Ton-up Latif leads Pakistan to mauling of China
November 22, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
GUANGZHOU: Pakistan captain Khalid Latif smashed the first century of the Asian Games cricket tournament as the favourites crushed China by 128 runs to reach the semi-finals.
The 24-year-old opener on Monday hit an unbeaten 103 in 69 balls which featured eight fours and five sixes as Pakistan made 183-1 off their 20 overs with Sharieel Khan making 46.
It was China’s second successive defeat in the tournament, having lost to Malaysia by 89 runs, and ended their brief, first flirtation with international cricket.
China never recovered from their precarious position of 11-4 when they started their reply while five of their batsmen were bowled as they failed to cope with Pakistan pace and direction.
Only Li Jian reached double figures, making 14 with three confident fours.
Raza Hassan took 3-10 while Aizaz Cheema finished with figures of 3-15 for
Umar leads Pakistan recovery against South Africa
GROS ISLET: Umar Akmal struck 51 from 33 balls as Pakistan recovered from a poor start to make 148 for seven after captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa in their World Twenty20 game on Monday.
On a slow track, Pakistan struggled throughout the ”power play” overs stumbling to 19 for three at the end of the six overs of field restrictions.
Umar and his brother Kamran Akmal (32) then put on a 51-run partnership that got Pakistan”s momentum going.
After Kamran departed, skipper Shahid Afridi (30 from 18) contributed to a 61-run partnership in just 5.3 overs.
For South Africa, Charl Langeveldt made the important breakthroughs taking 4-19 from his four overs.
The defending champions made one change from the side beaten by one run by New Zealand in Barbados on Saturday, with spin-bowling all-rounder Khalid Latif replacing fast bowler Mohammad Sami.
South Africa, who lost by 39 runs to England in Barbados on Saturday, also made one change with left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe replacing fast bowler Morne Morkel.
Pakistan have lost their opening two games in the three-match Super Eight stage while South Africa have one victory giving them two points and a chance to make the
semi-finals with a win.
Pakistan had to win this match to have a chance of reaching the semi-finals, although they also needed England beat New Zealand in the final Group E match later here on Monday.
Victory for South Africa would guarantee England”s place in the semi-finals but leave the Proteas needing England to beat New Zealand to advance into the last four.
If New Zealand win, South Africa would most likely be out, unless they beat Pakistan by a huge margin and New Zealand only win narrowly.
Teams
Pakistan:Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (captain), Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Khalid Latif Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher (wkt), Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Roelof van der Merwe, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt.
Pak win toss, elect to bat
ST. LUCIA: Two important matches are scheduled today in Super Eight phase of Twenty20 World Cup to be played at the Beausejour Cricket Ground at Gros Islet, St Lucia, as Pakistan and South Africa will clash in the first face-off and England will play New Zealand in the other tug of war.
Pakistan take on South Africa in an important game for both sides. South Africa need to win the match to make it to the semifinals. However, if they lose they will most likely be out due to a poor net run rate.
Two back-to-back defeats in the Super Eight have left defending champions Pakistan with only a slim mathematical chance of making the semis of the World Twenty20. When they face South Africa in their last Group Eight match here Monday, Pakistan will not only be hoping for a big victory, but will also have a prayer on their lips.
On Saturday, Pakistan lost their thrilling Super Eight match to New Zealand by just one run at the Kensington Oval. When they take the field Monday, Pakistan will not only have to win by a big margin but also hope that New Zealand convincingly beat England in the other Group E match.
If New Zealand beat England and South Africa lose then New Zealand are through and if New Zealand lose and South Africa lose too, then Pakistan go through.
South Africa will look to thrash Pakistan to better their net run rate and make sure that they don”t just have to depend on England beating New Zealand to qualify.
South Africa’s Dale Steyn, who had been impressive in the tournament had a rare bad match on Saturday going for a lot of runs against England.
He will have to improve the performance to make sure South Africa restrict Pakistan, whose batting looks really vunerable. Their middle-order is shaky.
In another match, New Zealand will look to seal a spot in the semifinals when they take on England on Monday.
That Kevin Pitersen will miss out as he flies to England to be with his wife during delivery will be advantageous for the Kiwis. However, they will be up against a team that has plenty of other good players and is looking unstoppable.
England’s bowling attack looks sorted out what with Ryan Sidebottom, Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad combining into an effective pace trio, one that has not just throttled runs but also picked regular wickets.
Sidebottom was particularly good against the South Africans picking three wickets. Graeme Swann has bowled his off-spinnners quite effectively.
In the batting department, Craig Kieswetter has been quite a revelation, stocking up a few runs at the top.
New Zealand, despite the loss to South Africa, have had a good tournament thus far. Their bowling, led by Kyle Mills and Shane Bond has looked venomous and Ian Butler has been a good change bowler.
Pakistan win toss, bat against South Africa
ST LUCIA: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa in their last match of the World Twenty20 Super Eights here at the Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on Monday.
Both teams have made one change each in their lineups for today.
Teams
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (captain), Umar Akmal, Khalid Latif, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal
South Africa: GC Smith (captain), HH Gibbs, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, MV Boucher (wk), JA Morkel, RE van der Merwe, DW Steyn, J Botha, CK Langeveldt.
Pakistan Squad For T20 World Cup Named
Latest Update News:-Chief Selector Friday named a new look 15-member squad for the third edition of ICC T20 World Cup.
Pakistan will be defending their crown in the event which they won last June at Lords by beating Sri Lanka in the final under Younus Khan, who is facing indefinite ban from PCB.
“Name of the captain will be announced later by the PCB,” newly installed head of the selection committee Mohsin Khan told reporters at National Stadium here.
Squad: Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Khalid Latif, Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Hammad Azam, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal.
Reserves: Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Raza Hasan, Naveed Yasin, Sarfraz Ahmed.
The chief selector told that the captain would be named later.
PCB Announces World Twenty20 Squad
Pakistan has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming World Twenty20 tournament to be played in the West Indies.
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Chief selector Mohsin Khan announced the squad at National Stadium Karachi and informed that naming a captain “is the domain of the PCB chairman (Ijaz Butt)” who will name the skipper later.
Squad
1 Abdul Razzak, 2 Saeed Ajmal, 3 Muhammad Hafeez, 4 Shahid Afridi, 5 Kamran Akmal, 6 Omer Akmal, 7 Umer Gul, 8 Misbah-ul-Haq, 9 Muhammad Asif, 10 Khalid Latif, 11 Salman Butt, 12 Hammad Azam, 13 Fawad Alam, 14 Muhammad Amir and 15 Yasir Arafat.
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Shahid Afridi Has Been Deprived Of The Captaincy Of Karachi
Former T20 captain Shahid Afridi has been deprived of the captaincy of Karachi Dolphins Team for domestic T20 tournament.
The tournament would begin from Saturday, while both the teams from Karachi have been announced in this regard. Muhammad Sami took over Karachi Dolphins while Spinner Danesh Kaneria would captain the Karachi Zebras. Last year, Afridi was given captaincy, however this time he is not considered for the slot. Khalid Latif, Shah Zeb Hassan, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed and Sohail Khan also made to the teams.
Shahid Afridi Has Been Deprived Of The Captaincy Of Karachi was first posted on February 26, 2010 at 5:41 pm.
Australia Bat First in T20 Vs Pakistan
MELBOURNE: Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the only Twenty20 International (day/night) here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
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Pakistan are playing under allrounder Shoaib Malik as Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi has been banned for playing two T20 matches for ball biting incident.
Imran Nazir has returned to Pakistan lineup for today and Imran Farhat is making his T20 debut.
Australia have also included two debutants – legspinning allrounder Steve Smith and left-handed batsman Travis Birt.
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Australia Bat First in T20 Vs Pakistan was first posted on February 5, 2010 at 2:29 pm.
Khalid Latif not good enough at this level!
Khalid Latif might have scored 64 in the first ODI yesterday in Pakistan’s thumping 138-run win, but I strongly feel that the opener should be dropped and make way for the classy Shoaib Malik in the playing XI for the next match on Friday.
Having watched 112 balls played by Khalid Latif in the first ODI, I think he is not that fit to play international cricket at this stage. A poor technique, rash shots, lack of timing and what not, nothing really seemed to be impressive about this former U19 Pakistan Captain. The 23-year-old Latif will have to spend a lot of time in the nets and fix his game with proper Coaches if he has to be a successful cricketer at the highest level.
I remember the 3rd over bowled by Shane Bond faced by Latif and the right hander played really ugly cricket which hardly had any grace. I thought that this guy was a natural hitter and looking to counter attack the Kiwis. But instead he went into a shell, was playing a Test Match rather than a One Dayer. It was no excuse at this level that Pakistan were 0 for 2 and that required Khalid Latif to forget about scoring runs and just stay onto the wicket. And his type of knock was against a toothless Kiwi attack. It was just playing off a few overs from Bond and the inexperienced Southee for a while and the rest of the attack was just wafer thin with the exception of Vettori. Latif just remained in Gear one almost throughout his 112-ball stay except for a couple of rash shots early on against Bond.
Pakistan will have to really thank Shahid Afridi to pull them off from a disastrous situation in the middle overs when the runs were trickling by. Afridi was also very generous in telling Latif to take his own time, he even told him – first get your fifty. Once Afridi brought Pakistan back into the game, the rest was left to the experienced duo of Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq who certainly didn’t disappoint their fans. Pakistan smashed 287 out of nowhere and Latif’s tortoise innings was well covered up by the heroics of Afridi and Kamran Akmal.
I would be surprised to see Khalid Latif continue for a long time in international cricket if he plays the same way like he did in the 1st ODI. There will be a lot of quick bowlers to handle than what he had faced against the Kiwis which is for sure. The likes of Bond, Mills must be looking to bowl the sharp induckers to Latif in the next two games and get him out bowled or lbw. Ideally he needs to be dropped and replaced with Shoaib Malik who surprsingly was left out of the team in the first ODI. People might be looking to have Salman Butt dropped but I think he is a quality batsman and one failure or two doesn’t make him a bad cricketer. Another talented batsman is Imran Farhat and I rate both him and Butt to be miles ahead of Khalid Latif.
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Khalid Latif not good enough at this level! was first posted on November 4, 2009 at 11:44 pm.
Pak Score Decent 287/9 Against NZ in first ODI
ABU DHABI: Pak Score Decent 287/9 Against NZ in first ODI, Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal put on a century stand Tuesday as Pakistan recovered from a bad start to post 287 for nine wickets in the first one-day international against New Zealand.
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Afridi smashed 70 off 50 deliveries and Akmal an unbeaten 67 from 43 balls to put on 101 in less than 15 overs. Khalid Latif, playing in only his second ODI and replacing the more experienced Shoaib Malik, made 64 from 112 balls.
Pakistan had lost two wickets without any runs scored at the neutral venue of Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori took 2-34, while fast bowler Shane Bond claimed 2-61.
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Pak Score Decent 287/9 Against NZ in first ODI was first posted on November 3, 2009 at 10:25 pm.
