The easiest option: attacking Michael Clarke

Hitting below Michael Clarke’s belt, however loose it might be, is an easy thing. Many Australians have made a specialty of it. He was scolded and cursed by various members of the Australian cricket fraternity for his involvement with the saucy Lara Bingle.

In true stoic fashion, Ian Chappell, Australia’s brutish cricket supremo of the 1970s, felt that a dedicated Australian cricket captain did not let his emotions get in the way of diligent captaincy. No women, no distractions. That meant no car chases, and no dramatic interruptions to the key task at hand: winning matches for Australia.

Surprise for some, even shock, that Clarke should now be Australia’s 43rd test captain. Punter Ponting himself assured the press that he had not been pushed over the ledge by disgruntled members of Cricket Australia: “I can say I’ve had no tap on the shoulder from anybody, and this decision has been wholly and solely made by me and the people close to me, my family first and foremost, and that’s all I’ve got to say about it.”

One gets worried when insistence creeps into such decisions, and Ponting’s emphasis that he was not banished by the selectors is something that political theorists and sign readers will have a field day with.

Recently, the anointed Clarke has been booed in his performances. Cricket Australia found itself having to defend the then one-day skipper in a match against England after receiving the disapproval of what was supposedly a ‘small minority’ at the Gabba.

That the minority was small was because of Clarke’s genuine popularity – if one is to believe the propaganda narrative of the governors. Head of public affairs Peter Young decided to provide a good bit of spin on the matter. “At the fundamental core, when you look at why do sponsors go to him, it’s because their own research shows he is remarkably popular with the public” (The Hindu, Feb 1).

The nature of this reasoning should be obvious: Young would liken the popularity of an Australian skipper to the products he sells in the market place rather than the victories he attains on the ground. The tyrannous nonsense of advertising has again reigned supreme.

Whatever his prowess in product placement, the commentaries have not been warm about Clarke. The Herald Sun (Mar 30) features the following deflating remark: “After waiting five long years as heir apparent to sport’s highest office, Michael Clarke will today become Australia’s cricket captain – it’s just too bad fans don’t want him.”

He has been on the outer of the establishment. Even Ricky Ponting has proven more popular on occasions. Shane Watson has been the more popular choice, if one believes the views of readers of a New Ltd. Survey featuring 8,500 in number. They are not the only ones.

Team members have expressed their dissatisfaction at Clarke, who was, rumour has it, grabbed by the throat by Simon Katich last summer over the singing of the team song. For all of this unpopularity, much of what has been said against Clarke lacks a sound basis.

Various inane statements have been made against the new skipper, and not much about his cricket. People dislike his tattoos, his lure to the bling, his involvement with Ms. Bingle. He oozes working class values, and plays to that.

He has had lean patches with the bat, but this is hardly deserving of a public sacrifice. The criticisms say nothing about his talents, which are very much evident. Given the enormous task at hand in resurrecting what seems to be a ship destined for the bottom of the sea, it might be more fitting to get behind him.

Given the way the Australian public treats its sports stars, that might be asking a touch too much, at least for now. For Clarke, there is only one option: victory on the field.

Indo-Pak games are more than cricket: More

An India versus Pakistan cricket match is not for the weak hearted. It involves a lot of passion and often emotions spill over on the field. The history of Indo-Pak rivalry, especially in the World Cup, is filled with instances when players' emotions boiled over. Indian fans, nor the Pakistani fans for that matter, would not forget the duel between Venkatesh Prasad and Aamer Sohail in the quarter-final of the 1996 edition in Bangalore.

The combative opening batsman was leading Pakistan's spirited chase of the Indian target of 288 when he attempted to gain some psychological edge by sledging Prasad. But the Indian seamer had the last laugh when, after being carted for a boundary, sent Sohail's stump cart-wheeling. "That was long ago. It won't have any effect (on tomorrow's semi-final)," Prasad told MiD DAY.

The other event that is now part of Indo-Pak cricket folklore is the one during the 1992 World Cup involving Javed Miandad and Kiran More.

On this occasion, the Indian wicketkeeper seemed to play the instigator's role with his constant chattering, prompting Miandad to the famous frog jump in imitation of More's style of appealing.

More clearly remembered the Sydney episode.

"That (incident) happened in the heat of the moment. Miandad and me were involved in a verbal spat. I was trying to irritate him and he reacted. I think everybody knew that," More told MiD DAY.

More said such instances happened in Indo-Pak games because players from both the teams were trying to give more than their 100 per cent. "An India versus Pakistan match is more than a cricket match. Both sides involve themselves more than cent percent and nobody wants to give room to the other," the 48-year-old said.

"Both the teams are extra-charged up. That's why players get involved in verbal duels. It was the same case with us. It's a mental thing as well." More believed India were the favourites in tomorrow's semi- final. "We are the favourites. We are playing well at the moment, but Pakistan have always shown a fighting spirit. That's why the match will be interesting," he said.

Ind vs Pak: Alam denies Akhtar not fully motivated for India clash

Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam has denied reports that pacer Shoaib Akhtar was not fully motivated for Wednesday's Cricket World Cup semifinal against arch rivals India in Mohali and said the "Rawalpindi Express" has immersed himself in practice.

"Shoaib has been fully involved in match practice, and is available for selection. He's very much part of the squad and there is no question about his motivation or enthusiasm to play in this important game. Akhtar is ready for the semifinal," the London-based pakpassion[dot]net quoted Alam as saying.

Intikhab also dismissed as "false" reports that Akhtar's focus has veered away from cricket after he announced his retirement from international cricket last week. "The rumours about Shoaib no longer focussing on cricket after announcing his retirement are false," he said.

Alam claimed Akhtar was training hard with the team through the tournament and "it's been no different since he announced his retirement". "He has not missed any sessions". Alam, however, conceded that the fast bowler was not fully fit at any point during the World Cup.

"I wouldn't say Shoaib is 100 percent match fit. He's been carrying a knee problem and has been in pain during the tournament, but, to his credit, has still managed to play some matches," the site quoted Alam as saying.

Cricket World Cup: Andy Flower upbeat on England

Despite an inconsistent group campaign, which featured losses to Ireland and Bangladesh, South Africa's win over the latter team secured England's passage. And Flower confidently stated: "This side perform well under pressure.

"Each game now will be a pressure situation and I trust our guys to handle themselves very well."Flower continued: "There's no more pressured situation than an Ashes series and you know how we performed during that [England beat Australia 3-1 this winter]. "And the last world tournament that we played in we won - the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies 18 months ago.

England's erratic performances on the sub-continent, however, have suggested on occasion that the steely resolve which helped achieve those feats is on the wane. After an edgy six-wicket opening victory over minnows the Netherlands, England fought back to earn a seemingly unlikely tie with India before then slumping to a dramatic defeat to Ireland.

Their rollercoaster tournament continued when they produced an astonishing comeback to beat South Africa only for a subsequent loss to Bangladesh leaving Flower's side needing to beat the West Indies to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.

Flower's injury-depleted side obliged with a tense 18-run triumph but they then had to wait for Saturday's good news - a 206-run win for South Africa - to be certain of their progress. "There is a sense of relief because with only seven points in the bag we had to rely on other results going our way," Flower admitted.

The former Zimbabwe international, though, was not in the mood to dwell on his side's hiccups, preferring to reflect on a "mission accomplished". "Against some of the supposed smaller nations we didn't perform as well as we should have," reflected Flower.

"It's been an exciting ride so far - we've been inconsistent, we haven't dominated but we've qualified which was our initial goal and now we look forward to the quarter-final."England's opponents have yet to be finalised, with the result of the India-West Indies match on Sunday affecting where Flower's side finish in the group and thus who they will face next week.

Should India win England will finish third where they could also find themselves if the hosts suffer a particularly emphatic defeat as the teams would be on the same points but the tourists would have a superior run rate.

Assuming there is a positive result between Australia and Pakistan, Sri Lanka will be second in their group and will be England's next opponents in Colombo next Saturday. However, if West Indies secure a narrow win, England would be fourth and they will face either Australia or Pakistan on Friday.

"I don't have a preference," insisted Flower. "Whichever venue or whichever opposition we come up against I'm very excited about the game."Flower hinted that the uncapped Jade Dernbach, who was called up from the England Lions squad to replace hamstring injury victim Ajmal Shahzad, could well play a role in England's attack in that encounter.

"He'll meet us on Monday evening, whichever venue we fly into," Flower said of the Surrey pace bowler, who was the Lions leading wicket-taker in their current tour of the West Indies. "He's got a bowling variety that we think might work out here in the sub-continent.

"He's got a little more pace than a couple of options that we've seen, good slower ball and we think that he might be an attacking bowler that could be useful out here."Meanwhile, Flower said James Anderson, who was rested for the win over the Windies, could return for the quarter-final despite his miserable form in the competition.

"He's got niggly little problems - one in his elbow and one in his bowling shoulder," Flower revealed of the misfiring strike bowler, who has managed only four wickets during the tournament. "He's had a very hard winter, playing all five Tests in the Ashes series plus he's been involved in the Australian one-day series, plus this World Cup.

"And certainly it's a very clear lesson that we have to manage and rotate our fast bowling resources through these very heavy schedules, and do it better than we have this winter. "He is a little weary from his exertions, like any fast bowler would be, but if we need to call upon him for this quarter-final he'll be fine."

Kamran likely to open against Aussies

Pakistan are mulling over the option of playing Kamran Akmal as an opener in their key World Cup clash against Australia here on Saturday. Pakistan’s strategy for the eagerly-awaited game against Australia will be to play attacking cricket and Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, believes that by promoting Kamran up the order he can strengthen Pakistan’s batting order.

Afridi told that Kamran is expected to replace Ahmed Shehzad as the opener for the match against Australia. The 19-year-old Ahmed has flopped in all five of his World Cup outings and has just scored 44 at an average of less than nine.

“Ahmed is a talented kid but he has not really learnt from his mistakes,” said Afridi. “We have been showing faith in his abilities but Ahmed has failed to give us a single good start and now we are thinking about going into the match against Australia with a new opening pair,” he said.

“The best option we have is to promote Kamran as an opener. He has scored a lot of runs playing at that position and has the sort of experience we will need against a top class bowling side like Australia at the start of our innings,” stressed Afridi.

Kamran played four of Pakistan’s initial World Cup games at the number three position but he was replaced by Asad Shafiq for that spot in Monday’s match against Zimbabwe at Pallekele. Asad, playing his first World Cup match, hit an unbeaten 78 to guide Pakistan to a seven-wicket win.

Afridi said that Asad will retain that position for the game against the Aussies while Umar Akmal will return to the line-up to replace Ahmed Shehzad. “Asad made full use of the opportunity that was given to him and that’s a sign of a good cricketer,” said Afridi. “We needed somebody to do well at the number three spot and are happy that Asad has shown a lot of promise.”

Afridi is hoping that Umar Akmalís return will bolster Pakistan’s batting. “Umar is fully fit and that’s good for us because he is one of our key players.”Umar missed the game against Zimbabwe because of an injured finger.

Ahmed Shehzad, meanwhile, faces a tough task in the bid to keep his place in the playing eleven. He really upset Afridi and the team officials by falling to Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price trying to slog only to get stumped.

Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the way Ahmed threw away his wicket. “It was a rash shot from Shehzad,” said Waqar. “It wasn’t really required at the time. But don’t forget he is a youngster, he is only 21 and brand new in this arena. It’s not easy sometimes. In the heat of the moment you play silly shots and that’s how you learn cricket.

He’s probably learnt a big lesson today that when the team needs you at the wicket, you should stay.” Pakistan took a day off on Tuesday and will return the nets on Wednesday (today) at the P Sara Oval.

Zimbabwe bowling was superb

Zimbabwe would have come to the ICC CWC 2011 with hopes of causing at least one upset but were left bitterly disappointed with an inept batting display throughout the tournament. However, Chigumbura took some positives out of a campaign, which could spell further disaster for Zimbabwean cricket. The Africans were handed a seven wicket (D/L) defeat by Pakistan on Monday but the skipper was happy with his bowlers and the fielding.

"We bowled and fielded superbly but the batting was poor. The bowlers were consistent right through. We of course have to work on batting in the first 15 overs against big teams," Chigumbura told reporters after the match on Monday.

The captain defended his decision of batting after winning the toss despite overcast conditions in Kandy, saying he had hoped to put some pressure on Pakistan by piling up a decent score.

"It was a good wicket to bat on and we had planned to set Pakistan a big score and put them under some sort of pressure," Chigumbura said.

Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher shared his captain's displeasure about the batsmen's listless approach for the fifth time in the ICC CWC but backed them to get better with time.

"The batsmen were unhappy about the way things are at the moment but they are trying to improve. Things are not going well for 80 per cent of our batsmen. We have to devise a way to improve. There is no magic formula to get better. On the whole, the bowlers did well and there was no lack of spirit," Butcher, seated beside Chigumbura, told the media.

Chigumbura himself has been under fire for his poor form in the tournament but he put a brave face, saying it was for the board to decide if he was good enough to continue as captain. "My performance hasn't been good since I took over as captain but I am working hard. It is now for the board to decide if they want me to continue as captain," Chigumbura said, almost with a sheepish grin. Zimbabwe are now slated to play Kenya at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 20 before flying back home.

Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis said on Tuesday that Pakistan team would look forward by putting the defeat aside and play positive cricket in the coming matches.Addressing a post-match press conference, Waqar Younis pointed to dropping of catches by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and some bad bowling,specially in last five overs where New Zealand struck 102 runs with an average of 20 runs. “We will do over best with some changes, obviously in the opening pair, who are not working since the first World Cup match. However, things will be good in the coming matches. Certainly changes will be made accordingly,” he added.

Replying to a volley of questions regarding dropping of catches, he said,”yes, with dropping of catches by Kamran Pakistan lost grip over the match and then bad bowling further dented the team.”He said that chasing 300-run traget was not that much difficult but today was actually the bad day and the team lost the match. “We will work on and sit together to discuss how to come back on the winning track,” he said. He also lauded Ross Taylor for his excellent batting , adding, “ I must appreciate Taylor for his excellent display, not blaming Kamran and the bowlers.”“We are not going to be panic, we have to play more tough matches like the one against Australia and we look forward to do the best,” Waqar said.

In his post-match talks Ross Taylor said that he was struggling in the first 60 to 70 balls he played but later on the remaining 25 to 30 balls helped him, making a vital century that enabled New Zealand to win the match.

Cricket-In-form Pakistan hold edge over patchy New Zealand

In-form Pakistan will have to guard against complacency and their tendency to implode when they take on New Zealand in a World Cup Group A match in Kandy on Tuesday. Possibly the most unpredictable outfit in international cricket, Pakistan have notched up successive victories against Kenya, Sri Lanka and Canada with skipper Shahid Afridi starring in all of them.

Their batting remains vulnerable but with Afridi on song and the pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul chipping in with the early breakthroughs, Pakistan look capable of defending even modest totals.

In contrast, New Zealand comprehensively beat Kenya and Zimbabwe but failed in the only true test of their form, going down to Australia by seven wickets. Despite former captain John Wright taking over the coaching reins, their top order comprising Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor looks patchy.

Their bowling does not really create panic among the elite teams either and that would make New Zealand's job doubly difficult against a Pakistan side which beat them in a home series before the World Cup.

Vettori: Pakistan Bowling Attack Can Defend any Score

New Zealand Cricket captain Daniel Vettori said that we have to give our hundred percent against Pakistan team dangerous bowling attack in the ICC World Cup match, which is to be played on tuesday, March, 08 2011.

Vettori said that its really very difficult to handle Pakistan bowling attack, as Pakistan have already defeated New Zealand in ODI Series. He further said that Pakistan Bowlers did great job to win matches against Canada and Sri Lanka.

New Zealand captain said that in order to win against Pakistan in this World Cup 2011 we have to play as one team and every player should contribute in it. However our opening batsman has given good performance against Zimbabwe.

In the end Vettori said that Pakistan bowling has a lot of varriety in shape of Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhter, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz.

Ireland beat England by 3 Wickets

Following the target of 328, Irish side lost the wicket of William Porterfield on the very first ball of innings. Opener Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling added 62 runs in the second wicket partnership. Joyce was lucky to get 3 chances, showing poor fielding the English fielders dropped easy catches.

The resistance of Ed Joyce finished on 32. Niall O’Brien was taken by Swann on 29. This time Kevin O’Brien came on the crease and started crashing English bowlers, he played powerful strokes all around the ground including boundaries and sixes along with Alex Cusack O’Brien scored the fastest hundred of World Cup on 50 balls. Cursack went left O’Brien after scoring 47 runs. Aggressive innings of O’Brien ended on 113. Trent Johnston and Mooney got their target in 49.1 overs.

Sri Lanka Cricket refutes 'baseless' fixing report, condemns channel

Sri Lanka Cricket has rubbished allegations of match-fixing that have cropped up against Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Smaraweera due to a TV report, condemning the channel for carrying a “baseless and demoralising” story.

While commentating on the World Cup match between the Lankans and Pakistan, which the hosts lost by 11 runs, the channel’s anchor had said that Jayawardene and Smaraweera could have deliberately “changed the game” by scoring just two and one run respectively during the game. The channel had also claimed that a local businessman had placed a $ 18,000 bet on the match.

“It is with deep regret that we note that a leading television channel in a special programme has stated that Sri Lanka has lost against Pakistan due to two of our leading players not getting runs in that game,” Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.

“Further they added that the two players had failed intentionally, thereby implying that our players might have been involved in match-fixing,” said SLC.

“SLC will take up the matter with the relevant authorities of this channel, based on the fact that this channel has brought great distress to two of our cricketers who have served the country with honour and dignity,” it added.

Sri Lanka were chasing 277 in the match and ended it 266-9. Jayawardene is already contemplating legal action against the channel. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan team manager Anura Tennekoon rejected suggestions that there might be an SLC or ICC inquiry against the players.

“Knowing both Mahela and Thilan, we feel there is no necessity to investigate the matter and, as far as the ICC has concerned, they have the right to investigate but so far they have not brought anything on this,” Tennekoon said. “But we will discuss the matter with our lawyer as well.”