Can HE Replace HIM?

Happy new year Usman Khawaja !! 

A special wish as he would make his debut in the new year test as a replacement for Ricky. 

News flowing around that Ponting has already played his last, will he make a place for himself in the side ? 
Can he replace HIM? Australia's first Asian born Muslim cricketer set to "replace" one of the modern day legends ?? Big shoes to fill in.......

Passing on tricks??

First Asian born cricketer in reckoning for Australia National team. Has represented Australia U-19 National team. Has received rave reviews for his performances. And this season he has mixed patience and calm with aggression and has been among the runs for NSW. Recent being a fine century against South Australia in the Ryobi One-Day Cup.

Since Australian batsmen are struggling with their poor form if he plays well in the fifth Ashes test match, there is no doubt that he is going to be a permanent member of the Australian squad. Let’s wish all the very best for the youngster.

And for Ponting, "read the previous post"

His Trade Mark Pull/Hook, Cover-drive , cut shots, seems a long time since we saw them. Aussies have already lost a quite a lot of classy players in the recent past in Gilchrist, Hayden in the batting, Warne, McGrath in bowling, Ponting the last survivor !! :P

All the best Punter!!!!!!!

Would Ponting re-start his career?  OR

Would the qualified pilot Khawaja's international career take off ?

-- Posted By Kiran

The Comeback - Possible ?

Flashback to the infamous Ganguly-Chappell saga ( 2005-06 ). Form dips, controversy, media and other pressures, "drop dada" campaigns etc......

Dada in a pensive mood

He was dropped from the side but he proved the critics who believed that cricket in him is over. What a comeback it was.
Read "Tribute to Dada" to know more about it...

As they say history repeats itself, now in a similar situation is another cricket great Ricky Ponting. A silent beginning, rise from lower middle order to No.3 in batting. From being a tiny man, he amassed runs and stood tall for Aussies. Hailed as one of the modern greats, second only to Sachin in records. He has an impressive record as captain, most of which now being attributed to the presence of legends in the team. Ponting now a mere mortal.

Crying ?? -- Almost.

Dismal form. Cannot play the rising ball. Age catching up. Team in disarray. Calls for Ponting to quit.
Some are even predicting that he has already played his last, I do not want to imagine so. Cricket is so cruel that it more often than not doesn't let its greats script their departure from the game. The next assignment for Aussies is in next August against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and since the domestic season will come to an end before the world cup gets over, its difficult for him to improve/adjust his batting and become the man of whom he is a mere shadow now...

This brings us to the question - Is he ready for a comeback ? Are we ready to witness another comeback aka Dada ?
Ganguly showed trmendous application and concentration and improved his batting so well and played much better than he ever had in the past. If Ponting were to do anything like that or even a little lesser than that he could quit on a high or to put it - script his exit.

Or as Ian Chappel puts it - Ponting past his use-by-date...

the year that was

2009 was an eventful year for many reasons.

ICC Champions trophy held after a long gap.
ICC T20 world cup second edition.
The "death" of ODI or the prediction of it.
Rise of India
Fall of Australia
Windies Fiasco
ASHES

The year started of with back to back SA-AUS series. SA won the edition in Australia and Australia won in SA.. 6 matches stood 3-3 at the end. Rather than saying Australia won in SA, it would not be incorrect if we say Mitchell Johnson won in SA.. He was the lone performer with ball and bat in the series and announced himself as the next all-rounder. Dale Steyn's performance with the bat will also be remembered for a long time..

There was a back to back ENG vs WI series too. Windies winning the home series and England in their home series. Windies showed no interest in the England tour that prompted the greats to withdraw them from the T20 world cup that was to follow their English summer.

Pakistan played back to back series against Lankans.. The home series in Pakistan saw the worst ever terrorist attack on the visiting Lankan team that injured many players. A torrid time to go through for those involved.. The return tour after the attacks, went Lanka's way..

New Zealand showcased an one-man show- Daniel Vettori.. He scored a test 100 in Sri Lankan soil and showed great determination. They came close to winning but never won a single match in the series.

A year of back to back series- Bangladesh and Zimbabwe competed fiercely in 5 ODI series.. The series saw Hamilton Mazakadza score heavily and create a record for highest aggregate in a 5 match series. Charles Coventry almost broke the record for the highest individual score in ODIs. 194* is rated higher than 194 out, so officially Coventry is the highest run scorer.

India won a series in Newzealand after ages.. 1-0 was the result and India completed the tour with some amazing play in the ODIs as well...

Windies lost to Bangladesh handing the latter their first ever test series win.. Windies lost a majority of their players to a ongoing contract crisis.. A 2nd string Windies side was captained by a hopeless player and they dint even look like posing a threat to Bangladesh who gleefully went away with a win..


ICC T20 was a bitter experience for India, who were bounced out.. Windies showed remarkable enthusiasm and courage and went all the way to semis.. They lost the semis- a total team effort... Lanka went to finals on the back of Dilshan's amazing knocks and good bowling.. Pakistan was immensely impressive, a dynamic leader in Younus Khan stepped up and Pak lifted the T20 world cup much deservedly..

ICC Champions trophy revived the concept of ODIs.. High TV ratings proved that if the quality of cricket is good then people do tune into ODI cricket.. Quite a lot of matches went to the wire.. The catch Younus Khan dropped made a big news and the dirty match fixing came into picture again.. Pakistan in the wrong side of things once again, unfortunately.. An exhibition of reverse swing from Rana Naved saw Aussie struggle to win and that made India exit from the Champions trophy too..

ASHES was the next big highlight this year, England won it.. Monty Panesar and James Anderson dug it out in Cardiff, the 1st match. ENG never looked back.. Johnson was not in good form and that hurt them a lot. Though, statistically Aussies were far better yet bizarre thing was they never capitulated on the big moments and Ponting had lost the Ashes twice on England soil..

40 odd tests and 250 ODIs and quite a few T20s made up this year..

Wait !! something is missing..

IPL and CL T20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Modi never makes anything without creating sufficient noise. (sufficient??!!) General elections in India meant that IPL had to be rescheduled and revised but the govt did not seem to agree with Modi. And what does Modi do? Shift INDIAN premier league to SA.. "SA have embraced the concept of IPL and its a huge success", this was a signature statement that either prefixed or was a post fix to any answer that Modi gave to a question that did not even require him to say that. A dull IPL..

CL T20 opened avenues. Many fringe players get noticed but the response wasn't encouraging enough.. The people being unaware of the players and teams was a major reason. It meant that they couldn't associate themselves with a team apart from the IPL ones.. Trinidad and Tobago showed that cricket is still alive in Windies and it needs a professional management to improve standards..

another injury

Yet another player has left the Australian squad on illness or injury.. WHAT is happening to Aussies ? A side that boasts of extreme fitness and talent is now losing them all of a sudden..

Michael Clarke was the first casualty who withdrew from the Champions Trophy, which Aussies eventually won, with a lower back pain.. The work load was blamed..

Brad Haddin injured his finger in the ASHES series and missed a test, giving Graham Manou the back up keeper his maiden game.. Haddin went on to miss ODI series against England and then the Champions trophy with a broken finger..

Callum Fergusson, not a big name but has been vital in Australia winning many matches and has been very consistent at no.6 averaging 46.07 in 25 ODIs that he has played.. Ferguson tripped in the field and injured his right knee in the Champions Trophy finals.. It was later decided through tests that he needs a re-construction of right knee after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament.. (he suffered similar injury in the u-19 wc that he played)..

Soon after the champions trophy, the inaugural Champions League T20 took place where 2 Australian teams in Victoria and NSW took part.. Victoria reached semi-final while NSW went on to beat Trinidad in the finals.. Led by Katich, the side had Hughes and Warner at the top with Lee, Clark and Hauritz forming the core of bowling.. Victoria was captained by Cameron White and Siddle was the other member who also featured in the national side..

NSW members landed in the team hotel barely 24hrs before 1st ODI..

Brett Lee, who was instrumental in NSW winning the CL T20, suffered an elbow strain and was forced out of 2nd ODI but eventually was sent back home as they felt he could not have recovered in time. Lee has had ankle and side problems before the latest setback.. Lee was out of the ASHES too for injury woes..

James hopes also suffered a hamstring injury in the 1st ODI and was ruled out of the next 2 ODIs and eventually out of the entire series..Hopes bowled just two overs in the first ODI in Vadodara before leaving the field after pulling his right hamstring.


The next to go was Tim Paine, wicket keeper who injured his finger while keeping wickets in the Nagpur ODI.. He injured his finger while attempting to take a bouncer of  Siddle..

The latest addition to that is Peter Siddle.. Siddle will return home after suffering stiffness in his left side during Monday's win in Mohali..

So, the replacements Manou, Henriques and Clint McKay are already here and now the selectors are scouting for another replacement..

Already, the pace attack is without Lee.. Now, the next best player Siddle too is going to miss.. Johnson hasn't been in good form either..

Where's Stuart Clark ? Military medium , McGrath like with line and length... Very much needed in the middle overs with Johnson leaking hell a lot of runs he may just be the right replacement..

Dirk Nannes, who played for Netherlands is available to play for Australia.. He is one pace bowler who can be a definite replacement for Lee.. He bowls at 150+ kph..

Brad Hodge, technically may not be so sound but is certainly a good replacement.. I would seen him as the 1st replacement to Clarke.. Donno why he is not favored..

Dont the Aussies boast of a great training facility and highly strong players who play injury free for a long long time !! This just shows that whatever be the facility provided, over kill or continuous cricket will take a toll on players..

The only solution would be if each of the high profile teams have enough bench strength who can come to the International arena and perform from the word go.. A pool of 20-25 players are needed and the final squad of 14-15 must be picked from the pool on a rotation basis so that no player plays too much cricket and also to ensure that the others are match fit and ready to go.. That just takes care of stress related injuries..

Technologies-Bowling machine

What is a bowling machine, and how does it work? A bowling machine is a device that functions as a nets bowler, firing balls at batsmen, providing them with practice. The machine can simulate various types of pace, swing, and spin bowling accurately. The main mechanism in a mechanical bowling machine (the most common kind) consists of two spinning wheels, each driven by its own motor, between which the balls are fed via a chute. The device is mounted on a tripod or similar, at such a height as to simulate the delivery of a bowler of average height. The machine runs on rechargeable batteries; each charge provides between two and six hours of running time. swing and spin-- Swing is produced by varying the speeds of the wheels independently using a manual controller - i.e., speeding one wheel up and slowing the other one down, which produces an effect similar to that caused when a football is kicked with the outer part of the foot. The ball swerves away from the faster wheel. To impart spin, in addition to having the wheels move at different speeds, the machine head is tilted and then swing rotation is put on the ball. The ball turns because the rotation is at an angle when it hits the ground. The length of deliveries can be adjusted by tilting the head of the machine as required. The speed can be varied from 20mph to 95mph. The bowling machine is most accurate with a round object, and cricket balls are not perfectly round. Moreover, cricket balls are made of leather, which is prone to tearing when squeezed between the spinning wheels. This is why hard polyurethane balls - dimpled for swing - are used. An advance over the mechanical version is the programmable bowling machine, which can be configured to bowl different types of deliveries in sequence. A programmable bowling machine called Merlyn, which it was claimed could bowl any ball known to man, including Shane Warne's legbreaks, was in the news when it was used by England in the run-up to their successful 2005 Ashes campaign. More common are pneumatic bowling machines, which use a pump to provide a flow of air that propels the ball through a tube at varying speeds.

Ashes lost

Australia's 2-1 Ashes defeat, confirmed with a heavy 197-run loss at The Oval on Sunday, has cost them their No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. They have slipped to fourth, with South Africa now the No. 1 Test team in the world, followed by Sri Lanka and India.

It is the first time the Australians have lost their grip on the top spot since 2003, when the ICC introduced its current ranking system. The defeat has cost them eight points but despite the series result they remain ahead of their arch rivals England, who are in fifth place. England gained six points but are still 11 behind Australia.

Australia were in danger of losing their No. 1 ranking towards the end of last year, when they lost a home Test series to South Africa 2-1. A consolation win in the third Test in Sydney ensured they retained top spot and they also held on thanks to their follow-up series victory in South Africa.

ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP RANKINGS

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
South Africa	30	3672	122
Sri Lanka	24	2852	119
India	28	3327	119
Australia	31	3600	116
England	39	4102	105
Pakistan	17	1424	84
New Zealand	22	1794	82
West Indies	25	1910	76
Bangladesh	19	255	13

•  Ricky Ponting has admitted that they had got the playing 11 wrong in omitting Nathan Hauritz.. The Oval took turn from the first day itself.. Swann had picked up 5 wickets in the 1st innings and part time spinner Marcus North picked 4 wickets..
• Ponting became the first Australian captain since Billy Murdoch to twice lead Australia to Ashes series defeats in England..
  

Ashes series - Lords

In his final act at the home of cricket, Andrew Flintoff broke England's 75-year Lord's curse with his first five-wicket haul since the Ashes-clinching Oval Test of 2005. It was, unquestionably, a performance that will enhance his already mythical status within English cricket, but more pertinently for now, delivered England to a 1-0 series lead heading into Edgbaston. England have waited 75 years to win at Lords , and they have taken a 1-0 lead in an Ashes series for the first time since 1997.

 

  

  

It was Flintoff all the way.... England having posted a great opening wicket stand slumped a bit to reach as similar a situation as was at Cardiff.. With Strauss being bowled in the 1st over the next day, the onus was on the lower order to put up some vital runs.. And they did it considerably well.. 425 was a par score.. 

Australia were below par in their 1st innings losing 2 early wickets only for Katich and the tired out of form Hussey to bail them out.. Once they were out, the team crumbled to 152 for 8 with Siddle and Hauritz saving the blushes for australia as they played brilliantly to get the team across 200.. 

A lead of 210 was a little too much and Australia had to bowl well to restrict England to a decent score to post a successful chase.. They failed to do so.. Bopara and KP were uncharacteristically slow , Prior played well to post a quick fire half century.. 

The declaration was not all that well timed.. The only reason could have been to use the early morning conditions to get a few wickets but I personally would have loved to have another 60-70 runs more or whatever is got in the 1st hour of play.. It was good that Australia lost Katich early or a good performance from him and/or Hussey could have got Aussies closer.. But it was the big man Freddie all the way.. Took 5 wickets in his final outing at the Lords as a test match player and was instrumental in the win.. Swann played an equally important role.. 

Now, the big question that arises is - How many times have the Aussies failed to play the swinging ball ? Genuine swing or reverse swing Aussies always lose out.. Mitchell Johnson who was hyped as a trump card hasn't bowled well at all going at well over 4 or at sometimes 5 RPO.. Thats ridiculous from a test match point of view.. He may lose out his spot to an accurate Clark if the Aussies want to win and square the series.. 

Andy Flower, coach England has jumped the gun and said England can win without KP and Flintoff ; even if not for performances their mere presence in the team will boost the side's morale and they need to play a crucial role if England are to regain the Ashes.. 

Next match at Birmingham on the 30th of july.. 

nPower Ashes test- Cardiff

 

 nPower Ashes 2009

 

Happier time

 

Poor bowling gives Anderson headaches and leaves Broad red faced

 

Philip Hughes got Aus to a great start followed by stupendous batting from Ponting and Katich

 

 Aussie dressing room celebrates centuries from North and Haddin

 

Marcus North scored a brilliant century cementing his disputed spot in the side

 

Haddin has been in great form of late and he continued his form with a quick fire 100

 

KP bowled by Hilfenhaus and Aussies got on top of England soon after..

 

Gutsy batting by Panesar and Anderson to save the test match wwas marred by some cheap tactics of getting the 12th man and the physio on the field to evade time

 

NO!! Thats not the scenes of winning but actually narrowly managing to escape from the jaws of defeat..

Australia were on top right throughout the game until the last hour.. Last hour they some how could not manage to get Panesar and Anderson out.. Earlier in the day Collingwood played brilliantly to eat away time which was undone by a momentary lapse in concentration that made him top edge a upper cut or rather a miscued upper cut to Hussey.. England looked down and out before their nightwatchman Anderson and the no.11 Panesar batted out nearly 11 overs to save the match.. Every defense of Panesar was cheered to the max.. The huge roar when England went past Aussie score to post a lead was akin winning back the ashes..

Nothing much to celebrate though, as England would rue missing the inform Onions in this match.. Swann was very poor so was Panesar.. Broad looked down and out.. Need to strengthen the bowling if the have any hopes of winning a test match leave alone winning the ashes back.. 

Aussie looked far better.. The question they would like to answer if they like to bring Clark back in for Siddle, the latter had gone for quite a few runs in the match at a high RPO.. Clark would keep things tighter.. Hauritz has been more than handy and has bowled pretty well amidst all the criticisms that he cannot be rated as a spinner.. Batting looks all the more potent with North showing quite a lot of promise making up for the loss in form of Hussey.. 

All eyes now on the coming Thursday as the action shifts to Lords.. Will there be any team changes from the both the sides? Or atleast England would like to bring Onions back in place of Panesar/Swann ..

Ashes series- Cardiff

The first of the 5 test Ashes series kicked off at Cardiff amidst great hype on the nature of wicket at Cardiff.. The pitch has turned out to be a belter of a wicket and easy for scoring..

First day was even, with England notching up 336 for the loss of 7 wickets.. England would be unhappy with the loss of wickets late in the day.. Pieterson got out after playing a classy knock.. Surprisingly, Hauritz who was regarded as a poor bowler ended up with 3 wickets and the all important scalp of Pieterson..

Second day was Aussie all the way.. After knocking of the tail, they had an impressive start with Hughes scoring quickly before lunch.. After lunch, Flintoff-Hughes contest was great to watch with the former bowling constantly around 90mph and bowling bouncers.. Hughes was dancing at the crease, poor footwork.. Flintoff got the better of Hughes but that was the only thing for the English to celebrate as the run machine in Katich notched up yet another century, his first in Ashes.. Ponting after some niggles early on steadied himself and brought up his 38th century and doing so he surpassed the landmark of 11000 runs in test cricket..

Third day, Aussies piled on the runs.. Katich got out after making a well compiled Katich like innings of 122 which ended a magnificent 239-run stand with Ricky Ponting; the fifth-highest second-wicket partnership by an Australian pair in Ashes contests. Ponting got out on 150, He is now 60 short of Border to become highest run getter for Australia...Border is the highest Test run-scorer among Australian batsmen, and third over all behind Sachin Tendulkar (12,773) and Brian Lara (11,953). Clarke and North then played well to bring up their half centuries..

Interesting points to note :
> Australia are on top despite missing Lee ; probably a blessing in disguise..
>Good control in bowling; an unexpected one according to media reports..
>Hauritz has more wickets than Swann and Panesar put together..
>Ponting has finally scored a 100..
>Broad is disappointing , dint seem to trouble the batsmen at all.. Looked very slow despite bowling at higher 80s MPH.. Anderson was far from his best..
>Swann needs additional attention.. I seriously dint get the point at all.. He was having 2 slips for Katich and bowling around the wicket and bowling where ? On middle and leg.. Thats ridiculous.. Do not say that not even one in the playing 11 of England could spot that or the coach or anybody else could have sent a word across to the field.. He simply did not bring the slips into play at all..
>Panesar was used so poorly by Stauss.. was introduced into the attack so late on day 2.. He is one of your major strike bowler what the hell are you doing covering him up for such a long time.. And also to see him bowl with such defensive fields was disappointing..

On the whole, English think tank (If at all there is one) has failed miserably in handling bowling changes..
Australia on top.. Its now upto Ricky to decide when (if a situation arises) to declare and declare sportively, giving enough time for their bowlers to bowl England out in their 2nd innings..

Need : quick runs

Ashes

The Ashes is a Test match series, played between England and Australia.. It is one of international cricket's most celebrated rivalries which dates back to 1882.. It is currently played biennially, alternately in England and Australia as a summer game in the 2 countries, Nov-Jan in Australia and Jun-Sep in England... 

 

The series is named after a satirical obituary published in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after the match at The Oval in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media then dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour in Australia, a small terracotta urn was presented as a gift to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of possibly a bail...

The urn is erroneously believed, by some, to be the trophy of the Ashes series but it has never been formally adopted as such and Ivo Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift. Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being bequeathed to the MCC by Ivo Bligh's widow upon his death.

Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series.

Australia currently holds The Ashes, after beating England 5-0 to regain them in 2006-07.

The Ashes is one of the most fiercely contested competitions in cricket.

The failure of England to regain the Ashes for 16 years from 1989, coupled with the global dominance of the Australian team, had dulled the lustre of the series in recent years throughout most of the cricketing world, although it has remained the most popular cricketing contest for Australians. 

However, things changed in the 2005 series and England won it with Reverse swing as their weapon.. England were upbeat about their win but in the subsequent tour down under, they lost miserably to Australia 5-0.. 

Things are quite different now.. It perhaps is the 1st Ashes after the era of Aussie domination in world cricket.. 

England have a poor captain this time in Strauss, will he motivate the team and bring about key changes in bowling and fielding is the big question here.. Strauss and Cook should give a good opening stand followed by Bopara and KP.. Bopara has to play really well and justify his position, KP will once again be the pivot of the batting.. Bowling is quite strong with Broad, Anderson and Flintoff who can swing the ball, the aussies dont play the swing pretty well.. Swann, Panesar and Rashid, the 3 spinners will come in handy.. There are speculations that England may go in with 2 spinners in their playing 11.. Not a bad idea as the Aussies dont play spin that well either.. But that is if the spinners are of some quality, don't expect Rashid to cause them any problem.. Yes, the Aussies are troubled by spinners but they were troubled by Mendis' unpredictability, Kumble, Harbhajan and of late Saeed Ajmal and Afridi in ODI cricket but that is no reason why they shouldn't play Rashid or Panesar with ease.. 

Australia will depend heavily on the openers and tail enders for runs.. Hughes is in spectacular form and Katich is always reliable.. Then comes the middle order which hasn't performed or dominated for ages now.. Ponting ever since he was troubled by Ishant is out of touch, Clarke has no performances to his credit, M.Hussey is already complaining of playing non-stop cricket and even contemplated quitting one form of the game.. Haddin is the player to look out for if he plays all matches that is.. Lee is not that threatening but the likes of Hilfenhaus, Clark and Siddle are not to be taken for granted.. Australia beat South Africa in SA with these Hilfenhaus and Siddle.. Mitchell Johnson is the man to look out for this entire series, this guy takes 5 wickets and then puts his pads on and scores vital runs for the side and then again is seen running up and taking wickets.. He can easily fit in as a player in the lower middle order too.. 

This series may be decided in who handles pressure better, whether Australia can play out the new ball, spin and a fully fit Flintoff ; England on the other hand need to play Mitchell well and get him out quickly.. The runs scored by the tail may come in handy too.. 

Latest cricket news

No Indians ICC World twenty20 XI

Former World twenty20 Champions India faced another decline in world cricket when ICC announced the best twenty20 XI with no player from India. The ICC on Monday named its eleven and not surprisingly, after losing three consecutive matches in the Super Eights, no Indian player made the cut.

In the best XI picked by ICC, four players from Pakistan, three from South Africa, two players from each West Indies and Sri Lanka is included in the squad. Younis Khan was named captain for the team announced by ICC.

However, there was one Indian face figuring in the Women's XI announced by ICC and it was that of bowler

ICC World XI: 

Chris Gayle (West Indies), 

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), 

Jacques Kallis (South Africa), 

AB de Villiers (South Africa), 

Younis Khan (Pakistan, Captain), 

Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), 

Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), 

Kamran Akmal (Pakistan, Wicketkeeper), 

Wayne Parnell (South Africa), 

Umar Gul (Pakistan), 

Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). 

12th man: Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)

Younis Khan quitting Twenty20 Cricket on a high

After leading his team to World cup glory, Pakistan Captain Younis Khan quits twenty20 cricket. Younis Khan used Cricket’s grand stage to announce his retirement from twenty20 Cricket. He said he is not getting younger anymore at 34 he wants to focus only on ODI and Test cricket. Younis dedicated Pakistan's World Twenty20 triumph to his former coach Bob Woolmer, who died during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Now after his retirement from the shortest version of the game Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal is the front runner for leading Pakistan in twenty20 cricket.

Under his captaincy this is for the second time Pakistan able to win major ICC Events after 1992 50-over World Cup.

Md. Ashraful sacked from captaincy Job

Bangladesh Captain has been sacked from the captaincy job after poor show with bat in the recently concluded twenty20 World Cup. His team was also beaten by Ireland at Group stage that didn’t allow Bangladesh to make it to the Super Eights of ICC World Twenty20.

His deputy Mashrafe Mortaza, a fast bowler, is likely to take the Captaincy job.

Md. Yusuf and Abdul Razzaq back in Test Squad for Sri Lanka tour

Pakistanis selector on Monday announced the 15 member squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. Stylish right hand batsman Md.Yusuf and Abdul Razzaq recalled in the team. 

Yousuf, who has played 79 Tests, was delighted to be back. Pakistan cricket team will leave on Saturday to play three test match series followed by five ODI’s and a Twenty20 International.

Shahid Afridi was also not included in the test squad since he wanted some rest before going into ODI series.

Pakistan 15 Member Squad: Younis Khan (Captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (WK), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.

No place for Vaughan and Harmision in England Training Ashes Squad

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, and Steve Harmison have both been left out of England's pre-Ashes camp ahead of the much-anticipated series against Australia which begins later this month. However England selectors included three spinners Adil Rashid, Panesar and Swann in the squad.

M.Vaughan was expected to make return to international arena but now he may have to wait little longer after selector’s ignorance from Ashes squad.

England selector will pick the final squad on July 6 two days before the first test match.

England Test squad for pre-Ashes camp: Andrew Strauss (Captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.