Hafeez to the fore as Pakistan's ODI bowlers dominate at the top

Pakistan players now occupy the top two positions in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers after a strong performance from Mohammad Hafeez in the recent three-match series in Bangladesh.The 31-year-old gains six places in the latest rankings and now sits just 19 ratings points behind team-mate Saeed Ajmal, who heads the list.Hafeez took six wickets in the series at an average of just 8.16 and an economy-rate of less than two runs per over making him the pick of an impressive bunch. Ajmal did enough to stay top of the world rankings with series figures of 4-52.There were also gains for Umar Gul, who rose three places to 26th position, and Shoaib Malik, who gained 35 places to 82nd in the world.Hafeez's bowling, coupled with some good support with the bat down the order, has earned him one place on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders and he now occupies second position, having overtaken Australia's Shane Watson. He is just 13 ratings points behind leader Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.Despite losing the series 3-0, Shakib was his usual competitive self and his series figures of 4-90 earned him three places on the bowling rankings as he moves to seventh overall.For India, R Ashwin has broken into the top 20 of the bowling charts for the first time in his career. With two matches remaining in the ongoing series with the West Indies, the 25-year-old from Chennai has gained three places and moves up to 18th position in the rankings.There is also good progress for Ravi Rampaul in the bowling rankings (up one place to 13th), while in the batting list those moving up include Lendl Simmons (up five spots to 25th), Darren Bravo (up 15 to 54th) and Andre Russell (up 34 to 76th). For India, Virat Kohli (up one place to fourth) and Rohit Sharma (up 21 places to 35th) also improve. However, Gautam Gambhir loses seven places in the latest rankings to 19th position and is now level with South Africa's JP Duminy.

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India clinch West Indies ODI series

INDORE : Virender Sehwag hit a record 219 off 149 balls as India defeated the West Indies by 153 runs in Indore on Thursday to take a decisive 3-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.India piled up their highest one-day total of 418-5 and then bowled out the West Indies for 265 in the day-night international.The fifth and final match will be played in Chennai on Sunday.Brief scores:India 418-5 in 50 overs; West Indies 265 all out in 49.2 overs.

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England squad named for 3-Test series against Pakistan

LONDON : England announced on Friday their squad for playing a three-Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates starting in January:Following is the 16-man squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Steven Davies (wk), Monty Panesar, Ravi BoparaItinerary: Jan 03: England arrive, Jan 07-09: TBC v England XI, venue TBC, Jan 11-13: TBC v England XI, venue TBC, Jan 17-21:1st Test, Dubai, Jan 25-29: 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi, Feb 03-07: 3rd Test, Dubai, Feb 10: TBC v England XI, Abu Dhabi, Feb 13:1st ODI, Abu Dhabi, Feb 15:2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi, Feb 18:3rd ODI, Dubai, Feb 21:4th ODI, Dubai, Feb 23:1st T20, Dubai, Feb 25:2nd T20, Dubai, Feb 27: 3rd T20, Abu Dhabi.

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Hafeez ton puts Pakistan in strong position

CHITTAGONG : Mohammad Hafeez completed his fourth Test century to put Pakistan in a strong position on the second day of the opening Test against Bangladesh here at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Saturday.The opener was unbeaten on 113 as the tourists reached 212-1 in their first innings at lunch in reply to Bangladesh's 135 after adding 80 runs to their overnight total of 132 for no loss.Hafeez, 74 overnight, reached his hundred in style when he drove off-spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah through the covers for a four. He has so far cracked 12 boundaries in his 187-ball knock.Azhar Ali was unbeaten on 24 at the break.Hafeez put Pakistan on course for a big total with a 164-run stand for the opening wicket with left-handed Taufeeq Umar, who scored 61 for his 12th Test half-century.Bangladesh broke the opening-wicket stand in the day's 16th over when Mahmudullah trapped Umar leg-before after the batsman had added eight runs to his overnight score of 53.Umar's 164-ball knock contained eight fours.Pakistan on Friday bowled Bangladesh out in 51.2 overs, with left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal each taking three wickets.Fast bowlers Aizaz Cheema and Umar Gul took two wickets apiece.

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New Zealand lead Aussies in low-scoring Test

HOBART : New Zealand held a lead of 43 runs at tea on the second day after rolling Australia for 136 in the second Test at Bellerive Oval on Saturday.Fast bowlers Peter Siddle and James Pattinson helped the Australians avoid their lowest Test score against the Kiwis with a 56-run eighth-wicket stand after the home side went to lunch at 81 for seven.At tea, New Zealand had added to their 14-run innings lead to be 29 without loss with Martin Guptill on 12 and Brendon McCullum on nine.Australia struggled in their pursuit of the Kiwis' first innings of 150 and at one stage were on track for their lowest Test total against New Zealand of 103 set in Auckland in 1986.But Siddle (36) and Pattinson (17) saved their blushes with their partnership as the Bellerive pitch began to play easier after its first-day demons.New Zealand's all pace attack kept the Australians under pressure with Chris Martin (3-46), Trent Boult (3-29) and Doug Bracewell (3-20) among the wickets. Australia lost six wickets in the extended morning session after resuming at 12 for one following Friday's loss of Phil Hughes for four.David Warner only lasted 17 minutes into the second day before he nicked Martin to Ross Taylor at first slip for 15.Ricky Ponting walked before he was given out leg before wicket for five after playing Tim Southee across his pads.It was the fifth time in his last six Test innings that Test cricket's third-greatest runscorer was out lbw and the 30th Test innings since his last century.Ponting's last big knock was 209 against Pakistan almost two years ago in Hobart.Usman Khawaja's watchful 51-ball vigil ended when he edged Martin to wicketkeeper Reece Young for seven in 77 minutes and left Australia 35 for four.Mike Hussey tried to get his bat out of the way of a Boult lifter only to bottom-edge a catch to Young for eight to send Australia reeling at 58 for five.Brad Haddin was out to a loose shot finding Brendan McCullum at mid-off for five and giving Bracewell his first wicket.Michael Clarke did not offer a shot and was surprised by Bracewell's low bounce to be bowled for 22.But Siddle and Pattinson eased Australia past their trans-Tasman Test lowest score before Siddle was caught in the slips by Guptill off Bracewell and Pattinson fell in the next over, brilliantly caught in the gully by Kane Williamson off Boult.Boult took his third wicket in his debut Test trapping Mitchell Starc lbw for four. (AFP) 

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India win toss, put Windies into bat in 3rd ODI

AHMEDABAD : India captain Virender Sehwag won the toss and put West Indies into bat in the third One-day International being played here at the Sardar Patel Stadium Motera on Monday. India, leading 2-0 in the five-match series, made one change from the side that won the second one-dayer by five wickets as they brought in paceman Abhimanyu Mithun in place of Varun Aaron.The West Indies replaced opener Adrian Barath with debutant spinner Sunil Narine.Teams: West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Lendl Simmons, Danza Hyatt, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine.India: Virender Sehwag (captain), Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Mithun. 

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DHAKA: Despite a magnificent maiden hundred by Nasir Hossain, Pakistan recorded second consecutive victory against Bangladesh to win the series of three One-day Internationals 2-0 here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday. Nasir scored exact 100 runs in 155 balls with a six and eleven fours but his team was defeated by 76 runs in the end. Chasing 263, Bangladesh could make 186 runs for seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Earlier, Umar Akmal scored 59 and Shahid Afridi hit 42 off 27 balls as Pakistan piled up 262-7 after they won the toss and elected to bat in the day-night match at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. The total proved beyond Bangladesh's reach after they were reduced to 19-4 in the 10th over, and managed only 186-7 despite a maiden international century from Nasir Hossain. Nasir cracked 100 and Shakib Al Hasan made 34, the pair sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 106 runs, but Bangladesh were never in the hunt against the tight Pakistani bowling. The 20-year-old Nasir, playing only his ninth one-dayer, plundered 11 boundaries and a six before he was dismissed in the final over. Seamer Umar Gul finished with four for 36, while off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez conceded just 15 runs in his 10 overs with two wickets. Pakistan's 27th win over the Tigers in 28 one-dayers has left only academic interest in the third and final match to be played in the port city of Chittagong on Tuesday. The one-dayers will be followed by two Test matches. Pakistan had won the Twenty20 international by 50 runs and the first one-dayer by five wickets at the same venue. Hafeez, who opened Pakistan's attack, removed Imrul Kayes and Shahriar Nafees in successive overs after Gul had dismissed the aggressive Tamim Iqbal in his second over. Gul also had Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim caught at gully, before Nasir and Shakib delayed the inevitable with their century partnership. Pakistan's innings revolved around a fourth-wicket stand of 83 between Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq (37), before Afridi smashed two sixes and three boundaries towards the end to boost the total. Hafeez (32) and Younis Khan (37) put on 57 for the second wicket after opener Imran Farhat had fallen in the third over. Akmal lifted the tempo by reaching his 11th one-day half-century off 49 balls, steering seamer Rubel Hossain to the third-man fence. The 21-year-old fell in the next over, the 39th of the innings, when he holed out in the deep off Shakib to make Pakistan 176-4. It soon became 193-5 as one-day debutant Elias Sunny picked up his first wicket when he had Misbah caught in the deep in the 42nd over.

BRISBANE : A James Pattinson-inspired Australia won the first trans-Tasman Test at the Gabba on Sunday by nine wickets within four days.They required 19 second innings runs to win after a stunning burst by Test debutant Pattinson (5-27) helped the hosts rout New Zealand for 150 in their second innings on Sunday.Australia (1-19) lost opener Phil Hughes (seven) - who was dropped the previous ball - before David Warner (12 not out) hit the winning boundary.The 21-year-old Victorian boasted figures of 5-7 by his seventh over - his first five-wicket haul in just his 10th first-class game.New Zealand began the day at 1-10 but went to lunch at 7-121.And they were 8-123 when the stubborn Dean Brownlie (42) was dismissed by Peter Siddle (1-44) on the eighth ball after lunch.Off-spinner Nathan Lyon (3-19) helped clean up the tail.It marked a big turnaround for Pattinson who was 0-13 after his first Test over on Thursday, finishing with first innings figures of 1-64 off 15 overs.But not everything he touched turned to gold on Sunday.He dropped Perth-born Brownlie on 34, denying Warner a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket.New Zealand took seven off the first over of the day before all hell broke loose.Martin Guptill (12) was snapped up at bat-pad and two balls later Kane Williamson (0) was caught behind driving - as was captain Ross Taylor (0) next ball.Jesse Ryder survived the hat-trick ball, jamming out a nasty yorker but New Zealand soon slumped to 5-28 in the 13th over.Nightwatchman Doug Bracewell would not have fancied his odds of surviving considering his rotten luck in Brisbane - he had three chances go down off his bowling in Australia's 427 first dig after dismissing Michael Clarke (139) on a no ball. Sure enough he was next to go - giving Pattinson five scalps. The aggressive Ryder (36 off 38) showed some resistance before being caught slogging.Pattinson was named man of the match for his efforts in the second dig.

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Nasir Hossain’s ton in vain as Pakistan win series

DHAKA : Despite a magnificent maiden hundred by Nasir Hossain, Pakistan recorded second consecutive victory against Bangladesh to win the series of three One-day Internationals 2-0 here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.Nasir scored exact 100 runs in 155 balls with a six and eleven fours but his team was defeated by 76 runs in the end.Chasing 263, Bangladesh could make 186 runs for seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs.Earlier, Umar Akmal scored 59 and Shahid Afridi hit 42 off 27 balls as Pakistan piled up 262-7 after they won the toss and elected to bat in the day-night match at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.The total proved beyond Bangladesh's reach after they were reduced to 19-4 in the 10th over, and managed only 186-7 despite a maiden international century from Nasir Hossain.Nasir cracked 100 and Shakib Al Hasan made 34, the pair sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 106 runs, but Bangladesh were never in the hunt against the tight Pakistani bowling.The 20-year-old Nasir, playing only his ninth one-dayer, plundered 11 boundaries and a six before he was dismissed in the final over.Seamer Umar Gul finished with four for 36, while off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez conceded just 15 runs in his 10 overs with two wickets.Pakistan's 27th win over the Tigers in 28 one-dayers has left only academic interest in the third and final match to be played in the port city of Chittagong on Tuesday.The one-dayers will be followed by two Test matches.Pakistan had won the Twenty20 international by 50 runs and the first one-dayer by five wickets at the same venue.Hafeez, who opened Pakistan's attack, removed Imrul Kayes and Shahriar Nafees in successive overs after Gul had dismissed the aggressive Tamim Iqbal in his second over.Gul also had Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim caught at gully, before Nasir and Shakib delayed the inevitable with their century partnership.Pakistan's innings revolved around a fourth-wicket stand of 83 between Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq (37), before Afridi smashed two sixes and three boundaries towards the end to boost the total.Hafeez (32) and Younis Khan (37) put on 57 for the second wicket after opener Imran Farhat had fallen in the third over.Akmal lifted the tempo by reaching his 11th one-day half-century off 49 balls, steering seamer Rubel Hossain to the third-man fence.The 21-year-old fell in the next over, the 39th of the innings, when he holed out in the deep off Shakib to make Pakistan 176-4.It soon became 193-5 as one-day debutant Elias Sunny picked up his first wicket when he had Misbah caught in the deep in the 42nd over

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