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Powered by Mohammad Sami’s five-wicket haul, Faisalabad routed National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) a paltry 97 and then gained a first innings lead of 95, on the opening day of their third-round Pentangular Cup encounter at Multan.The two third-round matches, the other one in Lahore, both started after a day’s postponement due to the Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi holiday on Tuesday. National Bank, whose only game so far in the competition fetched them the full nine points, won the toss and put Faisalabad in to bat.Sami’s figures of 5 for 31 was his second five-wicket haul in as many games. Yesterday, he was ably supported by his new-ball partner Wasim Khan (3 for 27) and Yasir Arafat as Faisalabad were bowled out in only 33.3 overs.National Bank were off to a good start with the openers adding 70, but Faisalabad wrested the initiative, restricting them to 192 for 7 at stumps. Still, a lead of 100 and over could prove crucial in this match.Faisalabad were in all sorts of trouble at 51 for 7, before Shahid Nazir, the former Pakistan pace bowler, top-scored for them with 29. Later, he took 3 for 65 when National Bank batted while Asad Ali got 3 for 57.Whichever team goes on to win this game will have a very good chance of claiming the Pentangular Cup, when the tournament comes to an end on April 26. With successive wins in their previous two matches, Faisalabad currently have 18 points to their credit. But National Bank still have two more matches left after this one.Karachi Harbour recovered to make 326 runs in the first innings on the opening day of their third-round Pentangular Cup match against Sialkot, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. By the close of play, Sialkot lost two wickets with 43 on board.Sialkot won the toss and put Karachi Harbour in to bat. The fast-bowling pair of Asim Butt and Kashif Daud combined to reduce Karachi to 176 for 7 till they were rescued by their eighth wicket pair of Mohammad Hasnain and Rajesh Ramesh, who put on 107. Butt struck four crucial blows early on as they slumped to a poor 97 for 5.Mohammad Hasnain, the pace bowler, produced his career-best score — making only his second half-century in 62 innings in first-class cricket — scoring 72 off 103 balls with 13 boundaries. Ramesh, another pace bowler, played the perfect second foil. He remained unbeaten with 73 to his name, that came off only 94 deliveries and included 12 boundaries.Earlier, Daud, the 20-year old medium-pacer playing in only his fourth first-class match, ended with figures of 5 for 80 in 20.4 overs as Karachi Harbour were eventually bowled out for an adequate-looking total of 326 runs.Hasnain then went on to dismiss Sialkot’s in-form opener Atiq-ur-Rehman while Faraz Ahmed Khan accounted for Majid Jahanagir.While Sialkot have lost both their previous matches in the Pentangular tournament, being placed at the bottom of the table, Karachi Harbour too were beaten in their opening fixture.

Pain in the wrist: still no quick return for Mark Butcher © Getty Images

Mark Butcher has admitted that he does not know when he will be back playing as his wrist injury continues to take longer than expected to recover. Butcher has had a injection in his left wrist, in a hope of improving the problem.He told BBC Sport: “I’m having a jab which will settle things down but I’m still waiting and seeing unfortunately.” He had to leave his commentary stint with Sky Sports during the Middlesex against Surrey Championship match at Lord’s to go and get the injection. He was the sporting a large amount of strapping on his wrist when he was interviewed during the tea interval.Butcher still has six weeks to try and prove his fitness against the Ashes but his chances of regaining his spot are rapidly receeding. Ian Bell made full use of his two innings against Bangladesh to rack up 237 runs without being dismissed while Robert Key and Kevin Pietersen are now ahead of Butcher if batting places become available.Butcher, who is in his first season as Surry captain but has yet to lead them on the field, originally suffered his injury during England’s tour of South Africa last winter. He was left out of Cape Town Test and flew home shortly afterwards. He subsequently underwent surgery during February the hope that he would only miss the start of the season but a return to action is still some way away.

David Hookes’s bat and cap rest on the stumps during his funeral service © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting and his team were among around 15,000 mourners who gathered to pay their respects at the funeral of David Hookes at the Adelaide Oval. Hookes, 48, died last week following an assault outside a Melbourne hotel.Ian Chappell, a close friend and former captain of Hookes’s, delivered a moving eulogy, remembering his debut in the Centenary Test of 1977. “I think that innings is so typical of David, not only of his cricket career, but his life,” Chappell said. “When everybody else was struggling with the occasion, Hookesy came along and put it all into perspective. I can just imagine him saying, ‘Well mate, it’s just another game of cricket, a half-volley is a half-volley, you’ve got to whack it’.”We will think of David always as someone who put entertainment ahead of personal achievement and he was a great reminder to us all, that after all, it is just a game.”Three stumps were placed at one end of the Adelaide Oval pitch where Hookes scored 20 of his 29 first-class centuries. A bat was left resting against them, as he had always done that during breaks in play. His red South Australia team cap was draped over the top of one of the stumps.”Nothing can justify this senseless waste of life,” Reverend Steven Ogden, the Dean of St Peter’s Cathedral, told the gathering. “David did not deserve this and it offends all we hold dear and true, and we feel cheated. There is no third umpire in the sky who we can turn to – we have to accept responsibility for our own actions and decisions. And because of that, we are outraged by what has happened to David. In the name and memory of David, we refuse to submit to the despair and violence of this world.”

© Getty Images

Hookes’ brother, Terry Cranage, said: “It has been so difficult over the past week to absorb … the tragedy of this insane incident. David my brother, David my mate, my hero – rest in peace as we that are left behind ask why.”Darren Lehmann, South Australia’s captain, placed one of Hookes’s old bats on the coffin before the crowd gave one final standing ovation.Russell Crowe and boxing world champion Anthony Mundine mingled among what was almost a who’s who of Australian cricket. Ian and Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Richie Benaud, Mark Taylor and Kim Hughes joined the current Australian, South Australian and Victoria teams. Martin Crowe, Tony Greig and Clive Lloyd were also in attendance.The service was broadcast on national television.

Ricky Pontings’ all-conquering Australians overpowered a beleaguered SriLankan outfit, winning a predictably one-sided contest by a massive 142runs at the WACA on Sunday night.During the afternoon the Australian batsman, led by stand-in opener DarrenLehmann, who scored his third one-day century, ran riot, setting theconfidence-short tourists a daunting 306 target.Their new bowlers, Glen McGrath with his metronomic accuracy and Brett Leewith his searing pace, who grabbed three wickets, then exploited the tourist’s well documented weakness against top class fast bowling on quick andbouncy pitches.Sri Lanka, whose preparations for the 2003 World Cup are going from bad toworse, were never in the hunt after another lacklustre performance by theirmiddle order and they were eventually bowled out for 163 in 43 overs.The win moved Australia into pole position in the VB Series table with 17points and a game to spare over England on 12 points.Australia, missing Shane Warne (shoulder) and Adam Gilchrist (groin) throughinjury, never looked like losing the game after a 162 run openingpartnership between Matthew Hayden and Lehmann.Lehmann, provided the vice-captaincy in the absence of Gilchrist, laid thefoundations for the mammoth Australian score, hitting a commandingrun-a-ball 119 that included 12 fours and one six.The 32-year-old left-hander, who normally bats in the middle order, madefull use of the early over fielding restrictions with a clever combinationof improvised deflections and brute force.Hayden, sedate in comparison but typically powerful, provided solid supportscoring 64 from 68 balls and Australia looked set for a stratospheric scoreat the mid-way point of the first innings.The tourists, however, clawed their way back during the second half of theinnings thanks to a spirited performance from fast bowlers Prabath Nissanka(three for 54) and Dilhara Fernando (one for 55).Nissanka grabbed the wickets of Ponting (17), Lehmann and Damien Martyn (7)in quick succession before Fernando chimed in with the wicket ofentertaining wicket-keeper batsman Ryan Campbell (16).Nevertheless, despite the mid-innings wobble that saw Australia slip to 253for five, one-day specialist Michael Bevan (40 from 41 balls) and ShaneWatson (25 from 22 balls) finished the innings strongly with an unbroken52-run sixth wicket stand.Sri Lanka clearly needed a lightening start if they were ever going tochallenge the Australian total but McGrath and Lee quickly crushed suchfaint hopes as the visitors slumped to 20 for three.Out-of-form opener Jayasuriya scored just three before chipping a catch tomid-wicket, Marvan Atapattu (15) was caught off an inside edge and youngJehan Mubarak (4) sliced into the gully.Mahela Jaywardene (21) and Russel Arnold (15) – the only two Sri Lankanbatsmen to perform thus far in the series – steadied the innings briefly,adding 35 runs in six overs.However, a brilliant catch by man of the match Lehmann off his own bowlingto dismiss Jayawardene was quickly followed by the demise of Arnold, who topedged a slog-sweep off rookie spinner Brad Hogg.With Sri Lanka having slipped to 62 for five in the 18th over, KumarSangakkara (40) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (35) were left fighting for prideonly as the contest petered out into another drab finale.Sri Lanka will, at least, be provided with an opportunity to regroup as thetournament breaks to allow for Australia and England to complete their AshesTest series. The tri-series resumes on Jan 9.By then Sri Lanka will have been reinforced by the arrival of batting legendAravinda de Silva and the return to full fitness of Muttiah Muralitharan,who has been out of action after a hernia operation.

MELBOURNE – Tasmanian openers Jamie Cox and Dene Hills today completed arguably the worst match of their long-standing partnership by both scoring pairs to leave the Tigers struggling for survival in their Pura Cup cricket match against Victoria at the MCG.Set 353 to win off 120 overs, Tasmania limped to 3-54 at stumps after both Cox and Hills failed to trouble the scorers for a second time in the match.The Tigers face having to survive another ninety-six overs tomorrow and would need to score at 3.1 per over to pull off an unlikely victory.And they may be without middle-order batsman Scott Mason, who suffered a suspected broken finger while fielding today.But it is the form of the opening combination that has served the state with distinction for almost ten years that will cause most concern in the Tasmanian camp tonight.While skipper Cox still has 563 runs at 51.2 this season, despite his double failure in this match, Hills’ career is at the crossroads.The left hander has now scored only 100 runs at 10 for the season.He lasted only three balls in Tasmania’s second innings today before recklessly slashing a wide delivery from Reiffel to Matthew Mott in the gully.Five overs later Cox was out LBW, padding up to Matthew Inness, before the Vics struck again to claim the prized wicket of first innings’ top scorer Michael DiVenuto.Di Venuto, who took 344 minutes to score 66 in the first innings, smashed 27 off only 45 balls today before he slashed Mick Lewis to John Davison at backwardpoint.In stark contrast Victoria’s top order continues to shine.After the Bushrangers quickly wrapped up the Tasmanian first innings for 162, Reiffel chose not to enforce the follow-on.The decision not only allowed Victoria’s bowlers a valuable rest, their freshness in the final session justifying Reiffel’s decision, but gave in-form batsmen Brad Hodge and Jason Arnberger the chance to further add to their already impressive seasons.While star opener Matthew Elliott went cheaply for 14, Arnberger’s 67 not out was the foundation of Victoria’s second innings of 5/192 declared.The former New South Welshman now has 464 first class runs for the season at 51.55.However Hodge’s swashbuckling 81 off only 111 balls, including 13 fours, was the innings of the match.Hodge, who played for Australia “A” against the West Indies last week, has now scored 738 first-class runs for the season at 82.

Frank Lampard has now dropped some positive Everton injury news on Yerry Mina ahead of their game at home to Newcastle United on Thursday night.

The Lowdown: Injury update

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match (via The Liverpool Echo), Lampard confirmed that both Mina and Fabian Delph were ruled out through injury, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is still to be ‘assessed’ after taking ill during their 1-0 loss at home to Wolves last time out.

Aside from the suspension of Jonjoe Kenny, due to his red card in that clash, the former Chelsea and Derby County manager has no other fresh concerns with regards to his squad.

The Latest: Mina boost

Despite the fact that he ruled Mina out for the clash, Lampard also gave an update on where the Colombia international is in terms of his recovery:

“Mina is still a few weeks away at best. So that one is slightly parked but he’s working very, very hard. It’s good to see.”

The Verdict: Positive

The fact that Mina is working hard to get back to full fitness is at least some positive news for the Goodison Park faithful, with ‘a few weeks’ a decent timescale for fans when two of those weeks will be an international break.

Championship back four‘, says a lot for his credentials.

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He also ranks highly among his teammates in terms of average aerial duels won, clearances and pass success per match in the top flight (WhoScored), and so Lampard will be desperate for him to recover as soon as possible for the relegation battle ahead.

In other news, find out which ‘world-class’ Lampard favourite may now leave this summer here!

Monde Zondeki: off to the Caribbean, but off the contracts list© Getty Images

South Africa have unveiled their list of centrally contracted players for the 2005-06 season, and as anticipated, it has been trimmed from a squad of 20 to just 13 elite players.Despite his performance in the Centurion Test, Monde Zondeki is one of the unlucky players to miss out, alongside the rising star of South African cricket, AB de Villiers, who recorded his maiden Test century against England, also at Centurion, earlier in the season. At this early stage of their careers, however, a place on the tour of the Caribbean should be ample consolation.Unlike de Villiers, Zondeki had been on South Africa’s books for this season, and the other players who have been removed from the list are: Paul Adams, Lance Klusener, Garnett Kruger, Neil McKenzie, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson and Martin van Jaarsveld. Of those, only Morkel, who made an unbeaten double-century for Titans in the latest round of SuperSport matches, is likely to have a role in South Africa’s near future.Commenting on the reduction in contracted players, Haroon Lorgat, South Africa’s convenor of selectors, said: “We feel that 20 was too many. There were times last year when we had many non-contracted players in the team. We would like to play, as often as possible, with a core group of contracted players.”National contracts must be deserved and a just reward for consistent performance at the highest level over a period of time,” added Lorgat, who went on to reassure de Villiers and Zondeki that a strong showing in the Caribbean might enable them to join the elite group. “This number is not capped,” he said, “and the selectors may, from time to time, recommend additional players to be contracted.”The contracts, which run from May 2005 to April 2006, are broken down into four bands as follows:A+
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Shaun Pollock
Makhaya Ntini
Jacques Kallis
A
Mark Boucher
B
Nicky Boje
C
Andre Nel
Boeta Dippenaar
Andrew Hall
Jacques Rudolph
Ashwell Prince
Charl Langeveldt

Whatmore will be looking to end his tenure on a high note © Bangladesh Cricket Board

With this being the end of coach Dav Whatmore’s four year tenure, Bangladesh will be looking forward to build on their successes in the World Cup and give him a victorious farewell when they take on India in three ODIs and two Tests beginning on May 10.After thrashing India in the group stage of the World Cup and South Africa in the Super Eights, Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, remained confident of beating India again. “We are not overawed by our rivals,” Bashar told AFP. “We know that if we play good cricket, we can defeat any team.”Bashar was speaking at a celebratory dinner on Saturday to felicitate the national squad after their World Cup performance. Specal mention, however, was reserved for Whatmore. Abdul Aziz, the Bangladesh cricket chief, said that they would “always be grateful to Whatmore for turning the team into a proud group of world beaters”.Whatmore said he was focused on his final assignment – the home series against India – and did not rule out returning to Bangladesh at a later stage. “I am proud and honoured to have been associated with Bangladesh,” he said. “It was great working with such a dedicated bunch of players who did all the hard work out there on the field. It is time to move on but I hope to return to Bangladesh some day in the future.” Whatmore is considered as a strong candidate to become India’s coach, when he finishes his assignment with Bangladesh.Since he took over as coach in 2003, Bangladesh have defeated the World Champions Australia, India (twice), Sri Lanka and South Africa in ODIs. They also secured their maiden Test victory against the Zimbabweans. But Whatmore believes that the team had a long way to go. “The journey has only just begun but they are on the right path,” he said. “There is more self-belief among the players than before and that is a good sign.”The three ODIs against India on May 10, 12 and 15 will be followed by two Tests at Chittagong (May 18-22) and Dhaka (May 25-29).

1:10pm
Scorecard

On-field umpires Rudi Koertzen and AV Jayaprakash didn’t think the conditions were fit enough to start the game © Getty Images

Damp conditions at Guwahati meant that the only game of the series that was scheduled on a Sunday had to be called off without even a single ball being bowled.Yesterday afternoon’s downpour, accompanied by thunder, lightning and hail enveloped the ground with a soggy film. Even the efforts of the groundstaff, with a super-sopper and a helicopter being put to use, turned futile. Rudi Koertzen and AV Jayaprakash, the on-field umpires, conducted three inspections before deciding that the conditions were not fit, but had left it to the captains to decide whether they wanted to go ahead and play anyway. The contest was finally abandoned at 1:10pm local time.Close to 1pm, ugly scenes erupted at the Nehru Stadium as the sun beat down. The crowd, which had waited all day in the hope of play beginning, grew restless and began throwing bottles onto the field. In sections of the stands banners, placards and newspapers were heaped together and burnt.Some of the Indian players were tossing a tennis ball around on the outfield and they went off the field as the police were called in to try and control the spectators. This was greeted by a further volley of bottled both full and empty, some of which travelled about 50 yards, landing well inside the field of play.On the eve of the game, a group of young cricket buffs held an exotic ritual by planting red and green chillies on the ground outside the Nehru Stadium, a ceremony conducted to invoke supernatural forces to keep the rains away. They and many more at Guwahati, which staged its last ODI around two-and-a-half years back, will have to brace themselves for another long wait.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid at the nets on the eve of the Kanpur one-dayer© Getty Images

“I’ve never seen so many policemen in my life,” said a local shopkeeper as I made my way past bamboo barriers, fortified steel gates and police keeping watch on every corner around Green Park in Kanpur, where India and Pakistan will play the fifth one-day international of the six-match series tomorrow. They have every reason to be watchful. The local arm of the Shiv Sena – a political party not known for peaceful protests – recently suggested that they would make their presence felt.Inside, business was frenetic, as the day preceding a major event tends to be. There was chaos around the stairs as a press conference was announced. The media hustled Rahul Dravid and Younis Khan, crowds swamped around the net area, and right in the middle of a circle of green, inspected by men in teapot poses, was a pale pitch, devoid of any colour. But the wicket, for which questions of the day are usually reserved, found itself upstaged by Sourav Ganguly’s six-match ban. Will he play or won’t he? Dravid appeared undisturbed: “We have not been intimated about it. We’re preparing as normal.” Later, a team member said that Ganguly was in Kolkata, so perhaps he would not be playing. Dravid spoke about the series now resting on two days, about how it was a task the team was eager to undertake: “It’s a great challenge. The team’s looking forward to it. I hope to get support from the squad.”The pitch then did garner its proper share of attention. “The pitch appears slow,” answered Younis when asked for his opinion. “It’s difficult to predict,” said Dravid. “There will be some low bounce, though not much help for the fast bowlers.”Even so, Dravid expects the bowlers to apply themselves with more verve than they did at Ahmedabad, where Pakistan finally achieved the first successful run-chase of the series. Both he and Younis said that batting first would be preferable, though Dravid thought the pitch would behave the same throughout the match. If Pakistan won the toss, he said simply, India would have to restrict them by getting past the more accomplished batsmen. “Their top order has done well. Inzamam [ul-Haq], [Yousuf] Youhana [and the others] have hurt us badly.”Younis added Shahid Afridi to that list: “Shahid is playing well. He hits 30-40 runs in 15-16 balls.” It was his primal batting that got Pakistan going at Ahmedabad. “The boys are playing well,” he summed up, and with regards to Pakistan being front-runners now, added: “When you play well, you win.” That was the underlying theme of Dravid’s talk with the press, too. “We’ll have to score big runs and play good cricket for 100 overs. We’ve played well in patches previously. We didn’t bowl or defend runs well. We’ve learnt from some of the things [we did wrong]. Sometimes it just comes down to utilising skills better.”

Dravid and Inzamam-ul-Haq have a peek at the pitch© Getty Images

Dravid was reminded that India have not won a major one-day series at home for nearly five years. He smiled and said, “We believe we can do it. We have the players to do it.” Dhoni was one of those players, he suggested, but he needed to perform consistently. “He has to play a lot more. He has talent and has shown good cricket sense. He has the capability to do it.” Asked if Dhoni’s arrival came as relief for himself, Dravid said with a grin, “The team is relieved, the [opposition] bowlers aren’t.”Conditions, as they are in India in the awkward months between winter and the monsoons, continue to remain oppressive. And Kanpur, already regarded as a hot-spot for pollution, is more uncomfortable these days as it becomes hotter. But Dravid played down the weather, saying that there were only two more games to go; it could not be used as an excuse.Both teams were guarded about the team composition, though Younis inadvertently gave an insight into Pakistan’s likely team: “If there are no injuries, there are no changes.” But the Indians had more to contend with after back-to-back losses as well as Ganguly’s possible absence. There was the likelihood of Dinesh Mongia playing, and though Dravid said he was one of a few options, he acknowledged that Mongia’s bowling would be as important as his batting. Anil Kumble could also make the cut on a pitch that might assist slow bowlers.Ticket queues at 5am – as there were today – tell a story. A press card starts cricket conversations and debates with strangers in unlikely places. It wins you smiles. There’s a language being spoken here, one that has no need of words.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra SinghDhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Dinesh Mongia, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MohammadKaif, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 11 Murali Kartik.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Yousuf Youhana, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.