All posts by csb10.top

Western Province Boland 242 and 371 for 7 beat Eagles 222 and 278 (Beukes 89, van Wyk 64, Kleinveldt 3-59, de Lange 3-62) by 113 runs
ScorecardWestern Province Boland beat the Eagles by 113 runs at Goodyear Park inBloemfontein to jump right back into contention for the SuperSport Series.Starting on Sunday at 89 for 3 the Eagles needed a further 303 runs towin. Jonathan Beukes and Morne van Wyk got them off to the perfect start, putting on 126 for the fourth wicket before van Wyk was caught behind off Conde Lange for 64. Eight overs later Beukes also edged de Lange to Andrew Puttick for a well-made 89. Loots Bosman tried to keep the target in sight with a quick 32, but the fall of three quick wickets left the Eagles in dire straits. At 244 for 8 it looked all over but Cliff Deacon and Roger Telemachus put their heads down, and took the score on to 277. But Telemachus was soon bowled by Charl Willoughby for 13, just one run short of scoring his 1000th first-class run. The end came when Victor Mpitsang was run out without scoring, leaving Deacon stranded on 33 and the Eagles all out for 278.Titans 213 and 325 for 7 dec (de Bruyn 149, Ngam 3-50) drew withDolphins 294 and 8 for 0
ScorecardThe Dolphins and the Titans played out to a tame draw at Kingsmead thanks to time being lost each day due to bad light and a magnificent match-saving innings of 149 for the Titans by Zander de Bruyn.de Bruyn’s innings lasted exactly seven hours and ensured that the Titans could not lose the game. When the declaration came at 325 the lead was 244 with the Dolphins in no position to chase. At 8 for no loss the light was offered and accepted, and the match was drawn.Warriors 217 and 236 for 8 (Peterson 65, Sodumo 55, Langeveldt 3-61) beat Lions 175 for 9 dec and 277 for 9 dec by 2 wickets
ScorecardThe Warriors nearly made a mess of chasing the 236 set by the Lions at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth but eventually claimed their first win of the season by a two-wicket margin. The chase did not start off too well as the Warriors lost five wickets for 55 before Robin Peterson and Abongile Sodumo got the innings back on track as they put on 107 for the sixth wicket before Peterson was bowled by Derek Crookes for 65.Sodumo followed on 214, having scored a valuable 55, as he played the anchor for a swinging Tyron Henderson. In trying to go for glory Henderson put his team at danger as he flashed and edged to the keeper after smashing 51 off 29 balls, leaving the Warriors at 227 for 8. In the end it was left to Monde Zondeki to take the Warriors to their first win of the season.

South Africa’s limited-overs season got underway at the Wanderers inJohannesburg with the annual Sports Trust Cricket Challenge between thewinners of the previous season’s domestic competition, the Lions, and aRest of South Africa XI. The Lions were never in the game as a rejuvenated South African squad, coming off a five-day training camp, made short work of the batsmen emphasising the vast chasm that separates domestic and international cricket.The Lions won the toss and decided to bat first, but found the goinghard as Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini kept a tight rein on line andlength. Frustrated by the lack of runs, Adam Bacher was first todepart, in the sixth over, playing an expansive drive at Ntini only toedge to Thami Tsolekile for three. Ntini struck again in the tenth over,knocking back Andrew Hall’s off stump as he tried to force one square of the wicket.A bowling change eased some pressure, with Neil McKenzie dispatching Zander de Bruyn through the covers on three occasions. But De Bruyn struck back strongly with the wickets of McKenzie, HD Ackerman, Justin Ontong, Derek Crookes and Vaughn van Jaarsveld in a six-over spell that fetched him impressive figures of 5 for 29.Ntini, who finished with 4 for 10, wrapped up the tail as the Lions were bowled out for 84 in just 26 overs. Graeme Smith and Jacques Rudolph opened the innings for the Rest, with Smith surviving a leg-before appeal against Hall off the very first ball. But Rudolph was not as lucky, edging the first one he faced to Ahmed Omar.Martin van Jaarsveld stuck around for 18 before fending one from Enoch Nkwe for Omar to take his second catch. Jacques Kallis survived two appeals for leg before from Nkwe before he had scored, and Smith was dropped by Crookesoff his own bowling, but in the end, the Rest were comfortable winners.

Scorecard

Craig McMillan shone with both bat and ball as Canterbury began their campaign with a five-wicket win over Otago at Molyneux Park in Alexandra. McMillan celebrated his promotion to the captaincy by taking 2 for 20 from his seven overs before an inspirational 113 not out that steered his side to a last-over victory.Otago started well with Craig Cumming and Chris Gaffaney putting on 87 for the first wicket. Gaffaney, a free-flowing batsman with 78 one-day appearances, has struggled to convert starts into big scores and while he achieved his ninth half-century, he wasn’t able to improve on his best score of 79 when dismissed for 55.His departure at 137 was in the middle of a top-order slump which undid much of the good work that had been done earlier. The Otago batsmen had a dreadful time with their running between the wickets, five batsmen being run out, muchof it being their own fault.Fortunately the lower-order managed to regain some of the scoring momentum and while only Brad Scott with 30 off 42 balls threatened to set the world on fire, Otago were able to make the last over in which the last run out occurredwith the total on 247.Canterbury were given a solid start of 59 by Michael Papps and Tim McIntosh. McIntosh had been in poor form in the State Championship but he scored a tidy 74 during a 123-run third wicket stand with McMillan. McMillan took centerstage after that and played the sheet-anchor role to perfection.Things got a little tight in the run chase with 16 off the last two overs. But in the penultimate over Jeff Wilson conceded 12 and Paul Wiseman took four off the first ball of the last over to seal the win.
Scorecard
Northern Districts were rocked at the start of their innings at the Basin Reserve when asked to bat first by Wellington, but the strong middle order halted the rot in fine style. James Marshall, the captain, and Matt Hart each scored 67 – Marshall at just under a run-a-ball while Hart played thesteadier hand in his 112-minute innings.After they had fashioned the recovery, Joseph Yovich steadied the lower order while scoring 52, his fourth one-day half-century before he was run out in the last over. Wellington’s Jayesh Patel’s offspin proved highly effective under the conditions as he took 2 for 37 from his 10 overs. By comparison, Mark Gillespie finished with 2 for 67.Needing 263 to win, Wellington made a bad start when Michael Parlane and Jesse Ryder, both big hitters, were back in the pavilion with only 10 on the board. It was left to Chris Nevin to provide the impetus with a fine innings of 90 off 102. It was Luke Woodcock, the No.7 batsman, who finally provided some substance to the Wellington chase with 71 off 91 balls but he got out the ball after hitting a six as he attempted to repeat the shot only to be caught on theboundary.Mark Orchard was the pick of the ND bowlers and he finished with 4 for 47. Ian Butler claimed 3 for 42 and justified the selectors decision to give him a match to gear up for the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Scorecard
The Auckland batsmen found the Fitzherbert Park pitch at Palmerston North a little too lively when they were asked to bat first against Central Districts. It took a guarded innings of 34 by Tama Canning and a more attacking 34 by Andre Adams to overcome the home attack. Rob Nicol hit 24 to recover thesituation from a poor start but Auckland were up against it, especially in the face of some fine bowling by Michael Mason.Mason, the medium pacer, who has been on the fringe of national selection, made the most of the conditions and finished with 4 for 23 from his 9.5 overs. Glen Sulzberger’s offspin also produced 2 for 35 at a time when Auckland were looking to blast their way out of trouble.CD also struggled in the initial stages of their chase but a fine unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 89 between Sulzberger and Bevan Griggs saw them home with plenty to spare. They also managed a bonus point from the thumping win.Sulzberger scored 66 not out off 87 balls while Griggs scored 27 off 44.

The West Indian selectors have named a 14-man squad for the forthcoming seven-match one-day series against England, only half of whom are currently playing in the Antigua Test.Of the four fast bowlers playing at the Recreation Ground, only one, the economical Corey Collymore, has been retained – Fidel Edwards, Tino Best and Pedro Collins have all been rested. In their places come Merv Dillon for another recall, as well as the Under-19 World Cup finalist, Ravi Rampaul, and the Barbados paceman, Ian Bradshaw.After being dropped from the Test squad, Shivnarine Chanderpaul returns to prop up the batting, although Sylvester Joseph, who took Chanderpaul’s place in the squad, is also retained. Meanwhile, the Trinidadian allrounder, Dwayne Bravo, is set for his international debut.West Indies squad Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Hinds, Sylvester Joseph, Ridley Jacobs, Dwayne Bravo, Ian Bradshaw, Mervyn Dillon, Ravi Rampaul, Corey Collymore.

The domestic first-class champions from India and Pakistan will clash in a four-day cricket match later this month, the Indian board confirmed today.The match between Uttar Pradesh, India’s Ranji Trophy winners and Sialkot, Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy champions, will be held in Dharamsala from September 27 to 30, Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the Indian board (BCCI) told Cricinfo.However, until yesterday the Pakistan board hadn’t been informed of the new date. “The schedule has been negotiated by our chairman with the BCCI,” Saleem Altaf, Director operations, PCB, told Cricinfo. “The match has already been postponed by a year and the PCB is very keen to go ahead with the match whatever the date. This is a good idea to have matches between the two domestic champions and we would like for it to go ahead.”The game was initially supposed to have been played between September 19 and 22. But it’s been learnt that the Indian board were keen to postpone it since three players from Uttar Pradesh (Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and Rudra Pratap Singh) would be representing India in the DLF Cup at Malaysia at that point.Sialkot too might have missed some of their key players, including the likes of Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Malik had the game began on September 19, as the Pakistan board were keen that they get a break after the tour of England to be ready for the Champions Trophy in October.It will be a revival of sorts for Indo-Pak first-class rivalry. The Super Wills Cup was held in 1989 when United Bank Limited (UBL) took on Delhi, the Ranji Trophy champions that year. The next edition was played between Wills XI from India and Habib Bank at the Feroz Shah Kotla at Delhi.The game between UBL and Delhi is significant because it heralded the arrival of one of the most destructive bowlers of all time, Waqar Younis. Imran Khan, the legendary Pakistan captain, was down with viral fever and watching the game on television when he spotted a young fast bowler troubling the Delhi batsmen. Imran immediately drove down to the venue, and made sure the youngster was picked up for the forthcoming Sharjah tour. Eight days later, the 17-year old opened the Pakistan bowling with Wasim Akram at Sharjah against West Indies.

Australia 233 (Ponting 67, Symonds 53) beat Sri Lanka 193 (Sangakkara 101, Kasprowicz 5-45) by 40 runs, and lead series 3-1
Scorecard

On a day of spectacular batting collapses, Australia clinched the five-match series with a 40-run victory. Sri Lanka, set 234, were well set for a famous win, as Kumar Sangakkara scored a magnificent century. However, they suffered a late-innings meltdown, losing their last eight wickets for only 50 runs as Michael Kasprowicz grabbed a career-best five wicket haul.After Sri Lanka had bowled Australia out for 233, they made the worst possible start as Sanath Jayasuriya prodded tentatively for the second consecutive innings at a rising delivery from Kasprowicz (0 for 1). But Marvan Atapattu – fortunate to have not been dismissed earlier when the ball trickled back onto his stumps – and Sangakkara consolidated against some tight bowling from both Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie.The run rate started to climb before Sangakkara cut loose with a thrilling assault against Kasprowicz and Ian Harvey. Both bowlers were flayed for three boundaries in an over, and Sangakkara, particularly strong through the off side, sped to his 11th one-day half-century from just 45 balls.Ricky Ponting was forced to call up his slow bowlers, Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg. Atapattu, stuck on 18 for seven overs as Sangakkara hogged the strike, tried to break free with a lofted straight-drive, but miscued and was caught by Michael Bevan at long-on (78 for 2).But the loss of his captain did not deter Sangakkara from his thrillingly aggressive approach, and he continued to attack the slow bowlers. Mahela Jayawardene settled quickly and the pair ticked along at a run a ball, slowly pushing the required rate down and creating another headache for Ponting.After 30 overs, Sri Lanka were well placed at 135 for 2, and Ponting turned back to Gillespie, his senior paceman, in search of a breakthrough – and it did the trick. In Gillespie’s second over back, Jayawardene tried to run a short one through the slips, but only edged it to Adam Gilchrist (143 for 3).Sangakkara brought up his third century from 106 balls – without doubt his finest one-day innings – but the celebrations were short-lived, as he chased a wide one from Kasprowicz and was caught behind (148 for 4).Sri Lanka went into freefall: Saman Jayantha, making his debut, followed Sangakkara four balls later as Gilchrist took his fourth catch of the innings, off Harvey. Tillakaratne Dilshan then called for a suicidal run to Ponting at midwicket and was run out by a distance (158 for 6).Upul Chandana and Kaushal Lokuarachchi briefly raised local hopes, adding 31 in 38 balls, but Kasprowicz moved in for the kill to earn Australia their first one-day series victory in Sri Lanka.Gilchrist, meanwhile, put a dreadful week with the bat behind him as he claimed six catches in the innings, equalling the world record that he shares with Ridley Jacobs and Alec Stewart.

It was a remarkable turnaround from the Australians, who looked to be dead and buried once Sangakkara was in full flow, and after they had been bowled out for a modest 233.Ponting paid tribute to his players afterwards: “It was fantastic win. We were behind the eight-ball in the the field but I told my players before we went out that the team that hung in there the longest would win. Chasing a reasonable score, no matter how well you are going, you only need to lose one wicket.”Earlier, the Sri Lankan bowlers immediately gained the ascendancy after a brisk Australian start, taking the wickets of Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn to leave Australia precariously placed at 62 for 3 in the 13th over.But Ponting was once again in sizzling form, swivel-pulling two magnificent sixes off Vaas early on, and racing to his fourth consecutive fifty of the series. He and Symonds repaired the early damage, milking the spinners for 74 in 90 deliveries. But just when it looked as if Muttiah Muralitharan would go wicketless for the third game running, Ponting went back to a fizzing offbreak and was pinned in front (136 for 4).Symonds, passing fifty for the first time in this series after a series of undefeated cameos, pressed on with Bevan, and they added 41 in 52 balls before Murali returned for a second spell. Symonds immediately slog-swept him straight into the hands of Jayantha at midwicket (177 for 5).Australia, though, were still in a good position as Bevan added 24 in 25 balls with Clarke. But when Bevan (14) chipped a return catch to Murali off a leading edge, the innings declined rapidly, as four wickets tumbled for five runs. Harvey was run out by Atapattu at point, Hogg was trapped lbw first ball, and Kasprowicz edged behind for a duck (206 for 9).Clarke, with 36 from 32 balls, and Gillespie stemmed the tide, adding 27 for the last wicket. It was a job well done by Sri Lanka – but they couldn’t finish the job.

After being ruled out for the entire season with a shoulder injury, Paul Collingwood has been passed fit to play for Durham in their Frizzell County Championship match against Hampshire, starting at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.Collingwood played a key role for England during the World Cup and had been in line to make his Test debut this summer. But he suffered a dislocated right shoulder on April 16, while playing in a pre-season friendly against Lancashire. It had been feared that he would be ruled out for the entire season, but has made an impressive recovery.Collingwood, 27, has scored 874 runs at 32.37 in 38 ODIs for England, including one century against Sri Lanka. He has also taken 16 wickets with his medium-pacers, with best figures of 4 for 38 against New Zealand at Napier in 2001-02.

My India Tour We were babes in the woods during our first tour of India in 1955-56. We had tremendous problems with the hot weather, food, water and clothing. As a team, we were not that bad, in spite of a strong Indian line-up boasting stars like Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Manjrekar, Polly Umrigar and Pankaj Roy. These guys were fantastic players, and as new-comers we were star-struck.India didn’t have many spinners during those days, with Subhash Gupte being the lone quality legspinner. Although he was a big spinner of the ball, he didn’t like getting hit, and I could sense it easily as I was a reasonably good hitter of the ball and could handle slow bowling relatively well.Throughout the tour, we encountered new and strange things – sometimes not to our liking. For instance, the crowds – they came in large numbers, were noisy, and they had a perfect sense of timing when it came to bursting crackers out of milk-bottles. During the second Test at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, the crowds used to time the bursting of the cracker just when a New Zealand batsman was about to play the ball – interesting, but dangerous.We were also traumatised by the inexperience of the umpires; the count was something like 17 (decisions against New Zealand) to one (in favour), which I should say was one-sided. But that sort of thing was common across the globe during those times. The wickets were spinner-friendly, and lack of quality spin bowlers in our line-up added to our burden.But our on-field miseries were offset by interesting happenings off it, and the hospitality of the Indians was magnificent throughout the tour. Everybody wanted to serve us well wherever we went, so we had social gathering virtually every evening. In return, we would make sure not to disappoint our hosts and attend these functions, which you don’t see these days as players are happy to be tied up in the cosy confines of a team hotel.One memorable function which comes to mind was the evening in Benares, along the Ganges, with the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram – the Indian Board president – where the dinner service was all gold, served in dishes made of pure yellow metal – something we would never experience again. Then there were the elephant-and camel-rides, which again were new.So we had a jolly good time once we settled down a bit. We managed to draw three out of five Tests and picked up quite a few pointers, which came in handy during our next series there (1964-65). I learnt to appreciate India and all its history; in fact I visited the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the beautiful city of Jaipur during that trip. If only we could have done better in the matches, it would have been much more beautiful.Other
‘You could score a hundred if you keep your head down’ – Bruce Taylor’s tour in 1964-65.
Much more than cricket – Glenn Turner’s tour in 1969-70.
‘It was like a sauna’ – Richard Hadlee’s tour in 1976-77.

The experienced allrounder Neil McGarrell has been appointed as captain of Guyana for the first three matches of the 2004 Carib Beer Series. The selectors have also named a predictable 13-man squad for the three matches, that will all be played away from home.McGarrell also led Guyana last year in the absence of Carl Hooper, who was leading West Indies in the World Cup in southern Africa at the time.Shivnarine Chanderpaul captained Guyana in the Red Stripe Bowl last October, but both he and Ramnaresh Sarwan, the current West Indies vice-captain, are unavailable for Guyana’s early matches as they are with the Test team in South Africa.McGarrell, a left-arm spinner and solid lower-order batsman, has represented the West Indies in four Tests and 17 one-dayers. The legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, another player with international experience, is McGarrell’s vice-captain.Guyana’s first match is at Bridgetown from January 9 to 12. They then play Jamaica at Kingston (Jan 16-19), and the Windward Islands at Roseau (Jan 23-26).Guyana squad Neil McGarrell (capt), Sewnarine Chattergoon, Azeemul Haniff, Krishna Arjune, Lennox Cush, Travis Dowlin, Narsingh Deonarine, Vishal Nagamootoo, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Rayon Griffith, Rayon Thomas, Esaun Crandon, Andre Percival.

Scotland’s stunning start to their National League season suffered a setback today at The Grange, when Derbyshire beat them by six wickets in a rain-affected match. But it was by no means a walkover for Derbyshire, as Scotland continued to show that they can handle life with the big boys.Jon Kent led the way for Scotland with a gutsy 85 from 93 balls as Scotland reached 206 all out from 44 overs. Conditions then got worse as Derbyshire’s innings was altered to 139 from 27 overs, and despite a blazing 35 from 19 balls from Shahid Afridi, they were never comfortable chasing the runs. And when Michael Di Venuto was out for 5 and the score was 67 for 2, Scotland felt they could be in with a shout, especially in the appauling weather.However, Dominic Hewson, who had earlier taken 4 for 25, settled Derbyshire’s nerves and guided them home with five overs to spare, smashing 29 from 18 balls in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 44 runs with Chris Bassano.