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South Africa 251 for 3 (Smith 72) beat City Nazim XI 250 for 4 (Farhat 64) by eight wickets (12 men per team)
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South Africa dusted off the cobwebs and applied themselves to some much-needed batting practice under the lights at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, South Africa saw off a strong City Nazim XI by eight wickets, in a match that was arranged as a 12-a-side affair to ensure maximum time in the middle ahead of Friday’s first ODI.Graeme Smith continued his happy habit of leading from the front. His 72 underpinned South Africa’s pursuit of a handy total of 250 for 4, and he was ably supported by all his batsmen. Jacques Kallis was the second-highest scorer with 55, while Herschelle Gibbs, Neil McKenzie and Mark Boucher each chipped in with timely 30s.The basis of City Nazim’s total came from an eyecatching innings by Imran Farhat, whose impressive 64 contained seven fours and three sixes, and only came to an end when he skied Andrew Hall to Herschelle Gibbs at point. Gibbs also accounted for the captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who was turned down for a quick single and run out by a smart pick-up-and-throw to Mark Boucher behind the stumps.About 2,000 police, outnumbering a handful of spectators, were deployed in and outside the ground as part of tough security measures in place for the South Africans.

A pair of Australians have already come blisteringly close to the first century in the Twenty20 Cup, and last night it was Nick Knight’s turn to come, see and all but conquer, as Warwickshire made it two wins out of two in the Midlands/West/Wales division.Like Andrew Symonds and Brad Hodge, Knight fell agonisingly short of his hundred, but his 89 from 58 balls was too much for Worcestershire. Using a strong crosswind to pepper the short boundaries, Knight chipped reverse-sweeps over the infield and flayed through the covers. Even his own team-mates couldn’t keep pace – the next highest score was Ian Bell’s 16. Kadeer Ali kept Worcestershire in the hunt with a stroke-filled 53, but Ian Carter was unstoppable, finishing with 3 for 19.
ScorecardIf Knight took the individual honours, then the team award had to go to Somerset, who chased a barely-credible 194 for victory over Glamorgan, and still won with two whole overs to spare. They were catapulted towards the total by their captain, Jamie Cox, who opened the innings and clattered a six and 11 fours in his 21-ball 53. Somerset were 86 for 2 after five overs, and the Keiths Dutch and Parsons eased them to a stunningly simple seven-wicket victory.
ScorecardDown under the floodlights at Hove, with fire-eaters guiding their route, Sussex got their campaign up and running by beating fellow stragglers Middlesex by 41 runs. Matt Prior and Robin Martin-Jenkins were the mainstays for a decent total of 177 for 9, and Martin-Jenkins was back in action with the ball as well, picking up 4 for 20 in his four overs as Middlesex lost their way.
ScorecardThat man Hodge was back in the runs at Chester-le-Street. Not content with his 97 in Leicestershire’s previous match (and why would he be?), Hodge vented his spleen at Durham, cracking 64 in a total of 168 for 9, a target restricted by some impressive work in the field. Still, it was all too much for Durham, who were given a decent start by Nicky Peng and Phil Mustard, but then lost five wickets for 18 runs. Virender Sehwag, better known as an explosive batsman, detonated the tail with three wickets in three overs.
ScorecardAnd if anyone was in any doubt about how much this competition means to its competitors, then they needed only to witness Wasim Akram’s bat-flinging tantrum after narrowly failing to beat Essex. Wasim had lamped 20 runs off 11 balls to resuscitate Hampshire’s run-chase, but he and Simon Katich could not quite manage the 12 runs needed from Jon Dakin’s final over. Essex’s sub-par total of 155 for 6 had been built on a handy 49 from Andy Flower, and a promising 32 from Essex’s 18-year-old star-in-the-making, Mark Pettini.
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Nasser Hussain has delivered a riposte to Mike Gatting, who had said last week that Hussain was putting personal ambition ahead of the interests of the national side.Hussain has insisted that he is still the right man to lead the Test side even though Gatting said that England’s new one-day captain, Michael Vaughan, ought to be in charge of both teams.Speaking to the , Hussain said: “I believe that England will be a better side because I’m leading them – and no one else. If that sounds selfish or big-headed so be it.”I’ve told the selectors – and this is not selfish – that if they believe Michael Vaughan or anyone else will do a better job or I’m not doing a particularly good job, I’ll step aside.”Gatting, the last England captain to lead the team to an Ashes win, in 1986-87, said that Hussain’s pursuit of 100 Test caps and the desire to lead England to more Test wins than anyone else was “self-centred”. But Hussain insisted that there was nothing wrong about goal-setting.”I’m not apologising for having ambitions. That’s part of being a professional sportsman, captain or not. It’s the English mentality. When someone states ‘I’m ambitious’, he gets knocked. Here, everyone loves a loser.”Everyone loved me when I got back from Australia and South Africa last winter. ‘Poor old Nasser, having to try to deal with the Aussies and the Zimbabwe issue.'”England lost the Ashes series in Australia and subsequently boycotted their World Cup match in Zimbabwe, a decision that cost them points and contributed to their failure to make it into the second round. After England’s exit, Hussain announced his retirement from one-day international cricket, saying that it was the right decision for England as well as himself.And he insisted that staying on as Test captain was an equally selfless act on his part. “I’m taking the difficult road. I’m not taking the selfish road. I’m putting my neck on the line this summer because if we lose to Zimbabwe or South Africa [England’s Test opponents this season] it will be me the finger is pointed at.”

SHARJAH-Relentless in their pursuit of another win to secure the second successive whitewash against the West Indies at home, Pakistan didn’t really have to over-exert themselves to march off with an emphatic 244-run triumph, and in four days to boot.Desperately seeking to improve their ranking, this series win would definitely help them not only in moving up the ladder but also add to the morale for the tougher challenges in the months to come. More than the victory over a hapless West Indies, a mere shadow of their glorious past, the most remarkable thing about this Pakistan team is the hunger, intensity and consistency.It was their sixth Test win on the trot, and also the sixth time that they scored well over 400 runs in the first innings of a match. Signs that this Pakistan team is getting its act together.Skipper Waqar Younis has reason to be proud of this winning streak; he indeed has led from the front and this shows, grabbing 4 for 44 to hasten the Windies demise. With a wicket at the top of the order which could easily have been two had the normally safe Shahid Afridi not floored a catch at third slip, he came back to mop up the tail, getting the last two wickets in the first over of the half-hour extension he had requested. Before that he broke the rather effervescent 47 run stand for the sixth wicket between an enterprising Ryan Hinds (topscorer with 46, 55 deliveries, 7 fours) and an adventurous Ridley Jacobs by removing Hinds, leg before for his 350th wicket. It is the third best aggregate by a Pakistani, behind only Wasim Akram (414) and Imran Khan (362).Another indicator that things are moving in the right direction for Pakistan was the fact that three relatively junior members of the side walked away with Man of the Match and Man of the Series Awards in the two test series, Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan and Abdur Razzaq respectively.Waqar’s decision to bat again when he could have enforced the follow-on had perplexed many. With the wisdom of hindsight, one can safely say that he didn’t need to put his batsmen back in to make the effort of putting 225 for 5. The West Indies were blasted off for 189, again failing to reach 200 in the second innings to hurry up to their fifth consecutive defeat.The day didn’t start all that badly for the West Indies, as they had three Pakistani wickets down and restricted them to only 74 in the first session. But it only got worse after that.Dillon struck twice in two overs to account for Younis Khan, holing out to mid-off with Darren Ganga bringing off a good catch for the West Indies finally, and Taufeeq Umar was given out after an extended appeal by the bowler that seemingly made umpire Shakeel Khan change his mind and raise the finger. The replays showed that the umpire’s change in verdict – on a delivery that landed marginally outside leg and was headed outside off – was another of several mistakes made by umpires in this series. There was more to come.An out of sorts Inzamam hung in there before perishing to an airy-fairy shot, and Pakistan declared soon after lunch, once Youhana got his 50. There was nothing sporting about the declaration, for in their present form the West Indies had as little a chance of surviving the remaining five sessions as a snowball in Sharjah.On a pitch that again didn’t have much to offer the bowlers by way of support, the Pakistani attack showed its class. Waqar had Chris Gayle plumb in front, and almost had Wavell Hinds who prospered to 34 before he was smartly snapped up by stand-in ‘keeper Taufeeq off Saqlain Mushtaq. In between, Shoaib Akhtar had struck another blow, getting an ever-improving Darren Ganga, amazingly Darrel Hair ruling in the bowler’s favour when the direction was certainly down the leg side.Carl Hooper, whose defiant 84 in the first innings had taken the West Indies to the verge of avoiding the follow-on, fell leg before to Saqlain, another marginal decision. Razzaq accounted for Chanderpaul, and it seemed all over. But Hinds and Jacobs took the fight to the Pakistani bowlers, especially Hinds driving beautifully both to Waqar and Razzaq. But once Waqar sent Hinds back, it was all over bar the shouting. Ridley Jacobs remained not out for 35, but Waqar had once again blown the tail away.The West Indies definitely have to do a lot of soul-searching to survive the Pakistani onslaught in the one-dayers too, but that is a different ball game altogether, and the Pakistanis are known to give in to complacency. The other key area that the West Indies and Pakistan both need to look at is fielding and holding their catches. If indeed, the West Indies had held many of the catches dropped, this series may not have been so one-sided.Hooper and his young team, so far without much hope, must surely be hoping for better fortune in the 3 ODIs to follow.

The form guide in this World Cup can be hard to read.After all Kenya beat Sri Lanka who beat New Zealand who beat theWest Indies who beat South Africa who beat Kenya?It appears that there is no method to the madness of predicting the winnersof any game, but there has been some semblance of a recurring theme when itcomes to the day/night games.To date, there have been just five day/night games in the World Cup. Fourtimes the side batting first has won and when Kenya defeated Canada battingsecond, it was a lot closer than Kenya would have liked.There are only two more day/night pool games and both will have a majorinfluence in deciding the final shape of an incredibly tight Pool B.Sri Lanka play West Indies and South Africa in day/night games.Sri Lanka’s record in day/night games is 61 wins, 65 losses, one tie andfive no results. When winning the toss in day/night games, their record is35 wins, 30 losses and five no results.Interestingly enough, they have never lost a World Cup game under lights.Mind you, they only played two; the 1996 World Cup semi-final and final andthat was a much stronger side than the present one.Kingsmead hosts the pivotal South Africa-Sri Lanka game and also is thevenue of a super six day/nighter and a semi-final which is played underlights. What is Kingsmead’s history when it comes to day/nighters?The ground has hosted 20 games overall, of which the side batting first haswon 10, the side batting second nine times and one no result. So nothingmuch there.When it comes to the 13 day/nighters played at Durban, the side battingfirst has won five times to the seven of the side batting second with one noresult.Of those 12 games, the side winning the toss has won nine of them so thetoss is going to play an incredibly decisive factor in the outcome.At Newlands, the venue of the Sri Lanka v West Indies game, there have been18 day/nighters. Of those, the side winning the toss has won 14 of thegames.The side which finished second in Pool B has two day/nighters in their threesuper six matches. That may work in their favour, or against them, dependingon the outcome of the toss.There is no doubt that the ball has been swinging around in the SouthAfrican conditions at night. James Anderson and Ashish Nehra made the mostof the conditions and had the ball talking as they captured 10 wicketsbetween them and both were named men of their matches.Sri Lanka only require to win one of their final two pool games to qualify forthe super sixes. But those two games are against the West Indies today and South Africa on Monday.Ultimately, if the worst comes to the worst, under the rules of the competition it may boil down to the toss of a coin.

Pakistan Juniors scored a remarkable 37- run victory overPCB XI Monday at the Rawalpindi Stadium in a low-scoringmatch. The juniors, preparing for this month’s World Cup inNew Zealand , found the going tough and could only manage apaltry 134 after being put in. But they made up for the lowtotal with an impressive bowling and fielding display andbundled out PCB XI for 97, Arsalan Mir claiming four for 24.In the juniors’ innings, except for wicketkeeper AminurRehman who topscored with 39 and Junaid Zia’s 25 down theorder, no other batsman could do much. Paceman Waqas Ahmeddid most of the damage taking four for 46 while Jaffar Nazircaptured three.PCB XI batting crumbled in the face of fine bowling andtight fielding by the under-19s and the entire side wasdismissed in juts over 28 overs.Besides Arsalan’s four wickets, Umer Gul snapped up twowhile Junaid and Najaf Shah had one each.The junior side had earlier beaten the PCB XI in the firstmatch by four wickets.

NSW will battle against a large slice of history tomorrow after being set 406 runs for victory in its Pura Cup cricket match against Western Australia at the WACA ground.The Blues dragged back 26 runs late in the day for no loss in the knowledge that they have never scored more than 281 in the fourth innings in a match at theWACA.And they have a woeful record in recent times in the four-day game in Perth having lost four of their last five matches outright.Blues openers Brad Haddin (14no) and Grant Lambert (8no) negotiated ten overs late in the day in fading light.The Warriors earlier declared their second innings closed at 6-158, an overall lead of 405 runs nearing stumps on the third day of the match.It came after Warriors pace duo Brad Williams (4-89) and Jo Angel (4-91) skittled the Blues out for 253 in reply to the Warriors’ first innings total of 7(dec)-500.Brad Hogg (17no) and Kade Harvey (13no) were the unbeaten batsmen when West Australian captain Simon Katich finally ended the innings.Scott Meuleman (0) was the first casualty caught behind off Stuart Clark’s (2-39) bowling without a run on the board.Katich (23) fell trying to pull Clark while Ryan Campbell (11) and Marcus North (9) had their stumps rattled by Don Nash (3-59) in the rush for quick runs.Opener Michael Hussey (60) continued his good form with an entertaining knock before he was Nash’s third victim while Chris Rogers (18) swept Higgs straight to Michael Clarke.Earlier Angel and Williams wrapped up the tail after lunch to secure first innings points after Graeme Rummans’ (55) defiant knock of just under four hours came to an end.The Blues batting lineup folded after Rummans was caught behind for Angel’s third scalp, losing their last five wickets for 48 runs.Mark Higgs (23) fell soon after with Hussey taking a sharp catch in slips off Williams’ bowling.Brett Van Deinsen, who batted with a runner after injuring his back bowling yesterday, made a quickfire 27 before he became the fourth victim of theCampbell-Angel combination of the innings.Williams then took a fine return catch to dismiss Nathan Bracken for a duck before Nash (9) was run out in a mix-up with Stuart Clark (6no).Williams’ earlier claimed the crucial wicket of Michael Bevan (66) while young WA quick Michael Clark (1-33) snared captain Shane Lee’s (18) wicket.An outright win for the Warriors will see them leapfrog South Australia into second place on the Pura Cup ladder while NSW will need a miracle to win and get off the bottom of the table.

All Today’s Yesterdays – June 27 down the years1939
An unlucky charm is born. Fast bowler Neil Hawke did most of his best work in Australian defeats, when he took 29 wickets at an average of 21, including his Test-best figures, 7 for 105 against England at Sydney in 1965-66. Hawke is one of the few men to play for three states – Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania – and was a top-quality Aussie Rules player as well. His nickname wasn’t the most original, though: “Hawkeye” was prowling round cricket circles long before Channel 4’s technology hit the screens. An extremely tough character, Hawke lived for 20 years after bowel surgery kick-started a terrible run of ill-health. After he died on Christmas Day 2000, in Adelaide, his Wisden Cricket Monthly obituary was headlined: “They could not break his will.”1939
A renowned performance from the great George Headley. He became the first person to score two centuries in a Lord’s Test, although West Indies still went down by eight wickets to England. It was the second time in his career that Headley had made two centuries in a Test, making him only the second person (after Herbert Sutcliffe) to do so. Headley’s was a one-man show, though. Only one other West Indian passed 29 in the match, and England only lost seven wickets in completing victory.1949
Another famous Lord’s innings. Martin Donnelly, one of New Zealand’s greatest batsmen, stroked a glorious century against England, which he extended to 206 on the third and final day. It completed a unique treble, which only Donnelly and Percy Chapman, another left-hander, have managed – Donnelly also made Lord’s hundreds for Gentlemen against Players and for Oxford against Cambridge. In addition to that he made a famous ton at Lord’s for the Dominions against England — after which, a probably apocryphal story runs, a spectator went into a nearby pub, said “I have just seen the most marvellous day’s play,” drank a double whisky and dropped dead.1886
The Governor General of Australian cricket is born. That’s how Charles Macartney, an outstanding allrounder from New South Wales, was known. He was a charming improviser of a batsman, who finished his Test career with a flourish, when he made three centuries in a row in his last series, in England in 1926. His left-arm spinners could also be very handy, and he took 11 for 85 against England when Australia won at Headingley in 1909. Macartney died in Sydney in 1958.1924
Birth of Bob Appleyard, the Yorkshire and England offspinner whose career was dogged by poor health. As a result he only played nine Tests, but England won seven of them and Appleyard snared 31 wickets at an average of only 17. He was like Derek Underwood: quickish, flat, and devastating on damp wickets. Appleyard did not make his first-class debut until he was 27, and had to retire at 34 because of sickness, but managed to take almost as many wickets (708) as he made runs (776).Other birthdays
1917 Khanderao Rangnekar (India)1938 Gordon Rorke (Australia)

Zimbabwe Under-19 captain Tatenda Taibu could find no excuses after his side’s six-wicket loss to New Zealand in the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.New Zealand scored their target of 72 runs in 10.3 overs with the game being over before the scheduled lunch break.”Their bowlers bowled really well. They got two good early wickets and then their spinners came on and did a really good job,” Taibu said.”I can’t really say our batsmen got themselves out because they got good balls,” he said.”There was nothing wrong with the pitch. I was happy with it, there was a little bit of movement but not too much,” he said.Taibu had been impressed with New Zealand’s approach to the game and said it was good that despite the fact they were chasing such a small score the opening batsmen came out and attacked and kept on attacking.”We can still come back. We will take this game positively and try and beat Sri Lanka because our goal is to make the Super League side of the draw,” he said. The two sides meet on Thursday.

* Kambli drops out of Kenya tri-seriesFormer India left-hander Vinod Kambli has dropped out of the Mumbai team that is to tour Kenya to play a tri-series as he is down with gastroenteritis and tonsillitis. Jatin Paranjpe has been named to replace him.Meanwhile, Ranji champions Baroda, who will also be playing in the tournament, have named a squad under Jacob Martin, currently touring Sri Lanka with the Indian side. Connor Williams has been named vice-captain. Mumbai and Baroda will clash in the tournament opener on September 11.Squads: Mumbai: Paras Mhambrey (captain), Sairaj Bahutule (vice-captain), Robin Morris, Wasim Jaffer, Vinayak Mane, Jatin Paranjpe, Kunal More, Nilesh Patwardhan (wicket-keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Nilesh Kulkarni, Swapnil Hazare, Paul Valthaty and Bhavin Thakkar. Coach: Lalchand RajputBaroda: Jacob Martin (captain), Connor Williams (vice-captain), Satyajit Parab, Tushar Arothe, Ajit Bhoite, Nayan Mongia (wicketkeeper), Zaheer Khan, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Irfan Pathan (Sr), Umang Patel, Valmik Buch, Milap Mewada, Himanshu Jadhav and Rahul Chandorkar.* Bailed out Prabhakar is not a free man yetManoj Prabhakar might have been granted bail by the Uttaranchal High Court but he is not a free man yet. The colourful former Indian Test all-rounder will now be taken to Indore on Wednesday where a local court had recently issued arrest warrants against him for duping small investors in the same chit fund case that originally led to his arrest. The Indore police had handed the arrest warrants to the Uttaranchal police recently.Prabhakar had earlier secured a bail from the Uttaranchal High Court after his counsel produced four sureties before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. He is currently recovering in a private nursing home in Haldwani after suffering from a brain stroke.* Nagaraj denies duping the KSCAFormer BCCI Secretary C Nagaraj on Thursday denied that he had ever duped the Karnataka State Cricket Association. “The resolution passed by a Special General Body Meeting (SGM) of KSCA, debarring me from contesting elections, has been done with malafide intentions,” he said in a statement in Bangalore. He also claimed that senior members of the KSCA were absent at the SGM and that over 100 proxy votes were cast in support of the resolution.”As I know I am innocent of the charges leveled against me, and time will show this, I would like the cricket loving public of the state to know that the present KSCA office bearers feel that I am a thorn in their flesh”, he said. “I do not accept the strictures passed against me, as these have been done to prevent me from contesting elections.”The SGM had, during the weekend, adopted a resolution barring Nagaraj for life from holding any post in the association.