Razzaq stars in Hampshire’s thrilling T20 triumph

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Discarded Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq turned out to be Hampshire’s hero in the thrilling win over Somerset in the final of the Friends Provident T20 Championship at Rose Bowl on August 14.

Former South African batsman Neil McKenzie was the calming influence in the big chase, compiling a solid half century, but Razzaq’s all-round excellence was probably more significant in the outcome of the match in which the scores were tied and Hampshire were declared the winners for having lost fewer wickets.

Cricket is very much a team game and the contribution of every player counts to the success but the adjudicators have to take into account the most influential performance while declaring a Man of the Match. To cut the long story short, Razzaq deserved the award which was handed over to McKenzie.

What a thrilling climax it turned out to be and the result of the 151 matches depended entirely to the last ball. Hampshire needed a couple of runs with Dan Christian, batting with a runner, to win the game and just a single was needed for a tie that would have secured the title for them.

Christian had pulled his hamstring on the previous ball while coming back for a second run and Jimmy Adams arrived as his runner for the last ball for which Marcus Trescothick brought all but one of his fielders close to pitch to prevent the single.

Christian missed the last ball and there was a huge appeal for lbw which was turned down. It looked very close to the naked but the replays confirmed that it was just sliding down leg side and it was yet another great umpiring decision.

The leg bye was stolen in dramatic circumstances with Christian also running the length of pitch with his runner. I think there was an opportunity for Somerset to run him out but their fielders also choked under pressure.

There was a little pause before the Hampshire cricketers ran into the field to celebrate their win. The 39-year-old former England all-rounder, Dominic Cork, at last, had a big trophy in his kitty.

Cork himself played a pivotal role in limiting the Somerset total as his final over was a class act and it reflected what difference experience can make. Something around 15 or 20 runs were expected to be taken when he came on to bowl the last over of the innings with the West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard in full cry.

Pollard, who had blasted the other bowlers in his little cameo, was undone by a bouncer from Cork and landed in hospital a few moments later. Cork then produced a few more unplayable deliveries to restrict Somerset to 173 in 20 overs.

Pollard’s injury not only denied Somerset of a few crucial runs but they were also robbed of his quota of overs that meant additional burden on Trescothick who had to fill the vacuum with part-timers.

India’s left-arm spinner Murali Kartik was the trump card for the Somerset skipper but the dampness in the ground kept the ball wet and it became next to impossible to turn the ball. Kartik still bowled very accurately, not giving away any boundary in his first three overs.

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KCCA vows to fight until dismissal of Ijaz Butt

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

In a rare show of strength the movers and shakers of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) vowed to take the fight to the camp of Ijaz Butt who was accused of having destructed the Pakistan cricket.

The trio of Prof Siraj-ul-Islam Bokhari (President), Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui (Honorary Secretary) and Khalil Ahmed Nainitalwala (Vice President), backed by the zonal office-bearers, came out openly to criticize the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in the harshest possible manner during a media briefing at the Karachi Press Club before joining the protesting young cricketers of the city in which a couple of cricket bats were burnt.

Although it was a warm first afternoon of the Holy month of Ramazan on August 12 the intensity of the protestors was rather high and the youngsters as well as the veterans present on the occasion chanted noisy slogans against Ijaz Butt and they demanded his immediate sacking to prevent further chaos.

The KCCA Vice President, Khalil Ahmed Nainitalwala, was in a furious mood as he had come prepared in the media briefing, substantiating his claims with facts and figures while raising the voice for the cricketers of city who have been victimized by Ijaz Butt and party for the past couple of years.

“I have no hesitation in calling it the Ijaz Butt Cricket Board instead of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Similarly we have been witnessing Ijaz Butt XI and not the national team of Pakistan playing against the various teams,” he declared.

“Isn’t it a tragedy that the team, being selected on the basis of nepotism, is getting hammered and the deserving cricketers are not being provided a chance to perform? Ijaz Butt’s blue-eyed boys are in the team despite failing repeatedly while the experienced campaigners like Danish Kaneria are sent home after just one failure. Why these double standards,” he questioned.

“It’s a shame that Ijaz Butt has crossed all limits of decency. Merit seems to be a piece of paper to him. He is just not bothered to look beyond his own circle of friends. He is not perturbed with the disgusting performance of the team that was touched rocked bottom of late,” Khalil Nainitalwala highlighted.

“What a pity that the Pakistan team these days is struggling to get 100 runs in an innings? It’s mainly because the talented and deserving boys of Karachi have been ignored even after their consistent performance in the national tournaments,” he added.

“Our batsmen Asad Shafiq, Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif performed much better than Azhar Ali and Umar Amin who have been taken to England where they have failed miserably so far. Similarly our bowlers Tabish Khan and Anwar Ali fared better than Wahab Riaz who was selected. Our fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed, who was the leading wicket-taker in the last season, has not been played in a single game yet in England which is very sad indeed,” Khalil Nainitalwala reckoned.

“We were waiting for the better sense to prevail that’s why we didn’t register our protest openly in the past. But the stage has come where we have to raise voice for our cricketers and since we have now come out in the open we will not sit back until Ijaz Butt is dismissed,” he replied when asked about the future course of action if status quo prevailed.

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KCCA comes out in open to expose Ijaz Butt’s bias

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

I think that the officials of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) have finally realized that enough is enough and they need to come out in the open to fight for the rights of their cricketers who have been brutally treated by Ijaz Butt and his cronies.

After having condemned the biased attitude of the national selectors in their Executive Council meeting the other day, the KCCA high command, shocked and disappointed, has now decided to hold a press conference on August 12.

Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui, Honorary Secretary, KCCA, has announced that the briefing will be held at the Karachi Press Club at 3 pm.

Khalil Ahmed Nainitalwala, Vice President, KCCA, will be apprising the media and the general public of the injustices to the Association and their players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which has actually been a one-man show for about two years now.

The KCCA officials, on a few occasions, had taken on the PCB in the past as well but their stance had generally been soft and lacked the conviction. It might be a different story to relate this time round.

There is enormous pressure from the various quarters on the office-bearers of the KCCA to bat for the victimized cricketers of the metropolis who must be feeling let down by the double standards of the national selection committee headed by Mohsin Hasan Khan.

Interestingly Mohsin, one of the most stylish opening batsmen to have played for Pakistan, himself belongs to Karachi but he looks absolutely helpless at the moment.

The best course of action for Mohsin would be to follow the examples of his predecessors Abdul Qadir and Iqbal Qasim, both of whom could only last a few months before expressing their inability to come to terms with a man called Ijaz Butt.

It would be interesting to find out if the KCCA officials still resort to diplomacy or they demonstrate the courage to call a spade a spade. I think they should display greater self-belief while safeguarding the interests of their cricketers.

The Executive Council of the KCCA has placed on record its condemnation for the biased attitude of the PCB selection committee for having totally ignored the promising lot of Karachi cricketers like Sarfaraz Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Faisal Iqbal and Asad Shafiq.

The Council was of the opinion that the PCB selectors had deliberately failed to consider the performances of the Karachi cricketers in the national tournaments.

They urged about the PCB authorities to review their failings and accord justice to the talented cricketers of Karachi, who despite being the national champions, feel the agony of getting deprived when it came to playing for Pakistan.

They insisted that merit alone should be the basis of the selection and Pakistan’s prestige should be the prime consideration which can only be achieved through selections based on merit and fair chance to play for all Associations.

Well the KCCA high command must be aware of the fact that there’s no such thing as the PCB authorities any more because no one else other than Ijaz Butt has any authority in running the Board.

The KCCA should be direct in their approach and they should be talking plain truth instead of wrapping it inside some dual-meaning words.

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Points to ponder for Strauss despite nine-wicket Edgbaston triumph

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Just like no side has lost a Test match after bowling out their opponents for 72 in the first innings for well over a century, it’s very rare for a team and its management to be concerned even after winning the game by a decisive margin of nine wickets.

In fact it’s quite creditable on part of the England skipper, Andrew Strauss, after winning the Edgbaston Test on August 9 to have conceded that his team needed to overcome certain shortcomings.

"Any time you win six in a row you are pretty happy with yourselves, but we are still conscious that there are plenty of areas where we need to improve so we are not getting too carried away. The first job is to make sure we win the series next week and then push on from there, because this was a timely reminder you do have to work hard for a Test match. If it had been a longer chase it would have been much harder," Strauss remarked.

"It doesn't matter how good you are, you don't have everything your own way all the time. That's always the case. We got a double whammy because the ball didn't swing and also the wicket died, so there was no real carry or menace with the ball, and that's always going to be tough for the seamers. We were forced to work very hard for those final wickets, but thankfully we came out the other side," the victorious England captain observed.

"It didn't look good and he understood that he overstepped the mark, and he has paid the price for it. What I would say is that, generally over the summer, he has been outstanding in terms of the way he has gone about his business, so let us just hope this is a one-off incident. It was an end-of-the-over chuck-the-ball-back when the batsman had gone down the wicket, and I don't think he meant to hit him. He was just throwing it back to the keeper,” he said when enquired about the Stuart Broad incident.

"He is maturing and learning from his mistakes, and I am very comfortable in my own head that this will be a one-off situation," Strauss believed.

"We have to remind ourselves all the time that there are lines there that you don't want to overstep, and Stuart received a timely reminder of that. But you want aggressive characters in your dressing room and guys who want to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and have a bit of fight about them, so it's always that managing of where the lines are, and making sure people don't overstep those boundaries," he added.

"Opening the batting in Test cricket can be tough at times and when you're down on confidence it can be exploited more than other areas in the batting line-up. Cooky has played some outstanding innings for England in the past, he's a very valuable member of our side, and I have every confidence he will come back and play some valuable innings in the near future. He's a top-quality opening bat, and four Tests don't change that," he said while defending his opening partner.

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Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Cricket Festival completes 25 years

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament has completed its silver jubilee with the media launch of its new edition held at the Gymkhana’s Banquet Hall on August 9.

With the cricket ground unfit to hold the traditional opening ceremony, immediately after the media brief, due to the heavy downpour for the past few weeks, the organizers had to arrange for a special formal inauguration at the Banquet Hall in which the President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, and the representative of the sponsors, Zain Malik, did the honours.

The familiar figure of Mian Azmat Hussain, a Vice President of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) and an ex-Treasurer of the Karachi Gymkhana, was the master of the ceremony and he handled the proceedings in his typically elegant manner.

The Chairman of the Tournament Committee and the Convenor Sports, Hanif Habib, delivered a rather comprehensive welcome address in which he touched upon the highlights of the past 25 years of the tournament.

In what probably was his maiden appearance before the media after having taken over the reigns of the Karachi Gymkhana sports earlier this year, he thanked his committee members besides acknowledging the sponsors.

The President of the Gymkhana, Younis Rizwani, did not drag as his speech, like that of Hanif Habib, had already been printed in the brochure having been circulated to the members of the press before the start of the briefing.

He complimented the media for having covered the cricket tournaments in the past while urging them to pay special attention to the upcoming Silver Jubilee events.

“Karachi Gymkhana is one of the most elite and exclusive sports clubs of Pakistan which takes pride in providing wide variety of sporting activities. We have been extremely fortunate over the years to have complete support and good wishes of the electronic and print media,” he recognized.

He announced the enhancement of prizemoney of the tournament, with the winners to take home a very healthy purse of Rs 350,000 and the runners-up to pocket a sum of Rs 175,000. The losing semifinalists will be getting Rs 30,000 each and there would be a lot of individual cash awards too.

In his brief speech chief guest Zain Malik, Executive Director, Bahria Town (Pvt) Ltd and Chief Executive, Galaxy Construction (Pvt) Ltd, expressed his delight to have been selected as the sponsors of the tournament.

The vote of thanks was presented by Karachi Gymkhana’s cricket captain, Masroor Mirza Ahmed, while the Gymkhana’s Cricket Secretary, Khurram Sadiq Mannoo, attended the ceremony despite being not in the best of health.

The draws of the 25th KG Ramazan Festival for Bahria Town Trophy had been taken out by the officials of the Tournament Committee in the presence of the representatives of the participating teams a few days earlier.

Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Fact Date Engineering, Ideal Cricket and Advanced Telecom have been placed in Group A, Tapal Cricket Club, Sindh Police, A O Cricket Club and Pak Korangi constitute Group B, Medicam Group, Mohammad Hussain Cricket Club, Pak Gymkhana and UBL Academy feature in Group C and Omar Cricket Club, Vital Five, Malir Gymkhana and hosts Karachi Gymkhana have been drawn in Group D.

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Another Laxman special defies odds

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

V V S Laxman continues to be not only the most stylish batsman of the generation but his ability to come good in crisis makes be truly special. What a gem of a knock he played at P Sara Oval in Colombo to guide India to a comfortable victory in the end in the third and final Test.

Mind you the pitch was doing all sort of tricks and the Sri Lankans bowlers, as usual while taking on India, were not prepared to give an inch. The scenario had become even grimmer for the visitors when Sachin Tendulkar got out in the most unfamiliar of fashions, gloving a seemingly innocuous delivering going down leg, and Laxman was not fully fit.

The century partnership between Tendulkar and Laxman had put India on course of victory but the match had become wide open in the afternoon session of the final day and the hosts had more than a just a glimmer of hope running away with the Test series 2-0.

Suresh Raina, playing only his second Test, joined Laxman at the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket and it were still the early days of their stand when the latter broke down to the extent of needing the help of a runner.

Virender Sehwag, who was chiefly instrumental in putting India into a tight corner with a dreaded duck on the fourth evening, returned to the field to do the duties of a runner for Laxman, just having completed his half century.

The limping Laxman was in obvious discomfort when stroking the ball but he knew the significance of his wicket that prompted him to keep going despite the pains in various parts of his body.

He showed tremendous courage by hooking and pulling Lasith Malinga whenever the speedster pitched it short on or outside leg stump. He was not afraid to come forward to middle the ball on a track whose bounce could not be trusted from day one.

Laxman must have known that his departure from the scene would have opened the floodgates for Sri Lanka as the batting conditions would have been even tougher for a new batsman at the crease.

Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni was left padded up in the dressing room among the specialist batsmen and India could have lost the plot very quickly in the event of the fall of another wicket.

Laxman had the dual responsibility of not staying their in the middle but also knock off the runs in order to bring the target down before more hiccups. He played superbly all along and it was a treat to watch his covering driving against the spin duo of Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis on the weary track. Not many batsmen in the world would have dared hitting so boldly.

Raina also deserved a special mention for having rotated the strike besides playing a few adventurous shots to take the pressure off Laxman, who got to his hundred with another brilliant flick.

Statistically it was Laxman’s first century in the fourth innings of a Test match but he has certainly played quite a few better knocks than this one in more demanding conditions in his illustrious career.

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Sajjad makes history of sorts in Thailand

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Mohammad Sajjad made Pakistan proud by creating history of sorts when he became the first Asian wildcard to capture a Thai ranking title, winning the SangSom Korat Cup 2010 on August 7.

Pakistan’s premier cueist was crowned as the champion at Klang Plaza Jomsurang in Nakhon Ratchasima city with a thrilling 5-4 victory over local favourite, Passakorn Suwannawat, in the final with the frame scores being 83-7, 0-98, 86-7, 71-40, 0-96, 18-68, 69-41, 14-78, 64-31. As expected it turned out be a close battle having kept the crowd on tenterhooks most of the time.

The victory earned Sajjad a handsome purse of 100,000 baht, while Passakorn had to be content with a cash prize of 50,000 baht for having ended as the runner-up but there was consolation for him in the shape of another 15,000 baht for scoring the highest break of the tournament, a total clearance of 142 points recorded in the quarter-finals.

"This was my toughest match of the tournament. I have been stretched to the limit before in the event but then I was not facing a rival of Passakorn's class,” the triumphant Sajjad remarked after outwitting the fancied rival in the final.

"I played very well in the beginning and remained positive about my chances of winning throughout the match. I gave him an opportunity at a wrong juncture and that helped him recover tremendously," he added.

Passakorn, who had entered the final as the obvious favourite after his consistent performance in the earlier games, was not short of praise for the new champion either.

"Sajjad is a very good player. I expected a good fight from him and he did give me one. I missed a number of chances that I should have taken towards the end of the match and that cost me the match," he complimented.

Sajjad, the 2010 Asian Championship runner-up, had created a sensation by toppling the reigning Thailand number one and former world champion Noppadon Noppachorn 4-2 in the semifinals with the scores of 18-57, 65-21, 121-10, 105-9, 17-70, 74-8. It has not been since 2005, when Moh Keen Ho of Malaysia had entered the final, that an Asian wildcard has earned a crack on a Thai ranking event title.

Sajjad was delighted to have overpowered Thailand’s top cueist. "I am so happy to have won today. He is one of the Thai Asian Games team players and it is a good morale booster for me in preparations for the Games in China later this year,” he was quoted as saying.

"I had not been playing as well as I wanted to and it was the 70-plus break in the third frame that got me going,” he reckoned.

The Korat Cup 2010 had commenced on August 2 with India’s number three Kamal Chawla and Bahrain's top cueist Habib Sabah being the other wild card entrants besides Sajjad, the eventual winner.

Sajjad had started his campaign by edging out Thai veteran Somporn Kunthawung 4-3 before registering another lucky 4-3 victory win over Thailand’s number 14 Pisit Chansri in the quarter-finals.

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Wasim Hashmi decides to part ways with SOA

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Honorary Treasurer of the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA), Syed Wasim Hashmi, has announced to quit the job due to personal reasons. It was a rather surprise move from him soon after having delivered a fiery speech in the general body meeting of the SOA held at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium, Karachi, on August 1.

He took the house by surprise by announcing that he was stepping down from the post because of his preoccupations as tax lawyer. He, however, agreed to continue until his successor was elected when requested by the President of the SOA, Dr Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, who was in chair.

Wasim Hashmi, who was the Organizing Secretary of the 8th Sindh Games staged in Karachi in 1999, has remained associated with the provincial Olympic body for a long period of time but he was elected to the post of Treasurer only a couple of years ago.

His credentials both as a tax lawyer as well as a sports administrator are well established. He has had a clean record and his reputation as someone doing justice with the job is thoroughly intact.

There can be reasons which he may not like to disclose that prompted his decision to part ways with the SOA after having been on board for just two years. May be he became fed up with the politicking that has remained the hallmark of the SOA for the past so many years.

One can understand his point of view that he would be needed to travel a bit more often after opening a branch of his tax firm, Hashmi Associates, in Lahore later this month but does the SOA generate so much financial activity that he was required to be permanently based in Karachi to attend to it?

The SOA can come to life with the recent funding by the provincial government as a result of the solo efforts of Dr Mohammad Ali Shah but still one can’t anticipate that kind of activity level which Wasim Hashmi would have found difficult to handle even his own heavier business commitments.

I am not sure why nobody in the SOA general body came forward to him to enquire the actual reasons of quitting the post. Will anybody disagree from the fact that he’s the most suitable person for the job?

The SOA certainly needed a man of his integrity level to look after the financial matters at a stage when there indeed would be some events other than the Sindh Games, the Inter-Provincial Games and the National Games.

The SOA President, Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, who has injected a life in what has been a rubber-stamp body all along, should be little careful while accepting the resignation of Wasim Hashmi.

Probably Dr Shah, who has been living abroad more in the recent months for his treatment, didn’t expect it during the meeting. He just couldn’t grasp how and why did the sitting Treasurer chose to quit?

Wasim Hashmi may submit his resignation in writing shortly but Dr Shah will now have time to look into the pros and cons before accepting it or putting it up in the agenda for the future SOA meetings.

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