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Scorecard

The Eagles beat the Lions by 59 runs at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein, and in so doing extended their Standard Bank Cup lead to 10 points.After being put in, the Eagles started off in a rush. Morne van Wyk and Jonathan Beukus brought up the 100 up in 17 overs with the Lions pace attack struggling with their length. Far too many short balls were bowled giving the two plenty of opportunity to hook and cut.David Terbrugge broke through with the wicket of Beukus for 45 and then Benjamin Hector was needlessly run out for 4. Adam Bacher and Derek Crookes slowed the run rate but innings’ foundation had been laid. Van Wyk had laboured to 78 when Bacher trapped him in front, leaving it to Davey Jacobs to score 50 off 53 balls before he too was run out helping the Eagles to 247 for 5.The Lions batting just never looked the part while the bowlers, with home ground advantage, found their length early on. Stephen Cook struggled to 58 as the middle order failed dismally, collapsing to 116 for 7. Throwing caution to the wind, Enoch Nkwe showed some attacking spirit to register a career-best 49 not out while Adam Bacher (27) and Garnett Kruger (10 not out) were the only other batsmen to get into double figures. At the end of the 45 overs the Lions were 188 for 9, 10 runs short of saving the bonus point.
Scorecard

An exciting match at Willowmoore Park in Benoni ended in victory for the Titans as they chased down the 219 set by the Dolphins.Batting first after being sent in, the Dolphins recovered well with Doug Watson and Wade Wingfield putting on 51 after the early loss of Imraan Khan. Dale Benkenstein, the in-form ex-Dolphins captain, scored 59 as he upped the tempo. Lance Klusener, again batting at No. 8, swung the bat for a quick 30 but was again left not out after only facing 30 balls. With one of the most lethal strikers of a cricket ball batting so low down the order, one wonders about the Dolphins tactics. In they end they could only muster 219 for 7 in their 45 overs.The Titans made heavy work at the start. Alviro Petersen was out in the third over and then AB de Villiers and Goolam Bodi put on a subdued 69 before Bodi was caught for 30. de Villiers followed, caught behind for 50 while Daryll Cullinan hardly troubled the scorers. Needing eight an over – and rising – things looked all over the Titans. Justin Kemp and Gerald Dros then turned the game around with some lusty blows, and by the time Kemp was caught for 54 only 20 runs were required off 21 balls. The partnership had been worth 96 runs in 14 overs. In the end the Titans won with an over to spare and Dros undefeated on 59.

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya was happy about the way thingswent for his side on the first day of the first Test match at theGalle International cricket stadium on Tuesday,"I am happy about the way things went for us. If you look at thescore board at the end of the day we have sent back the cream of theIndian batting back to the pavilion without very much on the board,"said Jayasuriya.The Sri Lankan captain this morning having won the toss, put theopposition in said he was happy about his decision at the end of thefirst day, "There was a lot of grass on the wicket and any captainwho wins the toss would have had no hesitation to put the oppositionin. I am happy that finally we picked up five wickets." remarkedJayasuriya.The Sri Lankan captain didn’t manage to get any wickets in the morningsession and he gave credit to the Indian openers for playingwatchfully, "You have to give credit for the manner in which theIndian batsmen played. They put their heads down and playedwatchfully. The bowlers too kept things tight for them. But I knew ifwe got two or three wickets we can end up the day in top."Jayasuriya took the new ball only in the 82nd over of the match andthat brought immediate success as Dilhara Fernando struck with twocrucial blows. When asked as to why he didn’t take the new ball a bitearlier, Jayasuriya said, "Murali was bowling well. I knew I couldtake the new ball. But I thought I ought to give Murali a longerspell. But when I decided to take the new ball we got two wickets."Sri Lanka’s fielding was not exactly top class today as they missed afew close chances. Talking about the fielding lapses, Jayasuriya said,"We missed a few catches. Rahul Dravid could have been a bad lapse.But luckily we got rid of him before long. Those players don’t givethat many chances. We have to be more alert in the field."The Sri Lankan batsmen have not been doing well in Test matches butJayasuriya is confident that things can improve, "Yes, we have notbeen doing well, but I hope that this time around we can changethings. We have been batting well lately. The batting came up good inthe Coca Cola Cup final so we are in good nick."

A fine century by Rajeev Uniyal, followed by splendid bowling byYogesh Sachdeva and Vivek Khurana helped Delhi beat Himachal Pradeshby 24 runs after being forced to follow on the last day of the NorthZone Cooch Behar (Under-19) tournament at the Ferozshah Kotla Groundin New Delhi on Thursday. Delhi, who got eight points from this matchnext play Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu from Oct 22 to 24.Delhi were 246 for two overnight. Uniyal who was on 90 when he resumedduly completed his century. Shortly afterwards, he was out afterbatting 150 minutes. He faced 121 balls and hit eleven fours and asix. TT Dilip scored a fine 88 off 101 balls with the help of eightfours. Uniyal and Dilip added 129 runs for the third wicket off 22.5overs. Yashpal Singh slammed a breezy 33 off 32 balls and Delhi wereable to declare at 368 for nine, compiled off only 65 overs. ParasDogra with four for 80 was the most successful bowler.Delhi thus turned a first innings deficit of 160 into an overall leadof 208. Hemant Dogra, coming in at No three, hit a fine 58 to keepalive Himachal’s hopes of reaching the victory target. His youngerbrother Paras Dogra contributed 29. But the remaining batsmensuccumbed meekly to Yogesh Sachdeva (4 for 44) and Vivek Khurana (4for 63) and the side were all out for 184 in 49.5 overs.

Tama Canning’s half century wasn’t enough to lift Accrington’s place on the Lancashire League points table at the weekend.Batting first against Todmorden, Accrington scored 147, with Canning scoring 54 of those.Former Australian Test bowler Matthew Nicholson turned it on with the bat when Todmorden got into some strife. His 31 not out was enough to see Todmorden to victory with five wickets in hand. Canning went wicketless for Accrington.Meanwhile, Wellington player Ben Jansen had another good day for Liphook and Ripley in the Hampshire league. He scored 80 as L&R finished on 289/5 and then took three for 32 as Hungerford were all out for 158.

Zimbabwe continued their fightback on a freezing day in Harare underincreasingly overcast skies with a steady Antarctic wind blowing. Theyrecorded their highest ever Test Match total before declaring to set WestIndies 348 to win.Coincidentally, this is exactly the highest fourth-innings score West Indies have ever made to win a Test, which they did by five wickets against New Zealand in 1968/69. When bad light ended play early, West Indies had scored 42 for one, leaving the prospect of an interesting finish on the final day, weather permitting.Zimbabwe began the day 108 runs ahead of West Indies in their second inningswith six wickets in hand. Hamilton Masakadza added only four runs to hisovernight 115 in almost half an hour before driving a tame catch to shortextra cover off Neil McGarrell. His innings of 119 is the highest by anyplayer under the age of 18 in Test cricket.Zimbabwe took a while to adopt the positive approach that had served them sowell the previous day, but Grant Flower and Heath Streak were just beginningto take control when Flower (14) cut Reon King, who had bowled raggedly, lowto backward point where Shivnarine Chanderpaul took a fine diving catch.Streak played a responsible innings, hitting the loose ball well anddepositing McGarrell over mid-wicket for a six. With Andy Blignaut generallyrestraining himself so as to support Streak, until he hammered threeboundaries off Marlon Black in the last over before the interval, Zimbabwepassed 400.A classical cover-driven boundary off Colin Stuart took Streak to his fiftysoon after lunch. Blignaut passed his previous Test highest of 35 and thenhit a six over long-on to reach his fifty off 79 balls. He then tried areverse sweep, to be caught by the ‘keeper apparently off the glove, but wasgiven not out by umpire Kevan Barbour.Blignaut overtook the more responsible Streak, but he too generally showedgood shot selection. Just before the 500 came up, the two all-roundersbroke the previous seventh-wicket record of 131 by Grant Flower and PaulStrang in Pakistan in 1996/97. The pitch was still good and the West Indianbowlers did not show the skill necessary to break through against qualitybatting.Finally Blignaut, perhaps unnerved by his approaching century, swung wildlyacross the line at Stuart, to be bowled for 92 off 118 balls, after apartnership of 154 with his captain. Zimbabwe were then 521 for seven.Streak had a narrow escape when a mistimed drive just cleared mid-off, whileTatenda Taibu hit 10 off nine balls before being yorked by Stuart.Soon after tea Zimbabwe passed their previous highest Test total of 544 forfour declared, against Pakistan on this ground in their first-ever Testmatch victory in 1994/95. Then, when Bryan Strang lobbed a catch tomid-wicket off McGarrell for 11, Streak declared at 563 for nine, with hispersonal score on 79. West Indies were left to make 348 to win, a scenariothey could never have envisaged two days earlier. It was not an impossibletask on a good pitch, but their morale in the field appeared low and theywill need to lift themselves considerably now to save the match.The injured Daren Ganga bravely came out to open the West Indian innings andguided the first ball past gully for four. The light, though, continued todeteriorate under the heavily overcast sky, causing concern to Zimbabwe.Chris Gayle showed the umpires he was having no problems with visibility, ashe hit two superb successive fours off Blignaut, a drive through extra coverand a cut. Ganga added only a single to have five when he tried to turn Streakto leg and skied a catch.Ramnaresh Sarwan came in for Chanderpaul, who hurt a hand in the field. TheZimbabwe bowling was steady rather than threatening. With nine overs stillto be bowled, bad light brought an early end to play, with West Indies 42for one (Gayle 17, Sarwan 11).

When umpires agree with more than two or three lbw appeals per innings there may be dark mutterings about what might be the partiality, pin-pricking or faulty eyesight of the adjudicators.Today Brent Bowden, the Test umpire, and Tony Hill, who should soon become one, were the central figures as Central Districts and Auckland showed jittery early-season batting form on a frisky patch on the Eden Park Outer Oval.Central Districts scored 126 in 59 overs and Auckland replied with 90 for five wickets – 216 runs from 100 overs on a reasonably summery day.In contrast, Messrs Bowden and Hill set a cracking pace. After being forced to bat first on a greenish pitch Central lost their first, third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eight wickets to successful lbw appeals.Auckland lost their third and fifth wickets leg before, and if the pitch might have been losing some of its mischief the Central Districts fieldsmen and bowlers still reached a higher decibel rate than the Aucklanders achieved.Yet by stumps there was none of the ill-favoured comment which sometimes follows over-involvement by the umpires. No-one was complaining of being dimissed through a bad umpiring decision.And to the un-aligned observer among the 100 or so spectators, Messrs Bowden and Hill might have been justified in agreeing with several more appeals.It was one of those giddy pitches which the Eden Park Outer Oval occasionally throws up. Last year on the same ground Northern Districts lost their first five second innings wickets to lbw appeals.Today the grass on the pitch kept the ball smooth, so it retained shine and swing. The seam stayed hard, and so sharp was the sideways seam movement from the pitch that some of the faster bowlers seemed to be delivering 130kph off breaks which thudded into the pads and raised choruses of appeals.The most dedicated batting came from Bevan Griggs, the 23-year-old Central Districts wicket-keeper whose 31 was the only offering above 29 from the 18 batsmen on view.Griggs came in at 65 for five, and he and Jamie How simply tried to survive, scoring runs was a luxury. Griggs was still stoically there at the end, 31 not out from 72 balls in 109 minutes while Central crawled along from 65 to 126.It said as much for the fallibility of the other Central batsmen as it did for the big-spending of the Auckland medium-fast men that the biggest contribution to the Central Districts cause was not Griggs, but the Auckland extras which amounted to 34.All four Auckland seamers, Tama Canning, Andre Adams (three wickets each) and Kyle Mills and Richard Morgan (two apiece) had a profitable time, exaggerated by the help from the pitch for their length and accuracy varied too much.In the Auckland innings Matt Horne survived an appealing opening chorus from Brent Hefford, then played several rousing strokes for fours, but then was badly tucked up by a sharp lifter from Michael Mason and was caught close in.One Auckland newcomer Nick Horsley had a slow start, played some good-looking left-handed shots and then was caught in the lbw web. Rob Nicol, the other debutant, struggled to get going, but defended sensibly and at the end was still there, 10 not out after 80 minutes, in league with his captain Brooke Walker, nine not out after a mere 56 minutes.So the game is nicely in the balance. Either side has a winning chance – the only certainty seems to be that, given good weather, that decision will be known long before the appointed end on Thursday evening.

With the top order in crackling form, South Zoneproceeded to the semifinals of the Deodhar TrophyTournament with an easy seven wicket win over EastZone at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur onFriday. South are now slated to take on North Zonein the semifinals at the same venue on Sunday.It is never an easy task to chase a target of 274but the South Zone openers J Arun Kumar (89) andAS Pathak (66) took the game away from theiropponents by authouring a 160-run partnershipwhich came in 30 overs. It was Debang Gandhi,coming on to bowl very late in the innings, whomade the first inroads into the South Zone lineup, with two quick wickets. Arun Kumar was thefirst to be dismissed caught by Sanjay Raul. Eightballs later, Pathak also departed, caught by ShivSundar Das.Arun Kumar, during his 111-minute stay, faced 95balls during which he essayed eight boundarieswhile managing to clear it twice. On the otherhand, Pathak was in the middle for close to twohours and needed 93 balls for his 66. He found thesignboards on seven occasions. Then VVS Laxman (32not out) and S Sharath (11) came together to takethe score to 190. Sharath after a brief stayreturned to the pavilion, caught behind by Dhonioff Jai Chandra.South Zone skipper Robin Singh entered at thisstage. With another 88 runs to be scored in 13.3overs, Robin Singh hammered an unbeaten 63 off 52balls to take South Zone home.Earlier opting to bat, East Zone’s inningsrevolved around a fine 108 by Test discard DebangGandhi. Coming in at the fall of opener NikhilHaldipur (16), Gandhi forged a 79-run third wicketstand in 12.2 overs with RR Parida (26). Thedeparture of Parida saw Rohan Gavaskar (58) joinGandhi and the two took the score to 233. With a122-run fourth wicket partnership which came offonly 19.3 overs, the two ensured that East Zonewould pile up a fighting total. Gandhi, who faced131 balls and hit 14 of them to the ropes was thefourth batsman to be dismissed. East Zone’s totalof 273 for seven in 50 overs was inflated by 40extras.

ScorecardFile photo – Todd Astle took the second ten-wicket haul of his first-class career•Associated Press

Legspinner Todd Astle took 7 for 78 on the third day to dismiss Sri Lanka A for 234 in their second innings, leaving New Zealand A with only 19 to chase, which they did to secure victory with a day to spare in Lincoln. Astle’s performance gave him match figures of 11 for 133, his second ten-wicket haul in first-class cricket.The stage for Astle had been laid by a strong batting performance from New Zealand A in their first innings. Not only did they score big, they also scored quick. Dean Brownlie made 113 off 151 balls, and Henry Nicholls 137 off 152, to go with half-centuries from Jeet Raval, Will Young and Derek de Boorder. Sri Lanka A legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay ran through the lower order to finish with 5 for 128, but not before the hosts had amassed 519 at 4.37 per over to take a first-innings lead of 216.The Sri Lankans were steadily eating into that deficit in their second innings, with Minod Bhanuka and Kithuruwan Vithanage adding 110 for the second wicket. From 134 for 1, however, the visitors collapsed, with Astle and fellow legspinner Ish Sodhi running through the middle and lower order. Sri Lanka A were dismissed for 234 in 59.1 overs, and New Zealand A chased the target of 19 with nine wickets in hand.Astle had also taken four wickets in Sri Lanka A’s first innings, spinning through the middle order to help dismiss the visitors for 303, when they looked like getting more at one stage. His performance ensured that New Zealand A won all the matches in the series.

The costly drops and missed run-outs in the Galle Test have spurred West Indies to renew their focus on fielding in the approach to the second Test, captain Jason Holder said. The visitors had reprieved Sri Lanka batsmen on at least six occasions – the costliest of which was the drop off Dinesh Chandimal on 11. The batsman went on to hit 151.After that match, Holder had suggest Sri Lanka’s total of 484 would have been significantly reduced if his team had held their chances. It is the area they have focused primarily on, during the four-day gap between games, he said.”In the last few days we’ve done a lot of analysing – we’ve looked at a lot of footage. We’ve come in the practice sessions in the last few days and paid a lot of attention to our fielding.”From my point of view, I think practice does a lot for fielding. When you get in the habit of doing something repeatedly it becomes the norm. That’s something we try to stress in the dressing room – to practice properly and do it in a sense that fits a game scenario. We try to replicate a match scenario in our fielding drills. We’ve picked up the volume of our fielding over the last few days, so hopefully we’ll be in better stead for this game.”West Indies batting had also faltered in Galle, with only two batsmen passing fifty across two innings. The visitor’s first-innings performance had been particularly disappointing, partly because each of the top 10 moved into double figures, but only Darren Bravo went on to hit a half-century. Holder said his top order had been urged to improve their shot selection.”We’ve done a lot of talking in the dressing room and different of batsmen come up with different things. I think it boils down to guys just digging a little deeper. We saw that we all got starts. It’s an opportunity for guys to put their heads down and dig a little deeper. I think that’s needed in the second Test match.”I think we’ve got to be selective and just to play to your personal game plan. Just said to the guys, ‘Be positive, but be selective.’ Once you’re selective and you’re patient enough you will get runs. It’s all about occupying the crease and spending as much time as possible.”Among those who did not spend time at the crease was Marlon Samuels, who collected 11 and a first-ball duck from his two innings in Galle. Samuels was also reported for a suspect action after the Test. Holder said Samuels’ role as a top order batsman who bowls offspin does not change for this Test, and backed him to come good with the bat. All reported bowlers can bowl in internationals until their action is found to be illegal.”Marlon’s just had a bad game – that’s Test cricket,” Holder said. “What’s important is for Marlon to come back stronger. He’s one of the guys who digs deep when his back is against the wall. I’m not saying that his back is against the wall now, but he obviously got two low scores in the last Test match. He’s quite eager to get in this second Test match and get a score for the team.”Garfield Sobers has arrived in the country ahead of the second Test, and will attend the match alongside former Sri Lanka captain Michael Tissera. The series trophy is named for both men. Holder hoped Sobers’ presence would spur his side.”I personally saw Garfield Sobers yesterday in the hotel lobby. It was inspiring to see him come all this way just to watch the series. I’m sure most of the guys know of his presence and know that he’s here. I hope we can go ahead in this Test match and win it for him.”

ScorecardAfghanistan’s fairytale run of success finally crashed down to earth with a chastening four-wicket defeat to Canada in the second match of the series in Sharjah. They never recovered from a disastrous start that saw Khurram Chohan destroy the top order, leaving Afghanistan floundering at 4 for 3 by the third over, on his way to match-winning figures of 4 for 43.It was due reward for Chohan who’s four wickets in the opening fixture so nearly took Canada to victory. He started the day by claiming Shafiqullah Shafiq and last game’s centurion Mohammad Shahzad in his first over, before following it up with Nowroz Mangal and debutant Shabir Noori to leave Afghanistan 38 for 5 and in utter disarray.He was well supported by Rizwan Cheema and Umar Bhatti, who took two wickets each with their nagging seamers. It was only a 51-run sixth-wicket stand and Mohammad Nabi’s well-constructed 62 that gave Afghanistan any semblance of respectability. Nabi played in the way he does best, belting five sixes and three fours during his 57-ball stay. Dominating a last-wicket stand with Aftab Alam, the pair added 49 to take Afghanistan to 177.It didn’t look enough and despite being reduced to 35 for 2 after 10 overs Canada were careful not to undo their good work. Sandeep Jyoti and captain Ashish Bagai, who richly deserved a win after making an unbeaten 91 in the first game, worked the ball around nicely during an 82-run stand that all but sealed the game. Jyoti made a patient 38 before he fell to Aftab Alam, while Bagai continued his good form striking five boundaries during his 59-ball 52.Nabi threatened to cause a late scare when he took two wickets in the 35th over, reducing Canada to 144 for 6, still 34 runs short of the target, but Jawad Dawood came out and immediately arrested the momentum and any hopes of a fightback. He crashed 25 from 19 balls to give Canada their first win of the series.