SPORTS Tuesday, 28 June, 2016
IndIa holdIng back progress on Indo-pak crIcket revIval: shahryar ISLAMABAD
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AKISTAN Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shahryar Khan believes that India is holding back progress on the PakIndia series saying he hopes the political atmosphere improves and cricket relations can be build-up once again. Shahryar said PCB signed an agreement in which it agreed to the idea of the Big 3’s influence on world cricket in 2014 with the clear understanding that India would play six series with us over a period of eight years. “These series would have been played in India or a mutually agreed venue in a third country. The BCCI told PCB that they needed permission from the Indian government for these series and PCB agreed to wait for that but that permission never came through. “PCB even agreed to play India in Sri Lanka back
in December but even that permission was not forthcoming from the Indian side and as a result the series didn’t happen. It also showed that India had not met PCB’s conditions for accepting the Big 3 formula,” said Khan. “Pakistan government has never created any hurdles to this series and even at the time of the ICC World Twenty20 when all sorts of threats were being made,
Pakistan team still participated in the tournament. It is the Indian government which is holding back progress on this series,” Pakpassion.net quoted him as saying. Speaking about lack of international cricket in Pakistan, Shahryar said we will be presenting our case in the International Cricket Council (ICC) conference in a few days’ time. “The crux of the prob-
lem is that we cannot play home series against international sides which is denigrating towards us. We intend to propose that as we cannot play series at home and we are obliged to hire expensive venues in other countries, therefore the ICC should help us overcome this problem. Let’s see how the ICC reacts to it and whilst they may be receptive to the idea, whether a for-
mula emerges to compensate us for this expenditure is yet to be seen,” he said. Talking about Test skipper Misbah ul Haq, Shahryar said Misbah has been a wonderful and a very successful captain. “We are ranked number three in the Test rankings but we are way down in limited overs rankings. I am hopeful that Misbah will lead the team on a successful tour and despite his age, we don’t see signs of a decline in his fitness and his capacity to play cricket. I will do everything I can to ensure Misbah carries on playing for and captaining Pakistan. Misbah and Younis Khan are the two fittest men in our young team.” PCB Chairman expressed his desire to see Misbah retain the Test captaincy role. “I hope this tour will be a successful one and Misbah will be ready to carry on his duties as Test team captain against Australia and West Indies etc,” he said.
England v Pakistan: Tammy Beaumont century seals series whitewash for hosts
SPORTS DESK Tammy Beaumont smashed 168 not out as England beat Pakistan by 202 runs in the third one-day international to complete a series whitewash. The 25-year-old’s score was England’s second highest in ODIs, in a total of 366-4 batting first at Taunton. Katherine Brunt picked up five wickets and Anya Shrubsole (2-20) and Laura Marsh (3-29) helped dismiss Pakistan for 164 in the 45th over. England have clinched the ODI series 3-0, with three Twenty20s to come.
Beaumont’s innings was the joint-fourth highest ODI score in women’s cricket history and only five short of Charlotte Edwards’ effort from 1997 on the all-time England list. She hit 20 fours in her 144-ball innings, and shared two century stands - 166 with Georgia Elwiss (77) and 119 with Natalie Sciver (48). The Kent batter had scored her maiden ODI century in the recordbreakingsecond game at Worcester, where the shorter boundaries had made aggressive scoring easy. At Taunton, Beaumont failed to
hit a six, but showed plenty of variety in her boundaries, including reversesweeping the Pakistan spinners on several occasions. In this ODI series, Beaumont’s scores read 70, 104, and 168no. Their latest defeat saw Pakistan’s fielding let them down again. They spilled numerous catches off Beaumont and Elwiss, and gave away several avoidable boundaries - but the hosts had their moments to forget as well. England dropped a couple of catches at the start of the tourists’ innings, Lauren Winfield and captain Heather Knight the culprits, both off Brunt’s bowling. The ground fielding also dipped in quality, allowing Pakistan to provide some resistance with the bat, and much like the second ODI, England had to wait until late in the run chase to confirm the victory. Brunt was rewarded for her efforts with wickets in successive 43rdover deliveries, and fittingly finished off proceedings with her fifth victim. England captain Heather Knight: “Captaincy is easy when the girls
play like that! The pleasing thing is how many different people have stood up and contributed. It’s exciting cricket to watch and hopefully it will be the same going forward. “There was a lot of change and talk about our batting order and I can’t be more pleased how we responded. It was different tactics with bigger boundaries and we adapted well. “Katherine Brunt bowled well and cleaned up the tail, and Laura Marsh did well too. Laura reads the game superbly and changes her pace up smartly as well.” Pakistan captain Sana Mir: “All credit to England for the way they have played throughout the series. If you’re not on target, you will be punished. We knew the England bowlers are pretty good. It was difficult for us to chase such a big total and it was important for us to bat 50 overs, which we’ve been unable to do. “We’ve not been able to play a lot of one-day cricket. We’re more into T20 and hopefully we can take the positives out of this series and play well in the T20s.”
Muhammad Amir can still become world’s best bowler: Misbah SOUTHAMPTON AGENCIES
Muhammad Amir can still become the best bowler in the world despite serving a five-year ban for spot-fixing, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said Monday. Left-arm fast bowler Amir, 24, is expected to make his return to Test cricket next month against England at Lord’s, ‘the home of cricket’, where his exciting career came to a shuddering halt in 2010. During that year’s Lord’s Test against England, Amir was caught bowling no-balls to order in a sting operation carried out by a tabloid newspaper. Amir and new-ball partner Muhammad Asif bowled no-balls to order on the instructions of their captain Salman Butt. All three received five-year bans from cricket and, together with sports agent Mazhar Majeed, jail terms. Amir, who served three months in an English young offenders institute, has only played limited overs internationals for Pakistan, but his career could come full circle when the first of a four-Test series against England starts at Lord’s on July 14. Misbah believes Amir, who was one of the hottest properties in world cricket at the time of his ban, has lost none of his skill. “The way he has been bowling, he is there,” said Misbah at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl ground near Southampton, where Pakistan were training Monday. “You look at his bowling speed, his swing, his control, they’re all there. he can still be the best bowler in the world,” he added ahead of Pakistan’s opening three-day tour match against Somerset at Taunton starting Sunday. “Whatever form of the game he has played since his comeback, he has done well,” said key batsman Misbah of Amir, who in his 14 Tests before his ban took 51 wickets at an average of under 30 apiece. “He knows he is under pressure but he is handling it well,” the captain insisted. “This is a good chance for him to come here, the place where he had those problems, and show the world he is there to perform and deliver for the team. It is a chance to win back all his fans. It’s a great opportunity and he is working hard.” As for Amir receiving a potentially hostile reception from English spectators, Misbah said: “Anything might happen but Amir’s main focus should be on his game.” “It might happen ─ you can always hear voices. The best way is to concentrate on your skills and your duties and Amir has to focus on his game and what he has to do. He is doing well.”
MESSI RETIRES FROM INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL EAST RUTHERFORD AGENCIES
Lionel Messi sensationally announced his retirement from international football here Sunday after Argentina crashed to an upset defeat against Chile in the final of the Copa America. The heartbroken Barcelona superstar was distraught after missing a spot-kick as Chile snatched victory in a penalty shootout – Messi’s fourth straight defeat in a major final while representing Argentina. “For me the national team is over,” the crestfallen 29-year-old told reporters. “I’ve done all I can, I’ve been in four finals and it hurts not to be a champion. It’s a hard moment for me and the team, and it’s difficult to say, but it’s over with the Argentina team.” Messi’s dramatic announcement followed Argentina’s third loss in a major final since 2014.
They were beaten 1-0 by Germany in the final of the World Cup in 2014 and lost on penalties, also to Chile, in the final of the 2015 Copa America. Messi also tasted defeat with Argentina in the final of the 2007 Copa America. Despite a glittering career that has seen him be named FIFA World Player of the Year on no fewer than five occasions, Messi has often faced baffling criticism from Argentina fans. Although universally regarded as one of the greatest footballers ever, he has regularly been criticised for his failure to land a major title in the colours of Argentina. Messi’s failure to match the achievements in the Argentina jersey of Diego Maradona, who single-handedly carried the team to victory in the 1986 World Cup, has often been held against him. Maradona himself has often taken potshots at Messi, criticising him on the eve of the tournament for a perceived
“lack of personality”. “He’s a really good person, but he has no personality,” Maradona said in Paris shortly before the start of Euro 2016. “He lacks the character to be a
leader.” Messi’s bombshell decision comes after a gruelling season which was disrupted by injury last year. He recovered to help Barcelona win the Spanish title once more and was rel-
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ishing the prospect of leading Argentina to glory in the Copa America Centenario. His commitment to playing for Argentina was reflected in his decision to fly from Spain to Argentina for a lowkey friendly against Honduras shortly before the tournament, where he suffered a back injury. He then returned to Spain to give evidence at his trial for tax fraud before jetting off to the United States to join up with his Argentina team-mates. Although he was injured for his team’s opening group game against Chile, he came on as a substitute in a 5-0 hammering of Panama to score a hat-trick in 19 minutes. He then equalled Argentina’s international goalscoring record of 54, held by Gabriel Batistuta, in the quarter-finals before setting a new mark with his 55th international goal in the semi-final win over the United States.