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Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) were dismissed for a modest first-innings score of 247 on the first day of their second round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match against Habib Bank at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex.Habib Bank, a record seven-time winner of the Patron’s Trophy who had to share the title last season with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) following a rain-interrupted final, rattled KRL yesterday after their batsmen had prospered to reach a score of 169 for the loss of only four wickets.Abdul Rehman, a left-arm slow bowler, and Imran Farhat, who bowls right-arm leg-breaks, snared the next five wickets for the addition of just 25. KRL were saved by a 53-run last-wicket partnership that took them beyond the 200-mark. Rehman’s five wickets eventually cost him 120 runs but Imran bowled a mere nine overs while taking 3 for 18. For KRL, Ali Naqvi, former Pakistan Test opening batsman, top-scored with 74 off 109 balls in a little over two-and-a-half hours with nine boundaries. With Saeed Bin Nasir (23), Naqvi’s fifth-wicket stand was worth 75 runs. Earlier, Saeed Anwar Jr (30) and Mohtashim Ali (35) had made useful contributions. Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rauf then hit 53 runs for the tenth wicket in 44 minutes. By the close of play, in seven overs, Habib Bank’s openers had replied with 16 for no loss.In their first-round match, a tall-scoring affair, Habib Bank claimed the three first-innings points from a draw against PIA. Pakistan Customs took six points in their win over KRL, after the latter had earlier attained the first-innings lead.Sufyan Munir and Misbah-ul-Haq made unbeaten half-centuries and were involved in an unbroken 132-run stand for the third wicket as Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) took the opening day’s full 83 overs to reach 220 for 2 against Pakistan Customs at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex. Sufyan was at the crease for four hours and 20 minutes for an unbeaten 81 that came off 201 balls with 13 fours. He is nearing his eighth century in first-class cricket. Misbah-ul-Haq, having been discarded after five Tests and 12 One-day Internationals for Pakistan, made a compact 68 not out off 136 balls in just under four hours with five fours and a couple of sixes. Sui Gas batted first after Misbah had won the toss. The opening stand was worth 38 runs in a little over an hour although Haafiz Majid Jahangir scored only eight runs. Sohail Idrees added an exact 50 runs for the second wicket with Sufyan, hitting five fours in 37 runs off 72 deliveries. Sufyan, who was bowled by opening bowler Imran Ali off a no-ball when on 66, had 11 fours in his half-century. Sui Gas, however, moved ahead at a slow pace.In their first-round match of the tournament, Customs had started by beating Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) although they collected only six points instead of the full nine as they had earlier surrendered the first-innings lead. Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited didn’t have a match to play in the previous round.Service Industries crashed to a poor score of 72 all out on the opening day of their second-round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match at the Sheikhupura Stadium and, by stumps, National Bank had drawn level with only two wickets lost.National Bank’s new-ball pair bowled unchanged as Service Industries were dismissed in 31.2 overs. Only one batsman, Afaq Rahim (21) got into the 20s and as many as eight players failed to reach double-figures. Wasim Khan captured 6 for 38 in 15.2 overs. His partner Zahid Saeed, a left-armer who represents Sialkot, took the other four wickets for 28 runs.National Bank lost two quick wickets with 23 runs on the board before Imran Nazir , with an unbeaten 28, and Shahid Yousuf (19 not out) took them to 72 for 2 off 12 overs without further mishap.Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) made a first-innings score of 259 and then claimed 72 all out for just three runs against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) at the Iqbal Stadium.At one stage, ZTBL were 63 for 6 after having been put in by Aamer Bashir. Then came a seventh-wicket stand of 60 runs and another invaluable partnership of 133 runs for the ninth wicket. The early devastation effected by the PTCL new-ball pair of Tahir Mughal and Mohammad Khalil had been somewhat undone later in the day. Both Tahir and Khalil captured four wickets each, for 71 and 76 runs, respectively.Naved Ashraf, a former Pakistan Test opening batsman, and Adnan Akmal, younger brother of the national-team player Kamran, put on 60 runs for the seventh wicket. Adnan scored 39 runs. Naved missed his eighth first-class hundred by just nine runs, his 91 coming off 182 balls with 12 fours. He found an able partner in Tanvir Ahmed, who finished with 58 not out, for the ninth-wicket partnership. Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar then took a wicket each as PTCL were tottering at 3 for 2 in 3.1 overs by the day’s close.

Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen unwind after arriving in Harare© Getty Images

After 48 hours in which he was locked in meetings with officials from Zimbabwe Cricket in a bid to save England’s tour, David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman, has expressed him hope that taking the field against Zimbabwe will bring "closure" of the whole affair.Morgan has come under intense criticism for his handling of the affair, being accused, among other things, of having “the timing of a top comedian" and acting with the authority of "a half-dead mouse". Some have called for his resignation, while polls in the UK are massively against the tour proceeding. But with the squad safely in Harare, he hit back."We firmly believe in order for closure of the Zimbabwe affair to take effect we need to play cricket here in Zimbabwe … and that’s what we’re here for,” Morgan told the Press Association. “We’re concerned this tour should go smoothly, that there should be no demonstrations, no injury."As for the more personal criticism, Morgan said that he wasn’t immune, but added that he had "had a fairly tough upbringing in business and industry and I’m just concerned I do the right thing. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of gaining closure on this affair, and that will come once we’ve played the cricket.”At least Morgan cannot be accused of talking a soft line with Zimbabwe Cricket over its attempts to reschedule Friday’s cancelled one-day international. It claimed that it would suffer financial hardship because of the decision. "We’ve made it clear we don’t think the ECB are liable for that loss," he said, adding: "It’s a direct result of the delay in media accreditation.”Faced yet again with demands that he should have cancelled the tour when the journalists’ accreditation was originally refused, Morgan stuck to his guns. “It has been very clear to me and our board for a considerable time that moral or political objections to touring are totally unacceptable within the international cricket community. Our business or trade is cricket, and our revenue-earner is international cricket. If we want to trade in international cricket then we have to do so by the rules of the International Cricket Council. People around the world, not just in cricket but in business generally, are fed up with Britain claiming it’s a special case. Internationally the rest of the world is unsympathetic to such claims.”Morgan might face another problem in the coming days. Rumours are circulating that Robert Mugabe, having been forced to back down over the matter of journalists, might look to embarrass the English by paying a visit to one of the games in Harare. Morgan said that his reaction would be difficult to predict but that he had had "confidential advice from the Foreign Office and that advice will be uppermost in my mind."The Foreign Office, however, said that what he did was up to Morgan himself. "We cannot tell him what to do," said a spokesman. "This is not a dictator state, it is the individual’s choice."

England v South Africa, 1st Test, Edgbaston, Day 5England leave Edgbaston with a gritty draw and a bowling headache.One-hundred and seventy-one overs, 728 runs and only nine wickets equals a big problem.Though the pitch was slow, it not as totally lifeless as it looked whenEngland were bowling. Plenty of balls skidded through low or seamed, but the pace attack wasn’t straight enough. Plenty of rough was created outside the right-handers’ leg stump, but Ashley Giles didn’t have the subtlety to exploit it. In this Test, England took a wicket every 114 balls, a strike rate only a shade better than Graham Gooch managed in a career bowling the dibbliest of occasional dibbly-dobbbers.Look harder and the problem is worse than it first appears. In the first innings, two wickets fell to tired swats that were caught on the boundary (Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs), one huge attempted cut caught at third man (Jacques Rudolph), and one to a struggling batsman trying to get on with it (Boeta Dippenaar). Only Gary Kirsten’s leg-side nick could be considered a proper wicket, and that came off a bad ball from Giles.Of today’s dimissals only Kirsten, again, was a genuine triumph for the bowler. Gibbs was bowled courtesy of a deflection off his elbow, and Smith and Rudolph perished giving Giles the charge. The net result is that only two or three of the wickets England took were not as down to South Africa’s search for quick runs.Darren Gough’s usual zip was missing, Steve Harmison could still not turn promising moments into consistent menace, and Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff did what they are in the team to do: block up an end. Impotent was not the right word.Not only did England lack a cutting edge, they also lacked a Plan B. Inrecent series, and in particular in 2001-02 against India, Nasser Hussain has quickly reverted to packing he off side, instructing his bowlers to bowl a foot outside off and waiting for the batsmen to make a mistake.But here England lacked the discipline to bowl on one side of the wicket. Anderson was the prime offender. Though he did finally manage a wicket, it was from one of very few decent balls he bowled. On Sunday morning he was out on the pitch before play bowling into a corridor of cones in a desperate attempt to hone his line and length. For once he looked what he is – a novice.Never was England’s desire for a frightening quick bowler or a mysteryspinner more keenly felt. But a quick glance at the county averages shows no obvious solution. The two leading wicket-takers who are eligible for England – James Kirtley and Jimmy Ormond – offer more consistency but less potency than Anderson. And the only mystery spinner in sight is Mushtaq Ahmed.Wisden Bulletin – Day 5

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa – Pressure is mounting on South Africa batsman Jonty Rhodes to end his retirement from Test cricket ahead of his country’s world championship showdown against Australia at the end of the year.”We are trying to convert him back to Test cricket,” national selector Graeme Pollock said in a news conference at St George’s Park today during South Africa’s second Test against India.”His experience could be invaluable to us. He plays the quick bowlers well and he plays [leg spinner Shane] Warne really well which is going to be important, once again,” Pollock said.Rhodes played his last Test 15 months ago and then retired to concentrate his efforts on the one-day game and South Africa’s bid to win the World Cup in 2003, which it is hosting.The cricketer, regarded as the best fielder in the world, has never made a secret of his desire to spend more time with his wife and two-year-old daughter and has so far refused to change his mind.Former team-mate turned commentator Pat Symcox wrote an open letter to Rhodes in the national daily newspaper The Citizen today in which he implored him to reconsider his decision.”All I ask is that you give us some of your valuable time – just one more time,” Symcox wrote after explaining how important the player would be in helping South Africa beat Australia to become world Test champion.”We must do whatever we can to get him to change his mind, whether it means talking to his wife, Kate, or whoever. It would be reassuring to have him back for the tour,” Pollock said.– AAP

Medical expert Ben Dinnery has shared his view on the injury to Leeds United forward Tyler Roberts, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Out for the season

Leeds’ injury woes have continued under new manager Jesse Marsch, who brought Roberts on as his third and final substitute against Leicester City on the weekend.

Minutes after coming on, Roberts suffered a serious hamstring injury but stayed on the pitch to help his teammates in the final stages.

It has since been confirmed by the club that the Welshman has had surgery on a ruptured hamstring tendon which is set to keep him out of action for three months.

The Latest: Dinnery’s comments

Dinnery, who contributes for Sky Sports, was analysing Roberts’ injury in a story for Football Insider hours before the clash with Aston Villa. He claimed an avulsion fracture occurred after over-stretching for the ball.

“Watching the game, it looked as though he over-stretched for a bouncing ball.

“That seems to have been when the injury occurred whereas most hamstring injuries normally occur when you’re sprinting.

“When there is that sudden forcible contraction of the hamstring muscle, that can cause what I understand now to be an avulsion fracture.

“That is when the muscle is separated from the bone.

“Because the injury didn’t fit the usual parameters and mechanism, that is why Marsch referenced it as a weird one. It’s not your typical setback.”

The Verdict: Never ending

Rob Price’s treatment table was gradually beginning to quiet down with Patrick Bamford set to make a return this evening against Villa and Liam Cooper back in training. However, he now has a new addition in the treatment room in Roberts, who won’t be available until next season.

The Whites will be desperate to guarantee their Premier League status over the coming months and forget all about the current campaign, due to their ongoing injury issues.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Hopefully, Marsch will have better luck next season when it comes to injuries, but we won’t be seeing Roberts in the final 11 league games.

In other news: Phil Hay drops huge Leeds news from Thorp Arch before Villa. 

A dislodged leg bail was enough for Brett Lee to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar © AFP

Please, please behave
Before the first ball was bowled, once the toss was done and play was about to begin, the PA system was given its first run. Professor Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the BCCI and treasurer of the Mumbai Cricket Association, was put to the multi-lingual test. First in English, then Marathi and finally in Hindi, he exhorted the crowd to not “indulge in racist or abusive” behaviour towards the players. It temporarily silenced the chants of “Aussies suck”, a disturbing slogan that Mumbai has adopted, but soon enough the 35,000-plus crowd was at it again. And worse.Magic ball
It was anything but. If anything, it was the worst ball of Murali Kartik’s spell of 10-3-27-6. Short, wide, outside the off, and Andrew Symonds could have hit it pretty much anywhere he wanted. All through this series he has been sending perfectly good balls into the stands. This time he picked a long-hop, and hit it straight to Sachin Tendulkar at cover, topping off his sumptuous 107 not out in Nagpur with a first-ball duck to end the series, in Mumbai. Earlier, at a press conference, Kartik had suggested “locking Symonds up” in a room far from the ground as a way of stopping him. Apparently the long-hop works as well.Going, going, gone
In the 39th over, after Mitchell Johnson had attempted, twice in succession, to heave Harbhajan Singh over midwicket and made contact with nothing but air, Harbhajan waited at the end of his follow-through and put his hand to his forehead, peering exaggeratedly towards midwicket. He was pretending to look for the ball in the stands despite it having rushed through to the keeper. Off Harbhajan’s next over, Johnson replied in kind, first clattering a straight six, hitting with the turn and over long-off, and then dispatching one through midwicket. Harbhajan wasn’t standing around to look in this case.Last hurrah
Tendulkar is always received with reverence here at the Wankhede Stadium – although even he cops a fair share of abuse from the infamous North Stand – but today was special in many ways. Not only was it likely to be Tendulkar’s last international at the ground – it’s set to be refurbished and will only be used for an international next in 2011 for the final of the World Cup – but it was exactly twenty years ago to the day when Tendulkar did duty here as a ball boy, returning the ball to the players from the ropes in an India-Zimbabwe match. Only 26,863 international runs have flowed from his bat since. Not bad, for a ball boy.Top of leg
Just like you don’t have to hit the ball out of the stadium for six runs, a loft over the boundary will do, you don’t need to send the middle stump cartwheeling to dislodge a batsman. In fact, there’s real beauty in the delivery that pitches in just the right spot to defeat the stroke – and in this case Tendulkar was attempting to coax a Brett Lee inswinger through cover – and take the bail. The inside edge sent the ball clinically into leg bail, and Tendulkar’s last innings at the Wankhede Stadium yielded only 21 runs.

It’s a tremendous loss to Indian cricket. Hanumant was one of the finest gentlemen I have met. He was talented enough to have gone on to lead the country but things didn’t go his way at all. He was a very good reader of the game, one of the shrewdest minds I have encountered. He was a wonderful mentor and fine coach.My fondest memory of him was during my Test debut in Kolkata. It was the game against West Indies when the stand was burnt down. There was tear gas being sprayed and I couldn’t see anything. Amid all that commotion I was trying to search for my shoes and blazer. It was Hanumant who came to me, found my things and guided me to safety. He always thought of others before thinking of himself.He was a very close friend of mine. It’s a sad day for Indian cricket. He was extremely knowledgeable and an excellent coach. He was also a man of multi-faceted talents – he was a good match-referee, director of the National Cricket Academy. I fondly remember our tour to England in 1967 and it was when I realised how well he analysed cricket. I haven’t come across someone who could analyse cricket so well. He also made batting look very easy.It’s very sad that such a thing should happen within two months of him getting ill. He was a close friend. Naturally a great loss as far as cricket is concerned. He was a brilliant player in his days and was doing his bit for Indian cricket by coaching youngsters. He was not afraid to take tough decisions and was a hugely respected coach.I have lost one my very best friends in Hanumant Singh. I played with him for many years for the State Bank team, along with Baloo Gupte, Sharad Diwadkar, Budhi Kunderan … and I’m the only one of the five left now.The main thing about Hanumant was that he was a damn good batsman off the back foot. It is very rare to find someone in India who is good off the back foot, generally all are front-foot players. We’ve shared some big partnerships for State Bank, and some great memories as well. He was a bit of an introvert, but a wonderful guy and a team man.It’s amazing that his India career was curtailed by that so-called injury. Otherwise I have no doubt he would have gone on to score plenty of runs for India. Even after that he was absolutely and completely devoted to the game. For him it was just cricket, cricket, cricket, in whatever role he played.The proof of his being a good coach is that one of his wards is now playing for England, in place of Marcus Trescothick – Ed Joyce used to come here to Mumbai for coaching at the World Cricket Academy.

Matthew Hoggard has been fined 20% of his match fee for excessive appealing during the first Test at Multan while the entire Pakistan team have been fined for a slow over rate.Hoggard was reported by the two on-field umpires, Simon Taufel and Billy Bowden, and the third umpire Asad Rauf, for his appealing as he celebrated the wicket of Salman Butt in Pakistan’s second innings. He was found guilty at a hearing conducted by the match referee, Roshan Mahanama, at the end of the match.Meanwhile, each member of the Pakistan team was fined 10% of their match fees while Inzamam-ul-Haq was penalised double that amount as captain. Pakistan fell two overs short of the minimum required to be bowled in the time available.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details

VVS Laxman sweeps on his way to 79© Getty Images

Almost everything fell neatly into place for India as they romped to a 98-run win in their opening match at Southampton. Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman piloted the innings with a responsible partnership, and a surge at the end meant that India were boosted to 290 for 4. At no stage were Kenya in the hunt, and Harbhajan Singh went about hammering the last nails into the Kenyan coffin.Kenya chose to field first in favourable conditions, but they were haunted by their old nemesis – Ganguly. In the last three games against Kenya, Ganguly had racked up three hundreds, and overall averages close to 72 against them. He had an even better record in the Champions Trophy, with an average of close to 82 in 11 matches. Just as he had done in the final match of the NatWest Challenge at Lord’s – when he also made 90 – Ganguly bided his time against a testing opening spell. His first four came as late as the 12th over in the form of a delectable caress through the covers, but he gradually unfurled a few specials. Walking down the track and simultaneously making room, he carved several balls over the infield.Laxman scraped off all the early-season rustiness and, like Ganguly, showed signs of vintage form. He hadn’t passed fifty since his memorable century in the decider against Pakistan at Lahore. He was on his way with some wristy strokes, but nearly threw it away after serving up a delicious appetiser. Martin Suji completed a splendid diving catch off a flick to short midwicket, but a no-ball call meant that Laxman survived. His fifty came up in 72 balls, and he cranked it up from then on with some crisp slaps and sweeps.Both Ganguly and Laxman fell while trying to up the ante. Ganguly yorked himself and lost his stumps as he charged down the pitch, while Laxman was stumped easily after he danced down the track trying to loft Steve Tikolo (213 for 4).But Mohammad Kaif and Rahul Dravid ensured that India took off from this launching pad, rattling up 77 from the last 41 balls. With a mix of whippet-like urgency between the wickets and judicious placement, they manufactured 41 runs in singles and twos. Rageb Aga, the debutant, was crashed to all parts, and was at the receiving end of Dravid’s scooped six over extra cover. Kaif finished unbeaten just one short of his half-century, but by then the momentum was well and truly with India.Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan picked up the baton and took India to the brink of victory even before the halfway stage of the Kenyan innings. Pathan’s darting swing left the top-order batsmen clueless, and there were a number of very close shouts for lbw. He finally got his reward in only the seventh over of the innings, when Tikolo was trapped plumb in front. Hitesh Modi fell soon after, as Ganguly judged a steepling skyer to perfection (21 for 3).Ravindu Shah plodded on and, with Thomas Odoyo, took close to ten overs to add 37. But Harbhajan sawed off the resistance as he picked up 3 for 11 in his first five overs. Shah fell flashing at a wide one, Aga completed a forgettable debut and offered a bat-pad chance, while Odoyo was deceived by the sharp turn and bounce. Dinesh Karthik didn’t have the best match, but he did snap up two smart catches amid the wreckage (74 for 6).Maurice Ouma and Brijal Patel delayed the inevitable with a 92-run stand, mainly thanks to Ganguly’s decision to give his part-time bowlers a go. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Ganguly himself sent down as many as 17 overs. Eventually Ajit Agarkar came back on, and had Ouma caught off the last ball of his spell for 49 (166 for 7).Kenya managed to play out the 50 overs and finished on 192 for 7. They now have three days to recover from this mauling. Pakistan, though, may turn out to be even more ferocious opponents.