Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

Well the nail bitting dilema surrounding the security concerns for Champions Trophy has finally been put to rest as the ICC decides to delay the event entirely then be confronted with a huge crisis where some five countries out of a total of EIGHT refuse to participate in the event being help in Pakistan barely 19 days away

More on Cricinfo

South Africa had on Saturday pulled out of the tournament, which was originally scheduled to be held from Sept 12-28 in Karachi and Lahore, and the ICC was informed on Sunday that Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies, too, would not be participating.

“The vote was totally in favour of the postponement until October next year. And India were quite influential in persuading some other nations that that was the right course of action.”

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Cricinfo reports that Nasim Ashraf has finally been shown the door [aka given a farewell] by the PCB

Nasim Ashraf, the former chairman of the Pakistan board, was given a warm send-off by his colleagues after he visited the board headquarters in Lahore on Friday for a farewell meeting. Sohail Mansoor, the board’s spokesman, said it was a “warm and sentimental affair”.

The best part of his speech was this nail clincher !!!

“I’m leaving the PCB and Pakistan cricket in a good shape and I pray that things get even better in the future.”

Yeah Right!!!!

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

In a spiraling catastrophe for Pakistan cricket, it seems that Mohd Asif will most definitely go down for good. In what should have been an open and shut case as stipulated by Mohd Asif’s lawyers a few weeks back, where Asif was pleading innocence and were simply stalling the final testing of his drug test Sample B which was randomly collected when he was in India for the IPL series while playing for the Delhi Daredevils

The results just came in and he has tested positive for nandrolone, a banned substance and now Asif faces a possible two-year ban, but his lawyer has probably just raised customary objections as there was a discrepancy in the readings of the two samples. The second sample had a nandrolone concentration of 5.4 nanograms per milliliter of urine while the first had 6.2 nanograms. It should be noted that levels of over 2 nanograms if nandrolone are deemed illegal by the Olympic committee.

Last time Mohd Asif was caught with Nandrolone was in 2006 from India just months before the world cup, after much cajoling they squeeze by unscathed with barely a six month ban, but now I fear Asif is most definitely in for the long haul.

On the day Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of the country, one of his main beneficiaries and closest allies, Nasim Ashraf, offered his resignation as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

His resignation has been sent to the presidency – where a final decision will be taken. It must be recalled that a few days back a contrversy erupted where PCB categorically said that Nasim Ashraf’s extended trip to the US had nothing to do with President Musharraf’s impeachment – but today immediately after Pervaiz Musharraf announced his resignation we saw the PCB Chairman tendering in his letter to quit.

What a waste of cricket space. If I were to write his PCB obituary I wont have much good to say since he was just a stooge appointed to this post for his good services to Musharraf previously. Nasim Ashraf throughly exploited this situation and walked off without having done crap – What a waste

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Two days ago we published a possibility that Nasim Ashraf might actually be ‘overstaying’ his stay in the US due to concerns of impeachment of his long time ally Pervaiz Musharraf, interestingly PCB jumped the gun to issue a clarificaiton as if to tease us with the comment Read muhh leeps: I aint’ goin nowhrrr

Cricinfo: “There is nothing in all this,” Mansoor Suhail told Cricinfo. “The chairman had planned this trip quite some time ago and has in fact reduced it considerably with a view to the Champions Trophy. He has undergone some treatment there and will be back within the next 5-6 days.”

Suhail also downplayed the implications of the political situation in the country on Ashraf’s position. “There is no link between what is happening with the presidency and the chairman of the board and to suggest as such is completely off the mark. The chairman will be back shortly and is very much looking forward to hosting the Champions Trophy.”

Im so glad PCB reads our blogs

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Nasim Ashraf, will not be in the country for the ICC task force’s visit scheduled to visit Pakistan between August 10 and 12, to check out the security situation in the three venues hosting the Champions Trophy in September.

The PCB said that Nasim Ashraf had to extend his stay for a few more days because of some minor surgery and hence will miss the ICC team entirely. What surprises me is the timing of his sudden absense – could it have anything to do with his buddy [Pervaiz Musharraf] who is facing the impeachment gallows within the same specified dates. I think it could be safe to notch one more up for a Nasim Ashraf Blooper

Cricinfo

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Sohail Tanvir was the IPL’s most successful bowler but he has said that it is in the Test arena that he really wants to prove himself.

“I know I am worth much more,” he said. “And based on my performances, I think I can easily get a million dollars, if not more. I have two or three very lucrative offers from other IPL franchises, but there is time for me to make a decision for next year.”

Tanvir has played only two Tests so far in his career, making his debut on Pakistan’s tour of India in 2007-08. He had tremendous success with the Rajasthan Royals, who bought him for $100,000, during the IPL. He took 22 wickets in 11 games at an average of 12.09 and economy-rate of 6.46 and held his nerve during the IPL final against Chennai.

Ambitious – but quite often we have seen over infalted ego’s after a good season have gotten in front of performance. Hold up Tanvir, lets not dream too big, be steady and you will have your million

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.