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Great Escape for Bihar
Tamil Nadu just failed to pull off a fantastic victory over Bihar at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur in their Cooch Behar Trophy quarter final today
07-Dec-1999
Tamil Nadu just failed to pull off a fantastic victory over Bihar at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur in their Cooch Behar Trophy quarter final today. In a heroic performance the Tamil Nadu bowlers had Bihar on the ropes at 63-8 but time ran out just as they were set to deliver the killer blow. It was an amazing turnaround to a match that Bihar appeared to have sewn up on the strength of their first innings lead yesterday. The draw ensured that hosts Bihar went through to the semis where they will await the winner of the Delhi-Gujarat game starting tomorrow.
Having conceded a first innings lead of 111, Tamil Nadu (overnight 26-1) declared at 271-8 after a century by 18 year old Surendar Doss had opened up a narrow window of opportunity. Doss made 112 (139 balls, 6 fours and 5 sixes) with his second fifty coming off just 40 balls. Bihar were set 161 to win in a minimum of 32 overs and they began to flounder at once.
Ganapathy removed both the openers, including a wicket off the third ball of the innings. Vidyuth opened himself at the other end and he took two wickets off successive balls in his fourth over as Bihar crashed to 9-4. At tea Bihar were 33-4 in 12 overs.
Tamil Nadu were getting through their overs as quickly as possible in an all out bid to force victory. Leg spinner Krishnan Velmurugan, who turns 19 later this month, grabbed 3 wickets in a miserly spell after tea as Tamil Nadu tightened the screws further. The eighth Bihar wicket fell at 59 off the last ball of the 38th over, after which there was time only for two more overs. But Aamir Hashmi and Satendra Mishra played out an over each to deposit last years runners up Tamil Nadu out of the tournament. Hashmi followed up his 1st innings 94 by propping up the brittle Bihar middle order once more with a match saving 32 not out off 86 balls. For TN, Vidyuth took 3-32 from 18 overs while Velmurugan's figures read 11-8-6-3. Amazingly the six runs that he conceded included four no balls.
Full postMaharashtra struggling against Saurashtra
In the face of a challenging Saurashtra total of 366, Maharashtra were struggling at 126 for four at close of play on the second day of their West Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) at Pune on Tuesday
07-Dec-1999
In the face of a challenging Saurashtra total of 366, Maharashtra were
struggling at 126 for four at close of play on the second day of their
West Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) at Pune on Tuesday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 263 for four, Saurashtra were all
out for 366. Opener V Rathod top scored with 88. He faced 193 balls
and hit 12 boundaries. He and Karthik Goswami (44) put on 122 runs for
the first wicket. The position was consolidated by useful knocks by P
Jadeja (65) and Shakti Zala (39) in the middle order.
Maharashtra lost four wickets for 61 runs, but their hopes were kept
alive by an unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 65 runs between
Yogesh Takavale and Parag More, both of whom were on 27 at stumps.
Full postHussain impressed with Pieterson
England captain Nasser Hussain has been so impressed by the performance of rookie KwaZulu-Natal all-rounder Kevin Pieterson that he has asked the youngster for a chat today concerning the possibility of him playing his cricket in Essex during the
Patrick Compton
06-Dec-1999
England captain Nasser Hussain has been so impressed by the performance of rookie KwaZulu-Natal all-rounder Kevin Pieterson that he has asked the youngster for a chat today concerning the possibility of him playing his cricket in Essex during the next (English) summer.
Speaking after the third day's play of their tour match against the KZN
Dolphins at Kingsmead, Hussain said he had been particularly impressed by the off-spin bowling of the former Durban High School pupil.
"I rate him as a very promising prospect," the Essex and England captain said on a day when he scored the first century by an England player in any representative match in 1999.
Pieterson, who was making his debut for the Dolphins in a first-class
match, first caught the eye when he struck an impressive unbeaten 61 in
their first-innings total of 310. His innings included four boundaries and four sixes, two of which were magnificent pulls off the best England bowler, Andrew Caddick.
Full postHussain scores England's maiden first class century of 1999
England fumbled around like a pimply adolescent on a first date for most of a glorious sunny Sunday at Kingsmead, before Andrew Flintoff and Alex Tudor finally drove home the advantage and provided some entertainment
Ken Borland
06-Dec-1999
England fumbled around like a pimply adolescent on a first date for most of a glorious sunny Sunday at Kingsmead, before Andrew Flintoff and Alex Tudor finally drove home the advantage and provided some entertainment.
The third day ended prematurely with the tourists on 401 for eight in reply to Natal's first innings of 310. Fittingly, given England's negative attitude, it was their refusal to allow floodlights to be used to counter bad light on this tour which costing 8.5 overs of action on Sunday.
Before Flintoff and Tudor put on a sparkling unbeaten partnership of 85 for the ninth wicket, the day had been dominated by visiting captain Nasser Hussain, who scored England's first first-class century of 1999.
Having got off the mark with a six on Saturday, Hussain was cautious almost to the extreme on Sunday. Although there was joy in the England camp that the three-figure mark had finally been breached, the innings itself stirred few emotions, except amongst the Natalians, who felt they clearly had him caught behind the wicket on two occasions, off Jon Kent and Kevin Pietersen.
Hussain's century took all of 270 balls and on the flattest of pitches
against an average attack, one would have expected the England captain to have led more of a charge. Instead, the batting practice seemed to be focused almost exclusively on defensive technique as England, resuming on 163 for two, scored just six runs in the first 12 overs of the day and 63 in the 40 overs before lunch.
Full postNorth Zone book semifinal berth
There were no surprise changes in the script on the final day and the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal between North Zone and South Zone meandered along its predestined course at Agartala on Sunday
Partab Ramchand
06-Dec-1999
There were no surprise changes in the script on the final day and
the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal between North Zone and South Zone meandered along its predestined course at Agartala on Sunday. Resuming their second innings at their overnight score of 77 for one, North Zone declared at 257 for eight in 80 overs, leaving South Zone the impossible task of getting 423 runs for victory in
37 overs. South Zone when stumps were finally drawn were 100 for
one. On the basis of their first innings lead of 165 runs, North
Zone qualified for the semifinal where they now meet holders
Central Zone.
The North Zone second innings was marked by a fine 93 by skipper
Vikram Rathour. He batted four hours, faced 176 balls and hit ten fours. With Rajiv Nayyar (28) he added 100 runs for the second wicket. Rathour was fourth out at 154. Then Chopra (26 not out)and Shakti Singh (37) added 53 runs for the seventh wicket. The South Zone bowling was chiefly in the hands of spinners Venkatpathi Raju and Aashish Kapoor, who each bowled 28 overs. While Kapoor had three for 124, the steadier Raju took five for 62.
In the South Zone second innings, which held little interest, A Nandakishore (51 not out) and S Mahesh (42) put on 93 runs for the first wicket in 25 overs.
Full postEngland and KwaZulu-Natal draw tour match
NATAL'S match against England did eventually peter out in a draw at Kingsmead on Monday, but in terms of preparation for the vital second Test starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday, home captain Dale Benkenstein feels the tourists got little out of
Ken Borland
06-Dec-1999
NATAL'S match against England did eventually peter out in a draw at
Kingsmead on Monday, but in terms of preparation for the vital second Test
starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday, home captain Dale Benkenstein feels
the tourists got little out of the match.
Natal finished an abbreviated day on 152 for two in their second innings,
Doug Watson and Ahmed Amla stroking half-centuries. Resuming on 401 for eight at 10.45am after heavy overnight rain, England were dismissed for 421, Andrew Flintoff, on his 22nd birthday, being stranded on a powerful 89 not out as Alex Tudor and Phil Tufnell did not come to the party.
Flintoff and Tudor extended their ninth-wicket partnership to 105, before
the fast bowler was caught behind off Ross Veenstra for 45, the left-armer
promptly snaffling Tufnell next ball, caught in the gully.
Benkenstein, who also captains the SA A team, was quite outspoken in his belief that England were fooling themselves if they thought they had solved their problems at Kingsmead.
Full postWI make bright start
Taupo, New Zealand - Shivnarine Chanderpaul, with a polished 116, and Ricardo Powell, serving immediate notice of his exciting potential with 68, put together an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 111 as the West Indies made a satisfying start to the
06-Dec-1999
Taupo, New Zealand - Shivnarine Chanderpaul, with a polished 116, and
Ricardo Powell, serving immediate notice of his exciting potential
with 68, put together an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 111 as the
West Indies made a satisfying start to the opening first-class match
of their New Zealand tour here yesterday.
Powell, however, was unable to complete his hundred, falling for 86 to
a catch at mid-off after adding 18 off 23 balls.
West Indies had reached 332 for four just before lunch on the second
day with Chanderpaul on 139 and captain Jimmy Adams 21.
The West Indies were 266 for three at the end of the first day of
three against New Zealand ?A? at Owen Delaney Park in the North Island
tourist town of Taupo, with its nearby lake and backdrop of snow
capped, active volcano.
Full postChanderpaul double century in tour match
A double century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and some less than convincing batting left New Zealand A 382 runs behind the West Indians with 6 first innings wickets standing at the end of the second of three days at Owen Delany Park, Taupo
Peter Hoare
06-Dec-1999
A double century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and some less than convincing
batting left New Zealand A 382 runs behind the West Indians with 6 first
innings wickets standing at the end of the second of three days at Owen
Delany Park, Taupo.
Chanderpaul's innings was an essay in judgment and concentration. 112 not
out overnight, he rebuilt his innings from scratch on an overcast morning.
If the bowling was accurate, as it was more often than yesterday, he was
unconcerned. The bad ball would be awaited and dispatched. He gave one
chance, to Sinclair at point off Drum when he was 138
As might be expected of a short man, he is strong square of the wicket on
both sides, but also played some elegant and powerful front foot drives. He
passed 200 in mid afternoon with an untypically streaky boundary through a
vacant third man. In all he hit 34 fours. There was also a six, swept off
leg spinner Walker over mid wicket. He batted for 560 minutes and faced 391
deliveries.
Chanderpaul missed the test series against Australia earlier this year
through injury. The return of his skill, temperament and tenacity will be
valuable in a batting line up that was almost totally dependent on Lara even
in achieving a drawn series.
Full postSouth Queensland defeat North Queensland by 38 runs
The annual cricket contest between North Queensland and South Queensland was played at Harrup Park, Mackay over the week-end of 4th and 5th December
Warwick Torrens
06-Dec-1999
The annual cricket contest between North Queensland and South Queensland was played at Harrup Park, Mackay over the week-end of 4th and 5th December. Winning the toss South Queensland captain Craig Jesberg decided to take first use of the crease but the move backfired when Neill was bowled in the second over from the fourth ball he faced. But that ended the early success for North Queensland as Tony Dwyer and Brian May settled into a fine second wicket partnership which was dominated by the former.
On the dismissal of Dwyer at 112 Rynne joined May and 78 runs were added for the third wicket before May left, precipitating a minor middle order collapse but the innings was steadied as Jesberg joined Rynne to add 60 for the sixth wicket.
In a very fine display Dwyer was severe on anything loose and scored his runs from 78 balls faced. May on the other hand was much more sedate faced 146 balls while Rynne was there for 165 balls faced. Towards the end of the innings Toohey showed some useful form with the bat and remained unconquered when the innings closed, having faced 31 balls for his runs. North Queensland captain Kim Evetts sprang a surprise when he introduced slow left armer Stewart MacDonald to bowl the tenth over of the innings, replacing Brian Hawke. Hawke had been expensive early but later bowled with more economy.
MacDonald allowed only one run from his first over and then sent down a maiden but after that the batsmen treated him much more severely, though in his second spell he bowled four maidens, three of them in consecutive overs. Darren Frakes provided the vital break through with his medium paced deliveries and finished with the bowling honours. Craig Window also proved a handy change bowler, sending down four overs to capture two wickets in conceding just four runs. The South Queensland innings concluded shortly after four o'clock and North Queensland were left with 32 overs to face before stumps would be drawn.
Full postPunjab clinch first innings lead
Punjab has virtually booked its place in the semi finals of the Cooch Behar Trophy by taking the first innings lead against Orissa in a quarter final match at Jamshedpur today
06-Dec-1999
Punjab has virtually booked its place in the semi finals of the Cooch Behar Trophy by taking the first innings lead against Orissa in a quarter final match at Jamshedpur today. With the Cooch Behar Trophy being played over three days there is hardly any scope for teams to recover after a first innings deficit.
At the Telco Club Ground, Punjab resumed at 53-1 and overnight batsmen RS Ricky and Yuvraj Singh took the score to 110 before Singh was dismissed for 38 with the partnership worth 97. Although Punjab were in a spot of bother at 165-5, they managed to overhaul Orissa's first innings total of 250 with seven wickets down and posted a score of 316 thanks to regular contributions down the order. Four batsmen got scores in the 30's not to speak of extras which numbered 35. Ricky top scored with 76 (106 balls, 13 fours and a six). DR Patnaik took four wickets for Orissa.
At stumps Orissa had raced to 92-1 in 18 overs with S Mohanty playing a cameo of 38 in 34 balls (six 4's). Biswa Mohapatra on 44 and N Behera on 5 were manning the crease.
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