Cricket

Customs investigators have made three more arrests in connection with the Pakistan spot-fixing investigation, Cricinfo has confirmed.



"Two men and a woman, all from London, were questioned yesterday as part of an investigation into money laundering before being released on bail," HM Revenue and Customs said in a statement.


The arrests are understood to be part of a line of enquiry that is separate to the Lord's spot-fixing scandal. Customs confirmed that "two 35-year-olds (a male and a female) from the Croydon area and a 49-year-old male from the Wembley area" had been arrested, adding: "These individuals were arrested, questioned and have been bailed pending further investigations."


The developments come as it was revealed that Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, the three Pakistan players whose mobile phones were confiscated in the wake of the News of the World revelations, would be returning to London for talks with the PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt.


However, despite intense pressure from the ECB to drop the three players, Butt told Cricinfo on Monday night that there would be no changes to the squad. "There is a case going on with the Scotland Yard," he said. "This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."


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Shane Watson
who reported two approaches by an illegal bookmaker in England last year, said he was in "complete shock" at the allegations levelled at Pakistan. Watson and his team-mate Brad Haddin confirmed they were spoken to by the Indian man during the tour and immediately told Australia's manager Steve Bernard.




It has also emerged that Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were approached during the England tour. Bernard has referred two other bookie-instigated conversations to the ICC during his term as manager.



Watson was invited for drinks by the bookmaker, who the allrounder initially thought was a fan. "I didn't think too much more of it until I found out a bit more information and that he was actually one of the illegal bookmakers," Watson said in Sydney. "It was just a little bit different to what normal fans are." The approach occurred at the Royal Gardens hotel in London, which was the venue of a complaint reported by Cricinfo last year.



Haddin said the man had knocked on his door in the hotel asking if he wanted to go to his room to have a drink. "I quickly rang Steve Bernard and John Rhodes [the ICC's security manager] just to tell them something weird had just happened," Haddin said.



"You don't usually get a knock on your door with someone asking you to come across to your room for a drink and then go out for dinner with someone you don't know." Footage of the person was checked and it was a figure familiar to investigators.



Watson was stunned by the revelations from the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's. "When I first heard about it I was in complete shock, there's no doubt about that," Watson said. "If the allegations are true then they will unfortunately get a lifetime ban."



The claims surrounding the no-balls delivered by Mohammad Amir, the 18-year-old fast bowler, surprised and upset Watson. "I probably feel for him more than anyone because he's only a young, naive and innocent young guy," Watson said. "Unfortunately he's caught up with something.



"Whether it's in their culture I don't know, I don't know how deep it runs, but it's unfortunate that someone of his skill has got tied up with something that is damaging to cricket and to the individuals. I found him to be a brilliant competitor on the field."


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Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has insisted none of the players at the centre of spot-fixing allegations will be suspended until the police investigation comes up with some solid evidence. That throws open the possibility that they could appear in the Twenty20 internationals, which begin next week in Cardiff, despite the severe controversy hanging over them.



Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, the three players who have had mobile phones confiscated, arrived with the squad in Taunton on Monday afternoon where there was a heavy police presence outside the team hotel. Pakistan's tour match against Somerset on Thursday will go ahead as planned, but the board is coming under increasing pressure to keep the implicated players out of the limited-overs matches.



"There is a case going on over here with the Scotland Yard," Ijaz told Cricinfo. "This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."





He refused to say whether conversations had taken place with Shahid Afridi, who returns as captain for the one-day matches in place of Salman Butt, over who should play in the remaining games. "This is an internal matter and I don't want to speak about it," he said.



Following the conclusion of the Test on Sunday, Pakistan's team management insisted that the one-day series will go ahead as planned next week and Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, said that was also the feeling of the governing body. "It's the desire of the ICC England and Pakistan that the series should continue," he said.



Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, told BBC Radio Five Live, that they were working hard towards a resolution, with the first Twenty20 international at Cardiff set to take place on Sunday. "We're busy with the Metropolitan Police and hopefully before the weekend arrives we can get to some sort of a conclusion, but this is a live issue which moves with the hour, every hour and it's an individual's right that you're innocent until proven guilty.



"At the moment, it is also appropriate that the game continues," Lorgat added. "We shouldn't let everyone suffer because of a couple of individuals that might have got caught up in corrupt practices. The vast majority of players are not guilty of any such behaviour. They play the sport in the right spirit, and there are many fans who want to watch the game."





Several Pakistan fans outside the team hotel in London shouted "thieves" at the players as they boarded the coach while police also removed a number of eggs from people waiting for the coach to leave. Originally the tourists weren't due to leave London until Tuesday, but the four-day finish to the final Test at Lord's means they have brought forward their departure.



Richard Gould, the Somerset chief executive, said the county was preparing as normal for the team's arrival. "They are due to train on Wednesday, but if they need anything before then they'll have the use of the indoor school and gym," he said. "We hope to give them the best chance to prepare for the one-day series."



Gould added that the club would be implementing the security plans they used during the World Twenty20 last year when Taunton hosted the women's group matches, but that wasn't a response to events of the last 24 hours.



"We aren't looking at increasing the security presence," he said. "We had already decided to implement the plans from last year because it was a high-profile side visiting and the model we used at the World Twenty20 was drawn up to cater for such events."



There are a number of fresh faces joining up with the squad for the one-day leg of the tour, including Shoaib Akhtar, who arrived separately at the hotel, and Afridi. Six players who aren't involved are returning to Pakistan - Imran Farhat, Raza Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Tanvir Ahmed, Umar Amin and Yasir Hameed were not included for the Twenty20s and ODIs.





Andrew Strauss admitted to mixed feelings about the series of five ODIs and two Twenty20s and said that he and his team needed to come to terms with the current issue before turning their attention to the rest of the tour.



"I honestly think that the best thing to do is let the dust settle on this," said Strauss, when asked about the feasibility of the tour continuing. "It's all new and raw and it's easy to get quite emotional about things right at the moment. For all of us, it's better to see how things pan out - clearly the ICC, ECB and Pakistan Cricket Board have to sit down and put their heads together, and decide what the best way forward is, and we as a cricket team we have to take stock as well.



When asked if he was happy to carry on playing against a team that has been accused of deliberately underperforming, Strauss offered a response that was non-committal at best. "It's just so hard to say with incomplete information at this stage," he said. "From our point of view we are going to sit down and have a couple of drinks and celebrate the fact that we won the series tonight. And then in the next few days I'm sure a lot of things will become a lot clearer."



The ultimate decision, he added, would be made at boardroom level. "That's something for the ICC, the ECB and the PCB to sit down and decide what the best way forward is. Clearly there are going to be some very strong reasons for the series to go ahead, but they've also got to sit down and think about what the right thing to do is, going forward, and that's their decision."





Additional reporting by Andrew McGlashan


Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo and Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at Cricinfo

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Salman Butt's team has been plunged into a controversy over spot-fixing © PA Photos




The Pakistan team was warned about meeting Mazhar and Azhar Majeed by the team management at the start of their tour to England. One of the brothers, Mazhar, was arrested last night by Scotland Yard on suspicion of a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers, after being caught on video by the News of the World (NOTW) offering to bribe Pakistan's bowlers to bowl no-balls on demand during the Lord's Test.



The brothers are agents who represent a number of Pakistan's players in the UK, helping them secure sponsorships for cricket equipment among other things.


"When we started this tour, I told the players they should not be entertaining these two in their hotel rooms," Yawar Saeed, the team manager, told Cricinfo. "These boys are their agents and, anywhere we tour in the world, we tell our players that they are not allowed to have agents in their hotel rooms. It is the policy on the tour."


The team management had warned players as soon as they landed in London against meeting these two brothers because of suspicions about some of their activities, Pakistan's leading Urdu paper Jang had reported on July 27. The reporter, Abdul Majid Bhatti, said he received calls from men claiming to represent the brothers soon after the story appeared, threatening legal action.


NOTW claimed that seven Pakistan players were involved, though only four have been named so far. Saeed confirmed to Cricinfo that "one or two were questioned by Scotland Yard," last night soon after the story broke. He dismissed reports that the passports of several players had been taken away, saying that all passports were in the possession of the team management.


"Scotland Yard are now investigating and we will assist them in whatever way they may need," Saeed said. "I cannot say anything more right now."

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo

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A spot-fixing scandal surrounds some of the Pakistan players © News of the World


The fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's is at the centre of a police investigation into spot-fixing following the arrest of a 35-year-old man, Mazher Majeed, who was allegedly caught claiming to have bribed Pakistan's bowlers to bowl no-balls on demand.


According to a report in The News of the World, Majeed accepted £150,000 to arrange a fix involving Pakistan's new-ball bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, whom he allegedly asked to bowl no-balls at specific moments of the match. The paper also alleges that the team captain, Salman Butt, and the wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, are involved, along with three other unnamed cricketers.


Cricinfo understands that the players named were questioned about sums of money found in the rooms, though it is thought that those were made up of the daily allowances players are given while on tour. The man arrested, Majeed, is believed to have contacts with the team though until now it was assumed he was acting as an agent for players, helping them secure sponsorship and kit contracts.


Officials from the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit are currently flying in from Dubai, and in a statement, the ICC confirmed that the allegations were being taken seriously.


"The International Cricket Council, the England & Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board have been informed by the Metropolitan Police that a 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers," read the statement.


"The Metropolitan Police have informed the ICC, ECB and PCB that their investigations continue and ICC, ECB and PCB, with the involvement of the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, are fully assisting those enquiries. No players nor team officials have been arrested in relation to this incident and the fourth npower Test match will continue as scheduled on Sunday. As this is now subject to a police investigation neither ICC, ECB, PCB, nor the ground authority, the MCC, will make any further comment."


A Scotland Yard spokeman added: "Following information received from the News of the World we have today [Saturday, August 28] arrested a 35-year old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers."


In a video secretly recorded during the NOTW investigation, a man alleged to be Mazher is clearly heard predicting that Amir would bowl the first over of the England innings, and that he would deliver a no-ball from the first ball of the third over - which as Cricinfo's ball-by-ball commentary noted: "was an enormous no-ball, good half a metre over the line." The man also appeared to correctly predict a no-ball from the sixth ball of the tenth over, bowled this time by Asif.


Pakistan's team manager Yawar Saeed confirmed that the allegations were being investigated, with police turning up at the team hotel in Swiss Cottage at 7.30pm, shortly after the close of an eventful third day of the Lord's Test, in which Pakistan were left on the brink of defeat after losing 14 wickets in the day.


According to Sky News reporters outside the team hotel, police officers were seen leaving the building with two bags at around 11pm, while an unidentified man in a Pakistan training top was understood to have been taken away in an unmarked police car from the back of the building, although the team manager denied that any arrests had been made within the squad.


Even allowing for their disastrous on-field performance, Pakistan left Lord's with unusual haste after the third day's play, with the team bus departing barely 20 minutes after the close of play, before any member of the squad had taken part in the mandatory post-match press conference.

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Six months ago Michael Hussey highlighted three events in his diary that he was desperate to play in. He has ticked off the World Twenty20, which Australia lost in the final to England, and is in the process of readjusting for the Ashes in November and next year's World Cup.



After Hussey's list was made a Test series against India was added to the schedule, increasing the workload and meaning players appearing in all the game's forms will be attempting to peak over an eight-month period. Hussey is part of all three units but some of his team-mates rate his fitness so highly they think he could play on for years.


A India tour before an Ashes campaign isn't ideal due to the contrasting conditions, but Hussey has found some common themes between the contests. "As batsmen we'll be tested against spin - and Harbhajan Singh," he said. "It's good preparation for facing Graeme Swann. Also, the Indians use reverse-swing very well, that's something England are really trying to perfect. In that sort of respect it will be excellent preparation."



Swann and Stuart Broad are Hussey's two main bowling threats for the series starting at the Gabba in November. Swann created problems for the Australian batsmen during the 2009 success, collecting 14 wickets, and Hussey is wary of what he could do in the five Tests. "We're going to have to play him better than we did in England last time," he said. "Someone like Stuart Broad could also be a handful with his height and bounce."



A once-in-a-lifetime explosionMichael Hussey dreams of repeating his miraculous 60 off 24 balls at the World Twenty20 in May but deep down knows it was a one-off. Hussey slashed Australia to an unthinkable victory over Pakistan, blasting six sixes to surge Australia into the final.

"I hope it's not a once-in-a-lifetime innings but to be honest it probably does feel like it is," he said. "I'm still pinching myself about it now. It was all a bit of a blur, I had to get the tape of it and watch it again some time later. I hope it could happen again, but I doubt it very much."

The fireworks got Hussey nominated for the Twenty20 performance of the year for the ICC awards in October. He has also been short-listed for the people's choice category.

Michael Hussey is feeling good about Australia's chances of reclaiming the Ashes © Getty Images



Hussey has "a very good feeling about the Ashes" and downplayed the talk of a 5-0 victory. Australia swept the last series when Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden were still playing and have undergone a significant rebuild.


"A lot of legends left the team a few years ago, but we've been able to keep a core group of players together for a good couple of years now and we've been slowly building," he said. "We've built up a good base of fast-bowling stock. It holds us in very good stead. We've got the pain of losing last time as well."


Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle are in line to return before the Ashes, but there is also the prospect of more injury setbacks right through to the World Cup. The schedule demands remind Hussey of four years ago, when a Champions Trophy, home Ashes series and World Cup were squeezed into the same campaign.


"We've done well before," he said. "We upped our training at certain stages at the end of the Australian summer [in 2006-07] and we lost five one-dayers in a row when John Buchanan increased our workload. I'm not sure if we'll go down a similar path this time, but it held us in very good stead for the World Cup in the West Indies."


The title defence, with Australia currently undefeated in their past 29 World Cup matches, begins in February in India. Hussey, who was 35 in May, thinks he will start to consider his future again at the end of the tournament.


He insists a fifth World Cup victory in a row for Australia is not the perfect time to stand down. "It took me 10 years to get one game, I don't want to wish it away too quickly," he said. "I'll see how I'm feeling, if my body's good and I'm still contributing to the team then I'm hoping to continue on."

Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo


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Sri Lanka Triangular Series 2010

Virender Sehwag: "We have to give more time to youngsters" © Associated Press

India's misfiring young batsmen are getting plenty of support from their seniors. Two days after captain MS Dhoni said he was not too concerned about the batting collapses in the Dambulla tri-series, Virender Sehwag has also backed his less experienced team-mates to deliver.

The quartet of Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthi, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have managed just 94 runs between them through the tournament. But India are still in the final, on the back of two solo efforts from Sehwag which led to two victories.

"When I was a youngster, it took me almost 50 to 70 innings to perform consistently, so we have to give more time to youngsters," Sehwag said. "We are not worried about them too much because in Dambulla, everybody's not scoring. We have to live with that and give youngsters some confidence and tell them to go out and spend some time at the wicket."

India's batsmen have kept the opposition wicketkeepers and slip fielders busy, giving up nearly half their wickets to catches in that area. Dhoni had called for his batsmen to be more decisive with their stroke-selection, particularly to balls outside off. However, on Wednesday two of India's top-order batsmen, Karthik and Kohli, fell wafting at precisely such deliveries.

"It's very easy to say that you should leave the ball or hit it according to its merit but it's very difficult to react according to the merit of the ball," Sehwag said. "When we were young, it would have been confusing whether to hit or leave. It used to be tempting to hit and we used to get out in that confusion. It's important to either leave or play the balls outside off rather than defending them."

Sehwag, the only batsman from the three sides to come to terms with the seam and swing in Dambulla, advised caution in the early stages of the innings. India's scores after 15 overs in their league matches were 54 for 5, 47 for 3, 56 for 3 and 81 for 4.

"If you see off the first 10-15 overs, it becomes easier to bat. But those first few overs are difficult to survive," he said. "If you see off the new ball (even) without scoring much in the first 15 overs, it helps the team a lot."

Saturday's final could well be the last chance for the likes of Kohli and Rohit to press for a permanent place in the side, as senior batsmen including Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir could return to the one-day team for the home series against Australia in October.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo
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Match facts


August 26, 2010, Lord's

Start time 11.00 (1000GMT)



England's Test season has been given an unexpectedly high-octane finish as they head to Lord's trying to reassert their authority over Pakistan and prevent the visitors pulling the series back to 2-2. While a remarkable turnaround of this sort was never dismissed as impossible - Pakistan have built a reputation around being unpredictable, after all - few would have backed the visitors after they were thrashed by 354 runs and nine wickets in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston.


Mohammad Yousuf's Lazarus-like return to Test cricket was a catalyst for last week's fittingly dramatic four-wicket scramble to victory at The Oval, but Steven Finn insisted: "having Yousuf in the team doesn't make them a different team at all". His impact, though, was clear.


As important as the runs Yousuf scores his calming effect on the batsmen around him - Azhar Ali being a prime example - should not be underestimated. His 56 in the first innings set up Pakistan's first total over 300 this summer and when he departed for 33 in their second innings chase the panic and indecision that have plagued the visitors' young batsmen came flooding back.


For England, Lord's offers a chance to throw off the creeping doubts that have hung around despite a successful run in the past year which has included regaining the Ashes and drawing in South Africa. Despite all the talk of focussing on the task at hand the looming Ashes rematch has been a constant sub-plot to the season.


Can Kevin Pietersen can get his strut back? Can the seam attack show their mettle when wickets cannot be picked up at will? Has Alastair Cook's Oval renaissance marked an end to his recession or is he heading for a double-dip? Still lots of questions, and just one Test left.


Form guide (last five completed matches)
England LWWWW
Pakistan WLLWL


Watch out for...
After his run of 63, 92 and 45 against Australia, England's attack made Salman Butt appear woefully out of sorts as his next five Test innings brought returns of 1, 8, 7, 0, and 17. His second-innings 48 at The Oval suggested that he was finding his way back to some sort of form, however, and after dropping down one place to No. 3 his middle-order alliance with Yousuf could provide the ballast to Pakistan's flighty line-up.


Kevin Pietersen is known to raise his game for the big occasion, and with England arguably the team under more pressure with the weight of expectation on their shoulders going into the fourth Test, the stage could be set for a vintage performance from him. Though he undoubtedly has the full backing of the England set-up despite the scratchiness of his recent dispalys, Pietersen will be hungry for a big score to end the season on a high.



Team news


England have added Tim Bresnan to their squad for the final Test, but it is unlikely he will make it into a final XI. As in the build-up to The Oval, Bresnan is only on standby for any late injury scares.


England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn


For once Pakistan's team won't contain any surprises, or changes. The one issue was whether Umar Gul had recovered sufficiently from his hamstring injury to be in contention for selection, but given Wahab Riaz's memorable five-for on debut at The Oval, he has been backed by the management and will retain his place for Lord's. Gul is a vital cog in Pakistan's limited-overs side, and wasn't going to be rushed back into the side if there was any chance of aggravating his injury.


Pakistan 1 Yasir Hameed, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Salman Butt (capt), 4 Azhar Ali, 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Amir, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Asif



Pitch and conditions


Lord's has a reputation for high-scoring matches and the pitch should provide a welcome respite for both side's batsmen after the bowler-friendly conditions encountered so far. That said, it's been a long time since a Test was staged here so late in the season so there is an element of uncertainty as to the pitch. Another factor to consider is the weather with rain a distinct possibility over the first two days. All in all, this could well be the first Test since Bangladesh's visit to the same venue at the beginning of the season to go five days.



Stats and Trivia


The last time these two sides met at Lord's, in 2006, the result was a high-scoring draw. Five centuries were recorded in the course of the match, with Mohammad Yousuf's fluent 202 topping the list.


•Kamran Akmal's keeping appeared much improved at The Oval, but his batting in English conditions remains dire. After scoring 10 and 0, his average against the home team in their own conditions stands at 11.10.


•James Anderson is the leading wicket-taker in the series by some distance with 20 - a personal best for him in a Test series. Graeme Swann and Mohammad Amir are behind him with 13 scalps each.


Quotes


"All players suffer a bad spell in their career with the bat ... I will look at the way [Alastair Cook] has fought back with the bat as an inspiration and hope I can do the same at Lord's."

Kamran Akmal is hoping to make a contribution with the bat as well as the gloves after a decidedly lean run this summer


"We've bowled Pakistan out for 72 and 80 so far, so there's a batting collapse waiting to happen."

Steven Finn insists he can still see the frailties in Pakistan's line-up despite the return of Mohammad Yousuf



Liam Brickhill is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo in the UK

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A combination of belligerent hitting by Virender Sehwag and potent seam bowling helped India storm to the final of the tri-series with a comprehensive thrashing of New Zealand in the last league game. On a day when a majority of specialist batsmen on both sides batted with two left feet in bowler-friendly conditions, Sehwag found a way to carve out an aggressive century, scoring more than what 11 New Zealanders managed. A target of 224 turned out to be way out of New Zealand's reach as their top order crumbled against a four-pronged seam attack, a combination one wouldn't associate with Indian sides, especially in the subcontinent.


By the end of the night, one could imagine batsmen queuing up outside Sehwag's door for the inside story on how he managed to dominate everything thrown at him. It was as though he was batting on another surface. Sehwag was unfazed by the early movement and nip off the wicket, which made the seamers potent. He played in a style known only to him, and with the final in three days' time, his innings today will undoubtedly be analysed in detail.

MS Dhoni took the gamble of batting on a fresh pitch, despite India having collapsed for 103 after batting first in their previous match. New Zealand's seamers nipped out four wickets by the end of 13 overs with a combination of swing, cut and bounce and those strikes took the sheen away from a fluid and entertaining start from Sehwag.

Not known for exaggerated foot movements, Sehwag used the crease to loft the seamers over the off side, through the line of the ball. He barely moved across the stumps but such was his confidence that he managed to stretch to scoop and slash powerfully over backward point. He backed away and slapped the slower bowlers past the infield as well. A more conventional punch through cover brought up his 1000th ODI four and that was part of a sequence of three consecutive fours off Tim Southee.

India were lucky to have MS Dhoni at the other end for he rotated strike and built a solid partnership. Their stand produced a valuable 107, but India needed more from their last capable pair, having only Ravindra Jadeja, who is still trying to find his feet in ODIs, and a long tail to follow. Sehwag didn't drop anchor, though. He continued to charge the spinners, lifting Kane Williamson inside-out over extra cover for boundaries, and also cleverly picked the gaps at fine leg off the seamers. He played the upper cut over the vacant slip cordon shortly after getting to his century, but the fun ended for India when Sehwag found deep midwicket when on 110, his dismissal coming against the run of play.

Dhoni, who had batted carefully with Sehwag, had to try and reclaim the advantage for India but New Zealand took control. Having grafted to 38 off 75 balls, Dhoni edged a Nathan McCullum delivery while trying to drive. The dismissals of Sehwag and Dhoni in quick succession meant a premature end to the innings was inevitable. But when New Zealand picked up the final wicket, their control over the game came to a grinding halt.

They had no-one with Sehwag's calibre and temperament to grab the initiative, irrespective of the damage being done at the other end. They were exposed against the moving ball and even seasoned performers struggled. Praveen Kumar started the slide in conditions tailored to his variety of bowling, trapping Martin Guptill, who tried to play across the line, leg before in first over.

There was no respite from the other end as Ashish Nehra, with his extra pace, got the ball to nip back in sharply to the right-handers, slicing them in half. A lot depended on the experienced Ross Taylor, but he was just as circumspect as the rest. He expected the ball to bend back in, but it moved the other way and took a thick outside, giving Praveen his second wicket.

New Zealand's chase was irreparably damaged when their senior-most batsman, Scott Styris, chopped one on to his stumps without moving his feet. Grant Elliott knew that the best way to counter the swing was to cover the line and smother the movement. He regularly shuffled across the stumps, committing to the movement even before delivery, but his method didn't yield runs as almost every defensive push found the fielders. Kane Williamson, who finally scored an international run in his third attempt, was dismissed by an Ishant Sharma delivery that cut in and took the inside edge onto the stumps. Munaf, who was miserly to begin with, bagged two lbws with with his probing line. Kyle Mills' blitz only succeeded in saving New Zealand the embarrassment of being bowled out for less than 100.

India 223 (Sehwag 110, Southee 4-49, McCullum 3-35) beat New Zealand 118 (Mills 52, Praveen 3-34, Praveen 3-21) by 105 runs

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Dambulla: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday defended his woefully out-of-form batsmen, saying he team just needs one individual spark of brilliance for the entire line-up to click in the must-win tri-series match against New Zealand.


"You want one batsman to play a big innings in all games, whichever the batsman may be, especially on these kind of wickets. It can be termed as individual brilliance because you have one batsman batting through and the others batting around him," Dhoni said.

"It's more about the mindset because in One-day cricket you're so used to going after and hitting the bowlers right from the first delivery. It's not only in the sub-continent, throughout the world you see wickets are a lot flatter now, especially for the One-dayers," he explained.

"If you talk about the batting collapses, it's happened twice in three games. But if it is said that this is the batting strength of our side, I won't agree with that. One thing we can't deny is that we have had two batting failures and we have to rectify the problem, get on the wicket and try to score some runs," he added.

Dhoni said the key to success on the pitches here is to play steadily for at least 20 overs before cutting loose. "To give respect to the bowlers for the first 10 overs, and the next 40 overs is yours. This is one of those venues where you have to prolong the respect for bowlers by another 10 overs. If you don't lose too many wickets for 20 overs, then you can really dictate the bowlers and can have your own game plan set after that," he said.

The crushing previous defeats to New Zealand (by 200 runs) and Sri Lankan (by eight wickets) have been hard to take, admitted Dhoni but insisted that the team can recover. "As a team, we are disappointed about it. But if you see, all the matches have been one-sided, which suggests if you lose too many wickets early, there is a big batting collapse. We have seen it happen throughout the tournament," he said.

"The batsmen are trying to work out their plans as to what needs to be done. They are not getting out to rash shots. They are trying to battle through and there are times when you can't do that. That's what happened in the last two games when we had batting collapses. So at the end of the day, when you are in the middle, you just have to find a way as to how you can get the runs because the pressure keeps on mounting," he added.

On the dreadful form of Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, Dhoni said the duo may be struggling right now but both of them have proved themselves to be match-winners in the past.

"You have to see the strength. What kind of stability one brings into the side. Especially, if you see Ravindra Jadeja, if you see his bowling performance in the past one and half years, he had quite a few bad games in between but overall, a majority of games he has bowled really well. His batting has dipped down but if he can contribute with the bat, he is the option with whom we can play with five bowlers. He is literally our fifth bowler who has done well for us unless you can find an all-rounder who can bowl 10 overs for us," he explained.

"Rohit, I think, it's a tricky situation for him. Always in and out of the side. There's a pressure when you are always in and out of the side. He was unfortunate to get out once when he didn't get the umpire's decision in his favour. So two innings, I don't really think is good enough to decide whether a player is good or not. But of course, he is working hard. We are just hoping he comes up and scores some big runs," he added.

On former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram criticism that the youngsters in the team are too spoilt and soft, Dhoni said the he wasn't aware of such comments but just a couple of bad performances should not invite such remarks.

"I don't know what Wasim Akram said. For me, what's important is how the team is shaping up. if you talk about the team being soft, they have done really well in adverse and difficult conditions. Whether it's in Australia or the Twenty20 World Cup or some of the other tournaments where we were not at our best," he pointed out.

"Even in the Asia Cup, we did well with the youngsters. So I don't think you should be clever enough to make a statement based on three or four games. It's the overall picture that you set. I think the guys are courageous enough to go through any conditions or situations thrown at them. We are on the backfoot right now, with the conditions maybe. But these are the boys who will ultimately be part of the Indian cricket team now or sometime later," he added.

Asked whether India would consider going in with seven batsmen to strengthen the fragile-looking line-up, Dhoni said packing more willow-wielders was no guarantee for huge scores.

"That's definitely one of the options but again you have to see whether in these conditions we can bowl well with the part-timers because if we let them score to many runs, it becomes difficult to chase. At the same time, it may be difficult to contain them if they are chasing."

"We have to strike a balance but if the team feels the need to have additional specialist batsman and we can play around with the part-timers, we can look at that. But as I say, it's more like a gamble and you have balance the positives and the negatives of having an individual in the side," he said.

This is information from yahoo.com

Posted in Labels: Cricket

Mohammad Yousuf's rehabilitation back into the Pakistan fold is complete as the batsman was recalled to a 16-man squad to face England in a five-ODI series and two Twenty20 internationals in September. There was no recall, however, for Yousuf's long time middle-order ally, Younis Khan, the selection committee and captain claiming he has not been "cleared" by the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.



In another significant move, Shoaib Malik, a limited-overs fixture in Pakistan sides for a number of years, has been dropped. Mohsin Khan, the chairman of selectors, was economical with his words when asked about the significance of Malik's dropping. "Lack of form, lack of performance," he told Cricinfo.





Yousuf was retired from all cricket until recently in protest at an indefinite ban from selection the board had placed on him. After being cleared by the PCB, though, he answered an SOS to bolster an inexperienced and flimsy middle order in the England Test series and played a vital role in Pakistan's third Test win at The Oval. Yousuf had led Pakistan in four ODIs in Australia at the turn of the year but missed their last ODI assignment, the Asia Cup in June, because of the punishment.

younis had also played in the ODIs in Australia, but with limited success. In the aftermath of the tour, he was also handed the same punishment as Yousuf but has not been able to reach a resolution with the board. A number of other players who were banned have reached a compromise with Butt and had their punishments overturned. "I asked the chairman PCB about the situation with Younis twice," captain Shahid Afridi said. "But the clearance wasn't given by the PCB. I did what I had to do."


The other major news is the axing of Malik, who also had a ban imposed and lifted in quick time after the Australia tour. Malik was in poor form during the ongoing Test series in England and was dropped from the side for the third Test. Over the last 12 months Malik averaged 30 with the bat in 11 ODIs, with only one fifty-plus score: a Champions Trophy hundred against India. Take that out and he averaged 20


The squad is a significant one as the countdown begins to the 2011 World Cup, due to start in February. Afridi said he was looking to build a pool of 20-25 players between now and then; Pakistan are scheduled to take on England, South Africa, New Zealand and possibly Zimbabwe in ODIs in that time.


In that light, two notable performers from the Tests against England have been called up. Azhar Ali, who played two innings of immense significance amid a sequence of low scores, had his first limited-overs call up. Wahab Riaz, who was a part of the ODI squad two years ago, also returned following an impressive Test debut at The Oval.


"In a 50-over game, there is still a lot of batting to be done," Mohsin said. "We've had problems batting the fulll quota of overs in the past so we felt the need for batsmen in this squad who can play long innings. Yousuf is one, and that is why he is in the side, and Azhar we feel is another."


Three others picks are significant. Fawad Alam, whose exclusion from the Asia Cup and the England Tests , was criticised, returned to beef up a lower middle-order in which he impressed in Australia. Mohammad Hafeez, in and out of the side, over the last two years came back in place of Imran Farhat, presumably as an opening option. And Shoaib Akhtar continued his remarkable return to the international scene, retaining his place from the Asia Cup and the Twenty20 internationals against Australia to complete a strong pace attack that includes Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and a fit-again Umar Gul, alongisde Riaz.



Squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz.

This is report by Osman Samiuddin  @ cricinfo

Posted in Labels: Cricket

Posted in Labels: Cricket

After reaching the finals of the tri-series with one of Sri Lanka's biggest wins over India, Kumar Sangakkara has said the team must aim at winning consistently, irrespective of the margin of victory. In front of a raucous Sunday crowd, Sri Lanka rolled MS Dhoni's side over for 103, inflicting the largest defeat in India's history in terms of balls remaining.




"It's a good preparation for the final, but that is a new game six days away," Sangakkara said. "The key is to win matches consistently, wins like this (or) close matches, it doesn't matter if we win matches consistently."



The likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas aren't a part of the current squad, but all of them played their part in Sri Lanka's 245-run walloping of India in the finals of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in 2000, a victory which Sangakkara termed as their best against India. "The best win against India I guess was in Sharjah, very early in my career, we got 299 and India were 54 all out I think," he said. "That was a great win and that was a great side, with this particular side, with some of our greats who have retired, it's great for our confidence that we can still do things like this."



One of the minor surprises during Sri Lanka's chase on Sunday was the promotion of Mahela Jayawardene to the top of the order, pushing the specialist opener, Upul Tharanga, down to No. 3. Jayawardene didn't open the innings for a decade after his debut in one-dayers, but has two hundreds in the five times he has opened, and has also recently taken to opening for Sri Lanka in Twenty20s.



"We've got to understand that players evolve, MJ is the best batsman we have without a doubt, to me he's been ideal for us in the middle order," Sangakkara said. "But Mahela over the last year and a half has shown a liking to open, if his mindset is more free to go up top of the order, then guys like me, other players must back that decision, we've got to move down the order and take responsibility."



Sangakkara said the move was a one-off, and the Jayawardene wasn't yet penciled in for the opener's slot for the final. Sri Lanka have five days to plan their strategy for the final, and the team decided to take Monday off, heading to the beaches of Trincomalee, two-and-half hours away from Dambulla.

The article has been written by Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo

Posted in Labels: Cricket

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Posted in Labels: Cricket