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The outgoing chairman of the England and Wales cricket board, Lord MacLaurin, believes Andrew Flintoff did not take his recuperation from a summer hernia operation seriously enough.Flintoff has missed all three Test match defeats in Australia on the tour so far, but was called on to the field as a substitute during the second Test in Adelaide.”I think it is unfortunate,” MacLaurin told the BBC. “I think players have got to take responsibility for their own fitness and maybe Freddy did not take his recuperation as seriously as he should have done.””I think Flintoff was doing things in his recuperation that he probably shouldn`t have but that is between me, him and David Graveney (chairman ofselectors). Professional footballers are back playing within four or five weeks.”He had his operation way back in summer and should really have been fit by now.That is something we have got to look at and I know that is something DavidGraveney is aware of.”MacLaurin defended England`s decision to take Darren Gough, who was eventually sent home after failing to recover from a long-standing knee injury.”It was a gamble taking Gough but a fit Gough would have been a big plus toour side if he was able to play.”The ECB chairman also warned that there would be no quick fixes to England’s plight after the national team’s humiliation down under.”You can`t suddenly wave a magic wand and become best in the world. What you do is put down some foundations for the future, which is what we have done. We set up central contracts as well as the Academy, which is in its second year.”The Australian side has been going through their Academy, which teaches themthe skills of the game and the mental capability to play at the highest level.”I can understand the reaction by cricket followers about the results inAustralia but let us not forget they have just beaten South African and Pakistanout of sight and we have been very, very unfortunate with injuries and have notplayed our best side.”We have to be patient. There is no knee-jerk reaction, We have put everything in place for the future and we have just got to see it through now. Our mission statement says we need to be best in the world by 2007 and it is going to take that time.”Cricket has changed over the years. There has to be a mental capability anda lot of our players really haven’t seen that side of cricket before. We have got some very good young players coming through and I would hope that within a couple of years or so our Test side will be made up of most of the players that have come through the Academy.”There is a tough side to Australian cricket and our county game does notgive it to our players. That is why the Academy is so important to us and has been very important to the Australians. There is a mental capability that we can give them that prepares them better for international cricket and that is what we are doing.”I would like to see this summer a lot of our younger players coming in (to the Test side) and may be it will take a year or so, but give them experience atinternational level and we will start to build a side like Australia havegot.”MacLaurin also repeated his backing for the England captain Nasser Hussain following England’s innings defeat at Perth which ensured Australia’s retention of the Ashes.”I have written to Nasser and I think it would be extremely sad if he steppeddown,” said MacLaurin, who steps down from his position at the end of theyear. “We need his experience, we need all the good things that Nasser has to bring the young players into the side.”He is a tough man and has got a very good partnership with (coach) DuncanFletcher. I know that Duncan is very keen to keep him, I am certainly very keento keep him. It would be bad for English cricket if he decided to step away.”Let`s not have knee-jerk reaction after the very, very disappointing seriesin Australia. Let`s plan, let`s look at it and then English cricket will flourish.Yesterday, MacLaurin`s replacement David Morgan, former Glamorgan chairman, also gave Hussain his backing.”He is still the man to lead England,” said Morgan. “Against the background of playing an extremely strong and well-organised Australian team, with depleted forces, I do believe the task for Nasser has been a huge one and it has been a very difficult time for him.”I will give him every backing and every encouragement, and I am verysympathetic to the huge task he and the team have been facing against a verystrong side with depleted forces.”

After weeks of backroom manoeuvring and two days of boardroom negotiations, the Zimbabwe issue was resolved with a compromise that sees them pulling out of the 2009 World Twenty20 in England yet retaining their Full Member status with access to full funding from the ICC.Zimbabwe, whose decision to pull out from the World Twenty20 cleared the roadblock for the competition to be staged in England, will receive its full participation fee for the tournament. The scenario prompted Ray Mali, whose term as ICC president ended today, to call it a “win-win solution”.”We have decided to pull out in the larger interests of the game,” Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, told Cricinfo. “We have been informed that the British government may not grant visas to our players, and that situation may prevail during the Twenty20 World Cup. We don’t want to be gatecrashers; we will attend only those weddings to which we are invited.”Friday morning’s meeting of the ICC executive board, which spilled over into an unscheduled third day, lasted barely 20 minutes and wound up with sighs of relief, smiles all around and a group photo session that featured Mali’s successor David Morgan shaking hands warmly with Sharad Pawar, head of the Indian board and the ICC’s president-elect.The morning’s session was brief only because the principal players had been working through the night on an agreement that would avert a feared split within the ICC with England and South Africa ranged against India and other Asian countries over the propriety of Zimbabwe’s status as Full Member.In the end, India is believed to have played a key role in the compromise, especially in convincing Zimbabwe that the issue was not about membership of the ICC but about getting back into world cricket.”We have consulted and exchanged notes with everybody, including our Indian friends, last night,” Chingoka said. “We are now looking forward to more tours and international cricket with our Asian friends, especially India.”

Mali, it is learnt, also played his part last night in allaying Zimbabwean fears over their future. “Ray Mali, Dave Richardson, Haroon Lorgat and I decided on an adjournment yesterday to take the discussions forward. Mali took the lead (in resolving the issue),” Morgan said, before admitting “there were a number of private meetings after the adjournment.”Morgan said the issue of Zimbabwe’s membership was never discussed at the board meeting, which “unanimously” accepted the country’s “voluntary proposal” to pull out of the World Twenty20. There were different views on the issue during the hectic discussions, he acknowledged, but dismissed talk of the ICC being divided as a “mistake”.”It was a collective decision and I was a part of that decision,” SharadPawar, the BCCI president, confirmed to Cricinfo.Zimbabwe’s re-integration into mainstream cricket, and possibly the FTP, will be overseen by a three-member ICC sub-committee headed by Julian Hunte, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, and including Arjuna Ranatunga, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket, and an ICC official yet to be confirmed. Hunte and Ranatunga are ICC board members and were part of the official discussions over Zimbabwe here in Dubai.The sub-committee will advise the ICC board on all matters relating to Zimbabwe cricket; specific terms of reference for its operation have not yet been finalised but it’s believed that it will report back to the ICC board in November.The only window of uncertainty now is the one month that Chingoka has been given to get his board’s approval for the arrangement, including the pullout from the World Twenty20. Chingoka calls the shots in ZC so this effectively gives him time to reassess his position, especially if he develops any second thoughts over the compromise.

The Team Management in South Africa confirms that Sanath Jayasuriya has recovered sufficiently to play against South Africa ‘A’ in a warm-up game scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday 23rd November). However, this would be confirmed only at this evening at 7.00 p.m (11.00 p.m. Sri Lanka time).Meanwhile we have also got confirmation that Muttiah Muralitharan would be under-going surgery on Tuesday 26th November 2002. Dr. Peter Nottle (Leading Laprocopic Surgeon from Melbourne) will be the surgeon operating on him and will also monitor his recovery thereafter.The well-known Dr. Peter Nottle was incidentally in Sri Lanka recently to train some Sri Lankan doctors on surgery.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today confirmed that a 26-year-oldmale who came on to the playing area at Old Trafford during the final npowerTest Match against Sri Lanka appeared before Trafford magistrates on 18 Juneand pleaded guilty to the offence of ‘Aggravated Trespass’ (Section 68 ofthe Criminal Justice and Public Order Act). He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay costs.Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: “I am delighted that our hard work during the winter is paying off. It demonstrates the close co-operation and determination of the ECB, match venues, police and government in keeping spectators off the playing area.”In advance of the NatWest Series it sends the clear message that we will not tolerate supporters coming on to the pitch and that, if they do so, they will find themselves subject to criminal prosecution.”

The Glamorgan Dragons opened their Norwich Union League season with a welldeserved 20 run victory against the Durham Dynamos at Sophia Gardens.Such a result though had seemed unlikely in the first hour of the game as Glamorgan slumped to 49-5. But an attractive 58 run partnership between Mike Powell and Mark Wallace restored the Welsh county`s fortunes, and by the end of their 45 over allocation, they had reached a more respectable total of161-8.In reply, the Durham batsmen never got into their stride as Mike Kasprowicz had a dream debut in the Dragons colours, with the Australian taking three wickets in a fiery spell with the new ball.With Andrew Davies in miserly form at the other end, Durham stuttered to 27-3 in the opening 12 overs – a start from which they never recovered.Spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker further contained the Durham batsmen,and a measure of their control over the visitors was that the two spinners onlyconceded three boundaries during their 18 over spell.Andy Pratt, the Durham wicket-keeper, made a belated bid to up the tempo, buthe fell to Andrew Davies who returned to pick up two wickets in a disciplinedcomeback spell which helped to settle the game in the Dragons favour.

Sheikhupura, the winners of all their Pool B matches, have to face the tough challenge by Rawalpindi, as the two teams meet in the first semi-final of the One-day tournament (Associations), at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. Rawalpindi finished the preliminary round as the second best team in Pool A. Karachi Whites, the winners of this Pool will clash with Karachi Blues in the second semi, to be played at National Stadium, Karachi.Led by Test veteran Aaqib Javed, Sheikhupura have given an impressive performance in all their Pool matches, beating formidable opponents like Lahore and Karachi Blues by considerable margins.Although Sheikhupura has performed like a well-knit unit, their victories haven’t been devoid of some eye-catching individual performances. Imran Nazir has easily been the pick of their batsmen, scoring 294 runs off 188 balls in three matches played. After missing out the first two matches of the competition, the stylish right-hander started his campaign with a magnificent 148 off only 110 balls against Karachi Blues. He followed this up by a magnificent 102 off 63 balls against Sargodha and then went on to impose a 15-ball blitz of 44 on Lahore Blues in the last encounter.Qaiser Abbas is another name that Rawalpindi will have to look out for. The left-handed all-rounder has been quite impressive with both bat and ball, scoring 141 runs, with the help of two fifties, and taking 9 wickets in five matches.Rawalpindi, on the other hand, enjoy an 80% success rate in Pool A, where they were pitted against the likes of Karachi Whites and Lahore Whites. They have the likes of experienced Naved Ashraf along with all-rounders Naeem Akhtar and Yasir Arafat in their ranks.The second match of the knockout stage is between the two teams hailing from Karachi, i.e., Whites and Blues.Karachi Blues, who earned the semi-final berth after surpassing Faisalabad and Gujranwala on net run rate, boast of some very talented players in their side. Tariq Haroon, the opening batsmen, has already showed his class with two hundreds against his name. Skipper Mansoor Khan has been quite an inspiration for the side with both bat and ball. After scoring two fifties in the first two matches, he showed his bowling prowess by taking four wickets against Sargodha in the last Pool match.Karachi Whites certainly look a lot stronger than their opponents, with Shahid Afridi, Hasan Raza and Saeed Bin Nasir all in excellent form. Moreover, they have turned out to be the only side to have beaten a hitherto unconquerable Rawalpindi in the last Pool match. And that wasn’t a modest win by any standards.After hammering 322 for 6 in 50 overs, which contained a superb 115 by Hasan Raza and a 28-ball 64 by the belligerent Afridi, Karachi Whites restricted Rawalpindi to 234 for 7 in their allotted overs, thus, winning the match by 88 runs.The semi-finals, thus, promise a lot of thrill and excitement for cricket fans. Weather permits, there are chances of enough crowd presence in the two matches, which would decide the finalists of the tournament.

A couple of months ago in New Zealand, Pakistan Cricket touched rock bottom. Captained by Moin, Pakistan was defeated in the ODI’s 3-2. More, plagued by injuries, the stand-in captain Inzamam was desperately short of resources and Pakistan went down in the Hamilton Test. The margin of ODI series loss does not look nearly as decisive as in fact, it was.Then first signs after some years of undisputed unpredictability, Pakistan might be less unpredictable, came at Sharjah. In fact, after having seen the toughs and roughs, after having been subjected to player power, marred by many in-house intrigues, the PCB at last began rebuilding a team that might satisfy Pakistan’s exacting demands. With four straight wins at Sharjah, the expectant fans in the country dreamt about a climb to pre-eminence. Not to be! Unfortunately, hopes were dashed as a rather young side sweltering under pressure presented the title to Sri Lanka, seemingly without a fight.

For the England tour, the selectors were adamant on finding a young, enthusiastic and talented team, or so they claimed. They first chose Waqar Younis as the captain. Whether selected, or chosen by the cricketing hierarchy was a question that erupted immediately after Moin was neglected for the Sharjah tournament. In retrospect, there was no one else to be chosen from and presumably Waqar became a compulsive choice as Inzamam decided to stay away for reasons best known to him.Obviously, having been a top performer he was offered the captaincy on his return from New Zealand but as expected he refrained. One can guess this probably was to allow himself another couple of years at the cricketing helm without being targeted from left right and center. However, as it is, Waqar has taken the team to England following the humiliating defeats and escapes suffered in New Zealand and to some extent at Sharjah. Waqar’s is a difficult assignment. His has the task of blending what remains of the old Pakistan XI with a large bunch of youngsters. In Saeed Anwar, Yousaf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed he has the nucleus of experienced players. However, some like Saeed, Wasim and Mushtaq are far from what they have been in the yesteryears.In trying to understand how Pakistan won four matches in succession at Sharjah, it is well to know something of the approach developed under Waqar and very likely to be retained and strengthened in England. This is one view – maybe utterly optimistic. Waqar’s philosophy, first and above all, is not to look on cricket matches as a cutthroat business where anything goes. His guiding principle has been to give pleasure, to find it, and bring this about by playing fine cricket, always with the intention of taking every match to a definite result. He accepts personal success with the team, only if achieved through winning the match. A batsman dithers around thinking only of his own aggregate and not of the team’s position will receive short shrift.

Yousuf and Inzamam, without fail, always set the example that the only batting that matters is that which either prepares the way for others or gets along with the business at hand. Waqar has been insisting persistently that on England tours, winning on big occasions cannot be done unless periods of intensive training were taken and even some enjoyment in-between.Recently it’s interesting that Pakistan teams have toured with no set rules or regulations. A man who preferred to stay up late might do so, if it so suited him. If he preferred to take breakfast in bed, then that was his affair. It was equally his affair to be in good shape when he arrived on the ground and able to stay the hardest course. The Pakistanis did last the course and pulled out that little bit extra when the going was hardest. Equally, they shared whatever benefits accrued to individual members of the team. It was true that the rewards from player prizes or individual performances all went into the pool.On one tour a young player got into the habit of keeping a young thing out a little late at night. Came a morning when the captain rang up the cricketer and asked him to come and see him in his hotel room. Fearing the worst, the cricketer kept his appointment. Captain, far from handing out a reprimand, wanted only to express his thanks to him for being able to attend the practice sessions wholeheartedly, despite his late night frivolities. He was requested to host a dinner that the whole team attended.Now things are not the same. With Yawar Saeed as the Manager and Waqar, obviously showing a rapid change after becoming the captain, most of the players, even the seniors have been asked to follow the code of conduct religiously. This has certainly pained few of those who have seen the earlier times. The man with the responsibility obviously needs to view things his own way and requires to stick to what suits him. Waqar is a wonderful bloke, who believes in his abilities and to some extent spreads his contagious habit of helping others.Yawar obviously has his own style too and is presumably a rare breed. He has no detractors, no enemies and everyone known to him always praises his goodnessisn’t that amazing? Either he is a supernatural human or believes in outright diplomacy, that’s what makes him a popular manager. Whether he is a diplomat or whatever, fact is, he has a tendency of keeping everyone happy and amazingly he has never been caught on the wrong foot. Is he a right choice for a difficult tour? With his style, one can only say yes, may be and may be not?The choice of the Lord’s team was horrifying. Knowing the limitations of his pacers, Waqar still went in without a spinner. First, playing a Test with four bowlers is normally considered wise and reducing one batsman meant that he had taken a big risk. Considering the fragility of Pakistan’s batting, which it is, and with Rashid Latif coming back after three year lapse, practically, Waqar has gone in with five specialist batsmen. And if it comes to analysis, we must know that Saleem Elahi and Saeed Anwar are suspect outside the off stump.

Furthermore, Yousuf Youhana has lost his recent form and his habit of squaring on and playing late might see him guessing outside the line. As it happened, Younis Khan got in and Faisal Iqbal with far better technique for England was kept out. Without doubt, Younis is a performer and Faisal a starter but the truth is, that either Mohammad Wasim or Faisal would have been a better choice considering the deficiencies in Younis’ method under seaming and swinging conditions. Younis crouches a bit, gets on either feet, and often plays away from his body – this can cost Pakistan much more than what is being anticipated.Disheartening it was to note the body language of the Pakistan fielders. Having put England into bat, instead of charging and showing sustained aggression, the bowlers seemed sluggish and no support or cheers from behind the wicket was offered to them from rest of the team. After having seen his decision backfiring, Waqar had little or no clue about what to do next. Something was missing – there was no feeling of cohesion and the ground fielding obviously left much to be desired.One can envision an amusing scene: in a somber mood, continuously inhaling and exhaling cigarette smoke, Yawar must be cogitating in his own definite method: `all is well that ends well; all is well that is not going to end well and all is well that doesn’t end well’.

Man has split the atom, landed on the moon and found the Titanic, but no team has ever scored 474 to win a Test match and the present West Indies team, with its glaring limitations, certainly wasn’t going to make history at Kensington Oval yesterday.Instead, history was written by New Zealand.They completed their first victory in 12 Tests in the Caribbean, since their first 30 years ago, sweeping aside their opponents for 269 to win the first Cable & Wireless Test by the resounding margin of 204 runs with 11 overs and a full day remaining.The last six West Indies wickets tumbled in familiar fashion for 65, three of them to the exciting Shane Bond, who generated pace over 90 miles an hour and whose overall return of five for 78 in his fifth Test was simply an indication of things to come.The relevant West Indies resistance came only at the top of the order and towards the end from a rampant Brian Lara when it hardly mattered.The outcome was neither flattering to New Zealand nor unjust to the West Indies.It was an utterly fair representation of the difference between the teams in purpose, intensity, all-round strength and sheer cricketing common sense and confirmed their respective ratings of third and sixth on the International Cricket Council Test championship table.As jubilant New Zealand supporters, who have flown in for the series, celebrated with their flags and their famous haka war dance in front of the team rooms, the few West Indians who stayed for the final rites were left to reflect on only the fourth defeat in 39 Tests on the ground.Although they, and everyone else, knew that it was an inevitable result, they had a right to expect more of a fight.They had watched in disbelief and disappointment as rank carelessness, unbecoming of a professional team of international repute, led to the first innings collapse to 107 that virtually determined the issue.Throughout the first session and 20 minutes into the second yesterday, there was gutsy resistance from openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds and then, for just over an hour, from Ramnaresh Sarwan that kept the anxious New Zealanders at bay.But then one of the several perceptive moves by captain Stephen Fleming and another of the thoughtless absurdities that continue to afflict this West Indies team changed the course of the innings.Daniel Vettori, the tall, bespectacled left-arm spinner, removed Hinds for 37 to a bat-pad catch at forward short-leg with his third ball, after a first-wicket stand of 63, and looked the likeliest wicket-taker on a worn pitch. But Fleming replaced him at the northern end with the pacy Bond on resumption.Bond had induced a limp hook shot that accounted for Sarwan first ball in the first innings and twice at the start of his innings Sarwan created a buzz around the ground by twice trying the shot against Ian Butler.The second went for four, after which Sarwan established himself in a partnership of 65 with Gayle. But the young Guyanese seems addicted to the hook and, as with most addictions, it once more proved his downfall.Bond is a few miles an hour quicker than Butler and Sarwan was in no position for the shot to a ball too close to him.The resulting catch spiralled to Vettori at mid-on, a replay of his first innings recklessness.Sarwan is a fine young player but, unless he overcomes the inexcusable indiscretions that have repeatedly brought his downfall, he won’t have the long and productive career indicated by his obvious talent.His dismissal provided an obvious charge for Bond and the New Zealanders who tenaciously went after their prize.Observing a fuller length than he managed before lunch, Bond bothered Gayle on the legs and, nine runs and six overs later, won umpire Rudy Koertzen’s clearcut agreement on an lbw appeal as he beat the tall left-hander for pace.Gayle had overcome an uncertain start to strike 12 certain boundaries from 131 balls in a stay that lasted 10 minutes short of three hours.The departure of the three young batsmen at the top of the order left the old hands to take on the New Zealanders.Only Lara made a fair fist of it and most of his 73 runs (119 balls, a six and 11 fours) came in a flurry of shots with the tailenders as his partners.Carl Hooper stayed with him for an hour-and-a-quarter, carefully adding 46, but he relaxed when Fleming brought back the wayward Daryl Tuffey.Tuffey is the least threatening of the three fast bowlers but induced one of those indiscretions from the captain that was once an annoying part of his game. It was an unnecessary cut to a wide, bouncing ball that found the top edge on its way to first slip.By tea, Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had pushed the total past 200 but they represented the last of the batting. After Vettori accounted for the latter with a clever piece of deception, the end was swift and only enlivened for the small crowd by Lara’s strokes.Fleming starved Chanderpaul of early runs by blocking his favoured areas with a short mid-wicket and a leg gully. But the solid left-hander has been full of confidence all season and skilfully used his feet to clip Vettori to the mid-wicket boundary.When he moved down the pitch next ball, Vettori sent it wider and straighter and Chanderpaul edged it low to first slip, a quality piece of bowling.Ridley Jacobs soon repeated the stroke that got him out in the first innings by topedging a pull against Vettori. Nathan Astle didn’t have to move an inch to collect the catch then. Now he ran back 20 yards and made a sensational, tumbling take with the ball coming over his shoulder.It was a signal for Lara to open up, launching Vettori for a straight six and, when the new ball was taken, attacking Butler and Bond.But Bond had the last laugh, breaching Lara’s defence the ball after two rasping off-side boundaries to disturb off and middle stumps.Butler took care of Darren Powell to a slip catch, Bond had Pedro Collins lbw and Merv Dillon put a full stop to the match by slicing his first ball to gully.

Pakistan women whipped Netherlands by four wickets in the second match, played at National Stadium, Karachi, to take two-nil lead in the seven match series. In yet another poor display of ball-control, the Dutch bowlers threw 67 wides out of a total of 73 extras, while defending a meager 161.This is the Dutch visitors¡¯ second defeat within three days, after their one-wicket humiliation in the first match of the series. In that particular match, they gave away 66 extras, including 45 wides to manufacture their own demise.Apart from the number of extras conceded, the Dutch players were strangled by the Pakistan skipper Shiaza Khan. The right-handed leg break bowler removed the four top order batswomen to force the visitors against the wall from the start of their innings. She grabbed one more wicket after that to complete a magnificent five-wicket haul for just 35 runs.Put into bat Pakistan skipper Shaiza Khan, the Dutch women were boosted by a well-made 58 by B Viguurs. Coming at the crease after the fall of five wickets, the right-handed Viguurs grafted her innings with caution after Shaiza had the done initial damage, reducing the visitors to 68 for five by the 19th over.She added 27 for the 6th wicket with Oudolf 13 (28 balls, 1 four) to take the score close to one hundred run mark. The fall of two quick wickets at this stage reduced Netherlands to 106 for seven by the 34th over.It was at this point that Viguurs shook off her defensive approach and almost single-handedly took the score to 160 in the allotted 50 overs. She remained unbeaten with 58 against her name. She hit 6 boundaries in an innings spanning 124 balls.The Dutch skipper Pauline te Beest also played a useful knock of 32 to provide a stable foundation for Viguurs to get some runs in the later overs. She faced 52 balls and smashed 4 fours before becoming one of Shaiza Khan¡¯s five victims.Apart from Shaiza, Khursheed Jabeen also bowled well taking two for 34 in nine overs. Kiran Baluch and Mehwish Khan grabbed one wicket each for 25 (10 overs) and 10 (5 overs), respectively.Pakistnan women, in their reply, started shakily, losing two wickets for just 20 on the board. It was only for a 40-run third wicket partnership between Kiran Baluch (29) and Rabia Khan (8), which brought stability to the score.Getting rid of these two for 85 by the 22nd over, Netherlands gave themselves a fair chance to come back into the match. But some very wayward bowling at this stage allowed Pakistan to steal a close victory.Sajjida Shah, the player of the match in the previous encounter, played yet another patient knock to ultimately steer her side through. Yet it was her slow tactic, facing 104 balls to score 11, which really took the match in the 49th over of the innings.Shaiza Khan was declared player of the match for his excellent match winning display of spin bowling.The next match of the series will be played Thursday, April 11.

Federal Areas made a solid start in their reply to Baluchistan’s 353 on a curtailed second day at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Only 39.2 overs were possible in the day, and Federal Areas finished 135 for 2, leaving them 218 runs behind Baluchistan’s first-innings score. Baluchistan’s No. 10 Zulfiqar Babar added some quick runs at the start of the day to increase his side’s overnight total of 320 for 9. Federal Areas then lost a couple of wickets early, with fast bowlers Abdur Rauf and Nazar Hussain taking a scalp each. Opener Raheel Majeed stayed steady at one end to finish on 67 not out, and he put together an unbroken 79-run partnership with Umar Amin.Not much play was possible at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore either, where Punjab’s batsmen continued to dominate the Sind bowlers. Starting on 347 for 3, Punjab added another 124 runs in the 37 overs bowled on the second day, to finish at 471 for 4. Overnight centurion Mohammad Ayub went on to make 140 before he was bowled by Sohail Khan. That dismissal did not stop the runs however, as Usman Salahuddin helped himself to an unbeaten half-century, and Kamran Sajid scored 42 not out. Punjab may have to consider declaring early on the third day if they want to force a result from the game.