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Rawalpindi were dealt a big blow by match referee Abdul SamiKhan Thursday when he slapped a one-match ban on pacemanMohammad Zahid and fined him Rs 5,000 for imtimidatorybowling.Zahid was involved in a tiff with Rest of Punjab batsmanMohammad Fazil Wednesday in the Quaid Trophy match at theKRL Stadium and indulged in what the umpires said was an”intentional attempt by the bowler to hurt the batsman.”The referee summoned Zahid and after a hearing decided topenalise him, although Rawalpindi officials made desperateattempts to have the decision reverted.The match itself seemed headed for a draw as the Rest,resuming at the overnight 250 for five accumulated 423 intheir first innings – a lead of 174.By the close of third day’s play, that came 18 overs early,Rawalpindi in their second innings were 122 for one, still52 behind and a full day still to go.The Rest total revolved around a fine unconquered 127 bySufian Munir, who was 50 overnight. His 204-ball innings waslaced with 19 fours and he was involved in three importantpartnerships. The first stand with his overnight partnerFazil yielded 89 for the sixth wicket and later along withAbdur Rauf, he put on 53 for the eighth wicket. But it washis last wicket partnership of 88 with Mushtaq Ahmed thatreally boosted the Rest total. Mushtaq was in a punishingmood and struck six sixes and five boundaries in a knock of68 runs.Babar Naeem took the bowling honours with three for 71followed by Azhar Bhatti and Yasir Arafat who claimed twowickets each.Rawalpindi were given a good start to their second inningsby their openers Naveed Ashraf and Babar, with both strikinghalf centuries.When play ended prematurely due to bad light, Babar wasstill at the crease on 56 and with him was Mohammad Wasim on10.Azhar Abbas took the only Rawalpindi wicket to fall.

On an increasingly benign wicket, Victoria settled for batting practice today as their match in the Apple Islepetered out to a draw, with the Vics 331 ahead with five wickets in hand when stumps were called.Victoria were never in any threat of outright defeat today as they lost only three of their batsmen today,with Tasmania’s bowlers unable to gain any success in the opening session and thus unable to applyany pressure on their northern neighbours.Mark Ridgway took his last first class wicket in the fifth over after lunch trapping left handed Matthew Mottin front for 86 after over four hours resistance.An hour later, Laurie Harper after a brisk 40, was bowled by a ball from Andrew Downton.Meantime Brad Hodge was quietly closing in on a hundred and seemed set for it andin fact it took part time bowler Michael Divenuto to knock him over a boundary short of the milestone,trapping him in front for 96.Ian Harvey got a good two hours batting practice with an unbeaten 78 as his side look north to a chanceto take the Pura Milk Cup out of odds on favourite Queensland’s hands.Quite appropriately on a day of little other significance, Ridgway who fibbed about his age for acouple of years until someonechecked his driver’s licence one day in the changerooms,bowled his and the match’s last over andwas applauded off the ground as he led his side off the Bellerieve Oval for the last time.

West Ham advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League last night,beating Sevilla 2-0 after extra time thanks to a Tomas Soucek header and a tap-in from perhaps the most popular player in London Stadium right now in Andriy Yarmolenko.

David Moyes’ side had to make do without key attacker Jarrod Bowen, while Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio were fast-tracked back to fitness after picking up knocks at the weekend, and they both put in an excellent shift.

However, perhaps the most impressive performance came from star midfielder Declan Rice, who achieved the joint highest match-rating according to SofaScore with 7.7 alongside his midfield partner Soucek.

The England midfielder said after the match last night: “I said this after the FA Cup win against Leeds, I’ll take anyone and I think the lads will take anyone as well.“There’s no-one to fear. Sevilla were probably the favourites. When the draw came out, people thought we had the hardest draw and we were going to get knocked out… and we’ve knocked them out.“So, look, we can go away anywhere and get a result and teams coming here know they’re in for a game when they step into this stadium with our fans, so I’m ready to take anyone.”The England international completed an impressive 90% of his passes as West Ham controlled the game, looking comfortable in possession after the winning goal went in. Rice was a huge part of that, having also completed three dribbles and being unlucky not to pull off a fourth after fatigue kicked in and the ball trickled out of play uncontested.On top of that, he accurately delivered six of his eight long ball attempts, including a number of excellent cross-field switches to get the wide men involved, and also into Antonio, who bullied Jules Kounde and Nemanja Gudelj all night long.Rice also was excellent on the defensive end of his remit, winning seven of his duels and making three critical interceptions and tackles each, along with one clearance to relieve the danger for the Irons.A reported transfer target for Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea this summer, last night showed that the 23-year-old remains as focused and determined as ever for West Ham, who will surely now believe they can go on to lift the Europa League trophy.In other news: West Ham can repeat Bowen masterclass as Moyes eyes bid for “exceptional” £10m brute

Mark Vermeulen is poised to make the unlikeliest of international comebacks a little more than two years after he burnt down Zimbabwe Cricket’s academy and tried to set fire to the ZC boardroom.He was cleared on grounds of mental illness by a Harare court a year ago after it was revealed he suffered from a serious depressive illness.Although he resumed playing club cricket, few believed he had any hope of returning to the national side given his many problems. Shortly before the attacks in October 2006, he had been banned from playing club cricket in England for ten years – later reduced to three – after an incident where he clashed with spectators in a league match.In May 2008, Vermeulen publicly offered to help rebuild the academy if he was handed a central contract, but nothing came of it.However, Ozias Bvute, ZC’s managing director, confirmed to Cricinfo that Vermeulen would be offered a chance of rehabilitation. “We have allowed Mark to participate in our leagues. There was actually no ban on him, but relations were restrained after the two arson attacks.”In a separate interview with the local Independent newspaper, Bvute said: “He approached us with a desire to play in our leagues. Having weighed various issues we decided it was in his best interest to be allowed to play since he indicated that cricket was the only thing he lives for.”Should he make the grade, he will be selected [for the national team]. The decision was driven by a desire to help rehabilitate him, taking into account that he served Zimbabwe well when he first played for the national side. Life is such that everyone deserves a second chance.”Vermeulen played 32 ODIs and eight Tests between 2000 and 2004 but was no stranger to controversy. In 2003, he was sent home from the tour of England because of disciplinary problems, and as schoolboy he was once banned for walking off with the stumps after receiving a poor lbw decision and locking himself in the changing room.Nevertheless, on his day Vermeulen, who is still only 29, is a good top-order batsman and if he can regain his form then he is likely to be pressing for a recall in the near future.

ScorecardVidarbha rode on a superb unbeaten 129 from Faiz Fazal, the opener, to complete a comfortable eight-wicket victory against Madhya Pradesh in Indore. Set a challenging target of 275, Vidarbha got off to a perfect start with Fazal and Harshal Shitoot putting together 99 for the opening wicket. Shitoot fell for 49, but Fazal then found an ideal foil in Owamir Afzal, who made 58 and added 150 for the second wicket to seal the game. Madhya Pradesh’s score was built around a 113-ball 110 from Monish Mishra. His partnership with Shadab Khan, who made 58, helped stabilise the innings after they had slumped to 78 for 4. Mishra hammered four sixes and six fours in his knock, and was dismissed off the last ball of the innings. Vidarbha have now lost all three matches in the tournament, while Madhya Pradesh have won one out of two.
ScorecardA strong bowling performance by Uttar Pradesh helped them to their second win in two days as they trounced Railways by 63 runs at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. After being put in to bat, Uttar Pradesh lost three early wickets – including the crucial one of Mohammad Kaif, who followed his blistering 151 against Rajasthan with just 3 – but were propped up by Ravikant Shukla, who made 54, and other useful contributions from Suresh Raina (39 retired hurt), Ali Martaza and Parvinder Singh (30 each). Jai P Yadav was the most successful bowler for Railways, taking 4 for 28. Chasing a target of 247, Railways were never in the hunt, losing half their side with only 75 on the board. Karan Sharma made 40, while Rahul Deb, the wicketkeeper, made an unbeaten 32, but those contributions only delayed the inevitable.

Asia’s bid to host the 2011 World Cup came close to being derailed at the recent ICC Executive Board meeting in Dubai. Shaharyar Khan, the Pakisan Cricket Board chairman, told reporters at the National Stadium in Karachi that the bloc, consisting of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked – and been granted – a deadline extension for the submission of their bid. The request, he added, met sustained resistance from certain ICC member countries.Shaharyar said Asia had failed to hand in the compliance book (the document that outlines various logistical information including details of venues and facilities) by the February 28 deadline. “We missed the original deadline and asked for an extension which we got till March 16. Now the compliance book has been compiled but it still has certain problems which need to be addressed. There was lots of heated debate and resistance among members but with great difficulty we got the ICC to accept that there are genuine reasons for the delay.”The group now has till April 21 to submit the compliance book and a final decision is likely to be taken nine on 30 April. Shaharyar also admitted India had been initially a reluctant potential host but the issue had now been resolved. “I don’t think it is true anymore (that India weren’t keen). We had bilateral discussions during the meeting and India is keen and willing now – they are 100% on board.”Some concerns are yet to be resolved. Reports have suggested that Sri Lanka are not happy with the allocation of matches across the four countries (22 in India, 16 in Pakistan, 9 in Sri Lanka and six in Bangladesh) although Shaharyar said no issue was raised by Sri Lanka in Dubai. The semi-finals and final, according to the chairman, are likely to be staged along the lines of the 1996 World Cup, which means India will host both semi-finals and Pakistan the final.The other headache will be an Indian one, concerning which eight or nine venues will be chosen to host the 22 matches and which will miss out. “The major problem is the rotation policy in India. It is for now India to work out and identify its centres. But we have decided that the 51 World Cup matches would be played on 15 Asian centres.”Despite the typically subcontinent problems with the bidding, Shaharyar remains confident their proposal will be eventually accepted. “I am convinced the compliance book will be ready by April 21 and it will be very difficult to reject that bid. Anyway there is an understanding that Asia will host every third World Cup so I am 95% sure that we will get it.”Shaharyar also revealed that India and Pakistan were strongly opposed to the concept of a Twenty20 World Cup so soon after the inception of the format. The ICC announced after the meeting that Twenty20 cricket is set to become an official part of the international calendar from 2007 onwards and that England could host an inaugural world championship as soon as 2009.But Shaharyar argued that it was too early to host a Twenty20 world cup. “We understand that it’s a popular concept and that if the ICC don’t do it, we could have a Mr Packer no.2 situation. But our stance is that the format has just begun. A few countries haven’t even tried it out domestically so how can you have a world cup? We hosted two tournaments so far but we can’t say definitively that it is a success just yet.”We took the position – and India was with us on this – that this isn’t furthering cricket, it debases it and it furthers only commercialism. We were the only two to oppose it officially. It needs more time. Touring teams to Pakistan will not have to play an international Twenty20 game as part of the series although if we tour somewhere else we will fulfill any such obligation.”

India Under-19 472 for 4 dec (Pujara 211, Tewari 109) beat England Under-19 258 and 77 (Nadeem 6-23) by an innings and 137 runs
ScorecardAndy Pick, England Under-19’s coach, had no excuses after watching his side lose 16 wickets on the final day of their Test series against India. The debacle wrapped up a 3-0 series whitewash, as the left-arm spinner, Shanbaz Nadeem, bamboozled the young batsmen with figures of 10 for 131, including 6 for 23 as the second innings folded for 77."It was a flat wicket and their boys batted well,” Pick told ecb.co.uk. “We didn’t bowl particularly badly but we just never looked like getting anybody out. Having encouraged the boys to be cautious and selective when they batted in the first two Tests and bat some time, this time we told them to play some shots and express themselves. We had nothing to lose so we told the boys to go out there and show what we can do.”England had begun the final day on a decent 189 for 4 in their first innings, with Ben Harmison, the younger brother of Steve, unbeaten on 40. He went on to make 65, once we was the fifth man out, the tail collapsed without him. “We followed on and it was a debacle,” added Pick. “There was no application. We were a team that looked as if we had had the stuffing knocked out of us and batted accordingly."We’ve been second-best in all departments really,” said Pick. “We’ve had no bowlers who have been in a position to put any pressure on them or look like getting people out. We’ve bowled like we were just trying to contain and just hoping something would happen rather than force something to happen.”"As a group we’ve failed to apply ourselves time and time again. I’ve sat down with John Abrahams [the tour manager] and we asked ourselves `are we really this bad?’ We don’t think we are. We’ve seen the players that we’ve brought with us play well in the past and know that they are capable of better than they have shown on this trip.”A five-match one-day series begins in Agartala on Tuesday. England’s young cricketers will need to lift their performances considerably if they are to avoid further humiliation.

In seven previous series in India, New Zealand have won just two Tests and lost 10. Wisden Cricinfo looks back at the highlights of those seven series.1955-56
It was New Zealand’s first tour of India, and the only time that they played a five-Test series here. India romped home 2-0, winning both Tests by an innings. Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Manjrekar and Pankaj Roy hammered two hundreds in the series, while Subhash Gupte was a one-man army with the ball, taking a phenomenal 34 wickets – exactly as many as all the other Indian bowlers put together. Despite the domination by the Indian batsmen, only once did their opening pair put together a century partnership. When they did manage one, though – in the fifth Test – Vinoo Mankad and Roy went on to add 413, a record for the first wicket which stands till today. Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid were the only two New Zealanders who conquered the Indian spinners, hitting two hundreds each.1964-65
A superb debut series for S Venkataraghavan, who took 21 wickets in four Tests and singlehandedly fashioned an Indian victory in the last Test, the only decisive match of the series. Venkat wheeled away for 112.4 overs and took 12 for 152 at the Feroz Shah Kotla to turn an evenly contested series – New Zealand took the first-innings lead twice in four matches – India’s way. New Zealand found an unlikely hero in Bruce Taylor, the allrounder, who scored a century and took a five-for on debut in the second Test at Calcutta, the only player to have achieved the feat till today.1969-70
The Indians had a mighty spin line-up in Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan, but New Zealand found a spin spearhead of their own in Hedley Howarth. His nine wickets in the second Test at Nagpur gave New Zealand their first Test victory in India. This was a series New Zealand dominated – they took the first-innings lead in all three Tests, and despite losing the first one, nearly snatched the series: requiring 268 to win in the last match, India just about managed to hold on for a draw, finishing on a miserable 76 for 7.1976-77
This time there was no stopping the Indian spinners. Bishan Bedi led the charge, taking 22 wickets in three Tests, including two five-fors, as India romped to a convincing 2-0 win. The crucial difference between the previous series and this one was the emergence of a solid Indian batting line-up – Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath formed a formidable top four, and with Syed Kirmani chipping in handily in the lower order, New Zealand just could not find a way to dismiss India cheaply enough. This was also Richard Hadlee’s first series in India, and while 13 wickets in three wickets was a fair effort, it was too little to make a difference.1988-89
Richard Hadlee (10 for 88) and John Bracewell (8 for 132) led New Zealand to only their second Test win, by a thumping 136-run margin at Bombay. New Zealand lost matches on either side of that Test, though, to lose the series 1-2. In a bowler-dominated series, India topped 300 just twice, while New Zealand’s highest was 279. The pitches were tailor-made for India’s spinners – they accounted for almost 80% of the wickets taken by the team – but Hadlee showed that he could deliver even in inhospitable conditions. Tormenting the Indian batsmen with seam, swing, and impeccable accuracy, he took 18 wickets at 14, with a scalp every five-and-a-half overs.1995-96
A series marred by inclement weather. India won the first Test at Bangalore, and then held on to the lead as rains played spoilsport in the next two. Anil Kumble has reason to remember the series, though: Martin Crowe became his 100th Test victim in the Bangalore Test, as Kumble took nine wickets in the match and was largely instrumental in fashioning the victory.1999-2000
The three-Test series started off in sensational fashion when, on a damp and green pitch, Dion Nash and co. bundled out India’s much-vaunted batting line-up for 83 in a mere 27 overs. Incredibly, only 17 wickets fell in the next four days after the first day produced 13, as the match ended in a draw. The second Test was on a more conventional turner, and Kumble starred in yet another home win, grabbing six wickets in the second innings, and ten in the match. This series also marked the return to captaincy for Sachin Tendulkar, while Kapil Dev took over as coach. Tendulkar’s batting was not affected – he notched up his maiden Test double-century in the third match – but his high-profile partnership with Kapil didn’t quite produce the desired results for Indian cricket: a three-nil drubbing in Australia was followed by a more shocking two-zero whitewash against South Africa at home, and Tendulkar’s second stint as captain came to an unceremonious end.

Veteran left-hander Hashan Tillakaratne scored his second century of theseries and Russel Arnold partially broke off the shackles of poor form asSri Lanka batted throughout the third day of this third and finalJanashakthi National Test match.The day had been touted beforehand as a pivotal one and with Sri Lankaovertaking the West Indies first innings total with five wickets to spare,the odds are now stacked against the tourists avoiding the humiliation of aseries whitewash.By the close of play Sri Lanka had turned a 197 run deficit into an 87 runlead after 141-run fifth wicket partnership between Tillakaratne and Arnoldand then an unbroken 133 sixth wicket partnership between Tillakaratne andThilan Samaraweera.Tillakaratne innings was the highlight of the day and the best of his fourhundreds since returning to the side four months ago after a two-yearabsence. Whether he should have been discarded after the 1999 World Cup isdebatable, but one senses his frustration at being sidelined has made himeven hungrier for success in the twilight of his career.During this series he scored 105 not out in Galle, 87 and 7* in Kandy andnow an unbeaten 143 here, which surpasses his previous career best (136*)scored against India in August. Remarkably, he has only been out once in theseries having batted for just short of seventeen hours.The 34-year-old, who was troubled with a hamstring injury for much of the day, is known best for his dour accumulation and back-to-the-wall defiance, but on this occasion he showed another side, batting stylishly and vigorously to reach his fifty off 77-balls and hundred off 149 balls. His timing was impeccable; especially his straight drives which fizzed across the lush green outfield to the boundary.Tillakaratne came to the crease after the fall of Mahela Jayawardene for 32,who was trapped lbw by Mervyn Dillon, after the first half hour thismorning. It appeared a crucial break through as Jaywardene is also in regalform, whilst Arnold, the remaining batsmen, hadn’t scored a fifty for 10consecutive innings.But Arnold finally repaid some of the faith shown in him by the selectorsand team management as he went onto score 65 in a controlled inningsspanning nearly four hours. The 28-year-old left-hander hadn’t lost his formcompletely, just his capacity to stay at the wicket. He was hitting the ballcleanly, but had suffered from an over-eagerness to dominate and anover-reliance on those nurdles and flicks that he employs so well in theone-day game. This time he played straighter and with greater patience.Still, he will be cursing his failure to capitalise fully and score acentury after being caught behind off a cross batted shot.Sri Lanka were 345 for five at that stage, mid-way through the afternoon,still with a deficit of 45 runs. But the obdurate Thilan Samaraweera stayedwith Tillakaratne till the close to post the pair’s third century stand infive Test matches. Samaraweera was 68 not out at the close having playedwithin his limitations and with great application.Four months ago Dav Whatmore was bemoaning a wobbly late middle-order, butthe adhesive pair have helped solve that the problem for meantime, at leaston sub-continental wickets, anyway, where Samaraweera can play a role withhis off-spin.”Hashan (Tillakaratne) has been batting very well for us since he cameback,” he said. “He took a couple of games to get back into the grove butsince then he showed us what we have been missing.”Thilan (Samaraweera) is a very committed cricketer. He may not have theskill of the Jayasuriya’s and Jayawardene’s but he is very determined andthat determination can be as effective in its own way.”Tomorrow Sri Lanka will try to chisel out as large a lead as possible. Thereis no great urgency with over six sessions remaining, though there may beconcerns that the pitch seems to be wearing too slowly.West Indies are not out of the game if they can conjure up a early morningcollapse, but this seems unlikely with a bowling attack – with the singleexception of Dillon who bowled with great heart – that is looking moreinnocuous with each passing session. They were further handicapped by a sideinjury to leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, who has only been able to bowl 17overs in the innings.

Mumbai set Delhi a victory target of 501 runs after Jatin Paranjpe andVinod Kambli had hit hundreds in contrasting styles on the third dayof their Super League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla today. At stumpsthe Delhi openers had survived nine overs to make 41/0 with DevinderSharma batting positively to run up 32 in 33 balls.The runs came in torrents during the day, 401 in all, with Mumbaiscoring 360 of them. After Amol Muzumdar (38) departed at 151,Paranjpe and Kambli conjured up a 210 run partnership in just 30.5overs. Paranjpe was a shade circumspect with his hundred coming off235 balls but Kambli displayed no inhibitions in clubbing an 87 ballhundred. His 114 (97 balls) was studded with 21 fours and one six andreinforced that at this level of cricket he had no peers.Mumbai captain Samir Dighe declared when Paranjpe (185) was eighth outat 453. Paranjpe, whose knock numbered 16 fours and 5 sixes, hadstepped up the pace after reaching his centuryhe needed only 90 moreballs to get to 185. For Delhi, Virender Shewag claimed 4/87 from 36.4overs with his off spinners.