Radical Overhaul Of Cricket Board Urged

Former Pakistan cricket captains and some Pakistan Cricket Board officials have called for a major overhaul of the cricket board following the national team’s humiliating defeat at the hands of Australia. After a debate ‘Cricket Ka Muqadma’, organised by Geo News, experts made several suggestions for improving Pakistani team’s performance.
They suggested that the players’ power should be eliminated, a board representing all the four provinces set up, the PCB privatised, a new constitution for the board formulated, the structure of the board improved and divisional cricket promoted. They also proposed that the President of Pakistan, who is chief patron of the PCB, should not appoint the chairman of the board.
Director General PCB Javed Miandad said talented players were coming forward, and called for encouraging them. He said the skills of the players were not being properly used. Former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia said junior players were put behind and forgotten, terming it a major reason for the problem. “This shatters the passion of the players,” he argued. Former captain Amir Sohail said that players, officials, institutions — all of them — were responsible for the ‘decline’ of cricket. Only passion was not going to turn things around, as the players also had to run their houses, he added. Sohail said the board had so much money that it could give the players hundreds of thousands of rupees, but, unfortunately, that did not happen.

South Asian Games: Pakistan Beat India

Defending champions Pakistan retained their gold medal in the 11th South Asian Games Hockey competition when they came from behind to overpower arch-rivals India 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out at the Maulana Bhasani Stadium. After the match ended in 1-1 stalemate in regulation and extra-time; half-back captain Sibtain Raza scored the match winning goal to give Pakistan their 12th gold in the regional games to the delight of his team-mates. In the shoot-out, Virenderjit Singh and Dharamvir Singh both missed their strokes for India while Zeeshan Ali missed the opportunity for Pakistan. The Indians enjoyed the upper hand in the first half with their better coordinated moves and took the lead in the sixth minute when their captain Ajitesh Rai converted his team’s first short-corner on an indirect drill deceiving Pakistan custodian Imran Butt.
A scuffle broke out between the two teams late in the first session and interestingly police was called in by umpires to separate the two teams. The incident took place in the 26th minute when India’s Ragunath hit Pakistan’s Zubair with a stick. The incident saw players of both teams charging towards each other angrily.
The captains of the two teams, Sibtain Raza and Ajitesh Rai were sent off as a punishment for failing to control their players. The match was halted for about seven minutes due to the incident.

Chelsea Returns To Top

First-half goals from Didier Drogba earned Chelsea a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and secured a return to the top of the Premier League two points ahead of Manchester United. Chelsea keeper Petr Cech had had to make two saves in quick succession, diverting a ball at Samir Nasri's feet behind for a corner and blocking a shot from Andrei Arshavin with his feet as Arsenal used the speed of Nasri, Theo Walcott and the tricky Russian to harass the Chelsea defence. The Chelsea captain showed no sign of strain despite being stripped of the England captaincy.
"My captain has a fantastic attitude. He's done very well every game for the team," Chelsea coach Carol Ancelotti told reporters. "It's very important to have this leadership."

Serena Pulls Out Of Paris Indoor Open

World number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from Paris Indoor Open, organisers confirmed. Williams blamed a leg injury which she picked up on her way to victory in the Australian Open. The American has lifted the Paris trophy twice in five appearances, winning both her titles in 1999 and 2003 against France's Amelie Mauresmo. Former world number one Mauresmo will play her final tournament here before retiring from the competition.

Ferdinand Gets England Captaincy

John Terry's sacking as England skipper recently opened the door for a significant turnaround in fortune for Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand who will take over the captain's armband. Ferdinand, 31, has ridden himself of his bad-boy image in recent years but there are still doubts over his suitability as England captain as he has been hampered by back injuries and only recently returned after being sidelined since October.

Intikhab Accepts Blame For Defeats

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said that he accepted full responsibility for his team’s dismal performance on its tour of Australia last month, and vowed not to run away from any investigation. Pakistan was whitewashed 3-0 in the Tests and 5-0 in the one-dayers and lost the only Twenty20 match on the tour. Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf also vowed to continue as skipper despite a hint from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that there will be a change in the captaincy. PCB announced a six-man evaluation committee to investigate the defeats, which Alam said were due to poor fielding and batting.
“It was a disappointing tour but if you look into the history, Pakistan has never performed well on a tour of Australia,” said Alam. “Our fielding was very poor and batsmen lacked determination and their shot selection was bad.”
Alam denied any rifts in the team and said that he would give the PCB a detailed report on team’s performance very soon.