India U-21 168 for 5 (David 58*) beat Pakistan 135 by 33 runs
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India’s Under-21 women’s side kicked off their first tour of Pakistan with a comfortable 33-run victory over the Pakistan national side in Lahore.The Indians cashed in on some sloppy bowling and fielding by the novice Pakistani team to finish with 168 for 5 in their allotted 40 overs, including 40 extras. The highlight of the innings was a knock of 58 from Diana David, while Nabila Gulzar, a right-arm medium-pace bowler, was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 20.In reply, Pakistan fumbled after a confident start, with four of their players falling to run outs. They were eventually bundled out for 135 in the 38th over. Shamsa Hashmi, their captain, top-scored with 30 and Armana Khan hit 29.Karuna Jain, India’s captain, gave credit to the Pakistanis for a hard fight. “It was a tough match and although Pakistan have recently started playing at higher level they put up a brave fight and made us tense at moments.” Hashmi blamed too many extras and sloppy running for their defeat.Both India and Pakistan wore the respective blue and green colours worn by the men in the one-day arena, instead of the white kits reserved for Tests. India are scheduled to play four one-dayers during their week-long tour of Pakistan, the first to the country by any women sport’s team

Glenn McGrath, the Australian fast bowler, will miss the second match of the ICC Super Series in Melbourne on October 7. Chris Gayle, the West Indies opener, has replaced Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, in the 12-man World XI team, in a game which they have to win to stay alive in the three-match series.McGrath has been rested because he experienced tightness in the legs at the end of the first game after taking 2 for 13 in seven overs. He will be replaced by Stuart Clark, the New South Wales fast bowler, who will be making his debut as the 153rd player to represent Australia.Afridi was the Supersub in the first match and replaced Muttiah Muralitharan at the end of the first innings. He didn’t get a chance to bowl and managed only 2 with the bat before attempting a mighty hoick across the line and falling lbw.Australia
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Michael Hussey, 8 Shane Watson, 9 Cameron White, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Nathan Bracken, 12 Stuart ClarkWorld XI
1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Brian Lara, 6 Rahul Dravid, 7 Kevin Pietersen, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock (capt), 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 Shoaib Akhtar

Imran Khan has lashed out at what he perceives to be negative statements emanating from the Pakistan camp prior to the series against England.Imran, among Pakistan’s most influential captains and one who led Pakistan to their first series win in England in 1987, criticised comments made by Inzamam-ul-Haq, the current captain, and Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, labeling England as favourites.Speaking to the London-based from Islamabad, Imran, now a politician, said, “Inzamam has said England start as favourites, the Cricket Board chairman said England are formidable. They’re going to destroy the Pakistan team by saying this.”I can understand the newspapers and television commentators making England favourites. But I don’t understand the cricket captain and the chairman of the board making these statements. Whenever I stepped on the cricket field I always thought we could beat anybody. I would never admit defeat before the match began. Otherwise you get into a negative mindset.”This isn’t the first time Imran has publicly expressed his disapproval with Inzamam as a leader. Although Imran considers him the best player of fast bowling, and among the best batsmen in the world, he openly questioned his captaincy credentials when Pakistan toured Australia last year, a series they ended up losing 3-0. Inzamam at the time admitted he had become depressed because of the remarks.Imran also highlighted the threat Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff will pose to Pakistan’s brittle batting line. “They are tall and get a lot of bounce. They also reverse swing it. Previously English bowlers had no idea of reverse swing. After the new ball lost its shine on the sub-continent they struggled. In Pakistan the ball does swing even when it’s old, but only in January and February when it’s cold. Now it’s rather warm and reverse swing with the old ball will be very important.”But it was Flintoff, the first genuine allrounder since the days of Kapil, Botham, Hadlee and Imran himself, who merited special attention from Imran. “I first saw him during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. I did say that that here is a player who can fill Ian Botham’s boots – an allrounder who can go in as a batsman or a bowler.”Much of Pakistan’s success, he believes, will lie with their fast bowlers. “Shoaib, Sami, Naved and Umar Gul must perform, and then Pakistan have a chance. Umar Gul was man of the match in the Lahore Test against India, which Pakistan won, but then he was injured. He’s more like Glenn McGrath, high arm action, not extreme pace, but moves it both ways and in the air. He’s Pakistan’s best hope.”Imran also suggested that this series was crucial for Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach. “Nobody in Pakistan worries about Bob being English; that isn’t the issue. But this series will be the real test for him. They were wiped out in Australia, but in India they drew the Test series and won the one-dayers. The good thing for Bob is expectations are not high.”

Kenya are hoping to be able to appoint a new coach within the next six to eight weeks, according to Samir Inamdar, the Kenya Cricket Association chairman.Kenya have been without a full-time coach since Andy Moles quit in February, but Inamdar revealed that they had received 28 applications from across the globe. He said the KCA had set up a committee which will shortlist six applicants.”The interview will be conducted by me, or in my absence the vice-chairman, Shamji Patel, together with Nasoor Verjee, David Waters, Sukhbans Singh, Tom Tikolo and the ICC high performance manager, Richard Done,” Inamdar told the Nation newspaper. “After the interview the names will be whittled down further to possibly two for face-to-face interviews possibly before the end of the year.”Mudassar Nazar, the former cricket academy manager who has been coaching the national team on an interim basis, is one of the applicants. Others are thought to include at least one former coach of a major national side.The hiring of a national coach is expected to result in the formation of a Kenya A and Under-19 squads to act as feeders to the national team.

Inzamam-ul-Haq said the Supersub rule benefits teams winning the toss and his side would like to cash in on when Pakistan take on England in the second day-night one-day match against England on Monday with an aim to level the series. England won the first match on Saturday.”The Supersub advantage lies with the team that wins the toss,” Pakistan’s captain Inzamam told reporters ahead of the match. “Had we won the toss we could have utilized our super sub had we bowled second, so we would like a better use of it next time.”Pakistan named the offspinner Arhsad Khan as their Supersub in the first of five one-day internationals on Saturday but could not use him at any stage during their 42-run defeat.England compiled their highest one-day score against Pakistan in Pakistan – 327 for 4 in 50 overs – before reducing the home side to 285 all out in 46.5 overs.The Supersub rule, which was implemented in May this year, allows teams a soccer-style replacement at any stage in a limited overs international. The replaced player will be ruled out of the rest of the match while the replacement will be entitled to assume any remaining batting or bowling duties. England benefited from the rule as they replaced Kevin Pietersen, who scored a brisk 36-ball 56, with debutant paceman Liam Plunkett who took 3 for 51.England’s captain Marcus Trescothick has warned that his side must not get complacent with just one victory in the five-match series. “We have got four massive games ahead of us,” he told reporters, “and we can’t get carried away with one win. We have got to get our consistency going.”Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen are both expected to play despite suffering from injuries. Pietersen had a problem with his back and Flintoff was nursing an ankle injury. Flintoff hit an unbeaten 72 in England’s innings, chipped in with three wickets in the first match as Pakistan lost their last six wickets in the space of just 18 balls. Andrew Strauss, who won the Man-of-the-Match award for his 94, said the win was important for England after a 2-0 defeat in the preceding three-Test series. “There is no substitute to winning and I think we are delighted to come through a pretty tough game,” said Strauss, who managed just 44 runs in the two Tests against Pakistan.Strauss agreed the Supersub rule complicates matters for teams. “It (the rule) makes selection meetings pretty difficult,” he said. “I would have thought with who to sub and who not to, and when to sub, it makes things more complicated for the captain.”Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Younis Khan, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Shoaib Akhtar, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Danish Kaneria. Supersub Yasir ArafatEngland (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Vikram Solanki, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ian Blackwell, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson. Supersub Matt Prior.

Shane Bond has surged into the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings after continuing his comeback from injury with a successful ODI series against Sri Lanka.Bond, who is returning to action after a long-term back problem, missed the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy matches against Australia because of a groin strain. But now fit and firing once again, his nine wickets in four matches against Marvan Atapattu’s side have lifted him four places to 10th in the bowling list, an ICC statement said.Bond, the quickest New Zealand bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets (and the eighth quickest of all-time), has only once had a higher tally of rating points than his current mark of 692. That was after taking 2-7 against Pakistan in Dambulla in May 2003, the match where he broke down with the back injury that took two years out of his international career. At that stage he had 711 rating points.Bond’s form with the ball underlined one reason why New Zealand won three of the four matches they played against Sri Lanka over the New Year period — their bowling. They have five bowlers in the top 30 places of the LG ICC Player Rankings. In addition to Bond, Daniel Vettori is in seventh spot, Kyle Mills is at 15, Jacob Oram appears at 17 and Scott Styris is in 30th position.That contrasts in a very stark way with Sri Lanka’s representation in that same list.

It has been announced that Alviro Petersen’s contract with the Titans has been terminated by mutual agreement.Petersen, despite considerable success in South African domestic cricket, was left out of the squad for the semi-final and final of the Standard Bank Cup after an internal hearing took place in January. He has not played for the Titans since.”I have loved playing for the Titans. I will always be grateful that I was given the opportunity by the Titans to play professional cricket,” Petersen said in a statement released on Monday. “It was also during my time with the Titans that I was selected for South Africa ‘A’ and I know that playing for the Titans assisted me to achieve this honour.I believe, though that it is time to move on and that it will be in my best interests if I continue my career with another Franchise. I thank everyone at the Titans for what they have done for me and wish them all the very best for the future.”Elise Lombard, the Titans’ chief executive, said: “On behalf of the Board of the Titans I thank Alviro for his contribution to the Titans and wish him well for his future in South African cricket”.Petersen’s place in the team was taken by the return of AB de Villiers, who was on national duty, and Goolam Bodi.

Vince van der Bijl isn’t about to claim the credit for South Africa’s successful scramble to retain the services of Allan Donald, but the public will give it to him anyway.Alarm bells rang across South Africa at the weekend when Donald, the country’s most illustrious bowler with 330 wickets from 72 Tests, announced he had applied for the position of England bowling coach.That came hard on the heels of Gary Kirsten’s resignation as South Africa’s high performance manager. Donald, it seemed, had become disillusioned with his role as a specialist bowling coach in the same structure.The nation held its breath as van der Bijl, Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) general manager of professional cricket, and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola met with Donald in Johannesburg on Friday.The thought of Donald in an England shirt, coming on top of South Africa’s loss to England in last summer’s Test series and umpteen defections by South African first-class players to English cricket, would have been almost too much to bear. “That would have been enough to make anyone cringe,” Kirsten said. “He’s such a high-profile South African, it would have been a bit weird.”But if anyone could persuade Donald, whose wife is English and who built up a strong bond with England during his years with Warwickshire, to stay put it was the passionate, articulate van der Bijl. “C’mon Big Vince,” went the silent prayer.Mission accomplished: Donald said after the meeting that he remained committed to South African cricket. What did van der Bijl say to help Donald reach his decision?”You’ll have to ask him what made up his mind, all I can say is that we sat down and had an open conversation,” said van der Bijl, who nevertheless did not attempt to hide his satisfaction at Donald’s choice.”He knows what he can do for South African cricket, and I’m delighted he’s staying,” said van der Bijl. “He can be of great value because of his amazing wealth of experience in the heat of battle, he can impart that atmosphere and the attitude that is required to go to the top.”van der Bijl said Donald would also be involved when international bowlers lost form. The planning for Donald’s future role, van der Bijl said, was already underway. “We spent a bit of time mapping out the way forward for the high performance programme,” he said, “and the national academy for the coming off-season.”Donald said personal considerations had tipped the balance for him. “I made the decision to stay in South Africa based on family commitments,” he said. “I have three young children and to take them back to England and then back to South Africa again once that job is over would not be good for them.”Impatience, he conceded, had prompted him to consider switching his allegiance. “Maybe I was a bit hasty, but when the England job came up I wanted it desperately,” Donald said. “I hadn’t really thought about the long-term implications. My time will come coaching-wise, I must just be patient. But in the meantime I’m just going to get stuck in with the high performance programme, it’s all looking very positive.”Donald was satisfied with the outcome of Friday’s meeting. “CSA did indicate they would try and get me more involved with the national team and give me more of a hands-on role,” he said. “I’ll be chatting to [South African coach] Mickey Arthur when he gets back from Australia and hopefully I’ll be able to work with the national bowlers much more during the home Tests here.”

ScorecardWhat a difference a day makes. Last night, Zimbabwe were celebrating a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Kenya in the opening ODI of the five-match series. After months of internal turmoil, it seemed that Zimbabwe cricket was on the mend. But a crushing 79-run defeat in the second game at Bulwayo reopened all the doubts as to whether this raw Zimbabwe side has what it takes to compete at the highest level.It was the highly experienced Steve Tikolo, Kenya’s captain and a man with more ODIs under his belt than Zimbabwe’s top nine combined, who laid the platform for the win with 98 off 75 balls after Kenya had slipped to 24 for 2. Tikolo departed on 173 for 4, and yesterday Kenya’s tail had folded limply. Today they feasted on a tiring attack, and 19-year-old Tanmay Mishra, who made his international debut yesterday, impressed most with 46. Zimbabwe’s bowlers looked ill-at-ease, and Blessing Mahwire, who should have provided a cutting edge, was so wayward he was not even called on to bowl his quota of overs.A crowd of about 1000 – double that of yesterday, despite dark clouds which have hung over the city all week – were quietened by the loss of two quick Zimbabwe wickets, but then Piet Rinke continued the attacking form he had shown 24 hours earlier with a 47-ball 54. But he was the second of three wickets for Peter Ongondo – who finished with 3 for 26 – and the lack of experience and match practice showed as Zimbabe’s raw middle order crumbled.The crowd, which had got behind the home side throughout, were rewarded with a determined 53 from Supersub Keegan Meth, but all that did was to delay Kenya’s celebrations and reduce Zimbabwe’s margin of defeat.But make no mistake, this was a comprehensive loss and one which only underlined what a massive task Zimbabwe have ahead of them. Even if they win this series, their next hurdle is a seven-ODI series in the Caribbean, and a West Indies side with problems of their own are hardly likely to go easy.Kenya and Zimbabwe now trek back to Harare where they play three matches in four days, starting on Wednesday. There appears little between the sides, but much depends on whether Zimbabwe can overcome inexperience and a chronic lack of time in the middle. The weather – this has been a very wet few months in Zimbabwe – may also have a part to play.

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Floyd Reifer, a proven performer under pressure, overcame persistent pain to pilot Barbados to a place in the Carib Beer Challenge final.Given the responsibility of batting at No. 3 for the first time in a few seasons, Barbados’ longest-serving player used his vast experience and showed steely resolve in compiling a precious century that lifted Ryan Hinds’ team to a hard-fought semi-final draw against Guyana. The left-handed Reifer, bothered by discomfort in his right wrist for the latter half of his innings, was the mastermind of Barbados’ effort in which they had the challenging task of either surviving the entire final day or attain a target of 282 on a Carlton Club pitch that remained good for batting throughout.At 249 for 5, with 45 minutes remaining, Barbados appeared to be heading for victory, but after the dismissals of Reifer and Ian Bradshaw, the run-chase was aborted with Patrick Browne and Ryan Austin batting through the final half-hour.There were other assistants along the way, but pride of place went to Reifer, whose 101, was by far his highest score of the season, his ninth first-class hundred and his fourth against Guyana and another important knock for Barbados either in a final or a semi-final.”I like big games. I like to play under pressure,” Reifer said. “Something happened today with my wrist, I can’t explain. My wrist got snapped in playing a particular shot. It was fairly painful, but I never let it stop me.”It was an innings with some luck for someone who has been at the wrong end of a few contentious decisions against him during the tournament. When he was 6, Guyana captain Reon King spilled the easiest chance of the match, a straightfoward offering at midwicket that many primary schoolboys would have fancied gobbling up.A few minutes later, the Guyanese, and even some Bajans beyond the boundary, were certain Reifer had edged a catch to slip off left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell, but umpire Goaland Greaves appeared to indicate he was unsighted by the bowler on his follow-through.Once those were history, Reifer grew in confidence to bat with the type of authority we know he can, but which he has seldom displayed in an otherwise disappointing season in which his previous highest score was 42. Eventually, he was caught low at slip to end an innings that lasted four hours and included 11 fours off 213 balls.There were telling contributions from the majority of those who batted. Browne, short of runs in recent matches, initially batted aggressively and then responsibly, occupying the crease for two hours for an unbeaten 39 after linking up with Reifer following a mini slump just before tea when three wickets fell for 14 runs.Openers Dale Richards and Wayne Blackman laid the foundation, adding 67 that offered encouragement to hometown fans. Richards reeled off eight sweet fours in 44 off 73 balls before gifting his wicket with a catch to mid-off off legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo.Blackman, many still questioning his place in the team, doggedly resisted for three hours to make 36 off 139 balls before flicking a catch to backward square-leg. Captain Ryan Hinds made 23 in an hour, but then under-edged an attempted drive off Neil McGarrell into his stumps. Just before he went, Barbados were 172 for 2, but the next few overs the match took a twist and Guyana were back into the contest.Dwayne Smith, relegated to No. 5 in an exchange of positions with Reifer, was once again the victim of an irresponsible stroke, an attempted slog-sweep in which he skied the ball to midwicket. And on the stroke of tea, Alcindo Holder dragged a ball into his stumps to create a few worries for Bajans.By then Reifer was 67 and battling the pain, but he remained firm in the company of Browne to allow Barbados to set up a showdown against Cup champions Trinidad and Tobago in the five-day final, starting on Saturday at Guaracara Park.