Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

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

Little words can express the happiness with which I celebrate the fact that Pakistan are the World Champions of the Twenty20 world cup. To have defeated Sri Lanka with a comfortable margin of eight wickets and many balls to spare. Pakistan erupted with a roar of celebrations heard not only in Pakistan but practically every corner of the world where Pakistanis were watching this match.

This victory in my opinion was not only a sporting victory but a godsend for a nation which has been bogged down for months of uncertainty and choas, if anything, the 11 players won it to revive the ailing heartbeat of an entire Pakistani nation, for which we shall be forever grateful.

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

Pakistan Women Cricket team has just trumped a 57-run win over Sri Lanka at the Women’s World Cup in Sydney.

Pakistan totalled 161-7 from their 50 overs and then bowled out Sri Lanka for just 104, with medium-pacer Qanita Jalil taking 3-33 from eight overs.

Sri Lanka never recovered from losing their first three wickets with only 28 on the board and although captain Shashikala Siriwardene made 58 from 11 balls, she lacked the support necessary to steer them towards their target. She was eventually run out by Javeria Khan and the game ended when Sana Mir, who had contributed an unbeaten 22 earlier in the game, had Sripali Weerakkody caught to finish with figures of 2-18.

Pakistan next play England on Thursday in their final first-round fixture

Urooj Mumtaz the captains of Pakistan Womens Cricket team – blog post after the victor in the Girls Aloud Blog

Can I begin by thanking everybody for their comments and messages on my last blog. I read all of your words of encouragement and it was very much appreciated following the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat to India.

Cross posted from Teeth Maestro

by Samad Khurram and Sara Seerat
Published in Daily News (Sri Lanka)

This letter is our expression of deep sorrow and grief at the savage attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team while they were touring our country. As Pakistani citizens, we are shocked, angered, and greatly embarrassed at being the source of such anxiety to the people of Sri Lanka. There never can be a justification for such horrendous acts of violence, and the Pakistani nation strongly condemns this evil act.

The dastardly attacks were carried out by miscreants who do not share the common values that the peaceful citizens of both Sri Lanka and Pakistan cherish and uphold. Pakistan has been the victim of many terrorist attacks in the last few years, and it is evident that this cowardly act was another attempt to cause increased turmoil and chaos in a country that is already suffering through a period of extreme violence and anarchy.

Darrell Hair, speaking in his capacity as head of the New South Wales Umpires and Scorers Association criticised ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat’s comments that umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis needed to be “more rational” in their assessment of the security at the time of the terrorist attack in Lahore.

Daryl Hair was clearly angry “No one could possibly comprehend the frightening and life threatening nature of the predicament they found themselves in,” he said. “For Lorgat to blandly ask them to be ‘more rational’ I think [smacks of] bullying and they are embarrassed that the full truth of the situation came out into the open.

“I wonder if Lorgat would be making his shallow and insincere comments if it had been he trapped in a hail of bullets and felt abandoned by the very security forces that were supposed to protect them?

“Does someone have to die before ICC even remotely begins to understand the reality of the matter? It’s one thing to provide security and protection but another to actually be secure and protected. Quite simply, ICC and the PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] totally failed the Sri Lankan players and the umpires, full stop.”

As the year 2008 is ending, I have made an attempt to summarize the major happenings of the year in Pakistan cricket

• Pakistan suffered a test-less season this year. However they managed to play 21 one-day internationals but mostly against minnows like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
• Punjab Stallions won the RBS Pentangular One Day Cup. In the final they defeated the Federal Areas Leopards by eight wickets.
• India refused to tour Pakistan for its scheduled tour of January 2009 citing political reasons.
• Lahore Badshahs won the ICL 20-20 Indian Championship in November 2008 beating Hyderabad Heroes in the finals. They lost to the same side in the finals earlier this year in April 2008.
• NWFP won the RBS Pentangular Cup by beating Baluchistan in the final by 28 runs.
• Pakistan comprehensively defeated West Indies registering a clean sweap in a three match one day series in Abu Dhabi.
• Muhammad Yousuf signed up for the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL).
• Geoff Lawson was sacked from his position of the coach of Pakistan.
• Pakistan took part in a four nation T20 tournament in Canada where they lost to Sri Lanka in the finals. Zimbabwe and Canada were the other two teams featuring in the tournament.

India one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds were among the players to attract big-money bids in the Indian Premier League player auction today.

Chennai paid US dollars 1.5million for Dhoni early on, while Symonds became the most expensive overseas player in the third round of bidding when Hyderabad forked out US dollars 1.35million for his services.

Retiring Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist attracted a bid of US dollars 700,000 from Hyderabad, who also acquired South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs and Pakistan spinner Shahid Afridi for US dollars 575,000 and 675,000.

IPL chairman Lalit Modi was surprised by the lack of interest in some players.

He said: “I haven’t had the opportunity to really judge player value before, but some of the players have gone so well, while some have gone for much less than I expected.

“Players like MS Dhoni and Andrew Symonds were bid aggressively (for) by all the tables.

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by S. M. Faisal .

Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said that Pakistan would not withdraw as hosts of the Asia Cup, scheduled in June. Ashraf had reacted to an offer by his Sri Lankan counterpart Arjuna Ranatunga to host the tournament due to the security situation in Pakistan following former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

“There is no way we would withdraw as Asia Cup hosts, then I don’t know why they [Sri Lanka] had to make such an offer,” Ashraf told The News in Karachi. Ranatunga confirmed that Sri Lanka was willing to act as a back-up should both sides agree on a neutral venue but left that decision to Pakistan.

“We have written and asked Pakistan if we can host the Asia Cup,” Ranatunga told AFP in Colombo on Thursday. “It’s a sensitive issue, but we will understand if Pakistan refuse us.”

Personally I think its good that Nasim Ashraf has responded to the Sri Lankan offer but at the same time I hope the situation in the country holds up to allow the Asia Cup to take place without incident

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

Guest Post by Faisal Sherdil

I have calculated the points and here is the current status of world cup teams.

1. Ireland, Bangladesh and West Indies are already out of the cup. There is no way they can quality to Semis. Australia is confirmed in the semis (though they have to beat one of Ireland, Sri Lanka or NZ, which they will).

2. The next Borderline team to get out is England. They have 2 more games, against South Africa and West Indies. They have to win both the games. If they lose any, they are out. Then the Semi Finalists would be (Australia, NZ, Sri Lanka and South Africa).

3. However, if England wins both its games (unlikely though), then still they do not qualify directly, but rather fall in a Triangle with two other teams. In that triangle, two of the three teams would qualify. This Triangle can be one of the following two:

Triangle 1: If Today NZ wins against Srilanka, then NZ qualifies. Then the 3 teams in Triangle would be Srilanka, South Africa and England. Run-Rate will be used to decide the top 2. (Note that in such a scenario, it would be like this: South Africa beat Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka beat England, and England beats South Africa. So run-rate needed)