Report
Bihar defeat Madhya Pradesh by three wickets
Bihar picked up two points by defeating Madhya Pradesh by three wickets in the first round of the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women's National Cricket Championship at the Gymkhana Ground in Jorhat on Monday
21-Mar-2000
Bihar picked up two points by defeating Madhya Pradesh by three wickets
in the first round of the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women's National
Cricket Championship at the Gymkhana Ground in Jorhat on Monday.
Chasing a target of 100, Bihar got off to a steady start with openers
Nitu Singh (29 runs of 48 balls) and Kamini Kumari (7 runs of 25
balls) putting on 37 runs. Bihar wicketkeeper Geethe Samanth Rao
chipped in with 23 runs of 42 balls but there was a minor collapse
with Madhya Pradesh's Preeti (3 for 19) bowling an incisive spell. But
MP's paltry total was highly inadequate and Bihar were home in the
33rd over.
Earlier, put into bat, MP's openers V Bharti (17 runs of 33 balls) and
P Ketaki (7 runs of 26 balls) put on 28 runs in 6.5 overs. But soon
MP were in trouble with three of their four middle order batswoman run
out cheaply. They could not really recover and were all out in 32.5
overs for only 99.
Full postTour diary: everything to play for after two days
Well, it's the end of a very long second day, about seven and half hours of Test cricket in all
Alistair Campbell
20-Mar-2000
Well, it's the end of a very long second day, about seven and
half hours of Test cricket in all. A slow over rate from the West
Indians added to a day already lengthened as a result of the play
lost on the first day. However, for the Test cricket enthusiast
it was a thoroughly enthralling day of cricket, as has the Test
been thus far.
Day one started in the perfect manner, with Andy Flower winning
the toss and putting them in on a wicket that had a tinge of
green to it. Heath Streak confirmed the captain's decision with a
wicket with his third ball, Griffiths lbw for 0. The ball was
nipping around a bit and the bowlers got it in the right areas.
However, countless play and misses and a dropped catch later, we
managed to get our second wicket through a run out. The ball was
pushed into the covers and Brian Murphy charged after it, threw
it to the bowler on the swivel and Neil Johnson obliged by taking
the bails off (the ball only nicked the leg stump as he had to
underarm it some two metres) and Gayle was out for 33.
Lunch came and went and we managed to bowl only one ball after
the break when suddenly the heavens opened. It rained on and off
for about two and half hours and the ground was very wet; we
thought that we would never get back on, but the umpires thought
differently and we had about forty-five minutes at them. We were
not complaining as this was a horrible time for them to have to
see out.
The bowlers were on the mark again and it was a matter of time
before we got another wicket (a very important one at that)
Chanderpaul edging Olonga to Andy Flower. Gripper missed a chance
by Ambrose off Murphy just before the close which would have had
them four down. However, we were reasonably happy when stumps
were drawn. West Indies 73 for 3.
Full postTour diary: A chance to make history
Well, it's the end of day four and what a Test match it is turning out to be
Alistair Campbell
20-Mar-2000
Well, it's the end of day four and what a Test match it is
turning out to be. At the end of my last report I alluded to the
fact that day three would be a very pivotal day in this Test
match. We needed to bat with the same resolve that Gripper and
Flower had shown and try and get a first innings lead.
Walsh and Ambrose again did the bulk of the bowling, and again
were outstanding and a little unfortunate. Andy Flower edged
Walsh to third slip in the first over of the day and Chanderpaul
put the chance down. We were moving along comfortably enough when
the rain came down again, which it has done at regular intervals
all through this Test. When play commenced again Andy Flower had
another piece of good fortune when he edged Ambrose to first slip
where Gayle spilled the chance. Batting was extremely difficult,
as the ball was reverse-swinging and keeping low. Mixed in with
this, Ambrose and Walsh bowling superbly, you couldn't help get
the feeling that something was going to happen.
Something did when Gripper, after a mammoth and very important
vigil, edged a superb Ambrose leg-cutter to first slip. Enter
yours truly and not for very long, edging another
reverse-swinging Ambrose delivery to Jacobs second ball. 140 for
5 and you could sense that this is where the game could be turned
on its head -- the Windies were pumped up. Carlisle came to the
crease and looked very comfortable, playing a breezy innings of
17 before going back to one that kept low from Ambrose. Zimbabwe
160 for 6 and the game was very evenly poised.
Streak joined Flower and while Flower at the one one end was
showing all the resolve that had already netted him 6 test
hundreds, Streak held up the other end, mixing cautious defence
with well-timed punches off the back foot. They accumulated
together and before we knew it Flower was on 99 and all the boys
were on the edge of their seats. A mis-timed drive off Walsh that
looped to mid-off and a scampered single, Flower had reached a
hundred. And what a valuable effort it had been, spanning 7 hours
in very demanding conditions against two of the finest fast
bowlers in the world.
Full postWest Indies on brink
Port-Of-Spain - Overcome as much by the collective negativity that has enveloped every aspect of their cricket for so long as by the discipline and fierce competitiveness of their opponents, the West Indies are on the brink of their latest
20-Mar-2000
Port-Of-Spain - Overcome as much by the collective negativity that has
enveloped every aspect of their cricket for so long as by the
discipline and fierce competitiveness of their opponents, the West
Indies are on the brink of their latest humiliation.
After struggling un-convincingly for four days to repeatedly retrieve
desperate situations, they start the final day of their inaugural Test
against Zimbabwe at the Queen's Park Oval this morning in a forlorn
position.
Their already brittle batting, further weakened by the self-imposed
exile of Brian Lara, who has watched the familiar ignominy unfold from
the distance of the stands, had collapsed yet again to 147 for nine
when fading light ended the day six overs short.
Subtracting the first innings deficit of 49, the West Indies begin
this morning 98 ahead with two of Test cricket's most authentic
non-batsmen, Reon King and Courtney Walsh, together.
Full postCricInfo Trophy: Punjab races to ten wicket victory over Assam
Punjab defeated hosts Assam convincingly by ten wickets with 38.5 overs to spare in the first round of the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women's National Championship at the JDSA Ground in Jorhat on Monday
20-Mar-2000
Punjab defeated hosts Assam convincingly by ten wickets with 38.5 overs to spare in the first round of the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women's National Championship at the JDSA Ground in Jorhat on Monday. The winners moved into the quarterfinals.
Chasing a meagre target of 93 for victory, Punjab captain Gulshan (59 runs of 33 balls) and Anjuman Bassi (21 runs of 17 balls) made short work of Assam's bowling and reached their objective in the eleventh over. With her partner playing second fiddle, Gulshan plundered the attack from the word go and hit 12 boundaries.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat, Assam were given a decent start with openers Rumi Boro (11 runs of 24 balls) and Rupa Begum (33 runs of 89 balls) putting on 24 runs off five overs. Then Assam lost four quick wickets and were gasping for breath at 32 for five. They continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and were all out in 39.5 overs. Besides the openers, only Suchitra Singh (17) reached double digits. Assam's inadequate total of 92 was boosted by as many as 21 extras. Punjab's Sandeep (4 for 9 of 8 overs) was easily the best bowler.
Full postLogan match fizzles out to draw
As expected, the Logan Cup match between Manicaland and Mashonaland fizzled out into a tame draw at Mutare Sports Club
John Ward
19-Mar-2000
LOGAN CUP REPORT: MANICALAND v MASHONALAND, Day 3
By John Ward
As expected, the Logan Cup match between Manicaland and
Mashonaland fizzled out into a tame draw at Mutare Sports Club.
Mashonaland gained full batting points in their total of 353 for
nine wickets declared, but Manicaland safely batted out the
match.
The first over on another unexpectedly sunny morning was an
eventful one. Terry Denyer still had five balls of his
unfinished over to complete after it had been interrupted by bad
light the previous evening. His second ball, short, was pulled
by overnight batsman Dirk Viljoen for four; off the fourth
Viljoen (66) attempted a tentative cover drive and snicked a
catch straight to Guy Whittall at first slip.
Full postLara's influences missed, or not?
Harper's answer was somewhat informative: "We have already said that we know and accept that Brian will be missing this season
Colin E. Croft
19-Mar-2000
My first question to Roger Harper at the team press briefing at the end of the second day of the 1st Test match between the West Indies and Zimbabwe was simple: "Did you and the team, under the present circumstances of the game, miss the presence, dynamism and batsmanship of Brian Lara?"
Harper's answer was somewhat informative: "We have already said that we know and accept that Brian will be missing this season. All we can do now is to make sure that someone, maybe everyone in the team, understand that they will have to take up more of the slack, be more responsible to fill the void left by Brian's absence."
With the West Indies only managing 187 in their first innings after being sent in by the Zimbabweans, and this only after both Jamaican debutantes, Chris Gayle, with 33, and Wavell Hinds, with 46 not out, had managed to save the West Indies team's batsmen from further embarrassing blushes by two fighting innings, one wonders what might have been the thoughts of Brian Lara himself. Had Lara played, perhaps Hinds would not have been considered. Very ironic, this twist.
The attendance for the first three days of the Test totaled about 3000 per day in the 30,000 capacity Queens Park Oval. Very disappointing indeed. There are at least three themes of thought for obvious lack of interest, or at least lack of support, of this game.
Full postFlower power
Port-Of-Spain - The West Indies all but let the first Test slip from their grasp yesterday
19-Mar-2000
Port-Of-Spain - The West Indies all but let the first Test slip from
their grasp yesterday.
Once more obliged to defend an inadequate first innings total, they
had dropped the opposition's captain and best batsman twice on the
second day and proceded to put him down twice more.
The left-handed Andy Flower duly made the most of the let-offs - and a
lucky umpiring break before he had scored on Friday - to accumulate a
determined, unbeaten 113 and lead Zimbabwe to a total of 236 and a
lead of 49.
It threatened to be substantially more until Chris Gayle, an unlikely
destroyer with his steady off-breaksanddrifters, despatched three
of the last four wickets that fell for four runs to round off another
entralling, if rain-shortened, day reduced to 52 overs by two early
interruptions.
Full postSouth Africa hold their nerves to win another close finish
South Africa reduced the final margin to 3-2 after beating India by 10 runs with 1.1 overs to spare in the fifth one day international at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur today
Sankhya Krishnan
19-Mar-2000
South Africa reduced the final margin to 3-2 after beating India by 10
runs with 1.1 overs to spare in the fifth one day international at the
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur today. It brought the
curtain down on a highly entertaining series in which four out of five
matches went down to the wire with both sides remaining in the hunt
until the final moments. Lance Klusener was named man of the match
after unveiling his potent striking power for the first time in the
series and taking 3-59 in the bargain to pull the rug from under
India's lower order.
It was always going to be an uphill struggle for India after they
allowed the visitors to plunder 320 runs in 50 overs. But a roaring
second wicket association between Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid
had the South Africans press the panic buttons as the bowling and
fielding went to pieces in the closing stages. Although both Tendulkar
and Dravid fell at 193 in the space of three balls, the lower order
manfully strove to match a soaring asking rate that touched a high of
7.83 at the end of the 44th over.
Saba Karim and Robin Singh led a counter rally, putting on 31 runs for
the seventh wicket, with the former showing icy cool nerves under
pressure to make a sweet 22 in 17 balls with four boundaries. After
Karim was out, a poor 47th over from Hansie Cronje that cost 13 runs
gave India the edge with a couple of misfields by the visitors
seemingly indicating that they were losing control of the
situation. With 18 needed in as many balls, India lost Robin but a
boundary by Kumble restored their hopes by keeping the asking rate at
six. However India had already reached the limits of their endurance
and ran out of steam in the penultimate over quite literally as Kumble
and Chopra were thrown out to leave the visitors worthy victors.
Earlier Saurav Ganguly, the South African bete noire during the
series, had fallen in the third over, pulling a widish delivery
outside leg stump into the hands of short fine leg. But Sachin
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid then produced a magical 180 run stand in a
little under 24 overs.
Full postDraw on cards in Mutare match
The match between Logan Cup leaders Manicaland and favourites Mashonaland appears to be heading for a draw at the Mutare Sports Club, with the visitors 116 runs behind on first innings with six wickets in hand at the close of the second day's play
John Ward
18-Mar-2000
The match between Logan Cup leaders Manicaland and favourites
Mashonaland appears to be heading for a draw at the Mutare Sports
Club, with the visitors 116 runs behind on first innings with six
wickets in hand at the close of the second day's play.
Contrary to local fears, the day dawned fine in Mutare, with play
starting half an hour earlier in an effort to make up for lost
time. The pitch continued to give no help to the bowlers and the
outfield none to the batsmen. Neil Ferreira and Gary Brent took
the total to 139 with some steady batting before Brent (19) was
yorked by left-arm spinner Dirk Viljoen.
Guy Whittall, in his one Logan Cup match for Manicaland before
travelling to the West Indies next weekend, provided his knee
continues to hold up, was soon batting fluently. Even he found
it difficult to reach the boundary, although he did pull a low
six over deep square leg. Ferreira continued to accumulate as
some of the Mashonaland players got rather frustrated, and if he
became concerned at being bogged down at times he didn't show it.
At lunch Manicaland were on 218 for three (Ferreira 89, Whittall
46) and seeming set for a dominant score.
The score passed 250 without any trouble, Whittall opening up
once he had reached his fifty with a drive for four and pulls for
six and four off successive balls from du Plessis. He was
rapidly catching up Neil Ferreira, creeping up through the
nineties, when he on-drove a catch off Viljoen straight to
Everton Matambanadzo to be out for 80. The score was now 256 for
four, and this was the turning point of the innings.
Full post