Sports

Karachi, July 03: Pakistan”s acting chief cricket selector Wasim Bari has hinted at the return of opener Imran Nazir to the national fold. Nazir is one of the four Pakistani players to have shunned ICL but the PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt had said Nazir would not be considered for national selection because of his behaviour in the final of the national Twenty20 championship.

Bari said that Nazir had been cleared by the Board over the incident in the final when the opener had shown dissent towards an umpire, who ruled him out. “He was cleared on June 30 over the discipline issue in the RBS Cup.

New Delhi, July 03: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the logic behind Indian cricket team`s on-going four-match one-day series in the Caribbean and said with an already crammed international schedule in place, such tours only add to the players` exhaustion.

India flew straight to the West Indies after their disappointing ouster in the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Dubai, July 02: Gautam Gambhir is India’s highest ranked Test batsman at number three and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, at sixth, is the highest placed Indian bowler in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings issued Thursday.

Gambhir, the Delhi left-hander with 847 rating points, is the only Indian to figure in the top 10 batsmen’s chart, followed by Sachin Tendulkar (13th), VVS Laxman (15th) and Virender Sehwag (20th).

In the bowlers’ chart, Harbhajan is the lone Indian in top 10, followed by Zaheer Khan (11th) and Ishant Sharma (20th).

Mumbai, July 02: Former India and Tamil Nadu pacer T A Sekhar will conduct a ten-day camp for the fast bowlers of the city between July 3 and 12 at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s indoor academy at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here.

The camp intends to help around 45 pacers from various age groups in improving their technique and learn skills about the various aspects of fast bowling, according to the director of the MCA’s Cricket Academy, Chandrakant Pandit.

Mumbai, July 02: Former captain Sunil Gavaskar today advised young cricketers to aim for the India cap and said playing in the cash-rich Indian Premier League could not be their ultimate goal.

“Today, parents are encouraging their children to take up cricket as a career option because of the IPL and the amount of money it provides. But the worrying factor is far too many youngsters see IPL as the be all and end all,” Gavaskar said at the inaugural Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture here.

Melbourne, July 02: Retired Test wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has backed struggling paceman Brett Lee to turn around his woeful record in England in a predicted 2-1 Ashes victory for Australia.

Lee, 32, making a comeback after ankle surgery, has taken just 29 wickets at an average of 45.44 in 10 Tests in England.

With fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle considered certain starters for next week’s first Test in Cardiff, commentators believe it’s between Lee and Stuart Clark for the other pace bowling spot.

New Delhi, July 02: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the logic behind Indian cricket team’s on-going four-match one-day series in the Caribbean and said with an already crammed international schedule in place, such tours only add to the players’ exhaustion.

India flew straight to the West Indies after their disappointing ouster in the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Karachi, July 02: Pakistani cricket authorities on Thursday fined Mohammad Asif one million rupees (12,500 dollars) over the fast bowler’s 19-day detention at Dubai airport for alleged drug possession.

Asif, 26, was detained last June on his way back home after playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

A three-member Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) committee headed by former captain and PCB director Wasim Bari investigated the matter.

“On recommendation of the committee we have fined Asif one million rupees,” the PCB said in a press release.

New Delhi, July 02: Out-of-favour middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif is quietly hopeful of returning to national colours, banking on his previous international record and impressive current domestic performance.

Kaif, more popular for his agile fielding skills, had a horrid run with the bat in 2005-6, but the Uttar Pradesh cricketer refuses to believe it was his form which put paid to his international aspirations.

Karachi, July 02: Former Pakistan test captain Javed Miandad has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to resist calls for a shake-up of the traditional test match format.

The ICC is considering reducing tests to four days from the current five as part of a series of innovations aimed at keeping the oldest form of the sport exciting to spectators in the wake of Twenty20’s growing popularity.

“Any move to change the format of test cricket or the way it is played would prove very harmful to cricket in the long run,” Miandad told Reuters on Thursday.

London, July 02: With the first Ashes Test in Cardiff a week away, English pacer Steve Harmison believes that Australia are suffering from a crisis of ”confidence”.

Harmison claimed three wickets for 67 from 22 overs for England Lions against Ricky Ponting’s side at New Road yesterday.

”This is my fourth time against Australia and the one thing I picked up … is that they are not as brash and confident as they normally are,” Harmison said.

London, July 02: Controversial all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is past his prime and England should learn to play without him, feels former skipper Mike Gatting.

Gatting said England can win the Ashes against Australia without Flintoff, who now plays more as a bowler, and can be replaced.

“You would not want to because he (Flintoff) gives you so much, but England need to learn to play without him,” Gatting was quoted as saying in the Times.

“We won without him against the West Indies when, to me, Graham Onions was a revelation.

Karachi, July 02: Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi has said Pakistan would face a big challenge of switching over to Test cricket and adjusting to the Sri Lankan conditions after their month-long stint in the cold English conditions during the twenty20 World Cup.

“The series in Sri Lanka would not be easy at all it will be a big challenge for our players to make successful adjustment from T20 cricket to Tests as well the different weather conditions,” Afridi said.

Colombo, July 02: Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga will sign up with Tasmania for Australia’s domestic Twenty20 tournament. After signing contract with Tasmania, Malinga will become third International player to play in Australia’s T20 Big Bash tournament.

Earlier, West Indies skipper Chris Gayle had signed with Western Australia, while West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo had joined Victoria for the Big Bash.

London, July 02: BCCI finalizes Venus for Australia’s tour to IndiaThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the venues for the Australia’s India tour during which India will play seven ODI matches against Australia, in the meeting of BCCI’s tournament and fixture committee on Wednesday.

The Australian tour is being scheduled to start from October 25 with last ODI match to be played on 11th November.

Colombo, July 02: Pakistan and Sri Lanka make an emotional return to Test cricket on Saturday, almost four months to the day after a militant attack halted their last contest.

The three-Test series is the first between the two nations since armed gunmen fired on the Sri Lankan team bus while the players were on their way to resume a Test match in the Pakistani city of Lahore on March 3.

Seven Sri Lankan cricketers were injured and eight local security men were killed in the attack that forced the cricket world to abandon Pakistan as a venue for international cricket.

London, July 02: Damien Martyn has slammed his former coach John Buchanan over what he believes was poor preparation for the 2005 Ashes series and said England would never again play as well as they had that year.

Martyn’s criticism of Buchanan, who has taken on a consultancy role with the ECB, echoes the thoughts of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, who have never hidden their contempt for Australia’s ex-coach.

London, July 02: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas went down to South African Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman of Belgium in a marathon five-setter in the Wimbledon men’s doubles quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, lost 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 4-6 in almost three and a half hours.

There was little to chose between the two teams as they served strong and kept coming back at each other.

Bhupathi and Knowles had only four break point opportunities in the match and they converted two to win the second and fourth sets.

London, July 01: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas lost a marathon five-setter to South African Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman of Belgium in the Wimbledon men’s doubles quarter-finals here Wednesday.

Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, lost 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 4-6 in almost three and a half hours.

There was little to chose between the two teams as they served strong and kept coming back at each other.

Bhupathi and Knowles had only four break point opportunities in the entire match and they converted two to win the second and fourth sets.

London, July 01: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles twice erased the deficit but were still sent packing from the Wimbledon championships following a defeat in a marathon men’s doubles quarterfinal against Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman here today.

The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair put up a valiant fight before losing 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 5-7, 4-6 in a three hour and 37 minute match to ninth seed South African-Belgian pair at the All England club.

Karachi, July 01: Pakistan Cricket Board has refused to sign the new Future Tours Programme which spans from 2012 to 2020 unless the Indian board revises the draft.

Sources in the PCB confirmed that officials had voiced strong objections at the International Cricket Council meetings held last week in London when they learnt that the Indian board had not scheduled a single bilateral series with Pakistan in their proposed draft of the new FTP.

London, July 01: Roger Federer motored into his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) defeat of Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon Wednesday.

Federer put forth an efficient effort in taming the towering Croatian in one hour and 42 minutes, with the Swiss now awaiting his last-four opponent.

Federer is now two victories away from setting the all-time mark for the most Grand Slam singles titles, 15, one more than himself and Pete Sampras currently hold. He levelled with the American by winning his first French Open last month.

London, July 01: Profit-minded Wimbledon officials are laying the groundwork for future night matches at the hallowed home of grass, driven by the lure of a massive increase in television income.

Andy Murray’s Monday win which ended at 10:30 p.m. to start the week opened the floodgates, with the new roof and lights put to the test. And now, officials are rolling back the vow that the event is “daytime-only”.

The payoff: Up a reported $10 million additional television income for the richest event on the calendar.

Mumbai, July 01: The Cricket Board has given the short shrift to one of India’s iconic cricket arenas, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, again while deciding on the venues to host the seven ODIs against Australia in October-November.

The BCCI’s Tour Programmes and Fixtures Committee met here today and decided that Guwahati, Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Jaipur will host matches in the India-Australia ODI rubber in October-November.

Mumbai, July 01: Guwahati, deprived of international cricket due to reasons varying from weather to security, was among the seven cities picked by BCCI today to host the India-Australia one-day series scheduled in October-November this year.

Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Jaipur were the other six cities chosen for the series.