da bet7： A strong reply by the Mumbai Cricket Association XI ensured that theirMRF Buchi Babu cricket tournament first round match against the NewZealand A remained evenly poised at the end of the second day’s play at the Guru Nanak grounds, Chennai on
Staff Reporter17-Aug-2001A strong reply by the Mumbai Cricket Association XI ensured that theirMRF Buchi Babu cricket tournament first round match against the NewZealand A remained evenly poised at the end of the second day’s play at the Guru Nanak grounds, Chennai on Friday.With a day’s play remaining, the men from Mumbai, who were 198 forfour at close, need another 132 runs to gain the first innings leadand effectively win the match. Their hopes will be pinned on openerNilesh Patwardhan, who is batting on a patient 95 made off 210 ballsduring a relentless 330-minute vigil in the middle.In a well-paced innings, the Mumbai opener hit eleven fours.Patwardhan’s innings meant that his team made a fitting reply despitethe other top-order batsmen failing to get good scores against a fullstrength New Zealand A attack led by two former New Zealand new ballbowlers, Chris Drum and Kyle Mills.Patwardhan’s most significant partnership was with No.3 batsman SachinSawant who made 18 off 114 balls. The two added 62 runs for the secondwicket. The unbeaten 52-run fifth wicket stand between Patwardhan andSushant Manjrekar, who was batting on 21 off 80 balls, was the otherhighlight of the innings.Earlier, Paul Valthathy while making 22 off 63 balls had provided theMumbai innings the right direction by putting on 47 runs for theopening wicket with Patwardhan. Saket Adhikari, the No.4 batsman, wasout for a duck after scratching around for 16 balls while Kiran Powar,who followed him, made 17 off 29 balls.In the morning, the New Zealand A last wicket pair of Shane Bond, alast-minute inclusion, and Chris Drum added 54 runs to guide theirteam to a healthy 329 in their first innings.While Bond went ballistic, hitting six fours in his 45-ball innings of37, Drum was the steadying influence making 16 off 42 balls.The partnership ended when left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, who playsfor Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, snared Bond. The wicket alsocompleted a five-wicket haul for Pawar. Paras Mhambrey who claimed twoNew Zealand A wickets and Nilesh Kulkarni and Aziz Shaikh, both ofwhom claimed one each, were the other successful bowlers. Indiadiscard Ajit Agarkar went wicketless despite bowling 12 overs.On Thursday, former New Zealand opener Matthew Horne, batting at No.3,made a stroke-filled 111 runs off 141 balls studded with 20 raspinghits to the boundary while guiding his team to 277 for nine at closeof play. Another New Zealand opener Matthew Bell who made 47 andHamish Marshall who made 33 were the other significant contributors.Horne and Bell added 144 runs for the second wicket off 47.4 overs butthereafter the New Zealand team lost wickets at regular intervals.* Batsmen make merry as MRF pile up big scoreCracking tons by Rajat Bhatia (151) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (101) putMRF in a commanding position against Hyderabad Cricket Association inthe MRF Buchi Babu invitation cricket tournament first round tie atthe Southern Railway Stadium, Chennai, on Friday. MRF were 448/8 atclose of play in reply to the HCA first innings score of 256.Resuming on 65/2, Bhatia and Tanveer Jabbar went on accumulating runs,putting together a third wicket partnership of 231 runs off 64.2overs. Jabbar’s long vigil at the crease lasted 289 minutes and he wasdismissed by Vishnuvardhan after making 82 runs off 230 balls with thehelp of eight fours and a six. Rashmi Ranjan Parida (7) failed withthe bat.Bhatia’s big innings came to an end when he was caught by Ghouse Babaoff the bowling of Vishnuvardhan. His innings lasted 319 minutes inwhich he played 238 balls, striking 15 fours and two sixes. Kanitkarwas in no mood to give away the advantage as he went on to smash a runa ball hundred which included 14 boundaries and three sixes. ThiruKumaran (24) gave Kanitkar good support and added 55 runs for thesixth wicket. Kanitkar’s explosive knock came to an end when he wasbowled by the off spinner Noel David. At close of play, the tall TamilNadu player MR Shrinivas (16) was at the crease with Dinesh Kaarthick(4).* Stage set for keen first innings duelThe stage is set for a keen battle for the all important first inningslead in the MRF Buchi Babu invitation cricket tournament first roundmatch between Karnataka State Cricket Association XI and the TamilNadu Cricket Association XI at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Saturday.At stumps on the second day on Friday, TNCA XI were 248 for three inreply to KSCA’s 385.KSCA, who were 322 for seven overnight, did well to get to their finaltotal. RC Shanbal, who was 43 overnight, was out for 52. But formerIndian paceman David Johnson kept the innings going before he was lastout for a bright 47 off 55 balls. He hit two fours and three sixes.With last man U Chaitra (8 not out), Johnson added 29 runs off just3.5 overs. Off spinner Dhandapani took all the three wickets to fallon Friday morning to finish with six for 118 off 30.5 overs.TNCA XI were given a good start with openers B Attavar (18) and SSuresh (67) putting on 58 runs off 18.2 overs. Suresh and HemanthKumar maintained the momentum with a second wicket partnership of 69runs off 19.3 overs. At this stage, Suresh was out to Kumble for 67.In his stay of about 2-1/2 hours, he faced 123 balls and hit six foursand a six. Hemanth Kumar and JR Madanagopal were then associated in athird wicket stand of 85 runs off 21 overs before the latter fell fora well compiled 51 off 73 balls, inclusive of six hits to the ropes.The left handed Hemanth Kumar came through unbeaten with 88 at stumps.He has so far played 163 balls and hit ten fours and a six. Keepinghim company is Sridharan Sarath (7). Play was stopped 34 minutes earlybecause of bad light.* CAB take big lead, set to enter quarterfinalsCricket Association of Bengal batsmen did well to notch up 392 runs intheir first innings against Oil and Natural Gas Commission in the MRFBuchi Babu invitation cricket tournament first round tie at the SriRamachandra Medical College ground, Chennai, on Friday.Resuming on 118/5, CAB required another 71 runs to go past the ONGCfirst innings total of 188. CAB lost Saikat Mukherje (36) to the offspinner Sarandeep Singh and were in some trouble at 151/6. With thevital first innings lead still in balance, Sanib Sanyal and LaxmiRatan Shukla took CAB past their first goal.The two batsmen added 130 runs for the seventh wicket before Shuklagave a catch to Pradeep Jain at mid-wicket off the bowling of MohdSaif. Shukla’s whirlwind knock of 83 off 108 balls included nineboundaries and two sixes.Sanyal (68) was caught by Amit Sharma at mid-wicket off the bowling ofSarandeep Singh. Sanyal struck seven boundaries and a six in his 232-minute stay at the crease, facing 165 balls.Pradipta Mazumdar (39 off 74 balls) struck five fours in his knock andadded 73 runs for the ninth wicket with Sourashish Lahiri. SibsankarPaul (4) was the last man to be dismissed in the 115th over leavingLahiri unbeaten on 46 made in 74 balls with the help of half a dozenboundaries. Sarandeep Singh was the best of the ONGC bowlers, claiming4/83.After allowing CAB to accumulate a massive lead of 204 runs in thefirst innings, ONGC got off to a good start in their second essay.Gagan Khoda and Sandeep Sharma sent CAB on a leather hunt adding 115runs off just 12.3 overs. Khoda made 39 runs off 32 balls, strikingsix boundaries before falling to Lahiri. Mitun Minhas and Sharma added50 runs to take ONGC to 165/1 off 18 overs by close of play on secondday.Sharma is unbeaten on a whirlwind 86 off 58 balls, which includes fivesixes and eight boundaries. Minhas has struck two sixes and a four inhis unbeaten effort of 26 runs off 18 balls. In spite of thesepyrotechnics, CAB look well set to make the quarterfinals.* Balaji sends Indian Airlines crashing to 94 all outThe picturesque IIT-Chemplast ground played host to the MRF Buchi Babucricket tournament first round clash between Indian Airlines and JollyRovers Cricket Club. Boasting a number of stars including skipperVijay Dahiya and opening batsman J Arun Kumar, the Airlines team wouldhave hoped to put up a better showing than their eventual 94 all out,especially after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Cashingin on Indian Airlines’ plight Jolly Rovers notched up 171/3 in 57overs.In the recently concluded Coromandel Cement Cup, mediumpacer L Balajiwas in lethal form, taking 12 wickets in the final, which Jolly Roverswon. On Saturday, Balaji was once again in devastating mood, scalping6/34 from 13 scalding overs. The Indian Airlines team had no answer tohis mediumpace, with Arun Kumar (23), Ishan Ganda (35) and Dahiya (13)being the only three players to make it to double figures. In just35.1 overs, the Airlines side were dismissed for their sub-100 score.If there was some thought that the wicket had devils in it, SBadrinath dispelled it immediately. Coming to the wicket at the fallof Sujith Somasunder’s wicket with the score on 16, Badrinathproceeded to compile an unbeaten 82. Striking 11 of the 193 balls hefaced to the fence, Badrinath boldly attacked the bowlers. Ajay Kuduawith 25 provided some support to Badrinath, but at the end of the dayit was J Hariesh, unbeaten on 29 who was Badrinath’s best companion.The pair added an unbeaten 91 for the fourth wicket and Jolly Roversare well placed on 171 after 57 overs.