Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt has returned home on President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari’s call, leaving the second day of the ICC’s board meeting in Dubai Headquarter.

Speculation has been floating that President of Pakistan – who is also the chief patron of PCB, has summoned Butt to explain the prevailing mismanagement in the cricket board – which as been mingling with several tainted issues.

Butt had attended the first day’s meeting Febuary 10, and the second was attended by PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Wasim Bari.

According to the reports, the agenda of the meeting is related to the draft constitution, which is currently being vetted by the law ministry. Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani accompanied the PCB chief in his meetings with at the presidency.

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Chairman PCB skips day two of the ICC Board meeting

International Cricket Council (ICC) has dismissed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appeal against the decision to declare the pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi. The fifth ODI between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned after 23.4 overs on 27th December 2009 due to dangerous and unsafe pitch.

The original decision to declare the pitch as unfit was taken by ICC General Manager – Cricket David Richardson and ICC Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle, a decision that was subsequently appealed by the BCCI. The commissioner, Michael Beloff QC, conducted the hearing via teleconference on Tuesday and issued his written judgment late today[Wednesday].

“In his judgment Mr Beloff states that following due consideration of all the evidence and submissions from both the ICC and BCCI, the correct decision was taken by Mr Richardson and Mr Madugalle to declare the pitch to be dangerous and, therefore, unfit,” ICC said in a statement.

Beloff added that the imposed suspension until the end of 2010 was proportionate in this case.

“We must now focus on making sure the New Delhi venue is ready in time for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011,” ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said. “The ICC’s pitch consultant will travel shortly to Feroz Shah Kotla, a ground with a long and proud history, to begin the process of remedial work that will ensure the pitch is restored to its former glory,” said Lorgat.

Continued here:
ICC dismisses BCCI’s appeal against Delhi pitch ban

India’s Gautam Gambhir retained top spot while South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla have made a big impression ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. Gambhir despite scoring just 13 runs in the match but the gap has narrowed significantly with now just 17 ratings points separating first position from fifth.

Kallis, who scored his 34th Test century during the match, has returned to the top five by gaining four places to sit in fourth position. He is now just ahead of his captain Graeme Smith, who slips three places, and not far behind the Sri Lanka pair of Mahela Jayawardena in second position and Kumar Sangakkara in third.

Amla has broken into the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in his career following his magnificent 253 not out in the first innings, which help to set up South Africa’s victory in the first Test at Nagpur by an innings and six runs. He is now just three ratings points behind Sachin Tendulkar, who was also successful with the bat during the match as he notched up his record 46th Test century in the second innings.

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Gambhir retains number one spot

PORT ELIZABETH: South Africa Vs England 4th ODI Live Streaming, Andrew Strauss is confident his team can respond to the heavy defeat at Newlands.

The scoreline says the series is all square, but after such a convincing 112-run victory at Cape Town South Africa are now the side with the momentum.

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It shows how quickly situations can change in one-day cricket and, following their crushing win in the second Twenty20 international, Friday’s performance was the second time the home side have responded to defeat in powerful style.

After a fairly insipid display at Centurion, the Newlands version of South Africa was much closer to living up to their pre-series billing.

The batting, led by AB de Villiers’ awesome striking, fired as a unit and the bowling attack packed much more punch with the inclusion of Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel.

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Parnell continued his impressive knack of bagging large hauls with a career-best 5 for 48 to follow the five-for he took against New Zealand at the Champions Trophy.

If he stays fit Parnell is set to be a key figure throughout this tour.

Watching England in any format should come with a health warning, but their one-day performances are most likely to send supporters lurching from delight to despair.

As Andrew Strauss said after the defeat at Newlands the one-day squad is a work in progress, so humbling reversals are to be expected.

It follows the pattern of the Champions Trophy when memorable victories against Sri Lanka and South Africa were followed by heavy defeats against New Zealand and Australia.

It is a quick turnaround between the weekend matches.

Both teams had early-morning alarm calls to catch flights to Port Elizabeth and England’s players were offered an optional training session.

A key feature of the Strauss-Andy Flower regime has been level-headedness and the vibes coming out of the camp are ‘don’t panic’.

Going straight into the next match means they have little time to stew over the previous performance which could work in their favour.

South Africa, though, really mean business.

Alviro Petersen has slotted well into the middle order and Hashim Amla is churning out the runs as Jacques Kallis’ understudy so South Africa’s batting is solid.

The one concern for them is Dale Steyn who bowled six overs at Newlands before leaving the field with a hamstring strain.

If he is ruled out Charl Langeveldt could be recalled, while Johan Botha may be considered for the struggling Roelof van der Merwe.

SQUAD:
South Africa: (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Alviro Petersen, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Charl Langeveldt

England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Jonathan Trott, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 Graham Onions.

Australia demolished West Indies inside three days to wrap up an innings and 65-run win at the Gabba in Brisbane. West Indies lost as many as 15 wickets on the third day! There was a bit of consolation for the tourists with debutant Adrian Barath standing tall among the ruins with a century on debut. The Trinidadian announced his arrival in the big league with 104 from just 138 balls (with 19 fours) in a team total of 187!

Windies were bowled out in their first innings for 228 which lasted for only 63 overs. Ricky Ponting enforced the follow on and the Windies were again bowled out cheaply with their second innings lasting hardly two sessions. Ben Hilfenhaus was named as the Man of the Match for taking a total of five wickets.

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South Africa leveled the 5-ODI Series with a crushing 112-run win in the third ODI at Cape Town. The South African victory was set up by AB de Villiers who flayed the English attack with a superb 121 that came in just 85 balls. AB de Villiers struck 14 fours in what was his 4th ODI hundred. Hashim Amla (86) and Alviro Petersen (51*) hit half centuries in an imposing total of 354 for 6.

England in their chase were bowled out for 242 in 41.3 overs with Wayne Parnell capturing five wickets. The top scorer for the tourists was Paul Collingwood with 86 which had three sixes.

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England won the second One Day International at the Centurion Park in Pretoria by 7 wickets with the visitors comfortably chasing a target of 251. Paul Collingwood struck an unbeaten 105 (from 110 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes) and Opener Jonathan Trott made 87 (from 119 balls with 8 fours) as England cruised to the target with four overs to spare.

South Africa after being put into bat first were restricted to 250 for 9 after losing wickets at the wrong moments of their innings. The top scorer for South Africa was Alviro Petersen who made 64 (from 65 balls with 5 fours and a six) coming in at no.5. Hashim Amla with 57 from 72 balls was the other half centurion. For the visitors, James Anderson picked up 3 for 60 and Bresnan, Collingwood took a couple of wickets each.

For his all-round efforts, Paul Collingwood got the Man of the Match. England lead the 5-ODI Series 1-0 with the first ODI at Wanderers rained out.

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