SPORTS Wednesday, 3 December, 2014
PCB asks ICC for daTe To TesT ajmal T
Hesson lauds New Zealand’s adaptability
SPORTS DESK
he Pakistan Cricket Board has asked the ICC for a date for the official testing of Saeed Ajmal’s reworked action. Ajmal underwent his third unofficial test at Loughborough University on December 1 after which the PCB applied for a reassessment of his reworked action in order to have him available for the World Cup. Ajmal had undergone two unofficial tests in November and his offspinner and faster balls were found legal, but his doosra was still over the 15-degree limit. It is understood that Ajmal looked confident and ready for the official test after the rehabilitation phases and wanted to be tested officially with the ICC’s independent biomechanics expert. he was earlier supposed to play domestic cricket in Pakistan but preferred to go through the test to get his name cleared. Pakistan had already named their preliminary squad of 30 players, including Ajmal, for the 2015 World Cup. The final 15man squad is expected to be named in the second week of January and PCB wants to push for Ajmal’s inclusion by getting his name cleared by the ICC. Ajmal was suspended from bowling in September after his action was deemed to be illegal for all deliveries. Ajmal’s elbow extension was going up to 42 degrees on average in the official tests conducted which led to his suspension. he has been undergoing extensive remedial work on his action for the last two months with former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq. The first phase of the rehabilitation was carried out at the PCB’s National Cricket Academy in Lahore and Ajmal was then sent to the facility of biomechanics laboratory at Loughborough.
CRICKET-LOVING BUSINESSMAN TO FUND PAKISTAN TEAM IN INDIA KaRachi AGENCIES
Pakistan men’s hockey team will take part in next month’s Champions Trophy in India after a high-profile businessman and cricket fan has agreed to bear the expenses of the team for the tournament, a top official of the national federation said on Tuesday. Pakistan hockey Federation secretary Rana Mujahid said that the players would be leaving for India on schedule as the financial issues facing the team have been resolved. “Nadeem Omar has kindly agreed to bear our expenses for the tournament which is very important for us,” Mujahid told a press conference. Participating teams have to not only arrange their own air travel but also pay for the five-star accommodation in for the December 6-14 event in
Bhubaneswar. “It is a very expensive venture for us considering we are still awaiting special funds from the government to bail us out. At this time, the involvement of Nadeem Omar has bailed us out of an embarrassing situation,” Mujahid said. Omar is well known in Pakistan cricket circles for his passion and involvement in cricket and runs one of the most successful clubs and departmental sides by the name of Omar Associates in the country. Several Pakistan players including Asad Shafiq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Shaan Masood are senior members of his team. Omar said he decided to become involved in hockey because it was the country’s national sport and he could not bear to see the financial crunch it was facing.
New Zealand have been undefeated over their last five Test series. This year, they had clung to a 1-0 lead over India with a stunning show of defiance in Wellington, trumped hosts West Indies 2-1 for their first series win away from home against a Full Member in 12 years, and capped it off by coming from behind to draw with Pakistan, a team they have tended to struggle against. Mike Hesson, the head coach, was pleased with how his team has adapted to the challenges they have faced in the past 15 months. “There’s a lot of satisfaction from the group and how we’ve got about it in different conditions,” he said. “Obviously we’ve been able to create history in West Indies and to win a Test over here, where historically we really struggle - ‘96 was a really good tour for the Black Caps over here, but other than that we’ve got a history of losing pretty badly over here. “So to be able to bounce back from 0-1 gave the team a lot of satisfaction.” SPORTS DESK
Gul’s return boosts Pakistan ahead of T20s Paceman Umar Gul’s return boosts former world champions Pakistan against an understrength New Zealand in the two Twenty20 internationals starting in Dubai on Thursday. The 23-year-old returns from a knee problem which kept him away from international cricket since the fifth edition of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in April this year. His inclusion will help Pakistan overcome the absence of ace offspinner Saeed Ajmal who is suspended from international cricket after his bowling action was found illegal in September this year. Gul is the second highest wickettaker in the shortest format of the game with 80 in 56 games, five behind Ajmal’s 85. He famously took 5-6 in a World Twenty20 group match against New Zealand at The Oval when Pakistan won the title in 2009. Pakistan will hope their pace attack, which also includes the lanky 7 feet, one inch (2.1m) Mohammad Irfan, supplements the bowling attack which has spinners in Raza Hasan and Shahid Afridi. Pakistan had a miserable World Twenty20 in Bangladesh where they failed to reach the last four for the first time in five editions of the tournament. That prompted captain Mohammad Hafeez to step down, giving the responsibility to allrounder Afridi for a second stint. But Afridi’s return as captain wasn’t auspicious as Pakistan lost the only Twenty20 against Australia in Dubai in October by six wickets. Afridi said Pakistan will not underestimate New Zealand who are without their dashing skipper Brendon McCullum who, along with pacemen Tim Southee and Trent Boult, have returned to New Zealand to prepare for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. SPORTS DESK
PETERSON BACK IN SOUTH AFRICA TEST SQUAD SPORTS DESK Stiaan van Zyl will make his Test debut against West Indies after he was named as JP Duminy’s replacement for the Centurion Test. The squad includes two uncapped players in Lions’ duo Temba Bavuma, a top-order batsman, and Kagiso Rabada, the young seamer who was part of South Africa’s World Cup winning Under-19 outfit earlier this year, and the recalled Robin Peterson. Peterson is the only specialist spinner in the squad, which is without Dane Piedt, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, and Imran Tahir whose Test career could be in decline after he was dropped. Peterson was not part of South Africa’s traveling party to Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe but was given an international lifeline in the recent limited-overs tour of Australia and will now be back in whites as well. Peterson has played one Test against West Indies before, in 2003-04 when Brian Lara took 28 runs off him - the most expensive over in Test cricket at the time. There was no room for last season’s second-highest wicket-taker in the firstclass competition, offspinner Simon harmer, or any of the other reserve bats-
men. Farhaan Behardien, David Miller and Rilee Rossouw were all overlooked in favour of van Zyl. Convener of selectors Andrew hudson confirmed van Zyl will play, albeit out of position at No.7, but may only get
one game. Duminy is expected to be passed fit at some point in the series and was targeting the Boxing Day Test for a recall. “We have been very pleased with the way the Test squad has performed in its
last three outings,” hudson said. “Part of this has been the result of consistency in the selection process and also establishing a pecking order. Stiaan was the reserve batsman against Zimbabwe so he is the logical choice to replace Duminy.” Van Zyl is a regular No.3 and was even tipped to open the batting following the flagging form of Alviro Petersen but will now be asked to do another job. In Duminy’s absence, van Zyl will be required to marshal the lower order and may even be called on to bowl some of his mediumpace. Duminy offered South Africa a slightly more than part-time option with ball in hand and van Zyl, with 35 first-class wickets to his name, could do the same. South Africa’s first-choice bowling pack will not want to leave too much for van Zyl to do, though. Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel are all fully fit and will play, with Kyle Abbott waiting in the wings. Rabada, who played two T20s during South Africa’s recent visit to Australia, is unlikely to play but has been identified as next in line. The 19-year-old only has seven first-class matches to his name but has already taken 25 wickets at 24.84 and his express pace has excited the selectors.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
CMYK
Similarly, Bavuma’s temperament has earmarked him as a future possibility. The 24-year-old batsman has been playing first-class cricket for six seasons and has an average of 35.95. he was the sixthhighest run-scorer last season with 714 runs at 39.66. Neither Bavuma nor Rabada are likely to play but hudson explained they are being introduced to an environment they will spend more time in in the future. “We want to bring players, whom we have identified as having international potential, into the team environment. This is a policy that has worked well in the past with the likes of Faf du Plessis, Dean elgar and Quinton de Kock,” hudson said. SOUTH AFRICA TEST SQUAD FOR WEST INDIES SERIES: hashim Amla (capt), AB de Villiers (vice-capt), Alviro Petersen, Dean elgar, Faf du Plessis, Stiaan van Zyl, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada In: Robin Peterson, Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada Out: JP Duminy, Dane Piedt, Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell