Report
England win cliffhanger, qualify for Super League
England has qualified for the Super League by beating a devastated Zimbabwe side by just 3 runs at the CCC ground today
Charlie Austin
15-Jan-2000
England has qualified for the Super League by beating a
devastated Zimbabwe side by just 3 runs at the CCC ground today.
Despite being outplayed by Zimbabwe, England scrapped through by
virtue of some exceptional bowling at the death, by Tim Murtagh
and Nick Warren.
Zimbabwe who required just 25 runs in the last five overs with
five wickets remaining panicked under pressure. With only singles
required, Travis Friend charged down the wicket to the left arm
spin of Phillips and was stumped in the 46th over.
The new batsmen, Hamilton Henderson, struggled to get away the
accurate block hole bowling. The pressure soon built up on the
Zimbabweans. Tim Murtagh's last over, the penultimate of the
innings, decisively swung the match in England's direction.
Costing only 1 run it left the Zimbabweans requiring 7 from the
final over. They could manage only 3.
Thirty minutes before the dramatic finale the game had looked
dead and buried for England. A wonderful 103 run partnership
between Nkala (53) and Guy Croxford (63*) rescued the Zimbabwean
innings, which had crumbled to 49-4 in the 20th over.
Full postUP take Merchant Trophy
With Uttar Pradesh having played themselves into a commanding position at close of the second day's play in the Vijay Merchant (under-16) Trophy final against Mumbai on Friday, the last day's play on Saturday was largely devoid of interest
15-Jan-2000
With Uttar Pradesh having played themselves into a commanding position
at close of the second day's play in the Vijay Merchant (under-16)
Trophy final against Mumbai on Friday, the last day's play on Saturday
was largely devoid of interest. Predictably enough, UP won the trophy
at the Medical college grounds in Thiruvananthapuram on the basis of
their first innings lead.
Mumbai, who were 145 for eight in reply to UP's 297, were all out for
165 in their first innings. In the remaining time, UP scored 203 for
five off 72 overs. SG Pandey took three quick wickets as UP were 61
for four at one stage. But S Dixit (51), Sarthak Shukla (35 not out)
and R Elahi (54 not out) took the UP score into the realms of
respectibility. Pandey finished with four wickets for 95 off 25
overs.
Full postGujarat escape with a draw
Gujarat came close to losing their West Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Maharashtra at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel stadium in Ahmedabad by an innings but ultimately held on for a draw to take three points
14-Jan-2000
Gujarat came close to losing their West Zone Ranji Trophy league match
against Maharashtra at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel stadium in Ahmedabad
by an innings but ultimately held on for a draw to take three points.
Gujarat who resumed at 287 for eight in reply to Maharashtra's first
innings total of 501 for seven declared were all out for 309. MV Sane
took both wickets to finish with seven for 83 off 41.4 overs. Obliged
to follow on with a deficit of 192, Gujarat at one stage were
comfortably placed at 107 for two with opener AS Kotecha leading the
way with a patient 48. However Sane again got among the wickets and
three wickets fell with the total on 107. But K Damani (33 not out)
and KD Desai (26) played a notable part in helping Gujarat to close at
194 for eight. Sane took four for 63 to finish with the excellent
match figures of eleven for 146.
Full postParida's 193 puts Orissa in command
Orissa were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Tripura at the Samanta Chandrasekhar college ground in Puri on Thursday
14-Jan-2000
Orissa were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the
second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against
Tripura at the Samanta Chandrasekhar college ground in Puri on
Thursday. After declaring their first innings closed at 545 for eight,
Orissa took nine Tripura wickets for 168 by close of play.
For the second day running, Orissa skipper RR Parida took the day's
honours. Overnight on 95, Parida took his score to 193 before he was
stumped by Rajib Dutta of Sukla. Parida batted six hours, faced 239
balls and hit 25 fours and a six. Having come in when the first wicket
fell at 121 in the 39th over, Parida was seventh out at 522 in the
127th over.
P Jaichandra who was 51 overnight, was out after adding only two
runs. But Parida and RR Das then shared a fifth wicket partnership of
128 runs off only 19 overs. The aggressive Das hit 63 off just 69
balls, hitting nine fours and a six. Wicketkeeper Y Mohanty, at No 8,
kept the innings going with an unbeaten 31 off 27 balls with four
fours and a six. A Sukla was easily the pick of the Tripura bowlers
and he took five for 182 off 40 overs.
Tripura were given a good start with openers RN Ghosh (31) and S Paul
(23) putting on 54 runs off 11 overs. But then wickets fell first at
regular intervals and then there was a sharp collapse as Tripura slid
from 160 for five to 164 for nine in the space of 14 deliveries. C
Sachdev top scored with a valuable 45, inclusive of five fours and a
six while S Chowdhuri chipped in with 31 off 61 balls with six hits to
the ropes.
Full postWilliams carries bat for 237
Baroda's in form opener Cecil Williams carried his bat for 237 to help his team gain the first innings lead as the West Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Saurashtra ended in a tame draw at the Municipal stadium in Rajkot on Thursday
14-Jan-2000
Baroda's in form opener Cecil Williams carried his bat for 237 to help
his team gain the first innings lead as the West Zone Ranji Trophy
league match against Saurashtra ended in a tame draw at the Municipal
stadium in Rajkot on Thursday.
The feature of the last day's play was the intense struggle for the
first innings lead. Resuming at 313 for four in reply to Saurashtra's
437, Baroda lost wickets at regular intervals but their hopes were
kept alive by Williams holding one end firmly and also keeping the
runs coming. Baroda lost eight wickets for 385 when Williams was
joined by Z Khan. The two batsmen shared a ninth wicket prtnership of
42 runs off only 4.2 overs before Khan was out for a breezy 32 off
just 16 balls with six fours and a six. Baroda were still ten runs
short when Buch joined Williams, who had in the meantime reached his
double century. The last wicket pair took the score past Saurashtra
and added 60 runs off 15.5 overs before Buch was out for 25, compiled
off 47 balls and inclusive of four hits to the ropes. Williams
remained unconquered after batting 628 minutes. He faced 480 balls and
hit 30 fours and a six.
In the remaining time, Saurashtra scored 127 for four wickets in their
second innings with Buch picking up all the wickets to fall for 55
runs. The consistent opener Vasanth Kumar slammed 42 out of 46 off 39
deliveries with seven hits to the ropes.
Full postBihar snatch narrow lead
A keen duel for the first innings lead highlighted the second day's play in the East Zone Ranji Trophy league match between Bihar and Assam at the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur on Thursday
14-Jan-2000
A keen duel for the first innings lead highlighted the second day's
play in the East Zone Ranji Trophy league match between Bihar and
Assam at the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur on Thursday. Ultimately,
amidst some excitement, the home team managed to get a lead of 11
runs.
Assam, replying to Bihar's 258, were given a good start with openers
PK Das (22) and SB Saikia (19) putting on 45 runs off 12.5
overs. Skipper SZ Zuffri (37) and T Rehman (22) then kept the momentum
by adding 47 runs for the third wicket off 16 overs. A middle order
collapse however saw Assam slide to 134 for six. However tailenders R
Borah (39), VR Samant (43), O Singh (26) and GD Dutta (19 not out)
renewed Assam's hopes of taking the lead. But Vikash Kumar (5 for 98)
and Avinash Kumar (4 for 74) managed to get a slender lead for Bihar.
In their second innings, Bihar made a poor start losing N Ranjan with
only two runs on the board. But D Chakraborthy and A Hashmi added 45
runs for the unbroken second wicket as Bihar closed at 47 for one.
Full postCrucial South Africa v Kenya match abandoned
The crucial first round match between Kenya and South Africa was abandoned at 2.25pm without a ball being bowled
14-Jan-2000
The crucial first round match between Kenya and South Africa was
abandoned at 2.25pm without a ball being bowled. Persistent rain
during the morning left large patches of standing water on the
outfield. The covers were removed to reveal a small wet patch on the
wicket.
The match referee, Mr Roger Wijesooriya, was only prepared for the
match to commence if both sides agreed to play. The South Africans,
who are now in danger of not reaching the super league stages, were
keen to play but the Kenyan management was insistent that conditions
were dangerous.
With the teams unable to agree, the decision was referred to the
umpires, E.K.G Wijewardana and T.H. Wijewardana. They decided the
pitch was unsuitable for play and officially abandoned the match.
After the decision CRICINFO spoke exclusively to the South African and
Kenyan managers. The South African manager, Keke Dali, was visibly
angry and aggrieved by the decision when he said, they wanted my
opinion as manager as to whether we could play. I spoke to the Captain
and we agreed that the pitch was not dangerous we could play.
Full postIndia's batsmen let the side down again
Australia came out the victors in a low-scoring fourth match of the Carlton & United Series at the Sydney Cricket Ground this evening
Rick Eyre
14-Jan-2000
Australia came out the victors in a low-scoring fourth match of the
Carlton & United Series at the Sydney Cricket Ground this evening. It
was all over by 9.12pm, and looked for most of the day like being
something of a walkover, but in the end there was just enough
excitement to keep the 38,831 SCG crowd on their toes. Australia
defeated India by five wickets with 23.1 overs to spare, but splendid
bowling by Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad kept a glimmer of hope
alive for the tourists when all else seemed lost.
India were dismissed for exactly 100, a total that in the end was not
quite enough to defend on a pitch that was providing plenty of
assistance for the seamers in both teams. But it was the all-round
efforts of Andrew Symonds that won the man-of-the-match award ahead of
excellent bowling performances by Glenn McGrath and Javagal Srinath.
Pitch curator Tom Parker was quoted in the morning's papers as saying
that 300 would be a winning total on this strip. But by the end of the
day that sounded like a prediction worthier of Tom Parker, the
hyperbolic manager of Elvis Presley.
Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat first. India made two
changes from the team that lost by 28 runs to Australia on Wednesday
night, Devang Gandhi and Nikhil Chopra replacing Jacob Martin and Ajit
Agarkar. Australia fielded an unchanged eleven, with Stuart MacGill
named as twelfth man.
Full postUP have Mumbai in a corner
Uttar Pradesh were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the penultimate day of their three day Vijay Merchant Trophy final against Mumbai at the Medical college ground in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday
14-Jan-2000
Uttar Pradesh were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on
the penultimate day of their three day Vijay Merchant Trophy final
against Mumbai at the Medical college ground in Thiruvananthapuram on
Thursday. They scored 297 in their first innings and had taken eight
Mumbai wickets for 145 by stumps.
UP, resuming at 240 for six, added another 57 runs in the morning.
The overnight not out batsmen R Elahi and SK Upadhayay made their
seventh wicket partnership worth 102 runs off 3 overs. While Elahi
scored 63, Upadhayay got 54. SG Pandey took three of the four wickets
to fall today and finished with four for 59.
Mumbai lost wickets steadily and there were only two brief
partnerships that provided some substance. SS Thakur (39) and P
Valthaty (10) added 49 runs for the second wicket off 19 overs and
then VA Indulkar and skipper H Ravle who each got 35, put on 42 runs
for the sixth wicket off 17.2 overs. But generally N Chaudhery (3 for
53) and R Jaiswal (2 for 40) kept the Mumbai batsmen in check.
Full postRain comes to Holland's rescue
Heavy rains at Matara postponed the start of the game between India and Netherlands
Anand Vasu
14-Jan-2000
Heavy rains at Matara postponed the start of the game between India
and Netherlands. When the umpires finally decided that conditions were
good enough to try to squeeze in 50 overs of cricket, the players took
the field. At 13:00 local time, the match was declared a 35 overs a
side game.
RV Ierschot, captain of the Netherlands side won the toss and decided
to bat. The Indian medium pacers Shalab Sriwatsa and Mrithyunjay
Tripathy bowled a tight line and met with immediate success. Opener
Postma held fort at one end while wickets tumbled at the other end.
Mohammad Kaif wasted no time in bring spinners Anup Dave and himself
on. Dave bowled superbly, varying his flight well and got good
purchase off the wicket. He turned the ball away from the right hander
and picked up wickets at regular intervals. Kaif complemented him
perfectly, not giving away anything. Bowling in tandem, the spinners
knocked the stuffing out of the Dutch middle order. Dave with 7-3-7-3
and Kaif with 7-2-6-1 ended any hopes of a comeback the Dutch may have
harboured. The last pair stuck around for five overs, and yet it was
the extras that top scored with 20.
The Indians should have had no trouble overhauling the meagre total of
58. With storm clods gathering fast over the Uyanwatte Stadium at
Matara, the Indian top order went for expansive shots and three
wickets fell in quick succession. Ravneet Ricky (3), Venugopal Rao (2)
and Yuvraj Singh (0) were all accounted for by left arm seamer Vic
Tewarie who picked up the wickets of Rao and Singh and was on a broken
hat-trick as the rains once again came down. The showers came down
unabated and the pools in the outfield forced the umpires to abandon
the game at 4.35 local time.
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