14 Monday 8th February, 2010 Pakistan coach accepts blame for beats Australian defeats Pakistan coach ngland kicked off their Six ing day contest between two sides with Intikhab Nations Championship cam- grand designs on this season’s title, it Alam said Epaign with a welcome win over was nothing short of a tedious kicking Sunday he Wales at Twickenham. duel lacking in genuine quality. accepted However, they did their best to Jones, Gareth Cooper and Lee full respon- throw it away once again as Wales Byrne kicked with little accuracy, sibility for fought back from 20-3 down to 20-17 whilst England, who started with a his team’s with 10 minutes decent dismal per- remaining on degree of formance on referee Allain ambition, its tour of Rolland’s time- slipped Australia and vowed piece. back into not to run Fortunately, their shell away from for Martin and played any Johnson, Wales, straight investiga- Intikhab Alam - who conceded into the tion. 17 points while was hands of a Wales side who could Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 in the serving 10 minutes - for a deliberate scarcely believe their good fortune. Tests and 5-0 in the one-dayers and lost first half trip on , forced However, when Wyn Jones was the only Twenty20 match on the tour — the issue once too often and gifted rightly sent to the bin, Wilkinson results which prompted former players England victory with edged England back in front with a and fans to demand an overhaul of the making sure of victory in the closing penalty from 40 metres. team and management. minutes. Buoyed by their numerical advan- Chief selector Iqbal Qasim last week Having enjoyed an early foothold in tage, England compounded the lock’s resigned, but Alam said he would not the England half, Wales committed the misery when Haskell picked up at a England’s Danny Care, center, with teammates Delon Armitage, left, and make any premature comments. cardinal sin after 11 minutes when ruck on the Wales line and nipped over celebrates after scoring a try against Wales during their Six Nations inter- “I will not run away and will face an Andy Powell was caught off his feet at for Wilkinson to convert. national match at Twickenham stadium, London, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. investigation,” said Alam after the a ruck in front of their own posts. Before Wyn Jones had returned, (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) team’s return home early Sunday. “I am Wilkinson, whose kicking from Danny Care pinched a yard of space not going to comment on any resignation hand had been exemplary in the early around the blindside before stepping that Wales might have discovered a the final pass, Delon Armitage inter- but I take full responsibility for the defeat.” minutes, duly converted and with inside for his side’s way back into the contest. cepted, Matthew Tait and Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf, twice spurning opportuni- second try, two minutes into the second They certainly started to believe took it on and Haskell bagged his sec- who returned to Pakistan on Wednesday, ties to put Wales on the board, it was half. with 10 minutes remaining - Hook side- ond to seal the day. also vowed to continue as skipper left to Stephen Jones to level matters Wilkinson’s conversion put stepping through a collection of static despite a hint from the Pakistan Cricket after 28 minutes. England 17 points to the good, but a English jerseys for a try Jones once Board (PCB) that there will be a change Unfortunately, for those who had converted try from Adam Jones on the again improved. © The Telegraph Group, in the captaincy. paid decent money to watch this open- overlap after 49 minutes, suggested However, when Wales tried to force London, 2010 PCB last week announced a six-man evaluation committee to investigate the defeats, which Alam said were due to poor fielding and batting. a good decision and we’re happy,” Villa “It was a disappointing tour but if defender Richard Dunne said. you look into the history, Pakistan has Tottenham’s failure to find a way never performed well on a tour of past Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel at Australia,” said Alam. Man United routs Pompey “Our fielding was very poor and bats- White Hart Lane meant Liverpool’s lunchtime victory kept the 18-time men lacked determination and their shot champions in fourth. selection was bad.” Following a lackluster start to the This was Pakistan’s fourth straight 3- season, Liverpool has now collected 17 0 Test series whitewash against Australia, having lost by the same mar- points from a possible 21 in the last gin on the tours in 1999 and 2004. to go top; City loses seven matches. Australia also beat them 3-0 when the Pompey defense and fired home the Despite Everton defender Phil series was played on neutral venues of fourth. Mark Wilson became the third Neville clinging to him, Dirk Kuyt sent Colombo and Sharjah in 2002. Pompey player to score an own goal to Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard’s The team was whisked away from round off the miserable day for the visi- inswinging corner past goalkeeper Tim Karachi’s old airport terminal due to tors. Howard from close range in the 55th security problems in the city, where 33 United’s crosstown rival City minute for the game’s only goal. people were killed in twin bomb blasts slumped to its second league loss since Liverpool was a man down from amid sectarian violence on Friday. Roberto the 35th after Alam denied there was any rift in the Mancini Sotirios team. replaced Mark Kyrgiakos was “Talk of grouping is baseless and Hughes as man- sent off for a two- rumours. Such things come when the ager in footed challenge team loses,” said Alam, who replaced December as on Everton mid- Australian Geoff Lawson in October Hull climbed fielder Marouane 2008. “Australia is still the best team in out of the rele- Fellaini, who the world and they played well. gation zone. escaped punish- “Australia lost a home Test series against South Africa, were defeated in United ment for stamp- Tests in India and handed Ashes to States forward Jozy Altidore scored his ing on the Greek defender in the same England in the last two years, but their first goal at his 18th incident. people backed them and they have game and George Boateng volleyed in Everton winger Steven Pienaar was regrouped. We should also back our Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, centre, heads home the opening goal of the Hull’s second. Emmanuel Adebayor’s shown a second yellow card in the 90th team.” game against Portsmouth during the English Premier League soccer match at goal for City wasn’t enough to spark a for a light challenge on Gerrard, but the Alam said he would give the PCB a Old Trafford, Manchester, England Saturday Feb. 6, 2010. Manchester United won comeback, despite Patrick Viera coming South African was fortunate not to be detailed report on team’s performance. the match 5-0. (AP Photo/PA, Martin Rickett) on as a substitute to make his debut for sent off in the first half for a foul on “I will give a detailed report on the club. Javier Mascherano. team’s performance on the tour and hope by Rob Harris one-point lead. “In the first half we didn’t play “Derbies are all about passion, a fair analysis is done,” said Alam, The top four regained a familiar very well. Hull were more aggressive commitment and fight, and we’ve beat- whose last tenure as coach ended after LONDON (AP) - Manchester United look after Liverpool climbed to fourth and put us under pressure,” Mancini en a good Everton side here with 10 Pakistan lost a Test series 2-1 to Sri returned to the Premier League summit with a 1-0 victory over Everton, while said. “In the second half we played very men, so we should be proud and enjoy Lanka in 2000. by routing bottom-place Portsmouth 5-0 Tottenham drew 0-0 with Aston Villa well, for me. When we brought on this,” Gerrard said. “Our attitude pre- When asked about all-rounder Shahid on Saturday, while Manchester City lost and Man City lost. Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson, the vailed, we stuck together and then took Afridi’s ball-tampering case, Alam said: 2-1 at relegation-threatened Hull. At Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney game changed. If we play like we did in our chance when it came.” “every team in the world does tamper Wayne Rooney and Dimitar headed in from close range from Darren the second half, we can arrive in the top Burnley climbed out of the relega- with the ball, but Afridi’s style was unac- Berbatov each scored for United, while Fletcher’s cross and Portsmouth defend- four - but not if we play like we did in tion zone and sent West Ham back into ceptable and different.” three Portsmouth players scored own er Anthony Vanden Borre turned in the first.” the bottom three with a 2-1 victory over Afridi, leading Pakistan in the fifth one-day at Perth last Sunday, was caught goals to add to the debt-ridden club’s ’s attempted cross just before half- At White Hart Lane, Spurs were the east London club. biting the ball on two separate occasions. woes. time. angered by their failure to get a penalty Bolton is just one point above West He was banned for two Twenty20 match- United will now hope Chelsea is After the break, Michael Carrick’s when Stiliyan Petrov appeared to trip Ham after drawing 0-0 with Fulham and es. beaten by third-place Arsenal on shot deflected in off Richard Hughes Jermain Defoe in the closing minutes. Wigan is a further point ahead after Sunday so the champions retain their before tormented the “It looked like a penalty, but we got holding Sunderland to a 1-1 draw.

Australia beat the West Indies by 113 against Pakistan. huge six over mid-off from Smith’s man run out by several yards. Haddin’s dismissal came after runs to claim first blood of their five- Australia found scoring difficult next over. Gayle had his revenge when he had Pollard pulled off a sharp one-handed ODI series in Melbourne on Sunday. early on with just 12 runs coming off Watson and Ponting combined for Watson caught at long-on for 59 shortly catch off his own bowling and Earlier, Shane Watson celebrated the first four overs before Watson and an 85-run stand for the second wicket after, before Pollard underlined his although the ball clearly carried, his 100th ODI appearance by top-scor- Shaun Marsh finally began to acceler- as Watson bought up his 50 in the 23rd growing reputation as one of the most Haddin stood his ground waiting for ing with a half-century as Australia ate. over. exciting young all-rounders in world the third umpire’s decision believing squandered a promising start in the The pair put on 50 for the first His half-century came off 65 balls cricket. that he had hit the ball into the opening match of the Commonwealth wicket before Marsh fell for 20 in the with six boundaries, although he was The 22-year-old struck his first blow ground. Bank Series. However, replays showed Haddin After West Indies skipper Chris had indeed chipped the ball straight Gayle won the toss and surprisingly back to Pollard, who celebrated his elected to bowl first in what were best one-day figures of three for 45 ideal batting conditions, Australia off his 10 overs. looked poised for a huge score when First blood of the series to Australia they reached 118 for one after 25 Brief Scores: overs. Australia 256/8 (50) But they were reeled in thanks to 11th over, caught behind by wicket- almost run out on 49 as he attempted when he bowled Ponting with a mag- (S. Watson 59, R. Ponting 49, M. some fine bowling from Windies all- keeper Denish Ramdin off the bowling to scramble back to his crease - minus nificent delivery that nipped back and Hussey 28, K. Pollard 3/45) rounder Kieron Pollard at the MCG. of Dwayne Smith. his bat - after slipping over in the mid- went between bat and pad in the 30th West Indies 143 all out (34.2) Eventually Australia still managed That bought Ricky Ponting to the dle of the pitch. over as the skipper departed for 49, (K. Pollard 31, L. Simmons 29, R. to post 256 for eight on a pitch which crease and the captain immediately Luckily for Watson, Gayle fumbled and also picked up the wickets of Harris 3/24, N. Hauritz 3/28) lacked the pace of the strip used for signalled his intentions to start pick- the ball at the bowler’s end when a Cameron White (18) and Brad Haddin Friday’s Twenty20 International ing up the run rate when he smashed a clean take would have seen the bats- (eight). (cricket365.com)