Malik named captain to keep stability

Shoaib Malik will captain both Twenty20 internationals against England in Dubai later this month despite the return of regular captain Shahid Afridi because the board does not want to change leaders in the middle of tours.

Malik led Pakistan in the Melbourne Twenty20 against Australia last week, after Afridi was banned for two matches for tampering with the ball during the last ODI against Australia in Perth. That ban means Afridi will also miss the first game against England, on February 19, though he returns for the second game the following evening.

But because the tour is so short, the PCB has decided against changing the captaincy and keeping Malik in charge. There has been speculation since Afridi was caught on TV biting the ball repeatedly that his future as the format's captain is in doubt. Malik, Pakistan's captain in all three formats as recently as last year, is being talked about as a candidate again but Wasim Bari, the board's chief operating officer, played down such notions.

"It is not a good idea to have one captain in one match and another in the next," he told Cricinfo. "There is no point in doing it match to match so we decided, as it is a short tour, to just keep Malik as captain for both games. Afridi is our captain in the format. Had there not been a ban, there would not have been a problem."

Incidentally, Malik is reunited as captain with Yawar Saeed, who accompanies the side as manager once again. Exactly one year ago today Saeed was part responsible for a series report in which he wrote that Malik was a "loner" and "aloof" and that he should be replaced by Younis Khan as captain.

Of equal significance is the absence of Intikhab Alam, Pakistan's coach, from the squad and his future with the side. Most often the public face of Pakistan in defeat, Intikhab has come in for increasingly heavy criticism after the Australian tour. He is due to appear before a board inquiry committee later this week and Ijaz Ahmed, coach of the Under-19 side and who will alredy be in Dubai as head of the A side, will join the senior squad as a batting and fielding coach. Perhaps tellingly, Bari refused to be drawn over Intikhab's future.

"There is no word yet on Intikhab's future. There is an inquiry being held at the moment and subsequently it will be decided. Ijaz is not the coach but the batting and fielding coach for the side there," Bari said. "Daniel Vettori and New Zealand also toured without a coach and it has happened before so it is not so unusual."

Harris And Hauritz Set Up 113-Win For Australia

Australia 256-8 (Watson 59, Ponting 49) beat
West Indies 143 (Harris 3-24, Hauritz 3-28) by 113 runs
Scorecard
First One-Day International, Melbourne

Ryan Harris and Nathan Hauritz both returned three wickets during Australia's thumping 113-run win over the West Indies in the first One-Day International in Melbourne.

Shane Watson stroked 59 and Ricky Ponting 49 as Australia posted 256 for eight batting first and in reply the tourists were blown away, dismissed for 143 in just 34.2 overs.

Watson faced 74 balls and Ponting 61 and althought they were the only two players to pass 40, enough batsmen got starts to set the West Indies a tough target despite Kieron Pollard impressing with three for 45, dismissing Ponting, Michael Clarke (18) and Brad Haddin (8).

In reply, the West Indies were quickly in trouble when they slipped to 12 for three, losing the wickets of Chris Gayle (7), Runako Morton (3) and Travis Dowlin (1) to the new-ball burst from Doug Bollinger (2-18) and Harris (3-24).

Lendl Simmons made 29 and Pollard 31 as the West Indies tried desperately to rebuild but they continued to lose wickets as they fell further behind the required run rate.

Harris added the wickets of Denesh Ramdin (7) and Nikita Miller (4) to his earlier dismissal of Morton while off-spinner Hauritz dismissed Pollard, Dwayne Smith (7) and Ravi Rampaul (3).

The second of five matches is in Sydney on 9th February.

Taylor Blasts New Zealand To Easy Victory

New Zealand 185-5 (Taylor 78) beat
Bangladesh 183-8 (Mushfiqur Rahim 86, Butler 3-43) by five wickets
Scorecard
Second One-Day International, Dunedin

Ross Taylor blasted 78 in just 51 balls to help New Zealand seal their One-Day International series against Bangladesh with a comprehensive five-wicket win in Dunedin.

Bangladesh were restricted to 183 for eight, Mushfiqur Rahim's 86 helping them recover from 25 for five and in reply, Taylor smacked six fours and five sixes to guide New Zealand home in just 27.3 overs.

Andy McKay (2-17), Daryl Tuffey (1-55) and Ian Butler (3-43) combined to rip out the top five Bangladeshi batsmen in just 12.2 overs and the tourists were quickly 46 for six when Mahmudullah was run out by Martin Guptill.

Rahim then put on 101 with Naeem Islam (43), hitting eight fours and three sixes in 107 balls to ensure that Bangladesh at least used up their full quota of overs before Shahadat Hossain thumped 16 in seven balls at the death.

That was a taster of what was to come when Taylor reached the crease in the tenth over following the dismissals of Brendon McCullum (9) and Peter Ingram (28) and the big-hitting right-hander took the game away from Bangladesh with some aggressive batting, backed up by 32 from Guptill and an unbeaten 20 from James Franklin.

Pacer Shafiul Islam impressed once again by taking three for 49 and Rubel Hossain returned two for 68 but they were completely outclassed for the third time in the tour after they were thrashed in the Twenty20 International and opening ODI.

The third and final ODI is in Christchurch on 11th February.

Cricket World® Player Of The Week - Hashim Amla

South African batsman Hashim Amla has been named as the Cricket World® Player Of The Week after his unbeaten 253 during the opening Test against India in Nagpur.

Amla's career-best effort, which saw him occupy the crease for 473 deliveries and enabled South Africa to score 558 for six before declaring to put India under massive pressure.

Amla stroked 22 fours during his innings and put on a record third-wicket stand in India of 340 with Jacques Kallis, who made 173.

Other contenders for the weekly award included Shaun Tait, Kallis, and Daniel Vettori.

India Left Struggling After Being Skittled By Steyn

South Africa 558-6 dec. (Amla 253no, Kallis 173) v
India 233 (Sehwag 109, Steyn 7-51) & 66-2
First Test, Nagpur, day three

A stunning spell of bowling from Dale Steyn negated an equally brilliant Virender Sehwag century and left South Africa in the clear after day three of the first Test in Nagpur.

After Sehwag scored 109 in 139 balls, Steyn returned a career-best seven for 51 to rout India for 233 and South Africa, who amassed 558 for six before declaring late on day two, enforced the follow on and had India reeling at 66 for two when stumps were drawn, still 259 runs behind.

Sehwag was in blistering form, hitting 16 fours as he motored to an 18th Test century in 134 deliveries but he had little support, only debutant Subramaniam Badrinath (59) and Gautam Gambhir (12) reaching double-figures, as South Africa, spearheaded by Steyn, showed their ruthless streak.

Four batsmen were bowled, two without offering a stroke to the fast bowler while there was a wicket apiece for Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell and Paul Harris as India lost their last six wickets for just 12 runs; shortly before Mahendra Singh Dhoni was caught by Jacques Kallis off a Harris delivery that spat at him, India were 221 for four and looking reasonably well set, but that all changed in the space of just seven overs.

When India batted again, Gambhir was bowled by Morkel and Sehwag was caught by Graeme Smith off Steyn which left Sachin Tendulkar unbeaten on 15 and Murali Vijay on 27.

Hashim Amla's unbeaten 253 enabled South Africa to declare while Jacques Kallis also stroked 173.

Kamran Akmal Dropped For Twenty20s Against England

Under-pressure wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal has been dropped as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have named a 14-man squad to play England in two Twenty20 Internationals in Dubai later this month.

Akmal is to be replaced by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps, Shoaib Malik will lead the side due to Shahid Afridi's ban and there is no place for Mohammad Asif, who is not allowed to enter the United Arab Emirates after a doping offence in 2008 and Akmal's exclusion comes despite a half-century in the one-off Twenty20 International against Australia in Perth.

Fast bowler Mohammad Talha and all-rounder Yasir Arafat are added to the squad with Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq returning as Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Iftikhar Anjum miss out altogether.

Iftikhar, along with Aamer Sajjad and Mohammad Aamer, were named as reserves.

Reigning ICC World Twenty20 champions Pakistan play England on 19th and 20th February, also playing their A side in a warm-up game.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal

First Day’s Play of First Test Between India and Sri Lanka!

Yesterday on 15th of November 2009 Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar completed 20 years of International Cricket and he became the first Indian to achieve the feat. We all wishes him best of luck for his career and we pray from God that he give us many more moment of pride.

Today the first test of the three match series begin at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad. Lankan team is very keen to win the test match so that they can create the history. Lankan team has so far never won a test match in India.

Indian skipper Mahender Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first, but Welegedara gave him some trouble at the very beginning by dismissing both the openers Gambhir and Sehwag along with the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar. Very Very Special Laxman too did not stand for much. He was dismissed by Prasad.

Brave performances by Rahul Dravid along with Yuvraj Singh and skipper Dhoni brought India to a great position at the end of the day one play. 385 at the end of the day one, while Dravid is still batting at 177 clearly tells that team India has now upper hand against Sri Lanka. Tomorrow if Dravid can contribute a bit while others will just need to give him company at the middle, then Sri Lanka will really feel it difficult to stop them before 500 runs mark. Once 500 runs are on the board for the first innings, team India will surely won the match.

Score at the Stumps of the First Day: India: 385/6 (90 Overs)

Rahul Dravid 177* (251 Balls, 26 Fours, and 1 Six)

Harbhajan Singh 2* (11 Balls)

Mahender Singh Dhoni 110 (159 Balls, 10 Fours, 1 Six)

Yuvraj Singh 68 (93 Balls, 13 Fours)

Gautam Gambhir 1 (10 Balls)

Virender Sehwag 16 (11 Balls, 3 Fours)

Sachin Tendulkar 4 (3 Balls, 1 Fours)

VVS Laxman 0 (4 Balls)

Extras 67 (B 2, LB 2, NB 2, W 1)