Ahmed Shehzad charged with ball tampering

Ahmed Shehzad might just pay the price for someone else's crimes. Photo: AFPPakistan cricket team’s opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad has found himself in hot waters once again, this time as a consequence of someone else’s actions as he has been charged with ball tampering in Quaid e Azam Trophy under non-identification process.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a statement on Thursday stated that Central Punjab captain Ahmed Shehzad has been charged for altering the condition of the ball as per the non-identification process, however the decision will be announced tomorrow.According to sources, the incident took place during the first innings of Sindh against Central Punjab at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad on the second day of play between the two sides.Read more:  Qalandars’ Sohail Akhtar aims to lift T10 cup for PakistanField umpires Zameer Haider and Mohammad Asif noticed that the condition of the ball was changed during the initial overs of Sindh’s first innings but it weren't able to identify how exactly the ball's condition was tampered.The ball was immediately changed and both the teams were informed about the decision.According to the rules, Shehzad, who is leading the Central Punjab side, is charged with level one offence, under the clause 2.14 of PCB’s code of conduct.Match referee Nadeem Arshad has summoned Shehzad for hearing and the decision, as confirmed by the PCB, is set to be announced on Friday afternoon.The opening batsman is likely to receive a fine of 50% of his match fees.

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Qalandars’ Sohail Akhtar aims to lift T10 cup for Pakistan

Sohail Akhtar celebrates his 100 against Yorkshire in Abu Dhabi. Photo: The National Lahore Qalandars T10 team’s captain Sohail Akhtar has aimed for one more title for the team under his leadership in the upcoming edition of T10 Cricket League in Abu Dhabi.Akhtar had earlier led the Qalandar’s development squad to win the Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy in October 2018, beating England’s Yorkshire Vikings, Australia’s Hobart Hurricanes and South Africa’s Titans.He’s now hopeful of continuing the winning streak in the T10 league which starts on November 14th in Abu Dhabi."I remember that win and that gives me confidence to lead the side in same manner. InshaAllah I will give my best to lead my team in best way and lift another title for Qalandars and for Pakistan," he said."Qalandars will be representing Pakistan in T10 League and I hope everyone from Pakistan would support us."Read more:   Kamran Akmal becomes first Asian to complete 900 dismissalsAkhtar will have stalwarts like Shahid Afridi and Luke Ronchi with him in the team and the 33 year old flamboyant cricketer is looking forward to learn from them.“It is a big opportunity for me, and I am confident about leading the side having top names. Shahid Afridi has always been very supportive towards youngsters and I am looking forward to learn from him,” he said.Akhtar also lauded the Lahore Qalandars’ efforts of supporting cricket and giving new life to players who were otherwise lost.The batsman admitted to giving up all hopes of playing cricket before giving one final attempt for the team’s player development program trials."I had given up playing, but Qalandars brought me back to the limelight and gave me a new life, it has changed my life, no doubt about that," he said."No one knew me before I played for Qalandars, but now I get the respect everywhere. It is all because of Lahore Qalandars and its management."

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Barty and Bencic advance to WTA semis in Shenzhen

World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty stormed into the semi-finals with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win in one hour and 28 minutes in Shenzhen. Photo: AFPWorld number one Ashleigh Barty and Belinda Bencic both advanced to the semi-finals after contrasting victories at the WTA Finals in China on Thursday.Barty progressed from the round-robin stage with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova in one hour and 28 minutes at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre. Bencic prevailed 7-5, 1-0 in 61 minutes after late replacement Kiki Bertens retired ill.Bertens received medical attention after the opening game of the second set, where her blood pressure and pulse were checked, before becoming the second player in the tournament to retire mid-match after Bianca Andreescu withdrew against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday. Andreescuwas forced to retire due to a knee injury. "I didn't feel well on court," Bertens told reporters. "I had some problems with my stomach. The energy was not there. (I felt) a little bit dizzy."The Dutchwoman had started well with her meaty groundstrokes overpowering Bencic but she was unable to close out the set on serve in the 10th game.Bencic made her pay and broke again in the 12th game to snatch the first set and shortly after registered her first victory over Bertens in an abbreviated fourth matchup between the pair.World number eight Bencic will play defending champion Elina Svitolina in the semi-final on Saturday."I´m so relaxed already. I will just play and fight like always," she said. "She´s (Svitolina) one of the players that this court suits a lot more."Read more:  Svitolina storms into semis of WTA finalsBarty, who had already sealed the year-end No.1 ranking, rebounded after a three-set loss to Bertens on Tuesday. She will play the winner of tomorrow´s Purple Group match between Wimbledon champion Simona Halep and world number two Pliskova"I´m particularly happy with the way I was able to return tonight," Barty said. "I think she was trying to take a little bit more of a risk. That kind of worked in my favour a bit."Kvitova had a scare in the third game of the first set but saved two break points to hold her serve, which was being targeted by an aggressive Barty.But the Australian´s consistency wore down an error-strewn Kvitova and she grabbed a decisive break in the fifth game.Barty had break points against her serve in the sixth and eighth games but withstood Kvitova´s attempts to get back into the first set.Kvitova, the oldest player in the draw, changed tactics early in the second set and attacked the net but the French Open champion had the answers to reach the semi-finals on her WTA Finals debut.For Kvitova, the 2011 WTA Finals champion, the loss marks a second straight winless campaign in her seventh appearance at the lucrative year-ender."I just couldn´t find rhythm," she said. "When it came to the deciding points, she always played better than me."

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Australian Lynn showers praise for 'stronger' Pakistan team

'I think they've (Pakistan) brought a stronger side out than the Sri Lankans,' says Lynn. Photo: Cricket Australia Twitter Australia batsman Chris Lynn hailed the Pakistan team for their "clinical performance" after the tourists on Thursday thoroughly outplayed his side in their warm-up tour match in Sydney, according to Newcastle Herald.Lynn, after copping a six-wicket defeat, was all praise for Pakistan, calling them much “stronger” than the Sri Lankans who are currently being smoked by their senior side in their ongoing T20I series."I think they've (Pakistan) brought a stronger side out than the Sri Lankans," Lynn said."They've got guys who can bowl 150km/h and batters who are world class. Stats prove that. They put on a clinical performance today. That's why they're one of the top T20 teams in the world."They've got a left arm spinner in Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan is a genius with the ball as well. Our batters will have a tougher challenge than against Sri Lanka.”Lynn, however, also said that Australia are determined to take over the top-ranked Pakistan in the ICC T20I rankings. "The Aussies are striving for No.1 in the world and they won't stop until they get that."The hard-hitting Lynn wasn’t done showering the predominantly left-arm Pakistani pace attack.“Mohammad Irfan is a gentle giant, but he is a bit awkward when he runs in," he said about the tallest professional cricketer in the history of the game."He's got that X-factor about him, he's stood down from the other formats of the game to concentrate on the shorter format. We've seen for a number of years now how classy he is.”Lynn clarified that the Pakistan southpaws do not hold the same bowling action and can outwit the batsman."Wahab Riaz takes them across, Amir swings them back in and Irfan swung a few today. They're not all predictable with all them being left arm," he said.

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Sri Lankan legend Sangakkara to lead MCC against Essex

Sangakkara said the game would be of huge benefit to the sport in Sri Lanka. Photo: AFPSri Lankan cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara, the first overseas president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, will captain the MCC against English county champions Essex in Sri Lanka next March, it was announced on Thursday.The 42-year-old batting great — whose 15 year international career encompassed 134 Test appearances and over 400 one day internationals — will lead out his side in the English domestic season´s traditional curtain-raiser at the Galle International Stadium from March 24-27.The clash between the MCC and the champions dates back to 1970 and has been played abroad since 2011 — the last edition in Dubai suffered from that most English of interruptions... rain.Read  more:   PCB sends Test series schedule to SLC: reportSri Lanka has been selected for several reasons: the MCC´s World Cricket committee will meet there in March, and the match is timed to coincide with England´s World Test Championship matches in the country.Sangakkara, who became MCC President on October 1r, said the game would be of huge benefit to the sport in Sri Lanka."It is hugely important to support cricket in countries such as Sri Lanka and taking the Champion County match to Galle is a fantastic way for the Club to provide its backing for the game on a global level," he said in a statement."I am looking forward to playing for and indeed captaining the MCC team, which will be full of exciting young talent ready to challenge the county champions."Shammi Silva, president of Sri Lanka Cricket, said it was an honour and privilege to have been chosen as the hosts."We are happy to be the host of this historic encounter, which marks the curtain-raiser to the new English domestic season," he said."

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Barcelona´s players offered to change contracts to sign Neymar - Pique

Gerard Pique said he would have accepted less money this season to allow Barcelona to re-sign Neymar but the Brazilian stayed at Paris Saint-Germain. Photo: AFPGerard Pique has said Barcelona´s players offered to alter their own contracts to help the club buy Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain last summer.Barca attempted to re-sign Neymar, sold to PSG for a world record 222 million euros ($249 million) in 2017, but the two teams were unable to agree to a deal.Key players, including Lionel Messi, were eager for the Brazilian to return and Pique says they tried to help the club´s president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, complete the transfer while satisfying UEFA´s Financial Fair Play rules."What we proposed to the president was that we could tweak our contracts because we knew there was an issue with Fair Play," Pique told Cadena Ser on Wednesday night.Read more:   Kante closing in on full fitness after a month out: Lampard "Instead of getting paid what we were owed for that year, we could transfer it to the second, third of fourth year so Ney could come."Ultimately we wanted to support the club and if we could help in some way, we had no problem with that."Neymar earns 38 million euros a year at PSG and the financial implications of signing the 27-year-old would be huge."We told him, ´you live in a golden prison´," Pique added. "But in football anything can happen and the door is open."Pique also said the postponement of last Saturday´s Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid was unnecessary.The fixture has been rescheduled for December 18 after violent protests broke out last week in Catalonia, following the imprisonment of nine pro-independence leaders."My opinion is the postponement was unnecessary," said Pique. "Common sense says that in Spanish stadiums there has not been any violence. We are civilised people.Read more:  Messi fit and firing in Barca demolition of Valladolid"That same weekend the Espanyol-Villarreal game was played and nothing happened. And why isn´t something going to happen on December 18 if it was going to happen before? The situation will be similar."It was magnifying a problem that wasn´t a problem in the first place."Pique is also the founder of Kosmos, the investment group leading the revamp of tennis´ Davis Cup, which begins in its new format in Madrid on November 18.The 32-year-old said the plan is for the new one-week competition with 18 teams to expand to two weeks and 24 teams, although Roger Federer has expressed scepticism about the changes.Asked if he would mind Roger Federer changing football, Pique said: "Not at all."Pique added: "We sent him a letter and were surprised by his statements. They see the Davis Cup as competing with the tournament he has."

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Kamran Akmal becomes first Asian to complete 900 dismissals

Akmal emphasized that he has been performing well for last four seasons and hoped that selectors would give him a chance. Photo: File Pakistan’s out-of-favor wicket keeper Kamran Akmal added a feather in his cap and became the first Asian wicket-keeper to complete 900 dismissals in first-class cricket. Akmal achieved this feat during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match against Sindh where he collectively grabbed 8 behind the wickets for his team Central Punjab at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.This sees the wicket-keeper rank at 33rd which is led by England's Bob Taylor with a whopping total of 1647.The 900 dismissals for Akmal includes 836 catches and 64 stumpings. He has also grabbed six catches as normal fielder.The 37-year-old who was last seen in action in 2017, expressed that he wished to play for the national team and now aims to bag the green cap once more.Read more:   Pakistan utterly dominant in win over fairly beatable Cricket Australia XI“If you see my stats, they’re evidence of my performance. Those who question my wicket keeping can get an answer from my recent records,” Akmal told Geo.“I feel that I am still fit and performing well enough as a wicket keeper batsman to have a place in the team."Added to this, he suggested the inclusion of two wicket keepers in the national squad in the same fashion as England and Australia.“If there can be two wicket keepers in England’s or Australia’s team then why not ours, I think I can play my part as a batsman for the team."Akmal emphasized that he has been performing well for last four seasons and hoped that selectors would give him a chance on basis of his performance. The wicket keeper batsman scored around 2200 runs in last four seasons, including the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, at a commendable average of over 56.“My job is to play and perform wherever and whenever I get the chance. It is the selectors who will analyze my performance and see accordingly,” he concluded.

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