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Karachi Blues, who are battling for survival in the Grade-I, let some of the initiative slipped away on the first day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match against Sargodha at the UBL Sports Complex here on Monday.Sargodha recovered to reach 180 in their first innings after being reduced to 67 for seven an hour into the afternoon session.Karachi Blues, in reply, survived two overs to close on two without loss. But Suleman Huda might have perished LBW to pacer Umair Hasan had umpire Sajjad Asghar not declared a no ball.After electing to bat first on a slow track, Sargodha lost the top five batsmen for only 26 runs on the board. Stand-in skipper Naved Latif, who amassed 394 against Gujranwala barely eight weeks ago, fell to left-arm paceman Imranullah for a first-ball duck. Imranullah bowled a fine opening spell to claim three wickets which left Sargodha taking lunch at 46 for five.When wicket-keeper Shahid Mahmood was bowled by left-arm spinner Salman Fazal for 14, Sargodha slumped to 67 for seven. However, dogged batting, engineered by left-handed Ashraf Bashir, by the lower order brought respectability to the score.Ashraf and Faisal Khan Afridi, a burly right-hander, shared an eighth wicket stand of 51 in 40 minutes. Afridi used the long handle effectively to make 31 off 32 balls with five fours. He also lifted Salman Fazal over long-off to the top railing of the stand for massive six.Ashraf finally departed when he holed out to Karachi Blues captain Farhan Adil at cover off part-time off-spinner Nomanullah after making 39 of 130 deliveries in two hours and 10 minutes. He put on 38 for the ninth wicket with Tariq Munir.Tariq slammed six boundaries on his way to a top-score of 44 in 87 minutes off 75 balls before he was caught behind by Rashid Latif shortly after the second new ball was taken by Mohammad Javed.Imranullah and Salman Fazal claimed three wickets apiece for 26 and 74 runs respectively while Javed chipped in with two for 31.

Ryan Hinds is ‘mentally exhausted’ after his sacking as Barbados captain and is contemplating taking a break from cricket © The Nation

Ryan Hinds, former West Indies international, is contemplating taking a break from the game in the aftermath of his sacking as Barbados captain. Hinds, while refusing to accept the reasoning provided by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), failed to turn up for a national trial match at Kensington Oval on Thursday.”Sometimes in life you get disappointments. I don’t like to get into politics, but I felt it [his sacking] was a slap in the face to me,” Hinds said. “I am still waiting on the reasons why I was rejected as Barbados captain. I’m just exhausted. I hope that people don’t take it the wrong way. I want an opportunity to get my thoughts together.”Hinds was summoned to a BCA meeting on Wednesday and informed of the association’s decision which led to him expressing his dissatisfaction and missing the trial match. According to reports, discussion surrounding his leadership skills formed part of the meeting after which he was advised to attend a seminar.”I am supposed to be attending some sort of counselling which I am really shocked about. Once I come through these successfully, I’ll be eligible to be the captain again,” he said.”To be quite fair, if they had to ask me to be captain again, I wouldn’t take it. Within the last two years, I don’t like the way I have been treated. When I first took over as captain from Courtney [Browne], there were a lot of discussions whether I would be captain or not the next year.”A lot of it was personal. It was not cricket ability or my leadership skills. It was just personal. I don’t think that was fair.”A veteran of 86 first-class matches since making his debut for Barbados as a 17-year-old, Hinds was unhappy with the support he received during his tenure as captain. “Words can’t really explain how I feel now. My last four years since I took over as captain, my form has been good. I enjoyed captaining Barbados. I just want to say whoever the board selects as the captain would have my support.”Hinds, however, assured fans that being sacked as captain will not change his attitude and commitment towards the team. “I don’t want the public to get the wrong idea, saying that just because he is not captain he is not turning up and he doesn’t care about the cricket. That is not the case,” he said.It was announced later by Conde Riley, acting Barbados Cricket Association president, that Corey Collymore, the West Indies fast bowler, has been appointed Barbados captain.Collymore, with 85 first-class matches in his career including 30 Tests, is looking forward to the assignment and has promised to give it his best shot. “It was never a dream of mine of captain Barbados. My dream was always to play for Barbados and by extension West Indies. To captain your nation or your country is always an honour and I will try to do it to the best of my ability.”

Brian Lara: doubtful for tomorrow’s big game © Getty Images

While Brian Lara would not totally rule himself out of tomorrow’s match against India, the manner in which he spoke about his back spasms and the recovery process since the last match against Australia suggested that he was all but out of contention for the game. “I am not sure yet [about whether I will be fit]. I trained for the first time on Tuesday and the back was a bit sore,” he said. “The final decision will be made on Thursday. I am sure we still have an eleven that will still do the job. I’d love to make it. I am not going to do anything that will disable the team.”Lara made a superb 71 against Australia as West Indies won a thrilling match, but could not take the field in the second half of the match. The West Indies depend heavily on him, and while it was widely believed that he would be part of the mix even if he was not 100% fit, Lara said this was not the case. “It is important to field a fully fit eleven,” he said. “Our record against India has been impressive and we see it as a step forward, a psychological advantage over India. This match is huge. The crowd will be supportive of India but it is these conditions that will show the real mettle of a team. The guys are fully aware of that.”Without a frontline spinner in the squad, Lara’s concerns about the dew were obviously nowhere near as serious as that of his Indian counterpart. “It is important to play your best team. Sri Lanka used two spinners productively on Tuesday and South Africa did not use any,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, we know what to do and pick the team accordingly. We will try and put up an eleven that will ensure us a win.”When it was put to Lara that the West Indian middle-order had struggled when he and the other big guns at the top of the order had failed to fire, his response was sharp. “I can only go as far back as to our last game against Australia and there the numbers five and six got a good partnership,” he said. “We are going to focus on the positives and move forward. This team is constantly improving. I am focussed on winning and keen to contribute to it, if not physically in the middle, then from the sidelines.”Lara also suggested that this squad had characters in them who could step up and do the job in case someone was injured. “We’ve seen the depth in the team,” he said. “See, despite Corey Collymore not being around (Collymore is back in the West Indies to be with his wife for the birth of their child), we have had guys who’ve filled the gap admirably. We have players we can call upon. Having said that, we still want to pick from among 14 players. When we get that, it will be a great advantage.”At the moment, though, this game against India is crucial to the West Indies, and Lara did not try to underplay that. West Indies have had a run of success against India in recent times, beating them 4-1 at home, and then again in Malaysia. Lara hoped that beating India in India would give his team an even bigger boost. “If things go well in the World Cup we are going to be meeting India in a very crucial stage in the second round,” he explained. “This match is huge. Yes there are factors to be taken into consideration – It’s not Malaysia, it’s not West Indies, it’s Ahmedabad, and the crowds will be fully supportive of India. I think in these sort of situations you can see the real mettle of a team and that’s what we are focusing on to ensure that we come out on top in this particular match. Because it will augur well if we can do that.”It almost went all pear-shaped for West Indies early in the tournament when they were bowled out for only 80 against Sri Lanka. But they’ve bounced back admirably since. “After losing to Sri Lanka, we went back to the drawingboard and worked out situations, what we wanted to do against the best team in the world and executed that very well,” said Lara. “Now we are moving forward, and this stage of the tournament is crucial, as we come out against better teams continuously. We know where we are at the present and feel very comfortable in the zone.”When Lara walked around, it certainly appeared that he was suffering from a very stiff back. And with all the talk of his injury, it overshadowed every other aspect of the conversation surrounding West Indies’ match against India. Ramnaresh Sarwan will be preparing himself mentally to be leading the side, if it comes to that. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has recovered from food poisoning, will be bracing himself to shoulder more responsibility should Lara be forced to sit out. “I’d love to be out there tomorrow, but that decision will be taken at the last minute,” said Lara. And while all the indications are that he is likely to miss out, everyone will be holding their breath till that last minute that Lara spoke about. After all, how many times has it happened in cricket that someone, a critical player at that, is believed to be fit or unfit a day before a game, and the reality changes dramatically when the first ball is bowled. Cricket, they say, is a mind game, and it is perfectly legitimate for a captain to try and gain and edge through psychological ploys. Could this just be another one of those?

Sourav Ganguly: what fate awaits? © Getty Images

The spat between Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell has held Indian cricket captive over the last few days. Both sides will finally get an opportunity to present their side of the story when they put forward their cases before the review committee of the BCCI, which will meet in Mumbaitomorrow (September 27). There was some doubt about the participation of Ganguly, who lost his grandfather in Kolkata today, but media reports suggested that he would reach Mumbai tomorrow morning to defend himself against the charges levelled by Chappell.The committee, comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, along with Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the board president, SK Nair, the secretary, and Jagmohan Dalmiya, had originally been set up to review the performances of the Indian team on the tours of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, but in the light of the current controversy, the captain-coach issue will surely form the chunk of the discussions.Chappell has clearly not been enamoured of Ganguly and some of the other members of the Indian team in his short stint as coach of the team. However, the spat came out in the public following Ganguly’s suggestion that he was asked to step down before the Test in Bulawayo. An uneasy truce followed, but just in its aftermath came the email from Chappell to the board, the entire contents of which was leaked to the media.The details of the letter show the extent to which relations have soured between the two. Chappell has accused Ganguly of desperately hanging on his captaincy, even at the cost of harming the team’s harmony. Question-marks have been raised about Ganguly’s mental and physical fitness, and his ability to stay afloat in international cricket. Ganguly hasn’t put forward his defence before the media yet, but the Bengali daily did quote sources claiming one abrasive remark: “You can imagine the the character of a person who within hours of a truce goes and writes such an e-mail.”These are extremely serious allegations, and the six-man committee will have its hands full in trying to resolve the matter. The credentials of Gavaskar, Shastri and Venkataraghavan, all former national captains, are impeccable, but the pitch has been queered by the presence of Dalmiya, known to be a Ganguly supporter. Raj Singh Dungarpur, a former BCCI president, even accused Dalmiya of being responsible for leaking the email to save Ganguly. “Ganguly knows he has the license to kill as long as Dalmiya is there,” Dungarpur thundered, and then went on to accuse Harbhajan Singh, who came out in open support of his captain. If Dalmiya is a Ganguly supporter, then Shastri, it seems, is in the other camp, and is among those who favours a change in captaincy.Increasingly, it seems, both Chappell and Ganguly cannot work together. The review committee can only offer its recommendation to the board, and not make a final decision, but the direction in which they veer could well decide the direction the Indian team takes over the next few years.

Nantie Hayward: wants to return to South African colours© Getty Images

Nantie Hayward, the South African fast bowler, has reconsidered his decision to quit international cricket, and has insisted he would like to play for South Africa again if selected.Hayward, 27, has played 14 Tests for South Africa, his last being against Pakistan in January 2003. Later that month, it was revealed that he had signed a deal with Worcestershire which precluded him from being released for international matches. At the time, he said he agreed to the contract because he had not been consistently selected in the national squad, and had therefore given up hope of future selection. He also felt he had to secure his financial and playing future elsewhere.However, Gerald Majola, the South African board’s chief executive, has confirmed Hayward has changed his tune. “I spoke to Nantie this week and he expressed a real keenness to play for South Africa again,” he said. “Nantie said he had acted hastily in declaring his international career over last year, and that he was now fully committed to regaining a place in the national squad.”He added, “I have also been in contact with my counterpart atMiddlesex, Vince Codrington, who has assured me that the county would not stand in Nantie’s way if he were required to play for South Africa during the period of his contract.”Speaking from London where he is playing for Middlesex, Hayward himself said: “I am very excited about the possibility of playing international cricket again. I made some rash decisions, which I have now put behind me and I’m totally focused on playing for South Africa again, I would love to get the chance to prove myself at the highest level.”Hayward’s rethink has also been given the approval from Eric Simons, South Africa’s coach. “This is good news,” he said, “we need committed, fit fast bowlers in the mix and to have a man of Nantie’s ability fighting for a place in the team can only be good for cricket. If he shows the right type of form he will definitely come into consideration for selection.”Meanwhile, Neil Johnson, the former Zimbabwe allrounder, has now qualified to represent South Africa after completing his four-year period of residency.Johnson, 34 and born in Zimbabwe, played 14 Tests and 48 one-dayers for Zimbabwe between 1998 and 2000. After he left Zimbabwe, he signed for Western Province as an overseas player and is now able to play for the national team. “I’m very excited, it would be a dream come true if I did actually get the opportunity to play for South Africa,” Johnson said. “I was lucky enough to play at the highest level for Zimbabwe for four years early in my career and now I have something to play for at this late stage in my career.”

The 2003 BBC Sport Kwik Cricket Tournament is now under way with games taking place in Primary Schools throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.Over 5,500 schools will enter, making it cricket’s biggest competition. With 10 children per team squad – teams must field at least one girl – over 55,000 boys and girls under the age of 11 will battle for the chance to appear in the National Final at the Trent Bridge international ground in Nottingham on Tuesday 15 July. An England player will preside over the final, in which 16 teams will contest for the title of national champions.The champions will win a brand new set of playground markings worth up to £7,000 for their school.David Leighton, ECB Primary Schools Development Manager, said: “We are delighted to have BBC Sport as sponsors of our hugely successful Kwik Cricket Tournament. The competition goes from strength to strength – we had record numbers last year and we anticipate even more teams taking part this summer, which demonstrates that cricket is very much alive in schools throughout the country.”The playground markings are a fantastic prize. They transform what can be an uninspiring playground into a hive of sporting activity for all the children in the school to enjoy. The headmaster of the winning team will be delighted.”The 2003 BBC Kwik Cricket Tournament begins with local and district festivals (to be played by mid-June), with the winning teams progressing through to the county finals (to be played by late June). The victors of the county finals qualify for the regional finals (to be played by Friday 4 July), and the most successful will progress to the national final.Playground markingsThe playground markings and targets, devised by the ECB’s Development Department, will not only encourage boys and girls to play sport in their breaks but will help teachers deliver the school curriculum.Numbered targets will help with numeracy skills while the layout of the targets within the playground will facilitate more organised PE practice time. In addition, the brightly coloured markings will allow matches and training for a multitude of sports, including cricket, football, netball and hockey so a wide-range of sporting tastes can be catered for.The markings will be installed by Highway Safety Systems, a Stockport-based Company which is the largest supplier and installer of pre-formed playground markings in the UK, thus ensuring that they will be of the highest quality.Kwik Cricket – the rulesThe two teams toss a coin to decide which team has the choice of either batting or fielding first.Games consist of one innings per team, each innings to be eight overs long. The batting side is divided into pairs, each pair batting for two overs, with a new pair starting at the end of the second, fourth and sixth overs.Each team starts batting with a score of 200 runs. Each time a batter is out, five runs are deducted and the other batter of the pair faces the next ball. A batter may be out bowled, caught, run out, stumped, hit wicket. There is no LBW rule unless the batter deliberately blocks the ball with a leg or foot.Runs will be scored in the normal way, as will byes. Two runs will be awarded to the batting team for each wide ball and no-ball bowled, but no extra ball will be allocated, except in the final over of each innings when, in addition to the two runs, an extra ball will be bowled.At the end of the first two overs, the first pair of batters retires and are replaced by the second pair until all four pairs have batted for two overs each. The second team then bats for its eight overs.Each player on the fielding side must bowl one over and bowling will take place from one end only (bowling over-arm where possible). Players on the fielding side do not need to rotate fielding positions. With the exception of the wicketkeeper, no fielder is allowed within 10 yards of the batter until the ball is played by the batter.The team with the higher score wins. In the event of a tie the team taking more wickets will be the winner. If it is still equal, each player bowls one ball at the wickets (no batter), with the team scoring the higher number of strikes the winner.2003 BBC Sport Kwik Cricket Tournament dates

County Finals:Bedfordshire – 24/06/2003 – Flitwick CCCBerkshire – 25/06/2003 – Wokingham CCBuckinghamshire – 17/06/2003 – tbcCambridgeshire – 01/07/2003 – Clare College sports GrdCheshire – 02/07/2003 – Warrington Sports ClubCornwall – 18/06/2003 – St Austell Cricket ClubCumbria – 20/06/2003 – Keswick Cricket ClubDerbyshire – 27/06/2003 – Harehay CCDevon – 20/06/2003 – Newton AbbotDorset – 10/06/2003 – Bryanston SchoolDurham – 16/06/2003 – County Ground RiversideEssex – 03/07/2003 – BillericayGloucestershire – 25/06/2003 – Cheltenham Cricket ClubHampshire – 25/06/2003 – The Rose BowlHerefordshire – 19/06/2003 – Luctonians CCHertfordshire – 25/06/2003 – Shenley Cricket CentreHuntingdonshire – 25/06/2003 – Hinchingbrooke SchoolIsle of White – date tbc – NewportKent – 06/07/2003 – St Lawrence GroundLancashire – 26/06/2003 – Old TraffordLeics & Rutland – 18/06/2003- Grace RoadLincolnshire – 21/06/2003 – Hartsholme CCLondon – 24/06/2003 – Walker Ground;SouthgateMiddlesex – 03/07/2003 – Lord’sNorfolk – 24/06/2003 – Horsford County Cricket GroundNorthamptonshire – 25/06/2003 – The County GroundNorthumberland – 20/06/2003- South North CCNottinghamshire – 30/06/2003 – Boots Sports GroundOxfordshire – 27/06/2003 – Rover Sports ClubShropshire – date tbc – Wellington CCSomerset – 08/06/2003 – Country Ground, TauntonStaffordshire – 24/06/2003 – Cannock CCSuffolk – 30/06/2003 – WoolpitSurrey – 08/07/2003 – The OvalSussex – 24/06/2003 – Horsham CCWales – tbcWarwickshire – date tbc – Kenilworth Wardens CCWiltshire – 27/06/2003 – DevizesWorcestershire – 16/06/2003 – County Ground, WorcesterYorkshire – tbcRegional Finals:East – 08/07/2003 – Bury St EdmundsEast Midlands – 07/07/2003 – Boots Sports GroundNorth – 25/06/2003 – Graham Sports Centre, Maidens CastleNorth East – 04/07/2003 – Headingley Cricket ClubNorth West – 07/07/2003 – Warrington Sports ClubNorthern Ireland – 24/06/2003 – Ballymena CCScotland – 24/06/2003 – Stirling County CCSouth – 03/07/2003 – Rover Sports Club, OxfordSouth East – 09/07/2003 – East Grinstead CCSouth West – 27/06/2003 – Newton AbbotWales South – 9/7/03 – Aberystwyth CCWales North – 4/7/03 – Sophie GardensWest Midlands – 02/07/2003 – Wallsall Cricket ClubNational Final:Tuesday 15 July, Trent Bridge (Nottingham)

Alec Stewart has ended speculation about his imminent retirement from top cricket by confirming that he hopes to remain in the first-class game for at least another two years. Writing in his regular diary column for CricInfo, the Surrey and England wicketkeeper said: “I’ve still got a year left with Surrey after this season, and I’m already in preliminary talks to extend that for another year, which will take me through to 2003. Therefore any speculation that I won’t be playing any more first-class cricket after the Oval Test is pretty far from the truth.”Asked whether he hopes to remain a part of the England set-up this coming winter, Stewart said: “You can draw your own conclusions from the fact that I’m not planning to retire from the first-class game. Two years ago I said that I wanted to be involved in this series. That’s what may have prompted the speculation that I was about to pack it in. But while I’m still enjoying the game, feeling fit, playing all right, I want to keep playing.”Stewart, 38, has played 113 Test matches for England. If he agrees terms with Surrey he will still be playing first-class cricket when England participate in the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa early in 2003, by which time he will be nearing his 40th birthday. It may be that he also harbours hopes of one final crack at the Australians when England make the trip down under late next year.

Vinay Kumar strikes centuryHitting an unbeaten hundred, D Vinay Kumar took Hyderabad to a strong position at the end of Day Two of their Ranji Trophy league match against Tamil Nadu at Chennai.Unbeaten overnight on 56, Vinay Kumar proceeded to compile runs slowly, batting primarily with Venkatapathy Raju (35). He completed his century and was not out on 103, made off 317 balls. He hit 11 fours and a six. For Tamil Nadu, Lakshmipathy Balaji and MR Shrinivas took three and four wickets respectively.The home side opener, Sadagopan Ramesh, fell having made 16, but S Sriram and C Hemanth Kumar batted well before the former fell for 33. Hemanth Kumar was unbeaten on 42 off 84 balls at stumps, and he was accompanied by Hemang Badani, who was not out on 7.Renjith Menon stars for KeralaKerala’s bowlers, spearheaded by Renjith Menon, brought their side strongly back into their Ranji Trophy league match against Goa at Panaji on Tuesday.Comfortably placed at 22/0 overnight, Goa collapsed to 197 all out on Day Two. Barring Tanveer Jabbar, who made 51 off 112 balls, none of the other batsmen could make a significant score. The last seven wickets fell for 37 runs as Menon did an admirable job in cleaning up the tail and returning figures of 5-48.Goa did manage to get in two blows before the close of play, with Narayan Kambli dismissing both openers with the score on 5. At stumps, VB Kamaruddin and C Prashanth Menon were unbeaten on 0 and 1 respectively.

Liverpool recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over FC Gomel in the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday night.

First-half goals from Fabio Borini, Steven Gerrard and a second-half Glen Johnson strike made it an easy night at Anfield in Brendan Rodgers’ first competitive home fixture.

The Northern Irish manager picked Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini for specific praise after the victory.

“Luis is an incredible player. He has come back to us and looked great in training,” Rodgers confessed to Sky Sports.

“He is so creative in the box but he also presses very well when he doesn’t have the ball.

“He is the type of player I love. He is in love with football. He has such passion for the game.

“His combination work with Steven Gerrard and Fabio Borini was excellent.

“It is important for any striker to score because they are judged on their goals. But I brought Fabio here because I know he can score.

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“He is only 21 and has a lot of improvement left in him. But with his work-rate and his ability on the ball I think he will fit in very well to our team,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Manchester City laid down their title credentials smashing five goals past Tottenham at White Hart Lane with Edin Dzeko scoring four to maintain their 100% start to the new campaign.

The Citizens stormed back to the top of the Premier League after another rampant performance and have now scored 17 goals in their first three games.

£27 million striker Dzeko was the stand out performer as he put the Spurs defence to the sword scoring four and proving to be a nuisance throughout. Samir Nasri, making his City debut, was also bang in form whilst David Silva and Sergio Aguero kept up their fine starts to the new campaign.

Despite the scoreline the first 25 minutes was rather close with the home side having several good opportunities to break he deadlock. Rafael Van der Vaart had a free kick saved by Joe Hart before Gareth Bale should have at least hit the target only to blaze a volley over from 10 yards.

Those scares kicked the visitors into gear and Dzeko opened the scoring in the 34th minute tapping in Nasri’s cross from the left before the same two players combined again six minutes later with the Bosnian looping a header across goal and into the bottom corner leaving Brad Friedel motionless.

The second half saw City continue in the same vein scoring two goals in quick succession. Dzeko completed his hat trick in the 54th minute tapping in from Yaya Toure’s ball before Aguero smashed home from inside the box after a mazy run through the Spurs defence.

Younes Kaboul pulled a goal back with 23 minutes to go but Dzeko wasn’t going to let the hosts have the last laugh curling in a sublime effort from the edge of the area two minutes into added on time.

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