England tour of India, 2012/13

Thu Nov 15 - Mon Nov 19 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	1st Test - India v England Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Fri Nov 23 - Tue Nov 27 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	2nd Test - India v England Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Wed Dec 5 - Sun Dec 9 03:30 GMT | 09:00 local 08:30 PKT	3rd Test - India v England Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Thu Dec 13 - Mon Dec 17 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	4th Test - India v England Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
Thu Dec 20           14:30 GMT | 20:00 local 19:30 PKT	1st T20I - India v England Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune
Sat Dec 22           14:30 GMT | 20:00 local 19:30 PKT	2nd T20I - India v England Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Fri Jan 11           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	1st ODI - India v England Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
Tue Jan 15           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	2nd ODI - India v England Nehru Stadium, Kochi
Sat Jan 19           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	3rd ODI - India v England HEC International Cricket Stadium Complex, Ranchi
Wed Jan 23           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	4th ODI - India v England Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
Sun Jan 27           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	5th ODI - India v England Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Read More

New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka

                                      

Tue Oct 30 13:30 GMT | 19:00 local 18:30 PKT	Only T20I - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Thu Nov 1           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	1st ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Sun Nov 4           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	2nd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Tue Nov 6           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	3rd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Sat Nov 10           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	4th ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
Mon Nov 12           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	5th ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
Sat Nov 17 - Wed Nov 21 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 09:30 PKT	1st Test - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Galle International Stadium
Sun Nov 25 - Thu Nov 29 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 09:30 PKT	2nd Test - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo

Read More

South Africa in Australia Series

If the South African Test touring party to Australia arrived more or less as expected, it also confirmed a battle of contrasts among the fast bowlers: South African dependability versus Australian depth.

Among South Africa's travelling 15, there are only four pacemen. The uncapped bowling allrounder Rory Kleinveldt will back-up the outstanding trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, while Jacques Kallis provides his familiar versatility. The captain Graeme Smith and the coach Gary Kirsten are in no doubt what their best XI is, and far from fearful that one of their top three quicks will break down.

Australia's pace planning for the series is far more preoccupied with depth, likely to include the presence of five quicks, plus Shane Watson, in training before each match. The seasoned duo of Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus can be expected to play in all three Tests, but there will be rotation beyond them, as James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins all appear likely to get at least one match against the South Africans to spread the load among their younger bodies

Read More

Razzaq in trouble over Hafeez criticism

Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a showcause notice to the allrounder Abdul Razzaq and asked him to explain his outburst against Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez after the World Twenty20.

On his return from Sri Lanka, Razzaq criticised Hafeez for selecting him in only one game of the tournament. "It was Hafeez's decision not to pick me for the semi-final, not anyone else's," Razzaq told reporters in Lahore. "I know the team management didn't drop me, it was Hafeez alone who didn't want me to play."

PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar confirmed that Razzaq was bound to follow the code of conduct though he wasn't a centrally contracted player. By speaking to the media without the PCB's consent, he had breached the player's code of conduct, which forbids them from speaking to the media without prior permission from the board.

"He [Razzaq] has been served a showcause notice for breaching the code of conduct," Sarwar told ESPNcricinfo. "He has been given seven days to respond, starting from October 10."

After being selected in the Pakistan squad, for the World Twenty20, after a gap of nine months, Razzaq played just one game in the tournament, scoring 22 off 17 balls in the Super Eights win over Australia. "I was very sad and disappointed to not get a chance to play in the semi-final. I was mentally prepared for the big match and it came as a huge letdown to know I was not playing," Razzaq said, adding that Pakistan had the perfect opportunity to win the tournament.

Read More

Auckland Aces beat Sailkot Stallions by 6 wickets

Sialkot Stallions entered their maiden Champions League T20 with an awe-inspiring domestic record. They had won Pakistan's Twenty20 competition seven out of nine times and possess a world-record winning streak of 25 matches. However, on a Wanderers pitch that bounced and seamed, they were undone by Auckland Aces' pace attack and their own desire to swing with abandon.

The predominant features of Sialkot's innings were batsmen playing and missing and an abundance of dot balls; their attempts at counter-attacking were short lived. Their batsmen cleared the Wanderers' boundaries ten times but managed to score only 130. It was the third-lowest total for an innings that contained ten sixes; the first two were chases in which the target was easily achieved.

The target was well below par and Auckland's openers, Martin Guptill and Lou Vincent, handled the bounce better than their counterparts did. The opening stand of 32 put the chase on course and the second-wicket stand of 51 between Guptill and Azhar Mahmood gave them an opportunity to win with a high net run-rate. They lost a couple of wickets in quick succession but New Zealand's domestic champions managed to get home with 17 balls to spare.

Gareth Hopkins, the Auckland captain, got what he wanted despite losing the toss, and Kyle Mills and Michael Bates made excellent use of the conditions. On a green-tinged pitch, the right and left-arm combination harried the Sialkot openers with short-of-a-length deliveries. After Imran Nazir was smacked painfully on the glove, Shakeel Ansar attempted a big hit in Bates' first over and holed out to mid-on. The No. 3 batsman Haris Sohail took 12 deliveries to get off the mark, before Nazir ended two consecutive maiden overs by pulling Bates over the fine-leg boundary.

Read More

Sialkot Stallions finally get stage to strut their stuff

Two of the teams at this year's Champions League would have made their first appearance in at the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008.

The Titans have had the opportunity to qualify every year since then but only got it right in 2012. The other, the Sialkot Stallions, did not have that same chance. Relations between India and Pakistan soured after the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 and Pakistan players and teams found themselves shut out of the competition.

If a representative from Pakistan had been let into the tournament in the previous three editions, that team would have been Sialkot in two of them. They were Pakistan's domestic winners in 2009 and 2011, and 2012 - Lahore Lions took the crown in 2010. And if the Champions League existed before that, Sialkot would have participated in most of those editions too.

Read More

Samuels, Sammy give WI first world title since 1979

Flair. Calypso. Frontrunners. Millionaires. Gold chains. Chris Gayle. No, no, no, no, no and no. West Indies' first World Twenty20 win was more digging in, refusing to give up, running and fielding like their life depended on this match, stunning the home crowd, and pulling off one of the most amazing turnarounds in Twenty20 history, especially given the stage. The due share of flair came from one of the most eye-pleasing batsmen going around. There's no need to add "one of the" here, because Marlon Samuels played simply the best Twenty20 international innings ever seen when West Indies were down and the count had reached about eight. A feedbacker to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball commentary asked if Samuels' 78 was the 281 of Twenty20 cricket.

Read More

Npower League One 6th October 2012

Brentford V Crawley

15:00

Bury V Swindon

15:00

Coventry V Bournemouth

15:00

Crewe V Hartlepool

15:00

Doncaster V Shrewsbury

15:00

Leyton Orient V Sheff Utd

15:00

MK Dons V Portsmouth

15:00

Notts County V Tranmere

15:00

Oldham V Preston

15:00

Stevenage V Scunthorpe

15:00

Walsall V Carlisle

15:00

Yeovil V Colchester

15:00

Read More

Barclays Premier League oct 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 6th October 2012

	Man City 3-0 Sunderland	90'
	Chelsea V Norwich	15:00
	Swansea V Reading	15:00
	West Brom V QPR	15:00
	Wigan V Everton	15:00
	West Ham V Arsenal	17:30

Read More

westindies destroy Australian Bating line-up won by 74 runs

 

So lopsided was West Indies' obliteration of Australia in the second semi-final of the World Twenty20, the victors had near enough to 13 overs to bask in their looming progress to the final against Sri Lanka.

Matthew Wade's departure in the eighth over of Australia's reply to 205 for 4 left George Bailey's team at a forlorn 43 for 6, their campaign collapsing in a few fevered minutes. Bailey was left to offer his team's last gesture of defiance, a breathless 63 from 29 balls, but it served only to narrow the margin.

That they were chasing such a tall tally was down to Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard. Gayle was starved of the strike early and later battled an apparent muscle strain, but in between produced an innings of controlled aggression that helped foster a trio of partnerships with Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo. Pollard clumped three of four sixes to be brutalised from Xavier Doherty's final over of the innings, a sequence that broke Australian spirits.

Read More

Akmal fined for ignoring umpires

Umar Akmal has been fined 50 percent of his match fee for ignoring both on-field umpires while going for a change in gloves during Pakistan's semi-final against Sri Lanka in Colombo. There was no hearing as Akmal pleaded guilty and accepted the sanction to the charge laid by umpires Simon Taufel and Rod Tucker.

Jeff Crowe, the match referee, said: "In this incident, Umar showed blatant disregard to both the umpires' requests, which was offensive and unacceptable from an international cricketer and contrary to our unique spirit, hence a level two charge was laid."

"Respect for the umpires is integral and is something which we always emphasise and encourage," Crowe said. "Umar, when pleading guilty, apologised and regretted his action."

The incident happened in the 17th over of Pakistan's chase when Akmal was at the non-striker's end. Akmal remained unbeaten on 29 as Pakistan fell short by 16 runs.

Read More

Srilanka beat Pakistan in 1st semi Final by 16 runs.

On a crumbling, turning, brute of a pitch by Twenty20 standards, Mahela Jayawardene responded with a T20-size classic. His 42 off 36, as delightful as it was delicate, proved to be the difference between the two sides in a tight semi-final. It was a bitterly disappointing night for his opposite number: Mohammad Hafeez outmanoeuvred a rampant Kumar Sangakkara in a crucial moment in the first innings, he came back from a horribly slow start to his own innings, but fell on 42 with some way to go for Pakistan.

It was Sangakkara who returned the favour with a superb stumping off a grubber to send Hafeez back with 48 to defend in 35 balls. Hafeez, who had just opened up with an extra-cover drive, a reverse-swept four and a punch through covers, was this close to making this his own night, but it was to be Sri Lanka's, who won their first Twenty20 international at R Premadasa Stadium, in the process successfully adjusting to a third venue in this tournament, the most for any team.

The powdery surface began to explode upon impact by the third over of the first innings. This was no place for average batsmen who stand there and swing from the hip. This would need a quality batsman. On turning tracks, they don't come better than Jayawardene. With the ball turning square at times, he stayed low, swept and reverse-swept often to play with the spinners' rhythm. Tillakaratne Dilshan, his opening partner, seemed to be batting on a different pitch.

Read More