Report

Ranatunga, de Silva strike form ahead of Test series

Islamabad, Feb 23: Sri Lanka's experienced duo of Arjuna Ranatunga (86) and Aravinda de Silva (74) struck form ahead of the three-Test series against Pakistan as the tourists three-day match against Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI ended in a draw at

24-Feb-2000

The two shared an unbroken 137-run fifth wicket partnership as the visitors reached 253 for four when the match ended. Earlier, the home team, resuming at 191 for three, were dismissed for 290.

Ranatunga struck 15 boundaries and a six in his 114-ball knock while de Silva's 173-ball innings spiced 13 hits to the fence.

The two batsmen fully capitalized from some friendly bowling by the PCB XI which was led by Mohammad Akram after Rashid Latif didn't take the field after the end of the home team's first innings.

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Diwakar slices through Railways

Bihar took a pincer grip of their Super League tie against Railways at the MECON Sail stadium in Ranchi after opening bowler Mihir Diwakar had devastated the visitors for 130 on the opening day today

24-Feb-2000

Bihar took a pincer grip of their Super League tie against Railways at the MECON Sail stadium in Ranchi after opening bowler Mihir Diwakar had devastated the visitors for 130 on the opening day today. With two and a quarter hours of play lopped off due to rain and bad light, Bihar had made 14/0 from five overs at stumps.

After being put in to bat, the Railways innings lasted just 41.1 overs with the top score being Abhay Sharma's 27. Seventeen year old Diwakar ran through the innings, taking 7-47 in 18.1 overs. Seven batsmen failed to reach double figures. Diwakar was ably supported by his new ball partner Dhiraj Kumar who finished with 3-64.

In the brief time that Bihar batted, opener Ratan Kumar was forced to retire hurt for seven. N Ranjan and Aamir Hashmi were the not out batsmen.

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Tamil Nadu in commanding position

Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Haryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday

24-Feb-2000

Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Haryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday. After dismissing the hosts for 208 runs, Tamil Nadu were 43 without loss at close.

In fact Tamil Nadu were in a position to take a stranglehold very early in the match. For, shortly before lunch, Haryana were 83 for seven. However, an eighth wicket partnership of 102 runs between P. Jain (57) and P Thakur (53) helped Haryana to recover.

Electing to bat, Haryana were rocked by a deadly spell by medium pacer Gokulakrishna and were 24 for three in the tenth over. With skipper Robin Singh taking a hand, wickets fell at regular intervals even though opener Jitender Singh soldiered on to score 40 off 84 balls before he was fifth out. Haryana were down in the dumps at lunch, but Thakur and Jain then retreived their hopes with their gallant association that lasted 32.5 overs. While Jain faced 130 balls and hit seven of them to the ropes, Thakur's 53 was compiled off 110 balls and he hit six fours. Gokulakrishna, who did the early damage took three for 40 while Robin Singh, who wrecked the middle order, had three for 18 from eleven overs. Off spinner Aashish Kapoor chipped in with two for 67 while left arm spinner Sriram, who hastened the end of the innings captured two wickets for four runs off 9.2 overs.

In the remaining ten overs, Tamil Nadu openers Kapoor and Sriram completed a fruitful day for their side by coming in unbeaten. Kapoor was aggressive, hitting five fours in his 34 off 33 deliveries.

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Kanwath, Jain send Bengal on a leather hunt

Rajasthan, taking advantage of a weak Bengal attack, poor fielding and inept captaincy reached 295 for the loss of three wickets on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super league Group A encounter at the Eden Gardens on Thursday

Sakyasen Mittra

24-Feb-2000

Centuries by opener Anshu Jain and one drop Rahul Kanwath and their 254-run stand for the second wicket helped the visitors to take a firm grip. However, both batsmen will have to thank the fielders for getting their centuries. Kanwath offered three chances while going from 93 to 97 of 24 deliveries. All were mistimed pull shots. On two occasions the bowler was Lakshmi Ratan Shukla and on the third it was Sumit Panda. Alokendu Lahiri at deep square leg was guilty of starting late on two occasions. Then Wrichik Mazumdar dropped the batsman when he pulled Panda down his throat. The chances which came in the post lunch session could have bought Bengal well back into the match.

On the other hand, Jain was distinctly lucky to see Srikanth Kalyani at first slip failing to react to his attempted cut shot off Rohan Gavaskar's bowling. The batsman then was on 94. He ultimately got his hundred cutting Chatterjee to the point fence.

As far as the bowling was concerned, it was quite ordinary, save for Utpal Chatterjee and Shukla. The latter gave the first breakthrough, having Gagan Khoda caught by Haldipur at slip. But after that it was a long haul in the field. Kanwath was finally out in the sixth over after tea attempting to drive leg spinner Mazumdar. He failed to get to the pitch of the ball and the edge was taken at slip by Chatterjee. Then Jain trying to sweep Chatterjee was caught bat-pad at slip by Gavaskar. These two wickets revived some hopes for Bengal. Kanwath in his innings of 143 had 22 boundaries of 186 deliveries. The more circumspect Jain, in his innings of 115 of 266 deliveries had 15 boundaries.

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Kambli saves the day for Mumbai

A typically belligerent knock of 88 in as many balls from Vinod Kambli lifted Mumbai to a total of 247 on the first day of their Group A Super League clash against Delhi at the Ferozeshah Kotla today

24-Feb-2000

A typically belligerent knock of 88 in as many balls from Vinod Kambli lifted Mumbai to a total of 247 on the first day of their Group A Super League clash against Delhi at the Ferozeshah Kotla today. Mumbai struck back to take three quick wickets as Delhi limped to 49/3 at stumps.

After Mumbai won the toss and batted, openers Amol Rane and Amit Pagnis added 47 in 18 overs before both perished in the space of three balls. Jatin Paranjpe fell cheaply to give Amit Bhandari his second wicket but Kambli and Amol Muzumdar launched a swift relief operation with a 99 run stand in just 19 overs. But with the score at 154, Ashish Nehra delivered a double blow. He first induced a tickle from Muzumdar(36) to give wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya his third catch of the innings following which Mumbai captain Samir Dighe walked in and out for a three ball duck.

After Kambli and Sairaj Bahutule had put on 49 for the 6th wicket, Virender Shewag ended Kambli's fireworks by trapping him leg before. Kambli's innings was studded with 16 fours and took his Ranji aggregate this season to 424 runs at 70.67. The Mumbai tail was cleaned up before long with Bhandari's 3-69 being the best bowling figures for Delhi.

The Delhi reply began calamitously as Abey Kuruvilla and Santosh Saxena fired out three men with just 16 on the board. Saxena, who had taken just four wickets in his four previous matches this season, rattled the stumps of Devinder Sharma and Mithun Manhas (both for ducks) in the space of three balls. Ashu Dani and Virender Shewag carried the score to 49 without any further inroads.

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Ricky plays the anchor role for Punjab

Punjab, bolstered by opener Ravneet Ricky who played an anchor role in scoring 83 not out, were 191 for four wickets from 90 overs at close of play on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match at the PCA stadium in Mohali on

24-Feb-2000

Opting to bat, Punjab lost their first wicket when their captain Vikram Rathour was out for 19 runs off 31 balls in the 11th over. Ricky and Reetinder Sodhi (20 off 48 balls) added 41 runs for the second wicket off 18.5 overs. After Sodhi fell at 73, Ricky and veteran Pankaj Dharmani (21 off 54 balls) added 39 runs for the third wicket off 16 overs. Ricky continued to hold the innings together and in the company of Dinesh Mongia (19 off 68 balls) took the score to 155. Finally Ricky and Youraj Singh (14 not out off 68 balls) added a further 36 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket. By close Ricky had batted six hours. He has so far faced 279 balls and hit nine boundaries.

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SS Das and Odedra share opening day's honours

Orissa made a confident start to their Group C Super League tie against hosts Saurashtra at the Municipal Stadium, Rajkot today as they piled up 330-8 in 90 overs

24-Feb-2000

Orissa made a confident start to their Group C Super League tie against hosts Saurashtra at the Municipal Stadium, Rajkot today as they piled up 330-8 in 90 overs. The individual honours were shared by Orissa captain Shiv Sunder Das who scored a hundred and Saurashtra's N Odedra who grabbed six wickets.

SS Das and his namesake P Das ran up an opening stand of 169 in 47.5 overs before the former departed soon after posting his century. His 101 came in 153 balls and included 17 fours. P Das followed at 193 for a cautious 69 (184 balls, 9 fours). Rashmi Parida shored up the lower half of the order with a brisk unbeaten 55 in 71 balls which included nine boundary hits. He was assisted by wicketkeeper Y Mohanty (30) and Sanjay Satpathy (27).

At close Debashish Mohanty was accompanying Parida at the crease. Odedra, who picked up the first six wickets, finished with figures of 6-109 from 31 overs.

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Despite Tendulkar's 97, South Africa claim first day's honours

South Africa can look back with satisfaction on the opening day of the first Test against India

Anand Vasu

24-Feb-2000

South Africa can look back with satisfaction on the opening day of the first Test against India. At the Wankhede stadium on Thursday, they dismissed the home team for 225 runs and replied with 27 for no loss when stumps were drawn. Even this total was made possible only because of a brilliant 97 by Sachin Tendulkar and a last wicket partnership of 52 runs between Ajit Agarkar and debutant Murali Kartik.

Tendulkar won the toss and India opened with VVS Laxman and another debutant Wasim Jaffar. Allan Donald, getting good lift off the wicket once again made it clear that he can be a handful on any wicket. Although he did stray down the leg side initially, the batsmen were forced to play at the ball, offering strokes and not making contact on more than one occasion. Shaun Pollock however came close to picking up the first wicket when Wasim Jaffer closed the face of his bat too early on a full delivery. The ball flew off the outside edge between first and second slip. Lance Klusener diving across to his right got his hands to the ball but could not hold on to the catch.

The batsmen were being squared up time and time again by the bowlers. Donald who had bowled well within himself in the match against the Board President's XI generated express pace. His bouncers virtually flew off the wicket, sending Jaffer scurrying for cover.

The first wicket fell in the fifth over, as a nervous Jaffer played around an in coming delivery from Donald. The ball clipped the inside edge before removing the bails. It was a disappointing debut for the Mumbai lad as he managed just four runs.

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Pakistan: Irfan, Akram bowl well

Islamabad, Feb 22: A century first-wicket stand between Test aspirants Wajahatullah Wasti and Mohammad Naveed Qureshi helped Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI reach a formidable 191 for three at stumps on the second day of the three-day match against

23-Feb-2000

Wajahat scored a cautious 85 and Naveed hit a punishing 62 to feature in a 122-run stand after teenage pacer Irfan Fazil and Mohammad Akram had dismissed the tourists for 278 shortly after lunch. Sri Lanka had resumed at 162 for five this morning.

Irfan finished with impressive figures of five for 120 and Mohammad Akram ended up with figures of four for 91. Wasti, dropped by Upul Chandana at covers when 54, was out on the last ball of the day's play. His 182-ball knock was studded with 12 boundaries and a six off Ranga Herath.

Naveed Qureshi, who belted five boundaries in the first two overs by Nuwan Zoysa and Ravindra Pushpakumara, was adjudged leg before off Zoysa but not before he had struck 12 boundaries in his 119-ball innings.

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Mercy for England women as tour ends

Twelve games in 28 days in two countries for one win and eleven losses

Rick Eyre

23-Feb-2000

Twelve games in 28 days in two countries for one win and eleven losses. One of the most unsuccessful overseas tours by an England cricket team came to a merciful end in suitably gloomy conditions last night as New Zealand defeated their English counterparts in the fifth womens one-day international at McLean Park, Napier. England finished on the receiving end of a 5-0 whitewash by the Kiwis, to follow Australia's 4-0 clean-sweep of the series at the start of the month.

It was always going to be an awkward tour, coming as it did in the middle of the northern winter with indoor facilities the only hope for practice since the England season ended last September. But no one could have predicted just how poorly this team performed at times against the world's number one and two women's international sides.

They finished their tour yesterday with a sub-hundred total, just as they ended their Australian leg with a sub-hundred total. At least this time it was nothing approaching a 220-run loss, with runs hard to come by for both sides in conditions affected by intermittent rain.