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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Cricket: Pakistan turn table on England


Pakistan beat England by 72 runs in the second Test on Saturday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series. England were shot out for their lowest Test score of 72 against Pakistan in all Tests. Left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman took six wickets. Pakistan won the first Test by ten wickets in Dubai. The third Test will be played in Dubai from February 3. Left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman took a career best 6-25 to help Pakistan humble England by 72 runs in the second Test here on Saturday, to give them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The 31-year-old twice took two wickets in successive overs to dent England’s chase after they were set a 145-run target on a weary fourth day Abu Dhabi Stadium pitch, bowling them out for 72 – their lowest against Pakistan in all Tests. Rehman’s effort overshadowed Monty Panesar’s 6-62, in his first Test for 30 months, which finished Pakistan’s second innings at 214 in the morning. This is England’s first series defeat after being unbeaten in their previous nine since their loss to the West Indies in early 2009 — a sequence which saw them rise to world number one in the Test rankings in August last year. Pakistan won the first Test in Dubai by ten wickets. The third Test will also be played in Dubai from February 3. Skipper Misbah-ul Haq said Pakistan wanted to make a match out of it after setting a tricky target. “We knew that it would be difficult so we wanted to make a match out of it,” said Misbah, who has now won eight Tests with one defeat since taking over in October 2010. “Our bowlers led by Rehman responded well and this is a great win.”Strauss showed his disappointment at the woeful effort. “It’s pretty disappointing,” said Strauss, whose side last lost two Tests in a row against South Africa in July 2008. “We must acknowledge how well Pakistan bowled and they thoroughly deserved the series win.”Rehman was ably assisted by off-spinners Saeed Ajmal (3-22) and Mohammad Hafeez (1-11) in a match which saw spinners dominate from the first day. England lost their top four batsmen in the space of just 37 balls after an extra cautious start on a difficult pitch. England captain Andrew Strauss topscored with 32 before he became one of Rehman’s victims during his maiden five-wicket haul. In the penultimate over before tea, Rehman trapped Kevin Pietersen (one) and two balls later bowled Eoin Morgan (nought) to raise hopes of an unlikely win for Pakistan. Sensing they could only upset their rivals through early wickets, Pakistan opened the bowling with off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez who responded well by catching Alastair Cook (seven) off his own bowling after England had edged cautiously to 21 by the 15th over. Bell, promoted to number three after Jonathan Trott was unwell, was all at sea against master spinner Ajmal and his tentative push went through his legs to hit the stumps. He made only three. Pietersen, who has been woefully out of form making just 16 runs in the series, managed one before Rehman trapped him and in the same over had the equally out of form Morgan bowled to dent England’s hopes of a victory. Rehman then accounted for Trott (one) and Stuart Broad (nought) in the same over to leave England 7-68. Ajmal dismissed Graeme Swann (nought) and Matt Prior (18) to complete his 100 Test wickets in his 19th match before Anderson was caught off Rehman to give Pakistan a sensational win. England’s previous lowest against Pakistan was 130 — made on two occasions at The Oval in 1954 and Lahore in 1987. Earlier, Pakistan lost their last six wickets with the addition of 89 runs after resuming at 125-4, with all hopes pinned on Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. Panesar took three of those wickets to finish with his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests. Azhar Ali (68) and Asad Shafiq (43) added 88 for the fifth wicket before Panesar struck. But England’s decision to take the second new ball as soon as it was due paid rich dividends as Anderson removed the dangerman Ali with a sharp rising delivery which caught the edge and was caught behind by Prior. Broad then had Adnan Akmal (13) caught by Strauss in the slips off an ambitious drive in the next over as Pakistan wilted. Rehman (10) and Ajmal (17) added an invaluable 36 for the eighth wicket before Panesar wrapped up the innings by taking the last two wickets.

Musharraf delays return without setting new date


Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf has delayed his return home, the head of his party announced Friday, due to political developments, and no date was set for his return. "He finally decided today that he would accept the recommendations" of the executive committee of the All Pakistan Muslim League party to delay his return, party secretary general Mohammed Ali Saif told reporters. "This decision (of returning) will be deliberated by the core committee of the party," he said. Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf has delayed his return home, the head of his party announced Friday after repeated threats by the country’s leadership that the ex-strongman would be arrested upon arrival. Speaking to CNN in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said Musharraf would “certainly” be arrested if he set foot back in Pakistan. Musharraf had promised to fly home to contest general elections as Pakistan’s government sinks deeper into a major crisis, squeezed by the military and the judiciary. But he faces two Pakistani court warrants for his arrest in connection with the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a rebel leader in the southwest, and the 2007 assassination of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto after her own homecoming. In an interview broadcast on BBC radio earlier this month, Musharraf acknowledged he would be in danger in Pakistan. “I do feel endangered. There is a danger certainly, but you take your own protection and then leave things to destiny. Nobody can ensure you 100 per cent protection,” he said. He admitted that his arrest in Pakistan was possible but said he would “like to remain out” of the crisis engulfing the government, army and judiciary.

Car bomb at Baghdad hospital kills 28


A car bomb near a funeral procession outside a hospital in east Baghdad killed at least 28 people and wounded 50 on Friday, a doctor at the hospital said. An interior ministry official confirmed the explosion in Zafraniyah, which struck at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), but said it was caused by a suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed car. The blast hit the funeral procession of Mohammed al-Maliki, a real estate agent who was killed along with his wife and son a day earlier in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmuk, the doctor and interior ministry official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. The procession had collected Maliki s body and was transporting it for the funeral when the explosion struck. Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. More than 200 people have been killed in attacks since American forces completed their pullout on December 18.

At least 37 civilians were killed on Friday by Syrian forces, including the first reported fatalities in the northern commercial city of Aleppo, bringing the toll for two days to nearly 100, activists said. Syrian forces killed at least 35 civilians across Syria, the watchdog said, including 12 in Nawa in the southern province of Daraa, five people in Aleppo, four in Homs, one person in nearby Hama and a child in Damascus province. Separately, two attacks killed 12 members of the security forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Six were killed in a car bomb targetting a security checkpoint in the northwestern city of Idlib, the Observatory s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, without providing any details on the identity of the assailants. The other six were killed and five wounded in the southern province of Daraa by deserters who ambushed two buses transporting security personnel, the same source said.