Hameed denies newspaper revelations
The Pakistan opener, Yasir Hameed, has clarified a string of allegations attributed to him in the
News of the World, claiming that he was only repeating information he had read in the newspaper's
original report last Sunday.
Hameed was the victim of an undercover video sting in this Sunday's paper, in which he is seen
talking to a man, the undercover reporter, in Nottingham a few days after the end of the Test series.
Hameed says the man came to him claiming to be a representative of a global airline and wanted to
talk about possible sponsorship deals. "I have never spoken to the NOTW and I haven't said
anything like this," he told ESPNcricinfo. "I was only talking about what I had heard from the
original NOTW reports anyway."
During the course of the video, available to view on the NOTW website, the reporter and Hameed
discuss the fall-out of the controversy, the Sydney Test and Hameed's claim that a bookie
approached him during the 2004 Champions Trophy in England.
At one point the reporter asks him, "These guys must talk about it among themselves, right, they
must do it definitely? They say they did it in every match."
"Nearly," Hameed replies.
"Sure?" the reporter asks.
"God knows," Hameed says before alluding to what he has read. "This is what reports say,
Scotland Yard has been after them for long."
In another bit, the reporter talks to Hameed about the Sydney Test in Australia, which Mazhar
Majeed - the man at the centre of the allegations - claimed last week was fixed.
The reporter, having heard Hameed tell him that he was not associated with Majeed, asks him,
"But man they did it in Australia as well, in Australia you didn't play?"
"No," says Hameed.
"You didn't play in Australia, even there they did something bad."
"In the Sydney Test, £1.8 million," says Hameed.
However, Hameed told ESPNcricinfo that the figure only came up from the NOTW itself. "That
figure in the video of the Sydney Test, £1.8 million, I didn't just dream up that figure from nowhere,
it was there in NOTW [it was actually 1.3 million]."
Talk then comes to Hameed's position within the side and he appears in the video to blame
whatever is happening within the side on his own dropping from the team. "Of course why not?
Because of these bad things I am out, I never got involved," he says. "If you sit here and say I am a
bookie and that you have to fix the match tomorrow, now I've met lots of people like this in the
past..."
"They approached you?" the reporter interrupts.
"Yah I refused," Hameed replies.
"Good, good," says the reporter.
"They offered me handsome money," Hameed continues. "I would've come to you in a Ferrari now.
I mean there is enough so that your desires are fulfilled...buy a car, that is how much money they
were giving."
"How much did they offer?" asks the reporter.
"Man, they've offered big big money. Up to £150,000," says Hameed.
The newspaper claimed that this offer was made to Hameed during the 2004 Champions Trophy
semi-final between Pakistan and West Indies, which Pakistan lost after choosing to bat first on a
seaming pitch.
But Hameed told ESPNcricinfo he had not specified the semi-final. "I never talked about the
Champions Trophy semi-final of 2004. I said that during that tournament someone had come up to
me in a hotel and indicated he might want to do something like that and I had told him to get lost
straight away. The guy [undercover reporter] asked me which Champions Trophy that was and I
said the one in which we lost in the semis to West Indies. I did not mean that match specifically."
Hameed will meet Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB, at the Pakistan High Commission in London on
Sunday to explain his comments. ICC sources close to the investigation confirmed to ESPNcricinfo
that they were unaware of any such approach made to Hameed, which would mean, if the
allegations are true, the player himself would be in breach of the Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct
for failing to follow the proper procedures.
Article 2.4.2 states it is an offence if a player fails "to disclose to the ACSU (without undue delay)
full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Player or Player Support Personnel to
engage in conduct that would amount to a breach of the Anti-Corruption Code."
Hameed was recalled to the Pakistan side after a gap of over two years and played in the last two
Tests of the current series. He was not selected for the limited-overs series but chose to stay on in
the UK for a few more days.
The allegation is one of a host of additional strands to the NOTW's coverage of the match-fixing
scandal, including the suggestion that the ICC are investigating an unnamed fourth Pakistan player.
Also revealed in an eight-page special produced by the newspaper, they claim that Salman Butt,
Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who have been questioned by police twice this week since
the initial story broke last weekend, are facing 23 charges between them.
The paper also hit back at claims of Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan High Commissioner to the
UK, that the players were set up by NOTW. The paper published details and dates of CCTV
footage and text messages proving, what it claims to be meetings between the undercover reporter
and Majeed before the Lord's Test.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that no new arrests have been made in
relation to the ongoing case.
Yardy and Morgan guide England to victory
Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy steadied England's nerves with a game-breaking stand of 67 in
7.1 overs, as Pakistan succumbed to a five-wicket defeat in the first Twenty20 at Cardiff. Chasing
a meagre total of 127 after Graeme Swann had bossed the contest with a sharp-turning and incisive
spell of 2 for 14 in four overs, England were at one stage in some strife at 62 for 5 at the halfway
mark of their innings. However, Shoaib Akhtar undermined a feisty bowling spell with a dreadful
fielding performance, as Pakistan's bid for on-field redemption after a week of grim allegations
floundered at the first attempt.
The critical moment of England's innings came in the 12th over, with the game still in the balance at
77 for 5. Morgan, on 13, unfurled his trademark reverse sweep against the legspin of Shahid Afridi,
and chipped a facile chance to Shoaib at short third man. The chance, however, slipped straight
through his fingers and down to the turf, and with it - there and then - went the match. Morgan
shifted effortlessly into one-day finishing mode, clipping and dabbing six fours in an unbeaten 38
from 24 balls, while Yardy, also dropped on 11 by Kamran Akmal, followed up an invaluable
bowling performance with a Man-of-the-Match-winning 35 from 26.
After winning the toss after a half-hour rain delay, in overcast conditions that matched the prevailing
mood after a week of damaging and distracting off-field issues, Paul Collingwood chose to bowl
first to keep his team on the right side of any potential Duckworth-Lewis calculations. He was
rewarded with a diligent display that kept Pakistan's big-hitters very much in check throughout, and
though England themselves dropped three catches of varying degrees of difficulty, they conceded
just eight fours in the innings, no sixes (for the first time in Pakistan's T20 history), and a solitary
extra in the 19th over.
Ryan Sidebottom, one of the key components of England's World Twenty20 triumph back in May,
opened the innings with a loose over that was biffed for 12, but that was arguably the only moment
that Pakistan were in command of their innings. Two balls later, Kamran heaved across the line for
Tim Bresnan to make England's first breakthrough, and Pakistan struggled to regain the upper hand
thereafter.
Playing in his second Twenty20 and his first for four years, Mohammad Yousuf played some
extravagant lofted drives in a carefree 26 from 18 balls, but Swann made his now-habitual early
impact, striking with his fifth delivery as Morgan pouched a lofted pull at midwicket. Two overs
later, Shahzaib Hasan was dragged down the track and smartly stumped by Steve Davies, who
took over from Michael Lumb at the top of the order, and claimed the gloves off Craig Kieswetter
to boot.
With extravagant turn on offer right from the start of the spinners' spell, Yardy once again put in an
admirable spell, and was rewarded with a sharp caught-and-bowled to end a frenetic but
uneffective innings from Fawad Alam, who groped and prodded to 20 from 29 balls, but never
looked likely to dominate the bowling. Afridi was much more effective in his 16 from 14 balls, even
though he benefitted from two lives in a single over from Stuart Broad - the second of which was a
dolly to Luke Wright, running in from the long-on boundary. Abdul Razzaq, with 49 sixes in his
Twenty20 international career, didn't make it to the middle.
In reply, England made an awkward start with Kieswetter's struggle for form continuing. He made
6 from seven balls before wafting at Shoaib and scuffing a thin edge to Kamran , while Ravi
Bopara, slotting in at No. 3 in place of the out-of-form Kevin Pietersen, made 11 from 13 balls
before Mohammad Yousuf - not renowned as the finest fielder in the world game - backpedalled
admirably on the long-on boundary to cling onto a steepling thwack, again off Shoaib.
Davies looked lively for his 33 from 27, before whipping Umar Gul off his hip and straight to
Wahab Riaz at square leg, while Afridi - with typical flamboyance, struck twice in two overs to
remove Collingwood for 4, as he inside-edged onto his stumps, and Luke Wright for a second-ball
duck, as he lined up a sweep and was bowled round his legs. But then came Shoaib's clanger, and
England didn't look back.
Wozniacki, Sharapova cruise towards US Open fourth-round showdown
New York, Sep 5: US Open top seed Caroline Wozniacki will on Monday face former champion
Maria Sharapova
in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
Wozniacki, who lost to Kim Clijsters in the finals last year, breezed into the fourth round on
Saturday after beating Young-Jan Chang 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Sharapova, seeded 14th, demolished American teen Beatrice Capra 6-0, 6-0.
Sharapova has beaten Wozniacki in both their previous meetings, but the two have not played since
2008.
However, Wozniacki insists that it's just another match for her.
"When I go out there, I really don't think too much who is on the other side. I just want to do what
I'm supposed to do out there on court, and I want to win. I feel like I'm playing well, so hopefully I
can just keep my roll," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Wozniacki, as saying.
"The next match will be a totally different match. I think I've shown I belong where I am, but
definitely, yeah, it would be a great victory," she added.
Talking about Wozniacki, Sharapova said: "She's the type of opponent that's going to make you hit
a lot of balls and is going to make you hit that extra ball."
"I have to be aggressively patient. Obviously the serve and return on a quick court is really
important, as well," she added.
Federer throttles Mathieu to enter fourth round of US Open
Five-time champion Roger Federer put the seal of approval on his first week at the US Open tennis
as the second seed reached the fourth round 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a wind-swept victory on Saturday
over Paul-Henri Mathieu. Number two Federer is bidding for his seventh straight final at Flushing
Meadows and would love nothing more than regain his title in eight days after losing it a year ago to
Argentine Juan Del Potro.
The 29-year-old rocketed through another straight-sets sweep, his fifth win without a loss against
his former rival from juniors. Federer now stands a formidable 54-5 in New York in his quest for a
record 17th career Grand Slam trophy.
"They were tough conditions to play in, especially if you're down in the score," said Federer. "You
could tell Mathieu was really struggling after being down in the score. His serve, his returns,
everything kind of falls into pieces.
"That's what the wind can do to you. It's really hard to stay positive when you're down and the
wind is the way it is, like today.
"You have to be careful with it, maybe not aim at the lines as much. But after four games or so, I
knew what I could do and what I couldn't do."
Federer is competing in his 44th straight major, the longest active streak for consecutive Grand
Slam events played. He ended on Saturday's match with 13 aces and 31 winners, breaking four
times.
Third seed Novak Djokovic dismissed American James Blake 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in similar
blustery wind. "It felt like Hurricane Earl had come to centre court," said the Serb, who next plays
Mardy Fish after revitalised American beat Arnaud Clement 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Two-time Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling defeated Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-3,
6-3, while Spain's Albert Montanes advanced into the fourth round when Japan's Kei Nishikori
quit injured, trailing 6-2, 2-1.
"Today was not easy. It was difficult conditions," said the fifth-seeded Soderling. "I told myself
before the match, 'It's not gonna be pretty.' Under the circumstances, I played a pretty good
match."
A French pair advanced, with Gael Monfils beating Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-
4 after the Serb had put out Andy Roddick. Richard Gasquet beat South African Kevin Anderson
6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
French Open semi-finalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria, beat former finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-
3, 6-1.
Women's top seed Caroline Wozniacki continued to steamroll, crushing her third straight opponent
with the loss of just one game against Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan. The bloodbath continued with
Maria Sharapova's merciless, 6-0, 6-0 hammering of US teenager Beatrice Capra.
"I have been feeling good out there," said Wozniacki, who has lost just three games in three
matches this week. "It just says something about how I've been playing and the level I've been
playing on. It's nice."
2008 finalist Jelena Jankovic failed to reach the second week, losing 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) to Estonian
outsider Kaia Kanepi.
Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva advanced to the last 16 against Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 7-6
(7-2).
IPL to have 74 matches for next three seasons
Indian Premier League's (IPL) next three seasons, starting 2011, will have a total of 74 matches, up
from 60 this year, following the addition of two new franchises -- Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi.
There would be 70 league matches plus four play-off matches with each team playing the same
number of matches (14 of which 7 would be home and the other 7 away) as in the previous IPL
editions, said BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan in a release after the IPL's Governing Council meeting
here.
"There will be one league table with teams divided into 2 groups of 5 teams each," the BCCI
secretary said.
The IPL GC also decided to allow the original eight franchises to retain a maximum of four players,
including three Indians, and fixed a salary cap of $9 million for each franchise to spend at the next
players' auction set for the middle of November.
Player contracts will be for a period of two years plus a one-year right of extension by franchise.
Retention of players would result in reduced amount available with each franchise with amounts of
$1.8 million per annum for the first player so retained, $1.3 million, 0.9 million and 0.5 million for
the other three players reduced from its kitty.
This is irrespective of the actual player fee paid to each of these players, Srinivasan said.
If a franchise retains four players, its salary cap will be charged by $4.5 million in each of 2011 and
2012 and it will have only $4.5 million remaining to pay as player fees for the remainder of its
registered squad.
The IPL has added a rider to player retention saying the franchise and player must mutually agree
to it as well as the player fee to be paid for 2011 and 2012 seasons.
The IPL also fixed the salary of uncapped players at Rs 10 lakh per annum if they have not played
so far or made/will make their first class debut in 2009-10 or 2010-11, at Rs 20 lakh and Rs 30
lakh per annum for those who made their debut in 2006-09 seasons and in 2005-06 or earlier,
respectively.
Each squad would consist of not more than 30 players, and only capped players plus any IPL
player who has played more than 75 per cent of matches for his team in the 2010 season will
feature in the auction.
Pune and Kochi franchises who did not participate in the 2010 season can sign upto four players
from the list of players who were not a part of the squad of any of the teams in the past three IPL
editions.
"However the list of players who are available for such franchise will be provided by IPL based on
the registered list of players," Srinivasan said.
In another significant change, the Governing Council decided that all player contracts would be a
tripartite agreement signed by the player, the franchise and the BCCI and all the contracts would be
managed by the Board. Till now the agreement was between the player and the franchise only.
"A new player registration and contract management process will be detailed soon. No player
contracts can be signed until then," Srinivasan said, adding the player regulations would be
circulated soon to all the franchises.
England and Argentina into semis at hockey W.Cup
ROSARIO, Argentina (AFP) - – The weather turned from frigid Friday to sunny spring Saturday
as England and Argentina secured semi final berths from Pool B at the womens field hockey World
Cup.
England defeated South Africa 2-1, Argentina defeated China 2-0 and Spain knocked South
Korea out of semi final contention with a 2-2 draw.
Helen Richardsons double made England look comfortable after Richardson cracked in a loose ball
in the first half and tipped in at the right post Crista Cullens fifth penalty corner chance in the second
half. That was until Pietie Cortzee brought the crowd to their feet with a sizzling penalty corner flick
inside the left post and the large Argentina crowd applauded every move of South Africa in the last
15 minutes.
Cortzee had a last minute penalty corner, but her hit from the right was saved by England
goalkeeper Beth Storry.
England coach Danny Kerry was pleased with the quality of Englands defence. "I liked the quality
of our play defensively, but we should have scored more goals from our six penalty corners, and
we missed two early field goal chances," Kerry said.
South Africa coach Giles Bonnet believes South Africa played below their potential. "It was a
disappointing game for us and I think we played far below our level but in the end I think we fought
well for the equalizer in the last 15 minutes, Bonnet said.
Spain performed at a higher level than their previous three losses to hold South Korea to a 2-2
draw and simultaneous advance England to the semi finals.
Kim Bo Mi drove in Koreas first goal early in the first half and despite superior ball possession,
Spain struggled to convert penalty corners until Gloria Comerma converted Spains third chance late
in the first half.
Korea went ahead 2-1, seconds before the break with a penalty corner by Cheon Seul Ki.
Silvia Munoz deflected in Spains equalizer early in the second half and Spain out-muscled Korea in
the numerous physical clashes of the second half to secure Spains first point of the tournament.
Spain coach Pablo Usoz continued his theme of missed chances to convert penalty corners. "As I
have said before, it is the conversion of penalty corners that makes the difference to the score and
we are not converting enough of our chances," Usoz said.
South Korea coach Kang Keon Wook away regrets losing the chance to be in the semi finals.
"I am very disappointed as we made mistakes in defence and in the execution of our penalty
corners and some of the basic skills of our players were poor," Kang said.
China held Argentina scoreless in the first half despite five penalty corner chances in succession in
the middle of the half.
Noel Barrionuevo converted Argentinas seventh penalty corner with a high flick in the second half
which found a hole to exit the net and required the umpire to check the video replay to ensure the
goal was scored.
Luciana Aymar scored the goal of the tournament so far, an individual run through the left midfield
beating four defenders, the goalkeeper and a defender on the line to push in from five metres to the
left of goal and bring the capacity crowd of 10,000 partisan Argentina fans screaming to their feet..
Aymar believes it was her best goal ever.
"It was the nicest goal I have scored in my whole career and I rate it 100 out of 100," she said.
Argentina coach Carlos Retegui described Aymars goal as magical and incredible.
China coach Kim Sang Ryul said he admired Argentinas skills. "Of course Argentina is very skilful
and experienced and they organize very well and in our team Song Qingling forgot her role today
and I think these two things made a big difference to China," Kim said.
In Pool A Sunday, Japan meet India, Germany face Netherlands and New Zealand play Australia.
Spot-fixing: Majeed's texts could help nail Pak cricketers
London, Sep 5: A British tabloid has revealed that a trail of texts could help Scotland Yard nail
London-based bookie Mazher Majeed and the Pakistani cricketers accused in a 150,000 pound
'spot-fixing' scandal.
One text from Majeed's brother, Azhar, on March 25, reads: "Let's get f*****g hold of cricket
and squeeze everything we can from it."
In reply to the text, Majeed replied: "Exactly the attitude I wanted from you yesterday."
According to News of The World, a number of messages sent to numbers around the world -
including US, India, Italy, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates - could hold the key to
unravelling the scandal.
"Messages have been sent and received from a vast range of contacts. We are working quickly to
establish whether codes were used in these text messages, who they were sent to and where they
were sent," the tabloid quoted a source close to the investigation, as saying.
During the undercover investigation, the tabloid also claims that Majeed also explained how he
changed his mobile phone and SIM card every fortnight in an effort to cover his tracks.
"We change our phones, and the thing is... you've got to get rid of the sim and the phone
separately," Majeed told the tabloid's reporter.
It is also claimed that in the days before the start of Pakistan's Test series against England, Majeed
allegedly ran up a four-figure phone bill.