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Pakistan 184 for 3 (Farhat 82, Hameed 61) beat New Zealand 183 (Cairns 48, Akhtar 3-23) by 7 wickets with 8.4 overs to spare
Scorecard

Yasir Hameed: made a fluent half-century to ease Pakistan to victory © Wisden Cricinfo

Pakistan thumped New Zealand by seven wickets in a comprehensive all-round exhibition to take a 4-0 lead in the five-match series. New Zealand opted to bat, but made heavy weather of a flat pitch, struggling to 183 as Pakistan’s bowlers made run-scoring a torrid affair. Shoaib Akhtar took 3 for 23, as top-order batsmen and tailenders were equally uncomfortable against his controlled aggression.Imran Farhat (82) and Yasir Hameed (61) then hammered 134 for the first wicket – a partnership characterised by merciless batting that emphasised the difference between the teams – as Pakistan coasted past the target with more than eight overs to spare.Chris Cairns top-scored for a team that has been bruised, battered, and for the most part of this series, has resembled a tattered rag-doll. His innings of 48 stood out among others that promised much but were terminated by incisive bowling. A defiant six over midwicket to signal the end of Abdul Razzaq’s miserly spell confirmed his combative intentions, as did a string of boundaries in the middle of the New Zealand innings. But it was not to last, as he ran out of both partners and time, and fell to a false shot, to be bowled by Shoaib Malik (143 for 7).Earlier, Akhtar took all of five balls to deliver the first blow, ending Craig Cumming’s stay with an incutter that thudded into his pads (0 for 1). Mathew Sinclair then joined Richard Jones, and the pair scored runs on the rare occasions the bowlers erred. The budding partnership ended when Sinclair (7) played down the wrong line to a Razzaq inswinger and was adjudged lbw (23 for 2).New Zealand’s predisposition for self-destruction, much in evidence on this tour, then came to the fore again. Jones played a ball to square leg and took off for a non-existant second run, but Akhtar’s powerful throw to the wicketkeeper had him diving back in vain (31 for 3). With the top three dismissed, the bowlers had a stranglehold and did not gift Hamish Marshall and Chris Harris any favours. An Azhar Mahmood yorker splayed the stumps to end Marshall’s endeavors (49 for 4).Trying to buck the tightening screws, Harris and Cairns applied pressure on the fielders with well-placed singles and slowly built a partnership. At this point Inzamam-ul-Haq turned to Malik, a masterstroke that wrenched New Zealand’s final experienced pair apart. Harris stepped out and hit a ball high, but not long enough, and Saleem Elahi made a difficult catch look simple at long-off (82 for 5).Brendon McCullum’s brief stay at the middle was aborted by a throw that found him short of the crease, attempting a third run off a misfield (100 for 6). When Cairns was dismissed shortly after, Akhtar returned to bully the tail, picking up two wickets before an Umar Gul delivery disturbed Paul Hitchcock’s stumps and ended an innings of considerable woe.The New Zealand attack discovered the schizophrenic nature of the pitch, as it now held none of the imagined dangers of the first innings, when wickets tumbled and runs were in short supply. Daryl Tuffey’s first four overs went for 30 runs, while Michael Mason’s three cost 20. Hameed and Farhat simply drove through the line when the ball was pitched up, singeing the turf with thundering boundaries, and stepped back to cut anything short, often tantalisingly past slip, to the fence.By the halfway mark both openers had thrashed fifties, and just as Pakistan were headed for a ten-wicket victory, Hameed chipped a Tama Canning delivery to long-on, where Tuffey took a regulation catch (134 for 1). Moments later, they combined to dismiss Mahmood, as Tuffey dived full-length to grasp a catch inches from the grass at cover (153 for 2).Canning dismissed Farhat as well, this time with a direct throw from fine leg, as the batsman scampered for a second run (162 for 3). That was the last of the setbacks, as Saleem Elahi and Malik achieved the victory with a spell of boundaries to leave New Zealand with the unpleasant prospect of a 0-5 whitewash.

Philo Wallace is not happy with the performance of the young Barbados fast bowlers who have failed to make an impression in the second round Busta Cup match against the Windward Islands.As Barbados battle to avoid defeat against opponents who have not beaten them in a first-class match since 1983, the skipper could not hide his feelings over the inconsistency and a lack of support for spearhead Ian Bradshaw.I am very disappointed in the support bowlers. They are just not coming up to scratch, Wallace said after yesterday’s third day in which Barbados closed on 89 for five in pursuit of 314 for victory.It seems that once `Braddie’ is off, the younger bowlers are not stepping up and taking up responsibility.We always have to go back to Bradshaw all the time. He is tired. I can’t seem to understand why the younger bowlers would not recognise that they have an important part to play in bowling the ball in the right areas.In the absence of West Indies selectees Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore and following the decision to discard the experienced Hendy Bryan, Barbados have entrusted their fast bowling duties to Bradshaw, along with the previously uncapped trio of Tino Best, 20, Fidel Edwards, 19, and Antonio Thomas, 19.Best bowled impressively in his debut innings when raw pace earned him four wickets against Guyana, but could not match the performance in the other three innings.As the Windwards tried to build their advantage yesterday, Wallace gave him only two overs that cost 16, while Edwards was used for four overs in which he conceded 22 runs.In the end, Barbados dismissed the Windwards for 295 following their first innings effort of 327.We are all about excitement, yes, but at the end of the day, you could only be exciting if you do the right things, Wallace said.If you don’t do the right things,excitement just leaves you. It only goes to show that the guys will hopefully learn from their mistakes in this game and will improve in the next couple of games.The Barbados captain said, however, it was important that the young fast bowlers learn quickly.We are fast-tracking young people into this cricket. If we get rid of senior players, the younger players who we think are going to carry us into the future must learn quickly, he said.You can’t keep saying they are inexperienced and they are young. How long are they going to stay young?In another five years, are you still going to tell me they are young? At the end of the day, they have to learn fast. At the end of the day, Barbados is a winning nation. They have walked into a winning side. We are defending the Busta Cup and they have to come up to mark.

Vidarbha just about managed to stave off an innings defeat on the final day oftheir Central Zone under-22 match against Uttar Pradesh at Kamla Club, Kanpur onSunday. In arrears by 143 runs on the first innings, Vidarbha were 120 for ninewhen stumps were drawn.Put in to bat on Friday, Vidarbha were dismissed for 127 runs in 63.3 overs. Atone stage, they were 75 for one, thanks to a second wicket partnership of 61 off27.2 overs between Faiz Fazal (31) and A Janbandhan (45). But then S Pandey (4for 24) and V Pandey (4 for 25) brought about a sharp collapse and the last ninewickets fell for 52 runs. UP replied with 270 for eight declared. Openers AshrafAli (38) and Anshul Kapoor (61) put on 58 runs. Then Kapoor and Javed Anwar (80)consolidated by adding 71 runs for the fourth wicket off 89 balls. A sixthwicket partnership of 83 runs between Anwar and Arvind Solanki (59) helped UPtake a commanding lead. Anwar faced 102 balls and hit nine fours. On the finalday, Vidarbha were helped by the bad weather (about 300 minutes were totallylost because of this factor) but were still in danger of defeat when the eighthwicket fell at 67. The No 10 batsman Rupesh Shaikh hit a breezy 25 off 29 ballsand took the score to 105 with the No 8 batsman Anirudh Pathradkar. ThenPathradkar (15) and Atul Waghmare (3) held on for 13.4 overs to ensure thatVidarbha got three points. UP finished with five.

ScorecardAzharullah picked up three second-innings wickets as Kent succumbed inside three days•Getty Images

Northamptonshire dismissed Championship Division Two rivals Kent for 208 to wrap up an innings-and-23-runs victory with almost a day-and-a-half to spare at Canterbury.Hosts Kent seemingly had little desire for the fight as they lost nine wickets in less than two sessions to gift a 23-point win to Northants. That left Kent second from bottom and they went straight into the nets afterwards having banked only three points from this their seventh defeat in 12 Championship games.Resuming on 90 for 1 at the start of Thursday’s play, Kent lost four more wickets in the morning session of what transpired to be a one-sided clash.Once again, poor shot selection led to their demise with Joe Denly starting the rot with a meek clip off his hip straight into the hands of Josh Cobb at short midwicket. Captain Sam Northeast was pinned leg before when playing across a full length ball from Azharullah, as was Ben Harmison, whose painful 36-minute stay for 3 ended with a near identical stroke against Ben Sanderson.On 27 Rob Key had raised Kent’s 100 in fortunate circumstances with a top-edged hook against Azharullah that was palmed over the ropes for six by Maurice Chambers at long leg. But after adding another nine to his own score Key perished when another miscued pull against Sanderson sailed to Azharullah who safely pouched the opportunity to make it 121 for 5.The capitulation gathered pace after lunch when Darren Stevens was adjudged leg before for 15 to the excellent Olly Stone who, in tandem with Azharullah, sent down 53 of the 78 overs needed to skittle Kent.Stone then cleaned up Calum Haggett with the very next delivery for a golden duck and although James Tredwell survived the hat-trick ball, the end for Kent was nigh. Azharullah had Tredwell caught at long leg, one of three Kent players to be caught out on the hook, as was top-scorer Sam Billings (43) leaving Chambers to polish off the win by rearranging the stumps of Kent’s last man Matt Hunn.Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: “I’ve just said in our team meeting that I believe that to be the best collective bowling performance that I’ve ever witnessed by a Northants team. We barely bowled a bad ball throughout and really made life tough for a Kent batting line-up that is chock full of experienced players.”I’m very proud of that performance considering we were missing the two spearheads of our attack. Stone and Azharullah were magnificent and Ben Sanderson has again proved a real asset. We’ve also given ourselves a valuable day off ahead of our T20 quarter final.”Northeast said: “I thought Northamptonshire bowled really well on this pitch. There wasn’t much in it for our lads, but they got out of it what they could.”A couple of us made starts in this match but nobody went on to play a match-defining knock. We all have to stick our hands up and say that wasn’t good enough. We have four games to go in this competition now. We need to look at our practice and how we’re going about things because there’s no denying that we’re very inconsistent.”

Craig Hope has revealed that Dan Ashworth could now be made to wait until November before taking up the role of sporting director at Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Waiting game

Brighton and Hove Albion confirmed in February that Ashworth would be leaving the Seagulls, and it is thought by reliable sources that he is jumping ship to St. James’ Park.

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However, he has not officially taken on the new role in the North East yet, suggesting that some talks over the deal have reached a stumbling block – Lee Ryder revealed earlier this year that the compensation talks with Brighton were proving difficult.

The Latest: Hope update

Taking to Twitter, The Daily Mail journalist Hope has revealed that Ashworth could now be made to wait until November before he can take up the sporting director position on Tyneside, adding that ‘no progress’ has been made in PIF’s ‘negotiations’ with the Seagulls:

“Dan Ashworth could be made to wait until November before taking up NUFC sporting director role.

“Negotiations with Brighton continue but no progress yet.

“Club relaxed if Howe/Nickson/Staveley oversee summer transfers, as was case in Jan.

“Scouting meetings this wk.”

He continued:

“Told that Ashworth has a nine-month notice period and, as it stands, will be made to see it out.

“Brighton not making it easy for him to join Newcastle, as is their right.”

The Verdict: Blow

As The Times journalist Martin Hardy puts it, this is a ‘blow’ for the Magpies’ transfer plans if they cannot get Ashworth in before the summer window opens.

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The 51-year-old has received glowing reviews, as The Times’ Henry Winter has said that he will bring ‘relentless enthusiasm’, a ‘great work ethic’ and a lot of contacts to the Toon, once he takes up the role.

Newcastle World journalist Liam Kennedy has previously hailed the pending appointment as ‘seriously good’, claiming that NUFC are starting to make ‘big moves’.

However, it looks as if they will now have to operate in the window without his skills, meaning that some of their targets may not be as easy to get, and perhaps even putting their masterplans on hold until Ashworth arrives.

In other news, find out the latest on a potential NUFC move for Neymar here!

	Ricky Ponting hopes for better luck against India after a wash-out in the opening game in Brisbane © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting says Australia will carry their momentum into Sunday’s game against India in Melbourne after his side demolished Sri Lanka by 128 runs at the SCG. India are coming off two wash-outs in Brisbane, whereas Australia enjoyed using a two-paced pitch on Friday.With further low bounce expected at the MCG, Ponting hopes his men will have the edge. “We’ve got a full game of cricket and a really good, comprehensive win,” Ponting said after the Sydney success, which put them on top of the CB Series table.”We’re probably going to get similar types of conditions in Melbourne as well. The wicket all year down there hasn’t offered much pace and bounce either, so what we’ve got out of this game we can take down there and hopefully adapt to their attack and adapt to their batting line-up.”Nathan Bracken collected five wickets in Sydney, switching from a three-over new-ball spell of swing to useful cutters later in the innings. Ponting was especially pleased with the variety in his bowling arsenal with Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Hogg all chipping in with important breakthroughs.”We’ve got a really good mix and balance with our bowling attack in both forms of the game right now,” he said. “Our one-day attack the last couple of years has been very solid.”India will be desperate to get a full match in at the MCG following their rain-affected Gabba clashes and Ponting said the visitors had shown glimpses of their potential. “They played pretty well up in Brisbane the other night with the bat,” he said of India’s effort in posting 267 against Sri Lanka.”But certainly our bowlers controlled them in Brisbane a few days before that. Hopefully we can just take a bit of momentum out of this game down to Melbourne on Sunday.”

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Brad Hodge bludgeoned his way to a maiden ODI hundred, hitting eight fours and seven sixes © AFP

The minnow-bashing was not as brutal as South Africa’s, but Australia motored along like a well-oiled machine and exploded during the final overs to bat The Netherlands out of the match with 358 for 5. After being stranded in the nineties twice this year, Brad Hodge reached his maiden one-day hundred during what was a perfectly paced innings. Defending 359 was always going to be a cake walk and Australia’s battery of fast bowlers was too hot for The Netherlands to handle and they were skittled for 129.The pitch was a belter and Ricky Ponting jumped at the chance of more batting practice. Adam Gilchrist provided the propulsion at the start, but once Australia lost him and Ponting with the score on 116, Michael Clarke and Hodge were impossible to contain during their partnership of 204.Hodge will be fighting for a spot in the XI once Andrew Symonds returns and he was impeccable today. Although both batsmen’s strike-rates were nearly identical when they reached their fifties off successive balls, Hodge soon left Clarke behind.Hodge finished with 123 off 89 balls with seven sixes, one short of equalling Ponting’s World Cup record. He had taken 61 deliveries to get to 50, but in his next 28 hammered 73. His favoured region was the arc between square-leg and long-on, though he sent several over the cover boundary as well. Only after Hodge was bowled by Peter Borren did Clarke step out of his shadow. He biffed three sixes off consecutive deliveries right at the death to make a sprint for his hundred, but with two balls left and eight to get, he took a single and had to settle for 93.

Nathan Bracken triggered the collaspe when he induced an edge from Darron Reekers © Getty Images

The Netherlands did themselves no favours by dropping both Gilchrist, on 34, and Ponting, who continued where he had left off against Scotland. Fortunately for them Gilchrist holed out on 57 and Ponting (23) was caught and bowled splendidly by Ryan ten Doeschate. If The Netherlands had hopes of an Ireland-esque performance after those quick wickets, Hodge and Clarke gave them a bitter reality check.The Netherlands openers showed stomach for a fight when Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers managed 36 for the first wicket at nearly six an over. But when Nathan Bracken deceived Reekers with a slower ball and trapped Alexei Kervezee leg before two balls later, The Netherlands began sliding swiftly towards defeat.They were struggling at 36 for 3 when Glenn McGrath was brought on at first change. Two balls later he nailed Luuk van Troost before making Daan van Bunge his 50th World Cup wicket.All the Australian bowlers used got wickets and Shane Watson didn’t even get an over. There were encouraging signs for Brad Hogg, who used his googlies and quicker balls to bamboozle the clueless Dutch tailenders. He picked up 4 for 27 as The Netherlands folded with 23.1 overs to spare.

A report in the Zimbabwe Independent claims that the clubs who earlier this week disaffiliated from the Matabeleland Cricket Association are planning to combine with rebel clubs from Mashonaland to form a new national cricket league.The action by the Matabeleland clubs was a direct challenge to the way that Peter Chingoka has run Zimbabwe Cricket and was aimed to coincide with him attending the ICC executive meeting in Dubai.Mashonaland’s dispute dates back to last year when six leading sides were expelled from the provincial association. Five of those clubs – Old Hararians, Harare Sports Club, Alexandra, Old Georgians and Universals – have said they will join the breakaway league, and they are joined by four more from Matabeleland – Queens, Bulawayo Sports Club, Bulawayo Athletics Club and Crescent. The Mashonaland and Matabeleland Country Districts sides and Midlands’ Kwekwe Sports Club have also thrown in their lot with the rebels.The league aim to draw up a new structure in the coming days, and the article reported that the organisers were confident of landing a sponsor.”We are no longer in a position to negotiate with them (ZC),” one club official was quoted as saying. “We’ve made our stand. As for the ICC, they have not made a decision which will improve our situation. They have showed they do not care about Zimbabwe.” A dossier sent to Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, on behalf of the provincial chairman ahead of the meeting has yet to be answered.This development leaves Zimbabwe Cricket without any credible domestic structure. The Faithwear Cup, the one-day tournament which took place in February, was dogged by substandard performances, and the Logan Cup, the first-class competition, has been indefinitely postponed.Alhough the bulk of the country’s rank-and-file players have defected, those will national ambitions will need to switch to one of the clubs still loyal to ZC. But the standard in those will, aside from the top players, be woefully poor – as evidenced by the Mashonaland team in the Faithwear Cup – and it will make official domestic tournaments almost impossible to stage with any degree of credibility.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball
The second day of the Intercontinental Cup tie at Kampala ended with Namibia in a strong position after they grabbed five Ugandan wickets in the final session of a day which had been evenly balanced until tea.Uganda started the day well, reducing Namibia to 66 for 6 before JB Burger led the recovery with a patient 59. Despite that, Uganda were in the box seat until Sarel Burger and Ian van Zyl combined to put on 52 for the last wicket and in doing so limit the first innings lead to 30.When Uganda batted again, the two Burgers then combined to rip through the top order, and by the close they led by only 91 runs.

There was a stark contrast between the shot selection of Damien Martyn as opposed to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. This can partly be attributed to the sea of difference between the bowling of the two sides – one woefully profligate and the other manfully disciplined. The slowness of the pitch as the match wore on was also one of the factors, but the contrast was definitely glaring.Damien Martyn scored 31% of his runs (31 off 100) in the V between long-on and long-off, while Tendulkar and Dravid hardly drove down the ground with the full face of the bat. Tendulkar scored only 14.7% of his runs (10 off 68) in this region while the corresponding figure for Dravid was 13.6% (8 off 59). The figures become even more baffling when one considers that the Australian seamers hardly pitched it short and stuck to a straight line throughout their spells. Tendulkar exhibited some artistic touch with some delectable glides and swipes, but this ultimately led to his dismissal.

Where Martyn got his runs	Runs	Runs off boundaries
Behind wicket – off side	6	4
Square of wicket – off side	13	8
Cover – off side	18	8
Front of wicket – off side	10	4
Front of wicket – on side	21	14
Midwicket – on side	13	4
Square of wicket – on side	11	0
Behind wicket – on side	8	4

Zaheer Khan’s early spell reminded one of the World Cup final, when he was dismantled by a rampaging unit. He bowled 45 balls out which of 15 drifted down leg side. On a pitch that demanded a stump-to-stump spell he should learn a few lessons from young Nathan Bracken, whose swing and control left most batsmen clueless. In a spell of 4 for 29 Bracken bowled only 3 balls on the middle and leg stump and of his 61 balls, 44 zeroed in outside the off stump. His length too was immaculate and 52 out of his 61 balls were pitched on a good length, 7 were pitched up and only 1 was short – a statistic that would have made Glenn Mcgrath proud.

Nathan Bracken
Length	Balls	Line	Balls
Full	7	Outside off	52
Good length	52	On the stumps	5
short	1	outside leg	3

Zaheer Khan
Length	Balls	Line	Balls
Full	18	Outside off	21
Good length	25	On the stumps	9
short	2	outside leg	15