All posts by csb10.top

Of the 15 that made the Rest of India (ROI) squad last year, seven graduated to the Indian team over subsequent months and are still there or thereabouts. That should be the incentive for the Rest of India players in this year’s team as they kick off the domestic season in Rajkot tomorrow with the Irani Trophy match against Ranji champions Mumbai.The Irani Trophy is not as much a selection match as it is recognition of India’s second XI, if one may use the term. The second XI for this edition is a fine blend of performers from the previous domestic season and a few who have played for India in the past few months but now find themselves out. Experience and youth are both represented.Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Subramaniam Badrinath and Cheteshwar Pujara are four of the finest current young batsmen not in national colours. Pujara is still some way from national reckoning but for the other three it’s a battle to get into the Indian middle order. On current form Badrinath looks to be the front-runner, with a double-century for India A in an unofficial Test against South Africa A in Delhi and a Man-of-the-Match showing in the one completed 50-over game after that. Mohammad Kaif, who led India A against South Africa and on a twin-tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, counts himself in the reckoning.Then there is Aakash Chopra, back in the fray after a prolonged absence, who will draw inspiration from the need for specialists at the top of the order on the tour of Australia later this year. The key for him will be to carry on the good form from the Kotla match against South Africa A, where he overcame three dropped catches on his way to an unbeaten double-hundred.Hard as it is for Parthiv Patel to break into the Indian team, he has done enough with the A team – more noticeably with the bat – to keep Dinesh Karthik, the second-choice wicketkeeper, on his toes. Starting with the tour of Zimbabwe, he has scored 591 runs in five innings, with four centuries, justifying his use up the batting order.The inconsistent Munaf Patel will be the main focus in the bowling department – his dodgy fitness levels have followed him throughout his career. For Ranadeb Bose, who toured Ireland and England but couldn’t force his way into the final XI, this is the start of another first-class season where he needs to perform consistently, as he did last time with 57 Ranji wickets.Pragyan Ojha, a left-arm spinner, and Amit Mishra, a legspinner, were too good for South Africa A in Delhi last month, but given a twinge of green on the Rajkot surface, only one of them might get a chance. Other options for bowling would be young pacers Ishant Sharma, who played one Test in Bangladesh, and Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh.For all of ROI’s strength, the Ranji champions have won the Irani Trophy 24 times, as opposed to ROI’s 18. A regular team definitely has an advantage over an assembled all stars’ XI. What would negate that to some extent is that the core of this ROI squad has been together from the start of the Zimbabwe tour in July.

The Mumbai team, though, is on a roll after a young new-look side thumped Karachi Urban, the Pakistan domestic champions, in Karachi to lift the Mohammad Nissar Trophy. Of the five debutants involved in the Karachi clash, two, opener Ajinkya Rahane and Prashant Naik, scored centuries and two spinners, left-armer Iqbal Abdulla and offspinner Vikrant Yeligati, shared seven wickets between them.Is playing such a young team against such high-profile opposition a disadvantage? Captain Amol Muzumdar doesn’t think so. “This means they have not seen our youngsters, while we have always watched many of their players, Mohammad Kaif for example. They don’t know our strengths and weaknesses, while we know theirs,” he said after the Mumbai nets. “They have played Under-19 cricket for Mumbai and would know the intensity we play our cricket with. They have come up the ranks and have done hard to come up the ranks and have been doing consistently well in Mumbai’s local cricket.”Their side will be bolstered by the presence of Ajit Agarkar, who has been dropped from the Indian ODI side, and Wasim Jaffer. Youngsters Abhishek Nayar and Sahil Kukreja also showed good form in Pakistan. Ramesh Powar, who was dropped from the Indian squad, is also likely to join the side.Kaif also refused to write off Mumbai. “They won their 37th Ranji title last year and they won in Karachi too. Definitely they are a good side. But we have been doing well too. We have lost only one game [since the start of the Zimbabwe tour], that too a one-dayer to Sri Lanka A and are doing well. The only department we need to work at is catching. We didn’t take our chances in the one-dayer against South Africa.”The match will also see the debut of the video-review system for the umpires. Also present at the match will be an umpiring coach – VK Ramaswamy – who will serve the dual purpose: appraisal and guidance. While the video-setup will take care of the decision-making aspect of the umpires, the umpiring coach will appraise and guide them on the match management; communication and team work; professionalism; preparation; and fitness, diet and appearance.The Rajkot surface, where South Africa A almost chased 291 last week, wears a grassy look but the captains think it will help the pace bowlers only early on and aid spin later in the match.If Mumbai can bring their famous spunk then the stage is set for a clash between two teams that are on a high. ROI, on paper, are a stronger side, but Mumbai know what it takes to be champions.Squads:Rest of India (from): Cheteshwar Pujara, Aakash Chopra, Mohammad Kaif (captain), Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Parthiv Patel (wk), Arjun Yadav, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Randeb Bose, Amith Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Vijaykumar YomaheshMumbai (from): Wasim Jaffer, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Amol Muzumdar (capt), Prashant Naik, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Omkar Gaurav (wk), Vinayak Mane, Ajit Agarkar, Aavishkar Salvi, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yeligati, Dhaval Kulkarni, Rajesh Verma

Former Cambridge University allrounder Richard Halsall will be appointed as England’s first full-time fielding coach, according to a report in The Times. The Schofield Report, published in May, recommended such a position be made permanent.Halsall has been working on a part-time basis with Sussex, as well as coaching the England Under-15 side. He also helped the England women prepare for their tour of India earlier this year.He is currently working as head of physical education at Wellington College but will have to give that post up if appointed by the ECB.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

What a difference a day makes. At the close yesterday New Zealand were in the better position, but after a day of poor batting from them and obduracy from Jacques Kallis and Hasim Amla, it was South Africa who appeared to have already done enough to win this match. They went to stumps on 179 for 2, leading by 287.The heart was ripped out of New Zealand in a morning session when they lost five wickets for 56, and their capitulation was complete when their last three wickets fell inside 21 balls of the resumption. Then, needing quick wickets, they made early breakthroughs before hitting a brick wall in the shape of Kallis and Amla.Had Brendon McCullum held a thick edge when Amla had made 2 then it might have been different, but in fairness New Zealand’s batting looks so fragile and uncertain that a first-innings deficit of 108 had probably almost finished them off anyway.New Zealand started on 41 for 2, and although they lost Shane Bond, the nightwatchman, early on, they should still have been at home on a pitch that, while quickening up overnight and becoming bouncier, was still fundamentally a good surface to bat on. But they were unsure against anything short of a length and their footwork was poor, and they paid.More importantly, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Andre Nel and, latterly, Kallis, all bowled superbly. They all found a rhythm and added to the pressure by strangling the runs. It was absorbing, the only shame being that there was only another pathetically small crowd despite the glorious sunshine.Stephen Fleming was the key for New Zealand. He continued where he left off last night, stroking two fours, slashing at a few, and being forced to duck and weave as Steyn and Nel tested him out. It was Ntini who produced a peach to remove him, moving one across the left-hander which he had to play, AB de Villiers at third slip clutching a catch inches from the ground. Fleming then headed off for X-rays after being hit on the forearm and sat out the rest of the day, although he should be able to bat again.

Much as Bond and Chris Martin had done yesterday, the quick bowlers piled on the pressure with accurate and testing bowling. In his second over Kallis removed Scott Styris, his feet planted as he fenced at and nicked a good delivery short of a length outside his off stump. It was poor technique from a frontline batsman, and in the next over Kallis took a good second-slip catch when Jacob Oram was surprised by one from Steyn that angled into his midriff. Kallis was again centre stage in his next over when Ross Taylor, on his debut, slashed a wide one straight to Herschelle Gibbs at gully.If the morning had been poor, after lunch was worse but mercifully brief as New Zealand’s last three wickets went down with a whimper. Daniel Vettori fell four balls after the resumption, getting a leading edge as he tried to work Ntini through midwicket. Iain O’Brien then left Ntini seething with an eyes-shut six and two fours through the off, but it was no more than a corpse twitching.With the first delivery of his 15th over Dale Steyn trapped McCullum back in his crease, and despite the batsman’s clear unhappiness with the decision, it appeared a straightforward call. Chris Martin was greeted with a bouncer, followed by one pitched up which he tried to flick into the leg side and, like his captain, he only got a leading edge to complete Steyn’s five-for.New Zealand needed quick wickets, and they started promisingly. Gibbs, yesterday’s rock, unleashed one four before he too paid for a lack of footwork and Graeme Smith, as we have seen so many times, was left overbalancing by a ball fired in at his feet by Martin from round the wicket. For the second time in as many days, South Africa were 20 for 2.But it was what happened in between those dismissals that really mattered. Bond found Amla’s edge – again largely because of an absence of footwork – and McCullum did everything right, even getting both gloves to the ball, but he spilt the catch. Amala wasted no time in making New Zealand pay, cracking a series of fours through the off side, and as the day went on he grew in confidence, bearing no resemblance to the uncertain batsmen he was yesterday.Kallis was typically Kallis, obdurate, solid, but unleashing some sublime shots in between watchful periods. He was rattled a few times and was shaken by a Martin bouncer which clattered into his helmet. But he picked himself up, dusted himself down, and resumed grinding down the bowlers.New Zealand’s heads dropped as the shadows lengthened, Amla and Kallis bringing up their 150 stand in the penultimate over, and Vettori looked unable to lift his new charges. In the last hour O’Brien twice had raucous appeals for catches behind dismissively turned down by Daryll Harper – rightly according to replays – but by then you suspected that Vettori and his side knew that their chance had long since gone.

ScorecardFile photo: Pieter Seelaar top-scored for Netherlands with a crucial 49•Peter Della Penna

Late innings resiliency with both bat and ball ensured Netherlands escaped with a six-run win over UAE at Abu Dhabi on Friday to wrap up a two-match WCL Championship sweep for the visitors on Friday. The latest victory vaulted Netherlands past Hong Kong to the top of the WCLC table with 10 points to Hong Kong’s nine. The Dutch are currently undefeated in six games with 10 points coming from four wins and two no results.Netherlands scratched their way to 216 after being sent in thanks to Pieter Seelaar, whose 49 at No. 7 helped the Dutch rebuild after the double-blow of losing Roelof van der Merwe and Wesley Barresi in the space of three overs reduced the visitors from 108 for 4 to 112 for 6 in the 30th. Seelaar added 76 for the seventh wicket with Michael Rippon in the biggest stand of the innings and hung around until the final over before he was ninth man out but not before giving his side a defendable total.In reply, UAE were cruising at 158 for 3 after 37 overs, needing 59 more to win at a little more than four per over, when Timm van der Gugten shifted momentum in the match by removing Shaiman Anwar for 71, ending a 103-run partnership with Mohammad Usman. Van der Gugten struck again later in the over to nab Saqlain Haider for 1 and Usman was dislodged for 52 by Mudassar Bukhari off the first ball of the 42nd to make it 178 for 6.Still, UAE only needed 39 to win off 53 balls, but the run rate was choked successfully by Bukhari, Rippon and Ahsan Malik. In his first tour back since being reported at the World Twenty20 Qualifier for a suspect bowling action, Malik’s impact continued to show as he claimed 2 for 18 in his second spell of 3.3 overs at the death.Entering the final over UAE needed 13 to win with the last pair of Rohan Mustafa, on 21, and Manjula Guruge at the crease. A dot was followed by a six from Mustafa to bring UAE within one shot of leveling the score but Malik struck on the next ball, having Mustafa caught by Bukhari to end the match.

To widespread frustration, Cricket Kenya has postponed the three-day part of its Elite League on the eve of the first round of matches.Originally, the three rounds of three-day matches were to have started earlier, but the whole event had to be delayed because of the domestic upheaval which followed December’s presidential elections. The one-dayers, which should have been played over two weekends, then had to be extended to a third because of a conflict with Nairobi’s 45-over competition.In a media release, CK said that onset of the Long Rains had led to the tournament being postponed until June. The first round will now take place between June 6 and 9 with the second and third rounds starting on the following Fridays.”The rains which have pounded the city heavily over the last one week have left most of the grounds waterlogged and the groundsmen have found it difficult to prepare for these matches,” Tom Tikolo, the board’s CEO explained.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details
How they were out

VVS Laxman finally got India’s batting on this Australian tour off the ground, with an enthusiastic and entertaining century, and Rahul Dravid once again battled hard in dour fashion. Dravid spent time in the middle with Laxman but both fell in the dying moments of the second day, handing the initiative back to Australia. The much-needed Indian resistance spanned almost two sessions, but it was Australia who had won the first, pushing their first-innings score to 463 thanks mainly to an unbeaten 162 from Andrew Symonds.Laxman in particular was in a perfect mood, punishing anything that was too straight or too full. His customary elegant wristy play ensured that even deliveries short of a good length were kept down, and the boundaries came all round the park. He did survive one close call for lbw early on against Lee, and was the beneficiary of some fielding largesse, but on a day like this, where he batted with panache against an attack that has dominated India’s batsmen, these blips can be overlooked.When India began their first innings, still very much up against it after Australia had scored 463 in less than four sessions, there was an unmistakable sense of déjà vu as a runless opening passage was followed by the wicket of Wasim Jaffer. Brett Lee pulled the perfect three-card trick, pushing Jaffer firmly onto the back foot with a couple of with a couple of pacy short deliveries before slipping in the perfect yorker – quicker than anything else – to nail the base of off stump.There was just a chance that India would wobble once more, and when Dravid was caught at slip chasing a wide no-ball from Mitchell Johnson it appeared as though the Melbourne script was set to be replayed. But then things changed as Dravid began to find his feet, and move them positively, both when leaving the ball well alone and when driving through the off side.The short-pitched attack continued for a time, but with Dravid and Laxman playing with soft hands and getting on top of the ball, the Australian bowlers were forced back into bowling a fuller length. This coincided with strokes being played as the bounce was true and gaps in the outfield plentiful with an attacking field being set. Both batsmen used the pace of the bowlers well, working the ball away for boundaries to get some momentum going.The half-century of the partnership came up in only 57 balls, with Laxman dominating, and Dravid contributing just 10 runs. It was not long before Laxman brought up his own half-century, off just 43 balls, with a remarkable 40 of those runs coming in boundaries. Lee returned for another spell on the verge of tea, but could not break through and Laxman was getting a firm grip on proceedings at a ground where he has twice made big hundreds.Laxman’s approach meant that Dravid, who batted with such extreme caution and determination that he looked like he might burst into tears at any moment, could take the opportunity to dig deep. Laxman was timing the ball handsomely and his placement was excellent. In the second session Laxman scored 73 at a better than a run a ball, albeit with a let-off as Adam Gilchrist missed a tough chance down leg side – he also put down an easier catch on the off side straight after tea. At the same time Dravid, who took the occasional ironic cheer from the Sydney crowd when he ran a single after a spell of blocking or leaving the ball alone, ground his way to a half-century.Just when Dravid allowed himself a smile he also committed a blunder, having an airy waft outside the off to a shortish ball from Johnson that landed in Matthew Hayden’s midriff at comfortable catching height off the outside edge. All innings Dravid had fetched the ball from outside the off and driven, occasionally exposing himself to the slip catch in the process, but this was the one fatal mistake, and he cursed himself all the way back to the dressing-room, having fallen on 53 off 160 balls.

If the half-century milestone did for Dravid then a lapse in concentration ended Laxman’s stay on 109 just two runs after the fall of the second wicket. Driving away from his body, without quite getting to the pitch of the ball, Laxman broadened Brad Hogg’s perpetual grin, only finding Michael Hussey at short cover off a top-spinner. A relatively strong 1 for 183 had quickly changed to a vulnerable 3 for 185, with two new batsmen at the crease to negotiate the last half hour. But Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly managed well enough, taking India to the close on 3 for 216.India were still 247 behind Australia’s 463, but it was their strongest batting day of the tour yet. The bowlers, who have outshone their more fashionable counterparts so far, had some hard work of their own to do earlier in the day. Andrew Symonds’ hulking figure was once again at the foreground, blotting out the light at the end of the tunnel, while Lee helped himself to a fourth Test half-century. Symonds, unbeaten on 162 when the Australian innings eventually ended, had put his team in a position of total control, something that hardly seemed likely at the same time on the first day.Lee pushed along confidently from his overnight 31 to 59, and was unafraid to drive on the up, punching the ball through the off side to pick up boundaries. It was not until the 14th over of the second day when India finally struck through Kumble, who managed to get a ball to come back into Lee and drew a positive lbw decision from Steve Bucknor. India were relieved to have an umpiring call go their way after Symonds survived another close shave when Bucknor did not refer a tight stumping appeal, which could have gone either way, off Harbhajan Singh.Johnson then added irritation value to some crucial runs, striking the ball as though he had been in the middle for a couple of hours. Compact and confident, Johnson played his shots, scoring quickly and not needing to be shielded by Symonds, who was by this time nearing the 150-mark. Johnson was worth 28 runs in a partnership of 40 that came on the back of stands of 175 and 143. It was Kumble who struck again, this time benefiting from an ambitious stroke as Johnson’s attempted heave over midwicket failed to clear Ganguly in the deep. Kumble wrapped the innings up soon after with Stuart Clark, the No. 11, playing true to his position and failing to score, trapped in front.

Virender Sehwag will lead the 15-member Delhi Ranji team that is packed with nine batsmen and six bowlers, including four pacers. The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) selected the team in a ten-minute meeting held at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Although the captain and coach reportedly wanted to have five fast bowlers, the selection committee decided in favour of an extra batsman in Aditya Jain, who replaced Kunal Lal in the squad. Kunal, the son of former India medium pacer Madan Lal, has been named as one of the four standbys.The promising left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan has been picked as the fourth pacer along with Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and Ishant Sharma.In addition, on the recommendation of the team management, the DDCA has selected five seamers who will train alongside the Ranji team during their home matches. The five selected are Pawan Singh, Parminder Awana, Suhail Sharma, Amit Sharma and Lokendra.The 30 probables, selected on September 16, have been practicing under the supervision of the coach Vijay Dahiya from September 19.Delhi begin their campaign with a home game against Rajasthan from November 4.Squad: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir (vice-capt), Aakash Chopra, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Mayank Tehlan, Virat Kohli, Puneet Bisht (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Bhandari, Chetanya Nanda, Aditya Jain.Standbys: Gaurav Chhabra, Yogesh Nagar, Abhishek Sharma, Kunal Lal.

New Zealand have named two uncapped players in their team for Saturday’s deciding Test against England in Napier. The teenage fast bowler, Tim Southee, and the South Africa-born allrounder, Grant Elliott, have both been called into the side at the expense of Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, who failed fitness tests on the eve of the game. In addition, the offspinner, Jeetan Patel, has been recalled in place of Mark Gillespie, on a flat and hard pitch that is expected to favour the batsmen.England, by contrast, are expected to name an unchanged side, although the captain, Michael Vaughan, said that they would wait until the morning to assess the fitness of Paul Collingwood and James Anderson. Collingwood was sent for a precautionary scan on the left calf that he bruised while fielding in the slips in Wellington, while Anderson was reportedly still feeling soreness in the left ankle that he twisted while playing football on the third evening of the Test.”The scans don’t show anything serious, so hopefully he’ll wake up and be fit to play,” Vaughan said when asked about Collingwood’s fitness. “We’re just checking on Jimmy as well. He’s still a little bit sore, but he’s had a good bowl today and he should be fine. It’s just a precautionary thing that we can’t announce the side today, but I expect us to play the same team if Colly comes through.”For New Zealand, Southee’s name had been in the frame ever since he was called into the squad as cover for Mills, who reported a minor tear at the top of his left calf in the aftermath of the Wellington Test. He performed impressively during the Twenty20 series against England that preceded the one-dayers, and then travelled to Malaysia for the Under-19 World Cup, where he was named Man of the Tournament for his haul of 17 wickets at 6.64, as New Zealand reached the semi-finals of the competition.”He only got the nod at training today, so he’ll be processing that now and he’s got a good chance to get ready for tomorrow,” said New Zealand’s captain, Daniel Vettori. “He is an exciting prospect for us and we’re looking forward to him starting a long career for us tomorrow. I just want him to play his natural game, because that’s what I was told when I first came into the team. It helped tremendously because sometimes when you step up a level you think you have to do something different.”Vettori knows full well what it is like to be pitched into Test cricket at such a tender age. In February 1997, he became New Zealand’s youngest international cricketer when he was picked to face England only days after his 18th birthday. “It all comes down to the person, age is irrelevant,” he said. “Tim has played four seasons of first-class cricket, and dominated the Under-19 tournament. The logical next step is Test cricket and one-day cricket.”The way he’s bowled in the past has led us to believe he can do a job for us,” Vettori said. “He swings it and he’s pretty consistent, and with those two things it doesn’t really matter what sort of a wicket you bowl on. He did a good job in the Twenty20s, and he’s got a good head on him. He’s a calm, mature guy and could be a huge asset for New Zealand cricket. He knows how to bowl a yorker on demand, and as he showed by dismissing [Kevin] Pietersen, he’s not fazed at going up against the big guys. We’ve seen something pretty special in him.”If Southee’s selection had been widely anticipated, Elliott’s debut was more of a surprise, especially seeing as it came at the expense of Oram, who was arguably the pick of New Zealand’s attack throughout the first two Tests. Although his batting never quite took off in the manner that it can in one-day cricket, his bowling was a revelation. With eight wickets at 14.87 and an economy rate of less than two an over, he was instrumental in strangling England’s run-rate, particularly in the victory in Hamilton.Vettori believed it was a hip injury that had ruled Oram out. “He was pretty sore during the Basin [Test], and in the second innings it got progressively got worse. He bowled quite well yesterday but he hasn’t shaped up too well this morning, and he couldn’t get through the warm-up drills. It was tempting to try and play him, but he’s not comfortable and not moving that well, and when you’ve got a guy in that sort of frame of mind, it doesn’t help him going into the Test.”Instead, the opportunity is there for Elliott to step into the allrounder’s role, and with the tour of England looming large on the horizon, there is plenty incentive for a command performance on debut. Though he was born in Johannesburg and still speaks with a strong South African accent, Elliott emigrated to New Zealand in 2001 and has been in the selector’s thoughts ever since he was named in the initial 30-man squad for ICC World Twenty20 last September. He was impressive during England’s three-day warm-up in Dunedin ahead of the first Test, making a cultured 28 and taking 2 for 12 from eight overs in an Oram-esque spell of fast-medium bowling.”It’s a big ask for him to slot straight into Jacob’s role, but he’s a guy who’s been earmarked for a while,” Vettori said. “Ideally I think you’d want your best eleven on the park, and we’re taking two very good players out of the side. But as the New Zealand side, we’ve been through a lot of injuries in the past and that’s given guys chances to step up. Both [Grant] and Tim both have a chance to push for a place on the England tour, and it would be a big honour if they could step up and take it.”Vaughan was cautiously pleased about the promotions of Southee and Elliott. “They’ll no doubt be very nervous but we’ll certainly respect them,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity to get on top of any bowler, we’ll try and take that. We always look to start very well and get ahead on day one, and that’s exactly what we’ll try and do, no matter who we’re playing against. It is an opportunity for us, but New Zealand are a canny team and play good street-wise cricket. It’s going to be a good Test.”Despite the injury blows, Vettori refused to accept that New Zealand were now underdogs for the deciding Test. “It’s going to be like Hamilton,” he said. “It’ll be a five-day Test match and whoever can grab the initiative at certain stages of the game can take the advantage. I think this pitch is very similar to every wicket we’ve played on here. It’s a good hard deck that will probably favour the batsmen, but having said that, we’ve seen bowlers put in performances on flat decks throughout the series. It all depends on whoever’s ready to take it on tomorrow morning.”New Zealand 1 Matthew Bell, 2 Jamie How, 3 Stephen Fleming, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Mathew Sinclair, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Jeetan Patel, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Chris Martin.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Andrew Strauss, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Tim Ambrose (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar.

Pakistan will host the Asia Cup from June 25 to July 6 in Karachi and Lahore this year, the Pakistan board has announced. Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh – the other big names in the tournament – have confirmed their participation in the event.”We held a meeting in Delhi back in December and had decided on the dates back then,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer PCB, told Cricinfo. “India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have confirmed that they will take part in the tournament.”This is the first time the tournament is being staged in Pakistan, and is the first edition of what was meant to originally be an annual event, since 2004.The initial group phase of matches will be held in Lahore, while the second stage as well as the final will be held in Karachi. As the heat is expected to be severe, particularly in Lahore, all matches will be day-night contests.The board is also in the process of finalising a tentative itinerary for Australia’s tour, should it go ahead. After the decision to cut the tour by 18 days, the two will now play two Tests, four ODIs and a Twenty20 international (instead of three Tests and five ODIs as originally planned). A three-day warm-up match is also on the cards.Cricket Australia has asked for a list of venues and it is learnt that Karachi is unlikely to host any games. Most of the internationals will be shared between Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan.Australia are due to send a security delegation to Pakistan before they make a decision to tour the country. They have not toured Pakistan since 1998-99.

Wasim Akram is set to hold another coaching camp for Pakistan’s fast bowlers at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore later this month.Akram overlooked a similar camp last year in Lahore, where he fast-tracked a number of promising young fast bowlers into national selection. Sohail Tanvir was the most prominent find from last year, though Akram also rated highly Mohammad Aamer, the left-armer who has been impressive for Pakistan U-19s recently.The camp is expected to get underway from May 26 and a PCB official told that Akram will train several young pacers who are either a part of the Pakistan team or are knocking at the doors of international cricket.Mudassar Nazar, a former Pakistan opener and head of the NCA, is currently finalising the details of the camp that is expected to last around six days. All leading pacers of the country, except for the ones currently competing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will take part in the camp, just a few days before the Pakistan team leaves for Bangladesh for a tri-nation ODI series also involving India in June.Akram’s media commitments since he retired in 2003 have taken priority over his coaching work, though as a travelling, freelance bowling guru, he has had considerable success, especially with young Indian fast bowlers such as Irfan Pathan. Last year’s two-week camp was the first time Akram had officially worked in a coaching capacity and though he enjoyed the experience, he wasn’t sure whether it would be a full-time commitment.