Kenya 8 for 1 trail Canada 263 (Dhaniram 78, Bhatti 57, Kamande 4-56) by 255 runs
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Clichéd it might be, but the opening day of Kenya’s Intercontinental Cup tie against Canada at Nairobi Gymkhana was a see-saw affair. After a wretched middle-order collapse which left them 121 for 6, Canada recovered magnificently to close right back in the match.That Kenya were not in complete control was thanks to a seventh-wicket stand of 99 between Sunil Dhaniram and Umar Bhatti. Neither are slouches with the bat, but with Dhaniram attacking and Bhatti more cautious, they checked the Kenyans and then staged a solid recovery.On an overcast morning and with some dampness from overnight rain, Canada batted and made a good start, Abdul Jabbar breezily racing to 49 on his debut with some sumptuous drives in an opening stand of 68. Inexperience then got the better of him, and he perished trying to bring up his fifty by hitting offspinner Jimmy Kamnade over long-off.What followed was a complete collapse as Kamnade took 4 for 0 in ten balls. David Obuya held two catches close in front of the bat, while Mohammad Iqbal, who had been Jabbar’s subdued partner, drove tamely to mid-on. Kamande then ran out Ashif Mulla for good measure. This was all the more remarkable as Kamande was recovering from a head injury sustained when he was attacked by carjackers on Thursday night.At the other end, Hiren Varaiya was struggling, Qaiser Ali hitting him for three fours in eight balls, but Ali then opened up once too often and snicked high to point. to leave Canada on 121 for 6. Dhaniram had already started the counter-attack, picking Kamande off through the leg side. Bhatti had moments of luck, edging Thomas Odoyo perilously close to second slip and then top-edging Alfred Luseno over the keeper, but he also played some cracking square cuts.Kenya persevered with spin, strangling the partnership, and the pressure finally told when Dhaniram pulled Varaiya to mid-on. The slow men kept things tight – eight runs came from ten overs – but it was the return of the quicks that polished off the tail, the last three wickets falling in 14 balls.Kenya faced a tough 25 minutes and lost Maurice Ouma to the first ball. Ouma was criticised for his performances with the bat in South Africa, and his error of judgement here will hardly have mollified the selectors. But Canada’s pace attack missed a trick, opting to bombard nightwatchman Varaiya with bouncers rather than aim at his stumps. He ducked a few, took one in the ribs, and survived until the close.The last time they were here Canada struggled to acclimatise to the conditions and took several games to find their feet. Today, they found them inside two sessions.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Guyana captain, is likely to miss out his team’s KFC Cup semi-final match against Jamaica on October 25 after he injured his ankle and is expected to be out of action for six weeks.Sarwan had pulled out of Guyana’s previous match against Trinidad and Trinidad on October 20 after he was injured during training. Expressing his disappointment over possibly missing the semi-final, Sarwan told the , “I trained very hard for this tournament after being out for a while with the shoulder injury and I was hoping to make a big contribution towards Guyana retaining the title.”Earlier this year, Sarwan missed most of West Indies’ tour of England – his first series as the national captain – when he injured his shoulder during the second Test at Headingley. “In a game like cricket you expect to pick up an injury here and there but today [Saturday] I was not even playing a match … just warming up with some touch rugby which I guess is just bad luck for me.”I am now hoping for some good news from the doctor regarding how soon I can resume training for the Zimbabwe and South Africa tours at year end.”

New Zealand Cricket has moved to improve the standards of umpiring in the country by establishing an elite panel of eight officials. The development means umpires will be expected to be available on a full-time basis throughout the 2007-08 season.Brian Aldridge, the NZC umpires manager, said forming the panel was an important moment for the game in New Zealand. “Historically, umpiring has been a part-time leisure activity for individuals engaged in other careers,” he said. “This initiative points to a commitment to upgrade the standing, standards and professionalism of umpiring. Being engaged on a full-time basis, especially at first-class level, is expected to lift the standards of umpiring. “Billy Bowden is the only New Zealand umpire on the ICC’s elite panel while Gary Baxter and Tony Hill are the country’s representatives on the international group. Evan Watkin, who is registered with the ICC as a third official, joins the trio on New Zealand’s books along with Barry Frost, Phil Jones, David Quested and Derek Walker.

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Suresh Raina’s quick century – his second in three matches this season – and VRV Singh’s five-wicket haul set up an exciting contest for the first-innings lead between Uttar Pradesh and Punjab at Mohali. At stumps, UP trailed by 29 runs and had three wickets in hand.After taking Punjab’s last three wickets for 57 runs and then making a solid start, UP lost three quick wickets to be reduced to 91 for 3. That’s when Raina joined Mohammad Kaif and counterattacked immediately. By the time Kaif got out for 66, they had put on 153 in 28.1 overs and brought UP right back into the game. It was Raina, though, who took the fight to Punjab and scored 123 runs in 130 deliveries, 88 of them coming in fours and sixes. After Raina’s dismissal, Piyush Chawla (30 off 28 balls)and Praveen Kumar (20 off 14 balls) brought out some big hits and took UP close. In 26 balls, their unbeaten partnership had scored 28.VRV Singh, although pretty expensive, kept Punjab in the game with 5 for 102. This is his first match this season, as he was recovering from an injury. His last international match was the Chittagong Test. by 277 runs
ScorecardTamil Nadu turned the screw on Karnataka, reducing them to 144 for 6 after their batsmen carried on from a good first day to score 421 in the first innings. Karnataka still need 77 runs to avoid the follow-on, which should be critical for Tamil Nadu to look for an outright result.R Rakmumar, the left-arm spinner, followed his cameo with the bat with three wickets for 32 runs. He is now one short of 100 first-class wickets.Earlier, S Badrinath scored his 13th first-class century and made sure Tamil Nadu capitalised on a century scored by Ranji debutant Abhinav Mukund. Badrinath, who scored 143, got able support from the lower-order, especially Ramkumar, who scored 65 in 76 balls.
ScorecardSairaj Bahutule, who had helped Venugopal Rao resurrect Maharashtra’s first innings, took 5 for 29 to dismiss Himachal Pradesh for 83 and put Maharashtra in the box seat in Dharamsala. To make matters worse for Himachal, they lost two wickets for 41 after being asked to follow on.Himachal had a poor start, losing a wicket in the first over itself. Only Maninder Bisla, their wicketkeeper-batsman, offered some fight, but his unbeaten 23 could do only so much.Earlier, Rao scored his first century for Maharashtra to take them past 300. After the 151-run seventh-wicket stand with Bahutule yesterday, Rao put on 68 for the eighth wicket with Salil Agharkar, who made 46.
ScorecardHemal Watekar, Andhra’s opener and an occasional offbreak bowler, took five wickets to bowl Orissa out for 140, which gave Andhra a 39-run first-innings lead. Orissa had made a cautious start and after losing three quick wickets got a partnership going to take them to 83 for 3. From there Watekar reduced them to 100 for 7 and then came back to dismiss Halhadar Das, who top scored with 30.Andhra had scored 67 for 2 at stumps and looked good to set Orissa a challenging target in the fourth innings.
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The Mumbai bowlers kept their first-innings deficit to within manageable proportions before Sahil Kukreja gave them a superb start, as Mumbai ended the second day 89 runs in front with eight wickets in hand. Kukreja’s unbeaten 89, coming off 119 deliveries, was an uncharacteristically fast innings and brought Mumbai right back into the match.Earlier, Gautam Gambhir missed a century, Rahul Bhatia a half-century, and Delhi a big lead as their last six wickets fell for 82 runs. The first session on the Wankhede track is often the most difficult and that was the case again, as the Delhi batsmen handed back the initiative that they had grabbed on the opening day.

ScorecardRajasthan collapsed from 92 for 1 to 149 for 6 as Saurashtra took charge of the match in Jaipur. Saurashtra, resuming at 220 for 5, managed 307, thanks to an unbeaten 46 by the left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv.For Rajasthan, Gagan Khoda and Nikhil Doru looked good in their 73-run second-wicket stand, but both fell at the same score. Dhurv came back to haunt them as he dismissed Khoda to break the partnership. There was a 48-run stand between Vineet Saxena and Robin Bist, but they too fell within five runs of each other to leave Rajasthan struggling.
ScorecardIrfan Pathan recovered from an ordinary first day as Baroda took the last six Hyderabad wickets for 44 before Connor Williams took charge with an unbeaten 91.Hyderabad, resuming at 220 for 4, collapsed without a fight against the new ball. Irfan’s angle from round the stumps and Sumit Singh’s disciplined bowling did the trick for Baroda. In reply, Williams and Azharuddin Bilakhia made the Hyderabad bowlers work hard, as they finished the day at 191 for 2, only 70 adrift. Bilakhia fell just before stumps for 68. (Click here for full report.)

Group A

Pakistan Customs surrendered the first-innings lead to National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the NBP Sports Complex after being dismissed for 242 chasing NBP’s 265. Wahab Riaz was Customs’ destroyer-in-chief as he picked up a career-best 6 for 64. Customs had to rely on a 127-run fifth-wicket stand between Asif Iqbal (73) and captain Zahoor Elahi, who missed his second successive century by nine runs. Although NBP lost opener Nasir Jamshed for a second-ball duck, Imran Nazir (71) and Naumanullah (46) took the score to 130 in only 22 overs. NBP are now 153 runs ahead with nine wickets remaining.Hyderabad performed a giant-killing act by bowling out Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) for 172 thus gaining a 167-run lead at the Niaz Stadium. WAPDA were reeling at 68 for 7 before tail-ender Kashif Raza lifted them past 100 with an unbeaten 64 which included seven fours. Hyderabad’s slow left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti picked up 5 for 35 runs in 14 overs. The home side reached 29 without loss before stumps.Habib Bank Limited (HBL) gained a first-innings lead over Multan at the Multan Cricket Stadium by ending the second day on 276 for 8 in reply to the home side’s 220. After opener Rafatullah Mohmand missed his century by 10 runs, wicketkeeper Humayun Farhat’s 55 off 48 balls, with 11 fours, took Habib Bank past Multan’s total. Kamran Hussain and Hasan Raza aided the scoring with useful contributions as HBL look certain to maintain their position at the top of the group.During an almost full day’s play at the Jinnah Stadium, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) made 269 against Sialkot. Opener Asif Zakir was dismissed for 98 while captain Atiq-uz-Zaman (48) and wicketkeeper Ahmed Zeeshan (60 not out) added 72 runs for the sixth wicket. By close, Sialkot had replied with 99 for 2, thanks to a fifty by opener Kamran Younis.Faisalabad compiled a massive 499 in their first innings against Karachi Whites at the Iqbal Stadium but the visitors fought back well to end the day at 106 without loss. Karachi openers Khalid Latif (54 not out) and Asad Shafiq (49 not out) staged a spirited fightback but they still required another 254 just to avoid the follow-on. Resuming on 260 for 4, centurion Asif Hussain and Imran Ahmed departed early to make it 278 for 6. However, a maiden first-class century by 26-year-old wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman (126 off 162 balls) which included several decent partnerships with the lower order took the hosts to 499 which is likely to earn them at least three batting points.

Group B

After only 23.1 overs were possible on the opening day due to bad weather, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) racked up 347 for 5 on the second day against Karachi Blues due to a 253-run opening-wicket partnership between Azhar Ali (113) and Mohammad Wasim (138) at the KRL Stadium. The batsmen that followed, however, could not build on that performance as KRL lost four wickets for 31 runs but still ended the day in a dominating position.Powered by three centuries, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) declared their first-innings on 564 for 5 at the Gaddafi Stadium but Lahore Shalimar fought back to end the day at 52 without loss. A 224-run sixth-wicket partnership between Fahad Iqbal (156*) and Anwar Ali, who scored 100 off only 107 deliveries. Although Mohammad Naved managed three wickets, there was not much to say about the rest of Lahore’s bowling attack as PIA piled up the total at nearly 4.50 runs an over.Peshawar’s last five wickets put on 190 runs as they extended their overnight 127 for 5 to 307 all out against Quetta at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. By close, Quetta had lost three wickets with only 47 on the board. Mahfooz Sabri and Sajjad Ahmed contributed fighting 80s for Peshawar and even though Nazar Hussain picked up six wickets, it was a poor performance by the bowling side after a terrific first day in the field.After a wash-out on the first day Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) scored 132 for 4 off 53.2 overs against Rawalpindi at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium. It was a case of failed application from the ZTBL batsmen as all of them got starts but none were able to convert it into any decent score. Inam-ul-Haq, the opener, top scored with a patient 39 off 128 deliveries.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Two completely contrasting half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels led a remarkable West Indies performance on the opening day in Port Elizabeth. Gayle blitzed 66 from 49 deliveries, while Samuels faced four times the number of balls to get to 94; together, they guided West Indies to an impressive 281 for 4.Graeme Smith, leading South Africa for the 50th time in Tests, chose to field after winning the toss, and he could hardly be blamed for the decision – the West Indian batting had been in shambles on the tour thus far, and the wet weather leading to the game suggested the pitch would have plenty for the fast bowlers. In short, the conditions were ideal to unleash Dale Steyn and Co on the out-of-form West Indian top order.The one factor in West Indies’ favour was the return of Gayle, who, after much uncertainty, was declared fit after recovering from a hamstring injury. He made an immediate, and stunning, impact on the game.Both Gayle and his opening partner Daren Ganga relied on slices of luck to get through the first five overs – there were inside edges which flew past the stumps, and other deliveries which beat the bat, but once the first 30 minutes had been negotiated, Gayle suddenly went into overdrive.Makhaya Ntini, easily the most listless bowler on view, felt the heat the most, twice conceding three fours in an over as Gayle crashed drives through the covers and stood tall to bludgeon the ball down the ground. Ganga, who was batting with Gayle for the 50th time in Tests, played his role well too, batting within his limitations and rotating the strike. A South African attack which started off expecting quick wickets were suddenly thrown into disarray, and so completely pushed onto the back foot that Smith was forced to post a long-off within the first 90 minutes of the match.The pace attack were also hampered by the pitch, which offered none of the assistance it was expected to. The swing was minimal, the bounce was generally around knee high, and there was little to bother the batsmen. Steyn, South Africa’s main weapon this season, struggled with his radar and rhythm, regularly straying outside off and leg. None of that cost his team as much as his tendency to overstep, though: he had Samuels, then on 14, edge a drive to slip, only for umpire Aleem Dar to signal no-ball. Steyn finally nailed his man, but by then Samuels had done plenty of damage.Coming to the crease after South Africa had removed both openers in the space of three balls – Ganga slashing to Mark Boucher off Nel and Gayle edging Paul Harris’ second ball of the match – Samuels was patience personified. He has often been accused of throwing it away with poor shot selection, but here he batted with a determination and purpose that suggested he understood the value of the No. 4 position, a slot he got ahead of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Displaying sound technique, he defended delivery after delivery, as if answering Clive Lloyd’s call for “stickability”. With Runako Morton showing plenty of staying power as well, the rhythm of the game changed from a boundary an over to a plethora of dot balls and maiden overs. The second session produced only 60, but more importantly from West Indies’ point of view, Morton was the only casualty. His replacement was the even more solid and limpet-like Chanderpaul.The tea break – and a short rain delay immediately thereafter – did little to disturb the batsmen. Chanderpaul was content to leave everything that wasn’t directed at the stumps – forcing the bowlers to bowl at him – while Samuels continued with his monk-like concentration. His 50 took all of 142 deliveries, before he finally opened up with a flurry of breathtaking strokes. Nel, trying all his usual histrionics to unsettle the batsman, was silenced with three splendid shots in one over: a drive that went rocketing past mid-off, a lofted shot in the same direction, and a pull to the midwicket fence. Next over, Harris, who bowled impressively on the first-day track, met with the same fate, as Samuels used his feet and broke the shackles that he had imposed on himself.West Indies were on course to see off the day without further alarm, when Samuels threw away the chance to get his second Test century, slashing at a wide one to be brilliantly held by Jacques Kallis. The second new ball had done the trick for South Africa, but there was no doubt about which team took the first day honours.

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West Zone won a close battle for the first-innings lead despite a career-best 160 by Central Zone captain Mohammad Kaif, before their openers proceeded to press home the advantage with an unbeaten 99-run stand.Resuming at 237 for 5, in response to West Zone’s 411, it was always going to be a battle between Kaif and the bowlers. Kaif added 64 to his overnight score, but ran out of partners pretty soon. He was the ninth man to get out, with Central still 49 short. He had partnerships going with lower-order batsmen: 134 with overnight partner Mahesh Rawat, 51 with Sanjib Sanyal and 38 with Murali Kartik, but they lost wickets at crucial junctures, falling short by 27 runs.Left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv took two of the wickets that fell today to finish with figures of 4 for 84. Munaf Patel added Sudeep Tyagi’s wicket to his overnight haul of two wickets.Ajinkya Rahane and Sahil Kukreja, the Mumbai openers, repeated their solid first-innings performance to frustrate the Central bowlers and virtually bat them out of the contest. Rahane scored his second half-century of the match, while Kukreja closed in on his second.
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North Zone turned in another solid bowling performance to dismiss South Zone for 211 in the second innings, before knocking off the required 70 runs to get off to a great start in the Duleep Trophy.South resumed on the third day at 95 for 2, having fallen behind by 142 in the first innings, and Amit Mishra, with 4 for 51, made sure North wouldn’t have to chase a steep target. The South Zone batsmen got starts, but nobody went on to compile a meaningful score, with M Vijay top scoring with 39. D Kalyankrishna stayed unbeaten on 31, to add to his first-innings resistance that also yielded 31 runs. Vikramjeet Malik and Rajat Bhatia chipped in with two wickets each.North missed out on the bonus point, as they lost Aakash Chopra and Sachin Rana before they could reach the target.

Michael Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler, is confident that the Stanford’s initiative, not just the game of Twenty20, will help in the development of West Indies cricket.”What Stanford is doing is not just having a Twenty20 tournament. As youknow he has started some Pro Teams,” Holding told the Caribbean Media Corporation.”There are four [St. Lucia, Anguilla, Antigua and Nevis] at the moment and he intends to expand on that. He has given a lot at the different islands’ board level, money to helpwith their development, infrastructure and preparation of their teams and that will do a great deal to help West Indies cricket.”Holding had expressed reservations to the Twenty20 form of the game but recently joined the Stanford board of directors. He believed that the funding provided by Standford would help in upgrading the standard of cricket.”I think with that funding and the infrastructure that has been going intothe islands, especially the lesser islands that you don’t usually think ofproducing Test cricketers, that it will improve the standard of their play.”And if they are improving the standard of their play, the standard of thetournament will rise, and that is what we are hoping for.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Bangladesh fought bravely in the first half of the day but were then swept away by a tidal wave of South African pace, and a clever little spell of left-arm spin from Robin Peterson. Having been asked to follow on 324 runs behind, and with Aftab Ahmed in hospital under observation, Bangladesh slid inexorably towards defeat as the evening shadows lengthened, finishing the day on 54 for 5.A positive start was essential for Bangladesh at the second time of asking but once again, Dale Steyn’s pace was a huge stumbling block. Junaid Siddique, who had batted so well in the second innings in Mirpur, went without scoring, hanging his bat out at one, and with Tamim Iqbal marooned on 0 for 28 balls, it was left to Shahriar Nafees to pick off some runs.Nafees had anchored the first innings with a solid 69, but he once again flirted with danger in the quest for runs. There was once classy pull for four, but several of his boundaries came either off the outside edge or the glove as South Africa’s bowlers persisted with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries.The breakthrough though came courtesy spin. Tamim had already been dropped by Kallis at slip earlier, but a needless heave after a sashay down the pitch only found the man at mid-on. Three balls later, Peterson landed one in the rough and a squared-up Nafees could only edge to slip. This time, Kallis made no mistake.The last act was left to Steyn. Mohammad Ashraful was softened up by bouncers, and a delivery that lifted outside off stump was poked through to Mark Boucher. Soon after, Shakib Al Hasan got into an awful tangle, and could only fend one off the glove to forward short leg. Bangladesh were reeling, and the offer of light from the umpires only served to delay the inevitable till the fourth morning.It hadn’t always been such one-way traffic. In the morning, Nafees had chiselled out a fine innings and enjoyed significant partnerships with Abdur Razzak, the nightwatchman, and Aftab, before Shakib took over the mantle after lunch. His departure just before tea, significantly impacted Bangladesh’s hopes of saving the Test, as did the nasty injury to Aftab.Graeme Smith’s lucky charm turned out to be Makhaya Ntini, who returned just before the interval to have both Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind. Shakib had struggled at times against the short ball, but was otherwise composed, striking some lovely fours down the ground and through midwicket. But when he tried to cut one that was too close to him, Boucherhad an easy catch to take.Ntini bowled round the wicket for that dismissal, but minutes earlier, he had struck with his traditional weapon, the ball that angles back in to the right-hander. Mushfiqur got the edge, and Ntini went past Allan Donald (330 wickets) on South Africa’s all-time list.South Africa had reason to rue some uncharacteristically sloppy fielding too. Shakib was dropped when he had yet to score, with Johan Botha putting down a low chance at gully off Steyn. Another edge from Mushfiqur evaded Smith at first slip, and South Africa were left to celebrate only the one wicket in the first hour after lunch.

That came in the very first over, with Nafees edging Steyn to Smith to end his morning of defiance. Soon after, Bangladesh’s innings was in further trouble, with Aftab top-edging a Kallis delivery into his face – ball just squeezing between helmet peak and grille. He was stretchered off it was left to Shakib and Mushfiqur to resurrect the innings.The morning had belonged to Bangladesh, with Nafees wresting the initiative, and Razzak providing sterling support. Steyn and Ntini tested both men with the short stuff, and searing pace in the case of Steyn. There were a couple of streaky strokes down to third man, but the initial stages were characterised more by defence. Steve Bucknor expressed his unhappiness at Steyn running on the pitch, but otherwise, there was little to talk about.That changed once the batsmen grew in confidence. Nafees started to cut and pull with power and precision, and with Ntini and Mornè Morkel below par, the runs started to mount. And when Hashim Amla wore a sweep from Nafees on his ankle, Smith’s worries merely increased.The wicket, when it came, arrived from an unlikely source. Peterson had been tidy rather than threatening, but after Razzak slogged one over midwicket, the encore flew off the top edge to point. Aftab might have gone early, but the bat-up-like-periscope response to a Morkel bouncer fetched him four to third man instead.With Nafees playing some gorgeous drives off the expensive Morkel, the fifth-wicket partnership reached 50 at almost five an over, and it was Bangladesh that went to lunch the happier. But Ntini’s dramatic four-wicket intervention either side of tea being brewed was decisive, and South Africa were always on course thereafter to tie up another crushing victory. Barring rain, it should come on the fourth morning.

The race for the three available semi-final places in the MTN Domestic Championship went down to the wire with the Cape Cobras nabbing the final spot despite defeat against the Dolphins.The Cobras went down by 56 runs in Durban to hand the Dolphins a bonus point, but it wasn’t enough because of their inferior win record and the Cobras went through on the back of their six victories. The Cobras now play the Titans at Centurion Park while the other semi-final is between the Warriors and the Eagles.The crucial match of the final week came in Cape Town when the Cobras handed out the Titans’ only defeat of the round-robin stage. They recovered from 73 for 5 with an unbeaten stand of 124 between Andrew Puttick (87 not out) and Ryan Canning (64 not out).The Cobras had become the latest victim of an improving Zimbabwe team when they fell to a three-wicket defeat in Paarl where Regis Chakabva hit a match-winning 71. Zimbabwe finished the tournament on a strong note when they beat the Eagles by two wickets off the final ball in a thrilling encounter. Tatenda Taibu hit an unbeaten 98 and he managed to score 14 off the final over. The defeat meant the Eagles missed out on a home semi-final.The Warriors secured their home semi-final with a six-wicket against the Lions after playing their last five matches in eight days. The Lions ended a miserable tournament bottom of the table.