DRASS, KASHMIR, INDIA – Horses raced around the playing grounds at a polo match last month in Drass, a town in Jammu and Kashmir state. Wielding long mallets, the players battled for the ball in front
Nathan Astle, writing for the New Zealand Herald, asks whether New Zealand have a plan – after their big loss to Australia – and questions the thought process behind the selection of the playing eleven. The worrying part about this current team is that the same thing keeps happening. No one has shown they want to bat through the 50 overs and get a hundred. There is no plan that they’re trying to stick to. At the moment there is that much inconsistency that I think people are going to…
Trouble shadows Sreesanth everywhere. It didn’t leave him even during the nets session at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Sreesanth, who has perhaps lost his place in the playing XI after a poor show in the game against Bangladesh, steamed in during nets to impress and regain a bit of confidence. Facing him was Yuvraj Singh, who himself is on trial to regain his batting form. It happened then. Suddenly, Sreesanth erred at release and slipped a pacy beamer in. Yuvraj tried to sway out of line of fire…
Shane Warne was never shy of uttering a word or two in an English batsman’s ear during his playing days, but it appears the English have finally found a way to silence him. Warne, who has branched out into poker, commentary and even a line of gentleman’s underwear since his retirement, also had his own cricket-themed variety TV show, Warnie, on the Nine Network. However, the fifth and final episode of the show has been shelved, apparently because of the dominance of the England cricket team in the Ashes. The…
The hearings into the spot-fixing scandal involving three players from Pakistan will begin from Thursday in the unlikely setting of Doha, Qatar. At stake during the hearings is the playing future of S
LAHORE: The Pakistan team management has rubbished media reports that middle order batsman Shoaib Malik was dropped from the squad for the first Test against Australia underway at Lord’s because of spending too much time with newly wed wife Sania Mirza. Team manager Yawar Saeed said Malik was dropped because of his form, and that there was no disciplinary action taken against him. Saeed said the team was picked well in advance, and the tour selection committee did not consider Malik because he is struggling with the bat. Media reports had claimed that Malik had skipped a practice session to be with Sania following which he was axed from the playing eleven. It was also reported that skipper Shahid Afridi had even taken up the matter with Malik and asked him to be more careful in future.
PESHAWAR: Playing down reported threats to peace of Peshawar and other parts of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Malik Naveed Khan on Wednesday said the situation wasn’t that alarming.
KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain and world record holder batsman Mohammad Yousuf on Monday announced he was to quit international cricket in protest against an indefinite ban. Yousuf was banned earlier this month in a crackdown on players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) following a disastrous tour of Australia. Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-days and a Twenty20 match. The dismal performance resulted in bans and fines on seven leading players — Younus was captain for most of the games. “I received a letter from the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) that my staying in the team is harmful for the team, so I announce my retirement from international cricket,” he said in Pakistan’’s financial capital Karachi. “I thank the fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12-year career,” said an emotional Yousuf, 35, dressed in a religious white cap and traditional dress. “I always played for my country and if my playing is harmful for the team then I don”t want to play,” he told the news conference, fielding a barrage of questions at the Karachi Press Club. Yousuf played 88 Tests, nine as captain and scored 7,431 runs at an average of 53.07, including 24 centuries. He also scored 9,624 runs in 282 one-day internationals. Yousuf was third behind Javed Miandad (8,832 in 124) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (8,829 in 119) in all time run-getters for Pakistan in Tests and second behind Inzamam (11,701 in 375 matches) in one-day cricket. But his greatest achievement was 1,788 Test runs in 2006 with nine hundreds — the world record for most runs scored and hundreds in a calendar year, beating Viv Richards” 1976 record of 1,710 for the West Indies. He also won International Cricket Council (ICC) Test player of the year in 2007. Asked during Monday’’s news conference if he could rescind his decision, Yousuf said: “at the moment my playing in the team is harmful so I am quitting”. “If I get time, I would love to play first class cricket and private leagues,” he later added.
KARACHI: Former captain and world record holder batsman Mohammad Yousuf on Monday announced he was to quit international cricket in protest against an indefinite ban. “I received a letter from the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) that my staying in the team is harmful for the team, so I announce my retirement from international cricket,” he announced at the Karachi Press Club. “I thank the fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12-year career,” said an emotional Yousuf, dressed in traditional Pakistani dress. “I always played for my country and if my playing is harmful for the team then I don”t want to play,” he said. The 35-year-old Yousuf played 88 Tests, nine as captain and scored 7,431 runs at an average of 53.07, including 24 centuries. He also scored 9,624 runs in 282 one-day internationals.
MANCHESTER: England quick James Anderson is still baffled as to the cause of his longstanding knee injury but expects to be in action again next week. The Lancashire paceman sat out England’’s recently concluded tour of Bangladesh after being advised rest and rehabilitation was the best way to cure a right knee problem that had troubled him throughout the preceding tour of South Africa. Anderson, who intends playing for Lancashire against Durham University next week ahead of the start of the English season proper, said that while the cause of his injury had still to be diagnosed, he now felt in good shape. “The knee is good; the rehab has been going well,” Anderson told Thursday’’s Manchester Evening News. “I had three weeks off when I got back from South Africa and have been gradually building up from there. I started bowling a couple of weeks ago and am bowling at about three-quarters pace at the moment.” Anderson added: “I don”t know exactly what the problem was. I went to see a surgeon in London, and he didn”t know what it was. “All the doctors I have seen didn”t have a clue, so we just spread a bit of cortisone around where I pointed at, where the pain was, and we left it for three weeks. “We injected it at the start of the tour of South Africa, and had three more injections on that trip,” he said. “It can be quite difficult to decipher what is a niggle and what can cause you problems – because as a bowler you are never really 100% fit. You always have a niggle or two. “This one started as a niggle and just got worse and worse. “The aim is to play against Durham Uni and then play it by ear. Lancashire have a few more warm-up games, but we will take it day by day and see how the knee pulls up.”