at mid on.
Full postHayward runs through Indian BP XI batting
South Africa declared their innings closed overnight on a score of 293/6 there was everything to look forward to on the morning of the second day of the three day game
Anand Vasu
20-Feb-2000
South Africa declared their innings closed overnight on a score of 293/6 there was everything to look forward to on the morning of the second day of the three day game. In contrast to the first day, there was a sprinkling of cloud cover that gave the stadium a cool air. It was not only the weather that was different from the previous day. The pitch that afforded no bounce on the first day was suddenly responsive as the powerful South African opening bowlers steamed in. Allan Donald and Nantie Hayward gunned for pace and bounce against Arun Kumar and Wasim Jaffer.
Donald was clearly bowling well within himself. Though he generated good lift off the wicket, Donald was appreciably slower than Hayward. Arun Kumar played a couple of handsome shots in Hayward's very first over, finding the boundary on both occasions. He assumed that batting against the South African quicks was not as difficult as it was cut out to be and paid the ultimate price. Arun Kumar was late on a straight full delivery and looked back to see his stump cartwheeling towards Mark Boucher.
Mohammed Kaif came in at one drop and his trial by fire began immediately. Hayward bowled at full tilt and got the ball to rise sharply to the youngster. Kaif took his eyes off the ball in the last minute and the bouncer struck him on the side of the helmet. Visibly disturbed by the blow, Kaif motioned to the dressing room and the helmet was given a fair bit of attention. In the end, Kaif seemed largely unhurt and continued.
Wasim Jaffer looked the part as an opener while he was at the crease. From the word go, he middled every ball he played. When the ball was even slightly out of reach he let the ball go, a sign of a batsman comfortable opening the innings. Jaffer settled down to a good rhythm and was not flustered by either the accuracy of Donald or the pace of Hayward. Donald's first spell of five overs cost him just three runs.
Full postBengal fall just short of their target
Bengal came close to snatching an improbable win against Delhi on the last day of the Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Delhi at the Eden Gardens on Saturday
Sakyasen Mittra
19-Feb-2000
Bengal came close to snatching an improbable win against Delhi on the
last day of the Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Delhi at the
Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Needing 124 runs for an win in 13 overs, Bengal finally managed to get
82 for four wickets when the captains decided to call off
play. Earlier, Delhi, in the face of some inspired bowling by Saurav
Ganguly and Utpal Chatterjee, scored 261 in their second
innings. Ganguly finished with five wickets and Chatterjee with
four. But sans the two, the Bengal bowling looked ordinary. Had the
others backed up Ganguly and Chatterjee to even some extent, Bengal
would have finished with eight points. As it is, they had five for the
first innings lead while Delhi finished with three.
Delhi were saved by a eighth wicket stand between Rahul Sanghvi and
Nikhil Chopra. They added 59 runs, but more importantly they made the
runs off 160 balls. Sanghvi however had two lives. When on seven,
Saba Karim dropped a difficult chance of the bowling of Laxmi Ratan
Shukla and then four runs later he was dropped by Chatterjee at
point. The hapless bowler again was Shukla.
The match once more established Ganguly's prowess as captain. He led
from the front and struck vital blows at the right moment to have
Delhi under pressure. He changed his bowlers at regular intervals.
The only blemish on his part was to use leg spinner Wrichik Mazumdar
for only one over during the day. The manner in which he once more
outwitted the rival captain Ajay Sharma was great to watch. Sharma, a
compulsive puller and hooker, had fallen to Ganguly in the first
innings in the square leg trap. This time, the moment, Sharma walked
in, Ganguly had a man two-thirds of the way to the fence. However,
with Sharma expecting a bouncer, Ganguly bowled him the perfect
outswinger. Sharma, rooted to the backfoot, played away from his body,
to be caught behind.
Full postFirst innings points for Hyderabad
The Super League clash between Hyderabad and Bihar ended in a tame draw at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad today, with the hosts securing first innings points and taking their tally to 8 points from 2 matches
19-Feb-2000
The Super League clash between Hyderabad and Bihar ended in a tame
draw at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad today, with the
hosts securing first innings points and taking their tally to 8 points
from 2 matches. Bihar opened their account in the points table with
this draw and have 3 points from 2 matches.
Hyderabad declared at their overnight score of 440/8 in the morning
and, with the match reduced to an academic exercise, Bihar meandered
to 229/9 off 78 overs in their second innings before the match was
called off. Bihar skipper Sunil Kumar (71 not out) and Aamir Hashmi
(58) helped themselves to some useful runs while the persevering
Sardar, Kanwaljit Singh, bagged 4/70 to take his tally in the Ranji
Trophy this season to 36 wickets from 7 matches.
Bihar's next game is against Railways at Jamshedpur from February
24-27 while Hyderabad travel to Delhi to take on the same opponent in
their following match from March 4-7.
Full postUP go to top of table with facile win
Uttar Pradesh coasted to a 10 wicket victory over Orissa on the last day of their Super League match at the Green Park in Kanpur today
19-Feb-2000
Uttar Pradesh coasted to a 10 wicket victory over Orissa on the last
day of their Super League match at the Green Park in Kanpur today. UP
now lead the Group C points table with 11 points from 2 matches while
Orissa are yet to get off the mark.
Resuming at 129/3, Sanjay Raul and Rashmi Parida extended their stand
to 132 before Parida fell for 69 (141 balls, 10 fours) with the score
at 152. P Jai Chandra joined Raul and the two went in to lunch at
208/4. It was after lunch that Orissa's resistance finally broke down
as Musi Raza took 5 of the last 6 wickets to fall with his off breaks
including 3 in the space of 8 balls. Raza finished with 5/49 in 15.2
overs. Raul top scored with 82 (202 balls, 10 fours) while Jai Chandra
remained unbeaten on 65 (117 balls, 9 fours).
The innings terminated at 257 and with 12 runs needed UP openers Manoj
Mudgal and Mohammed Saif took just ten balls to put an end to the
match. Both Orissa and UP play Saurashtra at Rajkot in their next
matches, from February 24-27 and March 4-7 respectively.
Full postBaroda squeak past Railways on first innings
Baroda's last wicket pair of Rashid Patel and Valmik Buch helped their side past Railways' first innings total of 506 on the final day of their Super League encounter at Delhi's Karnail Singh Stadium today
19-Feb-2000
Baroda's last wicket pair of Rashid Patel and Valmik Buch helped their
side past Railways' first innings total of 506 on the final day of
their Super League encounter at Delhi's Karnail Singh Stadium today.
The draw meant that Baroda maintain their position at the top of the
table in Group B with 13 points from two matches while Railways had to
be content with 3 points in their pipe opener.
It was a commendable fightback by the Baroda batsmen after resuming at
241/3. Although HR Jadhav duly completed his century (109 in 234
balls, 9 fours, 1 six), he was fourth out at 280. M Mewada (37) and
Atul Bedade (51) put on 77 for the 5th wicket before they both fell in
the space of seven balls to make it 358/6. Skipper Tushar Arothe (41)
and AP Bhoite (52) then proceeded to revive Baroda's hopes with an 81
run 7th wicket stand. After Arothe's loss, Bhoite and Patel (53 not
out) carried the score to 495/7 before a double strike in three balls
by part time bowler Yere Goud had Baroda reeling. But Patel and Buch
rose to the occasion and nursed Baroda to the vital first innings
lead. Baroda was 516/9 when play was called off four overs early.
Baroda now take on Punjab at Mohali while Railways play Bihar at
Jamshedpur, both from February 24-27.
Full postKarnataka claim maximum points
Karnataka completed a 139 run victory over Rajasthan in their Super League tie at the RSI Ground in Bangalore today but they were kept in the field for longer than they would have bargained for on the final morning as the Rajasthan tail wagged on
19-Feb-2000
Karnataka completed a 139 run victory over Rajasthan in their Super
League tie at the RSI Ground in Bangalore today but they were kept in
the field for longer than they would have bargained for on the final
morning as the Rajasthan tail wagged on.
It took all of 17.4 overs for Karnataka to wrap up the last two
wickets today in the face of an uninhibited onslaught by Rajasthan
No.9 DP Singh who ended up with 85 from 87 balls (14 fours and 2
sixes). Resuming at 128/8, the ninth wicket stand between Singh and
Anup Dave blossomed to yield 82 runs. Joshi, who went wicketless
yesterday, added the last two to his kitty to finish with match
figures of 8/126 as the visitors' innings terminated at 219.
Rajasthan stay at 3 points from 2 matches and go on to play Bengal at
Calcutta from Feb 24-27 while Karnataka, who also face the same
opponents at Calcutta in their next game from March 4-7, took their
tally to 8 points.
Full postNine wicket win for Saurashtra
Saurashtra ended Haryana's challenge shortly after lunch on the final day of their Super League tie at Rohtak today
19-Feb-2000
Saurashtra ended Haryana's challenge shortly after lunch on the final
day of their Super League tie at Rohtak today. But not before Rajesh
Puri had crafted a well deserved century. He remained unconquered on
114 (199 balls, 15 fours, 3 sixes). Puri, along with last man M
Sakhalkar, held up Saurashtra's victory charge with a stand of 68 in a
little over 18 overs that beefed up the total to 274. Firoz Bambhaniya
finally sent back Sakhalkar to produce figures of 5/54.
The target for Saurashtra was 94 and openers AA Merchant (41 not out)
and RC Vasanth Kumar (38) almost did it on their own with an 83 run
stand. The visitors reached 97/1 in the 18th over to post a nine
wicket victory and take home 8 points. Their next match is against
Orissa at Rajkot from Feb 24-27 while Haryana face off with Tamil Nadu
at Rohtak on the same dates.
Full postPresident's XI recover ground in final session
It was a moral victory for the Board President's XI as the South Africans were restricted to 293/6 at stumps on the first day of their three day game at the Brabourne stadium on Saturday
Anand Vasu
19-Feb-2000
It was a moral victory for the Board President's XI as the South
Africans were restricted to 293/6 at stumps on the first day of their
three day game at the Brabourne stadium on Saturday. Having lost very
few wickets in the first two sessions, a huge score looked likely if
they could keep their nerve after tea. They failed to do that and the
President's XI bowlers capitalised, striking hard in the day's final
session by taking four wickets.
When Hansie Cronje won the toss he immediately elected to bat
first. Having played a lot of limited overs cricket in the recent
past, the visitors were keen to get some solid match practice in the
longer form of the game.
Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten began sedately enough, but Debashish
Mohanty seemed keen to get the South Africans off to a good
start. Mohanty slipped the ball down the leg side to Kirsten with
regularity and was worked away easily for runs. Gibbs on the other
hand got almost nothing loose and was content biding his time at the
crease. It was not until the seventh over, that Gibbs got off the
mark, in fine style too, as he smashed an over pitched delivery
outside off stump past mid off. The ball raced to the fence and
signaled Gibbs' arrival at the crease. Gibbs was truly in good nick as
he followed up his off drive with a fluent cover drive off the very
next over. Once again the ball was right there in the slot and Gibbs
wasted no time in smashing it away.
Murali Kartik was introduced into the attack at the end of the 10th
over and began well. The youngster threw the ball up, got the ball to
turn away from the right hander and had Gibbs struggling in the very
first over. Gibbs became very circumspect after he played an
extravagant shot to a ball wide of the stumps and was beaten in the
flight and turn.
Full post