Three Favourites To Join The Pakistan Cricket Team.

KARACHI: The cricket selectors have decided to send three players to India before the start of the three-Test series. The leg spinner Danish Kaneria, middle order batsman Faisal Iqbal and fast bowler Mohammad Sami are favourites to join the Pakistan cricket team before the first Test starting in New Delhi from November 22. The national selection committee, headed by former Test cricketer Salahuddin Ahmad, had already decided to send a wicketkeeper to share the burden with Kamran Akmal. The chief selector had a discussion with members Shafqat Rana and Saleem Jaffer regarding the combination of the Pakistan team for the Test series.
Kaneria, not selected for the one-day series, is all set to play the Test series against India. Kaneria has taken 17 wickets for Habib Bank Limited in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. On the slow turning wickets of India, Kaneria could be a useful weapon for Pakistan.Sami is also performing very well in the domestic circuit, representing the Karachi Whites team as its skipper. The 26-year-old Sami, who has played 30 Tests and 83 ODIs, is in a devastating form. He has taken 17 wickets with an average of 20.94 in the first class matches. Sami last played a Test match for Pakistan in January this year against South Africa at Cape Town. He also played against Australia A in the home series representing Pakistan A. An elbow injury to fast bowler Mohammad Asif has convinced the selectors to include experienced Sami for the crunch Test series against the archrivals.The selectors are of the view that Faisal can strengthen the middle order batting. Faisal played in the first Test against South Africa in Karachi last month. He batted well in the second innings but after the return of seasoned batsman Mohammad Yousuf he had to sit in the dressing room. The players who will return to Pakistan after the India one-day series are opener Imran Nazir, fast bowler Rao Iftikhar Anjum and all rounder Fawad Alam.

Woolmer's DNA Re-Testing showed no pesticides.

November 13, 2007
An expert witness disputed earlier testimony by telling an inquest that he was unable, during re-tests conducted last week, to find any traces of the deadly pesticide cypermethrin in samples taken from the body of the former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer."No cypermethrin was found in the adequate samples from the forensic lab," professor Prasad Dasgupta said on Monday. Dasgupta, head of the pesticide research laboratory at the University of West Indies, conducted a series of re-tests on November 6 and 7 on blood samples taken from Woolmer's body.Dasgupta said he re-tested eight samples from a government laboratory and another five from the United Kingdom. Last week, the coroner Patrick Murphy ordered that the samples be re-tested.
Dasgupta's findings support those of the British forensic scientist John Slaughter, who also said he was unable to find cypermethrin in blood samples. But Dasgupta's testimony contrasts that of other witnesses, including Fitzmore Coates, the acting chief forensic officer at the Jamaican federal laboratory, who said there was so much potentially deadly cypermethrin in Woolmer's system that it could have caused his death.Dasgupta said Coates' analysis was flawed. "I found his data very puzzling and his analysis was not proper," Dasgupta said, adding the quality of the samples may have been as good when he conducted his tests compared to the time they were first tested in March. Jamaica's deputy commissioner of police Mark Shields is expected to take the stand on Tuesday.

Could Cricket Balls Change From White To Pink ?

The colour of balls used in the English one-day game could change from white to pink if trials by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the laws of cricket, prove successful."Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked (manufacturers) Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because these show up so much better," MCC's head of cricket John Stephenson told Tuesday's edition of the Times newspaper."The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour."My aim would be to use the pink ball in Twenty20 cricket in 2009 and thereafter in one-day international cricket but this will be dependent on trials and what the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) thinks."Stephenson said the plan was to experiment with the pink ball in second XI and university matches next season.Kookaburra has developed a batch of pink balls which will be used in Australia's women cricket this season, said the Times.Former England captain Mike Gatting, the ECB's managing director of cricket partnerships, said: "We must always push the game forward and ensure we have the right equipment."We have tried white and orange balls and perhaps pink ones will last longer. This is a very interesting and very wise development and a colour may have been found that is easier on the eye."

Pakistani star,shoab akhtar will adopt a child.

Lucknow,pakistani cricket star,Shoaib akhtar,decided to adopt a child.he is inspired with hollywood star angilinajuli and indian bollywood star sushmita sane who adopted the child.shoab akhtar saidthat he is looking forachild."I have not decided that the adopted child should be ababy or baba".He added.this is the best time to look after an adopted child,my family will support me in this regard.