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NEWS UPDATE : Asian Cricket Third Sri Lanka-Pakistan ODI abandoned due to rain COLOMBO: The third One-day International between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned due to rain here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. The umpires made this decision after consulting ... Australia want to master all forms of game: Clarke SYDNEY: Australia's limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make them the top nation in all three forms of the game, captain Michael Clarke said ... Bopara glad to be back for England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Ravi Bopara is eager to make up for lost times as he tries to revive his ... South Africa name unchanged squad for England series JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have kept faith with a winning formula by naming an unchanged squad for the three-Test series in England starting next month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on ...


Saturday, March 03, 2012

Pakistan Team Squad For Asia Cup 2012 And Players List

Pakistan Cricket Board announce the Pakistan Indian Team Squad For Asia Cup 2012. In this Series Pakistan has to face India and that will be surely a great match after the World Cup 2011, where Pakistan lose from India. After the poor performance of the Pakistan team where they were whitewashed by 4-0 in the ODI matches and them also lose T20 matches by 2-1 now this is the time for Pakistan Team Squad to prove themselves that they are still the best because only this team in this whole series is a team on whom you can never bet. Pakistan team is the most unpredictable team of the world so nobody know what will gonna be happen in this thrilling series.

Pakistan Team squad has all the abilities that they can win this series and also this team is the most favorite team for this Asia Cup Series 2012 which will going to be start on 12th March and ends on 22nd March. The first match of this Series will played between the most favorite Pakistan and Bangladesh at Mirpur, as all the matches will be in Mirpur at Sher-e- Bangla Stadium. Pakistan team Player list for Asia Cup 2012 has a strong bowling side like Umer Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Boom Boom Shahid Afridi.

Junaid will not going to play this series as during the UAE series Junaid suffers a knee injury. Pakistan has all the capabilities to win this series, although the home ground advantage is with Bangladesh but this team is not so strong in front of the Giants like Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka but Pakistan team squad mostly players knows the Sher-e-Bangla stadium very well as by playing matches during the BPL so this team can also avail this advantage too.
Pakistan Team Squad For Asia Cup 2012 And Players List The decision of who will be in the team for this series is totally in the hands of Pakistan Cricket Board and now this time only we can suppose that who will be a part of those matches but Pakistan Cricket Board will going to be announce the full and final squad for this series today or tomorrow.  As Misbah-ul-Haq is the Captain of the Pakistan Team in the Asia cup but now cricket lovers do not want to see Misbah as a part of Pakistan Team Squad For Asia Cup 2012 because of his poor performance in UAE series which will cause an ultimate lose for Pakistan team reputation.

Whatmore arrives in Lahore to sign contract

LAHORE: Former Australian batsman Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup glory, arrived here to sign a contract to become Pakistan’s new cricket coach, an official said Friday.

The 57-year-old Whatmore, who played seven Tests and one limited overs international for Australia, coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup title in 1996 and also helped Bangladesh reach the second round in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Whatmore was chosen by a three-member coaching committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after regular coach Waqar Younis left the post citing health issues in September last year.

Former Pakistan opener Mohsin Khan was appointed interim coach under whom Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and whitewashed England 3-0 in Tests before they went down tamely 4-0 in one-day series and 2-1 in the Twenty20 internationals last month.

The head of the coaching committee Intikhab Alam confirmed Whatmore will sign a contract.

“Whatmore and Julien Fountain (likely to take over as fielding coach) have arrived here and Whatmore will sign a contract as head coach of the Pakistan team,” Alam told refusing to give further details of the contract.

Whatmore’s first assignment will be to help the team in the four-nation Asia Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Defending champions India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will also compete in the March 11-22 event.

Alam said Whatmore would assist the newly-formed selection committee along with captain Misbah-ul Haq to pick the squad later Friday. Former spinner Iqbal Qasim was appointed head of the selection committee after Mohammad Ilyas resigned from the post on Thursday.

Whatmore will be Pakistan’s fourth foreign coach after Richard Pybus (South Africa), Bob Woolmer (England and South Africa) and Geoff Lawson served in the past.

The hub of cricket’s development




DUBAI: Dubai’s status as an east-meets-west business hub is being rivalled in the world of sport with cricket’s state-of-the-art academy, also a home from home for Pakistan’s international brigade.

Set up by the International Cricket Council (ICC), in company with Dubai Sports City (DSC) in 2010, the Global Cricket Academy (GCA) caters for players from around the world.

Tim Anderson, the ICC global development manager, said the academy is the hub of the game’s development.

“The ICC’s vision, together with DSC, was to develop a world-class, multi-purpose facility, and then provide a wide variety of programmes that could see anybody from the global and local cricket community use them,” Anderson told AFP.

Maqbool Dudhia, general manager of DSC, said the academy is fulfilling those objectives.

“The idea is to be a cricketing hub for the world, something that suits it perfectly given the UAE’s geographical location in relation to the rest of the cricketing world, and we are delighted it has not only fulfilled that objective but exceeded it,” said Dudhia.

Since the academy opened, 24 of the ICC’s members – including Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, the West Indies, as well as a number of English county teams – have used the facilities for either camps, training or matches.

The GCA and the adjoining Dubai Stadium have also become home for the Pakistan team which is forced to play their international cricket in the UAE because of security fears back home.

In addition, over 1,500 children have participated in the junior progammes, while the facilities have hosted several UAE club competitions and a number of training courses for coaches, officials and groundsmen.

Former Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh introduced a multi-dimensional programme of education and coaching as the academy got off to a flying start.

Since Marsh returned to Australia last year, former Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar is in charge of the coaching, alongside former New Zealand paceman Dayle Hadlee.

“I enjoy my role as it is an opportunity for me to pass on what I know about the game,” said Nazar.

“The enthusiasm and the will to learn is in abundance and I hope the talent unearthed at the academy will go places at international level.”

The facilities and the top-class coaching have attracted children of expats from not only India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka but also from European countries.

“My son was wasting his time watching television and playing computer games before I got to know about the GCA and now he is on cloud nine, learning cricket,” said Asif Kashodia, a Pakistani businessman.

To test skills there is Hawkeye, allowing coaches to highlight weaknesses, not only in players but in those who want to learn umpiring.

The ProBatter, which allows batsmen to simulate facing the world’s leading bowlers, is the main attraction.

Pitch Vision is a new plug-and-play coaching aid that allows analysis of players’ techniques.

There are various types of bowling machines all of which offer different and varied challenges, as well as numerous types of surfaces, both in the indoor facility and the outdoor practice and match pitches.

There are two full-sized cricket grounds, where warm-up matches and the first-ever cricket series between disabled teams of Pakistan and England was played.

And visiting school teams find the GCA a delightful place.

“Our lads are learning heck of a lot. There are different pitches like WACA and Asian wickets where you can play different lengths, and from cricket to catering we were taken well care of. We want to come again and again,” said David Fallows, director of Bromsgrove School in Birmingham.

Supporters want India-Pakistan series: Gavaskar


ABU DHABI: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday said he hoped a window could be found to accommodate an India-Pakistan series, as tight schedules were stopping the arch-rivals from playing each other.

India suspended all bilateral ties with Pakistan in the wake of the deadly 2008 militant attacks in Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on extremists based across the border.

But despite a recent thaw, with Pakistan declaring India “the most favoured nation” and both prime ministers vowing to improve relations, formal cricketing ties remain suspended.

Both countries are scheduled to play in 2013 under the International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme (FTP) but India’s busy schedule has left no space for the ties to be revived.

Former India captain Gavaskar said his country’s tight schedule makes the imminent resumption of matches tough.

“Hurdles are very simply, the tight schedules which are there for India in particular are stopping the revival. India are absolutely tight up until 2014,” Gavaskar told

“I think if the ICC can convince other scheduled tours around India and Pakistan to be delayed then maybe it can create a window but honestly… it looks difficult even in 2014.”

Gavaskar, widely respected in both India and Pakistan for his superb batting, said any series between the two South Asian rivals needs proper time and length.

“Frankly, if you want to have a India-Pakistan series it can’t be one Test. It has to be a proper three Test, five one-day and two to three Twenty20. But I think the real connoisseur of the game wants India and Pakistan to play Tests,” he added.

People in both countries were missing the contest, while the cricketers were keen to play and prove themselves, he said, likening the contest to the age-old rivalry between England and Australia.

Gavaskar said the last match between the two countries in Mohali  the one day international World Cup semi-final in March 2011 — was memorable, not just for the electric atmosphere among the fans both inside and outside the stadium.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, attended the match at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in a move seen as “cricket diplomacy” to improve fractured ties.

“There is that wanting on the part of the cricket supporters but their hands are tied for the reasons that the schedules are tight,” said Gavaskar.

“As former players we can only talk about it. It’s up to the administrators whose hands are tied because they need approvals from the respective governments.”

International cricket to soon resume in Pakistan: Bangladesh


ISLAMABAD: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Mustafa Kamal said that international cricket will soon be resumed in Pakistan,  Saturday.

BCB chief Mustafa Kamal was addressing a press conference along with Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad and said that both the countries enjoy cordial relationship with each other and Pakistan played a vital role in the International Cricket Council (ICC) for Bangladesh.

The BCB president along with 8-member delegation is in Pakistan to scrutinize the security situation in the country for the proposed one-day series. He hoped that the matters would proceed positively with time.

He invited Rehman Malik and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Zaka Ashraf to visit Bangladesh.

At the same occasion, Malik assured that the Bangladeshi team would be provided with foolproof security ‘everywhere’ and an effective strategy would be planned according to their wishes.

Stuart Law, Bangladesh’s cricket coach, has refused to tour Pakistan for a proposed one-day series because of security fears. According to reports, Law has told Bangladesh’s cricket board that he will not be available for the tour of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities are hoping to convince Bangladesh’s security experts over the next two days that it is safe for them to send their cricketers here for a series that will mark the return of international cricket in the country.

A nine-member team from Bangladesh arrived in Islamabad on Friday night to inspect venues ahead of the proposed trip of Bangladesh’s national team to play a series of one-day matches in Pakistan next month.

Zakar Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, and other senior Board officials held a series of meetings with top government officials on Friday ahead of today’s meetings with the Bangladeshi team.

After spending a day in Islamabad, the Bangladeshi team that includes Bangladesh Cricket Board officials and security experts, will visit Lahore on Sunday (tomorrow). PCB officials are hoping that the Bangladeshis will clear the visit of their national team to Pakistan, which has not hosted international cricket since Sri Lankan players were ambushed by gunmen in Lahore three years back. “We are confident that after reviewing our security plans, they (Bangladesh) will confirm their team’s visit,” said a PCB official.

S.Africa to bowl first against New Zealand


AUCKLAND: South Africa won the toss and put New Zealand in to bat in the rain-delayed third and final one-day international at Eden Park on Saturday.

South Africa have already wrapped up the series 2-0 and captain AB de Villiers said the emphasis was not to ease up but to secure a clean sweep ahead of the Test series that starts in Dunedin on Wednesday.

From the team that won the second match in Napier on Wednesday, South Africa have replaced Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel and Justin Ontong with Wayne Parnell, Johan Botha and Marchant de Lange.

New Zealand have dropped Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell for disciplinary reasons and have left out Tim Southee and Tarun Nethula while Nathan McCullum and Michael Bates return to the side and Colin de Grandhomme makes his debut.

Rain in Auckland put the start of the match back by 20 minutes with further showers expected later in the day.

Teams:

New Zealand: Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (captain), Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Andrew Ellis, Kyle Mills, Andy McKay, Colin de Grandhomme, Michael Bates, Nathan McCullum.

South Africa: Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers (captain), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Cricket: New Zealand drop troubled Ryder for Test


WELLINGTON: Troubled New Zealand cricket star Jesse Ryder was dropped Friday from the squad for the first Test against South Africa but selectors said the move was due to form, and not his latest drinking bout.

The 13-man squad includes Rob Nicol and Andrew Ellis, yet to make their Test debuts, and marks the return of captain Ross Taylor who has been sidelined for nearly six weeks by injury.

The Test starts in Dunedin next Wednesday.

Ryder's exclusion was announced a few hours after he and pace bowler Doug Bracewell were dropped from Saturday's third and final one-day international against South Africa following a drink-fuelled bar incident.

Team manager Mike Sandle said the pair broke team protocols by going out drinking and had "verbally reacted to taunts from the public" about New Zealand's six-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Napier.

Bar patron Brendon Arkwright told the Rotorua Daily Post he had asked Ryder why he was "drinking like you've won the game when you didn't score any runs. He and one of his mates has taken offence to that and gone off on me."

Ryder, 27, has a Test batting average of 40.93 and an ODI average of 34.37 but his career has been marred by incidents involving alcohol.

Officially Ryder will miss the next ODI as punishment and the first Test because of form, but New Zealand coach John Wright told reporters standards had to be upheld.

"He's a talented cricketer and it's up to him and certainly everyone has the opportunity to play if they perform and are fit and abide by some of the rules that go with being in the team," he said.

"There are certain standards that have to be adhered to and there have to be consequences."

Asked if other players should be helping Ryder in social situations, Wright said: "That can be difficult. Most players at that time of night are in bed... the professional ones."

Meanwhile, New Zealand selection manager Kim Littlejohn said rookies Nicol and Ellis had performed well in the ODI series against South Africa and deserved their Test starts.

"Both Rob and Andrew have shown promise against South Africa in limited overs cricket and we believe they can transfer their form across to the Test matches.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor (captain), Brent Arnel, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Andrew Ellis, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Rob Nicol, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson

Cricket: Gayle remains in exile for Aussies visit


ST JOHN'S, Antigua and Barbuda: Former captain Chris Gayle was again overlooked by the West Indies when a 30-man training squad for the forthcoming one-day and Twenty20 series against Australia was announced on Thursday.

Gayle hasn't played for the West Indies since last year's World Cup and has been involved in a long-running dispute with the West Indies board.

The WICB said that 17 contracted players, along with 13 others who are under consideration for selection, will participate in a two-week training camp in Barbados from March 1 to 12.

The first one-dayer takes place at St Vincent on March 16.

The 17 contracted players are: Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Shannon Gabriel, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford and Devon Thomas.

The 13 additional players under consideration: Samuel Badree, Tino Best, Nkrumah Bonner, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Shane Dowrich, Danza Hyatt, Garey Mathurin, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Krishmar Santokie and Dwayne Smith.

Cricket: Sri Lanka record thrilling win over Aussies to reach finals

MELBOURNE: Sri Lanka beat Australia by nine runs to reach the finals of the tri one-day series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Sri Lanka held their nerve to win the thrilling game after dismissing Australia for 229 with five balls left in reply to their total of 238.

They now face Australia in the best-of-three match finals, starting in Brisbane on Sunday, while India's disappointing tour of Australia is over and they will head home this weekend.

It was a gripping finish with Australia needing 10 runs off the final over bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara, but David Hussey was caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan at long off with five balls remaining ending their hopes of a last-gasp win.

Hussey scored 74 off 74 balls and finished the tournament as the leading runscorer of all the three teams with 412 at an average of 82.40.

Lasith Malinga finished with four for 49 as skipper Mahela Jayawardene used eight bowlers to defend his team's modest total.

Match scores: Sri Lanka 238 (50 overs); Australia 229 (49.1 overs)

Inconsistency behind defeat: Misbah


KARACHI: Pakistan cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq cited lack of consistency by the batsmen as reason for the debacle in ODI and T20 series against England,
In an tv interview , the captain noted that all the players are professional and they need to perform.

While responding to a question, he said that the team cannot be reformed overnight by appointing a new selection committee and Dav Whatmore as coach.

'Shoaib Malik was included in the team on past performances not due to friendship.'