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sPorts wednesday, 14 August, 2013
pakistan’s main focus is 2015 world cup: ajmal
LAHORE STAFF REPORT
Saeed Ajmal has found some time to celebrate eid in Dubai, reported Khaleej times on tuesday. He was the guest of Yas Sports who provided the cricket enthusiasts a golden chance to come up and get close with their hero. the event drew a huge crowd on Sunday evening — mainly children who were desperate to have a glimpse of their idol. He spent more than one hour with fans at Yas Sports near Karama Fish Market and obliged fans by signing autographs for them. the jolly character was ready to answer any question fired at him by the media, said the paper. “our main focus is the 2015 World Cup and the team is preparing well for the mega event. We have done well recently and the victory against West indies in their own backyard means a lot to us. “our senior batsmen like Misbahul Haq and Shahid Afridi are back among runs and it is a big plus for the team. our fast bowlers have performed well on the tour. “Batting has been Pakistan’s main worry but our batsmen have won matches for us in West indies and we hope this form will be carried on until the 2015 World Cup which is going to be held in Australia and new Zealand jointly.” Ajmal is known for innovation and after his doosra and teesra people are expecting something new. But Ajmal says there are no plans to introduce a new variety to his bowling repertoire in near future. “At the moment i am trying to master over my doosras and teesras. “though i entered late in the international arena but God is very kind to me. i have earned the amount of respect in this short span of time, the players struggle to achieve in 20 years. “i believe in myself and not scared of any batsman in the world. i have got variety and control and can disturb the best in the world. “i want to impart my knowledge to the youngsters and i am going to start a cricket academy in my home town Faisalabad later this year. “it will be free-of-cost and is open to everybody who wants to learn the tricks of the trade.” Since there is no international cricket being played in Pakistan due to security concerns, the UAe has become a second home for Pakistan and being hosts they haven’t done badly in recent past. they defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 and whitewashed england who were the number one test team at that time. Pakistan will host South Africa in octobernovember this year and then they will host Sri Lanka in December-January. “i like UAe wickets because i have helped my team win matches and series here. i have achieved best oDi and twenty20 bowling figures on these wickets.
If you got the game, you got the game. That’s why Tiger Woods is out there playing golf with Greg Norman. – Shaquille O’Neal
farhat puLLs out of ZiMbabwe tour
seven charged with fixing in bangladesh: icc
LAHORE
P
STAFF REPORT
AKiStAn opener imran Farhat has pulled out of the Pakistan’s tour to Zimbabwe, citing personal reasons, and has been replaced by the uncapped Shan Masood, Pakistani cricket chiefs announced on tuesday. the national team on tuesday assembled at the Gaddafi Stadium for a short camp training in the build-up for the tour. Pakistan is to play two t20, three oDis and two test matches during the month-long tour to Zimbabwe, starting with a t20 encounter on August 23 at Harare. the 31-year-old Farhat failed to cement his place in the Pakistan team in a turbulent 13-year career and has often been criticised for lack of consistency. “Farhat has informed the Board and the national selection committee that due to domestic matters which require his immediate attention he will be unable to proceed to Zimbabwe with the team,” said an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Farhat had been named in the test squad for the tour starting on August
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23, in which Pakistan will play two twenty20s, three one-day internationals and two tests. “the selection committee has consulted and Masood has been selected to replace Farhat in the test Squad,” he said. Farhat has so far played 40 tests for Pakistan, the last of which was in South Africa in February this year. Masood, 23, is a promising left-
handed opener who has been scoring heavily in domestic cricket and has several tours under his belt with Pakistan’s second string “A” team. Pakistan test squad: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Faisal iqbal, Adnan Akmal, Junaid Khan, Wahab riaz1, ehsan Adil, rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul rehman.
six Pak women players make icc top 20 rank LAHORE STAFF REPORT
As many as six Pakistan women team players have earned place in the iCC’s top 20 players of the world ranking and that has pleased the Pakistan captain sana Mir. Although, Mir herself has lost her actual place in the ranking and slipped to 15th in the world but till then she feels proud. Sana Mir said: “i am so pleased and proud to share with all of you the current iCC ranking of our players that six players have made their way to iCC top 20 players of the World. Bismah Maroof, Sadia Yousaf, Syeda nain Fatima Abidi, Javeria Khan and nida Dar are the other players who have got their names written in the iCC top players ranking. Bismah Maroof is third among t20 allrounders, Sadia Yousaf at 4 in t20 bowlers, Syeda nain Fatima Abidi 13th in t20 batters, Javeria Khan 15th in oDis and nida Dar at 10th in t20s. “And i slipped to 15th in oDis as my finger kept me from playing. Big thanks to the PCB for arranging international matches. More matches have given us an opportunity to express ourselves better,” she said.
the international Cricket Council (iCC) said tuesday seven people have been charged over matching-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League and another two were charged for failing to report corruption in the game. the alleged offences were by those connected to the Dhaka Gladiators franchise of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL)during the 2013 season of the twenty20 tournament. Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful made a tearful confession on national television in June to fixing after he was quizzed by iCC anti-corruption officials who have investigated the case. A joint statement from the iCC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board did not name other players involved but said they had 14 days to enter a plea to the charges. “nine individuals have been charged with various offences that are alleged to have been committed... during the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League,” said the statement. Ashraful, who captained Bangladesh between 2007 and 2009, was allegedly involved in fixing a match between the Dhaka Gladiators and the Chittagong Kings teams during this year’s second edition of the BPL. Local media have reported that the batsman was paid about one million taka ($12,800) to lose the match on February 2. the iCC’s anti-corruption officials were also reported to be probing allegations of fixing during some international matches involving Ashraful. the iCC made no mention on tuesday of problems with international fixtures.
azadi cup rugby LAHORE: the Punjab rugby Association is organizing Azadi Cup rugby today (August 14) in connection with the independence Day of Pakistan. the matches of rugby will be held at the DHA L Block Stadium in which games in two parts with the “Azadi Shield” a 7-a-side format with 12 teams, teams will include DHA rugby club, Lahore rams, Ait Club , Multan, Lodran, islamabad Jinns, Punjab rFU, Surgoda, Wadat club and for the first time a new club Shadrah club will also taking part. this year special prizes for the man of the tournament will be given in the rose Petal rugby 7s and the man of the Match in the “Servis tyres Azadi Cup will be given the Berger Paints man of the match award. STAFF REPORT
Whatmore plans to give youngsters a go in ODIs LAHORE STAFF REPORT
Pakistan chief coach Dav Whatmore has planned to try out youngsters in the limited-overs matches on the team’s tour of Zimbabwe. He feels that the Zimbabwe tour is the right opportunity to give the youngsters a chance to prove their might in the game. “the Zimbabwe tour is an opportunity to groom a few young players and the new players should be tried out in limited-over matches rather that in the longest version,” he said. “Zimbabwe is ranked a lot lower than Pakistan so from that point of view i agree
with a notion of inducting new players but the danger you have in series like this is complacency”, said Whatmore. “this is a good argument to play one or two younger guys to gauge their potential but there is a difference between test and limited-over matches. there are test championship points now as well and i think that is very important”, said Whatmore. “Playing an international match is a very important juncture of any cricket’s career. i am not sure whether we should think about it in test matches but certainly in the oDis, this is a good argument to have a look at one or two young players”, added Whatmore Pakistan are scheduled to play two
t20i, three oDis and two test matches during the month-long tour to Zimbabwe, starting with a t20 encounter on August 23rd at the Harare. on a question, the national coach said that after the below-par performance in the Champions trophy the Pakistan team had bounced back well in the West indies. He added that, on paper at least, the West indies are a decent limited-over side, and beating them is pretty satisfying. He said that uniting the team had always been his priority “it is always an objective personally of mine to have as closer unit as it possibly can, because you need to rely on this in many ways to get the result”, concludes Whatmore.