Cricket News-in-Brief - August 21, 2011

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram was surprised at Waqar Younis’ sudden resignation from his duties as the national team’s head coach.

Waqar was appointed as the coach of Pakistan in March, 2010. He guided the team into the Semi-Finals of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2010 and later in the ICC World Cup 2011.

The decision to quit coaching the Men in Green was revealed in a press conference by Waqar on Saturday, August 20. He mentioned illness as the reason for him leaving the job.

However, Wasim felt that there was something wrong in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which forced his former team-mate to quit.

England’s middle-order batsman Ian Bell was looking forward to enforce the follow-on against the struggling Indian team in the final Test match of the four-match series at the Kennington Oval.

The stylish right-handed player stated that the pitch had deteriorated a lot, which offered quite a lot of spin to England’s wily off-spinner Graeme Swann.

The hosts had a first innings lead of 488 runs until close of the third day’s play and need just 5 more wickets to force the tourists to bat for a second consecutive time in the match.

England’s wicketkeeper batsman Matt Prior expects a tougher competition in the future, as teams will come hard at the number one Test team.

The Poms have been dominant in the longest version of the game in the recent past, defeating arch rivals Australia in the Ashes followed by a commanding series victory against India.

Prior feels that other teams will target England from now onwards, as everyone wants to do well against the number one side.

Shoaib Malik has been included in Pakistan’s squad for the Zimbabwean tour. The veteran batsman last played for Pakistan in England back in 2010. He was ignored for selection for the World Cup, failing to convince the PCB’s integrity committee.

Malik was named as a reserve player for the team’s tour to Zimbabwe in September. However, he managed to get clearance before the series started and will now be a part of the team.

Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis, who will step down from his job after the Zimbabwean tour, welcomed the selection of the veteran player.