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Hard-hitting top order batsman Andrew Hore has been brought into the State Otago Volts for the opening rounds of the State Shield one-day series.Hore replaces Jordan Sheed in the side from that which has secured a win, a draw and a loss in the opening third of the State Championship first-class competition.Coach Glenn Turner has called for two limited overs matches this week as the players change their mindset to the requirements of the one-day game. The Volts will play an A side tomorrow and again on Wednesday on Alexandra’s Molyneux Park back ground.The State Otago Volts for the State Shield matches against Wellington and Auckland in Alexandra on December 28 and 30 respectively are: Craig Cumming (captain), Mohammad Wasim, Andrew Hore, Brendon McCullum, Robbie Lawson, Marcel McKenzie, Warren McSkimming, Jeff Wilson, Nathan Morland, Shayne O’Connor, James McMillan, Kerry Walmsley.

Scorecard

Inzamam-ul-Haq’s cool temperament saw the Lahore Badshahs home in a close encounter against the Chennai Superstars in Panchkula.Inzamam, the captain of the new outfit that consists only of Pakistan players, starred with an unbeaten 43-ball 50 to anchor the chase of 158, which at one stage looked improbable after T Kumaran had struck thrice to leave the Badshahs reeling at 47 for 4.Inzamam, who has pulled off rescue acts many a time for Pakistan, paced his innings perfectly: he was happy with the singles at the start, and cut out the risk of attempting boundaries, before shifting gears when it mattered. Inzamam’s easy approach had a nice foil in the cameo from former Pakistan batsman Naved Latif, who scored 41 off just 26 and was instrumental in changing the tone of the Badshahs’ chase.The 15th over bowled by Tamil Kumaran was the turning point. Badshahs needed more than ten-an-over from the final six, and Latif belted two fours and a six, before striking another six in the next from Ian Harvey after Inzamam had already taken ten off him. When Latif fell, it was down to 34 from 24, and Inzamam and Azhar Mahmood (19 off 11) eased to the target with six balls to spare.After choosing to bat, it was Michael Bevan, the Superstars’ coach-cum-player, who steered his side to 157. In the absence of Stuart Law, the captain who led Superstars in the inaugural edition, Bevan opened the innings and came up with a run-a-ball 56. Pakistan internationals Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Saqlain Mushtaq took two wickets apiece as the Superstars were restricted to 157, a total that wasn’t enough on the day.

They may be arch rivals on the cricket field but as fans they agreed on one thing: this World Cup was expensive and lacked the Caribbean flavour at the match venues.Diehard English fans, the members of the globe-trotting noisy Barmy Army, and their Australian counterparts, the colourfully outfitted and equally loud Fanatics, had a combined presence of around 2700 members in the region over the six-week period of the tournament. But both groups said the expense of travelling, accommodation and tickets prohibited a greater number of fans from taking in “calypso cricket”.In the case of the Barmy Army, the cheapest package available was £3000 (US$6000) for a two-week stay while other packages went as high as £5000 (US$10,000) for a 10-day stay. They were exempted from the US$100 visa requirement.”It’s been pretty expensive for people and that has been prohibitive to the younger people,” said Barmy Army spokesman Paul Burham. He explained that a lot of the English fans were just coming off the massive January Ashes series in Australia. However, he felt that there would have been many more fans if the price was cheaper, adding that the prices only dropped after organisers got desperate for people to come.But apart from the discouraging prices, Burham said that once here the unique atmosphere of a blend of warm tropical colours with rhythmic cheering and lively encouragement from characters at the grounds was missing. “I think the best game . . . was the West Indies-England game. The atmosphere there I think was probably the best, the best atmosphere I’ve seen in a game of cricket . . . It was a close game. The fans got along well and at the end everyone was shaking everyone’s hand and I guess that’s what they have been trying to achieve all along.”Steve Laffey, the spokesman for Fanatics, said that while outside of the cricket grounds hospitality was good, members were disappointed in the atmosphere at matches. “It is well below the atmosphere we were expecting at the grounds. We expected it to be a lot more lively, calypso cricket, the atmosphere usually associated with cricket in the Caribbean.”Australians shelled out an average of US$4100 for a seven-day trip that took in three islands, Barbados, Jamaica and St Lucia. Some of the packages went as high as US$15,000 for a ten-day trip and those prices, said Leffey, were quite expensive.

The venue is Centurion, and quite fittingly, three players will reach the 100-Test mark when the South Africa-New Zealand series kicks off at the Supersport Park. One of them, Stephen Fleming, will be leading his side for the 76th time, but another, Jacques Kallis, might get that honour too if Graeme Smith fails to recover completely from a finger injury which forced him to miss the third Test against Australia last month.New Zealand have never won a Test series in South Africa – the closest they came was in 1961-62, when they drew a five-Test series 2-2 – but they’re on a bit of a hot streak at the moment, with five wins in their last six matches. An overseas series against South Africa, though, will be a challenge of a completely different level from the ones they faced recently – Sri Lanka and West Indies (at home) and Zimbabwe (away).The bad news is that Shane Bond, the one bowler in their line-up with genuine pace and destructive ability, has been ruled out after failing to recover from a dodgy knee. He looked a good prospect for the game till he pulled up lame the day before the match. In his absence, Kyle Mills will be the third member of a pace attack that also includes James Franklin and Chris Martin.The good news is Jacob Oram’s return to the side after a 16-month absence. Oram made a first-ball duck against Rest of South Africa, but bowled a couple of tight spells, and will be the fifth bowler in an attack which also includes James Franklin and Chris Martin.The problem area for New Zealand is likely to be at the top of the order, with Hamish Marshall and Peter Fulton – neither a regular opener – being preferred to the specialists Jamie How and Michael Papps. Marshall averages an impressive 41.40 in 12 matches, but his few forays at the top of the order haven’t been as productive – 38 runs in four innings. Fulton impressed in both Tests and ODIs in the home season; all that remains is for him to prove he can replicate that form against Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel and Shaun Pollock, the third 100-Test man in the fray.John Bracewell, the coach, explained the team composition thus: “We will ideally need a quality fifth bowler to be competitive against the top sides who have batting depth, especially as we are at an altitude. South Africa bat strongly well down their order and we need these resources to counter that,” said Bracewell. “To do that, and to retain our most in-form and experienced batting line-up, we will open with Peter Fulton, with the captain batting at three. The decision on the other opener was a tough one. It is very tough on both Michael [Papps] and Jamie, but the tour selectors’ assessment is that Hamish has the record, especially against the top sides, has a great temperament and is ready for the challenge.”South Africa have a worry at the top of the order too, with Smith not yet a certainty. “Graeme batted for 40 minutes in the nets on Thursday, and while he did feel some discomfort he was encouraged by how much the injury had improved,” South African media manager Tshepo Tsotsotso told Reuters. A final decision, though, will have to wait till much closer to the game. If Smith does pull out, it might offer another opportunity to Boeta Dippenaar to prove that he is capable of more than pretty 20s and 30s.South Africa-New Zealand series have in the past been breeding ground for plenty of on-field and off-field banter, but things have been relatively quiet this time around, with both camps insisting that the focus will be on the cricket. Bond did take a few digs at his opponents, though, suggesting that the amount of cricket South Africa had played, and their recent results, would go against them.”Our two major worries coming here so late in the summer were firstly, would the team be in one piece, and secondly how tired we would be,” Bond told a news conference. “But after the West Indies series we’re actually feeling very fresh, we feel pretty good. We’ve played probably half as much test cricket as South Africa, with breaks in between, and we’re here with our full team. A lot has been said about how tired South Africa are and how they need time off.”Reminded about New Zealand’s 4-0 defeat to South Africa in the one-day series late last year, Bond quickly deflected the attention to the home team’s recent loss to Australia. “The one-dayers were so long ago, we’ve forgotten about that loss,” Bond said. “South Africa are the ones who have something to turn around from.”South Africa (likely) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), Boeta Dippenaar, 2 AB de Villiers, 3 Herschelle Gibbs, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Andre Nel, 11 Makhaya Ntini.New Zealand 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Hamish Marshall, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Nathan Astle, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Chris Martin.

Pakistan 258 for 8 (Shoaib 51, Inzamam 51) beat West Indies 218 (Afridi 4-40) by 40 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Pakistan condemned West Indies to their seventh straight one-day defeat of the season, and their 11th in 12 completed matches since their victory in the final of the Champions Trophy, as Shahid Afridi ripped his legspinners through a bamboozled tail for figures of 4 for 40. His efforts came on the back of a solid if unspectacular Pakistani batting performance, and ensured that West Indies will have nothing but pride to play for in tomorrow’s third and final match.After winning the toss and batting first, Pakistan struggled to dominate a spirited West Indian bowling attack, but once each of their top eight had reached double figures, they were able to muster a competitive total of 258 for 8. The main men of the innings were Shoaib Malik and Inzamam-ul-Haq, who made a brace of 51s, and Younis Khan, who seemed set to complete a half-century of his own until he was brilliantly caught for 48 in the final over of the innings, by a one-handed Chris Gayle, diving to his left at backward point.Breathtaking though Gayle’s effort was, it had come some 220 runs too late for West Indies. His earlier missed opportunity off Daren Powell at first slip had let a nervous Shoaib Malik off the hook before he had settled, and prevented West Indies from taking the game by the scruff of the neck. Without ever looking on top form, Shoaib scratched and scraped to rebuild the innings after the early loss of both openers, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt.Yousuf Youhana brought up Pakistan’s fifty with a sweetly timed drive through the covers. But before he could really get stuck in, he was adjudged caught-behind for 21 off Wavell Hinds. In his place, however, came the solid reassurance of Inzamam, who punished Hinds with two dismissive strokes off consecutive deliveries – a cut and a pull – as Pakistan reached the 30-over mark well-placed on 134 for 3.

Inzamam was briefly forced to retire hurt after taking an eye-watering blow in the box from a Gayle full-toss, but in his place came the urgent presence of Adbul Razzaq, who clubbed a quick 20 off 16 balls before losing his off stump to a wild swing at Corey Collymore. Dwayne Bravo, whose bowling had been expensive all day, was then cracked for three fours in the penultimate over as Pakistan finished their innings with a flourish.Having failed to chase 192 in the first game, the omens were not good as West Indies began their reply, and Xavier Marshall duly came and went with another whimper, caught in the gully for 7 after looking horribly out of his depth for the second match running. But where there’s Chris Gayle, no one-day chase can be entirely written off, and when he launched Shabbir Ahmed over long-off for a massive six, West Indies’ hopes soared.But three balls later, they came crashing once again, as Shabbir clipped the top of Gayle’s off stump with a spectacular offcutter. He was gone for 43 from 45 balls, and when Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were both run out in quick succession, West Indies had slumped to 114 for 4.Despite being given a charmed life by umpire Billy Doctrove, who turned down a succession of lbw appeals from Razzaq and Afridi, Runako Morton began to grow in stature, and brought up his maiden one-day half-century with a one-bounce pull over midwicket off Shoaib. But, in the very next over, he was bamboozled by Afridi’s slower ball, and bowled all ends up as he aimed an expansive heave into the Caribbean Sea.Bravo then completed a miserable match with a fourth-ball duck, as Doctrove finally upheld an lbw appeal, and Afridi made it three wickets in nine balls when Hinds misread a googly and was bowled round his legs for 22. Courtney Browne attempted to be defiant by slamming Shoaib for six, before Afridi picked up his fourth, bowling Ian Bradshaw as he too went for the big one.That was emphatically that. Browne slapped another six to reduce the margin of defeat, but the final two wickets fell in the space of five balls, as Iftikhar Anjum and Naved-ul-Hasan returned to wrap up the match with 10 balls to spare. It was, incidentally, a rare series victory in the Caribbean for Pakistan, but few triumphs can have felt so flat.

Leicestershire have signed two former Test cricketers, Claude Henderson and Ottis Gibson, as they strengthen their squad ahead of the 2004 county season.Henderson played seven Tests as a spinner for South Africa, and Gibson two Tests as a fast-bowling allrounder for West Indies, although under European law, neither man counts as an overseas player.Gibson, 35, who last played international cricket in January 1999, has been working as an ECB coach since 2001 and has applied for UK citizenship. But it is Henderson’s circumstances that are of particular interest. He is eligible as a non-overseas player because South Africa has an associate agreement with the European Union, and has chosen not to make himself available for the national team.”I’ve forfeited my right to play in South Africa," said Henderson, "so I am grateful for the opportunity to play first-class cricket in England." He is the first player to benefit directly from a recent judgment in the European court, where a Slovakian handball player, Maros Kolpak, won the right to play in Germany without being classified as a foreigner. And, given that Leicestershire’s leading spinner, Jeremy Snape, managed only ten wickets last season, he is sure to play a major role in the coming season.Gibson’s case is more straightforward, although his main role will be off the field, as he is to double up as Leicestershire’s bowling coach. "With their recent restructuring, Leicestershire is the perfect club for me," he said. "I sense a real desire for improvement, and I aim to help the club from the grass-roots to the professional game.”

Given the presence of Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper, it was a big call but Michael Holding’s assertion on television that Ramaresh Sarwan is presently the West Indies’ best batsman stands up to statistical scrutiny.After Friday night’s key World Cup match against Sri Lanka, courageous is another flattering adjective to add to the many associated with his name since he was identified as a cricketer of such rare potential he was picked for Guyana at age 15.His effort to secure an incredible victory for the West Indies, after resuming an innings cut short by a fearful blow to the helmet and a visit to nearby Claremont Hospital, failed by six runs. But it will be long remembered for its brave defiance by the 20 000 who witnessed the drama live and the millions of others watching on television.Sarwan had made ten from 25 balls when he was startled by the steep lift of a delivery from the tall, heavy-set Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lanka’s fastest bowler. He turned his head and took such a blow on the side of the helmet that the ball rebounded more than 20 yards to be caught, on the full, at backward point.He immediately slumped onto the pitch and lay there motionless for nearly ten minutes while he was examined by a doctor and paramedics, who had sprinted to his aid.Eventually, he was carefully lifted onto a stretcher, covered in a blanket and wheeled off to a waiting ambulance that sped him to hospital.Once there, according to team manager Ricky Skerritt, he was clinically examined by a neurologist, had several x-rays taken from different angles and two stitches inserted into a small cut above his left eye.His involvement in the contest seemed surely over but the X-rays showed no serious damage and the specialist was convinced he was "medically fine". Fully conscious and anxious to resume his innings, he returned.Facing defeatWhen he arrived in the team’s dressing room, the West Indies were six wickets down and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Vasbert Drakes were trying to stem the advance towards defeat with a dogged partnership.Within half-hour, Chanderpaul hoisted a catch to long-on after topscoring with 65 and Sarwan re-entered the battle to a standing ovation from around the stadium that echoed from the nearby Table Mountain.He even chose a cap instead of a helmet, only replacing one with the other after a couple of overs.It seemed a futile, if bold, gesture at the time for the West Indies were 169 for seven, still 60 away from their winning goal with only 7.5 overs remaining and the Nos. 9, 10 and 11 fast bowlers to help him.In quick time, the neat, 22-year-old Guyanese changed the course of the match, stroking two sixes and two fours in adding 37 off 19 balls as the tension grew. His unbeaten 47 would prove insufficient and Sarwan had to return to teammates inspired by his daring but distressed by the result.No one was more upset than Sarwan himself."I don’t like to lose," he said afterwards. "None of us wants to lose and I am a very proud person.""When I saw what was happening, I had to come to the crease," he added. "Cricket is about heart. There’ll be occasions when you’re struck down by someone or something but you have to be man enough to fight to the bitter end."He explained that he "basically misread" the ball that hit him."Once I got checked and I realised that I was okay, I decided that I wanted to come out and fight for the West Indies," he explained. "The game was very important for us. We had to win to go into the Super Sixes and I was determined to try my best.""It was always going to be difficult to score eight to ten runs per over in the last couple of overs with the bowlers at the crease but I gave it a shot," he noted. "With a little luck we could have got the runs."Familiar patternThe situation of seeing the West Indies home in One-Day Internationals – if not the blow to the head – has become all too familiar for Sarwan in the past few months.In the series of seven in India last November, in which he scored 436 runs at an average of 109 and a strike rate of 84.66, his last ball four won the first match.His unbeaten 99, off 104 balls, helped boost the total to 324 for four in the fourth match but did not ensure a West Indies victory. In the decisive victory in the last match, he scored 83 off 101 balls, setting the stage of Marlon Samuels’ breathtaking, unbeaten 108 off 75 balls.He has again been the leading batsman for the West Indies in the World Cup.His 32 off 15 balls and his grand, unbeaten finale of 63 off 28 balls with Ricardo Powell powered the total to a match-winning 278 for five against South Africa.His more measured 75 off 99 balls against New Zealand began in a crisis at 46 for five and, in a partnership of 98 with Ridley Jacobs, almost clinched an unlikely victory. But, like Friday’s, it was not enough and, as such, it meant nothing to Sarwan.Unlike the power-hitters, like Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds and Powell, Sarwan’s sixes and fours are based on technique, timing and placement.At the start of the World Cup, he had an average of 51.04 and a strike-rate of 79.4 in 29 One-Day Internationals. He has boosted that with a present average of 101 at a strike rate of 95.87 after five matches.Skerritt said yesterday Sarwan was understandably nursing "a slight headache" but was in good spirits.He’ll have further neurological tests in Kimberley tomorrow prior to Tuesday’s match against Kenya, just to be sure that he can continue the consistent scoring that, in the opinion of at least one highly respected former West Indies player, makes him the best West Indies batsman at present.

Zimbabwe continued their fightback on a freezing day in Harare underincreasingly overcast skies with a steady Antarctic wind blowing. Theyrecorded their highest ever Test Match total before declaring to set WestIndies 348 to win.Coincidentally, this is exactly the highest fourth-innings score West Indies have ever made to win a Test, which they did by five wickets against New Zealand in 1968/69. When bad light ended play early, West Indies had scored 42 for one, leaving the prospect of an interesting finish on the final day, weather permitting.Zimbabwe began the day 108 runs ahead of West Indies in their second inningswith six wickets in hand. Hamilton Masakadza added only four runs to hisovernight 115 in almost half an hour before driving a tame catch to shortextra cover off Neil McGarrell. His innings of 119 is the highest by anyplayer under the age of 18 in Test cricket.Zimbabwe took a while to adopt the positive approach that had served them sowell the previous day, but Grant Flower and Heath Streak were just beginningto take control when Flower (14) cut Reon King, who had bowled raggedly, lowto backward point where Shivnarine Chanderpaul took a fine diving catch.Streak played a responsible innings, hitting the loose ball well anddepositing McGarrell over mid-wicket for a six. With Andy Blignaut generallyrestraining himself so as to support Streak, until he hammered threeboundaries off Marlon Black in the last over before the interval, Zimbabwepassed 400.A classical cover-driven boundary off Colin Stuart took Streak to his fiftysoon after lunch. Blignaut passed his previous Test highest of 35 and thenhit a six over long-on to reach his fifty off 79 balls. He then tried areverse sweep, to be caught by the ‘keeper apparently off the glove, but wasgiven not out by umpire Kevan Barbour.Blignaut overtook the more responsible Streak, but he too generally showedgood shot selection. Just before the 500 came up, the two all-roundersbroke the previous seventh-wicket record of 131 by Grant Flower and PaulStrang in Pakistan in 1996/97. The pitch was still good and the West Indianbowlers did not show the skill necessary to break through against qualitybatting.Finally Blignaut, perhaps unnerved by his approaching century, swung wildlyacross the line at Stuart, to be bowled for 92 off 118 balls, after apartnership of 154 with his captain. Zimbabwe were then 521 for seven.Streak had a narrow escape when a mistimed drive just cleared mid-off, whileTatenda Taibu hit 10 off nine balls before being yorked by Stuart.Soon after tea Zimbabwe passed their previous highest Test total of 544 forfour declared, against Pakistan on this ground in their first-ever Testmatch victory in 1994/95. Then, when Bryan Strang lobbed a catch tomid-wicket off McGarrell for 11, Streak declared at 563 for nine, with hispersonal score on 79. West Indies were left to make 348 to win, a scenariothey could never have envisaged two days earlier. It was not an impossibletask on a good pitch, but their morale in the field appeared low and theywill need to lift themselves considerably now to save the match.The injured Daren Ganga bravely came out to open the West Indian innings andguided the first ball past gully for four. The light, though, continued todeteriorate under the heavily overcast sky, causing concern to Zimbabwe.Chris Gayle showed the umpires he was having no problems with visibility, ashe hit two superb successive fours off Blignaut, a drive through extra coverand a cut. Ganga added only a single to have five when he tried to turn Streakto leg and skied a catch.Ramnaresh Sarwan came in for Chanderpaul, who hurt a hand in the field. TheZimbabwe bowling was steady rather than threatening. With nine overs stillto be bowled, bad light brought an early end to play, with West Indies 42for one (Gayle 17, Sarwan 11).

The costly drops and missed run-outs in the Galle Test have spurred West Indies to renew their focus on fielding in the approach to the second Test, captain Jason Holder said. The visitors had reprieved Sri Lanka batsmen on at least six occasions – the costliest of which was the drop off Dinesh Chandimal on 11. The batsman went on to hit 151.After that match, Holder had suggest Sri Lanka’s total of 484 would have been significantly reduced if his team had held their chances. It is the area they have focused primarily on, during the four-day gap between games, he said.”In the last few days we’ve done a lot of analysing – we’ve looked at a lot of footage. We’ve come in the practice sessions in the last few days and paid a lot of attention to our fielding.”From my point of view, I think practice does a lot for fielding. When you get in the habit of doing something repeatedly it becomes the norm. That’s something we try to stress in the dressing room – to practice properly and do it in a sense that fits a game scenario. We try to replicate a match scenario in our fielding drills. We’ve picked up the volume of our fielding over the last few days, so hopefully we’ll be in better stead for this game.”West Indies batting had also faltered in Galle, with only two batsmen passing fifty across two innings. The visitor’s first-innings performance had been particularly disappointing, partly because each of the top 10 moved into double figures, but only Darren Bravo went on to hit a half-century. Holder said his top order had been urged to improve their shot selection.”We’ve done a lot of talking in the dressing room and different of batsmen come up with different things. I think it boils down to guys just digging a little deeper. We saw that we all got starts. It’s an opportunity for guys to put their heads down and dig a little deeper. I think that’s needed in the second Test match.”I think we’ve got to be selective and just to play to your personal game plan. Just said to the guys, ‘Be positive, but be selective.’ Once you’re selective and you’re patient enough you will get runs. It’s all about occupying the crease and spending as much time as possible.”Among those who did not spend time at the crease was Marlon Samuels, who collected 11 and a first-ball duck from his two innings in Galle. Samuels was also reported for a suspect action after the Test. Holder said Samuels’ role as a top order batsman who bowls offspin does not change for this Test, and backed him to come good with the bat. All reported bowlers can bowl in internationals until their action is found to be illegal.”Marlon’s just had a bad game – that’s Test cricket,” Holder said. “What’s important is for Marlon to come back stronger. He’s one of the guys who digs deep when his back is against the wall. I’m not saying that his back is against the wall now, but he obviously got two low scores in the last Test match. He’s quite eager to get in this second Test match and get a score for the team.”Garfield Sobers has arrived in the country ahead of the second Test, and will attend the match alongside former Sri Lanka captain Michael Tissera. The series trophy is named for both men. Holder hoped Sobers’ presence would spur his side.”I personally saw Garfield Sobers yesterday in the hotel lobby. It was inspiring to see him come all this way just to watch the series. I’m sure most of the guys know of his presence and know that he’s here. I hope we can go ahead in this Test match and win it for him.”

Scorecard

Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed slammed centuries as Punjab gained the upper hand on a record-breaking second day in their match against Balushistan.Baluchistan, who were on 298 for 7 overnight, extending their total to 375, courtesy of wicketkeeper Gulraiz Sadaf’s half-century and a quick-fire 31 from No. 10 Imranullah Aslam. Mohammad Hafeez finished as Punjab’s most successful bowler, taking three wickets.In reply, Punjab ran up 425 for the loss of just two wickets, scoring at more than five-and-a-half runs an over, which meant that 502 runs were scored in the day, a record in Pakistan. Opener Hafeez wasn’t as successful with the bat, trapped lbw by Abdur Rauf for nought. Butt and Jamshed were then involved in a huge 251-run stand for the second wicket, helped by the indisciplined Baluchistan bowling who conceded 33 extras, including 22 no-balls.Butt smashed 25 fours and a six as he made 160 at nearly a run a ball before falling to medium-pacer Jalat Khan. Butt has been in spectacular form during the tournament as in only four innings, he totals 639 runs at an average of 159.75. His contribution in four outings so far has been scores of 290, 72, 117 and now 160.Misbah-ul-Haq (82*) and Jamshed then put on 87 runs before Jamshed was forced to retire hurt on 140 – his sixth century of the season – as Punjab finished the day with a 50-run lead with eight wickets still standing.
Scorecard
In a tight contest at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad, Federal Areas took a 73-run first-innings lead but Sind hit back, finishing the second day at 128 for 1.For Federal Areas, No. 3 Ashar Zaidi top scored with an unbeaten 87 as they posted 295. Naved Ashraf (34) and Yasir Arafat (27) chipped in with handy contributions. Fast bowler Sohail Khan’s outstanding debut season continued as he grabbed another five-wicket haul to keep Federal Areas’ lead to a manageable amount. He now has 16 wickets from three matches in the Pentangular to complement the 65 he took in this season’s Quaid-e-Azam.Sind’s second innings got off to a confident start with Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif putting on 119. Manzoor fell after an aggressive 73 which featured ten boundaries while Latif remained undefeated on 47.