Rawalpindi held despite huge advantage

Abbottabad held on for a draw against Group II leaders Rawalpindi in Swabi, despite having been bowled out in their first innings with a 352-run deficit. Having lead by 493 overnight, Rawalpindi chose to bat on, reaching 289 for 8 before declaring. That left Abbottabad with an unlikely target of 642 for victory but despite slipping to 80 for 5, they were only required to bat for 37 overs to secure the draw.

Rawalpindi's dominance was built on a career-best 183 by Umar Waheed, as they racked up 498 in the first innings. Saad Altaf and Hammad Azam then claimed four wickets apiece as Abbottabad were dismissed for 146 but, rather than enforce the follow-on, Rawalpindi chose to bat again. Umar Amin, Mohammad Nawaz and Adnan Mufti all made half-centuries, while Abbottabad's Aziz-ur-Rehman picked up five wickets but in the end there was not time to force a result.

Neither Bahawalpur or Karachi Whites could force a result in Multan, although the three points collected by Bahawalpur was enough to move them off the bottom of Group II. After making 362, largely thanks to Kamran Hussain's 139, Bahawalpur secured a slender first-innings lead by dismissing Karachi for 351, wicketkeeper Owais Rehmani making an unbeaten 146.

Four wickets for Faraz Ahmed left Bahawalpur's second innings in trouble at 109 for 6 but Kamran struck his second century of the match, to help haul the total up towards 250. With eight wickets down, Bahawalpur declared to set Karachi 257 to win and although they set off at a decent scoring rate, the chase was called off after 12 overs. The draw meant second-placed Karachi lost ground on Rawalpindi.

In Mirpur, Hyderabad condemned Faisalabad to their third defeat in five matches in a low-scoring encounter. Set 210 to win, Faisalabad were five down at the close of day three and could only muster another 32 runs to be dismissed for 122 and lose by 87 runs. Slow left-armer Nauman Ali claimed 4 for 31, while three other bowlers shared six wickets between them.

After being asked to bat first, Hyderabad made the highest score of the match, Sharjeel Khan and Lal Kumar making 63 and 64 respectively in a total of 254. Faisalabad then made 187, after being 18 for 4 early on, but they were given a chance by Asad Ali's 6 for 53 - to go with five wickets in the first innings - as Hyderabad could muster only 142. But that turned out to be more than enough.

In Group I, Karachi Blues extended their lead at the top despite failing to chase a target of 86 against Lahore Ravi. The match at the Gaddafi Stadium ended in a draw with Karachi 69 for 5 from 10 overs, as time ran out. Adnan Akmal's unbeaten 108 in Lahore's second innings helped his team to 305 all out, with Saadullah Ghauri absent injured, but it was a crucial ninth-wicket partnership of 64 that helped eat up enough time to deny Karachi victory.

After Imran Farhat's century had underpinned Lahore's 261, Karachi piled on the runs to build a lead of 220. Akbar-ur-Rehman was largely responsible for that advantage, compiling 225 - only his third first-class century and his highest score - but a second-innings half-century from Farhat and Adnan's rearguard with Asif Ashfaq staved off the possibility of defeat.

There was another draw across the city at the Lahore Cricket Association, as Quetta closed on 193 for 3 in pursuit of 270 to beat Sialkot. Again a stubborn lower-order partnership proved pivotal, as Mohammad Ayub (94 not out) added 52 runs with last man Mohammad Abbas. Fifties from Bismillah Khan, Ali Asad and Qaiser Abbas were not enough for Quetta, whose chase was abandoned after 54 overs.

Their target to win would have been the highest score of the match, after both teams failed to pass 250 in the first innings. Sialkot took the three points, having made 232 with half-centuries from Faisal Khan and captain Shoaib Malik, as Quetta subsided to 225 after a century opening stand between Bismillah and Mohibullah.

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Rajshahi set up victory with record total

Duronto Rajshahi 213 for 6 (Tamim 66, Coventry 62, Kapali 3-23) beat Barisal Burners 209 for 7 (Mahmood 54, Abul 2-43) by four runs
Scorecard

Duronto Rajshahi bounced back from three consecutive losses to beat Barisal Burners by four runs in a high-scoring contest. Rajshahi's 213 for 6 was the highest score in the BPL, surpassing Dhaka's 208 for 5 in the first season, but the Burners' 209 for 7 is now in second place after they maintained a high run-rate but missed vital partnerships in the chase.

Charles Coventry started the big-hit party with a 25-ball 62, with seven fours and four sixes. He reached 50 off just 20 balls at the end of the fifth over, when his opening partner Tamim Iqbal was 8 off 11 balls. Coventry fell two overs later after attempting one more charge at Alok Kapali.

Tamim took up the charge after Coventry's departure. He was severe on the spinners, and scored 66 off 47 balls. He struck five sixes and three boundaries, and maintained the 10-plus run-rate throughout his stay. Sean Ervine kept up the pace with an unbeaten 30 off 11 balls, hitting three sixes. Off the last seven balls of the innings, Ervine and Abul Hasan struck four sixes.

Kapali and Shafiul Islam conceded only 46 runs off their 8 overs, while the rest of the Burners attack was taken for 167 runs at a rate of 13.92 per over.

Burners replied in earnest but scoring 10.70 per over was a hard task. Brad Hodge blasted a few before falling to a catch at sweeper for 23. Sabbir Rahman and Joe Denly contributed slightly, while Azhar Mahmood threatened Rajshahi before Ervine had him leg-before on 54 off 28 balls.

The Burners' batsmen tried to replicate Rajshahi's 13 sixes but fell short by three, and more importantly they didn't have the sizeable partnerships that anchor such large chases. Burners slipped to the bottom of the seven-team competition after suffering their fourth defeat in five games. They haven't won a game since on January 20.

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England U-19 bowlers earn big lead

England U-19s 313 (Barnard 114, Williams 4-71) and 24 for 0 lead South Africa U-19s 194 (Coetzee 50, Stone 4-40) by 143 runs
Scorecard

Oli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town.

Stone was not the original captain for the trip but replaced the injured Shiv Thakor last week. He did not bring himself into the attack until six other bowlers had been used, after suffering a dislocated finger in the warm-up match, but soon made an impact with two wickets in two balls removing South Africa's top-scorer, Murray Coetzee (50), and Vassilli Orros as the home side slipped to 120 for 5.

He claimed two further wickets to complete an efficient display by England who had earlier extended their first innings to 313. Ed Barnard, who scored a century on the opening day, was only able to add seven to his overnight score before being bowled sweeping.

South Africa made a solid start in reply before Harry Finch, a 17-year-old from Sussex, had Andries Gous and Shaylin Pillay caught behind in quick succession. A partnership of 60 between Coetzee and Diego Rosier, the captain, followed to leave the game evenly balance but Miles Hammond had Rosier lbw to start the collapse.

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Giles surprised at Root's success

Ashley Giles, England's limited-overs coach, has admitted being taken by surprise at how quickly Joe Root has settled into the international arena. Root, the Yorkshire batsman, was one of the players to significantly enhance his reputation during the ODI series against India that finished on Sunday.

A mark of Root's swift rise is that he will now be involved in all three formats on the tour to New Zealand, having previously been expected to only be a fringe player this winter. First, he was given a Test debut in Nagpur, then he was added to the Twenty20 squad before Christmas when Jonny Bairstow was ruled out, and the same situation emerged for the one-dayers when Bairstow remained unavailable.

His success in India then prompted the selectors to remove him from the Lions tour to Australia, where he was due to be captain, and send him for the ODIs in New Zealand, while Danny Briggs' injury opened up a spot in the Twenty20 squad.

Root's standout performance came in the fourth match, when he struck 57 off 45 balls and then followed that with 31 in England's successful run chase in Dharamsala. However, he also impressed in the field and with the ball, and his offspin became a useful option for Alastair Cook.

"I didn't know he could bat as well as he has," Giles said. "He had all the ingredients to show that he could bat really well. He just looks at home and he's the sort of player with which English cricket is in good hands.

"Joe's had a fantastic first tour and has developed game on game into someone who is playing all forms of the game."

The other player to shine consistently through the one-day tour was offspinner James Tredwell, who claimed 11 wickets at 18.18 in the five matches. His success has been enough for Giles to suggest that England could consider playing both him and Graeme Swann in the same team, although the likelihood is that Tredwell will be back as the reserve for the ODIs against New Zealand next month.

"It just gives us great options - I don't see at some point why you couldn't play two offspinners in the same side," Giles said. "Tredders has been fantastic this trip."

The five-match series was also a steep learning curve for Giles in his first assignment as the limited-overs coach, having taken over from Andy Flower in the new England coaching structure. Giles now takes the squad to New Zealand for three Twenty20s and three ODIs, the latter will provide more fine-tuning ahead of the Champions Trophy, and he is feeling more at home with each match.

"Certainly I have learned a lot about this level and as the tour has gone on I have become more and more myself," he said. "It has been an enjoyable tour, playing cricket in these beautiful arenas, and while we are disappointed to lose, we have learned a lot."

England have a couple of days off after arriving in Auckland before starting their preparations for the warm-up matches ahead of the Twenty20 series. They play two matches against a New Zealand XI that will include former captain Ross Taylor, as he continues the process of returning to the national side following his self-imposed break during the South Africa tour after his controversial sacking.

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Pakistanis tighten grip with big lead

Pakistanis 329 (Safraz 93, Harmer 5-88) and 240 for 5 (Hafeez 83, Jamshed 51, Misbah 51*) lead South African Invitation XI 257 (van Jaarsveld 92, Vilas 62*, Ajmal 3-66) by 312 runs
Scorecard

The Pakistanis put themselves in prime position to record a first victory on their visit to South Africa as they bowled the hosts out and built a significant lead on the third day in East London. Nasir Jamshed and Mohammed Hafeez were among the runs again, while Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan and Umar Gul all flexed their wicket-taking muscles.

Pakistan's latest sensation, the 2.03 metre tall Mohammed Irfan, only bowled 12 overs in the first innings as team management called for fast-bowling reinforcements to be sent to South Africa. He was not needed on the third morning as it took Ajmal and Junaid just 13.1 overs to get rid of the South African Invitation XI's tail. Both finished with three scalps, while only Mohammed Hafeez went wicketless.

For the second time in the fixture, Pakistan's opening pair appeared solid. Hafeez and Jamshed put on a century stand with both making half-centuries. Hafeez was the more aggressive of the pair - his 83 coming off 109 balls before he was caught behind off the innocuous bowling of part-time medium pacer Stiaan van Zyl.

Jamshed was more circumspect. His spent four minutes short of three hours at the crease to compile his 51. Even though he seemed well set, he departed the over after Hafeez, bowled by Kyle Abbot.

Jamshed's performances in the match give Pakistan an interesting problem ahead of the Test series. Should they open the batting with the in-form debutant or, fitness permitting, return to the tried and trusted Taufeeq Umar? Taufeeq was forced to sit out the practice match because of a leg injury. He was assessed by a radiologist on Friday in East London and is awaiting the results before a call is taken on his availability.

Pakistan may consider using both players, with one batting at No.3, after Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq all failed again to leave the middle order looking shaky. They were all caught behind suggesting that some adjustment still needed to be made for South African conditions and the Invitation side would have sniffed an opening at 191 for 5.

But Misbah-ul-Haq came good and reached a half-century as stumps loomed. Sarfraz Ahmed was with him at the crease. Having already scored 93 in the first innings, Sarfraz may not need too much more practice time and the Pakistanis will look to let their bowlers have another run on the fourth day. The Pakistan squad will travel to Johannesburg on Tuesday to begin preparations for the first Test, which starts on Friday.

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Barnard hundred leads England rally

England Under-19s 277 for 7 (Barnard 107*, Williams 4-61) v South Africa Under-19s
Scorecard

Ed Barnard made an unbeaten century to lead England Under out of trouble on the first day in Cape Town. Batting got easier as the day went on and Barnard relished the better conditions to put England in a fair position at the close.

Barnard, a 17-year-old from Shropshire, struck 11 fours in a composed innings of 168 balls. His innings was vital because the top order had been blown away by the new ball after South Africa won the toss and chose to field.

Coming in at 89 for 5, Bernard shared stands of 63 with Callum Jackson and 60 with Oli Stone to prevent his side from falling well behind in the Test match. Kishen Velani had earlier made 49 as England finally got some runs on the board but he was the third of four wickets for opening bowler Lizaad Williams just after lunch.

Williams had put South Africa in firm command in the morning session, reducing England to 14 for 3 in the fifth over. Jonathan Tattersall went caught behind for 2 and Harry Finch was trapped lbw for 9, both after Dominic Sibley fell to Craig Kirsten for a second ball duck. Kirsten later left the field with a stress fracture of the lower back, an injury that could rule him out for two months.

Williams went on to bowl Jackson for 49 as England's recovery was trimmed, but with the second new ball not as threatening and Barnard in good touch, England ended the day in positive shape, adding 109 after tea.

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Captains hope for strong crowds

Jhulan Goswami, along with a couple of her India Women team-mates, sauntered through the lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. Not one of the few people present turned her way to acknowledge they were watching the second-most successful bowler in women's cricket. Outside the hotel, the Sunday crowd continued to throng the seafront alongside the Gateway of India. A few stopped to take photographs. Not of Goswami, but of the landmark hotel, completely unaware that seven international teams were staying there.

There is a World Cup in town, a cricket World Cup at that. It has been in the news because some people didn't want a particular team coming over while other people wanted a particular stadium for their own use, to the exclusion of the women. Over the next three weeks, the tenth Women's World Cup, to be held in Mumbai and Cuttack, will strive to make headlines for the cricket played by the eight participating teams.

The captains of four of them, hosts India, England, Sri Lanka and West Indies, were present at the tournament's first press event, attended by a generous gathering of journalists and cameramen.

The general public may remain largely ignorant, or indifferent, but the players know how much progress has been made on the ground. Charlotte Edwards, captain of defending champions England and one of the game's greats, spoke of how far women's cricket had come from the time she scored 173* in Pune a day before her 18th birthday, in the 1997 World Cup.

"My first time was when I was 17, a quite memorable one, first time I think I had been out of England," Edwards said. "Now with the ICC and the professionalisation that has come in, is fantastic. I think it is safe to say that the game today is unrecognisable from when I played back in 1997. The games are televised now, which they weren't back in 1997. Very proud of where the game is at the moment.

"Recent ICC events have shown that the game is becoming popular. I have heard we are attracting loads of young girls who want to play the game. That is the most important thing for us as players. I think we have changed people's perceptions about women's cricket a lot. Hopefully this tournament will be another step in hammering that message home."

Mithali Raj, the India captain and another big name, was hopeful of substantial turnouts at the grounds. "It is a great moment," she said. "It is the first time after 1997 that we are hosting a World Cup, [and] under the BCCI. The kind of media attention and awareness is great. So I am hoping a lot of people will turn up for the matches."

Raj said the best way to popularise the women's game was to have matches on television. Not only World Cup or World Twenty20 matches, but also bilateral games. "Lot of people question me about the follow-up of women's cricket. It would be nice if more games are televised when we tour abroad," Raj said. "Most of them follow Star Cricket, ESPN, where, if women's cricket is televised, then gradually it will catch people's awareness. Some of the girls are definitely known faces. Not only the ICC tournaments, but also two-nation series like England v India or Australia v India should be televised on good cricketing channels for them to follow women's cricket."

This World Cup will be broadcast live on television alright. Now only if those grounds could be filled.

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Gibson calls for climb up ODI ladder

Ottis Gibson wants his West Indies side to use their Twenty20 success to help improve their one-day cricket. They go into the series in Australia ranked seventh in ODIs and Gibson is looking for them to move up the ladder.

West Indies open their tour against a Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Tuesday with speculation surrounding Gibson's future. He will almost certainly be in charge for the five-match ODI series and the one-off T20 - West Indies first match against a major nation since winning the World T20 in October.

"We are the T20 world champions and we are proud of what we achieved in that tournament but that doesn't put any added pressure on the team," Gibson said. "Hopefully with that victory and what we achieved more people will come and watch us.

"It's something we have to move on from and think about moving up the ladder in one-day cricket and getting ourselves in the mix with the best teams in the world. We believe we're a top team but we now have to show it with the way we play."

West Indies welcome back Ramnaresh Sarwan into their squad, which Gibson described as having a "good mix" of young and experienced players. They prepared with the Caribbean T20, which Gibson saw as a positive with all his players getting game time and playing themselves into form.

"We're hoping we can hit the ground running," he said. "The Prime Minister's XI is our one opportunity for preparation and it gives us a good chance to get some practice. Hopefully we put on a good show but the main aim is to get our preparation right for the one-day series on Friday."

West Indies captain Darren Sammy echoed his coach's sentiment on getting their preparation right. "The guys have been playing a lot of cricket back home and hopefully we can get this series off to a great start here. As an individual and as a team we have just got to get the basics right and execute if you want to win."

West Indies lost their last ODI series 3-2 in Bangladesh, and the series against Australia comes less than 12 months after the sides drew 2-2 in the Caribbean last March.

"It will be competitive out here, that's for sure," Sammy said. "I see it as a continuation of what happened in the Caribbean. We want to play hard, competitive cricket. It's always a challenge to play Australia anywhere in the world, but even more so in their own backyard. We believe we can come here and if we can execute our plans and play to our strengths, we can be successful."

West Indies have a poor recent record to overcome. They have not won an ODI in Australia since January 1997 - 13 completed ODIs ago - and their last series victory came in 1992, when they won a tri-series also involving Pakistan.

"We have a lot of respect for Australia, you can never count Australia out," Sammy said. "They're professionals and know how to dig themselves out of a hole. We won't watch the results of the Sri Lanka series but we'll look at some areas to implement in our game. I expect it to be a hard-fought battle and we're looking to play it very hard."

As might be expected, Sammy is looking to Chris Gayle to have a defining impact for them. West Indies played at the same venue against the Prime Minister's XI two years ago and made 399 for 5 off 45 overs. Gayle made 146 off 89 balls.

"I remember Chris hitting the ball all over the park," Sammy said. "I'm expecting Chris to have a good tour as a whole. When he came back home he looked really good and I think he almost had the most runs in the Caribbean T20 tournament after just a couple of games. We all know what he's capable of, but the strength for us is the way the team has performed together. We are getting stronger as a unit."

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Jaydev Shah confident Saurashtra can rally

Saturday was a thoroughly dispiriting day for Saurashtra. After all the excitement about their first final since Independence, their batting crumbled against a good but unexceptional bowling performance from Mumbai in the first session.

There wasn't much help for the spinners - quick bowler Shardul Thakur's figures of 12-2-31-0 hide how regularly he sprayed the ball wide of the stumps - while Ajit Agarkar took the new ball but bowled only three overs in the first hour. Only Dhawal Kulkarni posed a consistent threat, keeping the batsmen guessing around the off stump and choking the runs. Several wickets went down to poor strokes: Shitanshu Kotak played a loose shot off the backfoot, Jaydev Shah tucked a harmless delivery straight to midwicket and later, when much of the damage was already done, Kamlesh Makvana slapped a wide ball to backward point.

What made it worse for Saurashtra was that bowling is generally considered to be Mumbai's weaker department, with the hosts missing the experience of Zaheer Khan. Also, Saurashtra's success this season has been based more on their spinners than the quicks and the Wankhede pitch is unlikely to offer much for the slow bowlers this early in the match.

Just one day into the game and Mumbai already look to be certainties for the title. Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah didn't share that view, though. "Of course, why not?" he said emphatically, when asked whether he had the resources for a fightback. "Today you can see they were also getting beaten very easily. It is cricket, they can get out for 100 or 200, though 200-250 would have been a better score [from us]."

Shah denied that his team was overawed by the occasion and said the toss played a crucial role. "First the pitch was damp, then it dried up, so the toss makes a difference. I have never seen Bombay, who have such a huge batting line-up, decide to bowl. They would not go and bowl, [unless] there is something in the wicket."

In the second session, with the pitch drying up, Aarpit Vasavada and Makvana seemed at ease in the middle, putting up Saurashtra's only significant partnership of the innings and perhaps pointing to better batting conditions on the second day. Shah disagreed. "It was not easy to score runs. We gave their batsmen eight overs and they just scored about 10-12 runs, so it was difficult for them, too."

For Saurashtra to compete, they will need someone to bowl like Kulkarni did. He cut out the loose deliveries, and generally probed around off, getting the odd one to kick up and others to snake around. It helped him that he got a wicket in his first over itself, when Sagar Jogiyani nicked the ball to slip. "I was confident, got five wickets before this game, so I just carried it forward," Kulkarni said. "I would have felt great if I had got that five-for [again]. I was bowling well throughout the season, the only thing missing was the wickets."

Like Kulkarni, Mumbai, too, can be pleased with their first day's efforts. And unless Saurashtra manage to pull off a dramatic turnaround, the whispers around their batting thriving only on the notoriously flat pitches of Rajkot will get louder.

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I would like to bat higher - Raina

Suresh Raina, whose unbeaten 89 in the fourth ODI against England in Mohali sealed a series win for India, has admitted that he would like the opportunity to bat further up the order. Raina has spent the majority of his 158-match ODI career coming in at Nos. 5 or 6, and it was from a position of three wickets down that he scored his 27th half-century on Wednesday.

"Definitely, I would like to bat higher up the order," he said, ahead of the fifth ODI. "If I am given a chance, I would like to give 100% as it will also give me an opportunity to play more overs. I have enjoyed batting at five, six, seven, where you need to bat till the finish."

Yuvraj Singh has occupied the No. 4 spot for India in recent years, although Raina has an impressive record batting there - albeit in just nine innings - averaging 58.85, with four fifties and his best ODI score of 116 not out. Raina has, however, been in good form in his current slot in the line-up, scoring half-centuries in each of his three innings against England so far to make him the leading run-scorer on either side.

Raina, 26, also said he hoped being able to bat for longer periods and building an innings would aid his chances of returning to the Test team. Raina's average from 17 Tests is just 28.44 and he has made six single-figure scores - including three ducks - in his last eight innings. After a year out of the side, he played in India's two Tests against New Zealand in August, scoring 3, 55 and 0 before being dropped in favour of the returning Yuvraj. "If you talk about my Test performance, I scored a fifty in one of my last three innings," he said. "I believe that I can make a comeback in Tests."

An impressive performance in the Irani Cup - a one-off Indian first-class match featuring the Ranji Trophy winners and a Rest of India side - which will begin on February 6, could push him back into the selectors' thoughts ahead of the arrival of Australia later in the month. But Raina was keen not to look too far ahead and hoped to help India secure another win over England in Dharamsala.

"Yes, Irani Trophy will be very important, but at this point I want to focus on doing well in tomorrow's match," Raina said. "Although, we have won the series, it would be nice if we can finish with a 4-1 margin."

Preventing that from happening is the priority for the tourists and Joe Root, a rare recent success story for England's one-day team in India, said the players were pulling in the same direction and eager to finish on a high. "We're obviously very disappointed as a team with the way the series has gone," he said. "It has been nice for me to score some runs and put in a few performances, but it always feels better when you're winning."

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