|
| |
| T20: Woeful Pakistan lose again in Australia |
MELBOURNE: Pakistan ended their disappointing tour losing all matches in the series of three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 match as Australia also won their last match by two wickets on the last ball of the match here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Chasing an easy target of 128 runs, Pakistan started disastrously by losing both their openers, Imran Nazir (naught) and Imran Farhat (8), for just 10 runs on the board.
However, wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal came to rescue to take his team out of trouble. He held the one end intact as other batsmen were being dismissed at regular intervals.
Pakistan were well on the way to success as long as Kamran was at the crease but his ouster changed the whole scenario and the tourists who were needing only 30 runs from 35 balls to win the match managed only 27 runs with one wicket remaining to give Australia their first T20 win against Paksitan.
Kamran blasted 64 off only 33 balls with seven fours and two sixes while the second top scorer was his younger brother Umar with 21. The only other batsman reaching double-figure was Umar Gul (10).
Shaun Tait was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 13 runs, supported by Shane Watson and Steve Smith claiming two wickets each.
Earlier, Michael Clarke who was leading the Aussies in the absence of Ricky Ponting, won the toss and elected to bat but his team could not make any big score and were all out for 127 in 18.4 overs.
Except Michael Hussey (40 not out), Clarke (32) and David Warner (24), no batsman could enter into double figures as three batmen were run out by alert Pakistani fielders.
For Pakistan, Umar Gul captured three wickets for 20 runs while Malik claimed two for 31. Pacers Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took one wicket each.
Shoaib Malik led Pakistan as their T20 captain Shahid Afridi was banned for playing two T20 matches for ball tampering.
Imran Nazir returned to Pakistan lineup and Imran Farhat made his T20 debut.
Australia also included two debutants – legs-pinning allrounder Steve Smith and left-handed batsman Travis Birt. |
| |
| |
| Tour must teach our batsmen, says Malik |
|
MELBOURNE: Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik says his country must learn from its disastrous tour of Australia, particularly the batsmen.
Pakistan’s two-run defeat to Australia in Friday night’s Twenty20 match at the MCG was another opportunity missed by the tourists, who left for home on Saturday morning.
The result ensured a summer whitewash by Australia, who won the three Tests and five one-dayers before they fought back well to pip the reigning world Twenty20 champions.
Malik, who captained the side in Shahid Afridi’s absence on Friday night, bemoaned his side’s inability to back up their good bowling performance, as they bowled Michael Clarke’s side out for 127.
But Kamran Akmal, with 64 from 33 balls, and his brother Umar (21) were the only batsmen to fire, and even the latter holed out at the start of the final over when his side was still a chance to win. Pakistan finished on 9-125.
“You always learn from your mistakes and whenever we tour Australia we always learn from here,” Malik said. “We have to do some hard work on our batting.”
Pakistan can justifiably look forward to getting home after three months on the road — they played against New Zealand before landing in Australia — but their homecoming is unlikely to be the most welcoming.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has already organised a committee to investigate the tour’s failings, and it will also probe Afridi’s two-game suspension for ball tampering, in the last one-dayer in Perth.
Pakistan’s next international commitment are two Twenty20 games against England this month. |
| |
| Pakistan restrict Aussies to 127 in T20 |
MELBOURNE: Pakistanis are looking superb for the first time on the tour of Australia as they restricted the hosts to 127 runs in 18.4 overs in the only Twenty20 International (day/night) here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
After Michael Clarke, leading the Aussies in the absence of Ricky Ponting, won the toss and elected to bat his team could not make any big score as expected earlier.
Pakistani bowlers bowled remarkably well and fielders did excellent fielding to bundle out the Aussies.
For Australia, except Michael Hussey (40 not out), Clarke (32) and David Warner (24), no batsman could enter into double figures as three batmen were run out by alert Pakistani fielders.
Umar Gul captured three wickets for 20 runs while Malik claimed two for 31. Pacers Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took one wicket each.
The T20 world champions are playing today under allrounder Shoaib Malik as their T20 captain Shahid Afridi has been banned for playing two T20 matches for ball tampering.
Imran Nazir has returned to Pakistan lineup for today and Imran Farhat is making his T20 debut.
Australia have also included two debutants – legs-pinning allrounder Steve Smith and left-handed batsman Travis Birt.
Teams:
Australia: Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke (captain), David Hussey, Cameron White, Travis Birt, Brad Haddin (wk), Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes.
Pakistan: Kamran Akmal (wk), Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik (captain), Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal. |
| |
| Aussies win toss, bat against Pakistan in T20 |
MELBOURNE: Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the only Twenty20 International (day/night) here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Pakistan are playing under allrounder Shoaib Malik as Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi has been banned for playing two T20 matches for ball biting incident.
Imran Nazir has returned to Pakistan lineup for today and Imran Farhat is making his T20 debut.
Australia have also included two debutants - legspinning allrounder Steve Smith and left-handed batsman Travis Birt.
Teams:
Australia: Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke (captain), David Hussey, Cameron White, Travis Birt, Brad Haddin (wk), Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes.
Pakistan: Kamran Akmal (wk), Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik (captain), Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal. |
| |
| Hidden reasons behind debacle: Waqar |
|
KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis dropped a bombshell on Thursday when he claimed that there were some hidden reasons behind Pakistan’s pathetic performance on the current tour of Australia.
Waqar, who served as Pakistan’s bowling consultant during the tour of Australia, said that he would reveal the real causes behind Pakistan’s poor showing if summoned by any probe committee.
“The bad performance of our players on the cricket field was not the only reason why performed so poorly in Australia,” Waqar said in an interview. “I will reveal the hidden reasons if summoned by any probe committee,” he added.
There have been reports of discord within the Pakistan team. Waqar’s comments have added weight to such reports.
Waqar also claimed that he was never allowed much room to help Pakistan improve their performance in Australia. He didn’t provide any more details.
|
| |
| Pakistan, Australia lone T20 today |
MELBOURNE: ICC World T20 Champions Pakistan and Australia will meet in the only T20 match of the ongoing Bouncer Series here on Friday, Geo news reported.
The match will be telecast live on Geo Super – only round the clock sports television channel in Pakistan.
Due to ball tempering, Shahid Khan Afridi was charged with and was banned for two international T20 matches, the team will be led by former Test and ODI captain Shoaib Malik.
Talking to Geo news, Malik said I accepted teams’ captainship in compliance with Shahid Khan Afridi’s proposal asking me to lead team in two T20s. |
| |
| I accepted captaincy on Afridi’s desire: Malik |
MELBOURNE: Allrounder Shoaib Malik said that he accepted captaincy offer on Shahid Afridi’s desire.
Talking with Geo News in Melbourne, Shoaib Malik said that he had no fondness or desire to become captain again.
The former captain said that he wants to play all three types of cricket as a player.
Regarding not being placed in IPL, Malik said that Pakistani players have not to prove that they are good players of Twenty20 but their priority is only to play for their country.
Shoaib Malik said the team would miss Shahid Afridi in the Twenty20 International, to be played against Australia on Friday. |
| |
| Pak squad for T20 announced |
MELBOURNE: Pakistan has announced squad for the lone Twenty20 match against Australia. Opener Salman Butt is not the part of playing squad because of poor performance.
Former captain Shoaib Malik will be the captain of the team in the absence of Shahid Afridi, facing two matches ban due to ball tempering.
The Pakistani team comprised of Shoaib Malik(captain), Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, Imran Nazeer, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Umer Akmal, Rana Naveedul Hasan, Muhammad Asif, Saeed Ajmal and Umer Gul.
|
| |
| Waugh backs White over Clarke as Twenty20 captain |
|
MELBOURNE: Former Australian opener Mark Waugh has questioned Michael Clarke’s position in the national team’s Twenty20 set-up, and backed the in-form Cameron White for the team’s captaincy.
“If he’s captain, he’s got to get going. You’re the main man and you probably have to bat at three of four,” said Waugh, who is also part of FOX Sports commentary team.
Clarke had struggled to adapt to the shortest form of the game, and Victoria skipper Cameron White was the man to lead Australia in Twenty20 cricket, Waugh said.
“I don’t think (Clarke’s) batting is suited all that well to Twenty20 cricket. With that back injury, I’m just thinking will it shorten his Test career. Cameron White could easily be captain, Waugh said on Inside Cricket.
Clarke’s record in Twenty20 cricket is mediocre in comparison to his performances in the longer forms of the game.
He has scored just 216 runs at an average of 19.63 in Twenty20 Internationals at the strike-rate of just over a run a ball, which is low by T20 standards.
By comparison, the in-form White boasts a strike-rate of 150.00 from eight Tewnty20 Internationals. He also averages 33.40 in at a strike rate of 137.89 in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
White has captained Victoria to four KFC Twenty Big Bash titles in five years, and has the support of his Bushrangers coach, Greg Shipperd, who said in September that White should lead his country in T20 cricket.
Australia’s chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, has however backed Clarke to perform, starting against Pakistan at the MCG on Friday (tomorrow) night.
“He’s going to captain the side. He’s a brilliant fielder and he bowls left-arm orthodox as well, so it’s an exceedingly good all-round package he brings. He’s one of the best players in world cricket at the moment in Tests and One-day Internationals, and we hope he can transfer that form into Twenty20,” Hilditch said.
Hilditch said Clarke was a key part of Australia’s plans to avenge poor results at the past two world championships.
Australia will head to the Caribbean in April hoping to better their efforts from last year, when they were knocked out at the group stage after reaching the semifinals in 2007.
“It’s going to be a very big tournament for Michael and he’s really looking forward to it,” Hilditch said.
“Everybody is going to need to perform at their best, but the fact is players haven’t played a lot of international Twenty20s.
“But I am sure Michael is going to have an impact in the next Twenty20 world cup.”
Hilditch said Australia were disappointed with their results in the first two world championship tournaments, but said the shortened format was a difficult one to dominate.
“It’s a form of cricket that it’s hard to see one side dominating, you look at South Australia this year making the (domestic) final from (equal) last place last season,” he said.
Australia have won 11 and lost 12 of their 24 Twenty20 Internationals (one no-result) and have never beaten Pakistan, who are the reigning world champions.
|
| |
| PCB forms panel to probe into Australia losses |
|
KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chiefs on Monday responded to their team’s abysmal performance by forming a probe committee, saying that they will conduct a thorough inquiry into the causes behind the Test and ODI debacles in Australia.
However, the six-man inquiry committee named by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was quickly rejected by former Test cricketers as a feeble attempt by the Board to cover up its own faults.
“What happened in Australia is a reflection of the poor management heading our cricket,” said Aamir Sohail, a former Pakistan captain. Sarfraz Nawaz, ex-Test pacer, echoed Aamir’s comments, stressing that the PCB’s failure to run cricket in a professional manner is the main cause behind Pakistan’s disappointing showing in Australia.
The committee which is headed by Wasim Bari, PCB’s chief operating officer, either includes people on the Board’s payrolls or ones who are supposed to be close to Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman.
The committee includes PCB Governing Board member Wazir Ali Khoja, former team manager Yawar Saeed, former Test batsman Haroon Rashid, PCB’s director of cricket operations Zakir Khan and Tafazzul Rizvi, the Board’s lawyer.
“The committee will look into the various aspects of the team performance and make recommendations accordingly,” said a PCB statement issued on Monday, a day after Pakistan suffered yet another whitewash against Australia.
However, Sarfraz raised doubts about the credentials of the inquiry panel.“The committee either includes PCB officials or people who are close to the Board,” he said. “What if the fault lies with the PCB officials themselves? Will they recommend any action against themselves?” he asked.
Sarfraz said that the PCB should have included neutral experts and journalists in the committee to make it more effective. “To me it’s mere eyewash,” said the outspoken Sarfraz. “It won’t serve any purpose.”
Pakistan’s losing streak on the tour of Australia has attracted scathing criticism from various quarters with many critics calling for sweeping changes within the PCB itself. However, Ijaz Butt is confident that the Board will be able to find out the reasons behind Pakistan’s poor performance. “We have to look into the reasons for the defeats and we will remove the flaws so our cricket can move forward,” Butt told reporters on Monday.
Butt rejects Iqbal’s resignation
KARACHI: Iqbal Qasim on Monday refused to reconsider his decision to resign as Pakistan’s chief selector following Pakistanís poor showing on the current tour of Australia.
Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, said on Monday that he has not accepted Qasimís resignation and he will try to convince the former Test spinner to review his decision.
“I have requested him to continue as chief selector until the World Twenty20,” he told reporters on Monday. However, Qasim made it clear that he has resigned in a bid to accept responsibility for Pakistanís disappointing performance in Australia. Qasim added that his decision is final, adding that he will not take back his resignation.
“After the clean sweep in the Test and one-day series, I don’t think it is my moral duty to remain the chief selector,” said Qasim, who took over as Pakistanís chief selector last July. ìI am thankful to Mr Butt for his kind words. I will not change my decision,” Qasim said.
|
| |
| Malik gets captaincy again |
|
KARACHI: Just a year after being rejected by team coaches as a ‘loner’ with little or no leadership qualities, Shoaib Malik has been chosen again to lead Pakistan in their one off Twenty20 International against Australia on February 5 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Malik, 28, was appointed as the Pakistan captain after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ran out of options following the banning of Shahid Afridi for two Twenty20 Internationals after the allrounder was found guilty of ball tampering.
Afridi, Pakistan’s stand-in captain, was caught by television cameras chewing the ball during Pakistan’s fifth and final One-day International against Australia at the WACA on Sunday night.
“Shoaib Malik has been appointed as captain for the Twenty-20 against Australia in the absence of Shahid Afridi,” PCB announced in a brief statement on Monday. Just a year ago, Malik was sacked as Pakistan captain after leading his team to an embarrassingly one-sided ODI series defeat against Sri Lanka on home soil last January.
At that time, Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam and manager Yawar Saeed described Malik as a ‘loner’ and recommended that he should be replaced with Younis Khan as captain.Younis did succeed Malik as captain but after leading Pakistan to a memorable title-winning triumph in the ICC World Twenty20 championship in England last summer, he decided against carrying on and stepped down as skipper last November. He was replaced by Yousuf, who led Pakistan on the twin tour of New Zealand and Australia.
While Pakistan have been pondering about having a new captain following Mohammad Yousuf’s poor captaincy in Australia, Malik was nowhere in the picture as far as the list of possible candidates was concerned.
However, with Yousuf and Younis not in the Twenty20 squad and Afridi ineligible for the tour-ending MCG clash against the Aussies, the PCB didn’t have many players to choose from.According to insiders in the Pakistan team, the name of Test vice-captain Kamran Akmal was considered but the fumbling glovesman was overlooked because of his poor showing on the tour of Australia.
The option of appointing opening batsman Salman Butt as captain was also discussed. Even Mohammad Asif, the fast bowler who briefly served as Pakistan’s vice-captain two years ago, got a mention but in the end the PCB think-tank voted in favour of Malik.
Ironically, Malik is quite a controversial figure within his team these days.There has been a whispering campaign in the national cricket circles suggesting that Malik could be the man leading a lobby in the Pakistan team that plotted the downfall of Yousuf in Australia. In fact, sources close to Yousuf claimed that the senior batsman suspects that some of the players including Malik deliberately under-performed in Australia where Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0 and the one-day series 5-0.
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
ODI
| Rank |
Country |
Rating |
| 1 |
Australia |
128 |
2 |
India |
124 |
3 |
South Africa
|
121 |
| 4 |
New Zealand |
110 |
5 |
Pakistan |
109 |
6 |
England |
106 |
7 |
Sri Lanka |
106 |
8 |
West Indies |
76 |
9 |
Bangladesh |
55 |
10 |
Zimbabwe |
26 |
| 11 |
Ireland |
25 |
| 12 |
Kenya |
0 |
TEST
| Rank |
Country |
Rating |
| 1 |
South Africa |
122 |
| 2 |
Sri Lanka |
120 |
| 3 |
India |
119 |
| 4 |
Australia |
116 |
| 5 |
England |
105 |
| 6 |
Pakistan |
84 |
| 7 |
New Zealand |
80 |
| 8 |
West Indies |
76 |
| 9 |
Bangladesh |
13 |
T20
| Rank |
Country |
Points |
1 |
South Africa |
220 |
2 |
Pakistan |
218 |
3 |
India |
214 |
4 |
Sri Lanka |
207
|
5 |
West Indies |
206 |
6 |
Australia |
206 |
7 |
England |
205 |
8 |
New Zealand |
194 |
9 |
Bangladesh |
148 |
10 |
Zimbabwe |
138 |
|
| Pakistan wins the second Twenty20, taking the two-match series 2-0 |
Pakistan overcame a late order flurry from New Zealand to win the second Twenty20 international by seven runs at Dubai Stadium on Friday, taking the two-match series 2-0.
Teenager Umer Akmal lifted Pakistan to 153-5 before they survived a late charge by Brendon McCullum (47) and Scott Styris ... more |
|
[0] Comments | Post Your Commets |
|
|
|
|
