SPORTS Thursday, 9 June, 2016
Pakistan cricket needs two years to recuPerate: aaqib Javed dejected Junaid khan mulling swapping england for Pakistan After receiving multiple rejections from the Pakistan team, the left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan is looking to permanently settle in England and one day represent The Three Lions. Junaid is the highest wicket-taker with 71 Test wickets to his name, Pakistan’s current crop of fast bowlers but was snubbed by the Inzamam ul Haq-led selection committee, with the former skipper saying he has struggled to find the rhythm since he sustained a knee injury last year. However, Junaid has shown improved performance during recent matches, impressing in the Pakistan Super League with Peshawar Zalmi, both with the new ball as well as at the death. He also accounted for big-hitting West Indian opener Chris Gayle in his very first over against the Lahore Qalandars. Junaid was part of the 50-over Pakistan Cup and was named in the army-led fitness boot camp in Kakul. The International Cricket Council also carried out a random doping test on Junaid, alongside leg-spinner Yasir Shah, Test Captain Misbahul Haq, and ODI Skipper Azhar Ali. But the 26-year-old is now frustrated at the amount of time he has spent at the peripheries of the team. “Junaid feels hurt after being constantly ignored by the selectors and is looking to permanently settle in England,” a member of Junaid’s family told local media. “He thinks that he is being treated unjustly and therefore feels it is better for him to play his cricket in England where his talent is respected and valued.” Agencies
Match-fixers deserve life bans: alastair cook
Alastair Cook, the England captain, believes that any player involved in match-fixing should be banned for life. However, he has no problem with the likelihood of facing Mohammad Amir again, because he served the punishment handed down to him. Amir was given a 12-month jail sentence for his part in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal at Lord’s, of which he served six in a Young Offenders Institute, as well as a five-year ban from cricket which elapsed last year. He has since returned to Pakistan’s one-day and T20 sides and earlier this week was named in Pakistan’s Test squad for the England tour. Subject to final confirmation of a visa being granted, he is set to return to the Test format on the ground where he committed the crime. Cook was part of the England team involved in the 2010 Lord’s Test when Amir, along with Mohammad Asif and captain Salman Butt, were caught in the News of the World sting accepting money to bowl no-balls on demand. Agencies
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SportS DeSk
ORMER right-arm fastbowler Aaqib Javed believes Pakistan cricket stopped developing its academy structure which resulted in a slump in standards. Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandar’s director of cricket also said that Pakistan will miss the presence of Test captain Misbahul Haq and veteran batsman Younus Khan once they depart from the format. “At the moment they are all over the place,” said Aaqib. “I am worried when Misbah and Younus go, what will happen to their batting? We have seen the Sri Lankans struggling after losing two great players [Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara]. The challenge can’t be solved in six months or one year.” Aaqib rued the downfall of the academies in Pakistan which resulted in a stunted production of talented individuals. “Nobody actually realised the
development in Pakistan stopped and it is hurting them right now,” said Aaqib. “They used to have the best academy system back in Pakistan which they stopped in 2010.” He added: “All these players are from this system and once you produce players from the system you can depend on that group of players for four or five years. All of a sudden when you stop your development plans you have no more players coming up from your system.”
Aaqib, who represented Pakistan in 22 Tests and 163 ODIs, estimated that Pakistan will need at least two years to recover from the slump in form. “So now, Pakistan has to wait at least two years and they should realise that they should not expect any miracle from Mickey Arthur or somebody else,” he said. “It’s not about people, it’s not about personalities it’s about the system.” Aaqib, who was the front-runner in the local coach category after
Waqar Younis resigned from his head coach post, also said that he trusts Arthur’s attributes to be of assistance for Pakistan cricket. “I think [Arthur] has great experience working with two international teams and working with a high performance centre,” said Aaqib. “He is a technical and a team coach. So, I think, he must be very experienced and working with Asian players he must have an idea of working with different people. I can’t find any problem because he has the experience and I think he’ll do well.” Aaqib added that there is not short-term remedy for Pakistan cricket’s problems. “The coming two series are really tough in England and Australia,” he said. “I think everybody should understand this is a time to support Pakistan cricket, not to criticise Mickey Arthur or others. I think the coming two or three years will be exciting for Pakistan cricket, but in short-term I can’t see any [quick] repair.”
Pakistan’s Diana hunts for glory in cricket, football Diana Baig shifts restlessly in her seat, checking her watch every few seconds at an awards ceremony after leading her cricket team to victory. Soon she has to play a football match at another venue, and time is ticking. Baig is no stranger to the pressure. The talented 20-year-old plays for Pakistan’s national team in both cricket and football, representing the country as one of the “Girls in Green” at the recent World Twenty20 tournament in India in between practicing her penalty shoot-out skills. “It was an honour to be selected for the T20 squad,” she says, in between glances at her watch. She did not make the starting team, but being at the tournament even from the sidelines was “very encouraging for me it gave me new life, a new energy”. The 20-year-old grew up playing street cricket and football with other children in the magnificent Hunza Valley, their makeshift areas ringed by some of the world’s tallest mountains in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan. The fact that she was a girl did not matter, she says: Baig belongs to the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam, who are followers of the Aga Khan infamous in conservative Pakistan for their moderate views. That largely freed her from the restrictions placed on other, more conservative women in the Muslim country, where her gender is battling for greater freedom. From the streets, Baig began playing in community events and for local teams, and by 2010 she was leading the newly-formed Gilgit-Baltistan women’s team. Two years later, she was selected for Pakistan’s A side, and then as a reserve player for the
2013 World Cup. In 2015 she finally won her first international cap, playing for Pakistan against Bangladesh. But Baig says she had her moments of despair along the way. “A time came when I could not see my future bright like this,” she admits. Being selected for the A-side changed all that. “After that, I started to work hard.” Her journey to the forefront of Pakistani women’s football was even more dramatic. In cricket-obsessed Pakistan, football especially women’s football finds itself largely unable to compete in the popularity stakes. But while playing cricket in Islamabad in 2010, Baig tried out for the Gilgit-Baltistan football team on a whim after friends told her they needed players. She made into the team and, to
her disbelief, in 2014 was selected to play for Pakistan at the SAFF Championships in Bahrain. She has been a member of the starting 11 as a defender ever since, she says, unable to hide her excitement. Baig has had to fight harder for her cricket career. Unlike in men’s cricket, Pakistan’s women’s players are not contracted and are selected on a match by match basis from lower-ranked teams, such as the several hundred playing at the provincial level. That means that there were times when Baig was in and times when she was out. Fighting to keep her place was complicated by the fact that again, unlike the men Pakistan’s women have no regular facilities or practice time, meaning Baig was forced to rely on training with her university team to keep up to international standard. But her selection for the World T20 meant the hard work on the playing fields at the Lahore College for Women University had paid off. “It is because of this college, this ground because the regular practice is very important,” she says. Now Baig is fighting to maintain a crucial balance between her sporting dreams and an education. “It becomes very hard,” she says. “I try to start from football I play football in the morning, then our cricket training starts around 11 or 12 noon and continues until 3:00 pm or 4:00 pm.” After that, she says, she heads to her university hostel for food and drink. “I start studying during the night, continuing until late.” Women’s cricket is growing in popularity in Pakistan, she says, with corporations such as mobile companies increasingly arranging sports events. Agencies
South Africa back in business after ODI win over Australia SportS DeSk South Africa roared back into contention in the Tri-Nation One-Day International series with a 47-run victory over Australia in the third match of the tournament at the Guyana National Stadium on Tuesday. Defending a modest 189 for nine on another pitch that challenged the patience and technique of all batsmen, the Proteas bowlers were resisted only by opener Aaron Finch´s defiant 72 before he was ninth out as the World Cup-holders folded for 142 off 34.2 overs. By virtue of their margin of victory, South Africa also earned a bonus point and leapt from last to first on net run-rate over Australia, leaving hosts West Indies third. Competition resumes in St Kitts on Saturday with South Africa and Australia renewing their rivalry at Warner Park. Farhaan Behardien´s workmanlike innings of 62 held South Africa´s innings together and earned him the “Man of the Match” award. However, pacer Kagiso Rabada shared the plaudits with a useful unbeaten 15 as the tail contributed important runs and then led the way with the ball as he claimed three for 13 off seven
probing overs. Rabada disposed of Usman Khawaja in his opening spell and returned to account for wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade and tailender Nathan Coulter-Nile in an excellent display of controlled fast bowling. His effort was supported by Wayne Parnell, who shared the new ball and got rid of the dangerous David Warner in his very first over. Playing his first ODI for almost 16 months, Parnell then trapped Australian captain Steve Smith leg-before. Spinners Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso then tightened the stranglehold with two wickets apiece, while Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm leggie, marked his debut with the wicket of Glenn Maxwell in his first over to ensure there was no escape for the Aussies. “We started well with the two seamers although this wasn´t the kind of surface where they were having the time of their lives,” captain A.B. de Villiers said. “(Tabraiz) Shamsi was a handful for their batters. I didn´t see a lot of them picking him.” Earlier, Australia´s fast bowling pair of Coulter-Nile and Josh Hazlewood proved most effective with two wickets each in restricting the Proteas after de
Villiers surprisingly chose to bat first on winning the toss. “We didn´t adapt well enough with the bat today,” was Smith´s assessment of his team´s reply. “We´ve got a couple of tough games ahead of us now and we have to improve on this effort.” Coulter-Nile, who replaced Mitchell Starc from the opening victory over West Indies two days earlier, made the most of the opportunity with a spell of two for 38 off 10 overs. He claimed the vital wickets of de Villiers and J.P. Duminy in consecutive overs to reduce the South Africans to 104 for five midway through the innings, effectively killing off any realistic chance they had of posting a formidable total. Hazlewood was even more economical in conceding 20 runs off 10 metronomic overs. He earned an LBW verdict against Quinton de Kock to break the opening partnership with Hashim Amla and returned to get rid of Parnell. South Africa entertained hopes of a challenging total when de Villiers and Amla were at the crease. The two most experienced batsmen in the side put on 40 for the third wicket before Amla was run
out for the third time in ODI´s against Australia. Wickets continued to fall regularly thereafter and it was left to the
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
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lower-order players Phangiso and Rabada to assist Behardien in lifting the South Africans closer to the 200-run mark.