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Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has been named the captain of Karachi Harbour in the Silver League of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, which starts later this month. Khan, 34, last played for Pakistan against Sri Lanka almost a year ago.Moin’s task, aside from endeavouring to recapture his place in the Pakistan team, will be to help Karachi Harbour win the Silver League – or the second division in the newly bifurcated Quaid-i-Azam Trophy – so that the city qualifies for promotion to the more lucrative Gold League for the 2006-07 season.Karachi Harbour were known until last season as Karachi Whites, and were led by Faisal Iqbal, ex-Test player and nephew of Javed Miandad. Moin took over during the season and the veteran retains the post this season.Karachi has traditionally fielded two teams in the competition; last season’s Karachi Blues are now to be called Karachi Urban and will be led by Hasan Raza. Last season, the team were led by another Pakistan wicketkeeper, Rashid Latif, but he has been surprisingly left out of the squad this season. The city has won Pakistan’s premier domestic competition a record 17 times, including a run of seven consecutive wins between 1958-59 and 1966-67.This year, seven teams have been placed in the Golden League, including holders Peshawar and last season’s second-placed side Faisalabad. The other outfits are Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Multan, Karachi Urban and Lahore Shalimar.The six teams in the Silver League are Lahore Ravi, Karachi Harbour, Hyderabad, Quetta, Islamabad and Abbottabad.Junaid Zia has been appointed captain of Lahore Shalimar while Imran Tahir, the former Pakistan U-19 legspinner, will lead Lahore Ravi. Quetta have named Faisal Irfan, a fast bowling all-rounder as captain and another fast-medium bowler, Sajid Shah, will captain Abbottabad. Hyderabad, meanwhile, will look to Faisal Athar, a prolific middle-order batsman, to lead them during the tournament.The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy begins on October 16, and the winners of the Gold League can expect to receive Rs1,100,000 (US$18,500).

The National Stadium in Karachi suddenly seems a less impregnable fortress. Sri Lanka won the first Test at Faisalabad after starts of 9 for 3 and 0 for 1, to continue their unbeaten series run in Pakistan. It seemed as if Pakistan’s problems needed more than a change of coach, and not even their golden history at Karachi could be relied on.Sri Lanka have lost every Test they’ve played at Karachi – as has nearly every other team – but Pakistan’s record of only one loss in 50 years there is unlikely to bother a team firmly on a roll. Barring Marvan Atapattu and Romesh Kaluwitharana, every player scored runs or showed signs of form. Even Muttiah Muralitharan’s absence didn’t seem to hurt much any more. There was a man for every crisis, and chances were clutched with the desperation of a team hungry for victory.Until Sanath Jayasuriya took charge on the third day of the first Test, the contest was balanced. Thereafter, Pakistan bungled it on the fourth day, and fell away on the fifth. After the match, John Dyson commended his side’s spirit, comparing it to Australia’s, while Inzamam-ul-Haq announced that Moin Khan had been given plenty of chances and was being dropped. To some, it was a knee-jerk reaction. Others believed Kamran Akmal’s inclusion was the right move for a side in transition.Sri Lanka are unlikely to change their side for tomorrow. Pakistan, on the other hand, will have to field an inexperienced new-ball attack after Shoaib Akhtar withdrew with a shoulder injury a few hours after Mohammad Sami pulled out with a groin strain. Inzamam confirmed that Pakistan would go into the game with two fast bowlers new to Test cricket: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who has played a few ODIs, and the uncapped Riaz Afridi.Shoaib should only miss a couple of weeks, but there are longer-term fears for Sami, who is doubtful for the forthcoming trip to Australia. Though Sami did not strike in the second innings at Faisalabad, his four-wicket haul in the first played a large part in limiting Sri Lanka to 243.But Pakistan have more pressing issues to deal with: Jayasuriya, for one. He played with a nonchalance depressing for Pakistan, and, with a large total to defend, the bowlers had their way. The second – and this was pivotal – was that the batsmen lost wickets in clumps after rapid starts, with few inclined to stay at the crease. It was this very thing Bob Woolmer said he would try to stop when he spoke of “skinning the Pakistani cat” as he took over the team. The results showed in one-dayers, but his side was outdone by a more determined team in the last Test, where the attack, led by Shoaib Akhtar, was inspirational and then flat, but the batsmen had no sustained phases of success.When it came, the win seemed easy. By then, Sri Lanka had not only scored more runs and taken wickets for less, but had deflated Pakistan’s spirit. After it, Inzamam spoke of survival and Atapattu spoke of winning abroad. Their words spoke volumes.Pakistan (probable) 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Asim Kamal, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Riaz Afridi, 10 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Jehan Mubarak, 7 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Brooke Walker was retained as captain of the State Auckland Aces today asseventeen players were named in the first training squad to prepare for the2003/04 season.The squad, chosen by the panel of Mark O’Donnell (convener), Rowan Armour,Richard Irving and Austin Parsons, includes eight international players.Two players – Heath Davis (Cornwall) and Lou Vincent (Takapuna) – were notconsidered as both are in Australia. They will join the squad upon theirreturn. Vincent will join fellow international players Mark Richardson,Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock on the forthcoming tour to India.”This forms the base of a highly competitive squad that should be tough toknock over in both forms of domestic cricket this season,” said O’Donnell,who is the State Auckland Aces coach and also convener of selectors.Other players will be involved in the State Auckland Aces pre-seasontraining programme when required. On Walker’s retention as captain, O’Donnell said the leg-spinner had aproven record as captain and was well organised and very determined.”Brooke is very clear on what he wants to achieve, and what he wants othersto do.”Walker was pleased the selectors had shown faith in his captaincy.”We’ve moulded together a team in the true sense of the word. I’m lookingforward to building on the positive culture that’s been created both on andoff the park,” he said.The 17 players named in the initial squad are:Brooke Walker (captain – Howick Pakuranga), Andre Adams(Takapuna), Aaron Barnes (Cornwall), Tama Canning (Suburbs New Lynn), Paul Hitchcock (Takapuna), Matt Horne (Grafton), Llorne Howell (East Coast Bays), Tim Lythe (Auckland University), Tim McIntosh (Parnell), Andy McKay (Howick Pakuranga), Kyle Mills (Howick Pakuranga), Rob Nicol (Cornwall), Craig Pryor (Grafton), Mark Richardson (Parnell), Gareth Shaw (Papatoetoe

Durham quick bowler Stephen Harmison returned match figures of 7-120 as the ECB National Academy XI beat their Australian counterparts by an innings and 31 runs in Adelaide earlier today.In reply to the ECB National Academy’s total of 601-8 declared, the CBCA were bowled out for 386 in their first innings with Harmison finishing with 4-78 and Yorkshire’s Steve Kirby taking 4 -100.Harmison then picked up 3-42 as the CBCA were dismissed for 184 in their second innings after following on.Chris Tremlett (2-27), Ian Bell (2-27) and Graeme Swann (2-31) were the other wicket-takers as the ECB National Academy XI made it three wins out of three this winter.The ECB National Academy XI’s next fixture is a four-day match against the Victoria Cricket Association 2nd XI starting on Jan 21st. The squad is scheduled to return home for the Christmas/New Year period on December 15th before flying out to Australia again on January 12th.The ECB National Academy is funded by Sport England and sponsored by Vodafone.

The improvement in Milinda Siriwardana’s bowling may allow Sri Lanka to explore new combinations in their ODI side, vice-captain Lahiru Thirimanne said. It was largely Siriwardana’s batting that saw him elevated to the national team, but both Thirimanne and captain Angelo Mathews have now spoken of Siriwardana’s growing skill with the ball.Siriwardana has three wickets at an average of 26.33 in the five ODIs he has played so far. He was more impressive in the recent Test series against West Indies, in which he claimed seven wickets at 17.71. Tillakaratne Dilshan has provided a part-time spin option for Sri Lanka, but if both he and Siriwardana play, the hosts will have an offspinner and a left-arm spinner in their top seven.”I think the main thing we’ve been impressed with is Milinda’s bowling,” Thirimanne said. “We all knew he has got talent with the bat, but he has improved a lot in his bowling. It’s a big advantage when it comes to the one-day side. We haven’t had a spinning allrounder in the last few years.”In addition to Dilshan and Siriwardana, Sri Lanka also have frontline spinners Ajantha Mendis, Sachithra Senanayake and Jeffrey Vandersay in the squad. West Indies had lost 27 wickets to spin during the Test series, but Thirimanne expected stiffer resistance in the ODIs.”We are hopeful that our spinners and slow bowlers will give us the advantage,” he said. “But we can’t take the West Indies team lightly. They didn’t play the Tests well, but the one day team is quite strong overall. There are a lot of players who can change a match in that team.”Sri Lanka have three uncapped players in their squad, two of whom may play in the first ODI. Dinesh Chandimal’s one-match suspension may allow both Shehan Jayasuriya and Danushka Gunathilaka to enter the XI.”I think we’ll need to work out what our best combination is during this series,” Thirimanne said. “After the World Cup a lot of seniors left. We then played the Pakistan team, and if you take our batting line-up or our bowling line-up, we aren’t that settled. This series will help figure out a settled side.”Thirimanne himself had been dropped from the second Test in Colombo, after a long sequence of modest scores in that format. He will bat at No.3 on Sunday, however, having averaged 40.81 in ODIs this year.”I wasn’t successful in Tests. But if you look at my record, I’ve played very differently in Tests and one-dayers. I’ve done well in ODIs, but haven’t been able to replicate that in Tests. I don’t know why that is, but I’m expecting to go to the middle and score runs. There are times when scoring runs is difficult, but the best thing to do is enjoy the game.”

Pakistan Under-19s allrounder Hasan Mohsin was named the Man of the Match against Afghanistan Under-19s in Sylhet for his swing-bowling display. Against Sri Lanka Under-19s on Wednesday, Mohsin exhibited his batting prowess too, something he didn’t get a chance to do when Pakistan chased low totals in the first two league games.The side batted first and lost two wickets within nine balls and, despite a comfortable start, suddenly found themselves 70 for 3 in the 20th over. Mohsin is not the most technically correct batsman in the side and neither is he the most elegant. But he is effective, assesses situations well and thinks on his feet. Had it not been for his run-a-ball 86, Pakistan would have probably have been bundled out for much less than 212.”My approach was to safeguard my wicket as well as keep the runs flowing because our batsmen at the top got out really early,” Mohsin said. “So when Umair Masood was playing with me, our discussion was to build a partnership and save our wicket as well.”Mohsin, who also opens the bowling, is primarily a batting allrounder. He has batted at No. 5 so far in the tournament and explains that he prefers the middle order because of a liking for spin.”I like batting at No. 4 or 5 because I believe I play spinners better,” he said. “At whichever position I bat, I always try to pull my team out of difficult situations and do well for them.”In the beginning, Mohsin took his time to get his eye in, despite a drop in the run rate. He made sure he stalled a collapse by seeing through spells of Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinners and was on 5 off 19 balls before collecting his first boundary. Once he opened up, he started rotating the strike more easily and soon brought up his fifty off 65 deliveries. He used his hands and supple wrists to target the leg-side boundary initially and it seemed like he didn’t prefer the off side much. Soon, however, he was using late cuts and punches, and was finding gaps cleverly with timing and placement.In the last 10 overs, he unleashed a beautiful inside-out cover drive and surprised everyone in the 47th over with a de Villiers-like scoop from well outside off that got him four runs fine on the leg side. Did he see the fine-leg fielder coming in?”Yes. The situation was such that I had to, because the field was such,” he said. “The fast bowler was bowling and to hit straight wasn’t easy. So I thought I’ll sit down and [play that shot].”It was difficult conditions for batting. I was just playing it all on merit.”Mohsin looked at ease against the ambidextrous bowler Kamindu Mendis and said he got over the initial surprise. He scored 12 runs off 12 balls against Mendis and the spinner was soon out of the attack.”Yes, it was surprising. But for me, left-arm spinners I believe I can play them easily – whether he’s bowling an arm ball or break.” Would it have troubled Mohsin had Mendis switched to right-arm offspin against him? “No, offspin would’ve made it easier. Pakistan’s wickets are such that we way play spinners well.”Mohsin started out as a batsman and legspinner when his father took him to an academy in Karachi in 2008. Several years later his coach Mohammad Masroor, also the Pakistan team coach right now, advised him to switch from legspin to swing bowling. He was singled out as one of the side’s main allrounders by the management before the World Cup.In his team’s successful defence of a below-par score, Mohsin provided the spinners a perfect platform by removing the Sri Lankan openers in his first spell. Some accurate outswingers helped remove Avishka Fernando in his first over and a nagging line to left-handed Kaveen Bandara induced an outside edge in the sixth over to leave Sri Lanka at 21 for 2.”I always try to bowl line and length, wickets come by themselves,” he said. “My aim is always to stay on one type of swing at the start and keep bowling line and length. So when I contain the batsmen, I get a wicket.”Slightly shy, Mohsin opens up once you start talking about his game and tactics. Will he open himself to the world of T20 leagues, such as the PSL? “It is natural that everyone would want to play big cricket. If some team gives me an offer, surely I will play.”

Boyd Rankin, the Ireland quick bowler, has signed a two-year deal with Warwickshire after turning down a contract with Derbyshire.Rankin made his mark at the World Cup but struggled for fitness during the 2007 season and appeared in just three Championship matches. However, Derbyshire had offered him a new deal but said Rankin hadn’t responded so they released him.”We wanted to back his potential and continue to develop his career under the guidance of [head of cricket] John Morris and [bowling coach] Mike Hendrick in particular, who has done so much for him since bringing him to Derbyshire,” said chief executive Tom Sears. “The offer was made a long time ago during the season and, despite telling us some weeks ago he was likely to stay, Boyd has not signed the new deal.”But Rankin explained his side of the story, saying he thinks the move comes at the right time of his career and the chance to work with Allan Donald was too good to miss. “Derbyshire made me a very good offer, and it was a difficult decision to leave, as they have been very good to me. Having examined my options, my agent informed them I wouldn’t be resigning before their deadline passed. I’d like to go on record to thank Mike Hendrick who has been instrumental in my career development.””However once the opportunity arose with Warwickshire, and the chance to work with their bowling coach Allan Donald, it was something I had to go for. I’m looking forward to the next few years, both domestically and internationally. I’ve a contract to play in the Indian League along with Niall O’ Brien, and it looks like I’ll be in Bangladesh with Ireland in March.”

Zimbabwe Cricket’s managing director Ozias Bvute appeared in court on Wednesday to face charges of contravening the country’s Draconian foreign currency exchange regulations.The pro-government Daily Mirror reported that Bvute was charged in his personal capacity for exchange-control anomalies. The newspaper claimed Bvute illegally made payments of nearly US$1.5 million outside Zimbabwe. The payments included university tuition for three ZC scholarship players, including Hamilton Masakadza, who was at the Free State University in South Africa.The other charges against Bvute include authorising commission payments from monies obtained from television rights, to UK based marketing agent, Octagon CSI.In all instances, the paper reports, the Zimbabwe board and Bvute did not approach the country’s central bank for approval.He is set to return to Harare Magistrates Court on December 4 for further trial.

Despite being sidelined for various reasons, the Jamaican pace duo of Jerome Taylor and Jermaine Lawson will still play a role in the West Indies training camp currently underway at the Three Ws Oval, University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus.Taylor is undergoing rehabilitative work on his action while Lawson is recovering from ankle surgery, but Tony Howard, the West Indies manager, said the two players would still be put through some paces in the week-long camp.”We have 24 players in the camp plus two players we brought down to put through some extra work in Jermaine Lawson and Jerome Taylor,” Howard told CMC Sports. “They are here because there is some work for them to do on the physical side. Jerome has some technical flaws that we need to straighten out and Jermaine has had a minor operation and we are trying to get him back on the physical track.”The West Indies camp, currently preparing for the tour of Australia next month, began in earnest on Sunday (September 25) after most of the 24 players arrived in the island over the weekend. The 23-year-old Lawson underwent minor surgery two weeks ago and was expected to miss the camp while the 21-year-old Taylor had been ruled out of selection for the Australian tour after it was decided that more work was needed on his action.After a tough workout on Sunday, the majority of the players spent time in the indoor nets on Monday under the watchful eye of Bennett King, the head coach , assistant coach David Moores and technical consultant Sir Garry Sobers.

One blond Victorian legspinner was bad news enough. But now, the Aussies have two. Cameron White, a 21-year-old who juggles captaincy, bowling and batting for his state, was not surprised when the selectors rang earlier today. Whispers of his promotion to a bigger stage had steadily grown louder, and White had overheard them. He wasn’t holding his breath, but had practised bowling on spinning pitches in the break between seasons just in case. So when the call came, he was ready.To understand White, you have to know where he comes from. “I was a country boy,” he says. He grew up 285 kilometres east of Melbourne, in a picturesque township called Bairnsdale. The town was established on the banks of a river, and the rich farmland gave birth to a trade of agriculture. It was here, nudged by a cricket-playing father, that the young White took up the game. Batting came naturally, and gradually his bowling improved. “I’d been a batter through my junior cricket, and now my bowling has sort of taken over a little bit, but I like to think I’m still a batter. A bit of an allrounder, I guess,” he says lightly, as if it happened by itself.Last year, White led Victoria’s one-day side after an injury to Darren Berry, the captain. His own form wasn’t outstanding, but under White’s leadership the team won five out of eight games. The selectors, impressed with his skills, named him captain for the following season. But he averages 34 with the ball, 25 with the bat, and his one-day record is not as flattering. It provoked many to ask whether he was doing one job too many. Was he a legspinner or a batsman, and was the captaincy affecting him?”I’d like to think they’re all pretty much my strengths,” he retorts. “If someone asks me what I do, I just say ‘I’m happy to do whatever anyone wants me to do.’ I’m happy to bowl, happy to bat, happy to do anything. You’ve just got to manage them best as you can. It’s hard to divide all your time between all three, so you’ve just got to split it up into equal parts and prepare as well as you can.”It’s the kind of spirit necessary for teams touring India, and the selectors picked him hoping that his bowling would suit Indian conditions too: quick through the air, relying more on changes of pace, bounce, the wrong’un and the top-spinner. White is more Anil Kumble than Warne.White’s action came to him naturally in his teens. Warnie, being all the rage and on TV all the time, certainly helped. Not long after, they were playing together. “I started bowling it when I was 13, so obviously I was watching Shane Warne on TV and that contributed a little bit to me bowling legspin a bit more. And obviously playing with Shane now is a great help, so that’s one of the things that definitely contributed to me bowling legspin. I’ve been lucky enough to work with him over the last few years. It’s been good so far.”A receptive player, White’s take on his action’s evolution is that it just happened. “I bowled legspin and that’s just the way they came out. It’s just my unique style. I didn’t copy anyone or anything like that. When I started on legspin that’s how I bowled it and that’s how I’ve stuck with it so far.The Victorian coach, Greg Shipperd, feels his bowling style could make a difference in India. White agreed, reminiscing about the up-and-down pitches he found during his only trip there, two years ago, when he toured with the Commonwealth Academy under Andrew Symonds. “I enjoyed bowling in India because the wickets normally turned and helped my style of bowling. But the pitches have a bit more variable bounce, so I enjoyed bowling stump to stump and, yeah … I really enjoyed bowling there.” In the three-day game at Chepauk, White picked up five wickets.But bowling to hopefuls was one thing, facing Sachin Tendulkar was quite another. Late last year, White was part of a team that faced the Indians between Tests. He came away wicketless, and realised he needed to do much more. Echoing Warne’s words, he said it was “pretty difficult”. But he has begun preparing himself for further battles. You know it’s a battle for him, once he calls his deliveries “weapons”. The first thing he’s trying to do is have a varied repertoire. Or more artillery.”I’m definitely trying to work on certain things in my game along with my coaches and Shane,” said White. “A few things, spinning it a little more, and have different deliveries, and have more weapons … umm, deliveries. I have the normal stuff. I don’t have the flipper like Warnie does. I just have a legspinner, a top-spinner and a wrong’un. I rely on bounce and drift so I don’t have lots of different deliveries.”What White intends to do some time over the next month is sit and listen to Warne, and understand more from his experience of India. “I’m looking forward to speaking to him and seeing what he’s got to say, and I’m sure I’ll be prepared to listen as much as I can and learn as much as I can off him.” They might not need to speak about baked beans: White didn’t mind the food during his tour. “I ate chicken tikka masala the whole time I was in India, obviously with nan-bread, dahl and rice,” the words burst out, almost eagerly. “So I don’t mind Indian food.”However, travelling with the senior team will bring its own set of responsibilities, and the likelihood that White will savour an authentic dish filled with masala are remote. But the memories of his last trip are fresh, and you can tell he’s raring to get here. “We travelled around in a bus, and that was pretty scary,” he says with glee. “That was probably the most scary part. Travelling around the streets at night in a bus and those phut-phuts during the day were very scary. It was quite good fun!”Cows running on the road … it was organised chaos…,” White trails off. “Maybe not even organised.”He isn’t the finished product yet, and so breaking into the side won’t be easy. But White is only 21, and part of Australia’s next generation. He’s up to the challenges that lie ahead, and he’s dealing with them the same way he’s dealt with everything else so far. “I just like to not worry about it too much and just get out and play and try to do the best that I can. As long as you’re prepared well, I don’t know if there’s much else you can do.”