Karachi: Shahid Afridi has irked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for giving an interview to the media after his omission from the 15-member squad for the ICC Champions Trophy in England, following which the board is contemplating a disciplinary action against the flamboyant allrounder. Afridi told the Jang newspaper that it was captain Misbah-ul-Haq who didn't want him in the team. "It's the captain's decision to drop me," he told...
08:59 AM, May 02, 2013
Karachi: Pakistan's appointment of Trent Woodhill as batting coach for next month's Champions Trophy has been met with bafflement, with former greats saying they had never even heard of the Australian. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday appointed the 42-year-old Woodhill for three weeks after the team's disastrous performance with the bat on their recent tour of South Africa. Woodhill is currently assistant coach at Delhi Daredevils, second bottom...
05:14 PM, May 01, 2013
Karachi: Struggling allrounder Shahid Afridi vowed on Wednesday to work hard to return to the Pakistan team after being axed from the 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy. "Being in and out is a one-off thing. It happens to every cricket player and I will soon stage a comeback because I believe in hard work and performance, so I don't want to be bitter," Afridi said. The big-hitting all-rounder was...
04:15 PM, May 01, 2013
Islamabad: Shahid Afridi has blamed Pakistan's one-day cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq for his exclusion from the Champions Trophy squad, and has vowed to return to the national team. "It's the captain's decision to drop me," Afridi told the local newspaper Daily Jang on Wednesday. "It's no big deal for me if a captain doesn't want a certain player in the team." In announcing the squad earlier this week, selectors said Afridi,...
01:00 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: India will begin their campaign in the the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy with their Group B match against South Africa at Cardiff on June 6. The biennial tournament is being wound up as the ICC is unable to slot it in the crowded cricketing calendar. India play their second group game against the West Indies at the Oval on June 11 before running into neighbours...
12:28 PM, May 01, 2013
It's the hits, the heaves and the "Yes maximums" that makes any T20 match an exciting and entertaining one. So if IPL 6 is high ...
12:18 PM, May 01, 2013
Australia recalled all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to the squad for their Champions Trophy defence and named George Bailey as vice captain on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Marsh, who played his only one-day international in 2011 against South Africa, was rewarded with a place in the 15-member squad for his strong domestic limited over performance for Western Australia. "Mitchell's domestic season was interrupted by (hamstring) injury but there's no doubt he has the...
11:10 AM, May 01, 2013
Lahore: Pakistan on Monday appointed Australian coach Trent Woodhill to help solve their perennial batting problems during June's Champions Trophy in England. The 42-year-old was involved with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League in Australia and is part of the Delhi Daredevils' support staff in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). He was also New Zealand cricket team's assistant until last year. Pakistan Cricket Board's director of international...
09:33 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Milan: Torino striker Riccardo Meggiorini will face an investigation after allegations he racially abused Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba. Meggiorini denies any wrongdoing during Torino's 2-0 derby loss to Juventus in Serie A on Sunday, saying "there was an insult but it was a perfectly normal one. The kind you get in football, nothing to do with racism." On Monday, the Italian football league says it will send the match officials'...
01:24 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Mumbai: The final Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in June in England and Wales, is to be picked by the national selectors here on May 4, the Cricket Board announced on Monday. The five-man selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil will prune the list of 30 probables already selected to half its size for the June 6-23 tournament. The selectors had dropped senior players Virender...
04:54 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Bangalore: BJP's star campaigner and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a virulent attack on the Congress, especially on its vice president Rahul Gandhi, who he termed "a child born with a golden spoon", asking people never to vote for the party. "Even by mistake don't vote for the Congress as it will ruin Karnataka and the country. Say goodbye to the Congress by voting for our party's...
04:41 AM, Apr 29, 2013
Karachi: Allrounder Shahid Afridi will not be included in the 15-member national squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in England in June, sources claimed on Friday. Although the national selection committee is yet to announce the final 15 but sources told PTI that Afridi has not been shortlisted for the final squad. "Basically Afridi has been dropped and senior players such as Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik...
06:01 PM, Apr 26, 2013
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board will send a vigilance officer with the team for this year's Champions Trophy in England in a bid to avoid a repeat of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf told Reuters on Friday that steps were being taken to ensure the image of Pakistan cricket did not suffer again as it did when the spot-fixing scandal broke on Pakistan's tour of England three...
05:49 PM, Apr 26, 2013
Lahore: Pakistan are a more unified squad and will be unaffected by the 2010 spot-fixing scandal when they return to England in June for the Champions Trophy, according to captain Misbah-ul-Haq. The International Cricket Council banned then-skipper Salman Butt and team mates Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir following the Lord's test against England after the News of the World tabloid broke the story about spot-fixing in the match. The trio...
09:43 PM, Apr 25, 2013
Lahore: Fast-rising Pakistan paceman Junaid Khan said on Thursday he was confident that a county stint with Lancashire would help him perform in the June Champions Trophy in England. The 23-year-old left-armer will spearhead Pakistan's attack in the absence of injured Umar Gul in the eight-nation event to be held June 6-23. Khan said his 2011 Lancashire stint introduced him to the conditions in England. "I played for Lancashire and...
04:14 PM, Apr 25, 2013
Johannesburg: Cricket South Africa says JP Duminy is on course to be fit for the Champions Trophy after his six-month rehabilitation for a ruptured left Achilles tendon he sustained during a warm-down session last year. CSA says allrounder Duminy should return to full fitness by the end of May, just in time for the June 6-23 limited overs tournament in England and Wales. Duminy was injured on South Africa's test...
12:49 AM, Apr 25, 2013
London: England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy in June after a slower-than-expected recovery from a knee injury. However, England expects Pietersen to be back in full training by the "middle of June," making him available for the Ashes series against Australia that starts on July 10. The England and Wales Cricket Board says a repeat MRI scan on Pietersen's injured right knee "has shown...
10:41 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Karachi: Pakistani pacer Wahab Riaz believes the national team will not be haunted by the spot-fixing scandal when they go to England for the ICC Champions Trophy in June. Wahab was part of the Pakistan squad that was hit by the spot-fixing scandal in 2010 after the fourth Test at Lords, which led to the suspension of captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, followed by...
09:34 PM, Apr 24, 2013
London: Pop diva Madonna's homeless brother has been arrested and suffered nine stitches while resisting the arrest. Police were called to the Grand Traverse County Civic Center in Michigan after 56-year-old Anthony Gerard Ciccone refused to leave the bathroom and began harassing staff, reported Daily Mirror. "He pulled away, turned around and confronted the female officer in an aggressive manner. She turned him around and brought him to the ground,...
06:27 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has agreed to undergo rehabilitation while serving his ban for spot-fixing because he wants to resume his cricketing career once the suspension ends. The 28-year-old was banned for 10 years, with five of those suspended, by an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal in 2011 after being found guilty of arranging deliberate no-balls to be delivered in a 2010 Lord's test against England. Butt and...
11:58 AM, Apr 24, 2013
