how does ntpdate work ?

[harm]

in good old sarge there was a script in /etc/init.d/ that would check the clock with the ntp server(s) in /etc/default/ntpdate. But how does it works in Etch, since the init.d script is gone ? Of course i can execute ntpdate ntp.xs4all.nl but if i want it to sync every 24hrs should i put it in cron or is there a "hidden" script somewhere to take care of it ?