WASIM AKRAM UPDATE | SAYING OF WASIM AKRAM

'I'm fed up with the attitude of the senior players'

Who should ultimately take responsibility for the fact that the Pakistan cricket team is often riddled with infighting? 
The cricket board and the team management. If you can't handle players, you have no business being in the cricket board. It's simple. You announce the captain and then you back that captain. There's no point announcing a captain for one series, because then the vice-captain will make sure he's got his own bunch ready. Instead of waiting for their turn, they want their turn. That's a problem. Naming a captain for one series means that everyone thinks they have a chance if the current captain fails or the team fails. So what we need is a strong captain who can be there for at least a year to start off, and then see how it goes.

Did the PCB miss a beat, then, by not backing Younis Khan after he led Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title? 
Younis is such a nice guy and a gentleman. But resigning twice from the captaincy of Pakistan is also not right. Being the leader you can't get upset about small things. You need to address the problems you face, not run away from them. That's what Younis has been doing, and now that's what Afridi did. Twice he retired, twice he came back, jumping the gun without thinking of what happens tomorrow.

Afridi came back to Pakistan with big hoopla, lifted on people's shoulders, saying he was going to fight back. And what happens? He goes to the committee - and he should have gone to the committee hearing the first time, but didn't go. Then he gets fined and everything is hunky dory now. So this kind of behaviour causes us to lose respect among the world's cricketers. Constantly retiring and coming back from retirement is not a joke. I'm also fed up with the attitude of some of the senior players. There's a saying in Urdu, "Taali do haath se bajti hai" (in essence: "It takes two to tango"), so if the players do these things then the cricket board will be annoyed too.

If Misbah-ul-Haq is now captain, let him be captain as long he wants to play.

Some of Pakistan's best players, like Abdul Razzaq, seem to have lost their way. When you were his captain he looked poised to become one of the game's great allrounders. Whose fault is it that a player like him never reached his true potential? 
I think the responsibility lies with the players. They had people to look up to and learn from, not just me but Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq. And they did learn, but they didn't follow through. The goals were not there - the idea that "I will become the world's best allrounder", like Jacques Kallis had. Razzaq had all that talent, but he wasn't strong mentally.

The same goes for Shoaib Akhtar. Shoaib's retired and now no one talks about him. If people do talk about him, they say he was one of the quickest, never that he was one of the greatest. There's a difference. So I would say that these players had all the talent but their goals weren't big enough. That's what I think. Even Afridi, his batting could have been devastating.

Speaking of Afridi, were you surprised that there's been talk of an issue between him and the coach Waqar Younis? 
Not at all. It was a matter of time. The problem in Pakistan is that the coach wants power. Why does a coach need power? He's there to coach the team and support and assist the captain. He can't be above the captain. Prime example: Gary Kirsten was the coach of India for three years. I hardly saw him on television. He was never in the forefront. He was always behind the scenes, and that's how coaches should be. I don't understand why a coach wants power when it's the captain who has to do battle on the field, and it's the job of the coach and the vice-captain to support the captain. We don't have that mentality. I really don't understand why the coach needs a say in the composition of the playing XI.

	"Constantly retiring and coming back from retirement is not a joke. I'm fed up with the attitude of some of the senior players. There's a saying in Urdu, "Taali do haath se bajti hai", so if the players do these things then the cricket board will be annoyed too"

I'm coaching in the IPL and I'm there to support the captain. If the captain says I want A, B or C, that's what he'll get. Obviously if I'm asked for advice I'll tell the skipper what I think is the difference between two players. If he still thinks that player A is better suited than player B for a particular game, then I support that decision. That's what coaches should do in Pakistan as well.

What are your impressions of cricket in Canada?
The interest in cricket is immense. I was in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, and I've seen some talent. Obviously you can't teach it all in half an hour. The idea is for it to be something long term, and I hope to be back in Canada to follow up on what I've told the young guys. I think there should be regular sessions here, not one-offs, if one is trying to help cricket. The Royal Bank of Canada [RBC] has taken the initiative to do this and I hope that they continue calling on top players to come and have a look [at Canadian talent] and guide them how to train and compete at the highest level.

How does raw Canadian talent stack up against that of a Test-playing country? 
The talent exists. The problem here is that there's no stress on fielding. The grounds are very heavy, the wickets are matting. If cricket is to grow here, the infrastructure has to improve. I'm encouraged by the level of interest here. There are so many teams, so many leagues. But what brings it down for me is the politics that I've been hearing about from people all around.

Are there some things that you just can't teach a player - either they've got it or they don't? 
No, you can actually teach a cricketer between the ages of, say, 18 and 28. These guys can learn, but they need guidance. Somebody has to tell them what needs to be done and how to do it. How much they should exercise, how much they should bowl. You can't bowl for 15 minutes on Saturday and Sunday and improve your bowling. You need to bowl at least five days a week to improve.

You've been generous in helping fast bowlers around the world with advice, be it Irfan Pathan or Mitchell Johnson. What is the reaction in Pakistan to that? 
I owe this much to cricket. If any youngster comes up to me and asks me for advice, I have to give it. I can't say, "Sorry, you're not Pakistani." For me every cricketer is from one fraternity.

Turning to Pakistani talent, you recommended Junaid Khan to your former county, Lancashire. What do you see in him? 
Junaid is talented. He's one of the highest wicket-takers in domestic cricket. He bowls an away-swinger to right-handers, but he's a left-armer. He just needs to bring the ball back in to the right-hander and he'll be as lethal as any bowler in the world. I'm looking forward to seeing him bowl when I'm in Manchester and having a talk with Mike Watkinson, the director of cricket at Lancashire, about Junaid's progress.

	"Amir should come back. It will show that, yes, he made a mistake, he was punished, and he has been forgiven"© Associated Press Enlarge

You must have been very disappointed about Mohammad Amir's career going off the rails? 
Yes, very disappointed. What a talent. He was just starting to become an incredible bowler, someone who can bat, and a tremendous fielder. He had both swing and reverse-swing, he had pace. It's very disheartening to not see such a talent playing cricket right now.

Do you think he can come back if he's out for five years?
I hope so. He's only 19 or 20 years old. He should come back. Everybody makes mistakes. He was very young and he did get punished for it. Once he finishes his ban we should have him in first-class cricket straightaway and then into the Pakistan team. It will show that, yes, he made a mistake, he was punished, and he has been forgiven. We have to then move on. It will be tough for Amir, but knowing him, he'll practise every day.

When you joined the Kolkata Knight Riders, Pakistan had just won the World Twenty20 title. How did you feel that there weren't any Pakistanis playing in the IPL? 
I was disappointed. They were the world champions and there were some very good players in that Pakistan side. I think eventually the IPL has to have them back, because these guys are really good. We have two or three players who are excellent for the format. Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Afridi - these are all game-changers. It's not about being Pakistani - just as a cricketer I'd want to see these guys because they can make a difference to any team. Afridi has shown it for Hampshire, that he's still a lethal player.

Leaving aside the matter of financial benefit to the players, is T20 good for cricket? 
T20 should be taken as entertainment. You can't pick up a player's quality from it. That has to come from Test cricket. The aim for players should be to play Test cricket, not just T20. If you're good at Test cricket, every other format will follow automatically. That's what we have to instill in youngsters coming in. The IPL is new and everyone is learning, even owners and administrators. They need players for the long run, not just for T20. They know that eventually they need players to play for India. If you play for your country after a good IPL performance then it shows that the IPL is the top private tournament in the world.

How has the IPL experience been for you personally? 
It's been exceptional for me, especially the team I'm working with. The captain, Gautam Gambhir, and the coach, Dav Whatmore, have been very professional and very thorough, and the owner of the team Shah Rukh Khan has been exceptional as far as his leadership is concerned. He knows cricket but he stays quiet, letting the specialists handle what's their forte. So if anything comes up in marketing, he'll handle that, but if it's cricket, then he leaves it up to Gautam, Dav and myself. I believe that's why the team has really gelled well this year. I'm really enjoying myself. This year was incredible fun. We've got players like Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Brett Lee, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan. These guys were incredible. For me it felt like I was coaching a national team - the players were so together and so eager to win. When that happens in any team, it's a great sign and always fun.

Wasim Akram was in Canada recently to help promote cricket under the auspices of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

Cook proves everyone wrong | alaistar cook updates | support for alaistar cook

Team-mates tell traumatic tales of the one-day captain's strange new behaviour

The media were greatly impressed by Alastair Cook's batting during the recent one-day series against Sri Lanka. At first, his team-mates were too, but over time the changes in Cook started to rub people up the wrong way.

I interviewed a few of the players about what has happened to their new one-day captain over the last few weeks. Understandably, given what follows, none wished to be named.

Player A described how Cook had developed a taste for proving people wrong.

"It started with that comment of Mike Atherton's, where he accused Cook of being a plodder. He came up to me after he'd read that and said: 'Listen, Broady, I'm going to make Athers eat his words. Just watch me.' At the time, I was quietly impressed with his resolve."

As we all know, Cook did indeed prove that he was a more expansive batsman than hitherto suspected, and maybe if it had ended there, all would have been okay. But it didn't. Player A continues the story.

"It was like he had to prove people wrong all the time. He started taking real delight in it. One time, me and Belly were chatting about the Tour de France, and we were disagreeing about how you pronounced 'maillot jaune' and Cooky couldn't help but stick his oar in."

Player B takes up the story.

"Cooky went and got some French bloke and brought him into the changing rooms and asked him to talk about the Tour. Every time he said 'maillot jaune', Cooky pointed at the guy and made faces at me and Broady like we were thick of something. It was pretty annoying."

Player C also suffered.

"Every time we opened the batting together, he'd start asking me questions. It was always geography stuff like 'What's the capital of Burkina Faso?' and he'd just go on and on at me. After the match, whether we'd won or lost, he'd come up to my hotel room with an atlas and go through the answers. He was really mean about it. He'd say: 'The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou, you idiot. Don't they teach you stuff like that in Johannesburg schools, Craig?' He made me feel really small. It was really nasty."

Player D describes just how far Cook went.

"By the time we got to Manchester, he'd invented this superhero persona called The Disprover. He even got a cape made, with a massive D on it. He'd wear it to breakfast where he'd start tossing a coin. One of us had to have heads and another tails. Whoever was wrong, he'd get right in their face and say: "You were wrong. I proved you wrong. I am the Disprover. Feel my wrath." And then he'd pinch them on the arm. It was really, really irritating."

Is Player D worried that this might go further?

"Oh yeah, definitely. I'm pretty sure he's getting a whole Disprover outfit made, and I saw him ordering a pop music quiz book on the internet the other day. I think he's got something planned for Straussy in the Test series. Mark my words, this'll end badly or my name isn't Graeme Swann."

Player E interjected at this point.

"He'll prove you wrong on that one as well, Swanny."

Player E then added: "I'm Jonathan Trott," for no reason that I could discern.

WC team felicitated; Sachin, Durrani honoured

  Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar and former all-rounder Salim Durrani bagged top honours, while the World Cup winning Indian team led by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was felicitated by the Cricket Board at it annual awards function this evening.

Tendulkar was bestowed with the `Polly Umrigar Award for India`s best cricketer of 2009-10` and received a trophy and cheque for Rs five lakh, while Durrani was felicitated with the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for which he received a trophy, a cheque for Rs 15 lakh and a citation.

Members of the World Cup winning Indian team were felicitated and presented cheques worth Rs two crore each by BCCI president Shashank Manohar and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.

The support staff of the team too were honoured and presented cheques of Rs 50 lakh each as declared by the Cricket Board earlier.

However, former coach Gary Kirsten, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and bowling consultant coach Eric Simmons were absent.

Among those present were members of the 1983 World Cup winning squad, including then skipper Kapil Dev, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma.
On the occasion, Dhoni thanked fans for supporting the team and said that winning the coveted trophy after 28 long years was a proud moment.

"I thank all of you for the support we got throughout the World Cup. Hundred crore people supported us in the country as well as outside. It was a great moment for us.

"When you play for the country, the one thing you want to win is the World Cup. It is a proud moment for all of us. The victory was achieved thanks to the combination of experienced players and youngsters. We exploited the conditions really well. It was a great moment."

After receiving the best Indian cricketer award, Tendulkar thanked his team-members and also lauded the role played by Dhoni and the support staff in India`s second World Cup win.

"Indeed its a great honour to win the Polly Umrigar Trophy once again. I won it few years ago. It wouldn`t have been possible without the support of the Indian team members who are all here. I congratulate the team for becoming number one in Tests which was our dream followed by something
absolutely magical less than two months ago... We won the World Cup.

"It was a combined effort of all the team members and superb leadership exhibited by Dhoni. I also want to thank the support staff. They worked very hard and planned very well. We executed the plans and the results came," he said.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar, who has completed more than two decades in international cricket, scored 1064 runs from 10 Tests at an average of 82 during 2009-10 season. The fine performance included a double hundred and five centuries.

He also scored 695 runs from 12 ODIs at 69.5, inclusive of the first double hundred in ODIs by a male cricketer.

Durrani, who represented India in 29 Tests scoring 1,202 runs at an average of 25 and took 75 wickets, recalled the exploits of Col. Nayudu in a domestic match that he played while representing Rajasthan in 1958.

"I played against Colonel Sahab for Rajasthan. He was representing Uttar Pradesh in the match at Benaras and made 84. In our team we had great bowlers like Subhash Gupte and Vinoo Mankad, and top batmen like Vijay Manjrekar and myself.

"He (Nayudu) hit three sixes, two of them off Mankad over the roof, and the other of Gupte. I still remember that. Its an honour to get the award and I thank the BCCI for it," said Durrani, one of the most popular cricketers of his time who was known to hit a `six on demand`.

After representing Holkar for many years, Col. Nayudu was associated in a coaching role with Uttar Pradesh and had played that match.

In his address, Manohar congratulated Dhoni`s team for becoming the number one Test team in the ICC rankings and for winning the World Cup after 28 years.

"We are all proud of you. It was in 1983 under Kapil Dev that we won the World Cup and proved that India can do it. And it was MSD`s team that did it on April 2nd this year and fulfilled the dream of every Indian," he said.

K Hariharan was named as the `Umpire of the Year` and was presented with a cheque of Rs 50,000.

The other awardees (October 2009-September 2010):

Madhavrao Scindia Award (Highest Scorer in Ranji Trophy): Manish Pandey.

Madhavrao Scindia Award (Highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy): Abhimanyu Mithun

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-16 cricketer): B Aparajith.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-19 cricketer): Bhargav Merai.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-22 cricketer): Nataraj Behera.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer): M D Thirushkamini.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer junior): Reva Arora. 

Federer breezes into last four clash with Djokovic

Paris: Third seed Roger Federer sealed an eagerly-awaited French Open semi-final clash with world number two Novak Djokovic after gliding past Gael Monfils 6-4 6-3 7-6 on Tuesday.

The Swiss has not dropped a set at Roland Garros so far this year and although there were a few chinks in his armour, he was ruthless when break points arose and Court Philippe Chatrier had to applaud the 2009 winner rather than Frenchman Monfils.

The ninth seed broke first when Federer double faulted only for the world number three to storm back amid blustery conditions and secure the set when Monfils sent a wild forehand wide.

They exchanged breaks again early in the second but Monfils, who smashed his racket into the ground, then double faulted to gift Federer the set before the 16-times grand slam champion easily wrapped up victory in the tiebreak. 

Eng to reclaim 2nd spot in ICC Test rating

Dubai: England`s stunning victory against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Cardiff has kept it on course to reclaim second position on the ICC Test Championship table for the first time in more than three years.

Although the Test Championship table will be updated only at the end of the series, a 3-0 series win will put England one ratings point ahead of South Africa. England last occupied the second position in November 2007.

England players Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, who engineered the stunning an innings and 14 runs victory over Sri Lanka, also achieved their career-best rankings in the list released today.

Swann, who bagged 4-16 in the second innings to finish with figures of 7-94, has strengthened his second position on the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, which is still headed by Dale Steyn of South Africa.

Tremlett, who claimed 4-40 in the second innings to earn match figures of 5-121, has gained seven places and is now on a career-best ranking of 27th.

Among the Test batsmen, man of the match Jonathan Trott, who scored 203, has moved up one place to join former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara in third position.

Ian Bell was also rewarded for his innings of 103 not out with a jump of three places to the 18th position for the first time in his career.
Skipper Alastair Cook also earned 15 ratings points for his innings of 133 which has put him on 818 ratings points and just 38 points behind the pair of Trott and Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka opener Tharanga Paranavithana and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardena moved up one place to 44th spot and six places to 51st position respectively.

Murray battles past Troicki in rolled-over match

Paris: Fourth seed Andy Murray battled into the French Open quarter-finals by beating Viktor Troicki 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5 on Tuesday after the pair returned to court for a one-set shootout.

Play was suspended late on Monday due to bad light after Murray, carrying an ankle injury, had fought back superbly to level the match at two sets all.

Troicki was angered at the start of the sixth game of the last set when a ball boy inexplicably ran on to the court right in front of the Serb as he was winning the point with a smash.

The umpire ordered them to replay the point which Murray won, leading to more rage from Troicki and boos from a crowd sympathetic to the blushing boy.

In the end it did not matter as Troicki went on to break the Briton the same game but the 15th seed lost his serve twice, sending a backhand into the net on the key point as Murray sealed a last-eight clash with Juan Ignacio Chela.

Chance for youngsters to step up and perform: Raina

Mumbai: Stand-in India captain Suresh Raina feels that the absence of senior cricketers during the ODI series in the Caribbean will be an ideal opportunity for those who did well in domestic cricket to show their performance at the international level.

"It`s a great opportunity for the youngsters who have done well in domestic cricket. I hope they will do well," said the 25-year-old Raina at the pre-departure media conference of the team on Tuesday sitting alongside newly-appointed chief coach Duncan Fletcher.

The Indian team will be playing in the ODIs without Gautam Gambhir, prolific opener Virender Sehwag, man-of-the-tournament in the World Cup Yuvraj Singh--- all of whom are out with injuries. Regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and senior pacer Zaheer Khan have been rested keeping in mind the gruelling two and a half month tour of England that starts in July.

"I am really honoured to be leading the side. I am happy with the side as we have some very good batsmen in Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan all of whom have done well in first-class cricket.

"Badrinath especially has done well in first-class cricket and deserves to be in the team. I hope we will do well in the West Indies," said Raina who will hand over the reins to Dhoni when he returns for the three-Test series to be held after the conclusion of the five ODIs.

The Indians start the tour with a lone T20 international at Port of Spain on June 4.

Coach Fletcher said he had followed the rotation system when he was the England coach and received criticism from the authorities.

The burly Zimbabwean wants to go slow about this supposed rotation policy.

"While I was in England, I started the rotation policy resting senior guys. I was heavily criticised by the English authorities. It`s important to do that considering the heavy schedule. We need to look into the matter as we go into the future," said the Zimbabwe-born Fletcher for whom it will be his first assignment as the Indian team`s coach after taking over from his protege Gary Kirsten after the World Cup.

"There is a lot of talent in India and my job is to prepare these youngsters. It`s a pleasure to blood them in ODIs," said Fletcher.

Asked about the club-versus-country debate, Fletcher said it`s not specific to cricket.

"That`s the way it is in modern day sports. We have to ensure that all the players are fit enough," he said.

Raina said the Indian team had done very well over the last three years, having climbed to the top among Test nations and winning the World Cup after 28 years.
"There`s always pressure and we have done well under pressure. We have done well over the last three years and have won the World Cup. It`s for us as players to execute the plans of the coach well. We have to play our natural game," he said.

Fletcher did not see the trip as an easy outing though the West Indies are not the same force they were in 70`s and 80`s.

"Any team playing at home is difficult to beat. We should not be complacent," said the new coach who said he intended not to look too far ahead in his job.

Fletcher admitted that beating England and Australia in their den will be the biggest challenge but as of now the focus is on the Caribbean tour.

"Yes, we would like to beat England in England and Australia in Australia. But the first job is the tour of West Indies. It`s very important not to look too far down the road. India have a plan to stay at the top. The young players have the potential and this tour will show the depth of talent we have," he said.

Raina said the West Indies had some good all-rounders in Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo.

Asked about the likely return of Chris Gayle after the first two ODIs for which he had been left out, the southpaw said his team has Ravichandran Ashwin to counter the threat from the West Indian opener.

"We have Ashwin. It`s a good challenge for us," said Raina about his Chennai Super Kings teammate`s success-rate in the just-concluded IPL against Gayle.

He credited Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Dhoni for learning the ropes of captaincy.

"I learnt a lot about captaincy from Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Dhoni. They have captained with a lot of honesty," he said.