Pakistan squad for Champions Trophy announced
LAHORE: Pakistan on Monday axed Shahid Afridi from their 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy following the allrounder’s below-par performances in South Africa and a domestic competition.
The 33-year-old, who still holds the world Continue reading
Fidel Castro meets football great Maradona
HAVANA: Fidel Castro, the retired leader of the Cuban Revolution, met with Argentine football great Diego Maradona on Saturday, the official media said Monday.
“The exchange between the two old friends was Continue reading
Shahid Afridi likely to be recalled to Pak ODI squad for SA series
Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is likely to be recalled to the one-day squad for the forthcoming series against South Africa after a string of batting failures in the Test series.
Sources close to the national selection committee said that Afridi, who was dropped for the one-day series in India after playing in just two T20 matches, would be picked for the entire limited over series in South Africa.
“Pakistan plays the T20 matches first and then five one-day internationals. Afridi is likely to be picked in both squads,” a source revealed.
Afridi, who has played 349 ODIs, has recently shown some good form in the Pakistan A series with Afghanistan.
The source said that the national selectors would be making plenty of changes for the limited over series after the test squad`s failure in South Africa.
“The selectors will be selecting Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad, Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik and Aizaz Cheema (if Junaid Khan does not recover from an injury), Umar Amin and Zulfiqar Babar for the limited over series,” the source disclosed.
He said the selectors were also disappointed with the performance of the Test squad and some of the decisions taken by the team management/tour selection committee in South Africa.
“If Junaid who is unfit right now is okay, he, Mohammad Irfan and Ehsan Adil will be retained for the one-day series as well but there is a debate going on sending back Umar Gul, Rahat Ali and Tanvir Ahmed from South Africa after the test series,” the source said.
Rahat and Tanvir were flown to South Africa as reinforcements before the first Test on the request of the team management.
Rahat played in the first Test and went wicketless while Tanvir played the second Test and picked up only one wicket. The source said there was no chance of a comeback for experienced allrounder, Abdul Razzaq as he was not playing domestic cricket.
“The selectors are developing a clear consensus that they need to send some dashing and aggressive players to South Africa as it has been noticed that the Test players were pretty shaken against the South Africans even psychologically,” he said.
Sri Lanka Bowl Out Australia for 74
BRISBANE: Sri Lanka swung the ball around the Gabba on Friday and dismissed Australia for just 74 runs off 26.4 overs, their lowest one-day international total in 27 years.
Nuwan Kulasekara took five wickets for 22 and Lasith Malinga picked up three for 14.
Australia won the toss and opted to bat on a fine wicket and a warm day in Brisbane, but they fell to a prolonged inswing onslaught in the third match of a series of five which stands level at 1-1.
Australia’s lowest ODI score of 70 came against England in 1977 at Edgbaston, with the embarrassing scoreline repeated against New Zealand in 1986 at Adelaide. Ninth man Mitchell Starc ensured they avoided those historic figures with a knock of 22, Australia’s highest score, when it had looked like no one would get into double figures.
David Warner was first to go, for four, after clubbing a catch to Shaminda Eranga at mid-off off Angelo Mathews in the third over. Phillip Hughes had made only three when Mahela Jayawardene held a slip catch off Kulasekara who was on fire. Skipper Michael Clarke was starting to look solid, driving for the first boundary while David Hussey followed suit with a glance for four, but it was not to last. Hussey was given not out to a Kulasekara inswinger caught by keeper Kusal Perera, but Jayawardene won the wicket on appeal. Television replays showed a clear edge.
Australia were 3-21 in the eighth over. The Sri Lankan swinger had George Bailey lbw first ball and then beat Clarke, one of the best Test batsmen in the world, to hit middle stump.
Sri Lanka had the hosts 5-28 and facing their lowest ever ODI score. New boy Moises Henriques, back in the side after three years out, went two balls later with the score 6-30. Mitchell Johnson, Matthew Wade and Clint McKay quickly followed them back to the dressing room as slinger Malinga picked up quick wickets. Fast bowler Mitchell Starc showed batting was not impossible and clipped 22 runs off 28 balls before Xavier Doherty offered a simple catch off Eranga to put an end to the innings. via
Pakistan Test squad named for SA tour
LAHORE: Pakistan on Friday announced a 16-man squad for next month’s three Test away series against South Africa.
Pakistan will open the tour with a side game from January 25 before playing three Tests, two Twenty20s and five one-dayers against South Africa on the tour.
A separate squad for the limited over matches will be announced later.
Squad: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Nasir Jamshed, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Haris Sohail, Faisal Iqbal, Taufiq Umar.
Bangladesh Refuses to Tour Pakistan
LAHORE: Bangladesh has refused to tour Pakistan in January due to security concerns. Earlier this month the Bangladesh Cricket Board had announced that the national team would tour Pakistan for a short two match series.
“Bangladesh will not visit Pakistan for now,” BCB chief Nazmul Hasan told reporters Dhaka.
“We’ve made the decision after considering the overall security situation in Pakistan and the concern that our people have expressed over the safety of their players.”
Pakistan Cricket board Chairman Zaka Ashraf has said that if Bangladesh refused to tour, Pakistani players would not be issued NOCs to play in the Bangladesh Premier League.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board had also agreed to send a team to Pakistan in April, 2012 a Twenty20 and one-day international in Lahore. However, the Dhaka High Court issued a restraining order stopping the Bangladesh players from playing in Pakistan due to security concerns. via
Nasir & Younis Guide Pakistan to Victory
CHENNAI: A steady hundred by Nasir Jamshed and a classic half-century by veteran Younis Khan guided Pakistan to an exciting six-wicket win against India in the first One-day International here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk on Sunday.
Chasing a modest target of 228, Pakistan were under immense pressure as they lost two early wickets for only 21 runs on the board. Both wickets went to young pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Captain Mohammad Hafeez was bowled on the very first ball of the innings and later Azhar Ali was caught by Rohit Sharma.
However, a 112-run third wicket partnership between Nasir and Younis made the target easy and Pakistan completed the victory in 48.1 overs when Shoaib Malik hit Dinda to boundary.
Younis Khan made 58 off 60 balls. He was caught by Ashwin off Dinda.
Nasir Jamshed completed his second ODI hundred and remained unbeaten on 101 while Shoaib Malik was 34 not out.
Earlier, Mahinder Singh Dhoni leading from the front rescued his team from trouble. He made an unbeaten 113, off 125 balls with three sixes and seven fours.
After Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to take field in the match delayed by an hour due to morning rain, India made a disastrous start when their top-order batsmen could not resist against the fierce bowling by Junaid and Irfan.
First to go was veteran batsman Virender Sehwag who was clean bowled by Junaid in the fourth over. He made only four and India were 17 for one.
Then his partner Gautam Gambhir was also bowled but this time by Irfan at the same score in the fifth over.
Two runs later, the most in-form batsman Virat Kohli departed without opening his account. as Junaid uprooted his stumps
Dashing batsman Yuvraj Singh also could not stay at the crease and he was also clean bowled by Junaid for only two runs and India lost four wickets for only 20 runs.
Later, Rohit Sharma was brilliantly caught by Mohammad Hafeez at third slip off Junaid for four and India were reeling on 29-5.
Then, Rohit Sharma and Dhoni came to rescue and steadily batted to see India reach 100 in 30 overs but just runs later Sharma was bowled by off-spinner Hafeez for 43.
He and Dhoni added 73 runs for the sixth wicket partnership.
Then with Ashwin (31 not out), Dhoni made record 125 runs for an unfinished seventh wicket partnership
Junaid claimed four for 43 while Irfan and Hafeez took one wicket each.
Former England captain Tony Greig dies
SYDNEY: Former England captain and television commentator Tony Greig has died at the age of 66 after being diagnosed with lung cancer, Australia’s Nine Network said Saturday.
Greig, who worked for the broadcaster, first became aware of his illness during Australia’s one-day series against Pakistan in Dubai in August and September, it said.
Pakistan vs India-2nd T20: Green shirts win toss, elect to ball against hosts
Ahmedabad: Pakistan cricket team has once again won the toss in the 2nd Twenty20 match against India and decided to ball first.
The two captains Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan and M.S. Dhoni of India were present during the toss.
Speaking after winning the toss, the Pakistani captain said that he decided to ball first because the pitch was helpful for the seeming bowlers.
Meanwhile, Indian captain also expressed disappointment after losing the toss and said that if he had won the toss he would have opted to ball first.
Pakistan Playing XI: Mohammad Hafeez (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan
Indian Playing XI: G Gambhir, AM Rahane, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, SK Raina, RG Sharma, MS Dhoni*†, Ashwin , B Kumar, I Sharma, AB Dinda
for live match visit cricinfo.
Kamran, Ishant Fined for On-Field Spat
BANGALORE: International Cricket Council (ICC) has fined Pakistani wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal and Indian pacer Ishant Sharma for their on-field brawl during the first Twenty20 international here Tuesday.
Ishant was fine 15 percent of his match fee and Kamran five percent.
Kamran and Ishant have been fined five and 15 percent respectively of their match fees.
The two cricketers were found guilty of Level 1 breaches of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Code following an altercation during the match that Pakistan won by five wickets.
Akmal was fined by Match Referee Roshan Mahanama, after he pleaded guilty to breaches of Article 2.1.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct of ‘conduct contrary to the spirit of the game’ in the 18th over of the Pakistan innings.
Sharma also pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the same charge. However, Sharma appealed the penalty and a hearing was held.
After reviewing the evidence and the video footage, Mahamana re-confirmed his view that Sharma initiated this incident which was reported by all four umpires – on-field S.Ravi and C.Shamsuddin, third umpire V.A. Kulkarni and fourth official K. Srinath.
“This is clearly a high profile and high intensity series and the players on both sides have been reminded of their responsibility. Both players recognised their duty to set the right type of example through their on-field behaviour and they have accepted that they fell short of the level of conduct required,” said Mahanama. via
Sangakkara Scores 10,000th Run in Test
MELBOURNE: Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara scored his 10,000th Test run and Australia paceman Jackson Bird secured his first wicket in his maiden Test as Australia took three first-session wickets on Wednesday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
After winning the toss, Sri Lanka was 79-3 at lunch on the first day of the second test, with Sangakkara not out 43 and Thilan Samaraweera unbeaten on 10.
Sangakkara’s cover-drive boundary just before lunch made him only the 11th batsman and the second Sri Lankan to score 10,000 test runs.
He averages more than 55 runs in a career spanning 115 tests. He reached the 10,000 mark in 195 innings, equaling the record previously shared by Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar tops the test run scorers’ list with 15,645.
The only other Sri Lankan to have made more than 10,000 test runs, current skipper Mahela Jayawardene, was dismissed for three on Wednesday. via
Pakistan to tour West Indies in July to Play ODI & Test Cricket Matches
KARACHI: Pakistan will tour West Indies next year to play two tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match.
“There had been a suggestion to split the tour but now it is confirmed for July,” a Pakistan Cricket Board official told Reuters on Wednesday.
Pakistan have not played an international match on home soil since 2009 when armed militants attacked Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore.
