Report
India A bowlers make New Zealand struggle at Pune
The rain had put a dampener on the proceedings and very few spectators were at the ground
Anand Vasu
01-Oct-1999
The rain had put a dampener on the proceedings and very few spectators
were at the ground. Those present were very vocal and excited in
welcoming the players onto the ground. Chris Harris had the crowd
roaring behind him as he walked out onto the field.
The New Zealanders went through some innovative fielding exercises,
and looked a thoroughly professional unit. In contrast the India 'A'
side went through the motions of their exercises, much the same way
warm ups are done in schools cricket. Stephen Fleming began his tour
of India on a high note, winning the toss. With the outfield still wet
and slippery, Fleming chose to bat first.
Mathew Horne and Mathew Bell took first strike for New Zealand on this
tour of India. Amit Bhandari took up the attack for India 'A' but
began badly, sending down two consecutive no balls to begin the match.
After the initial difficulty, Bhandari settled down and bowl a good
line outside the off-stump. Iqbal Siddiqui was on the spot from the
first ball and made Bell play. After 16 balls the Kiwis got their
first run off the bat.
Bell had an early let off when he fended at a ball outside offstump.
Bell was nowhere near the pitch of the ball and the ball flew off the
edge to the slip cordon. The India 'A' captain Amol Muzumdar at second
slip let the ball slip through him. The ball raced to the third man
boundary.
Full postRain restricts play on opening day
Only 28 overs play was possible on the first day of the five day Irani Trophy tie between Rest of India and Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday
Partab Ramchand
01-Oct-1999
Only 28 overs play was possible on the first day of the five day
Irani Trophy tie between Rest of India and Ranji Trophy champions
Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday. In that
time, Karnataka, put in to bat, were 65 for two.
Rain delayed the start of play till 2 pm. Karnataka openers Sujith
Somasundar and J.Arun Kumar put on 29 runs in 9.5 overs before the
former who dominated the scoring was caught by Nilesh Kulkarni off
Harvinder Singh Sodhi for 21. Somasundar faced 33 balls and hit four
boundaries. A.Vijay joined Arun Kumar and the two added 23
runs off 12 overs before Sodhi claimed his second wicket, having
Vijay leg before for just 8. Vijay faced 44 balls and hit one boundary.
VST Naidu came in and kept the steady Arun Kumar company till stumps
were prematurely drawn with bad light halting play. Arun Kumar at close
was batting on 23. He had faced 79 balls and had four hits to the
ropes. Naidu was batting with four after having faced 18 balls.
Medium pacer Harvinder Sodhi was easily the pick of the Rest of
India bowlers. He sent down 12 overs to capture both the wickets that
fell for 27 runs.
Full postIndia wins by 107 runs
Zimbabwe had only one chance to qualify for the LGCUP final on Sunday
Keith Lane
01-Oct-1999
Zimbabwe had only one chance to qualify for the LGCUP final on Sunday. They
had to beat a very confident and balanced Indian team convincingly. India,
unlike the other teams in the tournament, had already played numerous
matches this season and was the form team. For Zimbabwe to pull off a win
they would have had to play well above themselves.
This was not to be. Zimbabwe came up against a determined Sourav Ganguly who
smote the bowlers to all parts of the ground and with his 139, at nearly a
run a ball, helped India post the highest score of the tournament, 277/6.
Zimbabwe had to score 278 in 50 overs, to win the match, and 42.1 overs to
improve their net run rate to qualify for the final on Sunday. Starting
well, it all petered out to be dismissed for 170 and allowed their
neighbours South Africa to meet the Indians in the final.
With overcast conditions and some dampness from late afternoon watering,
both captains were keen to win the toss and field first. Zimbabwe drew first
blood, winning the important toss and electing to field. The pitch later
turned out to be the best of the tournament so far.
Full postSouth Africa wins by 24 runs
South Africa, after the resounding win against Zimbabwe, had moved to second place ahead of their neighbours on the point's table
Keith Lane
30-Sep-1999
South Africa, after the resounding win against Zimbabwe, had
moved to second place ahead of their neighbours on the point's
table. To be sure of a place in the final on Sunday, they however
needed to win this match by a big margin to increase their net
run rate.
This was not to be. Whether the South Africans underestimated the
Kenyans will not be known but the experimentation continued.
Firstly Hansie Cronje decided to opening the batting, then
decided to bowl three overs from a five meter run-up giving away
21 runs. Paul Adams was also allowed to bowl his full quota of 10
overs for 59 runs that included five wides, while Shaun Pollock
and Steve Elworthy had overs in hand. If it was not for the South
African fielding they might just not have won this match.
Losing the toss and asked to bat first by Maurice Odumbe, South
Africa with their rotation policy came into the game with three
changes, Boeta Dippenaar for Herschelle Gibbs, Elworthy for Derek
Crookes and Victor Mpitsang for Alan Dawson. Kenya left out
Josephat Ababu for debutante Peter Oshieng.
The first surprise of the day was that captain Cronje came out to
open the innings with Dippenaar, while Martin Suji and Thomas
Odoyo were entrusted with the new ball. Unlike yesterday's early
overs, the Kenyan bowlers strayed to both sides of the wickets
and it was Dippenaar who recorded the first boundary of the day
with a little flick to fine leg. He followed this with two more
fours, one to backward square leg and one past backward point,
off the bowling of Suji.
Full postIndia beat Kenya by 58 runs
Nairobi - India, after a very difficult start, recovered well to defeat Kenya by 58 runs in match four of the LG Cup in Kenya
Keith Lane
29-Sep-1999
Nairobi - India, after a very difficult start, recovered well to defeat
Kenya by 58 runs in match four of the LG Cup in Kenya.
Sent in to bat India initially struggled to score, but managed to recover to
220/7 after some good batting by Vijay Bhardwaj. Kenya, after losing three
early wickets, was always up against it and a disciplined bowling
performance from the Indians did not make matters any easier.
With India on a high after their recent victories Kenya had to play really
well to repeat the only victory, in India, that they hold against them.
Starting off well enough, in overcast conditions, by winning the toss, Kenya
elected to field and not bat first against the Indian bowlers who have
bowled with a lot of discipline having not conceded any wides or no-balls in
the tournament so far.
Sadagoppan Ramesh and Sourav Ganguly opened the batting for an unchanged
Indian team facing up to Martin Suji and Thomas Odoyo from Kenya. Both
bowlers started well beating the bat with away movement off the pitch.
Ramesh twice played and missed, while Ganguly nearly inside edged onto the
stumps and then had a thick edge land just short of the backward point.
Full postSouth Africa get back to winning ways
Nairobi - South Africa in their first match against Zimbabwe since the World Cup defeat at Chelmsford beat a gallant Zimbabwean team at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club Ground by 9 wickets
Keith Lane
28-Sep-1999
Nairobi - South Africa in their first match against Zimbabwe since the World
Cup defeat at Chelmsford beat a gallant Zimbabwean team at the Nairobi
Gymkhana Club Ground by 9 wickets. With Lance Klusener scoring his second
one-day international century and ably assisted by first Herschelle Gibbs
and the Jacques Kallis the South Africans reached the 217 run target with 15
overs to spare.
South Africa coming into this match sitting at the bottom of the log started
the overcast morning well by winning the toss and electing to field. Using a
rotation basis for selection. Alan Dawson came in for Steve Elworthy, who
bowled well against India, and Boeta Dippenaar made way for Paul Adams.
A solid first over start by Shaun Pollock, moving the ball both ways and
getting some nice bounce, saw Alan Dawson give away the first boundary to
Grant Flower with a leg side ball in the second over.
Neil Johnson, who was the thorn in the RSA flesh during the World Cup,
lashed out at Pollock in the fifth over sending him to the boundary on two
occasions. Flower finished Dawson's fifth over with a great well timed cover
drive, beating the off side field.
Full postZimbabwe limp home against Kenya
The Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell won the toss in the opening match of the LG Cup and put Kenya in to bat
Anand Vasu
26-Sep-1999
The Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell won the toss in the
opening match of the LG Cup and put Kenya in to bat. Kennedy
Otieno and Ravindu Shah opened the batting for Kenya and played
the Zimbabwe medium-pacers steadily. Debutant Mutendera and Neil
Johnson did not trouble the Kenyan batsmen. Ravindu Shah was in
particularly good form, and played the ball well through the
gaps. Otieno struggled to score freely and was dismissed by
Johnson after he had made 7.
Steve Tikolo joined Ravindu Shah out in the middle and the two
put on a good partnership. Ravindu Shah did a bulk of the
scoring, driving magnificently through the off-side, pulling the
ball effortlessly and cutting the ball with authority. The
boundaries flowed off his bat while at the other end the Kenyans
struggled to get the scoring going. The partnership between
Tikolo and Shah was worth 100 runs when a mix-up in calling
resulted in Tikolo being run out. Tikolo had made 33 in the
partnership of 100. After Tikolo's dismissal none of the other
Kenyans really got going.
Hitesh Modi was steady in his innings of 31. Maurice Odumbe was
given out LBW to a ball from Campbell that looked like it was
going well down leg-side. From this point onwards, Kenya lost
wickets at regular intervals in trying to push the scoring rate.
Ravindu Shah was brilliantly caught by Guy Whittall off his own
bowling. Shah hit the ball straight back at the bowler and
Whittall plucked the ball out of the air. Shah had made a
sparkling 71 that included 11 boundaries. Kenya ended up with 199
for 8 off their allotted 50 overs. A score that looked a trifle
small on this track.
Martin Suji and Thomas Odoyo began briskly to Neil Johnson and
Grant Flower. Both Kenyan openers worked up a good pace. Johnson
and Flower played confidently and stroked the ball well off the
square. Ababu was brought on to bowl his gentle medium pacers
first change and had success immediately. The lack of pace
deceived Johnson, who dragged the ball back onto his stumps.
Alistair Campbell came ion next and looked in ominous form. He
helped himself to 3 boundaries and one glorious six before he
overbalanced to an off-break from Odumbe and was stumped. The
ball from Odumbe turned sharply off the track and Campbell was
beaten all ends up. Campbell had made 27.
Full postIndian Domestic: Andhra bowled out cheaply against Tamil Nadu
Both teams went into play with two changes in their respective teams
Blessington Thomas
23-Sep-1999
Day 1: Ghulam Ahmed Trophy, Andhra Pradesh v Tamil Nadu
Both teams went into play with two changes in their respective teams.
Debutant wicket keeper K Vasudeva Reddy coming in injured Md. Taheer
Hussain, while for Tamil Nadu Srikanth Akkiraju and Raja Mohammed
replacing V Kudawala and L Balaji.
Andhra were off to a good start 43 in 13th over before tragedy truck
in shape of a mis-understanding run out. Opener Varma played sathish
towards mid-on and started off for an existing run but his partner at
the other end failed to respond. Both Varma and Ayyappa were in the
non-strickers end, Surender Doss throw to the keeper's end did the
rest. Varma was storking the ball well. 150 minutes play till lunch
took the host to 77 for 2 in 40 overs. 60 mts after lunch produced 22
runs in 20 overs.
The real drama began 15 mts to Tea and 22 mts after. Andhra lost its 7
wickets for the addition of a 15 runs in 43 balls. The wreckers in
chief being Satish coming on bowl his 4th spell from North end did
most of the damage between his 10th, 11th and 12th over he took 4
wickets in 16 balls. Conceding just a single in his 12th over he
missed hattrick, claiming Shaik Hussain and Vasudeva Reddy in 3 balls.
Full postTamil Nadu gain big lead
Tamil Nadu prospered through three useful partnerships to post an imposing total of 280/9 at close of play on day-2, with an overall lead of Andhras first innings total of 140 runs
Blessington Thomas
23-Sep-1999
Tamil Nadu prospered through three useful partnerships to
post an imposing total of 280/9 at close of play on day-2,
with an overall lead of Andhras first innings total of 140
runs.
The unseperated yesterdays pair of openers added 6 more runs
when Akkiraju was consumed at short leg by Rajkiran. A 33
run 2nd wicket between overnight Srinath and No.3 Prasanna
(19) was broken by leg spinner Shiv Prasad clean bowling
Prasanna. At lunch Tamil Nadu were 15 runs away for the lead when
they added 28 runs in 15 overs. Tamil Nadu surpassed Andhras
total in 243 mts & 58 overs. After which South paw, Vikram
dominated the Scene, he added 35 runs in quick time with
Tanseer Jabbar (19) in 39 mts off 11.2 overs. When Tanseer
was run out with the mis-understanding of both batsmen
stranded at non-strikers crease. Before that R Sathish
/Surender Doss put on 56 runs in less than even time for the
4th wicket in 55 mts off 13.2 overs. For the 9th wicket
Vikram Kumar & Raja Mohmd. contributed a fine 59 runs in 73
mts off 17.4 overs. Vikram Kumar who came on at the fall of
5th at 135, is batting on 66 at close, his 50 came in 162
mts, 126 ball, 6 fours. Should the last batsman provide him
support, he should not fail to register a century with the
wicket playing easy.
Full postPace like fire
Pakistan, already without the injured Shaoib Ahktar, rested Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis so that they could introduce the latest express fast bowler to come off the assembly line in their third successive victory over the West Indies that ended the
Tony Cozier
21-Sep-1999
Pakistan, already without the injured Shaoib Ahktar, rested Wasim
Akram and Waqar Younis so that they could introduce the latest
express fast bowler to come off the assembly line in their third
successive victory over the West Indies that ended the Toronto
Cricket Festival yesterday.
Shabbir Ahmed, a tall, slim, gangling, 23-year-old, raised
eyebrows with his speed and hostility and set tongues wagging
with an unconventional action that will inevitably come under
scrutiny of those on the International Cricket Council (ICC)
committee who sit in judgement of such things.
He ended a long, loping approach with an ungainly delivery that
was repeatedly shown by television replays to involve a crooked
elbow, as much as a cocked wrist.
Umpire David Orchard at square-leg passed it as legal, but the
doubts of the West Indian voices in the crowd of 4 000 who
bellowed for him to watch that action were no unfounded.
Full post