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.

Scoreboard
Sri Lanka A held the advantage going into the final day of the second four-day match against Bangladesh A at the Colombo Cricket Club. Chasing a target of 341, Bangladesh A finished on 16 for no loss at stumps, 325 runs away from victory.Bangladesh A resumed on the third day on 201 for 7, trailing by 194 runs. Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, ran through the tail to restrict Bangladesh A to 239 and give Sri Lanka A by 156 runs. Herath finished with impressive figures of 5 for 45 in 25.2 overs.Sri Lanka A sought to build on their lead and their openers, Kanchana Gunawardene and Mahela Udawatte, gave them a solid start by adding 86 for the first wicket. Udawatte added 43 and Gunawardene 51 before Mosharraf Hossain dismissed both of them in quick succession. Hossain checked Sri Lanka A’s momentum by taking wickets at regular intervals. None of their middle-order batsmen, with the exception of Jehan Mubarak who was unbeaten on 51, got going and Sri Lanka A declared on 184 for 6. Hossain ended with 5 for 69 in 27 overs.Chasing 341 is a daunting task but Bangladesh A managed to reach stumps on 16 for no loss and gave themselves a strong chance of drawing the game.

Westerns made it two out of two with a four-wicket win over Kenya Select at Bulwayo in a low-scoring match which only just made it into the fourth day. On a below-par pitch, the spinners dominated with Keith Dabengwa taking 8 for 84 to add to his seven-wicket haul in the first round while Hiren Varaiya and Collins Obuya took 10 of the 16 Westerns wickets to fall. The Kenyans had Tanmay Mishra to thank for bailing out their first innings, his 89 forming the backbone of their 218. Set 176 to win, Charles Coventry paved the way with 76. The visitors will be disappointed with the result but heartened by the way they battled, and it should be remembered that they had less than 48 hours to acclimatise to the conditions.Northerns, who dominated the competition when they were Mashonaland and are the Logan Cup holders, were trounced in three days by seven wickets at Kwekwe by Centrals. On another substandard surface, Northerns took a first-innings lead of 62 but then Ed Rainsford, who took a career-best 6 for 20, blew them away second time round for 69. Set 132 to win, Centrals lost two early wickets before E Chauluka (43*) and Walter Chawaguta (29*) guided them home.Easterns, who drew in the first round, eased past Southerns by 183 runs thanks to hundreds from Stuart Matsikenyeri and newcomer Stephen Nyamuzinga.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, has said that he will try and convince Duncan Fletcher to take over the position as coach of West Indies. Fletcher had a long stint as the England coach before quitting after the World Cup last month.West Indies, currently in England for a full Test tour, are without a permanent coach after Bennett King too joined the exodus of international coaches after the World Cup. David Moore, who assisted King during his tenure, is coaching the side, though only on a temporary basis. Lloyd credited Fletcher for England’s rise as a Test team and was hopeful that he could reverse West Indies’ sagging fortunes if appointed.”If he’s interested, yes,” Lloyd told when asked if he would speak to Fletcher. “I think Duncan still has a part to play in cricket in general. He is a strong man and a strong character. He has done a good job for England and I’m sure that he or someone of that ilk will be able to do something for West Indies.”West Indies’ last two tours of England have ended in thumping series defeats: they went down 3-1 in 2000 despite leading the series after the first Test at Edgbaston, while in 2004, they were whitewashed 4-0. Lloyd didn’t sound too optimistic about their fortunes this time either.”I don’t think people are expecting great things, but we expect them to hold their own when things get tight,” he said. “If they can draw or get close to doing well in one of the Test matches, that’s what we’d be looking for. [Brian] Lara has left, so there’s not a lot of experienced batting. They don’t have guys to set the world alight. They have to learn very quickly.”Lloyd was hopeful that Ramnaresh Sarwan, the new captain, manages to instill a professional work ethic in a team under fire for indiscipline and poor form after their lacklustre World Cup campaign.”There are some very tough decisions to be taken,” he added. “These guys have a comfort zone and they have to get out of that to reach the heights of other countries. We used to be very athletic and we have to get that work ethic back. Sarwan has now got a chance to do what I did and bring the guys up a level. The situation will get tough at times and it is how he handles it that matters.”

If evidence was needed that the genuine concern for the depressed state of West Indies cricket extends far beyond the Caribbean, it is to be presently found in the heart of London.Last Wednesday night, two Nobel Prize laureates, a knighted musical lyricist and a famed storyteller declared their long-lasting devotion to its special legacy, bemoaned its decline and yearned for its revival.Such adoration was confirmed two nights earlier by a host of outstanding past players at a separate function paying homage to Sir Garfield Sobers, the allrounder who, more than any other, typifies its unique qualities.Such an occasion is to be repeated on Monday night when Brian Lara, the most recent in the long lineage of great West Indian batsmen, is similarly honoured. No doubt the current plight that lingered throughout Lara’s career, in spite of his phenomenal list of records, will also interest those in attendance. Some of Lara’s contemporaries such as Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Courtney Walsh and Michael Vaughan are expected to attend.The Sobers’s event, attended by more than 700 guests and which your columnist was privileged to host, was put on by cricket’s renowned charity organisation, the Lord’s Taverners.It featured video highlights of the phenomenal left-hander’s long career, from his Test debut at the age of 17, through to his unbeaten 150 in the final Test at Lord’s in 1973.Sir Everton Weekes, specially brought over for the occasion, and Trevor Bailey, both now 82, reminisced on stage about Sobers’s debut Test when the England allrounder Bailey was his first wicket.Ted Dexter and Tom Graveney, two of England’s finest batsmen when Sobers was at his peak with bat and ball, followed, with Clive Lloyd, whose debut Test innings was in a matchwinning partnership with the incomparable left-hander, and Sir Michael Stoute, the Barbadian who has been England’s leading race horse trainer for several years, filling the lower order.Stoute, who recalled watching Sobers’s first Division One club hundred in Barbados for Police against Wanderers as a boy, could speak with authority on Sobers’s love of and interest in horses.Sobers himself rounded off the evening, to a standing ovation, with his own riveting revelations, but the general conversation was as much on the days of plenty as on the present drought and the necessity to ensure that the present decline is arrested and turned around.Especially after their difficult summer, when the consensus is that it is the weakest team to tour England since the first in 1928, the repeated theme around the tables was that world cricket needs West Indies to be strong.

Human nature being what it is, those who suffered so repeatedly at the hands of the great players and the great teams of the past might now be expected to chortle in delight at the shabby state of their successors. Yet there was little gloating or condescension, just the hope that the flickering flame that has illuminated the game for so long would burn brightly again.So it has been wherever the game has taken me in recent times. As Mike Gatting, who endured more from the West Indies than most, put it, football would be similarly the poorer without the brilliance of Brazil at its best. There is a certain comparable flamboyance between the two.The appropriate venue for Wednesday’s affair, also a Lord’s Taverners show, and Monday’s, is the famous Long Room at the game’s spiritual home, Lord’s.It is there that an exhibition marking Lara’s phenomenal, and recently ended career, has also been mounted in the museum since the start of the present season to continue through to December.In reality, it is nothing less than a shrine to Lara, according to Adam Chadwick, the museum’s curator, a “celebration of his career” with themed displays that explore different aspects of his life, both in and out of cricket.The highlights on Wednesday in the Long Room across the walkway were the readings, and their admissions to their cricket fanaticism, of Harold Pinter, the renowned British playwright, and his St Lucian counterpart, Derek Walcott, of Sir Tim Rice, who penned the musical lyrics of Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar among a host of others, and Paul Keens-Douglas, the Caribbean’s most popular raconteur.The proceedings were introduced before the gathered 250, in their evening suits and fine dresses, by calypsonian, Tobago Crusoe, with his rendition of Lord Beginner’s “Cricket, Lovely Cricket”, the theme for the evening.The virtuosity of the masters of the written and spoken word followed to embellish the glory of West Indies cricket.Pinter, now a frail 77, read from some of his own work and spoke passionately about the triumphant 1950 West Indies team, of Frank Worrell’s grace and the “butchery” of Weekes, seated in the front row a few feet away from him, and Clyde Walcott and of the mystery of Ramadhin and Valentine.Derek Walcott, who dashed directly from Heathrow Airport after a flight from an engagement in Berlin to be at Lord’s, read a piece, based on the recent Test series. He had written it specifically for the occasion.Using the analogy of a fight between the warriors of the West Indies and the lions for England – who, indeed, play under the crest of three lions – Walcott intoned: “On every field in the islands dust hides the sun. And the bodies fall except Chanderpaul who tires the lions, and if one warrior can do this, where were his band of brothers who once whitened the flag of St George to a bloody cross?”Victory is sweet; we have known this, but greater than victory, perhaps, is the beauty of defeat, the beauty of the great boxer going down, the killer of bulls gored on the sand, the loss that wears down every innings to zero, nothing is sadder than an unlucky streak, nothing is nobler than an unlucky hero. Our enemies are beautiful, the lions, but we are not weak.”Even while the lingering crisis is compounded by its embarrassing, widely publicised internal disputes of the past few weeks, the longing for the West Indies to return to their former glory is unmistakably sincere.The excitement that followed their exciting victory in the opening Twenty20 International at the Oval on Thursday was even reflected in the usually unforgiving British press.”We at last saw West Indies cricket in all its former glory-expansive and, at times, completely unorthodox strokeplay delivered with a style and panache so Caribbean,” wrote Paul Newman, cricket correspondent of the .It was merely a 20-overs an innings knockabout but it was the kind of play that Harold Pinter, Derek Walcott and millions in every corner of cricket’s empire have yearned for.Those who have dragged the game down to its present level, administrators and players alike, would have benefited from being at the Hilton and at Lord’s over the past few days. If they had been, they might have fully appreciated the legacy with which they have been entrusted.

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club are ready to proceed with an £8.2million redevelopment project at Trent Bridge this autumn, thanks to funding from East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and three local authorities: Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council.The scheme will involve the creation of a new stand on the Bridgford Road side of the ground, which will replace West Wing and Parr Stand and increase the ground capacity to more than 17,000. The county also plans to install permanent floodlights and create a new office and administration block, which will be the base for match officials and will incorporate a replay screen and electronic scoreboard.Derek Brewer, Nottinghamshire’s chief executive, said, “As a sporting venue of world renown, it [Trent Bridge] is hugely important to the local economy and our partners recognise the need to help us do all we can to retain Test-match status in the face of stiff competition from other parts of the country.”With the funding package in place and planning permission confirmed, we are delighted that we are now able to go ahead as planned, starting on August 28,” Brewer added. It is planned that the redevelopment will be completed in time for next year’s Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand.Jeff Moore, the chief executive of emda – who are investing £2.5million in the project, said, ” It is estimated that every time a Test Match is played at the ground an additional £1million is generated for the Nottingham economy. Our investment will ensure that Trent Bridge remains in a position to compete for high profile tournaments, and help maintain the East Midlands as a region with a strong sporting heritage.”The support from the three councils amounts to £3.7million, split equally. It is provided in the form of a loan at a discounted rate of interest in recognition of community benefits from the club. Leaders of Nottingham City Council, Coun Jon Collins, Nottinghamshire County Council, Coun David Kirkham and Rushcliffe Borough Council, Coun Neil Clarke said: “We are all delighted to be able to support the ambitions of the cricket club.”They said the redevelopment would keep Nottingham and Nottinghamshire on the world map and help the club to expand its community and youth development work across the region.

Mark Cleary, the South Australia seamer, has been denied a work permit to join Glamorgan because he hasn’t played enough first-class cricket over the past two years.The Home Office view was supported by the ECB after Glamorgan wanted to sign Cleary, 27, to bolster an injury-hit bowling attack. It is the third time they have missed out on an overseas player after West Indies paceman Daren Powell opted for Hampshire and Ravi Rampaul picked up a groin injury.Cleary has had previous stints with Yorkshire and Leicestershire, but during the past Australian domestic season was restricted to Ford Ranger Cup one-day outings for his state.Glamorgan have struggled to field a frontline attack all season with David Harrison ruled out for the whole campaign with a back injury and Simon Jones making tentative steps in his recovery. Jones played in a recent Pro40 match, sending down two overs in a rain-reduced match, but Glamorgan are also expecting to lose 17-year-old James Harris to England Under-19 duty next month.

Yorkshire 144 and 44 for 1 trail Lancashire 517 (Law 206, Horton 149) by 329 runs
Scorecard

This was a day of records at Headingley, none of them favourable to Yorkshire. The most notable were the highest partnership for Lancashire in first-class matches against Yorkshire, and the highest individual innings for Lancashire in Roses matches.Perhaps in the end Yorkshire did rather well to dismiss Lancashire for 517, after they were 383 for two at one stage. The batsmen chiefly responsible for Lancashire’s position of virtually overwhelming strength were the two Australian-born players, opener Paul Horton (149) and the former international Stuart Law (206). Their contributions enabled Lancashire to pass 500 and finish the day 329 runs ahead, with one already Yorkshire wicket down.Horton and Law began the day in possession of the crease, and stayed in control until well into the afternoon session. They used the well-tried method of laying a firm foundation before attempting to build. Horton, 82 not out overnight, took 48 minutes to reach his second first-class century, and was stuck on 99 for quite a while, but he refused to be flustered and finally turned a ball from Jason Gillespie towards long leg to reach three figures; it took him 186 balls.Horton continued to play the anchor role while Law now began to play his strokes. He reached his century off 139 balls shortly after lunch, and altogether scored 125 runs during the afternoon session as he thrashed an innocuous attack. He overtook Horton in the 140s, and their partnership was worth 258 runs, beating the previous Lancashire best against Yorkshire for the seventh wicket of 247 by Graham Lloyd and Ian Austin in 1997.The stand was finally broken when Younis Khan took a fine diving catch at slip off Tim Bresnan to remove Horton for 149, his highest first-class score. Andrew Flintoff played an innings of mixed quality, 24 off 37 balls, while Law reached 201 at tea. He had now beaten Reggie Spooner’s best of 200 not out for Lancashire against Yorkshire. He failed, however, to reach Maurice Leyland’s record of 211 for this fixture, being run out for 206 in a mix-up with his partner.Lancashire’s tail had little to offer, and the last eight wickets went down for 134 runs. The top Yorkshire bowler was Adil Rashid, with three expensive wickets. Yorkshire lost the wicket of Craig White before the close and face a major task even to avoid a three-day innings defeat.

South Australia should be feeling positive about the approaching season and at least things can’t go much worse than last summer. The Redbacks have a new coach and a new captain and it’s hardly surprising they are looking forward rather than back. Sensibly, they are also making no wild predictions about 2007-08.”I’m not focusing too much on outcomes and results at this stage,” the new captain Nathan Adcock said. “We need to get our backyard in order and then let the outcomes take care of themselves.”Getting their backyard in shape has been such a lengthy and ongoing process that not even Jamie Durie could make it an overnight job. South Australia were on the bottom of the Pura Cup table throughout last season and their only win came in the final game. They fared a bit better in the one-day competition where their five victories placed them fourth.Off-field problems were equally worrying in 2006-07. There was concern from within the South Australia camp that a partying culture existed when the players were on the road and questions were raised over the squad’s leadership. Jason Gillespie was upset the team’s administrators mentioned the problems in the media and while all this was happening the Redbacks kept losing.This year they have expanded their squad to 29 including rookies and Adcock expects that to help the team’s drive. “The boys have been immaculate in their pre-season preparation,” he said. “With the competition that’s on for places, people know that they can’t let themselves down on or off the field.”Mark Sorell has taken over as the head coach and Kym Harris is overseeing the batting department. Harris’ role presents a particular challenge as only three Redbacks scored Pura Cup centuries last season. Adcock said the coaching changes had already had an impact with more individual attention fore each player.”We’ve been doing a great deal of batting volume work with real purpose,” he said. “The other thing we’ve tried to implement after that is a very intense competition scenario. So whether it’s in the nets or centre-wicket, it’s a really competitive situation between the batsmen and bowlers. We’ve tried to make it as close to a match situation as we can.”Bowling has been less of a concern in recent years, with Shaun Tait and Gillespie carrying the pace burden and Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey making a handy spin duo. Tait could see more national action in 2007-08 and there is also a chance Bailey or Cullen will be called up, but Adcock is confident with the attack’s depth.”It’s fair to say our bowling record in the previous years has been a strong point for us,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited if we have to delve deeper into our bowling stocks because guys are playing for Australia.”

The newly-retired Greg Blewett and the fast bowler Trent Kelly, who transferred to Western Australia, were the only departures from last year’s senior list. Peter George has been added to the fast-bowling group while Tom Plant and Jason Borgas will boost the top order.The major on-field change is the captaincy handover after nine years of Darren Lehmann’s leadership. Adcock has no intention of copying Lehmann’s style but is pleased his predecessor will be on hand to bounce ideas off. He also knows that after such a lean 2006-07 the Redbacks cannot expect things to turn around immediately.”I’d really like to measure [our success] on two things,” Adcock said. “If we can be seen to have improved, individually and as a group, that’s a step forward. And if we’re really competitive and neck-deep in four-day games on the last day, then we can hopefully get things going our way.”Captain Nathan Adcock
Coach Mark Sorell
Squad Nathan Adcock, Cullen Bailey, Cameron Borgas, Jason Borgas, Ben Cameron, Mark Cleary, Mark Cosgrove, Dan Cullen, Shane Deitz, Matthew Elliott, Callum Ferguson, Peter George, Jason Gillespie, Daniel Harris, Ryan Harris, Darren Lehmann, Graham Manou, Tom Plant, Gary Putland, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait. Rookies Jake Brown, Andy Delmont, Jason Donnelly, Jake Haberfield, Simon Roberts, Chadd Sayers, Ken Skewes, Jamie Smith.2006-07 results Pura Cup 6th, FR Cup 4th, Twenty20 4th.

Glenn McGrath believes India’s upcoming tour of Australia will be a major test for Sreesanth, who he says needs to start backing up his aggression with more consistent bowling. Sreesanth took nine wickets from four ODI outings in this month’s home series but he was expensive and his efforts were overshadowed by his frequent clashes with members of the Australia team.”I’ve had a chat to him a few times and it doesn’t seem to be in his character,” McGrath told the . “He’s trying to be aggressive and it’s a little bit unusual. You want your fast bowler to be aggressive.”Giving blokes send-offs or sledging when you talk back I don’t agree with but that’s up to the officials to sort out. At the end of the day you’ve got to be able to back it up. You can talk the talk but if you can’t go out there and perform then you’re not going to be around for very long.”Sreesanth was rested for three of the recent ODIs but he will be a key factor in India’s Test and one-day tour of Australia starting in December. Stuart MacGill said Sreesanth and his team-mates would find it difficult to maintain their fiery approach in Australia.”It’s always easier when you’ve got a lot of support at home to ride your emotions,” MacGill said in the . “They only need to look around and know they’ve got a billion countrymen supporting them. I think you’ll find it doesn’t work for them if they’re pretending.”Ricky Ponting said a seven-match ODI series was a completely different scenario to four Tests and the tri-series, which would test India’s resolve. “They made it pretty clear right at the start of the series they were going to fight fire with fire,” Ponting said on returning home from the trip.”We know that’s generally not the way they play their cricket. We’ve got a lot of cricket against them in the next few months, so it will be interesting to see just how long that aggressive-natured cricket does last from them.”