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Group A

Pakistan International Airlines reached a dominant position in Faisalabad, as they gained a 121-run lead against National Bank of Pakistan. NBP began the day in a precarious position, at 55 for 5. Some resistance from the lower order, chiefly wicketkeeper Amin-ur-Rehman (36) and Wasim Khan (27), took them to 170, giving PIA a nine-run advantage on the first innings. Seamers Anwar Ali and Ali Imran grabbed four wickets each to hand PIA the edge after a disappointing performance with the bat on the opening day. In their second innings, PIA were boosted by an unbeaten 49 from opener Agha Sabir, who steered them to 112 for 2.Habib Bank Limited gained the upper hand on a truncated second day against Sui Southern Gas Corporation in Rawalpindi. Bilal Asad top scored with 45, but Habib Bank kept chipping away with regularity at the opposition, reducing them to 116 for 6 at stumps. Seamer Fahad Masood took 2 for 21, and was supported well by the rest of the bowling line-up.Karachi Whites, led by opener Naved Khan’s unbeaten 108, snatched the advantage against Lahore Shalimar at the Gaddafi Stadium. Naved was assisted in a 151-run third-wicket stand by Atif Ali, and the pair helped Karachi reach 233 for 3 at stumps, only 24 adrift of Lahore’s first-innings score. Naved played a patient knock, eating up 253 deliveries, and striking ten fours. Atif, too, took his time but ensured a foundation for a substantial lead was laid.Fourteen wickets fell on the second day of the contest between Pakistan Customs and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in Islamabad, making amends for the absence of any action due to rain on the first. SNGPL held a slight advantage at stumps, having bowled out Pakistan Customs for 169 and reaching 77 for 4 in reply. Their bowling effort was a collective one. Medium-pacer Rizwan Akbar grabbed 3 for 44, while three others grabbed two wickets each. Tahir Mughal dented PIA in their response, bagging three wickets but Ali Waqas is going strong with an unbeaten 39.Water and Power Development Authority, boosted by important contributions from almost all their batsmen, amassed 446 for 8 in their first innings against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited in Gujranwala. Opener Adil Nisar made 104 and was backed up by half-centuries from Aamer Sajjad and Ahmed Said as WAPDA built on the strong platform they had laid on the first day. For ZTBL, Kashif Daud and Mohammad Khalil bagged three wickets each. At stumps, ZTBL were 16 without loss.

Group B

Seventeen wickets fell on a extraordinary day at the Abbottabad Cricket stadium as the home side took first-innings points against Peshawar. Abbottbad began the day on 34 for 3, but were bowled out for 111, courtesy twin five-fors from fast bowlers Nauman Habib and Riaz Afridi. More drama was to follow as left-arm fast man Junaid Khan stole the show for Abbottabad with 6 for 43. Barring opener Haroon Ahmed (46), none of the Peshawar batsmen managed to reach double figures as they folded for 81 in 32.4 overs. The Abbottabad openers brought a calm end to the day, guiding them home to 16 for no loss at stumps.Right-arm fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed ensured table-toppers Karachi Blues took first-innings points against bottom-placed Lahore Ravi at the National Stadium in Karachi. His five-for helped bowl out the opposition for 190, as none of the Lahore batsmen managed a defining innings. With the lead of 107, Karachi were pegged back by Junaid Zia before Asad Shafiq and Asim Kamal guided them safely to stumps at 102 for 4.A well-composed hundred from left-hander Naved Yasin helped Multan extended their domination against Hyderabad at the Niaz Stadium. Resuming on 127 for 1, Multan went past Hyderabad’s first-innings total of 194 with ease. Yasin then put Multan in pole position hitting 10 boundaries during his 192-ball 111. With Rizwan Haider looking in good touch with an unbeaten 47, Multan may fancy an innings win as well.Faisalabad‘s No. 8 batsman Zulqarnain was in terrific form as Quetta failed to capitalise on their overnight advantage in the basement battle in Sargodha. Resuming on 234 for 7, Zulqarnain smashed six fours and two sixes during his 146-ball 77 to strengthen Faisalabad, lifting them to 350. He then provided them with the first breakthrough during Quetta’s reply, sending back opener Shoaib Khan jnr early. Quetta went on to lose two more wickets to finish nervously 64 for 3.The Rawalpindi batsmen found Rauf Akbar’s pace too hot to handle as they managed 218 for 8 against Islamabad at the Diamond Club Ground. After the first day’s play was washed out, Rauf gave Islamabad a flying start after they opted to field. He sent back the openers in quick time before a 92-run partnership for the third wicket between Zahid Mansoor (37) and Adnan Mufti (79) held up the charge. He returned to remove them both to finish with 4 for 78, with a five-for very much on the cards.

Mark Gillespie’s ongoing back injury will keep him out of Wellington’s opening four-day match of the season and there remains doubt over when he will be fit to return. Gillespie, 29, hasn’t played since January and is embarking on the 2009-10 summer without a New Zealand Cricket contract.He has not attempted to bowl since winter training with his North City club and will miss the season opener against Canterbury starting on November 10. Gavin Larsen, the Cricket Wellington chief executive officer, said he was uncertain what the immediate future held for Gillespie.”It has been a long time now that he’s been out,” Larsen told the Dominion Post. “It’s frustrating for all of us that we’ve got a former Black Cap and one of our strike bowlers currently laid low. He’s with the squad at the moment and contributing, but I feel for him. We just need to sit tight, I guess, and wait and see how things unfold.”Larsen said it was too early to predict whether Gillespie’s injury could be career-threatening. “I wouldn’t go that far yet,” Larsen said. “I spoke to Mark a few days ago and he was still pretty upbeat and positive. He’s disappointed he’s having to watch the boys train, of course, but we’ve just got to let nature take its course here.”

Bangalore Provident (Rural) notched up their second successive win of the KPL Cup, beating Shamanoor Davangere Diamonds comfortably by 28 runs in a truncated fixture at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.Bangalore opted to bat in the 10-over game and faltered at he start, losing their first three wickets for 28. But Amit Verma got things back on track with a swift 38 off just 20 balls, and added 57 in five overs with Sunil Kumar Jain, who chipped with an important cameo, scoring an unbeaten 23. Bangalore finished with a challenging 98, which proved more than adequate in the end.Davangere were shut out fairly early into their innings, as Sunil Kumar (2 for 11) and Balachandra Akhil (3 for 11) blew away the top and middle orders to leave them reeling at 35 for 7 in the seventh over. Only one batsman, Mohanram Nidesh, reached double-figures, as Davangere mustered just 62, and slipped to their second defeat of the tournament.A composed, unbeaten 44-ball 47 from Raju Bhatkal steered Malnad Gladiators to a closely-fought five-wicket win over Bangalore Brigadiers (Urban).In pursuit of Bangalore’s 123, Malnad had stumbled to 40 for 3 but Bhatlak received good support from Ganesh Satish, with whom he added 45 for the fourth wicket. He stayed firm after Satish’s departure in the 14th over and knocked off the remaining runs with the lower order with five balls to spare. Mansur Ali Khan grabbed three wickets, but his effort was in vain.Robin Uthappa had earlier given the Bangalore innings great impetus with a quickfire 44, and at 76 for 1 it seemed they were on course for a much bigger total. But K Gowtham, who also contributed 24 with the bat, was miserly and bagged 3 for 15 in four overs to hand Malnad the advantage, and set up their first win of the competition.Captain Jagadeesh Arunkumar and allrounder R Vinay Kumar starred for Belagavi Panthers against Mysore Maharaajas to hand them their first win of the KPL Cup.The Panthers justified their decision to bat, as openers Arunkumar and Shyam Ponnappa added 99 in just over eleven overs. Arunkumar blazed away with a 56-ball 95, including 12 fours and five sixes, and followed up his opening stand by adding 52 for the second wicket with Manish Pandey, who made a 15-ball 30. The Panthers were within striking distance of 200, but C Raghu struck with three wickets to restrict them to a still formidable 181.Mysore were pushed on the back foot at the outset as Vinay Kumar(4 for 11) and David Johnson (3 for 13) combined to bag the first four wickets for just seven runs. Opener HT Sudhir Rao (55) and Abrar Kazi (34) revived the innings with a 70-run stand for the sixth wicket, and No.9 batsman Adithya Sagar threatened to snatch an unlikely win, smashing 35 in just 12 balls. But he fell to Vinay Kumar in the penultimate over and the bowler ended the resistance by way of a run out to consign Mysore to their second defeat in the competition.

After hiring the inventor of the doosra coach them, New Zealand have drafted in a teenage bowler, Maurice Holmes, to help them prepare for the Tests against Sri Lanka.Holmes isn’t a familiar name in international cricket – even the staff at Kent, where he plies his trade, had to double check whether he was on their roster for the current season. He’s played just five games for Kent’s second XI this summer, taking ten wickets at 43.00 with a best of 2 for 47. But he was flown out to Sri Lanka to bowl at Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder and Daniel Vettori on the strength of his nets bowling during the ICC World Twenty20 in England. Such was his impact that the team management requested his assistance in Sri Lanka. In the words of head coach Andy Moles, Holmes “rocked up and the boys said ‘Bloody hell, this is like Murali'”.That positive feedback from the players convinced Geoff Allott, New Zealand Cricket’s general manager, to have him flown out to Colombo. “He came to us as a nets bowler in England and immediately impressed some of our players, especially Vettori,” Allott told Cricinfo. “He was able to bowl like Muttiah Muralitharan and that stood out immediately. The management expressed interesting in Holmes and after following up we made it possible for him to fly out to Sri Lanka.”Holmes spent a couple of days in Colombo bowling at the nets and working with Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner – widely credited as the inventor of the doosra, with 496 victims in both Test and ODI versions – hired as spin consultant for the tour.”It wasn’t the first time I had bowled to players of international standard so I knew what to expect in that regard, although I hadn’t experienced the conditions before and it was a good challenge adapting to bowl in the subcontinent,” Holmes said.Holmes, on a gap year between secondary school and college, said he never modeled himself on Murali – that’s just the way he bowls. “I think wherever I have bowled people have been quick to observe the resemblances between myself and Murali, but I have never felt pressure from the comparisons. In Colombo I just tried to ensure the players were benefiting from me bowling at them.”We had plans in the nets but it was always flexible enough for each individual to work on their own particular areas or perceived weaknesses.”Allott said he was pleased with the “excellent” feedback from the New Zealand camp. “What we [NZC] had expected of this experiment has worked out rather to plan,” he said. “Maurice is a talented bowler able to simulate the same action as Murali and that’s primarily why we assigned him to work with Saqlain and the team in the nets. What he offers is something unique; especially to the players we’ve got who have not played in Sri Lanka. His role was purely to operate in the nets but Maurice was very instrumental in his sessions, putting in long hours, trying to simulate scenarios which our players are likely to face when the series begins.”Holmes worked in tandem with Saqlain, whose international expertise helped the youngster as well. The two of them talked a lot and Saqlain’s input was obviously highly instrumental in their sessions. Holmes bowled a lot to Dan [Vettori] and the feedback has been promising. This decision was part of a long-term goal we [NZC] have and we’re hopeful it will pay off.”The experience has, expectedly, been unforgettable for the teenager. “The players have been quick to offer an encouraging word, and kind enough to point out ways in which I might look to move forward in the development of my career,” says Holmes. “The trip has certainly been of benefit to me, and has given me new things to take home and work on – more ways to improve.”And what of his future at Kent? “He’s a young lad who is part of our academy in Tunbridge and it’s very encouraging to hear these positive views coming out for him,” says Kent’s chief executive Paul Millman. “He’s still very raw and his future is understandably uncertain but Kent will do whatever it takes to ensure his full development as a cricketer. He’s a very good talent and we hope he comes through. I’m sure this will have been an outstanding opportunity for Maurice.”Earlier this decade Kent signed up Murali; by the end of the decade Holmes may have that opportunity.

The Pakistan Cricket Board stayed away from a meeting of the 2011 World Cup organising committee that ruled out the possibility of holding Pakistan’s matches at a neutral venue and reconfirmed an earlier decision to redistribute those 14 games among India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the other co-hosts.The decisions were taken at a meeting of the ICC event’s Central Organising Committee (COC) in Mumbai on Tuesday, to which the PCB had been invited as the fourth co-host. Although the PCB chose to skip the meeting, it deputed Zakir Khan, its director (cricket operations), to attend the event’s logo launch ceremony that was held later in the evening.The ICC said a match schedule would be announced in due course and recommendations of Tuesday’s communicated to the ICC board. The ICC board had last month asked the organising committee to recommend afresh alternative venues for Pakistan’s matches after the PCB challenged the committee’s earlier decision to redistribute its matches among the other co-hosts.The organising committee also reconfirmed all the decisions taken at the previous meeting in April, including shifting the event secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai, holding the final in India, the semi-finals in India and Sri Lanka, and distributing the quarter-finals among the three co-hosts with two of those matches going to Bangladesh.”Scheduling for the quarter and semi-finals will attempt to ensure that the host country will play at home should it qualify,” the ICC said. “All venues for matches will be confirmed and announced in due course.”The organising committee’s latest decision effectively puts the lid on Pakistan’s hopes of staging at least some of the 14 matches initially allotted to it in a neutral venue, possibly in the Middle East. However, it also paves the way for the PCB to press ahead with its legal challenge against the ICC’s decision in April not to hold any World Cup matches in Pakistan due to the prevailing security situation in the country.The ICC, meanwhile, said that it will ask the PCB to nominate three representatives to join the event’s organising committee, which is headed by Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice-president. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, and senior officials from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka attended Tuesday’s meeting, which was described as having been “good, productive” by Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI official who was reconfirmed as tournament director.”There was a recognition that there is much hard work to be done but we are confident we are now well on the way, with operational plans in place to become effective from the start of August,” Prof. Shetty said. “Moving forward, the COC will meet on a regular basis with everyone committed to a successful event, something we are confident we can achieve.”The organisers unveiled the event’s logo at a function that was attended by player representatives, including Clive Lloyd, Dilip Vengsarkar, Aravinda de Silva and Michael Bevan, from all the World Cup-winning countries, except Pakistan.

Canada Under-19s look certain to take one of two spots in the Under-19 World Cup qualifiers in September as they beat USA Under-19s by 62 runs at the Maple Leaf South-West Ground in King City. Canada opted to bat but could manage only 192, despite keeping wickets in hand at the start. They progressed steadily till the 30th over, reaching 117 for 3, but later struggled against the USA spinners and failed to pass 200. R Gunasekera was the top scorer with 42, while N Kumar, R Bhatti and H Patel chipped in with 30s. The USA captain Shiva Vashishat took 3 for 40.USA, in reply lost their openers with the score on 28. They progressed at four runs-per-over but failed to keep wickets intact. Greg Sewdial top scored with 41 before he was run-out, courtesy a brilliant direct hit by Usman Limbada. H.Patel (3 for 28), R Gunasekera (2 for 18) and M Aulakh (2 for 24) were the most effective bowlers for Canada.Canada’s victory sets up the possibility of a three-way tie for first place, should they lose to Bermuda on Saturday and the USA beat the Cayman Islands. Canada currently lead the net run rate, but a loss on Saturday by a big margin to Bermuda and a USA victory also by a big margin could see USA and Bermuda moving on to the qualifier.At the Maple Leaf South-East Ground, Bermuda U-19s trounced Bahamas U-19s by 106 runs. Christopher Douglas turned in a sound all-round performance, top scoring with 78 and then taking 3 for 32 to pick the Man-of-the-Match award. Joshua Gilbert chipped in with 50 to push Bermuda to 257. Orlando Stuart was the leading bowler for Bermuda with 4 for 43. Tre Manders then ran through the Bahamas line-up with 5 for 18 to bundle them out for 151. Jermaine Adderley was the top scorer with 51.At the Maple Leaf North-East Ground, Argentina crashed to 74 against Cayman Islands and lost by 91 runs. Cayman Islands Captain Ramon top scored with 77 as his team posted 165. However, Cayman Islands were restricted by the youngest player in the tournament, 13-year-old legspinner Lautaro Agustin Musiani, who took 4 for 28 in his 10 overs.

Australia are considering sending a scout to Cardiff for a reconnaissance mission to check out the pitch being prepared for the first Test, which starts next Wednesday. Reports of a raging turner at Sophia Gardens have died down recently and the Australians are keen to get an idea of the surface before their second warm-up game begins.”We’ve been talking about trying to send someone down to Cardiff this week so we can have a look at what the wicket preparation looks like,” Ricky Ponting told the . “That way we can get it into our own minds a little bit earlier as to what to expect. Since we’ve been here we’ve heard lots of stories about how dry it’s going to be and how much it’s going to spin.”There was even talk a month ago about the Test not going ahead there because of problems with the pitch. But we had a closer look at some stats last week and found that something like only 14 of the 69 wickets taken there is the last three county matches have been taken with spin.”Australia’s only specialist spinner in the touring party, Nathan Hauritz, struggled against Sussex and finished with match figures of 1 for 158. The selectors will consider a four-man pace attack if the Cardiff pitch looks suitable, although Ponting believes Sophia Gardens was in part selected to open the series because of Australia’s lack of a top-class Test spinner.”Historically, Cardiff has been one wicket around the country that has spun,” Ponting said. “It’s been one of the driest wickets in England. They know that we haven’t got Warne anymore. They know that the spin side of Australian cricket at the moment is probably not what it used to be. They’ve probably got a bigger advantage there than anywhere else in the country.”The Australians hope to learn more about their likely attack following their match against England Lions, beginning on Wednesday in Worcester. While Hauritz’s Test spot is uncertain, England must decide whether to play one or two spinners. Graeme Swann has the front-running and their 16-man training squad also includes Monty Panesar and the legspinner Adil Rashid, who Ponting described as “pretty handy”.

The tables have been turned. Bangladesh, so often the underdogs in international matches, are now favourites. Being a Full-Member country with automatic qualification for the World Twenty20, they are expected to get past Associates Ireland and qualify for the Super Eights. Bangladesh had less to lose when they played India, but their campaign will be on the line at Trent Bridge on Monday.Bangladesh’s coach Jamie Siddions believes that Bangladesh are not losing to the higher-ranked sides because of a difference in skill level anymore. The key, according to him, is errors in decision making and one or two moments of poor judgement which costs them the game. He considered the defeat to India a “missed opportunity” because he felt 180 was chaseable until Shakib Al Hasan and Junaid Siddique fell while trying to clear the boundary when the situation did not demand sixes. Similar errors, Siddons said, would be dangerous against Ireland.”We need to probably beat Ireland pretty well [to qualify for the Super Eights]. We have the talent and we’re playing well enough,” Siddons said. “If we make silly mental mistakes we can still be outplayed by Ireland.”Bangladesh have been outplayed by Ireland before – during the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup – a defeat Ashraful said was due to their anxiety to win. “We brought pressure on ourselves with the fear of losing to a team below us [in 2007],” Ashraful said. “But that’s not the case here. The players are very confident and I have not seen the fear-factor on this trip. They [Ireland] have good players, people with county cricket experience but we are up for anything.”Ireland do have an edge over Bangladesh when it comes to knowledge of the conditions – the cold and wet weather is more Dublin than Dhaka – and if the rain persists it could come down to which team handles the pressure of Duckworth-Lewis and a shortened match better. “I am not taking the Irish lightly,” Ashraful said. “They know the conditions well and have nothing to lose.”It rained heavily on the eve of the match, forcing Bangladesh to practice indoors at Loughborough rather than at the Lady Bay facility in Nottingham. A wash out tomorrow would be disastrous from Bangladesh’s point of view, for they would then be dependent on India beating Ireland by a large margin for qualification to the next round.