SPortS Sunday, 5 April, 2015
BCB to Compensate pCB for postponing tours t
SPORTS DESK
HE Bangladesh Cricket Board will pay compensation to the Pakistan Cricket Board for postponing two tours to Pakistan in 2012, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan. The announcement comes after a three-month impasse between the two boards, after the PCB set conditions for their upcoming tour to Bangladesh. Since the start of the year, the two boards have made claims and counterclaims on whether the tour is a home series for Pakistan or Bangladesh. In March, the Pakistan government cleared the tour. Hassan, in a press conference at his residence on Friday, said that the BCB wants to end the matter by paying Pakistan their due for missing the two tours. He said the amount could be between $100,000 and $300,000. “We have no more conditions with them [PCB],” Hassan said. “They first demanded 50% revenue and then said this is their home series. I told them this
is our home series. They kept repeating that we [Bangladesh] didn’t tour Pakistan. I replied that I don’t like listening to this in every meeting.
“ICC has a rule for teams that don’t tour a country after agreeing to it. I asked them to let us know how much we are supposed to pay for that tour. It
could be between $100,000 to $300,000. Whether they use it for plane fare or not, is their concern. We will make the one-time payment for missing that tour.” In January, the PCB had demanded 50% of the tour revenue in addition to tours by the Under-19 and A teams. The BCB had responded and said the conditions laid down by the PCB were “not realistic” but later said that they could pay tour costs. BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that the board will decide on the amount in the next few days. “We had few outstanding issues with Pakistan during the last FTP cycle,’ Chowdhury told the Dhakabased New Age. “Based on that, we agreed to pay the compensation and the amount will be decided in a day or two. The upcoming series will be our home series and standard practice will be maintained for it.” Pakistan are expected to arrive on April 13 though the schedule for the tour had not been announced until April 3.
Pakistan players miffed with Waqar Younis’s attitude: reports SPORTS DESK Stories of disputes between the Pakistan players and their national coach are not new and one more seems to be brewing up between Waqar Younis and the team members of Pakistan. It was in 2011 first when Waqar had an altercation with Shahid Afridi, the captain then, which led to his ouster as the Pakistan coach. It was being said that he wanted to stamp his authority on the players by brushing aside voices of senior players in the team. In an interview to a daily English newspaper a senior member of the team said, “Waqar is creating a bad atmosphere in the dressing room. His treatment isn’t the same with all
the players and the Pakistan Cricket Board needs to take this issue up with him when returns home from Australia. He is now showing exactly the same colours of 2011 by brushing off senior players in the side to stamp his authority. Initially, we all thought Waqar may have learnt from his past mistakes, but we’ve been proven wrong.” It is also being reported that Waqar kept Mohammad Hafeez out of the team, when he knew that he could get fit in time for the remainder of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Such was his behaviour that when he did not field Sarfraz Ahmed in the first four games of the mega event, he said he did not know that Sarfraz was traveling with
the team as the third opener. Given the chance, Sarfraz slammed a couple of fifties to answer his critics. “Waqar has set his eyes on building a team around his blueeyed boys who hang on to his each and every word,” revealed another player. “Despite mistakes and poor performances, he praised Nasir, Sohaib, Umar and a few others. “The prime reason Hafeez was sent back was that Waqar didn’t take kindly to questions over his early morning training practice.” It is also being reported that it was Waqar who wanted Azhar Ali to be the one-day captain despite better choices available so that he can implement his own plans without interference.
KARACHI Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal on Saturday said he was delighted his eight-month “torture” which saw him suspended for an illegal bowling action was finally over after being
recalled to the national side. The 37-year-old was named to the squad for all three formats of the game for Pakistan´s upcoming tour of Bangladesh, eight months after his action was reported as suspect in Sri Lanka. Ajmal was subsequently suspended
SPORTS DESK Worcestershire have signed Sachithra Senanayake, the Sri Lanka offspinner, as an early-season replacement for Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal. Senanayake has played one Test, 45 ODIs and 17 T20s for Sri Lanka. Ajmal, who was included in all three of Pakistan’s squads for their upcoming tour of Bangladesh, is unlikely to be available to play for Worcestershire until the second half of the season. “With Saeed Ajmal’s situation, it is always difficult with so much international cricket being played around the world and suddenly tours do come around,” said Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket. “The one of Bangladesh is a late agreement to tour so it meant we’ve had to find a replacement. “But we are very happy with Senanayake, a proven international player. He has played a lot of games in the shorter formats for Sri Lanka, not a lot of the Test matches, but his first class record is excellent. “He has got a really good ratio of five wicket hauls and, when you are looking at replacing a strike bowler like Saeed, you need someone who can take wickets and he is proven at that.” Senanayake has 376 first-class wickets at an average of 19.69, with 32 five-wicket hauls in 71 matches. Rhodes was confident Senanayake could adequately replace Ajmal, who picked up 63 wickets in nine matches at 16.47 to fire their push for promotion. “What we did enjoy last year was a really good balance of our attack with having a spin bowler who could bowl plenty of overs in Saeed,” Rhodes said. “His great strength was how he could keep it tight but also attack and we are very optimistic a player like Senanayake can do something similar.
India to Pakistan: We can bail out hockey in Pakistan if you want
Ajmal says happy his eight-month ´torture´ is over AGENCIES
WorCestershire sign senanayake to fill ajmal void
from all international cricket after a biomechanical analysis showed his action transgressed beyond the 15degree tolerance limit allowed by the International Cricket Council. “It was torture living without cricket,” Ajmal told a foreign news agency from his hometown Faisalabad via telephone. “I have endured eight months of pain and it was the most difficult time of my life.” Ajmal underwent remedial work on his action with the help of former Pakistan great Saqlain Mushtaq before being cleared following a reassessment test in February. He was unable, however, to join the national team for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where Pakistan made it to the quarterfinals before being ousted by eventual champions Australia. “I watched the World Cup on television and for 45 days I wanted to enter the television and play alongside my teammates and do my part,” he said. “I felt they were missing me as I was always effective in the batting powerplays when I used to pick up wickets and that was missing from our game.” “I was in regular touch with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and was always trying
to pump him and the other players up through my good wishes, but it was tough to be away from the team,” said Ajmal. Ajmal credited his family and friends for helping him through the ordeal, and voiced hope he would return to the form that made him the linchpin of the Pakistani bowling attack. “I did my rehab and remedial work with the support of my family, friends and the Pakistan Cricket Board and now I am quite hopeful that I will be able to bowl as effectively as I used to before the suspension,” he said. “I see no problems with my remodelled action as I have done enough work on it.” Before his suspension in August, Ajmal was ranked the number one bowler in the world in one-day cricket, and has 178 Test, 183 one-day and 85 Twenty20 wickets to his name. The off-spinner, who admitted Pakistani cricket was going through a difficult phase, nevertheless insisted the country, which hoisted the World Cup in 1992, had enough talent to recover. “These are difficult times for Pakistan cricket but I am convinced there is no dearth of talent and in one year´s time the team will be settled through concerted efforts and we all will do our best to lift our beloved sport,” he said.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
CMYK
SPORTS DESK In a heart-warming move, Hockey India (HI) has written to Pakistan Hockey Federation offering help to the cashstrapped body across the border. HI is willing to facilitate Pakistan’s participation in the World League Round 3 in Belgium, which is also an Olympic qualification tournament. Here’s Hockey IndIa’s letter sent across to PakIstan: DEAr Mr rANA MujAhID SECrEtAry GENErAl PAkIStAN hoCkEy FEDErAtIoN
I have gone through the attached press news coverage as appeared in the Indian Express newspaper on 4 April 2015. We can not imagine the Olympics being played and the Indian and Pakistan teams not being a part of the hockey discipline and incase you are unable to raise resources for the training of the team for the World League Round 3 to be played in Belgium, which is also an Olympic Qualification tournament for the the Pakistan team. Even though the issue during the FIH Champions Trophy 2014 is yet to be resolved, but we are still willing to approach Government of India or our sponsors and well wishers to bail out the Pakistan Hockey Federation and our neighbour out of this difficult situation so that we have a healthy competition amongst us in Rio 2016. WE AWAIT yOuR FEEDBACk rEGArDS MohD. MuShtAquE AhMAD SECrEtAry GENErAl hoCkEy INDIA