Karachi: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has blasted the performance of the national team in the one-day series, singling out captain Misbah-ul-Haq and allrounder Shoaib Malik for scathing criticism. Shoaib said that the Pakistan team needed to review its selection policy for one-day and T20 matches as there was no longer any place for players like Malik. He has been playing for around 12 years and he has accomplished...
04:05 PM, Apr 26, 2008
Sydney: Former captain Ricky Ponting's one-day international career appeared over after he was dropped from Australia's ODI team for the tri-series against India and Sri Lanka. Chief selector John Inverarity on Monday said Ponting, the second all-time leading run-scorer in ODIs, was axed because of his poor batting form. Ponting, 37, said earlier that he wanted to battle through his current slump after scoring just 18 runs in five knocks...
09:29 PM, Apr 25, 2008
In the end, the better team won. Australia had struggled on a sluggish Adelaide Oval surface in their last two matches, but on a Brisbane pitch with more pace and bounce they showed that they have the firepower to make the best-of-three-finals, owing to capable batsmen and very good pace bowlers. For India it was their worst batting effort of the CB Series as a troubling trend of troubles against...
03:00 PM, Apr 25, 2008
Mad scenes unfolded during the 29th over of Australia's innings. Michael Hussey, batting on 1, missed a ball from Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni collected and disturbed the stumps. As the decision went upstairs to the third umpire, Bruce Oxenford, replays showed that Hussey had dragged his back foot back and part of his boot was behind the crease, which meant he was safe. Incredibly, the giant screen flashed a...
02:35 PM, Apr 25, 2008
Lahore: Australian Dav Whatmore will take over as the head coach of Pakistan's cricket team next month with the Asia Cup in Bangladesh being his first assignment. A senior official in the board confirmed to PTI that Whatmore and fielding coach Julian Fontain would be arriving here in the first week of March to sign their contracts. Mohsin Khan does not figure in the plans that the Chairman of the...
02:33 PM, Apr 25, 2008
Sydney: Cricket Australia Board member Harry Harinath has advised Big Bash Twenty20 side Sydney Thunder to rope in players from India and Sri Lanka to increase its fan base among the people of sub-continental origin based here. If you (recruited) two Indian and two Sri Lankan players it'd be fantastic for the Sydney Thunder. No matter who they signed - MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma or whoever - it doesn't really...
12:27 PM, Apr 25, 2008
Lahore: Keen to play in lucrative Twenty20 leagues abroad, some Pakistani cricketers have asked the PCB to re-jig the dates for the tour to Sri Lanka in June-July. PCB sources said some players had committed to playing in the T20 league in England in June and some dates were clashing with the Pakistan team's tour to Sri Lanka. These players now want the board to make minor changes to the...
07:29 AM, Apr 25, 2008
Dubai: Misbah-ul Haq has called for his batsmen to put up a stronger fight to change Pakistan's fortunes in the third one-day match against England on Saturday. Pakistan failed to chase down targets of 261 and 251 in the first two one-day matches to hand England an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. "We have to really improve our batting," the Pakistan captain said on Friday. "In the Tests...
12:45 AM, Apr 25, 2008
Brisbane: India medium pacer R Vinay Kumar is not on anyone's mind and he would just like it the way it is as long as his skipper MS Dhoni keeps turning to him and batsmen keep nibbling at his swinging deliveries. The Karnataka medium-pacer has beggared belief with nine wickets at a staggering average 20.11 -- a wicket every 25th ball -- in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank one-day series. With...
06:17 PM, Apr 24, 2008
Karachi: In a first, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday awarded contracts to three umpires in the country. According to the report, the scheme is limited and only three of the International Cricket Council (ICC) panel umpires from Pakistan - Zameer Haider, Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza - were offered the contracts. Zakir Khan, PCB director for domestic cricket operation, was quoted as saying in the local media on...
01:35 PM, Apr 24, 2008
