Scorecard

A fine all-round display from Mohammad Hafeez ensured Pakistan avoided any slip-ups as they eased to a 77-run warm-up win over Canada in Trinidad. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Hafeez posted smooth half-centuries to push Pakistan to 273 for 8 before Hafeez and Rao Iftikhar shared six wickets as Canada were dismissed for 196 in the 47th over.The Pakistanis suffered three injury setbacks in the lead-up to the tournament, with Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif ruled out of the event, but they coped without the trio in a game reduced to 48 overs due to a collapsed sightscreen. A break of more than an hour was needed to fix the problem during Pakistan’s innings.Hafeez was the top scorer with 61 while Inzamam stroked an impressive 59 to give Pakistan’s batting a boost after they slipped to 66 for 4. Anderson Cummins, the former West Indies bowler, struck first with the wicket of Younis Khan, who was pushed up to open on an Inzamam hunch, while Henry Osinde (2 for 41) captured Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik.The 93-run partnership between Inzamam, who faced 64 balls and hit 11 fours, and Hafeez guided them to safety and Kamran Akmal provided the late-innings push with a 37-ball 56. He blasted four sixes as Pakistan set Canada a challenging total.Pakistan, who open the World Cup against West Indies on Tuesday, then made sure Canada could not build on a promising start set up by the openers Geoff Barnett and Abdool Samad. The pair reached 60 before the side fell to 91 for 5 with the loss of the captain John Davison, who was one of Rao’s three victims.Qaiser Ali and Ashif Mulla both posted 30s but Hafeez entered to finish off the innings with 3 for 10 in 3.4 overs. “Our batsmen and bowlers had good workouts in this game,” Pakistan’s coach Bob Woolmer told AFP. “We did a little bit of experimenting by sending Younis Khan up front, which allowed some other players to feature.”

Justin Ontong produced the heroics as he lifted the Highveld Lions to a last-ball victory over the Nashua Cape Cobras in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Friday. All seemed lost for the Lions as they staggered to 120 for 6 after 15 overs, chasing 182, but Ontong answered their call as he charged to 43 off just 21 balls as the Lions snatched a thrilling two-wicket victory.The Cobras will face accusations of choking because it was a game they looked to have wrapped up, but they dropped four catches and their ground fielding and bowling was poor in the last five overs. Ontong showed the skills and composure that once made him a national player as he and Eugene Moleon took the 12 runs they needed off Alan Dawson’s last over, even though Ontong was bowled off the penultimate delivery.Werner Coetsee also produced a heroic innings of 33 off 23 balls, sharing the vital seventh-wicket stand of 68 off 39 balls, before he was stumped off Adam Bacher with two overs remaining. Charl Willoughby had earlier strangled the Lions run-chase at birth as he picked up the first three wickets inside the first six overs, but the innings was boosted by bright knocks by Vaughn van Jaarsveld (31) and Tyron Henderson (22).Earlier, Bacher had laid the foundation for the Cobras’ total of 181 for 6 after they won the toss and chose to bat first, charging to 85 off just 54 balls. Henry Davids also provided impetus up front as he slammed 34 off 15 balls and Vernon Philander finished well with 21 not out off 15 balls.Offspinner Coetsee stopped the flow of runs effectively as he bowled four overs for 21 runs, while paceman Gerhard de Bruin kept running in hard and had three wickets to crow about, conceding just 25 runs in his four overs. Nevertheless, the Cobras’ total seemed secure as the Lions made a thorny start, before the Cobras lost their way at the death and Ontong led the home side to a thrilling triumph.

Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan board, has been asked by the senate committee for sports why lawyers were not sent to Jamaica when police interviewed the Pakistan players after the murder of their coach Bob Woolmer.”We asked the chairman why no legal assistance was provided to the players in Jamaica when they were facing the investigation. Ashraf said the board would do it in future if required,” said Senator Anwar Baig, a member of the committee.Ashraf said that if any player was required by the Jamaican police for further investigations the PCB would provide him with full legal assistance. He also reiterated to the committee that no Pakistan players or officials were involved in the murder or in match-fixing.The Jamaican police questioned the whole team once and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed, the assistant coach, and Talat Ali, the team manager, twice after Woolmer’s death. The squad also gave DNA samples and fingerprints.

When England’s Kevin Pietersen bats against South Africa in a crucial World Cup Super Eights match on Tuesday he will be short of neither motivation nor confidence. That Pietersen reserves his best against the country of his birth can be gauged from his average of 151.33 against South Africa, and 56.55 overall.Pietersen is currently in good form, having scored England’s only century of the tournament against Australia in the Super Eights. England supporters hope he continues in the same vein in a match they need to win to sustain their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. If South Africa are successful, they will be in the last four.Lurking beneath the surface is a bitter relationship between Pietersen, who was condemned as an opportunist when he decided to qualify for England after protesting against the quota system in South Africa, and the opposition captain Graeme Smith. The two have been engaged in a torrid war of words for two years.”Everyone knows we don’t get on for whatever reasons, but that’s gone,” Pietersen said. “It’s not about myself, Smith, Andre Nel or Michael Vaughan on Tuesday, it’s about producing a big team performance.”I wouldn’t say that it is the game that matters to me more than the others because the match against Australia is big as well, but it’s an important game for me and I look forward to it. It’s going to be a big game with a lot of needle. I don’t know why there is needle between the two sides other than there are some really world-class players on both the sides.”

Smith was furious when Pietersen switched allegiances. “I’m patriotic about my country, and that’s why I don’t like Kevin Pietersen – the only reason that Kevin and I have never had a relationship is because he slated South Africa,” Smith has said in the past.Pietersen tried to diffuse a potentially explosive situation on Monday. “I saw Smith in India and I saw him in the world series and we said hello,” he said.Smith and Michael Vaughan, the England captain, will both face the added pressure of needing to get their sides off to strong starts. England’s top three has struggled during the tournament and Vaughan is determined to lift to improve their chances of a semi-final spot.”It is a mixture of reasons for the struggle at the top of the order and definitely form is one of those,” Vaughan said. “We need to spend some time in the centre. We have to improve in some areas.”South Africa lost to New Zealand on Saturday but Smith was confident of a quick recovery. “It is a crunch game for us and it always was going to be,” he said. “We’ll bounce back. We have a lot of experience and we’ve got a lot of big players looking forward to the England game.”

Percy Sonn’s funeral took place in Cape Town on Saturday, six days after the ICC president died from complications following colon surgery.Leading members of world cricket, including South African captain Graeme Smith, government figures and judiciary attended the service at St George’s Cathedral.”It is amazing that Percy, the boy from Bellville Cricket Club, became the boss of world cricket,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.Pall bearers into the cathedral included Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka and Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa’s CEO.

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, has signed a new one-year contract with Essex for the 2008 season.Kaneria is currently in his third season with the county, having first played for them in the 2004 season. His start this summer has been impressive: with 44 wickets, he is the leading domestic wicket-taker in the County Championship, helping Essex to third place in the second division. The success has rubbed off into the shorter form of the game as well, and he has taken 18 wickets in the Friends Provident Trophy.Kaneria said of his new deal: “I’m delighted because I love to be with the Essex team. I am an Essex man now and enjoy being over here. By the grace of God all of the negotiations with [chief executive] David East have gone well and I’ve been signed again for the coming year with Essex.”I’m learning day by day and getting better all the time. In the years to come I hope to give better performances than I am giving now to take this team on the winning track all the time.”East reciprocated the sentiment, expressing his pleasure at the one-year extension. “We are obviously very pleased that Danish has decided to play for Essex again in 2008. Danish is a world-class player who is doing a fabulous job and is clearly enjoying his cricket – which is evident from his results and the smile on his face. Danish’s return next year is, as always, subject to the agreement of the Pakistan Cricket Board.”

The second ODI between Canada and Netherlands at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club was abandoned without a ball being bowled.Rain in the early morning left the ground wet, and although the mopping up operation went well, no sooner had it finished that the rain returned.At 1.10pm the rain again relented and the two captains headed out to the middle to toss, but before they got out there a light drizzle started falling and the two of them returned to the pavilion.An hour later the decision was taken to abandon the game. Even though it had again stopped raining, the umpires decided that the outfield was too wet and would take too long to clear up.Netherlands take the two-match series by virtue of their 117-run win in yesterday’s game.On Tuesday at King City, the Canadian Invitational XI beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 37 runs. This was a warm-up game for the UAE before playing Canada in a four-day Intercontinental Cup match starting on Friday at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. Play begins at 10.30am.The Invitational XI scored 290 for 7, with Quebec’s Abdul Jabbar topscoring with 75. There were fifties, too, for Zain Ahmed (56) and Hemnarine Chattergoon (50).Saqib Ali made 90 not out and Ismail 62 for the visitors from a total of 233. Calvert Hooper took 3 for 45, Naresh Roopnaraine 2 for 36 and Krunal Patel 2 for 33.

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain, has said that it is now up to the younger players in the side to take the lead and win games for the team. Kapil felt that as the future of Indian cricket, players like Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan have to take up more responsibility if India are to have long-term success.”As long as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are there, they should be the anchor, the platform to ensure that nothing should go wrong,” Kapil told . “England is always a tough tour and this series will be a real test for India after the World Cup.”Kapil said that India were going through a rough period post World Cup. “They needed to get their heads together and sort things out,” he said. “But the issue of who will coach the side has dragged on too long.” The Indian board is yet to appoint a coach and the team is touring England with Chandu Borde, the former Indian batsman, as the team manager.Zaheer’s county experience, Kapil said, will prove useful to India, who have no other fast bowler in the squad with a knowledge of English conditions. “He [Zaheer] knows more about English pitches and English conditions than any of the other seamers. If he can also take responsibility it will be lovely.”In an endorsement of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a potential rival to the Indian board, Kapil said that young Indian players would benefit a lot if they got a chance to play some of the best international players in the world. He also said that the problem at the moment was that the leading Indian players didn’t play enough domestic cricket.The ICL, which has signed up Kapil, Kiran More, Sandeep Patil, Dean Jones, and Tony Greig, will consist of 20-overs-per-side matches. Each side will have two top Indian and four foreign players. The prize money for the tournament, which will be telecast on Zee Sports, includes $1 million for the winners.

John Wright is looking forward to his stint with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in a yet-to-be-disclosed role. Amid speculation that he would be appointed a national selector, Wright said he was prepared to work on a variety of projects ranging from grooming emerging players and seasoned internationals to the overhauling of talent-spotting programmes.The reported that one of his first tasks will be to coach New Zealand A on their visit to Australia in October, although he is reluctant to spend too much time away from home. “It’s probably best that Justin [Vaughan, NZC’s chief executive officer] nailed down the specifics, but I think he wants me to work on things as disparate as the A team and emerging players, and a study into the relationships between the major associations and New Zealand Cricket,” Wright told the Sunday Star Times.Wright’s signing with NZC has already been welcomed by John Bracewell, the head coach, who hopes Wright will be available to work with the openers before and during the tour of South Africa in November. Wright said he was prepared to work with New Zealand’s senior and contracted players, if and when they needed assistance.”I’m definitely keen to help the current internationals if they want me,” he said. “I don’t want to interfere or step on anyone’s toes, but I’d certainly be available if someone wanted me to work with a specific player or players.”But, to be honest, I’m not that keen to tour. After 10 or 11 years abroad I wouldn’t be leaping enthusiastically back into a suitcase, put it that way. I guess I’ll see what happens. I might feel differently in a year or so.”His reluctance to travel was one of the reasons Wright opted out of the head coaching role with Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of being away again,” he said.A major concern for Wright in this new endeavour was whether he would be effective enough. “If you’re willing to get involved in top-level professional sport, you’ve got to try and make a difference, and that’s what I’ll be looking to do over the next couple of years,” he said.”I don’t want to simply make up the numbers, I want to try to help. I don’t know whether I’ll be any good or not, but I think if I didn’t try to help at some stage I’d regret it. I’m a New Zealander first and foremost and this is where my heart’s at.”

Sandeep Patil, the former India coach, and Dinesh Mongia, the former India batsman, have cited ill-treatment by the Indian board and the selectors respectively as reasons for their decision to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Patil said he was given “false assurances” of being made the India A coach but, eventually, nothing materialised. “I still have a copy of the e-mail that I was asked to send by Sharad Pawar [the president of the BCCI] expressing my willingness to be India A team’s coach. Nothing moved after that,” Patil told the Times of India. In fact, once Pawar called Ratnakar Shetty [the chief administrative officer of BCCI] and secretary Niranjan Shah in my presence, telling them to make my appointment, yet nothing materialised.”Mongia blamed the selectors for not giving him a proper run and said he was dropped despite some good performances. “Before the World Cup, I was given a break against Australia in Malaysia where I scored 63 not out. But after that I was dropped,” Mongia told the Indian Express. “I think I was dropped because I was scoring runs or I played well, that is the signal I got”.”Later too, I got a chance against Australia [in the Champions Trophy], where I failed. I did tour South Africa, played in Durban, where I disappointed, but everybody else also failed. Later I played in the Twenty20 game and was instrumental in winning the match against South Africa , and again the same old story: I was dropped.”Mongia did play in the 5th ODI against South Africa, two days after that Twenty20 game, and scored an 89-ball 41. He later made a comeback in the tour of Bangladesh and made 17 runs in each of the two ODI games that he played.”If you see a team like Australia, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Michael Hussey, they all are treated as equals,” Mongia said. “It’s the performance that matters there, not the name. One thing has be to understood, when you are the boss, you have to give due importance to everybody. You can’t just concentrate on the big names and ignore the lesser players.”