Azeem Ghumman’s quickfire 59 set the Hyderabad Hawks on their way to a seven-wicket victory over Lahore Eagles at the Gaddafi Stadium. Chasing a stiff 178, Ghumman, who captained Pakistan Under-19s at the World Cup earlier this year, blasted nine fours and two sixes and added 91 in seven overs for the first wicket with Sharjeel Khan.Hyderabad briefly lost their way after the opening stand, losing three wickets cheaply and had Faisal Athar retired hurt. Thirties from Rizwan Ahmed and Aqeel Anjum, however, safely carried them to their first win of the tournament, with two balls to spare.Lahore seemed to have the upper hand after their captain Taufeeq Umar, who last played for Pakistan in 2006, played through the innings for a 78. No one else from the top seven provided him much support, but No. 8 Junaid Zia smashed four sixes and two fours to raise 47 from the final 14 deliveries.In the day’s second match, Rawalpindi Rams beat Karachi Zebras by 28 runs. The defeat knocked Karachi out of the tournament and left Rawalpindi facing a knock-out clash with Sialkot Stallions to determine who will progress from Group B.Rawalpindi were struggling at 30 for 3 when 36-year-old Naved Ashraf, in his 19th season of first-class cricket, provided them the momentum with a quick 45 which included four sixes and two fours. There were no other big contributions but a string of twenties pushed Rawalpindi to a challenging 172.Four boundaries from Khurram Manzoor in the first two overs gave Zebras’ chase a brisk start, but he fell to left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir for 19. No. 3 Babar Rehman perished in the third over, and following a burst of hitting from Hasan Raza -now 28 years old but famous for being the youngest Test debutant – there was another slew of wickets which left them at a hopeless 73 for 5, a position from which there was no comeback.Lahore Lions eased to a 36-run win over Peshawar Panthers at the Gaddafi Stadium after their openers, Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad, had propelled them to a challenging total. Asked to bat, the Lahore openers gave their team a solid foundation in a 113-run stand in just 11.2 overs. Jamshed smashed eight fours and two sixes in his 79 while Shehzad’s innings was laced with six fours and one six. That wasn’t all. Umar Akmal came in and played a typically aggressive knock, carting eight fours in his 52. Thanks to his onslaught, Lahore reached 206 and it proved adequate.Peshawar, in their reply, failed to emulate the start provided by the Lahore openers, with the first wicket falling on 16. The Lahore bowlers struck at regular intervals and while there were contributions that promised much, the highest, unfortunately for Peshawar, was 35 from Zohaib Khan at No.8. Wahab Riaz shone with the ball for Lahore, taking 3 for 15 as Peshawar folded for 170.

Points Table

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

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* Top three IPL teams will qualify for Champions League

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Facing criticism about an inadequate anti-corruption protocol, the ICC has denied any laxity in the work of its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and pointed out that the body lacks the powers available to conventional law enforcement agencies.Three days after what could be the sport’s biggest scandal came to light, ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat told Cricinfo he was not worried about the fact that it was broken following a tabloid sting operation.”The ACSU’s working is not that of a policing agency or a newspaper,” Lorgat said. “They have no power to arrest or seize, or carry out a sting operation.”Criticism of the ACSU began shortly after the arrest of Mazhar Majeed on Saturday, on charges of ‘conspiracy to defraud bookmakers’. Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, was quoted as saying, “We’ve had an anti-corruption unit for how long? Why does it take an English newspaper to bring this out?”The ICC spent $640,000, excluding staff costs, on the ACSU last year. That’s less than 1% of the ICC’s profit of $84.7 million.Defending the ACSU, Lorgat said it had played its own part in assisting the Majeed case, to which the names of at least three Pakistani cricketers have been linked. “There is a lot of evidence we have given to the police in this investigation so we are not worried about how it is working at all”, he said.The ACSU was set up in 2001, in response to the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal, as a means of establishing and publicising very specific anti-corruption and security measures for players, support staff and administrators.The game has changed since then, with the advent of Twenty20 cricket, and so has technology but Lorgat indicated the ACSU didn’t need to change to stay in sync. “In the context of what is going on, I think its work is going fine,” he said.The onset of the World Cup, less than six months away, was not, Lorgat said, a special cause for concern for the ICC. “Never mind the World Cup, there is never a good time of the year for something like this to happen. This kind of bad news is not acceptable and cricket can do without it at any point of time.”The ACSU’s functioning is limited primarily to ICC events and begins with seminars about the anti-corruption code, which takes place in the under-19 World Cup, the women’s world cup and the three main events in the men’s game: the World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the World T20. The seminar is followed by a technical briefing for support staff to discuss anti-corruption issues among others. The players are advised on how to deal with approaches by unknown individuals – they must report it immediately to the manager, much in the manner of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin. Every dressing room has a sign on the wall with the numbers of the ACSU’s hotline. The approach room or corridor leading to the dressing room is watched over by CCTV cameras, whose footage is removed by the ICC’s security police after each day’s play and stored for inspection and reviews when needed.The mugshots of those allowed access to the dressing room – team and support staff – are posted outside the doors and only the manager is allowed to use a mobile phone inside the room; all the cellphones and ‘communication devices’ during the match are banned. While wi-fi access is password restricted, only the manager is given the password to supply to the team’s data analyst. At an ICC event the only other person allowed to enter a dressing room is the event manager – “even the CEO doesn’t have access to the dressing room,” an ICC official said.National boards are supposed to follow identical anti-corruption rules in much the same manner and for the most part seem to be doing so. On the evening before a big international game, the security team inspects the venue. According to a regular ground-operations expert in India, the daily visitor pass to the dressing room has a stamp that fades to prevent it from being re-cycled the next day. In newer stadia – Nagpur, for example – no one else is allowed access even into the separate corridors that take the player from bus to changing room.Yet the rules stop at the ground at the end of the game. The rest, says the ICC staffer, rests on national boards and the player’s own sense of self. “We can’t tap phones or shadow players because that is an invasion of privacy. We can’t control the hotel and we can’t control the individual beyond what he does on the field.” An ICC security man said that the shift from ‘fans’ approaching players to several claiming to be ‘agents’ and ‘managers’ for the players had made the ICC’s vigilance all the more complicated. The fan can be hustled away, the legitimate business partner of a cricketer just won’t budge.The ICC’s anti corruption code has been updated and amended as of October 6, 2009, but the official says there is a chance that the ICC’s chief executives meeting in Cape Town on September 14-15 will discuss the issue of allowances made for the age of cricketers found guilty of colluding with bookies.

ScorecardDavid Masters dragged Essex back into the game before Warwickshire’s bowlers demolished the Essex top order•Getty Images

Essex and Warwickshire found themselves locked in a tense struggle at Southendon a day which saw a total of 17 wickets fell for 234 runs. After Essex had lost their final wicket in the morning to be bowled out for 150, Warwickshire responded with 155 before reducing the home side to 78 for 6 in their second innings.Bryce McGain, in only his second and probably last County Championship gamefor the county, was the key figure in Warwickshire’s demise. The 38-year-old Australian legspinner took 4 for 33 in 10 overs to add to his five-wicket haul in the previous match against Kent.McGain joined Essex a fortnight ago as a replacement for Danish Kaneria. Butnow that Kaneria has been axed from Pakistan’s touring squad, Essex are seekingto re-register him for the remainder of the summer, a move that will signal theend of McGain’s spell. His last outing for the county is expected to be in theClydesdale Bank 40 duel against Northamptonshire on Sunday.McGain’s arrival heralded the first sight of a spinner in the match in the 85thover and he struck with his first delivery to have Tim Ambrose caught behindby James Foster. He also needed Foster’s help to remove Neil Carter and Imran Tahir, before which he also trapped Keith Barker lbw for 22.Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke grafted away for nearly half of Warwickshire’stotal. Maddy’s innings of 39 spanned 88 deliveries while Clarke’s 36 came from 80balls. Both eventually became lbw victims of paceman David Masters who went onto finish with 3 for 51 from 19.4 overs.Jaik Mickleburgh and Mark Pettini began encouragingly enough when Essexembarked upon their second innings, taking the total to 33 before the WestMidlands county hit back strongly.Pettini was caught behind off Boyd Rankin and Tom Westley edged Clarke to secondslip before Carter struck twice in consecutive overs to leave Essex on 56 for4. First he had Ravi Bopara caught behind and then ended Mickleburgh’sresistance by trapping him leg before after the opener had reached 30.Essex were then to suffer a double blow just before the close. Foster was superbly caught low down at first slip by Maddy to provide Chris Woakes with success and with the day’s final delivery Tony Palladino was stumped when moving forward against spinner Tahir.It all left Essex going into the third day with an advantage of just 73 and with Warwickshire nursing high hopes of claiming only their third Championship victory of the summer.

Azhar Ali, the Pakistan batsman who played a crucial role in the Headingley Test victory, is pleased to be a part of the team that broke a 15-year losing streak against Australia. Azhar told Cricistan.com how the experience of watching Pakistan’s losses to Australia over the years steeled him into action during his 51 in the second innings.”Before I became a cricketer, I was a fan. As both a fan and a cricketer there was always a desire to see Pakistan beat the best team in the world,” Azhar said. “There is a certain sense of frustration when you see Pakistan repeatedly lose from a winning position and when you stood outside looking in as a fan then there’s a feeling of helplessness too. That’s why I was determined that I would make the Aussies work for my wicket, they would have to take it from me.Azhar came into the starting line-up for the series following the retirement of Mohammad Yousuf and the exclusion of Younis Khan, which left the middle order extremely thin on experience. While the batsmen did enough to go past the line in Headingley, Azhar admitted it was Pakistan’s talented bowling attack that set up the victory.”We won this game because the bowlers put us into such a great position on day one, after that it was our game to lose. I’m really proud of my second innings partnership with [Imran] Farhat and of my first Test 50 but I was absolutely gutted to get out. When my wicket fell we only needed 34 more runs and I had wanted to stay till the end and win the game for Pakistan,” he said.Pakistan were on the brink of victory at the start of day four, needing 40 runs with seven wickets standing. Australia came back into the game, picking four more wickets including Azhar’s before Pakistan squeaked past the line. Azhar admitted the clutch of wickets made the dressing room nervous, but they were always confident of finishing it off.”Of course when wickets fall together, there will be some trepidation in any dressing room. But on the final morning, there were so few runs needed that we still felt that we would win the match.”Australia did their best to stop us, their fielding was brilliant. If they hadn’t blocked a couple of early shots, which were on their way to the fence, then the game would’ve been over a lot quicker. They are experts at applying pressure and making even the smallest of totals look like they’ll be hard to get. It worked for them against us in the past but today was our day and hopefully we’ve now broken that jinx.” Azhar said.Azhar was looking forward to the next challenge, the four-Test series against England which should be a rigorous test of his mettle at the one-drop position. “I agree that the No.3 position is a very important one. I want to be the best player that I can and I see batting at number three as a great challenge. It’s an opportunity for me to show what I’m capable of and it helps my confidence to know that the team management has trusted me to bat at such a pivotal number.”I look forward to the challenge of the upcoming Test series against England. They’re a very good team and we’re going to have to be at the top of our game to compete with them but I’m confident that this Pakistani team will give as good as it gets,” he said. The first Test of the England series begins at Trent Bridge on July 29.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Morne Morkel took two important wickets as South Africa completed a four-day victory•AFP

What was a rout on day three proved harder graft on day four as South Africa’s bowlers, for the second time in as many days, worked their way through the West Indies line-up to deliver a comprehensive 163-run victory.For West Indies fans, the past fifteen years has been a case of dragging positives out the wreckage of defeat and today only Chris Gayle, who resisted stoically for 73, and Dwayne Bravo emerged with much credit. While in charge of England’s bowlers recently Ottis Gibson had twice watched South Africa denied by iron-willed resistance, but in his first Test as West Indies coach there were no heroics from the batting team.Instead it was Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, the most incisive new-ball pair in the world, who took the plaudits. Fast bowling has suffered under the torrent of lifeless pitches and endless cricket in recent times, but the South African pair gave the few spectators at the Queen’s Park Oval memories of old as they efficiently chipped their way through the tired surface and West Indies’ top-order.Graeme Smith rewarded his bowlers with some rest when, on day three, he chose not to enforce the follow on and South Africa began the day by cautiously extending their lead to 456 before finally declaring after an hour this morning. It was an unnecessarily conservative effort first-up from the tourists but they still had more than enough time to complete their task.Morkel was the man who did the damage early on in the first innings, and he picked up from where he left off immediately second time round, trapping Travis Dowlin in front with his first ball of the innings. It brought Brendan Nash to the crease, batting at least two places too high at No. 3. Nash had forged a Test career on nuggety defiance but in circumstances seemingly made for him, he was instead intent on swiping his way to glory. Inevitably, he was soon found out, pushing loosely outside off stump to give Steyn an early wicket.At that stage it looked as though West Indies may fold quickly again, but Gayle found a willing partner in Shivnarine Chanderpaul and launched an entertaining counter-attack. Where in the first innings he tried to block and nurdle, this time round he reverted to his preferred see-ball-hit-ball method. There were some memorable shots as he raced to a half-century in 62 balls, none more so than a check-drive straight back over Morkel’s head for six. Yet throughout there was the feeling he was West Indies’ only hope. Gayle may well possess the broadest shoulders in the Test game but the burden of carrying this team must be taking its toll.He could only watch on helplessly as Chanderpaul lost concentration and fenced aimlessly at Jacques Kallis to end a 55-run stand and the home team’s best period of resistance. Thereafter South Africa steadily chizzled away as the game meandered to its inevitable result.Paul Harris did his best Ashley Giles impression, offering little more than accuracy as Smith rotated his pace bowlers from the other end. Gayle’s continued defiance lured optimistic West Indians into dreaming that he may be able to repeat his marathon hundred at Adelaide last year, but this time conditions were more testing and the task more futile.Eventually Morkel landed the killer blow, removing him for the second time in the match. Gayle was pinned on the crease as he played around his front pad and, knowing his team’s fortunes would depart with him, thought longingly about a referral before dragging himself off.Narsingh Deonarine, who had also impressed in Australia, looked fraught throughout his stay here. His movements were exaggerated and edgy and after a couple of well-timed drives, he could not withstand a round-the-wicket attack from Steyn. Hanging on the back foot he played around a full ball to become another West Indian batsman trapped lbw.It ended a useful stand with Bravo who, after surviving a close bat-pad shout, played with the exuberance and flair missing from his first innings. Having stroked his way to 49 he got embroiled, and eventually defeated, in a game of patience with Harris. Sticking with monastic commitment to a line outside leg stump, Harris frustrated Bravo and was eventually rewarded when Bravo chipped tamely to midwicket. Harris has a thoroughly unglamorous role in this side, holding up an end while Steyn and Morkel attack, but he did it well and deserved a reward.As has so often been the case recently, West Indies were left looking to salvage little but pride from a hopeless situation. Instead Dinesh Ramdin gifted Lonwabo Tsotsobe a first Test wicket. While lacking the gifts of his senior colleagues, Tsotsobe was accurate and cut his fingers over the ball effectively to restrict all the batsmen he came up against and deserved some luck.It was left to the spinning duo – Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford, who had done well earlier in the day to limit South Africa to 51 runs in 18.3 overs – to bring some cheer to the West Indies fans. The old ball had made survival easier and they batted merrily during a 66-run stand in almost 15 overs. Benn was finally undone by Alviro Petersen and Shillingford duly followed. Fittingly it was Steyn who finished the job, bowling Nelon Pascal off an inside edge to give South Africa their eighth successive victory over West Indies this tour.

ScorecardYorkshire suffered a 14-run defeat to Northamptonshire under the Duckworth-Lewis method in their Friends Provident t20 clash at Headingley – but the home side were struggling even before the weather closed in. Replying to the Steelbacks’ modest 151 for 7 the hosts were 51 for 4 after 7.5 overs and falling well behind the required rate.Yorkshire’s innings started badly when Jacques Rudolph fell to a great diving catch at long on in the first over from Chaminda Vaas and it became 16 for two as skipper Andrew Gale drove to wide mid-off and become the first of three victims for paceman Jack Brooks.Herschelle Gibbs moved to 19 with a straight six off Brooks but steered his next ball into the hands of wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien and although Anthony McGrath looked in sound form batting became increasingly difficult in dreadful light. Gerard Brophy held out his bat at Brooks to give O’Brien another catch but before new batsman Jonny Bairstow could face his first ball the rain came down and soon waterlogged the ground, man-of-the-match Brooks finishing with 3 for 24.Northamptonshire, who chose to bat first, were given a fine start by Lou Vincent and Vaas, who figured in an opening stand of 49 inside six overs, the Kiwi top-scoring with 38 off 31 balls with two fours and two sixes. Steve Patterson broke the partnership by having Vaas caught for 20 by Gale who held on to a fierce drive as he flung himself to his left at deep mid-on.From that point on, the initiative swung Yorkshire’s way as a result of some good bowling, particularly from Adil Rashid and Richard Pyrah who put a stranglehold on the overs in the middle of the innings. Once again Rashid was in excellent form with his leg-spin and he claimed three wickets for the third consecutive match while giving away only 23 runs.Pyrah was even more economical, conceding just 19 runs from his four overs. He also captured the all-important wicket of Vincent with a great ball which seamed away and found the edge before ending up in the gloves of wicketkeeper Brophy. Andrew Hall scored a valuable unbeaten 31 off 19 balls with four boundaries and Willey added late impetus to the innings with two fours and a six in his 19 which came from a dozen deliveries.

ScorecardDurham were denied a victory that would move them closer to the top of the County Championship First Division table following a final-day washout againstWarwickshire at Edgbaston.Champions for the past two years, Durham were in a good position to revivetheir bid for a title hat-trick until the rain returned immediately after anoptimistic mid-afternoon report by the umpires.Peter Willey and Rob Bailey initially planned a re-start at 3.45pm, which wouldhave given Durham 36 overs in which to wrap up the six wickets they required forvictory.But Warwickshire remained on their overnight score of 229 for 4, after beingasked to follow on 279 behind, when further downpours resulted in the matchbeing called off at 4.30pm. Ian Westwood therefore remained 14 runs short of his century while debutant wicketkeeper Richard Johnson was on 20.Durham took 10 points from the draw to be fifth, while six points for the hostsmoved them above Hampshire at the foot of the table.

Brendon McCullum has said tracks in Barbados, the venue for New Zealand’s first Super Eights clash against South Africa on Thursday, should give his team’s top-order batsmen a better opportunity to post bigger scores.”I think the wickets in Barbados will be a little bit quicker and it will present an opportunity for us top-order batsmen to play with a little freedom as well and hopefully we will see one, or two, or three of the top four go on and make some sizeable totals in the next few games,” McCullum said. “The pitches in Guyana were a little more conducive to the slower bowling which probably doesn’t suit out batsmen quite as much but while it wasn’t flash and wasn’t flamboyant we got the job done in both games. And at the end of the day that is all you can ask for.”McCullum said South Africa present a different challenge compared to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, whom New Zealand beat in the first round. “South Africa’s a quality team, everyone knows that. We’ve all seen how good they are in all three forms of the game and in Twenty20 they’ve got some dangerous players right through the line-up and they offer a different challenge to what Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have offered us so far with a bit more predominant seam attack,” he said. “Having said that they have a couple of quality spinners as well.”The star player for New Zealand this tournament has been McCullum’s brother Nathan. His all-round show against Sri Lanka clinched a thrilling win for his team and he followed it up by taking 3 for 16 against Zimbabwe. McCullum said his brother’s success was important for New Zealand’s progress in the tournament.”I’m pleased for him because I know how hard he has worked and I know how much he wants it and I know how much he loves playing for New Zealand,” he said. “He’s a vital member of our team at the moment in this form of the game and this country and certainly the role he has to play is going to play a big part in our ability to progress through this tournament.”

Jamaican wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh jnr has been included in West Indies’ provisional 30-member squad for the World Twenty20 to be staged in the Caribbean late next month.The wicketkeeper’s slot is something of a worry for new coach Ottis Gibson, following Denesh Ramdin’s disappointing performances in the recent matches against Australia and Zimbabwe. Besides Baugh and Ramdin, the other in the running for the position are Andre Fletcher, Chadwick Walton and Devon Thomas.Of the frontline wicketkeepers in the regional competition, Baugh is the best batsman with a solid first-class average of 36.45 and 11 hundreds, though he has played only a handful of Twenty20 matches. He hasn’t impressed on the international stage yet, last having played for West Indies in December 2008, a Twenty20 game against New Zealand.Fletcher and Walton have been let down by their batting as well in recent matches for West Indies, and it is believed the selectors may not risk to exposing 20-year-old Thomas to such a high-profile competition at this time.There were no real surprises in the squad except for the axing of left-hander Brendan Nash. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jerome Taylor, who have been out of action with injuries, are likely to undergo fitness assessments before the selection panel, headed by Clyde Butts, name the final 15.West Indies have been drawn in Group D, along with England and Ireland, and will be playing their league matches at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. They open their campaign against Ireland on April 30.West Indies probables for the 2010 World Twenty20: Lionel Baker, Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh jnr, David Bernard jnr, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Royston Crandon, Travis Dowlin, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Nikita Miller, Runako Morton, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Devon Thomas, Gavin Tonge, Chadwick Walton

England cricketer Claire Taylor received her MBE at Windsor Castle today. Taylor was part of the England side that won both the Women’s World Cup and the Women’s World Twenty20 last year, cracking an unbeaten half-century to guide England to victory over Australia in the semi-final of the Twenty20 tournament. She was Player of the Tournament at both events and was named Women’s Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in Johannesburg.A veteran of England’s Women’s side, she has played 114 one-day internationals and 15 Tests since making her debut in an ODI against Australia at Southampton in 1998. She has also been a valued member of Berkshire and club Reading Ridgeway for over 14 years, and is currently ranked second in the world in the ICC ODI batting rankings.”It was such a huge honour today,” Taylor said after receiving her MBE. To be presented with this by the Queen at Windsor Castle, it’s brilliant. I’m so honoured.””It’s best not to think about these things actually,” she added. “You concentrate on the things you’re good at, that you enjoy. In my case, that’s playing cricket and it’s putting on an England shirt and playing for your country. If you’re lucky – and I have been to do all that – it’s fantastic.”I wouldn’t be here if the team hadn’t played some really great cricket. Hopefully, what they’ve done inspires a few others to take up the path of cricket. It’s a great sport and you can get great rewards from it.”When asked to identify her personal highlights from a long international career, Taylor explained: “Chases as a batsman test me mentally and technically so they mean more to me. We’ve had some great performances over the last twelve months and I’d probably pick chasing 160-odd to beat Australia to get into the World Twenty20 Final.”Clare Connor, ECB’s Head of England Women’s Cricket, paid tribute to Taylor after she received her prestigious award. “Claire Taylor’s contribution to women’s cricket is immense,” she said. “Claire has amassed over 5,000 runs in all formats of international cricket.”In February 2008, she notched up her seventh century to become the joint highest century-maker in women’s ODIs. In 2009 she made history when she was named as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year – the first female to receive the accolade.”In 2009 she was instrumental in England lifting two ICC trophies, the World Cup and the World Twenty20; in both tournaments Claire was named Player of the Tournament for her consistent contributions with the bat,” she added.”Claire’s influence stretches far beyond the England team. She helps raise standards of girls’ cricket in her area through working on a Gifted and Talented Programme and she is heavily involved in Sport Relief this year. In short, she is a tremendous ambassador for our sport and she thoroughly deserves to be recognised with the honour of an MBE.”