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Afsar Nawaz struck a whirlwind 86 off 66 balls but his knock failed to prevent Delhi City Gymkhana going down to Tapal CC by six wickets in the Aga Khan Gymkhana Ramazan Cricket Tournament at AKG Ground here Wednesday.Tapal CC, chasing a target of 169, got home in only 18.5 overs thanks to a brilliant innings of 59 by Hasan Arshad.Hasan, named Man-of-the-Match, hammered 40 runs in boundaries as he pounded four huge sixes and four fours during his 33-ball knock.Farhan Iqbal also batted well to make 56 off 47 deliveries while sharing a third-wicket partnership of 91 with Hasan. Farhan stroked three boundaries.Earlier, Tapal CC’s skipper Hanif-ur-Rehman took three for 30 with his off-spinners.Afsar, who hit three fours and a brace of sixes, and Sharjeel Ashraf (33) were the only batsmen to shine in Delhi City Gymkhana’s total of 168 for four in 25 overs.Summarised scores:DELHI CITY GYMKHANA 168-4 in 25 overs (Afsar Nawaz 86, Sharjeel Ashraf 33, Ammaduddin 20; Hanif-ur-Rehman 3-30);TAPAL CC 169-4 in 18.5 overs (Hasan Arshad 59, Farhan Iqbal 56; Asif Nagri 2-22, Kalim Siddiqui 2-48).Saturday’s fixture: Landhi Friends v Mohammad Hussain CC at 1.00pm.

LAHORE, Sept 23: Fine batting by Mohammad Umair (85) and Hasnain Abbas (71) helped Multan to earn a narrow three-wicket victoryagainst Rahimyar Khan in the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-II Cricket Championship at Mahmood Stadium, Rahim Yar Khan Monday, according toamessage received here.Multan, who gained a 86-run lead on the first innings, were set a target of 238 after Rahimyar Khan had piled up 323 in their second innings thanks to Shaharyar (82) and Mohammad Saleem (55).Meanwhile, to decide the Pool ‘D’ champions Faisalabad and Gujranwala will face each other at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala from Thursday.Owing to large of teams in this pool was divided into two groups. Faisalabad emerged as Group-I champions while Gujranwala topped the other group.The winners will play Pool ‘B’ winners Azad Jammu Kashmir in the semifinal.Summarised scores:*At Gymkhana Ground, Okara:Okara beat Kasur by five wickets.KASUR 231-8 in 80 overs (Shahid Hussain 53, Faisal Ayub 44; Zulfiqar Babar 5-67) and 149 (Zulfiqar Babar 6-35);OKARA 290 in 78.5 overs (Noman Nasim 105, Jawwad Hafeez 55; Mohammad Aslam 4-118) and 91-5 (Noman Nasim 42 not out; Ahmed Raza 4-24).*At Mahmood Stadium, Rahimyar Khan:Multan beat Rahimyar Khan by three wickets.RAHIMYAR KHAN 169 in 53.3 overs (Adeel Basit 65; Umar Zaman 5-43) and 323 (Shaharyar 82, Mohammad Saleem 55, Fayyaz-ul-Hasan 52, Afrahim Zia 41; Mohammad Umair 6-84).MULTAN 255 in 67.1 overs (Yasir Arafat 130; Aamir Akram 3-72) and 238-7 (Mohammad Umair 85, Hasnain Abbas 71; Adeel Basit 6-73).*At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad:Larkana beat Hyderabad by 22 runs.LARKANA 116 in 42.4 overs (Farrukh Zaman 4-9, Furqan Azeem 3-30) and 173 (Zafar Ali 46);HYDERABAD 162 in 68 overs (Salman Hyder 58; Wasim Hussain 5-46) and 140 (Suleman Haider 52; Wasim Hussain 3-35, Ahmed Ali 3-52).*At D.I. Khan, D.I. Khan:Haripur beat Dera Ismail Khan by 10 wickets.DERA ISMAIL KHAN 87 in 39.5 overs (Amjad Waqas 6-28) and 275 (Mohammad Imran Baloch 46, Falak Kamran 43, Mohammad Irfan Khan 41; Amjad Waqas 8-89);HARIPUR 321 in 75.4 overs (Babar Khan 78, Usman Sawati 63, Asghar Khan 54; Kashif Niazi 4-66) and 43-0.*At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:Match drawn.BADIN 273 in 79.5 overs (Imran Malik 86, Danish 46; Sharafat Ali 3-66) and 228 (Ahmed Khan 56; Sharafat Ali 6-65);SHIKARPUR 305-7 in 80 overs (Najeebullah 101, Asif Babar 98; Kamran 3-96) and 169-6 (Ghulam Yasin 84 not out, Najeebullah 62).

Within a few hours of securing a series win against Sri Lanka for his country, Marcus Trescothick was back at the County Ground preparing to lead Somerset in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy fourth round tie against Hampshire at Taunton tomorrow.At the same stage of the competition last year Marcus scored a devastating 121 against Glamorgan, including a century from 69 balls, and will doubtless be looking to lead from the front again tomorrow.Looking ahead to the match he told me: “I’m very excited about it, after all it’s the first chance that we have had to defend the trophy, and of course we will be going out to try to retain it this season.”He continued: “We need to build upon our first NUL win on Sunday a get a roll going. We have been slowly moving forward and are getting better all the time. Now we need to keep it going.”Marcus will lead a Somerset side that will be without Andy Caddick, who is suffering from a side strain, but batsman Jamie Cox could also be missing.The Tasmanian missed the NUL game at Bath on Sunday after taking a blow to his hand during the Hampshire game, and did not bat in the nets this morning.Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: “Jamie will have a late fitness test in the morning before we make a final decision. Of course we hope that he will be able to play, but if he doesn’t then Matt Wood will take his place.”Kevin added: “Even without Andy and Jamie I think that we have got a good side, and we pulled off a great win on Sunday which has done us all a lot of good.”The full Somerset squad for the Hampshire match is: Marcus Trescothick, Peter Bowler, Jamie Cox, Mike Burns, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Richard Johnson, Steffan Jones, Matt Bulbeck and Matt Wood.Certainly the players were in buoyant mood ahead of the tie. Peter Bowler told me: “Of course I’m looking forward to it, and we are well equipped to beat them. We are a good side and are going into this game on the back of two one day victories.”Fast bowler Richard Johnson who enjoyed match figures of 10 for 75 against Hampshire at Bath last week told me: “I’m looking forward to a good victory tomorrow.”Play gets underway at the County Ground tomorrow at 10.45am, and tickets will be on sale at the gate priced £10 and £7.

Five free runs
Virender Sehwag tried to drive Mashrafe Mortaza towards the leg side but the leading edge fell short of Abdur Razzak at cover. The batsmen were contemplating a run and went through after Razzak’s throw at the striker’s end conceded an overthrow. The ball raced towards long leg from where Shahriar Nafees fired in another throw that beat the fielder backing up and ran to the deep-cover boundary. The Indians got five after expending energy for just one.David v Goliath
If you’re a teenager beginning a spell in your second match, few batsmen are more intimidating to bowl to than Sehwag. Faced with that challenge, and perhaps feeling nervous, Dolar Mahmud sprayed his first ball down leg side. Sehwag then tore into him, smashing the next ball for six over cover. The next three deliveries disappeared to the midwicket and fine-leg boundaries, before another full and wide one landed past the ropes at deep cover. Sehwag attempted to hook the fifth but mis-hit it safely into the gap between deep midwicket and deep square leg. He connected better the next ball but it flew straight to Tamim Iqbal at deep-backward square leg. Sehwag had taken 22 runs off the over but Dolar still gave him an aggressive send-off.Three cheers
The first roar from the crowd in the 47th over of the Bangladesh innings was because they thought Gautam Gambhir had touched the rope while stopping a pull from Mortaza at long leg. The shouts subsided after replays showed it was clean but once the electronic board flashed “Congratulations Bangladesh, 200” they began to chant again. And when Mortaza pulled Sehwag’s next ball over the deep-midwicket boundary, they began to clear their throats for the third time in the span of a minute.Busy behind square
The Indian new-ball bowlers’ dominance was emphasised by the fact that Bangladesh failed to score in front of the wicket until the 10th over. Up until Raqibul Hasan drove a fullish delivery from Irfan Pathan towards mid-off, Bangladesh’s 35 runs had come via shots behind point and square leg, and extras.Ten-ball over
The Indian bowlers had been extremely disciplined in the match against Pakistan, conceding no wides or no-balls, but their standards were not as high today. RP Singh, bowling over the wicket to the right-hand batsmen, strayed too far outside off twice in succession in the tenth over. The third wide outside off stump was a rather harsh decision but the fourth certainly wasn’t. It prompted Mahendra Singh Dhoni to ask RP to change his line of attack to round the wicket. When Irfan Pathan began his spell in the 11th over, he too began with a wide outside off stump.Cut short by cramps
Raqibul, the 20-year-old batsman, had played a mature innings and, when he moved into the 80s, the crowd began to cheer every run that took him closer to what would have been his maiden one-day hundred. However, the hot and humid conditions took its toll and Raqibul began to cramp up after every quick run that he and Mahmudullah took. In the 43rd over, he half-sprinted half-hobbled for a quick single and lay on the ground after diving to reach safety until the physio attended to him. He did not take a runner and, on 89, holed out to mid-on after playing a tired pull.

Kenya take on Netherlands on Saturday in their latest ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Amstelveen, and the visitors are keenly aware how crucial the next couple of weeks are.Kenya are currently in third place in the table, six points behind Scotland and Namibia but, crucially, they have two games in hand and a place in the final is well within their grasp.”We know it’s in our own hands,” said their captain, Steve Tikolo. “If we win in Amstelveen and then beat Ireland back home in October, we will be through to the final. It would mean a lot to us because even though we have been close in the past, we have never won this competition.”Indeed, when Kenya got to the final in 2005 at the Wanderers Club in Windhoek, Namibia, it was Ireland who beat them.”We are not looking ahead to that game yet,” Tikolo said. “First of all, we must beat Netherlands. I know that Peter [Borren] and his guys will be confident after getting through to the ICC World Twenty20 at the qualifying tournament in Belfast last week but the four-day game is a different prospect.”They definitely have some good players. Tom de Grooth has been playing well and Edgar Schiferli and Mohammad Kashif are always dangerous but Netherlands are out of the running in this competition whereas we still have everything to play for.””We have a pretty strong side over for this and we’re determined not the let this opportunity slip from our grasp.”For all the bullish talk, Kenya have not enjoyed their tour of England, Scotland and Ireland this season. They were thrashed by a club side at Cranleigh and a warm-up against a Minor Counties XI was enveloped with rumours of poor behaviour by the tourists.Such claims were roundly dismissed to Cricinfo by Kenya’s chairman, Samir Inamdar, but the side’s fortunes slipped further when they failed to qualify for next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in England. Dismal conditions in Glasgow then washed out their Intercontinental Cup fixture against Scotland last week.Nevertheless, they face a Netherlands team who are missing the vital services of Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent and Alex Kervezee, though once again the weather forecast is seasonally miserable. After a disappointing tour, Kenya will be desperate to turn their trip around with a bright finish.

A laid-back Pakistan team enjoyed a day of carefree batting practice at Country Club, the CFX Academy headquarters in the eastern suburbs of Harare, finishing the day with 352 on the board for the loss of five wickets. With one unfortunate exception, all the leading batsmen enjoyed their meal but nobody made a pig of himself.The pitch was flat, although it had a little pace, and the bowling not too testing; none of Zimbabwe’s young hopefuls among the bowlers was able to trouble the batsmen or press a claim for a Test berth. Saleem Elahi (49) and Taufeeq Umar (86) enjoyed an opening stand of 127, before getting out and allowing two even better innings from Younis Khan (84) and a slim-looking Inzamam-ul-Haq (63).Inzamam-ul-Haq, scourge of Zimbabwe’s bowlers on their first tour here in 1994/95, was the master, toying with the bowlers for 63 off 62 balls before he decided he had had enough. Younis Khan looked to be heading for a century but was well caught at long leg by Nkala running in.The only batsman to miss out was Yousuf Youhana (1), ironically the one most in need of practice. He fell victim to cricket’s most unfair law, that which allows a non-striker doing his job properly to be fortuitously run out by an accidental deflection off the bowler. A straight drive from Younis and a boot from Blessing Mahwire, whose intention was merely to stop the ball, did the trick for the luckless Youhana, the man who played so many vital innings for Pakistan when they last toured Zimbabwe in 1997/98.Hasan Raza, officially the world’s youngest Test cricketer since he made his debut against Zimbabwe six years ago at the age of 14, finished the day unbeaten with 32, and Shahid Afridi with 21. Pakistan might well decide to bat on tomorrow to give them more sustenance.

The Queensland selectors today chose long-term gain over short-term painwhen they omitted fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz from tomorrow’s ING Cupone-day match against the Western Warriors at the Gabba.Kasprowicz was ruled out of the XXXX Queensland Bulls team today afteragain being bothered by a tightness in his hamstring that had preventedhim from bowling on the final day of the Bulls outright win over theWarriors in the Pura Cup on Tuesday.”I felt it grab a bit in my first few balls off a short run-up attraining this morning so it made sense not to risk it any further,”Kasprowicz said.”I’m disappointed that I won’t play tomorrow but we felt it was best tofocus on being 100 percent for the Pura Cup match against the Tigers inHobart in three weeks," he said.The selectors have recalled right-arm paceman Damien MacKenzie for thematch, which will be the Bulls first day/night game of the season.Queensland coach Terry Oliver has given the squad a week off fromtraining next week, aside from those players who are in action with theQueensland Academy Sport in the ACB Cup match against NSW starting onMonday in Sydney.Tomorrow’s match is tipped to attract a crowd in excess of 10,000 withVolunteering Queensland, the Brisbane City Council and QueenslandCricket combining to promote Volunteers’ Day as a “thank-you” gesturefor volunteer workers.Volunteers from sporting and community organisations were able to accesstwo free tickets each through Volunteering Queensland, the peak body forvolunteers in the State, and enjoy free public transport to and from thematch.XXXX Queensand Bulls ING Cup team v Western Warriors: Jimmy Maher (c),Martin Love, Lee Carseldine, Andrew Symonds, Clinton Perren, BrendanNash, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Hauritz, DamienMacKenzie, Scott Brant.

MELBOURNE, Aug 8 AAP – Australia Test cricketer Mark Waugh today echoed his brother Steve’s reservations about touring Pakistan in October after the latest violence.Six Pakistanis were shot dead in an attack on a school for children of foreign missionaries near Islamabad on Monday.”Obviously what happened two days ago with the shooting at the international school puts a few more question marks over the tour,” Waugh told Melbourne radio station Sport 927 today.”There’s no doubt about that. I think the ACB (Australian Cricket Board) would be first to admit that.”Several other senior players have also expressed reservations about the tour.On Tuesday, Test captain Steve Waugh said he would be happy to go to Pakistan if it was deemed safe, but stressed the players would rely on information from other sources.”I think every one (of the players) would have some slight reservations after what’s happened in the past, it’s only natural,” Steve said.”You’ve really got to be guided by High Commissions and those places tell you what the feeling is, whether it’s safe for tourists to go there.”If it’s deemed safe enough to go, then I’m quite happy to go, but if they say it’s not then the (Australian Cricket Board) will make that decision (not to go).”New Zealand pulled out of its Pakistan tour in May after a bomb near its hotel killed 14 people in Karachi.ACB spokesman Pat O’Beirne said the latest attack “adds some currency” to advice the board is receiving from Australian Government officials and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).”The tragic recent incident has increased concern about the tour,” O’Beirne said today.”We will continue to monitor our information over the next short while.”

Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Monday hinted surprise changes in the list of probables to be announced later this week for the forthcoming World Cup.The mega event is scheduled to be held in South Africa in early 2003.Tauqir said that the board would determine if some senior players who missed the tough series against Australia on medical grounds were genuinely unfit or otherwise.He warned that if the senior players had avoided facing the Australians deliberately then he would say “good bye” to them.Veteran fast bowler Wasim Akram and opening batsman Saeed Anwar opted out of the series on pretext of taking rest while middle-order batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana were unavailable because of fitness problems. However, all four senior players have expressed their availability for next month’s tour of Zimbabwe.PCB chief said that Wasim stayed away citing a shoulder problem as one of the reasons for missing the Test series.Saeed, meanwhile, never indicated his desire to the PCB about his availability to play against Australia in the absence of some senior players.Tauqir, whose resignation was not accepted by President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf the patron-in-chief of PCB, in the wake of Pakistan’s recent spate of defeats, said that from now on, he would not depend on his advisors and would personally oversee every matter before taking a decision.To another query, Tauqir said that Shahid Afridi was sent to Sharjah for the third Test against Australia in place of injured all-rounder Abdul Razzaq. But after reaching Sharjah informed that he was not fit to play.He said that Shoaib Akhtar was the only match-winner bowler available in the current Pakistan side.Our Sports Reporter adds from Karachi: Pakistan is contemplating having different captains and teams for Tests and One-day Internationals. This proposal was discussed in detail by PCB hierarchy.In latest developments, team coach Richard Pybus has been asked to fly back with Pakistan squad at the end of series against Australia to give his views on the teams to be named for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.Chairman of selectors, Wasim Bari, and Pakistan ‘A’ coach Aqib Javed were originally due in Sharjah to discuss the squad with team management. But this plan has now been changed and meeting may take place at Lahore.PCB has also decided to hold a one-day match before the squad is announced to assess the fitness and form of Wasim, Saeed and Youhana.Selectors will pick the two teams for this trial game. Other players expected to be invited are fast bowlers Mohammad Zahid, Abdul Rauf, all-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan and batsman Naved Latif.Tauqir also held discussions on the revised constitution of PCB, the draft of which is shortly expected to be presented before President Musharraf for approval.Meanwhile, Tauqir was given detailed briefing about the development projects in progress. PCB chairman asked the general manager developments, Irfan Mirza, to speed up the work since he would like to have underdeveloped stadia ready before the year is out.

CFX ACADEMY MEDIA OPEN DAYThe CFX Academy held a Media Open Day on the morning of Monday 29 April, which was attended by ten local media representatives, including CricInfo and one pressman each from Bulawayo and Mutare.The morning began with refreshments at ten o’clock, and was followed by a welcome from administration manager Temba Mkhosana. He followed this with a brief history of the Academy, the brainchild of Dave Houghton, and a video of the South African SuperSport programme Extra Cover, which showed Mike Haysman interviewing Houghton about the Academy.Mr Mkhosana then went into more detail about the history and the function of the Academy. It opened on a wing and a prayer in 1999, most of the money coming as the result of Houghton’s sponsored walk from Bulawayo to Harare the previous year, which raised public awareness as well as money.There followed a question time and tour of the Academy facilities and the house where the students live, 100 metres from the ground. Finally the media were able to observe a practice session run by Eddo Brandes, who has taken over as head coach from Dave Houghton, and speak to some of the students.Below are some extracts from the Media Pack produced for the day.HISTORY OF CFX CRICKET ACADEMYThe CFX cricket Academy in Zimbabwe was established by Dave Houghton who raised the initial capital with his sponsored walk from Bulawayo to Harare which took 22 days in June 1999 and raised over Z$900 000.The CFX Cricket Academy is a non-profit organization funded by the community at large and the business community in particular. A fully equipped pavilion with state-of-the-art presentation facilities is complete. The ground has been upgraded and now has a wicket that the New Zealanders described as the best wicket they had played on. Bob Woolmer, on a recent coaching visit, commented that the Academy’s facilities were among the best he had seen anywhere in the world.The initial set-up of six all-weather nets with floodlights, three turf nets and three cricket cages were included in the original capital budget. The CFX Cricket Academy falls under the umbrella of the governing body, ZCU, who have helped with the capital start-up costs and have also purchased a house for the students to live in whilst they attend the Academy.The name `CFX Cricket Academy’ is derived from our main sponsor, CFX, who have committed themselves to sponsor the Academy up to the next World Cup in 2003. Joining CFX are individuals and businesses who are approached to sponsor the CFX Cricket Academy and who are identified by boundary board advertising around the cricket ground which is at Country Club.The other large source of support is directed at individual student sponsorship of $100 000 a year, and the CFX Cricket Academy is indebted to its longstanding sponsors. There is both plenty of scope for new sponsors who are interested in supporting the development of cricket among the youth of Zimbabwe and gaps around the boundary for their advertising boundary boards!For two years, students of the CFX Cricket Academy spent their winter attached to cricket clubs in the UK. This has proved to be an invaluable experience for the students who have come from diverse backgrounds. Candidates have been selected from all walks of life and from urban and rural centres. There have been representatives from Bulawayo, Chivhu, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Harare, Karoi, Mhangura, Norton, Ruwa and Selous, from both high-density and low-density areas.Judging by the number of students who have been selected for both the national and the Zimbabwe A sides, the principle of selecting students on merit has proven successful. The most recent CFX Cricket Academy ambassadors in the public eye include Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Gary Brent, Douglas Marillier and Travis Friend, who has firmly established his position in the national side. Since its inception CFX cricket Academy has been responsible for the training of several students who have been selected for both the national and A sides.The CFX cricket Academy itself has played most of the touring international sides, including New Zealand, Bangladesh, India and West Indies, the most notable performance being a four-run loss toe West Indies in a nail-biting finish watched by about 2000 supporters.Our major objective is to produce players of international calibre and also to promote the development of the game in the remotest corners of our country. We rely heavily on companies to sponsor cricket through us by student sponsorship, boundary board advertising and donations.MANAGEMENT STRUCTUREMr Gwynne Jones left the Academy to take up a post with Scottish cricket at the end of 2001 and since then a new team has been engaged to run the affairs of the Academy. Unfortunately we have also just lost the services of the founder of this Academy, Mr David Laud Houghton, who has decided to move to England for a short while. The new structure is as follows:Head Coach: Eddo BrandesAdministration Manager: Temba MkhosanaAssistant Coach: Walter ChawagutaBatting Coach: Alistair CampbellSecretary: Anthea ReelerBookkeeper: Trish HawkesFitness Trainer: Steve ScottPsychology Consultant: Graham PriorMarketing Agent: Jacky WhiteTo assist the above team and map out the policies of the CFX Cricket Academy is a Management Committee that also includes the Administration Manager and Secretary.Chairman: Ray GripperCFX Bureaux de Change: Kevin ButlerFinance: Zed RusikeZCU Board Member (i/c Development): Mac DudhiaMarketing: Pip Maxwell and Craig AnticevichThe Academy year is now set to run from February to September, after which the students will be posted to the five major provinces in Zimbabwe – Masvingo included from 2002/03 season – to play and coach. The aim is to prepare the students to be good citizens as well as sportsmen, and therefore the curriculum includes subjects not directly connected with the game. The booklet lists six areas: sports management, cricket studies, physical development, sports psychology, sports medicine and injury prevention, and life skills. The programme includes several sessions on studying other cultures, mainly African and Asian.After the students leave at the end of September, the Academy facilities will be available for the junior age-group sides, the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19s, to prepare for their annual visit to South Africa at the end of the year.There is also recognition of the need to work together with other academies and countries involved in cricket development. It is hoped to offer Academy places to students from Kenya, Namibia and possibly Zambia in future years. There is also the possibility of hosting foreign age-group teams during the end-of-year period.