A round-up of the action from the sixth round of the Regional Four-Day Competition

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2011Carlos Brathwaite led Combined Campuses and Colleges to a nail-biting win over Guyana at Three Ws Oval in Bridgetown. Brathwaite picked up 5 for 28 from 14 overs as Guyana were dismissed for 191 about seven minutes after tea. Guyana began the day on 30 for 1, needing another 170 for victory, but were in trouble at 69 for 4. Assad Fudadin, who top scored with 44, and Derwin, who made 32, then added 53 for the fifth wicket, and after Fudadin added 41 with Vishaul Singh, Guyana looked likely to complete their first victory of the season.Brathwaite, however, sparked a collapse when he trapped Fudadin lbw and then had Zaheer Mohamed caught behind for a duck. He sealed the win by dismissing Brandon Bess and Ronsford Beaton off successive deliveries in the first over after the tea break, as Guyana lost their last five wickets for 28 runs. Brathwaite finished with match figures of 9 for 61, while Ryan Austin ended with 7 for 151 to take his tally of wickets to a season-leading 29.The win gave CCC 12 points and took them to second place in the Championship with 45 points, while Guyana are bottom of the table with 16.Jamaica earned six points from their draw against Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park, but that wasn’t enough to keep them top of the Championship table. Jamaica declared their second innings on 226 for 5, with Tamar Lambert making an unbeaten 61, in a bid to force a result. Denesh Ramdin, however, scored an unbeaten 103 as T&T made a valiant attempt to chase 304 from 63 overs. They eventually ended up with 248 for 5, as both captains agreed to end the game when the run-rate climbed past 10 runs an over with five overs remaining. Jamaica are now joint second in the table with Combined Campuses and Colleges on 45 points.

26-Apr-2011
ScorecardAzhar Mahmood took three quick wickets after a century opening stand by Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Half-centuries from Chris Taylor and Hamish Marshall helped Gloucestershire to edge towards a competitive 292 for 9 at the end of day one of their County Championship Division Two clash against Kent at Canterbury.Workers employed on the St Lawrence redevelopment project were content to get on with their chores throughout a turgid opening session that saw Gloucestershire post 94 runs without alarm after electing to take first use of a docile pitch.Kent gave a Championship debut to 18-year-old left-arm pace bowler Adam Ball, but the home attack barely beat the bat during the opening two hours as openers Ian Cockbain and Marshall set out to lay solid foundations.Ball, who played in last season’s Under-19 World Cup for England, was eventually introduced as third change and sparked the first appeal of the game after 85 minutes with one that nipped back to brush Marshall’s back pad, though the ball was going over the stumps.The cloud cover dissipated during the interval and in warmer conditions Kent emerged from their pristine new dressing rooms to bag 6 for 106 in the afternoon session, including an eight-ball purple patch of three for none by veteran Azhar Mahmood.The former Pakistan allrounder had Cockbain caught at slip for 34, bowled Richard Coughtrie via the face of his bat as he made a late and abortive bid to shoulder arms, then ended Marshall’s 131-ball stay for 72 after winning a leg before verdict.Gloucestershire’s new-look middle order continued to unravel when Darren Stevens returned to have Alex Gidman (24) caught at second slip and trap Jonathan Batty lbw for a six-ball duck with a shooting off-cutter. Seven overs later his sibling Will Gidman padded up to a James Tredwell arm ball that clipped off stump and sent the visitors to tea on 198 for 6.Former Gloucestershire skipper Taylor mounted a partial recovery in the final session as he and Ian Saxelby added 74 for the seventh wicket until the second new ball gave Kent’s attack a cutting edge.With 250 on the board Saxelby (28) fended one from Robbie Joseph low to gully. Next, Taylor’s 201-minute vigil ended for 71 when he played across the second ball of a new spell from Simon Cook to lose his leg stump. In his next over Cook ran one back up the slope to feather the inside edge of Jonathan Lewis’ bat and give wicketkeeper Geraint Jones his first catch.Cook finished with 2 for 40 and Stevens 2 for 36, but it was Mahmood’s post-lunch return of 3 for 52 that undoubtedly turned the course of the day’s events.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya03-May-2011

Match facts

Wednesday, May 4, Navi Mumbai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Yuvraj Singh has presided over a so-far forgettable campaign•AFP

Big picture

Time is running out for Pune Warriors. Sourav Ganguly’s rise from the ashes with his inclusion in their squad – he won no bids at the IPL auctions – is one that’ll keep them in the news in the days to come but their on-field performances have left them fast fading out of the list of contenders for the play-offs.What they need to achieve to stay alive is a complete turnaround, and anything short of winning their remaining six games will push them closer to the exit door. They tried to address their concerns with the bat by tweaking their order against Rajasthan Royals in their previous game: Robin Uthappa came at No. 3, rightly so, and looked good before playing one reverse-sweep too many and Manish Pandey opened but was kept quiet by some tight bowling. While the ploy seemed fine, the execution faltered. They were also sloppy on the field, dropping three catches, something they can ill afford again with their qualifying prospects diminishing.Mumbai Indians put behind their debacle against Rajasthan to win comprehensively against Kings XI Punjab. They look well on course for a place in the play-offs with their batting back on track, and what better chance to take a step closer than play a deflated Pune.

Form guide (most recent first)

Pune Warriors: LLLLL
(bottom of the points table)
Mumbai Indians: WLWWW
(Second on the points table)

Team talk

Ganguly is likely to join the Pune squad ahead of tomorrow’s game but may not play. He’ll take over as vice-captain as some point in the rest of their campaign, but for the game against Mumbai, Pune can do with an additional batsman. They could consider giving Callum Ferguson a go ahead of Nathan McCullum.Davy Jacobs is uncertain, having sustained a minor fracture on his left hand. That gives them the option of going in with explosive opener Aiden Blizzard to partner Sachin Tendulkar.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

Sourav Ganguly: One wonders what Ganguly’s been doing in the recent past to keep himself match fit, with stints in the commentary box and the experts’ studio for the World Cup gone by. Younger players speak of feeding off the experience of seniors, and how their presence in the dressing room or the dugout can be a motivating factor even though they may not play. If his leadership or influence can at the very least spark an inspirational performance or two from a dispirited team, his late inclusion will have served some purpose this year.Kieron Pollard: He’s hardly done anything this season because the top order’s been performing so well. Nevertheless, he managed a quick 20 and smashed two sixes, his best returns this time around, and is beginning to warm up for bigger challenges to come, albeit a little belatedly.

Prime numbers

• Lasith Malinga has grabbed 52 wickets overall in the IPL and is fourth in the list. However, his wickets have come in 34 games while those ahead of him have taken a far longer time. Irfan Pathan has played 51 games, Shane Warne 50, Pragyan Ojha 49 and RP Singh – the table leader with 57 wickets – 51.
• Rohit Sharma has taken 26 catches overall in the IPL and is two away from going past Suresh Raina, who tops the list.

The chatter

“Now we are in such a situation where another loss would mean that we are out of the competition. Not a great feeling.”

A career-best 89 not out by South African allrounder Roelof van der Merwe allowed Somerset to open their Friends Life t20 win account at the expense of hosts Kent

03-Jun-2011
ScorecardA career-best 89 not out by South African allrounder Roelof van der Merwe coupled with an unbeaten half-century from Marcus Trescothick allowed Somerset to open their Friends Life t20 win account at the expense of hosts Kent.Set to chase a Spitfires total of 163 for 8, Somerset made the most of some charitable Kent bowling and short boundaries at The Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells to secure their nine-wicket victory with 18 balls to spare.After the early loss of former Kent allrounder Peter Trego, bowled by Spitfires debutant Charl Langeveldt for six, Somerset cantered to the win line with an unbroken second-wicket stand of 150 in 15 overs.The diminutive Van der Merwe led the charge with a powerhouse unbeaten innings from 51 balls, with seven fours and six sixes, for his first t20 half-century in only his second start for the Sabres. Four of his sixes came off the bowling of England off-spinner James Tredwell, whose two wicketless overs ultimately cost 33 runs.Trescothick also reached the milestone from 30 balls, with eight fours and a six. In the process the left-hander also reached 1,500 career runs in t20 cricket as last year’s beaten finalists chalked up a comfortable first win of the 2011 campaign.The Spitfires made a dreadful start to their innings in front of a sell-out 5,000 crowd by losing their first three wickets for 32 runs inside the opening 27 balls of the game. Joe Denly, fresh from scoring over 200 runs here in the four-day game against Leicestershire, nicked a drive to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to go for 7, then Matt Coles was yorked by Steve Kirby to make it 23 for 2.Vice-captain Martin van Jaarsveld then pulled a Lewis Gregory bouncer down the throat of Arul Suppiah at long leg, forcing Kent into a rethink and a rebuilding programme. Gregory, the pick of Somerset’s attack, finished with 3 for 26.Captain Rob Key and Darren Stevens began the rescue work with a fourth-wicket stand of 80 in 9.4 overs that ensured the Spitfires at least batted out their 20-over allocation. Seven short of his fifty, Key heaved across the line to be bowled by Suppiah but Stevens charged on to hit a brace of sixes in his 32-ball half-century and two more in his total of 68 from 41 deliveries, which ended when he looked to flick Alfonso Thomas to leg but saw his off stump pegged back.Azhar Mahmood and Geraint Jones went for single figures then Adam Ball had his off stump plucked out for a golden duck as Kent’s late bid for quick runs came unstuck and left them with at least 30 too few to defend.

Steffan Jones, the Derbyshire bowler, will retire at the end of the season to take up a teaching position as head of cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2011Steffan Jones, the Derbyshire bowler, will retire at the end of the season to take up a teaching position as head of cricket at a Somerset school.Jones, 37, moved into the role of Derbyshire’s bowling coach last month after the clear out of backroom staff at the club and has continued to be a regular presence in the team especially in one-day cricket.Jones fits into the ‘journeyman’ category of county cricketer having also had stints with Northamptonshire, Somerset and Kent since making his professional debut in 1994. Derbyshire offered him a new deal for the 2012 season, but Jones has decided it is time to move on.”I am very grateful for the offer made by Derbyshire and I know they did everything they could to persuade me to stay,” he said. “But the opportunity of being head of cricket at a prestigious school and returning back to my family home is too good for me to miss.”

England’s Sunday centurion Ian Bell admitted to making a ‘naive’ error he hoped he would never repeat after he was – temporarily – run out just before tea

Sharda Ugra at Trent Bridge31-Jul-2011England’s Sunday centurion Ian Bell admitted to making a “naive” error he hoped he would never repeat after he was – temporarily – run out just before tea. He also mentioned a similar incident in the past, when unusual circumstances had led to the dismissal of an opposition player, although on that occasion England had chosen not to reverse their decision.Bell was asked whether England would have taken a similar decision to India’s, recalling a dismissed batsman, and said: “It’s difficult to say. I think the right decision was made. We have been in a position before where something happened in an ODI, and I think we all put our hands up and made the wrong decision.”Bell was referring to an incident during an ODI at The Oval against New Zealand in 2008 when Grant Elliott was out of his ground after being knocked over by the bowler Ryan Sidebottom and was run out. The umpires asked England captain Paul Collingwood whether he wanted to withdraw the appeal and Collingwood had refused.”I think the right decisions were made today in the spirit of the game,” said Bell. “I would’ve thought that both teams would have done exactly the same. Again its difficult to say what we would have done, if we were out in the middle. Would we have gone for an out decision straight away? I don’t know, probably not. But like I said, we just move on and learn a lesson.”India, who spent the tea break discussing whether to recall Bell, also fell back on a previous experience before arriving at their decision. Rahul Dravid said that when the India players came in for tea, “the guys started discussing it and you could sense that there was a feeling that, while it was out in the laws of the game, it probably wasn’t out in the spirit of the game. You could sense that the guys were feeling that something was probably not right about it.”Dravid referred to the stumping of VVS Laxman off Shiv Chanderpaul during the Dominica Test on India’s recent trip to the Caribbean, saying “a small incident in the West Indies left a little bit of a bitter taste in our stomachs. So if the tables were turned, I don’t think our guys would have felt nice about it.”If it was Laxman there or Sachin [Tendulkar] there, I don’t think our guys would have felt nice about it. And that was one of the things discussed when we first came in, what if it was one of our guys? Would we have liked it? And the general feeling was no.”Dravid said that after the England management had approached the India captain MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher, “Dhoni led a team meeting and the issue was discussed. There was unanimity that we should reinstate Ian Bell as he fell in that grey area and wasn’t out in the spirit of the game.”Bell admitted that he was out in the strictest sense of the law. “If you are going to go right down to exactly how the rules stand, then yes I’m out,” he said. “It was a completely honest mistake to assume the ball was dead and to walk off for tea. The end result and decision was the right one for the spirit of the game and they probably admit that. It was naive on my behalf to walk off for tea.”The tea break was eventful for both teams inside the historic Trent Bridge pavilion. England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower went to the Indian dressing room to speak to Dhoni and ask India to reconsider their appeal on the grounds that Bell had made an error in judging the situation and had not been attempting a fourth run. Dhoni then said he would discuss the issue with his team and respond.The India players, meanwhile, had already been studying the video of the incident, and Dravid said the decision to recall Bell was taken, “as the umpires would’ve been ready to leave”.The England team show their appreciation for India’s decision to withdraw their appeal for Ian Bell’s run out•Getty Images

The England team, Bell said, had also been trying to work out what had happened and were watching replays of the incident. “In the last minute of tea, there were four of us padded up ready to go, just in case,” Bell said. “Right at the last minute it was nice to get a knock on the door and have someone tell me to go back out there.”In the media conference, Bell explained his actions, repeatedly used the word ‘naive’ to describe them. “I guess the fielder’s body language suggested it had gone for four. I had sort of come back and touched down for the third run. I turned around and Asad [Rauf] had pulled out his jumper and was heading towards the bowler to hand him his jumper. My initial reaction there, perhaps naive, was to walk off for tea, to say well done to Morgs [Eoin Morgan] and walk off for tea. I was certainly not attempting a run; I just thought that everything was meandering off for tea.”Dravid was asked whether he thought Praveen’s body language while fielding the ball on the boundary had suggested he had given up and therefore caused Bell to believe it was four, and therefore tea. Dravid’s expression, until then fairly even-tempered, changed for an instant. He said: “If the fielder gives up on the ball, it doesn’t mean you immediately assume that it’s four runs, no? We can accept the fact that he [Bell] wasn’t attempting the run, but you can’t blame Praveen Kumar for walking slowly; he can do what he wants. We accept that it was tea time and Bell was looking to go to tea.”

Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket was a success on the field, but it will take at least “five to ten years” to have the same effect on the board’s bank balance. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) will incur over US$2 million in losses as they re-enter into the game’s

Firdose Moonda in Harare09-Aug-2011Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket was a success on the field, but it will take at least “five to ten years” to have the same effect on the board’s bank balance. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) will incur over US$2 million in losses as they re-enter into the game’s premier format this summer.ZC are hosting three tours in the space of five months, playing one Test against each of Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand and a bigger number ODIs and Twenty20 matches. “It costs us around $1.1 million to host a tour,” Ozias Bvute, managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “We only earn about $200,000 from TV rights, although it will be slightly less against New Zealand, and about $150,000 from sponsorship.” The deficit, of around $750,000 per tour, is made up through loans from local banks, who allow ZC to repay them over an extended period.Given the rate at which cricket is growing in the country, Bvute believes it will take up to a decade for the debt to be cleared and for ZC to start making profits. “It’s a really vicious cycle,” an insider said. “We have to get more sponsorship, but the only way we can do that is by playing and winning and we can’t play any more if we don’t have the money to have more series.”Cricket boards only earn money when they are hosting and Zimbabwe have calculate that only the hosting of India or England will result in a profit, because of the sums of the amount they can make in broadcasting rights, but even that is not an easy option for them. “England have a policy that they don’t tour Zimbabwe and India are not available to come very often, so that makes it hard,” the insider said.Instead, ZC has had to find ways to attract more sponsorship from local sources which they have done by presenting them with a bigger market to advertise to. “In order for cricket to be sustainable, we needed people to participate,” Bvute said. “So now that we have both black and white supporters watching cricket and attending matches we can work on creating a commodity that is financially viable.” There are signs of that already happening, with the domestic twenty-over competition almost breaking even, suffering only “minute losses of about US$80,000”.The introduction of the franchise system two seasons ago has been an essential part of ZC’s attempt at financial revival because it has allowed for 100 cricketers in the country to earn salaries. The ZC supplies the five franchises with grants to contract 20 players each, although often for small amounts. Another source revealed that a franchise rookie contract is worth $200-300 a month and that the senior players earn around $5000 a month, but national players can expect to earn more than that once central contracts come into effect.Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu raised the issue of no national contracts and the ZC have said they will address the situation by awarding contracts for 12 core players at the start of the domestic season, when franchise contracts come up for renegotiation.The other major concern is the non-payment of match fees, another matter brought up by Taibu in his criticism of the administration. “There is a provision in the player contracts that says we can pay match fees up until 180 days after a tour,” Bvute said. Taibu indicated that match fees had not been paid in a period longer than the stipulated six months, with some players still waiting for their money from the series in Bangladesh that was played in December last year. The board is aware of the problem and Bvute said that they “hope to be able to pay all our players as soon as we can”.

Phillip Hughes is determined to play his own way against Sri Lanka, having learnt that even the best-intentioned coaching advice can lead to muddled thoughts and meagre scores

Daniel Brettig in Colombo24-Aug-2011Phillip Hughes is determined to play his own way against Sri Lanka, having learnt that even the best-intentioned coaching advice can lead to muddled thoughts and meagre scores.As he prepares to partner Shane Watson following the traumatic removal of Simon Katich from the list of Cricket Australia contracts, Hughes is honing more or less the same technique he took into his debut against South Africa in early 2009.That series, in which Hughes topped the Australian aggregates and blazed two centuries to help a young side to an unexpected series win, did not dissuade observers from tinkering with the idiosyncratic technique that reaped those rewards.He has cut a more orthodox but less-convincing figure at the international batting crease ever since, starting with the Ashes series later that year in which a couple of hot spells from Andrew Flintoff were enough to see Hughes jettisoned after only two Tests.”Through that time there were a lot of people who came in to try to give advice, but I just had to go back to my game and play the way I’ve always played,” Hughes said. “I might’ve gone off it a little bit, but that’s all part of learning and the experience of it all. There are things I’m going to have to tinker with, with my technique, but as a whole I’ll keep it how I’ve always played.”During the last Ashes series Hughes was chosen to replace the injured Katich, and retained for three Tests, when clearly short of runs and confidence. Picked when he should have been dropped, and dropped when he should have been picked, Hughes sought solace in the advice of his first mentor, Neil D’Costa, who is now employed at a cricket academy in Nagpur.”I worked even harder in the nets – the Ashes series was disappointing, so I went back and just worked harder and Neil D’Costa flew from India back to Australia and we spent time together,” Hughes said. “We got down to the nets basically every day for two weeks, a couple hours a day, worked as hard as I’ve ever worked, and things turned around.”I hadn’t seen Neil for a fair few months – he’d been in India – and it was just good to have someone there who’s been there [for me] the whole way; [and for me to] to come back to Australia and work as hard as possible with Neil. He knows my game quite well now and he’s been coach/mentor the last five or six years for me, so getting back was good and beneficial.”The balance seems finally to have been redressed ahead of the Test series between Australia and Sri Lanka, for Hughes enters the tour having carved out a handsome tally of runs for New South Wales and Australia A since the Ashes. Reflecting on the last summer, Hughes agreed he might have been helped by more runs behind him when he walked out to bat in the third Test in Perth.”It would’ve been better, but I was excited when I did get selected, and to play the last three Ashes Tests was a huge thrill, but also disappointing … it would’ve been nice to get more runs, no doubt about that,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t in the best form then, I was in better form towards the back-end of the season, but that’s cricket; especially opening the batting you knick off a few times and you get a few starts and you want to make those into big scores. It wasn’t to be in the Ashes series.”While extremely angry about the manner of his exit, Katich bore no ill-will towards Hughes, and the pair remain on good terms in a relationship that began when the younger batsman was a teenager in the NSW squad.”My debut game for Australia [in South Africa] was with Simon, and I’ll always remember the time Simon gave me back in NSW when I was only 17-18, going into the squad and what he did personally for me,” Hughes said. “I did [feel sorry for him], that was a while ago now, decisions that people have got to make, and I’m not one of those, I’ve just got to control what I can control, but it was disappointing and I was feeling for Simon at the time.”Sorrow for Katich had been preceded by some shock, for Hughes had fully expected Katich to regain his place at the top of the batting order following an Achilles injury. He publicly stated that his goal was to be the reserve batsman on tour.”I’ve said that for the last couple of years when I got dropped,” Hughes said. “I’ve always wanted to be that spare batsman on tour and be that next guy in. I’ve been lucky enough the last couple of years on tour to be that spare batsman, and now comes the opportunity I’ve always wanted. [After] getting dropped I’d get itchier and more keen to get back in there, knowing I’ve had a taste of Test cricket.”That hunger will now be sated, although in conditions far removed from anything Hughes has encountered at Test level before. He has spoken a lot to Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and the assistant coach Justin Langer about handling spin, seeking out the kind of advice that will help, not hinder, his latest tilt at international batsmanship.”I’ve played on the subcontinent before but not for Australia. I’ve been to India a lot but it’s different – it’s Test cricket, and it’s going to be tough, we all know that,” Hughes said. “But that’s why we’ve got guys like Pup [Clarke] and Punter [Ponting] in our team.”They faced spin bowling beautifully in the one-day games so I’ve spoken to them as much as possible … but it’s about getting out there and doing the work. I’m a huge fan of Justin, he’s a great coach, so I’ll just go out and do as much work as possible, and hopefully it pays off.”

A round-up of the action from the semi-finals of the 2011 Faysal Bank T20 Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2011Shoaib Malik’s unbeaten 88 off 49 balls gave Sialkot a commanding victory over Lahore at the National Stadium in Karachi, and with it a place in the final of the Faysal Bank Twenty20 Cup.A couple of early wickets meant Sialkot got off to a slow start in their chase of Lahore’s 167, but Malik held his nerve and controlled the innings. He and Shahid Yousuf, who scored 49, dragged Sialkot out of the hole they were in after the lost both openers inside the first three overs. Malik was the aggressor in the 127-run partnership and he timed the ball sweetly while hitting nine fours and three sixes. He had to up the run-rate as the innings progressed but did so enough to reach the target in 18.5 overs.The day had started with Lahore getting everything right. They won the toss on a flat pitch and looked set to get to an imposing target after a flying start. Imran Farhat set the tone, smashing two off the first three balls of the match for four. He and Taufeeq Umar both played classy innings and Lahore’s fifty was up in just four overs.Sialkot looked frazzled in the field as Lahore looked like they were building a huge total. The fightback began in the ninth over when Malik trapped Taufeeq lbw for 33 off 20 balls. Malik then got rid of Farhat for 73 off 44 balls with an arm ball that went through the gate between bat and pad. Lahore’s innings crumbled with four run-outs hurting their chances of reaching a winning score. There was some resistance from Ali Azmat, who got 18 off 13, but Lahore could not even bat the whole 20 overs, and their middling total was not enough.Rawalpindi Rams crushed Peshawar Panthers by 77 runs in the second semi-final at the National Stadium to set up a summit clash against Sialkot Stallions.Rawalpindi’s bowlers ripped through Peshawar’s batting order, dismissing them for only 91 in 16 overs. Umar Amin bowled a terrific spell, taking 3 for 14 in four overs, while Hammad Azam picked up 3 for 21. Mohammad Rameez, who took 2 for 41, was the only Rawalpindi bowler to concede more than six runs an over.Peshawar never got going in the chase. Rafatullah Mohamand’s 33 off 26 balls at the top was their best individual score and the five batsmen after him failed to reach double figures, ending the game as a contest.Rawalpindi also did not have a powerful individual performance from their batsmen but there were several useful contributions, which helped them make 168 before they were dismissed with one ball to go. The top three gave the innings a quick start – Rawalpindi were 65 for 3 in 6.5 overs when Tahir Mughal fell – and 91 at the half-way stage. Amin then contributed 30, the best score, and Sohail Tanvir made 26 off 17 balls to ensure a competitive total.Zohaib Khan was the best of Peshawar’s bowlers, taking 3 for 36, while Nauman Habib and Noor-ul-Amin took two each.

Explosive half-centuries from Henry Davids and Martin van Jaarsveld led Titans to victory by a comfortable margin against Lions at SuperSport Park

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2011Explosive half-centuries from Henry Davids and Martin van Jaarsveld, and brisk ones from Jacques Rudolph and Faf du Plessis, led Titans to victory by a comfortable margin against Lions at SuperSport Park.Chasing 258, Titans made a terrific start with openers Davids and Rudolph smashing 139 off 17.5 overs, when Davids was dismissed for 81 off 58 balls. Roelof van der Merwe fell cheaply, and Rudolph went soon after for 54 off 52 balls, leaving Titans on 153 for 3 in the 21st over. There was no more success for Lions’ bowlers, though, and all of them conceded at least six runs per over during their spells. Faf du Plessis remained unbeaten on 62 off 64 balls, while van Jaarsveld made 50 off 32 to complete a seven-wicket victory with 92 deliveries to spare.Before the powerful batting performance, Titans’ bowlers had impressed after their captain van Jaarsveld won the toss in Centurion. Five of the seven bowlers used took a wicket each and there were two run outs as well. They reduced Lions to 31 for 3 in 11 overs, depriving the innings of momentum at the start, and struck two more quick blows after a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket between Stephen Cook and Quinton de Kock. Once de Kock fell for 83 in the 41st over, Lions needed Jean Symes’ 70 off 74 balls to reach 252 for 7.