Afghanistan Win ICC Intercontinental Cup

Afghanistan 171 & 124-3 (Mohd. Shehzad 56no) beat
Scotland 212 (McCallum 104no) & 82

 by 7 wickets
ICC Intercontinental Cup final, Dubai

Afghanistan overturned a first-innings deficit of 41, going on to bowl Scotland out for 82 in their second innings on their way to a seven-wicket victory in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup in Dubai.

Mohammad Shahzad's unbeaten 56 steered them past their victory target in the final innings of the match as Afghanistan added another title to their growing honours list.

Batting first in the match, Scotland were bundled out for 212 but the score would have been far lower were it not for an unbeaten 104 in 221 balls from Neil McCallum, one of only three players to reach double figures as Hamid Hassan returned five for 45, Mirwais Ashraf three for 53 and Shapoor Zadran two for 46.

Scotland hit back strongly as Matthew Parker and Majid Haq both claimed three wickets to dismiss Afghanistan for 171 after Nawroz Mangal had made 56.

However, their batting then failed dramatically as they were rolled for 82 in 47.3 overs as Hassan (3-39), Samiullah Shenwari (3-15) and Ashraf (3-8) tore through the line-up.

Scotland put up a brave fight having set Afghanistan a target of 124, which was duly reached for the loss of three wickets with Shahzad making 56 in 62 balls and Shabir Noori 35 in 54.

Salman Butt's lawyer hits out at Logart

the lawyer for suspended former Pakistan captain Salman Butt on Saturday lashed out at a top cricket official who said he would be "disappointed" if players in a spot-fixing case were acquitted.

Butt is facing an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal along with pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer over allegations of spot-fixing in the series against England earlier this year.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told the BBC he was confident of the case against the players.

"We need to send out a strong message and that is part of what we want to achieve," Lorgat said.

"We've worked hard at collecting all the evidence that we would require to make the charges stand. I am confident that our guys have worked very hard in ensuring they have got a case they can present which should stand the test of scrutiny."

The ICC provisionally suspended the three players in September following reports in British tabloid News of the World which claimed Pakistani players, including the suspended trio, took money to carry out orders from a bookmaker at specific stages in the Lord's Test in August.

Butt and Aamer lost their appeals against the suspension last month, while Asif withdrew after initially deciding to challenge the sanction.

The ICC tribunal, led by code of conduct commissioner Michael Beloff, will hear the case in Doha, Qatar from January 6 to 11. The two other members are Sharad Rao and Albie Sachs.

Butt's lawyer Khalid Ranjha said Lorgat's comments were a "threat to the tribunal."

"What Lorgat has said is tantamount to threatening the prospective tribunal," Ranjha, a former Pakistani law minister, told AFP from Lahore.

"The ICC wants the judges to give a decision on dotted lines and this is not a good example set by the ICC official."

Ranjha, who also represented Butt in his unsuccessful appeal hearing, said he believed ICC was trying to pressure the players into boycotting the tribunal.

The fixing scandal deepened on Wednesday when Pakistani television station Geo broadcast footage apparently showing bookmaker Mazhar Majeed implicating another four Pakistan players during the England tour.

Aamir denies match fixing

ISLAMABAD, Dec 4 (APP): Fast bowler of Pakistan cricket team, Muhammad Aamir Saturday said that he never got himself involved in the practice of match fixing and all the allegations against him are baseless.In a brief interview to a private television channel the young cricketer said he cannot think about deceiving his country and people for personal gains.Aamir admitted that he was familiar to Mazhar Majeed  but he never met him in isolation. He said that Mazhar Majeed remained the agent of senior cricket players and almost all the team players had good relations with him and his family members. Aamir said that Majeed used to get tickets of cricket matches for his family and friends from the players and in this way he was familiar to all. The young cricket player said that he was concentrating on his case so that this matter could be settled before the world cup. “I want to use my abilities for may nation in the world cup competition and hopefully I will have an opportunity”, he concluded.

Pakistan cricket fans and critics, do they really understand the dilemma?

For all cricket fanatics, and fans alike, Pakistan cricket has always found its way into the trivial discussions and arguments mostly serving as conversation fillers for the gossip starved beings in a random social gathering.

Anyone who has even so much as seen a television forms his view about the matter and like veteran cricket commentators voice their arguments about it as if they have found the missing piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, while they might argue passionately stating their opinions with excitement, in most cases the listener too has limited knowledge and hence they accept their opinion as facts, which in effect forms their own opinion, about a particular issue.

Especially, when it comes to the PCB and Pakistan cricket, almost everyone has their own theories of what is in fact wrong with the institution. Some of course, take the more philosophical view to reinforce their line of argument about the global political situation by relating it to the national cricket team of the country.

If Pakistan’s players are accused of spot fixing then, it would not be unreasonable to expect some commentator or critic coming up and saying, “See I told you so, Paki’s are rotten. They are all thieves”.

At the same time there are those, who take great pains to analyze the situation, “You see, the creation of the bourgeois in a feudalistic society of Pakistan greatly increased the disparity between the rich and the poor, in contrast with the perfect example of an egalitarian society. The corruption of an individual on a greater level is reflective of a society that patronizes, nay accepts such immoral vices. The social fabric of the nation has been undermined, as news of yet more incidences of corrupt practices have infiltrated media regarding the Pakistan cricket team…”.

Then there are those fans, who insist that their team is completely innocent. These fans normally follow up with clichés such as, “Penalize Ijaz Butt and not Pakistan Cricket”, “This is all a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan Cricket”, “It is all due to that incompetent Butt”, “It is said that the enemies of the state are construing a plan to infiltrate Pakistan Cricket by controlling the minds of our cricketers”.

Such banter has been heard quite often and sometimes it just feels like the writer attempting to squash your brain with a Jack Hammer. Lately it has been becoming just that. Meaningless, pointless ramblings attempting to solve a major mystery, written with the seriousness of a detective trying to construe some sense out of a string and a nail, that could possibly be the key to finding out about the killer of John F Kennedy.

 Some people just do not make the effort to go through the pain of trying to make a point and I respect their honesty. If someone has to make a point, they could do the same less painfully. In fact of the examples mentioned above, I prefer the critics who go, “See I told you they’re all thieves these Paki’s” rather than some guy trying to link a cricketer’s corrupt ways to world peace”.

Pakistan Cricket Board is an institution and the cricketers are the result of what the institution has sown over the years. If there was in fact one single problem with the cricket board, I would have gladly wanted to point it out and just get it over with.

However, unfortunately that is not the case. There are details that many writers fail to acknowledge, there are aspects many fail to understand, there are circumstances that many fail to take into consideration.

Pak selector takes u-turn from resignation

Karachi: Pakistan Cricket on Friday witnessed another drama when Mohammad Illyas resigned from the national selection committee and then withdrew it on the insistence of PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt.

"Mohammad Illyas has agreed to withdraw his resignation and continue as national selector," a Board official said.Sources said that the resignation of Illyas was linked to the recent decision by the national selection committee to drop his son-in-law Imran Farhat from the national team for the New Zealand tour.

"Apparently Illyas was not happy with the decision taken by chief selector Mohsin Khan and decided to resign as he felt Imran deserved a place in the side," one source said.

But another source said that Illyas decided to resign as he felt his presence on the selection committee was hurting the career of Imran.