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Multan 211 (Saeed Anwar Jr 71) and 125 for 5 (Saeed Anwar Jr 60) lead Islamabad 180 (Naeem Anjum 67, Kamran Hussain 4-67) by 136 runs
ScorecardIslamabad who began superbly by restricting Multan to only 211 for 9 on the first day of their Silver League final match at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, found themselves in serious trouble at the end of the second day, when they were bowled out for only 180, and conceded a first-innings lead of 31 runs.When the day began, Islamabad – who were on the receiving end of a battering when this match was originally played some time ago, where Multan scored 514 for 9 declared, and then had Islamabad at 212 for 5 before rain caused an abandonment and subsequent replaying of the game – had the upper hand. They managed to capture the last remaining Multan wicket without an addition to the overnight score, and from there on should have made it count.Instead, they kept losing wickets, mostly to Kamran Hussain, who picked up four of the top six, and were in danger of being humiliated at 69 for 7. Fortunately for Islamabad, whose top-order had failed en masse, Naeem Anjum, the wicketkeeper, fought back with 67 at No. 8 and was well supported by Rauf Akbar, who made 32. In the end, they mustered 180 from 45.1 overs.Multan’s reply, while not emphatic, was marked by an emphatic 60 from Saeed Anwar Jr., the man who had scored the bulk of the runs in the first innings. Other batsmen struggled and the score was pushed to 125 for 4 at the end of the day. Multan’s overall lead was 156, and if they can add more, it might just be enough in this low-scoring final.The winner of the final gets to be promoted to the first division Gold League circuit of the next season. This match is actually a replay of the Silver League final that was played in Lahore last month. There was no play on the last two days due to rain and the first innings issue remained unresolved. Multan were dominating when the match was called off. Now, they appear to be in the position to return to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold League Championship, after having been demoted to the Silver League as they had finished at the bottom of the Gold League last season.

ScorecardWest Zone made easy work of a target of 226 against East Zone in Hyderabad, finishing the match within 40 overs to secure the bonus point. Wasim Jaffer began the chase with an aggressive knock, Ajinkya Rahane kept East at bay during the middle overs, before Abhishek Nayar sealed the deal with a 27-ball 49.East, after opting to bat, started steadily with the openers Sourav Ganguly and Arindam Das adding 63 in 14 overs. Ganguly scored five fours in his 30 before falling to a tame pull and the rest of the top order failed to carry on after making starts. At 124 for 4, East were in need of a revival and it was Saurabh Tiwary who led the way with his second consecutive half-century, adding 65 for the fifth wicket with Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Tiwary, known for his aggressive batting, showed a lot of urgency in his 65, hitting four fours and two sixes.East lost their way in the slog overs after Venugopal Rao struck twice to send back Shukla for 25 and then Wriddhiman Saha for 3 with the score reading 198 for 6. There was no late-innings surge from the lower order to boost the total as East settled for a middle-of-the-road target.Jaffer began the chase in earnest, dealing almost entirely in boundaries. His 43-ball 48 contained ten fours and looked set for more before the seamer Shib Paul knocked back his middle stump. Parthiv Patel and Rahane added 57 for the third wicket to help West coast towards the target. When Rahane fell for 60, in the 31st over, West were well ahead of the required rate and an unbeaten stand of 69 for the fifth wicket between Nayar and Venugopal Rao finished things off in a hurry. Nayar smashed seven fours and a six in his knock.East face Central Zone at the same venue on Sunday while West head to Visakhapatnam to face North Zone in three day’s time.

Ishank Jaggi’s unbeaten 62 helped Jharkhand round off a relatively straightforward chase against Haryana by nine wickets after Rahul Shukla, Varun Aaron and Shahbaz Nadeem chipped in with vital contributions with the ball.Haryana’s 133 was achieved largely on the back of Rahul Dagar’s 38, even as five other batsmen who got into double figures couldn’t convert their starts. Aaron, the captain, dismissed the openers, with Shukla and Nadeem scything through the middle and lower order as Haryana’s innings ended in 33 overs. Harshal Patel picked up the wicket of Anand Singh, but Jaggi and Kumar Deobrat (38 not out) ensured MS Dhoni wasn’t required to bat as Jharkhand registered their third win in four matches.Kerala bounced back from their loss to Jharkhand on Sunday by consigning Jammu & Kashmir to their third successive loss. The stars for Kerala were Fabid Ahmed, the offspinner, who picked up three wickets to bundle out J&K for 130 before Nikhilesh Surendran, the opener, hit 12 fours and a six in his unbeaten 85 to see Kerala home in 29.5 overs. Kerala’s second win in four matches kept their knockout hopes alive.Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 94 helped Karnataka beat Gujarat by 15 runs (VJD method) at Alur. Chasing 234, Gujarat, courtesy Priyank Panchal’s 52 and Chirag Gandhi’s 43, were 160 for 5 in 40 overs when bad light stopped play. Set a revised target of 205 in 44 overs, Gujarat now needed 45 in 24 balls. They only managed 29, losing three more wickets to finish on 189 for 8.Sent in to bat, Karnataka lost KL Rahul and Sadiq Kirmani cheaply, before Mayank Agarwal (58 off 77) and Pandey added 72 for the third wicket. None of the lower middle-order contributed substantially, barring a 24 from Stuart Binny, and it was left to Pandey to manoeuvre Karnataka to a decent total. He managed this, remaining unbeaten on 94 off 123 balls (6×4, 1×6), to steer Karnataka to 233 for 8.

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A whirlwind century from Yusuf Pathan took West Zone to a strong 349 for 7 at stumps on the first day against Central Zone in Rajkot. Opting to bat first, West were off to a confident start as the Mumbai pair of Ajinkya Rahane (50) and Sahil Kukreja (72) forged a 124-run partnership. Central then fought their way back into the match as Sanjib Sanyal removed both of them before Sanjay Bangar dismissed captain Parthiv Patel. Pathan walked in at the fall of the fourth wicket on 174 and blitzed a 66-ball 107 to give West the upper hand. He carted 13 boundaries and five sixes during his 88-minute stay and made all his runs in a 136-run stand with Chetheswar Pujara, who made a sedate 44. For Central, Bangar and Sanyal finished with three wickets each, but Sanyal was expensive conceding five runs an over.
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Fifteen wickets tumbled on a dramatic first day as North Zone seized the advantage in their encounter against South Zone in Ahmedabad. Medium-pacer Vikramjeet Malik tore through the top order while Delhi’s Rajat Bhatia cleaned up the tail as South were bundled out for 157. After being put in to bat, South were off to a solid start with openers Ravi Teja (41) and Swapnil Asnodkar putting on 37, before Malik snared five wickets, including the big one of captain S Badrinath, in a five-over burst, to leave them tottering at 69 for 5. South lost three more quick wickets before a 68-run partnership between Vinay Kumar (41*) and Kalyankrishna (31) brought in a semblance of respectability to their scorecard.North’s reply started with a 58-run opening stand before they had a collapse of their own: they lost four wickets for seven runs to Karnataka’s duo of Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa and lost Bhatia shortly before the close to finish the day on 104 for 5.

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The undefeated reign of the Lahore Badshahs came under threat on more than one occasion in the battle between the two new Indian Cricket League outfits in Hyderabad. It was the last match of the league stage for both teams, ironically at different ends of the spectrum; both had got off to winning starts in their first game of the tournament, but while the Badshahs had conquered all other teams on their way, the Ahmedabad Rockets had fizzled out after a successful launch.The Badshahs, who had rested a few key players in their previous game, were back to full strength for the final match ahead of their semi-final clash against the Kolkata Tigers on April 2. Inzamam-ul-Haq decided to bat at the toss, and though Imran Farhat fell early, Imran Nazir and Taufeeq Umar set up a solid foundation with a 60-run stand.Sumit Kalia then thrust the Rockets into ascendancy with three wickets in the tenth over – removing Umar, Nazir and Humayun Farhat for a first-ball duck – to leave the Badshahs in peril at 62 for 4. Kalia wasn’t done though and got the emperor, Inzamam, in his next over; his spell at close read 4-0-20-4. Hasan Raza led a revival with his 34-ball 43, but four wickets in seven balls meant the Badshahs were headed for a score around 140.However, Heath Streak’s sky-high confidence of having dismissed Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Sami off the first two balls of the 20th over were quickly grounded when Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who’s been given the green signal to play for Yorkshire, smacked two sixes and a four to push his team’s score to 151.The Badshahs bowlers began chipping away early, and by the seventh over, the Rockets were reduced to 43 for 4. Sridharan Sriram and Anshu Jain then strung together a 48-run stand. Mushtaq Ahmed got Sriram to tickle one to the wicketkeeper Humayan, and the Rockets needed a further 63 from 42 with five wickets remaining.Jain didn’t give up and Streak gave him company at the other end, and the equation came down to 22 off 12. Naved-ul-Hasan was entrusted the ball for the penultimate over, and there was no reciprocation of favours towards Streak, as only four runs were conceded, Streak having managed only two off four deliveries. Mahmood’s task of bowling the final over was made easier, and he didn’t make a mess of it as the Badshahs extended their winning streak to seven, romping home in a 11-run win, their closest match so far in the tournament.

Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire were frustrated by the rain on the second day of their promotion tussle at Bristol.Only 16.4 overs were possible, during which time Gloucestershire moved from 13-0 to 73-1 in reply to Nottinghamshire’s 216.A draw is unlikely to be any good to either side in their bid to go up, and an unsettled weather forecast for the final two days of the game could force the captains to set up a contrived finish.No play was possible in the morning session. An attempt was made at 12 noon, only for the players to come off for bad light just as the first ball was to be bowled.The action finally started at 1.20pm and Nottinghamshire enjoyed success in the third over of the day.Dominic Hewson pushed forward at a David Lucas delivery and was caught by Guy Welton at short leg for three.That left the home county on 13-1 in the eighth over, but the next 13 overs produced 60 runs as Kim Barnett and Matt Windows cut loose.Barnett was the main aggressor with an unbeaten 41 from 65 deliveries, with six fours cracked through the off-side.All of them were taken off pace bowler Andy Harris, who was punished for offering too much width to his former Derbyshire colleague.Windows had a couple of boundaries, one off Lucas and one off Harris, in his unbeaten 18, which was good enough to take him past 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the second time.Windows has now scored 1,004 runs this campaign, with 14 of those scored for the First Class Counties XI against New Zealand A.

Nasim Ashraf, chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and Enver Baig, senator and member of Senate Standing Committee on Sports, have withdrawn their charges that were levied due to the recent statements made against each other.A committee meeting was held yesterday under the chairmanship of Tahir Mashahdi in Islamabad which Ashraf was asked to attend. In the course of the meeting, Baig withdrew his recent allegations against the PCB chairman when he had called the PCB chief a “dishonest and incompetent person.” In response, Ashraf expressed his regrets over dubbing Baig a ‘sick man’ in a recent statement and also assured the committee that he will withdraw the legal notice served on the senator.The committee has summoned a requisitioned meeting on June 26, according to Baig, in which the PCB chairman will answer various questions relating to the financial and administrative affairs of the board. Ashraf has also been asked to produce the details of PJ Mir’s package that was offered to him as the media manager of Pakistan cricket team during the World Cup.PCB is currently involved in placing a coach for the national team before it departs for the short tour of Scotland as well as offering central contracts for which a list of 30 has already been handed over by the selection committee.

Ray Price, the Zimbabwe left-arm spinner who was part of Heath Streak’s rebel strikers in 2004, is to return to international cricket after being handed a call-up for Zimbabwe’s series against the West Indies later this month.Price returned from England two weeks ago after rejecting a new contract with Worcestershire where he spent four seasons. In 2004, he was one of 15 players who went on strike to oppose Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) regime. But despite his apparent wish to one day play for England – he is three years into a four-year qualifying period – Price is rejoining the country of his birth.He has taken 69 wickets in 18 Tests at 35.86, but he was most productive in the 2003-04 season, taking 33 wickets at 22.42 from five Tests.He is understood to have been given a contract by ZC after consulting Streak, Trevor Gripper and other former team-mates.

Crisis follows crisis with unrelenting frequency in West Indies cricket and the latest, already formed, has become more pressing three days before the first Test against South Africa on Boxing Day.As their feeble batting crumbled to their second meagre total and three-day defeat in East London against South Africa’s second-string team on Friday, there remained doubt over whether captain Chris Gayle would regain fitness by then and be able to lead the team for the first time in a Test.Media manager Philip Spooner said on Friday that the decision would be delayed until the eve of the match after day-by-day assessments by the medical staff, physiotherapists Jacqui Mowat-King and recently arrived Australian, CJ Smith. Gayle, who tore his right hamstring muscle in the second ODI in Zimbabwe on December 2, has returned to batting practice in the nets and resumed catching, running and stretching exercises, Spooner said.But Gayle was realistic in his assessment of his injury. “I’ve been getting better and I’m really looking forward to playing in Port Elizabeth,” he added. “Physically I’m feeling strong again and mentally I’m there. I have been doing work in the nets and trying to get back in the groove again.”Gayle is not only captain, albeit in place of the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, but even more significantly the only available batsman apart from the perennial Shivnarine Chanderpaul with more than 50 Tests (68) and an average better than 35 (38.28). His handy offspin would also be missed in an attack based around pace.He has thrived on his previous trips to South Africa, with two hundreds in three Tests and an average of 61, plus an unbeaten 152 in the final ODI, four years ago and 117 against the home team in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship last September.The seriousness of his absence at the top of the order was simply emphasised by the double failure of the two openers, Devon Smith and Daren Ganga, in the East London match, the only one prior to the three back-to-back Tests. The left-handed Smith was out for ten and five, making a grand total of 51 runs in eight innings in matches in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ganga, who played the first of his 45 spasmodic Tests here nine years ago, fell for 10 and 0, his first innings on tour since he was not in the ODI squad in Zimbabwe. For both, such setbacks would be psychologically shattering. Both struggled in the last series in England last summer, and must be aware they have all but exhausted their chances.The only other opener in the team is Brenton Parchment, the one newcomer, whose highest score in his four knocks on tour have been 15, 25, 5 and 10.Ironically, injury also kept Gayle inactive during the 2003-04 tour. He pulled a calf muscle on the first day of the first Test in which he batted at No.9 with a runner and missed the second. On his return, he blasted a 78-ball hundred (eventually 116) in the third Test, 145 in the next match against Easterns, 77 and 107 in the fourth and final Test and 152 not out in the final ODI.

Brendon McCullum knows New Zealand’s Test tour of England is more important, but he admits it will be difficult to depart the Indian Premier League after his final game on Tuesday. McCullum was an early star of the experimental tournament, smashing 158 in the opening contest, and is aware the atmosphere of the warm-ups in England will be significantly less than at the throbbing stadiums in India.”It’s going to be hard to leave this,” McCullum told the Dominion Post. “This is where it is all happening, but having said that I understand that there is a tour to England about to begin which is really important.”Five New Zealand players were given permission to arrive late and while the tourists start the opening game against MCC on Sunday, McCullum will be preparing for his final fixture for Kolkata on Tuesday. The first-class affairs with Essex and England Lions will be the only chances for the quintet to switch from Twenty20 to Test mode and adjust to the conditions.”The couple of warm-up games before the Test are going to seem incredibly low key when compared to what is going on here,” McCullum said. “The hype here is huge. The Kolkata fans are regarded as some of the more passionate and so we’ve not ventured outside the hotel very often.”McCullum said the opening week of the IPL had been “pretty special” and he compared it to a golfer making the cut at the US Masters. “The fanfare is quite amazing,” he said. “As a young kid I always aspired to play in front of big crowds, it was always something I wanted to do, but you don’t really imagine things like this.”After being bought for US$700,000 at the auction, McCullum felt the pressure before the opening game and classed his century as a career highlight. “At the World Cup you had to wait about two months until the semi-finals came around, but here it was only about two minutes,” he said. “I think it was because of the occasion … and probably most of all the expectation because of the value placed on me.”