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Habib Bank Limited (HBL) captain Shahid Afridi powered his team to a first innings score of 531, on the second day of their Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship match against Punjab at the National Stadium.At stumps, Punjab were 185 for 6 and still required another 196 runs to avert the follow-on. Kamran Akmal, the Punjab captain, top-scored with 56 off 98 balls with nine fours and a six.After the openers, Imran Farhat and Hasan Raza (123), had hit hundreds in HBL’s impressive 387 for 3 on the first day, Shahid Afridi hammered 86 off 54 balls that included five fours and six sixes. Farhat took his overnight 171 to 184 before being run out. He batted for 319 balls and hit 21 fours and two sixes.Farhat’s fourth-wicket parntership with Afridi produced 110 runs in quick time. Later, after three wickets had fallen for only 19 runs, Aftab Khan made 31 off 47 balls with six boundaries. Apart from Afridi, legspinner Danish Kaneria is also playing for HBL. He bowled 14 overs and took 2 for 67.Punjab lost their first five wickets for only 96, including World Cup players Imran Nazir (24) and Mohammad Hafeez (29). Kamran Akmal added 77 runs for the sixth wicket with Naved Latif, who was unbeaten on 23.Fast bowler Rao Iftikhar bowled 11 overs for Punjab and took 0 for 40. Hafeez’s off-breaks fetched him 2 for 116 in 34 overs.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) gained a first-innings lead of 131 with five wickets in hand against the combined North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-Balochistan team on the second day at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex.After having dismissed NWFP for 221 on the opening day, KRL took their overnight score of 58 for 0 to 352 for 5. Saeed Bin Nasir scored an unbeaten 101 and added 155 with Ashar Zaidi for the fourth wicket. Ashar missed his eighth first-class hundred by just two runs, his 98 coming off 180 balls with 10 fours. Saeed’s ninth first-class century took 171 balls and included 12 fours and a six.Azhar Ali, 22, followed his innings of 84 and 115 not out in the first-round match against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) last week with another useful 56 off 137 balls with seven fours. His opening partner Saeed Anwar junior contributed 39 runs off 85 balls.

Daren Ganga, West Indies’ opening batsman, will be given his first outing on their South Africa tour in the four-day warm-up match against South Africa A at East London.Ganga will open the batting alongside Devon Smith with Chris Gayle still sitting out as he recovers from the hamstring injury he picked up in Zimbabwe. Ganga is coming off a lean run in Tests, having failed to reach double figure in his last six innings after making 25 runs in the final three matches against England in May and June.Dwayne Bravo continues to lead the team, which won the Twenty20 international at Port Elizabeth by five wickets, while Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor who impressed in that match also sit out against South Africa A. Rawl Lewis, the legspinner, is given a chance to put his name in the equation for Test selection as is left-arm quick Pedro Collins.The four-day match is the only warm-up match before the Test series starts on Boxing Day at Port Elizabeth with two more games at Cape Town and Durban.West Indies Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Runako Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Rawl Lewis, Darren Sammy, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) set National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) a tough target of 375 runs to chase in their fourth-round Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Strong batting by the PIA top order helped them reach 339 for 8 in the second innings before captain Yasir Hameed made the declaration. PIA had earlier gained a 35-run first-innings lead over NBP who ended the day on 58 for 2 with Umar Gul picking up both wickets. They still need another 317 runs to win the match with eight wickets in hand.Yasir Hameed struck form for PIA, after a run of low scores, with his 12th first-class hundred. His 101 off 183 balls included 11 fours. The two openers were dismissed after a 94-run partnership before Yasir was joined by Kamran Sajid for a third-wicket partnership of 130 runs. Kamran’s 52 off 94 balls included five fours.Earlier, Agha Sabir had contributed 52 off 138 deliveries with seven fours. Small but useful contributions by the remaining batsmen took the PIA score to 339 for 8. Umar Gul hit three fours and two sixes while making 29 off just 19 balls.NBP are in danger of losing their top place in the table and with that the opportunity of winning the Pentangular Cup. Faisalabad have played all their matches and have a total of 27 points while NBP have 18 with one more game to play.PIA will raise their tally to 18 points with a win here, with their last match coming up in the fifth and final round that gets underway on Sunday. Another win for PIA as well as NBP — who play Karachi Harbour in their last encounter — will bring the tournament to an interesting situation. In this scenario, Faisalabad, NBP and PIA will all end up with 27 points each. The winner will then be decided on the basis of the best net run-rate.

Adam Gilchrist has recommended that Australia rest some of its key players for the Champions Trophy one-day tournament so that they are fresh and ready to take on England in a bid to regain the Ashes later this year. Australia, who lost in England 2-1 last year, host them in the 2006-07 season, and Gilchrist recommended that the selectors plan the teams for the season around that series.”We have to get our priorities right there,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald. “It is important that selectors, administrators, players and whoever else needs to be involved sits down and nuts that out.”I am not saying no-one goes, or all key players [don’t go to the Champions Trophy] … I don’t know. But we have to sit down and address it, definitely. I think we have to look very, very seriously at that lead into the Ashes.”There is the Champions Trophy, and I believe there are potentially other games of one-day cricket that may come up prior to that. We are going to have to be very careful about what we want to prioritise as most important.”While Gilchrist made his views clear, they certainly didn’t find much support from Cricket Australia – Michael Brown, their operations manager, ruled out a “mass rest”, instead stating that the best team will be selected.”We are worried about the whole seven months of cricket. The ICC Champions Trophy is clearly important to Cricket Australia. We’ll be sending a very, very good team, the best team available at the time,” Brown said. “For us, the ICC tournaments are of number one importance. We have never won a Champions Trophy and would like to win it. I can’t stress this enough about the Champions Trophy: we’ll be going with a team that we intend to win it [with].”Part of our strategic plan is to lead the world in cricket performance, so to entertain the thought that we’re going to be mass resting players is not going to happen. What we will do is individually manage every player’s workload over the period because let’s not forget that some players over the next 12 months play very little cricket.”There are suggestions that England might rest some of their players – including Andrew Flintoff – for the Champions Trophy. However, Brown defended Cricket Australia’s stance on the matter by pointing to the schedules for the two teams: England play seven Tests and ten ODIs in the summer before heading to India for the Champions Trophy in October; Australia, on the other hand, have a five-month break before the tournament.”What we will do is prioritise the whole summer,” Brown said. “We’ve got an incredible six or seven months of cricket and we’ll prioritise to make sure that all our players are prepared in the best way they can be for every match they play.”

Brian Lara once again cited Greg Chappell’s comments – that West Indies’poor run of form had made it difficult for them to win close games – as the spur for athrilling three-wicket triumph at the Motera Stadium. The victory not onlytook West Indies into the semi-finals as they seek to defend the trophythey won two years ago in England, but it also ensured that eitherAustralia or India, two of the pre-tournament favourites, will be missingfrom the climactic week of action.Addressing the media after his batsmen had chased down 223 with two ballsremaining, Lara said: “Going back to that statement that Greg [Chappell]made in Jamaica, the guys are really determined each time they get out onto the field against India. We’ve done that in the Caribbean, and inMalaysia we had a win and a loss. Here again, most importantly, playingIndia at home, the guys knew the enormous task it was.”Yes, we were winning against them, but in foreign conditions to them.Playing here in Ahmedabad, they definitely had the advantage, with thecrowd and knowing the pitch. We wanted to win, and we planned to win, andthe guys executed well.”Despite a worrying wobble at the end, Lara was more than satisfied withthe manner in which the top order went about the task, propelled byanother blistering cameo from Chris Gayle. “I thought it was very wellcalculated by all the batsmen,” he said. “Partnerships were veryimportant, and it was a lot of mature batting from the likes of ChrisGayle and right through. Dwayne Bravo, batting for the first time at No. 3,had a 50-run partnership with Chanderpaul, the man of the match, whoguided it.”Sarwan seems to be gaining more and more with experience, showing theclass and determination that he has. It was a good victory, but notcomprehensive. It came down to the last. Someone was saying: ‘West Indieswill always give you excitement’. We gave you this match and we gave you ado-or-die in Mohali on Sunday (laughs).”Though he didn’t focus too much on individuals, Lara was delighted withthe form shown by Runako Morton, who followed up a superb 90 againstAustralia with a vital 45 in this game. “We’ve been working on getting himto play a lot of shots and manoeuvring the ball around the field,” hesaid. “He knew he had to work on it, and was willing to do it. What weknow about Morton is that he doesn’t give up his wicket very cheaply, andhe’s someone that done very well in Test matches in recent times. Now’s headapting to the one-day game, and he’s definitely someone we like havingaround. The last two games, he’s shown that he wants to be in the team.Consistency is now what’s expected.”

In the space of little over a week, West Indies have prevailed over bothAustralia and India, and Lara, who played his part in the first triumphwith a dazzling 71, refused to rate one above the other. “We spoke aboutthese two games, playing against the No. 1 team in the world and playingagainst the hosts, and I don’t think any one gave us more satisfaction,”he said. “If we get past the first round in the World Cup, Australia andIndia are two teams we’re going to meet in the second round. Getting thatadvantage, playing away from home and beating them, is good. But we’ve gotto move on. This is just the build-up to it [the World Cup], and I’m veryhappy with the way we’re approaching it.”The upswing in West Indies’ one-day fortunes has coincided with Lara’sthird stint at the helm, and he attributed recent impressive victories tomore thorough preparation off the field. “I think regrouping and findingout exactly where we’ve been going wrong,” he said, when asked if he couldpinpoint a factor or two for the reversal of fortune. “It’s never been asituation where we’re short in confidence, or on talent. It’s aboutgetting it together, and doing a lot of background work. The guys talk alot of cricket off the field, that’s where you learn the game. It’s verygood to see the younger players make a contribution and that’s where we’rewinning the game – off the field.”There was some sympathy for an Indian line-up that will face intensecriticism if they exit their own party on Sunday. “The conditions arepretty difficult, the pitches are not batting paradises,” he said. “Indiaalso have a lot of their experienced batsmen up in the top five. So if youkeep them tight, contain and take wickets, it’s a little vulnerable in themiddle. But the likes of [Suresh] Raina and [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni haveless than 100 one-day matches. They’re going to learn the game as they goon, and you expect India in their conditions to excel. In a tournamentlike the World Cup in the Caribbean, where the pitches are similar toIndian ones, I think India are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”His own participation in the game was in doubt till the very last, butLara suggested that pulling out had never really been an option, givenwhat was at stake. “I wasn’t a hundred percent, but I thought we’d leaveit as late as possible,” he said. “This morning, I did some work with thephysiotherapist and felt a lot better. I thought it was a very importantgame for us. We didn’t want to come back on Saturday and have to winagainst England.”The fact that he made only five didn’t bother him, with Marlon Samuels’slash to third man ensuring that there would be no fatal twist in thetale. “It was a short ball, but I didn’t pick up the slower ball,” he saidwhen asked of his dismissal. “I had to try to change the shot midway. Itwas unfortunate to drag it back onto the stumps. But we knew exactly whatwe had to do. We kept wickets in hand, and won at the end of the day.”And after an outing where nearly everyone impressed, it’s going to be abrave man who ridicules their chances of going all the way again.

England are considering arranging more matches to allow their injured players, and Andrew Flintoff in particular, to get match-fit before the winter’s Ashes series.Already without captain Michael Vaughan, who is hoping to make his return from knee surgery in January, England fear the comeback of Flintoff could be delayed by a lack of available action. Flintoff is due to have a second operation on his troublesome left ankle this week which will sideline him for three months, ruling him out of the Pakistan Test and one-day series and establishing him as a major doubt for October’s Champions Trophy tournament in India.But without playing in the Champions Trophy, Flintoff will be desperately short of match action before England arrive in Australia for a one-day match and two three-day games prior to the opening Test in Brisbane on November 23.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, has admitted to being “mischievous” when he suggested Cricket Australia may want to help arrange practice matches, but it is an avenue England may consider anyway. “I was being a little mischievous when I said that, but there are a couple of areas we may look at,” he explained. “We know [former Hampshire batsman] Paul Terry has a set-up in Perth and we could look at setting up matches in India, so there are a couple of places we could go to if we felt it would help.”Flintoff remains a priority for England because of his importance to the side, but the same could apply to injured duo Ashley Giles (hip) and Simon Jones (knee), although both of them remain major doubts for the Ashes because they are yet to play this season. England do not want a repetition of the last Ashes tour, when Flintoff and Darren Gough were picked while still recovering from injuries and had to be sent home without playing any part in the series.”The last trip to Australia was shambolic,” stressed Graveney. “Freddie arrived at the Academy in Adelaide and he could hardly walk, let alone bowl. “Regrettably we may be heading for the same situation to a degree. We might have a number of guys going there that are physically fit, but not match fit.”I believe Flintoff will be physically fit. What we have to do with Freddie and Ashley, because he’s making positive noises as well, we’ve got to arrange enough cricket for them so they are running when they actually get there for the first Test on November 23.”

ScorecardJackson Bird picked up 5 for 69 (file photo)•Getty Images

Jackson Bird’s first five-wicket haul in 18 months might help him regain the attention of Australia’s selectors, but it is unlikely to help Tasmania avoid defeat in their Sheffield Shield match against South Australia in Hobart. At stumps on the third day Tasmania were 3 for 42 in their second innings, chasing an unlikely target of 502, with Jake Doran on 22 and George Bailey on 6.The day had started with Tasmania on 4 for 240 in their first innings and Bailey, who began the morning on 93, went on to raise his 16th first-class hundred. However, he was out for 112 soon afterwards and the lower order struggled; the final six wickets fell for 44 runs on day three and the Tigers were dismissed for 284.South Australia, who had piled on 600 in the first innings, were dismissed for 185 in their second as Sam Rainbird claimed 4 for 50 and Bird picked up 5 for 69. It was the first five-wicket haul Bird had collected since March 2014, when he claimed 6 for 50, also against South Australia in Hobart.