Report
Tailenders help Haryana to recover
Rohtak: Useful contributions by the tailenders helped Haryana to stage a recovery against Himachal Pradesh on the opening day of their fourth match of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league at the Vishwakarma stadium here today
Anil Gulati
14-Nov-1999
Rohtak: Useful contributions by the tailenders helped Haryana to stage
a recovery against Himachal Pradesh on the opening day of their fourth
match of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league at the Vishwakarma stadium
here today.
Haryana's last three wickets added exactly 100 runs to enable the team
to reach a respectable total of 222 in their first innings.
Haryana won the toss and elected to bat. The opening pair of Jitender
Singh and Sanjay Balwan put on 47 runs for the first wicket before
Balwan was caught behind off medium pacer Shakti Singh. Balwan made 14
runs in 42 balls. Five overs later it was Jitender's turn to leave the
ground. He was adjudged leg before wicket to Rahul Panta for 26
runs. He hit four boundaries.
Skipper Parender Sharma and Sanjay Dalal contributed 24 and 23 runs
respectively before being dismissed by Shakti Singh. Amarjeet Kaypee
scored 35 to emerge as the highest scorer before he was caught behind
off Rahul Panta. At one stage Haryana was in deep trouble having lost
seven wickets for 122 runs. A strokeful innings of 30 runs in 34 balls
by Vineet Jain and a valuable 28 by Pankaj Thakur enabled Haryana to
reach their ultimate total.
Full postAssam tail defies Bengal
Calcutta: A fine show by the Assam tailenders featured the second day of the East Zone Ranji Trophy league tie against Bengal here on Saturday
14-Nov-1999
Calcutta: A fine show by the Assam tailenders featured the second day
of the East Zone Ranji Trophy league tie against Bengal here on
Saturday.
Resuming at 225 for six, Assam did well to post a challenging total of
347. The overnight not out batsmen SR Das (39) and R Bora (38) took
the score to 264 before the former was out. Then Bora and Sukhwinder
Singh (24) added 33 runs for the eighth wicket. And finally Dutta (34
not out) and Zaman (4), the last two batsmen put on 42 runs off 16
overs. Bengal skipper U Chatterjee was the most successful bowler
taking five wickets for 54 off 33.5 overs.
When Bengal batted, Nikhil Haldipur (33) and DD Gupta (22) gave them a
good start and then Rohan Gavaskar (42 not out) and S Kalyani (28 not
out) carried on the good work as Bengal finished with 137 for two off
42.1 overs at stumps. Sukhwinder Singh took both the Bengal wickets
for 32 runs.
Full postSodhi's ton places Punjab in command
Ludhiana: Reetinder Sodhi's unbeaten century put Punjab in a commanding position as they scored 276 for two at the draw of stumps against Delhi on the first day of their fourth league match of this season's Ranji Trophy four day match at the Punjab
Rajesh Arora
14-Nov-1999
Ludhiana: Reetinder Sodhi's unbeaten century put Punjab in a
commanding position as they scored 276 for two at the draw of stumps
against Delhi on the first day of their fourth league match of this
season's Ranji Trophy four day match at the Punjab Agriculture
University ground here today.
Punjab skipper Vikram Rathour again proved lucky with the coin and
rightfully opted to bat first on a hard and dry wicket. Rathour and
Reetinder Sodhi opened the innings. Rathour enjoyed an early life as
he was dropped from the second ball of the innings at fine leg by
Robin Singh junior off Ashish Nehra. Rathour then played his natural
game and hit 8 boundaries and two huge sixes during his knock of 75
runs which came off 129 balls. The duo added 128 runs for the opening
wicket off 243 balls. Rathour was caught at deep mid wicket by Mithun
Manhas as he mistimed a pull off Harinder Chaudhary.
Yuvraj Singh who came in at the fall of Rathour's wicket was dismissed
by Ashish Nehra's devastating yorker before opening his
account. Pankaj Dharmani (77*) who joined Sodhi (104*) was in trouble
as he was dropped twice by Ajay Sharma and Akash Malhotra at 13 and
17. The bowler to suffer on both the occasions was Sandeep Angurala.
Reetinder Sodhi who was playing with a cool head at the other end
motivated Dharmani and they consolidated the innings by taking singles
and twos. Sodhi completed his second century in style as he made an
extra cover drive off Harinder Chaudhary. He stayed at the wicket for
the whole day and faced 260 balls, almost half of the balls bowled
today. His knock contained eleven sweetly timed boundaries. This was
his 21st innings of the 16th Ranji match. His first century was also
against Delhi which was an unbeaten double hundred in 1997-98.
Full postBihar snatch narrow first innings lead
Agartala: Tripura lost their last four wickets without the addition of a run enabling Bihar to snatch a narrow first innings lead of two runs over Tripura on the second day of the East Zone Ranji Trophy league match here on Saturday
14-Nov-1999
Agartala: Tripura lost their last four wickets without the addition of
a run enabling Bihar to snatch a narrow first innings lead of two runs
over Tripura on the second day of the East Zone Ranji Trophy league
match here on Saturday.
Resuming at 25 for one in reply to Bihar's first innings total of 174,
Tripura lost wickets at regular intervals and were badly placed at 112
for six. Prajapati and Chowdhuri then figured in a seventh wicket
stand of 60 runs which brought Tripura tantalisingly close to taking
the lead. At 172 for 7, Tripura seemed well set to take the lead. Then
came the sudden collapse. First, Chowdhuri was bowled by Saxena for
34. Off the third ball of the next over bowled by Dhiraj Kumar, Alok
Saha was run out. Off the next delivery S.Bose was leg before for
zero. And two balls later, IS Ghosh was also out leg before for zero
leaving Prajapati unbeaten with 37. Prajapati batted patiently for 254
minutes and faced 186 balls without hitting even one boundary. The
last four Tripura wickets fell in 11 balls for no run.
Full postLiebenberg, Hamilton shine in England-Combined XI match
Bloemfontein: Former South African Test player, Gerhardus Liebenberg, proved to be a thorn in England's side as a Combined Free State/Griqualand West XI held their own against the tourists on the second day of their four-day match at Goodyear Park on
Michael Finch
14-Nov-1999
Bloemfontein: Former South African Test player, Gerhardus Liebenberg,
proved to be a thorn in England's side as a Combined Free
State/Griqualand West XI held their own against the tourists on the
second day of their four-day match at Goodyear Park on Saturday.
At close, Liebenberg had scored an unbeaten 80 to help the Combined XI
reach 156 for three, still 202 runs behind overall after England had
declared at lunch on 358 for nine.
Against an England attack that only fired in patches, Liebenberg stood
firm during early onslaughts from speedster Darren Gough, scoring his
runs off 194 balls with 11 fours.
Together with Martyn Gidley, he put on 81 for the first wicket before
Gough bowled Gidley for 37 off 103 balls (3x4, 1x6). With Finlay
Brooker (0) and Piet Barnard (3) going cheaply, it was left to Morne
van Wyk to heed the call and by the close the two had put on 55 for
the fourth wicket.
Full postFull-strength Blues tame toothless Tigers
After they were permitted to witness something of an act of self-destruction through the middle stages of their opponents' innings, New South Wales' cricketers have ensured that the North Sydney Oval remains a bogey venue for Tasmania with a 21 run
John Polack
14-Nov-1999
After they were permitted to witness something of an act of self-destruction through the middle stages of their opponents' innings, New South Wales' cricketers have ensured that the North Sydney Oval remains a bogey venue for Tasmania with a 21 run win in the teams' Mercantile Mutual match there today. Defending a total of 9/277 which appeared to be no more than a moderate score given the tiny dimensions of the ground, the home team prevailed comfortably as they restricted the Tasmanians to 8/256 in reply on an excellent batting pitch.
Having been invited to bat first by rival skipper Jamie Cox, the home team found itself in early trouble at 2/21 before Corey Richards (70), Michael Bevan (46), Shane Lee (46) and Michael Slater (45) combined to stabilise and then add lustre to the effort. Continuing what has been a season of mixed fortunes for him, Richards was the star and his effort in holding the top order together before accelerating his scoring rate late in his innings was a fine one. Bevan also played particularly well and made the most of a dubious decision by Umpire Cameron to deny the Tasmanians what appeared a clear caught behind verdict when his score was just 13.
Tasmania received a strong start to the pursuit as Jamie Cox (54) and Ricky Ponting (26) steered it to a score of 1/85 at one point, but the needless run out of the latter after he slammed a ball straight to Bevan at cover in the nineteenth over and then attempted an always suicidal run sowed the seeds for a disappointing chase for the remainder of the afternoon. Against an attack led capably by speedster Brett Lee (2/40), Shane Lee (1/37) and the somewhat expensive leg spinner Stuart MacGill (2/64), the visitors continued to struggle to score runs quickly enough, they threw wickets away at regular intervals and, despite some outrageous late hitting from the normally patient Dene Hills (49* off 42 balls), could never really establish the requisite momentum required for them to claim a still elusive first ever win at this ground.
Full postSharma's century gives Rajasthan imposing lead
Jaipur: Sanjeev Sharma's maiden hundred for Rajasthan and half centuries from captain P
O.P.Sharma
13-Nov-1999
Jaipur: Sanjeev Sharma's maiden hundred for Rajasthan and half
centuries from captain P. Krishnakumar, Anshu Jain, Ajay Mehra and
D.P. Singh helped Rajasthan take a first innings lead of 260 over
Vidarbha with two wickets in hand at close of play on the second day
of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the KL Saini
stadium here yesterday.
Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 114-2, Rajasthan lost
Anshu Jain caught behind by keeper Deshpande off Prateki for
78. P. Krishnakumar and Ajay Mehra then added 50 runs for the fourth
wicket. After Mehra was out, former Indian player Sanjeev Sharma, who
plays as a professional for Rajasthan, put on 122 runs for the fifth
wicket with Krishnakumar. The latter looked all set for a big score
when he was declared lbw to V. Baddlu for a well compiled 72.
Sharma grabbed the honours for the second day running, following up
his four wicket haul on the first day with his second first class
century. His first century had come for Railways against Uttar Pradesh
at the Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi. Sharma's 117 came in 238
minutes from 204 balls. He and D.P. Singh (52 not out) added 90 for
the seventh wicket. At stumps Rajasthan were 423-8.
Full postSri Lankans demolish Zimbabwe Academy
From 12 to 14 November the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, now known as the CFX Academy, played the touring Sri Lanka team at Kwekwe Sports Club
Gwynne Jones
13-Nov-1999
From 12 to 14 November the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, now known as the CFX
Academy, played the touring Sri Lanka team at Kwekwe Sports Club. Academy
director Gwynne Jones sends us his report.
Day 1
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. On a dry wicket with dead grass
patches Sri Lanka decided to bat. They had stated beforehand that the wicket
would not last two days.
The Academy bowling was wayward to start with, resulting in an onslaught
from their openers -- 60 off the first ten overs. However Gary Brent bowled an
excellent line outside off stump to a seven-two field. With uneven bounce Sri
Lanka were not prepared to take chances but wickets began to fall. In
mid-afternoon they had been reduced to 230 for 8 before our bowlers began to
tire. Their last two wickets added 67 runs, enabling them to finish on 302 in
91.5 overs. The Academy lost one wicket before the close.
Day 2
The pitch was even drier and there were visible signs of it breaking up. The
young Academy students could not handle the uneven bounce and the spin and
guile of the Sri Lankan bowlers. Greg lamb and Dirk Viljoen batted well in the
middle order but there was little resistance from the other batsmen. The
Academy were bowled out for 123. It was not surprising that Sri Lanka enforced
the follow-on as the pitch would not have provided them with any worthwhile
batting practice for the Test.
Full postHayward pace blitz routs Sri Lanka A
Centurion: Rushdie Majiet may be in Harare watching South Africa take control of the second Test against Zimbabwe but the convener of the national selectors has, no doubt, also heard the loud rapping on the door of opportunity yesterday by three fast
Trevor Chesterfield
13-Nov-1999
Centurion: Rushdie Majiet may be in Harare watching South Africa take
control of the second Test against Zimbabwe but the convener of the
national selectors has, no doubt, also heard the loud rapping on the
door of opportunity yesterday by three fast bowlers from far off
SuperSport Park.
Just how flimsy it is depends on whether the selectors are interested
in promoting any of the trio when the Test series against England
starts in a couple of weeks time with Mornantau Hayward, through the
number of wickets he has taken so far this season offering a serious
challenge.
The pace he generated at times during his spread of five wickets for
40 in 19.1 overs for South Africa A yesterday was more than
encouraging as he helped dismember Sri Lanka A for a first innings
score of 161, with wicketkeeper Nic Pothas having a hand in three of
his dismissals.
As the Sri Lanka A total is 299 behind South Africas 460 for five
declared the follow on is more than likely today when the game enters
the third of its four days.
Full postAdams, Flintoff steady the England ship
Bloemfontein: Chris Adams and Andrew Flintoff rescued England from a potentially embarrassing first innings collapse on the first day of their four-day Tour match against a make-shift Combination team from the Free State and Griqualand West at
Michael Finch
13-Nov-1999
Bloemfontein: Chris Adams and Andrew Flintoff rescued England
from a potentially embarrassing first innings collapse on the first day of their four-day Tour match against a make-shift Combination team from the Free State and Griqualand West at Goodyear Park on Friday.
Adams scored 84 off 188 balls (10x4) and Flintoff 65 off 128 balls
(9x4) as they put on 132 for the sixth wicket to help the tourists reached 271 for seven at the close of the first day.
After the early loss of openers Mark Butcher (3) and stalwart Mike
Atherton (26), England battled to 94 for three at lunch and were playing with fire at 127 for five as the steady, but unspectacular, provincial bowling line-up maintained a tight line and length.
The only resistance in the morning session had come from captain Nassar
Hussain, who played positively for his 41 (63 balls, 8x4), before he was caught behind five balls after the break.
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