Rajasthan placed themselves in a commanding position by obtaining a first innings lead of 93 runs against Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A encounter at the Eden Gardens on Saturday

Sakyasen Mittra

26-Feb-2000

Rajasthan placed themselves in a commanding position by obtaining a first innings lead of 93 runs against Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A encounter at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. In the process they also guaranteed themselves of five points. Bengal were all out for 284 replying to Rajasthan's first innings score of 377. In their second innings at close of play on the third day, Rajasthan were 72 for three wickets at stumps.

Much depended on Devang Gandhi. But the former Indian player disappointed getting out in the fourth over of the day. Trying to cut off spinner Rahul Kanwath, Gandhi nicked a catch to wicketkeeper R. Jahalani. It was a stroke that could have been avoided as the ball was too full for the cut shot. It was then a matter of time before the Bengal innings ended. The only person who waged a single handed battle was Srikanth Kalyani. He fought on gamely and remained unbeaten on 83 with the help of seven boundaries when the innings ended. He played each ball on its merit and was severe on anything that was pitched short.

However, other than Wrichik Mazumdar, nobody was there to support Kalyani's cause. Mazumdar (25 with three boundaries) added 46 for the seventh wicket. But then he fell to good catch at silly point of the bowling of R. Jaykumar, Nikhil Doru anticipating the sharp bat-pad chance to his right.

Left arm spinner Devinder Pal Singh was the most successful bowler scalping three wickets. He bowled a restrictive line forcing the batsman into errors. Anshu Jain, Jaykumar and Kanwath picked up a couple apiece. However, Bengal came back strongly in the match in the second innings. They had both the Rajasthan openers back in the pavilion with only 20 runs on the board. Lakshmi Ratan Shukla dismissed skipper Gagan Khoda and Utpal Chatterjee, bowling with the new ball, trapped Anhsu Jain leg before. However Kanwath and Nikhil Doru steadied the innings. Kanwath fell two overs before close to Chatterjee but by then the two had probably thwarted Bengal's hopes of a victory.

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Goud puts Railways in front

The odds were on a Railways victory at Ranchi after Bihar, facing a victory target of 242, were floundering at 136/5 at stumps in this Group B Super League tie today

26-Feb-2000

The odds were on a Railways victory at Ranchi after Bihar, facing a victory target of 242, were floundering at 136/5 at stumps in this Group B Super League tie today.

Earlier a priceless innings by Railways skipper Yere Goud had taken the visiting side to 216 in their second innings. Goud remained undefeated on 82 (178 balls, 12 fours) while No.9 Tejinder Singh wielded the long handle to smite 31 in 17 balls (4 fours and a six). The scourge of Railways, Mihir Diwakar, took one more wicket today to finish with match figures of 12-121.

Bihar had lost the top five in the batting order in their second innings. With 106 still needed, Manish Kumar and keeper MS Dhoni were at the crease. Opener Nikhilesh Ranjan top scored with 51 (155 balls, 7 fours). Railways struck two crucial blows towards the close by removing Ranjan and captain Sunil Kumar who made 31.

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Tamil Nadu on verge of innings win

Tamil Nadu were one wicket away from closing out their Group C Super League tie against Haryana at Gurgaon

26-Feb-2000

Tamil Nadu were one wicket away from closing out their Group C Super League tie against Haryana at Gurgaon. At stumps on the third day today Haryana were 237-9 in their second innings with 41 still needed to avert an innings defeat.

Resuming at 371-5, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 486 an hour into the day after their tail had been allowed to wag generously. Robin Singh, Sharath and Reuben Paul fell in the first six overs but Mahesh, Gokulakrishna and Vidyuth entertained the spectators with some lusty hitting. Pradeep Jain finished with 5-143.

A fighting century by Haryana opener Jitender Singh helped to delay the inevitable after the home team commenced their second knock 286 behind. Jitender and captain Parinder Sharma put on 63 for the first wicket in 26 overs but Tamil Nadu struck at regular intervals with six bowlers sharing the spoils. Jitender scored exactly 100 ( 179 balls, 13 fours) before he was seventh out.

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Australia win again in record style

Australia settled the issue of Trans-Tasman cricket supremacy in style in Christchurch, producing a record score of 349 to bury New Zealand hopes with the third win in as many matches in what has become a five-match series

Chris Rosie

26-Feb-2000

The toss was taken under heavy overcast producing very fine drizzle, Stephen Fleming calling correctly again and inviting Australia to bat on a pitch renowned for its high-scoring potential. New Zealand brought in the test debut double centurion against the West Indies, Mathew Sinclair, for the under-performing Craig Spearman and Australia recalled Shane Lee for Glenn McGrath and introduced Ian Harvey for Mathew Hayden. Steve Waugh survived an ankle injury scare from the mid-week match and took his place in the team.

Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist versus Chris Cairns and Warren Wisneski: the opening stanza had the same players as Carisbrook - and the result was the same. The New Zealand opening attack provided a variation in line and length from which the Australian pair took due toll.

The 50 came up off 50 balls. Medium-pacer Scott Styris, on for Cairns in the ninth over, put a short break on the scoring, his first two overs producing just four runs. That did not last long, his third going for nine as Gilchrist got the scoring rate back on track.

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Mumbai forge ahead in keen skirmish

25-Feb-2000

Mumbai opened up a useful 47 run first innings lead on the second day of their Super League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla today after a four wicket haul by off spinner Rajesh Pawar restricted Delhi to 200 all out. By close of play Mumbai's lead had swelled to 140 with eight second innings wickets in hand.

Delhi resumed at 49/3 with the two form players this season, Ashu Dani and Virender Shewag, at the crease. They carried on for another 15.5 overs this morning before Pawar struck first blood to have Shewag caught by keeper Rane for a swiftly accumulated 50 (75 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes). The partnership between the two had been worth 91.

Rahul Sanghvi found himself promoted ahead of Ajay Sharma and found himself back in the dressing room after one boundary hit. Sharma and Shewag took Delhi safely through to lunch at 152-5. After lunch Dani's stout resistance, which had lasted four and a quarter hours, finally came to an end. His 74 came off 177 balls and included ten boundaries. Dani's fall sparked off a collapse as the last 5 wickets tumbled for 24 runs leaving Ajay Sharma high and dry on 39 not out. Pawar returned figures of 4-64.

In the 36 overs that Delhi's bowlers wheeled over, Mumbai progressed to 93-2. After losing both openers, Jatin Paranjpe and Amol Muzumdar put on an unfinished stand of 44 to help Mumbai nose ahead although Virender Shewag kept them on a leash with a tight spell of 8-4-4-1.

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Jadhav and Martin set Baroda on course

25-Feb-2000

At the end of the second day's play Baroda were 170 for 3 in reply to Punjab's first innings score of 245 all out in their Group B match of the Ranji Trophy Super League at the PCA stadium at Mohali on Friday. JJ Martin(50 runs off 151 balls) and TB Arothe(6 runs off 18 balls) were at the crease when the stumps were drawn.

Baroda started the first innings earnestly with both the openers CC Williams(31 runs off 48 balls) and RA Swaroop(21 runs off 37 balls) compiling 43 runs in 12.5 overs. But both Swaroop and Williams were dismissed within the space of 17 balls. At 55 for 2 in the 15th over HR Jadhav (54 runs off 136 balls) and JJ Martin came together to hold the fort for Baroda in a third wicket partnership worth 99 runs off 44.1 overs.

Earlier resuming at their overnight score of 191 for 4 Punjab lost its way and were bundled out for 245 in 113 overs. Ravneet Ricky was the only significant contributor with 83 off 184 balls. VN Buch was the pick of the Baroda bowlers with 3 for 23 off 25 overs.

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Railways spoil Bihar's party

Railways gave Bihar a taste of their own medicine by knocking them over for 105 on the second day of their Super League match at Ranchi's MECON Sail Stadium today

25-Feb-2000

Railways gave Bihar a taste of their own medicine by knocking them over for 105 on the second day of their Super League match at Ranchi's MECON Sail Stadium today. Railways fought their way to 111-4 by stumps with their first innings nemesis Mihir Diwakar returning to haunt them by taking all four wickets.

Opening bowler Zakir Hussain (5-36) and off spinner Kulamani Parida (4-29) were the chief wreckers as eight Bihar batsmen failed to cross single digits. Manish Kumar top scored with 31 (74 balls, 5 fours).

In Railways' second knock opener Vishal Sharma led off with 54 (112 balls, 7 fours) and captain Yere Goud, coming off a big hundred in the last match against Baroda, was getting into his stride with an unbeaten 38. Diwakar took his match haul to 11 with a bag of 4-29. The Railways lead was worth 136 at the end of the day.

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Haryana reel under Sriram's assault

A splendid 177 by opener Sridharan Sriram put Tamil Nadu in firm control on the second day of their Super League match against Haryana at Gurgaon today

25-Feb-2000

A splendid 177 by opener Sridharan Sriram put Tamil Nadu in firm control on the second day of their Super League match against Haryana at Gurgaon today. A 166 run 3rd wicket partnership between Sriram and JR Madanagopal (74) saw the visiting side close at 371-5, a lead of 163. The Tamil Nadu batsmen scored at a brisk pace during the day with 328 runs coming off the 90 overs bowled.

Continuing where they left off yesterday at 43-0, Sriram and Aashish Kapoor took their stand to 80 before the latter departed for a rapidly made 55 (60 balls, 9 fours). Hemang Badani added a further 85 in Sriram's company before he was castled by Pradeep Jain. But these were merely appetisers that laid the way for the main course, the Sriram-Madanagopal association, that carried the score to 331. It was brought to an end when Madanagopal (170 balls, 4 fours) was thrown out by Jitender Singh.

Sriram's 177 (275 balls, 17 fours) was his third century in four Ranji matches this season. Although Sriram and Tanvir Jabbar fell to Jain in the space of three balls, with the score at 354, Tamil Nadu are still comfortably placed with two of their big guns, Sridharan Sharath (10) and captain Robin Singh (15), manning the crease at stumps. Left arm spinner Jain was the only spark (4-121) for Haryana in an otherwise insipid attack.

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Orissa hold the edge over Saurashtra

Twenty wickets fell on the second day of the Super League tie between Saurashtra and Orissa at the Municipal Stadium in Rajkot today

25-Feb-2000

Twenty wickets fell on the second day of the Super League tie between Saurashtra and Orissa at the Municipal Stadium in Rajkot today. Orissa tightened the screws on the home side by taking a first innings lead of 134 although they were in a spot of bother at 18-2 in their second innings.

Earlier the Orissa first innings terminated at 372. RR Parida made 76 and Debashish Mohanty remained not out on 20. Niraj Odedra's 6-117 was by far the best figures of the innings.

Saurashtra were struggling at 35-5 in their second knock but swashbuckling innings from Hitesh Parsana (76, 80 balls, 7 fours, 5 sixes) and MM Parmar (71, 89 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) helped them to a respectable score of 238. Debashish Mohanty and Sanjay Satpathy took four wickets each.

When Orissa replied, Saurashtra opening bowler AA Merchant grabbed two wickets with the second and fifth balls of his first over. Both openers, Y Mohanty and P Mullick, fell for ducks.