ISLAMABAD: British High Commission Islamabad is not issuing visa to Pakistan’s World Champion Pakistan Blind Cricket team, scheduled to start tour England from 9th to 18th August 2009 for a cricket series of 3 One-day Internationals and 1 T/20, the Blind association has said. Blind Cricket England & Wales (BCEW), has invited the World Champion Pakistan.

Pakistan Blind Cricket team applied for the U.K visas through Gerry’s Visa Application Center Islamabad on 8th July 2009. “We requested British High Commission Islamabad and British Embassy Abu Dhabi several times to issue visas to Pakistan Blind Cricket Team, PBCC also provided them the Funds approval from Pakistan Cricket Board and N.O.C from the Government of Pakistan for the said tour but visas are still held in abeyance,” the association said.

As per the original schedule the Pakistan Blind Cricket team has to depart on Sunday but still the players are waiting for the visas.“If British High Commission may not issue visas until Monday then the tour will be called off,” a statement said.

The cancellation of the tour on one hand will cause huge financial loss to both PBCC and Blind Cricket England & Wales and on the other hand will create disappointment in the Blind Cricket players. We “are forced to think that, we, the visually challenged are the underprivileged part of the society whose fundamental rights of even playing cricket are being denied”. PBCC requested the Government of Pakistan to play their part and help us in getting our due right. NNI

Many people watching the fifth and final One-day International between Pakistan and Australia at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on May 3 were reminded of Sharjah that had become famous for producing the most unexpected of results.

Australia, with the series in their bag, posted the highest score of five games but failed to defend it successfully. The Aussies had appeared on the verge of a 4-1 victory when Pakistan crashed to 56 for three before the record partnership between Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq turned the tide decisively.

Some of the events of the game were as strange as they used to be in Sharjah where the strongest of teams used to be blown away on a given day. The most amazing part was the reluctance of the Australian batsmen to go after the bowling in the death overs. How often would you see a team add only 64 runs to its total in the last 10 overs of the innings in a limited overs game and that too without having lost a single wicket during the period?

The platform was set for a final onslaught. Having reached a total of 186 for four at the end of 40 overs Australia were ideally placed to extract something around 80 to 90 from the final 10 overs that would have taken their total in the vicinity of 275.

Shane Watson and Callum Ferguson had the credentials to tear apart the bowling on a pitch that was as flat as one would have imagined. But what they did in the final phase of the innings amounted to making a mockery of the game.

Their dead-batting in the 48th and 49th overs must have caught everyone by surprise. They were only helped by some wayward bowling and pathetic fielding that earned 10 runs in the final over to raise the total to 250.

Watson and Ferguson didn’t make serious efforts to hit boundaries. That’s what one would have expected from the two well-set batsmen in the closing stages of the innings. They were keen only in rotating the strike when even the tail-enders attempt to hit out to the best of their abilities. They made a mess of the batting powerplay overs as well. By limiting themselves to 250, Australia kept the game open. By the look of things they didn’t desire the match to become one-sided that could have been the case had they got to somewhere around 275.

That Pakistan would make heavy weather of target of 251 is another matter. The early wickets pegged them back and there was a feeling that the Aussies will seal the fate of the match.

Enter Kamran Akmal and the complexion of the game changed. The wicketkeeper-batsman needed just 115 balls to register his fifth ODI century and Pakistan, against all odds, were successful in chasing down the big target. Misbah-ul-Haq kept his company till the end and their unbroken stand of 198 was a new record for the fourth wicket against Australia.

The acting Australian captain Michael Clarke led by example and his brilliant unbeaten century powered his team to an emphatic eight-wicket win in the fourth One-day International against Pakistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The victory in the fourth ODI also enabled the Aussies to clinch the series with a game to spare. They should be a relieved side now, after having been shaken in the first outing. They have taken their time to acclimatize and by the look of things they have done it much better than their opponents.

The Australians have lifted their game after the debacle in the opening fixture where a horrible batting collapse cost them the match. They were not all that convincing though in the following games but one could sense their key players taking the responsibilities.

Clarke, who has been entrusted with the task of leading the team in the absence of Ricky Ponting, has done a fantastic job. He couldn’t get going in the first game but he has applied himself and led by example.

It’s always very important for the captain to deliver. It’s more so when you are leading a young side. Clarke had to rise to the occasion to motivate his boys, the majority of whom lacked international experience.

Australia were in dire straits even while chasing a modest target of 198 when Shoaib Akhtar removed Brad Haddin and Marcus North very early to make them three for two. The skipper walked in to join Shane Watson with his team under pressure once more. While Watson struggled to get on top of the bowling it was Clarke who made a statement by going hard at the loose balls. Their unbroken 197-run partnership for the third wicket closed all escape routes for Pakistan.

Clarke completed his well deserved century with an imperious drive off Shoaib Akhtar who looked ordinary in his last few overs. It was the best knock of the Australian skipper in the series in which he has delivered consistently. He looked in complete control while playing the aggressive shots and even Watson grew in confidence in the company of his captain.

Watson, although finished unbeaten on 85 off 140 balls, needs to improve his technique against the slow bowlers if he has to retain his place in the side for a long time. He will have to find a way out to tackle the spinners.

Australia beat Pakistan by 27 Runs in the third ODI of the on going 5-matches cricket series being played between Pakistan and Australia in UAE. At once the match looked completely and comfortably in the hands of Pakistani cricket team after they restricted Australian’s to the modest total of 198. An outstanding opening start, thanks to the openers Salman Butt and Young Gun Ahmed Shahzad Pakistan looked in complete control after reaching 90/0, but then what happened was pretty much on cards. A middle order collapse saw Pakistan reaching 171 all out. Hopes died. Nation as usual didn’t get anything to cheer on. Salt on the wounds was the truth our captain acknowledged, “It is not the team that lost, Pakistan Lost.”

Yes Pakistan definitely has lost it all. Whether its sports or its real life, the nation seems to have lost it all. It all started back in 2003 when American army invaded the Afghanistan. Hundred of people have died ever since. The war just continues. After having ruled the Taliban out of their ruling capital, the American’s still find it hard to call it a day. Quitting Afghanistan just seem like a dream never came true. The allied armies still are fighting for the survival and success. And in the middle of it all, Pakistan is being hit by a series of critical and pre-planned attacks. First it started off with the allegations on ISI supporting Taliban in the Afghanistan. Than the allied armies went on to claim that the tribal leaders across the border here in Pakistan are not only supplying the man power but also helping the Taliban with arms and ammunition and funds, so they dragged the war inside the Pakistani tribal areas. Drone attacks, one after the other caused the local public to suffer and in reaction to it the anti American feelings and emotions reached their heights. Today after six years of war, the number of Pakistani casualties is far more than the number of allied forces casualties. A Pakistani soldier is attacking a Pakistani national as it is being propagandized. But is this really the truth? Are they Pakistani nationals? Every one of them! Definitely not. With such limited resources available to them, they just can’t be.

There are other hands behind the scene. The hidden players, whose eyes lit up when they saw the Taliban falling down so easily and surrendering the complete area to the allied forces so quickly. No wonder people back than even thought it’s far from over but this far; no body really expected. This war has really made us all sick now. The ever growing number of casualties, bomb blasts, threatening calls, armed men around the cities, local public’s normal routine life is disturbed. Things just don’t seem to be moving right. Hopes of a better future have dried up. Everyone is anticipating the worst and is some way or the other convinces that it will be the end of it all. Some believe another invasion by the Pakistani army is on the cards, while others have ideas of Islamabad falling to the Taliban and the nuclear assets of the nation going down to some semi trained Islamic extremists. But in both the ways the idea seems same, that everybody is convinced that the present government has failed to not only deliver but coup up with the present situation and thus today we are termed as a failed state.

Have they really?
I asked this question from myself. The answer was for sure anybody’s guess; But than, I asked myself another question, who is responsible for this all? Are they the culprits? Have they just dragged us to this point? Have they really contributed in any way at all, bringing this whole scenario to this peak?

Aren’t we being too harsh on them? They have indeed inherited all these problems from the past dictatorial rule, and by far they have tried there level best to get things going. Though they aren’t at the moment but we really have to be patient out here. It takes time to rebuild. It even takes a life time in building the trust too. Our President may not really be looked on to after his character was wall chalked in the judicial issue by the Muslim League (N), but He for sure is putting a lot of effort along with his team to get the nation going back on the track. I’m not a huge Pakistan People’s Party supporter or a die hard Bhutto Fan but at the moment the best thing I can think off is the policy of national consciences. It is time to re-join the split fractions of the nation. The present government really seems to be sticking to the policy of national unity but it really is not all about the government at all. We Pakistani people have divided ourselves into so many fractions that picking the piece up seem an uphill task really. Ignoring and disowning the territory and its problems is what we are guilty off. Our negligence and ignorance is causing damage to our own cause. We are losing it ourselves. The nation is in trauma. We just don’t feel no more. No regrets no sympathies and no feelings. Our life goes on, no matter if our neighbor is alive or dead. We just don’t care if he has had his meal or not. The reflection of our true selves today just showed out in our cricketing captain’s speech too. We have given up; as players, as a nation as humans, we just have given up. Why have we is still a question we all need to ask our own selves, but none of us seem bothered. Wake up guys. Change your attitudes before you are forced to do so.

Remember every new born child is signifying that the Creator has not given up on His subordinates on earth. If after all our dreadful deeds, He has not given up on us why have we given up and put our hands up. Have we lost our faith in our prayers too? Has He given up listening to the prayers?

Guys Think…. Think Guys Think Hard……

(No Hard Words No Harsh Feelings for No one at All.)

God Bless Pakistan.

Pakistan Zindaabad.

An Ordinary Pakistani Man!!!

Former Pakistan captain and the director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board Javed Miandad, has called for the 2011 World Cup to be moved out of Asia following the refusal by Australia to send their Davis Cup tennis team to India. He said

“It is obvious by the Australians’ decision that the security situation in India is also not stable, India should be treated similarly

He was of the point that the International Cricket Council (ICC) cannot justify stripping Pakistan of its right to stage the 2011 event while allowing subcontinent neighbours India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to co-host the tournament. After Tennis Australia announced at the weekend that they would not travel to Chennai because of security concerns, Miandad believes that India should be similarly treated.

Pakistan has been stood down from hosting the event because of security concerns following the armed terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore last month in which six players were injured and seven police officers killed.

“The ICC should reconsider the situation if we want to have our share of matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where we are already playing our home matches,” he added.

Pakistan host Australia in a one-day series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this month and Miandad has proposed that the 2011 World Cup should be held in Australia and New Zealand before bringing the subsequent event to South Asia in 2015.

The ICC last year postponed the Champions Trophy, the second most important 50-overs a side event, due to security concerns in Pakistan and then shifted it to South Africa, where it will be held later this year.
input from Agencies

Australia made heavy weather of chasing down the target of 208 in 50 overs and they survived a few anxious moments before finally been able to do it that leveled the ongoing five-match ODI series against Pakistan being played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

It was amazing to find the Aussies struggling against Shahid Afridi, who is being accorded more respect than he ever gets even in domestic matches. As somebody pointed out he becomes more lethal in international games because of the luck factor coming his way.

Afridi does need more luck than anybody else while batting as well because he only plays the way he knows, discarding the other factors that ordinary mortals had to take into the consideration.

Afridi, who bowled Pakistan to victory in the previous game, very nearly did it again. He got a couple of wickets besides creating doubts in the minds of the batsmen who were unable to dominate him.

The mindset of the Australians was hard to understand. They are supposed to be the most ruthless side in world cricket having the best infrastructure and coaching academes back home. That they are unable to cope with the spinners brought to light some deficiencies in their most talked about system.

Isn’t it shocking to note that the Australian batsmen have lacked the aggression that’s so vital to counter the spinners? They did make some adjustments in their stance in the second game that only reflected weaknesses in their technique. They should have done this homework much earlier.

More mind-boggling is the fact that the Australians have been playing continuous cricket throughout the season but they are not looking a settled side yet. They are the team having ruled the game for a number of years primarily due to their bench strength. The loss of key players has never been an issue for them because they have adequate backup talent.

Michael Clarke’s captaincy has been uninspiring so far that raises doubts about him being the future leader of the great Australian team. Not sure if their management has alternate plans up their sleeves yet.

Australia’s performance in the first couple of games has been far from impressive against a team that has not played much of international cricket in the past. The manner in which Clarke batted showed the lack of punch in their attitude. They had decimated the strongest of outfits with consummate ease but they are now struggling to display that kind of intensity that had made them the juggernauts.

Andrew Symonds, however, had reasons to smile because he came good when the needed him most. His couple of wickets near the end of the Pakistan innings saved his team from further embarrassment.

More importantly it was his batting display that came handy in helping Australia level the series 1-1 with three to go. He scored a half century that sealed the fate of the match because the Australians were in danger of losing the game again after allowing the spin duo of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal were allowed to get on top.

The contest was very much alive even after the big partnership for the second wicket between James Hopes and Shane Watson. With skipper Clarke unable to bat in his natural style, it was left to Symonds to deliver and he rose to the occasion. The match was in Australia’s bag when he was finally undone by Afridi.

Courtesy: SKM Sports

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket team 15-member squad on Monday departed for Abu Dhabi from Allama Iqbal International airport. The Pakistan team is scheduled to play five ODIs and one Twenty20 matches against world champions Australia at two venues Abu Dhabi and Dubai, according to sources.

The team was led by skipper Younus Khan while Pakistan’s A cricket team was also accompanied by national players as two teams are scheduled to play a practice match on March 15 in Abu Dhabi two days earlier the commencement of five match series. Talking to media before departure, Coach national team Intikhab Alam said, “Boys have had tough training sessions” and hoped cricket team to shine brilliantly against the world champs”.-SANA

The last SMS on my mobile as I left Delhi was from a friend who has been watching cricket — on the field, not in the drawing room — for more than four decades. His SMS was either a cry from the heart or a joke, or possibly a cry from the heart disguised as a joke. It will be safe, he wrote, to conduct the IPL tournament during the elections as almost all the criminals in India will be busy contesting the elections.

Without dissecting the pleasantry with the heavy scalpel of bombast, consider this: if there was a vote on whether the cricket should be postponed or the elections, which way would the electorate go? Why miss out on a contest of skill and transparency when all we get in return is a murky game where a tribe of varied characters spend dubious money in a process that may not even declare a clear victor? At least the 20-20 rules do not permit indecision.

To be fair, democratic politics always needed money as a part-time servant. Unfortunately, the dependency has been reversed. Money now needs politics at its beck and call.

The most powerful people in India used to be elected politicians and the institutionalised bureaucracy. They were not well paid. Salaries have improved of late but are nowhere near private sector scales. However, authority was a proud compensation. There was some vicarious pleasure in seeing the fattest of cats purr before a joint secretary and meow piteously before a minister. Ministers would not deign to give appointments too readily. But equations have changed. Money has become an independent power. Ministers now seek appointments from fatcats in the guise of socialising. The business-political nexus is now celebrated over pleasant evenings. Business expect and get decisions tweaked to suit their interests as a price of their contribution to the political kitty. If there is nothing called a free lunch there is nothing called a free general election either.

Uncertainty over results has fuelled inflationary pressures. The present government purchased an extra year of life by buying MPs during the nuclear debate. The current talk in Delhi is that the next government may need a hire purchase system from inception.

If neither the BJP nor the Congress has enough seats to provide a stable core to the next coalition, Delhi could well become, at least temporarily, the most exciting auction house in the world.

Dr Manmohan Singh is said to have despaired privately of the amount of leeway he had to give his ministers, both in his party and among his partners, to keep his government afloat. But he did nothing about it. I wish I was able to use, at this point, a hapless pun and note that there was no check on cheques. But politicians do not deal in cheques. All transactions are in cash.

A friend has suggested a solution. The only way to kill, or maul, this chequeless corruption is to demonetise all bank notes above 100 rupees. His point, and a valid one, is that if the American economy did not need a currency note above 100 dollars why should the Indian economy? All high value transactions would be by either credit card or bank transfers. High denomination notes had been introduced to facilitate the cash-driven black economy.

The argument demands attention. Sudden demonetisation would, for a start, bring down the circulation of black money since you would have to explain to the authorities how you came into possession of the cash you wanted to exchange for new legal tender. Additionally, bribes in crores would become more inconvenient. You would need trucks for transport and godowns as private safety vaults.

Why do I think there will be no takers for such logic?

Corruption has become a devilishly tangled knot. There is no option except Alexander’s system. You cannot untie its strands. You have to cut with a slash of the sword.

The odour of crime pervades over all systems, but the definition of crime changes. The whole of America is currently enraged at the unthinking greed of the executives of American International Group, the biggest culprit in the financial meltdown. It has decided to pay $165 million in bonuses to executives primarily responsible for the massive mismanagement. The company survives only because it has been gifted $100 billion of taxpayers’ money. The House of Representatives has approved legislation that would impose a 90 per cent surtax on the bonuses. The Senate could get more punitive. All America believes this to be a crime.

And so it is. But it is, to resort to an oxymoron, a legal crime. The bonuses were part of a contract and all payments will be by cheque which is why they can be taxed.

The greed in Delhi is within the safety zone of privacy. There is no tax on Indian corruption.

Our notes proudly flaunt the image of Mahatma Gandhi. Is this the highest form of insult to the Mahatma?

At least Vijay Mallya bought the Gandhi memorabilia with a cheque. There is, I know, an incendiary and possibly unacceptable SMS doing the rounds: Gandhi’s samadhi will now read ‘Hey Rum’, and he will be known as the Old Monk who walks with an air hostess on either side. But I suspect that the old saint in heaven must be blessing Mallya with a toothless grin. At least the money was white, not black.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Salim Altaf has said that returning of international cricket into Pakistan depend upon the political stability in the country. He said that foreign teams could tour Pakistan after giving security clearance. Adding that Pakistan became alone after Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore.

Salim said that Pakistan would to transfer the upcoming home serious at neutral venue against New Zealand due to security concern. He aid that they were mentally prepared to play at neutral venue as it was the only option in the current situation, adding that the situation was crystal clear before that world; therefore, nothing could happen till the situation remained unchanged.-SANA

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka-born, businessman, Harry Solomons’s pleaded for Australia’s cricket community to “do everything possible to help Pakistan”. He founded a charity that raised two million dollars for Sri Lanka after the attack on Sri Lankan team.

“But after what has happened now, I think it is vital for the Australian cricket community not to abandon Pakistan. Pakistan is a great cricketing nation and if we abandon them now, cricket there will die. We mustn’t allow that to happen,” he said.-SANA