Moin Khan Appointed Chief Selector

Pakistan's cricket bosses on Monday appointed former captain Moin Khan as chief selector, a post he said he took on as a challenge.
The 41-year-old takes over from Iqbal Qasim, who stepped aside earlier this month in a move seen as a reaction to the team's miserable performance in the Champions Trophy in England.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Khan held discussion with interim chairman Najam Sethi and accepted the role.
"Former captain and wicket-keeper Khan will take over as chief selector while the rest of the members of the committee will remain the same," a PCB release said.
Former left-arm paceman Salim Jaffer, Test batsman Azhar Khan, Farrukh Zaman and Asif Baloch are the other selectors.
Moin Khan said he accepted the role as a challenge.
"It is an honour and a privilege to be offered the position of chairman of national selection committee -- a position held by many greats in the past and most recently by legendary spinner Qasim," he was quoted as saying in the release.
Khan played 69 Tests and 219 one-day internationals for Pakistan in 1990s and was also a member of World Cup winning team in 1992.
Last week the Islamabad high court ordered Sethi to hold elections for the PCB chairman within 90 days.

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Pakistan Squad for Champions Trophy

The national selection committee on Monday, as expected, axed experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi and batsman Umar Akmal for the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June.
Chief selector Iqbal Qasim announced the 15-member squad in Lahore after lengthy deliberations although the selectors had finalised the squad last week and submitted it to the PCB chairman for approval.
At the end of the day, it transpired that the selectors made two changes to their submitted squad replacing the injured middle order batsman Haris Sohail with Umar Amin and preferring to pick left arm pacer Wahab Riaz to Aizaz Cheema.
The rest of the squad remained the same and Qasim said that Afridi was dropped because of his recent poor bowling form.
The same set of players with the addition of a few more are expected to get the central contracts for 2013.
The PCB also announced that Australian Trent Woodhill would be the batting coach of the team for the Champions Trophy and would join them in England.
Pakistan first play a one-day series in Scotland and Ireland in May before going to England for the Champions Trophy.

This will be their first visit to England since the 2010 spot fixing scandal.

Pakistan squad:

• Misbah-ul-Haq (captain)
• Abdur Rehman
• Asad Ali
• Asad Shafiq
• Ehsan Adil
• Imran Farhat
• Junaid Khan
• Kamran Akmal (wk)
• Mohammad Hafeez
• Mohammad Irfan
• Nasir Jamshed
• Saeed Ajmal
• Shoaib Malik
• Umar Amin
• Wahab Riaz

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Younis Drop From Champions Trophy

Pakistan on Sunday omitted out-of-form Younis Khan from a 30-man initial squad for the eight-nation Champions Trophy after the middle order batsman flopped in recent one-day matches.
The 35-year-old Younis managed just 116 runs in the series against South Africa earlier this month which Pakistan lost 3-2 and has not managed to score a century since November 2008.
Pakistan is in group B of the event to be held in England from June 6-23. The other teams in their group are arch-rivals India, the West Indies and South Africa.
Defending champions Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England form group A.
All teams had April 6 as the cut off date to announce their initial squad to be trimmed to 15 in May.

Pakistan probables squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Ahmed Shehzad, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umer Amin, Sohail Tanvir, Hammad Azam, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan.

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South Africa Win

Shahid Afridi's brilliant 88 off 48 balls went in vain as Pakistan fell short of South Africa's mammoth total of 343 by 34 runs in the third one-day international at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. 
A high-scoring encounter with South Africa winning it and taking a 2-1 lead. Pakistan's batsmen got starts but weren't able to push on. Afridi threatened to take the game away from South Africa but by the time he began imposing his presence. 
Pakistan, who were bowled out for 309 to slip 2-1 down in the series, had been in deep trouble when Afridi walked in at 132 for five but he gave his side hope as he thrashed 88 off 48 balls with seven sixes and five fours.
Afridi's innings included some of the biggest sixes seen at the Wanderers.
One, after he had been bowled off a no-ball, was a mighty hit onto the roof of the four-tier Centenary stand which was last seen bouncing towards an adjacent golf course.
Afridi was yorked by Ryan McLaren when he had 73 but a check requested by umpire Billy Bowden showed the bowler had over-stepped.
McLaren then bowled a wide, which meant Afridi still had a free hit to which he committed all his power.
There was one more six before he hit a full toss from Lonwabo Tsotsobe to McLaren at long-off.
There was still a possibility of a reprieve as the umpires checked whether the full toss was above waist height, which would have meant another no-ball, before confirming the dismissal. 
Earlier, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers shared a world record third wicket partnership as South Africa recovered from a slow start to post an imposing total.
Amla hit 122 with De Villiers eclipsing him on 128 as they managed 238 as a pairing before the hosts finished on 343 for five after being sent in.
South Africa struggled early on, with left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Irfan taking two early wickets as Pakistan's fast bowlers exploited some early life in the pitch.
The first two overs, by Junaid Khan and Irfan, were maidens before Irfan bowled Graeme Smith with the total on four.
Amla and Colin Ingram put on 38 for the second wicket but the stand took 65 balls before Irfan produced a vicious lifter which Ingram could only fend to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.
However, the momentum swung when De Villiers joined Amla at the crease.
Their record stand beat by one run the previous one-day international third wicket mark set by Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar for India against Kenya in 1999.
That ensured Pakistan would have a challenging run chase on a ground renowned for high scoring.
De Villiers was quickly into his stride and the pair posted a fifty partnership off just 38 balls.
The rate slowed slightly when Pakistan brought their spin bowlers into action and after 35 overs South Africa were on 115 but that was when the torrent began as the last 15 overs yielded 156 runs.
Amla reached his 11th one-day international century off 99 balls, while De Villiers earned his 14th century in the format off 87 deliveries.
Amla was caught at cover for 122 off 113 balls with nine fours and a six and De Villiers was held at deep midwicket for 128 off 108 deliveries, with 12 fours and three sixes.
Pakistan were briefly reduced to ten men after Irfan, who had been a doubtful starter because of a hamstring strain, left the field for treatment.
He was replaced by Umar Akmal but after 20 minutes the umpires informed Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq that the maximum 20 minutes allowed for treatment had expired. Pakistan had a fielder short for two overs before Irfan returned.

Brief scores
South Africa 343 for 5 (Amla 122, de Villiers 128)
Pakistan 309 (Afridi 88, Hafeez 57, McLaren 3-56, Tsotsobe 3-74)
Result South Africa won by 34 runs
MOM :Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers (South Africa)

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Pakistan Name Squad For South Africa Test

Pakistan on Friday included lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan in a 16-man squad for next month's three Tests against world number one side South Africa, but there was no place for the three Akmal brothers.

The 30-year-old Irfan, who is said to be seven foot one inch tall, impressed with his steepling bounce during Pakistan's recent tour to India where he featured in all three one-day matches and two Twenty20 internationals. But he has yet to play a Test.
The Test squad, led by Misbah-ul Haq, will open with a four-day side match at East London from January 25 before the first Test in Johannesburg from February 1.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said separate squads for two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day matches, which follow the Tests, will be announced later.
Surprisingly, none of the three Akmal brothers - Kamran, Umar and Adnan - are part of the Test squad and no selector was available to say why.
Nineteen-year-old paceman Ehsan Adil was also selected for the first time after impressing during the Junior World Cup in Australia last year. Adil has taken 56 wickets in ten first-class matches this season.
The pace squad will be led by the experienced Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Irfan.
Uncapped left-hander Haris Sohail and Faisal Iqbal also retained their places in the squad after failing to play any match on the Sri Lanka tour while left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed, who has yet to play a Test, also made the cut.

Pakistan Test squad:

• Misbah-ul-Haq (capt)
• Mohammad Hafeez
• Nasir Jamshed
• Azhar Ali
• Asad Shafiq
• Younis Khan
• Taufeeq Umar
• Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)
• Junaid Khan
• Mohammad Irfan
• Ehsan Adil
• Saeed Ajmal
• Adbur Rehman
• Haris Sohail
• Faisal Iqbal
• Umar Gul

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India-Pakistan Champions Trophy

The first lot of tickets for the Champions Trophy India vs 

Pakistan clash at Edgbaston, England, June 15 next year 

was sold out in just three hours after windows opened.

The tickets went on sale Monday, and the 15-match 

tournament's first match was a complete sell-out eight 

months in advance, said an International Cricket Council 

(ICC) press release.

The 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy will be the last, 

the previous having been held in 2009 in South Africa.

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Sri Lanka Enter World Twenty20 Final

Discipline Sri Lankan bowlers powered the hosts to the final of the 2012 World Twenty20 as they beat 2009 champions Pakistan by 16 runs in a low-scoring thriller at Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Thursday.

Sri Lanka will meet the winner of second semifinal between Australia and West Indies in the summit clash on Sunday.

Rangana Herath derailed Pakistan's chase as he dismissed danger man Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi in quick succession to reduce Pakistan to 91 for 6.

Earlier, Ajantha Mendis gave Sri Lanka first breakthrough as he bowled out Imran Nazir (20) after a steady start by Pakistan in their chase of 140.

Angelo Mathews then trapped Nasir Jamshed leg before wickets and got Kamran Akmal caught behind the stumps to hurt Pakistan's chase.

Herath then joined the party by getting rid of Shoaib Malik.

Herath stretched the show further in the 15th over by quick wickets of Hafeez and Afridi.

Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka to a modest 139/4 in their semifinal clash at the R Premadasa stadium on Thursday.

Some 35,000 fans at the Premadasa stadium watched Sri Lanka struggle to force the pace after Mahela Jayawardene elected to take first strike on a sluggish pitch that hampered stroke-making.

Sri Lanka plodded to 123-4 in 19 overs when Thisara Perera smashed three boundaries in the final over bowled by seamer Umar Gul which realised 16 runs.

Openers Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 63 in 10 overs, a slow start by Twenty20 standards but crucial nevertheless for Sri Lanka still had all their wickets in hand.

Jayawardene liberally employed the reverse sweep during his knock of 42 off 36 balls, but was caught at fine-leg while attempting the same shot off leg-spinner Shahid Afridi.

Kumar Sangakkara made a promising 18 from 11 balls when he was snapped up on the long-on fence as he tried to hit Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez out of the ground.

Gul was unlucky to see the TV umpire declare a no-ball after he had Jeevan Mendis given out leg-before in the 18th over.

But Gul removed Dilshan two balls later with another leg-before decision that made Sri Lanka 117-3.

Dilshan was unusually subdued during his innings, taking 43 balls to score 35 with the help of three boundaries.

Brief scores

Sri Lanka 139 for 4 (Jayawardene 42, Dilshan 35)

Pakistan 123 for 7 (Hafeez 42, Umar Akmal 29*, Herath 3-25)

Result Sri Lanka won by 16 runs

MOM Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)

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Gul Star in Thriller Win

Umar Gul turned an unlikely hero with the bat as Pakistan survived a middle-order collapse to beat South Africa by two wickets in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20 on Friday.
Pakistan, chasing South Africa's modest 133-6, crashed to 76-7 in the 15th over before Gul and Umar Akmal combined to share a match-winning partnership of 49 in 27 balls.
Gul smashed two fours and three sixes in his 32 off 17 balls before he was dismissed off the last ball of the 19th over by fast bowler Dale Steyn with nine more needed.
But Akmal, who remained unbeaten on 43, and Saeed Ajmal steered Pakistan home with two balls to spare, Ajmal edging the winning boundary off Morne Morkel.
Pakistan's openers raced to 24 in 2.5 overs before the innings fell apart after Imran Nazir (14) was caught behind off Steyn.
Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who came to bowl the fourth over, removed skipper Mohammad Hafeez with his second delivery and Nasir Jamshed with the six to make Pakistan 31-3.
Off-spinner Johan Botha also struck in his first over by bowling Kamran Akmal for one, Jacques Kallis dismissed Shoaib Malik (12) and JP Duminy had danger man Shahid Afridi caught in the deep first ball.
But Gul and Umar Akmal launched a blistering attack on the Proteas to earn Pakistan full points in the opening match of group two.
India and Australia, the other two teams in the group, play in the second match of the double-header at the Premadasa stadium later on Friday night.
Earlier, Pakistan's spinners revelled on a slow wicket to restrict mighty South Africa to 133-6.
Hafeez claimed 2-23 and 20-year-old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan conceded just 12 runs in three overs after South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.
Seamers Yasir Arafat and Gul shared three wickets as the batsmen tried to hit out against them after failing to play the slow bowlers.
South Africa, the top-ranked side in the Twenty20 format, were reduced to 28-3 in 6.1 overs before recovering through skipper AB de Villiers and JP Duminy.
Left-handed Duminy top-scored with 48 off 38 balls, while de Villiers made 25, but no other batsman reached 20.

Brief scores
South Africa 133 for 6 (Duminy 48, Hafeez 2-23)
Pakistan 136 for 8 (Umar Akmal 43*, Gul 32)
Result Pakistan won by two wickets
Points Pakistan 2, South Africa 0
MOM Umar Gul (Pakistan)

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Pakistan Thrash New Zealand

New Zealand's late fightback went in vain as Pakistan beat the Kiwis by 13 runs in a thrilling encounter in their World T20 match in Pallekele on Sunday.
The Kiwis were left stranded requiring a high run rate when they lost Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum in quick succession before Saeed Ajmal struck for the second time to dismiss Jacob Oram.
McCullum was left completely bemused when Umar Gul's swinging delivery trickled back slowly to knock off the leg stump bail.
After a steady start to the innings, the Kiwis lost both their openers when Kane Williamson (15) was run out immediately after Shahid Afridi struck to dismiss Rob Nicol (33).
Afridi gave Pakistan an important breakthrough in his first over as he dismissed Kiwi opener Nicol for 33 runs, which included three 4s and a single six.
A beautiful Afridi swinger, which depicts his natural style of bowling, was instrumental in knocking Nicol's off stump out of the ground.
Williamson on the other hand failed to capitalize on his impressive start as a splendid effort in the field led to him falling short of reaching the crease.
Chasing a target of 178, openers Nicol and Kane Williamson gave the New Zealand innings a steady start by putting up a speedy 50-run partnership in just 38 balls.
Earlier, after being spearheaded by Nasir Jamshed (56), Pakistan set up a formidable target of 178 for New Zealand.
Daniel Vettori scalped the dangerous Jamshed after he scored a quick 27-ball fifty that included two 4s and four 6s to lead the Pakistan attack.
Jamshed put up a blistering partnership with Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez (43) before Hafeez lost his wicket to James Franklin.
A perfect delivery by Franklin was able to find the off stump of Hafeez, who was earlier dropped by Kiwi skipper Ross Taylor on the third ball of the innings.
Jamshed while trying to make room on the offside hit a slower Vettori delivery towards the boundary where Nathan McCullum made no mistake in catching a simple catch.
Earlier, Jacob Oram was able to get the better of Kamran Akmal when the Pakistan wicketkeeper was caught comfortably on the cover boundary by Rob Nicol.
The Pakistan duo of Jamshed and Hafeez added quickfire 50 runs for the second wicket after losing opener Imran Nazir, which helped Pakistan scored 100 runs in just 10.5 overs.
The first Pakistan wicket fell when seamer Tim Southee gave New Zealand crucial breakthrough as he got rid of dangerous Pakistani opener Nazir.
Nazir and skipper Hafeez gave Pakistan terrific start as the duo added 47 runs for the opening wicket. Pakistan just lost only one wicket while added 51 runs during the first six overs of powerplay.
Nazir was hitting well before being caught and bowled by paceman Southee, who held up a fine catch on his follow through. Nazir scored a quickfire 16-ball 25 with the help of five boundaries.

Brief scores
Pakistan 177 for 6 (Jamshed 56, Hafeez 43)
New Zealand 164 for 9 (Nicol 33, B McCullum 32, Ajmal 4-30)
Result Pakistan won by 13 runs
Points Pakistan 2, New Zealand 0
MOM Nasir Jamshed (Pakistan)

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