Report
Trials and tribulations continue
Perth, Nov 26: The trials and tribulations of Pakistan's batting have continued unabated
A. Jalil
27-Nov-1999
Perth, Nov 26: The trials and tribulations of Pakistan's batting
have continued unabated. Their ineptitude surfaced
disconcertingly in the final Test of the series. It is a match
that Pakistan would be aiming to win, not because the result
would influence the outcome of the series but simply because it
would be a face-saving victory.
Having so timidly allowed Australia to snatch victory from the
jaws of defeat in Hobart earlier in the week, it is now
Pakistan's opportunity to redeem themselves. This would obviously
be their intention but their batting, however, gave little
impression of what they had in mind.
Certainly no blame for Pakistan's paltry total of 155 can be
attributed to the Western Australia Cricket Association pitch.
Unlike the typical strip here at Perth, which has a fairly green
top, this was supposed to have been prepared for runs. The sight
of a hard, brown pitch indicated that this may be the best
batting surface on this ground for several seasons.
It made batting practically imperative on winning the toss and it
came as no surprise that Wasim Akram decided to make first use of
it. Indeed, the Australia captain Steve Waugh said at the end of
the day's play that had he won the toss he was going to bat.
Full postSymonds and Love plunder Indian bowling
India are on the ropes after the second day of their four-day match against Queensland after Andrew Symonds and Martin Love each plundered centuries in a 200-plus partnership smashed at more than five an over
Rick Eyre
27-Nov-1999
India are on the ropes after the second day of their four-day match against Queensland after Andrew Symonds and Martin Love each plundered centuries in a 200-plus partnership smashed at more than five an over.
At the end of day two at The Gabba in Brisbane, Queensland are 7/363, a first-innings lead of 86.
India's first innings came to end on the third ball of the day Saturday. Resuming on 9/273, Kumaran smashed a boundary from Adam Dale's first delivery, and was dismissed two balls later, caught at third slip by Geoff Foley, for the Queensland swing bowler's only wicket of the innings. After an economical opening spell by Mohanty and Prasad, Matthew Hayden started to cut loose before Jimmy Maher (10) was trapped lbw by Orissa paceman Mohanty.
Kumaran replaced Mohanty and put a cap on the runrate, with Martin Love replacing Maher. Hayden, one of the enigmas of Australian cricket in the nineties, pulled Prasad forward of short leg for the first six of the match. Hayden had reached 44 when he edged Prasad to the waiting hands of Rahul Dravid, his innings generating six fours and a six.
Full postTamil Nadu take second day's honours
Tamil Nadu batted and bowled well enough on the second day to be in a position of some strength against Karnataka at Bangalore today
26-Nov-1999
Tamil Nadu batted and bowled well enough on the second day to
be in a position of some strength against Karnataka at Bangalore
today. After stretching their overnight first innings score of
246 for five to 355 all out, they took four Karnataka wickets
for 118 runs at close.
Left hander S Sarath, 76 overnight, was out for 83. But the
other overnight batsman Vasanth Saravanan kept the innings going
Openers Sujith Somasundar and Rowland Barrington gave Karnataka
a good start putting on 54 runs in 21 overs. But then Barrington,
Tilak Naidu and A Vijay fell quickly and Karnataka were 72 for
three. Somasundar and Shiraguppi then retreived the situation
with a fourth wicket partnership of 44 runs. At close Somasundar
was batting with a patient 50 for which he has so far batted 209
minutes and hit seven fours.
Full postDonald's pace too hot for England
Johannesburg: For weeks it had been billed as the Donald and Atherton show, but the way Allan Donald, alias White Lightning, struck at the Wanderers yesterday, England were also no doubt wondering if there had been a grain of truth in the fitness
Trevor Chesterfield
26-Nov-1999
Johannesburg: For weeks it had been billed as the Donald and Atherton show, but the way Allan Donald, alias White Lightning, struck at the Wanderers yesterday, England were also no doubt wondering if there had been a grain of truth in the fitness theory as well.
For a man of whom many wondered might not be sitting out this opening Test of the five-match series, his response was a blistering attack and scorched earthy policy and a six wickethaul to edged him closer to the 300 wickets mark he hopes to achieve this season.
With Shaun Pollock acting as the pace attack?s senior lieutenant, the South African duo produced the fast bowling fire power which not only routed England for a first innings score of 122 in a matter of 41.4 overs. It left the tourists pondering their own philosophy as South Africa, at 64 for one at the close were 58 runs adrift after day one.
Donald and Pollock had done the job their captain, Hansie Cronje, had expected after winning the toss: taking the 10 wickets available between them with the first hour?s play dripping with more drama than a Shakespeare play.
Full postTendulkar and Laxman keep Bulls at Bay
The Queensland Bulls had the upper hand as India played their first day's cricket on their Australian tour at The Gabba today
Rick Eyre
26-Nov-1999
The Queensland Bulls had the upper hand as India played their first day's
cricket on their Australian tour at The Gabba today. At stumps on day one
of the four-day tour match, India are 9/273. A 136-run partnership between
VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar prevented matters from being much worse.
With Queensland captain Stuart Law putting the Indians into bat, the
tourists lost their first wicket without a run on the board in the third
over when Devang Gandhi was caught behind off the bowling of Andy Bichel. A
partnership of exactly 100 followed between Sadagopan Ramesh and VVS Laxman
before Ramesh (43) fell to a smart stumping by wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe
off the bowling of left-arm spinner Matthew Anderson.
Ramesh's departure brought Rahul Dravid to the crease for his first
appearance on Australian soil. Two balls later, the much-anticipated
batsman was gone, being trapped lbw by Anderson.
With India 3/100, Tendulkar came to the crease. After hitting Anderson for
four from the second ball he faced, the Indian captain retreated into his
shell for a while, before taking a liking to the normally-economical swing
bowler Adam Dale. Tendulkar took fourteen runs, including three boundaries,
off one Dale over shortly before the tea break.
Full postIndia domestic: Orissa Snatch Narrow First Innings Lead
An absorbing tussle for the first innings lead highlighted the final day's play between Orissa and Bihar at Cuttack on Thursday
25-Nov-1999
An absorbing tussle for the first innings lead highlighted the
final day's play between Orissa and Bihar at Cuttack on Thursday.
Bihar put up a game fight but finally fell four runs short
of Orissa's total of 390.
Bihar did not seem to have much chance of grabbing the first
innings lead when they resumed at 259 for seven. Their task seemed
to be even more difficult when overnight batsman S Prakash left at
275. But the other overnight batsman AV Kumar, who had come in at
No 9 showed a lot of defiance. First with KVP Rao (16) he put on
84 runs for the ninth wicket. AV Kumar dominated the partnership
and continued the good work with last man Dhiraj Kumar with whom
he stretched the score by 27 runs. Then with the Bihar score on
386, Dhiraj Kumar was out for 15. AV Kumar was left unbeaten on
a gallant 96. He batted 4-1/2 hours, faced 173 balls and hit
11 fours. S Satpathy was the most successful bowler taking four
for 65 from 35 overs. In the remaining time, Orissa openers
SS Das (44) and Jai Chandra (39) had some good batting practice
hitting 84 runs in 27 overs without being separated when stumps
were finally drawn.
Full postIndia domestic: First innings points for Saurashtra
Competitive interest on the final day of the match between Saurashtra and Gujarat at Rajkot today ended early on the morning when Gujarat were all out for 347 in reply to the hosts' first innings total of 503 for eight declared
25-Nov-1999
Competitive interest on the final day of the match between
Saurashtra and Gujarat at Rajkot today ended early on the morning
when Gujarat were all out for 347 in reply to the hosts' first
innings total of 503 for eight declared. Overnight 308 for eight,
Gujarat had little chance of getting anywhere the Saurashtra total
and their main hope skipper PH Patel who was 45 overnight was out
for 55. The innings came to an end soon after.
Following on 156 runs behind, Gujarat were never in danger of
an innings defeat and were 156 for four at stumps. The highlight
was an unbeaten 100 by NK Patel who batted four hours, faced 236
balls and hitting 13 of them to the ropes.
Full postIndia domestic: Baroda wrest first innings lead
Baroda's last pair got them the crucial first innings lead in their match against Mumbai at the IPCL Sports Complex ground in Baroda today which ended in a draw
25-Nov-1999
Baroda's last pair got them the crucial first innings lead in their
match against Mumbai at the IPCL Sports Complex ground in Baroda today
which ended in a draw. Baroda thus picked up 5 points while Mumbai had
to be satisfied with 3. After Baroda was all out for 364 in reply to
Mumbai's 335, the Mumbai batsmen, particularly Jatin Paranjpe, took
the opportunity to get a useful workout as they finished at 228-2 in a
match which had long ceased to be competitive.
Baroda resumed at 323-9, still 12 behind and No.s 10 & 11, R Patel (17
not out) and Z Khan (24) extended the innings to 364, a stand of 42,
before Nilesh Kulkarni bowled Khan in his 62nd over to finish with
5-116. Paranjpe, who had made a three ball duck in the first innings,
restored his lost pride with an unbeaten 116 (185 balls, 12 fours) as
Baroda went through the motions with 8 bowlers being used.
Full postIndia domestic: Bengal complete formalities
Tripura's resistance on the final morning of their match against Bengal in Calcutta on Thursday was completely passive
25-Nov-1999
Tripura's resistance on the final morning of their match against
Bengal in Calcutta on Thursday was completely passive. The last
five wickets fell in a little over ten overs as the home wrapped
up the game by an innings and 252 runs. Skipper U Chatterjee and
WP Majumdar picked up the wickets in double quick time as Tripura
were dismissed for 118. While Chatterjee took four for 16 off
12 overs, Majumdar had the remarkable figures of 7.1-5-4-4.
On Wednesday, Tripura were all out for 163 in their first
innings. Forced to follow on 370 runs behind, Tripura were 101
for five wickets at close. Chatterjee took 7 for 45 and finished
with match figures of 11 for 61.
Full postIndia domestic: Hyderabad take lead
Former Indian captain Md Azharuddin continued his good form with the bat by scoring 56 in Hyderabad's first innings against Kerala on the second day of the match at Kozhikode today
25-Nov-1999
Former Indian captain Md Azharuddin continued his good form with
the bat by scoring 56 in Hyderabad's first innings against Kerala
on the second day of the match at Kozhikode today. He batted 106
minutes, faced 84 balls and hit six fours and a six. Good
supporting knocks by MV Sridhar (35) and Vanka Pratap (41 not
out) helped Hyderabad score 250 for eight wickets at stumps.
This was in reply to Kerala's first innings total of 247 compiled
on Wednesday. Hyderabad actually lost eight wickets for 211 but
an unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 39 runs between Vanka
Pratap and NP Singh (27) saw Hyderabad cross the Kerala score.
Valuable knocks by opener S Shankar (48), MP Sorab (35), Sunil
Oasis (46) and B Ramprakash (34) helped Kerala to reach their
modest total. The first day's honours however belonged to veteran
off spinner Kanwaljit Singh who finished with six wickets for 91
off 29.3 overs. Former Test left arm spinner Venkatpathi Raju
took three for 102 from 32 overs.
Full post