ICC investigates Dilshan, Fernando
The match-fixing scandal that has cast its shadow over the Pakistan cricket team moved to Sri Lanka on Friday with reports that its top batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan and fast bowler Dilhara Fernando had been investigated by the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).
Dilshan, who has played 63 Tests and 188 ODIs for the island nation, had been monitored by the ACSU for alleged links with a bookmaker, London's Daily Mail claimed on Friday.
With regard to Fernando, a Sri Lankan newspaper The Island alleged that he had been under ICC investigation for almost two years now.
However, the Sri Lankan board stoutly denied involvement of its players in match-fixing, saying the charges against Dilshan were “character assassination”, while insisting that Fernando had voluntarily disclosed an approach by the bookies to the ICC.
The Daily Mail had claimed that Dilshan was the player named in a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) report to ACSU last year after he was allegedly spotted with a suspected illegal bookmaker in a London nightclub.
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Injured Kaka eager to play again for Madrid
Kaka can’t wait to start playing again for Spanish giants Real Madrid, he has told the club’s official website.
“I am dying to play again. It is very difficult going to watch the matches because I want to participate and help in a direct way,” he said in an interview published on Friday.
The 28-year-old Brazil midfielder will be out of action until at least late November due to a controversial injury to his left knee.
On August 6 he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left meniscus, the second operation on the left knee within three years. What was controversial about the injury is that Kaka had not told Real that he had pain in the knee before going off to play for Brazil in the World Cup.
He performed poorly in South Africa — as Brazil crashed out in the quarterfinals — but should not really have been there at all, according to Marc Martens, the Belgian specialist who carried out the August operation.
“As soon as I saw him I could tell it was serious. His career was in serious danger,” Martens told sports daily Marca last month.
“He started playing with some niggling injuries and ended up with unbearable pains I understand that it (the World Cup) is a special competition and that there was pressure for him to play, but he pushed himself much too hard. He told me that he had been in a lot of pain.”
Martens added that “it could have finished his career because it’s a very serious injury — it could have destroyed him.”
Real paid AC Milan around 68 million euros (86.43 million dollars) in June 2009 for Kaka, making him the third most expensive player in football history.
He is clearly worried about the prospect of becoming one of the worst signings in Real history. The whites have replaced him with young playmakers Mesut Oezil and Sergio Canales, but Kaka is determined to regain his place in the team.
He is working six hours a day to get fit, and cannot wait to rejoin the squad in full training.
“It is my hands to play again and do it well,” he said. “Now I don’t have any pain in the knee. I am starting to smile again.” Kaka said people came up to him on the street to wish him well.
“That helps me a lot, it gives me motivation. The best way for me to repay this affection is to work hard in order to return as soon as possible,” he said.
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Impressive England sink Pakistan with minimum of fuss in opening ODI
The way in which England played yesterday, beating Pakistan by 24 runs in a match reduced to 41 overs a side because of early rain, suggests that just as with the Test side, selection is no longer a question of who to include but who should be omitted. Key players from the last series against Bangladesh are missing at the moment- Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen in particular- along with other fringe players such as Craig Kieswetter, James Tredwell and Ajmal Shahzad. They still managed to dominate the match, with Steve Davies playing with freedom, making 87 from 67 balls, while Andrew Strauss, with 41 from 45 balls, including 2 sixes, helped him add 78 for the first wicket inside a dozen overs, most scored at the other end to Shoaib Akhtar. Jonathan Trott's 69 from 78 balls was more considered, with only a single boundary in his fifty, but three more thereafter. This is not a criticism though, for brilliant one-day players such as Allan Lamb, Javed Miandad and Dean Jones constructed innings in this manner, opening up only in the latter part of an innings. Ravi Bopara's clean striking- 3 sixes in his unbeaten 35 from 27 balls- took the innings to an impressive 274 for six on what was an excellent one-day surface.
Pakistan's response brought 62 without loss before the twelve overs of power plays were out of the way, brisk but still adrift of England's 78 in that time. They never managed to get back up close to the rate as the England bowling chipped away. Graeme Swann, inevitably, put the brakes on as soon as the field was pushed out and claimed his usual first over wicket and the later one of the dangerous Kamran Akmal for 53, while Michael Yardy, with the key wicket of Mohammad Yousuf for 8, continues to astound with his capacity to bowl without getting clobbered by anyone whose name is not Cameron White. Because of Bopara's late surge England managed to score 85 from the last ten overs, which was going some. Pakistan needed 21 more than that and would have required a monumental effort from their best hitters, Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal , if they were to get close. Akmal duly made 43 from 33 balls before chipping an attempted scoop to the keeper but Afridi never got going. Hitting became more frentic as the run rate became stratospheric. Bresnan and Anderson, senior bowler's bonus, cleaned up, Pakistan finishing on 250 for nine.
It is the quality of the England team now that they can perform below their very best standard and still appear highly competent. Yesterday, it was the fielding, with Kamran Akmal surviving chances from successive deliveries- to Strauss at backward point, challenging, away to his right, but not outrageous; and to Trott at long on, which was more straightforward- and there was the occasional ground fielding fumble. England have still not mastered the art of hitting the stumps with their throws, missing maybe three potential run out opportunities from within the fielding circle while for Pakistan Umar Akmal managed to run out Tim Bresnan with a direct hit from the boundary.
The final selection process is going to be tricky when it comes to batting in particular. Both Strauss and Davies, in the key position at the top of the order, scored freely square of the wicket, with Strauss giving a brutal introduction to international cricket for the giant Mohammad Irfan, belting 15 from his opening over. But come the World Cup, experience on subcontinental pitches tells them that the capacity to hit the new ball in the air down the ground will be important. There is still not the evidence that either would find that easy to do. Some noses might yet be put out of joint.
The spin bowling looks settled now, although there is always the possibility that a third, Tredwell, could be included at the expense of a seamer. Shahzad's ability to reverse swing the ball may yet be a factor. Of the seamers Stuart Broad is going to have to develop, or at least utilise, some more subtle tricks than he showed yesterday, his bang-it-in philosophy, which can work well in the right conditions, leaking runs with no reward. Bresnan appears to have a better understanding of different roles in different conditions, and as he shows in Twenty20, is capable of bowling a tight line: four successive boundaries towards the end did not detract from a strong effort in which he kept his head well to help round things off.
