LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that it will not award annual central contracts to its cricketers until the release of a report into the team’s defeats in Australia.
Pakistan was thrashed 3-0 in Tests, 5-0 in one-day matches and lost the only Twenty20 match.
The Daily Times quoted PCB COO Wasim Bari, as saying that the contracts would be awarded to players only after the inquiry report is submitted later this month.
“We will announce the central contracts only after the submission of the inquiry report so that there is no conflict between the two,” Bari was quoted as saying.
Bari heads both the evaluation and the three-man central contract committees. The evaluation committee met twice last week, discussing reports from team manager Abdul Raqeeb and coach Intikhab Alam.
It also heard from Test and one-day captain Mohammad Yousuf, Younus Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umer Akmal, Salman Butt besides interviewing assistant coach Aaqib Javed and team physio Faisal Hayat.
Bari said the committee will meet again after the team returns from Dubai, where they will play two Twenty20 matches against England on Friday and Saturday.
Pakistan last year awarded annual contracts to 27 players, nine in the top ‘A’ category, four in ‘B’ and 14 in the ‘C’ category.
The likely omission from the new list will be controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who was last year kept in the top category despite playing only four Twenty20 internationals.
He missed all of Pakistan’s other commitments through injury in 2008.
Akhtar’s pace partner Mohammad Asif, who was not given a central contract last year due to a doping ban imposed for a failed drug test in the Indian Premier League, is expected to get his contract back this time. (ANI)
Thursday 18 February 2010
T20 match to be organised in Surat
Surat, Feb 17 (UNI) While the IPL is from March 12, Cricket enthusiasts here would get to experience the excitment of T20 game much before the scheduled start of the tournament. The reason, city based industrialists have decided to organise a benefit match having various star players of the T20 format. Two teams have been formed which will be captained by Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag respectively. T20 match would be held at Lalbhai Contractor Stadium on March 7, which is sponsored by a diamond exporting firm, H Vinod & Co. The match would have all the characteristics of IPL - cheerleaders to special music programme during the three hour play. However, the game would not be a day-night one. Apart from Sachin and Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Ajit Agarkar, Ishant Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Wasim Jaffar and Siddharth Patel would also participate in the match.
IPL to be shown live on YouTube
London, Jan.21 (ANI): Internet search giant Google has announced it will stream all Indian Premier League cricket matches live via its YouTube video-sharing website.
Under the terms of the agreement, Google will have exclusive online rights over the contents for two years.
Both Google and the Indian Premier League (IPL) will share revenues from sponsorships and advertising jointly.
Google says it is the first time that it is live streaming a cricket tournament, which starts on 12 March.
"We are thrilled to have the IPL as our global partner," said Shailesh Rao, a senior manager of Google India.
The third edition of the popular T20 tournament, featuring the world's top players in eight teams owned by rich businessmen and Bollywood stars, has attracted much media attention.
"This unique initiative by IPL to partner Google India will give the league a global reach on a single distribution platform," IPL Chairman Lalit Modi said. (ANI)
Lumb thumps runs off dumb-struck chums
Four IPL players are competing in today's England v England Lions T20 match in Abu Dhabi. Which one do you reckon did best? No, not Pietersen (26). Nor Collingwood or Morgan, both of whom were dismissed for single-figure scores.
Lumb In fact, it was Michael Lumb, a Hampshire batsman picked up for a snip by Rajasthan Royals, who outscored all three of them combined by making 58 off 35 balls for the so-called second XI.
He retired "hurt" when he got to 40 but came back out for the final three overs as the Lions chased 158 and won, having needed eight off the final two balls.
Lumb's forte seems to be in Twenty20. He got 442 runs in 11 games in last year's Twenty20 Cup and Rajasthan clearly thought he was worth spending £35,000 for this season. Could he go further, though? The World Twenty20 is round the corner and England should select on form.
Another batsman on red-hot form is Craig Kieswetter, the Somerset wicketkeeper who qualified for England last week. He added 100 for the first wicket with Lumb today and went on to make 81 off 66 balls before being out with an over to go.
Like Kieswetter, Lumb was also born in South Africa and so no doubt we can expect more jibes from Down Under if he is elevated into the senior side for the World Twenty20. But hold those attacks: Lumb comes from solid Yorkshire stock.
His father, Richard, made almost 12,000 first-class runs for the county and, by a happy coincidence, opened the batting in the last "England v The Rest" match in 1976, top-scoring in both innings for the fringe-players, who included Mike Brearley, Chris Old and Geoff Miller, as they lost by 127 runs.
It's a great shame that they don't bring back "England v The Rest", although today's match is the same thing effectively. It is such a splendidly eccentric team for a team and allowed sub-editors to have fun after the seniors put the upstarts in their place by writing headlines like "The Rest is silenced".
Although I fear that in the modern world, with the style for making sports teams plural, some editor would change that to "The Rest are silenced" and not get the reference.
The first "England v The Rest" game was in 1911, with The Rest featuring a promising young middle order of Jack Hearne, Frank Woolley and Patsy Hendren, all of whom went on to great things for England.
Amla defiant as India dominates cricket Test
KOLKATA — India were three wickets away from winning the second and final cricket Test against South Africa on Thursday despite another unbeaten century from Hashim Amla.
The in-form Amla made 106 not out as the Proteas, trailing by 347 runs on the first innings, were tottering at 250-7 in their second knock at tea on the fifth day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The 26-year-old from Durban, who made an unbeaten 253 in the first Test and 114 in the first innings of this match, has so far hit 14 boundaries.
Wayne Parnell (22 not out) helped Amla add 70 for the unbroken eighth wicket, but the South Africans still trail by 97 runs with three wickets in hand.
India, who lost the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and six runs, have a minimum of 34 overs to force a series-levelling win and retain their number one Test ranking.
The second-ranked South Africa will take over from India if the match ends in a draw, giving the Proteas a 1-0 series win.
The overnight pair of Amla and Ashwell Price put on 47 for the fourth wicket, before Harbhajan Singh broke through two hours after the start under bright sunshine.
The off-spinner beat Prince in the air and the miscued drive lobbed to Ishant Sharma at mid-off.
Left-handed Prince made 23 after scores of zero and one in the previous two innings of the series.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who left the field briefly for treatment on a sore right shoulder, returned to trap AB de Villiers leg-before for three with a googly just before lunch.
South Africa, who went to lunch at 164-5, slipped to 180-7 as Harbhajan claimed both Jean-Paul Duminy and Dale Steyn leg-before soon after play resumed.
Harbhajan went to tea with 4-48 and Mishra had 3-70.
India were handicapped by the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who suffered a knee injury on the fourth day.
Zaheer will not feature in the one-day series against the Proteas that follows the Tests, the Indian cricket board said in a statement.
South African captain Graeme Smith will also miss the one-dayers due to a fractured finger and all-rounder Jacques Kallis will lead the tourists in his absence, the team management said.
The internationals will be played in Jaipur (Feb 21), Gwalior (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).
The in-form Amla made 106 not out as the Proteas, trailing by 347 runs on the first innings, were tottering at 250-7 in their second knock at tea on the fifth day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The 26-year-old from Durban, who made an unbeaten 253 in the first Test and 114 in the first innings of this match, has so far hit 14 boundaries.
Wayne Parnell (22 not out) helped Amla add 70 for the unbroken eighth wicket, but the South Africans still trail by 97 runs with three wickets in hand.
India, who lost the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and six runs, have a minimum of 34 overs to force a series-levelling win and retain their number one Test ranking.
The second-ranked South Africa will take over from India if the match ends in a draw, giving the Proteas a 1-0 series win.
The overnight pair of Amla and Ashwell Price put on 47 for the fourth wicket, before Harbhajan Singh broke through two hours after the start under bright sunshine.
The off-spinner beat Prince in the air and the miscued drive lobbed to Ishant Sharma at mid-off.
Left-handed Prince made 23 after scores of zero and one in the previous two innings of the series.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who left the field briefly for treatment on a sore right shoulder, returned to trap AB de Villiers leg-before for three with a googly just before lunch.
South Africa, who went to lunch at 164-5, slipped to 180-7 as Harbhajan claimed both Jean-Paul Duminy and Dale Steyn leg-before soon after play resumed.
Harbhajan went to tea with 4-48 and Mishra had 3-70.
India were handicapped by the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who suffered a knee injury on the fourth day.
Zaheer will not feature in the one-day series against the Proteas that follows the Tests, the Indian cricket board said in a statement.
South African captain Graeme Smith will also miss the one-dayers due to a fractured finger and all-rounder Jacques Kallis will lead the tourists in his absence, the team management said.
The internationals will be played in Jaipur (Feb 21), Gwalior (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).
Kieswetter 'excited' by future
Craig Kieswetter Craig Kieswetter put his name in the frame for an opening spot in England's Twenty20
team and admitted he was already trying to think like an international player.
The South Africa-born wicketkeeper-batsman has long been viewed as a star in the making, and the hype around him is unlikely to abate after he cracked an assured 81 in the Lions' five-wicket win over their senior colleagues in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
"I'm very excited about finally being (England) qualified and being able to look forward to this part of my career," he said. "As Lions we set standards and we want to be able to play the aggressive brand of cricket England as a whole are trying to play. Throughout our series we've been trying to play this kind of brave cricket that England as a unit are looking to play."
Kieswetter, who has now collected scores of 31, 40no, 77no, 50 and 81 on the UAE trip, and fellow Lions opener Michael Lumb (58no) both succeeded where England's top order failed by clearing the ropes early on.
It is an area that has regularly caused problems in England's limited-overs game and Kieswetter attributed his own muscular hitting to an unusual source.
"I played field hockey when I was younger and that probably comes into the technique a bit," he added.
"Usually I just swing from the hip as hard as I can. I like to think I can hit the ball hard but I don't like to see myself as a slogger.
"In other forms of the game, I'd like to think I can bat through and help win games."
Out of favour Akhtar hopes to fulfill dream of being Pak captain
Rawalpindi: Out-of-favour Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is popularly referred to as the "Rawalpindi Express" still dreams of captaining the national squad, though he has not played any international cricket for more than nine months
Akhtar has not featured in a five-day match for Pakistan for more than two years, and many cricket followers and scribes around the globe are asking the question "Will we ever see Shoaib Akhtar in a Pakistan shirt again"?
Akhtar who is currently skippering Khan Research Laboratories in the ongoing Royal Bank of Scotland Cup, in place of the unfit Mohammad Wasim has so far bowled only 13.2 overs in the competition, although this can partly be attributed to the squad rotation policy in force at KRL.
Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net from Rawalpindi ahead of the crucial clash against Habib Bank, Akhtar said: "I've been working really hard on getting match fit in the pre tournament camp we held and am playing currently in the Royal Bank of Scotland Cup and have been feeling good."
"The most important thing is to get some cricket under my belt. We are unbeaten and second in the table with one game to play against Habib Bank" stated Akhtar.
Whilst Akhtar, 34, has been given the responsibility of captaining his domestic team, he has never been entrusted with the opportunity to captain his country despite featuring in nearly 200 matches for Pakistan over a period of more than 12 years.
It is something that he hopes to reverse before hanging up his boots.
"Captaining your country is the dream of every cricketer and I am no different. As a young boy, when I first started playing cricket, it was my dream to captain my country. I hope that one day I will be given that chance before I retire as it's still my dream to captain Pakistan," Akhtar said.
Akhtar was also in no mood to believe that his international career is over and stated that his aim is to win back his place in the Pakistan team.
"My aim and goal is to win back my place in the Pakistan team and I strongly believe that I will be back. You know things change very quickly in Pakistan cricket and I'm confident that my chance will come again. I can't say whether it will be the Twenty/20 World Cup or later in the summer in England, but I believe my chance will come," he said.
Akhtar has not featured in a five-day match for Pakistan for more than two years, and many cricket followers and scribes around the globe are asking the question "Will we ever see Shoaib Akhtar in a Pakistan shirt again"?
Akhtar who is currently skippering Khan Research Laboratories in the ongoing Royal Bank of Scotland Cup, in place of the unfit Mohammad Wasim has so far bowled only 13.2 overs in the competition, although this can partly be attributed to the squad rotation policy in force at KRL.
Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net from Rawalpindi ahead of the crucial clash against Habib Bank, Akhtar said: "I've been working really hard on getting match fit in the pre tournament camp we held and am playing currently in the Royal Bank of Scotland Cup and have been feeling good."
"The most important thing is to get some cricket under my belt. We are unbeaten and second in the table with one game to play against Habib Bank" stated Akhtar.
Whilst Akhtar, 34, has been given the responsibility of captaining his domestic team, he has never been entrusted with the opportunity to captain his country despite featuring in nearly 200 matches for Pakistan over a period of more than 12 years.
It is something that he hopes to reverse before hanging up his boots.
"Captaining your country is the dream of every cricketer and I am no different. As a young boy, when I first started playing cricket, it was my dream to captain my country. I hope that one day I will be given that chance before I retire as it's still my dream to captain Pakistan," Akhtar said.
Akhtar was also in no mood to believe that his international career is over and stated that his aim is to win back his place in the Pakistan team.
"My aim and goal is to win back my place in the Pakistan team and I strongly believe that I will be back. You know things change very quickly in Pakistan cricket and I'm confident that my chance will come again. I can't say whether it will be the Twenty/20 World Cup or later in the summer in England, but I believe my chance will come," he said.
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