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ScorecardBacked by a mammoth total, thanks to a maiden triple hundred from Yasir Hameed and 181 from Asad Shafiq, NWFP completed an innings-and-11-run win over Baluchistan in Peshawar.Yasir Shah and Waqar Ahmed shared nine wickets to bowl Baluchistan out for 345, out of which Saeed Bin Nasir scored 133, his second century of the match. Faisal Imran scored 40 and helped add 34 for last wicket , but he became Yasir’s fifth wicket for 40 in the second session.Baluchistan went into the final day still 113 runs behind NWFP, who scored 664 for 6, and lost regular wickets. Yasir took three quickly and Waqar snapped up two, including Bin Nasir, before Yasir sealed a big win. Apart from Bin Nasir’s twin hundreds, and two half-centuries from Sohaib Maqsood, there was little Baluchistan could take from this match.

The dates of two of the matches for Sri Lanka’s trip to the West Indies have changed.The West Indies Cricket Board announced on Thursday that the 3rd one-dayer at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia, has been moved one day earlier to April 15 at the request of Sri Lanka Cricket.The Twenty20 day/night match scheduled for Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 21 will now be played in afternoon on June 20 at the same venue.There’s also a change to a one-day warm-up match. The Vice Chancellor’s Game scheduled for June 20, will now take place on June 21 (day/night) at the Three W’s Oval, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.This change has occurred because the lights proposed for Kensington Oval will not be ready in time to stage night matches at that venue. Before then, Sri Lanka will be in the Caribbean for two Tests – in Guyana and Trinidad.

North Division

Andrew Flintoff smacked 27 from 23 balls to take Lancashire to a thumping eight-wicket win over Scotland in Edinburgh. Scotland, inserted by Lancashire, slumped to 21 for 5 with James Anderson and Glen Chapple nipping out the top-order. Scotland didn’t help themselves, however, with three farcical run-outs, though Majid Haq at least managed to lift their total to something resembling respectability, with 23 from 64 balls. Tom Smith trapped him lbw to pick up 3 for 14 from 10 overs. A target of 74 was never going to trouble Lancashire, though they did lose Mal Loye and Gareth Cross. Flintoff, however, was in no mood to hang around, cracking four fours and lifting a six to take his side home in the 12th over.Derbyshire were bowled out for just 94 on a wet day at Headingley as Yorkshire romped home by 25 runs. In a match reduced to 24 overs due to rain, Yorkshire themselves slipped to 47 for 4 and it was only Adil Rashid’s 36-ball 41 which gave them a total that was vaguely competitive. Set 120 from 24 overs, Derbyshire crashed to 27 for 4 with Tim Bresnan grabbing two early wickets, but it was Anthony McGrath who shone with the ball, taking 3 for 16 in four overs as Derbyshire were dismissed in the 23rd over.

South East Division

A fine allround performance from Essex earned them a 14-run win over Sussex in another rain-interrupted match at Chelmsford. Essex piled up 291 for 8 from 50 overs, with Grant Flower cracking 75 from 90 balls; Ravi Bopara 59 from 71 and Ryan ten Doeschate a blistering 61 from 53. Sussex were set a revised 156 from 24 overs and Matt Prior looked to be taking them close with a brisk 50, before falling to ten Doeschate. Murray Goodwin smacked 29 from 18 but it was too little, too late.Tim Murtagh continued his excellent form for Middlesex who beat Kent by a slender six runs at Lord’s. That Middlesex reached 177 for 8 was largely thanks to Billy Godleman’s 43 from 69 balls, and he received good support from Andrew Strauss (33) and Eoin Morgan (29). With rain interrupting proceedings Kent were set a revised target of 173 from 33 overs, and were going nicely with Martin van Jaarsveld (58) at the crease. But Murtagh tore into the lower order to leave Kent requiring 12 from the last five, and they were bowled out off the last ball of the match.

Midlands Division

A slick 111 at close to a run-a-ball from Robert White anchored Northamptonshire’s chase against Warwickshire at Northampton, before Lance Klusener’s brisk 26 took the home side to a four-wicket win. Warwickshire set Northamptonshire a challenging 294 after Darren Maddy (77), Ian Westwood (65) and Jonathan Trott (60*) formed a powerful trio in the middle-order. Northamptonshire were soon in trouble too, slipping to 60 for 3 before White – who reached his hundred from 107 balls – turned the match around, and the hosts ran home with seven balls to spare.Ireland promised much but failed to play with enough conviction, falling to a 56-run defeat to Nottinghamshire at the picturesque Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin. Kevin O’Brien led Ireland’s new-ball attack very impressively, picking up career-best figures of 4 for 31 from his 10 overs and troubling most of Nottinghamshire’s top-order. Indeed, the visitors were 6 for 2 when Mark Wagh shouldered arms to a sharp off-cutter. However, Adam Voges – who also had an excellent day in the field – struck 60 from 83 balls to guide Nottinghamshire to 217 for 9. Ireland never got going in reply, stumbling to 60 for 5 as Mark Ealham showed the benefits of bowling stump-to-stump with 4 for 39. Andrew White carved 30 from 40 and Kyle McCallan was unbeaten on 20, but there was little else for the home crowd to cheer.

South / West Division

Fifties from Matthew Wood (91*) and David Hemp (50) lifted Glamorgan to 174 for 4 before rain forced a draw against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Wood and Hemp put on 119 for the first wicket, both hitting nine fours, but Marcus North (3 for 32) nipped out Mike Powell for a duck, Tom Maynard for 1 and Jamie Dalrymple for just 8 to prompt a mini-collapse before the rains came tumbling.Daryl Mitchell struck an unbeaten 48 for Worcestershire whose match against Somerset dribbled into a draw at a rainy New Road. Mitchell hit four fours in his 70-ball innings to rescue Worcestershire from a disappointing 55 for 5 and lift their total to 154 for 8 before the rain ended proceedings. Worcestershire were again without Simon Jones who failed a fitness test on the stiff neck which has kept him out of their last three matches.

Unbeaten half-centuries from Manprit Juneja and Rujul Bhatt steered defending champions and table-toppers Gujarat to 262 for 4 in a game they would like to win considering how tight things are in Group B. There is the possibility of a two-way tie, even a three-way tie. So to stay safe in such circumstances six points – or seven if they could manage it – could be vital.Jharkhand chose to bowl on home turf but ran into a very stubborn opening batsman in Samit Gohel, who faced 179 deliveries for his 64. Nevertheless, he struck eight fours and a six. His partner Priyank Panchal, who came into the game with back-to-back hundreds, fell for 33. Bhargav Merai (23) and Parthiv Patel (33) didn’t trouble the scorers too much either and when Gohel fell in the 61st over, Gujarat were 179 for 4. That’s when Juneja and Bhatt (who made 40 of his 51 runs in boundaries) came together to string a stand worth 83 runs in 22 overs.Their regular No. 3 was busy scoring a hundred for India so Avi Barot was left to play the innings Cheteshwar Pujara might have, batting almost the entire day to remain unbeaten on 128 as Saurashtra battled for qualification into the Ranji Trophy knockouts. He came to the crease in the 10th over and, with Robin Uthappa (59) and Sheldon Jackson (54*) for support, took the score to 286 for 3 against Rajasthan in Jaipur.With Saurashtra needing nothing short of a win – and even then they could find themselves out of the title – they could not afford a bad start. But the openers couldn’t get past 20 and it was down to the middle order to regain the upper hand. Uthappa struck 11 fours to bring up his third half-century in as many matches and when he fell, Jackson took over striking seven fours in a 93-ball innings. Left-arm seamer Tanvir-ul-Haq was Rajasthan’s most successful bowler, picking up 2 for 48 in 21 overs.Kerala‘s Sandeep Warrier and Vinod Kumar took six wickets between them to reduce Haryana to 207 for 9 in Lahli. The two medium-pacers have kept their team alive in the race towards the quarter-finals, bowling 37 overs between them for only 90 runs.But they had to wrench the upper hand back from Haryana, who at one point were 94 for 1. Then they became 158 for 6 and finally ended the day clinging on to their last wicket. None of the hosts’ batsmen could make a score higher than Rajat Paliwal’s 45. He was dismissed in the penultimate over before stumps, and Kerala received a bigger boost when Warrier picked up a wicket with what became the last ball of the day to push his tally to 4 for 50.

Listen to Robin Uthappa at a press conference on the eve of a match and you could be forgiven for thinking that he, and sometimes the team, is bullet proof. Everything about him is gung-ho, the morale is perennially high and the future’s always bright.Much like his approach to batting, he attacks as a mode of defence. When somebody questioned Zaheer Khan’s effectiveness as the leader of the bowling attack, Uthappa shot back saying Zaheer had bowled magnificently in Kanpur, conceding just 25 off seven overs and that it was unfair to ask such questions.He wanted to “fight fire with fire” against Australia and although India went down 4-2, Uthappa said the intensity with which the games were contested was good preparation for the series against Pakistan.”Against Australia the pressure brought the best out of us and made us ready for this series,” Uthappa said on the eve of the fourth one-dayer in Gwalior. “There is pressure in this series as well, as it still can go either way. But we are confident of doing well, as we are on top of our game.”The Indian batting line-up is indeed on top of their game. They chased down 240 with ease in Guwahati, scored 321 in Mohali, and 294 in Kanpur. The top and middle order coming good in each game has meant that Uthappa, batting at No. 6 or No. 7, hasn’t had much of an opportunity against Pakistan. He came in with India at the doorstep of victory in the first ODI, got a poor lbw decision early on in the second, and scored a brisk 19 off 17 balls after coming in during the 44th over in the third.Has the lack of opportunity flustered him considering that he broke into the one-day team as an opener who scored 83 against England in Indore – the highest score by an Indian on debut?”As long as I am contributing to the team’s cause, it does not matter to me whether I am batting,” Uthappa said. “I can bat anywhere.” When pressed for a preferred batting position, he refused to budge, saying that he would bat “wherever the team wants”.Ironically, it is his success at the position the team wanted – No. 6 or No. 7 – that has cemented Uthappa’s spot in the one-day side. After his sparkling debut, Uthappa was unable to secure a place for himself at the top of the order after a disastrous World Cup, in which he scored 30 runs, meant that Uthappa struggled to get a game during the tour of England in 2007. It didn’t help either that most of the Indian top-order slots were non-negotiables.A cool 47, batting at No 7, to win a tense game against England at The Oval sowed the seeds of Uthappa’s finishing career after which he has batted primarily in the lower-middle order. It’s a difficult position to bat in for you are expected to consolidate if the top-order fails, accelerate if you enter during the final overs, and farm strike when batting with the tail. Though Uthappa hasn’t been needed to play significant innings in the series so far, he’s prepared to “play it tough on the field” should the situation arise as India attempt to clinch the series.

Stuart MacGill says he is recovering well from surgery for carpal-tunnel syndrome and hopes to be back in action soon, but a sports doctor has warned MacGill might never fully regain the feeling in his bowling hand. MacGill had the operation early this month and could be back in state training in two weeks, according to the Cricket New South Wales chief executive Dave Gilbert.Gilbert said MacGill would be looking at a comeback in the Blues’ Pura Cup match against Western Australia in Sydney starting on January 25, although he would not have long before the game to practice with the squad. “It’s a tricky period at the moment,” Gilbert told the . “The team leaves on new year’s eve for a three-state tour in five days for the Twenty20 games so they’re not back in Sydney as a whole squad until the second week of January.”MacGill has installed a home gymnasium to help him get back to full fitness as he aims to be considered for Australia’s tour of Pakistan in March, should the trip go ahead. Despite also suffering knee problems MacGill said he had no plans to give up on adding to his 203 wickets from 42 Tests.”There’s no way I’m retiring,” MacGill said in the . “I’ll be getting back into cricket as soon as possible. I’ve had surgery and everything is going great. The recovery period generally is six weeks although this [carpal-tunnel syndrome] is unusual for a cricketer so I’m not sure about the recovery period, but I’m concerned with getting myself right.”MacGill’s confidence came as the sports medico Nathan Gibbs said there was no guarantee MacGill would make a successful comeback. Gibbs, who has worked with the New South Wales and Australia rugby league sides as well as the AFL team the Sydney Swans, said the operation would ease MacGill’s pain but that did not mean the numbness would necessarily disappear.”The surgery almost always helps but whether he gets back the feeling to bowl the way he used to bowl, only time will tell,” Gibbs said. “The best case is Stuart will be fine in six weeks. The worst is that he may never get that sensory aspect back and where he is in his career at the moment, he could run out of time to get back to the level of skill he had before.”In MacGill’s absence Brad Hogg was called into the Test team for the Boxing Day match against India. Hogg fought back after an initial assault from Sachin Tendulkar and finished with match figures of 4 for 133, removing the dangerous Sourav Ganguly in both innings.