Clarke finally has something to smile about

FOR Australia the one-day international series win against England was their first in any format since their tour of New Zealand last March and helped ease some of the disappointment of their Ashes humbling. “After a pretty tough start to the summer, losing the Ashes series, I think it shows a lot of courage for us to come back and play well in this series and win the series tonight,” acting captain Michael Clarke said.

“I think it was a great performance by the whole group today. “A few of us got starts with the bat and didn’t go on which was a little bit disappointing but I think to get 250 on that wicket was a really good effort and then we bowled and fielded well once again.

cWhile steering his side to a long-awaited series win Clarke was again the focus of taunts from his home crowd, after he was booed as he strode to the crease.

The 29-year-old responded by top-scoring with 54 – only the second time he has scored a half-century during England’s tour.

“You’d like people to be cheering but you understand why some of them are booing,” he said. “Like I’ve said, I’ve had a lot of support over this time.

“I haven’t performed as well as I’ve liked so I don’t blame the public for being disappointed with my performances but it was nice to finally contribute and help the boys out tonight and get a win. It was a great feeling.”

Clarke revealed that the Australian players had all donated their match fees to the victims of the Queensland floods, which decimated Brisbane and the surrounding area earlier this month.

“It was a no-brainer for the boys,” he said “We were all more than happy to do that. “Everyone’s going to sign a shirt as well and donate that as well. “I think cricket in general has raised over six million Australian dollars. “There’s a lot of people who have been devastated by what has happened. “The least we can do is donate a bit of our money.”

Afridi likely to be retained captain for WC: sources

Shahid Afridi is likely to be retained as the One-day captain for the ICC World Cup 2011 after chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt held discussions with the team management in New Zealand and chief operating officer in Lahore.

According to a well-informed source in the board, all indications show that allrounder Afridi is likely to lead the side during the mega-event staring from February 19 to be held jointly by India , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The source informed that Butt held a half an hour discussion with chief operating officer and with the team management in New Zealand.

"Butt himself is not in favour of having Afridi as captain and is more inclined towards Misbah-ul-Haq. Even Younis Khan wants Misbah as the skipper. But after getting all the feedbacks and suggestions the PCB chief knows that it would be a risky move to change the ODI captain at this stage and it would be better to continue with Afridi," the source disclosed.

The source also added that Butt and some other board officials have lost faith in Afridi over his attitude and repeated violations of the board instructions in recent months. "Definitely, Afridi is not the favourite candidate for captaincy but even the team management has told Butt not to change the captain for the World Cup at this stage."

He said another factor weighing on the mind of Butt is that some of the senior players in the touring side in New Zealand including Shoaib Akhtar Abdul Razzaq Umar Gul are in favour of Afridi and want him to continue as the World Cup captain.

"The PCB Chairman has a difficult decision to make because he has to ensure there are no issues or conflicts within the team just before the World Cup," the source stated. The source also informed that Butt is likely to announce the World Cup captain this week after some more deliberations in New Zealand. He even indicated that Butt was facing pressure from the top over the captaincy issue.

"Most of the major sponsors who have invested lot of money in the tournament in Pakistan have already prepared their campaigns with Shahid Afridi as captain in their commercials. So they are concerned that any late change in the captaincy now would derail their campaigns and cost them millions of rupees in losses," the source said.

"These companies are also lobbying within the government to ensure that the Pakistan board does not change Afridi as captain for the World Cup."

The PCB has come in for severe criticism from a number of former players for delaying in naming the captain for the mega-event. The former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq even felt that the delay had led to groupism within the team and could prove damaging for the team during the World Cup.

Waqar apologises for remarks

The coach questioned the board’s tactics and said the delay would only cause disharmony in the team with the tournament less than a month away. In response, the PCB sent a showcause notice to the former captain asking him to explain his comments that were against the board’s code of conduct.

Though the board has decided against giving any official statement to Younis’ reply, a board official said that the coach has apologised. “Younis has admitted his mistake and apologised for violating the code of conduct in his reply to the notice,” said the official adding that the coach has also given an assurance to avoid such statements in the future.

The PCB, under a new strict policy, is maintaining zero-tolerance and has quickly reacted to officials and players giving reckless statements. ICC website error creates confusion Even the International Cricket Council (ICC) seems confused after it displayed names of both Shahid Afridi and Misbahul Haq on its website as captain of the Pakistan team. While the front page of the website mentioned Afridi as captain, Misbah was named the skipper in the inside page. However, it was learnt that a technical error in uploading information caused the error and was rectified soon afterwards.

Misbah a defensive captain: Rashid Latif

Former skipper Rashid Latif has said that Misbah-ul-Haq is a defensive captain and is not suitable for the job for the upcoming Cricket World Cup starting from February 19. “Pakistan needs an aggressive captain like Shahid Afridi, who should be retained for the World Cup,” he told APP in an exclusive interview on Monday. “I think Pakistan could have won the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington but we wasted the opportunity of winning the Test match because of defensive approach of Misbah,” he commented.

“Teams are easily chasing total over 300 runs in 90 overs in current days but because of Misbah’s cautious and defensive mindset, Pakistan missed the opportunity to emerge 2-0 winner,” he said. “By holding up the name of the captain for the World Cup, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already created rift in the team,” he said. “Personally I have nothing against Misbah but he is not fit to lead Pakistan in the mega event like World Cup,” he noted.

I am passing through most difficult phase, says Malik

Former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik admits that he is passing through the most difficult time of his career but hopes good times will come again. Malik, 28, has not been selected in a 15-man Pakistan squad for the forthcoming World Cup to be played from next month in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In an exclusive interview with German Radio Deutsche Welle Urdu service here, Malik said that playing World Cup was the utmost desire of any athlete in the world. “And it becomes more disappointing when one is ignored when one is in the best form of his life. I have never been in form like this before in 11 years of my international career the way I played in the recently concluded Quaid Trophy,” he added.

Malik was the second top scorer of Quaid Trophy with 799 runs in only 6 matches. “Cricket is my passion. I thought I could have won this World Cup for Pakistan and that is why it is very difficult to make myself understand. But then its not the end of the world and cricket too. I will not leave playing cricket and try to cash in other opportunities come my way by playing domestic cricket and events outside the country.

Malik said during this most difficult phase his wife and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza had been very supportive. “Sania being herself as a sports woman knows how to face this kind of situation. She had been through some ups and down as well. I am very lucky to have Sania as my wife who is sporting and helping me at every step to handle all this.”
Malik denied media reports that indicated that an amount of £90,000, which was transferred from India to his British account, was the main reason behind the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to sideline him from the World Cup squad. “I have not hidden any thing from the PCB integrity committee. Like in Pakistan you cant approach any body’s bank account abroad. But I gave every detail of my Pakistani and foreign assets and bank accounts to the PCB but yet I was not selected. I wont start firing at any one because its not my nature and I always try to remain away from controversies.”

Malik is considered as a ODI and Twenty20 specialist because his Test match record has never been that impressive as other two versions of the game. In 32 Tests, Malik has scored only 1606 at 33 and claimed only 21 wickets while in 192 ODIs he has made over 5188 runs and grabbed 134 wickets as well. Despite this, Malik has no intention to quit Test cricket like England’s Paul Collingwood and New Zealand’s Jacob Oram. “I know my Test performance level is not as high but I am not that sort of guy who thinks that I cant do this or that. I have worked very hard on few issues of my game and that worked really well in Quad Trophy. And I want to play all three versions of the game for the next seven to eight years.

On the Pakistan team’s prospects in the World Cup, Malik suggested that Pakistan should rely on senior players. “In an mega event like World Cup only seniors can take pressure of the situations and that’s why I think Pakistan should be relying on experienced players,” Malik concluded.

ICC World Cup 2011: Andy Flower defends Matt Prior’s selection

The Director of England cricket team Andrew Flower has backed the decision of the national selection committee to select wicketkeeper Matt Prior ahead of Steve Davies in the team for the ICC World Cup 2011.

Davies, who has been a regular member of the team in the One Day International set-up since 2009-10 English summer, finds himself sidelined despite doing a fairly good job in the series against Pakistan as well as in the first ODI against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Flower stated that the focus was to have the best possible English team for the premier tournament that they are yet to win. He added that things have changed since Davies was named in the ODI squad for Australia prior to the 2010-11 Ashes series. Matt Prior performed brilliantly in the Ashes series which proved to be good enough to seal a World Cup berth.

“The circumstances have changed,” said Flower. “Matt Prior did very well out here for the Test matches. He is a combative aggressive cricketer and he fits our aggressive fielding unit. So those are the reasons why he's been picked for the World Cup.”

“It was a tough decision,” Flower added. “We always knew the timing of the World Cup announcement would be tricky. It's not ideal one game into a seven-match series. Steve Davies was picked in our last one-day series in England and he did OK against Pakistan.”

Flowed added that Davies was unlucky to be left out but said that he had a good future ahead of him.

The England team director thinks that Prior would be the ideal man behind the stumps in India, a factor that has gone in his favour is the aggressive make up to his cricket which Flower feels is the brand of cricket that the English team should play in the ODI format.

“We picked him for this series in Australia because of the conditions out here. But as we get closer to the World Cup we've made that adjustment and we want Prior to get a few games under his belt before we get out there so he's going to be arriving in Hobart [on Wednesday],” he said.

Cricket-McCullum, Guptill give NZ springboard in second test v Pakistan

Mccullum, who was dropped in close while on 26, had quickly moved to his 19th test half century and was on 58 at the break, while Guptill, dropped by Tanvir Ahmed on 34 just before lunch, was on 38. It is just the second century-opening stand by New Zealand since 2004.

Pakistan had been bowled out for 376, a first innings lead of 20 runs, late on Monday. They hold a 1-0 lead in the two-match series and are seeking their first test series victory since 2006. New Zealand's aggressive batting line-up will be hoping to push along the scoring in the afternoon sessions in an attempt to set Pakistan a target on the fifth day pitch that could suit the left arm spin of captain Daniel Vettori.

Poor weather has been forecast with heavy rain due to hit the lower North Island later on Tuesday, though latest forecasts suggest it could bypass the Wellington region.

McCullum had given just the one chance when he prodded at an Abdul Rehman delivery and the ball was dropped by the close fielder. To rub salt into the wound, McCullum then smashed the next delivery over long-off for six.

That shot unleashed the shackles somewhat, with McCullum in particular picking up the scoring rate in humid, overcast conditions and threatening to provide more fireworks after the break that could force the pace of the match along.

‘Trio to feature in World Cup if cleared’

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt has said that the suspended trio – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – will be included in the World Cup squad if they are cleared from the spot-fixing allegations.

The three Pakistan players are awaiting the verdict that was delayed until February 5 after a six-day hearing was held in Doha earlier this month before a three-man tribunal headed by Michael Beloff. The International Cricket Council (ICC) General Manager on Cricket David Richardson had earlier said that it will be up to the tournament committee to decide on the inclusion of any player after the deadline, which is January 19, for the final team announcement.

However, the PCB chief, who visited the under construction Benazir Bhutto International Cricket Stadium in Larkana yesterday, told reporters that the board has requested the ICC to allow the late inclusion of the trio if they are cleared. Meanwhile, Ijaz said that the 15-man squad for the global event will be announced on January 19.