Transcript
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015
S P ORTS
England face tough task to end World Cup jinx
Mashrafe Mortaza
Tamed Tigers hope to bite at World Cup NEW DELHI: Bangladesh will need a dramatic turn in fortunes to ensure another World Cup does not cause more misery after the Tigers endured a morale-sapping year in which they slumped from one defeat to another. Bangladesh failed to register wins for most of 2014 till fellow wooden-spooners Zimbabwe came calling at the end of the year and were duly thrashed 3-0 in Tests and 5-0 in the one-dayers. It was only Zimbabwe the Tigers had beaten, but fanatical fans in the South Asian nation celebrated as if the World Cup itself had been won. Bangladesh have struggled at Test levelwinning just seven of their 88 Tests since their debut in 2000 — but have always appeared more suited to the shorter format where they have recorded creditable wins. A five-wicket win over Australia at Cardiff in 2005 was their moment of glory till they knocked India out of the 2007 World Cup to move beyond the first round for the only time in the tournament. Bangladesh must beat at least one of the big four in pool A-co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England-and also win against both Afghanistan and Scotland to keep their quarter-final hopes alive. A mustwin scenario awaits them in the first match itself-against Afghanistan in Canberra on February 18 — because a loss like the one they suffered against the same rivals at the Asia Cup at home a year ago could prove costly. “The kind of squad we have, I am confident we can reach the quarter-finals,” Mashrafe Mortaza, who replaced Mushfiqur
Rahim as one-day captain last year, told AFP. Former captain and current selector Habibur Bashar wanted Bangladesh to aim big, saying it was not enough to target just Afghanistan and Scotland. “We should aim for winning at least three to four matches,” Bashar told AFP. “ The players should believe they can defeat any team in the group. On those true pitches Down Under, any total can be chased down.” The focal point of Bangladesh’s campaign will be the skillful 27-year-old allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has been the team’s mainstay ever since his international debut eight years ago. The left-hand batsman and left-arm spinner goes into his third World Cup as the topranked all-rounder in all three formats, a tribute to his consistency with both bat and ball over the years. Shakib is the only player in the team who has experienced Australian conditions recently, having turned out for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash Twenty20 tournament. Another player to watch is 22-year-old left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, who grabbed eight for 39 against Zimbabwe in Dhaka in only his third Test to record the best Test figures ever by a Bangladeshi bowler. Soon after, he became the first bowler in history to claim a hat-trick on his one-day debut, against the same opponents at the same venue. Competition will be tougher at the World Cup, but the exciting young talent could spring a few surprises. — AFP
Mohammed Tauqir
UAE old guard seek new breakthrough DUBAI: Skippered by a 43-year-old and with a 15-man squad featuring nine players over 30, the United Arab Emirates believe their status as no-hopers could work in their favor at the World Cup. The last of the 14 finalists to book their place at the showpiece event, the Gulf side are playing in just their second World Cup and first since 1996. Now, two decades on, the expat-driven squad hope to capitalise on their lowly status although the odds are stacked against them with defending champions India, 1992 winners Pakistan, two-time champions West Indies and favorites South Africa all in their group. Realistically, the best the UAE-whose players are all part-time and drawn mostly from Pakistan and India-can hope for is to try and scratch out a result against Zimbabwe and Ireland, their opponents in their first two games. Mohammed Tauqir, one of just three Emirati-born players in the squad, has been installed as captain replacing fellow 43-yearold, Pakistani Khurram Khan who had led the side for six years. Tauqir has played in 50 international matches, but just five ODIs. On his ODI debut, in the 2004 Asia Cup against India, he scored 55 off 73 balls and claimed 1-46 with his tidy right-arm off-spin. “If we put on a good show against Pakistan and India, that would be the icing on the cake,” said Tauqir, who has seen cricket develop in the Gulf state from a sport
played on concrete wickets on waste ground to international arenas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. “We are also targeting one or two wins. It’s a challenging but a realistic target. These players are capable of causing an upset.” Khurram Khan, who hails from Punjab and was born on the same day in 1971 as the captain, will be key to his team’s chances. Vice-captain Khurram has played 10 ODIs in his 11-year career but boasts an average of 53.37, a figure boosted by his undefeated 123 in a six-wicket win over fellow World Cup qualifiers Afghanistan in Dubai in November. The UAE won that series 3-1. Khurram’s score allowed him to surpass Sanath Jayasuriya as the oldest ODI centurion in the history of the game. The UAE are coached by former Pakistan fast bowler Aqib Javed, who played in the 1992 World Cup winning team. His input will be crucial for a side expected to struggle on the hard, bouncy pitches, particularly in Australia. Former Ireland captain Trent Johnston, who knows how to engineer a World Cup shock after his side defeated Pakistan in the 2007 tournament, believes the UAE attack will toil. “The bowling is a concern with only one true paceman in Mohammad Naveed,” said Johnston. “However, Manjula Guruge will swing the new ball and bowl well at the death.” — AFP
LONDON: England have never won the World Cup, despite hosting four tournaments, including the first three editions, while it is nearly 25 years since they last appeared in a final. They certainly won’t be among the favorites in Australia and New Zealand, where they will have to conquer longstanding problems of a lack of penetration with the ball and an inability to up the run-rate in the final stages of an innings if they are to beat the world’s top one-day sides repeatedly. But thus far England’s decision to ditch Test captain Alastair Cook, who had scored just one fifty in his last 22 one-day innings, from the World Cup squad on the eve of the team’s departure for Australia, and replace him as skipper with Eoin Morgan, appears to be working out. Ian Bell, who made a superb 141 in a threewicket defeat by Australia in Hobart last week, and Moeen Ali have formed a sound opening partnership in Cook’s absence. Meanwhile the new captain neatly evaded a verbal bouncer from Kevin Pietersen when the axed England batsman-playing in Australia’s domestic Big Bash Twenty20 tournament-said Morgan would “love to have me in the England team”. But if Pietersen’s comments about England have a certain predictable quality, recent revelations that Morgan had been the subject of a blackmail attempt by the current partner of his former girlfriend were bizarre. The England and Wales Cricket Board following talks with British police, contacted the potential blackmailer, who they said had “apologised”, with ECB managing director Paul Downton insisting the issue had been “brought to a swift conclusion”. Quite what it did for Morgan’s peace of mind is another matter, with the former Ireland batsman insisting it had no bearing on his duck in Hobart. On the field, it appears England are content to keep the big-hitting Alex Hales in reserve for the time being. With Bell and Ali putting on 113 for the first wicket in 18 overs in Hobart, before Joe Root helped Bell add 121 in 19 for the third wicket, the top order looks in reasonable shape. However, the final 10 overs yielded only 59 runs and it was in this instance that Pietersen’s absence left some England fans thinking of what might have been. “We played good cricket in stages...the last 10 overs let us down a little bit,” said Morgan afterwards in words that could be applied to so many of England’s one-day performances. England’s attack lacks extreme speed or
Eoin Morgan
sharp spin, although fast bowler Steven Finn showed signs of a return to form with five wickets in the recent Tri-Series win over world champions India. But that England were unable to defend a
total of over 300 against Australia in Hobart was a concern, especially as senior pacemen James Anderson and Stuart Broad, both returning from injury, had a combined return of none for 117 in 19 overs.—AFP
Lanka bank on Sangakkara and Jayawardene hit show NEW DELHI: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene will join hands for the last time in their brilliant careers to plot Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign, hoping to make amends for two successive heartbreaks. The missing link in the enduring partnership between the two 37-year-olds that started at the turn of the century is the absence of a World Cup triumph despite coming so near. Jayawardene was captain when Sri Lanka reached the final of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, only to see Australia cruise to a 53run win in near-darkness in Barbados. Four years later in India, Sangakkara was at the helm in the title clash when Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s home team inflicted a six-wicket defeat despite a magnificent 103 off 88 balls by Jayawardene. The two veterans, who go into the World Cup as the leading run-getters in one-day cricket among those still playing, took the setbacks in their stride and looked positively ahead at the future. “We may not have won those two tournaments, but reaching two successive finals showed we played consistently well,” said Jayawardene. “Hopefully we can cross the line this time.” Jayawardene will hang his boots after the World Cup, having already retired from Test and Twenty20 cricket last year to concentrate on his fifth appearance in the showpiece event. Sangakkara will also bid farewell to limitedovers cricket after the World Cup, but remains undecided about prolonging his Test career after enjoying a tremendous run with the bat in recent months. The World Cup gives both a last chance to bow out in a blaze of glory and the signs are already encouraging that this could be Sri Lanka’s year in Australia and New Zealand. In Sangakkara and Jayawardene’s final T20 appearance last April, Sri Lanka won the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh to end a drought of major titles since they took the World Cup in 1996. Angelo Mathews’ men won more one-dayers (20 out of 32) than any other team in 2014, including the Asia Cup title that also featured defending World Cup champions India and Pakistan. Sri Lankans dominate the run-getters’ list for the year gone by with left-handed Sangakkara leading the pack with 1,256 runs, followed by Mathews in second place with 1,244 and opener Tillakaratne Dilshan in fourth with 990. Unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis topped the bowling charts with 38 wickets, but still failed to make the World Cup squad as the selectors went with left-armer Rangana Herath and off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake instead. Sri Lanka will sweat over the fitness of
Kumar Sangakkara pace spearhead Lasith Malinga, who was history to claim three hat-tricks in one-day picked for the World Cup in a gamble by the internationals, is expected to be fit by the selectors despite being sidelined following tournament opener against New Zealand on an ankle surgery in September. The devastat- February 14, but is not guaranteed a place in ing sling-armer, 31, who is the only bowler in the side yet. — AFP
Pakistan cricketer plagued by ghost at team hotel WELLINGTON: Pakistan team management says cricketer Haris Sohail was left “visibly shaken” after a ghostly encounter in a Christchurch hotel room. Sohail fled what he believed was “a supernatural presence” which shook his bed at the Rydges Latimer hotel, taking refuge in the room of a team coach after the encounter earlier this week. Team manager Maveed Akram Cheeva said yesterday Sohail, 26, phoned a member of the coaching staff to say he had been woken by his bed being shaken. The coach rushed to Sohail’s room and found him shaken and feverish. Cheeva said management tried to persuade Sohail the fever may have caused a nightmare, but the player was adamant his experience was supernatural. The hotel’s management says it knew of “no active ghost” on the premises. Pakistan media reports said Sohail, an allrounder who has played nine one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals, was so “traumatized” by the experience he has been unable to train and was forced to miss a oneday warmup match against a New Zealand
President’s XI. Sohail took the field in a second warmup game in Christchurch on Tuesday and made 6 runs from 25 balls. Cheema said Sohail was examined by the team doctor after his encounter and found to be in good health. “He’s OK and he’s concentrating on cricket as he should be,” he said. “He had a fever. We think it was the fever that caused it but the player still believes his bed was shaken by something and it was a supernatural something.” Sohail joins an elite group of international cricketers who have had ghostly experiences. England fast bowler Stuart Broad switched rooms at London’s Langham Hotel last year after a ghostly experience. Broad told the Daily Mail newspaper he had woken in the night and “all of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off. Then when I turned the lights off again, the taps came on. It was very weird.” Australia allrounder Shane Watson fled to the room of teammate Brett Lee after becoming spooked in his own room at the Lumley Castle Hotel in England in 2005. — AP
