COLOMBO: Pakistan’’s maverick paceman Shoaib Akhtar, whose colourful career has been a heady mix of on-field brilliance and off-field controversy, has announced to quit international cricket after the World Cup.
Pakistan's maverick paceman Shoaib Akhtar, whose colourful career has been a heady mix of on-field brilliance and off-field controversy, will quit international cricket after the World Cup. …
BANGALORE: India and England tied a thrilling World Cup clash here on Sunday in a high-scoring match which yielded 676 runs and was adorned by blistering centuries from Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Strauss here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. Chasing a huge target of 339 runs, England finished on 338 for eight having scored 13 off the last over when 14 were needed for victory. Captain Andrew Strauss was declared Man-of-the-Match who led from the front to steer England near to a certain victory with his career-best 158 from 145 balls with 16 fours and a six. But Zaheer Khan’’s dramatic three-wicket burst turned the match back in India’’s favour when England needed 56 runs in 44 balls with eight wickets in hand. Earlier, India great Tendulkar’’s record-breaking 120 saw him become the first man to score five World Cup hundreds. Zaheer took three wickets for one run in six balls, including two in two, as England slumped from 281 for two to 285 for five. Tim Bresnan (14) revived England’’s innings before he was bowled by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla to leave his side 325 for eight and needing 14 off the last over from Munaf Patel. But Ajmal Shahzad launched Patel for six to leave England needing five from three balls in front of a frenzied crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Shahzad and Graeme Swann ran a single to make the target four from two. They ran two more to leave England requiring two for victory off the last ball. But they managed just a single to produce only the fourth tie in World Cup history. Strauss and Ian Bell (69) put on 170 for the third wicket before Zaheer had Bell holing out. Next ball he had Strauss lbw with a brilliant yorker to end the left-handed opener’’s 145-ball innings featuring a six and 18 fours that beat his previous one-day best of 154 against Bangladesh last year. Strauss’’s was the first hundred by an England captain at the World Cup and the highest score by an England batsman, beating the 137 made by Dennis Amiss against India in the competition’’s inaugural match at Lord’’s in 1975. England then needed 58 off 43 balls with two fresh batsmen at the crease but they were in the first over of the batting powerplay. Zaheer then bowled Paul Collingwood and finished with three for 64. There had been controversy when Strauss and Bell’’s partnership was worth just 52. Left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh thought he had Bell lbw on review for 17, with replays showing the ball would have hit the stumps. Bell had started to walk off but because New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden’’s verdict was not out, the decision was returned to him by Australian replay official Rod Tucker and the Kiwi deemed Bell to be too far down the pitch. But he enraged India fans who had seen Bell ”dismissed” on the giant replay screens. An unruffled Strauss advanced to drive Yuvraj for a superb six before Bell completed a 45-ball fifty with a six when he swept leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. Bell was reprieved again on 68, with England 278 for two in the 42nd over, when he was dropped by slip Virat Kohli off Chawla. Earlier, Tendulkar had faced 115 balls with 10 fours and five sixes. Yuvraj ensured there was no respite for England with a quickfire 58. James Anderson conceded 91 runs in 9.5 overs to give the paceman the most expensive analysis by an England bowler at the World Cup, beating Derek Pringle’’s none for 83 against the West Indies at Gujranwala in 1987. But Bresnan picked up several late wickets to finish with career-best figures of five for 48.
A lazy run, an avoidable run-out, an angry captain and a dressing-room outburst. Those are the undisputed facts surrounding Ricky Ponting’s reaction to his dismissal by Chris Mpofu on Monday, which has blown into the sort of controversy Australia can do without. Ponting, in his first full international innings since sustaining a finger injury, appeared agitated and was seen talking angrily to himself as he walked back to the dressing room. That’s the point from when reports differ. Australian team officials say once there he threw some of his gear…
At some level it probably suits Pakistan that the focus on them at these big dos is usually on the circus of controversy and scandal that travels with them. “Look here come Pakistan after the …
MUMBAI: The extremist Indian party, Shiv Sena, has once again threatened Pakistani cricketers few hours before the opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi while talking to reporters here on Thursday said, “Bal Thackeray will decide whether to allow Pakistan team to play or not”. This is the latest expression of extremism by the Shiv Sena leaders as Joshi clearly put question mark on the staging of ICC World Cup final match if Pakistan would qualify for it. “You all know Sena chief Bal Thackeray’’s views. If the Pakistan team reaches the final, whether to allow them to play, the Sena chief will decide,” Joshi told reporters. Thankfully, Pakistan and India are placed in separate groups otherwise the controversy would have erupted the mega event at its very early stage. The renovated Wankhede Stadium of Mumbai will host the World Cup 2011 final on April 2, 2011. Shiv Sena have had objected Pakistan-India cricket ties in the past and in 1991, Shishir Shinde along with other extremist Hindus dug up the pitch in the Wankhede Stadium in a bid to stop India playing cricket with Pakistan.
Bowler Stuart Broad said England would not let any bad feeling over last summer's Pakistan controversy affect them when the two sides meet again.Friday's World Cup warm-up match is their …
DHAKA: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Saturday warned World Cup rivals not to underestimate his team, saying the players had turned a new leaf after the match-fixing scandal. Afridi admitted Pakistan had been blown away by the scandal, which saw former captain Salman Butt and two leading pacemen, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, punished for their alleged involvement. All three were banned for a minimum of five years by the International Cricket Council, which ruled them out of the World Cup, and also face criminal proceedings in England. “I think we”re really going through a very tough situation,” Afridi told reporters in the Bangladeshi capital ahead of the marquee tournament opening on February 19. “But I am very happy because we are trying to rebuild the team and keep the morale high. I am confident the team is in very good shape now. Afridi’’s team will play practice matches against Bangladesh and England in Dhaka over the next few days, before their first Cup match against Kenya in the Sri Lankan town of Hambantota on February 23. The Pakistan captain said his team was “focussed and united” under his leadership. “They feel hungry to win a big event and want to play good cricket,” he said, adding recent wins in New Zealand had bolstered the team’’s morale. Afridi said fans would see a vastly improved Pakistan in the World Cup. “Inshallah (God willing), we will achieve our goal,” he said. Afridi paid tribute to manager Intikhab Alam and coach Waqar Younis for keeping the team in good spirits amid the controversy. Pakistan was initially due to co-host the tournament with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but were stripped of hosting rights after gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team in March, 2009. Pakistan, World Cup winners in 1992, have been drawn with reigning champions Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Canada in group A of the preliminary league. Four teams from the group will advance to the quarter-finals. Afridi said he wanted Pakistan to meet India in the April 2 final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. “That would be the perfect final for the cricket-loving people in both countries,” he said.
KARACHI: Pakistan’’s World Cup captain and coach believe an outstanding performance in the tournament will lead to the return of international cricket to the country and also redeem Pakistan’’s image in the cricket world. “In the last two years, our isolation as a international cricket venue and the spot-fixing controversies have badly hurt us and affected our performances,” coach Waqar Younis told a news conference in Lahore on Thursday. “This World Cup is very important for us. To me as a former captain and coach it has been a painful period. I honestly believe that this team has the potential to win the Cup and redeem Pakistan cricket in the eyes of the world.” At the 2007 World Cup Pakistan’’s coach Bob Woolmer died in tragic circumstances and they suffered a humiliating loss to non-test playing nation Ireland en route to a first-round exit. However manager Intikhab Alam felt things were on a more even keel now. “I am confident this will be a controversy-free event for us,” he said. Waqar felt the team deserved a lot of credit for producing some fine performances since last year despite feeling the heat from the spot-fixing controversy. “I am proud of these boys and Afridi has led them superbly and I know they have the potential to win this event. We have got the momentum going and it is just a matter of the team clicking at the right time. “Since the tournament is being held in the sub-continent I would say the sub-continental teams have a definite edge,” he added. Captain Afridi said it would be difficult to predict the outcome. “We have the players to adjust to all sorts of conditions and pressure situations in the tournament. But at the end of the day it is all about how you play. This is a long tournament and much will depend on how teams keep their momentum going, fit and motivated. This will be crucial,” he said. The Pakistan squad leaves later on Thursday for Bangladesh where they play two warm-up matches and then move onto Sri Lanka for their Group A matches in the Feb. 19 – April 2 event.
Denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance: the five stages of the grief reaction that Pakistan fans have experienced over the spot-fixing controversy. Denial and anger were left behind in the English summer. Bargaining for a better outcome was almost exhausted by the Doha hearing and the criminal case launched by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service. It may continue with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport. But now that we know the ICC’s verdict, the predominant sentiments are sadness and acceptance. Once the News of the World videos…