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ISLAMABAD (AP) ” Pakistan cricket selectors have recalled all-rounder Shoaib Malik for the series against Zimbabwe.

The integrity committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday cleared Malik of financial misconduct which had kept him away from international cricket for a year.

Chief selector Mohsin Khan said in a statement on Saturday that Malik was included after consulting the team management, and that the squad would be “further strengthened” with his inclusion.

Coach Waqar Younis also welcomed Malik and said there’s still “a lot of cricket left in the all-rounder and its good that he is available to play for Pakistan.”

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By NVONews Sports Correspondent,

So finally India won the first match of England tour by beating Sussex rather comfortably. This shows that when it comes to shorter version of the game, India still has that wining touch.

India have been beaten in four test matches very badly by a resurgent England side. The Indian team that came as the top test team has been hammered and reduced to the number three after England and South Africa.

This was beyond anyone’s imagination when the team India, fresh from World Cup win and impressive West Indies tour landed in London. Many said that it would be a fight of two equals. But such expectations came a cropper when Indian side wilted under impressive cricketing show by English team.

Besides the 4-0 test whitewash Indian team failed miserably in two other matches against local sides. So the first win in England must have given immense pleasure to Indian captain Dhoni and his teammates.

Indian side, helped by impressive show by Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel and Rohit Sharma, was able to beat a very confident looking Sussex side. The match was decided by DL method due to the fact that rains disrupted the game on several occasions. From Sussex side Machan 56 and Brown 48 runs were the top contributors with the bat.

From Indian side Virat Kohli was top scorer with 71 runs while Rohit Sharma scored 61 runs.

RP Singh was the most successful bowler from the Indian side. He scalped four important wickets and gave away only 45 runs.

But beating Sussex and taking on mighty England cricket team that has just thrashed Indian team so badly will be a different ball game altogether. England are in the best form and their whole team seems to have been woven together in some great sync.

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AAP

Tim Nielsen could remain Australia’s cricket coach until late November while others apply for his job, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says.

Nielsen had “stepped up a notch” since the release of the Argus review, which recommended sweeping changes and forces him to re-apply for his coaching job.

Sutherland made a 24-hour visit to the Australian team in Sri Lanka on Tuesday to discuss the review, and reserved special praise for Nielsen.

Whatever happens in the long term, it seems likely Nielsen will remain coach for the next few months, possibly until Australia’s tour of South Africa ends in late November.

Sutherland said filling the newly-created position of general manager team performance was the priority.

“In the first instance, we’re obviously very focused on the general manager of team performance,” he told AAP.

“That is not to say the search exercise and considering candidates (for coach) won’t happen concurrently to some extent, but really getting down to the final decision won’t happen until this person’s in place.

“Realistically speaking, that is probably months away.

“Tim has got a contract. He’s the coach of the team and it’s working for both of us at the moment. There’s no reason to change that.

“There’s nothing that I see or hear from anyone that indicates that Tim is anything other than committed to doing the very best he can and … if anything, he’s stepped up a notch.”

Sutherland urged the 43-year-old Nielsen to re-apply for his job.

“One of the things that is very clear in the messages I’ve heard is that Tim has responded magnificently to the difficult circumstances,” Sutherland said.

“The other thing I’ve heard from the players and the group is he’s almost stepped up a notch in the way that he’s got on about it.

“I’ve given him that feedback and, as part of that, encouraged him to make sure that he puts his hand up.

“If he wants to do this new role, then he should do that because what I see is he’s not doing anything right now that would harm his chances of that.”

Sutherland also confirmed Greg Chappell would stay in Sri Lanka throughout the three-match Test series starting on August 31.

On the field, Michael Clarke’s team begin preparations for the Test series with a three-day tour match against a Sri Lanka Board XI in Colombo starting on Thursday.

The game will be a crucial warm-up, particularly for inexperienced spin duo Michael Beer and Nathan Lyon.

Play begins in the tour match at 10am local time (1430 AEST).

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“I told him that in his capacity as ICC chief and a prominent figure in India he can assist a lot in the revival of Pakistan and India cricket matches,” Butt said.

Pakistan has been pushing the ICC to assist in convincing the Indian board to revive bilateral ties, which have remained suspended since late 2007.

Pakistan toured India in late 2007 and India were scheduled to pay a return visit for a full series to Pakistan in early 2009, but they cancelled the visit after the Mumbai terror attacks in November, 2008.

Since than both nations have met in multi ICC events but not in bilateral series.

Pakistan is due to visit India in March-April next year but the tour is in doldrums over scheduling issues.

The Asian Cricket Council has announced it would hold the Asia Cup in Dhaka from March 12 to 22, having rescheduled the dates already because of the tri-series that India will play against Sri Lanka and Australia in the first 10 days of March.

Butt confirmed he had held no meetings with BCCI officials.

The PCB chief, during his visit, also held a meeting with a leading broadcaster in India regarding the coverage rights of international matches hosted by Pakistan.

Butt also met with Zee TV network officials as they are the majority stake holders of the Dubai based Taj Entertainment Network (TEN), which presently holds the exclusive rights to all international cricket played in Pakistan.

The PCB has a four-year contract with Ten sports, which is going to expire next year.

The PCB has also said that its chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad would be holding talks with BCCI officials over revival of bilateral ties and the dates for next year’s series, which is part of the ICC future tour program.

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“The way we have always looked upon these things is our security manager is there for a reason and he has to determine if it is safe for us to go on tour or play a game at home,” said Andrew Strauss. “So far he says it is 100 per cent safe and you should always go on their advice. We don’t feel unsafe and are quite isolated from what is going on.

“When you watch scenes on television it is horrific and this is far from this country’s proudest moment. It is incredibly disappointing to see it happen but we fully intend to go out there and play the game as we would any other game of cricket. We have been advised to stay out of the city centre in the afternoon and the evening.”

Police estimated 800 people took part in looting on Monday evening in Birmingham and 138 people had been arrested yesterday, with the main centre for trouble close to the hotels housing the two teams.

The BCCI and ECB reviewed security arrangements for the teams on Tuesday but MS Dhoni, the India captain, appeared unruffled. “I don’t think there’s much we can do as individuals or cricketers, so we’re sticking to what we can do – practising for the game,” he said.

“We are cricketers, not professional guys who know about security, so let’s leave it to them. They will be the ones who decide what needs to be done. For us it’s important to be 100 per cent ready for the game. We are doing the things we can do to be secure.”

Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, said on Tuesday if the roles were reversed, and the riots were in India, England would be looking to go home.

“They [the England team] would have been pressing the panic button. They would have been talking in terms of the team returning home. That is a given,” he said, conveniently forgetting England returned to India after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The main concern this morning will be ferrying supporters from New Street railway station to the ground on time and returning them safely after play.

New Street was a focal point for violence on Monday night and a large crowd returning from the cricket to catch trains on Wednesday evening could offer a potential flashpoint.

Warwickshire and the ECB were briefing yesterday that the match was on while the police, who have the final say, were still meeting over the feasibility of combining handling the Test match crowd and potential riots.

The financial implications of cancelling the match would be far reaching for both the county and the ECB. Warwickshire officials refused to comment on whether the club are insured against the match being called off for public order reasons. Last month the club officially opened their £32 million stand which has left it with a £1 million repayment bill per year to Birmingham City Council.

Income from major matches is a central part of Warwickshire’s business plan and a successful five days will be crucial for turning last year’s £2.1  million loss into a profit.

In London, Middlesex brought forward the start time of Tuesday’s CB40 match against Yorkshire at Lord’s because of concerns for the safety of spectators and staff. The match was due to be a day/night contest starting at 3.40pm but will now begin at noon to ensure a finish before nightfall. There has been no rioting close to Lord’s but there have been incidents of violence at nearby Chalk Farm, Notting Hill and Oxford Circus since Saturday.

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In the three games he has played, leading up to the Test match, he has found the going pretty tough with some wayward bowling that also lacked any form of penetration.

It’s hard to understand what Njabulo Ncube has to do before he gets the recognition from the selectors that he so richly deserves.

Yes, it is true that he was injured in the first four-day match against Australia A, and missed the second four-day day match as well.

However, he gave good accounts of himself in Kwekwe on a flat and unresponsive pitch and bowled with both aggression and control in the recently concluded three-day warm-up match against Bangladesh where he claimed five wickets in the match.

Yet, for all that, he still finds himself watching from the sidelines.

Another inclusion that will leave cricket followers scratching their heads in confusion is that of Keegan Meth who relies purely on the overhead conditions and whatever assistance the pitch has to offer due to his lack of pace and penetration.

So will Zimbabwe play four seamers and one spinner?

Or will they open the bowling with Chris Mpofu and Brian Vitori and play both Raymond Price and Prosper Utseya and use Elton Chigumbura as a third seamer?

Forster Mutizwa will also feel that he has a foot in the door for selection as his match-winning innings of 89 showed a mixture of maturity and class which has left many people wondering if Hamilton Masakadza should maybe pushed to open the batting with Vusi Sibanda to allow Mutizwa to perhaps slot in at number seven after Chigumbura, which would strengthin the middle and lower order.

Tinotenda Mawoyo will be hoping that the bad run of injuries that have plagued him will be something of the past as both he and Vusi Sibanda had solid opening starts against Australia A.

It was also encouraging to see that the pitch the warm-up game was played on had a bit of pace and bounce as well as movement for the fast bowlers and even though the batsmen found the going difficult in the first innings.

It was clear to see that Bangladesh were found wanting as a combination of very little first class cricket and some persistent and impressive seam bowling eventually got the better of the tourists as they were beaten by four wickets leading up to the Test match.

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Butt confirmed that during his recent visit to New Delhi he had a meeting with Pawar who is also a former president of the BCCI.

“Yes I met with Pawar as he is the ICC president and discussed Pakistan and India bilateral ties with him,” Butt said.

“I told him that in his capacity as ICC chief and a prominent figure in India he can assist a lot in the revival of Pakistan and India cricket matches,” Butt said.

Pakistan has been pushing the ICC to assist in convincing the Indian board to revive bilateral ties, which have remained suspended since late 2007.

Pakistan toured India in late 2007 and India were scheduled to pay a return visit for a full series to Pakistan in early 2009, but they cancelled the visit after the Mumbai terror attacks in November, 2008.

Since than both nations have met in multi ICC events but not in bilateral series.

Pakistan is due to visit India in March-April next year but the tour is in doldrums over scheduling issues.

The Asian Cricket Council has announced it would hold the Asia Cup in Dhaka from March 12 to 22, having rescheduled the dates already because of the tri-series that India will play against Sri Lanka and Australia in the first 10 days of March.

Butt confirmed he had held no meetings with BCCI officials. The PCB chief, during his visit, also held a meeting with a leading broadcaster in India regarding the coverage rights of international matches hosted by Pakistan.

PTI

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Younis has decided to step down after the Zimbabwe tour.

Lawson, who was sacked by PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt before his contract ended in late 2008, said that only a foreign coach was the answer to Pakistan cricket”s problems.

Lawson is currently with the Indian Premier League side Kochi and feels that the foreign coach should be aided by a full set of specific coaches for Pakistan to rise from the controversies and indifferent form on the field.

“I said it when I left as well, Pakistan need a foreign coach. Whether you come from Karachi or Lahore, the pressure on you from external sources doesn’t let you do the work properly.

“A foreign coach won’t have that excess baggage. He won’t worry about politics but will just concentrate on making the best team he can. In my time, language wasn’t a problem. The common language was cricket and that’s all they had to understand,” Lawson told The Express Tribune from Australia.

Lawson cited example of his IPL team, where players speak different languages but it’s not a problem at all.

“In my Kochi team, some players don’t speak Hindi so they communicate in English. It’s just an excuse of not appointing a foreign coach despite all the experience and assistance he can bring to Pakistan cricket.”

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COLOMBO: Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke believes fending off the challenge posed by Sri Lanka’s spinners will be the key to winning the three-Test series starting next week.

The series, which opens at a traditionally spin-friendly venue in Galle on Aug 31, will be Clarke’s first as Test captain since taking over from Ricky Ponting after the World Cup.

Clarke said a 3-2 success in the one-day series against the hosts would stand his side in good stead going into the Test matches.

“I think it’s been really good to get some cricket under the belt in these conditions,” Clarke said after his team’s four-wicket defeat in the fifth and final one-dayer in Colombo on Monday night.

“Looking at the result, I would imagine that the wickets are going to turn throughout the series and we are going to be facing a lot of spin. We need to be prepared for that.

“We have to be at our best as a batting group. We are fortunate we’ve got a lot of experience in our batting group but we have to make some big scores.”

Sri Lanka will be without match-winning fast bowler Lasith Malinga for the Test series, but Clarke said the hosts still had the bowling resources to test his batsmen.

Malinga, who became the first bowler to take three hat-tricks in one-day internationals, has already quit Tests in a bid to prolong his career in limited-overs cricket.

Man-of-the-match Malinga dismissed Mitchell Johnson, John Hastings and Xavier Doherty off successive balls to spark a dramatic collapse which saw Australia lose their last five wickets for just one run.

Australia were bowled out for 211 before Sri Lanka achieved the target with three overs to spare.

Australia will play a three-day practice match against a Sri Lanka Board XI in Colombo from today before the Test series. – AFP

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