Paki Friendship - ICC chief hits out at Butt TV role

Paki Friendship - ICC chief hits out at Butt TV role

DUBAI: International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat has slammed the appointment of banned former captain Salman Butt as a television pundit during the World Cup.

So incensed are the global governing body, they have asked the lawyer who was chairman of the tribunal that banned Butt to determine whether his employment by the television channel contravenes the terms of the opening batsman's 10-year ban, five of which have been suspended.

Lorgat, in a statement issued after an ICC executive board meeting here on Wednesday, said: "The Board, having a zero tolerance attitude towards corruption, expressed disappointment at the decision by a television channel to employ the suspended Mr Salman Butt as a studio pundit during the World Cup."

Butt, when his TV role was announced earlier this month, said: "I have signed a contract with a television channel to do expert commentary.

"As I am not playing in the event I thought it was worth participating as an expert," he added.

The 26-year-old player said he could no reason why hoped the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the ICC would object to his new role.

"I don't see any reason for objection to it as it does not come under their jurisdiction."

But Lorgat made it clear on Wednesday the ICC did object.

"We are not satisfied with this appointment and we have written to Tribunal chairman Michael Beloff QC to enquire whether this could be viewed as a breach against the terms of his suspended sentence," the South African said. (AFP)

Paki Friendship - Dhoni’s ton leads India to victory over Kiwis

Paki Friendship - Dhoni’s ton leads India to victory over Kiwis

MUMBAI: India beat New Zealand by a massive 117 runs in their warm-up game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on Wednesday. Score

The day belonged to the India batters, who not only silenced their critics but also hit form putting on a mammoth 360/5 on board in their stipulated 50 overs.

Interestingly, the bulk of scoring was done by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had been out of form for long. He scored an impressive 108 not off just 64 balls to drive home the point that his 'off-form' was history.

The Kiwis tried hard and their openers Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill batted with gusto but eventually gave in the face of pressure of the target that continued to loom large throughout their innings.

Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill put on a fine 94 for the first wicket before R Ashwin got the man he was after.

A fine turner from the offie hit Guptill's glove and keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a fine catch to dismiss Guptill on 38. The Black Caps were 94-1 at the stage.

No sooner had Guptill departed that the other opener Brendon McCullum too followed. He got run out on 58. New Zealand were 118/2 now.

It was at this stage that pressure got to them as the Kiwis lost three wickets in quick succession to slump to 147/5. First Harbhajan Singh claimed Ross Taylor (5) then Piyush Chawla got the better of James Franklin (0) and then Harbhajan struck back to see off Jesse Ryder on 32.

From here on it was all easy for the India bowlers who got busy counting the Kiwi heads. And once the India spinners came to the party with Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and part-timer Yuvraj Singh claiming two wickets each. Paceman Ashish Nehra claimed tail-enders Luke Woodcock and Kyle Mills to finish with two wickets.

New Zealand could only mange to put on a meagre 243 runs before getting out in the 44th over. (Online)

Paki Friendship - No tweeting on World Cup match days, says ICC

Paki Friendship - No tweeting on World Cup match days, says ICC

NEW DELHI: Players and officials have been barred from using social networking site Twitter during World Cup matches as a precautionary measure against possible corruption, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

The move to bar team managers, along with players and coaches, from tweeting follows a suggestion from the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the governing body.

"During matches, team managers are not permitted to use twitter on their phone," the spokesman said by phone from Bangalore on Wednesday.

"The players can't use Twitter on phone anyway because they don't have phones during matches. It's just the team manager's phone, nothing else.

"It is only during the matches (that they cannot tweet). Before or after the matches are fine. It's being done only as a precaution."

Australian team manager Steve Bernard drew a considerable following with his tweets during the recent Ashes series but he will not be allowed to publish his observations or opinions on match days once the World Cup begins on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the ICC banned three Pakistani cricketers on spot-fixing charges, which the governing body hopes would serve as a deterrent.

"The particular verdict and sanctions contribute to sending quite a strong message. If you do transgress and if you do get engaged in corrupt activities we will hunt you down and we will prosecute," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said earlier this week.

A large illegal betting syndicate operates in the subcontinent with Mumbai as its hub and the ICC favours legalising betting in India where it is confined to horse-racing only. (Reuters)

Paki Friendship - Shehzad hands Pakistan morale-boosting win

Paki Friendship - Shehzad hands Pakistan morale-boosting win

DHAKA: Ahmed Shehzad and Misbah-ul-Haq helped to put Pakistan's recent troubles behind them as the duo hit centuries to steer their team to a morale-boosting 89-run victory over Bangladesh in a World Cup warm up match on Tuesday.

The win would have helped to put the players in the right frame of mind for the Feb 19-April 2 tournament after their recent on-field exploits were overshadowed by the ban handed to three former team mates for spot-fixing.

Pakistan scored 285 for nine in their 50 overs before skittling out Bangladesh 196 in the 42nd over, with the hosts losing their last three wickets for the addition of just two runs.

Bangladesh were put on the back foot from the start as they lost opener Tamim Iqbal when Abdul Razzaq knocked over his bails with the very first delivery.

Shehzad made the most of benefitting from two dropped catches to hit 103 from 122 balls with a six and nine boundaries while Misbah smashed a 100-ball century with four sixes and eight fours.

Suhrawadi Shuvo and Abdur Razzak dropped Shehzad while he was on 42 and 56 respectively, which allowed the match to swing Pakistan's way.

"I am not disappointed with the (dropped) catch by Razzak as he has never been our best fielder but the other catches which went down were disappointing," said Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons.

Pakistan play their first World Cup Group A match against unfancied Kenya on Feb. 23 in Hambantota.

Bangladesh meet fellow co-hosts India in Group B in the opening match of the tournament on Feb. 19 in Dhaka.

Paki Friendship - India to take on New Zealand in warm up match today

Paki Friendship - India to take on New Zealand in warm up match today

CHENNAI: India must raise their World Cup intensity, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Tuesday, with star batsman Sachin Tendulkar poised to play a crucial role.

India, strong favourites to win the showpiece tournament, stuttered in their warm-up game against defending champions Australia in Bangalore on Sunday before pulling off an unlikely 38-run win.

The Indians take on New Zealand in their second and final practice match on Wednesday in Chennai ahead of their tournament opener against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday.

Tendulkar missed the win over Australia, a legacy of the hamstring injury that forced him to cut short his participation in the one-day series in South Africa last month.

But he came through a long net session on Tuesday and is poised to open the batting against the Black Caps in what will be only his third one-dayer since his historic double-century against South Africa in Gwalior a year ago.

"Of course we did not have a very good game against Australia," Dhoni said.

"We needed a partnership but that did not happen and we could not score big.

"The lower order helped and added some 45-odd runs. But at 214 we did not have a par score on the board. We want to score more runs in the warm-up and try various bowling options.

"We need to pick up intensity as we progress into the World Cup."

Dhoni said the performance of spinners in the game against Australia had opened up his options.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, a surprise inclusion in India's squad, picked up 4-31 in nine overs and off-break bowler Harbhajan Singh took 3-15 from five.

"We have a very good side," said Dhoni. "That is what I have said always. I don't believe in comparisons. We have a mix of players who are very good.

"But obviously what we have on paper is not important, it is what we do on the field which matters. We need to see what the conditions are and pick our best 11 accordingly."

Dhoni said bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan would be rested for Wednesday's warm-up to allow him to be fresh for the tournament opener. The left-arm paceman had missed out on the Australia game as well.

"He has a very mild groin strain. It is nothing to worry about. It is just that we want to give him rest. He will definitely play against Bangladesh."

The Indian skipper, leading the side for the first time in a World Cup, also said his team will treat New Zealand with respect despite their recent poor form in one-dayers in the sub-continent.

"They don't depend on any one particular player. They have some very talented players. When we talk about New Zealand we talk about their contributive effort rather than singling out players."

India, winners in 1983, are placed in Group B with England, South Africa, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, the West Indies and Ireland. 

Paki Friendship - Teenage boys really do eat a lot?

Paki Friendship - Teenage boys really do eat a lot?

Parents of teenage boys often believe they are being eaten out of house and home. A new study suggests they’re right.

In a lunch-buffet experiment involving 200 kids ages 8 to 17, researchers found that boys routinely ate more compared with girls their own age. But boys in their mid-teens were the most ravenous of all — downing an average of nearly 2,000 lunchtime calories.

The pattern makes sense, given that boys usually hit their growth spurt — putting on height and muscle mass — in late puberty, according to senior researcher Dr. Jack A. Yanovski, of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Yet, while teenage boys have a storied reputation for packing it away, there had actually been little objective evidence that this is the norm.

“There’s a lot of folk wisdom that says boys can eat prodigious amounts, but we haven’t had much data,” Yanovski told.

To fill the gap, he and his colleagues had 204 8- to 17-year-old boys and girls come to a lunch-buffet on two separate days. On one day, the kids were instructed to eat as much as they normally would during lunch; on the other day, they were told to eat as much as they wanted.

Overall, the researchers found, boys ate more than girls did at each stage of puberty. Prepubescent boys — generally between the ages of 8 and 10 — averaged nearly 1,300 lunchtime calories, versus 900 among prepubescent girls.

Girls showed the biggest increase in appetite during early- to- mid-puberty, roughly between the ages of 10 and 13. Girls that age averaged almost 1,300 lunchtime calories, and that figure was only slightly higher among girls who were in late puberty.

That pattern is in line with girls’ development, Yanovski said, as they tend to have their most significant growth spurts in early- to- mid-puberty.

Boys, on the other hand, tend to develop later. And their calorie needs appear to shoot up significantly in late puberty, or between the ages of 14 and 17.

While boys in this study showed little change in calorie intake between pre- and mid-puberty, their average lunchtime calorie intake reached nearly 2,000 calories in late puberty. Even for active children, those 2,000 calories would be most of their daily energy needs.

“They really can eat,” Yanovski noted.

For parents, he said, the findings offer an idea of what they can reasonably expect as far as their children’s calorie needs, and the family grocery bills, as kids get older.

And as long as their teenage sons are healthy and normal-weight, a sudden surge in eating should not be alarming, according to the researcher.

On the other hand, Yanovski added, boys who are overweight should have more limits on how many calories they down. Studies suggest that a majority of overweight kids become overweight adults.

Paki Friendship - Be careful overtime linked to heart risk

Paki Friendship - Be careful overtime linked to heart risk

People who work three hours or more of overtime per day run a 60-percent higher risk of bad heart problems compared to those who work regular hours, a study published in the European Heart Journal said.

The findings came from a long-term research project into 6,014 British civil servants aged 39-61, two-thirds of whom were men, who had healthy hearts at the start of the probe in the early 1990s.

At an 11-year monitoring point, 369 of the volunteers had either died of coronary heart disease (CHD) or had had a non-fatal heart attack or angina.

After accounting for risk factors such as smoking, overweight and high cholesterol, doctors found that working between three and four hours of overtime each day was associated with a 60 percent greater risk compared to those who did no overtime.

Those who worked overtime tended to be slightly younger than the non-overtime group, were likelier to be men rather than women and be in a higher occupational grade.

The investigators say the link between cardiac problems and overtime seems clear but the cause is less so, given the complexities of heart disease and relationships in the workplace.

For instance, working overtime could affect metabolism or mask depression, anxiety and sleeplessness, they caution.

There is also a phenomenon called "sickness presenteeism", whereby employees who work overtime are likelier to work while ill, ignore symptoms and not seek medical health.

In addition, people who like their job and have greater latitude in work decisions tend to work longer hours just for the pleasure, and may have a lower rate of CHD.

"More research is needed before we can be confident that overtime work would cause CHD," said Marianna Virtanen, an epidemiologist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University College London.