Nobody can pressure me - Asif
A court heard on Friday during the alleged spot-fixing trial defendant Mohammed Asif
insist that he was not protecting his former captain Salman Butt and
denied that Butt had ever put pressure on him to bowl no-balls or to
cheat in any other way.
On the eighth day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court, the jury heard a
transcript of an initial police interview with Asif in September last
year, shortly after the publication of an undercover investigation into
alleged corruption by the Pakistan cricketers and Majeed, released in
the News of the World.
The transcript was read out in role play format between policeman at the
time Detective Constable John Massey and Sarah Whitehouse for the
prosecution. Asif, though, was not present at the time as he arrived two hours late.
When the court heard how Asif was questioned on whether he was
protecting Butt, he replied: "No…I'm going to protect myself. How can I
protect Salman Butt. Even in the game and in my life I am going to
protect myself."
When police probed further and asked Asif if he was being put under any
pressure by Butt not to tell the truth, Asif was again firm in his
response: "No pressure, how can he put pressure on me? How can he
pressurise me? Nobody can pressurise me as I have played in the
(Pakistan) team for a long time."
The police interview also heard, which had been revealed earlier in the trial, how there was no marked News of the World money found in Asif's room, but there was in the hotel rooms of Butt and Mohammad Amir at the time of police searches.
Asif also revealed that his initial agent was Mazhar's older brother
Azhar but he switched to Mazhar "seven or eight months ago", yet added
that despite conversations of potential income, he had never received
any money from either of the Majeed's.
Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy
to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test in
August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed,
teenage fast bowler Amir and other people unknown to bowl
pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.
The case continues.
9:26 AM 0
We have to be at our best' - Clarke
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Michael Clarke
passed his first examination as Australia's captain by leading the side
to a series victory in Sri Lanka, but he knows repeating that success
in South Africa will be a major challenge. Clarke flew out of Sydney on
Friday to join the squad ahead of the three ODIs and two Tests, after
Cameron White's Twenty20 side kicked off the trip with a victory in Cape
Town on Thursday.
And while that was an encouraging start, it's the Test matches that
Australia really need to win as they attempt to climb back up the Test
rankings, having risen from fifth to fourth following the Sri Lankan
trip. Clarke's men will take comfort from their success in South Africa
in 2008-09, when they took the series 2-1 under Ricky Ponting. Beating
the second-ranked South Africans again would be a wonderful achievement
for a developing side.
"South Africa are a very tough team in any form of the game - especially
in their own backyard, so [a win] will be a great achievement," Clarke
told reporters in Sydney. "We have to be at our best against South
Africa, individually players know that and as a team we've got to be
flying, with the bat, with the ball and in the field. We have to be as
good as we can possibly be to win this one-day series and hopefully win
the Test series as well."
The Test squad has not yet been named but the offspinner Nathan Lyon is
expected to play a key role during the series after making a positive
start to his international career in Sri Lanka, where he took five
wickets on debut in the first innings in Galle. Clarke believes Lyon -
who has played only eight first-class games - will be an important man
over the coming months as Australia face South Africa, New Zealand and
India in Test series, but he also stressed the need to manage his
workload.
"He's a wonderful talent, as I thought before I went to Sri Lanka, and
having seen him bowl, he's got beautiful shape out of his hand, he's got
great natural variation, great change of pace," Clarke said. "He's
young and inexperienced, though, and it's going to take some time and we
have to look after him now and build him into the series in South
Africa. Hopefully he can play a part in the practice game but with a big
summer ahead in Australia ... it's about monitoring him.
"His body got tired at the back end of that Sri Lanka series with three
back-to-back Test matches plus a tour game. We have to keep an eye on
that, but he's a huge talent and hopefully he will play a huge part for
Australian cricket."
And while Australia are coming off a busy period, with some players
heading to the Champions League T20 after the Sri Lankan tour, South
Africa will need to shed their rust after a long lay-off, having played
no Tests since January. Clarke said South Africa's long stretch without
cricket, as well as a finger injury to AB de Villiers, would help
Australia, but he believed they would begin to find their touch during
the ODIs, which start in Centurion on Wednesday.
"The T20s and one-dayers will help them get momentum as a team, even
though there will be some changes for the Test team," he said. "I think
AB de Villiers is a big loss for them as well with his injury. I think
we should be high on confidence after winning in Sri Lanka but saying
that, they are playing in their own backyard. It will be a great
challenge for us. They are a wonderful team and they are always hard to
beat."
9:25 AM 0
India start series with crushing win
MS Dhoni marked India's homecoming with a brutal innings of 87 not out
from 70 balls, before the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja sparked a
dramatic English batting collapse, as the team that failed to win a
single international fixture on their recent tour of England returned to
form with a crushing 126-run victory at Hyderabad.
Dhoni's performance was his fourth half-century in as many international
innings, but whereas the last three had been insufficient to force
victory, this performance was more reminiscent of his last performance
in a home international - his crushing 91 not out in the World Cup final
against Sri Lanka in April.
After winning his first toss in six attempts against England, Dhoni
chose to bat first on a slow surface, but India were struggling on 139
for 4 after 34 overs before he and Suresh Raina turned on the
after-burners as a further 161 were added in the final third of the
innings. As had regularly been the case in England, he started
cautiously against a disciplined attack, and had reached 5 from 18 balls
before belting his first boundary, from Ravi Bopara, to signal India's
late charge.
In total, Dhoni belted 10 fours and one six in his innings, the latter
coming from a trademark helicopter flick off Steven Finn in the
penultimate over of the innings. Finn had started his day's work with
impressive pace and accuracy, and should have had a first-over wicket
when Jonathan Trott dropped a sitter off Ajinkya Rahane at second slip -
a moment that only the 26,000 crowd were able to witness, thanks to a
TV rights dispute that caused a three-over blackout. But Finn finished
with the bruised figures of 1 for 67 in nine overs, with his solitary
wicket that of Raina in his seventh over, moments after he had been
battered for another six over long-on.
Raina, whose brutality against the full length ball was a sight to
behold, crunched 61 from 55 balls, with both of his sixes coming from
the final four balls of his innings. Like Dhoni, he had opted for
circumspection in the early part of his stay, but the longer his 62-run
stand for the fifth wicket continued, the more boisterous the Hyderabad
crowd became.
It had been a more muted affair in the early part of India's innings.
Parthiv Patel was run out at the non-striker's end for 9 as Finn
fingertipped a Rahane drive onto the stumps, while Rahane himself had
reached 15 from 41 balls when Graeme Swann dragged him out of his crease
with his third delivery of the match to give Craig Kieswetter an easy
stumping.
In his first match since recovering from concussion, Gautam Gambhir
confirmed his fitness with a fluent 32 from 33 balls. However, Jade
Dernbach's liquorice allsorts proved hard to pick and tough to get away
on the surface, and the slower ball that did for Gambhir was a beauty.
It looped up above the batsman's eyeline and dropped sharply to rap his
shin in front of leg stump.
At 79 for 3 after 18 overs, the game was very much in the balance.
However, England's position could, and probably should, have been even
better after 25 overs, when Samit Patel repeated Finn's trick of
dropping his fingertips on a straight drive. It was Raina this time who
was in peril as the bails were dislodged, but after a lengthy delay for
the TV adjudication, he was given the benefit of the doubt by the third
umpire, Sudhir Ashani.
In the final analysis, however, it really didn't matter. Though Alastair
Cook continued his impressive form as England captain with 60 from 63
balls, his dismissal in the 23rd over of the innings precipated a
dramatic collapse at the hands of Jadeja and R Ashin. England tumbled
from 111 for 2 to 134 for 7 in the space of 40 balls, and only Samit
Patel (16) and the No. 10, Finn, with a run a ball 18, provided any
resistance.
Praveen Kumar, India's star bowler from their ill-fated tour of England,
had launched India's defence in fine style, opening up with a maiden to
Cook, and he had not conceded a run when he extracted Kieswetter with
his eighth delivery, a full-length ball that jagged off the seam to take
a thin edge through to Dhoni.
The loss of their top-order powerhitter caused England to rejig their
conventional batting order, with Kevin Pietersen emerging at No. 3 ahead
of the more staid Trott. The plan looked to be paying off as Pietersen
launched his innings with ominous resolve, but having struck three fours
in a 28-ball 19, he attempted a quick single to mid-on where Ashwin
nailed him with a direct hit.
Trott then appeared at No. 4, and for 13.3 overs he and Cook steadied
the innings, adding 71 for the third wicket to give England a solid
platform. But then, having brought up his fifty at exactly a run a
ball, Cook gave his innings away with a loose clip to deep midwicket off
Ravindra Jadeja, and thwacked his pad with his bat in frustration as he
left the crease.
Worse was to follow for England two overs later. Trott, whose 26 from 42
balls had been a typically measured performance, attempted an ungainly
smear across the line against Jadeja and lost his leg stump, and eight
balls later, Ravi Bopara drove loosely at Ashwin and chipped a simple
return catch to the keeper.
Jadeja by now was on a roll with the crowd fully behind him, and he
extended England's collapse to four wickets in 26 balls when Jonny
Bairstow, the hero of the run-chase in Cardiff, last month, also offered
up a return catch. His figures after four overs were 3 for 17, and
England's unbeaten run against India in 2011 was soon all over.
9:23 AM 0
Simmons' ton sets up easy WI win
Five years after his debut, Lendl Simmons finally made his first
international hundred, and with the help of another batsman who has
resurrected his international career this year, Marlon Samuels, powered
West Indies to a total that proved too much for Bangladesh in the first
ODI in Mirpur. The pair put on 150 for the first wicket before a
power-packed Kieron Pollard cameo further demoralised a Bangladesh team
that was on a high after their dramatic win in the Twenty20 two days
ago.
5:21 PM 0
Australia take opening Twenty20
A powerful half-century from Shane Watson
helped Australia make an encouraging start to their tour of South
Africa as they won the opening Twenty20 in Cape Town by five wickets.
The teenage debutant Patrick Cummins collected three wickets as South Africa reached 146 for 7, led by a solid innings from JP Duminy, and the target wasn't enough to prevent Australia from turning around their recent poor T20 form.
5:19 PM 0
England's chance in low-key series
India's winless tour of England has not been without what initially
seemed like positives. At least the admen had moved on from the Lagaan theme that has been the easiest way to sell an India-England series in
India. Except that colonial references have now made way for war ones.
"There's no weapon deadlier than vengeance," says one in all caps. 6:53 AM 0
A series too short for its stature
A little longer would have been nicer
Just as a gastronome would moan if Heston Blumenthal served up only one
course at The Fat Duck, so too will cricket fans lament the decision to
make Australia's tour of South Africa so brief. Three years ago, these
teams delivered the ultimate degustation experience. Over three months
and across two continents, they dished up helping after helping of the
highest quality cricket, and the final 3-3 score line left viewers
simultaneously satisfied and hungry for more.
6:51 AM 0
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