ISB 21-06-2012_Layout 1 6/21/2012 3:49 AM Page 19
Thursday, 21 June, 2012
Sports 19
PCB plans disciplined domestic structure LAHORE Staff RepoRt
D
iSCiPlinE in domestic cricket, deficit budget, establishment of another four regions, better returns on its investments and construction of the gaddafi Stadium were the main features of discussion during the recently held meeting of the PCB governing Board. The meeting also announced its plan of creating a cricket academy at larkana and also urged the political parties to keep politics away from cricket. The 23rd meeting of PCB governing Board was at naudero,
Pakistan U-22 outclass Bahrain club LAHORE Staff RepoRt
Pakistan U-22 football team outclassed AlHala Football Club of Bahrain in its second match played at Muharraq Stadium, Bahrain by 3:1 on Tuesday night. in a first half after 36th minute Muhammad (Fw) missed a golden opportunity to secure the first goal, however, in the 42nd minute in a pass by Sher Muhammad (Fw), Muhammad placed the first goal for its team. no further inroad could be made in the first half. in the 58thminute of second half, Muhammad reciprocated by giving a pass to Sher Muhammad who culminated it into a goal, the second goal for the Pakistan team. in the 60th minute Rashid Ali (Fw) lost the opportunity to secure the third goal, however, in the 73rdminute Faisal iqbal (MF) offered the opportunity by giving a pass to Rashid Ali who took full benefit of it. in the 75th minute, Khalid of Hala FC by his solo effort could secure a single goal for his tem. in the 83rd minute, Zakir lashari (Fw) could not utilize an open chance and the game ended without any further progress. it will not be out of place to mention here that Pakistan U22 is leaving for Riyadh on Thursday, June 21, 2012 through gF 161 from Bahrain to take part in the AFC U-22 Championship2013 Qualifier Round, group B to be held from June 23 to July 3, 2012.
Australia win appeal against early start SYDNEY afp
The Australian men's field hockey team has won an appeal after the world's number one side was handed three early morning starts in their group matches at the london olympics. Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth was furious when the draw gave his team three 8:30am games, which he said would require players to wake up at 5:00am in a major disruption to their daily tournament routine. At the same time, main rivals germany avoided the early timeslot altogether in the opposite group. Hockey Australia fired in an official protest and the Federation of international Hockey said wednesday it has rescheduled Australia v Pakistan on August 7 from 8:30am to 10:45am. South Korea against the netherlands will be switched to the earlier start. "we always expected early games, but not three, and i am pleased it has been rectified," said Charlesworth.
larkana under the Chairmanship of Zaka Ashraf while Mir Haider Talpur, Aamir nawab, Ch. M. Anwar, Maj gilani, intikhab Alam, Javed Miandad, Subhan Ahmad (Coo) and Badar Manzoor (CFo) were the other attendants. According to an official of the PCB, “The progress of work at garhi Khuda Bakhsh Stadium was discussed in previous Bog meetings and Board members had observations over the slow pace of work. Bog members desired to conduct the meeting at garhi Khuda Bakhsh so that they can witness the progress of the work personally and take appropriate decisions accordingly. The board members also vis-
etc. “These rules will be applicable immediately. Under these rules every private party interested in holding a cricket event/tournament on domestic level will need noC from the PCB. without the noC, no PCB registered player will be able to participate in that particular tournament. A Tournament Evaluation Committee comprising Director Cricket operations international, Director Cricket operations Domestic and Manager legal has been formed to look into the applications for such noC,” he added. He further said: “The Bog acknowledged and supported the creation of four new regions in domestic structure and now the total number of
ited under-construction garhi Khuda Bakhsh Cricket Stadium to witness the progress. The Board decided to appoint a third-party evaluator, nayyar Ali Dada, to give their independent view and suggest ways to complete Phase i of plan without any further delay.” He further said that the Annual Budget of PCB for the financial year 2012-13 was presented to the Board and without giving details informed that the budget is a deficit one. The Bog also decided to bring the domestic cricket under iCC disciplinary requirements like tackling the issues of corruption, anti-doping, schedule of matches and fitness of players at all levels
Pakistan have a chance to climb up the ladder LAHORE
results being discarded. This means Pakistan’s 0-0 draw followed by a 0-2 defeat against Sri lanka in the first half of 2009 will no longer figure in the calculations. The exact table after the annual update will only be confirmed shortly after the conclusion of Sri lanka and Pakistan Test series on 12 July. Meanwhile in the Reliance iCC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, Pakistan’s Younus Khan will be aiming to return into the top three while Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Azhar Ali and Mahela Jayawardena, who all figure inside the top 20, will also be aiming for upward movements. Younus is currently sitting in fourth position, 22 ratings points behind South Africa’s third-ranked Jacques Kallis while Sangakkara and Samaraweera are fifth and sixth with just seven points separating them and the former trailing the Pakistan batsman by 18 points. Azhar Ali is the second highest-ranked Pakistan batsman after Younus Khan in 12th position. The youngster will have a good opportunity to break into the top 10 for the first time in his career as he trails 10thranked Alastair Cook of England by seven ratings points. Sri lanka captain Jayawardena is in 15th position and can potentially break into the top 10 with a strong perform-
Staff RepoRt
Pakistan will have one eye on Sri lanka and the other on the Reliance iCC Test Championship table when it goes head to head against its Asian rival in the three-Test series which starts in galle on Friday. Pakistan currently sits in fifth position on 108 ratings points while Sri lanka is in sixth spot on 99 ratings points. if Misbah-ul-Haq’s side wins all the three Tests of the series, it will join Australia on 112 ratings points while in the case of a 2-0 series win it will move up to 111 ratings points. with no further Test series scheduled for completion before 1 August, the annual Reliance iCC Test Championship update will take place immediately after the conclusion of this series. A 2-0 or 30 series win will lift Pakistan’s into second place behind England following the update. However, even if this happens, South Africa would still have the opportunity to overtake both Pakistan and England and reach number-one with a good result in its upcoming series in England. The annual update of the Reliance iCC Test Championship table is carried out so that the list continues to reflect recent form with older
england rest three players for final LONDON afp
ance with the bat. The batting table is headed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the west indies with South Africa’s AB de Villers sitting in second position. Spinners from either side dominate the Reliance iCC Player Rankings for Test bowlers with Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal occupying second place and Sri lanka’s left-arm spinner Rangana Herath sitting in fourth spot. Saeed trails number-one ranked Dale Steyn of South Africa by 51 ratings points while the off-spinner leads left-arm spinner Herath by 66 ratings points. Pakistan’s Abdur Rehman is also currently enjoying his career-best ranking of 10th and given he is still in the qualification period for bowlers, it is likely that he will move further up the ladder depending on how he performs in the galle Test. Pakistan’s fast bowler Umar gul is the other bowler inside the top 20 in 16th spot and will be aiming to improve his ranking.
SeRieS ScHeDuLe: 22-26 June – 1st Test, galle 30 June-4 July – 2nd Test, Colombo 8-12 July – 3rd Test, Pallekele
RanKing RANk 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
tEAM England South Africa Australia india Pakistan Sri lanka west indies new Zealand Bangladesh
regions will be increased from 11 to 15. one region each will be created in Baluchistan (making it two regions in the province), Sindh Rural (the whole Sindh rural came under the region of Hyderabad so a new region will be created) and Southern Punjab while FATA will be a separate region.” “The Bog approved the improvements in PCB Treasury Policy in order to get better returns on its investments,” he added. “The Board of governors lauded the efforts of PCB and its Chairman Ch. Zaka Ashraf in revival of international cricket in Pakistan and assured their full cooperation and support where PCB may need it,” he said.
RAtINgS 117 116 112 111 108 99 85 85 8
England will rest three frontline bowlers for the third and final one-day international (oDi) against the west indies at Headingley on Friday. Seamers Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan, together with offspinner graeme Swann -- who all played in an eight-wicket win at The oval here on Tuesday that gave England an unassailable 2-0 series lead -- will be given a break. into the squad will come Surrey seamer Stuart Meaker, warwickshire paceman Chris woakes and Kent off-spinner James Tredwell. woakes had already been called up as possible cover for Jade Dernbach in the event the Surrey paceman was granted compassionate leave following the death of county colleague Tom Maynard on Monday. However, Dernbach remains available for selection. woakes, Meaker and Tredwell have all previously played one-day international cricket for England. national selector geoff Miller said: "The fact that we have already won the natwest series means we are able to take the opportunity to rest three players ahead of next week's series against Australia and take a closer look at players who are likely to feature in our limited overs planning going forward." Earlier this month England courted controversy when, having likewise established an unbeatable 2-0 lead in a three-match series they rested pace bowlers James Anderson and Broad from the side that played the rain-marred drawn third Test against the west indies at Edgbaston. Broad, England's Twenty20 captain, Swann and Bresnan could all return for the stand alone Twenty20 international against the west indies at Trent Bridge in nottingham on Sunday. After that match, England will name a squad for their separate five-match oDi series against Australia.
Suspension denies Misbah captaincy record LAHORE Staff RepoRt
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq's suspension for the first Test against Sri lanka has denied him a chance of closing in on a Pakistan record. He was already on 15 consecutive Tests as Pakistan captain and eight more would have helped him equal the all-time Pakistan record of Abdul Hafeez Kardar.
Kardar was the Pakistan captain in 23 consecutive Tests in the 1950s and that hasn't been broken as yet. Kardar was Pakistan's first Test captain when they first played a Test in 1952 and this stat shows how difficult it has been for captains over the years to hold on to the post for a decent time. imran Khan, the world Cup-winning captain and probably the most respected Pakistan leader ever, has only got a maximum of 16 Test matches in a
row in the 1980s. imran is on the same pedestal with waqar Younis, who has also led in 16 consecutive Tests. while imran's tenure in the 1980s was often cut short with Javed Miandad being brought in, Younuswas always under the threat with Rashid latif, wasim Akram all playing during that time. Misbah took over at a difficult time and has brought some sanity to the proceedings in Pakistan cricket, lead-
ing them well against teams like Australia, England and South Africa. He would surely have liked to go past the two greats imran and Younusand close in Kardar, but that was not to be. Many in Pakistan cricket circuit believe that Mohammad Hafeez is the right man to take over and if the team does well in galle under the allrounder, there may just be pressure on the PCB to make him the captain on a long-term basis.
Selectors to discuss ODI future with Younus LAHORE Staff RepoRt
Pakistan's chief selector iqbal Qasim has said the panel will discuss YounusKhan's oDi future with him after the completion of the ongoing tour of Sri lanka. Younuswas left out of the fifth one-dayer, which Pakistan lost to concede the series 3-1, after making only 10 runs in three innings in Sri lanka. Younis, 34, was dismissed for 5, 4 and 1 in the oDis, falling to Thisara Perera twice and nuwan Kulasekara once. He was part of the dramatic collapse that cost Pakistan the fourth match in Colombo, where they lost seven wickets for 13 runs. Younushad made only 67
runs in four innings during Pakistan's previous one-day assignment, the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. "it's the duty of the senior cricketers to lead the team, to carry the team and to drive it forward, but if one of your senior players is struggling then that puts pressure on the team," Qasim was quoted by Pakpassion as saying. "let the tour of Sri lanka finish and then we will definitely discuss his future plans with him [Younis]. Younushas of course already requested not to be selected in T20s, i don't know what he has in mind regarding 50over cricket. "i'm sure we will have an amicable chat about his future, as Pakistan needs him for Test cricket for the future. Expe-
rience is an invaluable commodity in cricket but you have to be out in the middle performing, which unfortunately Younushas not been doing in 50-over cricket of late." Apart from Azhar Ali, who scored 217 at an average of 54, Pakistan's batsmen struggled to post imposing totals in Sri lanka. Qasim said their all-round performance had also been "below par". "it's difficult to put Sri lanka under pressure in their conditions and the variable weather conditions did not make things easy for Pakistan either," he said. "However we should not make excuses, the overall performance of the team was below par." Qasim said the team lacked consis-
tency in all disciplines, their performances veering from exceptional one day to ordinary the next. in the final oDi, Pakistan were shoddy in the field, with several dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities allowing Sri lanka to win in the last over. "This inconsistency has been hurting Pakistan cricket for many years and it's about time it was eradicated," he said. "one day the fielding is outstanding, the next game it's very poor and the boys are dropping simple catches. The same with the batting, one day it clicks, the next day it misfires. "Mohammad Sami is an example of this inconsistency, one day he bowls very well and helps the team to victory, the next day he bowls poorly and costs the
team the game. it doesn't matter what your game plan is going into the game it's very difficult to impose that game plan onto the opposition if you are inconsistent." Despite the defeat in Sri lanka, Qasim said the selectors would avoid making major changes for the series against Australia in August and the world Twenty20 in September. "You cannot chop and change ahead of a world Cup. There is no point selecting a player for a couple of games and then discarding him," he said. "i think it's too late to experiment now ahead of the T20 world Cup and i would expect that most of the personnel in the T20 squad in Sri lanka recently will be retained."