British media praise mighty Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar's stupendous feat of becoming the first cricketer to score a double century in one-dayer was on Thursday hailed by the British media, which described the little master as the "finest batsman" ever.

"Tendulkar underlined his sensational class with a double century in Gwalior. To have reached such a landmark, with a single in the final over, only serves to underline his class and add to the legacy that already surrounds arguably the finest batsman to have played the game," BBC Sports said.

"His innings, the 46th one-day century of his career, was typified by wristy strokes, trademark boundary shots and, above all, stamina as he batted through the entire innings,"

Meanwhile, The Times tried to anticipate whether the Indian can complete a century of centuries in international cricket by the end of this year.

"All kneel down and praise whatever god you fancy for the mighty Sachin Tendulkar. This could just be turning into the greatest year of his international career, more than 20 years after it began," the report said.

"Tendulkar now has 93 hundreds in international cricket -47 in Tests and 46 in ODIs - which is 25 more than the next best man, Ricky Ponting. At the age of 36 and in such great form, he could reach 100 hundreds by the end of the year," it added.

Tendulkar yesterday became the first batsman in the four-decade history of ODI to hammer a double ton as his 200 not out helped India pile up a mammoth 401 for three against South Africa and beat the visitors by 153 runs in the second one-dayer. "Sensational Sachin Tendulkar smashes world record one-day innings and first ever double hundred for India," the headline goes.

In another report, Guardian opined that the stormy knock has hit hard the notion that form of Tendulkar is on the wane. "The blazing innings comes 10 months after his 36th birthday and four years after he was booed off his home ground in Mumbai, with his career apparently in terminal decline.

"Somewhat improbably given today's innings, the abuse had been for slow scoring," the daily said. It was not only Tendulkar's 46th ODI century but also the highest score in one-dayers, eclipsing the previous record of 194 which was held jointly by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwe's Charles Conventry.

Twenty20 International Cricket Betting – is Australia’s perfect summer over?

Australia’s ‘perfect’ summer is just one win away and despite attempts by West Indies players to convince everyone, including themselves, that they are in with a chance in the final match of their disastrous tour Down Under, no one believes them.

The record books show Australia has not lost a match in the 18 played this summer although they did draw the second Test with the West Indies while rain washed out the Sydney one-dayer. That stat in itself is enough of a reason not to believe captain Chris Gayle and company.

The bookmakers haven’t listened and the cricket lines point to an Australian victory (-300) while the West Indies are outsiders at +220.A lot of the Aussie success this summer though has been through undermanned opponents as opposed to their own invincibility.

The Pakistan team they routed eight-nil was far from the best they have put on a cricket field in the past couple of years and the West Indies’ enigma built on half-heartedness towards anything but limited overs cricket and Twenty20 continues to grow.

They too were without their best players, captain Chris Gayle the most capped member of a team that despite offering glimpses of old-school West Indies batting brutality was dominated by bouts of lethargic stroke play resulting in repeated batting collapses.

Now into their favoured form of the game, many predicted the young Windies to at least put up more of a fight against Australia in the first Twenty20 international played in Hobart. What we got was more of the same. A tidy bowling effort followed by a disastrous showing order from the top order, a middle order debacle that led to a late lower order fight back and a 38-run victory to Australia.

After Australia posted an uneventful 179 thanks in part to a solid 83-run opening partnership between David Warner (49) and Shane Watson (37) and a late order blitzkrieg from wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (37no off 16 balls), the West Indies faltered yet again.

Shaun Tait was again the destroyer for Australia, his third ball sent Gayle ( 5) back to the pavilion, his fourth ball had Narsingh Deonarine (0) following close behind and when he had the IPL’s most expense buy, Keiron Pollard (12) gone in his second over for figures of 3/14 off two, the game was over. Tait finished the game with 3/30 off four overs.

The West Indies tried opening with spin, something that isn’t new in this format but it is one that more and more teams flick to if they fear an opener will tee up on the quicks, such as Australia’s David Warner.

Rest assured you will see spinners taking the new ball in the upcoming IPL tournament a lot more than in years past as teams begin to work out their own winning formula to Twenty20 cricket.

Taking pace off the ball is crucial against the Aussie openers and even though it didn’t quite go to plan last time, it is something that will yield dividends against Warner who has a habit of swinging too hard through the ball and lifting his head. Much like a hack golfer, once his head is in the air, the only result is an air swing and in Warner’s case, a wicket.Once he has a few sighters though, the Windies will have to bring on the quicks and get them to alternate pace and line. Their length needs to be full however, anything short will be dispatched through mid wicket and cover.

For Australia, all eyes will again be on Tait who now moves into Twenty20 World Cup contention, his aggression is considered a must have while Dirk Nannes’ clever change of pace and great line and length make these two the perfect opening bowling combination.

Sydney fans will be hoping to see more of hometown leg spinner and all rounder Steven Smith while West Indies will be looking to Pollard to prove his worth and for Gayle to score some runs.

After topping the averages in the Frank Worrell Test Series with 346 runs at an average of 69.20 including a brilliant 165 not out, Gayle floundered in the one-day series scoring 55 runs in five outings at a paltry average of 13.75.

Firebrand Tait sings bowlers' praises

The South Australian speedster bowled the Windies captain through the gate for 5 as the tourists were restricted to 8 for 141 in reply to the home side's 8 for 179.

The result extended Australia's unbeaten streak this summer while ensuring the Windies have not won a game in any format since August last year.

David Warner's 49 off 32 balls inspired Australia's total before the bowlers knuckled down to ensure the tourists were never in the hunt, Tait finishing with 3 for 30 and Dirk Nannes 3 for 21.

Tait was on a hat-trick after dismissing Gayle and Narsingh Deonarine (0), but Kieron Pollard saw off the third delivery.

"The first couple of years it was a batsman's game, now it's turned sort of opposite and up the front if you can get a couple of early wickets, it ends up being a bowler's game," Tait said.

"It's worked out well for us." Australian captain Michael Clarke said his team's outstanding fielding also made a big difference. "The standard in the field is very important for us," he said.

"It normally sets the standard for the game so if we can continue to work hard at practice and keep taking catches like the boys have been doing, both against Pakistan and here tonight, I think we're taking the right steps forward for the Twenty20 World Cup."

However Clarke said his team should have scored more runs after being given a lightning start by Warner and opening partner Shane Watson (37 off 19), who put on 83.

"After the start we got I would have liked a few more," he said.

"I think we struggled a little bit through the middle there again so we've got some work to do before Tuesday night in Sydney."

Pakistan v England - Eion Morgan and Kevin Pietersen steer England to victory in Dubai

If Duncan Fletcher was watching on Friday night then his report card for Kevin Pietersen will make pleasant reading.

Pietersen finished just seven runs short of what would have been only his second half century since the first Ashes Test of last summer.

And even though he was overshadowed by Eoin Morgan as they compiled England’s biggest ever Twenty20 partnership, he did at least suggest a return to form.

Having asked Fletcher to take the trouble to watch this match on television to see if he could spot any technical flaws in his game, it was imperative Pietersen stayed at the crease. Fletcher had time to make notes for Pietersen faced 43 deliveries.

Having earlier distanced himself from the position as vice-captain by falling back on the desire to “concentrate on batting” Pietersen, so often the peacock, was happy to play the wise old owl as he and Morgan added 112 runs.

“It was an important innings, he used his head, played within his limitations and it was great to see,” said Paul Collingwood, the England captain.

Morgan made 67 off 51 balls and finished the match with his second six of the innings, a shot which won the Head Shoulders Master Blaster award.

England have spent most of their time in Twenty20 cricket scratching their heads and wondering why they can’t clear the ropes. Such aggression was not needed on Friday night. The run-a-ball chase suits English strengths, especially with Pietersen rusty.

The ground was less than half full with the local Pakistani population believed to be saving their dirhams for Saturday's game when Shahid Afridi will play. Afridi, banned on Friday for biting the ball in Australia, is, like many of Dubai’s taxi drivers, a Pashtun from Peshawar. Like the local taxi drivers, he is fast and reckless. Exactly the kind of spirit this match lacked.

Partly that was down to a two-paced pitch which prevented anyone feeling secure. Both sides were crippled by early wickets leaving others to accumulate rather than speculate, the new way of doing business in recession-hit Dubai.

With Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad bowling arrow straight, Pakistan finished in the view of their captain, Shoaib Malik, 25 runs short.

But they had hope. England’s openers, Jonathan Trott and Joe Denly, resembled men looking over their shoulders following the impact made by England Lions Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter. Both were soon gone and England slumped to 17 for three when Collingwood was run out.

Morgan and Pietersen started cautiously and at 50 for three after 10 overs England were only a shade ahead of Pakistan at the same stage. But then Morgan, for all his reputation as a clever inventor, showed he also has a taste for the brutal.

He stands still and swings hard with one boundary punched over midwicket of Umar Gul speaking volumes of the confidence England showed as they sensed a job done.

That shot was followed by a lofted straight drive for four two balls later as England scored 50 runs in five overs and the match was won.

Pakistan will aim to restore belief in their embattled team when they take on England in a two-match Twenty20 series at the Dubai Sports City cricket stadium starting here on Friday.

The ICC World Twenty20 champions haven't had the best of times on the cricket field after their stunning triumph at Lord's in June last year. And the team is in disarray after their disastrous recent trip to Australia, where they lost all their matches, including three Test matches and five one-day internationals.

But with an eye on the 2010 World T20 Cup, to be played in the Caribbean in April, the Pakistan team under stand-in skipper Shoaib Malik will hope for a clean sweep against Paul Collingwood-led England.

Malik, who has been involved in a very public spat with Mohammed Yousuf since the Australia tour, took over the reins from regular T20 captain Shahid Afridi, who is serving a two-match suspension after being found guilty of ball-tampering in the fifth and final ODI against Australia.

Afridi, who missed the only T20 match against Australia, is eligible to play the second match against England on Saturday, but he is not in the team and Malik will continue to lead.

On the eve of the match, Malik said he will be happy to hand over the captaincy to Afridi as soon as possible and continue to contribute as a player.

"Afridi is the right choice as captain. It is a great honour to captain your country, but I am doing this only because my country needs me to captain for the next two matches," said Malik.

"Shahid has proved to be a very good leader and has all the abilities to make the boys gel and extract the best out of them."

Malik said he was hopeful of putting together a good team performance against England, and specifically pointed out fielding as one huge area of concern.

"We haven't performed that well after winning the World Twenty20. We have been struggling ever since we went to Sri Lanka, but you try and learn from your mistakes. The dropped catches have surely hurt us a lot and that is one area where we can make a big improvement," he said.

Pakistan will be missing their pace bowler Mohammed Asif, who is banned from entering the UAE after he was caught last year at Dubai airport with banned drugs.

Collingwood, meanwhile, insists that his side will not take their opponents lightly despite their recent misfortunes.

"Pakistan are a very strong Twenty20 side and we're going to have to be right on our game to beat them. It might be a good time to play them, but you never quite know what you're going to get on the day," said Collingwood.

The captain also ruled out an immediate promotion to the England national side for South Africa-born Craig Kieswetter, who impressed in the England A team's shock defeat of the seniors in a practice match on Wednesday.

Kieswetter scored 81, on the first day he became eligible for the national side after a four-year qualification period.

Collingwood said that despite Kieswetter's undeniable talent, the team will persist with Matt Prior.

"I was very impressed with how hard he hits the ball. I wouldn't say he took us by surprise because we've heard a lot about him," he said.

"At the moment, he hasn't got the chance to do that at international level, but in the future, maybe he will. He's certainly got a lot of talent and confidence.

"Kieswetter has done exceptionally well when he's got his chance, but we've got to understand what Matt Prior has done for this team as well."

Twenty20 International Series Cricket Betting – Pakistan vs England

Once again, as has become the norm with Pakistan, their latest tour is shrouded in controversy with embittered powerbrokers clambering for a piece of the pie as well as their 15-seconds of fame. It’s hard to find positives in Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia that saw them lose all nine matches.The poor showing will undoubtedly claim the scalp of coach Intikhab Alam and thus the revolving door of Pakistan cricket coaches since Bob Woolmer’s death at the 2007 World Cup continues to rotate freely.

Australian Geoff Lawson lasted 16 months and Alam has spent a similar amount of time with the team, the latter was fired for poor results and despite Alam leading his country to the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup title, has done little since.

Pakistan’s tumultuous cricket history is legendary – unfortunately though it has now become more legendary then their on-field success. The halcyon days of Imran Khan and Waqar Younis made way for controversial figures such as the ill-disciplined Inzamam-ul-Haq, rampant and unpredictable Shoaib Akthar and it seemed around every corner the team was faced with accusations of everything from match-fixing to ball tampering.

Team infighting still appears to be rampant; players on the tour to Australia were portrayed in the media as bickering school kids. The fact they haven’t played a home game in several years after being stripped of their rights to host international teams because of player safety concerns it is easy to understand that this is a team on the ropes.

This two-match back-to-back home series in their proxy home country of the United Arab Emirates against England will be telling on several fronts the most obvious will be the right of Pakistan to still honestly call themselves Twenty20 World Champions. Since beating Sri Lanka in the final last year and holding the trophy aloft, Pakistan have gone on to lose 19 of their past 30 internationals, drawing two and losing nine.

It’s hardly a record that rings a lot of confidence for those looking to back them against England but the good news is that they have won three out of their four T20 internationals, losing to Australia in their recent winless tour.

They have also had success playing in the UAE in fact Pakistan have only played five of those 30 matches in their quasi home town, which just shows you that travel fatigue may be a huge issue for the team and while England have similarly just returned from a two month tour of South Africa, they are by far and away the better rested of the two teams.

This series may see a new coach installed and it may see a few new faces but it is hard to see Pakistan breaking that losing trend, more the pity really because there is so better sight in world cricket than watching Pakistan on fire.

PCB offers coach post to Miandad

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has again offered former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad the coaching job of the national team. The offer was made during Monday’s hearing of Senate Standing Committee on Sports in Islamabad. The hearing was held to talk on the cricket situation and the ongoing dispute between PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and Miandad, who currently holds the post of PCB director general.

Miandad told senators that Ijaz was not interested in involving him in important matters and jobs that lined with his expertise as a former captain and coach. Ijaz informed the committee that he was confident of Miandad’s abilities as a cricketer and had earlier also offered him the job of coaching the team.

Ijaz renewed the coaching offer to Miandad at the hearing, pointing out to the senators that Miandad’s real expertise lay in his cricketing skills and acumen and he was best suited to take on the coaching assignment. But Miandad again made it clear that due to his busy schedule and domestic issues he could not take up a full time coaching assignment.

Senators suggest five-year ban for Afridi

Senator Tariq Azeem Khan suggested in the Standing Committee on Sports that all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi should be banned for five years from international cricket as his (Afridi) act humiliated the whole nation in the cricketing world.

The committee met on Monday in the chair of its chairman Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi here at the Parliament House.

Later, the committee constituted four-man sub-committee to look into the affairs of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which is also headed by Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi.

Chairman PCB Ijaz Butt told the members of the committee that the International Cricket Council (ICC) for two matches ban had already penalised Afridi, so according to international laws, a man could not be punished twice.

“The PCB will take action against players after getting the findings of the PCB probe committee,” Butt said.
Tariq Azeem said that the ICC did his job. “The PCB should do perform its job and must take action against Afridi, as his ball-tampering act disgraced the whole nation. We should take action against him and should give a clear massage to other nations that Pakistanis do not support unethical acts,” he said.

Replying the questions from the senators, Ijaz Butt said the current slot of the players was not involved in any match-fixing. “The ICC has a strong system to monitor the match-fixing scandals and its departments are working under the Lord Condon. Every thing is clear and nothing to do with match-fixing,” he said.

The committee also requested President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari that the same cash awards would be given to other gold medal winners of the 11th South Asian Games 2010 which were awarded to Nasim Hamid and Sara Nasir. Pakistan claimed 19 golds in the eight-nation sports gala.

On this occasion, Secretary Sports Anis-ul-Hasnain Mosvi informed the members of committee that president had announced cash award of Rs 200,000 for gold medallists of the South Asian Games. “Minister of Sports will also give them cash awards on their brilliant performance,” he said.

Besides Chairman PCB Ijaz Butt, Secretary Sport Anis-ul-Hasnain Mosvi, Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Amir Hamza Gilani, Chief Operating Officer PCB Wasim Bari, Haroon Rasheed and Javed Maindad also attended the meeting.

Afridi should be banned for life: Arif Abbasi A former chief executive officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Arif Ali Khan Abbasi has demanded the life-time ban on Shahid Afridi from cricket for bringing dishonor to Pakistan with his “ball-tampering” controversy in an ODI against Australia in Sydney recently

West Indies Cricket Team Loose Series

The West Indies cricket team has lost their series against the boys from down under. The Windies fell 50 runs short of victory in the fourth One-Day International at the Gabba, handing Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

The Aussies were asked to bat first and made a ground record 324-7 off their 50 overs. The Windies replied with 274-8 off their allotment.

The difference between the sides was a masterful 106 off 112 balls from Australia skipper Ricky Ponting – his 29th century in his 339th One-Dayer.

For West Indies, Kieron Pollard topscored with a robust 62 off 55 balls, and Narsingh Deonarine, made 53 from 69 balls – both recorded their career-best scores. Dwayne Smith made 59 not out with three sixes and kept the fight going until the end.

Captain Chris Gayle offered no excuses and promised his players will continue to strive to improve in the remaining matches.

`Australia played better and they deserved to win. We knew that they would come hard at us and from the start you could see their batsmen trying to go over the top,` said Gayle.

`But we had some good moments in the match and we actually got a pretty good score in the end, so we have a few things to be proud of. I was happy to see the middle-order stepping up today and that kept us in the game.`But he added: `We will still be trying to win the last match at the MCG on Friday and after that we have the two T20 matches, so there is still a lot of work to be done.`

In the bowling department, seamer Darren Sammy had 2-44 from eight overs while Dwayne Smith again used the new ball and had 2-59 from eight overs. There was some outstanding fielding. Veteran Wavell Hinds took what was described as one of cricket`s all-time great catches -- running back from deep mid-on to dismiss opener Shane Watson off Smith. Pollard was also brilliant and held a superb one-hand take at point to get rid of Tim Paine off Sammy in the early exchanges.

Squads of all teams for IPL 2010

The final squads of IPL 2010 for all teams have been announced on Feb 12, 2010. Along, with some new overseas players teams also include new domestic players in their squad. Many new players are the ones who played in the rebel league - ICL. Here is the final squad of all teams for IPL 2010:


Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Manpreet Gony, Shadab Jakati, Arun Karthik, Thissara Perera, L Balaji, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Makhaya Ntini, Thilan Thushara, C Ganapathy, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin, Justin Kemp, Hemang Badani, S Badrinath, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, Parthiv Patel.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Abhinav Kumar, Azhar Bilakhia, Andrew Symonds, Arjun Yadav, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, D Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards, Harmeet Singh (1), Harmeet Singh (2), Ashish Reddy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jaskaran Singh, Kemar Roach, VVS Laxman, Mohnish Mishra, P Vijaykumar, PM Sarvesh Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, Scott Styris, T Suman, Venugopal Rao.

Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (capt), AB de Villiers, Umesh Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Wayne Parnell, Shashi Ranjan, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Andrew McDonald, Farveez Maharoof, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Joginder Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, Moises Henriques, Sarandeep Singh, Sarabjit Ladda, Aavishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rajat Bhatia.

Kings XI Punjab: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Brett Lee, Adrian Barath, Vikramjeet Malik, Bipul Sharma, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Abdullah, Karan Goel, Ravi Bopara, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Shalabh Srivastava, Mohammad Kaif, Love Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, James Hopes, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Yash Gandhi, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishwar Choudhary, Charl Langeveldt, Chirag Pathak, Iqbal Abdulla, G Vignesh, Brendon McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Rohan Gavaskar, Chris Gayle, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Harshad Khadiwale, Varun Aaron, Eklak Ahmed, Owais Shah, Murali Kartik, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Laxmi Shukla, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Chandan Madan, Syed Sahabuddin, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shikhar Dhawan, Graham Napier, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan, Ali Murtaza, Saurabh Tiwary, R Sathish, Aditya Tare, Ishan Malhotra, Rahul Shukla, Abhishek Nayar, JP Duminy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Ryan McLaren.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Damien Martyn, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abhishek Raut, Faiz Fazal, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Tait, Yusuf Pathan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha, Johan Botha, Michael Lumb, Shrikant Wagh, Sumit Narwal, Syed Quadri, Kamran Khan, Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, Siddharth Trivedi, Mahesh Rawat, Munaf Patel.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumle (capt), Jacques Kallis, Shrivats Goswami, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Eoin Morgan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, S Sriram, Manish Pandey, R Vinay Kumar, KP Appanna, B Akhil, Steven Smith, Praveen Kumar, Mark Boucher, Dillon du Preez, Ross Taylor, Roelof van der Merwe.

Pakistan to play cricket in USA this year

Pakistan cricket team is planning to tour the United States of America (USA) later this year. The decision was made during a meeting of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) officials in Dubai.

A spokesman for the PCB said Thursday the USACA delegation was led by its chief executive officer Donald Lockerbie while PCB chief Ijaz Butt and chief operating officer Wasim Bari represented Pakistan. “The dates and types of matches to be played for the series has not yet been agreed.

But assurances were made by both parties that a long term agreement to play in the USA will begin with a series later in 2010,” added the spokesman. It is pertinent to mention that the USACA has even offered to organise Pakistan-India cricket series to ease out tensions between the two countries and serve the interest of cricket in sub-continent.

The dual benefits which may result from such a move include getting a foothold in the game’s expanding market in the USA, as well as boosting Pakistan’s chances of staging international cricket in the near future, given the fragile security situation in the country. The officials also hoped a Twenty20 series will attract huge interest from Pakistanis and Indians living in USA, as well as a global audience.

The spokesman said the series would help cricket grow in the country. “Pakistan playing as a full member in the USA is in line with the ICC policy to grow the sport in countries such as the USA and as the negotiations continue we hope a series will be played later this year.”

The PCB’s concept of having neutral venues for ‘home’ matches is not new. While Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have hosted series involving Pakistan previously, the Test series against Australia scheduled later this year will be played in England.

The spokesman said the PCB chief also had a meeting with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chairman Alan Isaac who had all praise for Pakistan team during the ICC Under-19 World Cup held in New Zealand and termed Pakistan as the best-behaved squad of the tournament.

Ejaz Butt leaves for Dubai to raise IPL issue in ICC meeting

PCB chairman Ejaz Butt left for Dubai on Monday to attend the executive board meeting of the International Cricket Council where he willA senior Pakistan Cricket Board official said Butt would be raising the issue of the humiliation meted out to Pakistani players at the IPL auction in January, which was condemned by most quarters both in India and Pakistan.

"Yes, we want the IPL issue to be discussed at the ICC level because our government has also indicated that the IPL and its franchises need to accept their mistake," the official said. He said that another reason for raising the IPL issue was that not only Pakistan but some other countries were also not happy with the way the IPL, particularly its commissioner Lalit Modi, was conducting the league affairs.

"It is a tournament sanctioned by the ICC and there is a need to see greater ICC control in the league," former Test captain and director-general in the board Javed Miandad said. The ICC meeting will also discuss report and recommendations of ICC special task force on Pakistan cricket.

The ICC task force headed by Giles Clarke, Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, met last year and has recommended organising matches between Pakistan and World XI to raise funds for Pakistan cricket. The task force was formed after international teams refused to tour Pakistan because of the security situation in the country. en to the Pakistani cricketers by the Indian Premier League authorities.

TV channels showing Pakistan vs England 2010 - Live | 2 T20s in Dubai

Pakistan and England will play 2 T20 matches in Dubai on 19 and 20th February, 2010. Tensports has the global broadcasting rights for the series and will show it live in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Middle East and some other countries. Sky Sports will be broadcasting the matches live in UK. Here are other TV channels broadcasting the Pakistan vs England series live:

Bangladesh : Ten Sports

Hong Kong : Ten Sports

India : Ten Sports

Indonesia: TelkomVision - Channel no. 113

Nepal : Ten Sports

New Zealand : Sky Sport

Singapore : Ten Sports

SriLanka : Dialog TV (Ten Sports)

South Africa : Super sport

UK : Sky Sport

Pakistan Vs England 2010 Dubai T20s- Fixtures and schedules

Pakistan and England will meet each other in the 2 twenty20 matches to be played in February at UAE. The matches will be played in the neutral host of Dubai Sports City. Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be hosting the both t20s on Feb 19 and 20. Both of the matches are scheduled to be day and night matches.

For now, here is the schedules of the matches,

1st T20 - Pakistan Vs England (D/N)
- 19th Feb 2010
- Starts 14:00 GMT; 18:00 local; 19:00 Pakistan and 19:30 India
- Dubai International Cricket Stadium

2nd T20 - Pakistan Vs England (D/N)

- 20th Feb 2010
- Starts 14:00 GMT; 18:00 local; 19:00 Pakistan and 19:30 India
- Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Nannes rejects Afridi ball tamper claims

Twenty20 paceman Dirk Nannes has rejected Shahid Afridi's claims on ball tampering and insists bowlers can be effective without breaking cricket's laws.The claims made by the suspended Pakistan star, that every side in the world illegally tampered with the ball, did not wash with Nannes, who is in the Australian squad for Friday night's Twenty20 game at the MCG and has played county cricket in England, in the Indian Premier League and with the Dutch national side.

"It's no secret that everyone wants to change the condition of the ball but that's through shining the ball and things like that," Nannes said on Tuesday."Everyone around the world does that in cricket. "I'm not really sure what he was referring to with those comments, but I know from a Victorian perspective we don't do that sort of thing and I don't know anyone around the country who actually does it.

Nannes said he did not know of anyone in Australia or England who had done anything to alter the condition of a ball, even though bowlers were capable of gaining conventional or reverse swing. Afridi's all-round talents will be sorely missed on Friday night by Pakistan, who were white-washed by Australia in the three Tests and five one-dayers.

Allrounder Shoaib Malik will lead the tourists in their last match of the tour.

Afridi was widely condemned by former players in his homeland for his bizarre ball biting in Perth, but former Australia captain Allan Border claimed his two-match ban was too lenient given the allrounder's history of disciplinary indiscretions.

"It wasn't enough given that he's been a bit of a serial offender in front of ICC (International Cricket Council) disciplinary committees," Border said on Fox Sports.

"You've got to send a strong message out that you just don't want this sort of stuff happening on field."

Nannes is one of the beneficiaries of Australia's selection of a specialist Twenty20 squad, the left-arm quick being a star in the domestic competition the past few seasons.

His expertise was on show in the recent domestic final where his 1-8 from four overs was decisive in the Bushrangers' win over South Australia.

Nannes' parentage qualified him for the Netherlands in last year's Twenty20 world championship. He was selected for Australia against England later in the year but the game was rained out before he bowled.

Nannes said he was excited about the prospect of playing his first home game for his country at a packed MCG and equally eager to earn a spot in the next Twenty20 world championship in green and gold, after wearing orange last time.

"I'd love to, I'd love to," he said. "That was a great experience, beating the Poms at Lord's, that first game was a massive highlight for me. "It's great to be recognised to be in the Australian team, whether that gets me a place to the world cup, that would be fantastic."

Afridi banned for ball-tampering

The 29-year-old Afridi, leading the team in the absence of rested captain Mohammad Yousuf, was caught by television cameras chewing on one side of the ball while walking with bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the fifth and final match at the WACA in Perth.

Under International Cricket Council rules any attempt to change the condition of the ball through illegal means is a violation of the players’ code of conduct and is liable to punishment.

The on-field and third umpires reported the incident to match referee Ranjan Madugalle who conducted separate hearings with team manager Abdur Raqeeb and Afridi before handing the player a two-match international Twenty 20 ban.

Afridi pleaded guilty and told AFP from Perth he was ashamed of the mistake.

“I am ashamed. I did it in the heat of the moment as the match was a close one, but I should not have done that, it's a serious offence,” Afridi said.

“I apologise to all and everyone involved in the match and to the fans around the world. This will never happen again."

Pakistan lost Sunday's match by two wickets for a 5-0 cleansweep, only their second such whitewash in one-day history.

The ban means Afridi, who is Pakistan's captain in the shortest format, will miss the February 5 Twenty20 match against Australia in Melbourne and also the first of two Twenty20 games against England in Dubai on February 18.

The dashing all-rounder was banned for four one-day matches after he tried to hit a spectator during a match in South Africa in 2007. He was also banned for a Test and two one-day internationals for deliberately damaging the pitch in the second Test against England at Faisalabad in 2005.

“Being the captain I should have been a role model for my players which I was not but I hope I will be forgiven,” added Afridi.

The International Cricket Council confirmed that Afridi had received two suspension points after breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the game. Two suspension points in the code means a ban of a Test, two ODIs or two T20Is.

Match referee Ranjan Madugalle handed Afridi the maximum penalty under the provision of the code. “I imposed the maximum penalty under the code to Shahid and reminded him of his responsibilities as a national captain which is to ensure that the match is played according to the laws of the game and in the spirit in which it is intended to be played,” said Madugalle. “Shahid, when pleading guilty, apologised and regretted his actions."