Report

The third day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal between Hyderabad and Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday began with an air of expectancy hanging around as VVS Laxman resumed his innings at 346. Karnataka went in straightaway for the third new ball after 180 overs and Laxman got to his 350 in the second over of the day with his 52nd boundary. Ganesh was bowling to him with four men patrolling the fence but the wide arc between deep backward square and mid on was open country. Laxman just eased one off his legs through mid wicket and the ball trickled to the boundary before the two converging fielders could reach it. Fiaz Ahmed was gaining in confidence at the other end, swatting a short one from Ganesh to the mid wicket fence.

But Laxman's long hand ended at 683 when he mistimed a pull off Prasad to deposit it tamely into the hands of substitute KN Ramesh at mid on. His 353 (559 balls, 758 minutes) included a startling 220 runs in fours and sixes. Hyderabad decided to rub salt in the open gushing wound by prolonging their innings further and both Fiaz and NP Singh picked up more boundaries. Prasad got his fifth wicket of the innings when he had Fiaz caught behind by Thilak Naidu for 31 upon which Azharuddin finally decided to close shop just under an hour into the morning session with the scoreboard reading 711/8.

Hyderabad's new ball duo of NP Singh and Fiaz Ahmed started with a flurry of no balls. A loud shout for a catch at forward short leg against Arun Kumar was turned down as he played forward with bat and pad close together. Mithun Beerala wasted little time in gaining the ascendancy as he punched Fiaz to the cover boundary off the back foot. Beerala had a lucky break when Daniel Manohar at forward short leg instinctively got his hands to a flick off NP Singh but wasn't able to hold on. Azhar brought on Venkatapathy Raju from the BEML end in the eighth over and both batsmen treated him with circumspection. The seam bowlers continued to be plagued by overstepping and with Beerala playing some elegant drives through the off side, Karnataka had galloped to 84/0 in 17 overs at lunch.

Arun Kumar cover drove Satwalkar to the fence to bring up the hundred of the innings and complete 3000 runs in his 45th Ranji match. Beerala has been very much the form player for Karnataka in this, his debut season and he beat Arun Kumar to his half century by picking the gap between mid on and short midwicket to precision. He also favoured the cut shot wide of point. Kanwaljit Singh was introduced belatedly into the attack and in his fifth over he got the break as Beerala flicked one straight into the hands of Azhar at short midwicket for 74.

Sachin Tendulkar carried Mumbai's hopes on the third day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday. Moving from 34 to 213, he anchored the home team to a score of 470 for eight at close of play. This was in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 485.

Old school chums Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted throughout the morning as Mumbai progressed from 141 for four to 262. The partnership that took Mumbai towards safety ended abruptly when Kambli top edged a pull shot just after lunch. Mediumpacer Mahesh surprised him with a quick bouncer. A shade late on the shot, Kambli ended up skying the ball straight up in the air. Waving everyone else away, Mahesh completed the catch himself. The left hander made 75 and the fifth wicket partnership had added 139.

The Tamil Nadu seam attack was ineffective on a pitch that grew increasingly slower. Aashish Kapoor who got the ball to a do a bit yesterday was used sparingly and he too could not break through.

After Kambli was dismissed, Amol Muzumdar kept Tendulkar good company. Though he did not go after the bowling in the same manner as Tendulkar, Muzumdar played his role to perfection. His silken drives through the off side were a perfect foil to Tendulkar's power and timing.

Kingstown - It was supposed to have been a contest with the competitiveness of a Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield bout. Instead, it was a no-contest that typified any of Mike Tyson's early career blow-outs. West Indies were the ones delivering the knockout punches and Pakistan were the ones who fell to the canvas without offering much resistance. The fourth preliminary match of the Cable & Wireless triangular limited-overs series, and the first between two teams boasting of recent success, was a one-sided affair with the West Indies winning by 96 runs in front of a crowd of 10 000 spectators. They would have settled in after the lunch break with the expectation that an enthralling match was in the making after the West Indies had posted 213 for seven off their 50 overs, a total which was significantly boosted only by effective hitting in the closing overs. Curtly Ambrose started with a maiden over which was capped off by a sharp break-back that teenager Imran Nazir snicked to the keeper. Reon King followed Ambrose's example by delivering three successive maidens before removing the potential threat of Shahid Afridi, the pinch-hitting opener, who was unable to clear mid-off. When Ambrose (8-1-12-1) and King (6-3-7-1) came off, the pressure was on Pakistan, who could eke out only 24 runs from the first 15 overs and it mounted even more with each passing over. Franklyn Rose came on to ensure that Pakistan's task was even more enormous by despatching young, promising talents Younis Khan, Yousaf Youhana and Abdur Razzak in the space of eight balls en route to a career-best haul of five for 23. The unpredictable Pakistanis were at one stage 41 for five, but the remainder of the innings took the expected course. In spite of Inzamam-ul-Haq's unbeaten 51 and a busy 21 from captain Moin Khan, there was no grand recovery, and Pakistan's 117 was the lowest total in ten One-Day Internationals at the ground. Pakistan's defeat, which ended an eight-match winning streak against the West Indies, means that Zimbabwe still have a slight chance of reaching the finals if this weekend's matches in St. George's result in losses for the Asians. Earlier the West Indies were never able to dominate Pakistan's deep, varied attack until the closing stages on a pitch that was not the most ideal because of its inconsistent bounce and slow nature. Philo Wallace and Sherwin Campbell had their problems against the new ball, especially Wasim Akram, but were beginning to make progress before they were back in the pavilion within five runs of each other. By the 15th over, the West Indies were 50 for one, which represented a scoring rate of 3.53. By the 40th over, they were 137 for two at an almost identical rate of 3.42. It meant that progress in the crucial mid-innings overs was never accelerated, with captain Jimmy Adams and Hinds finding difficulty in launching an attack. The two Jamaicans put on 84 for the third wicket, but they required as many as 25 overs. Adams made an even 50 that took him 87 balls. In the quest to move on, wickets were also lost at a rapid rate, but runs were the priority and the 76 that came in the final ten overs were more than adequate.

The second day's play in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede stadium on Wednesday saw Tamil Nadu and Mumbai share honours. Although Mumbai managed to wrap up the Tamil Nadu innings pretty soon, they too lost quick wickets. This leaves the match interestingly poised.

Resuming on 397/4, Tamil Nadu captain Robin Singh had hopes of making 600 and batting Mumbai out of the game. Hemang Badani played across the line and was trapped LBW by Santosh Saxena after adding just 10 runs to his overnight score and this did not help Tamil Nadu's cause. The southpaw had made a brilliant 162 and yet was hardly the talking point at the Wankhede Stadium. His knock was overshadowed completely by the events involving Hansie Cronje that unfolded yesterday.

Robin Singh toiled manfully at his end while a series of batsmen breezed in and out of the crease. Stumper Reuben Paul played as though it was the end of a limited overs game, carving four boundaries in his 20 ball essay at the crease that yielded as many runs. He had his stump uprooted by a Saxena yorker when he attempted one too many loose drives.

Sadagopan Mahesh played cautiously for 14 but was undone by a shooter from Ajit Agarkar. Keeping low, the ball crept under the bat and pegged the stumps back. Aashish Kapoor, wearing a maroon helmet and made up like a Caribbean cricketer, tried to hook an Agarkar bouncer. Unfortunately it takes more than a maroon helmet to make a Caribbean batsman. Shockingly late on the shot, Kapoor only managed to get the ball straight up in the air. Wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe pouched the catch and sent Kapoor on his way before he could trouble the scorers.

VVS Laxman, with an unbeaten 346, created Ranji history by becoming the first batsman to score two triple hundreds in the 65 year old competition as Hyderabad rubbed Karnataka's nose in the dirt for the second day running in their Ranji Trophy semifinal at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday.

Undeterred by the loss of Mohd. Azharuddin for 123 in the seventh over of the day, after a 288 run fourth wicket association, Laxman marched serenely onward, abetted by two able partners in Vanka Pratap and Parth Satwalkar. Cuts, drives, pulls and flicks all flowed in profusion from Laxman's blade as he played every shot in the book except the hook to lift Hyderabad to an invincible position of 663/6 at close of play.

Azhar and Laxman began in frenetic fashion in the morning, taking seven boundaries off Prasad and Ganesh in the first six overs. Azhar escaped a run out appeal when Mithun Beerala threw down the stumps from point with a direct hit. He also tried to pull a shortish one from Prasad but the ball lobbed off the edge, landing just short of mid on. The danger signals were there and in the same over as the two afore mentioned incidents, Prasad had his revenge. Driving away from his body, Azhar presented a catch to Vijay Bharadwaj at second slip who grabbed it with alacrity.

Laxman survived another chance at 194 when Bharadwaj stretched to his right at first slip and got both hands to the ball but it just wouldn't stick. Laxman duly got to his double ton with a gentle push through the on side to leave everyone wondering what the final harvest would be. Vanka Pratap played some elegant on drives, both the lofted version and all along the ground as he added 124 for the fourth wicket with VVS before Joshi bowled him round his legs when he missed an intended sweep.

Umpires Ray Julian and Chris Kelly consulted the Lord's hierarchy, before recommending to the team captains, that play should be abandoned, not just for the second day in succession, but for the third day also.

Incessant rain from 4 pm on Tuesday, including heavy falls of snow, sleet and hailstones left The Parks outfield saturated, and with a bad weather expected for a few more days, the teams made their way home.

Veteran umpire Ray Julian, with over 1,100 matches under his belt remarked that it would be lucky to get on one week from now. Chris Kelly was particularly disappointed as this was his first-class debut. "I had been looking forward to this match ever since I received the fixture", said Kelly, who has spent a number of years on the Minor Counties panel. "I had built myself up for this match, and I'm sad that the weather has ruined it for me".

Hampshire coach Jimmy Cook, who is to write a regular article for the Hampshire Web site, immediatly organised some indoor nets for the County Ground that afternoon.

Durban - Shrugging off the nightmare trauma of the last 72 hours South Africa forgot the recriminations of Hansiegate for an evening and concentrated on beating Australia at Kingsmead in the opening match of the Challenge Series.

It was a remarkable four-wickets victory against the World Cup champions: just what a packed Kingsmead, and perhaps South Africa, needed in a time of internal crisis.

With Gary Kirsten digging deep in a hallmark display of left-handed batting grit, synonymous with the Kirsten name, during a well-paced innings of 97, South Africa went on to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

In some small way it avenged the two defeats during the World Cup in England last year as the side, shaken by the Hansie Cronje scandal focused their minds on the game and pulled together in a display of true character. The success coming with 12 balls to spare.

The 4th Match of the tournament starts at the Volcanic Island of St Vincent amidst buzzing excitement of the islanders who have been keenly waiting for a contest between Pakistan and the West Indies. In the first three matches, the West Indies defeated Zimbabwe twice while Pakistan defeated them once. Having also defeated Zimbabwe in the two test matches, the hosts seem to be riding high on the advantage that they derive out of the home conditions.

The Pakistan team also having won the Coca-Cola Trophy at Sharjah by defeating the indomitable South Africans twice followed by victory against Zimbabwe in the one dayer are in high spirits. With ace speedster Wasim Akram back in the team, the side will be much stronger than the one that played against Zimbabwe. The West Indies having a dismal record of one-day matches since the World Cup, with only two victories against 13 defeats, Pakistan enjoys a definite edge over the hosts.

While Jimmy Adams, the West Indies Captain considers the match against Pakistan a big challenge, the Pakistan coach Javed Miandad says, "We are well focussed on the match and will do our best with full team available."

The picturesque Arnos Vale Ground, over looking a group of 12 islands in the sea provides a breathtaking view. The two teams always being weary of each other will, however, be fully focussing on the match. Apart from who wins, the sell out crowd of the tiny island with enjoy, cricket of the highest class.

Hyderabad had things their own way on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday. At close of play, the visitors were sitting pretty at 344/2 after VVS Laxman (163) and Mohd. Azharuddin (103) mercilessly punished Karnataka, with an unbroken 253 run partnership, for an apalling display in the field that saw three catches go down besides several shocking misfields. Laxman's seventh hundred in eight matches this season and the 17th of his Ranji Trophy career also saw him cross the thousand mark for the season.

Combining power with finesse, Laxman played some exquisite square cuts, leaning back and slicing the ball past point. He was also strong off his legs and when the ball was pitched short, he pulled with regal authority. Both batsmen made merry on a wicket which did not give the bowlers as much assistance as was expected.

Both sides went in with three pronged seam attacks, with Hyderabad leaving out middle order bat D Vinay Kumar to accommodate Fiaz Ahmed, the third seamer. The left-right combination of Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore opened the batting but the latter did not last long as he fell to Prasad for 11. There was a hint of outswing as the batsman played defensively and the ball just about carried to Vijay Bharadwaj at second slip who took a low catch to his left.

Laxman started cautiosly, taking 23 balls to get off the mark with a disdainful pull to the square leg boundary off Mansur Ali Khan. Mansur was unlucky when Laxman checked an intended drive and deposited the ball in the no man's land behind the bowler's head. Hyderabad's fifty came up in the 18th over as both batsmen played the bowling with increasing confidence.

A mixture of insipid Mumbai bowling and inspired Tamil Nadu batting saw the visitors post a more than healthy 397/4 at the end of the first day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede stadium on Tuesday. With both Robin Singh and Hemang Badani at the crease with big hundreds to their names, Tamil Nadu can look forward to putting the pressure on the Mumbai side tomorrow.

The wicket proved to have a bit of juice in it. The ball came nicely onto the bat off the bowling of both opening speedsters. There was no exaggerated lateral movement, but just enough nip to keep the batsmen on their toes.

Sreedharan Sriram's golden run with the bat came to a premature end after he had scored just two runs at the Wankhede Stadium. The southpaw came to this match with 1063 runs from seven innings behind him. Ajit Agakar, generating good pace, got the ball to fly past the outside more than once before he finally had his man. Swishing at a delivery just outside the off stump, Sriram nicked the ball through to stumper Dighe who held the catch with ease.

S Ramesh looked good for his 44 at the crease but was run out attempting one cheeky single too many. Ramesh was found short of his crease by a good pick up and throw from Amol Muzumdar in the infield. JR Madanagopal's streaky stay at the crease lasted just 12 balls. After edging one past the slips to pick up four, Madanagopal flashed hard at a ball from Saxena without moving his feet. All he managed to do was edge the ball to Dighe. Even Sridharan Sharath never looked convincing at the wicket. The fall of his wicket soon after the players returned from lunch did not come as a surprise. Hanging his bat loosely outside off stump, Sharath edged a Powar off spinner towards the slips. Diving low, Amol Muzumdar snatched the ball inches from the ground and sent Sharath on his way.