Daryl Harper accuses Indian players of bullying

SYDNEY: Australian umpire Daryl Harper has sacrificed his last test appearance and decided to stand his ground over accusations he leveled against the India cricket team. The ICC however remains silent over Harpers accusations.Harper had to leave cricket one day but he is not at all satisfied with the way he had to leave. He has held the Indian cricket team responsible for this and has accused them of bullying, stressing that he took this step because someone had to speak out against the Indian cricket team. The ICC has remained silent despite the public accusations made by Harper.Indian captain M.S. Dhoni condemned Harpers performance during India’s first test against the West Indies and said “If the correct decisions were made the game would have finished much earlier and I would have been in the hotel by now." Despite raising his voice against the ICC umpire, not even a warning was issued to Dhoni. To hide their mistake and support India at all costs, ICC said that when the incident took place Harper did not report it.ICC Chief Executive Haroon Logart said he had always supported Harper and it was unfortunate things ended the way they did. He added that he could not help Harper when he had to sacrifice his last Test appearance over the insistence of the Indian cricket team.This is not the first time the Indian team has had differences with umpires and match referees and has always managed to come out on top. Experts add that if Harpers accusations are not taken seriously than Indian players will turn the game into a joke.

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Squad for Zimbabwe series to be announced next week

LAHORE: The National Cricket Selection Committee will announce the team for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe next week and it is expected that new players will be included in the squad,Pakistan will play one test, three one day internationals (ODIs) and two T20 matches during the tour. The team will depart for Zimbabwe on August 28. According to chief selector Mohsin Khan, the selection committee is expected to meet on July 27 and 28 once PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt returns to the country.

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KARACHI: Former captain Shahid Afridi’s father passed away here on Wednesday following an extended illness, The family members of the cricketer told the reporters that Sahabzada Fazul Rehman Afridi succumbed to illness. Afridi’s father was not keeping good health for the past many days, that is why, the all-rounder returned home after canceling his foreign tours.The funeral prayers will be offered after Asr prayers while he will be buried in Scot Colony graveyard in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Afridi's brother Mushtaq Afridi told.

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Kamran seeks guidance from former wicket keepers

LAHORE: Wicket keeper Kamran Akmal has decided that he will seek guidance from former wicket keepers Wasim Bari, Moin Khan, Rashid Latif and Saleem Yousuf to improve his game, Geo News reported.Kamran Akmal is training alongside Test cricketer Mohammed Hafiz at the National Cricket Academy.Speaking to the media Akmal said he was going through intense training to correct mistakes which were brought to light during the World Cup.

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Test championship could witness a ‘Timeless’ Test: Lorgat

LONDON: The new world Test championship could witness the first timeless Test in more than 70 years, according to Haroon Lorgat The International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive said the format, where matches are played to a finish, regardless of time constraints, could be revived for the final of a four-team tournament to determine the world's leading Test side due to take place in England in 2013.Currently Tests are limited to five days, usually with six hours' playing time, but can end in a draw if bad weather interrupts the match or either side cannot bowl out the other twice."It is common knowledge that we hope in 2013 the top four teams will be involved in two semi-finals and a final to determine a world Test champion," Lorgat said. "The committee is currently working on it but it is not a good idea to end up with a drawn Test match."Whether (drawn games) are decided on a first-innings basis or on runs scored in the game we don't know but they will come up with a viable formula to determine a winner."The final may be a timeless Test, at this stage we don't know but we are looking into the mechanics."The last 'timeless' Test took place between South Africa and England at Durban in 1939 which was eventually declared a draw after nine' days play spread across 12 days in all.A draw ensued when the England team had to leave or they would have missed the boat home. England's fourth innings total of 654 for five remains a record for a first-class match and the 'timeless' Test remains the longest yet played."Statistics tell us that most Test matches now produce a result inside five days, but it may yet be a timeless Test," added Lorgat."It is a work in progress but I would favour finding a winner because you want a world champion," the South African explained.

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PCB recovers Rs4.5 million fine from Afridi

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has recovered a fine of Rs 4.5 million from former national captain Shahid Afridi, Geo News reported Tuesday.Chief Operating Officer of PCB, Subhan Ahmed told the channel that the finance department had deducted the fine amount from the dues that were to be paid to Afridi for the World Cup and tour to West Indies.The disciplinary committee of the board had fined Afridi for several breaches of the code of conduct last month.The fine came after a stand off between Afridi and the PCB allowing his removal as captain of the national one-day squad in May. He announced his retirement in protest and criticised the board for its conduct and not respecting senior players.After he withdraw a case against the PCB from the Sindh High Court, Afridi appeared before the disciplinary committee which fined him but asked the board to issue him an NOC to go and play for Hampshire in England's domestic Twenty20 event.

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Pakistan team to have short camp ahead of Zimbabwe tour

The Pakistan cricket team for next month's tour of Zimbabwe will only undergo a short conditioning camp as it coincides with the holy month of Ramazan, according to PCB sources."Since Ramazan starts from around August 2 and the team has to leave for Harare around the 24th it has been decided to have a three-four days conditioning camp before the team's departure," a Pakistan Cricket Board official said.He said the schedule of the camp would be finalised once chief coach, Waqar Younis arrives here from Australia.Waqar, who is based in Sydney, had delayed his arrival by 10 days due to ill health, but will now reach Lahore on Monday.In his absence, the PCB has been organising fast-track camps at the national cricket academy for leading players, including members of the national team available in Pakistan.Many of the leading players are presently busy playing county cricket in England. "The fast-track camps continue till July end so there is no purpose having a full-fledged camp before the Zimbabwe tour," the official said.Pakistan will play one Test, three one-day internationals and a T20 match during the three-week tour.The official confirmed that before leaving, the board would also announce the revised list of central contracts for players. "We were supposed to release the revised list of contracted players from July 1st and the list is final. We are just waiting for final approval from the board chairman who returns from abroad next week," the official said.Indications are that the revised list will include more young players and some players would be dropped, including fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who retired from all cricket during the World Cup and former captain, Shahid Afridi, who has also announced his retirement from international cricket.Both the seniors were placed in the category A of the last contracts list announced in January this year. "There is also no chance of Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik or even Kamran Akmal getting contracts since while the first two are not cleared for selection by the integrity committee of the board, Kamran is out of favor with the national selectors," he said.A source confirmed that the selectors wanted some new players to be included in the list.The source also ruled out the possibility of senior batsman, Mohammad Yusuf getting a contract although he had been active in the domestic circuit.Interestingly, the ICC Task team in its recent report, made one recommendation to the PCB that the number of contracted players should not be more than 20.

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Pakistan looking to blood youngsters in T20 team

Pakistan is hoping to blood youngsters to boost its chances of regaining the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka next year.Pakistan, who lost to India in the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa in 2007, went on to capture the crown in England two years later. But they failed to defend the title in the Caribbean last year, losing to Australia in the semi-finals from a seemingly winning position.It may lag far behind teams like old rivals India, South Africa and Australia in Tests and One-day Internationals, but in Twenty20 cricket Pakistan has a better success ratio than any other side. They have in their ranks some of the most successful players in Twenty20 format. However, in recent times the team's performance in the version has dipped a bit.The exit of Shahid Afridi might further dent Pakistan's title chances in Sri Lanka. Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, retired from international cricket after a bitter fallout with the country's cricket authorities earlier this summer.But Pakistani cricket officials are upbeat about the country's Twenty20 future. They believe that by blooding youngsters in the team, Pakistan can boost their World Twenty20 title hopes."We are in the process of making our plans for next year's Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and are confident of preparing the team well," Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan team manager, was quoted as saying in The News Monday.Intikhab's optimism springs from the fact that Pakistan have a number of talented youngsters, who are currently making their presence felt at the domestic circuit. Youngsters like Ramiz Raja Jr - an explosive top order batsman - showcased their talents at a Twenty20 tournament in Faisalabad last month."Twenty20 is mostly a young man's game," said Intikhab, a former Pakistan Test captain."You have to have young guys who can hit the ball out of the park. You need guys who can really fight even while defending small totals. You need guys who are exceptionally good fielders. I'm sure that Pakistan currently has plenty of such guys."Intikhab has been keenly following the opening phase of a fast-track coaching project that concluded last week at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. It featured fast bowlers and batsmen. The second phase, dedicated to spinners and wicket-keepers, will begin at the NCA Monday."Several of the youngsters who featured in the first phase look seem to be really good," said Intikhab, who has also served as Pakistan's national coach. "We can even blood some of them in our national Twenty20 squad," he added.The coaching project is taking place under the supervision of former Test cricketers, including chief selector Mohsin Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Ijaz Ahmed and Abdul Qadir. The programme is being run by Intikhab, who is also Pakistan Cricket Board's director of game development.

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Informal Butt-ICC meeting salted for Lord's

LONDON: PCB chairman Ijaz Butt is likely to have an informal discussion on the Pakistan Task Team's (PTT) report with the ICC's top brass and PTT members during the Lord's Test between England and India beginning on July 21. It will be the first, albeit unofficial, meeting between the PCB, the ICC and the PTT since the report was published."The chairman will be going to Lord's, although there is no formal meeting scheduled there," PCB's chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad told PTI. "But it is likely he will have informal discussions with ICC president [Sharad Pawar] and chief executive [Haroon Lorgat], and Giles Clarke, the head of the Task Team, and some of its members.The Pakistan board, in its reply to the PTT' recommendations, had pointed out that apart from a short visit by David Richardson, the report had been prepared without the Task Team actually visiting Pakistan. It, the PCB response said, raised "serious questions on the observations given in the report". There have been reports of Clarke and Lorgat visiting Pakistan, and it could be one of the issues that come up at Lord's, according to Ahmad. "So far we have no official intimation about the Task Team visiting Pakistan soon, but at Lord's this could be discussed by the ICC and the Task Team with our chairman."We told the task team many times that they needed to visit Pakistan while compiling their report," Ahmad said, adding that the board would still welcome any proposed trips by members of the panel to Pakistan.In a further sign of a potential thaw between the board and the ICC over the matter Ahmad said the board had only dismissed the recommendations it felt were redundant or based on inaccurate information. "The constructive recommendations and proposals by the task team which are good for Pakistan cricket are under consideration," Ahmad said. "We are looking at ways to implement them soon."Ahmad dismissed suggestions that the PCB's initial cold response had soured relations with the ICC. "We appreciate the ICC and task team's intentions to help and support Pakistan cricket. Our relations remain very good and there is no confrontation on this matter," he said.The ICC set up the Task Team, following the attacks on the touring Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March 2009, to look into reviving Pakistan's reputation as an international cricket host. Since then, the parameters of the PTT have grown to take in integrity and governance issues. At the ICC's annual conference in June, the PTT had presented a 38-page report listing 63 far-reaching recommendations, which included changes to the board's administration, to the process of selection, managerial appointments, the central contracts pool and even the kind of ball used in domestic cricket.

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'Enforcer' Broad should concentrate on 'accuracy': Flower

England team Director Andy Flower has told fast bowler Stuart Broad to forget playing the role of an 'enforcer' and concentrate on improving his accuracy.He has got pace and bounce and he is a great competitor, but he can be more accurate," lower was quoted, as saying.His job is to create pressure and to take wickets and to do that you generally bowl at off stump. So his job is not to rough up the opposition. It is not to be this ridiculous enforcer," he added.England dropped Broad for the one-day international series decider against Sri Lanka earlier this month and he is now unlikely to find a place in the first test against India, The Telegraph reports.Earlier, England bowling coach David Saker had said that he wants Broad to play the role of 'an enforcer' to rip opposite sides."We want him to be the enforcer in our team. There is no better bowler in the world than Stuart at bowling bouncers," Saker said.Broad was sent back to county circuit last week to find some form ahead of the India series."We always select our best XI and Stuart has been a big part of that for the last few years. That is the criteria we will use when picking the side for Lords. He is in the squad but we are yet to make a decision about the best XI," Flower said.

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