Report

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), lifted the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) one day Cricket Cup, defeating Khan Research Labs (KRL) by 19 runs, in an exciting finish at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on Thursday.

The KRL Captain Nadeem Abbasi (a former test player) won the toss and invited HBL to bat first on warm sunny late spring day at Lahore. Led by the former Pakistan Captain Saleem Malik, HBL were all out for a modest total of 182 runs. Hasan Raza who had at one time created the record of being the youngest test player in the game, was the top scorer with 57. Incidently, the two former stars of Pakistan, Saleem Malik and Ijaz Ahmed were out for a duck each. With 4 wickets for 31, Yasir Arafat was the most successful bowler for KRL.

In reply, the KRL were bundled out for 163 runs in 47.5 overs. Imran Farhat, an upcoming leg spinner had caused the rout by claiming 4 wickets for 57 runs. Naseer Ahmed was the highest scorer with 41.

HBL, one of the leading teams in the tournament thus clinched the trophy. The tournament sponsored and organised by the National Bank of Pakistan having offered attractive prize money as well as other awards, was participated by the best teams in Pakistan's domestic cricket.

Kingstown (St Vincent), April 13: Pakistan batting failed to come to terms with the variable bounce of Arnos Vale pitch as it wilted and doomed the tourists to their first defeat against the West Indies in the triangular one-day series here on Wednesday (briefly reported in Thursday's edition).

Chasing a target of 214 in 50 overs, Pakistan were devastated by the Jamaican fast bowler Franklyn Rose, who bagged a career best haul of five for 23 to bowl the tourists out for only 117 in 41.3 overs.

After containing the West Indies for 213, the target of just over four runs an over was made to look a huge struggle by Pakistan's inept batting. Their fragility and the gaping hole in their batting line-up was fully exposed as wickets one batsman followed another.

If not for a solid and defiant unbeaten 51 in 94 deliveries by the in-form Inzamam-ul-Haq the outcome could have been even more embarrassing. His partnership for the sixth-wicket with his captain Moin Khan (20) was the only resistance that Pakistan could offer after losing five wickets for just 41 runs in twenty overs.

As you would expect from World Cup champions, Australia bounced off the ropes and stubbed out South Africa's aim of wrapping up the Challenge Series at Newlands last night and head for the Wanderers on Sunday mentally better prepared.

It has been a long summer, though and the signs of fatigue are starting to show: South Africa feeling the brunt of a tougher end-of-season programme than their visitors, and they knew it was going to be a lot harder to pull that extra out of their physical and mental reserves.

The result was an Australian victory by five wickets and such was Steve Waugh's confidence he allowed the others to get a "middle net" and declined to strap on his pads as South Africa produced an embarrassing powder-puff effort.

After the Kingsmead success South Africa's need to do it again 48 hours later proved one game too many: now Shaun Pollock's side need to deliver if they hope to retain their mental and physical self-possession before the season slips quietly into the autumn mist.

The third day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal between Hyderabad and Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday began with an air of expectancy hanging around as VVS Laxman resumed his innings at 346. Karnataka went in straightaway for the third new ball after 180 overs and Laxman got to his 350 in the second over of the day with his 52nd boundary. Ganesh was bowling to him with four men patrolling the fence but the wide arc between deep backward square and mid on was open country. Laxman just eased one off his legs through mid wicket and the ball trickled to the boundary before the two converging fielders could reach it. Fiaz Ahmed was gaining in confidence at the other end, swatting a short one from Ganesh to the mid wicket fence.

But Laxman's long hand ended at 683 when he mistimed a pull off Prasad to deposit it tamely into the hands of substitute KN Ramesh at mid on. His 353 (559 balls, 758 minutes) included a startling 220 runs in fours and sixes. Hyderabad decided to rub salt in the open gushing wound by prolonging their innings further and both Fiaz and NP Singh picked up more boundaries. Prasad got his fifth wicket of the innings when he had Fiaz caught behind by Thilak Naidu for 31 upon which Azharuddin finally decided to close shop just under an hour into the morning session with the scoreboard reading 711/8.

Hyderabad's new ball duo of NP Singh and Fiaz Ahmed started with a flurry of no balls. A loud shout for a catch at forward short leg against Arun Kumar was turned down as he played forward with bat and pad close together. Mithun Beerala wasted little time in gaining the ascendancy as he punched Fiaz to the cover boundary off the back foot. Beerala had a lucky break when Daniel Manohar at forward short leg instinctively got his hands to a flick off NP Singh but wasn't able to hold on. Azhar brought on Venkatapathy Raju from the BEML end in the eighth over and both batsmen treated him with circumspection. The seam bowlers continued to be plagued by overstepping and with Beerala playing some elegant drives through the off side, Karnataka had galloped to 84/0 in 17 overs at lunch.

Arun Kumar cover drove Satwalkar to the fence to bring up the hundred of the innings and complete 3000 runs in his 45th Ranji match. Beerala has been very much the form player for Karnataka in this, his debut season and he beat Arun Kumar to his half century by picking the gap between mid on and short midwicket to precision. He also favoured the cut shot wide of point. Kanwaljit Singh was introduced belatedly into the attack and in his fifth over he got the break as Beerala flicked one straight into the hands of Azhar at short midwicket for 74.

Sachin Tendulkar carried Mumbai's hopes on the third day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday. Moving from 34 to 213, he anchored the home team to a score of 470 for eight at close of play. This was in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 485.

Old school chums Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted throughout the morning as Mumbai progressed from 141 for four to 262. The partnership that took Mumbai towards safety ended abruptly when Kambli top edged a pull shot just after lunch. Mediumpacer Mahesh surprised him with a quick bouncer. A shade late on the shot, Kambli ended up skying the ball straight up in the air. Waving everyone else away, Mahesh completed the catch himself. The left hander made 75 and the fifth wicket partnership had added 139.

The Tamil Nadu seam attack was ineffective on a pitch that grew increasingly slower. Aashish Kapoor who got the ball to a do a bit yesterday was used sparingly and he too could not break through.

After Kambli was dismissed, Amol Muzumdar kept Tendulkar good company. Though he did not go after the bowling in the same manner as Tendulkar, Muzumdar played his role to perfection. His silken drives through the off side were a perfect foil to Tendulkar's power and timing.

Kingstown - It was supposed to have been a contest with the competitiveness of a Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield bout. Instead, it was a no-contest that typified any of Mike Tyson's early career blow-outs. West Indies were the ones delivering the knockout punches and Pakistan were the ones who fell to the canvas without offering much resistance. The fourth preliminary match of the Cable & Wireless triangular limited-overs series, and the first between two teams boasting of recent success, was a one-sided affair with the West Indies winning by 96 runs in front of a crowd of 10 000 spectators. They would have settled in after the lunch break with the expectation that an enthralling match was in the making after the West Indies had posted 213 for seven off their 50 overs, a total which was significantly boosted only by effective hitting in the closing overs. Curtly Ambrose started with a maiden over which was capped off by a sharp break-back that teenager Imran Nazir snicked to the keeper. Reon King followed Ambrose's example by delivering three successive maidens before removing the potential threat of Shahid Afridi, the pinch-hitting opener, who was unable to clear mid-off. When Ambrose (8-1-12-1) and King (6-3-7-1) came off, the pressure was on Pakistan, who could eke out only 24 runs from the first 15 overs and it mounted even more with each passing over. Franklyn Rose came on to ensure that Pakistan's task was even more enormous by despatching young, promising talents Younis Khan, Yousaf Youhana and Abdur Razzak in the space of eight balls en route to a career-best haul of five for 23. The unpredictable Pakistanis were at one stage 41 for five, but the remainder of the innings took the expected course. In spite of Inzamam-ul-Haq's unbeaten 51 and a busy 21 from captain Moin Khan, there was no grand recovery, and Pakistan's 117 was the lowest total in ten One-Day Internationals at the ground. Pakistan's defeat, which ended an eight-match winning streak against the West Indies, means that Zimbabwe still have a slight chance of reaching the finals if this weekend's matches in St. George's result in losses for the Asians. Earlier the West Indies were never able to dominate Pakistan's deep, varied attack until the closing stages on a pitch that was not the most ideal because of its inconsistent bounce and slow nature. Philo Wallace and Sherwin Campbell had their problems against the new ball, especially Wasim Akram, but were beginning to make progress before they were back in the pavilion within five runs of each other. By the 15th over, the West Indies were 50 for one, which represented a scoring rate of 3.53. By the 40th over, they were 137 for two at an almost identical rate of 3.42. It meant that progress in the crucial mid-innings overs was never accelerated, with captain Jimmy Adams and Hinds finding difficulty in launching an attack. The two Jamaicans put on 84 for the third wicket, but they required as many as 25 overs. Adams made an even 50 that took him 87 balls. In the quest to move on, wickets were also lost at a rapid rate, but runs were the priority and the 76 that came in the final ten overs were more than adequate.

The second day's play in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede stadium on Wednesday saw Tamil Nadu and Mumbai share honours. Although Mumbai managed to wrap up the Tamil Nadu innings pretty soon, they too lost quick wickets. This leaves the match interestingly poised.

Resuming on 397/4, Tamil Nadu captain Robin Singh had hopes of making 600 and batting Mumbai out of the game. Hemang Badani played across the line and was trapped LBW by Santosh Saxena after adding just 10 runs to his overnight score and this did not help Tamil Nadu's cause. The southpaw had made a brilliant 162 and yet was hardly the talking point at the Wankhede Stadium. His knock was overshadowed completely by the events involving Hansie Cronje that unfolded yesterday.

Robin Singh toiled manfully at his end while a series of batsmen breezed in and out of the crease. Stumper Reuben Paul played as though it was the end of a limited overs game, carving four boundaries in his 20 ball essay at the crease that yielded as many runs. He had his stump uprooted by a Saxena yorker when he attempted one too many loose drives.

Sadagopan Mahesh played cautiously for 14 but was undone by a shooter from Ajit Agarkar. Keeping low, the ball crept under the bat and pegged the stumps back. Aashish Kapoor, wearing a maroon helmet and made up like a Caribbean cricketer, tried to hook an Agarkar bouncer. Unfortunately it takes more than a maroon helmet to make a Caribbean batsman. Shockingly late on the shot, Kapoor only managed to get the ball straight up in the air. Wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe pouched the catch and sent Kapoor on his way before he could trouble the scorers.

VVS Laxman, with an unbeaten 346, created Ranji history by becoming the first batsman to score two triple hundreds in the 65 year old competition as Hyderabad rubbed Karnataka's nose in the dirt for the second day running in their Ranji Trophy semifinal at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday.

Undeterred by the loss of Mohd. Azharuddin for 123 in the seventh over of the day, after a 288 run fourth wicket association, Laxman marched serenely onward, abetted by two able partners in Vanka Pratap and Parth Satwalkar. Cuts, drives, pulls and flicks all flowed in profusion from Laxman's blade as he played every shot in the book except the hook to lift Hyderabad to an invincible position of 663/6 at close of play.

Azhar and Laxman began in frenetic fashion in the morning, taking seven boundaries off Prasad and Ganesh in the first six overs. Azhar escaped a run out appeal when Mithun Beerala threw down the stumps from point with a direct hit. He also tried to pull a shortish one from Prasad but the ball lobbed off the edge, landing just short of mid on. The danger signals were there and in the same over as the two afore mentioned incidents, Prasad had his revenge. Driving away from his body, Azhar presented a catch to Vijay Bharadwaj at second slip who grabbed it with alacrity.

Laxman survived another chance at 194 when Bharadwaj stretched to his right at first slip and got both hands to the ball but it just wouldn't stick. Laxman duly got to his double ton with a gentle push through the on side to leave everyone wondering what the final harvest would be. Vanka Pratap played some elegant on drives, both the lofted version and all along the ground as he added 124 for the fourth wicket with VVS before Joshi bowled him round his legs when he missed an intended sweep.

Umpires Ray Julian and Chris Kelly consulted the Lord's hierarchy, before recommending to the team captains, that play should be abandoned, not just for the second day in succession, but for the third day also.

Incessant rain from 4 pm on Tuesday, including heavy falls of snow, sleet and hailstones left The Parks outfield saturated, and with a bad weather expected for a few more days, the teams made their way home.

Veteran umpire Ray Julian, with over 1,100 matches under his belt remarked that it would be lucky to get on one week from now. Chris Kelly was particularly disappointed as this was his first-class debut. "I had been looking forward to this match ever since I received the fixture", said Kelly, who has spent a number of years on the Minor Counties panel. "I had built myself up for this match, and I'm sad that the weather has ruined it for me".

Hampshire coach Jimmy Cook, who is to write a regular article for the Hampshire Web site, immediatly organised some indoor nets for the County Ground that afternoon.

Durban - Shrugging off the nightmare trauma of the last 72 hours South Africa forgot the recriminations of Hansiegate for an evening and concentrated on beating Australia at Kingsmead in the opening match of the Challenge Series.

It was a remarkable four-wickets victory against the World Cup champions: just what a packed Kingsmead, and perhaps South Africa, needed in a time of internal crisis.

With Gary Kirsten digging deep in a hallmark display of left-handed batting grit, synonymous with the Kirsten name, during a well-paced innings of 97, South Africa went on to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

In some small way it avenged the two defeats during the World Cup in England last year as the side, shaken by the Hansie Cronje scandal focused their minds on the game and pulled together in a display of true character. The success coming with 12 balls to spare.