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Group A

Mohammad Aslam’s stellar all-round performance ensured Habib Bank Limited (HBL) held on to top spot with a thumping win against Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) in Khan Research Laboratory. Undefeated on 26 from the previous day, his well-compiled 74 helped HBL extend their first-innings lead to 158. The left-arm spinner then combined well with fast man Abdur Rehman, and the two picked up four wickets apiece to bowl out SSGC for 144, ensuring the innings win by the 76th over of the day.Samiullah Khan’s 7 for 55 helped Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) crush Pakistan Customs by ten wickets at the Marghzar Cricket Ground. Avoiding an innings defeat was first on Customs’ minds as they resumed guard on 36 for 3, but Samiullah was relentless with his left-arm pace, adding four more wickets to his overnight tally of three. The target of 23 was polished off duly in 3.1 overs by the SNGPL openers Adnan Akmal and Naeemuddin, as they kept the pressure up on HBL at the top of the table.Right-arm fast bowler Anwar Ali ran through the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) batting lineup to hand Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) a convincing win at the Iqbal Stadium. Openers Umar Amin (59) and Rashid Riaz (86) consolidated from their overnight 79 for no loss, still needing 186 to win, but Anwar Ali was unstoppable as he dented the middle and lower orders, wrapping up proceedings soon after 60 overs in the day and lifting PIA to third in the points table.It was the eighth-wicket pair of Saad Nasim (86) and Mohammad Saeed (96) that saved Lahore Shalimar from their fifth consecutive defeat of the season, against Karachi Whites at the Gaddafi Stadium. Resuming on 53 for 1, Lahore were anchored by Suleman Khan’s patient 57, before Nasim and Saeed took centrestage. The two put on 181, after Karachi fast bowler Tabish Khan had them in trouble with 6 for 110. From a no-hope situation of 182 for 7, they ended on 364 for 9 to deny Karachi full points.A predictable draw was played out at the Jinnah Stadium between Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) after no play was possible on the third day. ZTBL got some batting pratice as both teams never really got going. From 16 for no loss, ZTBL grafted away to reach 248 for 6, still 198 behind WAPDA’s first-innings total. Both teams gained zero points from the fixture.

Group B

Half-centuries by Raheel Majeed and Ali Sarfraz helped Islamabad to a draw against Rawalpindi at the Diamond Club Ground. Earlier, Babar Naeem and Adnan Mufti made fifties to stretch Rawalpindi’s lead to 339 before the declaration at 252 for 5. Naeem made 64 while Mufti fell 13 short of his century. A draw only seemed inevitable as Rawalpindi didn’t have too many overs to bowl out the opposition. In the 33 overs they had to bat, Majeed and Sarfraz hit brisk fifties. Majeed scored at more than a run a ball during his 75 while Sarfraz remained unbeaten on 50. Rawalpindi, however, retained their No.2 position in the points table thanks to the first-innings points they gained from this game.Ijaz Ahmed jnr and Saadat Munir shared nine wickets between them to set up Faisalabad‘s easy eight-wicket win against Quetta at Sargodha, their first win in the competition. The best possible outcome for Quetta, given the scenario at the end of the third day, was a draw but they failed to protect their wickets long enough to keep the opposition at bay. The overnight pair of Shoaib Khan jnr and Faisal Irfan resisted for a while, compiling a century and a fifty respectively. But Munir and Ijaz had the final say as Quetta were dismissed for 264, leaving Faisalabad a target of 82, which they achieved after losing just two wickets. Ijaz finished with 5 for 5 for 57 while Munir, the left-arm spinner, took 4 for 26.Mohammad Sami’s five-wicket haul sent Lahore Ravi crashing to 106, earning Karachi Blues a massive 312-run win at the National Stadium. Lahore had an uphill task when they resumed at 48 for 4, and barring Shahnawaz Malik’s unbeaten 43, the rest wilted to the pace of Sami and Tanvir Ahmed, who took three wickets. Karachi retained their position at the top of the table with 45 points, nine ahead of Rawalpindi.The batsmen had the final say at the Abbottabad Stadium as the match between Peshawar and Abbottabad ended in a draw, an anticlimax from the first two games when the teams were bowled out for paltry totals of 111 and 81. Abbottabad captain Adnan Raees completed his double-century before declaring at 364 for 6, leaving Peshawar a target of 395. Sajjad Ahmed and Jamaluddin scored half-centuries to ensure a draw as Peshawar managed 217 for 4. Abbottabad claimed first-innings points and retained their position at No.5.

Surrey have released Pedro Collins and Alex Tudor and handed out eight new contracts.”Both Alex and Pedro are fine players in their own right but the time had come for them to take on a new challenge,” Surrey’s professional cricket manager Chris Adams told the county’s website. “I wish them both the best of luck with their future plans and thank them for their contribution to Surrey County Cricket Club.”Surrey signed Collins, the former West Indies fast bowler, on a two-year Kolpak deal. Collins, 33, played 32 Tests and 30 ODIs, but as a Kolpak signing is unable to play for West Indies again without immediately becoming an overseas player.Tudor is famed for his 99 not out for England, batting as a nightwatchman against New Zealand in the 1999 Test at Edgbaston. He began his career at The Oval and was there between 1995 and 2004 before being released after several seasons where he was more often injured than available. He moved to Essex, initially on a pay-as-you-play basis, before establishing himself as a regular in the first team, although he did not regain the form which saw him win ten Test caps as well as the 1999 Young Cricketer of the Year award. He returned to Surrey in August 2008.Players to have signed new deals until the end of the 2011 season are the batsmen Stewart Walters, Matthew Spriegel, Arun Harinath and Michael Brown; bowlers Stuart Meaker and Simon King; and wicket keeper Gary Wilson. The seam bowler Tim Linley has signed a one-year deal.”When I first joined Surrey I knew it would not be possible to provide immediate solutions to the club’s problems,” said Adams. “With this in mind, we have developed a long term structure to return to the position of the leading side in the English game. One of the key factors I have identified to help us do that is continuity. No sports team has ever benefitted from a constantly high turnover of players and I am very happy the vast majority of our squad are now able to plan for two or more solid years at Surrey.”All the players that have recently agreed new deals have yet to reach their potential for this club and I look forward to exciting times ahead when they are all consistently performing at the height of their ability.”

England will play Scotland in an ODI at Edinburgh next year, the two boards confirmed today. The match, scheduled for June 19, will be England’s second visit in three seasons, following the inaugural game in Edinburgh last year.In recent years, Australia (2005 and 2009), Pakistan (2006), Pakistan and India (both 2007), New Zealand and England (both 2008) have played international cricket in Scotland. And even though Scotland’s fixture list for 2010 is yet to be confirmed, England’s trip will be one of the highlights of the home international season.Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said: “This is great news, and we are delighted that England will visit Scotland again next year for the second official ODI between the two sides.”The all-round support we receive from the ECB is fantastic, not only with the visit of their national side but also their assistance with our national development programmes. With the game taking place on a Saturday in June, I am sure that we will get a bumper crowd to support the Scotland side.”

Jack Shantry, the left-arm fast bowler, has signed a two-year full-time contract with Worcestershire that will keep him with the county till 2011.Shantry, 21, made his first-class debut against Nottinghamshire in August this year in the County Championship. He played three first-class matches and four List A games, picking up seven and five wickets respectively.Worcestershire have been relegated to Division Two of the County Championship and look set to lose Kabir Ali, who was given permission to seek out other clubs earlier in the month. Gareth Batty and Steven Davies will also be heading for Surrey next season.However, they will be boosted by Matthew Mason, Chris Whelan, and now Shantry, signing on new contracts. Alan Richardson has also been included from Middlesex, while SImon Jones has not been offered a contract renewal.

Australia 263 and 88 for 2 (Watson 34*, Hussey 18*) trail England 376 (Strauss 69, Bell 53, Flintoff 74, Broad 55, Hilfenhaus 4-109) by 25 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Andrew Flintoff gave England a valuable lead and entertained the Edgbaston crowd•Getty Images

Most assumed England would take a series lead into Headingley, but only the true believers considered a 2-0 scoreline possible. In a match that has seen five-and-a-half sessions lost to rain, light and a water-logged outfield, England have somehow found enough time to exploit Australian frailties to the point where the most improbable of victories is now within view, albeit still some way off in the distance.A 113-run first innings lead, reduced to 25 by stumps, and a positive weather forecast for Monday have provided England with a realistic chance to land a potential knockout blow in the series. It is difficult to imagine a besieged, unbalanced and out-of-sorts Australian side scrambling from the canvas if faced with a two-game deficit with two matches to play, and England will arrive at Edgbaston for the final day acutely aware that early wickets could prove the defining moment in reclaiming the Ashes after a two-year absence.Standing in their path is an Australian batting line-up two-wickets down and short on confidence following first innings collapses at Lord’s and Edgbaston. Exempt from that list is Shane Watson, the rookie opener, who followed an impressive first innings half-century with an unbeaten 34 on Sunday evening that grew in importance with each falling wicket. He will be joined by the less convincing Michael Hussey who, despite battling for form, clawed his way to 18 not out and steadied the Australian ship in a tense final session.Australia will draw inspiration from their stoic, though ultimately unsuccessful, fourth innings performance at Lord’s as they seek to bat out the final day, while England will be buoyed by more recent performances. In both innings of this Test, the Duke has swung from around the 30-over mark, and with 28 on the ball already and cloudy conditions forecast, James Anderson and Graham Onions will be relied upon heavily.Victory at Edgbaston set England on course for a famous series triumph four years ago, and while circumstances and certain cast members differ this time around, the white-knuckled expectancy of the vociferous crowd was distinctly similar. Onions’ dismissal of Simon Katich to a prod outside off-stump prompted roars that rattled the foundations of the Eric Hollies Stand, and Graeme Swann’s removal of Ricky Ponting, fast assuming pantomime villain status on this tour, evoked a response that might have been detected by seismologists half a world away.Swann posed a threat to Ponting from the moment he marked centre, extracting significant turn from the footmarks and veering the ball sharply into the right-hander. The England spinner was aggrieved to have had a close lbw appeal turned down by Rudi Koertzen, but rediscovered his trademark grin two deliveries later as Ponting pushed with hard hands at a wider delivery that found the rough, angled through the gate and crashed into the stumps. Since his sparkling 150 in Cardiff, Ponting has managed scores of two, 38, 38 and, as of Sunday, five. Australia’s batting fortunes have charted a similar course to date.Earlier, Stuart Broad struck a dashing half-century and engaged in several heated exchanges with Mitchell Johnson during a furious conclusion to England’s first innings. The pressure and tension of this most eagerly contested Ashes series bubbled to the surface in the 88th over of England’s innings, as Johnson attempted to break through the defences of Broad and Swann.Johnson engaged in verbal confrontations with both batsmen before claiming Swann’s wicket with a deft slower ball; a result that might historically have ended the argument and prompted an England retreat. But in a telling insight into the growing confidence within the hosts’ camp, Broad responded two balls later with a back-foot drive and a toe-to-toe confrontation that will no doubt have delighted red-top editors in both countries. The over cost Johnson 15 runs. England’s lead extended.Stuart Broad’s cover-driving was a highlight of his stylish half century•Getty Images

Broad’s resistance ended when he spooned a return catch the way of Peter Siddle for a well-struck 55, but his was not the half-century most discussed around the pubs and loungerooms of Birmingham on Sunday. That innings belonged to Andrew Flintoff, who added one more Edgbaston memory to an already rich anthology with a half-century that featured a powerful six to draw England level with Australia’s first-innings total, followed by a boundary to overtake it.At the very ground on which he notched his highest Test score in 2004, and earned Man-of-the-Match honours against the Australians four years ago, Flintoff displayed indomitable intent from the outset by engaging Johnson in verbal combat – a precedent his junior all-rounder would follow later in the day – before channelling his aggression towards his batting.Siddle and Watson bore the brunt of Flintoff’s powerful stroke play, releasing much of the pressure created by Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson in the first session. Siddle, as has become custom on this tour, interspersed testing inswingers and seamers with too many loose deliveries to concede 47 runs from an erratic seven-over spell. Watson, meanwhile, was set upon from the outset; his comeback spell in Test cricket yielding the unflattering figures of 0 for 23 from three overs.Flintoff was particularly strong on the drive and pull, and raised the roof at Edgbaston when he bashed Nathan Hauritz into the long-on boundary rope for his first six of the innings. Hauritz exacted a measure of revenge by having him caught at first slip for 74 (from 79 deliveries), but not before Flintoff had guided England past Australia’s first-innings total and beyond the 300-run mark.Prior to Flintoff’s 89-run sixth-wicket partnership with Matt Prior, Australia had enjoyed the better of proceedings on a fourth morning delayed by an hour due to a sodden outfield. Hilfenhaus’ dismissals of Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood were Australia’s primary highlight-reel moments in the first session, but Johnson’s two-over burst prior to the lunch break was arguably the greater source of optimism. Australia’s selectors have gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate him this series, ranging from pep-talks to the inclusion of an insurance seamer in Watson for Edgbaston, and their faith appeared on the way to being repaid.His first delivery was full, fast and tailing into Bell, who, if not for the faintest of inside edges onto his pad, might well have been pavilion-bound. Johnson finally got his man when he trapped Bell leg-before as part of a five-over spell of 1 for 12. But much of the good work was undone when, in the confrontational atmosphere of Sunday afternoon, he resorted to his short-length of old and conceded 47 runs from his final seven overs, the majority to Broad and Swann.Australia’s late innings problems were compounded when Hilfenhaus’ swing-bowling powers were sapped with the taking of the second new ball. With no one to apply the pressure, England’s tail wagged again and Australia, who earlier on Sunday had entertained notions of a first innings lead, were faced with a triple-digit deficit and a near impossible task to level the series heading to Leeds.

Andrew Flintoff believes that his impending retirement from Test cricket will enable him to focus on becoming the best one-day cricketer in the world, and he still harbours ambitions of playing for England in not only the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, but the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand as well.”I’ve missed two out of the last four years, so I’ve not got that rhythm of playing cricket day-in day-out,” said Flintoff. “But as a bowler, apart from the body, I’m actually getting better, and I can nearly bat again. My best years might be in front of me, but not in this form of the game.”In order to maximise both the cricket he plays and the earnings he can make from the game, however, Flintoff is expected to secure a raft of short-term contracts which could lead to him playing in a variety of leagues all around the world.He recently held talks with Queensland, over the possibility of signing a short-term contract for Australia’s annual Big Bash competition, while he currently has one year to run on both his lucrative IPL $1.55million contract with Chennai, which made him, pro-rata, the most expensive overseas signing in the competition, and his English domestic deal with Lancashire, with whom he has yet to discuss his life after Tests.There is no chance, however, that he will be persuaded back into the four-day grind of the County Championship, and instead he is likelier to feature in Lancashire’s marquee events, most notably the P20, which gets underway next season.”I’ve not spoken to Lancs yet, but when I get back up north I’ll sit down with the chairman and Mooresy [coach Peter Moores], and see what they want from me and what I’d like to do as well. County cricket is tough playing four days, so that’s something we’ll probably have to have a look at.”If his words gave the impression that Flintoff has not given a lot of thought to the mundanity of county cricket, then Lancashire confirmed those suspicions. “The decision has come as a surprise to us,” said their cricket director, Mike Watkinson. “Fred knows he has the full support of Lancashire and we are here to help him in anyway we can.”He will obviously talk to the ECB about his future and then we’ll do the same, but we look forward to having a closer relationship with Fred over the coming years. Although he hasn’t played much for us over the past four or five years, he loves playing for Lancashire and always brings something special to the Old Trafford dressing-room. England’s loss will hopefully benefit Lancashire.”Flintoff, though, doesn’t intend to be found kicking his heels in his county dressing-room too often. “There are a lot of competitions around the world, but I’m not going to grumble about too much cricket, it’s something I’m fortunate to play,” Flintoff said. “We may see players’ careers get shorter, but so be it. It’s a busy schedule ahead of us, and it’s going to be taxing on a lot of bowlers.”There’s enthusiasm to go on in one-day cricket, but there’s sadness that I’ve finally had to give up in Test cricket in regards to my body,” said Flintoff. “Nothing can fill you with as much excitement as an Ashes series – it’s on a different level to any other competition you play in. But I enjoy the shorter form, and I want to be the best I possibly can be, and focus all my energies on that.”Flintoff’s desire to carry on playing for England, however, may depend on his willingness to accept a scaled-down version of the ECB central contract that he has held (with the odd hiatus) since they were first introduced in 2000. Although injury eventually forced him home early from this season’s IPL, the ECB’s agreement had limited even the increment-contract holders to a three-week window, which would presumably be too little, both for Flintoff himself and the IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi.When asked if it was a concern that a 31-year-old in the prime of his career had been persuaded to give up Test cricket for the sake of his career, England’s captain, Andrew Strauss gave a diplomatic response.”I don’t think you can say that,” he said. “We’ve seen Glenn McGrath go onto 37, and Shaun Pollock went on for a long time as well. But it’s a little bit more specific to Andrew Flintoff, the way he bowls and the pressure he puts on his body. There is a lot of cricket being played these days, as there has been for the last ten years or so, and managing those workloads is difficult.”

Scorecard
A quickfire 82 in 59 balls from stand-in captain Mushfiqur Rahim took Bangladesh to a 16-run victory over University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI at Benjamin Park in Dominica on Friday.In a rain-affected match reduced to 25 overs a side, Mushfiqur helped his team recover from 38 for 3 to a final score of 167 for 6. Rahim shared a vital 53-run fourth-wicket partnership with Raqibul Hasan, who made 34. Significant stands for the fifth and seventh wickets then pushed Bangladesh to a challenging score.In reply, the home team got off to a good start with Omar Philips making 49 at the top of the order, but Devon Smith and Kieran Powell fell cheaply to leave the hosts in trouble on 86 for 3. Chadwick Walton hit 21 from 16 balls and Crafton Clarke cracked an unbeaten 29 from 19 balls to help revive the Vice Chancellor’s XI, but it could not prevent a Bangladesh win.Bangladesh play the first of three ODIs against the West Indies in Dominica on Sunday, followed by a solitary Twenty20 international.

England’s captain, Andrew Strauss, has admitted that timekeeping has become an issue among certain members of the squad, after Andrew Flintoff had to be reprimanded by the ECB for a breach of discipline during the team bonding session in Belgium ahead of the Ashes.Flintoff failed to make the journey to the trenches near Ypres on Saturday morning after missing the team bus, having attended a private team dinner the night before, and on the eve of England’s warm-up fixture against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, Strauss conceded that the squad had some issues that needed to be ironed out.”We can confirm Andrew did miss the team bus and the matter has been dealt with internally with what is considered an appropriate response,” said an England spokesman. The trip had been intended to honour the soldiers who died during World War I, part of the services to commemorate Armed Forces Day.”He was very aware he’s stuffed up,” said England’s captain, Andrew Strauss. “He’s taken it on the chin, and apologised sincerely. In fact, punctuality has been a bit of an issue recently with a few players, so it’s something we’re trying to iron out, and we have taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Fred accepts he made a mistake, the appropriate action has been taken, and we move forward.”This is not the first time that Flintoff has been in the spotlight for his off-field activities. He lost the vice-captaincy of the one-day team after his infamous encounter with a pedalo in St Lucia during the 2007 World Cup. During the 2006-07 Ashes tour, Flintoff turned up for practice ahead of a one-day match the worse for wear from the previous evening.”Of course there have been instances with Fred before, but it would be completely wrong for us to start looking back on that,” said Strauss. “He’s massively excited about being back in the squad, and he feels bad about missing the bus, and bad about this becoming an issue, but we all know that if he’s playing well in the side he’s a massive asset.”Flintoff, who is likely to return to the England side after sitting out five months due to a knee injury, did at least attend a team meeting later on Saturday after managing to catch up with his team-mates in his own time. But the incident follows hot on the heels of Australia’s decision to send home their own allrounder, Andrew Symonds, from the World Twenty20 for repeated transgressions, particularly in relation to alcohol.Strauss insisted that England would be strong enough to take similar action if required, even against a player of Flintoff’s standing, but he was adamant that such measures would not be required. “It’s got to be an option with anyone who transgresses badly enough, but I’m absolutely certain it’s not going to come to that, and it’ll be a sad day for cricket if it comes to that.Earlier this season, the Nottinghamshire allrounder, Samit Patel, was dropped from England’s one-day squads for failing to meet the necessary fitness requirements, but Strauss insisted that England didn’t operate with one rule for one and one for another.”We need to have consistency,” he added. “We treat people like adults – that is fundamental to my captaincy – so it’s up to Fred what he does. He’s been out of the side for a while, with a lot of injuries, and he’s desperate to come in and do well in the Ashes.”It’s vitally important to a team functioning properly that everyone is treated the same. Fred’s been working very hard … he generally recognises when the times are to drink and when not to drink.”He missed the bus, but he took a full part in the rest of the day’s activities and he seemed absolutely fine,” said Strauss. “We had a team dinner, alcohol wasn’t banned, but there’s no reason to suspect that anything massively untoward happened.”

The former England allrounder, Chris Lewis, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the country.Lewis, 41, was arrested at Gatwick in December last year after a flight from St Lucia, when customs officials found five cans of fruit juice in which cocaine had been dissolved.He had been travelling with a friend, Chad Kirnon, a former basketball player for London Towers, arriving back from holiday in St Lucia, although the pair were stopped independently at the airport. Lewis said that Kirnon had later offered to take the blame in return from £100,000 from Lewis. Both men received the same 13-year sentence.Jurors heard that the cocaine, which was found dissolved in the liquid contents of five tins, would at 100% purity weigh 3.37kg, giving the haul an estimated street value of £140,000. Traces of cannabis residue were also found in Lewis’s luggage, and while he told the jury at Croydon Crown Court he had smoked cannabis while in St Lucia, he said he was “completely innocent” of knowingly smuggling drugs to the country.He told the jury that Kirnon had asked him to carry the tins of fruit as he was concerned his luggage might be overweight. “I don’t necessarily believe that Mr Kirnon wanted me to get caught, but if you infer by Mr Kirnon giving me the cans that he set me up then yes,” Lewis said. “Generally throughout my life, my cricket career, when things have gone wrong it’s gone wrong in a very public way.”Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, told the court that Lewis had been stopped shortly after 5am on 8 December. “When the customs officer pulled him over, Mr Lewis stated that he was travelling alone and had been in St Lucia visiting friends and family,” he said. When Lewis’s luggage was inspected, the Puma cricket bag was found to be labelled with Kirnon’s name, Wilkins told the court.Lewis’s former England team-mate, Angus Fraser, reacted with sadness to the news, and said that the case should serve as a warning to all players of the trappings of fame. “I suppose this highlights how difficult it can be for players to cope once they stop playing cricket,” he told Cricinfo. “They get used to a lifestyle and a certain standard of living, and a lot of cricketers don’t plan for what to do when they stop playing.””As a person, Chris liked the nice things in life, the clothes and the cars, but once his playing days were over, his means of income was reduced. He needed the money and it appears he got dragged into something like this. It’s very sad.”Lewis is currently in High Down prison where he revealed he is now the anti-bullying representative, as well as working as his block’s race-equality rep. “It’s a simple one: either you did it and you knew or you didn’t,” he said. Lewis added that Kirnon, who is also at High Down, had approached him in prison and asked him for £100,000 in exchange for taking the blame.”Until that point it was a simple case,” he said. “You had given me the juice, just say so, story’s over. Now he’s trying to get a bit of cash out of me.”In handing down his sentence, Judge Nicholas Ainley declared that Lewis and his accomplice had been motivated by greed and had sought refuge in cowardice. “In a cowardly attempt to evade justice, you each sought to blame the other for a crime you obviously jointly committed,” he said. “Drug smugglers would not entrust a valuable cargo like this to an innocent traveller.””You made it to the top of your profession, [but] this was greed and I am sure that you ran the risk that you did because you deduced that the risk was worth it, because the rewards were substantial. You were knowingly and willingly engaged in major organised crime.”

ScorecardDevon Smith drags into his stumps to begin another poor batting display from the West Indians•Getty Images

The West Indians suffered another humbling batting collapse against England Lions as they crashed to 179 in their second innings, leaving the Lions a target of just 72 which was knocked off in double quick time. Liam Plunkett cleaned up the tail with four wickets after Adil Rashid continued a fine all-round day with three scalps to follow his 70. Tim Ambrose was the other star with an attacking 117 to build a lead of 108 and the Lions never loosened their grip.Robert Key and Stephen Moore ensured there would be an extra day off for everyone, needing only 9.5 overs to race to the target, after claiming the extra half an hour, to leave the West Indians with plenty to ponder. With just four days to go before the first Test and there captain, Chris Gayle, receiving permission to stay at the IPL for an extra two days there are some serious problems for the tourists to confront. The form of their top order is a major concern and although Gayle will return in time for the first Test he will be under immense pressure to perform.Only Lendl Simmons and Shivnarine Chanderpaul can hold their heads high as England’s second-string did the full side a few favours ahead of the Lord’s Test. Sajid Mahmood began the demise when Devon Smith dragged on to continue his miserable tour, then Chris Woakes continued his impressive match with two more wickets in a six-over opening burst to reduce the West Indians to 29 for 3. He had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught down the leg side and then shifted Denesh Ramdin, leading the side in place of Gayle, with one that bounced and went to third slip.Rashid trapped Simmons lbw for 63 to end a stand of 87 for the fourth wicket before adding the major prize of Chanderpaul, who failed to pick a googly. The rest of the order offered nothing as Plunkett sped through the tail and the last six wickets went down for a paltry 25.The end came so swiftly that it was easy to forget that the Lions began the day still 60 behind, but Ambrose’s positive strokeplay and Rashid’s accumulation soon levelled the scores and began building a match-winning advantage. After being overlooked for all England’s recent squads, Ambrose responded with a forceful innings as the West Indian bowlers struggled to stem the scoring rate.Rashid was given a life on 19 when Chanderpaul dropped him at slip and the seventh-wicket pair added 152 before Ambrose fell in the final over before lunch when he got a leading edge off Simmons. Nelon Pascal, the uncapped pace bowler, quickly mopped up the last three wickets, but apart from the early form of fellow quick Jerome Taylor there wasn’t much the West Indians were able to take from this match.