Waqar, Afridi on collision course over selection issue

Karachi: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis and skipper Shahid Afridi are on collision course after it was revealed that latter isn`t too happy with the former`s interference in selection matters.

Afridi is so upset with Waqar`s behaviour that he was reluctant to play the last two ODIs against the West Indies and was persuaded by manager Intikhab Alam to lead the team.

Pakistan lost both the matches but still managed to win the series 3-2.

Sources aware of developments in the team also disclosed that Afridi had even left the team meeting held before the fifth and final ODI match because of his differences with the coach.

"It was Intikhab who spoke with Afridi and told him that being the team captain it was his duty to play if fit and that if he had any grievances he should discuss it with the board on returning home.”

"Not only Afridi, but it appears some of the other senior players are apparently not happy with the way Waqar is handling things in the team and particularly his role in
selection matters," a source revealed.

Interestingly the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt also had to hold a meeting with chief selector Mohsin Khan on Thursday to convince him to not resign after the latter blamed Waqar for interfering in the matters of the national selection committee.

Mohsin had made his displeasure clear when the PCB changed the squad for the tests in the West Indies submitted by the national selectors on the insistence of Waqar Younis.

"Waqar apparently has rubbed Afridi and some of the other players the wrong way with his growing control and authority in the team."

"He and Afridi have had differences on the tour over selection matters and these issues date back to the World Cup as well,” the source added.

Sri Lanka knock Australia out of T20 World Cup

The World T20 had its first shock on Monday when last edition’s semi-finalists Australia were knocked out of the tournament after suffering a six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in Trent Bridge. The win also meant that the West Indies are through to the Super Eights.

Chasing 160 to start their World Cup campaign on a winning note, Sri Lanka overhauled the target in 19 overs. Kumar Sangakkara, who was captaining Sri Lanka for the first time, saw his team through with an unbeaten 55 off 42 balls. Australia never really looked like winning the game at any stage, though they did seem to have creaked the door open with the two wickets of Tillakaratne Dilshan (53 off 32) and Mahela Jayawardene (9 off 12). Sri Lanka’s run-rate dropped a little, but with Sangakkara out in the middle, still seemed to have the game under control. The game was as good as gone for the Aussies in the 15th over when Sangakkara took 16 runs off Nathan Hauritz.

While Sangakkara finished the job, the successful run-chase was set up the impressive Dilshan. Another one of those players who seem to have improved leaps and bounds after playing the Indian Premier League, Dilshan played just about every shot in the book, and some out of it too, in his 32-ball blitzkrieg. A remarkable 40 off his 53 runs came through hits to the fence.

Earlier, it was Ajantha Mendis’s trickery that stopped Australia from scoring a big total. The spinner scalped three wickets for 20 in his four overs, applying the brakes on the Aussie innings.

Brief Score: Australia 159-9 in 20 overs (Johnson 28*, David Hussey 28, Ponting 25; Mendis 3/20, Malinga 3/36) lost to Sri Lanka 160-4 in 19 overs (Dilshan 53, Sangakkara 55*; Lee 2/39) by 6 wkts.

Pakistani Cricket player Shoaib Akhtar to miss World Twenty20 cricket

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been ruled out of the World Twenty20 due to a skin infection in his groin, a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said on Thursday.

"The medical panel of the board has examined Shoaib and he has been advised 10-12 days rest for a skin infection," the spokesman said.

"The medical panel will re-examine him in the first week of June. In the meantime the team management has requested a replacement," he said.

Fast bowler Rao Iftikhar is likely to replace Shoaib who did not attend a week-long conditioning camp held in Bhurban, a hill resort near Islamabad, last week.

"Shoaib is not fit so it was useless waiting for him to recover just before the tournament," Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam told reporters in Lahore.

"He has not trained or bowled for the last two weeks so it would have been risky taking him to the World Cup and I think Rao Iftikhar is a suitable replacement," he added.

Shoaib, 33, has played just six one-day internationals and a Twenty20 game since December 2007 because of fitness and disciplinary issues.

Pakistan are drawn in Group B of the 12-team World Twenty20 and open their campaign against hosts England on June 7.

IPL matches to be played in eight S African cities

Defending champions Rajasthan Royals will take on Royal Challengers in the first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Newlands,
Cape Town April 18.

A glittering opening ceremony will be held at Newlands before the match.

The first semifinal of the 37-day tournament will be played in Centurion, Pretoria May 22.

Wanderers, Johannesburg will host the second semifinal May 23 and also the final and the closing ceremony May 24.

Following is this year's IPL schedule:

April 18: Opening ceremony followed by Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town); Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 20: Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 21: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 22: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings (Kingsmead, Durban); Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 23: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 24: Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town); Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 26: Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town); Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians (Newlands, Cape Town); Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 28: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

April 29: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 30: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 1: Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab (Buffalo Park, East London); Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 2: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers (Wanderers, Johannesburg); Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 3: Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders (Buffalo Park, East London)

May 4: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 5: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 6: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 7: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 8: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians (Buffalo Park, East London)

May 9: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein); Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils (Buffalo Park, East London); Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

May 11: Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein)

May 12: Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

Chorus from IPL: “We’re Not Pakistan”

As the seven Kiwi players Dan Vettori, vice-captain Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Heath Mills, Jesse Ryder, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris who are part of this year’s IPL mull over whether IPL Season 2 is a safe bet for them, the organisers are at pains to assure them that India is a safe venue for international cricket, that the cricket news from Pakistan does not reflect poorly on India. However mere reassurances from for IPL organizer that ‘all is well’ or ‘that we will take care of security’ are not being seen as enough.

The Lahore attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team are still fresh in everyone’s mind, and no doubt at the back of each mind are the horrific Mumbai attacks which caused the English team to leave without completing their ODI series. The there is the fact that IPL clashes with the dates of the Loksabha elections, owing to which has arisen the problem of providing adequate security for the elections as well as for the IPL.

Who is the villain of this piece? The centre for saying that they will not be able to spare security forces, the states for demanding paramilitary forces from the centre or the Board for Cricket Control in India, with the vast resources and money at its disposal? Well perhaps they all are, blame can be laid at all these doors; however one can understand the centre and the states have a more primary responsibility towards providing security for their electorate and the electoral process; the IPL is understandably a secondary priority. However one does get the feeling that the BCCI can and should do more: it is rich it is powerful and has vast resources at its disposal.

And really, is it fair to pressure the centre and the states given that they have far weightier concerns right now than the staging of a sports entertainment extravaganza which is basically means business and the bottom line for all those involved.

Given this atmosphere of uncertainty can we really claim to make the assertion that we are not Pakistan, than India is safer?

Well in a word, Yes! Because India is a stable, sovereign democracy rather than a conglomerate of warring factions, with a large chunk of the country under control of terrorist organisations. In India there is the will, the wherewithal and the ability to cope with what the security situation demands. This is essentially the difference, and when we claim that ‘We are not Pakistan’ the international cricket community ought to be listening.

Andrew Strauss Continues To Lead England's Charge

Andrew Strauss scored his 17th Test century, passing three figures for the third time in the series as England closed a turgid opening day of the fifth and final Test against the West Indies on 258 for two.

Facing defensive fields for much of the day on a slow pitch, Strauss, the first Englishman to score a century at the Queen's Park Oval since 1974, was unbeaten on 139 and he was given excellent support in the final session by Paul Collingwood, who scored his 13th Test half-century, sharing a century stand with his skipper. The pair batted through the final session of the day, Collingwood unbeaten on 54.

The West Indies appear to have already given up thoughts of winning the match, giving largely non-threatening medium pacer Brendan Nash the lion's share of the bowling between lunch and tea. However, most of their fielding and some of their bowling was abject at best, only a sharp spell of reverse swing late in the day from Fidel Edwards and a short burst from the opening bowlers seriously discomforting the batsmen.