Pakistan will miss services of five players in World Cup

Pakistan will miss the services of its top five players, including the suspended trio of Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Aamer, in the upcoming cricket World Cup, sources said on Tuesday.

The sources said International Cricket Council (ICC) has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to not include players under suspicion in its preliminary 30-member squad, which has to be finalised by December 19.

The other two players, who are to likely to miss the bus are stumper Kamran Akmal and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.

“The advice is not to select these two while the suspended trio of Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamer are also out of contention for the World Cup,” one source told PTI.

The source said the PCB had tried to get clearance for selecting Akmal but did not get a favorable response from the sport’s world governing body.

“There is fear in the cricket hierarchy that with doubts still existing over the conduct of Akmal, Kaneria and the suspended trio also under a spot-fixing cloud, these five should not be selected in the World Cup preliminary squad,” the source said.

Sources also said that there was also some doubt over former captain Shoaib Malik, who has scored three successive hundreds in the ongoing domestic season.

“There is 50-50 chance of Malik making the preliminary squad but 95 per chance that Akmal and Kaneria are out of contention,” the source said.

The Boards have to submit their preliminary squads of 30 to the ICC by December 19 and the final-15 after a month.

Salman Butt, Aamer and Asif were provisionally suspended by the ICC after allegations surfaced that they took money to bowl deliberate no balls during the Lord’s Test against England.

“The PCB and its selectors are in the process of finalising the squad for the New Zealand tour and the World Cup preliminary squad and several meetings have been held in this regard involving chief selector Mohsin Khan, coach Waqar Younis and manager Intikhab Alam with PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt,” the source said.

He said without ICC clearance and approval the PCB, faced with spot—fixing controversy, was not in a position to induct players still under a cloud of suspicion.

A former Test player said if the selectors were not able to pick the suspended trio and Akmal and Kaneria it would be a big blow to Pakistan cricket team.

“They are all senior players and the absence of Akmal and Kaneria would be a big setback for the team, it will hard finding their replacements,” he said.

Akmal and Kaneria had also missed out on just concluded series against South Africa in the UAE. The board had not explained their ouster.

Pakistan T20, test teams for New Zealand tour

LAHORE, Nov 30 (APP): Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, experienced batsmen Mohammad Yousaf, Shoaib Malik and leg spinner Danish Kaneria were omitted from Pakistan test squad announced here on Tuesday for the tour of New Zealand.

Pakistan Cricket Board here on Tuesday announced its test and T20 team for the tour of New Zealand to play 3 T20 matches, 2 test matches and 6 One Day Internationals from December 26.
But the surprise omission was of regular keeper Kamran who was not considered for both the teams.
Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-haq have been retained as captains for T20 and Test squads respectively. The team for one day internationals will be announced later. 
Kamran’s place will be filled by his brother Adnan, who made his Test debut against South Africa in the UAE. 
Yousuf who was ruled out of the tests against South Africa due to groin injury failed to get the nod of the selectors.
Opener Imran Farhat and seamer Mohammad Sami, who were part of the team in against South Africa in UAE were shown exit. Ahmed Shehzad returns to the limited-overs fold at the top of the order. 
In the absence of Danish, off spinner Saeed Ajmal and left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman will boost the spin attack and Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Sohail Tanvir will add fire to pace battery. Wahab Riaz will also accompany, subject to fitness. He sustained muscle injury against South Africa. Shoaib Akhtar will lead from front in the Twenty20 matches.
Test team, Misbah-ul-Haq (Captain), Mohammad Hafiz Taufiq Umer, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal Adnan Akmal (W/k), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umer Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz.
T20-squad, Shahid Afridi (Captain), Mohammad Hafiz, Ahmed Shahzad, Younis Khan, Umer Akmal, Fawad Alam, Adnan Akmal (w/k), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Razzaq, Umer Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz (subject to fitness).
In his comments on the announcement of the team Chief Selector Mohsin Hasan Khan said,” The upcoming tour of New Zealand is extremely important for us as it will help in the preparation of World Cup. After the clearance by PCB, the Selection Committee has selected the best available combination of seniors and youngsters”, he said. 
“At the moment we (Selection Committee) are announcing the teams for T20 and the Test matches. 15th player for the test matches will be announced later if required”, he asserted.

Miandad game to be batting consultant of Pak cricket team

Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad today said he cannot take up the job of a full-time batting coach with the national cricket team but is ready to work as a batting consultant. Miandad, who returned from China after witnessing the cricket tournament as cricket ambassador of the pakistan government, said he was always ready to help the team. "I have never refused in the past to do anything that can prove beneficial to Pakistan team.

The same is the situation now if the board wants me to work as batting consultant I am available for this assignment," Miandad said.

The former captain who is director-general of cricket in the Pakistan Board done the coach duty thrice in the past, the last time being in 2003-2004. "At the moment due to my other commitments I am not in a position to work in any fulltime capacity with the team but I am there to help the players as batting consultant," Miandad said. He said that in the past also he had worked for a short time with the players in the national camp.

"This time also I will do my best to help them out and fine-tune the batsmen keeping in mind the conditions they will most likely encounter in the tour to New Zealand," he said. Miandad felt that there was plenty of batting experience and talent in the national team but it just needed to work in the right direction and more consistently. "I think I can help them out with my experience and I know where the fine tuning is required," he said.

Miandad said that keeping in mind that the World Cup was few months away it was necessary for the batsmen to start hitting form consistently.

The former skipper made it clear he had no intention of interfering in the domain of the chief coach or management and would focus on his work as batting consultant. He also lauded the organisation of the first cricket event in the Asian Games. "I remain confident China will soon come up as a strong cricketing nation because the interest in the sport is there and one could see that everyone in China was happy to see their team playing for the first time in such a major cricket event."

He said with time and more technical and coaching expertise, Chinese players would improve and they had the backing of their government to go far ahead.

Yusuf may be ignored from Pakistan's World Cup probables

Karachi, Nov 30 (IANS) Pakistan's cricket selectors are mulling the option of ignoring senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf for the World Cup 2011 because of his poor form and fitness.

Yousuf, 36, is one of the most prolific Pakistan batsmen of all time and is keen to feature in the country's World Cup campaign.

However, the former captain has failed to impress with his form and fitness and is likely to be snubbed when Pakistan name their 30-man provisional squad for the World Cup to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Pakistan too were the co-hosts of the World Cup 2011, but the International Cricket Council controlling the game and international engagements dropped Pakistan after terrorists attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore and later Australia called off Pakistan tour for security reasons.

Quoting sources, a report in the daily News revealed Tuesday that Pakistan's chief selector Mohsin Khan has discussed the best possible pool of players for the World Cup with captain Shahid Afridi and coach Waqar Younis.

Both the coach and the captain are convinced that Yousuf doesn't deserve a spot in the World Cup squad.

The national selection committee headed by Mohsin Khan is also reluctant to push for Yousuf's case especially after the batsman was forced to pull out of the Test series against South Africa in the UAE earlier this month.

Yousuf suffered a recurrence of an old groin injury prior to the toss on day one of the first Test in Dubai and was sidelined for at least two weeks.

'There is still a question mark on Yousuf's fitness,' said a source. 'World Cup is a long and exhaustive tournament and the selectors want to make it sure that only fully fit players are picked to feature in it,' he added.

Yousuf has often been criticised for his below-average fielding, which is another reason why Pakistan are mulling over the option of picking him for only Tests in the future.

Another factor that could play a significant role in Yousuf's axing from Pakistan's one-day and Twenty20 squads is that younger batsmen like Asad Shafiq have really made their presence felt in the last few months.

'While Yousuf seems to be on his way down, younger batsmen like Asad Shafiq are making it increasingly difficult for selectors to ignore them,' said the source.

Yousuf has amassed 7,530 runs from 90 Tests at an average of 52.29 with 24 centuries. His ODI record is equally impressive with a tally of 9720 runs from 288 outings at an average of 41.71.

Yousuf, however, hasn't scored a fifty in his last eight ODI outings. The last of his 15 ODI tons came more than 30 months ago against Bangladesh in Lahore in April 2008.

National selectors are expected to announce Pakistan's team for the tour of New Zealand as well as the preliminary squad for the World Cup soon.

Pakistan will play three Twenty20 Internationals, two Tests and six One-day Internationals against New Zealand in December-January