Police prepares initial probe report of Lyari Expressway blast

KARACHI: The initial probe report of the blast in which SP CID Chaudhry Aslam and two others were killed has been prepared by the police.

The investigation team probing the blast is being headed by DIG Zafar Bukhari and SSP CID Niaz Khoso. According to the team’s initial findings, a pick-up packed with explosives and chemicals was rammed into Aslam’s vehicle. Police say 150-200 kilograms of explosives and chemicals were used in the attack.

The report states that explosives and chemicals were placed in a plastic drum and there was no evidence of a device, remote control, ball bearings and nut bolts being used in the blast.

While talking to the media at the blast site, DIG Zafar Bukhari said a hand and other body parts were found, which are being tested to ascertain finger prints and DNA with the help of NADRA.

He further said forensic evidence is being collected and the probe is underway to find which vehicle was used in the attack. He continued saying that Chaudhry Aslam came under attack five times but he continued hunting terrorists despite threats to his own life.

DIG Zafar added that words were not enough to pay tribute to Aslam and his track record spoke volumes for his bravery.

He reiterated that such tragedies cannot mar the spirits of the police department and it will continue to operate against anti-state elements and criminals.

It is pertinent to mention here that senior police officer Chaudhry Aslam, who led the operations against militants and extremists in Karachi for years, was killed on Thursday afternoon when a powerful blast destroyed his vehicle on the Lyari Expressway. His guard and driver were also killed in the attack while 14 others including police officials were wounded.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mohmand Agency claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Chaudhry Aslam was targeted for killing their several members including Arif alias Dr. Maqbool and Abdur Rehman in October 2013.

His funeral prayers will be offered today after Asr prayers at Police Headquarter, Garden.

Read More

Cricket in Bangladesh dependent on political stability

The ACC's decision to retain February's Asia Cup in Bangladesh has been based on the government's promise of providing state-level security during all three major international cricket events from mid-January to early April. The BCB has, however, confirmed that they didn't give any political guarantees at the ACC meeting in Colombo, but it would be improbable to assure a stable environment in the country given the volatile political climate.

It is understood that the Asia Cup decision will be vital in convincing Sri Lanka Cricket to go through with their tour of Bangladesh in mid-January, while the BCB would have some strength in convincing other board members when the matter of security comes up for the World Twenty20s in March and April.

"Through our presentation, we have told the ACC board members that we will provide state-level security for the teams," BCB's acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. "They were convinced. There was no talk of any alternate venues. We understand that Bangladesh will be the host of the Asia Cup."

The news comes a day before Bangladesh holds general elections, which are being staged against the backdrop of long-running nationwide violence and are being boycotted by the main opposition parties. The elections, by themselves, are not expected to restore peace in the country and the staging of two other cricket events - a bilateral series against Sri Lanka later this month and the World Twenty20 in mid-March - will be dependent on how much the political forces agree to pull together for those specific time periods.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is the direct organiser of the Sri Lanka series while the Asian Cricket Council and the ICC are in charge of the Asia Cup and the World Twenty20s. The BCB has formed local organising committees for the two marquee events, including a security team. Senior officials of the BCB have held a string of meetings with relevant ministries and security agencies, and put together a security report that was presented at the ACC meeting.

According to sources, the BCB will commit to a three-tiered security detail like the one implemented during the 2011 World Cup. It will make sure all three events have the same levels of security detail, with more involvement of the various security forces at the three World Twenty20 venues.

"The ICC, ACC and SLC will get the same security report, because we are committing to full-proof security for all these events. We have discussed the matter with security agencies in the country, including the Army," a BCB official, requesting anonymity, told ESPNcricinfo.

Ahead of their four-week tour to Bangladesh in October-November last year, New Zealand Cricket had sent a security assessment team in late August. During the series, there was a political demonstration, and strikes, but the tour went on. Only once did New Zealand stay away from training in Dhaka, on the day of a strike. The tour went off peacefully but there was tight security around the players.

While violence has dissipated only slightly in the first few days of January, the opposition party's anti-election and anti-government campaign has not stopped. Blockades and strikes have continued, including a 24-hour strike on the day of the election. Normal life in Bangladesh has been disrupted, as is the case every time there is political violence.

It is believed that the first week after the elections, particularly the tone of the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, will have a bearing on the country's immediate future. There is an expectation among political analysts and international relation experts here that if the tone from the political parties does not soften or take a conciliatory turn, cricket would suffer.

The political movement in Bangladesh, over the past three months has seen consecutive days of blockades. The political strikes and blockades enforced by the opposition parties have amounted to 23 days, while the government itself locked down the capital for two days. There have been nearly 150 deaths due to political violence since late October, and violence has damaged Bangladesh's international image.

Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, a Dhaka-based international relations expert, stated that international players have always been taken care of. He believes that the government has to ensure safety for fans, so that the environment around the matches remains stable. He, however, said that political agitation was unlikely to make way for anyone or anything in Bangladesh.

"The players, historically, have never been targeted," Imtiaz said. "But then we must make sure that the environment is conducive for the public to watch the matches. There might be a hartal [political strike] during one of the matches, for example."

There has, however, already been one dent. The West Indies Under-19 team's pullout in mid-December has clearly undermined Bangladesh. The BCB tried hard to convince the visitors' team management to stay back and shift all matches to Dhaka but that didn't work. Instead, it has created fresh doubt in the minds of cricket officials around the world.

Read More

Back to the days of boom and bust

Had Mark Lathwell emerged from the pavilion, blinking in surprise at the large crowd, England could not have looked more out of place in Melbourne.

As their top-order was brushed aside with embarrassing haste, it was as if the last decade or so hadn't happened. This could have been 1993. Or 1989. Or 2006. Or 2002. This was a day as ignominious as any in England's recent history. And the competition for that title is starting to hot up.

It will not do to defend England with reminders of their success in recent years. It is like claiming that Titanic's journey was a success because most of it was uneventful.

And it will not do to claim that England's army of coaches, selectors and support staff are well-intentioned and hard working. Such qualities must be taken for granted at this level. It is not enough.

Nor is it enough to claim that such reverses are part and parcel of the cyclical nature of professional sport. Only a few weeks ago, Hugh Morris claimed - in an act of hubris reminiscent of Gordon Brown's speech about ending boom and bust economics - that England had put the foundations in place to secure continuity and lasting success. The ECB cannot have it both ways.

Now, despite all the millions invested in academies and tours and coaches and facilities, England are on the brink of a 5-0 defeat against a decent but far from great Australian team. England are as low as they have been for a long time.

	How is that, before Paul Downton has begun any series debrief, that the ECB's chief executive is guaranteeing that Flower will be team director in 2015? Has the England team became as cosy and unmeritocratic as that?Question No. 1

Certainly, the evidence of recent times raises searching questions that Paul Downton, the new MD of England Cricket, and Andy Flower, the Team Director, need to answered before any decisions are made about the future of captains, coaches or selectors.

For example:

How does Boyd Rankin, an experienced fast bowler good enough to justify selection for Test cricket, good enough to have been praised by Marcus Trescothick as the most hostile he faced one season, turn up for a game unable to get through 10 overs in the first innings or hit a barn door in the second? And how is that, like Simon Kerrigan before him, a debutant has failed to do themselves justice by such a large margin?

How does a record-breaking batsman like Alastair Cook - the youngest man to 8,000 Test runs in history - loses form to such an extent that, for the second time in this series, he was dismissed when leaving a routine delivery?

How do batsmen as good as Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell fall to basic technical errors, pushing at deliveries without foot movement, appearing, despite all their success over recent years, utterly devoid of confidence?

How is it that England's batting, despite a line-up boasting several players who may be recalled as some of the best to represent the country, has been so atrocious that it is now 25 Test innings since England scored 400? And how is it that they have been dismissed for under 200 five times in this series?

How is it that ECB coaches, at Lions level at least, exist below the radar for years without any track record of success other than not rocking the boat?

How is that, before Downton has begun any series debrief, that the ECB's chief executive is guaranteeing that Flower will be team director in 2015? Has the England team became as cosy and unmeritocratic as that?

And how is it that, for all the specialist spin bowling coaches, all the investment in facilities and spin-camps in Asia, that England are not able to find a young spinner who can reliably land the ball on the cut strip?

The answer to all these questions may well be the team environment. While individual players must all, ultimately, take responsibility for their performances, there have to be questions asked about an environment where so many players have lost form at the same time. There have to be questions raised about an environment where coaches seems incapable of lifting players and where an entire squad seems so bereft of confidence and enjoyment.

Every one of these England players is better than this. With one or two exceptions, the squad that left England was the best available and bore more than passing resemblance to the squads that won in Australia in 2010-11 and in England in 2013.

But over recent weeks it has become clear that this England team is playing as a unit worth far less than the sum of its parts. One way or another, the environment requires changing.

Read More

Australia's excellence shared and sustained

Pressed a few days ago to recall the moment when Australia's bowlers delivered their finest spell for this Ashes series, their mentor Craig McDermott was momentarily short of an answer. After a pause, he remarked that it was actually easier to think of the odd occasions on which they had dipped below that level, such was the sustained excellence provided by Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon.

Watching from his familiar perch at the boundary's edge on day two of the final Test in Sydney, McDermott would only have added a few minutes at most to his aggregate of shifts for the series.

For most of England's innings, including a brief but close to terrifying six overs on the first evening, the standard maintained by the bowlers was unimpeachably lofty. Against batsmen well and truly broken by their weight of failure and now longing for home, it quickly became an embarrassingly lopsided spectacle.

At the moment of Ian Bell's dismissal by Siddle the SCG scoreboard read 5 for 23. What it might have quantified, had Shane Watson held a garden-variety slips catch from Bell's first ball from Harris, can only be imagined.

Either way, McDermott had further reason to be proud of his men's efforts, even more so for the fact they have kept charging in with remarkable hunger and energy despite going unchanged throughout the series. Whatever aches and pains harboured by Harris they were unnoticeable. The only wounds on display were psychological, and exclusive to the England batsmen.

No more was this evident than in the exit of Cook, who will leave these shores as perhaps the most harried captain since the West Indian Jimmy Adams limped home in possession of an 0-5 Frank Worrell Trophy series ledger in 2000-01, and was soon relieved not only of the captaincy but also his place in the team.

Harris sets 2015 Ashes goal Ryan Harris has revealed his desire to push his battered body on to the 2015 Ashes series in England after another display of surgical fast bowling in the final Test of the summer at the SCG. Harris claimed the wickets of Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Scott Borthwick - he also had Ian Bell dropped first ball - as Australia set themselves on the path towards a 5-0 sweep. Harris said he had not previously set the goal of playing in 2015, but was now eager to go on having sought the advice of the caoch Darren Lehmann and the captain Michael Clarke. Knee cleanout surgery is scheduled for the end of the South Africa tour to aid his progress. "I'm a chance, simple as that. I've got I think 11 Tests before I get there," Harris said. "I've got a bit of stuff floating around in my knee that I'm going to get cleaned up after Africa, that could give me another year or two, who knows. It wasn't too long ago, I was just hoping to get through this series and re-assess. Let's get through this Test and then South Africa and go from there. But I'd love one more chance to go to England and try to defend the Ashes."

Cook scrapped heartily to reach stumps on day one in a period of dull light at the ground and roaring speed from Johnson, but on the second morning lost his equilibrium more swiftly than a jetlagged Englishman catching a cab straight from Sydney airport to the SCG.

Harris' precision against Cook has been a wonder to behold through both series, playing tricks of perception and balance that have made some straight balls appear to move, while other deliveries curling in the air or seaming off the pitch have met the England leader's bat at an angle of the bowler's choosing.

Sometimes the battles have been protracted, but this time it took only two balls. The first was defended stoutly, but the second swung fractionally back from a line Cook was inclined to leave and struck him palpably in front. The moment Cook was pinned, he looked around in a moment of panic, realising too late where his pad and stumps had been. Among Australia's slips cordon there was no surprise, only jubilation.

Ian Bell's promotion to No. 3 had been called for by many throughout the series, but was delayed by an England hierarchy reluctant to move him from the middle order post from which he had warded off so many Australian attacks in the northern summer.

His supremacy in the earlier series was unquestioned, but on faster pitches Bell has had less time to use his cultured hands to make late adjustments to high quality pace bowling. The cumulative result has been edges of the kind he offered up first ball on day two, bat straight but feet on the crease.

"One of the main goals for us was to cut Ian Bell out and I think we've done that beautifully," Harris said. "It's been good. You don't get many opportunities at all to play 10 Tests against the same players. The main thing has been to execute and we've done that, we started it in England and topped it off here.

"We know we've bowled well to them: there's no coincidence they haven't made runs - it's because of how we've bowled. It's just the pressure we've put on the whole series that has not allowed them to play their own games and play the way they want to."

A first-ball reprieve for Bell in England would have caused much gnashing of teeth, but in Sydney when Shane Watson put down a simple opportunity the Australians simply continued to pursue the lines and lengths that would suffocate their quarry. Watson was on hand to claim a catch for Harris when Kevin Pietersen edged an uncertain push forward, before Bell replayed his first ball with a thinner edge from Siddle that Brad Haddin held neatly.

The crowd were rapturous, the Australian players beaming broad smiles. Among those watching was Glenn McGrath, who had generously labelled Australia's bowling in this series the best he had ever seen. But little triumphalism emanated from Harris or the other bowlers, their modest commitment to the trade being as much a key to their success as the speed and accuracy of their bowling and the unity of their purpose.

"Glenn's come out and said those nice words but we don't see it that way, we've got to go out and do our job and do it to the best of our ability," Harris said. "At the moment it's working, and hopefully we'll be able to maintain that for another two years ... I'm getting old so we'll wait and see but we want to make sure we keep putting pressure on whoever we're playing. If we do that, teams won't make many runs."

The respect Harris speaks of now extends well beyond the small group who assembled at McDermott's Brisbane home for a fast bowlers' barbeque before the series began. Much as McDermott had done, there is barely a soul who has witnessed these Tests who would easily be able to choose a moment of brilliance from Australia's bowling attack to outshine the rest of their work in the Ashes summer of 2013-14. That's because, to borrow a phrase beloved of Harris, "It's all good."

Read More

Flower gets backing of ECB

David Collier, the ECB chief executive, has given a strong indication that Andy Flower will remain as team director after the Ashes series.

There has been debate around Flower's future with England lurching towards a 5-0 Ashes whitewash. He has been reluctant to discuss his plans but did indicate after the Melbourne Test that he wanted to be part of rebuilding the England side.

Collier, who is currently in Australia for conclusion of the Ashes, told Sky Sports he sees Flower, who no longer oversees the day-to-day running of the limited-overs sides, remaining in his position until at least 2015 when the Ashes are next contested in England and wants the Test partnership with Alastair Cook to continue.

"We need that experience," he said. "When you go through a transitional period you need somebody with knowledge, somebody who knows our system, somebody who works with all of our key coaches, Andy has all of those attributes and more and I'm sure he'll do a good job leading us into 2015. Alastair fully deserves the support of Team England and we look forward to both Alastair and Andy leading us to success in the future."

Cook has received some strong criticism for his on-field tactics during the series while he has not scored a hundred, with one innings remaining, across the ten Ashes Tests of the back-to-back series.

"People grow into the job, captains mature, players mature, it will take some time for people to reach their absolute pinnacle," Collier said. "We were absolutely convinced that he was the right man at the time and we're still convinced today."

Collier also said there would not be such an extensive review of English cricket as took place after the 2006-07 whitewash when the Schofield report was commissioned. "We're not going to do a review of that nature, but we will do a full debrief and learn the lessons we need to from this tour."

Read More

Murdoch, Napier set up Wellington win

Wellington 145 for 6 (Murdoch 57) beat Northern Districts 124 for 9 (Napier 3-18, Arnel 2-28) by 21 runs
Scorecard

Wellington opened a four-point lead at the top of the table after beating Northern Districts by 21 runs.

Wellington made the most of some poor fielding by Northern Districts to post a score of 145 for 6 after most of their top order had fallen cheaply. Trent Boult, Scott Kuggeleijn and Jono Boult struck early on to leave Wellington reeling at 36 for 3 in the sixth over. A 90-run fourth-wicket partnership between Stephen Murdoch and James Franklin rescued Wellington. Murdoch had three dropped chances and made the most of them to score a 46-ball 57 with five fours and a six. Franklin also struck three sixes in his knock of 46 from 35 balls.

Northern Districts found themselves in a position similar to Wellington's early in their innings and were struggling at 39 for 4 in the seventh over. A 54-run stand between Scott Styris and Daryl Mitchell helped Northern Districts recover slightly, but after Styris was out for 29, the side lost their next four wickets for seven runs within two overs. Pacer Graham Napier took 3 for 18 in his four overs, while Brent Arnel chipped in with two wickets.

Read More

Asia Cup to be hosted in Bangladesh

The Asian Cricket Council has decided to host the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. The other big news to emerge from the ACC's meeting in Colombo is that Afghanistan will be the fifth team in the competition.

"As of now, the decision has been made that Bangladesh will retain hosting rights of the Asia Cup," BCB's acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said. "We have given a very good presentation to the ACC board members, and they have been convinced that we can host the tournament. Afghanistan has also been added to the tournament, making it a five-team event and the number of matches has gone up to eleven."

Read More

Akmal ton sets up National Bank win

Kamran Akmal's 12th List A hundred set up National Bank of Pakistan's nine-wicket win over Port Qasim Authority in a President's Cup One Day tournament game in Sialkot.

Chasing 175, Akmal's 81-ball 116 guided National Bank's reply after they lost opener Nasir Jamshed in the fourth over. Akmal's century had 20 fours and a six and his 144-run stand with Mohammad Nawaz ensured National Bank reached the target in the 24th over.

Earlier, the National Bank bowlers, led by offspinner Adnan Rasool, struck regularly to restrict Port Qasim to 174. The Port Qasim batsmen, including Umar Amin and Daniyal Ahsan got starts but could not score more than 36 and 44 respectively.

Read More

Haddin burns England again

"We don't want to get into a situation where we're relying on Brad Haddin to drag us out of trouble every time."

When Australia's batting coach, Michael Di Venuto, said these words in the aftermath of the Boxing Day Test, he was reflecting on an Ashes series in which his team's top order have proven consistently vulnerable in the first innings. But on the first day of Test cricket for 2014, as Haddin performed his act of dragging for the fifth time in as many matches and took Steven Smith merrily along with him, a blue-blooded SCG crowd of 45,352 had reason aplenty to ask the question: why the hell not?

More sober reflection offers plenty of reasons to worry at how Michael Clarke's team have repeatedly asked Haddin to man the pumps, not least the thought that South Africa in February and March won't be anywhere near as courteous to the tail as England have been. Nonetheless, there has been a wonderfully entertaining and carefree air about the way Australia's platforms for Test victories have been assembled, with Haddin the fearless, fighting and fluent centre of it all.

Visceral though Mitchell Johnson's contribution to the series has been, epitomised by a three-over burst this evening, he would not have been given anywhere near the sorts of totals he bowled behind in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth or Sydney without Haddin's interventions. It has been a common and logical assumption that Johnson will be named Man of the Series. But by lodging a nomination in which he has passed 50 in every first innings while taking sundry catches besides and also serving as Michael Clarke's most trusted lieutenant, Haddin has made a case for a share of the award at the very least.

The SCG's atmosphere may have been a little more New Year's festive than Ashes tense, given the series margin, but Haddin's contribution was very much representative of all he had done in earlier, weightier matches. England's bowlers used the movement on offer decently after an indifferent start, extracting seam when many might have expected a little more swing under cloudy skies. Australia's batsmen responded with strokes either overconfident or indeterminate, conveying a porous technique that has now been evident on seaming surfaces for the best part of a decade.

David Warner's feet were nowhere to a Stuart Broad delivery that moved away enough to flick off stump, Chris Rogers let his guard down and dragged a presumptuous pull shot on to his wicket, Clarke pushed too firmly at a ball moving away from him, Shane Watson reminded anyone who had forgotten about his prominent front pad, and George Bailey fiddled and fell, again demonstrating a weakness against steady bowling in the channel outside off stump that will surely be his millstone if pitted against Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

So Haddin walked out with England's bowlers seemingly sure of themselves and their plans, rejoicing in a scoreline of 5 for 97 and gaining most of the help they wanted from an SCG pitch similar to that on which Mohammad Asif had filleted Australia for 127 in 2010. Having marked his guard, Haddin negotiated his first five balls from Broad studiously, gaining a rough appreciation for the way the surface was playing and the manner of the bowling, before walking down the pitch at the end of the over to discuss the match situation with his New South Wales team-mate and leadership protege Smith.

Often, Haddin's innings can begin with a starburst of strokes to announce his arrival, to his batting partner, spectators but most pointedly opponents. This time he settled in for a little over half an hour, reaching 12 from 34 balls. In that period he eluded a review for a catch by James Anderson when ball had hit front and back pad rather than bat, before narrowing his focus on Ben Stokes.

England's youngest and most promising bowler, Stokes has won deserved praise this series for showing sterner stuff than some of his more storied counterparts. But here, as in Perth, Haddin used the Durham allrounder's impatience for another wicket to his advantage, goading him - verbally or otherwise - into the short-pitched bowling that allowed runs to be added crisply and quickly, while coaxing England away from the length that reaped the earlier wickets. In all, Haddin cracked 29 from the 21 balls Stokes hurled at him.

In what seemed like no time at all, Haddin's fifty arrived, inspiring a frustration among the visitors that Stokes articulated after play. "It's just the way he comes out and plays his natural game whatever the situation," he said. "Quite a lot's gone his way but fair play to him, he's played his natural game and taken every chance he's had to get runs and played really well. When he came in today and starts hitting you back over your head you're almost standing there scratching your head thinking 'This isn't meant to happen', but fair play to him."

While Haddin scrambled on, taking increasingly garish liberties against Anderson among others, Smith was able to construct another innings to underline his immense potential to anchor Australia's middle order for years to come. The WACA Ground again came to mind as Smith grew in confidence as a result of the clarity with which Haddin played. This can be illustrated neatly by the two halves of what became Smith's third Test hundred. In Haddin's company, he reached 55 from 95 balls. After he was dismissed, Smith surged, ransacking 60 from his final 59 deliveries.

"The way he played his shots today was brilliant, to form a partnership with him and get into the position we're in was great," Smith said of Haddin. "We were basically just saying 'Watch the ball closely and have a clear mind', and Brad was certainly clear in what he was doing. It was great to just sit up the other end. In tough circumstances he comes in and tries to switch the momentum of the game and he's done it on numerous occasions to this series."

For numerous occasions, read every occasion that mattered. When Michael Carberry, Alastair Cook and the reluctant nightwatchman James Anderson hopped around in the SCG twilight, now confronted by a score around double the tally hoped for in the minutes after lunch, they were caught in between their two main sources of torment this summer. Ahead of them, at the top of his mark, stood Johnson. Behind them, flashing a pitiless smile while brandishing his gloves, was Haddin.

Australia would do well not to rely on him so completely in future, not least because, at 36, they do not know how far into that future he will keep playing. But for this Ashes series, there has been no reason not to. He has been the man of the hour, and arguably the summer.

Read More

Auckland thump Otago to go to top

Auckland leapfrogged to the top of the HRV Cup table with a resounding 74-run win over defending champions Otago. Set a target of 168, Otago folded for 93 to finish with their second loss of the tournament.

Otago's chase got off to a disastrous start as Auckland's opening bowlers, Matthew Quinn and Michael Bates, struck in the first two overs. Quinn dismissed Hamish Rutherford and Neil Broom in the first over, while Bates got rid of the aggressive Ryan ten Doeschate to leave Otago at 2 for 3 in the second over.

Aaron Redmond and wicketkeeper-captain Derek de Boorder were the only two batsmen to get into double figures, and their fifth-wicket partnership of 33 tried to resuscitate the chase, but Auckland struck to take the last five Otago wickets for just 15 runs.

Earlier, Jeet Raval's unbeaten fifty and useful knocks from Gareth Hopkins, Donovan Grobbelaar and Jonathan Sole pushed Auckland to 167 for 6 after they were put in to bat. The Auckland top-order got starts, but the side was set back by quick wickets in the middle overs. Raval and Sole then added 63 for the seventh wicket in 6.1 overs to set a competitive total. Raval's knock of 50 came off 40 balls, with four fours and a six, while Sole scored 24 off 18 balls with two fours and a six.

Read More