Report
India Seniors score facile win
The finals of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy played at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on the 13th of February proved to be anything but close fought
Anand Vasu
13-Feb-2000
The finals of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy played at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on the 13th of February proved to be anything but close fought. On winning the toss, Rahul Dravid, the captain of the India seniors team had no hesitation in electing to bat first. The start that openers VVS Laxman and Shiv Sunder Das gave India vindicated his decision completely. Both openers took apart the India A bowling. Das has enjoyed good form through the tournament and Laxman found some today. As both openers stroked their way to centuries on a flat batting track India notched up a mammoth total of 320. The score proved to big for the India A team, who succumbed to an 84 run loss.
Enjoying an opening stand of 195 runs, India took the game away from the India A side very early on. While Laxman is usually circumspect about any bowling attack, he went about his business with gay abandon. Easily the dominant partner in the opening stand, Laxman made 105 off just 86 balls. Das was less fluent, but equally prolific. His knock of 114 ended as late as the 38th over. At this stage India were in a commanding position at 244/2.
India had the luxury of a powerful start and yet they could not fully capitalise. Rahul Dravid made 35, but no one else really got going. The situation demanded a player who could make a quick thirty or forty and none was forthcoming. As wickets fell at regular intervals it looked like India would not get very much past the 300 mark. In the end, everyone chipped in with scores hovering around the ten run mark and India set an imposing target of 321 for victory.
Only Amit Bhandari with 4/53 off 10 overs could walk of the field with any sense of achievement. This too thanks mainly to the fact that he could capitalise on some directionless batting after the openers were dismissed.
Full postWest Indies Domestic: Neck-and-neck
Like a champion sprinter, Barbados made all the early running in the opening stages of the Busta Cup semifinal against the Leeward Islands yesterday
12-Feb-2000
Leewards 190, Barbados 22-2
Like a champion sprinter, Barbados made all the early running in
the opening stages of the Busta Cup semifinal against the Leeward
Islands yesterday.
Like a genuine distance runner, the Leewards, however, refused to
be outpaced and would claim to be on even keel at the quartermark.
Defending champs Barbados, prevailing under overcast conditions
on winning the toss, were fast out of the blocks, reducing the
Leewards to 53 for four and later 129 for eight.
Full postKaif dazzles, but India Seniors scrape through
Despite an entertaining 90 by Mohammad Kaif, the India Seniors team edged past India B by six wickets with eleven deliveries to spare in the Challenger Trophy at Ahmedabad on Friday night
Anand Vasu
12-Feb-2000
Despite an entertaining 90 by Mohammad Kaif, the India Seniors team
edged past India B by six wickets with eleven deliveries to spare in
the Challenger Trophy at Ahmedabad on Friday night.
Batting first, the India B team put up a much better show than the
India A team had the previous day. Kaif enjoyed a good run of form
throughout the recently concluded Under-19 World Cup, but could not
make a big score there. On Friday however, there was no stopping him
as he shared a 115-run partnership with captain Ajay Jadeja and saw
India B through to a score of 274 off their allotted 50 overs. Jadeja
was his innovative self and made a half century in quick time.
When Kaif tried to push the scoring rate towards the end of the
innings, he fell just 10 runs short of the century mark. Robin Singh
got a ball to stop on Kaif and the youngster went through with his
shot. The ball skied up in the air and Nikhil Chopra pouched the
catch.
Nikhil Haldipur made a useful fifty at the top of the innings but
probably did not do enough to stake a claim for selection.
Full postTiffen heads New Zealand victory
A fine all-round performance by Haidee Tiffen was one of the highlights today as the New Zealand women's team opened the five match series against their England counterparts with a seven-wicket victory at Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North
Rick Eyre
12-Feb-2000
A fine all-round performance by Haidee Tiffen was one of the highlights
today as the New Zealand women's team opened the five match series against
their England counterparts with a seven-wicket victory at Fitzherbert Park,
Palmerston North.
Twenty year-old medium-pacer Tiffen took 2/19 from ten overs and scored 42
not out as New Zealand took 45.1 overs to pass England's fifty-over total of
157 for nine.
Clare Connor's first act as England captain in a full international was to
lose the toss to Emily Drumm, who sent the visitors into bat in any event.
England made a crucial change to the batting order which performed so
dismally against Australia, with Karen Smithies demoted to number five and
Claire Taylor brought into the team as a specialist opening batsman. The
change did little good however, England finding themselves at 22 for 3 in
the tenth over.
England were just 52 for 4 at the end of the twenty-fifth over, Smithies
having made 18 from 61 deliveries when she was run out as the result of a
dreadful mixup with Charlotte Edwards. It was Edwards who went on to be
England's top score with 37 before holing out to an Emily Drumm leg-break,
Kathryn Ramel taking an excellent catch sliding along the ground at long-on.
Full postIndia 'A' brush aside India 'B'
The match between India A and India B at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad on the 12th of February began in frenetic fashion
Anand Vasu
12-Feb-2000
The match between India A and India B at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad
on the 12th of February began in frenetic fashion. On winning the toss,
captain of the India A side Mohammed Azharuddin elected to bat. The
wicket continued to play true and was once again a batsman's paradise.
The score of 295 that India A notched up proved to be well beyond the
reach of India B.
J Arunkumar and Sanjay Bangar began very positively, carting the bowling
all over the park. Debashish Mohanty came in for some serious punishment
as Bangar smashed him for four boundaries in an over.
Howerver, Arunkumar could not sustain the attack and was caught behind off
the bowling of Ganesh. Azharuddin then walked out to the middle and took
over the trail blazing. Azhar was especially severe against anything that
afforded him width and smashed the ball effortlessly through the off side
on more than one occasion. Sharath joined Azhar at the crease at the fall
of Bangar's wicket. Bangar's innings of 46 included a flurry of
boundaries, but in the end was a slow knock.
Sharath notched up yet another decent score in characteristic fashion as
he made full use of a good batting track. He was excessively comfortable
off the back foot and treated the bowlers with disdain. His 42 included 2
fours and a six.
Full postIndia Seniors spinners quell India 'A' challenge
VVS Laxman and Shiv Sunder Das walked out to bat for India seniors against India A in the first match of the Challenger Trophy at Motera, Ahmedabad today
Anand Vasu
10-Feb-2000
VVS Laxman and Shiv Sunder Das walked out to bat for India seniors against India A in the first
match of the Challenger Trophy at Motera, Ahmedabad today. Having won the toss, captain
of the Indian team Rahul Dravid elected to bat first and was rewarded by some steady
batting. Both Das (73) and Laxman (43) batted sensibly and shared an opening partnership
of 84. At the fall of Laxman's wicket, Das continued the good work in Dravid's company and
pushed the score to 178. Dravid made a patient half century in characteristic fashion.
An enthusiastic Sanjay Bangar then got his man as Das was bowled. In came Vinod Kambli,
who would have been hoping to make a mark in this game. He got off to a quick start but
could not capitalise. His 22 ball 26 included a four and a six.
Some steady bowling then saw India A restrict the seniors to a total of 279. Although 279 is
a large total in itself, India Seniors could have made much more given the start they had and
the nature of the wicket.
Under the circumstances, the total was less than what seemed possible. This was mainly due
to the fact that India Seniors lost wickets at regular intervals after the 40th over. At 39.5
overs, India Seniors had lost just 2 wickets, and yet they were all out in 50 overs.
Full postAtapattu hammers unbeaten century in Lankans victory
Karachi, Feb 8: Sri Lanka recorded a cakewalk eight-wicket victory over a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI in a practice match at the National Stadium here on Tuesday, indicating that it would not be their fireworks but calculated game that would be
Samiul Hasan
09-Feb-2000
Karachi, Feb 8: Sri Lanka recorded a cakewalk eight-wicket victory
over a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI in a practice match at the
National Stadium here on Tuesday, indicating that it would not be
their fireworks but calculated game that would be on display in the
forthcoming one-day series.
Chasing a competitive total of 250 on a good batting track, Sri Lankan
stroke-makers didn't repeat the 1996 World Cup heroics but still
managed to overhaul the score with 9.3 overs to spare.
Marvan Atapattu stroked a sweet unconquered 122 while Mahela
Jayawardena scored an elegant unbeaten 62. Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya
hit a 53-ball 37 before he holed out to Aamir Sohail at extra-cover
off Yasir Arafat.
Atapattu and Jayawardena were associated in an unbroken 144 runs third
wicket stand off as many deliveries after Atapattu had featured in a
104-run second wicket stand with Jayasuriya off 99 balls.
Full postDirk Viljoen on the UCB Bowl final
On Saturday 5 February the Zimbabwe Board XI met Free State B in the final of the UCBSA Bowl competition at Harare Sports Club
John Ward
09-Feb-2000
On Saturday 5 February the Zimbabwe Board XI met Free State B in
the final of the UCBSA Bowl competition at Harare Sports Club.
The nerve of the home side's top order batsmen failed them, but
thanks to a fine 51 by Dirk Viljoen they came close before
eventually going down by 5 runs. Here Dirk talks to John Ward
about the match, and also contributes some interesting ideas on
future developments in cricket in Zimbabwe.
Match scores: Free State B 195/9 (45 overs); Zimbabwe Board XI
190 all out (43.1 overs). Full scores and match report
LINKS
JW: Dirk, first of all could you review how the Board XI have
done so far this season, please.
DV: We did have a good season, but our three-day cricket was a
bit disappointing. I think the main reason was that other
provinces knew we had international players in our side, and I
think their game plan when they played us was to look for a draw.
We had a good side, but we never got the results to prove it.
But in a lot of the games we played, the other teams killed the
game. They never gave us a target to chase, and unless we
actually bowled them out there was no chance we could make a game
of it.
Full postAustralia make it seven out of seven
The Australian Southern Stars completed a flawless twelve days of cricket, winning all seven of their one-day internationals
Rick Eyre
09-Feb-2000
The Australian Southern Stars completed a flawless twelve days of cricket, winning all seven of their one-day internationals.
After taking four out of four against England they completed a 3-0 clean
sweep of New Zealand in the Rose Bowl today, victors in the final match at the
Junction Oval, St Kilda, by seven wickets.
Debbie Hockley, playing possibly her last innings in Australia, was
dismissed early for 22 as New Zealand made 8/179 in their fifty overs.
Nicola Payne was top score with 36, while captain Emily Drumm (28) and
Haidee Tiffen (27) boosted the Kiwi middle order.
Chasing 180, Australia lost their first wicket when Lisa Keightley (7) was
run out in a mixup with her Australian captain opening partner. Belinda
Clark went on to score her third consecutive half-century in this year's
Rose Bowl, and her fifth in a row beginning on February 1 against England at
Bowral. Her 103-ball innings of 61 came to end when she lofted Catherine
Campbell to Kate Pulford at long-off. Her 90-run partnership with Jo
Broadbent (45) set up an entertaining conclusion by Karen Rolton (45 not out
from 53 balls) and Martha Winch (15 not out from 20 balls). Australia won
the match with 7.5 overs to spare.
The three-match series was expected to determine who, between Australia and
New Zealand, is the number one team in women's cricket at the moment. A
well-drilled Australian unit has put that beyond doubt for the time being.
Full postHaryana-UP game ends in tame draw
The Group C Ranji Trophy Super League match between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, badly affected by rain, limped to a tame draw at the Vishwarkarma college stadium in Rohtak on Tuesday
08-Feb-2000
The Group C Ranji Trophy Super League match between Haryana
and Uttar Pradesh, badly affected by rain, limped to a tame
draw at the Vishwarkarma college stadium in Rohtak on Tuesday.
There was never a chance of a decisive result after rain had
prevented play till after lunch on the third day. Haryana, who
were 189 for six at stumps on Monday, were all out for 198 in
their first innings. Even on the final day, play was affected
by fog and a soggy outfield and did not start till 2.10 pm.
Medium pacer Sriwastava (6 for 82) and left arm spinner and
skipper Gyanendrey Pandey (4 for 24) shared the wickets.
Batting through the final session, UP lost wickets at regular
intervals and were 93 for five when stumps were finally drawn.
Opening bowler Feroze Ghyas picked up three wickets for 32
off eight overs. Both teams got three points each.
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