Gold Cup Cricket Tournament in Peshawar

The ICMS Club won the Gold Cup Cricket Tournament here on Tuesday.

Prize distribution ceremony was held at the Governor House where Governor NWFP Owais Ahmed Ghani gave away the prizes.

Test fast-medium bowler Umar Gul was also present on the occasion.

The Governor praising the performance of Umar Gul declared him a precious asset of Pakistan cricket and said that the people of the province are proud of him.

Technical Committee allows Pakistan to replace Gul with Rauf

The Technical Committee of the Ninth Asia Cup 2008 has permitted Pakistan to replace injured fast bowler, Umar Gul with Abdur Rauf.

The three member committee comprising Zakir Khan (Chairman), Mr. K. K Haridas (Member) and Iqbal Sikander (Member) considered the request from the pakistan team management for the replacement and allowed it.

Abdur Rauf will join the Pakistan Team for the rest of the tournament.

Gul was ruled out of the tournament with a rib cage injury during the match against India on Thursday.

Injured Umar Gul out of remainder of the Asia Cup

Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul has been ruled out for the remainder of the Asia Cup because of a rib cartilage injury. He has been advised two weeks rest.

"Gul has been advised complete rest for at least two weeks and this is a big setback for us as he is one of our main bowler's,"

Salahuddin Ahmed, a Pakistan selector, told PTI.

Gul sustained the injury during Pakistan's group match against India on Thursday. He pulled up in his first over and, despite receiving some treatment, had to leave the field after bowling only 1.2 overs. His departure left Pakistan's bowling attack severely depleted and India chased down their target of 300 with 47 balls to spare.

"I don't know exactly what it is but I felt pain after just a few balls and it became unbearable,"

Gul said. Abdur Rauf, the fast bowler who made his debut against Zimbabwe in February, is likely to be named as a replacement. Sohail Khan, who was part of Pakistan's squad for the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh, hasn't recovered from a malaria attack.

Pakistan qualified second from their group after their loss to India and their first match of the second round is against Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Players announced for the camp against Zimbabwe

Shoaib Akhter and Umar Gul dropped for Zimbabwe ODIs

Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul have been left out of Pakistan's 21-man shortlist for the ODI series against Zimbabwe which starts later this month. Shahid Afridi wasn't named either, but might yet make it to the squad if he does well for Patron's XI - which he will lead - against the Zimbabweans in a four-day game starting on Monday.

Shoaib and Gul broke down with fitness worries on the tour to India in 2007, which chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said was the reason for not including them in the squad.

"Akhtar and Gul will have to prove their fitness and that's why we did not consider them for selection in this probable list of 21,"

Ahmed was quoted by AFP.

Shoaib played all three Tests against India, but only in the first one was he fully fit. An illness before the Kolkata Test severely hampered his effectiveness, while he was troubled by back pain in Bangalore. Gul played the ODI series but was sent home before the Tests due to a back injury.

A number of new faces have been included in the squad as part of Pakistan's plans to test bench-strength against Zimbabwe before a challenging summer ahead. Anwar Ali, Pakistan's hero from the Under-19 World Cup in 2006, is included as well as Mansoor Amjad, the leg-spinning all rounder with two seasons for Leicestershire behind him. Shadab Kabir, who last played an ODI for Pakistan over ten years ago, also makes the squad after scoring 791 runs in the recently-concluded Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Afridi, meanwhile, has been left out of the provisional squad due to poor form. He played four ODIs on the tour to India, but only scored 73 runs and took two wickets, and was omitted from the Test team. However, Salahuddin Ahmed said that Afridi might make it into the final 16-member squad for the first three ODIs. The 21 players named here and 15 from the Patron's XI will be in the reckoning for the final squad.

Zimbabwe start their tour with the game against Patron's XI, while the first of five ODIs will be played in Karachi on January 21.

The National Selection Committee, under the Chairmanship of Salahuddin Ahmed, today announced the names of 21 players for the Camp at Lahore from 15th to 18th, January 2008 against Zimbabwe. The names of 21 Players are as follows:

1. Shoaib Malik - Captain
2. Salman Butt
3. Shahdab Kabir
4. Khurram Manzoor
5. Younis Khan
6. Mohammad Yousuf
7. Misbah-ul-Haq
8. Naved Latif
9. Kamran Akmal
10. Salman Ahmed
11. Iftikhar Anjum
12. Sohail Tanvir
13. Yasir Arafat
14. Mansoor Amjad
15. Abdul Rauf
16. Rauf Akbar
17. Junid Zia
18. Wahab Riaz
19. Anwer Ali
20. Tahir Khan
21. Saeed Ajmal

As per board policy Shoaib Akhter and Umer Gul will have to appear in Pentangular Cup to prove their match fitness. The players selected for the Four-Day game against Zimbabwe at DHA were not considered for the camp.

Malik begins rehabilitation

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, needs a further three weeks to recover fully from the ankle injury that curtailed his tour to India. It also means that he faces a race against time to be fit for Pakistan's next assignment, an ODI series against Zimbabwe, which begins from January 26.

Malik missed the final two Tests against India recently after injuring his ankle during a post-Test warm-up and now begins an injury rehabilitation programme at the National Cricket Academy.

"Doctors have removed the plaster from Shoaib Malik's ankle today and have advised him to undergo a rehabilitation programme for the next three weeks,"

Ahsan Malik, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman, told The News.

Malik will be working with Sohail Saleem, the PCB's chief medical officer, and trainer Abdul Saboor.

"He (Malik) is feeling much better and is confident of regaining full match fitness ahead of the series against Zimbabwe,"

Ahsan said.

Another vital player, Mohammad Asif, also begins his comeback from the elbow injury that has nagged him over the last year. Asif underwent surgery in Australia earlier this month to rectify the problem and is now hoping to recover in time for the home series against Australia to be held in March-April.

"Asif will work at the NCA according to plan prepared for him by David Dwyer (the Pakistan team trainer),"

said Ahsan. He added that Asif will undergo physical training sessions for several weeks before he even begins to bowl. Fellow fast bowler Umar Gul has also recovered from his back problem and will start bowling in the nets at the NCA from January 1.

Umar Gul hoping for a January comeback

Umar Gul is confident of making a comeback to bowling in the first week of January after injuring his back on the tour of India. Gul, who took part in the ODI series, complained of a back problem and was sent home before the Tests after being diagnosed with muscle spasm.

"I have rested a lot and I feel OK now. But I have not bowled for a while and the board has asked me to appear for a fitness check-up before the PCB medical panel in Lahore,"

Gul said. The check-up was due to be held sometime on Thursday.

"I am looking forward to resuming bowling by the first week of next month, provided everything goes well. It is not a serious injury nor a recurrence of the back stress fracture I had two years ago."

Shafqat Naghmi,

the PCB's chief operating officer, said it was premature to comment on Gul's fitness but he confirmed that the bowler had been told to take a week's rest before his check-up.

"We are confident it is nothing serious but we are prepared for any eventuality. We are facing frequent fitness problems with our main bowlers and we want to ensure they don't suffer long-term injuries,"

Naghmi said.

Pakistan were struggling in the fast-bowling department during the Test series. While Gul missed the Tests, Mohammad Asif was forced to miss the entire tour of India and underwent keyhole surgery on his troubling elbow earlier this week. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami were unable to deliver 100 percent due to illness.

Gul blamed the current crammed international calender for niggling injuries to pace bowlers.

"You can't escape from them [injuries] despite the improved fitness programmes we follow these days and the training regimen we go through."

Pakistan now take on Zimbabwe for a five-match ODI series at home before hosting Australia in February and March 2008.

Shoaib Akhter defends himself after series loss

Shoaib Akhtar has defended himself from critical comments cast by Imran Khan after Pakistan's 1-0 Test series defeat to India.

Imran, former Pakistan captain, told an Indian news channel that the result could easily have been 3-0 if their spearhead had applied himself. But Shoaib felt the absence of Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, out with elbow and back injuries respectively, seriously hampered their chances.

"Imran Khan, who is a man and former player I admire and respect greatly, singled me out in his television analysis and said I should be disappointed with myself,"

he said on Bigstarcricket.com.

"I realise he was being kind in saying I am a match-winner, but I can't win Test matches on my own."

Though he completed a rare full Test series, Shoaib battled fitness and injury in all three Tests, ending with nine wickets at 33.11. And there was little else to speak of in the pace department, bar replacement Yasir Arafat's five-wicket haul on debut in the final Test. Mohammad Sami, Shoaib's new-ball partner, went wicketless in the first two matches.

"When I built up pressure we weren't able to maintain that pressure on the Indian batsmen. I'm not blaming my team-mates - if Sami had been around with me, Asif and Gul the series would definitely have turned out differently. We cannot expect too much from the inexperienced guys at this level. It stands to reason that any team is going to miss players like Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif."

"Imran had players like [Abdul] Qadir and Wasim [Akram] to back him up or Sarfraz before those days."

Akhtar, 32, took six wickets in Delhi and two in Kolkata, where he ill-advisedly played with a chest infection. Then, having bowled ten overs on the first morning at Bangalore, he was taken to hospital for an MRI scan after suffering back pain. The scan revealed no injury but Shoaib did not bowl again in the first innings. He bowled later in the match but did not look fully fit.

'We were competitive in all three Tests' - Malik

After 20 days of cricket including five ODIs and three Tests, several injuries and rumours about captaincy, Pakistan leave India with little to show in terms of hard results. They won two ODIs, one of which was a dead rubber, and were playing catch-up in each of the three Tests. Shoaib Malik, their captain who missed the last two Tests because of injury, thought otherwise however, suggesting their performance wasn't as bleak as the 3-2 and 1-0 scoreline in the ODI and Test series suggested.

"We were competitive in all the three Tests,"

he said after the final day's play.

"If you look at it, we played badly in the morning session on the third day of the Delhi Test, and that cost us the series. There were a lot of positives to emerge. India scored more than 600 runs not once but twice in a row and we replied with 500."

A significant reason behind Pakistan's competitiveness in the Tests was the form of Misbah-ul-Haq. He scored 464 runs in six innings and his centuries in Kolkata and Bangalore played crucial roles in Pakistan drawing the last two Tests. Malik had high praise for the batsman who stepped in to fill the gap left by Inzamam-ul-Haq.

"He was tremendous throughout the series,"

said Malik.

"He and [Kamran] Akmal played a big role in us saving the Kolkata Test. Here also, the same pair put on a very good and important stand, and that augurs well for us."

Akmal, after a poor one-day series, struck form in the Tests. His century in Kolkata complemented Misbah's and he scored an aggressive fifty in Bangalore to help Pakistan past the follow-on mark. However, his keeping in the ODIs was poor and didn't get much better in the Tests.

But Pakistan's biggest disappointment was perhaps the form of Danish Kaneria. He picked up 19 wickets in three Tests on his last visit to India and played a vital role in the series-levelling win in Bangalore. This time he hardly troubled the batsmen and, although he took 12 wickets, they cost him 52 apiece. Malik defended Kaneria saying that

"like a batsman has a bad patch, a bowler too sometimes can go through it."

The other main concern would be over the fitness of key players, an issue that hampered them through the Test series. Malik acknowledged that

"problems with physical fitness"

significantly affected their competitiveness and stressed that it was an area they needed to improve upon.

Mohammad Asif was ruled out of the series before it even began and their bowling attack was further weakened by Umar Gul's back injury and the illnesses that affected Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami before the second Test in Kolkata. Shoaib's back injury during the Bangalore Test left them with a three-man bowling attack in the first innings, allowing India to pile up an impregnable first-innings total.

Pakistan now have a long gap before their next Test series in March. It provides an ideal window to get their first-choice fast bowlers match-fit and as it is Australia who are visiting, how Pakistan fare in the series could well hinge on the fast bowlers.

Umar Gul ruled out of Delhi Test with back pain

Pakistan seam bowler Umar Gul has been ruled out of the first test against India at Delhi on Thursday after feeling pain in his back and hip in training.

Left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir is now sure to be handed his Test debut and partner Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami in a three-man pace attack. Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and skipper and part-time off-spinner Shoaib Malik will provide the variety.

Gul’s practice at lunch time on Wednesday was interrupted when he was driven to a Delhi hospital to have scans on the injury. Team sources said the scans came back clear but the prospect of taking a half-fit seamer into such an important match was never going to be an option and he was omitted.

Furthermore, there were also reports that Gul, 23, felt pain in the left side of his hip so he is likely to undergo more tests. It is a bitter blow for Pakistan having been deprived of seamer Mohammad Asif already, when he was sent home because of a chronic elbow injury.

“We're going to consult with orthopaedic surgeons in India as well as back home so he is ruled out of the Delhi Test as a precaution,”

a team spokesman said.