Sarfraz vows new start for Pakistan L A H O R E —Pakistan’s newly-appointed ODI vice-captain Sarfraz Ahmed said he would keep his feet firmly on the ground after being el-
evated into a position of leadership with only 39 limited-over games under his belt.
Belgium up to best ever third in FIFA rankings P ARIS —Belgium are basking in their highest ever FIFA ranking on Wednesday, as last year’s World Cup quarter-finalists move up one place into third on the strength of good form in Euro 2016 qualifying. Marc Wilmot’s Red Devils, who lost out to Argentina in Brazil, climbed to the top of their Euro qualifying Group B after Marouane Fellaini’s goal earned them a 1-0 win over Israel 10 days ago. Above them, the FIFA summit is unchanged, with world champions Germany on top and Argentina in second. Brazil, up one into fifth, have flipped places with the Netherlands, while Spain have reentered the top 10 and France, who as hosts must make do with a diet of friendlies until next year’s European championships, drop three to 11th. 1. Germany 2. Argentina 3. Belgium (+1) 4. Colombia (1) 5. Brazil (+1) 6. Netherlands (-1) 7. Portugal 8. Uruguay (+1) 9. Switzerland (+3) 10. Spain (+1) 11. France (3).—AFP
The Karachi-born wicketkeeper said the presence of a second gloveman in the national team would help him in not getting too complacent about his spot in the side. “First of all, I would like to thank the Pakistan Cricket Board for bestowing this honour upon me. I will try to live up to its expectations as we enter a new era,” Sarfraz said in a press outside the Gaddafi Stadium on day three of Pakistan’s training camp for its upcoming series against Bangladesh. The 27-year-old Sarfraz, whose popularity among Pakistan fans reached a peak during the 2015 World Cup, said the opportunity was ripe for the new generation of cricketers to make a name for themselves and remained unperturbed by the inclusion of Peshawar-born wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan in the ODI and T20 sides. “I think his [Rizwan’s] presence in the squad would keep me on my toes. It is a good sign that management has included a second keeper as it would promote healthy competition in the side.” When asked whether he would prefer to play solely as an opening
batsman in the side with Rizwan in the squad, Sarfraz said he would gladly fulfil any role the team management gives him. He added that the void left by former captain Misbah-ul-Haq would be hard to fill as the national team looks to start a new era under Azhar Ali but remained confident that the new skipper had the goods. “We will be without the services of Misbah-ul-Haq, who has been like a backbone for our team. But I’m confident players like Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam and Asad Shafiq would step up.” Sarfraz also said Bangladesh will be not be taken lightly in the upcoming series. “Bangladesh has been performing well,” he said of the opponents who shocked the higher-ranked England to reach the quarter-final of the World Cup where they lost to India. “They always play well at home so we will not take them lightly and give our best performance.” Pakistan will fly out on April 13 and play the first of three one-dayers in Dhaka on April 17. They also face Bangladesh in a Twenty20 and two Tests.—APP
Josh Hazlewood opts out of Indian Premier League
LAHORE: Players of national cricket team busy in practice session during a training camp for the Bangladesh series which starts from April 17 at Qaddafi Stadium.
Wahab joins Surrey L AHORE —Pakistan’s fiery quick Wahab Riaz will be wowing English crowds this summer after signing a deal with county side Surrey for its domestic Twenty20 cam-
C HENNAI —Australia and Mumbai Indi- best use of that time in the lead up to a ans seamer Josh Hazlewood has pulled out of the IPL to keep himself fit and fresh for the West Indies tour and Ashes defence later this season.
Keeping in mind the lengthy IPL schedule, which clashes with the Australian players’ resting time, and a tight international schedule ahead, Cricket Australia has opted to place him in cotton wool. “Josh’s workload has changed significantly since he first began attending the IPL,” Pat Howard, general manager of Team Performance, said. “The IPL is the players’ leave period and in Josh’s case it was deemed that not playing was the
busy winter. “This was agreed to with the IPL following discussions at the end of the Test series.” Australia begin their West Indies tour with a tour game in Antigua, starting May 27, three days after the IPL final. The teams face off in a two-Test series, which will be followed by the Ashes, beginning with the first Test in Cardiff on July 8. Hazlewood, who claimed figures of 5 for 68 on Test debut against India in Brisbane, had been a vital cog for Australia this summer. He finished the Test series with 12 wickets in three matches at an average of 29.33 and backed it up with some impressive performances in the World Cup, most notably his 4 for 35 against Pakistan in the quarter-final in Adelaide, after replacing Pat Cummins. He capped off the World Cup with seven wickets in five matches at a thrifty economy rate of 4.10. Hazlewood, who was not with Mumbai Indians during the IPL opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, was earlier retained by the side, and was expected to bring his excellent form to the tournament. He becomes the second Australian after Kane Richardson to opt out of the IPL but Mumbai have wellstocked pace bowling options in Lasith Malinga, Corey Anderson, Marchant de Lange, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar.—AFP
Davis shocks Bouchard in Charleston CHARLESTON (United States)—Cana- of the first three Grand Slams of 2014 ninth to eighth in the world rankings dian Eugenie Bouchard slumped to yet — becoming Canada’s first Grand Slam on Monday. Bouchard and Makarova were the another early exit, beaten in her first singles finalist at Wimbledon with her only top-10 players in the draw. match in the WTA Charleston tourna- runner-up finish to Petra Kvitova. Davis, 21, had lost her only prior The tournament also lost secondment by American Lauren Davis. Davis, ranked 66th in the world, seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova. meeting with Bouchard, but was quick needed just 67 minutes to subdue the world number seven 6-3, 6-1 and reach the third round. Bouchard is the top seed in the $731,000 tournament on green clay, accepting a late wild card invitation in hopes of honing her game after falling in her first match at Miami. Instead she endured yet a third opening-match defeat of the season, after also dropping her first match in Antwerp. She also pulled out of Dubai and Monterrey with a right forearm injury. “I obviously hate losing, but I’m not going to be too hard on myself,” Bouchard said. “I know I’ve not been feeling like myself on the court, so it’s just a matter of taking some time now, not playing a tournament, and just taking some time to train and get back to feeling like myself on the court. “I definitely felt a little bit slow today, overpowered, which is never usually the case. Usually I’m the one who’s dominating. So it was definitely just not good — whatever happened was just not good.” Bouchard’s status for Canada’s upcoming FedCup World Group playoff CHARLESTON: Lauren Davis of USA plays a forehand in her second round tie with Romania was unclear after match against Eugenie Bouchard of Canada during WTA Charleston tourTennis Canada on Wednesday named nament. just three players, Francoise Abanda, Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Makarova held on for a gritty 5-7, 6-3, to take control. She won the last 11 6-2 win over China’s Zhang Shuai. games of the contest, breaking Dabrowski to the squad. Bouchard could still be added, but Hours later, however, she pulled out Bouchard twice in the final set for the even though she would bring some of the tournament complaining of a victory. The American used 18 winners with just five unforced errors to sestar power to the tie it doesn’t seem gastro-intestinal illness. It was a disappointing end to her cure the second victory of her career Bouchard would bring the form that saw her reach at least the semi-finals first tournament since rising from over a top 10 player.—AFP
paign. The 29-year-old leftarmer will joining England’s out-of-favour star Kevin Pietersen at the county for a very short stint before linking up with Pakistan for its series against Sri Lanka. “At the moment I am having some visa issues but hopefully they will be sorted soon. I have signed with Surrey to play a couple of Twenty20 matches,” Riaz said in an interview with Cricket Australia. “As Pakistan will be busy playing in Bangladesh and then in Sri Lanka therefore my stint at Surrey will be very short. My priority is to play for the national team.”—APP
Bilawal snaps five wickets as KPT enters Patron’s Cricket Trophy final KARACHI—Rookie left arm paceman Bilawal snappedup five wickets and finished with haul of nine wickets in the match as Karachi Port Trust (KPT) entered the final of Patron’s Grade-II Cricket Championship final by beating K.Electric on the basis of first innings lead on Thursday. Bilawal finished with figures of five wickets for 101 runs in 14 overs as K.Electric declared their second innings for 260-9 in 37 overs here at the National Stadium. Bialwal, whose full named could acertained despite best efforts from KPT officials, claimed four wickets for 108 runs in the first innings, ended with nine wickets for 209 runs in the match. Captain Ramiz Raja slammed 70 off 53 balls with five fours and two sixes and Saud Shakeel made 63 in 347 balls laced with five boundaries and one six. Set 257 to win the match in minimum of 63 overs, KPT finished 158 for the loss of three in 36 overs. Match was called off early with the mutual consent of the two captains with none chances of result.—APP
Mani fears fleak cricket future as players ‘chase money’ L ONDON —Former ICC president Ehsan This problem must be addressed. It is the Mani on Wednesday expressed grave fears about cricket’s future, saying he is “more concerned about the health of the game today than I have ever been”. Mani criticised the world governing body’s decision to reduce the 2019 World Cup to 10 teams and said that many of the game’s 10 Full Member nations faced serious challenges. “A year has passed since the changes at the ICC,” Mani said at the launch of the new Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack at Lord’s, in reference to last year’s takeover at the ICC by the boards of England, India and Australia. “I am more concerned about the health of the game today than I have ever been. When I look around, five of the 10 Full countries are in desperate need of help. “They are faced with two main challenges: one, not enough money; two, not enough quality cricket.” The five teams referred to by Mani are Pakistan, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and he expressed particular concern about the health of the West Indian game. “It is desperately sad to see that some of the West Indian players prefer to play in the IPL (Indian Premier League) and other T20 leagues around the world rather than for West Indies,” he said. “This is simply because of money.
responsibility of the ICC to ensure that the priority for players should be to play for their country before anything else. “Cricket needs a strong West Indies team. Its first-class players need to be paid well to keep them in the game. “They will require $30 million (27.8 million euros) to $50 million more over the next eight years than what they will receive from the ICC and from the sale of their commercial rights.” Mani expressed concerns over the futures of the Associate nations, who may not feature at the next World Cup if the two qualifying berths made available to teams outside the world’s top eight are taken by Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. He said the Associates needed more funding from the ICC and more opportunities to play against Full Member nations, adding that the World Cup “should be inclusive not exclusive”. Mani, who headed the ICC from 2003 to 2006, also called for Test series to feature a minimum of three matches. “A lot of lip service is paid to preserving and protecting Test cricket,” Mani said. “The reality is somewhat different. Sri Lanka toured England last year and played just two Test matches. India was given five Tests, purely because that would mean more money for the host.”—AFP
Chelsea make offer for Japan striker Muto Yoshinori Muto T OKYO —English Premier League leaders Chelsea have made a formal offer for Japan striker Yoshinori Muto, his club FC Tokyo said Thursday. Japanese media reported the offer was worth $5.9 million. “It is true that we have received an official offer from Chelsea for Muto,” said a spokesman for the J-league club. “But nothing has been decided,” the spokesman told AFP, declining to comment further on details, including the amount of money offered. However, Sports Nippon said Chelsea offered about four million pounds ($5.9 million), which would be a J-League record from an overseas club. “I’m honoured to receive an offer from this wonderful team,” the 22-yearold Muto told the sports daily. “But I have not made any decision yet.” Muto began his professional career at FC Tokyo last year, scoring 13 goals in 33 games to match the first-division record for a player in his rookie season. The baby-faced striker also made his debut for Japan last year and scored his first
international goal in a 2-2 draw against Venezuela in September. Muto has scored three goals in four games this season, helping FC Tokyo move into joint
second place in the J-League standings just two points behind leaders Urawa Reds.—AFP
World’s first double centurion in ODI gets recognition in USA Bipin Dani OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI —Australia’s Meg Lanning being named in the Wisden this year, now news emerged from Australia is another former Australian woman cricketer got recognition in USA. Belinda Clarke, the world’s first international player (male or female) to register a double century in ODI has been invited to study the leadership study program in USA. This was revealed by Cricket Australia’s spokesman Jonathan Rose. Speaking exclusively from Melbourne, he says, “Belinda has been accepted into and is currently attending an eight week Harvard School of Executive Education
program in the USA”. “Cricket Australia fully supported her application in recognition of her huge contribution to the game”, he further added. “Her broadened understanding of global trends will assist in her very important role within Australian cricket”. “She is currently responsible for the multi-million dollar National Cricket Centre in Brisbane where she oversees 18 staff and the development of several important programs at the elite and grassroots levels of the game”, Rose further added. Lat year, she became the first female player inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame during the Allan Border Medal ceremony.