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Zimbabwe amassed a huge total of 542 for the loss of 7 wickets beforedeclaring their innings half an hour after tea. At stumps Bangladesh had reached 57 for the loss of Javed Omar.Zimbabwe added 306 to their overnight total for the loss of 4 further wickets, with three of their batsmen scoring centuries. Trevor Gripper completed his on the first day, while Craig Wishart and Andy Flower managed their centuries today.Both Zimbabweans scored quick runs against the ordinary Bangladeshi attack. Wishart, who missed his century by four runs in the Dhaka Test, fulfilled his dream here playing all around the wicket and giving no opportunity to any bowler to settle down.During his 150-minute stay in the crease he reached the rope 11 times and hit two great sixes to score 114. His valiant compatriot Andy Flower notched up his 12th century in scoring 114 not out.Flower played his natural game and was brilliant to watch all through. He was hurt when on 70 and had to return to the dressing room, butafter Marilier’s fall he came back and reached his hundred comfortably.Marillier got his second fifty (52) in Bangladesh before falling to Aminul. It was the bowler’s maiden Test wicket, gained with the help of Basher’s catch.Zimbabwe declared on reaching 542 when there were eighty minutes of the day was remaining. Both Mashrafe and Enamul took two wickets each.Bangladesh lost an early wicket, that of Javed Omar, who got an edge off Heath Streak to Andy Flower for 8. His runs came from two boundaries in Travis Friend’s opening over.Al-Sahariar and Habibul Bashar batted prudently in the final session for the total to reach 57 by the close of play. Al-Sahariar is not out 25 and Bashar 21.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShoaib Malik rescued Pakistan from a score of 29 for 3•AFP

A rearguard effort of 33 not out from Mohammad Rizwan and a strangling spell of 4 for 11 from left-arm spinner Imad Wasim kept Pakistan’s unbeaten T20 record against Zimbabwe intact with a 13-run win in the first match in Harare. Pakistan’s innings was first salvaged by Shoaib Malik, before Rizwan lifted them to 136 for 8.Zimbabwe went down with hardly any fight despite restricting the visitors to a below-par score as Wasim, in his fourth match, made sure most of Zimbabwe’s reputed batsmen fell for low scores. Only Hamilton Masakadza tried to establish the chase with a run-a-ball 25, and captain Elton Chigumbura gave the hosts some hope in the end with a 28-ball 31, but the asking rate had shot up too far after the early wickets.Wasim’s bowling from round the wicket reaped rewards from the very first over. He got Chamu Chibhabha for a duck and Sikandar Raza in the eighth over in bizarre fashion when the batsman came down the pitch and was stumped, but was also given lbw. Keeping the pressure on from the other end, Craig Ervine was trapped lbw by Sohail Tanvir as he unleashed a flick but missed. Masakadza started slowly with the fall of wickets around him and then tried to push the run rate with boundaries but the pressure showed when he holed out to long-on off Wasim, who made it four wickets in his four overs by getting Sean Williams lbw for 14 soon after.At 66 for 5 the task was left to Chigumbura but he was let down further by two run-outs – of Richmond Mutumbami and debutant Luke Jongwe. Chigumbura took the chase to the last over but 16 runs from six balls was too stiff with only two wickets in hand.Earlier, Pakistan were kept on a leash almost throughout their innings, barring two partnerships – one led by Malik and the other by Rizwan. Chibhabha – like the other Zimbabwe medium-pacers – hardly gave the batsmen any pace to work with, and threw Pakistan off track by removing their top order early. After not allowing Ahmed Shehzad to build on his momentum of three fours in the first three overs by knocking back his off stump, he dismissed Mukhtar Ahmed and Sohaib Maqsood by bowling a stump-to-stump line.Pakistan were rescued from a precarious 29 for 3 when Malik and Umar Akmal combined for nearly six overs to score 42 runs. Malik hammered a six off Graeme Cremer in the 10th over and Umar used the late cut effectively to keep the run rate around six, but he holed out to long-on in the 12th over. Pakistan would have been 74 for 5 had Mutumbami stumped Rizwan in the next over but Williams’ sharp turn beat both the batsman and wicketkeeper.That cost Zimbabwe the match as Rizwan scored another 31 runs with unorthodox shots to provide the finish his team desperately needed. He used his feet against the spinners, especially to smack a six off Raza in the 17th over that conceded 12 runs, and his alliance with Wasim (19 off 12) turned the match Pakistan’s way as they accumulated 46 runs from 4.4 overs. Wasim struck a consecutive six and four off the last two balls of Williams’ spell and Rizwan’s stay till the last over helped Pakistan collect 45 runs from the last five overs, despite scoring only nine from the last two overs off the slower balls of Jongwe and Tinashe Panyangara.

Dolphins allrounder Robbie Frylinck has been suspended pending a disciplinary process related to an alleged assault on a fellow player. The franchise clarified the reason for Frylinck’s suspension on Saturday evening after providing no details of the sanction when it was made public on Thursday. Frylinck will face a formal disciplinary hearing next week.In a press release, the Dolphins said the incident took place last Sunday, January 24, after the Kwa-Zulu Natal team returned from their fixtures against Boland in Paarl. “It is alleged that an argument developed in the car which was transporting the players to the airport after the provincial match they played in ended a day before it’s scheduled finish,” the statement read.Frylinck has been suspended until the outcome of the hearing. He was due to rejoin Dolphins for the resumption of the one-day cup, but did not travel with the team to Cape Town.Dolphins CEO Pete de Wet appealed for speculation to be doused until the conclusion of the disciplinary process. “De Wet stressed that it was imperative for the dignity of all the players involved to allow the disciplinary process to be completed, and warned against unsubstantiated rumours and jumping to conclusions until the outcome of the hearing is made public,” the statement said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering a proposal to confer first-class status to matches of the rebel tours to South Africa in the 1980s. The organisers of the matches, the South African Cricket Union, had originally deemed them first-class games but that status was revoked by the ICC in 1993.The proposal will be discussed at a meeting of chief executives of the ICC’s member and associate nations in Johannesburg on September 10 and 11. Recommendations from that meeting are expected to be approved by the ICC’s executive board.”The motion is a bit of housekeeping to provide clarity to the statistical community, where there is no consensus on the status of these matches,” Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC media manager, told Cricinfo. He said a decision is likely to be taken on all matches played in South Africa between 1961-62, when it ceased to be a member of the Commonwealth, and 1990-91, when the ICC’s ban- imposed in 1970 – was lifted by the ICC.There was no move, Murgatroyd said, to change the status of matches played in Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket (WSC). “Comparing Packer’s series to the rebel tours to South Africa is like comparing chalk and cheese,” he said. “The [WSC] matches were played entirely separately from official cricket in the countries in which the matches were hosted, often in direct competition to them and this meant none of the usual characteristics of official cricket such as approval of venue and playing conditions and appointment of officials was followed. By contrast the rebel tour matches in South Africa were played as an integral part, indeed the pinnacle, of each season’s SA domestic fixtures under the jurisdiction of the home board [SACA].”While it’s not known which country initiated the proposal, Brian Basson, Cricket South Africa’s general manager of cricket affairs, told the , “I’m not quite sure but I reckon the idea originated from our end. There is no reason really for any other board or the ICC to come up with it.”A total of seven rebel tours were undertaken to South Africa: two each by English, Australian and West Indian teams, and one by a Sri Lankan team. The members of the West Indian side which toured in 1983, including Lawrence Rowe, were punished with life bans from Caribbean cricket. England players, including established international stars like Geoffrey Boycott, Graham Gooch, Derek Underwood and Mike Gatting were suspended from international duty for three years for touring in 1981-82.

Indian fans have seen plenty of Sachin Tendulkar’s hundreds, long Rahul Dravid innings, more of Ricky Ponting than they would have liked, but so little of Brian Lara, that it’s a crying shame. Although he has played 128 Tests and 275 one-day internationals – a massive number by any reckoning – it is more than ten years since he last played an international game on Indian soil. Sure, he has been here ever so often, but that has been for commercial endorsements and celebrity appearances. The last time the high back-lift and flashing blade were in action in an ODI was in the 1996 World Cup semi-final, against Australia at Mohali. The last time he played a Test in India was even before that, in December 1994, at Chandigarh.If there is some hope that the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad will get some sort of a crowd in for this qualifying match in the ICC Champions Trophy, it is that people will take this rare chance to catch Lara in action. The fact that the ground is quite far from the city – about 10 kilometres from the city centre – will be a deterrent, as will the dry heat, but it is a Sunday. And people have long said that the one batsman they would pay good money to watch, and travel far to watch, is Lara. Time will tell if they can walk the talk.But for Lara, crowds or no crowds, India, and playing here, certainly holds some charm. “Unfortunately the time the West Indies came here I was not well and I couldn’t make the tour a few years back,” he said at a pre-match press conference, when asked about the long gap since he last played here. “To me the passion that is shown for cricket in India, and the way the public receives cricketers – not just the Indian team – is just tremendous.””They talk about Lord’s being the home of cricket in terms of a cricket ground, but in terms of the actual game, cricket is definitely at home here in India. It’s unfortunate that it’s been a pretty long time, but there’s no better time to make up for that than now. I’m hoping to put my best foot forward and entertain the Indian crowd.”The crowds will be hoping that he doesn’t just put his first foot forward, but that he bats high up in the order. People would not have forgotten the one time when he slipped down the order to No. 9, in the recent DLF Cup, to give some of his team-mates the chance to show some responsibility. They failed utterly, however, falling short of a small target of 162. But Lara was clear that there would be no more experimenting for the moment. The West Indies’ first task was to qualify for the main draw of the Champions Trophy.To do so, they need their top-order, led by Lara, to fire. This means that Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are crucial to their fortunes. The likes of Runako Morton and Wavell Hinds – in whom Lara has shown tremendous faith – need to pick their games up. Fortunately for them, though, the bowling is coming through nicely, with Ian Bradshaw developing into the quintessential one-day performer, backed up ably by the two Dwaynes – Smith and Bravo, leaving the genuinely quick Fidel Edwards to express himself fully.Zimbabwe should not really pose West Indies any serious problems, but those following West Indian cricket in recent times won’t take anything for granted. They’ve managed to turn just-about invincible positions into losing ones at the least prompting. For now, though, it’s all eyes on Lara, and the magic he can produce with his bat. It’s unlikely that he’ll get a crowd as large as his artistry deserves, but who knows, one day, that might happen. Like he said, “My dream is to play a Test match at Eden Gardens. Hopefully I can last that long.”

Division One

Points TableOnly 58 overs were possible at Edgbaston on the second day of Warwickshire’s match against Surrey. James Anyon and Dougie Brown both took three wickets to leave the visitors on 225 for 9. Both sides need points to secure their first-division status for 2006.

Division Two

Points TableThe match at Grace Road between Leicestershire and Derbyshire ended in an inevitable draw. After rain prevented any possible play yesterday, there were further interruptions to the final day’s play, but not enough to prevent Derbyshire being bowled out for 193 to confirm their place at the bottom of Division Two. Stuart Broad took 3 for 46 for Leicestershire.Murali Kartik took ten wickets to give Lancashire a comfortable victory, and promotion to Division One. Full report here.

`Aisa koi saga nahin, jisko hamne thaga nahin.’ (There is no relative whom we haven’t conned); `Badnam kulfi.’ (Infamous kulfi). Caught your attention? These banners definitely caught mine. There are numerous ways of marketing a brand, but I have never seen one like that. Thaggu ke laddu is the name of the shop, renowned for its delicacies – mostly dairy products like sweets and kulfis. Kanpur is famous for many things, but your reporter was not prepared for this.Even though it is the biggest industrial city in Uttar Pradesh, there is hardly anything modern here. And the best way to guage that fact is the mode of commuting: the simplest, fastest and the best way to get to a place is by the cycle rickshaws.Initially you feel bad, seeing a fellow human grind and sweat and work his way through the busy streets to take you to your destination. But you end up in a cycle rickshaw anyway, as the other common modes of transport – buses and tuk-tuks – are very badly maintained and always drop you midway at the chourahas (crossroads). After having experienced a ride in the bus, where I had to park myself on a seat which stood on a vertical line of bricks, I decided to opt for the lesser mode of transport. No wonder the kids were shouting “phatichar” as the bus went past, which means atrocious.Once famous for its leather production, Kanpur, which was Cawnpore during the British rule, is one of the most polluted, dirty, messy and unregulated towns in the country. It votes in six Members of Parliament, and was named one of the eight metropolises in India, but still doesn’t have an airport. But it is an attractive town to visit.One of the chief attractions in the small towns of India are the people. Complete strangers stop you, strike up a conversation, ask you for an autograph, wave at you and treat you as if you are a celebrity. Their simplicity is heartening for a person living in the woeful big cities.This simple fact was visible when the Aussies umpiring duo of Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper, here to officiate the game, were invited to a UNESCO function to spread the polio immunization awareness campaign at the team hotel. As if the grown up men don’t test their patience on the field of play, parent after parent put their young ones into the hands of the umpires to take photographs. It was an endearing moment to see both men playfully chat with the kids and their parents, and patiently answer all the questions. The way the umpires transformed themselves into baby-sitters was the attraction of the evening.A young girl of 12 insisted on meeting Irfan Pathan. Why Irfan? Blame it on television Irfan has acted in commercials that show children around him, with Irfan becoming one of them, joining them in their games. The girl was attracted to that simplicity, and she wanted to meet him because of that. She goes away disappointed. But she will come back again. Just like her hero.Outside, the haziness in the air refuses to vanish, and the cycle-rickshawallah lounges on his breadwinner, smoking a bidi, waiting for the next customer. This time even I am waiting for my next ride.

All Today’s Yesterdays – July 10 down the yearsJuly 9 | July 111949
In Bombay, one of the greatest openers of all time is born. Sunil Gavaskar was exhibiting little-mastery before Sachin Tendulkar was even born. A genius whose technique was absolutely immaculate and powers of concentration unending, Gavaskar had a career chock-full of highlights. He began with the most sensational debut series imaginable, in West Indies in 1970-71: four Tests, four centuries, 774 runs at an average of 154. That started Gavaskar’s Caribbean love-in. In 13 Tests there he made seven hundreds and averaged over 70. (By contrast, he averaged only 38 against England, his lowest against any country.) He made a record 34 Test hundreds – 22 of them in draws – although that doesn’t include one of his greatest knocks. In his last Test innings, in the series decider against Pakistan on a raging Bangalore turner in 1986-87, Gavaskar made a brilliant 96, and India lost by a heartbreaking 16 runs. There was the odd lowlight too – that infamous go-slow in the first World Cup match at Lord’s in 1975, being dismissed by the first ball of a Test a record three times, and a Test bowling average of 206. Zaheer Abbas made for a decent sole wicket, mind you.1976
Eighty minutes of sheer hell for Brian Close and John Edrich. England needed the small matter of 552 to beat West Indies at Old Trafford, with two days and a bit left. That bit turned out to one of the most terrifying passages of play in Test history. West Indies’ over-zealous pace attack landed virtually everything in their own half of the pitch, and Close in particular took some sickening blows, a process not aided by his penchant for chesting the ball like a centre-back. The venerable pair – at 45 and 39 respectively, Close and Edrich were both playing their last Test innings – were still there at the close, though. Edrich’s 24 was the highest by an England player in the whole match. The Wisden Almanack called it “disquieting cricket … [the bowling] was frequently too wild and too hostile to be acceptable”. West Indies’ captain Clive Lloyd said simply: “Our fellows got carried away.” Not much consolation for Close as he counted his bruises.1940
In Victoria, Keith Stackpole is born. A sanguine opener whose idea of seeing off the new ball involved hooking and cutting the life out of it, Stackpole actually started his Test career at No. 8. That nonsense didn’t last long, though. His highest score was a punishing 207 at Brisbane in the first Test of the 1970-71 Ashes series, although he should have been given run out on 18. If Stackpole made a century – there were seven in 43 Tests – Australia did not lose. But he ended his Test career with a pair, against New Zealand at Auckland in 1973-74. In 78 previous innings he had made only three ducks.1971
The slowest day of Test cricket in England. It was cool to play the tortoise all of a sudden as England and Pakistan crawled to only 159 runs off 107.4 overs on this, the third day of the third Test at Headingley. In a masterful piece of understatement, the Wisden Almanack described it as “poor fare for the Saturday crowd”.1990
The last day of Test cricket for Sir Richard Hadlee – and a rare series win for England, their first at home for five years. They beat New Zealand by 114 runs, with the unlikely pair of Devon Malcolm and Eddie Hemmings sharing 15 wickets. Hadlee bowed out with an immaculate performance – his 5 for 53 in the second innings gave the Kiwis a sniff after they trailed by 186 on first innings. And his last ball produced a wicket: Malcolm, lbw for 0. Hadlee nailed Malcolm for 0 in each innings – and then signed Malcolm’s rather bald run-chart.1975
The end of Mike Denness’s troubled reign as England captain was as good as assured once he put Australia in to bat after winning the toss in the first Test at Edgbaston. Australia rattled up 359 and then even the elements seemed to conspire against Denness. Heavy rain left the pitch treacherous, and seven wickets each for Dennis Lillee and Max Walker and five for Jeff Thomson sealed an innings victory. Denness resigned and was replaced by Tony Greig. It was also the debut for a moustacheless Graham Gooch who bagged a pair.1900
A dasher is born. South Africa may have been a poor side in the 1920s and `30s, but that didn’t affect Bob Catterall’s approach. He went after the bowling from the start, and was a high-class driver through the off side. He made back-to-back 120s in England in 1924, at Edgbaston and Headingley, even though South Africa lost on both occasions. Four years later Catterall did help win a Test against England, with 119 at Durban. He died in Transvaal in 1961.1975
A debut centurion is born. New Zealand allrounder Scott Styris was originally marked down as a bit of a one-day player, and made 45 appearances before his Test debut. That finally came in Antigua in 2002, and he marked it with 107, 69 not out – and the wicket of Brian Lara. Had rain not intervened on the final day, he might well have only the second man after Lawrence Rowein 1971-72 – ironically for West Indies, against New Zealand – to make two centuries on Test debut.1884
Persistent rain ruling out any play on the scheduled first day of a Test in England isn’t exactly unusual. But this one was to be the first day of Test cricket at Old Trafford. Washouts don’t come much more prescient – Tests in Manchester have been dogged by the weather ever since.Other birthdays
1928 Jack Nel (South Africa)
1934 Munir Malik (New Zealand)
1970 Klaas van Noortwijk (Holland)

I was expecting a closely contested final at Durban on Friday but evenas the Indian innings drew to a sorry close, I knew that my hopes weregoing to be dashed.After both Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly fell cheaply, only Sehwaglooked capable of taking the fight to the South African camp. The Delhilad impressed me a great deal during his sweet cameo. The way in whichhe played some of the shots gave me the impression that he will be readyto lead the Indian batting when Tendulkar and Ganguly hang up theirboots.

Sehwag has modeled himself after Tendulkar and on occasions thesimilarity between the two is striking. He is a pronounced backfootplayer and a side-on batsman, which makes his batting look veryimpressive. Sehwag’s partnership with his idol following the dismissalof the Indian skipper sure made for interesting viewing.Ganguly was dismissed when he tried to break the shackles that ShaunPollock and Nantie Hayward had imposed. The two South Africans quicksbowled with great discipline, keeping the ball where the fourth stumpwould have been. This made it difficult for the Indian duo to unleashtheir wide array of shots. Starved of any width for six overs, Gangulyin desperation tried to make room for himself and hit over the top. Buton a pitch where the ball was not coming on to the bat, he onlysucceeded in edging a catch to Boucher. Pollock, for his part, couldn’tcontain his joy when his policy of denial finally worked.Tendulkar too was not allowed to dominate – he only made 17 off the 40balls he faced despite stroking three elegant boundaries. He too fell toa desperate shot; trying to cut a ball that was not quite there for theshot to be played. The South Africans had done excellent groundwork andthey carried out their plans to a T on the day. Once they had silencedthe two big guns the match was theirs for the taking.Rahul Dravid again made a fighting 77, displaying his solid battingtechnique and cool temperament. But then his innings was never going towin us the match. His technical excellence is going to be more importantin the Test series that is to follow. If you were to ask me, Rahulshould bat at No.3 in the three-match series ahead of VVS Laxman.This also brings me to another important point I would like to make.Considering the vital role that my fellow Karnataka statemate will playas a batsman in the Tests, I was baffled to see him ‘keeping in thefinal two one-dayers. Was the risk worth the gains; I, for one,definitely don’t think so.In my opinion, Deep Dasgupta should have done the job that was entrustedto him by the selectors. The young man from Bengal is a specialist’keeper and only by giving him greater exposure can we turn him into abetter player. Dasgupta is also in the Test side and by telling him towarm the benches, the team management was not doing his confidence anygood. The think-tank would do well to remember that two of the world’sfinest ‘keepers – Rodney Marsh and Ian Healy – were also never thoughtto be any good during their salad days. It was only with experiencegained by greater exposure in the international arena that they maturedinto the world-beaters they later proved to be.As for the squad announced for the Tests, I feel that the selection offive seamers was totally unnecessary. In any case, we can play only amaximum of three seamers and so I felt that five were one too many. Theselection of Connor Williams as an opener too was a huge surprise to me.The Baroda Ranji captain has no experience playing in the internationalarena and I feel that it is not a very clever idea to expose him to theSouth Africans quicks.Coming to the selection of Sameer Dighe as the first-choice ‘keeper, Ifeel it must serve as a wake-up call to Dasgupta. Nayan Mongia wouldmost definitely have been the best choice but then it is commonknowledge that he is not in the good books of either the Indian captainor the senior players.

Before signing off, let me say that that though the tri-series might nothave not given much joy to the Indian team it has at least underlinedthe fact that our best chance of winning the Tests lies in playing bothour spinners. All the South Africans have struggled to read bothHarbhajan and Kumble. I can therefore confidently predict that if weplay the duo and if our batsmen do their bit, India will at last havethe chance to savour their first win in the rainbow nation. Here then iswishing Sourav Ganguly and his men the very best ahead of the Testseries.

The long-serving Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed, whose last stint with the team was in 2010, has died at the age of 80 in Lahore.Saeed was the son of Pakistan’s first captain Mian Mohammad Saeed, who led the country in unofficial Tests before they gained full status, and the brother-in-law of former captain and paceman Fazal Mahmood. Of his 59 first-class games, 50 were for Somerset on England’s county circuit.He stepped down from the team manager role after the spot-fixing debacle in England that saw three Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir jailed and banned from playing cricketing for five years.Born in Lahore before the partition of India, Saeed’s cricketing career lasted between 1953 and 1959. He played against MCC and had also featured in a match against West Indies in 1958-59. He picked up 106 wickets at 34.05 as a seamer and contributed 1547 runs at 15.47 with the bat. He also represented East Pakistan, Amir of Bahawalpur’s XI and Pakistan’s Central Zone.