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A century by Salman Butt, leading the Lahore Lions, was overshadowed as his side were pipped by the Islamabad Leopards in the opening match of the ABN-AMRO Cup National One-day Tournament Silver League at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.The Lions, put in to bat first, compiled a score of 236-9 in their allotted 50 overs, a target the Leopards reached with two balls and two wickets to spare. Butt, who has been placed among the five reserves for Pakistan’s World Cup 2007 campaign, remained unbeaten on 129, his ninth hundred in this form and his highest.It didn’t matter much as solid knocks from Bazid Khan (56), Bilal Asad and Raheel Majeed saw the visitors home. Majeed was particularly fluent, his 43 coming from just 30 balls. Asad’s innings comleted a fine all-round performance, complementing his 3 for 30 earlier with a 30-ball 34.The two teams shared the Silver League trophy last season, when the final was rained off in Islamabad without a single ball being bowled.Multan Tigers, with Usman Tariq and Saeed Anwar jnr unseparated, thrashed Quetta Bears by ten wickets in their opening round Silver League match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.Tariq remained unbeaten on 51 and Anwar on 32 as the Tigers reached the target in 22 overs, in a match reduced by rain, to 25 overs a side. The win was set up Imranullah Aslam’s leg-spin, the 26-year-old from Bahawalpur picking up a career-best 4 for 12..Quetta opener Shoaib Khan made 39 and his second-wicket stand with Umar Javed brought 45 runs, but the Bears then lost nine wickets in just 11 overs as three batsmen were run out.Hyderabad Hawks also beat Abbottabad Rhinos with ease in their opening round silver league match at the Diamond Club Ground on Saturday.The match had been reduced to a 20-over affair due to wet conditions and after being put in, the Rhinos were bowled out for a paltry 105 in 17.5 overs.Hyderabad reached their target for the loss of only two wickets in 16.2 overs, captain Faisal Athar making an unbeaten 36 off 49 balls with five fours. Shahid Qambrani added 27 before being run out.Riaz Kail topscored for Abbottabad with 30 and wicketkeeper Ahmed Said hit 26 but it proved too little too late.

There has been much talk of the huge wages in the Indian Premier League but Shane Warne will certainly earn his money after being named both captain and coach of the Rajasthan Royals, the Jaipur team. Kepler Wessels, the former South African captain, will coach the Chennai Super Kings.Warne’s franchise is owned by Emerging Media who paid $US67million and their chief executive Fraser Castellino was pleased with snaring him. “We were looking for a legendary cricketer whom all players will look up to,” said Castellino. “Shane’s commitment and astute cricketing brain makes him one of the most respected cricketers in the history of the game.”Warne will be assisted by a strong support staff, which will include former Indian team physiotherapist John Gloster. “Shane Warne’s extraordinary achievements on and off the field, combined with his unique understanding of the game, has made him a living sporting legend,” Gloster said. “It is this leadership and experience that will develop the success and spirit of the Rajasthan Royals. All the players will look up to Shane’s commitment and astute cricketing brain.”The Chennai management were also happy with their choice of Wessels. “We wanted somebody who would keep the focus on cricket, be a good task master, and help us win the tournament,” VB Chandrasekhar, who is part of the management, told Cricinfo.It is understood that L Sivaramakrishnan, the former India player and currently, a commentator, had mooted the idea of roping in Wessels. Sivaramakrishnan and Wessels are part of the commentary team in Bangladesh for the home series against South Africa.Wessels and Warne join a high-profile list of names of IPL coaches, which includes Martin Crowe (Bangalore), John Buchanan (Kolkata) and Tom Moody (Mohali). Robin Singh is the coach of the Hyderabad outfit while Delhi had named Victoria’s Greg Shipperd as their coach. Mumbai is yet to select a coach.Team huntThe Chennai franchise have roped in Aniruddha Srikkanth, R Ashwin and Sudeep Tyagi, the UP fast bowler. Though they have 15 players in the roll and theoretically need just one more but they are looking to sign up six more players as they fear some of the international stars might not be available for the full tournament.The Mohali team has signed up VRV Singh and two under-22 players in Karan Goel and Uday Kaul, which mean they have 13 players and need three more players to complete the squad.Mumbai have picked Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar from Mumbai and Maharashtra’ wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale and Baroda’s glovesman Pinal Shah.Hyderabad have already 16 players on their rolls. VVS Laxman (C), Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Chaminda Vaas, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma, N Arjun Yadav, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha, D Kalyankrishna, P Vijay Kumar, Y Venugopala Rao, Haladhar Das (wk). Head coach: Robin Singh. Assistant coach: Kanwaljit Singh. Manager: Vijay Mohan Raj.

Tendulkar returns
Sachin Tendulkar missed the first seven matches of the Mumbai Indians’ campaign due to a groin injury, but the side’s captain has confirmed he is fit and will lead the Mumbai Indians in their next game on Wednesday against the Chennai Super Kings. The news comes as a shot in the arm for Mumbai, who have won three straight games after losing their first four matches of the tournament.Time running out for Deccan?
Adam Gilchrist, the Deccan Chargers’ stand-in captain, has conceded that his team is out of contention for a semi-final spot after they slumped to a 23-run defeat to the Kolkata Knight Riders, their seventh loss in nine matches. “I guess we are pretty much out of semi-finals. It is disappointing but we can’t change anything,” Gilchrist told , as his team remained on the second-last place in the team standings.Purple cap
After announcing the orange cap for the leading run-scorer of the tournament, the IPL organisers have now introduced a purple one for the highest wicket-taker as well. Zaheer Khan is currently leading the list with 13 wickets from eight games.Kolkata fined for slow over-rate
Kolkata were fined US$1000 by match referee Talat Ali for bowling two overs behind schedule in their match against Deccan. According to the IPL’s regulations, a team will be fined $500 for each slow over. This is the second consecutive match where Kolkata were rapped for the offense, having previously been fined $500 in their home match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.Mallya speaks out
Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, has regretted not being involved in the squad’s selection during the auction and that he went by the judgment of Charu Sharma, the franchise CEO, and Rahul Dravid, the captain. Mallya said he had other players in mind and was responsible for selecting Misbah-ul-Haq. He said, “Unfortunately in cricket, unlike in any other sport, the captain is the boss.”

Pakistan’s plans to adopt a ground rotation policy for next month’s home series against Zimbabwe suffered a minor setback after Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot was declared dangerous for spectators.A PCB official told that the idea of holding an ODI at Jinnah Stadium was dropped after it was discovered that one of the pavilions at the stadium was in “pretty bad shape”.”It would have been risky to stage a match in Sialkot because of that particular pavilion,” the official said. “Also the road leading to the stadium is in a shambles. We will now host an international match in Sialkot sometime later.”Sialkot hasn’t hosted an international match for over ten years. A Quaid-e-Azam trophy first-round match between National Bank of Pakistan and Sialkot was abandoned due to unplayable pitch conditions in October.Zimbabwe arrive in Pakistan on January 12 for a series of five ODIs and a three-day and four-day game.

Imtiaz Patel, the South African of Indian extraction who has been chosen as the new CEO of the ICC, is the type of man to see things from both sides. He exudes a calmness and a phlegmatic air, but all that disappears when things aren’t done right.Patel is the chief executive of SuperSport International, who own the television rights to practically all South African sport of any consequence, and have stakes in professional franchises in cricket, rugby and football. He joined SuperSport in 1999 having risen steadily through the ranks of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) to become the director of professional cricket. Patel looked a shoo-in to succeed Ali Bacher as the CEO of the cricketing body, but fled the coop when Gerald Majola succeeded Bacher instead.While he always exudes polite charm in public, Patel is known to have a scathing tongue in the privacy of the boardroom and even hardened former cricketers who work as commentators for SuperSport are known to slink into the corners when he lets fly.Patel showed his hard, no-nonsense style last year when he hooked the television rights for South Africa’s Premier Soccer League from under the noses of the state broadcaster, the SABC, which caused much anguish in government. A five-year contract for over £70 million puts the PSL into the top 15 in terms of worldwide broadcast deals.Surprisingly, Patel began his professional career as a teacher, in Soweto, but he was also a more than handy club cricketer for Lenasia. His passion for cricket extends not only to making multimillion dollar deals, but also to the grass roots development of the game.Before his angry departure from the UCBSA, he had worked initially as the development director and had also been on the transformation monitoring committee. “He is steeped in cricket, and he is passionate about the game,” Bacher himself said on Monday. “He has energy and enthusiasm for cricket, and he comes with no cricket baggage. He comes in fresh.”A forthright man, Patel has never been afraid to express his frank viewpoints on where cricket should be heading. Coming from a television background, he has intimate knowledge of how cricket’s paymasters work.And being a South African of Indian heritage means he satisfies both the sub-continental and western camps that currently characterise world cricket. Which is no doubt why the ICC want him.But his capabilities also mean SuperSport are not keen on letting him go.

Displaying exemplary grit and determination, Hamish Marshall and JamesFranklin rescued the New Zealand Cricket Academy from a tight spot onthe opening day of their three day MRF Buchi Babu all India invitationtournament semifinal against Oil and Natural Gas Commission at the MAChidambaram stadium on Monday.Shortly before lunch, the New Zealand team lost their fifth wicketwith the total on 92. But for the rest of the day, Marshall andFranklin batted in commendable fashion in a rescue act that won theadmiration of the sparse crowd present. Not until shortly before closewas the partnership broken with Marshall being held by wicketkeeperSandeep Dogra off Amit Bhandari. But by that time he had got a welldeserved hundred and the New Zealand Academy were able to end the daywith the cushion of having made 252 for six off 95 overs.And yet if the afternoon and the evening belonged to the New Zealandside and Marshall and Franklin in particular, the morning’s honourswere claimed by ONGC and Bhandari in particular. Winning the toss, theNew Zealand Academy soon ran into trouble. Off the last ball of thefifth over, JAH Marshall was caught at point by Mithun Minhas offBhandari for ten in a total of 16. In the eleventh over – his sixth -Bhandari struck again. The other opening batsman MHW Papps who hadstruggled for 52 minutes and 27 balls to score five was leg before.That made the Kiwi team 20 for two.L Vincent who came next tried to counter attack but at 37, he hitRahul Sanghvi to substitute Amit Sharma at mid on and departed for 11.AJ Redmond and skipper JDP Oram seemed to have steadied the boat a bitby adding 38 runs for the fourth wicket off 11.2 overs. But Oram whohad dominated the partnership was then bowled by Sanghvi for 20.Bhandari then came back and had the obdurate Redmond caught at slip byGagan Khoda for 25, compiled off 92 balls and inclusive of five hitsto the ropes.At 92 for five, the back of the New Zealand team’s innings seemed tobe well and truly broken. But then followed the partnership betweenMarshall and Franklin which came as a blood transfusion for a sidesinking fast. Battling both the accurate bowling and the intense heat,the right handed Marshall and the left handed Franklin batted withassurance. They nursed the innings through the afternoon sessionadding just 64 runs but more important coming through unbroken. In thepost tea session the pair applied the pressure on the now wiltingbowlers.In the first round game against Districts XI, the 21-year-old Marshallfrom Northern Districts had scored an unbeaten 155. He then missed histeam’s quarterfinal match against Hyderabad. Carrying on from where heleft off against the Districts XI, Marshall played a number ofpleasing strokes. His batting was a blend of power, elegance andtiming. He was very much the dominant partner in the partnership butthe role of Franklin was no less important.Taking three boundaries off one over from Sanghvi, Marshall made hisintentions clear. The 20-year-old Franklin from Wellington too pressedon the accelerator and under pressure, the bowling became wayward.Showing no signs of nerves even in the 90s, Marshall raced to his 100shortly before close. He did not add another run though, the new ball,taken after 90 overs, getting rid of him. Marshall batted almost fivehours, faced 195 balls and hit 12 of them to the ropes. The sixthwicket partnership, which added 158 runs off 57.2 overs, has broughtthe New Zealand side right back into the game.Franklin however could not be dislodged and came in unbeaten with 64invaluable runs when stumps were drawn for the day. He has so farplayed 174 balls and has hit eight fours. But the chief honours of theday were still with Marshall. So impressed was manager Richard Hadleeby his performance that he got the entire team out of the dressingroom to enthusiastically cheer Marshall when he got to his hundred.His gesture, besides symbolising teamwork, was also a handsome tributeto a batsman who had done the most to revive the New Zealand side’shopes in the match.It must have been galling for ONGC to come out second best in a daywhich they had dominated for the first half. Bhandari however put in afine performance, borne out by his figures – 15-8-23-4. Unfortunatelynot much can be said in favour of the other bowlers. Both Sanghvi andVirendra Shewag, in particular were expensive and wilted under therelentless pressure put on them by the Franklin-Marshall association.

Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of the Afro-Asia Cup starting on June 6. He will be replaced by Sourav Ganguly in the 14-member squad. Zaheer Khan has also been included in the revised squad, joining Dilhara Fernando and Mashrafe Mortaza as the replacements for Shoaib Akhtar, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.”Following the unavailability of some players named in the original squads on May 11, the selectors have named their final squads for the three ODI matches in Bangalore and Chennai on June 6, 9 and 10 and the Twenty20 match on June 5,” a statement clarified.Sreesanth, who had to opt out of the Bangladesh tour due to injury, makes his return to international cricket after being named as Munaf Patel’s replacement in the 11-member Twenty20 team. The Twenty20 match will be played in Bangalore on June 5, and will be followed by three ODIs – on June 6 in Bangalore, and on June 9 and 10 in Chennai. Asia ODI squadSanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Yousuf, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dilhara Fernando, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad AsifAsia Twenty20 teamTamim Iqbal, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Ashraful, Shoaib Malik (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Farveez Maharoof, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sreesanth

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to defend Mohammad Yousuf and said that the Indian Cricket Leage (ICL) cannot stop him from playing for his country after the league organisers sent out a legal notice to the batsman.”The ICL has no case against Yousuf and they cannot stop him from playing for Pakistan,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told the . “Yousuf did sign a contract with them but later he changed his mind and cancelled it. As a player he had the right to opt for any offer which he thought was better for him.”Yousuf, who after cancelling his contract with the ICL, signed a national contract as well as signing up to play in the India Premier League (IPL), a recognised league that is run by four different national boards and is approved by the ICC. He was served a legal notice by the ICL after several attempts to contact him failed.”We can confirm that we have indeed sent out a notice to Yousuf,” Ashish Kaul, executive president of the ICL, told Cricinfo last week. “We have been trying to reach out to him and sent out three reminders to discuss some crucial issues after the PCB clarified recently that Yousuf will not play in the ICL and make himself available for Pakistan.”However, Ashraf rejected the impression that the ICL can use any legal ways to stop Yousuf from playing for Pakistan in India next month. “The ICL is claiming that they will not stop any of their recruits from playing for their country then how can they stop Yousuf from representing Pakistan.”The ICL did have a clause in their contract that said that a player cannot give priority to national duty over the ICL but now they say that the clause has been removed and they claim that their players can leave the league to play for their national teams whenever required. I believe in such circumstances they have no justification to stop Yousuf from playing in India.”Ashraf confirmed that if the matter was to go to court, Yousuf will have the full backing of the PCB. “We will fully defend Yousuf, if he is taken to court using all legal means.”Yousuf recently represented Pakistan in the second Test against South Africa and is currently involved in the five-match ODI series against the same opposition, where he scored a match-winning hundred in the second match in Lahore.

After a day in which both sides battled hard to seize the initiative, Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene was unhappy with his side’s total but praised the bowlers for ensuring that honours were even after the second day.Resuming on 217 with five wickets in hand, Sri Lanka could only muster 278 in their first innings. “It was not easy batting on that pitch (on the first day), but we fought well, and I think that sixth-wicket partnership (of 105 between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva) was crucial for us,” he said. “It showed a lot of character, but I am disappointed with the way a few of our guys were dismissed. We should probably have scored between 300 and 325.”West Indies started their innings confidently, with captain Chris Gayle showing the way with a typically aggressive 45, but slipped to 268 for 7 by stumps. “West Indies batted really well, and played a few shots, and it paid off for them,” he said. “But it’s an even game I reckon, we just need to make sure that we work harder next innings.”It’s going to be like a one-innings match now, and with them batting last on that pitch, we have to make sure that we put some runs on the board and put some pressure on them.”Jayawardene, though, felt that Sri Lanka had the edge. “I think the advantage is with us. If we bat well in the second innings and score anything in excess of 250-275, it will be a tough ask for them to bat last against Muralitharan and the rest of the guys.”

ScorecardThe Dolphins might have been tempted to call the police while Loots Bosman and Jacques Rudolph went about bludgeoning the Eagles to a 10-wicket win in their Standard Bank Pro 20 match in Durban on Friday.The Dolphins totalled what looked like a reasonable 126 for 7, but the Eagles hardly flicked a tail feather in replying with 128 without loss to win with 6.3 overs to spare.Bosman blasted 58 not out off 38 balls with four fours and five sixes, while Rudolph clipped his unbeaten 57 off 43 deliveries and hit six fours and a six. The Eagles openers batted with criminal intent, and their only real victim on the night was Brian Jerling, the umpire.Jerling was minding his own business at square leg when Rudolph launched a full-blooded pull shot that smacked the umpire on the zipper of his trousers. Every male eye in the stadium watered while Jerling writhed on the ground – a stretcher was even brought onto the ground – but happily he was able to continue with his duties.Pierre de Bruyn and Daryn Smit shared a half-century stand to boost the Nashua Dolphins to their total. De Bruyn scored 44 and Smit made an unbeaten 32 after the Dolphins had dwindled to 53 for 5 in the 11th over. Their six-wicket partnership was worth 73.Roger Telemachus struck twice to help reduce the home side to 37 for four in the eighth over. And when Ryan McLaren removed Martin Bekker for four to claim the fifth wicket, the Dolphins seemed to be sinking. But De Bruyn and Smit raised their team’s hopes with intelligent strokeplay rather than booming hitting. The partnership was ended with the penultimate ball of the innings when Dillon du Preez bowled De Bruyn.The Dolphins might have fancied their chances after that, but Bosman and Rudolph took the game away from them in uncompromising style. Poor discipline in the field and some ordinary bowling also played into the Eagles’ hands.