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An all-round performance by Babar Naeem and fine batting by Imran Farhat enabled PCB Blues score a consolation eight-wicket win against PCB Reds in the last league match of the Super League One-day Ramazan Cup Cricket Tournament at Gaddafi Stadium Monday.It was PCB Blues’ second win in six matches. For PCB Reds, who had already qualified for Thursday’s final against PCB Whites, it was their second defeat in 24 hours, having lost to PCB Whites Sunday.Set a challenging target of 259, PCB Blues made a flying start of as openers Babar Naeem and Imran Farhat put on 162. In the end, PCB Blues needed just 40.2 overs to finish the match.Babar, who also claimed three for 30, was adjudged Man-of-the-Match award, as he clobbered nine fours and three sixes in 97-ball 96. Imran’s 74-ball blitz contained seven boundaries and three sixes. Babar besides Rs 5,000 also shared Rs 2,000 equally with Imran for hitting most number of sixes.After both Babar and Imran had perished, Salman Butt enjoyed himself with a blistering unbeaten run-a-ball 58, laced with nine boundaries.Earlier, PCB Reds also made an impressive start through Sufian Munir (90 off 105 balls, 12 fours) and Mohammad Hafeez(49 off 80 balls, three fours) who put on 134 for the opening partnership. Sufian pocketed Rs 2,000 for hitting most number of boundaries.Leg-spinner Abdul Rehman returned fine figures of four for 50.ScoreboardPCB REDS:Mohammad Hafeez c Adnan b Rehman 49Sufian Munir lbw b Rehman 90Imran Nazir c sub (Asim) b Rehman 10Saeed bin Nasir c and b Naveed 32Yasir Arafat c Salman b Babar 38Junaid Zia b Naveed 0Naumanullah c Adnan b Babar 3Afaq Raheem c Sajid b Rehman 7Hafiz Khalid not out 12Tanvir Ahmed c Bilal b Babar 1Jalat Khan not out 0EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-3, NB-7) 16TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 258FALL OF WKTS: 1-134, 2-152, 3-159, 4-205, 5-206, 6-225,7-238, 8-251, 9-256.BOWLING: Umar Gul 7-0-44-0; Sajid Shah 10-0-33-0;Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan 8-1-48-2; Salman Qadir 8-0-32-0;Abdul Rehman 10-0-50-4; Imran Farhat 2-0-15-0; Babar Naeem 5-0-30-3.PCB BLUES:Babar Naeem c Junaid b Tanvir 96Imran Farhat lbw b Hafeez 85Salman Butt not out 58Bilal Asad not out 9EXTRAS (LB-1, W-8, NB-2) 11TOTAL (for two wkts, 40.2 overs) 259FALL OF WKTS: 1-162, 2-210.DID NOT BAT: Usman Tariq, Salman Qadir, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan,Abdul Rehman, Sajid Shah, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul.BOWLING: Tanvir Ahmed 7-0-45-1; Yasir Arafat 7-1-35-0;Junaid Zia 7-0-43-0;Mohammad Hafeez 6-0-27-1;Jalat Khan 4-0-52-0; Imran Nazir 6-0-37-0; Naumanullah 3.2-0-19-0.RESULT: PCB Blues won by eight wickets.UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Aleem Dar.MATCH REFEREE: Anwar Khan.MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Babar Naeem.FINAL: PCB Reds v PCB Whites, Thursday

Herschelle Gibbs has indicated he is contemplating his South Africa career after being left out of the Test squad for the tour of England.”I’ve got some decisions to make in the next few weeks whether to carry on at international level,” Gibbs told the BBC. “I’m not in the squad and I’m not sure if I’ll get back into the one-day team either.”Gibbs last played a Test in January against West Indies but did not feature in the Test teams that recently toured Bangladesh and India. However, he did play in the ODI series in Bangladesh. “I’ve spoken to the coach and he said I’m first reserve for South Africa in case anyone gets injured. So we’ll have to wait and see. But I’ve been dying for a proper go at an English cricket county for the last few years so maybe me coming to Glamorgan has happened at a good time.”Gibbs will play for Glamorgan in the Twenty20 Cup, which starts on June 11, but said he could stay on for the season as a Kolpak player. “Maybe my appearance for Glamorgan in the Twenty20 Cup could be a sign of things to come.”He replaces Jason Gillespie as Glamorgan’s overseas player for the tournament. However, Gibbs hasn’t done too well in Twenty20s recently, scoring 103 runs in six matches for the Cape Cobras in the Pro20 competition in South Africa, and was one of the disappointments of the Indian Premier League, managing just 167 in nine matches for the bottom-finishers Deccan Chargers.The 34-year-old Gibbs is expected to play a key role at Glamorgan, given the young profile of the squad. “I love Twenty20 cricket and it has certainly set the cricket world alight,” he said. “I know Glamorgan’s squad is quite inexperienced so I hope my knowledge can rub off on everyone. “South Africa, who have not yet named their squad for the limited-overs fixtures in England, begin the tour with a game against Somerset on June 29. The four Test-series runs from July 10 to August 11, with a Twenty20 international on August 20 followed by a five-match ODI series.

The row over the number of Kolpak players in English cricket rumbles on.On Wednesday, Michael Vaughan waded into the debate. “I’m slightly concerned about it,” he admitted. “There are a number which have obviously taken over a couple of the teams. Looking around the whole circuit, there seem to be a few who aren’t doing that and that’s my biggest concern.”If they’re coming in and improving the standard, playing in the right fashion and training in the right fashion then it can only be a good thing but if they’re coming in and not doing that then that’s not so good. The one thing it does do is make sure you have to be good to get into that XI. If they are quality then it’s fine because they add to the standard, but if they’re not quality it’s like anything they’re not going to add to the standard.”And yesterday Mark Pettini, Essex’s captain, told Cricinfo it was a “nice feeling” to beat a Kolpak-heavy Leicestershire in the FP Trophy quarter-finals.”It was a shame for me to see Leicestershire fielding only four English-qualified players against us – it appears their emphasis is not on bringing through young English players,” he said. “They had a couple of decent young English batsmen in their squad last year in John Maunders and John Sadler but they’ve since left the club, to be replaced by non-qualified players. At Essex we do put the emphasis on bringing through our English-qualified players.”Leicestershire’s chief executive David Smith immediately hit back. “Was it not Graham Gooch and the mighty Essex who signed the two Kolpak Flower brothers Grant and Andy and then played them in their side along with two overseas players in Championship cricket? While their younger players were developing, that means they only had seven players on the field qualified to play for England during that period of time.”Essex are certainly much further advanced in their development programme than we are, but we do care about producing young English-qualified cricketers. Our development programme is in its infancy and we will be judged on my aim to have produced five players from our Academy playing regular first-class cricket for the club over the next four seasons.”Essex had two Kolpaks in their squad yesterday, Grant Flower and Ryan ten Doeschate, along with Danish Kaneria as an overseas player,” said Smith. In fact, ten Doeschate is not a Kolpak player, neither is Andy Flower.”I have a lot of respect for Essex as a club and their youth development programme, and their emphasis on bringing on young qualified England cricketers, but I would also point out that they have taken [Jason] Gallian from Nottinghamshire, [James] Middlebrook from Yorkshire, [David] Masters from Leicestershire, and [Alex] Tudor from Surrey to help balance the young and old and they are not all home-grown.”On the subject of Sadler and Maunders, the two England-qualified players that Pettini mentioned, Smith was equally forthright. Sadler joined Derbyshire where, in Smith’s opinion, “he has hardly set the world alight”, while Maunders was released last season because he was “not good enough”, and replaced by a 22-year Englishman, Matt Boyce, who has been with the county since the age of 11.”I would also point out,” said Smith, “that Leicestershire have recently produced what I would consider to be the best allround Test cricketer for England since Flintoff in Stuart Broad only to lose him to a Test-match county [Nottinghamshire] who could offer him more money.”Pettini’s comments come three days after Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket and England selector, described the Kolpak situation as “serious” and called on the counties to take responsibility.The arguments will continue, but the ECB, which is powerless to act because of the current European Union legislation, is hopeful that the situation might be about to change.It is believed that the EU may rule that the Cotonou Treaty, which provides the Kolpak loophole, should no longer entitle migrant workers from the countries affected to freedom of movement within the Community. While those on existing contracts will not be affected, the flood of players, mainly from South Africa, could as a result become a trickle.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is to appear for the All Stars at this year’s Hong Kong Sixes on November 8.”I’m delighted to be taking part in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes and I’m looking forward to what promises to be another fantastic weekend,” said Chanderpaul. “The event has built up a deserved reputation as the best sixes tournament in the world, one that is great fun for spectators and players alike, so it will be a pleasure to be involved.”The competition promises to be tough, but the All-Stars will be doing their very best to put on a great show and, hopefully, carry off the trophy.”The Hong Kong Sixes has been an annual fixture since 1992, attracting a wide number of the world’s best. Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve and Mark Waugh, Viv Richards, Andrew Flintoff, Adam Gilchrist and Wasim Akram have all taken part, with the proceeds of the tournament going directly into funding development of cricket in Hong Kong.”It’s great news for the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes that a player of Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s stature is taking part,” Mark Burns, the tournament director, said. “He’s a world class cricketer at the very top of his game and I’m sure Hong Kong fans are going to enjoy seeing him in action.The organisers have opted against including Damien Martyn and Inzamam-ul-Haq for this year’s team, however, due to their involvement in the unofficial Indian Cricket League. The ICL, unlike the Indian Premier League and indeed the Hong Kong Sixes, is not officially recognised by the ICC.”Both players are contracted to the unofficial Indian Cricket League.” Burns said, “and we have decided out of respect for the Indian authorities not to involve them in the Sixes.”The All Stars, who were led by Shane Warne last year, were beaten by Sri Lanka in last year’s final.

Group A

Opener Karim Sadiq’s 81 and offspinner Nowroz Mangal’s five-wicket haul set up Afghanistan’s 66-run win against Malaysia at the Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur. Afghanistan captain Nowroz Mangal and Sadiq added 123 for the first wicket in 22 overs which laid the foundation for their total of 263 for 9. Legspinner Dinesh Sockalingham was Malaysia’s best bowler, taking 4 for 49. Malaysia’s chase failed to gather momentum and wickets fell at regular intervals. Their top six batsmen got into double figures but M Krishnamurthi’s 34 was the highest score. Mangal ran through the middle order to finish with 5 for 24 and wrap up Afghanistan’s victory.

Group B

Hong Kong completed a six-wicket victory against Kuwait by overhauling the target of 161 with 85 balls to spare at the Bayuemas Oval. Hong Kong’s left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed took 4 for 28 to restrict Kuwait and Ilyas Gull and Munir Dar chipped in with two wickets apiece. Kuwait’s openers added 40 for the first wicket but after they were separated wickets fell frequently. Sibtain Raza’s 47 was the highest score for Kuwait. Hussain Butt scored an unbeaten 53 off 66 balls and Kuwait contributed 30 extras to the run-chase.

Bangladesh have announced replacements for two academy cricketers currently on tour in Sri Lanka, Mahbubul Karim and Rubel Hossain, the has reported.Karim, a right-hand batsman, is among the 14 Bangladesh players who have reportedly quit domestic cricket to join the Indian Cricket League. He will be replaced by opening batsman Jahurul Islam. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is set to meet all the rebel players this week at the board headquarters in Mirpur.Rubel, the seamer who was part of Bangladesh’s Under-19 World Cup team in Malaysia, is nursing an injury and Shafaq Al Zabir, the left-arm seamer, will be his replacement.The Bangladesh Academy have drawn both their fixtures against Sri Lanka Academy. They will play their final four-day match starting tomorrow at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Beau Casson has not given up hope of adding to his one Test cap despite being overlooked for Cameron White as the late spin call-up for Australia’s squad in India. Casson made his debut in the West Indies but the selectors preferred Bryce McGain, Jason Krejza and White for the India trip.”You always want to be the No. 1 whatever you do, whether it’s bowling, batting or fielding,” Casson told the . “I have still got a hell of a lot of work to get there, and I’m still very optimistic to get there. Hopefully I can start sending the ball down well and add to my one Test, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”Casson, a left-arm wrist-spinner, picked up three wickets in the Test in Barbados and, unlike McGain and Krejza, holds a Cricket Australia contract. However, the selectors were keen to have a right-arm legspinner and an offspinner in India, so while White joins the squad in Bangalore as a replacement for the injured McGain, Casson will be playing Sheffield Shield cricket against Western Australia in Perth.”I would love to be in India but it wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “[The selectors] have decided to go with a combination they think will be successful over there.”The decision to add White to the squad was unexpected as he has developed into a batting allrounder whose legspin is used mostly as a backup for Victoria. He bowled only 84 overs during the last Pura Cup season and collected six wickets, although the selectors said they were impressed by his recent one-day form with Australia A in India, where he was the second leading wicket-taker in the tri-series.Michael Hussey said White would be a strong addition to the squad. “In previous years he was probably more of a batsman who could help out with the ball,” Hussey said.”But watching him work out in Darwin against Bangladesh and seeing some of the results against India A in India, he seems like he’s really improved his bowling and is getting a lot more confidence with it. That’s got to be a good sign for our team.”However, the former Test legspinner and spin coach Terry Jenner was struggling to understand why Casson had been ignored. He said White for McGain, who was sent home due to a lingering shoulder problem, was not a like-for-like swap.”Bryce McGain wasn’t going to bowl medium-pace leggies,” Jenner said in the . “I am at a bit of a loss because I go back to what his mentor David Hookes always said, that Cameron was only ever going to play for Australia as a batsman who could bowl a few overs. I don’t think much has changed since then, even though he tries his heart out.”

Scorecard

Suresh Raina, the India A captain, made up for his first-innings failure with a murderous assault on the New Zealand A bowling to set them a target of 355. Raina smashed 146 off 130 balls with ten fours and eight sixes, including five of them in one Aaron Redmond over, before New Zealand regrouped to trigger a lower-order collapse. In reply, New Zealand lost BJ Watling early and ended the day on a cautious note at 41 for 1.Raina’s partnership with M Vijay gave India the initiative as New Zealand failed to get early breakthroughs. The pair added a 83 in just under 15 overs before Vijay fell for 57, caught by Peter Fulton off Redmond. As Raina continued his assault, most of the middle-order partnerships progressed at more than five runs an over, thereby signaling India’s intent to push for a challenging target. Redmond was the most expensive of the lot, leaking more than seven an over in his 12-over spell.Raina’s dismissal, caught by James Marshall off Nathan McCullum, had a telling effect on India’s progress. Brent Arnel, the right-arm seamer, plugged away at the wickets as India lost their last five wickets for just 18 runs. Arnel was on a hat-trick in the 83rd over of the innings. With the first two deliveries, he got rid of Amit Mishra and Mohnish Parmar and nabbed his third victim, Ashok Dinda, off the last ball of that over. Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha resisted with 39 before being bowled by Arnel, bringing the innings to a close at 336.Redmond and Watling added 22 before Parmar, the offspinner, trapped Watling for 6 in the 11th over. New Zealand batted out the remaining seven overs and went into the final day needing a further 314 to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Memories of the controversial Sydney Test that threatened to derail India’s tour of Australia earlier this year have been revived with Adam Gilchrist questioning Sachin Tendulkar’s evidence in the Harbhajan Singh racism case in his soon-to-be-published autobiography.Gilchrist called his evidence a “joke” and said when Tendulkar told the first hearing that he could not hear what Harbhajan said to Andrew Symonds, he was “certain he was telling the truth” because he was “a fair way away”. But, Gilchrist added, during the appeal, Tendulkar said Harbhajan had used a Hindi word that sounded like monkey.Harbhajan’s three-Test ban for racial abuse of Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test was overturned on appeal on the basis of oral evidence from Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Tendulkar. Harbhajan had been earlier found guilty of the charge levelled by Ponting, who complained to the umpires that Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey. India threatened to boycott the tour if Harbhajan was found guilty of the racism charge but the tour went on after the appeal went in his favour.”The Indians got him off the hook when they, of all people, should have been treating the matter of racial vilification with the utmost seriousness.” Gilchrist said India’s threat to boycott the tour was “a disgraceful act, holding the game to ransom unless they got their way”.Gilchrist also raised questions over Tendulkar’s sportsmanship and said he was “hard to find for a changing-room handshake after we have beaten India”. “Harbhajan can also be hard to find,” he said. “I guess it’s a case of different strokes for different folks.”Gilchrist said the Australians played hard and were quick to shake hands and leave it all on the field. Niranjan Shah, who was the BCCI secretary during the Sydney Test, said Gilchrist was looking for “cheap publicity” for his book.”First of all, the matter is over now,” Shah told , a Mumbai-based tabloid. “Since I was actively involved in the whole matter as the BCCI secretary, I have seen how neutrally the ICC has conducted the hearing. Despite all this, if Gilchrist feels otherwise, then rather than him questioning someone else’s credentials, we should examine his credentials. By doing all this, he is doing nothing but getting his image tarnished.”

Match facts

Nov 4, 2008
Start time 7.30pm (1400 GMT)

The Big Picture

A team that started the tournament on an emphatic note face a team currently on a hot streak. Chennai Superstars, with wins in their last three matches and ten points from six games, are favourites to make it to the semi-finals. Coming up against the league leaders are Royal Bengal Tigers, who have won just one game out of their last three after posting three straight wins.In their previous game, Chennai thrashed bottom-placed Mumbai Champs, becoming the first team to go past 200 in the tournament. What Bengal didn’t perhaps need was to meet a red-hot Chennai after a week-long break; their last game was on October 28, in which they were easily defeated by the Chandigarh Lions.

Where they rank

Chennai are at the top of the table, and another win will ensure them a place in the final four. For Bengal, in fourth place at the moment, a win will put equal with Chennai on ten points and victory in the final game against Hyderabad Heroes will guarantee them a semi-final place. Chennai, will be wary of being complacent; two losses might leave their chances down to net run-rate. Although their numbers are way better than the other teams, they would not want to leave it to the last.

Form guide (last five matches, most recent first)

Bengal: LWLWW
Chennai: WWWLW

Stats

• Chennai’s 205 for 7 is only the second score above 200 in the ICL. The best is Chandigarh Lions’ 219 for 4 against Mumbai last season.
• G Vignesh, who top scored with 88 in Chennai’s 205, has a strike-rate of 161.90 in the league, only second to Azhar Mahmood among batsmen who have played at least 125 balls.
• James Marshall, who joined Bengal this season, has 251 runs from six games. He needs 59 to go past Alok Kapali as the leading run-getter in this tournament; Kapali has played one game more than Marshall.

Players to watch

Rajiv Kumar replaced the out-of-form Abhishek Jhunjhunwala for Bengal. He scored 14 in his only innings so far this season, and would want to cement his place with a big score against Chennai.Stuart Law made 29 off 11 balls against Mumbai, including three sixes. However, he’s only made 71 runs from four innings this season, and perhaps a move up the order would be the way to further the run tally.

Quotes

“I used to be a bowler while playing for Tamil Nadu but since joining the ICL, I have turned into a batsman. It’s quite fun to bat in the Twenty20 format of the game … I am still a bowler though.”