All posts by csb10.top

Australia’s vice-captain David Warner is one demerit point away from a ban after he accepted a level two charge from the ICC for his part in the stairwell confrontation with Quinton de Kock in Durban.De Kock, however, has contested the level one charge against him and will attend a hearing – along with South Africa captain Faf du Plessis and manager Mohammed Moosajee – in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday evening. Match Referee Jeff Crowe will adjudicate on the matter.Warner was hit with three demerit points for the offence and also fined 75% of his match fee, about A$13,500, after meetings between the match referee Jeff Crowe and Australian team management on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Warner joined Kagiso Rabada and Faf du Plessis on the South African side in this series, as players who will be suspended if they are found guilty of one more disciplinary infraction.CCTV footage from the fourth day of the Durban Test showed Warner walking up the stairs to the players’ dressing room, engaged in heated conversation with someone else. As the clip rolled on, it emerged that he was talking to de Kock, and at several points had to be restrained by his team-mates until the Australia captain Steven Smith came out to pull his vice-captain away from the scene.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was given a rough reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in Pakistan cricket after seeing his side slump to a 5-0 ODI series defeat in New Zealand. The whitewash was just the third 5-0 loss in Pakistan’s history, and the first since 2010. Speaking after the game, he said he refused to use the conditions as an excuse, instead laying the responsibility at the feet of the top order.”They’ve got the ability and without wanting to look for excuses, they need to get better in these conditions,” Arthur said. “Our guys need to step up, that’s the bottom line. Our top order haven’t done a job for us in the series and that’s a pity. Haris Sohail coming in gave us some stability, and he showed us how to apply oneself in these conditions.”Pakistan’s struggles against the new ball in seaming conditions have been brutally exposed this series, with Trent Boult and Tim Southee running riot in the first Powerplay. Pakistan lost their first two wickets for under 20 runs in all five matches. They found themselves reduced to 54 for 5, 39 for 3, 32 for 8, 11 for 2, and 57 for 5 at the starts of the five matches, meaning they found themselves playing catch-up for the best part of their innings all series. With the World Cup now less than 18 months away, Arthur said the side may need to reevaluate their approach.”With the World Cup coming up in a year’s time, it’s important now that the next one-day team we play is a team that we really believe can shake the World Cup up. It’s not discrediting to the players in the dressing room because they have tried exceptionally hard, but we do need to reassess where we go to make sure we get it right next time when we come out, particularly in foreign conditions.”At the same time, he defended the players that were part of the tour, lauding the way young players had stood up whenever given the chance, and warning against writing off players who, just six months ago, won the Champions Trophy.”Every time we bring young boys in, they stand up. They have done it, they have done it under pressure. They did it at the Champions Trophy for us. When Fakhar Zaman walked in, he changed the tempo in the Champions Trophy, playing fearless cricket. Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, these are the guys who’d do anything for you. When we play in our own conditions, we dominate because our guys are comfortable and they play very well there. This is like playing on the north pole for them. It’s so different but we got to be better at that.”But our blue print that we had was good enough to win us the Champions Trophy, it was good enough to win nine ODIs in a row. But we haven’t played well enough here, and that’s a fact. Our guys have come out of playing a lot of T20 leagues. I am not making excuses, that’s just the way it is. We haven’t adapted well and haven’t played well enough. But the blue print for us still remains the same, but obviously personnel changes could happen.”Arthur also said New Zealand deserved credit for the way they had played, and that playing against them would be difficult in any conditions. Kane Williamson’s men have enjoyed a purple patch of late, impressing in a series defeat in India last year, before going on a run at home that has seen them notch up a record number of consecutive wins. They currently have a 100 per cent winning record this home season, winning two Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is against the West Indies before the 5-0 against Pakistan.”They are very good team. I am incredibly impressed with how they are playing and I have watched them over the period of time. Every team right now in their conditions is a very good team. But you are judged how you play away from home, and I watched them in India, and New Zealand played exceptionally well outside. They seem to have covered all the bases.”

Tom Latham will undertake specialist wicketkeeping training ahead of New Zealand’s limited-overs tour of India with a vacancy to be filled following Luke Ronchi’s retirement after the Champions Trophy.New Zealand’s squads for ODIs and T20s in India, which start next month, are due to be named shortly, with the likelihood a few names will be added after the New Zealand A tour of India which has just started, and Latham has been pulled out of the final week of his deal with Durham so he can return home to prepare for trip.That indicates he remains an option to replace Ronchi in the 50-over side having had the gloves for a period during New Zealand’s last home season. However, the runs dried up for him – he made scores of 7, 0, 0, 2 and 0 while keeping – and he was dropped during the series against South Africa with Ronchi returning.Latham recaptured his form, without the keeping gloves but as stand-in captain, during the tri-series in Ireland with scores of 54, 104 and 84 at the top of the order, but Ronchi was preferred as Martin Guptill’s opening partner in the Champions Trophy as New Zealand aimed to balance their side. Latham was also troubled by a stress fracture of his foot.Ronchi’s retirement means there is now a vacancy behind the stumps and opening the batting, a role Latham could fulfil if the selectors are confident he can manage the workload, especially in the demanding conditions he will face in India. Overall, Latham averages 32.48 in ODIs with three centuries – one apiece against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Ireland.There is currently something of a wicketkeeping trial being undertaken on the New Zealand A tour with that squad including three glovemen: Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips, who have both had a brief taste of New Zealand’s T20 side and the uncapped Tim Seifert. Blundell or Phillips, who played as a batsman on his T20 debut against South Africa, are favoured to get the job for the T20Is against India. New Zealand then have at least 10 T20Is during their season, with three-match series against West Indies and Pakistan plus the tri-series involving Australia and England.”I’ll let my performance do the talking and if I’m good enough, I’m good enough,” Blundell told . “I get on pretty well with them both. They’re both really good blokes so if one of them gets the nod, I’ll be happy for them.”Latham played the last of his 12 T20Is in 2015 so would not appear to be in the mix for that squad. He did play five matches in the NatWest Blast during his Durham stint, scoring 139 runs at a strike-rate 139.00.In four County Championship appearances – the start of his Durham season was delayed by the stress fracture – he scored 382 runs at 63.66 including two centuries, one of which came on his debut.He is set to return to Durham next year when international commitments allow and currently New Zealand’s schedule during the 2018 English season is quiet.”Tom has made a fantastic contribution on and off the field during his time here at Durham,” said Durham head coach Jon Lewis. “His performances with the bat have been excellent and he is a big influence in the dressing room. Myself and the players are delighted that he will be returning for the entire 2018 campaign”.The club added: “The 25-year-old will now undergo training and specialist keeping work ahead of New Zealand’s limited-over matches in India next month. As a consequence, he will miss Durham’s final Specsavers County Championship match at Worcestershire next week.”

Ramith Rambukwella is back playing domestic cricket after being released on bail on Saturday, with SLC yet to make a decision on what disciplinary measures – if any – will be imposed.Arrested on Friday night for assault and drunk driving, Rambukwella has since had the assault charges dropped, having come to a settlement with the complainants. The drunk driving charge remains however; he is due in court on Tuesday.Although initially an SLC official told ESPNcricinfo that the board had only found out about the incident “through the media” and that it had “not had any official reports of the incident”, Rambukwella’s behaviour is set to be discussed at a manager’s committee meeting on Tuesday. As such his contract with SLC may be under review. His ongoing participation in domestic cricket – he played a one-day match for Tamil Union on Monday – is less likely to be affected, but may also be under scrutiny.Of particular concern to the board will be Rambukwella’s history of disciplinary issues. He was arrested in 2016 under another drunk driving charge after he crashed his car into a wall. In 2013, he had also caused mild panic onboard a flight, when he attempted to open a cabin door at 35,000 feet while returning from a tour with the Sri Lanka A side.A tall offspinning allrounder, Rambukwella played two T20 internationals for Sri Lanka, the most recent of which was in July 2016.

1:21

Moonda: Bangladesh just not able to cope with SA quality

Kagiso Rabada completed the third 10-wicket haul of his 22-Test career, became the fifth-youngest to 100 Test wickets and went past 50 wickets for the calendar year as South Africa completed an innings and 254-run demolition of Bangladesh. Bangladesh folded for 172, following on from their first-innings 147, inside two sessions on the third day to suffer their heaviest defeat in Tests against South Africa.South Africa had used the short ball to tremendous effect in the morning session to nip out four wickets and the core of Bangladesh’s batting. It took them just over an hour after the lunch break to carve up the remaining six. Rabada’s 10 for 63 is second only to Dale Steyn’s 11 for 60 among the most economical 10-wicket hauls for South African bowlers.It was hard to tell which innings went worse for the visiting team. For a very brief period of nine overs following the lunch interval, Bangladesh found some respite when Mahmudullah and Liton Das struck nine well-timed boundaries and punched 43 runs. Liton struck two each off Wayne Parnell and Andile Phehlukwayo, driving them through the covers twice and picking up the other two on the leg-side. Mahmudullah married grace with power and was partial to the cover region, where he collected five of his seven fours.But Phehlukwayo ensured it was short-lived when Liton Das, having misread the line, shouldered arms to be bowled. Next over, Rabada was back among the wickets when he had Mahmudullah slicing to be caught brilliantly by a diving Dean Elgar at gully. Sabbir Rahman committed a similar error and edged a catch to Faf du Plessis at second slip.Taijul Islam and Rubel Hossain lost their stumps to searing pace, giving Rabada his fourth and fifth scalps. Phehlukwayo then put Bangladesh out of their misery with his third wicket when Mustafizur Rahman’s leg stump was shattered.It was hardly a different story to what had transpired in the morning. South Africa unsettled Bangladesh with a barrage of short deliveries. Rabada found the outside edge of Soumya Sarkar when the batsman dangled his bat outside his off-stump and was smartly caught by a diving du Plessis at slip. He then struck Mominul Haque flush on the helmet before the ball deflected over the keeper. Two balls later, Mominul holed out to deep square leg off another short ball.So nasty were South Africa with the short stuff that in all three of Bangladesh’s batsmen were hit on the helmet. After Rabada, Duanne Olivier, who sent down a marathon 10-over spell, was responsible on two of those occasions. Mushfiqur was on the receiving end of the worst of those blows when took his eyes off one that climbed on him at pace, leaving him with little time to react. It forced a lengthy break in play with Mushfiqur receiving medical attention before he could get back up and resume his resistance. He was subsequently taken to the hospital during the break, where tests revealed that he was fine.South Africa, however, were relentless with the length. Imrul Kayes was strangled down the leg side when he tried to tuck a hip-high short ball from Olivier to be caught by Quinton de Kock. Imrul had made 32 that was characterised by some confident shots, but, for the most part, a lot of struggle.It was then the turn of Mahmudullah to cop a blow on the head, but he did well to steady himself and tackled the delivery better than the rest. South Africa would go on to strike one final time, at the stroke of lunch, when Mushfiqur misjudged Parnell’s line and offered his pad to a length ball that nipped in slightly to trap him in front of off. Mushfiqur opted to review, but replays showed that the impact was inside and the ball would have clipped off-stump, forcing the appeal to be withheld.As with the ball, South Africa were hardly pushed as a batting unit with four of their batsmen – Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla and du Plessis – cracking hundreds. What must have been most encouraging would be the manner in which Rabada led the attack in their first Test without Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander since January 2007.

M Vijay’s 21st first-class ton and his century-stands with N Jagadeesan and Baba Indrajith took Tamil Nadu to 292 for 3 against Odisha on the opening day in Cuttack.Having elected to bat first, Tamil Nadu lost opener Abhinav Mukund early to a run out. Vijay battled through to add 145 for the second wicket with Jagadeesan, who contributed 88, before Govinda Poddar sent back the wicketkeeper. Tamil Nadu didn’t let the momentum slip as Vijay then found an ally in Indrajith. Vijay was set on 140 before being caught and bowled by fast bowler Suryakant Pradhan late in the day. Indrajith (41*) and Vijay Shankar (8*) were set to resume batting on the second day.DB Prasanth’s unbeaten 120 lifted Andhra, the current group toppers, to 252 for 2 at stumps as the visitors started strongly against Tripura in Agartala. Andhra, put in to bat first, lost opener KS Bharat early for 18. This brought Prasanth together with Hanuma Vihari (62*) as the pair put on 108 for the second-wicket. Vihari, the captain, was dismissed post lunch, following which Prashant put up a century-stand with Ricky Bhui (49*).

Colin Munro may not have been the most confident player in the New Zealand camp when the ongoing tour of India started last month. He had just returned to the ODI side, he was being asked to open for the first time in his international career and he didn’t have the best technique to combat spin on the slow Indian surfaces. The troubles swelled when his opening partner Martin Guptill was unable to get strong starts, and Munro fell victim to slower balls for two straight matches at the beginning of the series.After Munro’s blistering half-century in the third ODI in Kanpur, the Indian bowlers thought of deceiving him with some slower ones again in the second T20 on Saturday. Munro didn’t have to face many in the Powerplay, until debutant Mohammed Siraj sent down a few in his second over. That eighth over had two slower deliveries dispatched by Munro over his favoured leg side for sixes.Munro showed his issues with slower balls was not a weakness, but only a brief trend based on a small sample size, something he overcame pretty soon, especially once the formats changed.”To be honest, I wasn’t expecting too many slower balls in the first couple of ODIs,” Munro said on Saturday. “Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and [Jasprit] Bumrah just bowled back of a length, trying to nick you out, get lbws. And the way I came out was aggressive and that made them change a bit. They bowled really well in terms of that. Bumrah’s slower ball… he has made a name of himself with that slower ball and Bhuvi’s knuckle ball is very good with the new ball.”[Now] it’s Twenty20 and you’ve got to be aggressive. Tonight it came off, another night it might not.”India’s best fast bowler against Munro on Saturday was Bumrah but he said changing his plans on the field was not easy and does not always work when a batsman like Munro is in that mood.”You can’t have a fixed plan,” Bumrah explained of bowling to Munro. “Over here if you had a fixed plan that you bowl slower balls, he was hitting them really well.”As compared to the hitches at the beginning of the tour, Munro looks a different player now. Twenty20 is the format he is more suited to as he gets to express himself “more freely” without the pressure of building a long innings. Munro is a specialised T20 player who struck his first T20I century earlier this year against Bangladesh. He may have been dropped from the ODI side then, but he followed it by racking up 366 runs for Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, with three half-centuries, at a strike rate of 135. Munro had even considered turning into a freelance T20 player as he was not a regular in the ODI side and has played only one Test so far.”I enjoy Twenty20,” Munro said. “It’s a game where you know it’s a short game and you go out there to express yourself and when it comes off, it comes off. Sometimes you put too much pressure on yourself in the longer form where you’ve got to score runs all the time. In Twenty20, you just got to go out there and express yourself and take the good with the bad. Sometimes it comes off like it did tonight and the other night it didn’t come off. You just got to go with the flow.”I think I’ve always felt good in this format. It was just a matter of it hasn’t quite clicked. It’s one of those games where when you’re going well, you’re going really well. And when you’re not, you’re not. For me it’s a mindset thing. I’ve tried not to expect too much from myself playing at this level or at Twenty20. It’s just about trying to keep as even as you can and I think I’ve done that over the last two years.”Switching formats requires both technical as well as mental changes. To combat the challenges posed by India’s quick bowlers, Munro batted with a slightly more open stance on Saturday that helped him clear his front foot and hammer four sixes over his preferred long-on arc, an area that fetched him 30% of his runs. The key is not only to score runs though. Munro is frank about why things have not worked for him in the past when he put too much pressure on himself.”For me, the biggest part of being successful at this level is the mental side,” Munro said. “I’ve scored runs for Auckland for a long time, it’s just trying to get the same mental aptitude at this level. I think in the past I’ve probably put too much pressure on myself and haven’t always cemented my spot in the team. So it’s always what can I do to make the team rather than what I do now – which is what can I do to win a game. Or what I can do to contribute to the game. And that’s what makes a difference. Even if it’s 20 off 10, that’s a contribution, whereas in the past I’ve been not good enough to stay in the team. But now it’s more of a mental mindshift.”Munro’s innings had the elements a T20 century usually has – he attacked from the very first ball he faced, he survived at least two chances – put down by the Indian fielders – and he collected a lot of runs off edges. Not just the innings on Saturday, his scores in T20 internationals this year also reflect the ups and downs of a T20 game: 0, 101, 0, 0, 7 and 109*.No matter how the third T20 goes for Munro, he would be fairly pleased with the performances on the India tour so far. He now says he “loves” batting at the top of the order and scoring a hundred through the innings in India “means a heck of a lot”.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAdelaide Strikers belied expectations after holding their nerve against Sydney Sixers at the SCG.The Strikers were in control after high-quality innings from Alex Carey and Jonathan Wells and excellent Power-play bowling upfront left the Sixers needing 61 from 30 balls will no recognised batsmen left. But Steve O’Keefe, Johan Botha and Ben Dwarshuis found a way to reduce the equation to 22 off seven before O’Keefe and Dwarshuis hit consecutive sixes off Ben Laughlin and Michael Neser. Another well-run two made it eight runs off three balls but Neser responded with three pinpoint yorkers to secure the Strikers second straight win.Conversely, the talent-laden Sixers slumped to their third straight loss after their batting line-up failed to fire again.Lefties galore
The Strikers’ new-look top four is made up exclusively of left-handers. It allowed the Sixers to set up their attack specifically to counter them. The Sixers made several changes to the side that lost their first two matches. Moises Henriques was ill, with Botha standing-in as captain. Dwarshuis came in for Doug Bollinger as a like-for-like but the Sixers picked the extra right-arm off-spinner in Will Somerville specifically to counter the left-handers. Jake Weatherald has a poor record against left-arm quicks in the BBL and the trend continued after he skied a Dwarshuis short ball in the first over. Botha and Somerville were able to bowl six of the first 12 overs at Carey and Travis Head, conceding 40 runs between them and picking up Head. By the time Colin Ingram fell to Dwarshuis for a run-a-ball 15 the Strikers had only managed to score 7.23 per over through 13 overs and were headed towards a below-par total at the SCG.O’Keefe not used, Carey and Wells cash in
According to , Steve O’Keefe has the third-best economy rate at the SCG in the last three BBL seasons. Botha, understandably, did not use the left-arm spinner in the first 13 overs against the four left-handers. But when the right-handed Wells walked out, with one boundary significantly larger than the other, it seemed a perfect time to bring O’Keefe on. Instead, Botha opted for Somerville again. Wells nailed a sweep, with the turn, for four to get himself going. Wells and Carey put together an unbroken 74-run stand in the last seven overs to get the total up to 167 without facing a single delivery from O’Keefe.Carey displayed power and placement early to get to his maiden BBL half-century. But despite losing his timing late in the innings, his supreme fitness saw him sprint four twos and one three. He finished with an unbeaten 83 from 59 balls. Wells’ cameo was outstanding too. He hit two fours and a massive 104m six onto the roof of the Bill O’Reilly stand in the last four balls of the innings to finish with 33 not out from 19 balls.Strikers strike early again
Taking early wickets in the Powerplay has been Perth Scorchers’ modus operandi for years when defending totals. The Strikers look to have copied the blueprint, attacking with their seamers upfront. Billy Stanlake conceded just two runs in the first over. Jason Roy flicked him for a huge six in the third over, but Stanlake set the trap for Daniel Hughes tucking him up with two men back and Hughes picked out one of them on the boundary. Neser had Nic Maddinson nicking off with Carey completing an outstanding one-handed catch. Roy, who looked to be fighting his way out of a form slump, did not do his homework on Ben Laughlin, lofting a predictable slower ball first-up high to mid-off. The Sixers were 3 for 42 at the end of the Powerplay before spin was needed.Silk road too long
Jordan Silk did his best to make the chase interesting. In his first appearance for the season as a replacement for Henriques, he struck ball as sweetly as any batsman all night. He raced to 50 off 31 balls with seven classy boundaries. But when he chopped Rashid Khan onto his stumps all hope seemed lost.Rashid had earlier bowled the Sixers’ last recognised batsman in Sam Billings. Botha and O’Keefe kept hopes alive with a 17-run over off Neser. O’Keefe and Dwarshuis then raised heart-rates with two massive blows inside the last seven deliveries after Laughlin and Neser missed their lengths. But Neser found the mark with his last three to wrap up the Strikers’ win.

Nottinghamshire’s delight in pulling off one of the transfer coups of the season when they signed the Durham allrounder Paul Coughlin has been marred by the news that he will miss much of his debut season because of a shoulder injury.Coughlin will have an operation on Wednesday in Manchester to repair the right shoulder – his bowling shoulder – that he damaged while on England Lions duty.He joined Nottinghamshire on a three-year deal in September amid an outcry from Durham, whose president, Sir Ian Botham, called for greater compensation for counties losing players produced by their academy system.Notts hailed Coughlin’s international potential and that immediately became evident when he won England Lions recognition and impressed on tour in Australia before Christmas and in the Caribbean in February and March.But in the Lions’ final unofficial One-Day International against the West Indies, he was forced off the field after diving for the ball and landing awkwardly and dislocating his shoulder.Notts’ head coach Peter Moores conceded that Coughlin will now miss “a big chunk” of the season. It is a blow for Notts, who won both limited-overs trophies last season and regained their First Division status in the Championship and had regarded Coughlin’s all-round talents as important in re-energising a squad hit by several batting departures in the past year.”He has been assessed and is going to have an operation on Wednesday,” said Moores. “It’s obviously a very serious injury and we are not going to see him for a while, but in physio James Pipe and all the medical staff he’s in the best hands, and hopefully the surgery goes well.”He’s got a fairly long journey back to fitness and we all feel for him because he’d just joined a new club and made a really good impression in terms of his ability and how he’s been around the other lads.”I’m sure he will commit everything to the rehab which he will have to do, and realistically there is going to be a big chunk of the season which he is going to have to miss.Moores said of the injury: “He’s gone full length to try to get to a ball and with sport there’s always a chance of an injury. The commitment he showed in going for that ball is the way he plays his cricket – and why we were so excited to get him.”

Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, has hinted at sweeping changes in Pakistan’s entire management, following the team’s early exit in the Asia Cup. Shaharyar has formed a special committee, which includes former T20 captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, to monitor Pakistan’s performance and examine the selection process for the upcoming World Twenty20*. Shakil Sheikh, who heads the PCB’s cricket committee, will chair the special committee, which also includes PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad and former chief selector Iqbal Qasim. Shaharyar, however, insisted that Shahid Afridi will remain captain of the T20 side unless he himself pulls out.Pakistan lost their opening match of the Asia Cup to India, beat UAE convincingly, only to bow out of the tournament after defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. More worryingly for the team, Pakistan’s batting issues resurfaced in Bangladesh, with three wickets falling during the Powerplay in each game.”It wasn’t just a matter of disappointment but it was a painful experience to watch Pakistan play like that,” Shaharyar said. “The performance was very poor other then few individuals’ performances, but I can assure that accountability is inevitable and whoever is responsible has to answer. Changes are important in the electoral process and leadership but we have to sit and think wisely. We are not going to make anyone a scapegoat or do the witch hunt but whatever we will do, it will be done with clarity.”Afridi’s role as captain came under scrutiny after Pakistan controversially dropped Wahab Riaz for Anwar Ali in the game against Bangladesh, ESPNcricinfo understands. It was also observed that Afridi was missing from training sessions and skipped meetings with the coaching staff.”I understand there is a lot of criticism but I am not going to change anything one week before the major tournament in India,” Shaharyar said. “Afridi will remain captain unless he himself pulls out of the job. He has been serving Pakistan from the last 15 years. There are problems in his captaincy which can’t be mended and especially at a time when his career is about to be end.”Also, we don’t want to disregard the longest serving players of Pakistan cricket. So, I am not going to push a panic button and take any decision in haste. This is not my style. Some changes you will see will be done before we play our first matches in World T20 and other important changes will be done after the tournament.”Pakistan have already rejigged their original 15-man squad ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20 by adding Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami and Khalid Latif. After the Asia Cup debacle, Shaharyar hinted at another wave of change, with the new ICC regulations allowing teams to change their squads before the start of the tournament.ESPNcricinfo understands that the selectors are considering dropping Khurram Manzoor, whose inclusion did not impress Waqar Younis, for the excluded Ahmed Shehzad. It is also understood that one of the senior members of the team management touched upon Salman Butt’s name, mentioning his utility after he was the second-highest run-getter in the recently-concluded National One-Day Cup, where he finished with 536 runs at 107.20.Manzoor’s controversial selection was cited as a “judgement error” by Shaharyar. “It wasn’t an unfair call but I did show my reservation. Haroon Rashid made his point that Khurram is the best they have for the opening slot as there is no alternative. I was told that he was in form and has scored enough runs for Pakistan A team but eventually he failed at the top. But I can assure you that ahead of the World T20 there will be changes in selection as we will have time to change.”* March 4, 1106 GMT. The news report was updated to include information regarding the special committee