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Afghanistan rode on a remarkable performance by Karim Janat to surge to a series-levelling 41-run win against West Indies in the second T20I on Saturday.The 21-year-old Janat, brother of Asghar Afghan, came into the XI for his first match on tour. He replaced left-arm quick Fareed Ahmad, and walked into his 20th T20I with middling stats. With the bat, he had averaged 13 at just over a run a ball. His bowling average was a none-too-hot 31.66 and his economy rate an expensive 8.76. The Janat who turned up at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday bore no resemblance to the man with those numbers. Sent in at No. 3, he hit a freewheeling 26 off 18, his highest T20I score. But it was with the ball that he really tore through, taking Afghanistan’s second-best ever T20I figures with 5 for 11 in four overs.Afghanistan had made what seemed to be a below-par 147 for 7, but thanks to Janat, all West Indies could limp to was 106 for 8, leaving everything to play for in the series decider on Sunday.Afghanistan’s brisk start
Hazratullah Zazai shed the inhibitions that had made him tentative in the first T20I, going for his shots from the start, and got underway with a first-ball six flicked disdainfully over square leg. Zazai looted 16 runs off the opening over bowled by Jason Holder, getting Afghanistan off to a flying start. Both openers fell to Kesrick Williams in the fifth over, robbing Afghanistan of momentum. But Janat, batting at No.3 for the first time in T20Is, kept the run-rate going with some bold strokeplay. He didn’t always connect cleanly, but he went for his shots, which proved to be a street-smart ploy on this particular pitch. He was out to an iffy decision, the ball looking like it would go down leg, but that was a minor blip in a dream day.West Indies mix up the pace
Afghanistan were 41 without loss in four overs. In the next 16 overs, they could get only 106 for 7. The pitch for the second T20I didn’t have as much grass as the adjacent one that had been used for the first match. The first T20I had already shown the value of taking the pace off the ball, and in this game, on a slower surface, it was an even more effective tactic. West Indies sussed that well. Led by Williams, ably supported by Holder (who gave up only seven runs in his last three overs), Keemo Paul and Kieron Pollard, they strangled Afghanistan in the middle. Forced to create their own power with no pace on offer from pitch or bowlers, the batsmen succumbed. Gulbadin Naib’s enterprising 24 off 18 from No. 8 gave them some impetus at the very end, and allowed for a total that could give the bowlers something to defend. In the middle though, from overs 5 to 16, Afghanistan were tied down. The bowlers employed a variety of cutters, back-of-the-hand slower balls, and mixed them up with the rare bouncer or full-pace delivery, to keep the batsmen wrong-footed.Janat destroys West Indies
West Indies began their chase cautiously, but given that the target wasn’t too steep and they had firepower in their batting, they could afford to do that. Where the ploy began backfiring was with the batsmen getting dismissed after having eaten up balls. They had stayed at the crease for a while, without gaining any fluency, and as they played out overs the required rate climbed, forcing them to look for big shots. They couldn’t pull that off on this pitch, against a canny bowler like Janat.Janat began by trapping Shimron Hetmyer lbw, beaten by a pacier one on the sweep. Evin Lewis, the game-changer in the first T20I, seemed to never find the middle of the bat, and was undone by the need to break free of the shackles. Janat continued to mix it up against an increasingly edgy Lewis, until he swatted a top-edge to long-on. Two balls later, Janat got one go across Sherfane Rutherford, who drove loosely with feet planted, as the ball hit the perfect length and moved the perfect amount to kiss the edge. It was his next strike that really broke West Indies’ back, and hopes, as Janat got one to jag wickedly into Pollard and caught him on the crease, weight neither forward nor back, but pad very much in line with the stumps.Janat completed his five-for when he came back in the 18th over with the match all but in the bag, but it was his three-over spell in the middle that dismantled West Indies. Before he came on, they were at a steady, if slowish, 34 for 1 in seven overs. When he had completed his spell, the score read 55 for 5 in 12 overs.At the toss, captain Rashid Khan had explained his decision to bat first as “trying something different”. It was a somewhat surprising decision given dew was expected, and the history of T20 cricket, where the dynamics of utilising resources seem much more efficient when you know how many runs you have to get. The move worked, but the “different” thing that Afghanistan did with maximum impact was bringing Janat into their XI.

ScorecardAfter a sparkling start, the Ahmedabad Rockets seem to have fizzled out. Their eight-wicket loss to the Kolkata Tigers was their fourth consecutive defeat and leaves them languishing at the bottom of the points table. In a rain-affected tie, the Tigers were set a revised target of 85 in tenovers, which they easily chased down with eight balls to spare.After deciding to bat, the Rockets were in trouble early as captain Damien Martyn and Wavell Hinds fell cheaply. Murray Goodwin and left-hand batsman Parvez Aziz started the recovery, but the run-rate remained less than what would be expected in Twenty20 games. It was left to Sridharan Sriram (52 off 35 balls) to boost the scoring-rate, first with the help of Anshu Jain, and then, providing the final flourish with Martin Sanjeev (22 off 15 balls) as the Rockets posted a competitive 156.The rain came down during the interval, reducing the number of overs available for the Tigers’ chase to ten. They rarely looked in trouble, with the 14-run first over setting the tone, and cantered tovictory to move into fourth spot.

Despite being cleared by their board of using nandralone, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif’s case is still in litigation © AFP

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has cleared all 68 cricketers randomly tested during the World Cup. Their samples produced a negative result for banned substances.”The fact that all drug tests at the World Cup proved negative is a great result for the game. It sends out a very positive message, something everyone connected with the game can be very proud of” Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said.Speed also said that the tests confirms cricket’s low-risk reputation when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, but warned against complacency in this regard. Fifteen of the tournament’s 51 matches were randomly chosen. Two players from the teams involved in these matches were, again, randomly picked for testing, giving a total of 68 samples that were sent for analysis.But there was indeed some drug-related controversy in the run up to the World Cup, when Pakistan fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were found to have consumed nandralone in an internal drug test conducted by the Pakistan Board. The duo were initially banned but cleared by an enquiry committee led by Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim.The WADA had strongly contested the findings of the committee, and a case regarding the matter is still in arbitration. The official reason given by the Board for the absence of the two from the World Cup was that they were injured.Asif has since been selected in the Pakistan squad to take on Sri Lanka in three ODIs in Abu Dhabi, while Shoaib has been picked in the Asian squad to take part in the Afro-Asia Cup next month.

Scorecard

Carlton Baugh’s blazing effort sealed the series © Getty Images

Carlton Baugh stroked a belligerent half-century to lift West Indies A to a series-clinching four-wicket victory over England A at the Windward Club. Baugh, the dimunitive wicketkeeper-batsman, pulled West Indies A from a precarious 50 for 5 to help them to a target of 182 with ten overs to spare.Omari Banks, the offspinner, had led the choke operation this morning, snaring three wickets and restricting England A to a modest 181. Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy chipped in with two wickets apiece and, barring Alex Wharf’s rapid 37, none of the batsmen found the going too easy.West Indies A stumbled to 50 for 5, but were bailed out of trouble by Baugh. With the pressure on, Baugh lashed 71 off 73 balls with five fours and four sixes that eventually guided West Indies to a comfortable victory. It took them to a 3-2 series win after a fine 1-0 triumph in the two-match unofficial Test series. Baugh was especially severe on Gareth Batty, the offspinner, who he belted for three sixes and he thoroughly dominated a sixth-wicket partnership of 101 with Narsingh Deonarine.Left-handed Deonarine, short of runs in the series, benefited from a vital missed stumping on 9 to finish on an unbeaten 34, while Darren Sammy rushed West Indies to victory by spanking 20 off just 16 balls with four boundaries. Baugh first signalled his intentions by lifting Batty over cover for his first six. The second also went over cover off the back foot against the same bowler, who was then lifted over midwicket.His fourth six was his most memorable, charging fast medium Rikki Clarke and lifting him over extra-cover. Baugh eventually holed out to deep midwicket attempting a fifth six with 31 runs still needed, but there were no further alarms for West Indies.Their early problems were caused by Sajid Mahmood, the tall fast bowler, who emerged as the leading wicket-taker in both the Tests and limited-overs series with 24 scalps overall. Mahmood, who finished with 3 for 34 in nine overs, had Lendl Simmons caught at the wicket, induced Marlon Samuels (19) into top-edging an attempted hook and had Sylvester Joseph (7) chipping a catch to cover.

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Honours were pretty much even at the end of a low-scoring first day between Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates in their Intercontinental Cup match at Sharjah. Hong Kong were shot out for 126, but UAE fared little better and had stumbled to 126 for 7 by the close.Gunthorpe (38) and Ilyas Gul (32 not out) managed the only resistance of note for Hong Kong; no other batsman made double figures. Mohammad Tauqir took 3 for 31, but the miserly figures of Khuram Khan (19-9-20-2) and Rizwan Latif (8-3-11-2) also stand out; they each took two wickets at barely one run an over. Kahn then shone with the bat – he posted a top score of 56 – while it was Gul’s turn to star with the ball; he took 3 for 16 from 10 to keep this match hanging firmly in the balance.

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Damien Wright jumps for joy as he sends South Australia to defeat © Getty Images

Daniel Marsh, Tasmania’s captain, was delighted with his team’s unusually lofty mid-season standing after a 213-run win over South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.The resounding victory lifted Tasmania into second place in the Pura Cup table, behind Victoria, unfamiliar territory at this stage of the year given Tasmania’s tradition of poor starts.”Normally we’re just starting our run, we normally don’t get too many points before Christmas,” Marsh said. “And I guess the beauty is we’ve got Michael Di Venuto to come back into the team and Shane Watson to start bowling again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.”Watson, an Australian one-day player who had to withdraw from last year’s World Cup squad with a back injury, has since been playing for Tasmania purely as a batsman. But Marsh said Watson had been bowling in the nets and was set to bowl later this month: “We’re hoping to have him right to bowl for the next one-dayer.”Tasmania cleaned up the win in the space of a session, taking the final six second -innings SA wickets needed. Chasing an improbable 430 to win in the final innings, SA resumed at 4-110 with little hope of avoiding defeat.Darren Lehmann (10) popped a simple catch to gully off Damien Wright’s bowling on the opening ball of the day. Gerard Denton, the Man of the match, picked up Graham Manou in the following over, then, in the fifth over of the day, Wright dismissed John Davison to leave SA on 7 for 126.By then a Tasmanian victory was inevitable, although Mick Miller and Mark Cleary delayed it with an entertaining stand of 65 in 99 balls.They took a particular liking to Shannon Tubb’s left-arm spinners, with Miller hitting consecutive sixes off one of his overs, and Cleary belting consecutive fours off his next over.Andrew Downton then bowled Cleary to snuff out SA’s resistance and they were all out for 216 soon after. Denton finished with 3 for 22 and Wright 5 for 43.SA’s meagre total today, along with their first innings of 112 – a record low against Tasmania – caused Lehmann to apologise to supporters.”We apologise for what we’ve been doing and we can only promise that we’ll work harder and play better,” he said. On a brighter note, Lehmann said he had pulled up well physically after his first Pura Cup match back from an achilles tendon injury.

Indian coach John Wright, captain Sourav Ganguly, Man of the match Anil Kumble and Zimbabwean captain Stuart Carlisle spoke to the press after India’s comprehensive innings and 101 runs win in the first Test at Nagpur.Deep Dasgupta’s continued poor showing behind the stumps has been a matter of concern in recent times. Speaking about the Indian wicket-keeper, Wright said, “He has to perform better. It is understandable that it is not easy to keep wickets like these which turn to this extent. But we have to perform better at the end of the day, he (Deep) has to take the chances.”A `keeper has a very important role when he is in a side which has quality spin bowlers. He has improved himself while standing behind, but standing up he has to improve drastically. He will be getting another chance and should work hard at doing better.”I don’t want to go into the selection matters, but at the end of the day, I would tell you, you should have your best `keeper in the side.”Fielding was one area in which the Zimbabweans proved to be better than the Indians and this did not escape the keen eyes of Wright.”As far as fielding is concerned, we have a long way to go. I’m very much impressed with the way Zimbabweans fielded and if we have to play overseas and against quality teams then I’m sorry to say, we have a long way to go. At the end of the day I would like to say that some of our best players are our worst fielders, that’s a fact,” the straight-talking Indian coach said.”I don’t know how I could change that. Basically, they need to field a lot better but sometimes people are at this part of their career that it is difficult to teach someone who has played for ten long years, how to dive,” he added.Wright also lauded Sanjay Bangar, who made a Test hundred in just his second Test at about the same time that another No. 7, Australia’s Adam Gilchrist, made the fastest double-hundred in Test history. “It is a nice thing for a team for the number seven batsman to come out and score a hundred.”Bangar might have succeeded in the most glorious fashion but VVS Laxman’s failure meant that a number of people were calling for the Hyderabadi stylist’s head. The former New Zealand captain was rousing in his defence of the star of India’s famous Test series win over Australia.”He is too good a player and there is no question about his ability. If you look at his last fifteen matches, he has an average of 43-44 but you have to look at his statistics. That delivery to which he got out in the first innings was very good. I have no doubts about his potential,” Wright said.Ganguly, for his part, agreed with his coach’s views, saying, “John has said it all, so I don’t have to go on saying something on the same topic.”Talking about the competition between Bangar and Sehwag, the skipper said, “Well, it is for the selection committee to decide. However, with Bangar serving us as an all-rounder, it will always be of great help.”Kumble, meanwhile, was happy with the way in which he and his colleagues bowled. “I think we did really well in the first innings. The second innings just happened to us. We had 280 odd runs to defend. I have always said that if the batsmen perform well, it makes our job that much easier.”It is good to bowl with Harbhajan in tandem. Like partnerships help a lot in batting, it is also the same for bowling. With Harbhajan and myself bowling from two ends, the task was much easier. bowled really well, though going wicketless. However, he got his rewards on the last day, scalping four wickets.”Carlisle, though, had no reasons to be as effusive as Kumble. His team’s batting failed twice on a batting paradise and that saw the Zimbabweans being thrashed. “Our batsmen have to get bigger scores. The Flower brothers have been struggling. They have to work hard and come back to their own selves.”The Zimbabwean captain was liberal in his praise for his left-arm spinner Raymond Price; the latter, if you remember, claimed 5 for 182 in India’s only innings.”I am very happy for Price. Streak bowled well too and full marks to (Trevor) Gripper in the second innings. Price is young and inexperienced but he did well. He should be getting to learn more and improve during the rest of the series. That’s one of the positives of this Test.”

KwaZulu-Natal woke up with a jolt after a painstaking first session atKingsmead, having been put in to bat by visitors Border on Friday, to end the first day in sight of a third batting bonus point on 231 for seven.They had reached that mark when bad light forced an early close after 92 overs, 12 short of the day’s complement, which means the Dolphins, who must take at least 15 points from the match to overhaul Eastern Province and secure a spot in the Super Eight phase of the competition, have another eight overs to add the extra 19 for a third point. Anything less than victory, though, means they’d be set to join last season’s champions, the Highveld Strikers, in the ranks of the also-rans.Mark Bruyns and Doug Watson opened the home side’s innings with a tortuous display, putting on just 31 runs off 29 overs before rain mercifully ended the morning session 20 minutes early. After lunch, left-armer Liam Graham snapped both up quickly, Bruyns having made 12 from 97 balls and Watson 14 from 98, before the Dolphins upped the tempo.Jon Kent lasted just five balls before Vasbert Drakes bowled him for a duck, but Ashraf Mall finally got the boundaries flowing – none were hit before lunch – with four fours in his 36 and, once he was out, captain Dale Benkenstein, who top-scored with 86, and wicketkeeper Errol Stewart (29) fashioned a stand of 107 in 93 minutes for the fifth wicket. The partnership took only 181 deliveries.With Wade Wingfield finishing unbeaten on 25 – Eldine Baptiste is hispartner on a single – the Dolphins had just about got themselves out of the hole by the end of the day, but there is plenty of work ahead against a formidable Border side.

Newcastle United have suffered an injury blow ahead of their trip to Southampton, with Federico Fernandez facing another spell on the sidelines thanks to a new issue. 

The lowdown

Newcastle travel to St Mary’s on Thursday night looking to put further distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

An eight-game unbeaten run has seen them open up a seven-point cushion on 17th-place Burnley.

Fernandez was missing from the middle of December until the middle of February with a thigh problem, and his return to the matchday squad has lasted only two games (via Transfermarkt).

Elsewhere, The Magpies are without Isaac Hayden, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson and Jamal Lewis, all of whom are nursing longer-term injuries.

The latest

Newcastle World journalist Jordan Cronin relayed the news from Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference on Twitter.

Fernandez is apparently ‘set to miss’ Newcastle’s run of three away games in the next week – Southampton, Chelsea and Everton.

The new injury is only ‘slight’ but it’s expected to keep him out ‘for a week to 10 days’.

The verdict

Fernandez has made seven Premier League appearances for Newcastle this season, but his last one came against Burnley in early December.

The £47,300-per-week ace actually impressed in the reverse fixture – a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park – with six clearances, a game-high four blocks and 71% duel success (via SofaScore).

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Howe has dubbed him an ‘outstanding player’, but Newcastle fan page Mouth of the Tyne say he now ‘appears to be finished’ as he struggles for fitness and that he may be ‘one of the first out the door’.

Cronin agreed with that assessment, pointing out that two new central defenders could arrive and render the Argentine surplus to requirements.

In other news, Ralph Hasenhuttl has also suffered a setback ahead of the game. 

	Geoff Lawson has doubts over Shahid Afridi’s role in the next World cup in 2011 © AFP

Pakistan’s national selectors will meet next week to pick the squad for the five-match ODI series against Bangladesh in April. A selector told that the selection committee will start taking inputs from the Pakistan team management before naming the squad.The selectors will be particularly keen on speaking to the management after it emerged that Geoff Lawson, the coach, was unhappy with the selection procedure before the ODI series against Zimbabwe. Lawson said, in a report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), that despite assurances from the board he was not consulted in the finalisation of the 15-member squad named for the series, which Pakistan won 5-0.There have been reports of friction between coach and selectors earlier but this was the first time Lawson had put it in writing. PCB rules stipulate that national selectors should consult the captain and coach while finalising the squad during a home series. The selectors, though, have the prerogative to pick the final playing eleven, a change from the past when the team management had the authority to do this.Lawson’s grouse was that the selectors had not even consulted him while picking the full squad. In his report on the series against Zimbabwe, Lawson also talked about the 2011 World Cup and his doubts over whether allrounder Shahid Afridi had a role to play in the tournament. “The performance of Shahid Afridi will have to be closely monitored before finalising the likely team for the World Cup 2011,” he wrote.The series against Bangladesh was hurriedly lined up by the PCB after Australia refused to go ahead with the tour scheduled for March-April because of security concerns. Bangladesh are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on April 6 to play five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international. According to the unofficial itinerary, the opening match will be played on April 9 in Lahore, which will also host the second one-dayer on April 11. The rest of the ODIs will be played on April 14 in Faisalabad and April 17 and 20 in Rawalpindi. Karachi will host the only Twenty20 match on April 22.