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Pakistan are set to host SL, tour Australia, and play Ireland home and away as well as feature in the Commonwealth and Asian Games

Umar Farooq28-Mar-2022The PCB has chalked out a year-long calendar for women’s cricket, comprising extensive international and domestic cricket including home series against Sri Lanka and Ireland and Pakistan’s participation in the Commonwealth and Asian Games this year. The board has also revived its Under-19 tournament after eight-and-a-half years.The Women’s PSL is not part of this year’s calendar, though ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB is working out the feasibility of the tournament and, under chairman Ramiz Raja, has ambitions of organising the event in March 2023.Related

• PCB launches women's Under-19 T20 tournament

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• Bismah Maroof's daughter denied accreditation for Commonwealth Games

• Sri Lanka Women to tour Pakistan for three ODIs and T20Is in May-June

• Sri Lanka Women to not tour Pakistan in October as SLC-PCB talks fall through

The series against Sri Lanka, which was postponed last year following a change of leadership in the PCB, is now scheduled to be played from May 18 to June 7, with the series falling under the ICC Women’s Championship cycle.Following this, Pakistan are set to tour Ireland in July for a triangular series that also includes Australia as the third team. This will be immediately followed by the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July-August.In September, Pakistan are due to travel to Hangzhou, China, for the 2022 Asian Games, before returning home for a three-ODI, three-T20I series against Ireland in October-November. The year is then set to end with the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, which is due to take place in December, though further details are still awaited.The Women’s T20 World Cup is set to be played in South Africa in February 2023, and Pakistan’s preparations for the event will conclude with a tour of Australia from January 4 to Feb 1, comprising three ODIs and three T20Is.Under-19 domestic tournament to serve as talent pathway
The year-long calendar – the first one the PCB has announced for women’s cricket – includes a blueprint for the domestic circuit as well.The national youth-level tournament was disbanded in 2013 due to a policy shift and a change of leadership in the PCB. Before that, there had been a national Under-17 event that took place from 2004 to 2008, which was replaced by a regional Under-19 tournament that was a regular event from 2009 to 2013. A Pakistan A team was formed thereafter, comprising players from the Under-19 circuit and those on the fringes of the senior national side.The PCB is reviving its Under-19 women’s domestic tournament after an eight-year gap•AFP via Getty Images

The pathway to the national team, however, had always been vague, with no solid link between the grassroots and the top 30-35 women players in the country. The investment in women’s cricket had narrowed down to two major tournaments, with three teams playing the National T20 and ODI Challenge Cups.Seeking to expand the talent pool in women’s cricket, the PCB has announced a new T20 tournament featuring six provincial Under-19 teams, which will take place in August 2022. The best players from this level could go on to feature in the senior domestic season.The senior season will begin with a two-phase T20 tournament in September-October. The first phase is a four-team event featuring the best players from the six provincial associations; the top performers from this phase will play alongside the best international players in the second phase of the championship, a three-team tournament.The women’s domestic season will conclude in April-May 2023 with a 50-overs tournament featuring four teams playing each other in a double-round-robin format.Pakistan exited the ongoing ODI World Cup campaign at the league stage, but managed to break their 18-match losing streak in the tournament. However, they lost six out of seven games to finish bottom of the table, their only win an upset of West Indies in a rain-hit contest. The last team Pakistan had beaten in a World Cup was also West Indies, back in 2009.”The past few weeks have brought to light the gulf between our side and the leading international teams,” Tania Mallick, the PCB’s head of women’s cricket, said. “To develop and strengthen our national side, it is imperative to have a strong and competitive domestic structure and provide more opportunities to the national side to play in challenging conditions so we continue to gauge where we stand.”We have put in a lot of thinking before penning down our upcoming season. I am grateful to all six Cricket Associations who have jumped on board and expressed their desire and willingness to develop women’s cricket at age group and senior rungs in their jurisdictions. Their help and support will unearth talent from all parts of the country and, with a strong system in place, I am sure we will be able to produce players who are capable of performing according to the contemporary demands and needs.”

Opener ready to dig deep again as she struggles for runs

Valkerie Baynes15-Nov-2020Tammy Beaumont has been here before, not so long ago, battling for runs but with a hand still firmly in her own destiny.Having scored just 96 runs from nine innings so far, with a strike rate of 71.64 and highest score of 30 for Sydney Thunder in this edition of the WBBL, opener Beaumont is determined to “put that right”. Thunder need all the contributions they can get with four matches remaining ahead of the finals after defeats to Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers over the weekend saw them drop from second to fourth on the table.”It’s a strange one, I can’t really put my finger on it,” Beaumont said. “I feel like I’ve been playing really well in the nets and then just getting out while I’m in the middle or not really getting off to a good start, which is obviously what we need. Hopefully I can put that right in the last few games and play a good knock for the team.”ALSO READ: Former FA chairman’s comments show there’s work to do – KnightBeaumont found herself in a similar situation heading into England’s behind-closed-doors T20 series against West Indies in September, having played a limited role at the T20 World Cup as a floating batsman before a second-ball duck in her preferred position as opener when the same sides met in their last match of the global tournament.She retained her place at the top of the order though, and her 62 from 49 balls handed hosts England a comfortable victory in the first match of the series they went on to sweep 5-0 against West Indies. Beaumont admitted to harbouring self-doubts going into that first game.”I had a bit of a word to myself, said, ‘you’ve still got a hand in it, you’ve still got four or five games, just do your best, and just enjoy it and really embrace it,'” Beaumont said at the time.Her half-century against West Indies remained her best score of the series and Thunder could do with a similar knock when they take on bottom side Melbourne Renegades on Tuesday.Stars are three points clear on top, while the second-placed Scorchers are two points ahead of Brisbane Heat, then Thunder and Sydney Sixers, who are all locked on 10 points each and separated only by net run rate.Having ground out 14 off 27 deliveries against Stars on Saturday, Beaumont unleashed a signature reverse sweep only to find England team-mate Nat Sciver, who sprung high to her left and pulled down a stunning catch at point. On Sunday, Beaumont faced just two balls for one run against Scorchers before she was caught behind by Beth Mooney off Nicole Bolton.”It’s really full-on this season,” Beaumont said. “It’s almost games every two days so that’s something a little bit different to try and make sure you’re really on top of your recovery and all of that.”I haven’t necessarily played as well as I wanted to yet… the standard is as strong as it’s ever been. I guess with this one because the games are coming so fast you don’t always get a chance to really prepare for your certain opposition. You’ve just got to bounce from one to the other.”Despite facing a further onslaught of four matches in this coming week, it was the not playing before the tournament which Beaumont said she found the hardest, having to spend two weeks in strict quarantine.”Being literally locked in a hotel room for 14 days with your treadmill was certainly a different experience but since we’ve been out, the bubble here is pretty big,” she said. “They’ve put a lot on for us. We just had a trivia night run by Grace Harris so there’s plenty going on.”Beaumont’s on-field experience so far this tournament is in contrast to Thunder team-mate Heather Knight, the England captain, who is the competition’s fourth-highest run-scorer for the season with 295 at a strike rate of 121.90 and with three fifties. She has also taken eight wickets.Knight hit back after a duck against Stars to strike 44 from as many balls against Scorchers but it was not enough as Thunder were bundled out for 97 chasing 132 to win.

Former Australian fast bowler says heckling Smith after he ‘braved up’ to bat again is beyond the pale

Andrew Miller at Lord's18-Aug-2019Mitchell Johnson, the former Australia fast bowler, has condemned the minority of spectators at Lord’s who booed Steven Smith on his return to the crease after being felled by a Jofra Archer bouncer, telling ESPNcricinfo that they are “not cricket fans”.Smith’s return to Test cricket, after serving a year-long ban for his role in Australia’s ball-tampering scandal, has been spectacular, with matchwinning scores of 144 and 142 at Edgbaston last week, followed by yesterday’s 92 out in Australia’s first-innings total of 250.However, his visits to the crease have been greeted with a chorus of boos from some spectators who still maintain that he ought to be judged by his actions in Cape Town 18 months ago rather than his current exploits. And while Johnson believes they are broadly within their rights to do so, he felt that his reception on Saturday afternoon – as he resumed his innings on 80 not out after receiving treatment for two heavy blows to the neck and the left forearm – was beyond the pale.”One of the biggest disappointments for me was the crowd,” said Johnson. “Not the whole crowd, obviously, but a couple of boos could be heard through the effects mic, and that really disappointed me when he came back out to bat.”I don’t care what people say, they can say ‘yes, he’s a cheat and that’s why we’re booing him’, but that’s a load of rubbish to me. Yes, he’s done what he’s done, and you can boo him at the start of play when he comes onto the field if that’s how you feel. But for me, he’s taken a heavy knock – two heavy knocks – but he’s said ‘I can still bat here’. He’s braved up, he’s come through the concussion tests, and not many people would be able to do that.”Also read: Steven Smith blow brings cricket to a standstillJohnson, one of the few fast bowlers in recent Test history who was capable of bowling at the exceptional speed that Archer generated on day four of the second Test, also recalled the moment at Sydney in 2008-09, when South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith reappeared at No.11 in a bid to save the Test for his team, despite having had his hand broken by Johnson earlier in the match.”I remember in 2008 when Graeme Smith came out to bat, and the crowd were on their feet,” he said. “The majority of the fans here were, but for me, the ones that booed were not cricket fans.”Johnson, who had been commentating on Test Match Special when Smith was struck in the neck, recalled his unease at the incident, and said that he had sympathy with the England players – in particular Archer and Jos Buttler – who attracted some criticism on social media for appearing to laugh while Smith was receiving treatment.”I was on the radio when it happened, and I found it quite difficult to speak at the time because of the way Steve Smith hit the ground and lay there,” he said. “You could see he was moving around, but it obviously hurt him.”But what the England players did well was that Jos Buttler rushed straight up to him, and though Jofra Archer went back to the crease and rubbed his hands in the dirt, he then walked over to make sure he was okay.”In that situation they did everything they could as players. They made sure he was okay as best they could. They are not professionals in the medical world, so they have to leave that up to the professionals to make those decisions and sort that out.””There is a bit of stuff going around in social media about Buttler and Archer laughing and smiling, but you don’t know what they were laughing at, and for me they weren’t laughing at Steve Smith,” he added.”There was a bit of nervousness in the laughter. Archer was a bit shaken by it, he’s a cool character, really calm, but you could tell in his eyes there was a little bit of concern there as well.””But the game is played with the short ball,” Johnson added. “We saw Patty Cummins earlier in the Test going quite hard at Archer, so it’s expected in this game. There was nothing illegal about the delivery, I don’t think there was too much of it.”Speaking to Sky Sports before the start of the final day, Archer insisted that his primary aim had been to get Smith out, with a short leg and leg slip in place to combat his habit of working the short ball off his hip.”I honestly don’t know what I was thinking at the time,” Archer said. “Seeing someone go down, you don’t ever want to see anyone carried off on a stretcher, or you don’t want to see them missing a day, or a game, especially with what happened a few years ago [to Phil Hughes] as well. It’s never a nice sight.”Johnson agreed that England’s tactics were fair and appropriate, given the skill that Smith has displayed in the series to date.”How do you get Steve Smith out? We keep talking about it and England hadn’t tried that tactic of really going after him,” he said. “Unfortunately for Steve it has really rattled him up. He got hit on the arm first and he played a pull not too long after that he would not normally do. It definitely played on his emotions, his head, his skills. It’s part of the game and there’s been a little too much taken out of what’s happened out there today.”As a cricket watcher, I know everyone around the ground enjoyed that [battle], and even as an Australian fan back home, it would have been very exciting to watch a young up-and-coming superstar, going up against the best in the world, and getting the crowd riled up, and right behind him.”

Despite being the highest scorer in England’s world record total, Alex Hales knows he still can’t be sure of his place in the one-day side

Melinda Farrell20-Jun-2018It’s not often you hear a batsman muse that he isn’t guaranteed a place in his side after making almost 150 as part of a record-setting innings. So it speaks volumes about the strength of England’s current batting options that Alex Hales did so after his magnificent century in the third ODI against Australia.Hales’ blistering 147 off 92 balls was the highest score in England’s batting frenzy and yet, once Ben Stokes returns from injury, he still expects to be in a three-way battle with Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy for two positions in the top order.”To get a score like that at my home ground and get the record score is one of the days I’ll never forget in my life,” Hales said. “I don’t think my situation has changed much since yesterday [the day before the game] in terms of those two guys being ahead of me.”You’ve got Jonny who’s got four hundreds in five games and Jason, when in form, is one of the best players in the world. The situation stays the same for me. I need to keep knocking on the door and scoring as many runs as I can. Today was one step towards that.”It’s a nice problem for the selectors and the coaches to have: a squad as strong as we are at the moment, with the depth we’ve got, and guys not even in the 15 who are knocking on the door. It’s healthy competition and keeps everybody striving to improve.”To put together such an impressive team performance against a tough, strong nation. It’s probably our best ever team performance in terms of what we did with the bat and the way we fielded, and particularly the way the spinners bowled. It was as good as I’ve ever played in. A special day.”If Stokes is fully fit by the start of the India one-day series it gives Hales two more ODIs against Australia, then four T20Is to further press his claims.”I think that’s the situation I’m in,” said Hales. “It’s almost like what Jonny was in for a couple of years. Every time he got a chance, he scored a lot of runs.”Every opportunity I get is going to be gold dust moving forward. [It] was a great day for me but, again, it’s something I’m just building over the next couple of games.”The stunning victory at Trent Bridge was the second time Hales has racked up a major score in a record ODI innings for England at his home ground; he made 171 off 122 balls when England belted 444 for 3 to defeat Pakistan in 2016. At times, particularly during Hales’ partnerships with Bairstow and Eoin Morgan, it seemed possible that England could reach 500 runs. It’s a milestone Hales thinks this team can crack in the near future.”I think so,” said Hales. “The way the game is going now, the 50-over game has changed so much, even since the last World Cup. The standard has gone through the roof. There were murmurs of it when Morgan came out to bat between me and him today.”They bowled quite well at the death so it wasn’t to be today. It was as good a chance as we have. But who knows – the way the game has progressed in the last few years, there’s no reason why it can’t happen.”[There was] just a little tongue-in-cheek ‘today’s the day we’re going to do it – this is our chance’. When we got past the 444 we got last time, we had a little smirk to each other and said let’s push to that 500, it’s a great chance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.”

The Islamabad United coach believes his team can bounce back after a win and a loss in their first two matches of the 2017 PSL

Umar Farooq in Dubai11-Feb-20171:03

WATCH – Misbah-ul-Haq smashes 61 off 36 balls

Islamabad United coach Dean Jones said his side has “been through hell” over the last few days after two of their players, Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif, were provisionally suspended by the PCB as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged attempts to corrupt the 2017 Pakistan Super League. Three other players – Mohammad Irfan, who also plays for Islamabad, Zulfiqar Babar and Shahzaib Hasan – were questioned by the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit as part of the investigation.Sharjeel and Latif were suspended a day after the defending champions won the opening match of the 2017 edition, beating Peshawar Zalmi by seven wickets (D/L method). They lost their second match, however, on Saturday, going down by six wickets against Lahore Qalandars.”Emotionally and physically the team has been through hell,” Jones said after the match on Saturday. “All in all, we’re trying to prepare these guys coming into the match and it’s not been the best preparation, I’ll be honest with that. The boys came here, they wanted to get out here and have some fun and play. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked that way.”Irfan made way for Rumman Raees in the XI for the second match, while Asif Ali took Sharjeel’s place. Put in to bat, Islamabad made a solid start with a 73-run opening stand between Dwayne Smith and Sam Billings. They went on to score 158 for 7, with captain Misbah-ul-Haq hitting 61 not out off 36 balls.Islamabad United could not check Lahore Qalandars’ chase led by a confident Jason Roy half-century•PCB

Qalandars, however, chased down the target with 10 balls to spare. “When you lose, it’s always difficult,” Jones said. “It’s our first loss in seven games if you want to look back from last year to now. It was a big game for us in a lot of ways but it’s one and one [a victory and a loss in 2017], and we are in a position a lot of teams would want to be in.”The good thing is we’ve got a four-day spell now before our next game, when we go down to Sharjah. We’ll regroup, go out and enjoy each other’s company like we always do. It’s my job as a coach to remind them that we failed a bit today but we’re in a pretty good position.”Jones said that Misbah had been a calming influence on the side.”Misbah’s always calm, cool and collected,” he said. “He doesn’t give a lot of emotion away, that’s the good thing about him as not many people see the humorous side of him, but we’ve seen a bit of that over the past 24 hours to loosen things up. From our owners to Wasim and our senior players, it’s been a bit of a tough time but now we’ll regroup and we’ll get together and move on.”Can I just say well done to the PCB? I think they have handled everything over the past 48 hours really well. We’re here to keep this great game clean and we’ll do everything we can to do that.”

“Every second person asks me when the IPL will have a women’s edition. I hope it’s sooner rather than later,” says India Women’s captain

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2016Mithali Raj, captain of the India Women’s team, believes winning the World T20 in March-April could change the game in the country. Raj, speaking ahead of the limited-overs series in Australia, also revealed that she and Jhulan Goswami, the senior-most members of the squad, were approached to play for Adelaide Strikers in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Big Bash League, but had to turn down the offer because of the domestic commitments.”The T20 World Cup will be important in popularising the game. If we do well in it, it will definitely give birth to the women’s IPL,” Raj said at a press conference in Mumbai. “It’s not a bad idea. Every second person asks me when the IPL will have a women’s edition. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.”Women’s cricket in India seems to have taken a turn for the better in recent times. Central contracts were formally announced in November, with Raj being one of eleven women cricketers to receive a fixed yearly remuneration. Earlier this month, the Lodha Committee report called for a greater presence of women in the BCCI’s power structure, with representation in key decision-making bodies.Citing the example of the World T20, where the semifinals and finals are played just before the men’s game, Raj said the women’s game in India needed better marketing if it had to attract the kind of popularity the sport enjoys in Australia and England.”If you’d asked me this question three or four years back, I wouldn’t have known,” she said. “But this is an ideal time to promote women’s cricket through the IPL, because people are aware of it (professional T20 leagues). A lot is happening for women’s cricket at this point, with the contract system in place. The World T20 will be very important in terms of popularising the game more. The girls have responded well during the T20 games and one-dayers.”Raj, who will lead India in three T20Is and three ODIs during their two-week tour of Australia starting with a warm-up fixture against Governor General’s XI in Sydney on January 22, hoped the exposure against the reigning World T20 champions would toughen her side. Interestingly, Raj is just one of four players – Goswami, Punam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur and Thirush Kamini being the others – to have played international cricket in Australia.”Except two or three players, we do not have big experience, but the young side has worked together for the last two years. I am hopeful the young team will give their best on the tour,” she said. “We will be touring Australia for the first time since 2009. Though the wickets there will be different, with a lot of bounce, it will help us in preparing for the World T20. As a player, before playing the T20 World Cup, it is important to play in batting-friendly wickets and playing is Australia is the best option. The girls will get good exposure ahead of the big tournament.”With just two wins in nine matches, India are placed seventh out of eight teams in the ICC Women’s World Championship table. That means, the upcoming three ODIs in Australia are vital if India are to finish in the top four and earn a direct entry into the 2017 Women’s World Cup. Raj said, while the focus was on T20s, they weren’t losing sight of what they needed to do in the longer format.”The ODIs are also important as we won the last series against New Zealand but lost out a spot in the women’s World Cup on points. We need to be in the top four to qualify for the 2017 World Cup.”India kick off their tour of Australia, their first overseas assignment since the England tour in 2014, with a T20I double header on January 26, with the women’s game preceding the men’s match. The three T20Is will be followed by three ODIs.

New Zealand’s need to regroup after their Test defeat against England before the Champions Trophy has been made doubly difficult by the possibility that they will lose Trent Boult for the tournament because of injury

David Hopps at Headingley28-May-2013New Zealand’s need to regroup after their Test defeat against England before the Champions Trophy has been made doubly difficult by the possibility that they will lose Trent Boult for the tournament because of injury.Boult has carried the fight for New Zealand with 19 wickets at 25.47 in five Tests, home and away, against England, but his side strain is not responding to treatment and he will have a scan in London on Wednesday to assess the damage.”He’s not looking great,” New Zealand’s captain, Brendon McCullum, lamented. “He is still not moving that freely which is a shame because he’s been a revelation for us this season.”Until a fateful Sunday at Lord’s, New Zealand had pressed England all the way, but their capitulation for 68 in only 22.3 overs against Stuart Broad and James Anderson was an experience from which they never recovered.”Right up until that point our self-belief was very high and that ripped our hearts out and just started to create some self-doubt among us, which is a horrible thing in this game,” McCullum said. “That’s what unfolded in this Test. We still had periods where we dominated but they didn’t last long enough and the periods of England dominating seemed to last a lot longer.”We saw in this Test match England flexing their muscles and us not being able to respond. It’s incredibly disappointing. If you look back on the last five Test matches we’ve played some good cricket and taken some strides forward but it’s fair to say this one was a step backwards.”McCullum has seen enough to favour England in the Ashes later this summer. “England are red-hot favourites at home, their ability to swing the Dukes ball is huge,” he said. “Any team that plays at home is familiar with the surroundings.”There will be no overreaction to New Zealand’s batting failures if McCullum gets his way. He insisted that he retained faith in the potential of the group that, until the past ten days, had begun to promise a brighter Test future.”If you fast forward 18 months, we’ve got the makings of a very good cricket team,” he said. “I’m a big fan of protecting the people who have performed for a period of time and that’s what we’ve seen from this group of players. We’ve got the right mix and the right balance in this group and we need to keep improving as a team and smooth out some of our rough edges.”Brendon McCullum’s early dismissal helped England push on for victory on the final day•Getty Images

He dismissed suggestions that New Zealand, six down overnight, were caught on the hop when they did not bother with morning nets before the Test resumed under sullen Leeds skies. The forecast had left Leeds on the edge of a bank of heavy rain but it only suffered light drizzle and a delayed start and a couple of interruptions were not enough to halt England’s charge to victory.McCullum, one of the not-out batsmen overnight, fell early to a superb return catch by Stuart Broad, who dismissed him in all four innings in the series. After that, Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell chose to counterattack – Southee seems to know no other way – and then Neil Wagner and Boult sought to block. As rain was a constant threat, it seemed an idiosyncratic approach towards trying to save a Test.New Zealand’s emphasis now turns to the Champions Trophy. They have eight squad changes but the first player McCullum needs to consider when it comes to reintegration is himself. Having stepped in as wicketkeeper because of an injury to BJ Watling, he now has to decide whether to continue in the role or hand over the gloves to Luke Ronchi.”I’ve always said I’d never have any regrets through my career and that doesn’t change,” he said. “Obviously I wasn’t as fluent as I would like to be, like when I was 21, and I wasn’t able to contribute with the bat as much as I wanted, but it was a decision we made and I’ll stand by it. It didn’t affect my batting, I’d love to say it was an excuse for why I didn’t get runs but I can’t claim that.”The keeping role is something we need to talk about in the next 24 hours before we start to nail down the one-day team. It’s definitely up for discussion. Luke is definitely going to play as an opener. We need to work out what’s comfortable for both of us and the team.”

Mohammad Asif, one of three Pakistan players jailed for spot-fixing, will be released from Canterbury Prison early on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2012Mohammad Asif, one of three Pakistan players jailed for spot-fixing, will be released from Canterbury Prison early on Thursday after completing half of his one-year sentence, his has lawyer said.Asif, 29, was handed a jail sentence at Southwark Crown Court in London in November last year, along with team-mates Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir, after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments over deliberate no-balls bowled during the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010.”Asif’s release is a matter of few hours and I look forward to meeting him and helping him in his legal fight to restore [the] reputation he once had,” Asif’s lawyer Ravi Sukul told Pakistani TV channel Geo.Asif and Butt denied the charges against them in court while Amir, who was released in February after serving half of a six-month sentence, pleaded guilty. Asif received a seven-year ban (with two years suspended) from playing cricket by the ICC in February 2011. Butt, who is currently serving a 30-month jail sentence, was banned for ten years (with five suspended), while Amir got five years.Mazhar Majeed, the agent who was accused of setting up the deal that was uncovered by a newspaper sting operation, was imprisoned for 32 months.Sukul added that Asif could stay in England while he explores the possibility of launching an appeal. “I have a strong belief that if certain procedures had been applied in Asif’s benefit at his trial, they could have persuaded the jury to come to a different conclusion,” Sukul said.Asif has previously indicated that he will appeal the ICC ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. His appeal against his prison term was rejected last November by the Lord Chief Justice.

The qualifying stage would be held a few days before that tournament, which is aimed at giving a fourth IPL team a chance to play in it

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2011The IPL governing council is considering holding an additional qualifying stage for the 2011 Champions League T20 a few days before the main event, which would give a fourth IPL team a chance to play in it.”Fourth team may have the opportunity to play CLT20,” Sundar Raman, the IPL chief executive, tweeted on May 22. “But they need to play a qualifier tournament a few days before CLT20 with 3 other teams.”According to Raman’s twitter feed, the tournament proper is scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 9 in India. The qualifying event – if it gets the green light – will have to be shoe-horned into the tightly packed international schedule, in the week following India’s tour of England, that ends on September 16.When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, Raman did not confirm or deny there were plans for a qualifying tournament, saying in an email, “We will inform the media on the developments around CLT20 soon”, but a member of the Champions League governing council told ESPNcricinfo that the tournament would be formally confirmed at the end of the governing council meeting in Chennai on Sunday.Meanwhile the reported on Tuesday that the three other teams in the potential qualifier would be the domestic T20 champions from New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies, with the top two teams qualifying for the Champions League proper after a six-match tournament.If the qualifier were to take place, that would turn the Champions League into a 10-team tournament from a 12-team one. Three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa and one from England would have guaranteed spots in the event. The competition for the remaining two spots would leave at least one of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies without representation, with two countries standing to lose out if the fourth IPL team qualifies.According to the , one of the reasons for the qualifier is to make sure the strongest teams make it to the main event. Given the $1 billion ESPN Star spent on the television rights for the event, there is a concern about television ratings, which have been subdued compared to the IPL. So far most of the viewer interest has centered on the IPL teams, which is another incentive for more IPL participation.

Ajmal Shahzad could be in line to make his Test debut against Bangladesh at Old Trafford on Friday, following the foot injury to Tim Bresnan that ruled him out of the reckoning

Cricinfo staff02-Jun-2010Ajmal Shahzad could be in line to make his Test debut against Bangladesh at Old Trafford on Friday, following the foot injury to Tim Bresnan that ruled him out of the reckoning and created a fast-bowling vacancy in the side that won the first Test at Lord’s by eight wickets on Monday.Shahzad faces competition from Ryan Sidebottom, who was called into the squad following the announcement of Bresnan’s stress fracture on Tuesday, but having toured Bangladesh without being given an opportunity to play in either of the Tests at Dhaka or Chittagong, Shahzad is hopeful that this time he’ll get his chance to impress.”I’m ready to go, if the nod is given to me. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Shahzad told reporters at Old Trafford. “I hadn’t been involved with the England circuit at all, apart from with the performance programme in South Africa, so it was a big hit for me [to be picked to go to Bangladesh last winter] – and I really enjoyed it out there.”It was difficult conditions and made me wake up and think ‘not all wickets are going to be bouncy, quick – and it’s not always going to swing and seam’. You have to put some hard graft in and work at other areas of your game. I’ve learned a lot from being there and in the West Indies. I’ve got stronger shoulders from carrying drinks – but I’ve learned a lot ‘up here’.”If he does get to play, Shahzad is aware that all the focus will be on his colleague, Steven Finn, who ripped through Bangladesh with nine wickets at Lord’s, and seems sure to be promoted to take the new ball alongside James Anderson.”Finny’s come on the scene and performed superbly well,” said Shahzad. “Obviously, with his extra height, he’s got something to offer that Andy [Flower] likes. I’ve seen the boys progress, and what it takes at international level. So I know what I need to do. I think the only way I can really do that is out there on the pitch.”With the notable exception of Finn, Flower was critical of the performance of England’s bowlers at Lord’s, but seeing as many of the squad went into the match straight off the back of their successful World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean, a bit of five-day rustiness was inevitable.”We have just come off the back of a one-day competition so it will always be difficult to adjust,” said Shahzad. “There has not been a lot of red ball practice, but we saw Jimmy [Anderson] coming into a rhythm at the end of the first innings at Lord’s and Finny [Steven Finn] burst on to the scene and did very well. Bresnan had a bit of trouble but when he comes back from his injury he will be better for the experience.”One of Shahzad’s early challenges could well be to keep Tamim Iqbal under control, after he lit up Lord’s with a thrilling 94-ball hundred during Bangladesh’s second innings. Shahzad has previous in that regard, having bagged Tamim for a first-over duck during his ODI debut at Chittagong in March, but is under no illusions about the task that could await him.”I like the way he plays, and I would prefer someone to play like that rather than block against me,” he said. “It was nice to sit at home and watch him play. If I get the nod hopefully I can get him out early doors.”Tamim, for his part, credited his coach, Jamie Siddons, for giving him the licence and the confidence to bat in his own unfettered style. “When I started playing Test cricket I was in two minds whether to go slow or go fast – and originally I decided to go slow,” he said.”It was not working for me. My first 10 Tests were not good – I think I only got two fifties. The coaches said to play like I do in the ODIs and enjoy my batting – ‘We will not say anything to you’. I know the way I bat sometimes looks fantastic, and sometimes looks ugly, but I am happy with the way I play my natural game.”