SPORTS Thursday, 26 November, 2015
Afridi eyes top rAnking AheAd of World t20 DUBAI
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Agencies
ORMER champions Pakistan will face England in a threematch T20 series in Dubai from Thursday as they begin to settle their squads for next year’s World T20. Pakistan finished runners-up in the first edition of the World Twenty20 in 2007 before winning the crown two years later in England and are now ranked number two in the shortest and the most popular format of the game. They need to win the series, at least by a 2-1 margin, to maintain their standings a fact Afridi believes will spur on his team. “We want to settle down before the World T20,” said Afridi of the event to be held in India from March 11-April 3. “Besides that we are ranked number two so it’s an important series for us in many ways and we will do our best to win it.” Pakistan are likely to get two to three T20 matches if their series against India is held next month before they head to
New Zealand for another three matches. Before the sixth edition of the World Twenty20 they will also feature in the Asia Cup to be held in Bangladesh in February. Pakistan are hampered by the absence of ace spinner Saeed Ajmal, who is struggling with a new bowling action which needed alteration after it was deemed illegal. Besides Ajmal, the highest wickettaker in all T20 cricket with 85, paceman Umar Gul (joint second highest with 83 wickets) was also not selected as he is recovering from injury. Opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez is also banned from bowling. But Afridi, who also has 83 wickets, hopes his young team will fight hard. England, who won the World Twenty20 in 2010, are ranked eighth in the shortest format but coach Trevor Bayliss believes their 3-1 one-day success over Pakistan last week will give the squad good confidence. “England players should have a lot of
confidence from the way they’ve played going into the three T20 matches, knowing they can play in these conditions against this quality of opposition,” said Bayliss whose team lost the Test series 20. Bayliss, from Australia, said the series will help his team prepare for the World T20. “It’s another step on the way to that World Twenty20 in March-April. We want to play this T20 series and win that as well as we possibly can, but it’s also a bit of a testing ground.” The remaining two matches will be held in Dubai (Friday) and Sharjah (Monday). Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Rafatullah Mohmand, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Imran Khan junior, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Aamer Yamin England:
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett
Wahab counting on Afridi to inspire Pakistan in England T20s
ISLAMABAD Agencies
Fast bowler Wahab Riaz is confident that Shahid Afridi’s return to the side
as Twenty20 captain can inspire Pakistan to gain limited-overs revenge over England. The tourists clinched an emphatic 3-1 one-day international series victory in Dubai last
gloves dispute in world title fight will be resolved
weekend, coming back from 1-0 down to win the next three fixtures in the four-match series. Riaz, who has been the leaderin-chief of the Pakistan pace attack all summer, feels Afridi’s specialist T20 presence in his first international since the 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe in September is what the team needs in the upcoming threematch contest, which begins in Dubai on Thursday. “Obviously Afridi is a great cricketer with the kind of ability he has in the bowling and batting department,” he said in an interview with Sport360 on Tuesday. “With a guy like Shahid Afridi leading the team in this format we have very high hopes that he will perform well.” Riaz freely admits that Pakistan
AMIR’S RETURN WILL CREATE PROBLEMS FOR PAKISTAN: INZAMAM SportS DeSk
SportS DeSk The dispute over the gloves to be used in Saturday’s world heavyweight title fight between Ukrainian holder Wladimir Klitschko and Britain’s Tyson Fury will be resolved before Friday’s rules meeting, officials said. Klitschko, unbeaten for 11 years and a hot favourite to retain his belts in Duesseldorf, has the right to choose the gloves for both fighters but Fury’s camp had protested that the ones sent to him were unsuitable, and hurt his thumb. Another pair have been promised but the Briton threatened to cancel the fight if they were not delivered on time. “On Friday the gloves that will fit will be here,” the German professional boxers’ association (BDB) chief Thomas Puetz told reporters on Wednesday. “But should there be an attempt at the rules meeting to demand different gloves it will not be accepted by the BDB.” Klitschko said the dispute was all part of Fury’s “mental war”, telling reporters: “There are rules and contracts that need to be adhered to”.
look back on the recent 50-over clashes with the regret of not performing better, but he believes his team can start to set the record straight this week, in what is another big test ahead of next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in India. “We could have done better in the one-day international series against England but unfortunately we didn’t play as well as our opponents. “We have this series now to perform better and secure a good series win. Hopefully we can go into it and hit form at the right time, we are determined to,” he said. As for his own form, the Lahoreborn seamer, who claimed only three wickets in the ODIs but eight in the Test matches, wants to keep it simple and continue to run in and bowl fast.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to keep tainted pacer Mohammad Amir away from the national team. Amir has made a significant impact in the first stage of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) with his left-arm fast bowling, igniting a big debate on whether he should be fast tracked into the national team. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to allow either Amir or the two other players involved in the spot-fixing scandal back into the Pakistan team,” Inzamam said in an interview to NDTV. “I just feel that if Amir is selected again for the national team it will divert the focus of the other players away from cricket and there will be added pressure on them and Amir,” said Inzamam, who featured for Pakistan in 120 Tests and 398 one-day internationals. “I know from experience that if Amir is selected in the Pakistan team and when it goes to England, Australia or even India, the media will just focus on him and it will mean problems in the dressing room,” he said. Inzamam said that he had nothing personal against the bowler but the PCB had to settle on on a policy regarding tainted players independent of the ICC’s regulations on the matter. “The PCB needs to be clear in its stance on players who have been involved in corruption and tarnishing the image of the country. Because playing for the national team is the highest honor for any athlete,” he added. He also believed that Amir would also
face a lot of problems on his comeback. “I can imagine the questions that would be asked if Pakistan lose a close match or if he doesn’t perform at the right time. I can imagine the taunts from the crowd and all these things will only divert the attention of the team away from cricket,” Inzamam said. Amir has gone onto feature in the BPL after remarkable performances in domestic matches since his five-year ban for spot-fixing ended in September. His two other partners in crime Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have still not been permitted by the PCB to play domestic cricket. Many former Pakistan stalwarts including Javed Miandad and Rashid Latif have opposed the return of the tainted trio to the national team while senior player Mohammad Hafeez last week claimed he didn’t accept a contract to play in the BPL as the franchise which approached him had already signed on Amir.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
CMYK
Officials fOr first match: Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK and Shozab Raza (PAK) tv umPirE: Ahmed Shahab (PAK) match rEfErEE: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
tiger Woods could have ‘massive’ impact at ryder Cup, says europe captain
SportS DeSk Darren Clarke says the appointment of Woods as one of Davis Love III’s Ryder Cup assistants will give the United States team a boost. Europe captain Darren Clarke hopes Tiger Woods’ presence within the United States team at next year’s Ryder Cup will not provide too much of a boost to Davis Love III’s side. Woods was selected as one of Love’s assistants for the event at the Hazeltine National Golf Course, the 14-time major winner named alongside Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker. The 39-year-old who is recovering from two back operations hopes to be a playing assistant for the event, but regardless of whether or not he competes, Clarke knows Woods’ mere presence will give the hosts a lift. “I think with Tiger, and knowing him as well as I do, he will be massive for the team and he will be involved as he’s shown us by accepting Davis’ invitation,” he said at the Australian Open. “He will also be trying desperately to be playing on the team. So certainly, Tiger’s a great addition to Davis’ side whether that be playing or behind the scenes as a vice captain.” Clarke has yet to name any of his own and says he will leave it as long as possible before making an announcement. “I haven’t announced any vice-captains yet. For one very good reason,” he said. “To do so at this stage would mean offending people. If I ask someone now it means I don’t think he is going to make the team. I don’t want to do that. Maybe around Augusta I’ll feel out a few people to see what they think. That’s always been our way of doing things.
froome can win back-toback tours, says evans SportS DeSk Cadel Evans has backed Chris Froome to become the first man since Miguel Indurain to claim back-to-back victories at the Tour de France. Froome won his second yellow jersey in July as he cruised to victory by one minute and 12 seconds from Movistar’s Nairo Quintana, the Team Sky rider leading from stage seven all the way to Paris. The 30-year-old struggled when trying to defend his 2013 victory the following year, Froome suffering early crashes and then being forced to abandon the race due to injury in stage five. He was back to his best in the latest edition of the Grand Tour event and Evans – who won the Tour in 2011 believes Froome is well set to challenge again in 2016. “For him I think it’s possible,” Evans told Fox Sports. “He’ll be the only rider in this era who’ll be able to go back-to-back, barring illness and injury.”