All posts by csb10.top

The Pakistan Cricket Board is hoping to bring Mohammad Asif back to Pakistan as soon as possible from Dubai where he is detained, though they admit they are still in the dark about the case.Asif was detained by officials at the airport Sunday morning, according to Nadeem Akram, a senior PCB official, for possessing a contraband drug in his wallet. That sample has now been sent for tests and a meeting is underway between Asif’s lawyer and the public prosecutor.”Asif was detained on Sunday,” Shafqat Naghmi, the board’s chief operating officer, said while addressing a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “We don’t have all the details right now about why he was. Authorities in Dubai are still investigating. We do know that it was about something Asif had in his possession. But we stress that no charges have yet been laid against him.”Naghmi said the board was hoping the case was a mistake of some kind, but owing to the gravity of the situation, the Pakistan Embassy in Dubai had been alerted. “We hope this has been some sort of mistake, but we have appointed legal counsel there from one of the best firms in Dubai.”The embassy has also been contacted. Nadeem Akram has been there since that night. We are just hoping that Asif gets back as soon as possible, hopefully in time for the Bangladesh tri-series.”Dubai’s laws on drug possession are among the strictest in the world and Naghmi warned that if Asif was found guilty, he would have to be dealt with according to the laws of the land. “The UAE government has a very straight procedure. If something is found in your possession an investigation begins straightaway. If he is found to be in possession, then he will be treated according to their laws.”If Asif does get out of the situation, it is inconceivable that he will not face any disciplinary action from the Pakistan board, though Naghmi said that wasn’t the priority right now. “First we just want him to be back in Pakistan. Only after he gets back and the situation is clearer will we look at that possibility and see. Right now there is no charge-sheet against him.”Speculation has predictably buzzed since the news broke, though Naghmi stressed that it was just that and nothing more. One local channel claimed to have spoken to Asif, who said that he had been implicated after getting into a drunken brawl with security officers at the airport. This was denied to Cricinfo by Akram, as well as Naghmi during the press conference.”This is all just speculation. We cannot hide stuff like this and remember there is no chargesheet yet. I have been told that what was found was some medicine given to him by a local Pakistani Hakeem.”

Khurrum Manzoor struck an unbeaten century Friday as Karachi Blues gained control on the first day of their National Junior Grade-I Championship match against Kohat at the KRL Stadium.He hammered 16 fours and two big sixes in his 102 to help his side reach 152 for one by the close, 31 behind Kohat’s first innings score of 183.Kohat were dismissed cheaply, thanks to good bowling by leg spinner Mohammad Ali Zafar, who finished with a haul of five wickets for which he conceded 52 runs. Adeel Malik picked up two for 37.When Karachi batted, they lost Nasir Aziz who had scored an unconquered 147 not out against FATA in their opening match of the championship, for just 27. But then Khurrum and S.M Raheel (19) batted carefully and put on 89 for the unbroken second wicket partnership.At the National Stadium in Karachi, half centuries by Atif Ali Zaidi, Faraz Patel and Khalid Latif propelled Karachi Whites to 277 against Rawalpindi.Atif slammed an 88-ball 77 studded with six four and two sixes, Faraz hit an unbeaten 80-ball 54 with two boundaries and skipper Khalid stroked 51 off 116 balls with seven fours.But despite a solid performance by the top order, the home team failed to capitalise the solid foundation as they lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs.Rawalpindi’s spin duo of Afzal Javed and Mazhar Malik wrecked the Karachi middle-order by equally sharing eight wickets between them. Left-armer Afzal bagged four for 60 while wrist spinner Mazhar grabbed four for 73.When stumps were drawn for the day, Rawalpindi had reached 33 for no wicket from 14 overs.At the Regional Academy ground in Karachi, Asad Iqbal top scored with 75 for Quetta who were restricted to 245 for eight from the allotted 80 overs by Lahore Whites who in turn had reached 42 for no loss at stumps.At the KCCA Stadium, Karachi Greens batsmen put Hyderabad bowlers to the sword when they collected 314 for nine from their 80 overs. At stumps, the visitors had reached 15 for one.Hasan Saud top scored for the home team by hitting 69 while Owais Ahmad struck 54. Tahir Aziz (45), Shahriyar Farrukh (39), Aamir Kaleem (23) were the other run-getters.Shoaib Laghari picked four for 98 while Mohammad Farrukh Khan picked up three for 58.At Lahore Country Club, half centuries by Atif Ijaz (70), Adnan Butt (61) and Mohammad Saeed (55) helped Lahore Blues score 277 against Islamabad. By close of play, Islamabad were in deep trouble as they had lost three batsmen with only nine runs on the board.At Sheikhupura, the home team posted 264 for nine against Fata who had reached 34 for two when curtains fell on the day’s play.Kashif Imran with 87 was the only batsman to offer any resistence against Fata bowling that was spearheaded by Riaz Afridi (three for 50)Summarized scores:At National Stadium, Karachi: Karachi Whites – 277 in 73.4 overs (Atif Ali Zaidi 77, Faraz Patel 54 not out, Khalid Latif 51, Afzal Javed 4-60, Mazhar Malik 4-60); Rawalpindi – 33-0 in 14 overs (Zahid Mahmood 17 not out, Mohammad Sheraz 13 not out)At Regional Academy ground, Karachi: Quetta – 245-8 in 80 overs (Asad Iqbal 75, Abdul Hameed 45, Shuja Khan 30, Raza Ali Dar 3-50, Shahid Iqbal 2-35, Sohail Ahmad 2-44); Lahore Whites – 42-0 in 8 overs (Jahangir Mirza 18 not out, Amjad Ali 8 not out).At the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi: Kohat – 183 in 65.4 overs (Nadeem Anjum 40, Umair Khan 37, Usman 20, Amjad Sharif 26, Mohammad Ali Zafar 5-52, Adeel Malik 2-37); Karachi Blues – 152-1 (Khurram Manzoor 102 not out, Nasir Aziz 27, S.M Raheel 19 not out)At the KCCA Stadium: KCCA Greens 314-9 in 80 overs (Hasan Saud 69, Owais Ahmad 54, Tahir Aziz 45, Shahriyar Farrukh 39, Aamir Kaleem 23, Shoaib Laghari 4-98, Mohammad Farrukh 3-58)At Muridke: Lahore Blues – 277 in 74.3 overs (Atif Ijaz 70, Fahadul Haq 61, Muhammad Saeed 55, Riaz Afridi 5/67, Shakir Mehmood 3/62); Islamabad – 33-3 in 15 overs.At Bahawalpur: Bahawalpur – 111 in 70.5 overs (Shehryar Khan 5/36, Abdul Nasir 3/29); Peshawar – 62-3 in 20 overs (Aamir Nisar 30 not out, Muhammad Adnan 2/22).At Sheikhupura: Sheikhupura – 264-9 in 80 overs (Kashif Imran 87; Riaz Afridi 3/50); Fata – 34-2 in 15 overs

Middlesex 116 for 3 (Morgan 47) beat Essex 115 for 9 (Dexter 46, Murtagh 3-24) by seven wickets
Scorecard

Just now, Middlesex, who have done little but struggle in recent seasons, are finding cricket a rather easy game. After beating Hampshire on Wednesday, they cruised to a seven-wicket win over Essex at Lord’s with 19 balls to spare, a result which takes them to the giddy heights of the top of the South Division.Buoyed by three straight wins, Middlesex were tight in the field, capped by a string of good steepling catches, and batted with sense in a well-paced chase. Essex, however, will take nothing from a game where their batsmen perished to a series of swings and cross-batted swipes, and their fielding verged on the woeful.Essex’s innings never got out of first gear, and bar a slog-swept six from Neil Dexter, the only batsman to show any inkling of how to bat in this format, there was little to inspire a crowd of around 18,000. Ed Smith, the Middlesex captain, rotated his quick bowlers – there were five bowling changes in the first ten overs and 11 in all – and used his spinners to choke the life out of the middle overs.Tim Murtagh, Dirk Nannes and Tyron Henderson all mixed yorkers with deliveries just short of a length and the batsmen, who almost all opted not to use their feet to any purpose, showed little inclination to try to break the stranglehold. This allowed Smith to maintain attacking fields – as late as the tenth over there were two slips in place – and Shaun Udal and Murali Kartik added to the pressure with tight wicket-to-wicket bowling.Dexter played an excellent anchor innings but found nobody remotely likely to stay with him. Middlesex held all but one chance that came their way, the best being a running, diving catch at third man by the evergreen Udal, and fielded like a side who knew there was a multi-million pot at the end of the rainbow.Defending such a low total, Essex’s only hope was to take early wickets. As it was, they spilt five catches, four in the slips and even their ground fielding grew shabbier by the over.Andrew Strauss, who on Tuesday had joked he doubted he was high on any IPL wish-list, met his own expectations with a scratchy 11, dragging a drive into his stumps, but it was a success the bowlers failed to capitalise onEoin Morgan made a mockery of Essex’s earlier efforts, cracking a 36-ball 47 with some lovely strokeplay. He unleashed two textbook cuts that fizzed to the boundary and then lofted a six over extra cover. He deserved a fifty but was deprived by a misunderstanding with David Malan when the result was done and dusted.Smith was dropped three times, twice off routine catches at first slip by James Middlebrook, and did not seem hampered by a injury sustained when he slipped turning for a second run early in his innings. If anything, he batted better when hobbling with Strauss running for him.This was far from a Twenty20 classic – it was too one-sided for that. In all there were only 19 fours and two sixes. The crowd were subdued – the chilly evening did not help – and it was a far cry from the razzmatazz of the IPL.A fortnight ago disgruntled Middlesex members called for a special meeting to discuss the club’s plight. Since then the side has reeled off a series of wins and at this rate that evening could turn out to be more of a party. For now, at least, it’s happy days at Lord’s.

India captain Sourav Ganguly hailed his team after they secured victory in a fantastic final to win the NatWest triangular tournament at Lord’s.”I thought we played fantastically well and deserved to win,” Ganguly said. “We have played well throughout series. We did not bowl well in the first half today but we batted like champions.”The batters were brilliant. Yuvraj and Kaif batted have batted well, but the way those two guys batted today was unbelievable. When we got to 100 in 15 overs I knew we had a chance because it was a good wicket and a fast outfield.””It was fantastic to see so many turning up at Lord’s. I would like to thank everyone for supporting us throughout the series.”England’s Marcus Trescothick, who made a century for England and was voted player of the series, said: “Personally I’ve played pretty well this summer and I`m looking forward to carrying it on – but I’m very disappointed today, although it was a fantastic game for the crowd to watch.”To score 100 at Lord’s is a special thing – but the boys are distraught at the moment. It’s going to take a bit of time to get over this.”England skipper Nasser Hussain, who made 115, said: “We are very disappointedbut you have to give credit where it’s due and they played out of their skins today. Congratulations to them – they batted brilliantly.”You can’t point fingers in the dressing room – you’ve got to say `all credityou’ve tried hard throughout the tournament’.”We’ve got to improve a few things but we’re a much improved side. It’s hard to swallow going from not winning a game to today – but this Indian side keeps coming at you – they played really well.”Ronnie Irani, voted the fans’ player of the series, echoed the disappointment in the England camp, despite his personal achievement.”We’re hugely disappointed – but we’ll live to fight another day,” he said. “It’s great as a player to know the fans support you and I hope I can give them some more entertainment in the future.”

Marcus Trescothick has made his intentions clear ahead of the second Test match against New Zealand which starts in Wellington tomorrow.In a message back to all his colleagues at the County Ground in Taunton this morning he says: “We are now looking forward to the next Test and are going to fight hard to make the series 2-0.”We are over the moon to have taken the lead in the Test series. We played some very fine cricket, Nasser, Thorpe, Flintoff, Hoggard and last but not least Andy Caddick, each as good as the other.”To think back to the first morning when we were 0 for 2 in the first over of the day. Who would have believed we could have won so convincingly?”People in this part of the world haven’t given us any credit for the victory. The only thing they are talking about is Astle’s double century. I have to agree it was very special and I was starting to get a little worried.”But at the end of the day we walked off with the 1-0 lead in the series, which is what we wanted.”Thanks for the message Marcus, and we know that you regularly log on to the Somerset site, so good luck for tomorrow’s match. We will all be cheering for you and hoping you get a big score.

Everybody at Somerset County Cricket Club has hailed the Queens Golden Jubilee Day as a great success.From the time that the day began in the morning with the Jubilee Service at St James Church, where John Barclay was the guest preacher to the time that the last ball was bowled, from which Steffan Jones could sadly only manage to score two runs, everyone who attended enjoyed the day.Thankfully the weather was perfect for such an event, in fact too hot for the club’s new dragon mascot who on a couple of occasions had to sit in the shade to get his energy back! The large a crowd of nearly 5000 people helped to make the occasion one to remember.The County Ground also looked a picture, with celebratory flags flying all around the ground and bunting adorning the front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion.Before the start of the match the players and the crowd all gave three cheers for the Queen, and during the tea interval the fifty recipients of the Golden Jubilee awards were presented with their medals.Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson was delighted with the Golden Jubilee Day and this morning told me: "What a fantastic cricket match to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. As always there had to be a loser, and it’s just a pity that it had to be Somerset, though the boys played well chasing a very big target."The chief concluded: "On behalf of the club I would like to thank everybody who attended match and everybody who helped in anyway to make it such a success, cricket was the winner on the day."

New Zealand’s cricket players’ association is going to be a very significant factor in the short-to-medium term on the cricket scene here, according to retired wicket-keeper Adam Parore.In Christchurch to promote his recently-released book The Wicked-Keeper, Parore said the association was long overdue and would be crucial to matters of player fitness issues, scheduling and longevity of careers.”It will be nice for players to have a voice in issues that directly affect them. There is a huge wealth of knowledge among the players now and they are New Zealand Cricket’s [NZC] greatest resource,” he said.Parore didn’t think there would be an advocacy role for the Association in the event of a repetition of problems that occurred with coaching and management when Glenn Turner was appointed coach of the side for a second term.”That was more just a mistake, a bad choice, and I don’t think New Zealand Cricket would make that sort of mistake under the stewardship of Martin Snedden and his team,” he said.Changes to the administration of the game, stemming in part from the furore that developed firstly in South Africa under Geoff Howarth but after that in India and the West Indies under Turner, had also resulted in vastly better conditions for the players.”Expectations have increased too, but players are reasonably well looked after now. We are a long way along the line from 1994/95,” he said.Such was the state of the side now that if Turner returned as coach there wouldn’t be an issue with him now, he said.”There was a lack of maturity and experience, from me in particular, and it was a volatile mix,” Parore said.Despite some of the controversies of his career, Parore does have 201 wicket-keeping dismissals to his name and anyone looking to emulate that feat will have to have done the foundation work between the ages of 15 and 22 years.That’s the time he feels is vital for players to get their bodies in shape for the role required of them.It was to do with “muscle memory” so that further down the track the work load to maintain fitness did not have to be so great.As for the future, Parore believes any hopes New Zealand have of success in next year’s World Cup in South Africa are dependent on Chris Cairns.”If he is 100% fit then New Zealand are a good show,” he said.Having Shane Bond’s speed to call on was another asset.”He is a huge factor and the sole reason for our success in the one-day series in Australia. You have just got to bowl quick in that game,” he said.Having your typical 130kph out-swinger coming in and bowling didn’t really help at all, he added.The success against Australia last summer, both in the third Test at Perth, and in the one-day series, had been especially enjoyable.”They grew up flogging us and it was nice to see the same guys who had regarded us with derision being embarrassed for a change.”It was always great to play against an Australian side, but that tour, and especially that game in Perth, got to them. They weren’t particularly happy, you could see it in Steve Waugh’s body language,” he said.While victory didn’t come in the Test matches against Australia, Parore did get the chance to finish his career with a Test victory over England, at Eden Park, a match in which he had to plead with the selectors to be included.He promised them a good performance, after he had two ordinary Tests in the first two, and he did achieve that.Asked why a good performance wasn’t the goal all the time, he said, it came down to the opposition and what they allowed you to do.But as for now, it is back to the markets in his role as an investment advisor, safe in the knowledge that 10,000 copies of his book (sales of 3500 represent a best-seller in New Zealand) have been printed and demand has been exceptional.

Pakistan had gone into the final at Sharjah having won all its leaguematches while Sri Lanka had won only one and had qualified for thefinal by virtue of a better run-rate. Obviously Pakistan was the firmfavourite. But cricket often confounds the experts. Sri Lanka playedits best cricket and Pakistan its worst, leaving the Pakistan cricketpublic both disappointed and bewildered.Did Pakistan wilt under the pressure of being favourite or was therean element of cock sureness that induced complacency? One thing iscertain. Sri Lanka looked fired up. It also looked a team that haddone a lot of soul-searching and a lot of planning. Pakistan it seemedwas going to play it by the book.Once Sri Lanka got over early nervousness and went on a run spree,Pakistan did not appear to have a back-up plan. Pakistan’s fieldinghad earned it fulsome praise and there was effusive mention of “younglegs” dashing around. There are two aspects of fielding. You are notonly expected to stop the ball but to catch it when hit in the air. Itis this second aspect that seemed to have been forgotten.At a conservative estimate, four catches were dropped plus a couple ofmissed stumping. Forget about the half-chances the Sri Lankans,miraculously, snapped up. You drop a catch and that is unfortunate,you drop two and that is a misfortune but four? That is unpardonable.It represents a break-down of focus and concentration.And they were relatively simple catches and not blinders. GeoffBoycott’s Mom would have caught them! The Sri Lankans did not evenbother to say “thank you” and they took the gift and rode their luckand piled on a score of 298, well beyond their wildest dreams. SriLanka had planned to pace its innings and had started slowly, gathermomentum and then go for the big shots. But with catches beingdropped, the batsmen just made hay as the Pakistan bowlers appeared tolose heart.Still, an asking-rate of nearly six an over was not impossible on thatshirt-front wicket and there was no need for a mad rush. All Pakistanhad to do was to bat sensibly, the urgency needed did not amount topanic not to treat all the 50 overs as slog overs.Shahid Afridi plays the way he does. He hit the first ball he receivedfor six but was “suckered” into hooking and getting a top edge. ImranNazir seems to have his feet in concrete blocks or someone has toldhim that the laws of cricket do not allow a batsman to use his feet.He has no footwork. Surely he would have seen how Marvan Ataputtu andMahela Jayawardena batted. I was surprised to see Humayun Farhat comein instead of Saeed Anwar. Saeed Anwar was the in-form batsman. Heneeded to bat through the innings. He played beautifully but Pakistankept losing wickets regularly including that of Inzamam-ul-Haq, a softdismissal.The team to tour England will have been selected by the time thiscolumn appears but I would certainly have Moin Khan in the team andgive some serious thought to Ejaz Ahmed and even Aamir Sohail. Ipresume that Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood and Yousuf Yohanna areautomatic selections. Or are they?This brings me to Shoaib Malik who has been reported for a “suspect”bowling action. Michael Holding made a meal of it while doing thecommentator and he was completely out of order. It is not the job of acommentator to act as judge, jury and executioner. Television sloweddown the pictures, froze them while Holding explained in painfuldetail why his action was illegal.It is the job of the umpire to report the bowler to the match-refereeand until the ICC decides, the matter is sub-judice. Television iswatched by millions of viewers and the commentators would be mindfulof their responsibilities. They are there to describe the proceedingsand they are not expected to be judgmental. There should also be acode of conduct for the commentators.Cricket is already plagued by tabloid or ‘pop’ print journalism. Iexpected better from Michael Holding. Even Ravi Shastri got in a cheapshot when Afridi came to bowl in one of the league matches. Hisfellow-commentator mentioned something about Afridi’s change of paceand Ravi chipped in “and also change of action.”The Indian Sports Minister got all tangled up when trying to justifywhy India was not playing against Pakistan at cricket but was playinghockey. She made the rather alarming disclosure that many of India’sTest cricketers supported the Indian government’s refusal to allow itsteam to play against Pakistan.She did not disclose their names and I am surprised that she was notpressed to do so. I would certainly like to know the names of theplayers who do not want to play against Pakistan. I think she would bebetter advised to say nothing on the subject.Silence is golden. But I am sure the Indian cricket public must havewatched the Sharjah final on television and in their hearts had wishedthat their team was playing. Still, the tournament in Sharjah was ahuge success. And that should give India pause for thought.

ScorecardVinay Kumar made a quick 50 and took two wickets to keep India A in control•AFP

India A continued to dominate the second four-day match against New Zealand A in Lincoln as their bowlers backed up the strong performance of the batsmen. India’s new-ball bowlers Vinay Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets apiece as the hosts lost half their wickets and were still more than 350 runs behind.There was some disappointment for India A in the morning as neither Ashok Menaria nor Mandeep Singh, the overnight batsmen who resumed in their 160s, posted a double-century. Their marathon 318-run stand came to an end when Menaria was bowled by Sam Wells for 173. There was no let-up in the scoring rate even after both Menaria and Mandeep fell, as Vinay slammed a 41-ball half-century to hasten the declaration.The cornerstone of New Zealand’s reply was a 99 by Hamish Rutherford, son of former New Zealand batsman Ken. After walking in second ball, on the dismissal of opener George Worker for a golden duck, Rutherford had a 83-run partnership for the second wicket with Tom Latham, who scored a century in the first match. He also put on 57 for the third wicket with Neil Broom, and looked set for a century but was run-out at the wicketkeeper’s end attempting a single. New Zealand A captain Reece Young was dismissed in the final over of the day, caught by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha leaving India A completely in charge.

Scorecard
Mark Cosgrove took a pair of sharp chances as SA’s chase was bogged down•Getty Images

Tasmania outlasted South Australia in another tight limited overs encounter between the two sides at Adelaide Oval, the Tigers winning by three runs in scenes reminiscent of the tied domestic final last season, a result that had given the Redbacks the trophy.A tally of 9 for 221 had looked barely adequate for the visitors, but a penetrating spell by the off spinner Jason Krejza did major damage to SA’s chase after the hosts had begun smartly via Phillip Hughes and Michael Klinger. The captain Johan Botha was out for a first-ball duck.Dan Christian was left to hold the pursuit together with an innings of power and composure, but he fell narrowly short of the target when the last man Jake Haberfield could not get back in time to complete a second run with one ball still remaining.The Tigers’ fielding was a strong point of their defence, Mark Cosgrove taking a pair of sharp chances at slip from the bowling of the spinners.They needed to be on their toes after a halting innings in the afternoon. No batsman passed 50 as several starts were wasted, Tim Paine notably run out after spending 41 balls over 19. Ricky Ponting went closest to a substantial score but on 47 pushed back a sharp return catch to Jake Haberfield, who held the chance on the second attempt.Nathan Lyon and Botha both bowled neatly for SA, while the debutant Daniel Worrall caught the eye with his full length and outswing. Worrall’s figures lost their lustre towards the end of the innings, as Krejza and Xavier Doherty cobbled vital late innings runs to build a total that ultimately proved beyond SA’s reach.While SA’s effort was much improved on an abject defeat in the earlier Sheffield Shield match, they are now winless from three matches to start the season. The Tigers leave Adelaide with a perfect two wins from their visit.