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Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after MatthewHoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday.Hoggard followed up his first innings effort of four for 13 with fourfor 17 as the PCB XI finished at 71 for six after England had declaredtheir first innings at 237 for seven to earn a first innings lead of120 runs.The second day of the match was washed out without a ball beingbowled. At stumps on the first day, England were 76 for two in replyto PCB XI’s 117.The home team had slumped to 18 for four in 10.4 overs before beingrescued by teenager Faisal Iqbal who celebrated his recall for theFaisalabad Test with a defiant unbeaten 27. He kept the one end intactduring his 103-minute innings during which he faced 70 balls aswickets fell around him.Hoggard, who has taken his tally of wickets to 17 in two matches, wasquick, accurate and deadly in his 11-over burst. After Alex Tudordismissed Mohammad Ramazan for his second duck of the match, Hoggardgot his acts together to dismiss Salman Butt, Bazid Khan, Shoaib Malikand Faisal Naveed.He was on a hat trick after accounting for Bazid and skipper Shoaiboff successive balls. But was denied by 17-year-old wicketkeeperKamran Akmal who finished the day at 10 not out. Nevertheless, despitea splendid performance, Hoggard received no good news from skipperNasser Hussain who didn’t guarantee him a place in the second Teststarting at Faisalabad from Nov 29.Hussain, who himself is struggling for form, said: “He has played justone Test match. We will see how things go because we have to see thepitch as well. “We got the warning in the one-dayers what lay aheadfor us,” he added with reference to the expected spinning pitch at theindustrial city of the country.Once again it were the out-swingers that carpeted the Pakistanhopefuls as five of the six batsmen were demised behind wickets. HasanRaza, world’s youngst Test player, was caught hooking Tudor.Earlier, England batted watchfully in an extended first session of theplay before accelerating the proceedings in the second half when theyscored run-a-minute 70 before declaring.Wicket-keeper Paul Nixon scored a 62-ball 47 not out with two foursand a six and Ashley Giles contributed 28 off 61 deliveries.Marcus Trescothick tuned up for the back-to-back Tests with 50 beforeretiring after a 125-ball innings that comprised six boundaries. AlecStewart scored 47 with eight fours and added 90 runs for the thirdwicket with the left-handed opener. But there was disappointment forTest aspirants Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. Vaughan, whomissed the first Test because of calf injury, spent just 32 minutes atthe crease while scoring four and Flintoff, who flew in as areplacement, lasted for just one delivery.Left-arm Islamabad pacer Stephen John was the most successful PCB XIbowler with figures of four for 73. He bowled well within hislimitations thought the grassy wicket at times tempted to put in extrawhich result in him becoming wayward.Test discard Fazl-i-Akbar finished with two for 91 – expensive figuresconsidering the seamer’s friendly surface.England leave for Faisalabad on Sunday morning where they will have atraining session later in the day.

Manchester United’s recent derby defeat at Old Trafford to Manchester City highlighted that what was then a 15-point gap between the two rivals was far too large, but with Sir Alex Ferguson’s title race turning into an all-out procession, what does it say about the quality of the rest of the top flight that a good but unspectacular side has found it so easy going this season?

It wasn’t just the result that stood out from the Manchester derby on Monday night, but rather the manner of City’s victory, where they were good value for all three points after dominating large swathes of the game. It certainly called into question that this is hardly a vintage team from United’s perspective, but rather a ruthless winning machine capable of grinding out results. When was the last time a United side genuinely impressed over a consistent period and played with the swagger we all associate with them?

Despite the criticisms that they’ve barely had to get out of second gear, though, it hardly speaks volumes for the rest of the league and its relative strength in depth. United have already broken records this term, having won 25 of their first 30 league outings this year and with a current tally of 77 points gleaned from 31 games, with seven fixtures of the campaign left to play, they could still surpass the 95-point record set by Chelsea under Jose Mourinho during the 2004-2005 season.

What at one point looked like being a season to remember for the red half of Manchester has slowly collapsed around them, after losing the Champions League tie to Real Madrid, letting a two-goal lead slip at home to Chelsea in the FA Cup, then going on to narrowly lose the return leg 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, This has left them with just the league to focus on, in a year which promised much more. When the going has got tough down the home straight, United have been found wanting, lacking energy and quality to bridge that crucial but sizeable gap between good and great.

Of course, that turns out attentions back to the lack of challenge they’ve faced in the league all season. Main rivals City have just imploded, with in-fighting, poor signings and injuries to key players costing them dearly. Not one of the integral spine of the side – Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero – have performed better this year than during last term’s title win and manager Roberto Mancini is under significant pressure to lift the FA Cup now to put to bed any fears he may have over his long-term future.

Arsenal’s defensive woes all but ruled them out of the running very early on and Arsene Wenger’s reluctant to spend big remains a mystery with the club on such a sound financial footing while on the pitch they become less and less competitive. They look to be timing their run for a top four spot very well now, with Tottenham fading badly at the same time they did last year, but with that simply deemed enough these days by the French boss, they’ll struggle to break through that glass ceiling any time in the near future.

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Meanwhile, Liverpool and Tottenham are both going through transition phases, which means they remain inconsistent beasts overly-reliant on Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale to get them out of trouble. With both clubs being hindered by their respective chairman during the summer transfer window and with new managers in tow, each club was simply targeting a year of progress, with Andre Villas-Boas set the target of a top four place and Brendan Rodgers believed to have been ordered simply to stop the recent league regression. They’ve both achieved that and will set bigger target to try and achieve in the future, but this year was always about getting their foot in the door and consolidating.

That brings us to Chelsea and the turmoil that has become some sort of cathartic annual ritual for owner Roman Abramovich. They may still be challenging for the FA Cup and Europa League, but this is a squad that’s absolutely on its knees, having to play through the most congested fixture list most have ever witnessed. Between December and February, Rafa Benitez’s side played 25 games across five competitions, and by comparison United played just 19 across three competitions. Not only is that physically draining, it’s mentally fatiguing.

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One erroneous statistic that’s been floated around as an excuse of the poisonous atmosphere that Stamford Bridge has witnessed after the unpopular appointment of Benitez is that the club were four points off the top under Roberto Di Matteo when he was sacked and now they sit 19 points off United at the pinnacle. What it’s trying to imply is that Di Matteo, a fortunate cup manager with no real record of league achievement other than finishing sixth last season with an Andre Villas-Boas side that had been left in third prior to his dismissal, would have somehow managed to put together a title challenge. It’s a bizarre opinion born out of nothing but misplaced anger towards the Spaniard. Instead of trying to take on the organ-grinder (Abramovich), Chelsea fans have taken the cowardly route of criticising the interim monkey (Benitez). They lack the depth, quality and ability to be a top two side at the moment and deep down, every fan knows that.

United look to be walking to the league title with minimum fuss this season because they’ve simply been consistent, while everyone else around them has either collapsed in quite spectacular fashion through a mixture of internal conflicts and external crises. Ferguson is once again the last man standing, but rather than delivering any sort of knockout blows to his rivals, he’s simply managed to keep his side on their feet and given that it’s comfortably been enough shows you how weak everyone else has been. They deserve great credit for their achievement, coming back in such a fashion from last season’s last-minute let down, but this could just be the easiest title the club have won in the Premier League era.

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	Virender Sehwag: ‘I think we have the best fielding side of all the IPL teams’ © Getty Images

Virender Sehwag, who will captain the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League, felt his side had a good balance despite missing out on Ishant Sharma, the Delhi fast bowler who made a fine impression during India’s recent tour to Australia.Sehwag said Ishant was among the players he had short-listed but decided against the bid because of the “high price” attached to him. Ishant, who was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping US$ 950,000, is the costliest bowlers in the IPL.”We wanted Ishant but the team budget forced us to decide against going for him,” Sehwag said. “His bid price had soared up. We have to spend a lot more on the icon player [Sehwag himself] and had we bid for him and we would not have got some other big stars.”I would not call it a loss but it would have been great if he was in our team. I am happy that he was taken by Kolkata on a big sum.”Sehwag spoke about the allround capabilities of his side, one filled with utility players. “Our team combination is good, it is a balance side,” he said. “We have very good batsmen, brilliant bowlers and excellent allrounders. It is young side. Leaving a few, most of the players are young and I think we have the best fielding side of all the IPL teams.”The squad has eight international stars – Glenn McGrath, Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Malik, AB de Villiers, Mohammad Asif, Farvez Maharoof, Tillekaratne Dilshan and Brett Geeves – but Sehwag said he is confident that the team members would gel.”We did not want any superstars in the team,’ he said. “We have quite a few youngsters from the domestic cricket. I am happy that we gave chance to these youngsters and at the same time I will be leading players most of whom I know and played along or against. I am a professional and have played international cricket for some years. A captain takes decision on the field and players have to go by it.”Sehwag, who will open the innings, also revealed that he was keen to lead the Delhi side. “I grew up here and wanted to play for Delhi and not for any other team. Had I not been made the icon player I could have been landed up in any other team. So I had asked the owner to make the arrangements,” said the 29-year-old batsman.Meanwhile,GMR Holding, the owners of the Delhi side, have announced that two-wheeler company Hero Honda will be its main sponsor, while sportswear company Adidas will design the uniforms of the team.The Delhi Daredevils play their first game against Rajasthan Royals on April 19 at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi.

Phil Simmons – lessons learned © Getty Images

Phil Simmons hopes his new position as Ireland’s coach will help erase the terrible experiences he had while coaching Zimbabwe. Simmons was officially in charge of Ireland from the beginning of March, but it was agreed that outgoing Irish coach Adrian Birrell would remain at the helm until after the World Cup.Simmons, the former West Indian allrounder, is currently an assistant to Birrell in the Caribbean. “My role was to come and be part of the team and to get to know the people,” Simmons said. “It’s been easy because Adrian is happy with it. Basically, I’m an assistant. It hasn’t been hard at all, it’s been very easy actually.” The agreement will last a little longer now that Ireland have qualified for the Super Eights.Happy as he is, Simmons is taking his new challenge in his stride after his controversial assignment in Zimbabwe. “Off the field, it has taught me – don’t trust many people,” Simmons told the . “It’s a sad thing to say, but that’s the thing it’s taught me through and through. There’s not many trustworthy people in the world anymore.”His contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket was terminated in August last year and he suddenly found himself having to fight a battle over deportation and compensation. “I can’t get scarred,” he said. “I am too blessed to get scarred. As coach of Zimbabwe, it taught me different things. It taught me a lesson about life in Zimbabwe which is totally different to life anywhere else I’ve been.”

Rahul Dravid wasn’t as composed as this picture suggests throughout the entire press conference © Getty Images

There are a few inauspicious ways to start an important series. One of them, as Rahul Dravid discovered, is to be subjected to a chaotic press conference. As he sat facing the media, trying to gather his thoughts and answer a few questions, he witnessed a loud verbal skirmish between the television cameramen and still-photographers, and saw things get worse when a few journalists intervened. Unable to watch the spectacle anymore, an incensed Dravid got up, huffed, and walked off.It was a mess waiting to happen. Press conferences, in most Indian grounds, are conducted in undersized halls. Here at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, television cameramen, still- photographers, and reporters had to endure the presence of officials and some general public as well. TV cameramen filled the back row and, as usual, made a noise about anyone blocking their focus. As Dravid settled into his seat, a flood of still-photographers invaded the front section, crammed into the aisle and frantically began their clicking.What all this meant was that Dravid’s answers were constantly interrupted by angry noises from the back, with one set of cameramen pretty much telling the other set to buzz off. Dravid waited for the commotion to cease but things just got worse, so bad that a senior journalist, completely enraged, took it upon himself to stand up and hush up all concerned. That turned out to be the last straw: Dravid had had enough of the farce and he stomped off in quite a rage.The tragic part about this whole episode is that nobody was surprised. The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) can take a lot of pride in the spruced up stadium but it’s incidents such as these that will rankle. Sense finally prevailed. Dravid returned, unveiled the trophy along with Andrew Flintoff, smiled for a zillion photographs, sat down for the second part of the press conference, smiled again for another short session of shooting, and, only when all the still-photographers had left the scene and cleared the path for their TV counterparts, did he entertain questions.All parties were finally satisfied and Dravid, as if to make up for his walk-out, patiently answered questions for close to seventeen minutes. “There may be something for the bowlers,” he said, while comparing the pitch to the one used for the game against Pakistan around a year back. “That one was fresh and it was the first game on it. Even when we played in the Test against Sri Lanka, there was a bit in it for the seamers.” He reiterated that India’s fielding in the Mumbai Test was a “serious concern” and hoped the one-day side wouldn’t slip up on that front.The absence of Supersubs, he felt, wouldn’t make too much of a difference as the rule “mainly supported teams that won the toss”. Would being appointed captain till the 2007 World Cup make a difference? “Not at all. It’s the same irrespective of whether you captain for a day or a year. I’ve never thought about it, it doesn’t affect my decision making.”Dravid spoke about the threat that England posed, especially with “impact players like Flintoff and Pietersen”, and he felt it could all come down to who holds their nerve in the crucial stages. The more interesting question to be asked, though, is how calm both captains would remain in the post-match press conference tomorrow. Don’t forget your cameras. It promises to be a right royal scrap.

Ehsan Mani: ‘We hope that common sense prevails and that the matter is soon amicably settled’© Getty Images

The International Cricket Council has announced that it does not foresee its involvement in the sponsorship dispute West Indies cricket is embroiled in. The crisis, which deepened when the board omitted top players like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle from the squad for the first Test against South Africa, and appointed Shivnarine Chanderpaul as the captain, has sent shockwaves throughout the Caribbean.Speaking to the , Ehsan Mani, the ICC chairman, said, “Of course it is a concern to everyone in world cricket when a dispute such as this arises and it’s something we [the ICC] can’t ignore. It’s our hope that common sense prevails and that the matter is soon amicably settled.”The ICC had intervened in a similar incident last year in Zimbabwe, when 15 players including Heath Streak boycotted the team in dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) over selection. Mani remarked that the incident questioned the integrity of Test cricket and considerably weakened the Zimbabwe side. This resulted into ZCU canceling the Tests against Australia after which the ICC withheld the Test status of Zimbabwe until the end of the year.The West Indies board, which failed to reach a solution that was satisfactory to all parties, named a second string squad to play against South Africa in the first Test on March 31. “It’s obvious that the absence of Lara, Gayle and Sarwan means that the West Indies have lost three top players but their cricket has a much stronger base than Zimbabwe’s did last year,” continued Mani. “Many of our members have faced similar issues and are very strongly of the view that the only way to find a solution is at the local level.”Mani, who was present in the ICC meeting in Delhi last week along with Teddy Griffith, the president of the WICB, said that they spoke only briefly on the impasse between the board and the players. Mani also explained that the ICC had no mandate from its members to “unilaterally impose itself on these types of disputes”. It took action only when it posed a threat to Test cricket.

Lee Carseldine, the Queensland allrounder, is set to make his return from injury for the Queensland Academy of Sport side to take on India at the Allan Border Field this weekend.Carseldine has missed the past two weeks with a back injury, but will play as a batsman only against the Indians, who play their final match before the first Test next week. Carseldine has had an impressive run against international touring teams, scoring a double century against New Zealand two years ago, and 92 against Bangladesh earlier this year.He will be joined in the Academy team by his Queensland team-mates, Daniel Payne, Chris Simpson, Steve Farrell, Shane Jurgensen, Scott Brant and Joe Dawes. Aaron Nye, the Wests batsman who led the second XI to victory over Western Australia last week at Albion, will captain the side. The three-day game, which starts on Saturday, will not be a first-class match. Admission is free for the game, with play starting at 10.00am. Queensland Academy of Sport XI 1 Daniel Payne, 2 Chris Simpson, 3 Lee Carseldine, 4 Aaron Nye (capt), 5 Craig Philipson, 6 Steven Farrell, 7 Chris Hartley, 8 Ryan Leloux, 9 Shane Jurgensen, 10 Scott Brant, 11 Joe Dawes, Steven Magoffin (12th man).

By the time England toured this country in 1984-85, the one-day scenariowas very different from that existing during their previous trip threeyears before.

The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed batting and carrying England nearer the target. After Marks was out for 44, Richard Ellison joined Downton and the two continued in fading light to inch England closer to their objective in the face of a comparatively inexperienced attack ­ RS Ghai, Amarnath, Prabhakar, Shastri, Ashok Patel and Roger Binny.

India were World champions and it was the turn of the visitors to startas underdogs. But a nicely balanced England team defeated an overconfident Indian side in the first of the scheduled five one-dayinternationals at Pune by four wickets with ten deliveries to spare.There were indications however that the contestants were more evenlybalanced and they produced a humdinger of a match in the second game ofthe series at Cuttack.India got off to a cracking start with openers Krish Srikkanth and RaviShastri putting on 188 runs ­ then the country’s highest partnership forany wicket. Srikkanth was unlucky to be dismissed a run short of hiscentury but Shastri got to the coveted mark before he was out for 102.On an easy paced pitch, the remaining batsmen failed to build adequatelyon this dream start. Srikkanth was out in the 37th over but in theremaining 12.2 overs, India could only add 64 runs. Too much time waswasted first by Shastri as he proceeded to his hundred. And none of theother batsmen ­ Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma andRoger Binny ­ could force the pace leading to India being ultimatelyrestricted to 252 for five in 49 overs.England lost Tim Robinson early, bowled by Manoj Prabhakar for one. Butthe in form Mike Gatting kept them in the hunt with a stroke filled 59.Skipper David Gower chipped in with a valuable 21 while Allan Lamb got28. England’s hopes however faded when Lamb was run out in the 33rd overat 145. However Vic Marks and Paul Downton turned out to be unexpectedheroes. Not only did they add 58 runs in nine overs but they also madethem in light which could theoretically be called unplayable.The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed battingand carrying England nearer the target. After Marks was out for 44,Richard Ellison joined Downton and the two continued in fading light toinch England closer to their objective in the face of a comparativelyinexperienced attack ­ RS Ghai, Amarnath, Prabhakar, Shastri, AshokPatel and Roger Binny. Play was finally called off in the gloaming after46 overs with the score 241 for six. But Downton (44) and Ellison (14),with their unbroken seventh wicket stand of 38 runs in four overs, hadseen their side edge ahead by 0.08 of a run and England were declaredwinners on a faster scoring rate. Theirs was a really gallant effortthat proved successful and they went two up in a series that they won byfour matches to one.

North Zone managed to pull off a five-wicket win against East Zone inthe CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy Women’s cricket tournament at the IITChemplast ground in Chennai on Tuesday.At the start of the match, both North and East were looking for theirelusive first win in the tournament. After dismissing East for 142,North started disastrously by losing both openers Jaya Sharma (0),Gulshan (2). But the East bowlers could not maintain the pressure andwhen Rakhi Mehra (67) and Rajni Bhalla (17) came together, one saw asmany as three bowling changes in five overs. They both put on a 57-runpartnership in 13.4 overs for the third wicket before Rajni Bhalla wascaught at short cover by Saswathi off Seema Singh when she tried toclear the fielder.Incidentally, East’s bowling was in sharp contrast to that of NorthZone. There were far too many extras conceded in the early overs evenas they were able to pick up the two early wickes. This, coupled withsome wayward bowling later on saw Rakhi Mehra pick some easy runs andlay the platform for a North Zone win.In the company of Gurdeep Kaur (27), Rakhi took the match well andtruly out of East Zone’s hands with a 68-run fourth wicket stand in 24overs. But Kavitha came back in the 37th over to pick up Gurdeep andVandna off successive deliveries. But that was too precious and toolittle for the occasion and North completed the formalities thanks toRakhi Mehra and Reema Malhotra.Rakhi had a shaky start and was helped on the way by some shoddyfielding during her stay at the crease. Though her first scoringstroke was a boundary, she was not able to find the timing and theconviction. Even as she played some good shots and hit someboundaries, she had as many as three lives.Earlier, put in to bat East made a patchy start with openers NeetuSingh (26 runs off 40 balls) and Saswathi Mukerjee (5 runs off 20balls) putting on 20 runs in 5.4 overs. Saswathi fell to an innocuousshot when she mistimed a drive to give a simple catch to Jaya Sharmaat the covers. Then Chandrabarti Paul (37 runs in 75 balls) joinedNeetu and took the score to 61 with a fruitful 41 run stand in 9.2overs before Neetu was adjudged leg before to Anjuman Bassi. LaterAsha, who bowled ten overs on the trot, managed to find the edge ofGeetha Samantrai’s bat after scoring five runs in 21 balls.The middle overs saw the North Zone bowlers restricting the Eastscoring rate and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Kavita andChandrabarti put together a 27-run fourth wicket stand in 11.5overs. But the run out of Kavitha (10) triggered a little collapse asEast lost both Chandrabarti and Pratima cheaply for the addition ofonly seven runs to the total.In the end Anjuman Bassi picked up the wickets of Jhulan and Babushain the space of eight balls. The East innings folded up in the thirdball of the 46th over with the total at 142. Off-spinner AnjumanBassi was the pick of the North bowlers with figures of 3 for 27 inher quota of ten overs.

Tottenham Hotspur can move to within four points of the top four in the Premier League if they manage to beat Burnley at Turf Moor this evening.Antonio Conte’s outfit have three games in hand, starting with this encounter in Lancashire tonight, a little down the road from where they were triumphant only a few days ago.Spurs defeated the defending champions and current league leaders Manchester City with a clinical 95th-minute strike from Harry Kane on Saturday evening as the north Londoners stunned Pep Guardiola’s men at the Etihad Stadium.Now they face a tough midweek test in the form of Sean Dyche’s Clarets, who too won at the weekend.It will be interesting to see if Conte rotates his starting XI, having hinted at changes during his pre-game press conference, so what sort of lineup could we see from the Italian?Here’s what we are predicting…There could be as many as three changes from the side that defeated the Citizens.Between the sticks, skipper Hugo Lloris is surely going to remain and the back three in front of him are also likely to be unchanged, so Eric Dier stands in the middle of Ben Davies on the left and Cristian Romero on the right.Conte revealed that he expected Sergio Reguilon to miss the game, so Ryan Sessegnon could keep his place at left wing-back, whilst Emerson Royal had to be withdrawn with a knock, so he may not be risked with Matt Doherty primed to take his place.

In midfield, there could be further rotation as Harry Winks earns a rare start. He replaces Rodrigo Bentancur, who started only his second game for the club on Saturday after arriving on deadline day from Juventus.

The £45m-rated powerhouse could do with a rest before the weekend, so is axed for the Englishman, who partners Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

And finally, there is a big call to be made in the final third over whether or not to stick with Dejan Kulusevski after a considerable impact on his first Spurs start.

Conte may want to keep him fresh, so in comes Lucas Moura, who made way for the Juventus loanee up in Manchester last time out. He’ll feature alongside the usual frontline of Heung-min Son and Harry Kane.

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AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops big behind the scenes Conte claim at Hotspur Way…