Although there has been no official word on this, but I hear that Abdul Qadir, the Chief Selector, and other PCB officials are pleased with Shoaib Akhtar's performance and the attitude that he displayed during the RBS Pentangular One Day Cup that concluded last night.





Shoaib managed a team comprising of a couple of U19 players, Umar Amin and Afaq Raheem, coupled with some promising players from Islamabad, Babar Naeem, Usman Saeed, an Raheel Majeed, and few international names in Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Yasir Arafat, and Saeed Ajmal.

The Punjab Stallions remained unbeaten throughout the competition and won the inaugral Pentangular One Day Cup, beating the Federal Areas Leopards easily in the final.



Federal Areas Leopards 218 all out (Umar Amin 77, Babar Naeem 39, Wahab Riaz 5-44, Shoaib Malik 1-28) lost to Punjab Stallions 219-2 in 41.5 overs (Azhar Ali 87*, Nasir Jamshed 63, Salman Butt 51) by 8 wickets.

In what should have been the match of the tournament the Punjab Stallions easily brushed aside the Sindh Dolphins to seal their place in the final of the RBS Pentangular One-Day Cup.

Afridi went first ball and the Dolphins collapsed to 127 in only 34 overs.

That total was never going to be enough for an in form Stallions side.

U-19 pacer Mohammad Talha was wrecker in chief picking up 4 wickets.

Shoaib Malik continued his good run with the ball picking up 2 wickets in 2 overs to end the Dolphins' innings.

The Pakistan skipper was in the midst of the action again with the bat scoring an unbeaten 26 to lead his team to a 7 wicket win, easily done in 27 overs.

The Stallions go into Wednesday's final without losing a game and will face the winner of tomorrow's Panthers vs Leopards match.

Brief Scores:

Sindh Dolphins 127 all out in 34.1 overs (Anwar Ali 35, Mod. Talha 4-37, Malik 2-7) lost to Punjab Stallions 128-3 in 26.5 overs (Azhar Ali 51*) by 7 wickets.

If you thought 86 & 2-51 against the Leopards and 42 & 2-38 against the Panthers was a good effort from the Pakistan captain, then he topped everyone's expectations last night against the Bears with an unbeaten century and 2 wickets to lead the Punjab Stallions to their 3rd successive victory in the Pentangular One-Day Cup.

Batting first, the Bears set a target of of 284 with Saeed Bin Nasir, a prolific domestic player, top scoring with an unbeaten 97.

All the key batsmen - Misbah, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Khan - played handy knocks to help the Bears to a significant total.

Which was not enough for the Stallions though.

Malik and Salman Butt, batting at number 3 this time round, got together for a 130 run partnership for the 4th wicket to set up the Stallions' run chase.

Malik and Butt both scored at better than run a ball for their first 100s of the tournament.

Following their partnership, Kamran Akmal sealed victory after knocking 48 runs of 24 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes as the Stallions reached their target with 9 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

Baluchsitan Bears 284-4 (Saeed Bin Nasir 97*, Mibsha 4, Hafeez 46, Malik 2-37) lost to Punjab Stallions 287-4 in 48.3 overs (Salman Butt 109, Shoaib Malik 108*, Akmal 48*) by 6 wickets.

Misbah Ul Haq played his first match in the ongoing Pentangular One Day Cup and scored a run a ball 63 to guide the Bears to a good total of 275, but Umar Amin and Afaq Rahim led chase with brilliant unbeaten centuries leading the Leopards to an easy 7 wicket victory with over 4 overs to spare.

Kamran Hussain, who had led the Bears to a thrilling 1 wicket win over the Dolphins with an unbeaten 45, smashed 56 off only 34 balls to push the Bears total to 275.

Shoaib Akhtar, captaining the Leopards, and Sohail Tanvir were both in great form with the ball picking up 7 wickets between them.

The Leopards chase was made easy through an unbeaten 251 run partnership for the 4th wicket between U19 opener Umar Amin and Islamabad opener Afaq Raheem, both batting in the middle order for this match.

Brief Scores:

Baluchistan Bears 275 all out in 49.3 overs (Fahad Iqbal 68, Misbah 63, Shoaib Akhtar 4-57, Sohauil Tanvir 3-5) lost to Federal Areas Leopards 276-3 in 45.2 overs (Umar Amin 125*, Afaq Rahim 129*).

Shoaib Malik led the Stallions to their 2nd win in as many matches as they beat the NWFP Panthers by 17 runs in a low scoring affair on the 3rd day of the RBS One-Day Pentangular Cup.


Two in two for the Pakistan captain - wins and allround performances.

Despite the absence of their captain, Misbah Ul Haq, the Baluchistan Bears managed to chase a mammoth total of 312 off the final ball of their innings with only their last wicket standing.

A 101 run partnership between Khurram Manzoor (83) and Naumanullah (55) laid the foundation for the Sindh Dolhpin's 312.

But it wasn't enough.

Shahid Afridi's belligerent knock off 114 came of only 54 deliveries and comprised of 7 sixes and 10 fours and took the Dolphins to a huge 312.

But it wasnt enough.

Sohail Khan trapped Shoaib Khan plumb in front of the first ball of the Baluchistan Bear's run chase and ended with figures of 2-55.

But it wasn't enough.

Somehow the Bears' batsmen gathered together and rallied around Saeed Anwar's (Jnr) 97 keeping up with the rate throughout their innings.

Last over. Last wicket. 12 needed.

Last ball. Last wicket. 2 needed.

And the Baluchistan Bears scraped to victory.

For once, Afridi did not deserve to be on the losing side.

Any batsman smashing a 46 ball century doesn't deserve to be.

It just wasn't enough.

By this time last year, Pakistan had played the South Africans at home and toured India, but the start of the 2008-09 cricket season has been very different with no home series held and only a 20-20 tournament and an ODI series played at offshore venues.

The lack of international cricket at home has allowed the board to slightly modify their domestic cricket season.

It could have been done in a better way but whats panned out this season has been very different from the previous seasons in Pakistan and is definitely a step in the right direction.

The season kicked off with the RBS 20-20 Competition, which was battled by 13 regional teams, and won by the Sialkot Stallions for the 3rd time in a row.

That was followed by the RBS Pentangular Cup, the 4-day competition that involved the 5 regions of Pakistan, and was won by NWFP - their first domestic title ever.

These tournaments are now followed by the RBS Pentangular One-Day Cup.

The same 5 regions that were involved in the first class Pentangular Cup are competing in the One-Day version of the tournament that is being held for the first time in Pakistan.

Previously the one-day competitions have involved the 13 regional teams, but having one comprising of the 5 regions makes it more competitive.

The teams taking part are:

Punjab Stallions captained by Shoaib Malik.
Sindh Dolphins captained by Shahid Afridi.
Baluchistan Bears captained by Misbah Ul Haq.
Federal Areas Leopards captained by Shoaib Akhtar.
NWFP Panthers captained by Umar Gul.

The tournament kicked off last night with the Stallions marching to a 98 run victory over the Leopards.

Batting first, the Stallions put up a score of 305-8 in their 50 overs. Shoaib Malik top scored with 86 off 60 deliveries after the openers Salman Butt (39) and Azhar Ali (75) had put on 91 in quick time.

Nasir Jamshed, returning to cricket after a lay-off due to malaria looked in fine form scoring a quick fire 40.

Sohail Tanvir was the pick of the bowlers for the Leopards picking up 4 wickets, while skipper Shoaib Akhtar picked up 2 wickets.

In response to that Stallions' tall order, the Leopards' batsmen folded for 207 in 43 overs.

U-19 pacer Mohammad Talha started the slide picking up 2 wickets in his opening spell, while the spinners Malik, Abdur Rehman, and Mansoor Amjad shared 7 wickets between them routing the Leopards by 98 runs.

Shoaib Malik was declared man of the match for his allround effort of 86 and 2-51.