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National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) enhanced their chances considerably to win the final honours, as they defeated Faisalabad comprehensively by 10 wickets, inside two days in their Pentangular Cup match at Multan.NBP are now at the top of the points table as Faisalabad slipped a place below them. The latter now have 18 points from three appearances while NBP have the same number from two matches, with two still remaining.Yesterday, having resumed their overnight score of 192 for 7, NBP took their eventual score to 241 and gained a first innings lead of 144. Faisalabad crashed in their second outing too, as they were routed for 165 in 46 overs. The two NBP openers rattled up the 22 required for the win, in only 3.3 overs.Mohammad Sami excelled both as a bowler and batsman in the match, with figures of 5 for 31 and 3 for 28 and hammered a quick 33 not out off 43 balls with two fours and two sixes.Faisalabad’s Samiullah Niazi, the left-arm seamer, provided a late burst of wickets and ended the NBP innings with a haul of 4 for 67 in 24.3 overs.Faisalabad started their second innings disastrously, losing the in-form Mohammad Hafeez and Asif Hussain without scoring. Later, Misbah-ul-Haq too perished for a duck. The middle-order resisted for a while but the end was not too far away. Ijaz Ahmed Jnr top-scored with 45. NBP medium-pacer Imran Javed was the most effective bowler for NBP, taking four wickets for 34 runs in 11 overs.NBP’s fourth-round match, their third in the competition, is against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at the same venue in Multan, starting from Monday, April 17. Faisalabad only have one more match to play — against Karachi Harbour, starting at Lahore next Monday.Karachi Harbour virtually ended Sialkot’s chances of picking themselves up from the bottom of the table as took their overall lead to 258 they and still had six second innings wickets in hand, on the second day of their Pentangular Cup match at Lahore.Sialkot were dismissed for 227, with a 99-run deficit. By the close of play, Karachi made 159 for 4 in their second outing with Asim Kamal at the crease, unbeaten on 42. He shared a fourth-wicket stand of 86 with Afsar Nawaz. Afsar scored 65 off 115 balls with nine fours and lost his wicket in the last over of the day.Earlier, Sialkot resumed at their overnight score of 43 for 2, with the fourth-wicket pair of Ayub Dogar (77) Shahzad Malik (35) putting on 96. Although Haafiz Khalid Mahmood later hit a characteristic 47, off a mere 39 balls with six fours and a six, the last four wickets added only a further 68 runs. Mohammad Hasnain and off-spinner Atif Maqbool picked up three wickets each for Karachi.

Craig McMillan needs a few such moments in Test cricket to revitilise his career© Getty Images

Craig McMillan will face an acid test in the forthcoming days as he struggles to keep his place in the New Zealand Test side. McMillan has had a lean trot in his last eight innings, which included the latest struggle against Australia in the first Test at Christchurch.While trying to analyse McMillan’s problems, Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, suggested a method. “He’s in a situation where if he’s over aggressive it’s frowned upon, and if he’s too defensive it’s frowned upon,” Fleming told . “He’s trying to find a middle ground where it suits him and the team.”There’s a fine line between aggression and recklessness, and Craig’s working hard on the right options. He’s got to have a good defensive technique first, get in, then only he can be the judge of what’s risky and what’s not.”The second Test at Wellington, where the first day was abandoned due to rain, will be McMillan’s 55th and though he averages 38.70, just marginally less than Fleming’s 39.03, he has clearly been short on confidence in the last few months. Also, with James Marshall, Peter Fulton and Ross Taylor trying to force their way into the side, McMillan needed to get some big runs to retain his spot.However, McMillan didn’t think his career hinged on the next few games and added, “I’m 28 so I don’t think the next five years of my career is going to stand on the next month. I think I’ve still got a lot of cricket in me. I look back three knocks ago I scored 60 against them in Napier. For a lot of people that seems to be a long time ago. For Craig McMillan it’s three bats ago.”

Australia A 327 for 6 (North 115, Clarke 93) beat Zimbabweans 208 (Flower 67, Ervine 51) by 119 runs at Adelaide
Scorecard

Marcus North celebrates his century © Getty Images 2004

In an ominous premonition of what lies in store in the VB Series later this month, Zimbabwe were overwhelmed by 119 runs at Adelaide, as Marcus North’s century guided Australia A to an impregnable total of 327 for 6.To make matters worse for Zimbabwe, they lost the services of Stuart Carlisle, who sustained a hand injury while fielding and was unable to bat. With Craig Wishart already laid up with a knee injury, it was the last thing that an inexperienced squad needed.The toss was won by Michael Clarke, captaining Australia A for the day, although he is certain to feature in the senior squad, especially after lamping a whirlwind 93 from just 71 balls. His innings included 11 fours and a six, and put the icing on the cake after North, Brad Haddin and Shane Watson had carried Australia A to 177 for 2 by the 30th over.North’s innings hardly paled in comparison. He needed just 109 balls for his 115, and none of Zimbabwe’s bowlers escaped his wrath – none of them went for less than five an over.Mark Vermeulen and Vusi Sibanda launched an optimistic reply, but both fell in the space of two overs, whereupon Tatenda Taibu went for a duck. It was left to Grant Flower and Sean Ervine to patch the innings back together with a 122-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which ended with an untimely run-out. There was little resistance thereafter, especially with Carlisle on the sidelines, and Australia A wrapped up victory with six overs to spare.

As promised, I am going to review the one-day series that concluded in India with a thrilling win for England. As expected the speeches about character and spirit followed and most of the praise was well deserved. India is hard place to churn out results but New Zealand might be even trickier.The Indians are talented cricketers but appear to be one-dimensional. Once you become accustomed to their approach they appear to be easy to predict. The shape of the last series does not surprise me as I expected England to grow stronger as they worked out the Indians but, although the result was satisfactory in the end, I am still worried that we are not reacting quickly enough. As the games are all being billed and used as the warm up for the World Cup, our notorious slow starts in one-day series could be our Achilles heel. The format of the World Cup suggests that you need to `hit your straps’ early to get into the final stages. If we can do that, I can see us finishing the competition strongly as opposed to fading without a fight.This is why the New Zealand leg of this tour is so crucial. The Kiwis are canny and original and England will find them hard to break down. Here is an ideal situation where we can try to grab this series by the scruff of the neck from the very first ball and back our wits against theirs. Anything less than a series win will not be good enough and can effectively make or break our World Cup plans.I can sense disagreement as some people might think this is premature. There is a lot of cricket between now and the World Cup but my judgement is based on the fact that strategies should be well in place by the time we go to Australia with roles of players clearly defined so that they have the opportunity to master those roles. With the players in place and fairly assured, more detailed planning becomes easier as players are confident of responding to one-off strategies – if required.So are England’s hopes of winning the World Cup realistic? I say yes and I mean it. India showed we can finish and if we can prove that we can get it together from the start and be brave enough to react sharply then we can start practising our acceptance speeches. Not quite as straightforward as that I know but I hope everyone is dreaming of it like I am.So… that review of the Indian series I promised. Forgive me for drifting but I am sure you know what happened in India. Looking forward is far more exciting.

The swarthy man in the white dress at McLean Park today and the inflatable woman who accompanied him, posing for pictures with the umpires at drinks in the final session, were among the least striking features of the third day of the Shell Trophy match between Wellington and Central Districts.Too much occured in the 99 overs completed today – 60.4 by Wellington who dismissed Central for 266 in their first innings, and 39 by Central to Wellington who were 85-2 in their second innings and 234 runs ahead overall – to make the courtly apprearance of a cross-dresser and his consort worth more than a casual glance.The day had enough vivid and prolonged drama, enough connected points of interest, enough subtle shifts of power and authority to take the breath away, even from a latex woman who had to be blown up in the first place.From the start of the day, when it was learned that Central had lost its captain and leading batsman Jacob Oram to the New Zealand one-day side when they were 151-3 replying to Wellington’s first innings of 415 and when he was the next batsman due at the crease, this was a day flecked by incident and coloured by the unusual.They were then bent to their task of scoring 266 in their first innings to avoid the follow on when the removal of Oram from an already depleted batting lineup was announced and they were suddenly confronted by a burden which had grown in proportion while they slept.Yet by contrasting means; at first through dogged application and slow degrees and later through the combined efforts of their last four batsmen, who refused to submit to circumstance, they lifted themselves to the follow on total and were all out, for 266, just as the peak was reached.This was a mighty and compelling effort which brightened the day and which lost none of its lustre when Wellington, for whom Matthew Bell made 31 and Selwyn Blackmore an unbeaten 33, reached 85-2 in theeir second innings before stumps to lead by 234 with eight wickets in hand.Central had resumed their first innings this morning at 151-3 when Oram 350 kilometres away in Welington, with 17-year-old Greg Todd pressed into service as his replacement and with Craig Spearman raised overnight to their captaincy.The first session of the was a gruelling contest between bat and ball in which Central added 44 runs from 37 overs for the loss of three wickets, in which Glen Sulzberger held together their innings with a personal contribution of 44. Sulzberger batted 268 minutes in total for his runs, including more than two hours today to lift his overnight score of 26 by 18, to fall eight minutes before the luncheon adjournemnt.In that period of determined occupation of the crease, he was supported by Mark Douglas, with whom he added 47 runs in 85 minutes, with Todd who applied himself diligently to the huge task of replacing Oram and batted 52 minutes for two runs and with Sigley, with whom he added 17 in 40 minutes.When Sigley was out for 13 in the second over after lunch, in a period in which Wellington’s spinners Jeetan Patel and Mark Jefferson were holding sway, and when Central was 195-7, still 70 runs short of the follow on mark, their bid to avoid following on seemed hopeless.But the last four men to the wicket, youngsters and specialist bowlers all, refused to give up the fight and to concede any moral superiority to Wellington. The largest member of that club was Ewan Thompson who came to the wicket with Sulzberger’s dismissal in the shadow of the lunch break and who was still there when the innings ended 52 minutes later, unbeaten on 30.His battle to avoid the follow on was never a solitary one and he had determined support from Michael Mason, who made 32, and from Taraia Robin who twice in one over hoisted Patel over the square leg boundary for six.Central might have been helped to the follow on mark by a tactical error by Wellington. The visitors chose to employ the second new ball of the innings in the 97th over and after the spinners, operating well with the old ball, had taken four wickets for 25 runs in 21 overs.In fact, Central had added only 58 runs from 45 overs before the new ball was taken but they then added 40 runs from the first 10 overs with the new ball, including Robin’s 12 runs from Patel, to suddenly find themselves within sight of the follow on. Four byes from a wayward bouncer from Carl Bulfin took them closer and they limped to their target with singles, surviving a series of confident appeals, before their innings expired.Wellington can at least say their spinners proved themselves and showed batting will be no easy task against spin on the final day. Jefferson finished with 2-33 from his 21 overs and Patel took 5-48, his best return in the Shell Trophy and his second five wicket bag – the first since his debut.”It’s definitely starting to do a bit,” Patel said. “Jeffo, particularly, was getting it to pop and spin so it’s not going to be easy to bat out there tomorrow. It’s probably good we don’t have to bat last.”There was even a suggestion today that Wellington might not have enforced the follow on, had they been in a position to do so, because of their concern about the difficulty of batting last on this pitch.They now have to make the difficult determination of how many runs they need before a declaration and how much time they might require to dismiss Central after taking three sessions or 111.4 overs to do so in their first innings.

West Ham could be searching for a new left-back this summer, with Aaron Cresswell turning 33 before the end of the year and Arthur Masuaku failing to earn David Moyes’ trust, having started just five Premier League games so far this season.

In the 28-year-old’s last appearance, he managed a lowly 6.1 match rating against London rivals Tottenham, lasting just 56 minutes before being substituted as Dejan Kulusevski and Matt Doherty gave him a very tough time on the Irons’ left flank.

With Cresswell also transitioning into a wide centre-back in a defensive three, the likelihood that Moyes will begin searching for a new left-back seems to be growing, and Stuttgart’s Borna Sosa has become the latest player to be touted as a possible Hammers transfer target for the summer.

What’s the news?

According to Total Football Analysis, it is “highly likely” that West Ham are monitoring the availability of the left-back, with a view to make a move over the coming months for the £18m-rated star.

However, the east London club will face competition from the likes of Tottenham, particularly with the Croatian defender set to leave Stuttgart should they get relegated, according to Sportske Novosti. His current side have just one point more than 17th-placed Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga, so it appears a real possibility that they could go down by the season’s end.

West Ham must land him

Stuttgart’s shining light in a bleak season, Sosa is their top performer in terms of average match rating according to SofaScore, with an impressive 7.25, with only Freiburg’s Nico Schlotterbeck and Hoffenheim’s David Raum bettering his total out of Bundesliga defenders.

It also makes him statistically the 16th-best performer in the entire league so far this season, having scored one goal and set up a further seven in just 22 appearances.

He has also made 2.1 key passes per game, earning comparisons to a certain England legend from Stuttgart’s sporting director Sven Mislintat, who said: “Borna’s said himself that David Beckham is his role model, and I think he has the same qualities.

“He puts in crosses from every angle: sometimes chipped, sometimes drilled, sometimes flat, sometimes in behind, sometimes to the front post, other times to the back post. His left foot is a real weapon.”

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Ranking in the top 2% among full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues and continental competitions for both shot-creating actions per 90 (3.67) and crosses per 90 (5.37) as per FBRef, the “dangerous” left-back could be a lethal weapon for Moyes’ team.

The likes of Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Tomas Soucek could really benefit from Sosa’s crossing ability, with those three plundering plenty of goals from central positions as it is.

In other news: West Ham endured a disaster as 27 y/o “artist” who Moyes has wanted over the past year has his price tag doubled

	Munaf Patel got a good early wake-up call from Matthew Hayden © Getty Images

Good morning, Mr Patel
Munaf Patel, with his shaggy hair, day-long stubble and ambling run-up, always seems like he’s doing his least-favourite household chore. That seemed to be the case as he prepared for his first comeback over. He didn’t take into account the fact that the game wasn’t even five overs old and Sreesanth had already been badly bruised by Adam Gilchrist. Matthew Hayden had been kept silent by Ishant Sharma and was raring to break the shackles. Patel bowled an innocuous short-of-a-length delivery, and Hayden latched on to it, advanced two steps out and smacked it straight into the Sir Edwin Smith Stand. A good wake-up call.Hit and miss
It have been a run-out. Hopes set off as soon as he tapped one off Munaf to Rohit Sharma, who charged at the ball. By then Michael Clarke was midway through the run and both batsmen were stranded in the middle. Sharma should have hit the stumps direct at the bowler’s end but missed the mark. To add to the Indian misery neither Harbhajan Singh nor Yuvraj Singh, standing at midwicket and mid-on, backed up at the stumps.Hope(s)less
James Hopes was clueless. Trying to work a Harbhajan behind square, he stepped out, but failed to connect and even dropped the bat in the process. Dhoni brushed the bails off with a flourish. Harbhajan had already taken off on his celebratory run towards the point.Splash for cash
While Adelaidians were melting in the searing heat, taking refuge in the nearby swimming pool or fountain, tomorrow’s entrepreneurs were getting in on the act. Spraying spectators with refreshing water for a dollar a squirt, two smiling young boys – Timothy and Allen – had made A$18 in the first hour alone. They ended with a cool $40 each.Slip in the slips
Matthew Hayden’s recent return to the slips was supposed to have boosted Australia but he was the guilty man when Sachin Tendulkar edged hard off Nathan Bracken on 1 and the ball raced flew past him as he barely moved.Stand and deliver … a stare
Three balls later Tendulkar was nearly guilty of some rare dissent as he stood in his crease, unable to believe he had been given out lbw to a possibly high ball off Bracken.Hopes soars
The pressure was on Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Hopes had already bagged two wickets in his first two overs. Normally a medium-pace bowler, Hopes pitched one on length and it spat and surprised Dhoni who had already made up his mind to pull, but decided at the last second to get out of the way of the 134-kph ball, avoiding getting hit on the face.

Malcolm Speed announced that the show would go on © Getty Images

Bob Woolmer’s murder has set off a debate over whether the World Cup should be called off. Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, made the opening statement on Thursday, saying the tournament would continue and ‘would not be put off by a cowardly criminal act”.”This is not the first time that tragedy has visited a sporting event,” Speed said, “but what we must all do now is to show how resolute the game is by proving ourselves strong enough to move on from what has happened.”However, Allan Donald, the former South African fast bowler who played under Woolmer, asked for the World Cup to be called off. “I just don’t know how this World Cup can continue under the shadow of what’s happened,” Donald told . “World Cup 2007 will be forever remembered for this [Woolmer’s murder]. My personal opinion would have been to stop, but knowing Bob he would have wanted this to go ahead.”I think everyone will continue this World Cup but, at the back of their minds, know that a tragedy took place. I just hope the individuals or individuals are brought to justice because Bob was a great man and would never go to the lengths to put his life in danger.”Goolam Raja, the South African manager, said the team wanted to continue. “He [Donald] does not speak for the team,” Raja told Cricinfo. “I think obviously the players are sad over the tragic events and the cause of Bob’s death does affect the team, but they want to continue on.”Michael Vaughan echoed Speed’s sentiments and said that the World Cup had to continue in spite of the tragedy. “It’s a horrific time for world cricket. We all knew what a good bloke Bob was,” Vaughan told AFP. “Whatever goes on the field, this incident is a lot bigger because someone’s life has been taken away. But I think the World Cup has to go on, the game has to go on. I can understand his [Donald’s] emotion and his thoughts there but the best thing for this game is to show it in a great light.”Cricket Australia also strongly agreed that the World Cup should continue while sending their condolences to the Woolmer family. Andrew Symonds also expressed his desire to continue. “The team is obviously sending our heartfelt regrets to his family,” he said. “Bob, being a cricket man, I would think that he wouldn’t want it to stop. I think he would probably want the games to roll on and the competition to end.”

Daren Ganga feels that the Windies have it in them to bounce back © Getty Images

Despite another catastrophic overseas tour, Daren Ganga, the West Indies opener, is upbeat about the immediate future and a turnaround in fortunes for the team.Speaking on Friday at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados, shortly after the squad’s return to the Caribbean from New Zealand, Ganga pointed to a level of team spirit, especially in the aftermath of a shock defeat in the first Test.Ganga said, “Since I made my debut in 1999, this team that we’ve got and the guys we have around, there is a certain uniqueness about the spirit and about the team unity. Although we lost that game and it was very hurtful, we stood by each other, we supported each other and we ensured that we played together.””The spirit that we have is unique. This is a unit that is working hard together and can make a difference. This is a unit that is willing to commit themselves to the success of West Indies cricket.”After an opening stand of 148 between Ganga and Chris Gayle, West Indies lost the first Test by 27 runs at Auckland when they were set 291 to win. They also tasted defeat by ten wickets in the second Test at Wellington before the rain-ruined third Test at Napier ended in a draw. Their fortunes in the limited-overs series were no better, losing the five-match series 4-1.”It was really, really hurtful to lose that first Test match knowing how close we were to winning,” Ganga said. “I thought we played really good cricket and deserved to win. Be that as it may, I think we are one session short of winning Test matches.””It’s good to see our performance on an overseas tour as well. Our record overseas doesn’t say much but we’re on the right path. It’s just a matter of us getting things together, working together as a team and ensuring that we play together as a team.”In the ODI series, West Indies were also in reasonable positions to press for victories, but were unable to capitalise.”It is just unfortunate that we didn’t click on at crucial points in games, both in the Test matches and one-day matches. We had New Zealand on the ropes on many occasions and it was just a matter of us not understanding the situation and knowing what was required at the point in time. We lacked the mental toughness and the tactical toughness as players.”The majority of the squad returned to the Caribbean, minus captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who traveled to the United States on business, while Brian Lara also has business matters in India and England.

Scorecard

ANother century for Michael Bevan© Getty Images

A fantastic unbroken partnership of 277 between Michael Bevan and Michael Di Venuto gave Tasmania first-innings points on the third day of their Pura Cup match against New South Wales at Hobart.Resuming at 2 for 252, the two left-handers went on a boundary-hitting spree and cruised past NSW’s first-innings total of 367. Bevan’s seventh hundred of the summer, a record-equalling one, contained 21 fours and two sixes. Di Venuto also played his part with 157 not out from 231 balls, with 20 fours.The superb stand snuffed out any chance of NSW entering the final, as Tasmania declared at 2 for 400, a lead of 34. There were two rain breaks during the day, but NSW ended proceedings at 14 for no loss.