hbl PSl 8: lahore QalandarS beat Multan SultanS in laSt-ball thriller

mUlTaN staff report iNCREDIBLEbowling in the death by Lahore Qalandars’ pacers kicked off their title defence with a sensational one-run win over Multan Sultans in the opening match of the HBL Pakistan Super League 8. Multan Sultans, playing in front of the home crowd at the Multan Cricket Stadium, required 49 off the last five overs and with set batter Mohammad Rizwan and David Miller at the crease seemed on course to a comfortable win.

But, in an outstanding spell of death bowling, Shaheen Shah Afridi gave only 16 runs in two overs (16th and 18th) and bowled Rizwan with a slower one. Haris Rauf was equally brilliant, giving only four runs in the 17th and removing Miller with a pitch perfect yorker at the start of the 19th.

Experienced T20 batter Kieron Pollard, who Multan Sultans had picked in the replacement draft, smashed Haris for a six and a four towards the end of the penultimate over that added 14 runs for

army, Wapda bag national netball C’ship titles

islamabad staff report his side and left only 15 to be chased in the last over. Shaheen trusted Zaman Khan, who had bowled incredibly well in the last season to defend 12 off the last over against Islamabad United, and the right-arm fast bowler delivered.

In what turned out to be dramatic last over, Pollard was run out, running for the second, on the second ball, the third ball, a full toss, thudded onto Usman Khan’s pad right in front of stumps, Usama Mir was run out on the fourth, Khushdil Shah spanked the second last ball for a four to bring down the equation to six off one but failed to connect the last ball that raced away for four instead.

This was Multan Sultans’ first defeat at home – they had won their all three matches here in 2020 – and that came from a side who were playing their firstever match at this venue.

Multan Sultans had a solid start to the run chase of 176 with Shan Masood (35 off 31) and Rizwan, whose 75 off 50, comprising eight fours and a six, was the top score in the match, putting a 100-run partnership. Shan was caught off Hussain Talat on the 12.2 overs marks and that was the only wicket to fall before Rizwan’s dismissal.After Multan Sultans had accumulated 53 runs in the Powerplay, Lahore Qalandars did well to dry up the flow of boundaries as when Miller, who scored 24 off 20, struck David Wiese for four on the second ball of the 14th over; it ended a 28ball-long boundary drought.

Lahore Qalandars were given a solid start by the opening pair of Fakhar Zaman, who became the only second batter in the HBL PSL to cross the 2,000-run mark, and debutant Mirza Tahir Baig after Rizwan, the Multan Sultans captain, decided to field after winning the toss. The pair added 61 runs before Tahir fell to Akael Hosein after scoring 32 off 26.

Former England captain Morgan retires from cricket

islamabad staff report

England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket aged 36 on Monday, bringing the curtain down on a career studded with short-form success.

Pakistan Army and Wapda clinched the National Netball Championship titles here at Liaqat Gymnasium of the Pakistan Sports Complex on Tuesday.

In the men’s final match, Army defeated Wapda by 2730 points and won the title. Both teams were tied at 25, 25 points at the end of scheduled time. Later six minutes were given on which Pakistan Army won by 27-30 points. Iqbal and Wasim scored 17 and 13 points for Pakistan Army while Zain Hussain scored 27 points for Wapda.

In the women’s final, Wapda defeated Sindh by 16-7 points. Nisha Sultan scored 11 points for Wapda and Quratul Ain scored 7 points for Sindh.

Before the finals, 3rd position matches were played in which Pakistan Air Force outplayed Pakistan Navy by 13-23 points in the men’s event.

Akhtar scored 23 points for Pakistan Air Force while Babar Manan scored 13 points for Pakistan Navy.

In the women’s third position match, Pakistan Army downed Higher Education Commission by 18-30 points. Ayesha got 24 points for Pakistan Army while Khadija got 12 points for Higher Education Commission. Chairman, Pakistan Netball Federation and former IG Police (R), Zafar Iqbal Awan who was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the championship distributed trophies, medals and certificates to the winning players. President, Pakistan Netball Federation, Mudassar Arain, Senior Vice President Sameen Malik, Secretary General, Syed Gohar Raza, Directors, PSB Saeed Akhtar and Muhammad Waheed Khan and a large number of peoples were also present on the occasion.

dS Polo, Master Paints emerge triumphant in openers of Jinnah Gold Polo Cup 2023

laHORE staff report

DS Polo and Master Paints (MP) emerged victorious in the opening day matches of the Jinnah Gold Polo Cup 2023 sponsored by Al Rehman Developers and Town Planners here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Tuesday.

Bautista Garcia guided DS Polo to a thrilling 8-7½ triumph over Diamond Paints in the first match of the day. DS Polo were 5-7½ down when they made a tremendous comeback in the last one and a half minute by thrashing in three back-to-back goals to snatch victory from Diamond Pants.

Bautista Garcia emerged as hero of the match with a convincing contribution of five fabulous goals while displaying high-quality polo and mallet skills. He was ably assisted by another top performer of the day Javier Guerrero, who hammered three tremendous goals including two dying moments’ match-winning goals, that steered DS Polo to a welldeserving 8-7½ victory. From Diamond Paints, which had a half goal handicap advantage, Chulo Corti fired in four fantastic goals while Nico Roberts hammered a hattrick.

Former white-ball captain Morgan, who bowed out of the international game last June, led England to 50-over World Cup glory on home soil and the top of the oneday and Twenty20 rankings. Morgan captained England in 126 ODIs and 72 T20s, registering 118 wins as skipper across the two formats.

“After much deliberation, I believe now is the right time to step away from the game that has given me so much over the years,” Morgan said in a statement on Twitter.

“I will undoubtedly miss the adventure and challenges of play- ing professional cricket.

“Since my retirement from international cricket, I have been able to spend more time with my loved ones, and I look forward to being able to do so more and more in the future.”

Dublin-born Morgan made his ODI debut aged 16 with Ireland before he was called up by England in 2009. He played 248 ODIs and 115 T20Is, scoring 10,159 runs in total, and scored 700 runs in 16 tests.

Australian cricketer prefers cash-rich HBL PSL 8 over domestic tournament

islamabad staff report

Australian pacer, Andrew Tye, has preferred HBL Pakistan Super League over playing for his domestic side, Western Australia’s remaining matches in the ongoing Marsh One-Day Cup.

The right-arm pacer will be representing Karachi Kings in the HBL PSL 8, which has ruled him out for the final two games of the tournament against South Australia (in Adelaide on Wednesday) and Tasmania (in Hobart on February 26) as well as the final on March 8.

Tye’s absence will be a massive blow to the domestic side’s title defence. The 36-year-old isn’t contracted with Western Australia, but is a regular part of their playing XI in the white-ball games.

Karachi Kings will play their first match of the season against Peshawar Zalmi on Tuesday in National Bank Cricket Arena, Karachi.

Earlier, England batter, Alex Hales has decided to skip England’s upcoming tour to Bangladesh, in order to honour his £145,000 contract with Islamabad United for the upcoming edition of HBL Pakistan Super League.

Both the sides started the match well and converted two goals each to finish the first chukker at 2-2. DS Polo played better polo in the second chukker as they slammed in two goals against one goal by Diamond Paints to take a slight 4-3 lead. The third chukker was fully dominated by Diamond Paints as they hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain a 6-4 lead.

DS Polo started the fourth and decisive chukker with an impressive goal to reduce the margin to 6-5 but Diamond Paints struck one more to stretch their lead to 7-5. In the last one and a half minute, DS Polo played outstanding polo and thrashed in three backto-back goals to win the match by 8-7½, as Diamond Paints also had a half goal handicap advantage.

Manuel Crespo’s heroics helped Master Paints register a close 8½-7 win over Remounts in the second match of the day. Manuel Crespo, the hero of the day from Master Paints, did magic with mallet and polo pony and pumped in splendid five goals.

Pelagio Balazaldi, Agha Musa Ali Khan and Sufi Muhammad Haroon also played well and contributed with one goal each. For team Remounts, the major contribution came from Manuel Sundblad, who slammed in four goals while Jota Chavanne banged in a brace and Imran Shahid converted one goal. The first chukker saw both the sides scoring two goals each to level the score at 2-2. Master Paints played well in the second chukker by converting two goals against one by Remounts to earn a slight 4-3 lead. Remounts started the highly-charged third chukker with two back-to-back goals to take 5-4 lead but Master Paints then started playing aggressive polo and succeeded in cracking a classic quartet to gain a healthy 8-5 lead.

Remounts, which had a half goal handicap advantage, though dominated the fourth and last chukker by banging in a brace yet they lost the opening day match by a close margin of 7½-8. John Fisher and Chris Hyde supervised both the matches as field umpires. Two important matches of the prestigious tournament will be played tomorrow (Wednesday).