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Intikhab Alam was only offered the job as Pakistan coach after Javed Miandad turned down an offer of a fourth stint in the position. Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, said Miandad had been Pakistan’s first choice to replace Geoff Lawson, who was sacked as the coach on Friday.”Intikhab was our second choice after we first went for Javd Miandad,” Butt told . “But it was very good of Javed to tell us that he was not interested in the position and that he would rather help us in other ways in an advisory capacity.”Intikhab will first take charge of the team in Abu Dhabi but I hope that he will remain in the post for two years but this needs to be cleared by the board first. I know that Intikhab has an excellent rapport with the players and I am keen for him to take Pakistan cricket back to where it belongs, and to give us the success we should be having.”Miandad most recently held the coaching role from 2003 to 2004, when he was eventually replaced by Bob Woolmer. He had also been coach in 1998-99 and 2000-01. Intikhab has also had a previous spell as the team’s coach, from 1999 to 2000.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has named Mohammad Yousuf among the probables for the Twenty20 quadrangular tournament in Toronto, which begins on October 10 and features hosts Canada, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The board included Yousuf’s name in the list submitted to the Canadian high commission for obtaining visas.”Unfortunately, Yousuf missed the Twenty20 World Cup last September in South Africa and we have included his name in the list of probables. We hope that he will perform to a higher level in the national Twenty20 tournament and win a place in the national team,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told . “He is a world-class batsman and we want him to be part of the team as he would provide a tremendous boost. We firmly believe that he will put up a good performance in the national Twenty20 tournament.”Yousuf, 34, was in the middle of a controversy because of a possible move to the ICL and also for criticising the selectors for omitting him from Twenty20 teams. He has played 79 Tests and 269 ODIs, but managed only one Twenty20 international, in 2006 against England in Bristol.”I don’t think Twenty20 cricket is all about sloggers who hit out wildly. Even in this cricket you need a batsman who can play proper cricket,” Yousuf told . “Considering the easy wickets nowadays, getting seven to eight runs per over at the start is not that difficult and, towards the end, you can hit 15 to 20 runs per over.”Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar, who was earlier included in the provisional squad, will have to wait for his visa to play in the quadrangular tournament because the PCB failed to get a clearance for him. “He was in England playing for Surrey and we didn’t have his passport. So he has to wait. We will now send his name in the second list most probably,” a board official said.Shoaib is also awaiting the Lahore High Court’s decision, expected next week, over whether he can play for Pakistan without paying a fine of Rs 7 million imposed on him by the appellate tribunal of the board.Shoaib had publicly criticised the PCB for offering him a retainer rather than a contract in February, for which he was banned for five years. The ban was later reduced to eighteen months with the imposition of the fine, and then temporarily suspended by the High Court.The final squad of 15 is expected to leave for Canada on October 8.

A lingering heel injury has forced Matthew Hayden to consider his limited-overs future, but he says he still has the desire to continue in the format despite having to pull out of the series against Bangladesh. Hayden, who picked up the problem in April, said he was keen to keep appearing in coloured clothes – “at least for this summer”.”I really enjoy it so providing I can hold my spot I will definitely be playing more one-day cricket,” he told the Australian. “It’s not like I’ve played 300 games. I came late to one-day cricket and have played about 150 [161] games.”Hayden was the player of the 2007 World Cup and is the ICC’s one-day player of the year, but he will turn 37 in October and knows time is running out. “I want to finish off the desire I have to play one-day cricket without being selfish because it’s important the team has plenty of time to prepare for the next World Cup,” he said. “That’s still a long way off, but I won’t be ruthless about trying to push on. I don’t want to hang on too long.”Australia will have another look at the future during the three matches against Bangladesh in Darwin, starting from Saturday. Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin are contenders for the opening spots while David Hussey and Cameron White may also receive significant game time. The cancellation of the Champions Trophy has disrupted Australia’s pre-season, but given Hayden a greater opportunity to recover from the Achilles problem.”In the short term it’s disappointing, but in the longer term it’s really good because it gives me extra time to get right for India,” Hayden said. “India is a hugely challenging and iconic series. There have been a lot of distractions lately with the rise of Twenty20 cricket but the premium product is still Test cricket and one of the premium events is playing India.”

The watchman
Chaminda Vaas had to trouble India at least once during this series, but they probably didn’t think it would be with the bat. Sri Lanka’s decision to send Vaas, with a Test hundred and 13 fifties, as a night-watchman, itself did injustice to his talents. A night-watchman, in cricket’s definition, is “a non-batsman promoted up the order towards the end of a day’s play with the idea of shielding a recognised batsman in the final overs.” Until the penultimate delivery before stumps on day one, Vaas did just that, but on the second morning, he was every inch a top-order batsman. Beautiful drives, straight and square, were meshed excellently with a superb manner of leaving the good balls, and then, there were those authoritative pull shots. Ishant Sharma tried to unsettle Vaas with bouncers, but he swatted him for two boundaries. That was enough for Ishant not to try that again.Problems behind the stumps
Dinesh Karthik’s sloppy series with bat and glove – he dropped two catches at the SSC and one in Galle – earned Parthiv Patel his first Test since 2004. Parthiv didn’t drop any catches but he missed a few regulation collections behind the stumps. He had a couple of nervous moments on the first evening and his problems continued today. In the 11th over, he didn’t gather a ball cleanly, in the 13th, he made a mess of a regulation stop, in the 49th, he failed to gather one down the leg side, and in the 57th, he repeated the same mistake. Two of those slip ups were against pace and two spin.A burst of energy in the field
Rohit Sharma, substituting for VVS Laxman, who twisted his ankle, pulled off two diving stops in the afternoon. With Harbhajan Singh continually giving the batsmen room to cut, India needed to be sharp on the off side. Rohit, a rare ambulatory fielder in a side of paraplegics, flung himself around twice in the 38th over. Kumar Sangakkara rocked back and hit one firmly and Rohit dived to his right to stop the ball. Three balls later, Vaas did the same and he stuck out his left to deny a single.Seniors flounder
Unlike Rohit, India’s senior statesmen had a tough time in the field. Rahul Dravid is India’s only specialist catcher at first slip, but he failed to hold on to a tough chance offered by Sangakkara off Anil Kumble when he was on 34. Kumble was unlucky once again when Sachin Tendulkar, at backward square leg, could not hold on to an uncertain lunge from Vaas. Not only did Tendulkar drop the catch, he injured himself while trying to go for the rebound. Tendulkar then had to leave the field with his troublesome left elbow wrapped in an icepack.An unhappy captain
Kumble hasn’t done a very good job of trying to hide his views on the new umpire review system that is on trial this series, and after today, he might just give up altogether. Kumble asked for a review of an lbw decision against Thilan Samaraweera on the last ball of the 57th over. He bowled one back of length outside off stump and got it to slide in towards middle and off before it hit the inner part of the pad. Samaraweera looked gone for all money to the naked eye and on television, but third umpire Billy Doctrove backed Mark Benson. Virtual Eye showed the ball was skidding on rather than bouncing, hitting the top of middle stump, and in the dressing room, an injured Tendulkar put up his index finger. But the umpires clearly didn’t think so. A peeved Kumble spoke to Benson before taking his cap in frustration.One more man down
seemed to India’s theme today. After Laxman and Tendulkar, it was Ishant’s turn to take a fall. In the 73rd over, after being warned about running onto the danger area, Ishant fell to the ground while completing his follow-through, landing hard on his behind. The pain was immediately evident, but he had a word with Sourav Ganguly and went back to his mark. But Ishant soon pulled up clutching at his thigh and had to limp off the field.The final injury of the day
Ishant’s injury wasn’t the last instance of the day. Parthiv copped a hit on his nose on the first ball of the 91st over. It was rather nasty and Parthiv hit the deck hard, clutching his face. The ball from Kumble spat up and fortunately, missed his left eye. Out ran India’s physio, Nition Patel, who was the most in-demand Indian in Colombo, and he administered a face pack. Parthiv quickly had a swig of water and donned a helmet. India were forced to use their third substitute, Pragyan Ojha, and thankfully, there were no more additions to the injury list before stumps.

The proposed Pakistan Premier League (PPL) has been renamed the Twenty20 Super League, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced. The league, planned for September next year, was conceived following the success of the recently-concluded Indian Premier League.Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said the tournament will be modeled on the franchise system similar to the IPL.”We have had meetings with two international companies interested in the event and we are confident international companies will buy franchises in the Twenty20 league,” Ashraf said after a meeting of the board’s governing body in Lahore on Saturday.Pakistan have replaced England in the inaugural Champions League tournament in September and October this year after the Indian board imposed restrictions on English counties selecting players linked to the Indian Cricket League. The tournament features the top two Twenty20 domestic teams from Australia, South Africa and the winner and runner-up in the IPL. It is expected that the top two teams of Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament – proposed for August this year – will take part in the Champions League.The PCB governing body has also decided against sacking the Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson, following the team’s victory over India in the final of the Kitply Cup tri-series in Bangladesh recently. Lawson was earlier criticised for his team’s inconsistent performances since taking over last year.The governing body has also decided not to inquire into the sacking of Saleem Altaf, a senior board official, over allegations that he leaked sensitive information to the press. “The matter was discussed by the members and the body feels there is no need for further investigations in the sacking case of Altaf,” Ashraf said.A budget of Rs 3.9 billion for the current fiscal year has been approved, with plans to build 35 new stadiums in the country and renovate existing ones.

Although the ECB has told Cricinfo that no plans have been made to identify the two additional sides joining the 18 first-class counties in the new EPL, Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith had said that he does not expect his side to be one of them.It is widely believed that one slot will be filled by a team belonging to Allen Stanford, as part of his recent multi-million pound deal with the ECB. Despite media speculation that the other could come from Australia, county sources have indicated to Cricinfo that they believe the second side could come from the IPL for commercial reasons, assuming some deal could be agreed with the BCCI.”Ourselves and Ireland both applied to the ECB about being involved in the EPL but were unsuccessful in doing so,” Smith told The Scotsman. “For us it wasn’t to be, which is fair enough. The ECB are under no obligation to do anything for us.”

Family ties
Not since November 1978, when Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath played in the same XI, have two brothers represented India in an ODI. So when the Indians gathered to give Yusuf Pathan his cap before the start of Pakistan’s innings, it was a special moment. If he’d spent the dinner break doing his hair, the effort would have been wasted as his team-mates gave him the affectionate head ruffle before his brother Irfan embraced him warmly as the two walked out together.Should have just stayed in bed
Younis Khan had a shocking match right from the first over, when he grassed a straightforward chance at second slip to give Gautam Gambhir a reprieve on 4. He watched another ball fly past his left for four a while later but when Gambhir gave him an opportunity to make amends, Younis floored another simple chance in the cordon. Gambhir was on 29 and went on to make 62. It was about to get much worse for Younis. He came to bat in the third over of Pakistan’s chase and edged his first ball to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was his second consecutive duck, after having been run out without facing a ball against Bangladesh.The catch that wasn’t
After Younis had dropped two chances, Pakistan finally seemed to have got a breakthrough as Virender Sehwag edged Iftikhar Anjum to Kamran Akmal, who dived low to his right and held the catch with one glove. Or so they thought. After Akmal had thrown the ball up in celebration, Sehwag walked all the way to the boundary before a team-mate came out to tell him that replays showed the ball had touched the ground as Akmal completed his dive. Sehwag walked slowly back to the middle and after referring the decision to the third umpire, the on-field officials allowed him to continue batting. Sehwag promptly dispatched three of his next five balls to the boundary.One Royal against another
Sohail Tanvir and Yusuf were integral parts of the Rajasthan Royals’ IPL success story but in Mirpur they were on opposite sides. They had come up against each other once before, in the World Twenty20 final in Johannesburg when Yusuf scored one run off three balls from Tanvir. Today, Tanvir hit Yusuf on the pad twice in succession and each time roared an appeal for lbw. The first one was missing off stump but the second shout was terribly close.Reality bites
Wahab Riaz, Pakistan’s left-arm fast bowler, had a relatively easy baptism in international cricket against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. India was his first stern test and he had a mixed day. One of the catches Younis dropped was off his bowling and the Indian openers took 32 in his first four overs. He came back strongly in his second spell by dismissing both Gambhir and Sehwag, but Dhoni pummelled him for three fours in an over during his final spell. His outing ended prematurely when he fired a beamer at Irfan which went for four; he had already bowled a high full toss at Yusuf earlier and had to be taken out of the attack.All’s well that ends well
After Wahab was barred from bowling, there were four balls remaining in the 46th over. Tanvir and Umar Gul had two left and Shoaib Malik, whose dodgy shoulder prevented him from bowing, decided to give Tanvir the ball with Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina at the crease. The decision meant that a part-timer would have to bowl one over. Malik delayed giving the non-regular bowler an over until the 50th , by which time India had lost eight wickets. Younis bowled the final over at Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla, conceded only three runs and left with a massive smile on his face.The dirty ball doesn’t matter
The discoloured ball was difficult to spot from the press box as it streaked across the grass. In the 30th over of India’s innings, Yuvraj raised the issue of the ball being difficult to see with the umpire, but with the mandatory ball change just around the corner, his request was not met. It didn’t make much of a difference though, as Yuvraj managed to smack Iftikhar for a six over long-off in the 32nd over. We, in the press box, lost sight of it again.A painful free-hit
Riaz committed the only front-foot offence in India’s innings. His first attempt at getting the free-hit delivery right went awry and he sprayed it too wide outside off stump. The next attempt was spot on and the yorker crashed into Yuvraj’s boot off the inside edge. Yuvraj ran the single and then clutched his boot in pain at the non-striker’s end.

MELBOURNE – The Melbourne Cricket Ground is rated as one of the world’sworst three venues for crowd trouble and this shameful standing hasjeopardised future one-day matches there.But Shane Warne – the MCG’s favourite son – believes the Melbourne crowdsupports Australia with gusto and is far from the world’s worst.Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive James Sutherland todaysaid the MCG was rated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as oneof the worst three for interruptions in play, trespassing and poor crowdbehaviour.The ACB, police and the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) have urged fans tobehave at Sunday’s tri-series match between Australia and England aftermore than 30 fans were arrested and almost 500 ejected from matchesthere last summer.But Warne, who in 1999 walked onto the arena in thongs and shorts tourge fans to stop pelting English fielders with missiles, said the MCGmasses would be fine.”I don’t think the Victorian crowds are the worst in the world,definitely not,” Warne said.”I think the Victorian crowd and the MCG crowd are absolutelysensational. I think they get right behind Australia.”I think there’s one or two people all over the world, let alone inMelbourne, who take it over the top but as far as we’re concerned wejust want to worry about playing cricket on the field and hopefully thespectators come to watch some entertaining cricket.”The latest plea for good behaviour comes as the ICC considers banningtroublesome grounds from hosting one-dayers.”It’s pretty clear from the International Cricket Council’s point ofview that the MCG is in the worst three grounds in the world for crowdbehaviour based on the record in the last few years,” Sutherland said.”There is no doubt that the ICC have taken a much stronger view of poorcrowd behaviour and they will shortly be introducing the powers to bangrounds where they don’t meet the standards or they have a record thathas been inferior to the required standards in the past.”Hooligans will be on notice on Sunday with an increased police presenceearlier than on previous match-days.Patrons can expect thorough bag searches, tougher alcohol restrictionsand more dry areas and automatic ejection for throwing missiles.Warne said the MCG’s size meant there was a greater chance ofmisbehaviour, but he was confident of a good show on Sunday.”I am sure they will be fine,” he said.”One or two occasions, you look around the world, the West Indies have(people) running on the field.”In Australia, one or two people in the crowd, hopefully they don’tspoil it for everyone.”Cricket Victoria chief executive Ken Jacobs said stripping Melbourne ofits one-day internationals would have a disastrous affect on cricket’sgrassroots.”To lose the revenue streams obviously would have a big impact on thegame,” Jacobs said.Sutherland said the ICC’s list of troublesome grounds also included twoin India, where the recent India-West Indies series was marred bymissile-throwing, with one match in Rajkot abandoned after West Indianfielders were pelted with plastic water bottles.

Ottis Gibson has urged the Bangladesh bowlers not to panic if – and possibly when – they come under the cosh from England’s big hitters during Wednesday’s T20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi, explaining that the opponents’ aggressive style would offer chances for his side to pick up wickets.Related

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“We have to be on our A game if we want to challenge them and ultimately win the game,” Gibson, the team’s bowling coach, said. “We know that England are a very powerful batting line-up. The key is to be accurate with what we deliver, and back ourselves. We know they will come out hard, but they also give you chances.”The message is not to panic. Understand that you will get hit off a good ball. That’s their mentality. But they also give you opportunity to take wickets. We must be calm to execute our skills and plans, and considered about every ball we bowl.”England beat West Indies convincingly in their opening game but lost four wickets on their way to chasing down the paltry 56-run target in Dubai. Bangladesh have never faced England in T20Is, so they will bank a lot on Gibson’s knowledge of the opposition from his time working with them. But on the subject of “chances”, it is hard to forget how Bangladesh’s last match panned out, when Liton Das dropped Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Charith Asalanka at a crucial stage of the game.Bangladesh have dropped six catches in the tournament so far, but Gibson tried to play down the misses. “One or two catches get dropped in every cricket match. Obviously when the catches play a part in the result, it is highlighted more but we do a lot of catching practice,” he said. “When the guys are out in the middle under pressure, mistakes like catches going down happen. I won’t say it is a concern.”Gibson said that the coaching staff had been fully supportive of Liton, who has also been in the middle of a lean run with the bat, and was also fined for an argument with Lahiru Kumara during the game.”He is one of our best fielders. The fact that a couple of catches went down doesn’t diminish what he contributes to the team. Of course, anybody can drop a catch. It is highlighted because those catches, you can argue, contributed to the result,” Gibson said. “He has been one of our key players for a while. The reality is that any other fielder in that position could have dropped those catches as well. We remind him of his quality, and that he is a key player for us. We support the player, whether it is Liton Das or any other player.”Bangladesh also haven’t got the best from Mustafizur Rahman, who took a four-wicket haul against Oman, but has looked off-colour at times.”Fizz is a key bowler for us in any conditions. His cutters are more effective in Bangladesh but one thing I like about him is his ability to adjust to conditions very quickly,” Gibson said. “He is key especially in the backend of the innings, but he can also swing the ball back in now. We have worked very hard on it. He is a weapon for us with both the new and old ball.”

Umar Akmal, the Pakistan batsman, believes he can revive his Test career despite not having played the format for nearly six years.Akmal, 26, had made his Test debut at the age of 19 in 2009. He scored a century in his first innings but did not make another one in his next 15 Tests and was not picked again in the format after September 2011. He had scored 1003 runs in 30 innings, with six half-centuries, and averaged 35.82.Akmal was of the opinion that his batting style was suited to the way Test cricket is played presently. “I still wonder what I did wrong and where I went wrong to be dropped from Test side,” Akmal said in Dubai, where he is playing for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL. “They only dropped me saying that I am not suitable for Test cricket because I don’t hold back, which is required in Tests.”But the approach to playing Test cricket has changed over the years. Now teams score 350 or so in one day and matches hardly go into fifth day. I was playing the very same brand of cricket, which was actually evolving at that time, but I was dropped because I play fast and not the conventional way. Was that my mistake? If so, then the whole world has now adapted this modern form of cricket in Tests as well.”Around 2010 and 2011, Akmal’s form dipped and subsequently he began to make headlines for discipline problems. His limited-overs form began to suffer as well and he has only two centuries in 105 ODI innings and eight half-centuries in 77 T20I innings. His flashy shot selection was a point of much debate. Akmal’s duck against Peshawar Zalmi on Sunday was his 24th in the format – the most in T20 cricket.Akmal, however, said that his position in the batting order adversely impacted his ability to play long innings and score big. He preferred to bat up the order but was kept in the lower middle, often having to play the low-percentage role of aggressor towards the end of an innings.The recent 1-4 defeat in Australia was Akmal’s first ODI series since the 2015 World Cup. He made 131 runs with a high score of 46, having batted one innings at no. 5 and four at no. 6.”I am not careless, just playing my natural game,” Akmal said. “If I am asked to score ten per over then what you expect from me? Should I play for myself, score at five, and let the run rate mount on my team? No, I rather go out, play big, and try to achieve my team’s requirement. And we all know where I play [in the batting order], at which number. People often compare me with other batsmen but why don’t people realise that the number I bat at is critical and there is the burden of extra responsibility.”I still try to help my team out of pressure situations by pushing back the opponent, but sometimes I am not able to do so. But my intentions are clear that I want to play for my team according to the requirement and will play my shots.”Another issue is Akmal not satisfying the PCB’s standards of fitness, on which there has been greater emphasis over the last three years. At his previous assessment, Akmal was weighed at 91kg and his fat-level reading was 115.6 – anything over 100 is considered high. Akmal, however, defended his fitness levels.”If you talk with different players around the world, some are slightly bulky and some are smart in physique, but that doesn’t mean weight defines their actual fitness,” Akmal said. “I don’t remember going off the field in a game, or conceding a second run. I am energetic in the field and my running between the wickets is fine as well.”So what exactly do you expect from me? To be smart and thin, why? I can quote you many examples in which those players are theoretically fit but cannot even clear the circle. I have a natural body and if I try to reduce it I may lose my strength for power hitting.”