Report
Assam survives late scare
Orissa almost pulled off a fabulous victory over Assam in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Guwahati yesterday
14-Dec-1999
Orissa almost pulled off a fabulous victory over Assam in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Guwahati yesterday. After setting Assam a victory target of 167 in a minimum of 62 overs they had the home team gasping at 116-9 from 66 overs when stumps were drawn. R Mohanty who took 8-52 in the first innings followed it up with 5-52 in the second as he severely harried Assam. The last pair had to dodge their way through the last two overs in order to salvage Assam 5 points for leading on first innings. Earlier Orissa were all out for 204 after resuming at 107-2. Skipper SP Priyadarshan top scored with 77.
Full postBengal take first innings honours
Bengal collected first innings points against Bihar in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Jamshedpur which ended in a draw yesterday
14-Dec-1999
Bengal collected first innings points against Bihar in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Jamshedpur which ended in a draw yesterday. Bengal had made 279 in their first innings. In reply Bihar stumbled to 36-5 before recovering to 192 all out at the end of the second day thanks to NJ Prakash's 84. The match ended as a competitive exercise thereafter with Manabendra Yadav and M Ziauddin taking centuries off the Bihar attack as Bengal finished at 307-5 from 83 overs.
Full postAndhra hold the aces
Andhra were in a strong position against Tamil Nadu after the second day of their South Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Vishakapatnam
14-Dec-1999
Andhra were in a strong position against Tamil Nadu after the second day of their South Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Vishakapatnam. The home team batted first and made 413. The innings was built around Y Gnaneswara Rao's 138 off 158 balls (15 fours and 1 six). Tamil Nadu began confidently with openers S Vinod and S Vijayasaradhy putting on 92 but they then lost three wickets for 24 runs to finish at 128-3 from 60 overs. Vishal Kudawla on 9 and Aditya Srikkanth on 10 were at the crease.
Full postWI pacers lacking bite
Late afternoon rain cut two hours from the second day of West Indies
Don Cameron
13-Dec-1999
Late afternoon rain cut two hours from the second day of West
Indies? four-day match against Auckland yesterday, but there was
still enough time for a wake-up call for their pacers.
When rain stopped play at tea the hosts had moved rather steadily to
120 for two wickets, in reply to the West Indies first innings, which
finished before lunch at 380.
The remaining feature of the visitors? innings was the 86 not out
by Ridley Jacobs. He moved from 52 not out overnight and needed
support from the other end if he was to reach the century his lively
batting deserved.
However, neither Franklyn Rose, Reon King nor Pedro Collins could
withstand some busily effective Auckland bowling.
Full postTough task ahead for Natal
It was a Sunday stroll for batsmen at Kingsmead yesterday and despite classy centuries from Andrew Hudson and Errol Stewart, Natal will find it tough to bowl Eastern Province out today and set up victory in their SuperSport Series Super Eights game
Ken Borland
13-Dec-1999
It was a Sunday stroll for batsmen at Kingsmead yesterday and despite
classy centuries from Andrew Hudson and Errol Stewart, Natal will find
it tough to bowl Eastern Province out today and set up victory in
their SuperSport Series Super Eights game.
Natal declared their first innings closed at 462 for five but, with a
196-run lead, they failed to snare any Eastern Province wickets in the
13 overs available to their bowlers before bad light stopped play.
Hudson, the most prolific scorer of all current Natal batsmen, remains
a class player as he amply demonstrated in the 20th century of his
first-class career. He faced just 178 balls in his 225 minutes at the
crease, striking 13 fours and two sixes with immaculate placing and
timing in his 102.
There was no respite for the Eastern Province bowlers once Hudson had
skied promising left-arm spinner Robin Peterson into the covers,
though, as Stewart, something of a forgotten player at national level,
scored an unbeaten 109 to take his tally from five SuperSport Series
matches to 402 runs at an average of 134.
The wicketkeeper/batsman seldom tries anything extravagant at the
crease, but he showed a solid technique and his drives were straight
and true yesterday as he went to the top of the four-day competition's
batting averages.
Full postWest Zone meet North Zone in Duleep final
With West Zone having made virtually sure of a berth in the Duleep Trophy final at stumps on the fourth day on Sunday, the final day's play of their semifinal against East Zone at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta was only of academic interest
13-Dec-1999
With West Zone having made virtually sure of a berth in the Duleep Trophy final at stumps on the fourth day on Sunday, the final day's play of their semifinal against East Zone at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta was only of academic interest. There was time however for a couple of batsmen to get hundreds.
West Zone who resumed at 174 for one in their second innings
declared at 260 for three after batting 24.1 overs. The second
wicket partnership between Wasim Jaffar and AV Kale realized
153 runs from 59.5 overs before the former was bowled by East Zone
skipper U Chatterjee for 94. Jaffar faced 264 balls and hit nine
fours. But Kale however did not falter and duly got his hundred
before he was out for 105. Kale occupied the crease for a shade
over 3-1/2 hours, hitting 13 fours. At the fall of Kale's wicket,
Mujumdar declared the innings closed, leaving East Zone the
highly improbable target of 606 runs to win in 63 overs.
The home team utilised the period for some valuable batting
practice. SS Das and Nikhil Haldipur put on 185 runs for the
first wicket in 35.2 overs. Haldipur hit a bright 79 off 93 balls with
15 hits to the fence. However Das who had been the dominant partner
had already got to the three figure mark before he was second out
for 110. He faced 130 balls and hit 18 fours. East Zone when
stumps were finally drawn were 248 for three.
West Zone meet North Zone in the five day final commencing at
Calcutta from Dec 17.
Full postDharmani, Nayyar in big stand
The competitive interest of the Duleep Trophy semifinal between North Zone and Central Zone at Guwahati ended after 11.3 overs play on the final morning on Monday
13-Dec-1999
The competitive interest of the Duleep Trophy semifinal between
North Zone and Central Zone at Guwahati ended after 11.3 overs
play on the final morning on Monday. Central Zone already in
a hopeless situation at stumps on Sunday at 328 for seven in
reply to North Zone's first innings total of 543, were all out
for 366. In the remaining time two principal North Zone batsmen
Pankaj Dharmani and Rajiv Nayyar got some good practice for
the final as the team scored 222 for four wickets.
Central Zone's last bastion of strength Raja Ali fell to the tenth
ball of the morning. Ali just added one run to his overnight score
before he was caught by Mongia off Navdeep Singh for 123. Gandhe
who had retired hurt on Sunday came back to resume his innings.
Shortly afterwards Zaidi was caught by Dharmani off Robin Singh
for 21. And the same bowler ended the innings a little later
by bowling Gandhe for 18. Robin Singh finished with a fine haul
of five for 84 off 38 overs.
With a lead of 177 runs on the first innings, North Zone's entry
into the final was assured. But Zaidi and Yadav injected some
artificial excitement into the proceedings by dismissing Ashu
Dani, skipper Vikram Rathour and Reetinder Singh Sodhi with
only five runs on the board. However both the in form batsmen
Dharmani and Nayyar came together in a fourth wicket partnership
that ultimately realised 217 runs from 67 overs. At the fall of
Nayyar's wicket - he was out for 88 after batting 258 minutes,
facing 211 balls and hitting ten foursplay was called off.
Dharmani remained unbeaten with 121 made in 4-1/2 hours.
He faced 203 balls and hit 20 of them to the ropes.
North Zone now meet traditional rivals West Zone in the five day
final commencing at Calcutta from Dec 17.
Full postAustralians punish wilting Indians
Other than for one session at its very outset, this first Test between Australia and India here at the Adelaide Oval has been characterised by the home team's indomitable capacity to wear down its opponent
John Polack
13-Dec-1999
Other than for one session at its very outset, this first Test between
Australia and India here at the Adelaide Oval has been characterised
by the home team's indomitable capacity to wear down its
opponent. And, aside from the odd moment of anxiety and one notable
individual failure, there was little disruption to the trend on day
four. Indeed, if anything, there was an acceleration as India
plummeted headlong toward disaster, yet another controversial Sachin
Tendulkar (0) dismissal featuring as they plunged to 76 for five by
stumps in their second innings in an already grave looking bid to
avert defeat.
Under sparkling blue skies, the Australians nonetheless did start
tentatively today in a pre-lunch session that came to be dominated far
more by incessant appealing from the Indian bowlers than by convincing
strokeplay. The tone was set on the very first ball of the day when a
nervous-looking Mark Waugh (8) survived a beseeching lbw appeal from
Anil Kumble and was reinforced as they scored just 51 runs in the
first two hours of play.
Around Waugh's fifth successive dismissal for a single figure score
(one which left his shaky Test berth hanging gravely in the balance),
and his brother Steve's departure for five, the Australians were
indeed well contained by some tight Indian bowling and fine ground
fielding during that phase. Following yet another scratchy innings,
the former perished when he fiddled at an Ajit Agarkar outswinger and
edged a low catch to VVS Laxman at second slip. That setback ensured
that the New South Welshman, now a veteran of 98 Tests, has tallied a
mere 18 runs in those last five innings. Consequently the calls for
the inclusion of either Darren Lehmann or Andrew Symonds in his place
will become ever more deafening in the lead-up to the Second Test of
this series in Melbourne in two weeks' time.
But once the shackles were broken shortly after the twins' respective
exits, the same insatiable will to win that has seen Australia triumph
in each of its last four Tests became spectacularly evident
again. Whilst they were never entirely assured, Greg Blewett (88),
Adam Gilchrist (43) and Ricky Ponting (21) each capitalised
sufficiently on the opportunities for easy runs permitted them by an
Indian team increasingly looking to play defensively. Their efforts
ultimately led to a declaration 25 minutes into the final session of
the day, Gilchrist's dismissal bringing a cessation to the innings
with the score at 239 for eight and setting India a massive victory
target of 396. More to the point, it consigned the visitors to the
ardour of having to survive a little under four sessions to clinch a
draw.
Full postMohanty fails to hold off Assam
A valiant bowling effort by R Mohanty (8-52) could not prevent Assam from taking the first innings lead in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Guwahati yesterday
13-Dec-1999
A valiant bowling effort by R Mohanty (8-52) could not prevent Assam
from taking the first innings lead in their East Zone Vijay Merchant
Trophy match at Guwahati yesterday. Resuming at 35-2, Assam were
dismissed for 156, a lead of 38. Captain Palasjoyti Das top scored
with 78 in an innings in which six men failed to score. In their
second innings Orissa lost two early wickets but recovered to 107-3
after a 101 run 3rd wicket stand between Niranjan Behera (60) and SP
Priyadarshan (38 not out). Behera was out in the last over before
stumps.
Full postMaharashtra salvage draw against Baroda
Baroda had to settle for first innings points in their West Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match against Maharashtra at Pune yesterday which ended in a draw
13-Dec-1999
Baroda had to settle for first innings points in their West Zone Vijay
Merchant Trophy match against Maharashtra at Pune yesterday which
ended in a draw. Resuming at 5-0 in their 2nd innings after being 228
runs in arrears on the 1st innings, Maharashtra batted out the last
day to finish at 266-4, thanks to a patient unbeaten 118 (291 balls,
10 fours) from opener Shirish Kamathe. Baroda used ten bowlers in a
vain effort to force victory.
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