England set Pakistan 149-run target in 2nd T20

DUBAI: England set a modest target of 149 runs for Pakistan in the second Twenty20 International here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

After Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss again and this time he put England to bat first who made 148 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Opener Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen posted 98 runs for the second wicket partnership after England lost Joe Denly, who was bowled by pacer Yasir Arafat.

They took score to 110 in 16.1 overs when Trott was run out by Imran Nazir for 39. Then, England lost two more wickets for only 15 runs due to which their run rate became slower.

Pietersen smashed 62 from 40 balls with three sixes and four boundaries.

Later, Arafat captured two more wickets on successive balls in the final over to finish with three for 32. Other wicket-takers were Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, taking one wicket each.

Both Pakistan and England made one change each in their teams as Shahid Afridi returned to Pakistan side after serving his two-match ban. He replaced Khalid Lateef..

England leading 1-0 in the two-match series, dropped Ryan Sidebottom, who has a thigh strain following an awkward fall in the field in the Friday match. In his place, Ajmal Shahzad made his T20 debut.

Teams:
Pakistan: Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik (captain), Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal.LINK...

England: Joe Denly, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (captain), Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann.

Razzaq steers Pakistan to win over England

DUBAI: Allrounder Abdul Razzaq’s spectacular batting display helped Pakistan to win the second Twenty20 International by four wickets against England here the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

He hammered an unbeaten 46 from just 18 balls with five towering sixes after Pakistan were reeling at 78 for five in 13 overs.

Chasing 149 to win, Pakistan achieved the target of 149 runs with one over left.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss again and this time he put England to bat first.

England made 148 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Opener Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen posted 98 runs for the second wicket partnership after England lost Joe Denly, who was bowled by pacer Yasir Arafat.

They took score to 110 in 16.1 overs when Trott was run out by Imran Nazir for 39. Then, England lost two more wickets for only 15 runs due to which their run rate became slower.

Pietersen smashed 62 from 40 balls with three sixes and four boundaries.

Razzaq steers Pakistan to win over England

DUBAI: Allrounder Abdul Razzaq’s spectacular batting display helped Pakistan to win the second Twenty20 International by four wickets against England here the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

He hammered an unbeaten 46 from just 18 balls with five towering sixes after Pakistan were reeling at 78 for five in 13 overs and in looking in danger of defeat..

Chasing 149 to win, Pakistan achieved the target of 149 runs with one over left.

Other main scorers were Umar Akmal, hitting 36 off 41 balls and Fawad Alam with 28.

Fawad provided effective support to Razzaq as both added 48 runs from 25 balls for the sixth wicket stand.

For England, Graeme Swann claimed three for 14 and debutant pacer Ajmal Shahzad got two wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss again and this time he put England to bat first.

England made 148 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Opener Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen posted 98 runs for the second wicket partnership after England lost Joe Denly, who was bowled by pacer Yasir Arafat.

They took score to 110 in 16.1 overs when Trott was run out by Imran Nazir for 39. Then, England lost two more wickets for only 15 runs due to which their run rate became slower.

Pietersen smashed 62 from 40 balls with three sixes and four boundaries.

Later, Arafat captured two more wickets on successive balls in the final over to finish with three for 32. Other wicket-takers were Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, taking one wicket each.

Both Pakistan and England made one change each in their teams as Shahid Afridi returned to Pakistan side after serving his two-match ban. He replaced Khalid Lateef..

England leading 1-0 in the two-match series, dropped Ryan Sidebottom, who has a thigh strain following an awkward fall in the field in the Friday match. Ajmal Shahzad came in his to make a T20 debut.LINK...

Sixth Cholistan desert jeep rally begins

BAHAWALPUR: The sixth Cholistan desert jeep rally has kicked off here on Sunday morning, Geo news reported.

The phases of rally have been divided into four different categories, featuring a total of 88 sports drivers.

The rally began as the winner of last year tournament Meer Nadir Magsi drove out his jeep first to mark the opening of the race.

Earlier on Friday, the Punjab parliamentary secretary for Tourism and Muslims Students Federation (MSF) president Rana Mohammad Arshad said that a sum of Rs3 million was being spent on holding the sixth Cholistan desert jeep rally from February 21-23.

Talking to media persons, he said that a helicopter had also been made available to monitor the jeep rally and to act as a swift transportation facility in any emergency situation during the 3-day event.

He said the winner of each category of the 234-km rally would get Rs 200,000 prize while the runner up and third position holders would get Rs 150,000 and Rs 100,000 each.

Chief Minister’s Senior Advisor Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa will distribute prizes among the winners at the historical Derawar Fort on Feb 23.

He lauded the organizers for holding an event that would not only promote tourism but will also provide recreation to the common folks who are worried due to the menace of terrorism.

The total distance of rally track is 234 kilometers while hundreds of spectators have arrived to enjoy the tournament.LINK...

Sharapova triumphs in Memphis

MEMPHIS: Maria Sharapova put her disappointing Australian Open performance behind her Saturday, as she beat Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-1 to win the WTA Tour's Memphis title. The top-seeded Russian, playing in her first tournament since she crashed out of the first round of the year's first Grand Slam, didn't drop a set all week and capped her campaign with a victory over Swedish qualifier Arvidsson in 66 minutes. "Coming in here, I asked for matches and I got five of them and I got the win, so I'm certainly happy," said Sharapova, who was expected to rise from 16th in the world to 13th on Monday. "I felt like I played consistent tennis throughout the week and did the right things against all my opponents," said Sharapova, who spent almost a year out of the game with a shoulder injury in 2008-09. "I guess that's a good week. "Little by little I'm getting there," she said. "The more matches I play, the more confident I get. From there, things will start to fall into place and the instinct will come back a little more." She overpowered Arvidsson, ranked 102nd in the world, winning one stretch of nine straight games and winning 15 of the last 18 points in the first set. "She was just too good," Arvidsson said. Sharapova fended off three break points in the second set and served out the match with a love game. "For me, it was about playing my game and being aggressive," Sharapova said. "I wanted to take the ball and try to do something with it instead of just letting her play her own game." The men's event here will conclude on Sunday, when Sam Querrey and John Isner, newly named to the US Davis Cup team to take on Serbia next month, will battle for the title. Sixth-seeded Isner beat Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals before eighth-seeded Querrey downed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 6-4. "It's awesome," Querrey said of the pair reaching Sunday's final after making the Davis Cup team on Wednesday. "Kind of a confidence booster for us." For the first time since 2000, neither Andy Roddick nor James Blake will be in the US Davis Cup squad. Querrey will be making his second appearance for America while Isner will be making his Davis Cup debut. Querrey ousted top-seeded Roddick in three sets in Friday's quarter-finals here. Isner and Querrey are good friends and practice partners, but have never faced each other in an ATP match.LINK...

Australia beat West Indies in first T20

HOBART: Australia’s run of victories continues as they won the first Twenty20 after defeating West Indies in the series of Tests and One-day Internationals.

Shane Watson and David Warner provided Australia an aggressive start of 83 from just 47 balls when the matcch began here at Bellerive Oval on Sunday.

Warner played a fine innings of 49 while Watson made 37. Brad Haddin also scored a brisk 37 as Australia compiled 179 for eight in the allotted 20 overs.

Set a challenging 180 to win their first match on Australian soil this summer, the tourists slumped to 53 for six before a 73-run partnership between Denesh Ramdin (44 off 26 balls) and Runako Morton (40 from 40) added some respectability.

The Windies eventually finished 141 for eight from their 20 overs.

Fast bowler Shane Tait (three for 30) was named man-of-the-match and was well supported by Dirk Nannes (three for 21) and Mitchell Johnson (two for 28).LINK...

The second T20 match will be played on Tuesday at Sydney.

Judiciary must subject itself to self-accountability: CJP

LAHORE: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Saturday stressed that judiciary will have to subject itself to self-accountability by ensuring that whether or not justice was done.

“Those who do not perform diligently will lose the status people have given to them; focus must be directed towards dispensing justice to the people,” the Chief Justice asserted in his address here at the Judicial Academy Lahore.

He said if justice is not done then it will only cause despair among the people.

The CJP regretted that some of the district courts are not focusing on old cases, although the district courts hold a status of a backbone for the country’s judicial system, adding a lot is still needed to be done for the improvement of district courts, he added.

“If we can not dispense justice then we have no right remain a judge; it would be better if we stay at home then,” he said.LINK...

He pointed out that today judges are drawing better salaries but expressed dissatisfaction on the overall performance of judiciary, stressing the need for improvement. He thanked the Punjab government for raising judges’ salaries.

Sindh, Punjab to resolve water issues according to 1991 Accord

KARACHI: Sindh and Punjab provinces have agreed to resolve their water related issues in the light of Water Accord 1991.

An important meeting of delegations representing Sindh and Punjab provinces held here at Chief Minister House on Saturday in which Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah requested Punjab to immediately close Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal or Sindh’s Rabi crop will be ruined.

Senior Minister Raja Riaz, Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, Chief Secretary Punjab, Secretary Irrigation, Secretary Works & Services and DG Power represented Punjab while Provincial Minister for Irrigation Syed Murad Ali Shah, Secretary Irrigation Shujat Junejo, ANG Abbasi and Idrees Rajput attended the meeting from Sindh side.

According to a statement released here at CM House, it was decided that a meeting will be held in Lahore to finally resolve the water related issues in the light of 1991 Water Accord.

Punjab delegation invited technical team of Sindh to come to Lahore, which was accepted. The technical team will undertake Lahore’s visit on Monday or Tuesday.
Later, the Sindh and Punjab delegations called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and briefed him on the progress made in the meeting.

The Sindh CM drew Punjab delegation’s attention towards acute shortage of water being faced in the lower Sindh where, he said, even animals have started dying while the wheat crops need last round of water.

He requested the delegation to immediately stop Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal or Sindh’s Rabi crops will be destroyed.LINK...