The Indian Premier League, the BCCI-backed Twenty20 tournament, continues to gather steam – the eight cities in which the teams are to be based will be revealed when the bids for the franchises involved are opened on Thursday.A clutch of corporates are in the race to own a team in the tournament, which is slated to begin on April 18. Besides business houses such as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest private sector company, the Videocon group, a US$2.5 billion conglomerate, the UB group, the Hyderabad-based infrastructure major GMR, real estate giant DLF, media group Deccan Chronicle, and fast food chain Nirula’s, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and London-based betting firm William Hill are reported to be interested in owning a team.Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, whose group is bidding for the Delhi and Mumbai teams, was enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a franchisee. “It’s a great brand equity,” he told the business daily . “We see it as having great valuation.”The revenue streams for franchises include media rights (80% for the first two years, gradually tapering to 60%), IPL sponsorship money (60% for ten years), gate receipts, franchise sponsors and uniform merchandising. “Our clear focus in designing the league has been to maximise the value of the team owners,” Balu Nayar, the managing director of the International Management Group India, the sports management and marketing firm working with the BCCI on IPL, told .The base price for owning a team for ten years is US$50 million, but the intense competition and the fact that a large chunk of revenues from IPL’s lucrative media deal with Sony Entertainment and WSG will accrue to franchisees is likely to see much higher bids than the base price.Twelve cities satisfy the BCCI’s eligibility criteria – including having a stadium with floodlights and at least 25,000 seats – for hosting a franchise but the IPL is to initially have only eight teams. The twelve cities in the running are: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cuttack, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai and New Delhi.”The choice of cities is based on market forces,” Nayar told . “Cities having the highest value will be selected.” Bidders are not allowed to own more than one team. The IPL hopes to grow the eight franchises to 16 by 2010.The player auctions are expected to be held around February 7, when the franchises can choose from a pool of at least 78 players with international experience the IPL has signed on. Shane Warne is the most expensive player, costing US$400,000 for one year while the next highest fee, of US$350,000, is for Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming.The IPL, sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, is a Twenty20 competition whose inaugural season will feature eight franchises participating in a 59-game season. Each franchise will play the others on a home-and-away basis, with the top four sides going through to the semi-finals.
At least there’s no danger now of peaking too soon in the countdown to the World Cup.A run of seven losses in the last nine one-day internationals – sealed by the 160-run mauling at the hands of the apparently-resurgent Indians in Vadodara – has severely dented a lot of the bravado and confident expectations of home team glory come April 28 at the new Kensington Oval.In keeping with the wildly fluctuating moods of fans in the region, and indeed many passionate followers of the game around the globe, the side that was being hailed three months ago as a genuine chance to lift the World Cup on home soil is now being rubbished at every turn. That volatility is the same in the considerably larger theatre of Indian cricket, where there seemed a genuine sense of hopelessness following the tour of South Africa. Yet, judging by the bubbling enthusiasm in the glow of the 3-1 series win over West Indies, the general impression is that everything is now back on track.Just as Brian Lara’s freakish run out dismissal at the non-striker’s end typified the decline in West Indian fortunes, Sachin Tendulkar’s blazing assault on the way to a 41st ODI hundred has given new life to millions of fans on the subcontinent who fluctuate from misery to merriment depending on the form of their hero.Not surprisingly, the emotive responses from Kolkata to Kingston are excessive. Indeed, the degree to which both sets of fans and media indulge in triumphalist celebrations at the faintest hint of success merely guarantees that the weeping and wailing will be equally extreme when things go wrong.
If the capitulation two days ago suggests that all is lost, keep in mind that a combined 34 runs was the difference between victory and defeat in the first two matches
It’s the same everywhere. England’s indulgent glorifying at reclaiming the Ashes in September 2005 has been counter-balanced by the vitriol generated by a disastrous tour of Australia. The Australians, for their part, are now being accused of going over the top in trumpeting revenge over the old enemy mere months after pulling out the long knives for Ricky Ponting and company. So it has been, so it will be. And so you just try to pick sense from nonsense and seek, as objectively as possible, to assess strengths, weaknesses and the way forward in the six weeks leading up to the opening World Cup match against Pakistan at Sabina Park.A team that could annihilate South Africa in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, defeat Australia twice in consecutive tournaments and get the better of India in six of eight matches before this latest series doesn’t just transform into a collection of bumbling incompetents overnight, even if it may appear that way.If the capitulation two days ago suggests that all is lost, keep in mind that a combined 34 runs was the difference between victory and defeat in the first two matches, while a late stumble in the successful run-chase in the penultimate fixture only took some of the gloss off the pursuit. This is not a question so much of ability as focus, hence the infuriating inconsistency. We’ve been waiting 12 years now for that to change. Expecting a wholesale transformation in less than two months is a bit on the unrealistic side of the equation, even with the revered Clive Lloyd now back as team manager (the official title of Team Co-ordinator is just a waste of four extra letters and a hyphen to say the same thing).We essentially have to make the most with what we’ve got, and let us not pretend that there is not the proven performance to keep the flames of hope from being extinguished completely.
In Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lara and Marlon Samuels, the West Indies have a top five to match any team in the world, not merely on the basis of potential or exaggerated expectations, but runs, and in the case of Gayle and Samuels, decent bowling spells as well. Denesh Ramdin may seem to be under pressure, but that is of his own making. It’s not as if he hasn’t already excelled at the very highest level, so the challenge is his-no-one else’s-to return to his best and stay there for the foreseeable future. The previous two sentences also apply precisely to Dwayne Bravo, so just replace “wicketkeeper-batsman” with “all-rounder” because I’m running out of space.On the bowling side, apart from the options provided by Bravo, Gayle, Samuels and even Sarwan, opening bowlers Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor showed throughout much of 2006 that they can be relied upon to keep even the most rampant opponents in check more often than not. One or two wayward spells here and there can’t change that reality.That’s nine players. Make it ten if Dwayne Smith is retained for his useful bowling and brilliant all-round fielding only, because relying on anything from his batting is like expecting every World Cup venue to be 100% ready by the time the first ball is bowled. On this basis, only one spot remains to complete an 11, with a further four to finalise a 15-man squad. That is enough to guarantee all sorts of emotive speculation over the next few days, enough for the uninitiated to feel that the sky is falling on West Indian cricket.Maybe it will, but then again, there is the chance that it won’t. It is that chance that keeps us celebrating, agonising and coming back for more.
Billy Bowden, the ICC’s elite panel umpire, finds little favour with Australian and South African Test players following some controversial decisions in the recent Test series, according to Mike Coward, noted cricket writer.The fractious nature of the third Test at Sydney only served to emphasise that international cricket had a serious problem, Coward wrote in . “Its [Australia and South Africa’s] elite players are losing confidence in the competence of Test match umpires,” he said. “It is obvious Australian and South African players no longer trust the judgment of New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden and his Pakistani counterpart Aleem Dar. Even the most conscientious and self-disciplined players are finding it increasingly difficult to mask their frustration.”Coward ascribed the reporting of Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee to the level of frustration at the umpiring during the series. Bowden and Dar made some poor decisions in the match and the players’ reactions to them have been heated. On Thursday afternoon, the on-field duo ruled that the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch was unfit for play despite many observers maintaining that play could have started at least an hour earlier.Coward also noted an absence of respect between the players and officials, urging the ICC to act swiftly on the problem. “From afar it has seemed this respect has been absent for much of this match,” he said. “If there is no respect and rapport, there can be no faith and no trust. No sport can withstand a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the combatants and their adjudicators.”Coward suggested the ICC revisit the system of neutral umpires, saying the best officials were missing out on marquee games because of the policy. “The burning issue in the game is not that of neutrality but of competence and for the sake of the peace of mind of the players and the general welfare of the game, the issue must go back to the table.”Writing in the , Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain, said that the essential difference between “unprepared and unprotected umpires” was blurring. He was also critical of Chris Broad , the ICC match referee, for not intervening when tempers flared during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. Broad has prevented the umpires from commenting.Ian Healy, now a commentator for Channel Nine, believed umpires should be able to call on video replays, while captains could also ask for a replay for a limited number of occasions. “I would like to see each side have two, maybe three appeals, to an umpire … per match,” he has been quoted as saying by the .
A baggy green cap belonging to Sir Donald Bradman has been donated to the Bradman Collection in the South Australian state library. It’s the first one that the Collection will be able to put on display permanently as others have only been loans, albeit long-term.Popular opinion had held that there was only one baggy green given to each player in 1948. As that was Bradman’s last tour of England and his side finished undefeated, the value of those baggy greens is higher, especially Bradman’s one itself. But the sale of one of them last year set in train events that brought forward the other. An Australian collector purchased one for A$400,000 (about £167,000), and it was after publicity of this that the second, kept on display in the pavilion at Haileybury College near London, was eventually returned to Australia.Bradman gave his second baggy green from the 1948 tour to Owen Truscott for helping with his arrangements at the London branch of the Union Bank, and his son, Kevin had lent it to his old Haileybury in 1991. But after the auctioning of the first cap and the publicity of its value, Haileybury felt unable to the display, or keep, the cap securely and contacted Truscott.It was at his point that Kevin, now a retired lawyer from Melbourne, brought attention to the second cap to the Bradman Collection. After consulting with other 1948 tourists, Sam Loxton and Ron Hammence, Barry Gibbs, the manager of the Bradman Collection, had strong anecdotal evidence that there were two caps given to players in 1948. Gibbs then came across the contracts for that tour and had a closer look: they revealed that all the players had indeed been presented two, as had been the case in some later tours. And so Bradman’s second cap is now back in Australia, suurounded by more Bradman memoriabilia than anywhere else.Wearing a baggy green today has a near-spiritual significance, and adds to any occasion. Thus Michael Clarke discarded his helmet for a baggy green as he approached his first Test hundred last month at Bangalore, following the lead of Matthew Hayden who did the same at Perth at the end of last year when he overtook Brian Lara’s then Test record of 375.
1. All matches are 20 overs per side, with the teams divided into three groups – North (Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire), Midlands/West/Wales (Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, Worcestershire), and South (Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex).2. Matches start at 5.30pm (although there might be some changes to fit in with television schedules), with a 15-minute interval before the start of the second innings at 7.00pm.3. Each innings should last no longer than 75 minutes.4. Teams will incur a six-run penalty if they fail to bowl the full 20 overs within the 75 minutes.5. New batsmen must be in position within 90 seconds of a wicket falling.6. Only two fielders are allowed outside an inner circle during the first six overs of a team’s innings.7. Bowlers are permitted a maximum of a fifth of the total overs in a completed innings (ie four overs if there is no delay or interruption caused by rain).8. Umpires can impose a five-run penalty for time-wasting by batsmen. They are expected to be ready as soon as the bowler is ready.9. No-balls will be penalised by a free-hit next ball with standard rules on no-ball dismissals applying.10. Each side must face a minimum of five overs for a match to be valid. The Duckworth-Lewis method will be used to calculate run targets in rain-affected games.11. The three group winners and best second-placed team will progress to the semi-finals/final day on July 19.12. The overall winners will receive £42,000, the runners-up £21,000 and the losing semi-finalists £10,000 each.
Makhaya Ntini and Mfuneko Ngam became the first African players to receive one of South African cricket’s highest awards on Monday when they were named among five 2001 Cricketers of the Year.Ntini and Ngam were joined by Shaun Pollock, Neil McKenzie and Nicky Boje as the personal choices of Colin Bryden, editor of the Mutual and Federal South African Cricket Annual.The significance of the honour bestowed upon Ntini and Ngam is unmistakable. Just 10 years after South African cricket finally unified after more than a century during which it had been split along racial lines, African players have begun to make an impact on the game on the field. There is clearly no tokenism about their selections, despite the fact that Ngam has played in just three Test matches and has still to recover from shoulder and leg injuries which kept him out of South Africa’s tour of the West Indies this year.Simply put, Ngam is the most exciting fast bowling talent to emerge in South Africa since Allan Donald and the sense of anticipation ahead of his Test debut against New Zealand at the Wanderers last summer did not recognise the colour of his skin.It was perhaps fitting that the guest speaker at the dinner on Monday at which the awards were announced was Jimmy Adams, the former West Indian captain now playing for Free State. Adams made the point that as a youngster growing up in Jamaica, he simply did not believe it was possible to play cricket with and against South Africans. In a delicious twist of irony, Adams made his Test debut against South Africa in Barbardos in 1992.For Ntini, the award is recognition of the impressive role he played in last summer’s Test matches, bowling long spells at considerable pace to take 23 wickets in six Test matches against New Zealand and Sri Lanka. His consistency provided an ideal foil behind striking power of Donald, Pollock, Ngam and Jacques Kallis and his stamina was almost exhausting to behold.Boje is honoured for a remarkable year which started during South Africa’s 2000 tour of India where he established himself as the country’s first choice Test and One-Day spinner as well as an all-rounder of genuine quality. Ironically, injury opened the door for Claude Henderson to stake a claim and Boje faces competition as he seeks to make his way back.McKenzie, meanwhile, grew in stature after a nervous start to his Test career and he has now pinned down a middle order place so firmly that that he has become an automatic choice. Well-liked, McKenzie may well be a future South African captain.Pollock, finally, is recognised for the extraordinary manner with which he led the side after Hansie Cronje was forced to step down. He matured as a batsman last summer to confirm himself as one of the game’s leading all-rounders. This was his third award and probably his most deserved.
ScorecardTom Abell recorded his maiden first-class hundred•Getty Images
The loveliest event of this day’s cricket was one which Somerset supporters knew would occur at some time but which they feared they would not witness. At noon Tom Abell drove Mason Crane through the covers for three runs. His score went from 99 to 102 and he thereby reached his maiden first-class century.The first person to congratulate Abell – indeed, an enveloping hug was deemed appropriate – was his opening partner, Marcus Trescothick, who had scored the 57th century of his first-class career only ten minutes previously. Abell was three months old when Trescothick notched his own first hundred against Surrey at Bath in 1994. The pair eventually put on 272 against Hampshire, one short of the first-wicket record for matches between the counties, and Tom Cooper later became the third Somerset centurion. By the close the home side’s lead over Hampshire had been extended to 329 on what seems a flat pitch, although Dawson’s three late wickets suggested it was beginning to turn.
‘Loudest celebration I’ve ever heard’
Marcus Trescothick: “I felt a bit like I was the warm up act today, just to get a hundred before so the crowd could say well played to me. Then when Tom got his century the noise was the biggest celebration I have heard for a hundred. He has worked hard all season and has got into a good position and we have been bowled out leaving him not out, but this time you could hear the pleasure in everybody’s voices and the pleasure they were feeling. I could hear the noise from the changing room and it was the loudest I have ever heard it and it was a real nice moment. “I think we are building a formidable partnership, working together a lot more and you just get used to how each other operates. I try to give him as much knowledge and help as much as I can do but he looks after himself. If he plays in the fashion he has today then he doesn’t need a great deal of telling what to do. He works it out for himself and goes ahead and does it. “It’s delightful to see because not only is he playing so well you get the next generation of the team coming through combining with the Overtons and Lewis Gregory and others like that. To see the next generation succeeding gives you great pride in the knowledge that you are going to leave the club in good hands. “I played well and really enjoyed batting out there. We needed a good partnership to get ourselves going and try to get ahead of the game. The position we are in now having bowled them out for 240 was a great achievement and then to bat as long as we can is what we have achieved and something we set out to do from the start. It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons and last week was probably the toughest game so far so to bounce back and get ourselves into the position we are now is great but there is still a lot of work to do.” Tom Abell: “It’s been a little while coming, but I’m absolutely delighted, relieved and pretty ecstatic to get my first one. It was a special feeling when I managed to get past the hundred mark, because there have been a few times where I haven’t quite managed to do it. “It’s always nice when you hear those sorts of things on the Tannoy – and hopefully there are a few more landmarks around the corner. I think one of the things that has contributed to that desperation, I guess, to get the three figures is that, quite a few times, I’ve got in and made a fifty but then got out. So it’s pleasing to go on and make a significant contribution and help to get ourselves ahead of the game.”
The sporting press may say that Hampshire’s bowlers stuck to their task in difficult circumstances and such a judgement will be true enough. But when three of the four batsmen you dismiss have scored hundreds, it is very clear what sort of a day it has been. James Hildreth’s fine 71 was little but a footnote to the play. Hampshire’s batsmen got their side into this mess and they will have to get them out of it. Otherwise, James Vince’s side will become warm favourites for relegation ahead of the visit of the pitiless Yorkshiremen next week.Yet for all that Cooper’s first hundred for Somerset received the crowd’s applause – and the ECB may care to note that yet another four-day game has been very well attended – it was the 21-year-old Abell and his partnership with Trescothick that commanded the warmest ovations. Abell was born in Taunton and attended Taunton School. He also played, and occasionally still plays, his club cricket for Taunton, so you could call him a local lad. One imagines that his three-year course at Exeter University was an awfully big adventure. The Taunton crowd rose to him because he is one of their own and that will always matter to county cricket supporters.For his part, Keynsham-born Trescothick is loved beyond reason or measure on this ground. He is a steadfast cricketer who, rather than retiring when his England days were done, returned to county cricket and still derives deep joy from it. He has faced down tougher enemies than fast bowlers. His happiness at reaching his century was obvious and, for all his 39 years, rather boyish. His disappointment when he lost his leg stump to Fidel Edwards when he had made 153 was plain as well. Trescothick has just signed a new one-year contract simply because he wants to play professional cricket for Somerset as long as he can.Trescothick’s batting is characterised by his clattering pulls to square leg or his fearsome cover drives; Abell’s by his classical correctness, the quiet perfection of his strokes and the time he has to play them. You would pay to watch him drive off the back foot. Jack Brooks twice had him caught in the slips at Headingley last week but there is no shame in that. Hampshire’s bowlers could not deal with Abell until Gareth Berg had him leg before on the back foot for 131 half an hour after lunch. Then the crowd stood to him again and he waved back to them, which was also good to see.And indeed, they stood and applauded in all the pavilions on this ground, for Taunton is well-endowed in such structures. There is a Colin Atkinson pavilion, an Ondaatje pavilion and an Andy Caddick pavilion. In the winter they knocked the much-loved Old Pavilion down and have replaced it with a viewing area, a stand reserved for subscribers of some sort and a media centre. They have named the new building….the Somerset Pavilion. It rather reminds one of Robert Grant’s 1833 hymn “O worship the King” which contains the phrase “pavilioned in splendour”, itself taken as the title of a fine cricket book by A A Thomson.On a less-exalted level Somerset’s pavophilia recalls a famous routine of the magician and comedian Tommy Cooper whereby he performed the trick of placing a cylinder over a wine bottle and making the bottle disappear. Before long everything would go “wrong” and there would be wine bottles appearing from cylinders all over the table while Cooper, himself, acted increasingly manic. It now seems that all Somerset need to do these days is throw up some scaffolding and a pavilion will appear. It is very like them.For Hampshire’s supporters this was a day on which they needed to show unquestioning loyalty; for Somerset’s, it was a Thursday, the memory of which they will treasure when the rain clouds roll down the Quantocks and into the Somerset combes like gun-smoke. But Tom Abell is not yet the answer to any vacancy that might occur in England squads. He is a talented young man learning how to play professional cricket.These, indeed, are Abell’s “lamb white days” and he has a right to remain “young and easy under the apple boughs” a while longer. Experience and responsibility will come soon enough. Abell has not even played at Lord’s, The Oval or Old Trafford yet, but he will surely do so. And as the leaves grow crisp upon the trees in the sharp, brittle light of early autumn, it was almost a reassurance to watch a batsman who, granted only a modicum of fortune, has years of cricket before him. We will remember this blue-domed day when Taunton was pavilioned in splendour and Tom was girded with praise.
A Glasgow Rangers blogger was left fuming over a decision made by Don Robertson in the first half of their game in the Premiership this afternoon.
The Lowdown: Fast start
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team made a fast start at Ibrox, with two goals from Alfredo Morelos and Fashion Sakala midway through the first half.
They looked energised after seeing Celtic draw 0-0 away at Hibernian in the earlier kick-off and were determined to get all three points on the board in order to close the gap at the top on their bitter rivals.
However, they let that two-goal lead slip in the second half and duly failed to capitalise on the Hoops’ slip-up earlier in the day.
The Latest: Robertson slammed
Taking to Twitter, renowned Rangers blogger Four Lads And A Dream was left fuming at the decision made by referee Robertson to only give Motherwell striker Joseph Efford a yellow card for a bad challenge on Connor Goldson.
They fumed: “Quite ridiculous challenge on Goldson, even this far away you can see it’s studs showing and catches Goldson. Yellow card not near enough.”
They continued after seeing another controversial decision: “That’s handball as well! Two big decisions both questionable from Robertson.”
The Verdict: Lucky boy
In a challenge which was described as ‘dangerous’ by Rangers’ official Twitter channel, Efford was a lucky boy not to walk.
The fact that his manager decided to take him off at half-time as well suggests that he thought the player was guilty and perhaps feared that he would get another yellow card.
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Having blown their two-goal lead, which they held at the time the challenge was made, the Light Blues may well wonder whether things would have turned out differently had Motherwell been reduced to 10 men for Efford’s challenge rather than seeing him get yellow.
In other news, Rangers are set to enjoy a big financial boost
Lee’s rewind India had lost a couple of quick wickets in the first session when Brett Lee steamed in to VVS Laxman. Lee was about to leap into his delivery stride when Laxman, possibly distracted by a fly or something behind the sightscreen, backed away. Lee stood surprised for a few moments before pretending to run backwards, as if he was rewinding the film. Laxman, who is never too far from an apologetic look, was one of many who let out a hearty smile.Friends reunited It’s the first Test visit to Perth for Matthew Hayden since Justin Langer retired and Hayden’s leg injury has meant the pair has had plenty of time to spend together. They had dinner together on Thursday and shared something that has not been seen publicly for 12 months – a hug. The former partners embraced after a brief stint in the ABC commentary box so the moment could be caught on camera and posted on the broadcaster’s website.RP’s mighty swish It was the penultimate ball before tea and RP Singh, who was facing Andrew Symonds, was expected to down the shutters. RP, though, decided it was time he smashed an international six. Planting his front foot out, he teed off like a golfer, lofting the ball over long-on. It was something he hadn’t managed in eight previous Tests, 38 ODIs and eight Twenty20s. The next delivery, pitched on leg stump, was kicked away nonchalantly before RP proudly strode back to the pavilion.Tortoise and hare Mahendra Singh Dhoni had shelved his attacking shots in the national interest, taking 43 balls over 5 before his fire ignited briefly. India were pushing ahead cautiously when Dhoni broke free, launching himself at Michael Clarke and collecting a straight six which was more in tune with his usual method. However, he slipped back into a sombre mood until breaking out to hit his second six, which came off Symonds.Ishant digs it out Australia had just broken through a nagging 51-run stand when Ishant Sharma, India’s No.11, walked in. His first-innings cameo in Sydney showed he could hit, but few would have expected him to dig out a dart-accurate yorker from Stuart Clark first up. Faced with one at 131kph, he juddered his bat down and the inside edge raced away to fine leg for four. Clark might have felt the effort was good enough to get a wicket; he saw Ishant grinning instead.Local relief Australia had to take quick wickets in the first session and after a slow first half hour things looked up for the home team when Virender Sehwag sliced a drive to Michael Hussey at gully. Except he dropped it. At the time it felt like a costly miss, but Clark bowled Sehwag in the next over as India lost 4 for 46.
Gold League Rawalpindi reached the top of the Gold League table with 21 points after they beat Faisalabad by 232 runs in their fourth-round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship Gold League match at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.Resuming at their overnight score of 277 for 8, Rawalpindi, who have never won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, added only eight more before being bowled out. Faisalabad, chasing 337, were bowled out for 104 in 32.5 overs with no batsman scoring even 20. Sohail Tanvir got 4 for 24 and ended with a match haul of 7 for 73. Najaf Shah and Yasir Arafat got three each and both ended with six for the match.Rawalpindi displaced Peshawar from the first position after Peshawar succumbed to a two-wicket defeat to Sialkot on January 26. Faisalabad remained at the bottom of the table with no points from their three matches.Rawalpindi will next play Karachi Urban at the National Stadium Karachi while Faisalabad will host Peshawar in the fifth round of the tournament starting February 1.A stubborn display by the Lahore Shalimar batsmen, coupled with poor light conditions, deprived Karachi Harbour of an outright victory as their match came to a draw on the final day at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.Lahore Shalimar were set a target of 383 and were 44 for no loss at the end of day three. But only 31.4 overs of play were possible on the final day and Lahore Shalimar ended at 176 for 3.The opening stand between Humayun Farhat and Ahmed Shehzad powered Lahore Shalimar to a 107-run start. Farhat hammered 59 off 61 balls with nine fours and a six while Shehzad made 42 off 77 balls with eight fours.Atif Maqbool got 2 for 71 with his offbreaks and Aamer Sajjad (35) was at the crease along with Arsalan Mir (11) when stumps were drawn.Karachi Harbour managed three points having gained a lead in the first innings. This takes their overall tally to 12 after four matches placing them fourth in the seven-team points table. A win would have given them nine points which would have enhanced their total to 18 and put them on par with Peshawar at second place.Silver League A seventh-wicket partnership of 108 between Bilal Khilji and Kamran Hussain helped Multan earn a creditable draw against Abbottabadin their Silver League match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Set a target of 321 Multan had made 71 for 3 at the end of day three. On the final day they batted just short of 86 overs and lost nine wickets to reach 291 at stumps.But a draw meant that Abbottabad had to be content with only the three points for gaining a first-innings lead. Multan, meanwhile, stay at the second spot in the table with 21 points to their credit.Kashif Naved, unbeaten overnight at 31, set the tempo for Multan’s fight for survival contributing 65 off 109 balls. Then, from 142 for 6, Khilji and Hussain pulled them out of trouble. Khilji remained unbeaten on 73 batting for almost four and a half hours while Hussain hit 51 off 100 balls.Sajid Shah, Abbottabad’s right-arm fast-medium bowler, took 3 for 52 that gave him a match haul of 9 for 100. Junaid Khan chipped in with three for 51 with his left-arm medium-fast bowling. Multan, who were demoted from the Gold League last season, must win against Islamabad in the fifth round at Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad if they are to make the Silver League final against the same side.