Report

Lee, Tendulkar grace MCG stage

Capitalising upon the opportunities afforded them by a significant improvement in Melbourne's weather, it was two players at opposite ends of the Test cricketing spectrum who emerged as the stars on a magical day three of the Second Test between

John Polack
28-Dec-1999
Capitalising upon the opportunities afforded them by a significant improvement in Melbourne's weather, it was two players at opposite ends of the Test cricketing spectrum who emerged as the stars on a magical day three of the Second Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today. In his first Test, paceman Brett Lee dramatically provided the spark on another brilliant day for the home team and in response, Sachin Tendulkar composed a glorious innings amid the sheer wreckage of India's first innings score of 235 in response to the home team's 405.
On a day when the quality of Melbourne's weather finally reached the verge of acceptability for Test cricket, so this turn for the better was indeed replicated by a considerable improvement in both the amount and the general quality of the cricket which was played.
Almost immediately, the pitch again showed itself to be on the capricious side, and the opening passages of the morning's play belonged almost exclusively to India as a result. In conditions conducive to swing bowling, Javagal Srinath (4/130) beat the edge of the bat at least twice in the first over of the day, and similarly false strokes were n frequent evidence as the first half hour unfolded. That Adam Gilchrist (78), Ricky Ponting (67) and Shane Warne (2) were all forced to beat a hasty retreat back to the pavilion represented the ultimate confirmation of this pattern.
But for the next seven captivating hours, matters did not so easily fall India's way. Indeed, the tourists' aspirations of finally coming out on top at the end of a day's cricket in this series were more than adequately stymied from the moment that Lee (27) entered a Test arena for the first time to indulge in an unexpected, ungainly and effective half century stand for the ninth wicket with Damien Fleming (31*). Fleming again underlined the notion that he is gradually on the improve as a Test batsman, while Lee overcame some early nerves to hit out forcefully.
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South Africa pay price for omitting Rhodes

THE South African cricket selectors' decision to omit Jonty Rhodes from the team for the third Test against England at Kingsmead was exposed on Tuesday as Andy Caddick shot the home team out for just 156 and England enforced the follow-on, 210 runs

Ken Borland
28-Dec-1999
THE South African cricket selectors' decision to omit Jonty Rhodes from the team for the third Test against England at Kingsmead was exposed on Tuesday as Andy Caddick shot the home team out for just 156 and England enforced the follow-on, 210 runs ahead on the first innings.
Rhodes, the darling of Kingsmead and averaging 48.8 in his last 17 Tests, made way for an extra bowler, but South Africa were desperately in need of his uplifting presence during their two days in the field and missed his gritty batting even more as they slumped to 84 for eight on one of their blackest days since the return to international cricket.
Overnight thundershowers and a non-functional roller delayed the start of play to 10.53am, prompting Nasser Hussain, 146 not out, to declare on England's overnight total of 366 for nine. Caddick then sliced through the South African batting like the proverbial hot knife, the steep bounce he extracted inducing mass apoplexy amongst the batsmen as they careened to 32 for three by lunch and then 84 for eight.
Herschelle Gibbs (2), Gary Kirsten (11) and Jacques Kallis (0), down the leg-side, all edged the tall paceman to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart, leaving Daryll Cullinan to partner his captain, Hansie Cronje, through the six overs to lunch.
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Hyderabad Struggling against Tamil Nadu

Hyderabad were struggling at 95 for four in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 404 at stumps on the second day of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Tuesday

Partab Ramchand
28-Dec-1999
Hyderabad were struggling at 95 for four in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 404 at stumps on the second day of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Tuesday.
Medium pacer S Mahesh was chiefly responsible for Hyderabad being up against it. After Gokulkrishna removed Nandakishore for seven at 22 in the tenth over, Mahesh struck thrice in quick succession to leave Hyderabad gasping for breath. At 55, he bowled D Vinay Kumar for 15. Two overs later, with the total on 62, he bowled Manohar for 34. And in his next over, Mahesh had Vanka Pratap caught by Madanagopal for two at 64.
Skipper Md Azharuddin, who had come in at the fall of the second wicket and the experienced MV Sridhar however stemmed the rot and by close had added 31 runs off 6.5 overs. At stumps Azharuddin was batting with 24 with four hits to the fence. But Mahesh had taken the afternoon honours by finishing with three for 32 from 14 overs.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at 252 for four did well to run up a total of 404. Overnight not out batsmen S Sriram and Robin Singh took the score to 282 before the skipper was leg before to NP Singh for 29. In the same over NP Singh bowled Vasanth Saravanan for 4. The left handed Sriram was finally seventh out at 309, caught by Sridhar off NP Singh. Sriram batted 402 minutes for his 121. He faced 305 balls and hit eleven of them to the ropes. Reuben Paul (17) fell in the next over. But the innings was kept going by an unexpected ninth wicket partnership of 89 runs from 26.4 overs between S Mahesh and J Gokulakrishnan, each of whom scored 46. While Gokulakrishnan faced 85 balls and hit five fours, Mahesh faced 80 balls and hit four fours and two sixes. Medium pacer NP Singh was the pick of the bowlers and he was rewarded with five wickets for 100 off 29 overs.
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