Sports FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 Pakistan’s Afridi to quit all cricket next year KARACHI: Pakistani allrounder Shahid Afridi yester- international career will end next year.” New Zealand’s Corey Anderson with a 36-ball hun- day announced he would retire from Twenty20 crick- India host the sixth edition of the World Twenty20 dred and then bettered by South Africa’s AB de et next year, ending a colourful international career in March-April next year, where Afridi said he hoped Villiers who raced to a century off just 31 balls, which earned him unmatched popularity in his to leave on a high. against the West Indies in January this year. homeland. The 35-year-old retired from one-day “I want to finish my career with pleasant memo- Afridi, known for his madcap approach to batting, cricket after last month’s World Cup held in Australia ries and had never thought I will play for Pakistan for his skillful leg-breaks and good looks, maintains the and New Zealand where Pakistan reached the final so long,” said Afridi. world record for most sixes: 453 across all formats of eight, but said he would continue to play the short- Surprisingly inducted at the young age of 16, the game. est form of the game. Afridi made headlines around the world when he He was appointed Twenty20 captain last year, “I will retire from Twenty20 cricket after next smashed a 37-ball hundred in only his second one- having earlier led Pakistan in one-day internationals year’s World Twenty20,” Afridi, who left Test cricket day international, against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in and Tests as well. He scored 8,064 runs in 398 one- in 2010, told reporters. “I will continue to play county 1996, setting a world record. day internationals but fell just five short of 400 wick- in England and a few Twenty20 leagues but my The record stood until last year when it broken by ets. — AFP SCOREBOARD Hafeez double-ton powers KHULNA, Bangladesh: Scoreboard at stumps yesterday on the third day of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and Pakistan in first Test Pakistan at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium: Bangladesh 1st innings: 332 KHULNA: Mohammad Hafeez hit a career- Pakistan 1st innings best 224 as Pakistan took charge of the first Mohmmad Hafeez c Mahmudullah b Hom 224 Test against Bangladesh with an impressive Sami Aslam c Rahim b Taijul 20 batting marathon during the third day’s Azhar Ali b Shuvagata Hom 83 play in Khulna yesterday. The tourists batted Younis Khan b Taijul 33 the entire day to move from their overnight Misbah-ul-Haque c Rubel b Taijul 59 score of 227 for one to 537 for five by Asad Shafiq not out 51 stumps, a lead of 205 runs over Sarfraz Khan not out 51 Bangladesh’s first innings total of 332. Extras: (5b, 4lb, 3w, 4nb) 16 Hafeez, who started the day on 137, sur- Total: (5 wickets) 537 passed his previous best of 197, made in Overs: 148. Pakistan’s previous Test against New Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-277, 3-339, 4-402, 5-468. Zealand in Sharjah last November. The 34- Still to bat: Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Junaid Khan, Zulfiqar year-old all-rounder hit 23 boundaries and Babar three sixes before being dismissed just Bowling: Rubel Hossain 22-3-82-0 (3nb), Mohammad Shahid before tea, gloving a sweep off Shuvagata 17-4-51-0 (1nb), Taijul Islam 36-3-116-3, Shuvagata Hom 32- Hom to Mohammad Mahmudullah at leg- 1-112-2 (3w), Shakib Al Hasan 31-3-122-0, Mahmudullah 4-0- slip. 30-0, Soumya Sarkar 1-0-2-0, Mominul Haque 5-0-13-0. Hafeez, who had fallen in the 190s on two previous occasions, moved to 198 with a fluent straight-driven four off seamer Mohammad Shahid and then reached his Former NZ coach double century with a sweep off Taijul Islam KHULNA: Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Hafeez plays a shot during the third day for two runs. Hafeez said he was relieved to of the first cricket Test match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at The Sheikh Abu takes Ireland role overcome the poor form that had dogged Naser Stadium in Khulna yesterday. — AFP him in the preceding one-day series which WELLINGTON: Former New Zealand cricketer John Bracewell Pakistan lost 3-0. “I was under pressure and tain and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim, of left-arm spin cost 122 runs. Taijul picked has replaced Phil Simmons as coach of Ireland and will be tasked I knew I had to do something to regain my who had injured a finger while attempting up three wickets and Shuvagata claimed with helping the associate team become a test-playing nation by confidence,” the 41-Test veteran said. “The to take a catch on the second day. the other two. 2019, Cricket Ireland said. team needed a positive innings and I am Imrul Kayes kept wickets and the cap- Shuvagata said Bangladesh can emerge Bracewell, who coached New Zealand to the semi-finals of the happy that I was able to provide that. taincy was handed to Tamim Iqbal, whose unscathed from the Test. “I think we can 2007 World Cup and recently finished a second stint with English “I am not sure if this was my best innings, review for a leg-before appeal when Hafeez still save this game,” he said. “I am not sure county Gloucester, has signed a contract until 2017. but a double hundred is always special for was on 173 was turned down by both the how long Pakistan will bat. But we have a “He has agreed a deal with us, subject to work permit any batsman in the world.” on-field and TV umpires. good batting line-up as well. “If we bat well approval, until the end of 2017, which we both feel is the right The dominant batting display, in which Bangladesh used eight bowlers on the in the second innings, saving the match is time to review our position following the completion of the ICC Pakistan’s top seven batsmen were all slow pitch at the Sheikh Abu Naser stadium, still possible.” The second and final Test will Intercontinental Cup, which is now the pathway event to the new involved in partnerships of above 50, left the most expensive being star all-rounder start at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka Test Challenge,” Cricket Ireland performance director Richard the tourists two days to force a win and take Shakib Al Hasan, whose 31 wicketless overs on May 6. — AFP Holdsworth said in a statement. the lead in the short two-Test series. Azhar “We feel John’s knowledge gained over a 25-year period in the Ali carried his overnight score of 65 to 83 first-class game will help further develop our current players, but when he was bowled by off-spinner Zimbabwe confirm also ensure succession planning for our future squad who aim to Shuvagata to end a 227-run partnership for be playing test cricket by 2019.” the second wicket with Hafeez. The 57-year-old Bracewell, whose nephew Doug is an active Pakistan tour test bowler for New Zealand, played 41 tests and 53 one-day ‘We can still save this game’ internationals for the Black Caps as an offspinner and capable That was Bangladesh’s only success in NEW DELHI: International cricket will return to Pakistan next month with a short, limit- batsman throughout the 1980s. the morning session as veteran Younis Khan ed-overs series against Zimbabwe, ending the Asian nation’s agonising six-year wait to He takes over a team that failed to make the quarter-finals of joined hands with Hafeez to add 62 for the host a test team. the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand but won admirers by third wicket before he was bowled by Taijul Pakistan has been forced to play designated ‘home’ matches primarily in the United upsetting West Indies and Zimbabwe. for 33. Skipper Misbah-ul Haq put on 63 for Arab Emirates since March 2009 following an attack by militants on a Sri Lanka team bus “There is nothing I enjoy more than fighting for a cause, and in the fourth wicket with Hafeez and 66 for the in Lahore. The Sri Lankans were ambushed while travelling from their hotel to the cricket terms there is none better than obtaining test status,” fifth with Asad Shafiq, himself scoring 59 Gaddafi stadium for a test match, in an attack that left six Pakistani policemen and a van Bracewell said. with the help of four boundaries and two driver dead while some players and a local umpire sustained injuries. “I am grateful to “Already Ireland have achieved tremendous international sixes. my counterpart in Cricket Zimbabwe, Wilson Manase, for acceding to our request of results given its financial resources and has gained respect at Misbah also fell to left-arm spinner Taijul, sending a full side on a tour to Pakistan,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said in a state- international tournaments, to the point where they are no longer top-edging a sweep to backward square-leg ment. Pakistan will reciprocate by touring Zimbabwe in August, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) regarded as a banana skin match but true qualifying contenders.” where Rubel Hossain took the catch. said on their official Twitter feed. “We have taken cognisance of all the factors for us to Ireland will hope to gain further credibility with victory At stumps, Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed arrive at this decision, so let’s not be alarmist about the situation in Pak,” Manase was over England in a one-day international match at home on were both unbeaten on 51, having put on quoted as saying on the feed.