ICC Twenty20 World Cup: Pakistan beat Scotland by 51 runs

DURBAN: Pakistan defeated Scotland by 51 runs in a group D match of the Twenty20 world championships at the Kingsmead here on Wednesday

Earlier, Younis Khan's aggressive batting nursed Pakistan to a respectable total of 171 against Scotland.

Younis top-scored with 41, having arrived at the crease in the fifth over after Pakistan had been reduced to 24 for two.

Scotland's disciplined bowling contrasted with Pakistan's reckless batting, which led to several soft dismissals.

Their good showing was a team effort in which medium pacer Craig Wright, 33, led the attack with his return of three wickets for 29.

Pakistan innings got the required impetus towards the end of the innings. Fine cameos from Misbah, Afridi and Kamran Akmal propelled the Pakistani total.

However, it was Younis Khan who held the innings together after the Scottish quickies rattled the Pakistani top order.
Man of the Match: Shahid Khan Afridi

Afridi happy with new free-hit rule

KARACHI: Pakistan’s much celebrated all-rounder Shahid Afridi believes that the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s new rule of awarding a free hit to batsmen after a no ball delivery in one-dayers, was a nice innovation in the game, saying it would make the sport more entertaining and exciting.

The swashbuckling Afridi said he understood the apprehensions of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who feel the new rule penalised a bowler harshly if he sent down a no-ball, but felt the two bowlers would not face any problem.

“Shoaib and Asif are two of the most accurate bowlers I have seen in One-day Internationals. They bowl very few no-balls. So I don’t see them facing any problems,”

he said.

“The new rule will make the other bowlers also more accurate and disciplined to avoid giving away bonus runs and that is a good thing as less wides and no balls means less time lost in a match.”

Shoaib and Asif have expressed reservations over the rule, effective from October 1, which says on the very next delivery after after a no-ball, the batsman can take a free hit without any danger of being dismissed unless he is run-out.

The Pakistani pace duo has said the new rule would only increase the pressure on the bowlers in a game whose rules are increasingly a big advantage to the batsmen.

Shorter World Cup means less money, says official

Officials from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will meet on June 18 in the Pakistani summer resort of Bhurban to discuss matters relating to the 2011 World Cup, according to Saleem Altaf, the chief executive officer of the World Cup organising committee.

Altaf, speaking to The News, said that the officials from all four countries jointly hosting the World Cup would work out a method to meet initial expenses in the setting up as well as the running of the various organising committees.

Altaf said that the issue of generating seed money for the organising committee is expected to be settled during the meet.

"We need around US$500,000 for the initial expenses. This amount will be shared equally by the four boards,"

said Altaf. He stated that the organisers of the World Cup would also take steps towards opening a joint account during the meeting.

In addition, officials from India would speak on their experience of hosting the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy and on the expenses involved. The frequency of future meetings of the central organising committee and the setting up of local organising committees would also be discussed at the meet.

"We have to see whether all the boards are ready to put the local organising committees in place by February 2008, three years before the World Cup,"

he said.

On the issue of a shorter World Cup, Altaf said that the final decision would come from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"A shorter World Cup would mean less money and we are not happy with that. But the final decision would come from the ICC executive board,"

he explained.

South Africa and West Indies play tournament opener

South Africa and West Indies will contest the opening game of the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship which will be held in South Africa between September 10 and 24.

A day after the opening match is played at the Wanderers, Durban's Kingsmead Stadium will host the first double-header when New Zealand and Kenya square off in the morning followed by Pakistan and Scotland in the afternoon. On the same day, Newlands in Cape Town will host its first match when Australia take on Zimbabwe in a night fixture. India face Pakistan, which could be a marquee match, in the third slot on September 14.

Each venue will host nine games and the ten Full Member countries and two Associate nations have been split into four groups of three teams and will play a round-robin format. Once that is completed, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eights in a bid to make the semi-finals. The final will be played in Johannesburg on Heritage Day on September 24.

Bangladesh stun India by 5-wkt win

PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Bangladesh unexpectedly won their opening group ‘B’ match by five wickets against India here today at the Queen’s Park.Set a winning target of 192 in 50 overs, Bangladeshi batsmen easily overcame India in 48.3 overs despite frequent bowling changes by Rahul Dravid.Three half-centuries were scored by them; opener Tamim Iqbal made 51 off 53 balls with seven fours and two sixes and Saqibul Hasan went for 53 off 86 balls with five fours and one six while wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, who, remained not out at 59 with four fours and two sixes.Earlier, Bangladeshi bowlers in an excellent performance display shattered Indian batting power house to reduce them at 191 in 49.3 overs.Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar after winning the toss put India in to batting and then his bowlers dislodged their batting greats –Tendulakar, Dravid, Sehwag. Only Sarouv Ganguly (66)and Yuuraj Singh (47) provided some resistance and the whole team collapsed within 50 overs. Man-of-the-match, seam bowler Mashrafe Mortaza captured four for 38 while spinners while Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak bagged three wickets each for 36 and 38, repectively.