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Pakistan completed a five-nil whitewash of Zimbabwe, beating them by 70 runsin the final one-day international. After putting up a much betterperformance for 75 per cent of the match, Zimbabwe collapsed pitifullyfollowing the dismissal of Andy Flower.It was another hot sunny day, another good batting pitch, and Zimbabwe,hammered whether they bat first or second, decided to put Pakistan in tobat. They made two changes, bringing back Craig Evans and Henry Olonga forSean Ervine and Gary Brent, while Pakistan restored Wasim Akram for MohammadZahid.Shoaib Akhtar was a leading figure in this match; not only did he produce avicious spell of bowling timed at between 95 and 99.3 mph, but he also faceda disciplinary hearing for a sledging incident with the batsmen andallegedly hurling a bottle of water into a section of the crowd that washeckling him.Zimbabwe opened with Travis Friend and Olonga, and these two produced themost – the only – impressive new-ball bowling for the country on this tour.They had Pakistan’s makeshift opening pair of Kamran Akmal and Faisal Iqbalplaying warily, if not in actual trouble, with some seam movement and a fairdegree of accuracy, and Friend removed Kamran for 3, fishing outside the offstump.It appeared that Pakistan, after the ease with which they rolled overZimbabwe throughout the tour, were a little careless; Misbah-ul-Haq had notscored when he skyed an attempted pull and Friend himself completed thereturn catch; Pakistan 16 for two.Faisal responded with a huge six off Olonga, that pitched on the roof of thethree-storey stand at square leg and bounced over the top. He continued hisaggression, but when 25 had an incredible back-foot heave at Olonga thatsent up a massive skyer, to be well taken by Grant Flower at extra cover.Pakistan 39 for three. Olonga was perhaps the better bowler of the two,with Friend’s effort marred by seven wides in this spell and ten altogether.Then Zimbabwe’s two long-time nemeses, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana,came together to restore normal service. They were only partly successful,adding 51 before Inzamam (27) hit a sharp return catch to Brian Murphy.Younis Khan came in to play fluently, and the run rate rose steadily to morethan five an over, with Youhana accelerating effortlessly to reach yetanother fifty off 56 balls; Younis, who began more quickly, took 42 for his.The support bowlers did not support too accurately and the pressure relaxed;77 runs came between the 20th and 30th overs.Youhana scored 405 runs in the series and for the first time Zimbabwemanaged to dismiss him – but for 88 (93 balls) and due to a run-out. Quickwork by Grant Flower at mid-on accounted for him as he backed up too far,and Pakistan were 219 for five after a stand worth 129.Shahid Afridi announced himself with a huge straight six off Olonga’s lastball; the bowler’s figures of one for 53 off ten overs did him no justice.But Olonga got his revenge in the next over with a fine throw from the deepto run Afridi out for 8.Douglas Hondo bowled with great accuracy and skill, and got his reward whenYounis (90 off 75 balls) missed a well-deserved century as he hit a low fulltoss straight to midwicket. Wasim Akram (22) and Saqlain Mushtaq (13), bothunbeaten, saw Pakistan through to a total of exactly 300 for seven wickets.Zimbabwe soon lost Mark Vermeulen (5), caught at second slip off ShoaibAkhtar with the total on 14. Wasim and Shoaib Akhtar put in a superbopening spell, making Dion Ebrahim and Andy Flower fight all the way. EvenAndy had a couple of edgy shots through the slips before he began to put theball away safely through the off side. A vicious bouncer from Shoaib, timedat 97.6 mph, hit Ebrahim on the helmet and held up play for a while.Another bouncer that missed Andy Flower was timed at 99.3 mph, as Pakistanpulled out all the stops to keep their unbeaten tour record.But the batsmen stood firm against him, and Flower flourished off the otherbowlers to the extent of reaching his fifty with a powerful sweep for fouroff Saqlain, off 45 balls. The hundred came up in the 20th over with justone wicket down. Ebrahim played a supporting role admirably, with anoccasional telling blow, twice driving Saqlain through the covers for fourin an over. In the next over, though, another run-out ended a fine stand,Ebrahim departing for 36 after a mix-up, and Zimbabwe were 117 for two, thepair having added 103.This brought the Flowers together, but Andy soon fell for 72 off 68 balls,top-edging a sweep off Saqlain. In the 26th over, Zimbabwe were 134 forthree, needing almost seven an over.These two wickets were the turning point, as the impetus was lost and neverregained. The spinners ran through the middle order and the Zimbabweinnings went into terminal decline. Alistair Campbell, never at his best inthe lower order, scored just 3 before a reverse sweep off Saqlain hit acatch straight at slip. Evans (8) slapped Afridi straight to short cover,then Grant Flower (28) holed out off the same bowler at deep midwicket.Tatenda Taibu (6) lobbed a catch to cover off the leading edge from Afridiand Murphy ran himself out for 3.When Younis Khan was given a bowl, Friend (6) made his day by obliginglyskying a catch into the covers. Olonga at least showed he knew what shouldbe done by hitting Younis for six into the scoreboard and then a four in thesame direction; Hondo too helped himself to three fours in Younis’s nextover, to entertain the longsuffering crowd and reduce the deficit to doublefigures. Faisal Iqbal got similar brutal treatment until Mohammad Sami tooka skyed return catch from Olonga (31) to end the tour. Hondo was unbeatenwith 15, and for the second time in two days Zimbabwe broke their one-daylast-wicket record with 47. It took away some of the pain for the crowd,but the fact remains that Zimbabwe were overwhelmed in a very one-sidedseries.

PERTH, Oct 24 AAP – Fringe West Australian quick Callum Thorp continued England’s poor start to its Ashes tour on day one of a two-day match at the WACA ground.The 27-year-old paceman had taken 3-25 to have the tourists at 4-73 at lunch with opener Marcus Trescothick (41no) and veteran Alec Stewart (17no) at the crease.Buoyed after captaining the ACB Chairman’s XI to a midweek win over the tourists, Michael Hussey sent England into bat on a pitch with a green tinge on it.Thorp trapped England opener Robert Keys (4) in his second over of play before taking a sharp return catch to dismiss Mark Butcher (7).And the 27-year-old troubled England captain Nasser Hussain (1) from his opening ball to him and eventually had him caught behind in his ninth straight over.Left-armer Michael Clark completed the home team’s successful opening session by sending John Crawley back to the pavilion for a duck.However Trescothick and Stewart had set about trying to resurrect the innings with an unbeaten 25-run partnership by lunch.

The new leaders of the Norwich Union League Division One, Worcestershire Royals, take on the bottom club, Durham Dynamos, in the next round of matches to be played this Sunday with every prospect of maintaining their place at the top of the table. Not only did they get there by ousting the existing leaders in their last match, but they meet a side still looking for their first point of the season. The unpredictability of cricket in this competition is one of its great appeals, but it would be a major upset if the Royals did not win again at New Road this weekend.Warwickshire Bears – the team deposed by the Royals last week – meet defending champions Kent Spitfires at Edgbaston. The Spitfires came through strongly at the end of last season to grab the title and are in a reasonable position now, two wins away from the leaders but with a game in hand on the Royals and two in hand on the Bears. And a win at Edgbaston would really give their season some momentum, something against which the Bears will be on their guard.There are two other fixtures in Division One. Glamorgan Dragons are level on points with the Kent Spitfires, but they have only played three matches in the competition so far this season. They go to Taunton to meet the Somerset Sabres buoyed by their recent success playing as Wales against England. Steffan Jones will revert to being a Sabre in this fixture after masquerading as a Dragon in the “international”.Nottinghamshire Outlaws have had a pretty miserable time this season. The only difference between their record and that of Durham Dynamos is that they had one match washed out, and so have two points to show for their endeavours. They have an east Midlands derby at Grace Road against Leicestershire Foxes who have at least won once this year, but once only.In Division Two the leaders are Gloucestershire Gladiators. They meet Essex Eagles who are six points behind but who have two matches in hand. If the Eagles are to soar, they will need to win this one, but they will be without their talismanic captain Ronnie Irani who is away on international duty. The Gladiators, on the other hand, will have all guns blazing.Surrey Lions are only two points adrift of the leaders, and they have what looks like an easy match against Lancashire Lightening, although they have to travel to Old Trafford. Lightening are languishing, just off the bottom, lost by six wickets in the corresponding match at The Oval, so they need to strike once in this fixture, let alone twice.In a process reminiscent of evolution itself, the Sussex Sharks move inland from their Hove headquarters to Arundel to play Middlesex Crusaders. The visitors have four points from two wash-outs so far this season, while the Sharks have only just begun to show their teeth, although one win might suggest they are only milk teeth at this stage.

Gloucestershire Invitation XI v Lashings All Star XI
@ The County Ground BristolBrian Lara, Mohammed Kaif, Jimmy Adams, Courtney Walsh, Shoaib Akhtar, Jack RussellSunday 11th August @ 12:00pm

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West Indies captain Carl Hooper will miss the upcoming tour of Bangladesh that starts on November 26.Hooper has been nursing a knee injury for the past few months that was confirmed and diagnosed by the team’s medical advisor, Dr. Akshai Mansingh, with the help of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan shortly after West Indies’ arrival in India.”Although the injury has been providing Carl with ongoing discomfort and cause for concern, it has been successfully managed so far on tour,” remarked West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt.”Carl has now decided to undergo the required corrective surgery at the end of November so that he will be fully recovered by the start of our pre-World Cup camp in January,” added Skerritt.A highly recommended specialist in Australia will be carry out the procedure on Hooper’s knee.”I have assured Carl of the full support of the West Indies Cricket Board and told him that we all look forward to his complete recovery and return to the team,” Skerritt said.A replacement as captain for Hooper will be named next week when the selection panel considers the players for the Bangladesh leg of the team’s Asian tour.

Bashley (Rydal) opener Neil Thurgood and BAT Sports off-spinner Richard Dibden have won the season’s first Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month awards.Thurgood won the batting prize after scoring 219 runs, while Dibden’s 11 victims edged out BAT team-mate Terry Rawlins for the May bowling award.Australian all-rounder Jeff Anning won the Premier Division 2 batting plinth after scoring 218 in his debut month for Rowledge, with Lymington’s Glyn Treagus taking the bowling honours.Mark Parker’s 270 runs in three knocks for St Cross Symondians, which included a century and two scores of 50 and more, earned the Division 2 batting award, with Andy Cattle’s nine-wicket haul for Leckford getting the bowling prize.Leading Premier League individual performancesPREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Batting: Russell Rowe (South Wilts) 315, Roger Miller (Andover) 259, Luke Ronchi (Bashley Rydal) 239, Neil Thurgood (Bashley Rydal) 219, David Banks (BAT Sports) 186, Mark Miller (Andover) 161, Alistair Gray (Liphook & Ripsley) 161, James Hibberd (Calmore Sports) 151, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 150.Bowling: Terry Rawlins (BAT Sports) 15, Mackie Hobson (Havant) 14, Richard Dibden (BAT Sports) 11, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 11, Phil Loat (Havant) 9, Chris Wright (Liphook) 9, Richard Taylor (Andover) 8, Christof Bothma (Calmore Sports) 8.PREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
Batting: Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 256, Gary Hounsome (United Services) 219, Jason Laney (Hungerford) 211, Tim Richings (Sparsholt) 210, Andy Heyes (Sparsholt) 182, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 180, Max Smith (O.T. & Romsey) 179, Peter Hammond (Hampshire Academy) 178.Bowling: Steve Green (Easton & Martyr Worthy) 11, Martin Taylor (Winchester KS) 11, Jason Williams (Hungerford) 11, Damien Carson (United Services) 10, Mike Ball (Sparsholt) 10, Glyn Treagus (Lymington) 10, Simon Williams (Trojans) 10, Rhys Oxley (Winchester KS) 10, Nick Wood (O.T. & Romsey) 10.PREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Batting: Mark Parker (St Cross Symondians) 270, Will Prozesky (Purbrook) 222, Matt Digweed (Hartley Wintney) 220, Colin James (Paultons) 213, Graham Pardey (Bashley Rydal II) 201, Ian Turner (Hambledon) 198, Chris Baumann (Waterlooville) 191, Michael Heffernan (Alton) 178.Bowling: Andy Cattle (Leckford) 13, Adie Heath (Flamingo) 12, Mark Stanley (Purbrook) 11, Will Mariner (St Cross Symondians) 11, Julian Ballinger (Alton) 10.COMBINED LEAGUES – FIELDING
Wicketkeeping: John Harris (Hursley Park) 10, Luke Ronchi (Bashley Rydal) 8, Dave Banks (BAT Sports) 8, Warren Gilmour (United Services) 8.Catches: Ben Adams (St Cross Symondians) 7, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 6, John Rowe (Hartley Wintney) 5, Raj Naik (Winchester KS) 5.

For the first time since attaining Test status in1992, Zimbabwe went into a series as favourites and underpressure to win every match as they hosted Bangladesh,newcomers to the world of Test cricket.Bangladesh, who attained Test status in June lastyear, were on their first away tour and were moreconcerned with improving their game than winning. Atthe end of the month-long tour Bangladesh had lost allits matches against Zimbabwe. However the touristswere far from being disgraced.In Zimbabwe for two Tests and three one-dayinternationals, Bangladesh opened their tour with aone-day warm-up match against CFX Academy at AlexandraSports Club, and as expected they won convincingly.The tourists won by seven wickets with 17.4 overs tospare. Batting first, Zimbabwe’s cricket cadets weredismissed for 183 in 48.5 overs. New boy MohammadSharif was the toast of the Bangladeshi attack withfive wickets for 30 in nine overs.CFX Academy’s only defiant acts came from TerrenceDuffin who scored 55 and Barney Rogers who hit fivefours on his way to 46 from 69 balls. The two featuredin a 84-run partnership for the third wicket after thefirst two wickets fell for 18.Six of the Academy batsmen were out for single figureswith three ducks. The last five wickets fell for just15 runs in five overs.Habibul Bashar scored a blistering 79 off 77 ballswith nine fours as the CFX Academy struggled to find abreakthrough.Zimbabwe won the first ODI at Harare Sports Club on 7April by seven wickets. The tourists won the tossand decided to bat on a pitch that favoured seamerswith extra bounce and they were made to pay.The first four wickets fell for just 15 runs,virtually ending the match as a contest. Bangladeshrecovered somewhat to reach 151 in 50 overs, with a topscore of 35 coming from sixth-man Akram Khan. Thosebefore him had gone for single figures.Zimbabwe reached the victory target of 152 virtuallyBlindfolded, but they still needed 43.1 overs to do so.Andy Flower, unbeaten, and Stuart Carlisle were thejoint top scorers with 40 runs. Sharif claimed hisfirst international wicket, bowling Alistair Campbellfor five.The second match was at the same venue the followingday and again Bangladesh won the toss but this timethey were much wiser and elected to field.Unfortunately for the tourists, the pitch was closercut than the previous day and this was of some help tothe batting.Led by a seventh ODI century by Campbell, Zimbabwewere 230 for seven after 50 overs. Campbell made 103from 145 balls and featured in a 133-run partnershipfor the second wicket with Carlisle.Zimbabwe lost the last five wickets for 42 runs asbatsmen sacrificed everything to increase therun-rate. Monjurul Islam and Sharif took three wicketseach.Bangladesh’s reply was rocked right from the start asthey lost their first wicket after scoring just one run andthe second with the total on nine. In the end theyjust managed to get past their lowest total againstZimbabwe of 92 and were all out for 103 with 18.2overs to spare. Opener Javed Omar carried his batthrough the innings for an unbeaten score of 33.David Mutendera recorded the best innings bowling ofthe ODI series with three wickets for 23 in 5.4 overs.Zimbabwe duly wrapped up their ODI series with a thirdstraight win at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club on 11 Aprilfor a 3-0 series whitewash.Flower brothers Grant and Andy led Zimbabwe to theirFourth-highest innings total of 308. The brothers madea fourth-wicket partnership of 148 with Grant’sunbeaten 142 equalling Zimbabwe’s previous best byDave Houghton against New Zealand in the World Cup of1987/88. Andy scored 81 runs off 91 balls.This turned out to be the most entertaining matchof the series as Bangladesh staged a fightback which,however, fell 32 runs short.Bangladesh made 272 for eight in 50 overs. OpenerJaved Omar scored 69 while Bashar was their highest scorerWith 74 runs from 91 balls.Omar finished the series as Bangladesh’s best batsmanwith an average of 52.50, while Bashar was nextbest, averaging a distant 26.33. Islam and Sharif werethe leading bowlers with five and four wicketsrespectively.For Zimbabwe, Grant Flower was the best batsman with174 runs, his average from the two innings he batted.Carlisle and Andy Flower were the other successfulbatsmen, averaging over 50 with 69 and 63.50respectively.In bowling, Mutendera, Brian Strang and Andy Blignautall took six wickets.

Eastern Province fast bowler Mornantau Hayward has withdrawn on medicaladvice from the President’s XI to play India ‘A’ in Chatsworth this weekend.He has been replaced in the team by Easterns’ Andre Nel.Hayward aggravated an ankle injury bowling in the nets yesterday, said SANational Team physiotherapist Craig Smith today. “He saw the specialist thismorning and has been advised to rest the ankle for another week. Nantie willhave a week of rest and intensive physiotherapy. We hope he will beavailable for the last four Standard Bank One-Day Internationals againstAustralia,” Smith added.

Abdur Rehman, the Pakistan left-arm spinner, is facing a ban after failing a drugs test during his stint with Somerset in the English domestic season. It is believed the drugs were recreational and not performance enhancing.Reports first emerged in the Pakistan media and ESPNcricinfo understands that a formal announcement is due to be made within the next day.Rehman, 32, played four Championship matches for Somerset and took 27 wickets, which included 9 for 65 against Worcestershire, and flew straight back from Pakistan’s one-day series against Australia in the UAE to play the match against Sussex.He was expected to join a Sialkot Stallion conditioning camp this week at the National Cricket Academy ahead of the Champions League Twenty20 but did not turn up to join the squad. Sialkot are set to fly to South Africa on October 7 to play a qualifying round of the tournament starting on October 9 in Johannesburg.Rehman has established himself as key player over the past year and caused England plenty of problems during the Test series in UAE, where he claimed 19 wickets in three matches. Overall he has 81 wickets in 17 Tests at 28.40 apiece.

England A’s tour of the West Indies ended prematurely today when they wereknocked out of the Busta International Shield after a seven wicket defeat byGuyana at Bourda.Their hopes of reaching the final were dashed when they were quickly bowledout for 247 in their second innings, leaving Guyana plenty of time – 70overs – to make the 205 runs needed for victory which earns them a place inthe final against Jamaica next weekend.It brings to an end their undefeated record which has spanned more than sixyears and 43 games and it may also bring to an end of the England A touringtradition which started in 1989/90 with a tour to Zimbabwe.Next winter, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s Academy is expected to beup and running with England’s second layer winter touring party likely to beselected from its ranks.Within hours of losing the semi-final after a lacklustre day for thetourists, they were due to board an early morning flight out of Georgetownheaded for Barbados with the journey home to England planned for Friday.But as far back as Saturday when they failed to capitalise on a decentbatting track, making 293 in their first innings, England A were on the backfoot. Today, resuming on 165 for three, they lost their last seven wicketsin 90 minutes for just 82 runs leaving Guyana with the rest of day to gatherthe runs.Only Chris Read, who was the gamble selection in this game after adisappointing tour, showed any capacity for keeping the scoreboard tickingover without taking too many risks. He finished unbeaten on 29 but EnglandA’s total never looked sufficient to put their opponents under any pressure.Seonarine Chattergoo and Azumeel Haniff gave their push for victory acomfortable start by putting on 40 for the first wicket but the next pairingof Haniff and Travis Dowlin made certain of their final place with a standof 102. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has been out of cricket with an injuryfor three months, hurried proceedings along with 49 from 43 balls and scoredthe winning run to send England A out of the competition after an eight weekcampaign.”Our first innings was the main problem,” said skipper Mark Alleyne afterthe game.”We didn’t bat as authoritatively as we should have done. It was hard workfor the first hour but we got through that and should have posted a 350 +total. On reflection, we should have chosen some different shots today butit was difficult because they were being negative – they didn’t have tochase the game, we had to do all the running and they could put as manypeople on the boundary as they liked.”We needed time to bowl them out so we were trying to get to a total so wecould get a good seventy overs out of them and we fell short, but it was achance we had to take. It was our only chance of winning the match andgetting through to the final.”I’m not too worried about the England A record. The only way we could getthrough to the final was to win the match and to win the match we had totake a chance of losing it. The easy option was to not try and win it and wewould still have been on the flight home so I would rather have taken thepunt and try and win the game,” he said.”There were some good performances. Chris Schofield did well again thoughwhen the pressure is on, he maybe is not as consistent as he would like tobe. Chris Read came back well. After a quiet tour, I felt he kept and battedreally well in this game and we are pleased that we went with him because itwas a huge game and he didn’t let us down. Bowling wise, the guys tried hardbut no one really starred in this match.”The most disappointing thing about all this was that when the pressure wasreally on, we didn’t really react as positively as we can do. We have to bea bit better than that – we let a few things upset us a bit and lost a bitof focus but once again, I would hope that if it happened again, we wouldcope a lot better.”