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ScorecardBismah Maroof goes on the attack during her 92•AFP

Pakistan women won the opening ODI against Bangladesh Women in Karachi by 20 runs to take the lead in the two-match series. Bismah Maroof scored 92 off 128 balls to propel Pakistan to 214 before the left-arm spinner Anam Amin collected 3 for 25 to restrict Bangladesh to 194 for 9.Pakistan, after winning the toss, got off to a sluggish and found themselves struggling at 38 for 2. However, they recovered through a 61-run partnership for the third wicket between Nain Abidi (27 off 45) and Maroof. Two more quick wickets reduced Pakistan to 99 for 4, but Maroof kept the score ticking by anchoring the lower order and helped her team past the 200-run mark. Salma Khatun, Bangladesh’s captain, was the pick of the bowlers, ending with 3 for 31 from her 10 overs.The visitors began the chase cautiously, and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Rumana Ahmed was the only batsman to put up a resistance, scoring 70. She was involved in two crucial stands worth 44, for the fourth and eighth wickets, but they were in vain, as none of the other senior players stood up with a substantial knock. Besides Amin’s scalps, Asmavia Iqbal, Sana Mir, Nida Dar, Aliya Riaz and Maroof claimed a wicket each.

ScorecardNishit Shetty almost masterminded an incredible run-chase, but the latter half of the Tripura innings came apart in the last 10 overs as they lost to Vidarbha by 13 runs with 10 balls to spare. Shetty scored a century at almost a run a ball to bring Tripura to within 60 runs of the required 301, with five wickets and more than 10 overs to spare.At that point, a 75-run sixth-wicket stand between Shetty and Subal Chowdhury was ended with Chowdhury’s run-out. After that, the batting collapsed, with Shetty being the last batsman to fall for a 137-ball 130. Sandeep Singh took five wickets for Vidarbha, including two at the death.Earlier, Tripura had done well to take the last four wickets in 6.3 overs. Shetty ended with fine figures of 3 for 31.
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Bichitra Baruah, the Assam left-arm spinner, came up with a match-winning spell as Kerala, needing 66 more on the final day with four wickets in hand, added only 33 to their overnight total. P Prasanth, whose overnight 80 had helped Kerala get close to the 267-run target, added only three to his score on the fourth morning and was the first man out. Baruah then stifled the scoring as Kerala managed only 9 runs in the ensuing 22.3 overs and lost three wickets. Baruah ended with figures of 18-8-13-4.
ScorecardRequiring another 291 runs at the start of the day, Jammu & Kashmir lost six wickets for 40 runs to lose to Jharkhand by 250 runs. It took Jharkhand 20.1 overs to finish the game, as Shankar Rao and Santosh Lal shared four wickets apiece. None of the last five in the J&K batting line-up could make it to a double-digit score.
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Set 400 to get in 84 overs, Goa held on to a creditable draw against Madhya Pradesh, with their opener Swapnil Asnodkar scoring his second half-century of the match. Goa never really looked like going for the target, as they lost two quick wickets for 51. Asnodkar dug in and found good support from captain J Arunkumar and former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra. Asnodkar missed his century by 10 runs, while Arunkumar and Ratra put up thirties. Earlier, MP had added 31 to their overnight 186 for 4 before declaring.

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Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 269 on day one of their Ranji Trophy clash against Baroda with Rajesh Pawar, a left-arm spinner, hijacking the much-hyped return of Irfan Pathan and claiming five wickets on the flat Baroda wicket.Just like Andre Agassi, whose return to tennis after a dip in form and the rankings resulted in a forgettable loss to a rank outsider, Pathan’s rehabilitation began the hard way. Yethe’d only have been deceiving himself had he expected a return to form on the first day back in the domestic grind and his figures of 22-2-108-2 shouldn’t be seen as bad news because Pathan has done what he came back to do: get the overs in.The way Pathan bowled today, though, explained to an extent why he is back in India. The day started for him with one of the few balls that actually swung, though too much for the accompanying appeal to be taken seriously. Off the third ball, Praveen Kumar exposed the lack of edge in his bowling with a flick over mid-wicket, something other Uttar Pradesh batsmen would do through the day with a wide array of other strokes. His ten overs before lunch yielded a full-toss almost every over with three high ones which didn’t qualify as beamers only because they weren’t fast enough.When he looked for swing, he ended up bowling looping dippers on and outside the leg-stump. When he looked for quicker balls in the good length area, he bowled too wide to bother the batsmen. The short ones sat up nicely for easy pull shots. And the 14 no-balls he bowled meant he kept grunting in frustration all day long.As Arun Lal noted on TV, Pathan failed to find any sort of rhythm. His action lacked the usual smoothness and his run-up lacked momentum. As a result he kept hovering around the 120-kmph mark with his quicker deliveries.He picked up two wickets, one off a bad shot from Shivakant Shukla, the UP opener. The other one, though, came with a somewhat satisfying yorker to Piyush Chawla after the latter had hit him for two humbling boundaries – a flick through mid-wicket and a square cut off the front foot.That didn’t, however, mark a turnaround for he bowled two more no-balls, tried round-the-wicket stuff, got square-cut for four by Mohammad Amir Khan, and was taken off in favour of Rakesh Patel, a right-arm medium-pace bowler, who finished off the UP innings.The other two men under the spotlight – Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina – had mixed days at the office. Kaif looked solid in scoring 25 before playing back to an arm ball from Pawar and edging it to Pinal Shah, the wicketkeeper. The pitch held no terrors and he should be disappointed at letting the opportunity go.Early on in his innings Raina struggled against Patel, who kept bringing the ball in to him. Raina, who sustained a knee injury while batting, survived till lunch playing and missing a few, tied down by Irfan Pathan senior. But after lunch he looked a different man, playing some delightful cover-drives, and hitting two mighty sixes – one over mid-wicket and the other a hit from down the wicket to Pathan senior.But if it was disappointing for Kaif, it would be all the more frustrating for Raina who fell, after settling down, to a left-armer’s special from Pawar. After being hit for two boundaries in his previous over, Pawar bowled one that drew Raina out. Beaten in the flight, Raina played for the spin, but the arm-ball only bounced. In one motion Shah collected the ball, adjusted to the bounce, and took the bails off to find Raina short. Pawar also got Tanmay with a full-length diving return catch.Pawar would later describe this as his favourite wicket of the five he took today to reduce UP to 269 on a flat wicket. He was taken off after his first over, in which he removed Kaif, possibly to give Pathan a go at the new batsmen. And the wickets of Raina and Tanmay were bought at a heavy price, the two batsmen having settled down. Rohit Srivastava also looked solid, hitting Pawar for a six over mid-on, but in the same over failed to read a quicker one and cut it straight to Martin at slip. Pawar thought it was his discipline that earned him the five-for; he had indeed kept coming at the batsmen even after they hit him out of the ground and the attack.UP, already facing relegation, have a long day tomorrow, as their bowlers failed to derive any help from the wicket. They will be looking at the early morning freshness to get some wickets.

Central Districts embarked on a long process of trying to overhaul Northern Districts’ first-innings total of 450 at McLean Park with Jamie How, the captain and opener, leading the way. The home side ended the day at 120 for 3 with How, who failed twice in round one against Auckland, not out on 79. Jarrod Engelfield was with him on 13 as the pair went on a rescue mission after Central fell to 72 for 3 with Peter Ingram and Mathew Sinclair dismissed for ducks. All the plaudits went to the Northern pair of Mark Orchard and Joseph Yovich who combined for a sixth-wicket partnership of 322, a New Zealand record. Yovich (144) was first to go, followed by Orchard (175). The in-form Peter McGlashan ended unbeaten on 61. Apart from those three there was just 36 runs scored from the other eight Northern bats as extras totalled 34. Ewen Thompson was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 85.No play was possible between Canterbury and Auckland on the second day at the Village Green because of rain. Canterbury remain on 92 for 3.Wellington was in complete control against Otago after another weather-affected day at University Oval. Chasing Wellington’s 292 for first-innings points, the home side capitulated to be all out for 73. Iain O’Brien, a former national bowler, finished with remarkable figures of 4 for 12 from 11 overs. James Franklin also took four wickets, his at a cost of 30, while Mark Gillespie snared the other two. Following on, Otago was in a much better position at 114 for 1, with Jordan Sheed (57*) and Aaron Redmond battling away.

Worcestershire have agreed terms with Shoaib Akhtar as one of their overseas players for 2005, subject to clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board.Shoaib, 29, who was the first bowler to break the 100mph barrier when he bowled to Nick Knight in Pakistan’s World Cup match against England in 2003, won’t be available for the whole season because Pakistan are scheduled to play two Tests and three one-day internationals in West Indies in May and June.”I’ll be rested and raring to go when I start in July,” he said, “and, from looking at the players Worcestershire have in their side, [I’m] confident we’ll have a successful season.” Shoaib played for Durham for the last two seasons, and Somerset in one first-class match in 2001.”I love playing county cricket in England and I’m really looking forward to helping Worcestershire get straight back into Division One of the Championship and challenge for honours in the one-day game.”Tom Moody, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, was excited by the news. “Shoaib creates a huge buzz wherever he bowls,” he said, “and I have no doubt he will be a popular member of the squad both on and off the field. He is a world-class strike bowler in both forms of the game, and he will spearhead our drive for success.”

Javed Miandad has finally signed a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board, more than 11 weeks after taking over for his fourth stint as national coach.The contract, reported to be worth R10 million (US$175,000) per annum, was signed on the eve of the Pakistan team’s departure for their short tour of England.Miandad had delayed agreeing the new deal while issues regarding salary and perks were sorted out. "He was not pushed to sign the contract," a PCB spokesman told the local News newspaper. "He knew whenever he did sign it the contract would be valid from the date he took over as Pakistan coach and he would receive all backdated payments.”

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya said there was no cause for alarm after the team’s five-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the Sharjah final on Sunday.Sri Lanka were gunning for their third successive Sharjah triumph, but Jayasuriya maintained that the side were entitled to their odd bad day."It was an off day for us," he admitted. "But everyday the players can’t perform and go on to score 270. The batting let us down in the final, but apart from that I thought we did really well.""We had been batting well throughout the series and only failed in the last game. The players all realise what went wrong."Pakistan stacked their side with fast bowlers in the final and bowled out Sri Lanka for their lowest score of the tournament."They have got a very good bowling attack and Wasim (Akram) was outstanding throughout the series," said Jayasuriya. "I think they were the best bowling side throughout the series."Sri Lanka bravely picked two rookie pacemen in their squad and when Dilhara Fernando was ruled out because of a back injury they were left with an inexperienced bowling attack.Jayasuriya, however, paid tribute to both Prabath Nissanka and Charitha Buddhika, who picked up five wickets on his debut against Zimbabwe."We played two young fast bowlers and they did pretty well," he said. "We have to groom them for the future and when they get the experience it will be for the good of Sri Lanka’s cricket."Charitha (Buddhika) has been in the fast bowlers clinic for sometime now and having worked with Champika (Ramanayake) he knows what to do.""Prabath (Nissanka) is one of the quickest bowlers we have in Sri Lanka with Dilhara (Fernando). He has a couple of things to correct and on times he bowled both sides of the wicket, but he clearly has a good future."Sri Lanka’s injury list is a concern for the management, with serious injuries to wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana and fast bowler Fernando."Dilhara (Fernando) is out with a hairline fracture in his back and Romesh (Kaluwitharana) has a fractured finger. It is a problem for the team and as a captain I miss them. But it is part of the game and we have to go with what we have."Perhaps of greater concern is the news that champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is suffering from a persistent shoulder injury."Murali has being having this problem (sore shoulder) for quite a while," he revealed. "Day-by-day he is getting better and we didn’t want to risk him for the finals so we rested him."

ScorecardKarl Brown scored his first century for over four years•Getty Images

Karl Brown scored his first century for over four years but Alex Davies fell five short of a maiden hundred as Lancashire’s batsmen dominated the second day of their Division Two game against Glamorgan.Lancashire amassed 462 in their first innings before being dismissed 13 overs after tea and Glamorgan were 48 for 1 off 16 overs in reply at the close of play.However, the morning session will remain memorable for Brown, who reached his first century in 96 first-class innings stretching back to April 2011 when he clipped Michael Hogan through midwicket for four. Having got to three figures off 217 balls with 13 fours, Brown went on to make 132, his highest score for Lancashire’s first team before pulling David Lloyd to Chris Cooke at midwicket five overs into the afternoon’s play.Steven Croft, who helped Brown add 132 for the fourth wicket, departed half an hour later for a 164-ball 67 when a rather wild cut off Craig Meschede only edged the ball to Mark Wallace behind the stumps.However, Lancashire’s attacking intentions were not so much maintained as intensified by Alex Davies and James Faulkner, who put on 128 for the sixth wicket in 22 overs before Faulkner’s pull-drive off Meschede found the safe hands of Lloyd at long on when he had made 63 off 70 balls.That dismissal began a period of less than seven overs in which Lancashire lost their last five wickets for 27 runs, the chief beneficiary of the home side’s brief and cheerful slog being Meschede, who finished the innings with four for 101. Part-time legspinner Colin Ingram also enjoyed himself, picking up the wickets of Davies and Arron Lilley in a 3.1 over spell.The departure of Davies occurred when, having made 95 off 104 balls with 11 fours and two sixes, the 20-year-old came down the wicket to the slow bowler but only skied the ball to Wagg running round to cover from point.The successes of Meschede and Ingram were hard on Michael Hogan, who had battled against a groin strain to bowl 30 good but wicketless overs, and they were particularly tough on Graham Wagg, whose figures of 2 for 82 off 30 overs did him no justice whatsoever. However, it was not a particularly good day for Glamorgan’s fielders, at least four catches going down on a day when the bowlers both needed and deserved more support.In the 16 overs of Glamorgan’s first innings, Jacques Rudolph and Will Bragg added 40 for the first wicket before Bragg was leg before to off-spinner Lilley’s second ball for 27, umpire Rob Bailey judging that the ball had straightened sufficiently to beat the left-hander’s forward push.At the close Rudolph was 18 not out and nightwatchman Andrew Salter was unbeaten on a single. By that stage the spinners, Lilley and Simon Kerrigan, were bowling in tandem, a combination the Old Trafford spectators may have further opportunities to observe over the final two days of this game.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was relieved to be fronting a press conference after India had won, and the smiles and jokes appeared more natural and less forced.”Well of course it was a tight match. They [Australia] got 200 [193] runs [batting first]. Personally I thought it was a good wicket though it does a bit under lights,” said Dhoni. “There was plenty of bounce and seam movement. So I knew it would be a tough match but I thought we would win comfortably, but I would take it [the two-wicket win] with an open heart.”When asked if it was a tough decision to leave Rahul Dravid out of the XI, Dhoni flashed his widest smile. “Well he was rested,” was all Dhoni would say before getting quite animated when speaking about Murali Kartik, a player he backed and who has delivered for him.”I think he was really excited specially if you look at the stage when he was called back into the side. He needed to perform, he was quite determined to perform,” said Dhoni. “He even had an injury on his right thumb, but still he was quite eager to play. The way he bowled I think it was brilliant. If a bowler keeps bowling in one place, you can set up an aggressive field. I think that was not the case in the previous matches. I think we bowled well, apart from the initial start when we were a bit erratic and gave too many runs with the new ball.”Kartik’s ten-over spell of 6 for 27 also came in for praise from Ricky Ponting. “Kartik bowled well today. He bowled well even in his first game [in Chandigarh],” Ponting said. “The wicket here was different because the top was a bit soft. Still you have to execute the skills and he did extremely well and deserved every wicket he got.”Like in Chandigarh, Australia had a firm grasp on the game before India made a winning fightback, something Ponting wasn’t pleased about. “Whenever we lose, it’s disappointing and more so when we lose from winning position.”I thought 193 was defendable because of the conditions as the ball was swinging and seaming. We wanted early wickets which we got but we could not get wickets in the middle and that’s why we lost.”Dhoni said it was not merely about backing Kartik. All players needed the backing of their captain. “Well of course I believe in each and every player. If you look at RP [Singh], the way he started [the series] he would have been sidelined and he would have never got to play,” said Dhoni. “You have to keep the confidence in the players and that’s how you gain their confidence. I want 14 players in my team whom I want to stand in front of a truck and they are willing to do it.”

Even with the series gone, well before this game began, Dhoni stressed that this match was a big one for his side. If anything, he said India were in a strong position in the Nagpur game, and should have won that one.”Well of course even if you see the last match, I think we were into the match and we could have won. But unfortunately we couldn’t, in between we made a few mistakes,” said Dhoni. “But we knew this was a very crucial match for us, we didn’t start the series well, but at least we wanted to end it on a positive note. We know we didn’t bat well, but as a team we played really well to win this match. With the new ball we got initial breakthroughs, but more accidentally. I thought the Australians bowled brilliantly. They made the batsmen play each and every delivery and that was very crucial.”Despite the defeat, Ponting agreed it had been an exciting contest. “It was a very entertaining game though it was low-scoring. The ball was swinging all day, which made it a pretty-even contest,” Ponting said. “It showed that even low-scoring matches can be entertaining because of the intensity right through the match.”Dhoni also counted quite a few positives from this series despite losing 2-4. “If you see Robin [Uthappa] he has matured a lot as a player. Although he is an opener he is the kind of batsman you can shuffle around to play at any place,” said Dhoni. “He is a big asset for the team. He plays positively and fielded well through the series. It was a good series for him.”At the end of his first ODI series as captain, Dhoni conceded there were differences in handling a young Twenty20 unit and a side like this one. “Well it’s a lot different. If look at Twenty20, we had a very young side so keeping the intensity going through out the 20 overs was never a problem,” he said. “But over here you have to keep the guys on their toes. At times you have to take help from people like Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa who are on the field and tell them ‘No boss, you have to pick things up, your intensity is going down.’ And that was one of things that we did really well today.”

Mohammad Khalil, the Pakistan left-arm seamer, has been officially cleared of charges of ball-tampering in a Patrons Trophy match between his team, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and Pakistan Customs at Karachi, due to lack of sufficient evidence. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, ZTBL’s captain, was instead held responsible and imposed a fine of Rs 5000.The incident occurred in the second day’s play, during the 29th over of Customs’ innings, when the umpires Riazuddin and Shakeel Khan suspected that the condition of the ball had changed. They called for a replacement and awarded five penalty runs to the batting side. Khalil was bowling at the moment, and it was reported in the Pakistan media that he was found guilty and slapped a fine by Khalid Niazi, the match referee. However, Niazi clarified the actual version of the events in an official verdict today.”According to the laws of the game, when no one is caught red-handed, the captain is responsible,” said Niazi. “So a fine of Rs 5000 has been imposed on Rao Iftikhar Anjum on behalf of ZTBL. Mohammad Khalil was called in for the hearing just because he was bowling at the time but no evidence or proof was found against him so he has been cleared gracefully from this matter.”