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National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) were crowned champions of the 2005-06 Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship, after they defeated Karachi Harbour by an overwhelming margin of an innings and 181 runs on the third day of their four-day match at the Gaddafi Stadium.Needing only a draw with the first-innings lead to clinch the title ahead of Faisalabad, who had finished their four matches with a tally of 27 points, NBP took their overall total to 33 with wins in all four appearances and claimed their third Pentangular trophy.After their massive first-innings score of 513 had given them a big advantage of 264, NBP bundled out Karachi Harbour for only 83 in their second outing to romp to an innings triumph.Mohammad Sami was virtually unplayable as he captured six wickets for 48 runs in 8.5 overs, to give him a match haul of 9 for 121. He and Wasim Khan bowled unchanged as the Karachi team tumbled. Wasim collected 10 wickets in the match for a mere 82 runs, following his first innings 6 for 57 with another splendid performance that fetched him 4 for 25.NBP, who needed just 16.5 overs in the second innings to get rid of the Karachi Harbour line-up, thus added the Pentangular Cup title to the Patron’s Trophy Championship they had won earlier in the season. The high-profile Pentangular Cup tournament has been revived after the lapse of a decade, the last such contest having been played back in 1995-96. Of the 12 competitions given the title of the Pentangular over the years starting from 1973-74, NBP have won twice — in 1974-75 and then again in 1994-95.Resuming at their overnight 427 for 8, with a first-innings lead of 178 runs, NBP continued to bat on. Imran Javed, the allrounder, missed what would have been his second century in consecutive innings by just five runs. His 95 came off 156 balls in three-and-a-half hours with 13 fours and two sixes.Following his 87-run eighth-wicket partnership with Mohammad Sami (43), Imran then joined hands with Wasim Khan (33) as a further 73 runs were added for the ninth wicket. Wasim faced only 54 balls and hit five fours.Karachi Harbour suffered further as they went into the match with only four regular bowlers. Atif Maqbool, the offspinner, though, bowled his heart out, taking four wickets for 125 in 25.5 overs. For NBP, Sami excelled with the ball, taking 26 wickets at only 15.84 runs apiece while Wasim Khan bagged 24 at an average of 15.62. Naumanullah, their captain, who was named best batsman of the competition, made more runs than anybody else, his 354 including two centuries as he averaged 59 per innings.The Pentangular Cup tournament marked the end of Pakistan’s 2005-06 first-class season. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was present at the final awards ceremony at the end of yesterday’s match, which ended with a day to spare. He handed over the Pentangular Cup to Naumanullah plus the whopping sum of Rs 600,000. Faisalabad, runners-up of the Pentangular tournament as well as in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Championship Gold League earlier in the season, got Rs 300,000 as their reward.

Samir Inamdar, a Mombasa-based solicitor, who waged a long war against the Kenya Cricket Association, was on Sunday elected the new chairman of the trouble-ridden national body.Inamdar, 46, defeated his sole challenger Salim Dhanji in a close-fought race during elections supervised by African Cricket Association officials. The former Kenya national captain Tom Tikolo withdrew after failing to get proposed for the seat.Inamdar, who also served as a member of the government-backed Cricket Kenya, set up to replace the disbanded KCA board in February, said his committee would work to correct the mess created by the outgoing officials.”Kenyan cricket has suffered greatly. We have seen so much split,” Inamdar said. “We allowed cricket to be taken hostage by people who did not have the mandate as representatives of the clubs. This is a new beginning,” he added.Percy Sonn, the ICC vice-president, who had assisted the ACA in seeking a resolution, said the crisis had resulted in a wasted opportunity for the country. “It’s a proud moment for African cricket,” said Sonn, the South African who is expected to take over from Ehsan Mani as the ICC president next year.

Justin Langer has been cleared by the match referee, Chris Broad, of a possible breach of the ICC’s code of conduct, after being reported by umpiresSteve Bucknor and David Orchard for an on-field incident during the third day of the Colombo Test between Sri Lanka and Australia.Langer attended a disciplinary inquiry after the close of play on Friday night, following a bizarre incident during the morning session, when Australia belatedly appealed for a hit-wicket decision against Hashan Tillakaratne. The umpires referred the decision to the third umpire to verify how Tillakaratne’s bail had been dislodged.The television pictures showed that Langer dislodged the bail with his hand while he crossed over the pitch to take up a new fielding position for the right-handed Thilan Samaraweera. Langer insisted that he did not intentionally flick off the bail.”Justin was disappointed that the charge was brought and explained his position in a very honest and succinct way,” said Broad, following a hearing attended by Langer, Ricky Ponting, Steve Bernard (Australia’s team manager), and the three match umpires. “He was, however, reminded that in future to steer clear of any instances such as this.”

On the first match-free day of the World Cup, South Africans were yesterday left to contemplate the unthinkable – their team being on the verge of first-round elimination.Ironically, their chances of survival now depend on West Indies, whose victory over them in the tournament opener triggered the problem that was compounded by their loss to New Zealand on Sunday.Providing neither are upset in their remaining matches against lesser teams in the group, South Africa’s slim chance hinges on West Indies beating group leaders Sri Lanka at Newlands in Cape Town on February 28.Even then, they would have to follow up by beating the Sri Lankans in their final match in Durban three days later.It is a combination that prompted yesterday’s Cape Argus newspaper to suggest the South African crowd would be even more firmly behind West Indies than usual in the Sri Lankan match."Newlands fans backing West Indies is an unlikely scenario but desperate times require unusual methods," he wrote. "It would not be strange, then, to see the usually green-clad Newlands fans decked out in maroon."The South African Press yesterday highlighed the depression hanging over their team’s prospects, most using as a metaphor the weather that meant Sunday’s match against New Zealand had to be decided by the Duckworth/Lewis method.Gloomy Forecast ran the front page banner headline in the Joahnnesburg Star, superimposed on a picture of the rain clouds banking over the floodlit Wanderers ground."South Africa’s dream of winning the World Cup is being held together by sticky tape and prayers," wrote Kevin McCallum in The Star.Quoting South African captain Shaun Pollock’s comment: "We’ve got to hope, we need a lifeline", McCallum added: "There will be 40 million South Africans clinging on to that same hope and looking for that lifeline over the next couple of weeks."Writing in the Cape Times, Michael Owen-Smith offered some cheer. He noted that, at present, South Africa’s net run rate was superior to the rest and that "teams that have barely scraped through the first round have tended to go on to win the tournament".He cited 1992 when Pakistan made it into the second round only because rain gained them a share of the points against England and yet went on to win the Cup and 1999 when Australia lost two of their first-round matches before taking the championship.The form of Alan Donald, their greatest, but aging, fast bowler, and the overall quality of bowling that has conceded totals of 278 for five off 50 overs against West Indies and 229 for one off 36.5 overs against New Zealand are also under the microscope.

New Zealand’s pool for the World Cup in 2003 will depend on how the side does in the tri-series with Sri Lanka and India next month, and its One-Day Internationals with Pakistan in September.If the draw was made today, New Zealand would be in the same section as: South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh, Kenya and the third-placed team from the ICC Trophy tournament starting in Toronto later this week.On the other side of the draw would be: Australia, Pakistan, India, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and the first and second-placed teams from the ICC Trophy.The final pool allocations could be significant in the hunt for the $US5million up for grabs by the leading sides.International captains have been asked to recommend a suitable breakdown of prizemoney for the tournament.New Zealand coach David Trist, who will stand down from his position in September, said that sort of draw would be “wonderful” from New Zealand’s view.”South Africa are the host team with the advantage of playing at home and it would be good to play them early in the tournament.”Sri Lanka have a poor record away from home, particularly when playing on bouncy wickets as we have seen and England, well, we all know about them.”It would be excellent,” he said.The final draw of pools and games will be made at the end of October while countries will be allocated a South African base on August 20.The opening match of the tournament will be on February 7 in Cape Town and will involve South Africa, and the final will be played in Johannesburg on Wednesday, March 19.On all but two of the 22 days of the preliminary pool group round two matches will be played.In the Super Six round the nine matches will be played over nine days. Semifinals will be played in Port Elizabeth on Friday, March 14 and Durban on March 15.The news that most of New Zealand’s games were likely to be day matches, to suit television coverage potential in New Zealand would be advantageous.”At night you can struggle with the elements in the form of dew. It is an imponderable and it makes what to do at the toss a difficult one.”But New Zealand will have a matured team by then and it will be ready with depth and quality in the side,” he said.Matches have been categorised. The 24 category A matches, those involving the Super Six games, the semis and the final as well as pool matches involving South Africa and Sri Lanka will be played at the six Test match centres.In category B there are 18 pool matches, mainly those by Test nations against the three Associate Members and Kenya will be played at six non-Test grounds while the four category C matches between the Association Members will be played at Test match centres to allow the associate players to play on South Africa’s famous Test match grounds.

Finally, in his 22nd innings of the season, Ed Joyce had a Championship century to cheer•Getty Images

Ed Joyce has been emblematic of Sussex’s uncertain season. The club captain ended 2014 as the second highest run-scorer in Division One, and with more centuries than anyone else in the country. For Ireland in the World Cup, he acquired the role of not merely batting talisman but de facto spokesman for the entire associate world, pummeling the West Indies and Zimbabwe on the pitch and myopic administration off it.Such assertiveness has been absent from his return to county cricket. Joyce’s first 21 innings of the season brought copious starts but just two half-centuries and no hundreds. Nestled in those statistics, together with the spate of pace bowling injuries Sussex have suffered, is a large part of the explanation of why the club lie eighth in Division One.Joyce began this innings against Yorkshire resembling a man who has made few runs of late. His opening partnership with Luke Wells began at a funereal rate, scoring at under two an over for the first 20 overs. But what mattered was they survived, even as Wells was almost run out in the first over and Joyce narrowly avoided edging an egregious swipe at a wide ball from Tim Bresnan, promoting much chuntering from the Sussex fans.It took the introduction of Adil Rashid’s legspin for Joyce to reacquaint himself with the more intrepid style that he credited his form last year. A delivery on his pads was clipped over long on for six; two balls later Joyce essayed a pristine drive through the covers for four.Belatedly the Hove crowd was treated to the Joyce they have become so accustomed to: driving languidly through the offside, manipulating any width by playing the ball late with his supple wrists, and occasionally giving notice of his power. At 5:47, Joyce took two decisive steps down the wicket and lofted Rashid down the ground for six. Finally, he had his first Championship century of the summer.Joyce’s duel with Rashid, unwavering in his determination to flight the ball even as he was attacked, provided the most intoxicating cricket of the game so far. Even as Joyce scored freely off him, hitting 44 off 45 balls he faced from Rashid, he was never unperturbed by the legspinner.”He was threatening to get me out – he had a bit of rough to bowl into and he’s a very good bowler,” Joyce said. “I always feel with someone like that you have to keep scoring.” Yet the approach eventually cost Joyce his wicket when, to his evident chagrin, he flicked Rashid rather tamely to short leg just after reaching his century.This performance distilled the essence of Rashid. Operating from the Sea End, the end preferred by Mushtaq Ahmed, Rashid erred both in bowling too full and too short, and dragged the ball down the legside too often to boot. Yet, on a rather turgid wicket, Rashid was by a distance Yorkshire’s most threatening bowler, for all the discipline their seamers displayed. When Wells and Joyce had added a hundred for the opening wicket, Rashid reawakened the game from its slumber, uprooting Wells’ offstump with a delivery that seemed to turn less than the batsman envisaged and then inducing Matt Machan to poke his second ball to short leg.Asked whether Rashid was ready for Test cricket, Joyce gave an emphatic “yes”. “Like any legspinner he bowls bad balls, but he bowls wicket-taking balls. The real attraction with him is the fact he’s a very, very fine batsman as well.”Rashid is not the only Tyke playing at Hove with designs on a place in England’s Test squad for the trip to the UAE. While Yorkshire’s England contingent were struggling at The Oval, Gary Ballance brought up his century from the tenth ball of the day, nudging Ollie Robinson through midwicket for four. After a rather turbulent summer it was a significant moment in Ballance’s career. That his celebration eschewed histrionics reflected the understated manner of the man.Thereafter Ballance became increasingly contemptuous of Sussex’s spin options – or lack thereof. He used his feet to smear Chris Nash down the ground for four, and then lifted him over long on for six. It was a matter of considerable surprise when his offstump was uprooted by extra pace from Chris Liddle, though by that point Ballance had made 50 more than Adam Lyth’s tally in nine innings against Australia this summer.”It’s been a tough few weeks, but that gave me a bit of confidence,” Ballance said. “You’ve got to be mentally strong to back your own game and what’s got you here. That’s what I’ve done.” He has not pushed to bat at three, the position he occupied for England until being dropped after the second Ashes Test. “I don’t really mind where I bat. I’ve always said that when I play for Yorkshire I’ll bat wherever they want me to. I’m happy to bat at five if they want me to, but if they want me to bat three next game, I’ll do that.”For most of the morning the tannoy’s announcement that the Yorkshire President Dickie Bird had mislaid his cap was the most Sussex fans had to cheer about, as Bresnan combined with Ballance to add 197 runs for the seventh wicket, a Yorkshire record against Sussex. The day ended with the whereabouts of Bird’s cap still unknown, but the destination of the Division One title is rather less of a mystery.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Mornè Morkel, with a five-for in his second Test, and Dale Steyn were thedestroyers as Bangladesh were knocked over for 192 soon after tea on theopening day, but a stirring fightback inspired by Shahadat Hossain andMohammad Rafique left the match intriguing poised when play was called offwith eight overs still to be bowled. By then, South Africa had stumbled to76 for 4, with Ashwell Prince and Johan Botha holding fort on a pitch thatwas already showing signs of misbehaving.The key wicket, as is so often the case when South Africa play, was thatof Jacques Kallis. Having repeatedly exposed his stumps to the probing left-armspin of Rafique, he had no answer when one turned and kept appallinglylow. At one stage, with Hashim Amla and Kallis adding 35, it looked asthough South Africa had overcome the early Shahadat-induced wobble, butRafique accounted for Amla as well, trapping him plumb in front with onethat came in with the arm.Graeme Smith had inside-edged one on to his leg stump and Neil McKenzie, openingin place of the dropped Herschelle Gibbs, was rapped in front by one thatangled back in. Shahadat bowled an inspired spell, and could have hadKallis as well, but a muted appeal when the ball struck pad before batdidn’t quite convince the umpire.The batting debacle took the sheen off a superb bowling display from SouthAfrica’s callow pace bowlers. Steyn, so devastating during the homeseason, dealt the first blows. Spot on with his first ball of the match,the second looped back to his left after Tamim Iqbal had inside edged onto his pad. Steyn reacted smartly on his follow through to hold on.In his next over, more success, as Junaid Siddique hung his bat out at onethat slanted across him, and Mark Boucher dived across Smith at first slip tohold on to the catch. More uncomfortable moments followed, with Makhaya Ntini andSteyn testing the batsmen with short deliveries, but Shahriar Nafees gavethe crowd some solace with a crisp pull and square-drive off Steyn.Habibul Bashar pulled Ntini for a boundary, but looked out of sortsotherwise, and the introduction of Morkel sent him speedily in thedirection of the pavilion. Considering that he’s a former captain and themost senior batsman in the side, it was a wretched shot, a nothing waftoutside off stump, and McKenzie held a low chance in front of him at awide third slip.Stodgy defiance hasn’t been a characteristic of Bangladeshi batting inrecent times, and Mohammad Ashraful’s approach when he arrived at thecrease was indicative of a cavalier mindset. An edge for four got himgoing, and when Morkel then pitched too full, he clipped one effortlesslythrough midwicket for four.Ntini has seldom been a factor on subcontinent pitches, and Ashrafulcapitalised on his more predictable offerings with a superb square-driveand a meaty pull. At the other end, Nafees was alternately watchful andattacking before Morkel turned out to be too good for him.A full delivery was driven superbly through the covers, but the next ballangled across and deviated away. The hesitant push flew to Smith, andSouth Africa had four wickets for just 60. Ashraful continued undaunted,lacing a couple of lovely drives, but Botha’s introduction on the strokeof lunch proved a masterstroke.

Ashraful drove and cut for fours before impetuously whacking a lofteddelivery straight back to the bowler. That left Bangladesh in disarray at82 for 5, with Aftab Ahmad and Shakib Al Hasan having to shoulder thepost-lunch burden.They did so for well over an hour, with a combination of pluck and luck.Shakib started with a gorgeous straight drive off Ntini, and followed upwith two more crisp strokes through the off side. There were hints ofinexperience too, though, with an ill-judged paddle sweep off Botha barelymissing the stumps off the inside edge.Aftab had eschewed his normal flamboyance to knuckle down, but as thesession wore on, the frustration became palpable. Something had to give,and it did with Aftab playing an appalling shot to Botha after having gotto 44. Ntini took the catch at mid-off, and South Africa soon had muchmore to celebrate.His departure appeared to upset Shakib’s composure too, and when Morkelangled one across, he edged to a wide second slip where AB de Villiersheld on to a sharp chance. Rafique lasted just one ball, with SteveBucknor taking an age to raise the finger after a thick inside edge on tothe pad. Crucially though, Mashrafe Mortaza, with a breezy 29, andMushfiqur Rahim added 40 for the ninth wicket before Morkel and Steynreturned to scatter stumps.At that stage, it was very much South Africa’s day, but the 24 oversbefore stumps suggested that repeating their success in Pakistan lastOctober may not be so straightforward after all.

Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, India’s captain and coach, have said their team are gearing up for their World Cup opener in a confident and relaxed frame of mind.”Whatever the conditions are, they will vary from venue to venue and that’s going to be part of the challenge, as it is in any World Cup,” Chappell said after his team’s first practice session at Port-of-Spain. “We will have to bat [on different pitches] as every team will. Not every wicket is same and not all conditions around the world are same. That’s what sorts out better teams from others. We are looking forward to our first game.”India open their campaign against Bangladesh at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday. Sri Lanka and debutants Bermuda are the other sides in Group B. “We have looked at our group and we know what we have got to do,” said Chappell. “We have got three good games coming up and that should help prepare us to go further. The guys have enjoyed a few days of peace and quiet before the tournament, so in a way that’s been good. Now, everyone is keen for the tournament to start.”Dravid said he had told his team-mates to soak up the World Cup atmosphere without losing focus. “The World Cup is about working hard and preparing right,” he said. “It’s also about ensuring we have a downtime as well. We relax and enjoy the atmosphere. We enjoy the World Cup because it comes once in four years. I’d like my boys to soak up the atmosphere and to soak up everything that goes around the event, but obviously work very hard. We have to ensure we give the boys enough time to relax and take their minds away from cricket so that when they come back to the ground they are fresh and really keen to go out there and do well.”Chappell spoke of the non-cricketing activities that the team had enjoyed during the last few days. “We’ve have been practising, relaxing, swimming, sailing and snorkeling. We have been doing things you would expect to do in the West Indies, things that sometimes the guys don’t get an opportunity to do. It’s been a nice change of pace from the point of view of what happens on a normal tour, particularly in India where you are playing every three days. It’s very hard to fit in some relaxation. So it’s been good for the guys to have that opportunity to change of pace, but not so much that it distracts them from what they are doing.”

For years, bilateral one-day series India played at home went right down to the wire. It was almost a joke, and one the extra-suspicious in the anti-corruption unit did not find funny, that the scores were inevitably level when the final match of a series began. In recent times, though, India have comfortably settled the issue at the earliest, and so it has been with England, coming into the fifth one-day international at Guwahati blanked out and with no chance to pull things back significantly.Team issuesIn Kochi, England finally managed to put their best team on the park. Through injury, and Duncan Fletcher’s penchant for going into ODIs with what works in the Tests, England stuck to fast bowlers, and struggled to get their three best ODI batsmen in appropriate slots. In Kochi, though, they gave Gareth Batty a break from sightseeing and a chance to roll his arm over, and also clubbed Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff together at Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Whether they will stick to this formula, or again chop things around, perhaps finding place for Ian Bell in the slot that may be freed up if Geraint Jones is ruled out tomorrow, remains to be seen.India’s selection matters are, for the moment, a pleasant pain. With only six specialist batsmen in the side it’s safe to say that Robin Uthappa is extremely likely to make his debut, and that Venugopal Rao will get a game. A squad thick with bowlers suggests that RP Singh, who has waited long, will get a go, while VRV Singh waits just that bit longer to be eased into the eleven.The Gods must be …The meteorological department has predicted thundershowers for Sunday afternoon, so don’t be surprised if it is bright and sunny. Saturday dawned fine but as the sun reached its zenith the clouds rolled in from the hills, turning everything shades of grey. It has been raining intermittently all week, and the weather could very well end up having the final say.Squeeze them inRahul Dravid has been better than his predecessor in getting through fifty overs in time, and on Sunday, weather permitting, Virender Sehwag will get his chance. He, and Andrew Flintoff, have to be on their toes, for the light on a good day will not be fit for play once five o `clock comes round. There has been a suggestion that play should start earlier than the scheduled 9am, but this seems unlikely. It’s difficult to implement changes of this kind at short notice with the all-powerful television channels having already scheduled their programming.I’m 164If he does play Robin Uthappa will become the 164th person to wear an Indian ODI shirt. He has been picked not on the weight of the runs he has scored in domestic cricket – he averages a modest 32 in first-class cricket and a more impressive 39 in List A one-dayers, but the manner in which he bats has caught the eye. Exuberant and strokeful, his aggressive play, backed up by serious ability in the field meant that the selectors saw merit in elevating him to the Indian team on the promise of potential.Small-town excitementLong before the teams had arrived in the city on their chartered flight hundreds filled a stand, waiting impatiently for a glimpse of their heroes. The fact that the teams were staying in a hotel that straddled the ground made matters worse, and when they walked down the corridor that led to their rooms the fans roared. Even when the skies opened and the drenched them in a heavy downpour, intermittently pelting down hailstones, they stayed, waiting for the teams to come to the ground to practice. The ground had taken a heavy soaking, though, and sections of the outfield were waterlogged, making life miserable for the groundstaff. The square was covered, and the teams will be hoping that this is not a preview of things to come.

Scorecard
Half-centuries by Justice Chibhabha and Trevor Gripper propped Zimbabwe A to 164 for 5 at close of play on the second day against Pakistan A at Harare. Gripper made 50 while Chibhabha remained unbeaten on 54, but the Zimbabweans ended the day still 147 behind Pakistan’s first-innings total of 311.Apart from Chibhabha and Gripper, none of the Zimbabwean batsmen made an impression. Neil Ferreira, who opened the batting with Gripper, and Stuart Carlisle made just 15 each, Brendan Taylor fell for a duck and Sean Williams was run out for 5.Earlier, Pakistan A added 55 to their overnight score of 256 for 6 before being bowled out. Zulqarnain Haider, their wicketkeeper, frustrated the Zimbabweans with a patient 43 off 189 balls. Blessing Mahwire and Tawanda Mupariwa were the pick of the bowlers, both taking three wickets apiece.