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New Zealand’s six major associations have released their player contracts for 2007-08 with Andre Adams, Daryl Tuffey and James Marshall picking up deals after missing out on the national list. Each outfit named a 12-man squad and Adams and Tuffey were rewarded at the Auckland Aces while Marshall is at the Northern Knights.One major name missing was Hamish Marshall, who has moved to England to qualify as a local player on the county stage. Last month Marshall rejected a New Zealand contract, but he left open the possibility of returning home to the first-class game as an overseas player.Auckland Andre Adams, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Paul Hitchcock, David Houpapa, Richard Jones, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol, Mayu Pasupati, Lance Shaw, Daryl Tuffey, Reece Young.Canterbury Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Leighton Burtt, Andrew Ellis, Chris Harris, Brandon Hiini, Johann Myburgh, Ben Rae, Iain Robertson, Amandeep Singh, Shanan Stewart, Kruger Van Wyk.Central Geoff Barnett, Brendon Diamanti, Bevan Griggs, Greg Hay, Brent Hefford, Greg Hegglun, Peter Ingram, Tim Lythe, Dominic Rayner, Robbie Schaw, Ewen Thompson, Tim Weston.Northern Graeme Aldridge, Brent Arnel, Daniel Flynn, Nick Horsley, James Marshall, Bruce Martin, Peter McGlashan, Mark Orchard, Tim Southee, BJ Watling, Brad Wilson, Joseph Yovich.Otago Craig Cumming, Derek de Boorder, Neil Broom, Shaun Haig, Mathew Harvie, Nathan McCullum, James McMillan, Warren McSkimming, Aaron Redmond, Bradley Scott, Greg Todd, Nic Turner.Wellington Matthew Bell, Dewayne Bowden, Michael Burns, Jeremy Dean, Grant Elliott, Kevin Forde, Chris Nevin, Iain O’Brien, Michael Parlane, Neal Parlane, Jesse Ryder, Luke Woodcock.

The outpouring of emotion at the WACA on Friday made Adam Gilchrist realise the end of his record-breaking career was near. Gilchrist, who will retire at the conclusion of CB Series, waved goodbye to his home crowd in Perth with a fine 118 in the 63-run win over Sri Lanka and listened to chants of “Gilly, Gilly” throughout the match.”Today was where it really hit me, that it is all finishing,” he told AFP on Friday night. “Today was always going to be a big day, so I was more nervous than any day, leading into here. I am glad it is done … there was a lot of emotion in there.”Gilchrist did not have much time to enjoy the moment as the Australians flew from Perth to Adelaide on Saturday for Sunday’s match against India. Brett Lee will miss the contest to rest after a busy campaign.”It’s a difficult schedule this one, not playing for four days and then playing back-to-back,” Gilchrist said. “There is a lot of downtime between the Sunday and Friday games and maybe all of us have struggled on the back of an intense Test series.”The victory eased the pressure on Australia, who top the tri-series table, but Gilchrist said there was no room for complacency. “If we drop one,” he said, “we’ll be back in the same position.”

ScorecardA strong bowling performance put Gujarat on course for victory in the final of the Ranji Trophy Plate League at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Gujarat ended the fourth day requiring just 120 more to win with all ten wickets intact. The stars of the day were their bowlers, who dismissed Railways for just 169 in their second innings. The openers then chopped off 30 runs from their target of 150 before close of play.Resuming their overnight score of 14 for 1, Railways’ slide started when Sanjay Bangar and Murali Kartik fell within the space of three deliveries, leaving them tottering at 23 for 3. The middle order barely resisted and succumbed to a three-wicket burst by Amit Singh, as Railways slumped to a precarious 79 for 6.Harshad Rawle and Raja Ali then battled it out for more than 30 overs in their stand of 56. Rawle scored 45 off 180 balls while Ali was the more fluent of the two, scoring 46 off 99. Their partnership was dislodged by legspinner Timil Patel, and the lower order could do little to push the score. Singh finished with figures of 3 for 22 while Mohnish Parmar, Ashraf Makda and Patel too two wickets apiece.Nilesh Modi and Rajesh Tabiar, the Gujarat openers, then played out 20 overs in the evening. They didn’t score too many, but importantly for the team, they were still together when the last ball of the day had been bowled.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Younis Khan lodged himself firmly between India and a series triumph on the final day of the second Test at Eden Gardens, leading his side to an unlikely, morale-boosting draw. Younis, standing in as captain for the injured Shoaib Malik, hit his 15th Test hundred and fifth against India, accepting help from a familiar face as he kept Pakistan alive to fight another day. A 136-run partnership with Mohammad Yousuf dragged them from peril to safety, both captains calling it a day at 214 for 4 with half an hour of play left.India were disappointingly lethargic, except for brief periods in the afternoon or when Anil Kumble was involved. Kumble had brought the game alive in the afternoon, with two wickets. But as the two Y’s came together with another century partnership – their ninth – even Kumble’s tenacity wasn’t to be enough.Younis especially was determined: as captain, his side had to be rescued and following low scores against his favourite opponent, here was the perfect opportunity to rectify that. He was also familiar with the situation, having faced similar ones against South Africa recently. So familiar in fact that he graced the occasion with a third hundred in four Tests, each of them in the fourth innings of a Test.It says much about his character and his batting that you can’t call the innings a dogged, dour rearguard. There was much studious defence, but he never dawdled. What runs were on offer, were gladly taken. Having arrived in the first over after lunch, he brought up his fifty in the last over before tea.After it, he seemed to speed up, pulling Zaheer Khan to bring up the fifty stand and continued in much the same manner through the session. Only Kumble posed a serious challenge, troubling him with googlies and trapping him plumb when in the 90s (Rudi Koertzen disagreed) but even he was driven and cut for pleasing boundaries. No shot better captured the innings than the reverse-sweep which brought up his hundred: defiant, unbowed and positive.Yousuf meanwhile helped himself back into some form. He was unusually quiet to begin with, recognition of the pressure of the Test and his own lack of runs. But a fluid punch through point off Munaf Patel eased him gently into the role of Younis’s second fiddle, one in which he didn’t falter. By tea, he was set and after it was rarely hassled, choosing occasionally to stroke a cover drive, but opting generally to pat balls back.

India helped them with a surprisingly inert display after tea. The inactivity was captured best by the inside edge on to Yousuf’s pad, which looped up in the air, barely a foot from two close-in fielders. Bizarrely, neither made even an attempt. Harbhajan Singh, the bowler, complained rightly, but perhaps not too much for he was flat through much of the day, mirroring Danish Kaneria’s disappointing last-day performance at Delhi. He searched constantly, for the right angle, the right line, the right length, but fruitlessly.Only Kumble it was who pushed and it was because of him India had a sniff at all. They had declared almost an hour into the morning, setting Pakistan 345 runs or 81 overs to survive. Zaheer got rid of Yasir Hameed before Kumble took over.Second ball after lunch, Kamran Akmal was bowled by a rare, fair-spinning leg-break. The situation thereafter was made for Kumble: no real chance of the opposition chasing, a fifth-day surface and nervy batsmen naturally keen to push on, trying instead to defend. The appearance of threat was there in every ball, even if the actuality of it wasn’t. Fielders encircled batsmen as a lynch mob might an unfortunate, dust flew up off the pitch, and Kumble was the centre of all focus.Even though nothing happened for nearly an hour after that breakthrough – Harbhajan as much as a cussed Salman Butt to blame – Kumble was not to be denied. Coming round the wicket, he soon trapped Butt. He then replaced Harbhajan with Munaf Patel just after mid-day drinks, who produced in his first over what seemed then to be a pivotal moment. It was touched by genius as well, a slow off-break that nevertheless turned sharply enough to go through the defences of Misbah-ul-Haq, leaving Pakistan rocking at 78 for 4.Both Patel and Kumble sniffed away, but it wasn’t to last and as tea approached Younis and Yousuf dug themselves in. There they would stay after it, despite Kumble’s best efforts.

Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup, may still be in his teens but he’s already aware of the kind of spotlight an Indian cricketer faces when playing on the international stage. As the team prepared to depart for Malaysia, Kohli said India were “expected to be favourites” and hoped to fulfill those expectations – backed by a strong batting line-up and a bolstered attack – during the 15-day tournament.The squad spent the last week at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, fine-tuning their preparations under the guidance of Dav Whatmore, who will be their coach for the tournament. Kohli said the team had worked hard on their fielding skills, which he felt needed to be improved, during the camp and the time spent together had helped build team-spirit.India have had a successful run in the lead-up to Malaysia. They won a Youth Test series in South Africa 1-0 as well as a triangular limited-overs tournament involving South Africa, who are grouped with India in the World Cup, and Bangladesh. The batsmen performed impressively in the tri-series, with Kohli, Saurav Tiwary, Tanmay Srivatsava and Manish Pandey all averaging above 50.”We have a deep batting line-up and most often our No.7 and No.8 batsmen have not had a chance to bat on the last two or three tours. So batting is a big strength,” Kohli said. “The fast bowling was lacking on the last tour so we’ve got more fast bowlers to strengthen that area.”India’s group also includes West Indies and Papua New Guinea and their practice-matches before the main tournament kicks off will be against two teams Kohli considered among the toughest in the competition – New Zealand and England.”We know most of the England team and the New Zealand team, which are the difficult teams. We don’t know much about Pakistan because I think the team has changed. But we’ve seen South Africa, England and New Zealand which are the strongest teams, so we know about them.”For most of the team, the World Cup will be their first experience of playing in front of a television audience. Kohli, however, said that thinking about factors such as television would only add to the pressure. “You don’t have to think about it much,” Kohli said. “We just have to play like we have been playing on the last four or five tours. We’ve been winning all the tours so we would like to keep up the winning streak.”While Kohli and his team-mates are thinking of the immediate future, and how it could be the launching pad for future international careers, their coach is able to look at the larger picture. The challenge, Whatmore said, was to “create the right pathways and competitions for the youngsters to come through.”

Group A

Habib Bank needed only 18.3 overs on the final day to defeat Pakistan Customs by 262 runs in their first-round Group A Quaid-e-Azam Championship match at the National Bank of Pakistan Stadium.Having reduced Pakistan Customs to 77 for 5 on the third day, Habib Bank began the final day with 308 runs to defend. By the end, Pakistan Customs captain Rehan Rafiq was left holding fort. He batted for over three hours and faced 112 deliveries for his unbeaten 43 as Pakistan Customs were bowled out for 122.The wickets were evenly spread among Habib Bank’s bowlers. Danish Kaneria stood out with figures of 3 for 21 from 11 overs. Fast bowler Fahad Masood took 3 for 30 in 12 overs while Kamran Hussain followed his 5 for 30 in the first innings with 2 for 38. Former Test fast bowler Irfan Fazil got 2 for 28.Habib Bank will now travel to Hyderabad to play their second-round match against the home side at the Niaz Stadium from Friday. Pakistan Customs will play against first-class debutants Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), in their next four-day match at the NBP Sports Complex Stadium.Afsar Nawaz scored a splendid hundred to take Karachi Whites to a 50-run lead in the first innings against Hyderabad, on the final day at the Niaz Stadium. The match, however, ended in a dull draw.Resuming on 386 for 7, Karachi Whites went past Hyderabad’s 409 and finished on 459. This gave them three points from the match. In their second innings, Hyderabad batted out time and scored 229 for 6.Nawaz, who has been playing first-class cricket for a decade now, scored his seventh century. His 108 runs came off 211 balls in just under five hours. Fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed, who scored 50 off 48 balls with nine fours, added 93 runs for the eighth wicket with Nawaz and took Karachi Whites closer to Hyderabad’s total. A partnership of 51 between Nawaz and Tabish Nawab (10) for the ninth wicket secured the first-innings lead.Hyderabad’s centurion Rizwan Ahmed also got among the wickets. He picked up 4 for 147 in 42 overs with his legbreaks. In Hyderabad’s second innings, Zahid Khan and captain Hanif Malik added 122 for the third wicket. Zahid scored 80 off only 95 balls while Malik contributed 64.After making a century for Karachi Whites, Nawaz went on to take a career-best of 3 for 19 runs off 10 overs.

Group B

Rawalpindi beat Karachi Blues by a convincing margin of 152 runs on the final day of their Group B Quaid-e-Azam Championship match at the United Bank Limited ground.Needing 230 to win, Karachi Blues were bowled out for 77 inside 39 overs after a sub-standard batting display. Only three batsmen reached double-figures and the wrecker-in-chief was fast bowler Rizwan Akbar, who took 4 for 37, and finished the match with figures of 9 for 84. Mohammad Ayaz, another fast bowler, showed promise on his first-class debut, taking 2 for 38 and 2 for 10.

Division Two

The game of the day – although, in truth, there wasn’t much competition – came at Taunton where Marcus Trescothick and Neil Edwards helped to hunt down 121 in the last session to help Somerset climb to the top of Division Two.But Trescothick injured his quad muscle and had to bat with a runner during his innings of 69. Nevertheless, he and Edwards batted with an Australian-like aggression to post 50 in the first five overs. In the end, their stand was worth 95, with Cameron White then anchoring as Trescothick saw them home with 69 from 42 balls.Earlier, Lance Klusener’s 122 led Northamptonshire‘s brave battle to hold out for the draw. Starting with three down and trailing by 161 runs, Northants lost three quick wickets and were in some trouble at 120 for 6. Then came a remarkable seventh-wicket stand of 173 between Klusener and Alex Wakely, who added 66. Johan wan der Wath contributed 37 as Northants reached 358 to make Somerset bat again.Andrew Caddick ended with 4 for 91 in the second innings, to finish with seven wickets this match. He now has 46 in his nine Championship matches this term.Two days of rain at Trent Bridge, rendered Nottinghamshire‘s match with Gloucestershire a draw, as Somerset eased past them to the top. Notts moved on from 271 for 4 to 400 for 8 – David Hussey moving on to 180 and Chris Read made 52 – before Gloucestershire declared after the first ball to bring an early finish.

Division One

A similar story at Edgbaston where, also after two rained-out days, Yorkshire had to settle for a draw with Warwickshire. In another parallel, Yorkshire made 400 before declaring (with nine down). Anthony McGrath was left unbeaten on 188. Warwickshire eased to 254 for 2 in reply, Darren Maddy not out on 135 and there were fifties too for the Ians Westwood (51) and Bell (65). Yorkshire gained enough bonus points to squeeze ahead of Sussex at the top of the table.Division One

Division Two

A squad of 14 Kenya players are lending their support to Uganda to play two friendlies at the Lugogo Oval this weekend, to help them prepare for the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia later this month.Steve Tikolo, the Kenya captain, along with Thomas Odoyo and other senior players are all participating, but Kenya have given Maurice Ouma the captaincy. They also called up a couple of younger faces, Ken Migai and Moses Otieno to gain experience.Uganda will fight it out with United Arab Emirates – who today beat Bermuda in the Intercontinental Cup – Argentina, Denmark, Oman and Namibia for the four slots reserved for the group in the 2009 World Cup qualifier.

Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, is preparing for the tour to India by training in simulated situations and on surfaces he expects to encounter in the Tests and ODIs series. Akmal, who has been under fire for his wicketkeeping skills in recent months, said that he realised the importance of the Indian tour for his career.”I went there [India] in 2005 and I have a fair idea of the sort of surfaces that could be used in the Tests in particular. I have started training by concentrating on my keeping and takes off the spinners,” he said.He admitted it was tough to keep on the slow Indian pitches and is therefore preparing himself for the challenge both mentally and physically. When Pakistan toured in 2005, the Test series was drawn and they won the ODI contest 4-2, but Akmal expected India to give a tougher fight this time.”They have some good young players and they have more bowling options which has made them a more consistent side,” Akmal, whose hundred in the first Test in Mohali saved the match, said, adding that he did not take the pressure of criticism about his ‘keeping skills. “It has been hard for me to ignore calls to replace me. It adds to the pressure but I am learning to accept these things. Watching the way Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist perform consistenly over the years is in itself a big motivation for me.”I look at Boucher and Gilchrist and I know I can take the pressure and also play for a long time,” Akmal said. “I convince myself that if they can last for so long having battled through bad form or fitness issues, I know I can also do the same.”For Akmal, in these times of non-stop cricket, fitness was the focus. “Unless you are 100 per cent fit, I don’t think you can survive for long in international cricket. It has also helped me be mentally stronger and perform in pressure situations,” he said. “Cricket has changed. A wicketkeeper has to be able to bat like a proper batsman to keep his place in the team. The two [Boucher and Gilchrist] are prime examples. Our new trainer has helped me a lot. I am confident despite what people say that I can have a long career.”Pakistan play three Tests and five ODIs in India starting November 5.

Pakistan 147 for 4 (Nazir 59) beat New Zealand 143 for 8 (Gul 4-15) by six wickets
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

New Zealand’s least-favourite claim to fame is their status as cricket’s most reliable semi-finalists. In five of the nine World Cups they have reached that stage of the tournament and gone no further, and that pattern was repeated in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20.Chasing 144 for a place in the final, a late wobble from Pakistan’s middle-order wasn’t enough to turn the match back in New Zealand’s favour. Imran Nazir led the assault with a 41-ball 59, adding 60 in seven overs with Mohammad Hafeez, before the captain, Shoaib Malik, sealed the match with a six with seven balls remaining.New Zealand’s participation in this match was unexpected to say the least – South Africa’s astonishing capitulation against India at Durban on Thursday gave them a lifeline, and for much of the match it looked like they were still clinging to it. Pakistan’s bowling was accurate and committed throughout, with Umar Gul outstanding with 3 for 15 in his four overs, and when their own turn came to bat, Nazir and Hafeez flogged the new ball with such gusto that Pakistan were always ahead of the rate.All the same, New Zealand contributed immensely to their own downfall. Ross Taylor enduring a particularly high-profile shocker – while batting he managed to run out both Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond with his non-existent calling, and later in the field he dropped Nazir on 44 at mid-off as Jacob Oram came into the attack.It proved to be a pivotal miss – Nazir smacked two sixes before the over was out to reduce the requirement to 49 from 48 balls with nine wickets in hand, and not even the loss of three wickets in 13 balls could derail their momentum. Nathan McCullum later missed Shoaib in the deep with five runs still to get, but New Zealand’s day in the field was summed up when Lou Vincent was cracked on the back of the head by a pinpoint shy from deep cover. It was an uncharacteristically ragged display all round.Take nothing away from Pakistan, however, whose cartwheeling celebrations at the moment of victory summed up the spirit that has carried them to the final. They dominated the match from the very first over, when Mohammad Asif once again set their agenda with his tight line, length and nip off the seam. Though New Zealand’s openers, Vincent and Brendon McCullum, survived the test to add 50 for the first wicket, they were never able to break the shackles.An untimely rain-break sealed New Zealand’s fate. Vincent fell just nine balls after the resumption, superbly caught by the bowler, Fawad Alam, as he drilled the ball back down the pitch, and McCullum followed soon afterwards for 26, as he swung lustily at a low long-hop from Afridi, and was pinned lbw dead in front of middle stump.Scott Styris thumped a four and a six in his first seven balls before picking out Tanvir with a lofted drive to deep point, and two balls later, Peter Fulton slapped a length delivery to cover. Craig McMillan went for broke and holed out to long-off for 12, as did Oram, who swished across the line and was caught behind off Gul. Taylor’s running then did for the next two batsman, and though he made some amends by taking 17 off Asif’s final over, New Zealand’s total of 143 for 8 never looked like being enough.In response, New Zealand’s bowlers were off the pace – most notably Shane Bond, who was flogged for a first-ball four by Hafeez and was later picked up off a good length over midwicket. Mark Gillespie leaked three boundaries in his first over as well, and at 54 for 0 after six overs, Vettori had no option but to bring himself into the attack at the earliest opportunity. He was as tight and probing as ever with his subtle variations, but Nazir picked the right balls to take on, and both Vettori and Scott Styris were lofted into the stands.Styris made a timely breakthrough when Hafeez went down to sweep his first delivery and was adjudged lbw, but Pakistan were unruffled. They had progressed to 96 for 1 by the time Nazir fell to Jeetan Patel – also lbw – and not even the loss of Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi in quick succession could stop them. Shoaib and Misbah-ul-Haq combined to pick off the remaining 37 runs, and Pakistan’s joy at the finish was unfettered.