Pakistan will miss Inzamam: Harbhajan

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday fired the first salvo at Pakistan, saying absence of their former captain Inzamam-ul Haq would give hosts India an edge in the upcoming series. Pakistan, led by young captain Shoaib Malik, will play a full fledged series of five one-day internationals and three Tests against India from November 5.

“No doubt Pakistan is a tough team but without star batsman Inzamam-ul Haq, who recently announced retirement from international cricket, Indian team will definitely have an edge over its arch-rivals,” Harbhajan told reporters on the sidelines of inauguration of a Reebok showroom in Jalandhar.

“Inzamam had the capability to turn the fate of a match under any circumstances and his absence would definitely be useful for Indian team,” he added. The slow bowler, however, said India would not take things easy with all-rounder Shahid Afridi and prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf still a part of Pakistan.

“Pakistan has star players like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik and Indian team will have to play at its optimum potential to win the series,” he said. Harbhajan said it would be imperative for India to win against Pakistan as it would set the tone for the next series in Australia.

“Win against Pakistan would definitely boost the morale of the team and set a tone for series with Australia on its home grounds,” Harbhajan said. On the spat between Indian and Australian players during the recent ODI series, the Punjab bowler revealed that S Sreesanth and he had only reacted to the Australian players’ comments and would continue to do that in future as well.

“We will reply to the aggression of Australian players on their home ground in the upcoming series.

“Australian players try to put mental pressure on the opponent team through their aggressive comments and gestures, but this does not work and what works is the performance of the players,” he said.

No special security for Muralitharan

Cricket Australia will not introduce special security measures to protect Muttiah Muralitharan from crowds during Sri Lanka’s two-Test series, hoping existing measures would catch any offenders. Muralitharan had received a hostile reception on previous tours from crowds who continue to chant “no-ball” despite his regular clearances from the ICC.

“There’s not a specific Muralitharan protection program,” Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young told AFP. “But we have a national program to ensure that we have a family friendly environment in cricket, and as part of that we do have plainclothes people in crowds.”

Muralitharan arrived in Adelaide this week for his first full Australia Test tour in 12 years which will include his bid to break Shane Warne’s Test wicket record – assuming he is fit to play. A bicep injury has hindered Muralitharan’s attack on the mark and he hasn’t played since rupturing it in August playing for Lancashire. However, he was looking comfortable in bowling practice on Friday morning and seemed at ease with his repertoire.

The Sri Lankans are keen to sweep aside all talk of crowd trouble and concentrate on their on-pitch performances. And, as middle-order batsman Jehan Mubarak confirmed, they certainly won’t be shy of taking the match to Australia.

“We’re going to be aggressive, definitely,” he told Cricinfo after practice at the Adelaide Oval. “I don’t think we’ll go overboard, but definitely the attitude is going to be aggressive and positive.” Aggression appears to be the watchword, with Sanath Jayasuriya echoing that the best approach is to “play aggressive cricket and positive cricket”.

Having had only one Test series since last December – easily overhauling Bangladesh in July – the Sri Lankans are itching to pull on their whites. But, as Mubarak recognises, they will have to take their time to adapt: “We’ve been playing a lot of Twenty20 and one-day cricket and now we move into Test cricket and have to bat for long periods of time.

“Scoring areas will be different, with the ball coming on more. We might have to play more on the back-foot. We are slowly bringing those changes into the game.”

They have their chance for some decent practice on Saturday, with the first of two warm-up matches prior to the first Test in Brisbane on November 8. The three-day game is against a Chairman’s XI at the Adelaide Oval.

Jayasuriya is looking forward to using the practice to adjust used to the pacy conditions following their one-day home series against England on slow tracks. “We have been practising and whenever the short ball is there to hit we play positive cricket so if it is there to hit we hit it. The younger guys mustn’t worry about all these comments about bouncing. We should concentrate on our game and our game-plan.”

He welcomed the experience that Marvan Atapattu would bring into the side. He and Atapattu are the only players to have scored centuries in Australia and the batsman is expected to play his first Test since 2005. “Marvan is a key player,” Jayasuriya said, “and technically he’s the best player so he will gain a lot of confidence for the other players.”

He dismissed the notion that the commotion surrounding Atapattu had been disruptive to the side. “A bit of a misunderstanding, but now it’s been sorted out and we will concentrate on our cricket.”

Shoaib must fulfill responsibility as senior player: Ashraf

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chief Nasim Ashraf on Thursday asked comeback fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to fulfill his responsibility as a senior player and prove his critics wrong with a forceful performance during the all-important tour of India starting from next week.

“The tour of India is certainly the most important assignment for our team and is perhaps even more important than the World Cup,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman told ‘The News’.

“I expect that all the players including Shoaib Akhtar would be at their best behaviour and give their hundred percent on the tour because we have to deliver good results against India.”

Shoaib is all set to be a part of Pakistan’s touring party to India to play five one-dayers and three Tests during November-December.

He will complete a 13-match ban when Pakistan play their fourth one-dayer against South Africa in Multan today and will be available for selection for the final game of the series to be played in Lahore on October 29.

National selector Saleem Jaffer, who followed Shoaib’s progress in a domestic match recently, has cleared him for national duty and the pacer will be named in the squad for the India tour likely to be announced today.

However, earning a recall to the national side is not the only target facing the 32-year-old pacer.

He is still on probation after hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat last month and has been warned that another breach of the PCB’s Code of Conduct would result in a life ban.

Ashraf agreed that Shoaib will be walking on thin ice but added that he is hoping the player has learnt his lesson.

“I hope that Shoaib will be a changed man on the tour of India,” said the PCB chief. “It is his last chance and we all hope that this time he would not waste it.”

Ashraf said that Pakistan will need Shoaib at his best on the tour of India.

“Shoaib has a role to play for Pakistan,” he said. “He also has a point to prove and should give his best to silence his critics who believe he is spent force.”

Ashraf was confident that Shoaib and the other senior players will turn out to be a positive force for Team Pakistan in India.

“I’m sure Shoaib and all the other experienced boys will fulfill their responsibility as senior players and act as a positive force to lift the morale of the national team,” he said.

The PCB chief was confident that Pakistani cricketers will excel both on and off the field in India.

“Our team will play positive and attacking cricket in India and we will win,” he concluded.

Young all-rounder Shoaib Malik will be leading Pakistan for the first time in an away Test series.

Pakistan are scheduled to fly out for New Delhi on November 1 where they play a warm-up game starting from Nov 2. They meet India in a five match ODI series starting from Nov 5 in the eastern Indian city of Guwahati.

The rest of the one-dayers will be played in Mohali (Nov 8), Kanpur (Nov 11), Gwalior (Nov 15) and Jaipur (Nov 18).

The three Tests will be played in New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Derbyshire sign Sri Lanka captain

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will play English county cricket for Derbyshire next year, the county’s official website said.

Jayawardene, 30, will turn out for the county from the end of April to mid-July before returning home for Sri Lanka’s Test commitments, the website said.

“Signing such a world-class player and current international captain is a massive boost for the club ahead of the 2008 season,” Derbyshire chairman Don Amott said.

“I can’t wait to see Mahela — as well as the likes of Rikki Clarke, Nayan Doshi, John Sadler and Wavell Hinds — in action in a Derbyshire shirt and I am sure the members and supporters share my excitement.”

Jayawardene, who leads Sri Lanka in a two-Test series in Australia next month, was voted the International Cricket Council’s captain of the year in 2006.

The 88-Test veteran has scored 6,630 runs at an average of 49.84 with 18 centuries, including a best of 374 against South Africa in Colombo last year.

He has also played 261 one-day internationals with 7,232 runs and led Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Derbyshire’s head of cricket John Morris said he was delighted that Jayawardene had signed.

“I knew that he was the right player after I had spoken to him and I could tell that he has the desire to play county cricket and contribute both experience and flair to Derbyshire’s batting line-up,” said Morris.

‘No coach in the world can help West Indies’ – Dujon

Jeff Dujon, the former West Indies wicketkeeper and assistant coach, has said no coach can help West Indies cricket at the moment and believes it will take at least a generation for West Indies cricket to improve and get to the top.

“Regardless of where he [coach] comes from, he is not going to make this team better,” Dujon said in an interview with the Jamaica-based KLAS Radio. “No matter who coaches the West Indies team, they are not going to do better. They are playing as best as they can now.”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on Saturday announced John Dyson as the team’s head coach. Dujon said WICB had erred when they appointed Bennett King as coach and David Moore as his assistant as he believed they would have been more useful at the youth level.

“I was critical of Bennett King and David Moore because I think they should [have been] used where development lies, at the development level.

“I have being saying this for years now. As far as I am concerned, the next good West Indies team is probably about 13 years old right now. If we start working now, if we start to put a structure in place that would produce a better brand of player, and coach. These [present] players came from a structure that prepares them to do exactly what they are doing now.”

Sangakkara says tour success is target

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Sri Lanka vice captain Kumar Sangakkara believes off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be fired up to pass Shane Warne’s test wicket-taking world record in Australia but said a successful tour is the top priority.

Muralitharan, just nine wickets away from surpassing Warne’s world record test tally of 708 wickets, was heckled by spectators on his only previous full tour of Australia in 1995-96 after he was no-balled due to his controversial action.

The 35-year-old spinner boycotted a two-test series in Australia in 2004 but did play for a World XI in Sydney two years ago.

The first of a two-test series begins in Brisbane in November 8 and the tourists are hoping to win their first test in Australia.

“It means a lot to everyone in Sri Lanka that Murali is going to Australia and trying to break the record there,” Sangakkara wrote in his column on cricket Web site http://www.cricinfo.com.

“He’s going to be as excited as a schoolboy. But Murali also realises that his getting those nine wickets is only part of this tour. The bigger picture is to beat Australia; everything else is related to that.”

No touring team has won a test series in Australia since the West Indies in 1993.

“Murali knows his stats to the last detail and he’ll know his two other tests in Australia have produced only three wickets,” Sangakkara added.

“He’ll be devising plans and strategies to get wickets this time.”

21 teams for Under-15 National TWENTY20 Cricket

Chandigarh, Oct 25 : With a view to provide regular competitions to players and ‘non-stop’ entertainment to the cricket crazy spectators, the Chandigarh Twenty20 Cricket Association is organising the National Twenty20 Cricket Championship for Under-15 from October 26 to 30 at three venues of the ‘City Beautiful’.

The National Championship is being conducted under the patronage of the Association of Twenty20 Cricket (India), and the Chandigarh Olympic Association has granted permission to conduct the competition and use the banner of the apex sports body of Chandigarh.

Addressing newsmen at the Chandigarh Press Club here today, Organising Committee chairman ID Kamboj, who is also president of the ATC (India) said that teams from 20 States and Union Territories and an ATC XI would compete in the popular slam-bang version of the game.

The teams have been divided into seven pools and the leaders of each group will qualify for knock out quarter-finals. The best losers team in all groups will join the group qualifiers in the knock out stage.

Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu (group A), Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry (group B), Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan (group C), Hyderabad, Delhi, Vidarbha (group D), Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka (group E), Dadar Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Jharkhand (group F) and Mumbai, Association of Twenty20 Cricket and Goa (group G) have entered into the fray.

The matches will be played at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Punjab Engineering College in Sector 12 and DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8.

Replying to a question, Mr Kamboj said ”ATC (India) is an independent registered body to promote twenty20 cricket from the grass root level. We are not competing with any one. We are making sincere efforts to promote and encourage this game from mini to senior section.”

Won’t let Murali surpass Warne on Aussie soil: Ponting

Muttiah Muralitharan may be just nine short of overtaking Shane Warne as Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker but Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says he is confident his team can stop the Sri Lankan off-spinner from capturing the record in its backyard.

The task of taking nine wickets to surpass the record of Warne’s 708 wickets does not seem too hard for the wily bowler in next month’s two-Test series but Ponting says he is determined not to let it happen in Australia.

“He needs nine wickets to pass Warney’s world record and I want to make it pretty clear that it would be nice if he left Australia not getting those nine wickets,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.

“If that’s the case, then we’ve done a pretty good job. He’s also made it pretty clear over the years that he feels Australian batsmen play him better than any other team in the world. In saying that, and in our conditions, hopefully we can keep him under wraps,” he added.

Ponting also played down apprehensions that there would be crowd trouble when Muralitharan plays his first Test on Australian soil after 12 years.

The Aussie skipper said he was confident that spectators would behave themselves even if Muralitharan overtakes local hero Warne.

T20 cricket like chocolate, to be taken in small doses: Sidhu

Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said that Twenty20 cricket is like chocolate which is harmful for health and should be given in small doses.

“When one-day cricket became big in India I had said it was like fast food – buying a burger from outside when no one is prepared to cook at home. The staple home food will remain as the most important meal but occasionally one would go out to buy a burger and that is the difference between Test and one-day cricket,” Sidhu told PTI.

“When I say about T20 cricket, it is like chocolate which is bad for health and has to be given in small doses. At the same time chocolates are favoured by humans,” said the former batsman who played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for India.

Comparing the various forms of cricket with music, Sidhu said, “Test cricket is like classical music which has survived since ancient ages. One-dayers are like film music that leaves people enthralled and T20 cricket is like disco and rap which provides occasional pleasure in short bursts.”