Sussex have been given an injury scare during their crucial Championship match against Lancashire at Hove with Mushtaq Ahmed picking up a groin strain. Mushtaq left the field on the second evening with one ball remaining in his 19th over and didn’t bowl on the third morning.Mushtaq entered the match with pain in his neck and shoulders, but with the current encounter being of such importance in the Championship race – Lancashire started one point ahead at the top of the table – he was battling through the pain.If Mushtaq is forced to miss any Championship action it would be a huge blow to Sussex who are already having to do without Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Mushtaq has 62 wickets this season and with the pitches becoming more spin-friendly he is Sussex’s trump card in the Championship race.The match at Hove has claimed two high-profile casualties, with Dominic Cork injuring a finger while taking a catch at slip and needing hospital treatment for a dislocation.

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

Some parsimonious bowling by their spinners and a Shahriar Nafees hundred helped Bangladesh defeat Zimbabwe by eight wickets in the fifth ODI at Harare. Though the hosts have won the series 3-2 this win helped Bangladesh salvage some pride.Bangladesh’s decision to play three spinners, led by the miserly Abdur Razzak, and buttressed by the presence of the part-time offspinner in Rajin Saleh, proved correct as the slow men applied a chokehold to reverse a solid start by Zimbabwe and to eventually restrict them to 197. Saleh, who ended with four wickets, reaped the fruits of the regular spinners’s labour.Zimbabwe, with the cushion of a series win behind them, had raced away to a comfortable position when Khaled Mashud, Bangladesh’s stand-in-captain for the injured Habibul Basher, went for his main weapon: spin. Eleven overs of medium pace had bled 59 runs before Razzak came on. The pitch held no great demons: there was no huge turn or magic balls. Varying his pace smartly he attacked the middle and off stump line. And with the ball not coming on and the spinners hitting the right line and the length, the batsmen struggled to force the pace. The run rate dropped, the pressure grew and the batsmen succumbed one after the other. Hamilton Masakadza put up a battle but, with his colleagues deserting him at regular intervals, he perished as well, hastening the end of the innings.Masakadza had nearly succeeded in breaking free when he hit Mohammed Rafique out of the attack with two stunning hits in the 21st over that erased the smiles from the Bangladeshi faces. He waltzed down the track and sent the ball screaming over long-off and immediately went for the cow corner in deep midwicket. But just when he had earned the license to go for the kill, he found himself bereft of support.Brendan Taylor, the third-match hero, crawled to a painful 24 off 71 balls, unable to strike out against the spinners. He struggled, especially, against the accuracy of Rafique, eking out only 8 runs from 30 balls. And it was not just Rafique; there was to be no relief from the other end as well. The third left-arm spinner, the young Saqibul Hasan, who replaced Shahadat Hossain for this match, was also miserly, and helped tighten the screws. Taylor struggled to rotate the strike back to Masakadza and eventually fell, trying to cut Razzak. The noose had begun to tighten.Elton Chigumbra, sent up the order to increase the tempo, combusted immediately on arrival. An under-pressure Mazakadza soon followed, playing across the line to Saleh and a run out saw another batsmen going down. Four wickets in the space of 13 runs and the spinners had Bangladesh on top. Saleh struck to the basics: kept the ball up, struck to an off stump line and watched as the tail fell, the last five wickets eked out only 25 runs.With Nafees leading the charge and Saleh chipping in with a crisp 37, Bangladesh moved along assuredly in their chase. Prosper Utseya gave Nafees a reprieve in the fourth over when he couldn’t quite hold on to a running catch off a mistimed pull. Nafees was off and running after that. He drove pleasantly and cut with panache to steer Bangladesh home.Earlier, Zimbabwe’s openers, especially Terry Duffin, had gone for the jugular, hitting on-the-up over cover, pulling and driving merrily down the ground. Lady luck humoured Zimbabwe as well: an inside-edged four, by Vusi Sibanda, started off the run-count, a couple of leading edges flew over the fielders and, keeping with the theme of the series, there was the usual drop by a butter-fingered Bangladeshi. In the second over, Sibanda threw his bat at a Farhad Reza delivery which was palmed off at first slip by Mushfiqur Rahim. Two cover drives off Raza – one was so fiercely whacked that nobody moved on the field – followed before Sibanda was done in by a clever bit of bowling from Syed Rasel. Rasel had kept bending the ball back into Sibanda before he suddenly slipped one across the body. A surprised Sibanda did not quite get behind the line, lunged forward and tried to leave the delivery at the last minute but failed.Duffin, who was getting increasingly edgy as the run-rate dropped, tried to hit out of trouble. First, he attempted an ugly hoick, failed, and then off the next ball fell trying to sweep as Razzak slipped one full and straight.Mazakadza’s was a serene effort. True, two savage hits off Rafique would lead the highlights package in news channels, but it was not the norm. He didn’t bludgeon his way around but chose to caress: dabbed a few to the off side, drove a few down the ground, swept to alter the length of the spinners, cut when there was the opportunity and, suddenly, his fifty was up. But with his team-mates struggling against nagging spin, the young Zimbabwe team could not conjure up another dreamy day of cricket.However, the series triumph has provided them considerable redemption in a turbulent period. With the ICC working out a timetable to put Zimbabwe back in Test cricket, this win could not have come at a better time.

Vusi Sibanda c Khaled Mashud b Syed Rasel 17 (45 for 1)
Terry Duffin lbw b Abdur Razzak 40 (79 for 2)
Brendan Taylor c Mashud b Razzak 24 (165 for 3)
Elton Chigumbura b Saqibul Hasan 0 (166 for 4)
Hamilton Masakadza b Rajin Saleh 75 (172 for 5)
Mufambisi run out 1 (178 for 6)
Prosper Utseya c sub (Alok Kapali) b Rajin Saleh 7 (189 for 7)
Matsikenyeri b Rajin Saleh 10 (189 for 8)
Anthony Ireland run out Syed Rasel/Khaled Mashud 3 ( 196 for 9)
Bangladesh
Rajin Saleh c & b Prosper Utseya 37 (99 for 1)
Aftab Ahmad st Taylor b Utseya 6 (128 for 2)

Andrew Strauss, the England captain, has said that the England one-day side will need to regroup quickly if they are to be a force to reckon with in next year’s World Cup in the West Indies.”The World Cup is not that far away now and you don’t want to be experimenting too close to the World Cup,” Strauss told AFP. “We have been a little bit frustrated at the way we performed against Sri Lanka and we know that now is the time to start putting things right. Every game we play between now and then is very important.”Having lost 15 of their last 20 one-day internationals, England were on the verge of another defeat against Pakistan in the series opener in Cardiff before rains washed out the match. The slump included a 1-5 defeat against India and an embarrassing 0-5 defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka at home recently. Their solitary win at home came against Ireland, one of the World Cup qualifiers.With the second one-dayer against Pakistan to get underway at Lord’s tomorrow, Strauss said that it was about time England bagged a few wins and gain a psychological boost ahead of major challenges ahead.England have struggled to field a full-strength squad with injuries to key players like Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan, which however provided opportunities to Alastair Cook, Jamie Dalrymple and Stuart Broad. Strauss felt that the squad now presented a good mix of youth and experience. Having regained his original slot as an opener with Marcus Trescothick, Strauss stated that the team management would stop experimenting with the opening slot.”We’ve tried a few combinations. We were looking at the attacking opener at one stage and we’ve tried a couple of people in that role and that didn’t quite work out for us. Maybe we have just gone back to trying to get more of an assured start and setting a platform for the middle-order players.”

Pakistan players are regularly made fully aware of what substances they are and aren’t allowed to take, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Speaking to Cricinfo on condition of anonymity, a PCB official said that the players were given a list every year, sanctioned by the ICC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), detailing what constitutes banned substances and what doesn’t.”We give them an updated list every year and stress to them the importance of being aware of what is allowed and what isn’t. This year, just before the tour to England, we provided them with an ICC booklet with this information,” the official said. “Every player is aware of exactly what is and isn’t right.”Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan’s new-ball attack, tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone in an internal doping test carried out by the PCB. As a result they have been called back from the Champions Trophy and now face possible disciplinary action at the hands of a PCB-instituted tribunal consisting of a former Test cricketer.The findings initially asked questions of how much communication there is between the PCB and its players on such matters, particularly when players are injured. Significantly perhaps, both players have recently come back from injuries which kept them out of cricket for extended periods. Before he appeared in the ODI series in England recently, Shoaib had been out of the game since February with knee and ankle injuries. Asif too missed much of the Test series against England with an elbow injury.The official, however, insisted that the PCB had played its part. “We are very particular about this. We make sure the players know what they need to, especially when injuries occur and rehabilitation needs to take place. At the end of the day, they are also professionals and should have an idea of what is going into their bodies. Steroids after all are steroids and surely, as a player, you must be aware of that.”There appears to be no global uniform policy regarding keeping players as informed as possible. Not surprisingly, Cricket Australia appears most proactive. Awareness sessions are held with players: one was held recently at the pre-season training camp. Additionally, players also have access to an information hotline in case they are unsure about certain substances.England signed up to the WADA code earlier this year, and all England players are drug-tested as a matter of routine.In South Africa, players were tested before they came to India for the Champions Trophy and are also provided, like their Pakistani counterparts, with booklets on relevant information. The Sri Lankan board holds awareness sessions in the academy and exercises, according to one journalist, considerable control over the players in terms of diet, training and treatment.Shoaib has denied any wrongdoing and he is backed up by his personal doctor Dr Tauseef Razzak. The implication hidden in the official’s remarks, though, is that both players should have known what they were doing. Judgment will be reserved, however, until the PCB tribunal comes to its own conclusions, or either player offers an explanation.

The 2007 English county season will begin on April 13 at Lord’s with Sussex, the county champions, taking on MCC in the traditional opening fixture. Sussex, who yesterday found out they will still have the services of Chris Adams, then open their defence of the title with a home meeting with Kent on April 18.The fixture list, released today by the ECB, has pitted the Championship runners-up Lancashire in an away tie against Warwickshire at Edgbaston while newly promoted Surrey will face Yorkshire in the first set of matches.The 50-over one-day trophy, still searching for a new sponsor after C&G ended their association last season, starts on April 22 and the group stage runs until June 13. In the one tweak to the tournament, four teams will progress to a new semi-final stage instead of the two top teams moving straight to the final. The semis are pencilled in for June 20 and the final will be at Lord’s on August 18.Once again The Twenty20 group stages take place over a concentrated two-week period at the height of summer. Leicestershire, the holders, start with a home match at Grace Road on June 22 against Yorkshire. The quarter-finals will take pace on July 17 and 18 with four teams progressing to finals day at Edgbaston on August 4.The Pro40 begins on July 13 with a floodlit Division One game between Worcestershire and Hampshire at New Road and the competition features a further 22 matches under lights in the second half of the summer.

Ali Bacher, the former chief executive of the United Cricket Board, is making good progress after his second heart bypass surgeryBacher underwent heart surgery yesterday at the Morningside Medi-Clinic and according to the clinic he was “amazed” at how techniques had changed since his last heart bypass operation 25 years ago. “I really feel strong and healthy today,” he told staff.”Only one in 30 of our patients have bypasses these days. However, recent research has raised some questions about the long term durability of stents,” John Benjamin, Bacher’s cardiologist, told the news agency.”In Bacher’s unusual case, stenting his old bypass graft would have been technically simple, but we chose the long term proven safety of a modern arterial bypass instead,” added Benjamin. It was not immediately known when Bacher would be discharged.

No bowler likes to be faced with a Hobson’s choice. Haryana’s attack today encountered a pirate who can plunder runs and a conman who can pick them off slyly. Robin Uthappa and Barrington Rowland make a fine pair and their rollicking 213-partnership helped Karnataka gallop towards victory by the end of the third day’s play against Haryana at Mysore.Right from the start of their careers both were marked for bigger things. It was the classical Barrington, named after the famous English batsman Ken, who first moved into the limelight with a debut first-class ton. However, he faded gradually and hasn’t managed a century in two years, and, ironically, it coincided with Uthappa’s rise. The latter’s stunning hundred in the 2005 Challenger Trophy brought him into the reckoning and he soon made his one-day debut a memorable one. At the moment, both their careers have reached the crossroads – while Uthappa is cruising along on the comeback path to the national side, Rowland is taking the longer route.Uthappa has had an impressive start to this season. A 99-ball 92 in the Challenger Series in October was followed by a fifty and a 141 against Sri Lanka A in the Duleep Trophy. Incidentally, he rates that hundred as his best knock. “It taught me a lot as I learnt a lot about my own batting,” he said at the end of the day. ” I kind of know how my mind works, how my body works, and what I need to score runs. I am getting to know myself, my cricket and my game very well right now.”It’s not a new-found confidence. His mother, Rosy, once told him to ask Rahul Dravid for an autograph but he fobbed her off. “I want to give, not seek autographs.” And today, just before he sat down to have a chat, he was busy doing exactly that. “Ghulam Sandhani, who was my coach at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, was the greatest influence in my life. If I have anything regarding my game, it’s him I turn to,” Uthappa revealed. He also mentions Hanumant Singh, former Test cricketer who recently passed away. “In those days I used to only play shots, attacking every ball. My defence was not tight. Hanumant Sir helped me a lot during my time with him at the National Cricket Academy. He taught me how to tackle short-pitched bowling, about batting in general. That’s the time when my cricket started changing.”He’s taking one thing at a time, though, and not getting ahead of himself. Asked whether he is eyeing a recall to the national team, he adds, “I am not looking too far ahead, just concentrating on the process and sticking to what I am doing right now. It [a place in the Indian team] will happen. If given an opportunity, I won’t let it go this time.”Uthappa’s three ODI appearances for India included a sparkling 86 on debut but he points out the changes to his game recently. “It is just that I have now improved my shot selection and concentration,” he continues. “I have always played aggressively and try to dominate the attack. That is my style and I am not going to change it. But I am watching the ball longer and more carefully now and looking to play forward. That’s a positive intent. As a cricketer you learn as the time goes by. You learn by yourself, by self analysis, start thinking about the game a lot. I put everything into the one-ball that I play. I will put my life on line every time I play that one ball.”As for Rowland, he is quietly finding his way back into form, with religion being his biggest strength. “I am pretty spiritual and my faith is the cornerstone for me. It puts everything into perspective. At the end of the day this is just the game, there is more to life.” Usually stodgy in his approach, Rowland was refreshingly aggressive today – 96 flowed in just 104 balls with seven fours punctuating the knock.Was it just a response to the match situation (Karnataka were pushing for a declaration) or is he going to persist with a brave new way? “I will definitely be playing much more positively than what I have done in the past,” he added. “I just have to back myself and play my shots. I have always had the shots but I have been curbing my natural game. Today I just decided to go out and play them. I badly wanted to get a ton today for my coach [Venkatesh Prasad]. He has been such a great motivator and inspirational figure for the entire team. Prasad and I have been talking about my game. I realise that if I play 40 balls then I have to score some runs. There is no use playing beautifully for 40 balls and get out for 5. I want to make it count, pile up the runs, and try to win the Ranji Trophy for Karnataka.But is he looking beyond? Like Uthappa, does he hope to play for India one day? “Definitely. Everyone should be. If you are playing first-class cricket and if you don’t have the goal to play for India … there is no use playing this game, right? God willing, if things go my way, I will make it. I just want to enjoy my cricket.”And that’s exactly the difference between the two. Barrington, usually an intense and serious player, is looking to start enjoying the game while the fun-loving aggressive Uthappa is thinking to turn on the intensity and think deeply about the game. Both have hit the right route and only time will tell how successful they become.

Middlesex’s offspinning allrounder, Jamie Dalrymple, is in line for an Ashes debut at Sydney tomorrow, as England seek to avert their first Ashes whitewash for 86 years. Dalrymple, who has impressed in his 14 ODI appearances to date, was drafted into the Test squad as a replacement for Ashley Giles, who flew home during the third Test at Perth after a family illness.The SCG is a venue that traditionally favours the spinners, and with England’s tail in need of some bolstering after their limp displays in the first four Tests, Dalrymple is an ideal candidate for promotion. He averages 36.02 in first-class cricket with a highest score of 244, and England’s captain, Andrew Flintoff, indicated that he was firmly in the selectors’ thoughts.”Jamie is a good allround package and he’s shown that in the one-dayers,” said Flintoff. “He’s performed well with the ball and got important runs. He’s obviously a fine bowler and a capable batsman too. He’s started his one-day international career well and when people do that they want to get into the Test side and develop their games. Jamie is no different – I’m sure he’s got the attributes to do that.”If Dalrymple does play alongside Monty Panesar, it will be the first time that England have fielded two spinners in Australia since Eddie Hemmings partnered Phil Tufnell, also at Sydney, in 1990-91. “Historically this wicket has turned and two spinners have played on occasions,” Flintoff added, “so he is someone who will come into the equation when we come to pick a side for the Test match.”Flintoff, who is on the verge of an unwelcome place in the history books, was adamant that – regardless of the result in this final match – England will emerge stronger and wiser for their experiences in this most chastising of winters.”I’m sure everyone has learnt something about themselves that they can take on into their careers, into next summer and into 2009 when we next play Australia,” said Flintoff. “Most of the lads in this side are still young enough to be involved, provided they are performing. They’ll have learnt a hell of a lot on this trip and will take that into future Ashes series and future series.”

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has criticised Pakistan’s international schedule, claiming that the team would be too tired before the World Cup in the West Indies begins in March. “Unfortunately, in today’s merry-go-round, I think you can call it, tour itineraries are just nonsensical,” he said.Pakistan’s current tour of South Africa includes three back-to-back Tests and five one-dayers, a cramped schedule compared to India’s tour which preceded this series. “They’ve got to sit down and really think it through. I’m particularly worried that the World Cup comes so soon after a three day Test series and five one-day internationals crammed into just over a month.”The modern coach is going to have to factor in a completely different way of structuring practices and structuring tours in order to cope with this situation. This all makes winning away from home very tough.”Woolmer hoped that all the individual cricket boards take player issues into consideration before drawing up itineraries, especially before important tournaments like the World Cup. With Pakistan’s final one-dayer scheduled for February 14, they have barely three weeks to recuperate before the World Cup warm-up matches get underway. Woolmer had requested that Pakistan play just one Test instead of three, mainly to avoid player fatigue.”I think it could be a bridge too far for a lot of our players and I’m really worried about it,” Woolmer said. “There’s so little time to prepare. In the past, you would have a couple of four-day games; you’d have 10 or 11 days in the nets, and then you’d walk into the first Test match. Now you have to adapt as best you can to the conditions.

Sialkot suffered a setback when they lost seven wickets for only 154 in their first innings against Karachi Harbour, at the National Stadium. After Karachi Harbour posted 293 yesterday, Sialkot were still 139 behind with only three wickets in hand.Anwar Ali scored his maiden first-class half-century, scoring 59 to take Karachi Harbour close to a total of 300. He scored seven fours and a six in his knock and his ninth-wicket partnership with fellow seamer Faraz Ahmed (16) was 63. Anwar then started Sialkot’s slump by trapping opener Atiq-ur-Rehman for a duck second ball. There were pockets of resistance later on, but none lasted long enough. Mohammad Ayub and Tariq Mahmood added 43 for the fifth wicket.With Shahid Yousuf having to retire hurt without scoring and seamers Faraz Ahmed and Uzair-ul-Haq bowling effectively, Sialkot don’t appear to have much of a chance to take the first-innings lead.Points for Karachi Harbour will help them hold on to their spot in the Gold League. They already appear to have avoided demotion to next season’s Silver League circuit.Karachi Urban held the upper hand with a first-innings lead of 154 after wrapping up Faisalabad for a modest 200 at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex Ground No.1. The only real resistance from Faisalabad came from their captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Coming in at 22 for 2, remained unbeaten till the end with 83, off 161 balls with nine fours and a six. He also added 63 for the fifth wicket with Naved Latif (39) was significant.Faisalabad were tied down by offspinner Tahir Khan who took 4 for 64 in less than 20 overs. Seamer Imran Javed took 3 for 40 in 11 overs and young left-arm spinner Azam Hussain 2 for 54 in 21.Karachi Urban are currently at second place in the Gold League table behind Sialkot, who too have an identical points tally of 24. Karachi Urban will now most probably join defending champions Sialkot in the final, if they go on to beat Faisalabad here.No play was possible for the second day running in the match between Peshawar and Lahore Shalimar at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.