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India need to think its strategey to indouse youngster

2011-08-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

India's drubbing in the just-
concluded Test series in England
has signalled the urgent need
for youngsters to be blooded
into the Test team, according to
former India captain Anil Kumble. Kumble said that while it could
take time for India to return to
their best, players like Virat
Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina
and Yuvraj Singh needed to be
given an extended run to allow the rebuilding process to take
place. "They have to be given a long
rope," Kumble told AFP. "You may
not see India come back to the
top in quick time. But we have to
ensure that with these
youngsters, we remain in the top three and climb to the top
spot after a few years." Arun Lal, the former India
batsman, echoed Kumble's view.
"You cannot go on with 35 or
38-year-olds till eternity," Lal
said. "We need to infuse new
talent. What happened in England was in a way good. We needed
an awakening." India's 4-0 loss is the their first
whitewash since the three-
match series in Australia in
1999-2000, and the first by a
four-game margin since the
1967-68 tour of Australia. Since Sourav Ganguly took over the
captaincy in 2000, India's
overseas record has shown
marked improvement - India
have won 24 away Tests in the
last 11 years as compared to only four between 1980-99. However, the players responsible
for several of these wins have
already gone - Anil Kumble and
Sourav Ganguly - or are close to
retirement, while the likes of
Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, who were
part of these wins, have been
dogged by injuries recently. Kapil Dev, another former
captain, said several of these
players would be hard to
replace, making India's task that
much harder. "We were
fortunate to have such good players all at one time, but they
can't go on forever," Dev said. "It
won't be easy to replace them." Former India captain Sunil
Gavaskar said, during
commentary, that while England
were the better side, he had
not expected India to cave in so
meekly. "Losing is part of the game but for a top-ranked side
to lose so badly is inexcusable,"
he said. "England were
magnificent, they were much
superior to India and much
better prepared. But I did expect India to show more fight
than they did in the four Tests." With the Don Argus-led review of
Australian cricket getting a lot
of attention over the last week,
there has been speculation over
whether the BCCI will commission
a similar appraisal in the aftermath of the England series.
Former captain Mansur Ali Khan
Pataudi said he didn't anticipate
too many changes coming into
place. "The BCCI is not going to
show a great deal of vision," Pataudi said. "Cricket will
continue [in India] the way it is,
but I sincerely hope that some
sense does come in." Ravi Shastri, another former
captain, said it was time to look
at different players for the
different formats, with an
emphasis on Test cricket. "It's
time for Indian cricket to identify players who are specifically
suited to the different formats
of the game," Shastri wrote in
the Times of India. "A way has to
be found to encourage those
cricketers who want to give Test cricket priority. There
ought to be superior
remuneration or compensation." var _gaq = _gaq | | [ ] ; _gaq . push( [ ' _setAccount ' , ' UA-25381004-1 ' ] ) ; _gaq . push( [ ' _trackPagev i ew' ] ) ; ( funct i on( ) { var ga = document . createE l ement ( ' scr i p ga . src = ( ' https : ' == document . l ocat i o var s = document . getE l ementsByTagName( } ) ( ) ; < /scr i pt> var _gaq = _gaq | | [ ] ; _gaq . push( [ ' _setAccount ' , ' UA-25381004-1 ' ] ) ; _gaq . push( [ ' _trackPagev i ew' ] ) ; ( funct i on( ) { var ga = document . createE l ement ( ' scr i p ga . src = ( ' https : ' == document . l ocat i o var s = document . getE l ementsByTagName( } ) ( ) ; < /scr i pt>

India are near to a whitewash

2011-08-21T02:02:00.001-07:00

India 103 for 5 (Dravid 57*, Dhoni
5*) trail England 591 for 6 dec
(Bell 235, Pietersen 175) by 488
runs The whitewash is well and truly
on. Despite another session being
lost to rain, and the best efforts
of Rahul Dravid, England surged
at The Oval as India were left in
tatters on 103 for 5 in reply to the hosts' massive 591 for 6. Ian
Bell carried his serene maiden
Test double to 235 then, after a
three-hour delay, Virender
Sehwag was removed in the first
over of India's reply and a succession of team-mates,
including Sachin Tendulkar,
followed him with Graeme Swann
making a major impression with
three wickets. England would probably have
carried on their run-glut
towards 650 - or even
consecutive scores of 700,
something that has never been
done - had the weather not closed in at lunch and, despite a
damp outfield, it was a fairly
straightforward decision for
Andrew Strauss to let his
bowlers loose during a long final
session. After a quiet time this is looking like Swann's match with
substantial turn already on offer
out of the footmarks. If he is the
matchwinner it really will be the
complete series for England. Having seen Swann's first ball
turn from RP Singh's
followthrough Tendulkar tried to
counter the threat by sweeping.
It took Swann a little time to
settle, but the sweep proved Tendulkar's downfall when he
gloved a chance over the
wicketkeeper's head and James
Anderson jogged round to hold
the catch. Suresh Raina was given a torrid
time by pace and spin and
couldn't open his account before
being brilliantly stumped by Matt
Prior for a 29-ball duck - the
joint longest by an India batsman - as Swann spun one sharply
past a lunging prod. The foot
was probably on the line, but it
was a brave decision from the
third umpire Steve Davis. To cap
Swann's best day of the series he had nightwatchman Ishant
Sharma caught at short leg two
overs before the close. India's problems were
compounded by Gautam Gambhir
suffering concussion following the
blow he took to the head while
dropping Kevin Pietersen on
Friday which meant India had to shuffle their line-up again.
However, even if Dravid had
remained at No. 3 he wouldn't
have had a long wait. There he
was at the close, defiant on 57,
with another mountain to climb. Sehwag at least avoided a third
golden duck after his king pair
at Edgbaston but didn't go much
further. After two sighters
outside off stump he played a
pair of trademark back-foot drives off Anderson who
responded with a delivery that
nipped back to trap Sehwag lbw
in front of middle and leg. It
meant the sum total of his series
was eight balls, eight runs and three dismissals while, for the
fourth time in the series, India
had lost a wicket in the opening
over. When it comes to changing India's
batting line-up Tendulkar never
shifts so it was VVS Laxman at
No. 3 where he hasn't been
comfortable during this series. He
received an excellent delivery from Stuart Broad that seamed
away to take the outside edge
as England's quicks extracted far
more life from the surface than
India's bowlers managed. And so,
for the seventh innings in a row, there was a standing ovation as
a batsman walked to the middle. Tendulkar didn't settle during his
innings, seemingly always
distracted by problems with the
sightscreen and troubled by the
pace bowlers. He ducked into a
bouncer from Broad (although responded with a flowing on-
drive), offered a return chance
to Tim Bresnan who couldn't hold
on with his left hand and was
very late on another delivery
from Bresnan that wasn't far from being lbw. For once, though,
it was spin not pace that ended
the latest attempt at 100
hundreds. Amid all this Dravid held firm. If
anything, he started his innings
with more positive intent than is
often the case. That meant
positive in defence, too, which
sends an equally important message to bowlers, not that
boundaries were in short supply
as he hit nine in a fifty that
came from 93 deliveries. Dravid apart, none of India's
batsmen have shined whereas
each of the opposition have
played their part and here it
was Bell's turn to join the
double-hundred club, the first time England had made three in
a series since 1938. His 20th
boundary took him to his
milestone and celebrated with a
dismissive pull through midwicket.
He continued to have few problems as he eased along
against defensive fields until
missing an aggressive sweep
against Raina. Although the game had already
been taken well away from India,
Sreesanth at least bowled with a
bit more verve during the
morning session and showed the
passion that has been lacking from India's performances. When
Anderson jabbed to second slip
he was given a long stare by
Sreesanth and he also accounted
for Eoin Morgan who edged
behind for 1, playing away from his body which is still an area of
concern with Morgan's game at
Test level. At least Morgan's failure meant
Ravi Bopara didn't have to spend
another day watching his team-
mates pile on the runs even if
487 for 5 didn't exactly
represent a pressure situation. As at Edgbaston he looked
jittery, but the nerves were
settled a little as he clipped a
boundary to fine leg and cut the
medium-pace of RP Singh
through point. However, he should have been
run out on 38 when there was
confusion with Prior over a single
to backward point but the
throw from Sehwag to Amit
Mishra was poor. Mishra, meanwhile, continued to struggle
with figures of none for 170. A
poor piece of fielding and a set
of horror bowling figures were
two apt ways to sum up India's
series. It will take a huge effort to avoid 4-0 from here.

India are near to a whitewashIndia are near to a whitewash

2011-08-21T02:01:00.001-07:00

Bell and peterson flaten india

2011-08-19T19:24:00.001-07:00

Bell and Pietersen flatten India

2011-08-19T18:01:00.001-07:00

England 457 for 3 (Bell 181*,
Pietersen 175) v India To say England dominated at The
Oval doesn't really do their
performance justice. Ian Bell and
Kevin Pietersen, both with their
second hundreds of the series,
combined for a third-wicket stand of 350, England's second
highest third-wicket stand, as
the hosts plundered their way
to 457 for 3 with Bell unbeaten
on 181 to leave India facing a
three-day fight to avoid a whitewash. For the first session there was
actually a contest as England's
openers departed but India's
challenge evaporated after lunch
to such an extent that the
remaining 72 overs brought 331 runs. Bell's 16th Test century
was classical and elegant while
Pietersen thrilled with some of
his strokeplay in his 19th
hundred as the bowlers wilted.
Both batsmen had to earn the right to score freely by battling
through to lunch and ensured
they didn't waste the hard work. It became a head-to-head
between the pair for each of
the milestones. Bell was the first
to his fifty and hundreds, but
Pietersen, who went to his
hundred with a crunching pull off the first ball after tea, reached
150 ahead of his team-mate as
he unleashed his full array of
strokes during the final session
including a switch hit off Amit
Mishra. Bell, though, caught up with consecutive sixes off Mishra
in the final half an hour of the
day and will have a chance of his
maiden Test double on Saturday. Pietersen, who was dropped at
mid-on by Gautam Gambhir the
ball after reaching his hundred,
missed out on the chance of his
second double in the series when
he chipped a return catch to Suresh Raina for 175 shortly
before the close. The
partnership had moved past the
308 of Graham Gooch and Allan
Lamb at Lord's in 1990 and sits
behind the 370 added by Denis Compton and Bill Edrich against
South Africa, again at Lord's, in
1947. It was the latest example of the
hunger among the England
batsmen and if there were any
question marks over a loss of
intensity with the series secured
the ruthlessness of Bell and Pietersen showed how they have
refocused their minds. Again,
though, it has to be said that,
after the morning session, the
bowling was friendly and fielding
even worse. What a false dawn the early
exchanges proved to be. Ishant
Sharma struck with the fifth ball
of the day when Alastair Cook
was caught at first slip and
Andrew Strauss, who added just two to his overnight score from
32 deliveries, edged a loose drive
at Sreesanth to leave England
97 for 2. That was the highpoint
of India's day, and could even
prove the highpoint of their match. Ishant was excellent during his
first spell of 6-3-7-1 but, with
his extensive workload in this
series and in West Indies
beforehand, it was little surprise
he became less effective. RP Singh, meanwhile, just isn't
prepared for Test cricket and
Sreesanth huffed and puffed
without much impact. Mishra was
bowling round the wicket at
Pietersen's pads before tea and was given some harsh
treatment. The work of Bell and Pietersen
was the perfect example of
weathering a tough period and
cashing in later. Bell laid the
ground work following the early
dismissal of Cook and, after his innings at Edgbaston last week
which was a skittish affair, he
was back in full control in the
way he had been at Trent
Bridge during his 159. As in that innings third man was
a favourite area with India
refusing to plug the gap. They
preferred a man at deep point,
but Bell toyed with them as he
slotted boundaries either side of the sweeper. He continued to
churn out the runs with the
efficiency and style he has
shown during a season where his
Test average is well over 100. In
fitting style his hundred came with a sweetly-timed back-foot
drive off Raina having faced 181
deliveries with the second fifty
taking 71 balls. With the early
threat of Ishant nullified it
became an exercise in milking and retaining concentration -
Bell had no problem with either. Pietersen had dominated the
partnership early on, firstly while
the pair consolidated before the
lunch break and then when the
rate increased. The first 10
overs of the afternoon brought 59 runs and Pietersen took the
attack to Mishra. The contest
had started when Pietersen
cracked Mishra's first ball
through the off side and it was
clear he wasn't going to let the legspinner settle. Mishra's lack of
drift allowed Pietersen to target
the leg side and midwicket was a
profitable area. There was a nervous moment
for Pietersen when he was
nearly caught at leg slip, in very
similar fashion to the early
chance during his double hundred
at Lord's, as he flicked Ishant off the last ball before lunch but the
catch didn't quite carry. Unlike at
Lord's there was no
controversy, but it had been a
clever piece of thinking from
Ishant who'd noticed how far across the stumps Pietersen was
moving. However, India's fielding has been
largely shoddy during the series
and there were two examples in
consecutive balls with Pietersen
approaching his hundred. RP
Singh didn't appear fully committed to a catch at long-off
when Pietersen miscued a lofted
drive off Raina, then off the first
ball of the next over, he dived
over a ball at deep backward
square to gift another boundary. Gambhir's later drop added the
list of errors and, to top things
off for India, he was left dazed
after banging his head. The
scoreboard will have left him
dizzy, too.England 457 for 3 (Bell 181*,
Pietersen 175) v India To say England dominated at The
Oval doesn't really do their
performance justice. Ian Bell and
Kevin Pietersen, both with their
second hundreds of the series,
combined for a third-wicket stand of 350, England's second
highest third-wicket stand, as
the hosts plundered their way
to 457 for 3 with Bell unbeaten
on 181 to leave India facing a
three-day fight to avoid a whitewash. For the first session there was
actually a contest as England's
openers departed but India's
challenge evaporated after lunch
to such an extent that the
remaining 72 overs brought 331 runs. Bell's 16th Test century
was classical and elegant while
Pietersen thrilled with some of
his strokeplay in his 19th
hundred as the bowlers wilted.
Both batsmen had to earn the right to score freely by battling
through to lunch and ensured
they didn't waste the hard work. It became a head-to-head
between the pair for each of
the milestones. Bell was the first
to his fifty and hundreds, but
Pietersen, who went to his
hundred with a crunching pull off the first ball after tea, reached
150 ahead of his team-mate as
he unleashed his full array of
strokes during the final session
including a switch hit off Amit
Mishra. Bell, though, caught up with consecutive sixes off Mishra
in the final half an hour of the
day and will have a chance of his
maiden Test double on Saturday. Pietersen, who was dropped at
mid-on by Gautam Gambhir the
ball after reaching his hundred,
missed out on the chance of his
second double in the series when
he chipped a return catch to Suresh Raina for 175 shortly
before the close. The
partnership had moved past the
308 of Graham Gooch and Allan
Lamb at Lord's in 1990 and sits
behind the 370 added by Denis Compton and Bill Edrich against
South Africa, again at Lord's, in
1947. It was the latest example of the
hunger among the England
batsmen and if there were any
question marks over a loss of
intensity with the series secured
the ruthlessness of Bell and Pietersen showed how they have
refocused their minds. Again,
though, it has to be said that,
after the morning session, the
bowling was friendly and fielding
even worse. What a false dawn the early
exchanges proved to be. Ishant
Sharma struck with the fifth ball
of the day when Alastair Cook
was caught at first slip and
Andrew Strauss, who added just two to his overnight score from
32 deliveries, edged a loose drive
at Sreesanth to leave England
97 for 2. That was the highpoint
of India's day, and could even
prove the highpoint of their match. Ishant was excellent during his
first spell of 6-3-7-1 but, with
his extensive workload in this
series and in West Indies
beforehand, it was little surprise
he became less effective. RP Singh, meanwhile, just isn't
prepared for Test cricket and
Sreesanth huffed and puffed
without much impact. Mishra was
bowling round the wicket at
Pietersen's pads before tea and was given some harsh
treatment. The work of Bell and Pietersen
was the perfect example of
weathering a tough period and
cashing in later. Bell laid the
ground work following the early
dismissal of Cook and, after his innings at Edgbaston last week
which was a skittish affair, he
was back in full control in the
way he had been at Trent
Bridge during his 159. As in that innings third man was
a favourite area with India
refusing to plug the gap. They
preferred a man at deep point,
but Bell toyed with them as he
slotted boundaries either side of the sweeper. He continued to
churn out the runs with the
efficiency and style he has
shown during a season where his
Test average is well over 100. In
fitting style his hundred came with a sweetly-timed back-foot
drive off Raina having faced 181
deliveries with the second fifty
taking 71 balls. With the early
threat of Ishant nullified it
became an exercise in milking and retaining concentration -
Bell had no problem with either. Pietersen had dominated the
partnership early on, firstly while
the pair consolidated before the
lunch break and then when the
rate increased. The first 10
overs of the afternoon brought 59 runs and Pietersen took the
attack to Mishra. The contest
had started when Pietersen
cracked Mishra's first ball
through the off side and it was
clear he wasn't going to let the legspinner settle. Mishra's lack of
drift allowed Pietersen to target
the leg side and midwicket was a
profitable area. There was a nervous moment
for Pietersen when he was
nearly caught at leg slip, in very
similar fashion to the early
chance during his double hundred
at Lord's, as he flicked Ishant off the last ball before lunch but the
catch didn't quite carry. Unlike at
Lord's there was no
controversy, but it had been a
clever piece of thinking from
Ishant who'd noticed how far across the stumps Pietersen was
moving. However, India's fielding has been
largely shoddy during the series
and there were two examples in
consecutive balls with Pietersen
approaching his hundred. RP
Singh didn't appear fully committed to a catch at long-off
when Pietersen miscued a lofted
drive off Raina, then off the first
ball of the next over, he dived
over a ball at deep backward
square to gift another boundary. Gambhir's later drop added the
list of errors and, to top things
off for India, he was left dazed
after banging his head. The
scoreboard will have left him
dizzy, too.

I went from hero to zero - Afridi

2011-08-07T05:07:00.001-07:00

Former Pakistan captain Shahid
Afridi has claimed that he was
not part of the selection
meetings for the final two one-
dayers against West Indies in
May earlier this year, despite being captain. A series of sharp
comments made to the Pakistani
media over the past couple of
days seems to dispel any
possibility of a reconciliation -
speculation about which increased following the death of
his father last month - with the
cricket establishment. On his return from the
Caribbean, Afridi hinted at
differences with coach Waqar
Younis that sparked off a
controversy leading to Afridi's
removal as limited-overs captain and a legal battle with the
Pakistan board. Waqar's tour report of that
series confirmed Afridi had
walked out of a meeting over
differences relating to selection.
Pakistan lost the final two ODIs
and PCB chief Ijaz Butt defended the decision to remove Afridi
saying he wasn't "captaincy
material" in an interview last
month. "I did not take part in the
selection meeting on the eve of
the last two matches," Afridi told
reporters in Karachi on Monday.
"The team was selected by coach
Waqar Younis and Intikhab Alam and I had no input in the
selection of the playing eleven. "Everybody knows through the
manager's report that I wasn't
involved in selection because I
walked away from the meeting.
The chairman's comments were
really disappointing because the remarks he made don't suit his
stature. I was a hero for them
after the World Cup and
suddenly I became zero." Afridi said his dispute with the
PCB, which ended when he
agreed to plead guilty of
misconduct and paid a fine of 4.5
million rupees in exchange for
permission to play domestic Twenty20 cricket in England,
affected the team's momentum.
"I made many plans for the
team," Afridi said. "Misbah-ul-Haq,
Mohammad Hafeez and myself
were involved in devising many strategies but it was ruined
because of what happened
afterwards." Afridi, who retired "conditionally"
from international cricket after
his removal as captain, said he
would not go back on his decision
as long as the present regime of
the PCB remained in power. "I cannot play with people who
conspired against me and
worked against the team, they
have their personal interests
paramount to them and they
are only damaging the team. "I have always maintained that
playing for Pakistan is my
priority, I would always prefer
representing my country over
any offer from anywhere in the
world," he said.
Http://m.espncricinfo.com/s/5643/60?countryId=7&country=pakistan&itemTitle=I%20went%20from%20hero%20to%20zero%20-%20Afridi&storyNo=525675&allinOne=true

Dravid will retire after England ODI

2011-08-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Rahul Dravid has announced his
retirement from international
limited-overs cricket following
the England series. In his
announcement, which came hours
after he was handed a shock recall to the one-day side for
that tour, he said he wanted to
retire from the shorter forms
and concentrate on Test cricket. Dravid, 38, is the seventh
highest run-getter in ODIs, with
10,765 runs in 339 matches,
averaging just under 40. He
hasn't been a regular in the
Indian one-day side since late 2007 - a couple of months after
he reached his career-high ICC
ranking of No. 5 - though he
made a brief comeback during
the 2009 Champions Trophy in
South Africa. He admitted he hadn't expected a recall for the
upcoming England series. "Since I had not been picked for
one-day cricket for the last two
years, I was obviously a little
surprised," he said after India's
tour match against
Northamptonshire. "To be honest, because I had not been
picked, I had not informed the
selectors or the board of my
desire to solely focus on Test
cricket. "At the end of this one-day
series, I would like to announce
my retirement from one-day and
Twenty20 cricket and
concentrate only on Test cricket.
I am committed, as always to give my best to India in this one-
day series and obviously the
Test series that follows. "In the short term I am
committed because now I have
been picked for the series, but
in the long term I think it is best
for me and Indian cricket that I
focus on Test cricket." Dravid recently became the
second highest run-getter in
Tests, and has had a resurgence
in form over the past couple of
months, scoring three centuries
in five Tests to end a relatively lean run in the last few years. When he started his
international career in 1996, he
was seen as a batsman more
suited to the longer form but he
soon adapted to the challenges
of one-day cricket. Among the highlights of his ODI career was
the 1999 World Cup, where he
was the top scorer and put on
the then largest partnership in a
one-dayer, 318 with Sourav
Ganguly. Six months later he bettered that with a 331-run
stand with Sachin Tendulkar that
is still the biggest in the format. As in his Test career, he
routinely fitted into roles the
team needed him to, notably in
the 2003 World Cup, where in
order to accommodate an extra
batsman in the side, he took over the wicketkeeping duties.
One of the lows of his career
was the 2007 World Cup, when
under his leadership, India
crashed out in the first round.
Http://m.espncricinfo.com/s/5643/49?countryId=6&country=topNews&itemTitle=Dravid%20will%20quit%20ODIs%20after%20England&storyNo=526175&allinOne=true
Http://m.espncricinfo.com/s/5643/49?countryId=6&country=topNews&itemTitle=Dravid%20will%20quit%20ODIs%20after%20England&storyNo=526175&allinOne=true

Giving chance to junior said Mohsin

2011-08-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Pakistan's chairman of selectors,
Mohsin Khan has denied that the
Pakistan board has an agenda
against senior players. Mohsin
was responding to Pakistan
allrounder Abdul Razzaq's comments, in an earlier
interview, in which he had
accused the Pakistan Cricket
Board of indulging in conspiracy
to keep senior players out of
the national team. It's the job of the selection
committee to finalise the team,"
Mohsin told Express Tribune. "I
don't know about any lobby and
I don't feel there is any agenda
against the senior players." While senior players like Razzaq
and Shahid Afridi were not
included in Pakistan's squad for
the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe,
the selectors also chose to rest
fast bowlers Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, with
fringe seamers Sohail Khan,
Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and
Junaid Khan making up the pace
attack. There was also a change
in the spin department with Abdur Rehman being rested and
Yasir Shah being given an
opportunity to make his
international debut. Reacting to the team selection,
Razzaq had told the Urdu
newspaper Jang, that "axing of
senior players is not in the
interest of Pakistan cricket".
Razzaq alleged there was a lobby within the PCB that was
misguiding the board chairman
Ijaz Butt. "It's a conspiracy
against the senior players,"
Razzaq said. "There's a lobby
which is misguiding the chairman who is working sincerely for the
promotion of the game. They
just want to secure their
position in the board and their
agenda is against the interest of
Pakistan cricket. Razzaq, who last played for
Pakistan when they were beaten
by India in the World Cup semi-
final earlier this year, said that
he had "fallen victim to the
conspiracies of this lobby". "This lobby is active in slowly
ousting all senior players from
the team and there is one main
person who is calling the shots
from behind the curtain," he said. However Mohsin dismissed the
allegations and said the senior
players "should not be
disheartened and should work on
winning their place by proving
their worth in the domestic tournaments". "The selection committee is
working on a simple policy that
any player who is doing well
should get a chance," Mohsin
said. "We just want to give a
chance to the youngsters who are our future. If there was an
agenda then we wouldn't have a
35-year old captain [Misbah-ul-
Haq] who is also a very senior
player." The squad for Zimbabwe includes
three uncapped players - top-
order batsman Rameez Raja,
legspinner Shah and seamer
Cheema. Mohsin had earlier
explained that the fresh look to the squad was an effort to
blood youngsters. "We have to
bring in young players along with
seniors so that they could be
groomed," he said.

Pointing injuring force him to leve the game

2011-08-01T04:25:00.001-07:00

Ricky Ponting has given up the
Australian captaincy and now it
seems he is bidding farewell to
the slips cordon. Continuing troubles with the
finger Ponting fractured during
last summer's Ashes series mean
he will not be fielding in the slips
on the tour of Sri Lanka. The little finger on Ponting's left
hand remains an unpleasant
sight, having been operated on
twice and knocked around
numerous times in the field
during the World Cup campaign that brought his Australian
captaincy tenure to an end. While the digit has benefited
from Ponting's first extended
holiday for some years, its
relative tenderness will mean the
new captain Michael Clarke will
need to look elsewhere for a second slip fielder, where Ponting
has traditionally stood in Tests
ever since the spot was vacated
by Mark Waugh in 2002. "Maybe down the track [I will
field in the slips again]," Ponting
told ABC Radio. "It's going to be a
confidence thing for me as well, I
need to know that I can move
quickly for balls low to my left and not worry about copping a
nasty one on the end of the
finger again. "I won't start there in the one
dayers we've got coming up, but
if I'm confident and I'm not
getting any pain in the finger,
and the captain thinks I'm one of
the best slip fielders we've got, then I could be back in there one
day. "I had two screws and a wire put
in it before the World Cup, just
to get through and be able to
play in that tournament. I got
through fine batting in the World
Cup, fielding was a bit of an issue, every time I copped a bit
of a knock on it, it was almost
like I was re-breaking it again, so
I went back home and had the
screws and the wire out. "It's a lot better now, I've got a
lot less pain in every movement
than I had before, and certainly
the batting I've done in the last
couple of months I haven't
noticed it at all so that's a really good sign." Looking ahead to Australia's
demanding schedule over the
next 12 months, Ponting said it
was important that the team
took small steps towards
improvement, concentrating on lifting itself to No. 4 in the ICC's
Test rankings before looking any
further. "I think the most important thing
for us right now is we don't
necessarily talk about getting
back to the No. 1 ranking,
because we've got to get to No.
4 first, then three, two and one," Ponting said. "So we'll take
small steps at the start, I think
we've got enough quality players
around the group for us to get
back to No. 4 pretty quickly. "We learned some lessons last
year on disciplined Test match
cricket, I think England were
more disciplined than us and
played better Test match cricket
than us, and if we can learn from the mistakes that were
made last year, that'll go a long
way to helping us become a
better cricket team this year." While Ponting acknowledged the
loss of Simon Katich, he argued
the future of the Australian
team was promising, particularly
given a developing battery of
fast bowlers from which to choose. "A notable out with Simon Katich
not being in the contract list, so
you'd think Phil Hughes will slot
into that spot," he said. "I'm
looking forward to working more
with him on his game and helping him develop into a very good
international cricketer which I
think he can be. With Usman
Khawaja around the group as
well I think he's someone who's
got that real Test match technique that you can build a
player around, which is a really
good sign for us, that's what we
need as a batting group. "The fast bowling stocks around
Australia at the moment, if you
look at our young guys, are
probably as good as they've
been since I've been playing the
game. Pat Cummins, [Josh] Hazlewood, [Mitchell] Starc,
[James] Pattinson, Ryan Harris is
still relatively young in
international cricket but at his
best is as good as anyone, Peter
Siddle, [Mitchell] Johnson, we've got a real good group there at
the moment, and we've got to
nurture them, keep bringing
them on. But you read those
names out and you think there's
enough ability there for us to win our fair share of games." Ponting and Clarke will depart
for Sri Lanka on Thursday as
part of the limited overs
component of the squad. The
Twenty20 players are in Colombo
ahead of two matches against the hosts from Saturday.

Return of bell after being run out

2011-07-31T21:00:00.001-07:00

The contentious run-out of Ian
Bell at the stroke of tea on the
third day, which threatened to
erupt into the biggest
controversy of the series, was
overturned during the break after MS Dhoni withdrew the
appeal. At the stroke of tea, Bell's run-
out on 137, after having left the
crease before the ball was dead,
was on the verge of becoming a
major point of dispute between
the two sides. During the break, England captain Andrew Strauss
and coach Andy Flower went to
the Indian dressing room to ask
MS Dhoni if the run-out decision
could be overturned. The Indians
agreed to withdraw the appeal. At the resumption after tea, Bell
and Eoin Morgan walked out to
cheers from a surprised and
appreciative crowd, which just a
few minutes earlier had booed
the two umpires - a small section of the crowd even chanting, the
word 'cheat' - and then the
Indian team as it made its way
out, with Strauss and his men
standing on the balcony of their
pavilion clapping the Indians onto the field. It all began when Morgan flicked
the last ball of the 66th over,
from Ishant Sharma, to deep
square leg where Praveen Kumar
tumbled over trying to field. The
batsmen, having taken the third, appeared to be unsure whether
the ball had reached the
boundary. Morgan held up his
arm to Bell, who jogged halfway
down the pitch and then
continued walking down. The throw from Praveen eventually
came in to Abhinav Mukund, who
took off the bails and appealed
for a run-out. By that time, Bell
had punched gloves with his
partner and was heading towards the pavilion. The umpires checked again with
the Indians as to whether they
had appealed. When the Indians
said they had, the third umpire
was asked to establish whether
the ball had crossed the boundary. The two batsmen, who
had reached the edge of the
field, were asked not to leave
the ground. There was a delay of eight
minutes as the third umpire
reviewed the replay and decided
that the ball had not crossed
the boundary. The decision of
"out" flashed up on the screen, and the Indians left the field to
heavy booing from the crowd.
The Sky TV coverage showed
during the incident as well on its
nightly news, a clipping of Bell
walking towards fourth umpire Tim Robinson and saying what
sounded like, "He called over." In
his media conference, however
Bell said he did not hear any
umpire calling 'over.' The Sky TV
audio track also has no sound of the umpire calling over. The only
time the word "over" is heard on
that piece of video tape, comes
from Ishant who, after the bails
are dislodged, is heard asking in
Hindi if the over had ended and whether it was time for tea. Just over an hour after the
incident, an announcement was
made on the stadium's public
address system, explaining the
incident to the full house at
Trent Bridge. The crowd heard that after Strauss and Flower
asked Dhoni to withdraw the
appeal, he went across to his
team-mates and sought their
view. The team agreed to recall
Bell to the crease and the decision was made known to the
England camp. The announcement
stated that the ECB thanked the
Indian team's gesture to
withdraw the appeal against Bell
and asked the crowd to show its appreciation. Once the
announcement ended, applause
rang out all around Trent Bridge. Speaking after the day's play,
Bell was appreciative of India's
decision to reinstate him, and
admitted that it was naive on his
part to leave the crease with
the ball still in play. "From Praveen's body language, it
looked like that had gone for
four," Bell told the Star Cricket
channel. "Probably naïve on my
behalf, but taking into account
the spirit of cricket and everything, this was probably
the right decision. It wasn't until
we [Bell and Morgan] reached
the boundary rope, when the
umpires asked us to wait, that I
knew something was on. It's fantastic the way India have
gone about this. The captains
and coaches got together, and
were asked if the decision would
stand. Duncan Fletcher and MS
Dhoni went back to discuss it with the team and came back to
us, and I got the nod." Rahul Dravid said the Indian team
was in unanimous agreement
that the decision had to be
reversed. "In the laws of the
game, if you follow them strictly,
that was out, but it didn't feel right in the spirit of the game,"
he said. "There was a team
discussion during the tea
interval, Dhoni and Fletcher
convened the meeting, and Dhoni
led it. There was a feeling of unanimity that we should
reinstate Bell because the spirit
of the game was important, and
that getting him out in that way
would contravened the spirit ... If
this had happened to our guys we would not have been happy
about it. So all of that was
discussed." There was appreciation from the
ECB chief executive David Collier
and the ICC chief executive
Haroon Lorgat, both of whom
acknowledged the appeal for the
run-out was a valid one. "The withdrawal of a valid appeal at
the tea interval was made in the
spirit of cricket by the India
team and demonstrates the true
spirit in which the game of
cricket should be played and the excellent relationship between
the ECB and BCCI," Collier said in
a statement. "On behalf of the
ECB I wish to express the
England and Wales Cricket
Board's grateful thanks the BCCI and the India team." Lorgat said the withdrawal of
the appeal showed great
maturity on the part of India.
"The initial appeal and umpire
decision may have been
acceptable to the letter of the law, the decision by India captain
M S Dhoni and his team -as well
as the Team India coaching staff
- to withdraw the appeal shows
great maturity. To see players
and officials uphold the Great Spirit of cricket, which has
underpinned the game for more
than a century, is very special."t

Hotspot and Drs future in doubt

2011-07-31T11:39:00.001-07:00

The company behind Hot Spot will
undertake tests to see whether
the cameras can be tricked by
the use of artificial substances
on the edge of the bat. There is
a belief among players that Vaseline can reduce the chances
of a thin nick showing up,
although it has only ever been
rumoured that such tactics are
used. Concerns about the
effectiveness of Hot Spot came
to the fore when VVS Laxman
survived a caught-behind appeal
on the second day at Trent
Bridge. England were convinced there was an edge but Laxman
was equally convinced he hadn't
hit it. The third umpire said
there was a noise but it wasn't
clear from where. Michael
Vaughan, the former England captain, sparked controversy by
tweeting the suggestion of
Vaseline and Stuart Broad was
later asked and admitted
checking the edge of Laxman's
bat but finding nothing. Warren Brennan, the owner of
Hot Spot, has previously said the
device's accuracy is around
90-95% and can be impacted by
such things as bright sunshine
and the speed of the bat in the shot. He now says that it is
possible that a substance like
Vaseline could reduce the
technology's effectiveness and
tests will be conducted to try to
find conclusive results. "I would imagine that Vaseline
would restrict the friction of the
ball hitting the bat so if you
reduce the friction you are going
to reduce the Hot Spot,"
Brennan told cricket "That is pure and simple physics. From
what I can remember, quite
often the outside of the bat has
a layer of some sort of coating. "Now if you put extra layers on
the bat that might do the same
thing. As long as it is a harder
type of surface then you will get
the Hot Spot. But if it is a soft,
absorbant type of material then that will probably reduce the
friction. It might take us a week
or even longer to test all
possibilities." The other theory is that bat
stickers on the edge of a blade
can also help reduce the chances
of a Hot Spot showing up - by
showing one, long heat signature
down the side of the bat - but Brennan said it is likely to work
the opposite way and actually
increase the visibility of individual
marks. "What I noticed last week when I
was at Lord's was these stickers
down the side of certain players'
bats," he said. "When I looked at
it through the cameras it
actually looked like a Hot Spot, four or five little white spots.
That was quite unusual so it
must have be some sort of logo
or the sticker. Through the
infra-red I could see those spots. "I just don't know why a
manufacturer would put it on
the side of the bat that would
make it look like a Hot Spot. I
had this conversation with the
ICC less than a month ago and told them that we are noticing
some of these stickers tend to
reflect heat a bit like a mirror.
The ICC said if that is the case
they might have to look
changing the regulations so that the side of the bat does not
have any advertising, no stickers
and no logos. But that is still a
work in progress." There have been a number of
occasions when Hot Spot has
proved inconclusive in caught-
behind decisions. During the
Ashes Kevin Pietersen survived
at Melbourne, which incensed Ricky Ponting, while at Sydney
Ian Bell survived an appeal which
Snicko - which isn't used with
the DRS - later suggested was
out. Hot Spot has been made a
mandatory piece of technology
for the DRS system following the
ICC's meetings in Hong Kong last
month, where it was also decided
to make Hawk-Eye optional. The infra-red cameras have shown
themselves to be especially
effective at proving bat-pad
catches and whether a batsman
has been hit pad first in an lbw
appeal, although in this series DRS is not being used for any
leg-before decision

Pakistan has anounced its squard for zimbaba tour

2011-07-31T03:07:00.003-07:00

Pakistan have rewarded some of
their consistent performers in
domestic cricket by including
three uncapped players - top-
order batsman Rameez Raja,
legspinner Yasir Shah and seamer Aizaz Cheema - as well as
fast bowler Sohail Khan, who has
played only one Test, in the
squad for the tour of Zimbabwe
that starts on August 28. There
are also recalls for opening batsman Imran Farhat, who
hasn't played for Pakistan since
the one-day series against
South Africa in the UAE in
October 2010, and left-arm fast
bowler Sohail Tanvir, who was last included for the New Zealand
tour earlier in the year. The squad seems to be an
experimental one, with the
bowling attack in particular
featuring several new names and
missing some of the senior
players. Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, who have been
Pakistan's three premier fast
bowlers in recent times, have all
been rested, with Sohail Khan,
Sohail Tanvir, Cheema and Junaid
Khan making up the pace attack. There is also a change in the
spin department with Abdur
Rehman being rested and Yasir
being given an opportunity. Pakistan's chief selector Mohsin
Khan explained that the fresh
look to the squad was an effort
to blood youngsters. "We have
to bring in young players along
with seniors so that they could be groomed," he said. "Because
it's a short tour we have
selected only one squad for all
three formats of the game and
have rested Riaz and Gul in a
hope to try out some youngsters." Adnan Akmal has reclaimed the
wicketkeeper's spot in the
squad, meaning Mohammad
Salman, who failed to impress
with the bat in the West Indies
and Ireland, makes way. Allrounder Hammad Azam also
failed to have an impact on
those tours and has been kept
in the standbys to make place
for Raja. Ahmed Shehzad, who
was dropped after the tour of the West Indies, has been left
out again. Another development is the
inclusion of Shoaib Malik, the
former Pakistan captain, in the
list of standbys. Malik has been
involved in a battle with the PCB,
whose integrity committee has not cleared him for selection
since the controversial tour of
England last year. Mohsin said
Malik would only be included if he
managed to obtain clearance
from the PCB. Meanwhile, legspinner Danish Kaneria, who
has taken his fight to get
clearance to the Sindh High
Court, continues to be ignored. Raja's call-up comes on the back
of consistent domestic
performance in all formats. He
was the leading run-getter in
the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division
One last season, and was top of the run charts again during the
recent Faysal Bank Super Eight
Twenty20 Cup. His performances
in the T20 competition, which
included a 97 in the semi-final
and a half-century in the final, led to calls for his inclusion in the
national side. Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir and
Cheema were all recently part of
an emerging players camp at the
National Cricket Academy in
Lahore, where they received tips
from former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. Sohail
Khan and Sohail Tanvir both
brought themselves back into
the limelight during the Super
Eight Twenty20 competition; the
former took 14 wickets in Karachi Dolphins' road to the
finals, while the latter captained
Rawalpindi Rams to the title.
Cheema, 31, earned his call-up
through another strong first-
class season in which he took 57 wickets in eight games in the
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Yasir impressed with his 16
wickets in four games during the
Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup at
the beginning of this year, and
then took 3 for 29 for Pakistan
A against Afghanistan in a one- dayer. Farhat also did well in the
Pentangular, hitting a century
and two fifties, and was leading
run-getter in the domestic one-
day competition before that. Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq
(capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq
Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali,
Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar
Akmal, Rameez Raja junior, Adnan
Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Sohail Khan,
Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema. Standbys: Sarfraz Ahmed (wk),
Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan,
Mohammad Talha, Hammad Azam,
Shoaib Malik subject to
clearance

Afridi Noc could be Cleared meeting in islamabad

2011-06-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

A compromise between the PCB and former captain Shahid Afridi is likely following a meeting between the board chairman Ijaz Butt and Afridi in Islamabad, bringing to an end one of the biggest player-board disputes in recent memory in Pakistan.

"I did meet Afridi in Islamabad but I cannot say any more than that at the moment," Butt told ESPNcricinfo. He refused to indicate if the meeting had an outcome or whether there was an announcement to be expected. A statement from the board later said no further announcements will be made.

Speculation indicated that through this agreement, Afridi will be given the No Objection Certificates he needs to play for Hampshire and later in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). In return, he will withdraw the petition he filed in the Sindh High Court against the board's decision to form a disciplinary committee, cancel his central contract and revoke his NOC and will face any punishment the committee hands out.

In effect, the situation appears to have returned to when Afridi first replied to the board's showcause notice, in which he accepted violating the code of conduct and expressed a willingness to face a hearing if his NOC was reinstated. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 16 at the Sindh High Court and Afridi could withdraw his petition then.

The meeting is believed to have been the result of intervention of senior political figures; from the start the dispute took on a political character. Afridi had appealed directly to Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, who is the chief patron of the board, to resolve the situation. He had met Zardari's son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in London and had spoken to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as well on the matter.

Rehman Malik, the interior minister and mediator in past disputes, also got involved, promising on Twitter to find a solution. The flurry of activity prompted the PCB to issue a rare statement expressing displeasure at the political interference, compelling Butt to tell a local newspaper of his exasperation at the number of phone calls he had received on the matter.

Advisors close to Afridi are also believed to have tried convincing him to reach a compromise with an administration under whom he has publicly said he will not play again, after having been removed as ODI captain in May. Though Afridi was unconvinced at first, the possibility of losing out on the Twenty20 stint with Hampshire - who were looking at Chris Gayle as a replacement option - forced his hand.

"We've remained hopeful all along, and we are very hopeful that an announcement can be made soon," Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire's chairman, told ESPNcricinfo. "But we cannot say anything more definitive beyond that at this stage.

"We had to look at all contingency options, and Chris Gayle's name was one of those names that came into the frame," Bransgrove said. "But we have remained hopeful all along that Afridi would receive clearance to join us for the remainder of the Twenty20 campaign."

Amir confirms playing for Surrey club and Gave Justification

2011-06-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Mohammad Amir, the banned Pakistan fast bowler, has confirmed that he played for Addington in a Surrey Cricket League Division One match on June 4 but said that he took part only because he was told playing would not violate his ICC ban. His comments come in the wake of revelations in the Daily Star that the ICC is investigating whether he violated his five-year ban for spot-fixing by turning out for Addington.

"I was informed by club representatives before the game that it was a friendly match, being played on a privately owned cricket ground," Amir told PakPassion.net. "I asked the club representatives if the match fell under the jurisdiction of the ECB and they informed me that the match did not. I spoke to several club representatives about the issue and they all told me that it was a friendly match and therefore would not contravene my ban from the ICC. I was informed that I was fine to play."

Amir also denied that he had signed any registration documents with the club and insisted that he would never have taken the risk of playing had he known it was an official match.

"I would not be stupid enough to knowingly play in a match that I knew would contravene my ban. Wherever I am going to play cricket, the world will know about it. I would not be stupid enough to play in a match where I knew that I would be taking a risk".

Amir was central to Addington's 81-run victory in the game, against St Luke's CC. He surprisingly opened the innings and scored 60 before returning figures of 4 for 9 in seven overs.

This is not the first time Amir has appeared in a game which has had to be investigated by cricket authorities. Earlier this year in January, when he was under provisional suspension and still awaiting punishment for the Lord's scandal, he turned out for a Rawalpindi club to play a friendly game. That prompted the ICC and PCB to investigate the nature of the game before the former eventually concluded that it was an unofficial game and the club wasn't registered with the Rawalpindi cricket association; Amir was thus found to have not broken the ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct

Afridi wants contract, NOC reinstated befor going to court

2011-06-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Two days before he is due to appear before a PCB disciplinary committee, Shahid Afridi and his lawyers asked the board again for justice, which in this case centred around an appeal to reinstate his central contract and NOC before the June 8 hearing. Flanked by Syed Ali Zafar and Mahmood Mandviwalla of the legal firm Mandviwalla & Zafar, the trio refused, however, to rule in or out Afridi's appearance at the hearing.

Much of an energetic press conference at the Karachi Press Club - Afridi's first public appearance since his return on Sunday night from the UK - reiterated the demands of the four-page letter the legal firm sent to the PCB over the weekend, as reported by ESPNcricinfo. Both lawyers stressed repeatedly that they were asking only for a due process to be followed and that the act of suspension of the central contract and NOC withdrawal were punishments before the player had been heard.

"Due process means if there is an accusation against someone, he should be allowed to defend that," Zafar said. "He should have a legal representative there, his point of view should be allowed and a fair and just inquiry should happen and then a decision. What has happened is that a showcause notice has been sent, he has been accused of things and a punishment given. We say you can give punishment, but hear out our player first. It is a principle of natural justice."

Soon after he was sent a showcause notice, Afridi responded to the board and accepted that he had violated the code. But Zafar insisted that guilt or innocence was not yet the matter. "There is no admission of guilt or innocence," Zafar said. "We have only said, carry out the proceedings but that the NOC and the suspension of contract, take that back and listen to us first. After that, make a decision. They have acted without hearing us out. This is our position and this is the right legal position. We are hopeful that they will make the right decision. It is just the way they have adopted currently shows that they have judged beforehand."

In a press release issued a few hours before the press conference, the board said it would allow Afridi a legal representative at the hearing, one of the demands of Afridi's lawyers. But both Zafar and Mandviwalla said they had received no such communication yet and refused to say definitively whether that meant Afridi would appear at the hearing or not. However, the PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi told ESPNcricinfo that after the press conference, Afridi's lawyers had been told they will be allowed in, though they had yet to respond to it.

"If this process remains, then that [not appearing] is an option," Zafar said. "But if they really write a letter to us saying that a lawyer is allowed then we can think about it. We have no issue appearing but if this process remains, we cannot go."

Afridi's arrival at Karachi airport on Sunday night drew thousands of supporters. Indicative of his popularity and background as a Pathan resident in Karachi, the occasion even saw a rare unity among the city's strongest and constantly bickering political parties, the MQM and ANP. "I wanted to thank the public and the support I was given last night. People are saying that this is a political issue but when I got out of the airport, I saw flags of MQM, ANP, PPP (the ruling party), and especially the Pakistan flags. This is not a political thing. Many feel what I have done is right and that what has happened with me is wrong."

Afridi has been in touch with political figures through the mess, though he would only say that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - whom he bumped into at a dinner in London, he said - were keeping abreast of matters. "They know who is right and wrong, this is about power and who has that we all know," he said.

Otherwise he reiterated much of what he has been saying over the past week. He was upset that he had heard of his removal through the media, he wanted his NOC back, he was not seeking a fight, merely justice. "I am not here to fight, I am a cricketer, I want to play cricket. I want what is my right," he said. "If they don't want me to play for Pakistan, but at least let me play domestic cricket or county cricket. I want my right, my NOC."

He did warn, however, of the implications such a dispute between player and board can have on both current and future players. "An example should be set for cricketers of the future. Many things were a problem under my captaincy, whether that is management or anything else, there were problems. Until those things are solved….if I come back and those problems are still there, they will only increase over time. Those things need to be cleared so future cricketers don't suffer and focus purely on cricket.

"There are other senior players who are having problems, but because of central contracts they don't say anything. They worry about their careers. It is not just me who has the problem. If I get out of the way today, one of them will come up. We want to finish these issues and focus on cricket. The way the board is treating all players is wrong. This is not how you finish player power, by humiliating them. I have played 13-14 years and I don't want to finish like this, I want to leave with respect."

Afridi Came Back Now For Hearing To His On Going Dispute

2011-06-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is set to return to Pakistan tonight in a bid to resolve his ongoing dispute with the PCB. Afridi, who is currently in London, is scheduled to appear before a three-man disciplinary committee formed by the board on June 8 in Lahore, to face charges that he has breached two clauses of the code of conduct with his retirement announcement and subsequent criticism of the board.

Mandviwalla and Zafar Associates, the legal firm representing Afridi, had sent a letter to the PCB on June 3 in a bid to resolve the on-going dispute between the two parties. At the time, Afridi's management told ESPNcricinfo that he would appear before the committee. However, some reports suggest that Afridi and his legal team may not attend the hearin

g as the allrounder is reportedly uncomfortable with an in-camera hearing that the PCB want, though this has not yet been confirmed.

Over the last couple of days, Afridi is reported to have met and spoken to a number of Pakistani political figures in London and Pakistan, including, apparently, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (the son of the Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari) and former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. He has already appealed directly to the president to look into the matter, and the country's interior minister Rehman Malik has also got involved.

A measure of his popularity - or influence - emerged over the weekend as several areas of Karachi saw banners and signs appear supporting Afridi. There is the likelihood of his arrival attracting a fair crowd to the airport and there are reports that a rally will be organised in support once he arrives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjDC2bDJWs0&feature=player_embedded#at=73

Smith v Hafeez, and Warne's real bunny Batsmen who fell to the same bowler in the most consecutive innings

2011-05-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

When Mohammad Hafeez shared the new ball with Umar Gul against West Indies in Providence, it was one of those rare occasions that Pakistan did not begin w

ith pace at both ends in the first innings of a Test. There was sound reason for it, though. Opening the batting for West Indies was Devon Smith, who is as clueless as they come against offspin. Hafeez had trapped Smith lbw in four consecutive ODIs before the Test series, and then dismissed him twice in Providence as well. Smith was dropped for the second Test, and so Hafeez did not have the opportunity to get him eight times in as many innings. This week's column features batsmen who fell to the same bowler in the most consecutive innings.

Ashwell Prince and Shane Warne
Former South African batsman Daryl Cullinan will always be remembered as Shane Warne's bunny, having been dismissed by the legspinner 12 times in 29 matches. That isn't so bad, when you look at the list of batsmen Warne dismissed most times. In that list is another South African, Ashwell Prince, whose struggles against Warne went rather unnoticed. He was dismissed by Warne 11 times in only nine matches. Eight of those dismissals were in consecutive Test innings against Australia, although the games were spread over two series. During Australia's tour of South Africa in 2002-03, Prince fell to Warne in his last three innings of the series. And when South Africa next played Australia, in 2005-06, Warne dismissed him in his first five innings of that tour. Prince never got stuck with the bunny tag, though, like Cullinan did.

Walter Read and Charlie Turner
Walter Read was an England batsman who played 18 Tests between 1883 and 1893. Charlie Turner was an Australian fast bowler who played 17 Tests between 1887 and 1895. They played eight matches against each other, and Turner dismissed Read eight times. It began in the timeless Test in Sydney in 1888, when Read was bowled twice by Turner. During the Ashes that followed in England, a three-Test contest, Read fell to Turner in all four innings, bowled three times and stumped once, making it six dismissals in a row. The sequence was broken when they met again, at Lord's in 1890, when Read was dismissed by JJ Ferris and Hugh Trumble. During the next Test at The Oval, though, Turner bowled Read in both innings again.

Being dismissed by the same bowler in the most consecutive innings - Tests
Player	Bowler	Mat	Start Match	Scorecard	End Match	Scorecard
AG Prince (SA)	SK Warne (Aus)	8	Mar 8, 2002	Test 1593	Jan 2, 2006	Test 1780
DB Vengsarkar (India)	Imran Khan (Pak)	7	Jan 15, 1980	Test 869	Jan 14, 1983	Test 946
K Srikkanth (India)	Wasim Akram (Pak)	7	Mar 13, 1987	Test 1073	Dec 9, 1989	Test 1132
Waqar Younis (Pak)	M Muralitharan (SL)	7	Mar 5, 2000	Test 1487	Mar 6, 2002	Test 1592
ML Hayden (Aus)	M Ntini (SA)	7	Mar 16, 2006	Test 1789	Dec 17, 2008	Test 1899
WW Read (Eng)	CTB Turner (Aus)	6	Feb 10, 1888	Test 27	Aug 30, 1888	Test 30
SM Gavaskar (India)	IT Botham (Eng)	6	Aug 30, 1979	Test 854	Nov 27, 1981	Test 911
GRJ Matthews (Aus)	RJ Hadlee (NZ)	6	Nov 8, 1985	Test 1029	Nov 30, 1985	Test 1031
CJ McDermott (Aus)	BP Patterson (WI)	6	Dec 24, 1988	Test 1112	Apr 5, 1991	Test 1168
GA Hick (Eng)	CEL Ambrose (WI)	6	Jun 6, 1991	Test 1171	Jul 25, 1991	Test 1174
PA de Silva (SL)	A Kumble (India)	6	Jul 27, 1993	Test 1228	Jan 18, 1994	Test 1244
D Ganga (WI)	SM Pollock (SA)	6	Dec 26, 1998	Test 1437	Jan 15, 1999	Test 1441
SK Warne (Aus)	DL Vettori (NZ)	6	Nov 7, 1997	Test 1383	Mar 24, 2000	Test 1491
RT Ponting (Aus)	D Gough (Eng)	6	Dec 11, 1998	Test 1434	Aug 2, 2001	Test 1554

Dilip Vengsarkar and Imran Khan
No bowler had surpassed Charlie Turner's feat of dismissing the same batsman in six consecutive Test innings until Imran Khan took out Dilip Vengsarkar seven times in succession between 1980 and 1983. In Chennai 1980, when India won by ten wickets to go 2-0 up in the six-Test series, Vengsarkar was caught off Imran's bowling for 17. He didn't play the next Test at Eden Gardens. When India toured Pakistan in 1982-83 for six more Tests, Imran got Vengraskar for 3, 0, 79, 6, 1 and 4 in the first six innings of the series. Vengsarkar ended Imran's hold on him with an unbeaten 58 in the second innings of the fourth Test, but Pakistan had already taken a 3-0 lead in the series. Imran dismissed Vengsarkar 12 times in all, ahead of Malcolm Marshall, who dismissed him 10 times.

Chandika Hathurusingha and Allan Donald
Allan Donald's seven successive dismissals of former Sri Lankan batsman Chandika Hathurusingha in Tests and ODIs combined is one of the longest such streaks. Hathurusingha played 10 innings against South Africa- five each in Tests and ODIs - primarily as an opener and Donald was his bugbear. He began Sri Lanka's home series in 1993 with 51 in the first ODI, before falling to Pat Symcox. Thereafter he was dismissed by Donald for 1, 9, 10, 2, 34, 0, 1 over three Tests and two one-dayers. Hathurusingha played South Africa only one more time, in 1998, when he batted in the middle order and was dismissed by Hansie Cronje.

Being dismissed by the same bowler in the most consecutive innings - All internationals
Player	Bowler	Mat	Start Match	Scorecard	End Match	Scorecard
AG Prince (SA)	SK Warne (Aus)	8	Mar 8, 2002	Test 1593	Jan 2, 2006	Test 1780
RT Robinson (Eng)	Abdul Qadir (Pak)	7	Aug 6, 1987	Test 1079	Dec 7, 1987	Test 1083
UC Hathurusingha (SL)	AA Donald (SA)	7	Aug 25, 1993	Test 1232	Sep 14, 1993	Test 1234
WW Read (Eng)	CTB Turner (Aus)	6	Feb 10, 1888	Test 27	Aug 30, 1888	Test 30
BA Edgar (NZ)	RGD Willis (Eng)	6	Jun 9, 1983	ODI 197	Jul 28, 1983	Test 958
GRJ Matthews (Aus)	RJ Hadlee (NZ)	6	Nov 8, 1985	Test 1029	Nov 30, 1985	Test 1031
K Srikkanth (India)	Wasim Akram (Pak)	6	Nov 15, 1989	Test 1127	Dec 9, 1989	Test 1132
GA Hick (Eng)	CEL Ambrose (WI)	6	Jun 6, 1991	Test 1171	Jul 25, 1991	Test 1174
D Ganga (WI)	SM Pollock (SA)	6	Dec 26, 1998	Test 1437	Jan 15, 1999	Test 1441
ML Hayden (Aus)	M Ntini (SA)	6	Mar 16, 2006	Test 1789	Mar 31, 2006	Test 1795
RT Ponting (Aus)	SE Bond (NZ)	6	Jan 11, 2002	ODI 1783	Mar 11, 2003	ODI 1986
DS Smith (WI)	Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)	6	Mar 23, 2011	ODI 3142	May 12, 2011	Test 1992

Gary Kirsten and Dominic Cork
Gary Kirsten's six consecutive dismissals against Dominic Cork are the most for any batsman against a particular bowler in ODIs. The streak started in England in 1994, when Kirsten was dismissed by Cork in the final match of the Texaco trophy. And then when England visited South Africa in 1996 for a seven-ODI series, Cork got Kirsten in the first two games. Kirsten then missed the third but after he returned he fell to Cork in the next three matches as well. Kirsten scored only 160 runs in six innings but South Africa still won the series 6-1.

Being dismissed by the same bowler in the most consecutive innings - ODIs
Player	Bowler	Mat	Start Match	Scorecard	End Match	Scorecard
G Kirsten (SA)	DG Cork (Eng)	6	Aug 27, 1994	ODI 920	Jan 19, 1996	ODI 1042
RT Ponting (Aus)	SE Bond (NZ)	6	Jan 11, 2002	ODI 1783	Mar 11, 2003	ODI 1986
CJ McDermott (Aus)	EJ Chatfield (NZ)	5	Oct 27, 1987	ODI 470	Jan 20, 1988	ODI 498
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	D Gough (Eng)	5	Aug 16, 1998	ODI 1346	Jan 23, 1999	ODI 1391
SP Fleming (NZ)	WPUJC Vaas (SL)	5	Jan 6, 2006	ODI 2311	Apr 12, 2007	ODI 2569
CO Obuya (Kenya)	AG Cremer (Zim)	5	Jan 27, 2009	ODI 2805	Feb 4, 2009	ODI 2814

Nokia N8 Mobile Phone Review

2011-05-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Nokia N8 is the first Symbian^3 smartphone released globally and big emphasis is placed on its imaging capabilities. With 12 megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, and Xenon flash, the N8 takes amazing photos. However, we’re talking about a phone here. Is the Nokia N8 with the latest Symbian OS good enough to be your daily device? Read on for The Nokia Blog review.

SALES PACKAGE

You can view the unboxing video here. The sales package includes:

Nokia N8 mobile computer
Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-179
Nokia Stereo Headset WH-701
Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-15
Nokia Adapter Cable for HDMI CA-156
Nokia Adapter Cable for USB OTG CA-157
Nokia Stylus SU-36 (selected markets only)
Quick start guide

HARDWARE

The Nokia N8 feels great in your hand. It’s mostly made from anodized aluminum which comes in vibrant colors. The chrome accents around the camera lens, camera button, and volume controls get the thumbs up too. There are no wiggly parts and the buttons all feel solid. As expected, the hardware design is top-notch. The build quality is excellent, too. The screen is made of gorilla glass which is damage and scratch resistant. I tried scratching the display with my keys using a lot of force and did not notice any effect.
The Nokia N8 isn’t the thinnest phone in the world, but it sits comfortably in the pocket. It measures 113.5 x 59 x 12.9 mm and weighs 135g. Here’s a quick comparison with a few other devices.

Nokia N8 vs Samsung Galaxy S vs Nexus One

I have 2 complaints with the hardware. I wish the menu button was placed in the middle instead of the left corner. It requires more effort than it should to reach that button single-handedly. Another problem I had is the microUSB port stopped working after a couple of weeks. I haven’t found anyone else online with this problem, so I don’t think it’s a widespread problem
Internals. Inside the Nokia N8 is an ARM 11 microprocessor clocked at 680 MHz with 256MB RAM. All the latest Symbian^3 devices such as the C7, E7, and C6-01 have the same CPU and RAM. This is an increase from previous Nokia devices, but not as high as the numbers featured in the latest devices from other manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, or Motorola. Some would argue that Symbian has better memory and CPU management compared to other smartphone OS out there and I have to agree. I haven’t seen any memory full messages, but I wouldn’t exactly say the Nokia N8 as a speedy device. It zips through menus, photos, and apps, but the app that’s not very fast is an important one: the web browser. Large websites like Engadget take so much longer to load on the Nokia N8 than the iPhone or Android devices I’ve played with such as the T-mobile G2 and Nexus One.
Connectors. The Nokia N8 features an HDMI connection so you can easily show off your images, videos and music on compatible televisions and projectors. The USB-on-the-Go adapter is cool as well. You can connect your USB flash drives and access those files directly from the Nokia N8. I’m not clear on what works and what doesn’t, but my 1TB external drive and compactflash reader are unreadable by the Nokia N8. USB thumb drives work fine.

HDMI out

Display. The Nokia N8 has a 3.5 inch display with 640×360 resolution. That’s a pixel density of 209.8 according to this PPI calculator. Let’s compare it to other devices using the same calculator:

These numbers tell us that the Nokia N8′s display isn’t as sharp as the competition. The more pixels you have in an inch, the more information they can represent, and so the clearer and sharper the picture. The difference in sharpness between the Nokia N8 and the iPhone 4 is huge. You really have to see it in person to understand. The difference between the other devices aren’t that noticeable. On a positive note, the AMOLED display on the Nokia N8 performs really well outdoors even in bright sunlight. It also consumes less power and shows more vibrant colors than the LCD displays used in previous Nokia devices.
Speakers. Call quality is loud and clear on all the calls I’ve placed and received. Listening to music, the speakers are reasonably loud and have nothing to complain about. The location of the loudspeaker is at the back of the phone. That seems to be the favorite spot for new devices even from other manufacturers.

CAMERA

The Nokia N8 is a photographer’s dream phone. The images it produces are awesome and it’s really quick to share what you capture. The cameras on Nokia Nseries devices have always been ahead of the competition, but the Nokia N8 really shines. Nokia combined the largest sensor ever put into a mobile for incredible detail with Carl Zeiss optics and a hands-off attitude with imaging software to produce really natural photos.
Take a look at these two sample photos I uploaded seconds after capturing them.

Now look at the 100% crops (you can see these for yourself by clicking on the Flickr photos above, then view original size). “Holy Sh#t!” was exactly what I said after seeing the close-up shots.

Since we’re talking about zoom and crops, I’ll mention that the digital zoom on the Nokia N8 is actually usable. I usually stay away from digital zoom, but I was surprised with the results. Here’s a photo of Sprint CEO Dan Hesse with zoom on the Nokia N8 set to the max. (Click on the photo to view larger size).

Another great addition to the Nokia N8′s camera is the Nokia Panorama app available from the Ovi Store. I was in San Francisco when this app came out. I downloaded it in the morning, tried it on the Golden Gate Bridge, shared it online within seconds, and found out later that night it got Explored front pageon Flickr! As of publishing this review, the photo has been viewed over 6,700 times.

Click photo to enlarge
If you’re not convinced by now, the Nokia N8 also has Xenon flash for those photos at night or low light situations. Cameraphone fans who held on to theNokia N82 because of the xenon flash finally have something to update to. Goodbye blurry night photos! Here’s a sample portrait with the xenon flash firing on the Nokia N8. Thanks to Jeb Brilliant for showing us how the humongous 5-inch Dell Streak looks next to his head when making calls.

Video. The Nokia N8 captures HD video at 720p and 25FPS. It uses a system called Active Hyper-focal Distance which means anything from 2 feet to infinity appear in focus. This is great for moving objects and in low light without focus hunting. Digital zoom also works great thanks to the large sensor. For optimal results, don’t pan or move the camera too fast while recording. Here are a couple of samples. They’re viewable on Youtube at 720p.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen these photos and videos already because I like to share what I capture right away. I upload the photos to Twitpic and Flickr, then videos to Facebook and Twitvid directly from the Nokia N8. This is possible thanks to the awesome Pixelpipe app that is free and available at the Ovi Store.

SOFTWARE

The Nokia N8 runs Symbian^3. It’s the same OS on the new devices announced at Nokia World: the C7, E7, and C6-01. If you’re coming from a Symbian^1 device, this latest version introduces advances such as multiple homescreens, visual multitasking, music cover flow, and multitouch pinch-to-zoom. Menu structures are more streamlined and the UI moves at 60 frames per second. You can see lists scroll quickly and fluidly on the music player, contacts, messaging, conversation, etc. The dedicated Broadcom graphics processor is responsible for this. It’s certainly the best version of Symbian yet, but it’s far from perfect.
Keyboard. Typing on our devices is very important, but it seems Nokia did not spend enough resources on this aspect of Symbian^3. One massive letdown is a missing portrait keyboard. Instead, we’re looking at an on-screen numeric keypad. If you’ve been using Symbian your whole life, it’s probably not a big deal, but if you’ve used an iPhone or Android device, it’s a shocker! You have to turn the Nokia N8 sideways to type with the QWERTY keyboard. This input takes some time to get used to and I strongly feel that Nokia’s designers could have done better by simply moving some of the buttons around. One thing that bothered me is that the backspace button is all the way at the bottom and the return key is to the left of it. Every keyboard I’ve used always had the return key below the backspace. You might think I’m crazy, but it felt like I had to relearn typing with the Nokia N8′s keyboard layout. It took many days for me to finally get used to it. If you’re willing to wait, word on the net is Swype will be releasing for the Nokia N8 soon with portrait QWERTY.
Here’s a photo of the keyboard layout compared to others.

Here’s a photoshopped layout of how I’d move the buttons around.

Email. Nokia Messaging on the Nokia N8 and Symbian^3 has noticeably improved over previous versions. It’s faster to scroll through emails and faster to open emails. It’s also great to view them in HTML where you can pinch-to-zoom or double-tap like in the web browser. Pro tip: To open emails faster, go to settings – sync content – retrieve – Msgs and attachements.
If you’ve only used Symbian devices, this is the best messaging experience ever. Unfortunately, if you’ve been to the dark side, you’ll notice the email experience on Android or iPhone is a little better. There are two things I like better on the other popular platforms. One example is how they differentiate between old and new emails. The iPhone lets you know by placing a big visible circle next to a new email. The circle disappears after it is read. On Android, new emails are highlighted white with bold fonts. Read emails are highlighted in grey and the font becomes un-bolded. With Symbian^3, the subject and the sender have the same font size and you can only recognize a new email if there’s a really tiny asterisk next to the mail icon. All emails, old or new, have a mail icon that is open or closed. However, the icons are small and have a similar color that you can’t differentiate at a quick glance. Another example that Nokia Messaging is behind the competition is that it is missing threaded emails.

Browsing. Browsing isn’t that great on the Nokia N8. You’ll do fine if you open small pages, but prepare for headache when opening large websites like Engadget. I also don’t understand why the Nokia N8′s browser can’t render one of my favorite sites, Techmeme, correctly in portrait view. The right sidebar shows up below the left content, and almost half of the screen is whitespace. I’m shaking my head in disappointment right now, but there’s a rumor that a newer and better browser is coming.
Music. The new cover flow feature in the music player is pretty cool, but instead of collecting music albums or downloading music, I prefer to stream songs. The TuneWiki app from the Ovi Store is a must have! It has an internet radio where you can choose from a huge list of online stations. The app also tells you the number of listeners and the bitrate of the music (128 kbps sounds great). Want to sing along? Some songs will display the lyrics if you’re in the mood for personal karaoke. The headset included with the Nokia N8 is pretty good too. I listen to a lot of hip hop and love the bass that comes out of them. The audio controls with the headset works well with TuneWiki too.

Ovi Maps. I think the Nokia N8 came with Ovi Maps 3.04 preinstalled. There’s a newer, but beta version 3.06 that is so much better. Search has greatly improved and it visually appealing. There’s also a new public transport map layer for subways, trams, and trains in 80+ cities. Sharing a place’s address or location to friends by SMS or email was also added. Voice navigation works fine and is available to all free of charge. Ovi Maps 3.06 can be downloaded from Beta Labs.
Ovi Store. The Ovi Store currently boasts 2.7 million downloads per day and carrier billing makes it easier for you to buy content. My top 5 app recommendations are:

Games are starting to look good on the Nokia N8 and Symbian^3. Angry Birds in full version just came out and Gameloft released some cool HD games such as Avatar, GT Racing, and Guitar Rock Tour 2. If you’re not looking to spend any money, you might want to check out the cool free action games by Breakdesign. More content keeps showing up, so keep your eyes open.

BATTERY LIFE

The Nokia N8 includes a BL-4D 1200 mAh battery like the Nokia N97 mini, but it’s not easily accessible. You can replace the battery by using torx screwdriver if you really need to. The Nokia N8 can be charged via the microUSB port or the 2mm charging connector at the bottom. Surprisingly the battery life is good. The Nokia N8 typically lasts a little more than a day with my normal usage. Similar usage on a Nexus One kills it by late afternoon.

VERDICT

Is the Nokia N8 for you? The Nokia N8 is a solid and great-looking device that photographers are going to love. If you’re a Symbian veteran, you’ll definitely enjoy the Nokia N8. It runs the best version of Symbian yet, but the OS falls short to Android and iPhone with core apps such as the web browser and messaging. Nokia also needs to work on the onscreen keyboard. Fortunately, there are news of updates coming to Symbian that can resolve these issues hopefully sooner than later. The Nokia N8 is now available for $549 USD before subsidies and taxes.

England's new target, Sri Lanka's new era

2011-05-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture

This series is being billed as the starter before the main course of England's season. India are the major drawcard of the summer, but Sri Lanka's visit promises mu

ch interest and intrigue. It pits a home side wanting to build on one of their finest triumphs in Australia against a visiting side trying to rebuild under a new captain and coach amid more political rumblings in Sri Lankan cricket.

A lot has happened since England celebrated in Sydney and even since Sri Lanka finished second in the World Cup. The hosts now have three captains for starters, but nine of the team that played in Sydney are set to line-up in this Test. Andrew Strauss has been very keen to stress how the Ashes success was just a stepping stone, albeit an historic one, in England's quest to be No. 1 in the world. That aim could be achieved by the end of the summer if they beat both Sri Lanka and India but it won't be an easy task.

Sri Lanka come here as significant underdogs, largely due to the loss of three match-winning bowlers in Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. Yet England will underestimate them at their peril. They showed their fighting qualities with an impressive victory against the Lions after being forced to follow-on as Tillakaratne Dilshan, the new captain, led the way with 117 at better than a run-a-ball. Much will rest on the tone Dilshan sets as a captain and batsman.

However, with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the ranks runs shouldn't be in short supply and then it will be down to a new-look bowling attack. The loss of Nuwan Pradeep is a significant blow and they can't afford Dilhara Fernando to go lame as well. It's impossible to replace Murali, but in Rangana Herath they have a steady left-arm spinner who will no doubt target Kevin Pietersen.

Although Sri Lanka haven't won a series in England they have surprised the hosts more than once. Most famously there was 1998 at The Oval, but five years ago they also won at Trent Bridge to level the series. A shared contest this time would be a fine achievement for Dilshan and a major let-down for Strauss.

Form guide

(Most recent first)

England WWLWD
Sri Lanka DDDLD

Watch out for...

In the end Eoin Morgan made a case that was too good to ignore. His 193 against the Sri Lankans at Derby secured him a Test place that appeared to have slipped away after six weeks at the IPL. Now he has the chance to make the No. 6 berth his for the foreseeable future. He is the ideal counter-attacking player to have in the middle order; someone who scores at close to a run-a-ball and can shift momentum. However, his biggest challenge will come if (or when) he walks in with England wobbling. Barring his hundred against Pakistan at Trent Bridge last year he was vulnerable against the moving ball. One thing he doesn't lack, though, is confidence and that can carry you a long way.

Tillakaratne Dilshan won't do anything in half measures. He has shown his attacking mindset already on this tour both with the bat and in the field. Much like Virender Sehwag, one session of Dilshan blazing away can set the tone for a Test match. England's bowlers won't be allowed any leeway to find their feet. As a captain he isn't a long-term option, but is determined to do things his way and that will include thinking 'outside of the box'. Against the Lions he brought himself on to bowl with the new ball and made a breakthrough. Don't be surprised to see Herath in action as soon as Pietersen walks to the middle.

Team news

The only decision for the home side is the make-up of their pace attack and it seems likely that Steven Finn will miss out. Stuart Broad is fit again after his winter injuries although he looked a little short of rhythm in the County Championship. Morgan replaces Paul Collingwood in the middle order with Ian Bell set to move to No. 5. Pietersen and Jonathan Trott will be needed for some fill-in overs at various stages.

England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 James Anderson

Sri Lanka have been hit with injuries to their pace attack. Pradeep is out and there are concerns over Dilhara Fernando, who is set to share the new ball with Chanaka Welegedara. Dilshan confirmed they'd picked six batsmen and five bowlers, a hint that Farveez Maharoof could play while Rangana Herath is the one spinner in their 12.

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Chanaka Welegedara

Pitch and conditions

Domestic and international pitches are often two very different beasts at Cardiff. Alarms are sometimes raised by the amount of turn for Glamorgan matches, but the groundsman keeps things safe for the internationals. Stuart Law said the pitch "looked a belter" and two years ago Australia piled up 674 for 6. The forecast, however, isn't too promising with showers forecast for the opening day and further rain over the weekend.

Stats and trivia

Stuart Broad is currently sat on 99 Test wickets having collected just two scalps in his two Ashes Tests before injury.
The performance of Sri Lanka's bowlers in England since 2000 is better than only Zimbabwe
Thilan Samaraweera, overall Test average of 54.25, averages just 4.25 in England albeit from just two matches

Afridi pulls out of Ireland ODIs

2011-05-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Shahid Afridi,the Pakistan allrounder, has withdrawn from the squad for the two one-day internationals against Ireland later this month for personal reasons, according to a PCB official.

"Afridi has informed PCB that due to the illness of his father he had to stay longer in USA, so he would be unable to join the squad for Ireland." PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told ESPNcricinfo.

The pull-out comes after days of speculation about Afridi's unhappiness at the decision to remove him as captain, with some local reports even suggesting he would retire from the game altogether, though there is no indication yet that this is the case. Last week the board chose to replace Afridi as ODI captain with Misbah-ul-Haq, despite the former having led Pakistan to the semi-final of the World Cup.

Pakistan are expected to arrive i

n Ireland on Wednesday, with the two games scheduled for May 28 and 30. The board will not be sending a replacement for Afridi.

Afridi took over as ODI captain properly in June last year, before the Asia Cup, having been appointed the Twenty20 captain the previous year. He was never given the leadership on a full-time basis, but first irked the board by walking away from the Test captaincy on the tour to England, one Test after being appointed. Misbah, currently the Test captain, now becomes the fifth ODI captain under the near three-year tenure of Butt; there have also been six Test captains in that time.

Pakistan draw series with emphatic victory

2011-05-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

Pakistan's spinners completed the job they had begun on the fourth afternoon, slicing through the West Indian middle order and tail to secure a series-levelling victory by 196 runs in St Kitts. Once the morning dawned sunny and clear, it was only a matter of time before West Indies capitulated. They battled for 27.3 overs this morning and added 100 runs, but they were always fighting against t

he tide. It was over before lunch at Warner Park.

With the luxury of lots of runs to defend, Misbah-ul-Haq placed several fielders around the bat. The first edge came in the day's third over, with Brendan Nash poking at an offbreak from Saeed Ajmal and watching first slip take a regulation chance.

Carlton Baugh and Darren Sammy had a partnership that spanned ten overs, far too little time to call it a fightback. That ended when Baugh was trapped plumb in front by Abdur Rehman, who had to wait for the third umpire to overturn Asoka de Silva's not-out decision to celebrate his fourth wicket. Sammy hung in there for 41, off 51 balls, while Ravi Rampaul swung lustily to take 20 off 22. Saeed Ajmal got them both - Sammy to a daft shot, Rampaul to a sharp reflex catch at silly point.

With lunch approaching, Pakistan had only one wicket left to take. Devendra Bishoo then played the ball to backward point and kept his eyes on it. Kemar Roach hared down the pitch, and then turned and ambled back. The direct hit found him yards short and he began to shake hands with the fielders without waiting for the third umpire's decision. Pakistan's comeback was complete.

Taufeeq puts sloppy West Indies to sword

2011-05-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Ably assisted by the West Indies, Taufeeq Umar worked Pakistan into a formidable position on the third day of the second Test at Basseterre. Taufeeq's unbeaten 97 helped the tourists close on 203 for 3, 251 runs ahead already and well-placed for a series-levelling win.

Having fought back through their tail in the morning, West Indies missed numerous chances - dropping Umar twice by the time he was 13 and once on 94 - in a miserable display in the field. They also took a wicket off a no-ball in the very first over of the innings. The early chances were crucial because until this morning, Taufeeq's batting all series had a constipated feel to it, itching to break free mentally, yet physically unable. When he edged Kemar Roach in the third over only for Darren Bravo to shell a regulation chance at first slip, something in him twitched: he'd stared death in the face and not blinked. A little freedom crept in, disbelievingly at first as he drove Roach next ball down the ground.

In Roach's next over, he cut and drove him again but immediately after, he looked death in the face a second time, Darren Sammy dropping him at second slip. Unburdened and believing now, Umar tore into the most forceful batting from either side all series. Three boundaries came from Roach's next over, two drives before he fairly ripped into a cut. Sammy arrived only to be driven through extra cover. Every shot for a while was firmly struck, heavy with intent before a first opening fifty stand was brought up as lunch approached; unsurprisingly it was another straight drive that brought it.

Hafeez, the fortunate recipient of the Roach no-ball, was a keen partner, though after lunch the tempo dropped drastically. Taufeeq decided now was the time to cash in. For the rest of the day he was unrecognizable from the morning stud, a dour old man of an innings, of nudges, glides, bunts and sturdy defence.

He brought up fifty quietly a little before the day's halfway mark and hit not a single boundary after lunch until half an hour before the close. Typically, it was a straight drive. Thereafter he roused in a bid to reach a first hundred in nearly eight years before the close, driving Rampaul again before being dropped - athletically - by Lendl Simmons at mid-off. A few balls later he narrowly avoided being run out.

But across the afternoon there was relief from Azhar Ali in a pleasant and surprisingly fluent innings. He gave one chance at slip, but looked in little trouble, driving and cutting well in a 76-run stand. More significantly, he rotated strike, which he doesn't often do. Particularly useful in this endeavour was the paddle sweep he employed regularly against the spinners. Soon after tea he reached an inevitable eighth Test fifty but just when a first, breakthrough hundred looked equally inevitable, he fell, cutting to slip.

Both the wicket-taker Devendra Bishoo and the West Indies in general deserved that, for they sharpened up after lunch. Sammy bowled those inswingers Pakistan are unable to comprehend - they come in - to which Hafeez fell; another good start wasted. Bishoo controlled the other end in a good, long spell through an equally long afternoon, unlucky not to have Umar stumped and Ali caught earlier. The very real threat of a big-turning, big-leaping jaffa remained throughout.

Roach of the wretched luck also returned for an energetic spell after tea in which Asad Shafiq was sent back. Ultimately, West Indies did well to keep Pakistan down to just 147 runs after lunch, not only keeping the potential target down, but taking time out.

Still it didn't mask the

dominance of Pakistan's position or how the sterling morning work of Rampaul and Roach was wasted. Late yesterday, the pair had landed some heavy blows; not so this morning. From the offset they looked secure and the strokes were accomplished, none of the impatience of the top-order of both sides.

The first boundary came as Roach guided Abdur Rehman through slips and in the next over, he cut Tanvir Ahmed for a far more authoritative boundary. An over later, as Rampaul cut Hafeez for two, the fifty partnership came up.

Eventually it was left to Hafeez - who has at times looked Pakistan's most threatening bowler - to break through, deceiving Roach in flight. Soon Bishoo gave Umar at slip his fourth catch of the innings. How West Indies must have wished later he was standing in their cordon to himself.

The problem is Butt no other

2011-05-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

In a way this isn't even about Shahid Afridi or Misbah-ul-Haq. Both have their advantages and faults. This writer personally considered Afridi to have done as good a job as was manageable in the circumstances that were thrust upon him.

Few can realistically argue that they weren't surprised by his performances as leader, given how unsuitable a candidate he has looked for most of his career. But over 32 ODIs (two, against West Indies and Australia, came as stand-in) he left a bit of himself on the team: unpredictable, occasionally brilliant, occasionally hopeless; that Pakistan's four ODI series under Afridi all ended in 3-2 scorelines is quite fitting really.

But mostly they were up for a good fight. In particular, Pakistan showed some spine under him against England and South Africa last year, contests in which what was happening around them could easily have blown them away entirely.

On results, he just about wins. Any captain will take more wins than losses, particularly as few of his opponents were genuinely weak. The World Cup run cannot be belittled, and two series wins did come against weaker sides, but they are two more than a few of the last couple of captains managed: Pakistan, remember, hadn't won an ODI series against a full member side since November 2008 until they beat New Zealand earlier this year. So credit is due.

Misbah might be a decent captain. His form since his return to all formats last year has been outstanding, even if it takes in the much-pilloried World Cup semi-final half-century against India. But turning to a man who turns 37 on the day he leads Pakistan against Ireland in the first ODI isn't a long-term solution.

But the problem isn't either of these two. The problem, not for the first or last time in the tenure of Ijaz Butt, lies with the board, with Butt himself. So far nobody has said why Afridi has been removed, and they might not say anything anytime soon; the board does, after all, retain the right to change captains per assignment.

Only two things could have led to this, however. One is Afridi's keenness in airing private matters publicly, which is admittedly an uneasy trait to possess as Pakistan captain. The other is the differences he has with coach Waqar Younis, differences that have grown considerably over the last few months. Both are issues that can be resolved without sacking someone, a suggestion so obvious that it feels foolish to write it out.

If he does speak out regularly - and it is a breach of the code of conduct - can he not be disciplined in another way? And, given what Pakistani captains of pretty recent vintage have gotten up to, is it that grave an offence? Perhaps Afridi's general disciplinary record went against him: the ball-biting last year, or his abrupt relinquishing of the Test captaincy. In that case, they should have axed him then, when it might have made sense, not now, when it makes less.



	The chairman has been quiet for a few months and it has been bliss. Now he has stirred again, underlining once again as if it was needed, that he might struggle to run a chalkboard, let alone a cricket board

If there were problems with Waqar, could not the two of them - with PCB officials involved - have had a pow wow to sort matters out? Intikhab Alam, the team manager, tried to bring the two together during the ODI series in the Caribbean, but the matter is delicate enough to be handled away from an ongoing series.

Maybe - a radical suggestion this - the board could've sat down and worked out a better, more streamlined selection policy, over which the pair have fallen out. The parameters are not defined very well, but mostly selection in Pakistan is not so different from that in other countries. The selection committee picks a squad, with inputs from coach and captain. The on-tour management, which includes coach and captain, picks the XI. If, as happens often, a Test squad is announced after the ODI leg of the series, then the on-tour management inevitably wants input in that. The final say, in all matters, is with the chairman, for some reason.

As Pakistan's experiments with democracy amply demonstrate, there are probably too many different people involved for this to work smoothly: five in the selection committee, three or more on tour (if the advice of senior players is taken). In any case, the problems that regularly arise in selection matters here likely do elsewhere; the point is you don't solve them simply by sacking people, unless all other options have been exhausted.

Butt has been in charge for just under three years and this now represents the 11th change in captaincy in his time, in Tests and ODIs. Eleven

: it takes some countries decades to go through that kind of change. Add to it three coaches and five selection chiefs. Does it need to be written out what kind of effect this instability has on the performances of a team? How do you build anything if the materials keep changing? And can we expect Afridi, whether he says it publicly or not, as a key member of the ODI side still, to take this without any issues?

Long ago the number of changes began to say nothing of the men who came and went and everything of the man who made the changes: that is, he is clueless. How much longer before he decides to kick out Misbah? Or Mohsin Khan? Or Waqar Younis?

The chairman has been quiet for a few months and it has been bliss. Now he has stirred again, underlining once again as if it was needed, that he might struggle to run a chalkboard, let alone a cricket board.

Do West Indies have a will to win a series against Pakistan?

2011-05-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Among all the criticism heaped on West Indies cricket in recent years, one of the foremost has been the lack of resolve shown by their players who have appeared diffident, in contrast to the weight of the great tradition they bear. Too many times, dominating positions have been frittered away, conveying the impression that they seemingly do not care to gain ground. The hurt is magnified, given that that the West Indies is the only place outside the sub-continent where cricket is still, hopefully, much more than just a game.

That is why the win in the first Test against Pakistan should ideally be much more than just another win - it was the first in a Test in almost two years. What was more heartening to see was what led to that win. The fight shown by the lower order, where the last two wickets added in excess of 50 runs in both innings in a low-scoring game where the winning margin was 40. Above all, the fight displayed by Darren Sammy who, with a Man of the Match performance, showed that he might also have the skills to be a contributing player at Test level in addition to being a willing captain.

All of which should be celebrated much more than a win, because, in isolation, the victory itself might just prove to be a one-off considering the various ills plaguing West Indies cricket. The final game in yet another two-Test series that has promised so much will give a stronger indication if the earlier win was more than just that. If Sammy does manage to pull off another victory, he would have bought a lot of time against the doubters. Even a draw will help, but a loss will lead to increasing calls of 'we told you so'.

To consolidate on their success in the first Test, West Indies will need to address their serious vulnerability while facing spin, especially against Saeed Ajmal. When your opener [Devon Smith] fails to last even an over against the opposition's part-time offspinner in Tests [Mohammad Hafeez], it reflects poorly on the skillsets of those playing at the highest level. The surface at Warner Park, though, should suit West Indies much more than the vicious turner at Providence that turned survival against quality spin into a lottery, one in which the hosts didn't enjoy much luck.

It was the brittle batting that cost Pakistan the first Test, and considering that none of the top six has played more than 30 Tests, it is not a problem that is going to go away soon, especially in the absence of Younis Khan. The opening partnership has been worryingly unproductive; in 40 previous innings, only thrice has it produced more than 100 runs and of the six pairs tried out, none have averaged more than 40 per innings. No wonder that Pakistan have struggled to put up totals in the region of 350-400, which hasn't allowed their strong bowling attack the kind of leeway it deserves.

As in the case of West Indies though, Pakistan should also find the usually flatter track at Warner Park much more conducive, and hope that their batting stands up, for once, so that they can at least hope to square the series. Otherwise, West Indies will overtake them in the ICC Test rankings.

Form guide

(most recent first)
West Indies: WDDDL
Pakistan: LDWDD

Watch out for...

Devendra Bishoo came close to becoming only the third West Indies spinner to take a five-for on Test debut. He displayed remarkable control over variety for someone playing the role of the sole specialist spinner in only his first Test. He also lasted almost 100 deliveries with the bat, showing glimpses of a reasonably tight technique for a No.11, and a strong character. West Indies cricket is in desperate need of all these qualities, and from initial impressions, Bishoo seems to have the potential.

Such is the lot of Darren Sammy, that in every game that he leads his side, whatever he does or doesn't will be analysed and dissected to death. Why did he bring himself on to bowl, why didn't he bring himself on to bowl, why did he do what he did, why didn't he do what he didn't. Amid a perpetual one-sided trial, it was nice to see him being applauded by his team-mates after getting the key wicket of Umar Akmal that virtually sealed the win. In the end, their support and confidence matters the most and Sammy has another opportunity starting tomorrow to earn more of it.

Umar Akmal is the next big hope of Pakistan batting. He is also the current big frustration. A batsman so prodigiously talented has got to have more than a prolonged streak of youthful indulgence to throw away so many potential match-winning innings. Not for the first time in his career, Akmal played a wild pull to get out in the first innings in Providence, when he was not having any problems on a pitch that others had found unplayable. How many false dawns will Pakistan cricket have to endure before Akmal's sun truly rises?

Team news

After getting tormented by Hafeez for quite some time now, Smith will be extremely fortunate if he manages to hold on to his place in the XI. A debut for young Barbados opener Kraigg Brathwaite looks to be in order. Ravi Rampaul's stirring performance in Providence has ensured that he will continue to keep Fidel Edwards out. There should not be any other change, unless West Indies decide to go in with five bowlers on the traditionally placid Warner Park surface.

West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Brendan Nash, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Devendra Bishoo

Given that the pitch is not expected to aid spin much, Pakistan could consider bringing in one of Tanvir Ahmed or Junaid Khan in place of Abdur Rehman. Then again, West Indies' cluelessness against the slower men might just tempt them to stick with two specialist spinners.

Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Mohammad Salman (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman / Tanvir Ahmed, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Saeed Ajmal

Pitch and conditions

Two previous Tests at Warner Park have produced high-scoring draws. Even South Africa, who won everything else on their trip to the Caribbean last year, could not bowl West Indies out twice on the flat surface. West Indies would not like to hand Pakistan another turner that suits Ajmal and Co, and reports suggest that the surface will be quite hard, with dry grass rolled in to bind it together. The weather is forecast to be quite cloudy over the next few days, and that could only please the West Indies seamers.

Stats and trivia

12 of Umar Akmal's 27 Test innings have ended between 20 and 60
Saeed Ajmal's 11 for 111 in the first Test was his maiden ten-wicket haul
West Indies have won only two Test series in the past seven years

I paid the price for telling the truth: Warne

2011-05-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Australia's retiring spin legend Shane Warne on Thursday slammed the hefty fine handed to him during the IPL for a public spat with an official, saying he was paying the price for "telling the truth".

Warne, captain of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, was on Wednesday fined $50,000 for his part in a row with Sanjay Dixit, secretary of Rajasthan Cricket Association, over the choice of wicket for a home game.

"Not saddened about what happened at all," Warne told CNN-IBN news channel. "I got fined for telling the truth. The incident was silly, petty and a bit immature. I won't let this spoil my IPL and the experience I've had."

The 41-year-old leg-spinner rowed with Dixit in front of the television cameras earlier this month over the selection of a new wicket for Rajasthan's home games which offered less turn for the spinners.

He is set to play his last game as a professional cricketer on Friday when Rajasthan take on Mumbai Indians in their final outing of this year's Twenty20 competition.

Rajasthan, with seven defeats from 13 outings, are already out of contention for a place in the play-offs.

Warne said he had no regrets about his bust-up with Dixit.

"No regrets at all because you cannot change the past. I should have gifted Sanjay Dixit a pair of Spinners underwear," he joked, referring to the brand of men's underwear he endorses.

The Aussie star also said the IPL was not the same without Lalit Modi, the sacked former boss of the IPL who is under investigation for corruption.

Dixit had earlier mocked the bowler in a column and also took aim at the controversial blond-haired star over his romance with British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley.

"He (Warne) caused quite a sensation with his long lip-lock in full public view at the time of presentation ceremony of a game which he won," wrote the official.

"I had to quieten things down to make sure that the matter did not reach the courts. Warne was admonished, I am given to understand, but it did not deter him much."