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Faisalabad comfortably defeated Sialkot by the convincing margin of 130 runs, on the final day of their Pentangular Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and took a big lead over the other participants at the top of the table with the full 18 points from two matches.After having set Sialkot a stiff victory target of 389 on Friday, Faisalabad bowled them out for 258. While Samiullah Niazi, the left-arm seamer, captured four wickets for 73 runs, opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez employed his offspin effectively to take three inexpensive wickets and hasten Sialkot’s demise. Hafeez, following his scores of 113 and 60, polished off the Sialkot lower order with figures of 3 for 16 from 5.4 overs.Only opener Majid Jahangir and middle-order batsman Shahzad Malik showed some resistance, contributing scores in the 80s, although their fourth-wicket stand together amounted to a modest 66 runs. Majid faced only 108 balls for his 80, hitting 14 boundaries. Shahzad remained unbeaten with 83.Faisalabad will now meet National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) — this season’s Patron’s Trophy champions — in their third-round match at the Multan Cricket Stadium from Tuesday. NBP have played one match in the Pentangular and gained nine points from an outright win.Sialkot, who have been defeated in both their matches so far, have the opportunity to redeem themselves, as they will be playing their next game against Karachi Harbour at Lahore, also from Tuesday.

Daren Ganga, the Trinidad & Tobago captain, has been appointed to lead the West Indies A side for the Sri Lankan tour which starts on June 19. Ganga, 26, has played 31 Tests for West Indies, and was also the captain on the last A tour to England in 2002.The naming of the 15-man squad had been delayed owing to pay disputes between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA). Both parties finally reached an agreement earlier this week. The squad also includes players who took part in West Indies’ recent series against South Africa and Pakistan – Tino Best, Narsingh Deonarine and Dwayne Smith have all been named in the line-up.Others, like Marlon Samuels, Dave Bernard jnr, Jermaine Lawson and Carlton Baugh, who have been out of the West Indies side, get another chance to reclaim their spots. Nikita Miller, the left-arm spinner from Jamaica, and Ryan Ramdass, the Guyanese opener, have been rewarded for the consistent domestic performances.West Indies A squad
Daren Ganga (capt), Ryan Ramdass, Xavier Marshall, Marlon Samuels, Narsingh Deonarine (vice-capt), Dwayne Smith, Runako Morton, Dave Bernard jnr, Carlton Baugh (wk), Dave Mohammed, Nikita Miller, Dwight Washington, Tino Best, Jermaine Lawson, Kerry Jeremy.Tour itinerary
June 23-26: First Test, Dambulla
June 29 – July 2: Second Test, Colombo
July 5-9: Third Test, Colombo
July 11: 1st one-dayer, Colombo
July 13: 2nd one-dayer, Colombo
July 15: 3rd one-dayer, Colombo
July 17: 4th one-dayer, Colombo
July 19: 5th one-dayer, Colombo

Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, has insisted his side will be going back to basics for the remainder of their one-day series against New Zealand, starting with the rescheduled fourth one-dayer tomorrow."In the last two games we have been outdone in the basics and we know that," Smith said, "that’s something we have been really good at over the last couple of months. It’s something we really want to pick up on again tomorrow."One of the problems Smith and his side have faced has been adapting to the conditions in New Zealand, including the different shapes of the grounds. "We’ve travelled a bit on the smaller grounds here," he said, "and tomorrow will see where we go with that, you’ll probably have to wait and see."Smith added that while the pressure was on the bowlers to perform, he expected more from everyone. "Where we were in the game batting-wise last time, we should have won the game. I expect a little more from everyone, including myself."

An unbeaten century from left-hander S Sriram has secured Tamil Nadu a healthy first-innings lead over Punjab at the end of third day of the Elite Group encounter between the two sides at Mohali.Sriram made 160 not out (237 balls, 19 fours) to ensure that his side gained a 101-run lead over Punjab with three first-innings wickets in hand going into the final day. Skipper S Suresh (32), S Ramesh (39), S Sharath (35) and MR Shrinivas (30*) were the others to get among the runs for the visitors. For Punjab, Vineet Sharma claimed four wickets.At Delhi, a Gautam Gambhir ton saw the hosts post a strong reply after Hyderabad declared their first innings at 297/9. Delhi were 260/3 when stumps were drawn at the end of the third day’s play.In the morning, Hyderabad, who resumed at 180/5, were well served by overnight not out batsman D Vinay Kumar, who went on to make 96. With Arjun Yadav (35) and I Khaleel (30) chipping in with useful hands, the visitors managed to post a respectable first-innings total. Amit Bhandari, who claimed four wickets, was the most successful bowler for the hosts.When Delhi replied, opener Gambhir played masterfully to make an unbeaten 140 (196 balls, 22 fours). The 19-year-old Salil Oberoi, who made 64, was the other home team batsman to make an impression on the day.Assam, meanwhile, are pushing for an outright win against Uttar Pradesh in another Elite Group encounter being played at Guwahati. The hosts, replying to Uttar Pradesh’s first-innings total of 211, made a massive 469/9 before declaring. Kiran Powar (175, 350 balls, 24 fours) and Manoj Joglekar (80, 150 balls, five fours) were the men who were mainly responsible for guiding their team into such a strong position. Fighting to avoid an outright defeat, Uttar Pradesh were 28/0 in their second essay when play ended on the penultimate day.In another match at Kolkata, Andhra needed 80 runs with all second-innings wickets in hand to complete a win over hosts Bengal.In the morning, the visitors, who resumed their first innings at 275/8, were bowled out for 319, having secured a lead of 130. When Bengal batted for the second time, Devang Gandhi (102, 143 balls, 13 fours) and Deep Dasgupta (66, 154 balls, seven fours) laid a solid platform. But off-spinner Hemal Watekar (4-73) and D Kalyan Krishna (3-41) precitipated a collapse that saw the hosts lose eight wickets for the addition of just 52 runs. Needing just 108 to complete a second sucessive win, Andhra were 20/0 when stumps were drawn on the penultimate day.At Jaipur, Mumbai earned a 12-run first-innings lead over Rajasthan. By the end of the penultimate day’s play, they had managed to extend it to 107 by reaching 95/1 in their second essay. Mumbai medium-pacer, Robin Morris was the man responsible for gaining his side the all-important first-innings lead. He claimed 6-39 in 19 overs to almost single-handedly wreck the hosts’ hopes of gaining a point out of the match. Opener Vinayak Mane (43) was the only wicket to fall when Mumbai batted a second time.In the only other Elite Group match, Railways reached 139/1 in 35 overs in their first innings against Himachal Pradesh. Amit Pagnis (59*) and Tejinder Pal Singh (60*) were the two not out batsmen. Rain had earlier prevented pplay on the first two days and most of the third day.

Shane Warne has explained how his position in the Australian side has changed in recent years, and appears to be revelling in his role out of the spotlight.”My role in the side has changed a fair bit with the three quicks in the side in the last couple of years," Warne reasoned.”We always used to bat first no matter what so I could bowl on the fourth or fifth day. Now we bowl first all the time. It’s been a change in tactics for us and that’s been something I’ve had to adjust to.”I bowl on days one, two and three and people start to say I’m not bowling big turners any more. I say ‘wait until days four and five’ but we’re winning in three days, so I don’t get that opportunity very often.”My role now is to make some handy runs at number eight, take a few catches and pick up the odd wicket here and there.”Warne endured a tough tour of India. Much was expected of him on the turning pitches but he found Laxman and co. to be wonderful players of spin and his wickets came at more than 50 apiece. India also ended Australia’s remarkable unbeaten run, but Warne does not believe that they played badly, rather that India raised their game.”People have said various things about us, but I tend to disagree about India. I think it went pretty well for all of us," he said. “It would’ve been nice to win, but I thought it was a fascinating Test series. It was one of most exciting I’ve been involved in.”Someone like Laxman, averaging 25 in Test cricket, comes out and gets 280; it’s one of the best innings I’ve ever witnessed.”When you lose you always think you could’ve done better, but you’ve got to take your hat off and say ‘Jeez mate you played well and were too good for us’.”Looking forward to the Ashes, Warne appears to revel in the resurgence of the England team, but he insists that Australia have never taken anything for granted against the old enemy.”The Ashes were never devalued in my eyes. It’s always something special. It’s irrelevant if England are playing badly or we’re playing badly. England-Australia battles always bring out the best in everybody.”The history and tradition means so much. A lot of us have been playing against each other for a long time. I know how the English batters play and they know how I’m going to bowl.”It’ll be interesting to see which way they try and go; whether they come out and have a go, which will help me, or whether they try and make it hard for me to get a wicket.”

Geoff Lawson would like to see Pakistan playing more Test cricket over the next few years, but admits there is little that can be done about it.Pakistan are scheduled to play only three Test series in two years and one less if Australia pull out of their scheduled tour to the country next month. As the Future Tours Programme (FTP) stands, Pakistan will play Australia next month, host India towards the end of this year and then go to Sri Lanka in July 2009. Their last Test series was in November-December last year against India.”It is strange that that we play only three Test series in two years but I am not responsible for the FTP and I don’t organize the programme,” Lawson said at the National Stadium in Karachi. “It’s a little bit like India a few years back where we had lots of ODIs but few Tests. More Tests would be great sure.”Towards that end, Australia coming, even if for a shortened tour, would help and Lawson said that getting them over was the top priority. “My first concern is that Australia come over,” Lawson said. “We can’t affect what Cricket Australia or their players do but we can affect our own preparation and cricket. My focus is to make sure that our minds are on cricket and that we are mentally and physically ready to take on Australia when they do come.”Things are coming together for Pakistan in that respect. As ever, they will rely heavily on their pace attack for the series, in particular Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, who have both been out with injuries recently. Lawson said, however, that the pair was getting back to full fitness. “They’re both working hard at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore and are bowling again. Asif is bowling off a three-quarters run up and if his elbow holds up, he will come back an even better bowler.”Gul has come back from Australia [after a check-up on his back] and has been cleared and is doing some gym work now.”Pakistan are also looking into the possibility of hiring a sports psychologist for the side, a recommendation that Lawson had made after the tour to India. “We’re in the process of trying to organize it,” Lawson said. “Every major sporting team has one and we want to do everything to make our team the best side.”I have suggested a few names from Australia who have experience with cricket, but I am also open to local names as they might understand and work with the Asian mindset better.”

Brad Hogg’s return to wicket-taking form and Shaun Tait’s useful collection highlighted an improved Australian bowling performance as they restricted England to 197 on the way to a five-wicket warm-up win. While Tait captured 4 for 33 off 8.3 overs, Hogg’s figures of 2 for 28 off ten were also valuable ahead of a tournament where spin is expected to play a significant part.In his previous six games Hogg had not taken a wicket, but he produced two important moments to remove Ian Bell, who was stumped smartly for 56, and pick up Michael Vaughan an over later for 62. “Right from the start he bowled a bit quicker through the air,” Ricky Ponting told AFP. “He used his variations very well and got two wickets with his wrong’un. It’s good to see him back to his lively self again.”Ponting was also pleased with the work of Tait after speaking with him about his tactics for the tournament. Tait dismissed Ed Joyce with an inswinging yorker, knocked over Kevin Pietersen and grabbed two wickets to end the innings.”I sat down and had a bit of chat with Shaun about how he can be best used,” Ponting said. “Today he showed everybody just how effective he can be – and it’s not the first time he’s done that.” Stuart Clark was also impressive, picking up 3 for 16 after being the eighth bowler Ponting called on.Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson kept the side on track for the success with a 140-run opening stand and the result ended England’s streak of three consecutive victories over Australia. “It was a good solid hit-out,” Ponting said. “I said the other day I wanted the guys to approach these games as proper one-day internationals and play them with that sort of intensity.”England’s brightest spot was the performance of Vaughan, who was returning from a leg injury that interrupted his tour of Australia. “It’s nice to get a few runs, spend some time in the middle and test the hamstring in a match situation,” Vaughan said.However, Vaughan was disappointed his side suffered a collapse of 9 for 75 after he and Bell put on 116 for the second wicket. “At 122 for 2 you expect to get 250 minimum,” he said. “That kind of score on that kind of pitch would have been a really competitive total. But sometimes it’s good that something like this happens before the actual tournament starts because it gives us an indication of how we are going to have to play on these kind of wickets.”

In the tenth over of the match, the scorer in the press box made an announcement that had most people in splits. “The 39-run partnership between Gambhir and Dravid is an Indian record for the highest second-wicket partnership against England at the Feroz Shah Kotla.” Talk about cricket being a statistician’s delight. A frantic day was enlivened by a few more such announcements but the one stat that overshadowed all was reserved for the last.Harbhajan Singh, who had earlier top-scored with a reviving 37, spun to a career-best 5 for 31, bettering his 5 for 43 against the same opponents four years ago. Astonishingly, it had come after he had been caned for 22 runs in the first four (his second spell read 6 – 2 – 9 – 4). Every ball appeared to be wrapped with mystery, spin mixed with rip mixed with loop, all leaving the England batsmen quite clueless.It came after a harrowing few months for Harbhajan – wicketless in two Tests in Pakistan, missing the following ODI series (where there was even a conspiracy theory surrounding his reluctance to bowl in front of the match referee), and a modest eight wickets in the three Tests against England. Some branded him an “SG ball bowler”, a few asked questions about his technique, others spoke about a possible feeling of insecurity.But just like the Feroz Shah Kotla, with four new stands and it’s capacity increased by around 15000, Harbhajan sported a new look. Yet one must remember that he hadn’t bowled too badly in the preceding Tests, just that the results hadn’t been forthcoming. “I didn’t try anything different here,” he added, “just wanted to bowl as well as I have been doing. I knew, at some stage, the results would come.”Duncan Fletcher, in his book , has a large section dedicated to the advantages of playing the sweep shot but it was always going to be a hazardous option on this particular pitch. Four of their main batsmen succumbed to swishes across the line – three holed out in the deep, while Flintoff was trapped lbw – and played right into India’s hands. “Obviously the sweep shot gives you the option to get an lbw or a bowled,” Harbhajan said after the match. “It’s dangerous if they are not playing the right length, especially on the wicket like this when the ball is keeping low.”Support arrived from an unlikely quarter with Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan’s state-mate, turning into an ideal foil (2 for 32). “It was important that we were bowling good balls from both ends. Yuvraj bowled very well. It was nice to see him take that responsibility and bowl so well.”Harbhajan the bowler engineered the fightback but it was Harbhajan the batsman who had given them hope. After a most atrocious slog to square leg, on the last day of the Mumbai Test, not many punters might have picked Harbhajan as the top-scorer. He admitted, though, that he was doubly determined. “I had played a very bad shot in the last Test,” he continued, “and I wanted to bat well till the last over. I had to bat with Dhoni at that stage and was talking to him. Rahul and Greg told me to rotate the strike, not play shots, and look to play straight.”It helps your confidence if you do well in one form of the game. The lower-order batsmen have been working hard. We would like to keep improving ourselves and helping the team cause.”His penultimate act of the day was to deliver the last ball of the 31st over with five men preying close to the bat. The relief on his face, when he doffed his hat and thanked the gods, was palpable. A forgettable phase appeared to have been put behind. It was time to surge ahead. Dhoni duly obliged by mounting the TVS Apache – Harbhajan’s Man-of-the-Match award – and escorted him on a joyous victory lap. We were reliably informed that it was the first time a wicketkeeper from Ranchi and an offspinner from Jalandhar had ridden around half the Kotla at 4:35 in the evening.

Scorecard