Report

Vidarbha in commanding position

Vidarbha were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the opening day of their Central Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) match against Madhya Pradesh at Nagpur on Friday

11-Dec-1999

Vidarbha were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the opening day of their Central Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) match against Madhya Pradesh at Nagpur on Friday. After dismissing MP for 135 runs, Vidarbha scored 83 without loss from 23 overs at close of play.

Electing to bat, MP lost wickets at regular intervals and it was only a valuable 31 by the No 8 batsman Amit Rajak which helped MP to get to three figures. Chandrasekhar Atram and Azhar Sheikh took three wickets each. By close of play, openers Fazal (20) and Akbar (57) had seen Vidarbha get off to a fine start. The more aggressive Akbar faced 74 balls and hit eleven fours.

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Kambli slams 154 in West's big total

Displaying commanding form, former India left hander Vinod Kambli cracked 154 as West Zone piled up runs on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against East Zone at Calcutta on Friday

Partab Ramchand

10-Dec-1999

Displaying commanding form, former India left hander Vinod Kambli cracked 154 as West Zone piled up runs on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against East Zone at Calcutta on Friday. Resuming at 254 for two, they ended the day at 544 for seven off 181 overs.

Kambli was in irresistable form as he hit 23 fours and a six in a stay of four hours. West Zone lost yesterday's century maker Williams early. The left hander added just two runs to his overnight score of 105. His dismissal brought Kambli to the crease and he and skipper Amol Mujumdar proceeded to ground the East Zone attack into the dust with a fourth wicket partnership of 189 in 51.2 overs. Finally at 450, Mujumdar was caught by Das off Zaman for 90. He faced 223 balls and had 12 hits to the fence.

Kambli who dominated this stand was also the dominant partner in the sixth wicket partnership of 51 runs off 16.4 overs with PH Patel (13). Shortly afterwards, Kambli was caught by Satpathy off Chatterjee. The 27-year-old Kambli who had come in at 261 for three in the 95th over, was sixth out at 510 in the 169th over. Chatterjee who dismissed both Patel and Kambli now struck again when he had Mhambrey caught by Das for nine. IR Siddiqui (18) and BN Mehta (6) were batting at draw of stumps. Among the bowlers, skipper and left arm spinner U Chatterjee was the most successful taking four for 128 from 53 overs. Medium pacer Zaman took the remaining three wickets for 125.

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WI make shaky start

Auckland, New Zealand - The West Indies were in early trouble on the opening morning of their four-day tour match against Auckland here today (last night Barbados time)

10-Dec-1999

Auckland, New Zealand - The West Indies were in early trouble on the opening morning of their four-day tour match against Auckland here today (last night Barbados time).

At lunch, they were 100 for four wickets with opener Sherwin Campbell on 34 and Jimmy Adams 18. The visitors chose to bat on winning the toss in their last preparation match prior to the two back-to-back Tests against New Zealand.

The first starts in Hamilton December 16, the second in Wellington on December 26.

Daren Ganga and Shivnarine Chanderpaul both went quickly and cheaply and, after captain Brian Lara stroked four effortless boundaries in 22 off 22 balls, he deflected a leg-side catch to wicket-keeper Reece Young from an intended pull off fast bowler Richard Morgan.

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Williams hits unbeaten century

Baroda's left handed opener Cecil Williams hit an unbeaten 105 as West Zone ran up a good score of 254 for two from 91 overs at close of play on the first day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against East Zone at Calcutta on Thursday

Partab Ramchand

10-Dec-1999

Winning the toss, West Zone were given an excellent start with openers Williams and Wasim Jaffer (69) putting on 156 runs from 47.5 overs. Jaffer faced 163 balls and hit 12 fours. The momentum was maintained with Williams and AV Kale (24) adding 41 runs in 19 overs for the second wicket. Skipper Amol Mujumdar and Williams then completed a fruitful day for West Zone by increasing the score by 57 runs during an unbroken third wicket association which lasted 24.1 overs. The 26-year-old Williams by close had faced 261 balls hitting 14 fours and a six. Mujumdar has faced 71 balls hitting three of them to the ropes. For East Zone opening bowler J Zaman and skipper U Chatterjee shared the wickets.

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Chopra Hits Unbeaten 132 as North Pile Up Runs

Nikhil Chopra slammed an unbeaten 132 at No 8 as North Zone piled up a massive total of 543 on the second day of their five day Duleep Trophy semifinal against holders Central Zone at Guwahati on Friday

Partab Ramchand

10-Dec-1999

Central must have nurtured hopes of restricting the North total to reasonable limits when the obdurate Rajiv Nayyar fell in the fourth over of the morning. He was bowled by Gandhe without adding to his overnight score of 13 and this made North Zone 305 for six which was a bit of setback after they had been 260 for two.

Chopra entered at this stage and at once set about reviving North's hopes of a big total. First with Dinesh Mongia (22) he added 51 runs for the seventh wicket in 15.2 overs. Navdeep Singh (11) did not last long and at his fall North Zone were 372 for eight.

Shakti Singh, no mean batsman, came in at No 10 signifying North's batting depth. He and Chopra settled down comfortably and then got entrenched in a ninth wicket partnership which ultimately realized 145 runs from 43.3 overs in a trifle over three hours. Chopra got his hundred and shortly afterwards Shakti Singh reached his half century. Finally at 517, Shakti was out for 50 for which he faced 117 balls, with four hits to the ropes and one over it.

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Ponting, Steve Waugh turn Indian joy to despair

John Polack

10-Dec-1999

Spectacularly stern middle and late order batting resistance has been the defining feature of this summer of cricket for the home team and so it proved again today on the first day of the First Test between Australia and India here at the Adelaide Oval. After they had once more looked to be courting disaster on the back of failures from four members of their upper order, the Australians found it within themselves to mount yet another stunning reversal of fortune through the last two sessions of this opening bout of the series, finishing the day at 5/298 after they had looked consigned to concluding at a significantly less flattering scoreline.

Following on from monumental partnerships in each of the previous two Tests of the season, it was Ricky Ponting (125) and Steve Waugh (117*) who stole the lion's share of the accolades today. Joining together to post an all time record fifth wicket association for their nation in Tests against India, Ponting and Waugh were in irresistible form throughout a liaison of 239 runs for the fifth wicket - one which lifted their team from a state of peril to one of almost complete command. Whilst they did survive the odd moment of anxiety (indeed, replays appeared to suggest that the former was caught behind off Ajit Agarkar as he underedged a pull with his score on 62; Rahul Dravid at mid off failed to run out Waugh on 67 as he attempted a ridiculous single; and VVS Laxman at second slip grassed a chance to catch Ponting off Agarkar on 90), theirs was a tremendous effort. In combination, they surpassed the unbeaten 223 added by Sir Donald Bradman and Arthur Morris at Melbourne in 1947/48 and such was the conviction of their display that few would have begrudged their rearrangement of the mark.

On a pitch which seemed to be offering more encouragement to bowlers than is traditionally the case in Adelaide, Ponting and Waugh each started slowly before accelerating their scoring, some of their strokeplay (and their use of the short square boundaries at this picturesque ground) delightful to behold. Although they benefited significantly from some strange tactics from the Indians immediately after the lunch break (part time medium pacer Saurav Ganguly surprisingly preferred to Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble when his team possessed some strong momentum), little credit could be taken away from their double act. Ponting was the chief aggressor, registering his sixth Test century and his second in succession with a fine mixture of front foot drives and back foot strokes through the point and mid wicket regions. Waugh, however, lost little by comparison as he set about adding a century of his own, many shots behind the wicket evident in his 21st Test century - a milestone which now ensures that he has made at least one century against each of the world's other Test nations.

Through the pre-lunch period, though, the story had been a substantially different one. India indeed began brilliantly, capturing four wickets inside the first 90 minutes of the day for the meagre tally of just 52 runs. In eerily similar fashion to the last Test played between the teams at this venue as many as eight years ago, Australia plunged to the position of 76 for four after winning the toss, only nine runs in advance in fact of their plight all those summers ago.

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MP take stranglehold

Madhya Pradesh have taken a stranglehold on their Cooch Behar Trophy quarterfinal match against Saurashtra in Jamshedpur

10-Dec-1999

Madhya Pradesh have taken a stranglehold on their Cooch Behar Trophy quarterfinal match against Saurashtra in Jamshedpur. At stumps on the second day on Thursday, MP which had already taken a lead of 132 runs on the first innings after skittling out Saurashtra for 54 runs, batted the whole of the day in scoring 249 for nine in their second knock. The highlight was a fine 108 by opener M Mishra who faced 212 balls and hit 18 fours. For Saurashtra, MP Dhruv took six for 76. With an overall lead of 381 runs, MP are virtually assured of a place in the semifinals

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MP defeat Saurashtra by 218 runs

Madhya Pradesh translated their overwhelming superiority over Saurashtra into an outright victory by 218 runs to enter the semifinal of the Cooch Behar Trophy at Jamshedpur on Friday

Partab Ramchand

10-Dec-1999

Madhya Pradesh translated their overwhelming superiority over Saurashtra into an outright victory by 218 runs to enter the semifinal of the Cooch Behar Trophy at Jamshedpur on Friday.

Already virtually assured of a berth into the penultimate round at close of play on Thursday, MP did not relax but pressed for a win. Resuming their second innings at 249 for nine, they were all out for 262 on the final morning. The tenth wicket stand between No 10 AN Sharma and No 11 Ashok Sharma was worth 50 runs. Dhruv took the last wicket to finish with seven for 76 off 42 overs.

Set a virtually impossible victory target of 395 runs Saurashtra were dismissed for 216 in 60.5 overs. Only MJ Mehta (48) and skipper US Karavadra (46) showed some semblance of a fight. M Mishra (5 for 21) and Ashok Sharma (4 for 43) caused the damage.

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Delhi virtually through to semifinals

Delhi are virtually through to the semifinals of the Cooch Behar Trophy tournament

10-Dec-1999

Delhi are virtually through to the semifinals of the Cooch Behar Trophy tournament. At Jamshedpur at the end of the second day's play on Thursday, they were in an unassailable position against Gujarat.

Delhi, who were 97 for two at stumps on the first day in reply to Gujarat's first innings total of 169 batted the whole day in running up a score of 341 for eight off 131 overs. P. Chawla (125) and opener D Mohan (80) added 121 runs for the third wicket. Then Chawla and skipper R gupta (36) put on 99 runs for the fourth wicket. Mohan faced 201 balls and hit ten fours while Chawla faced 236 balls and hit 18 of them to the ropes. With a lead of 172 runs, Delhi virtually made sure of a place in the last four

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