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.

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.

Since the night of the fifth, when the Indians landed, quite a bit has changed in Lahore. The freezing chill has abated, the breeze isn’t that biting, the sun has begun to shine pompously, and the tense pot of India-Pakistan cricket is just beginning to simmer.There was no way this series was going to match the previous one in the hype stakes. While that was historic, this promises to be more cricket oriented; while that had three one-sided games, this might just involver tenser scraps; while that was watched by a smattering of spectators, this is bound to get far bigger audiences. The players too have had a more relaxed schedule – a practice game played in a picnic-like atmosphere, leisurely net sessions with only a few press corps watching.One thing though is tough to change – the inevitable air of tension before the teams tee off. “A little bit of tension is always good,” said Greg Chappell in the pre-match press conference. “We’re glad that the Test is starting tomorrow. The players are slightly tense, keyed up but not overly. We’re ready.”Which eleven of the 16 is ready to play, Rahul Dravid refused to divulge, though admitting that he had made up his mind on the team composition. Once Sourav Ganguly had made the cut, India’s final XI was always going to cause umpteen speculations. Will he? Won’t he? Considering that he was one of the first specialist batsmen to pad up in the nets, and that he practiced against the bowling machine after that, just might. He may not necessarily replace Yuvraj Singh, but come in for Gautam Gambhir. Will India decide to leave out both their specialist openers? Has there been any board directive? There are too many questions; it adds to the buzz.The pitch too can never be too far from the spotlight. Barring any dramatic horticultural developments, it’s tough to imagine a grassy surface for the Test and it may be Anil Kumble, rather than Shoaib Akhtar, who will be smacking his lips. Bounce it might, but Sehwag’s scything horizontal-bat, and the fact that Indian batsmen usually struggle more against lateral movement, will be a cause for comfort.That means that India, in all likelihood, will play both spinners, their strength, in conditions more Kolkata than Headingley. The bounce, which both Chappell and Dravid predicted, should aid Harbhajan Singh, who, in all probability, will walk out tomorrow for his first Test in Pakistan, Zaheer Khan, largely inconsistent in the warm-up game, may have to wait for his recall with Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar sharing new-ball duties.The series gives India, currently ranked No.2 in the rankings, a chance to improve on their gains of the last few months. It’s their first big series abroad after their 2004 trip here and will provide indications of how far they have come under a new captain and coach. Both have insisted that the processes are more important than the final results and that improving day-by-day is the focus. Sometime during the series, though, maybe, just maybe, they may realise that when it comes to India v Pakistan, the destination is as important as the journey.Indian team (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Sachin Tendulkar, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Anil Kumble.

Australia have crashed from being unbeatable favourites to facing a must-win match on Sunday against a rejuvenated Sri Lanka. A defeat at Sydney on Sunday would mean losing a home triangular one-day series finals for the first time in 13 years.John Buchanan, the Australia coach, said the team must brace themselves for the consequences if they lose the VB Series finals to unfancied Sri Lanka. Australia lost to Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval on Friday, making 252 against the latter’s 274 for 8. The Australian innings included five run-outs and a stumping.”There would be some fallout if Australia lost the series 2-0, no doubt about that at all,” Buchanan conceded. “(But) the more cut-throat or the more challenging or the more knock-out it is, that’s all good for us because we’re going to face it in eight months’ time in the ICC (Champions Trophy) and soon after that hopefully in the World Cup.”Another factor in Australia’s shock loss on Friday was the haemorrhaging of 54 runs in the final five overs of Sri Lanka’s innings to give them a competitive total for the Aussies to chase under lights.”Reflecting on last night there were a couple of things, our last five overs went for 50-odd runs which you’d expect them to go for a number of runs but probably not as many as that,” Buchanan said. “Those 50 runs hurt us a little bit but even then, 270 was a reasonable total to chase if we got our foundation right. Then obviously we committed suicide not once but four times early, so we made it very difficult for ourselves to get that foundation.”Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, blamed the leaking of the last five overs as “not good enough”, and left open the possibility that fast bowler Mick Lewis might come into the starting 11 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Buchanan agreed but to do that selectors would have to drop a New South Welshman — Stuart Clark or Nathan Bracken — for a match at their home venue.”I wouldn’t expect the selectors to necessarily jump all over it and say we need a lot of change, but Mick Lewis has been brought into the squad for (his ability in the closing overs),” said Buchanan. “Whether there’s scope for him to come in, I think the selectors will certainly have a chat with Ricky and myself.”One possible cause of the run outs was an underestimation of Sri Lanka in the field with athletic Tillakaratne Dilshan having a hand in four of the five run outs with some breathtaking ground fielding.Brad Hogg, Australian left-arm spinner, said ground fielding was an area in which the Sri Lankans had made great improvement under Tom Moody, their coach and Trevor Penney, his assistant.Hogg said, “I think where we’ve dominated the last few years is our fielding and I think they’ve picked up in their standard.”

As feared, Mashonaland’s second-string side was blown away by defending champions Matabeleland in the opening round of the Faithwear provincial one-day tournament at Harare Sports Club, crashing to a ten-wicket defeat. Mashonaland’s selectors refused to pick players from any of their leading six clubs, and against the favourites they were simply not good enough in a match which did not last 50 overs in total.Christopher Mpofu did the early damage to reduce Mashonaland to 39 for 6, and returned at the end with two more wickets after a seventh-wicket stand of 21 had at least staved off a complete humiliation. He finished with 6 for 8 off 8.3 overs, his best return in a one-day match, as Mashonaland scraped to 87. Terry Duffin and Tinashe Hove knocked off the runs in the 19th over with no alarms.The performance was a slap in the face for Bruce Makovah, the head of Mashonaland’s selection committee and the man who was appointed to act as head of national selection earlier in the month. His hardline policy in excluding almost all the province’s senior players backfired, but ominously it could be a sign of things to come on the national stage.The other match in the first round between Midlands and new first-class province Masvingo was abandoned because of a wet outfield.

ScorecardConsistent bowling, encouraging batting and astute captaincy by Sylvester Joseph placed West Indies A in a dominant position on day one of their second unofficial Test against England A at the Beausejour Ground on Friday.England were dismissed for 201 and, by the close, the hosts had replied positively with 50 without loss thanks to the efforts of openers Lendl Simmons, who reached 28, and Sewnarine Chattergoon, who had made 18.Joseph won the toss and asked England to bat first on a well-grassed pitch: it proved a good decision as, at lunch, the tourists were in some bother at 69 for 3.They lost the opener Ed Joyce, who was smartly caught by wicketkeeper Patrick Browne off Richard Kelly for 7 with the score on 20. His opening partner Michael Yardy soon followed to a catch at slip by Joseph off the fast bowler Andrew Richardson for 9, leaving the tourists on 33 for 2.Captain Vikram Solanki (16) was the third victim as he holed out to Gavin Tonge square on the on side, off the left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds, just one ball before the scheduled lunch break.On resumption, Jamie Dalrymple joined Alex Loudon, who was then on 22. But Dalrymple departed before he could settle, caught smartly by Chattergoon at square leg for 22 as he attempted a pull shot off the medium-pacer Kelly.Rikki Clarke perished soon afterwards as he offered a simple return catch to Kelly, leaving England on 120 for 5. Loudon was next to fall, edging a lifting ball to Browne off Richardson for 48.Chris Read led England to 166 for 6 at tea but he fell immediately after the interval, edging Hinds to be caught at the wicket for 33 and giving Browne his third catch.The last three wickets then fell with the score on 201 as Alex Wharf was caught by Browne off Tonge for 21, Gareth Batty was trapped by the left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed for 14, while Sajid Mahmood fell to the next delivery, lbw to Mohammed.Kelly finished with 3 for 34, while Richardson picked up 2 for 32. Hinds, with 2 for 37, and Mohammed, 2 for 38, gave valuable support.The West Indies got off to an enterprising start with Chattergoon striking the first delivery off Wharf to the backward square leg boundary and Simmons likewise dispatched his first delivery, from Mahmood, for four.Both batsmen have so far struck three boundaries in their innings as the West Indies pressed home the advantage. Simmons had a slice of luck, however, dropped by Clarke at first slip off Mahmood, when he had reached 19.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) made short work of Karachi Harbour, through a convincing nine-wicket victory, with over two days to spare in their Pentangular Cup match at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Thursday.PIA had gained a first innings lead of 77 in the opening day, after having made 172 in their first innings following Karachi Harbour’s crash to 95 all out. PIA’s Fazl-e-Akbar ran through the latter’s second innings with figures of five for 23 in 13 overs as Karachi were bowled out for 151 in their second innings. PIA needed just 75 runs to win and they attained the target with the loss of one wicket.Fazl-e-Akbar was ably supported by fellow pacemen Najaf Shah and Jannisar Khan, who picked up two wickets each while Kamran Sajid, the medium pacer, eliminated teenaged left-hander Fawad Alam (24), who had started to look dangerous for a while.PIA thus made amends for a similar nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Faisalabad in their first-round match at Lahore last week. While PIA will get to rest in the third round of the tournament, Karachi Harbour will be playing against Sialkot in their next match starting at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from Tuesday April 11.Faisalabad continued to dominate their second-round Pentangular Cup match against national champions Sialkot, as they finished the second day at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday, 200 runs ahead in the first innings.Faisalabad resumed at their overnight score of 354 for 5 and were all out for 408. Sialkot in reply had slumped to 208 for seven by the day’s close. They still require another 51 to avert the follow-on.Shahid Nazir (3 for 60), Asad Ali (3 for 58) and Ahmed Hayat struck crucial blows as none of Sialkot’s first six batsmen managed to reach even the 30s. Tahir Mughal, the captain, crossed the barrier and was unbeaten on 37 at stumps, having batted for a little over an hour and a quarter, facing 59 balls and hitting four boundaries.There were useful contributions by most Sialkot batsmen but none really got going. Earlier, Asim Butt, the fast-medium bowler, hastened the end of Faisalabad’s knock by capturing six wickets for 85 runs.The overnight unbeaten pair of Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Salman took their sixth-wicket partnership to 138 runs, after which the last four wickets added only 14 more. Misbah missed his century by just seven runs, having made his 93 off 160 balls with 11 fours while Salman scored 52.

Shane Warne has dismissed rumours of an impending ODI comeback for Australia. Warne, back in England for the start of a county season with Hampshire, was reported by AFP saying he had no intention of coming out of his self-imposed one-day international retirement.Warne was mystified by comments made by John Buchanan, Australia’s coach, hinting he might be ready to change his mind in time for the World Cup next year in the West Indies. “I must have said it 14,000 times. I have retired and I have no aspirations to return,” Warne reiterated after skippering Hampshire to victory in their C&G Ttrophy match against Essex at the Rose Bowl.This contradicts statements made by Buchanan, published by Australian papers, which said there had been discussions with Warne about the possibility of a return. “Ricky [Ponting], myself and Andrew Hilditch [chairman of selectors] have all had discussions with Shane about the World Cup,” Buchanan told . “There needs to be commitment or otherwise from him. Either he makes himself available in terms of the team moving forward with its plans, or not. And then the selectors will have some decisions on their plate from there. Shane spoke to us in South Africa, and then again in Bangladesh.”But Warne insisted, “I have to be fair to the squad. There is a lot of cricket ahead in the next year with the ICC Trophy, the VB Series and the World Cup and they have to prepare. I have been out of the limited-overs team for three years and I have absolutely no desire to come back.”I have taken 200 wickets in the last two years in Test matches and that is no coincidence. I have been playing better than ever. John Buchanan must have misunderstood what I was saying and I know people have been saying that I have been talking to Ricky Ponting but in Bangladesh there was not much else to do but talk.”Warne, who missed Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign in 2003 after failing a drugs test which saw him banned from professional cricket for a year, added, “If Ricky said to me at some stage ‘look we really need you’, then I would think about it, but I don’t think it would ever come to that. The team has done really well without me and I will be barracking for them in the World Cup, but not playing for them.”Warne, who has 293 wickets from 194 one-day internationals, subsequently went into voluntary retirement from ODIs. His only appearance since came in last year’s tsunami charity match between Asia and the Rest of the World in front of his home crowd at the MCG, a fixture controversially awarded full limited-overs international status.

There was confusion at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club last Sunday when a purported National League match organised by Zimbabwe Cricket could not be completed after Queens officials refused to allow the game to proceed.The row stemmed from the recent decision by leading club sides in Matabeleland and Mashonaland to boycott the official National Leagueand form their own competition. In a bid to salvage the National League, Terry Mumbwandarika, a ZC employee, was dispatched to Matabeleland to meetwith Victor Mhlanga, a former Matabeleland Cricket Association boardofficial, in a bid to get players to play in the league. It seems that effort cameto nothing.ZC coaches, players aspiring to go to the ZC Academy and youngsters whoare on the ZC scholarship scheme were brought in and two teams were put together to play against sides from Mashonaland. Local sources report that ashad been the case in the Faithwear Cup, the two teams from Mashonaland contained virtually unknown players, with the exception of Innocent Chinyoka, a medium-pace bowler who has played for Zimbabwe A.The matches started on Saturday afternoon and were supposed to becompleted on Sunday morning. The second match took place at Emakhandeni, astadium built by ZC, while Queens was the venue of the aborted match.Meanwhile, Queens had organised a friendly match against BulawayoAthletic Club and claimed to have notified ZC on the previous Wednesday that the ground would be unavailable.However, on Sunday morning, Queens and BAC turned up, as did the”official” teams to complete their match. Queens and BAC tossed, but when theQueens fielders walked onto the pitch, the National League sides marched tothe middle and sat on the pitch. The stalemate continued for almost twohours.Buster Pettican, a member of the local MCA board and cricket section chairman of Queens, eventually referred the situation to Ethan Dube, the MCA chairman.Dube then talked to Mumbwandarika and Sam Tsutsuru, the ZC-appointed Mashonaland general manager, and read out to them a section of thelease agreement between Zimbabwe Cricket and Queens Sports Club which clearly states that ZC only have first preference to the pitch for the purposesof staging international cricket only. Dave Everrington who was then the Zimbabwe Cricket Union vice-president, signed the lease on behalf ofthe union in 2000.The ZC-backed teams agreed that Queens had the right to use the groundbut asked to play at least 25 overs and use the Duckworth Lewis method toenable them to come up with a result. However, the Queens players refused andthe Queens and BAC match went ahead smoothly.A Queens official questioned the justification of ZC spending money istransporting the two sides from Harare – and putting them up overnight- to play in such a game. He said that in his opinion, the decision to playthe National League match was down to a desire to show that the rebellionby leading clubs had had no effect on the game, and that the situation wasnormal.A spokesman for ZC said that this “was an isolated incident that we have now put behind us.”Another potential row was brewing this weekend with another clash offixtures on the cards, but Queens moved to avoid confrontation bymoving their match against Bulawayo Athletic Club across to BAC’s ground.

The battle for the National League ends this weekend when Midlands square up against Manicaland at Kwekwe Sports Club on Sunday.Manicaland, with an unbeaten record from the qualifiers, remain favourites to lift the 2006 National League Championship. In Tinotenda Mawoyo and Paxton Chatora, they have the best opening-bat partnership in the league. Their right hand-left hand combination has been a nightmare to bowlers. But they will have to face the young and vicious pace attack of Mike Chinouya and Alex Mavhiko. Legspinner Remembrance Nyathi, who had a dream semi-final against Matabeleland 2 at Queens Sports Club, taking 6 for 15 in 8.5 overs, could prove to be a handful for the Manyikas.Mawoyo is currently leading the National League batting rankings with an average of 173.50 after five matches. His best is 138, scored in the semi-final against Uprising Cricket Club from Mashonaland.Alongside Mawoyo, the former Zimbabwe Under-19 captain, will be the three Soma brothers- Leon, Andre and Daniel. The Soma boys are capable of doing damage with both bat and ball.Although Midlands carry the underdog tag, they are capable of producing Houdini acts as they have done so twice during the qualifiers. Against Masvingo, Midlands were reeling on 21 for 4 after seven overs, but went on to make 230 to win the match. In the other escape act, while defending a paltry 121, the Midlands managed to dismiss the Matabeles for 92.Inspired by player/coach Walter Chawaguta, who is also the Zimbabwe Under-19 coach, the Midlands have in their ranks a wealth of experience coupled with their never-die-spirit. Friday Kasteni, who served his country with the bat at the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this year, also stars for the Midlands. However, he is still to show what he is capable of after following up on a good century in the opening game with a string of disappointing performances.The Midlands track, always known to be a batting paradise, is likely to offer a high-scoring match.