END TO A CONTROVERSIAL RULE!!

On 6 October 2008 President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed Butt as chairman of the PCB. He has been involved in several controversies during his career, presiding over Pakistan during a time when security concerns—including a shooting incident involving the Sri Lankan tour bus—stripped the country of several international fixtures. He has made several attacks on current and former PCB officials and the Senate of Pakistan, and was involved in match-fixing allegations during a tour of England in 2010.

His accusations of similar match fixing by the England team, though later retracted, let to speculation about his future with the PCB.

But beside all this Pakistan also won a T20 world cup in june 2009 beating Sir-Lanka in the final by 8 wickets.

Now he is going to resign due to personal reasons. The source to this news is Geo news. The new chairman will be announced on this Friday.

Lets hope the new chairman could improve the pathetic situation of Pakistan Cricket.

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Pakistan players on trial for alleged 'spot-fixing'

At the time of the alleged offences, Butt was captain of Pakistan's Test side and had won plaudits for his leadership of the team.

Asif was the team's senior pace bowler, while teenage left-arm swing bowler Aamer was regarded as one of the hottest properties in world cricket.

The allegations stem from a probe by Mazher Mahmood, former undercover reporter for the News of the World, known in Britain as the "fake sheikh" for wearing Arab dress during investigations.

Prior knowledge of when no-balls will occur could be exploited in what is known as 'spot-betting', hugely popular in South Asia, whereby gamblers bet on various possible incidents in a match rather than the final outcome.

Cricket is potentially extremely vulnerable to 'spot-fixing'. Betting can be planned around specific incidents without the need to manipulate the final result of the match.

The most infamous recent case of proven fixing in cricket came a decade ago when former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was revealed to have accepted money from bookmakers in a bid to influence the course of games as well as trying to corrupt his team-mates.

Cronje died in a mysterious plane crash in 2002.

Two Pakistan Test players went on trial in London on Tuesday charged with spot-fixing during a match against England last year, allegations which rocked the world of cricket.

Former captain Salman Butt, 26, and star bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, appeared at Southwark Crown Court charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and with conspiracy to cheat.

The charges relate to allegations of deliberately bowling no-balls during England's fourth Test against Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London in August 2010.

The allegations were made in the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid, which was closed down in July this year when it became engulfed in the phone hacking scandal.

The pair deny the charges. The offences carry maximum sentences of seven years and two years in prison respectively.

Potential jurors in the trial were asked on Tuesday whether they or their families worked in the gambling industry or earned money from professional cricket or have ever been employed in journalism.

Judge Jeremy Cooke then swore in a jury of seven men and five women for the case, which he said could last up to five weeks, before adjourning the case until Wednesday.

Butt stood in the dock wearing a grey pinstripe suit and white open-necked shirt while the taller Asif wore a black suit with a white shirt. Asif listened to the proceedings through an Urdu interpreter.

Two other people -- talented 19-year-old bowler Mohammad Aamer and the three players' agent Mazhar Majeed -- have also been charged with the same offences.

Sialkot Stallions win title for 6th time.

Karachi—Sialkot Stallions became the twenty20 champions for the sixth time when they defeated Rawalpindi Rams by ten runs after an interesting contest in the final of the Faysal Bank National Twenty20 Cup 2011 here at the National Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing 181 runs, Rawalpindi Rams were looking set for win when they needed 19 runs from 12 balls with five wickets in hand but the Stallions captured three more wickets giving away only eight runs. For the Rams, only opener Naved Malik played a brave innings of 67 runs off 47 balls, hitting three sixes and six fours. The second highest scorer was his opening partner Awais Zia (32) whereas no other batsman could make more than 14 runs. For the Stallions, spinners Raza Hasan and Abdur Rehman got two wickets each for eleven and 27 runs, respectively. Earlier, Sialkot Stallions piled up 180-6 in the allotted 20 overs after their captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and decided to bat.

The main scorers of the Stallions were Qaiser Abbas (44), Shoaib Malik (43), Shakeel Abbas (39) and Shahid Yousuf (32). Off-break bowler Awais Zia claimed two wickets for 17 runs for the Rams. Naved Malik was declared Man of the Match for his outstanding batting performance. Governor Sindh Dr. Ishratul Ebad was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony at the close of the tournament. Famous Tennis Star and wife of Shoaib Malik Sania Mirza who witnessed the final was also present at the prize distribution ceremony. On the occasion, Captain of the winning team Shoaib Malik announced a donation of half a million rupees on behalf of his team for the flood victims of Sindh province.

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Pakistan banker Ali Reza likely to succeed Ijaz Butt as PCB chairman

Pakistan’s top banker Ali Reza reportedly emerged as a possible candidate to take over as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman following speculations that Ijaz Butt might not get a contract extension.
“Yes there is some substance to these rumours, but nothing is decided as yet and the President has yet to take a decision on this issue. But Ali Reza’s name is being considered for the top cricket post,” a source told the Nation.
“Everything will be clear by next week because by that time it will be known who will represent Pakistan at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Executive Board meeting on October 8 and 9th,” the source added.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, patron of the PCB, had appointed Butt as the chairman in October 2008.
He has been involved in several controversies during his tenure, presiding over Pakistan during a time when security concerns—including a shooting incident involving the Sri Lankan tour bus—stripped the country of several international fixtures.

Misbah's eyes top four spot for pak!!

KARACHI: Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq on Thursday said he has targeted a top four Test spot for his side with an eye on qualification for the inaugural World Test Championship in 2013.

The four top teams in the ICC (International Cricket Council) standings in mid-January 2013 will progress to the first World Test Championships scheduled to be played in England later that year.

"We can come in the top four to feature in the Test championship and that's one of the aims in our next three important series," said Misbah, appointed captain for all three formats of the game last month.

Misbah led Pakistan to a clean-sweep over Zimbabwe earlier this month, winning the one-off Test, all three one-days and both the Twenty20 internationals.

His team now plays Sri Lanka over three Tests, five one-days and a Twenty20, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next month because of security fears in Pakistan.

Pakistan currently lie sixth in the ICC Test rankings and need to win against fifth-placed Sri Lanka and their next two series - against world number one England and Bangladesh, who are ranked ninth.

They tour Bangladesh in December for a two-Test series and play England in three Tests, four one-day and three Twenty20 in UAE in January-February next year.

Misbah said the confidence gained on the Zimbabwe tour will help his team.

"We have done well in our two tough series before the Zimbabwe tour and did well against South Africa and New Zealand, so the confidence level is high and this morale will help us in future series," said Misbah.

Misbah said using new bowlers on the Zimbabwe tour had paid-off providing the team with greater attacking depth and back-up in case of injury.

But he said outgoing coach Waqar Younis will be missed.

"As captain you develop an understanding with the coach and Waqar was very supportive to me and to the team, so we now have to rebuild that understanding with the new coach," Misbah added.

Pakistan is searching for a new coach after Waqar left the post at the end of the Zimbabwe tour, citing health problems.

A three-member committee will meet in Karachi later Thursday to discuss around 40 applicants for the post from around the world, and will also talk with other prominent foreign coaches.

The process to agree a final candidate will take about a month and Pakistan is likely to play the Sri Lanka series under a temporary coach.

Lahore High Court orders Pak IT Ministry to ban Facebook for 'spreading religious hatred'

Lahore, Sept 20 : The Lahore High Court has ordered Pakistan's Information Technology Ministry to block access to all websites spreading religious hatred, including popular social networking site Facebook

The court, however, made it clear that no search engine, including Google, would be blocked.

The court also directed the ministry to submit a compliance report in this regard by October 6.

The court issued the order after hearing a petition seeking a permanent ban on Facebook for allegedly hosting a blasphemous caricature-drawing contest, Pakistan Today reports.

The petitioner pointed out that Islamic values were being derogated in the name of information, hurting the feelings of billions of Muslims.

He also said that despite court orders, the Information Technology did not block websites spreading religious hatred.

The petitioner requested that Facebook and all other websites airing, placing or visualising obscene caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, be permanently blocked or banned in Pakistan.

Akhtar book launch cancelled

The scheduled release of Shoiab Akhtar's controversial book here tomorrow has suddenly been cancelled without any reason being given.

Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar was to release Akhtar's autobiography 'Controversially Yours' at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) premises.

"The event has been cancelled," confirmed a CCI official, without assigning any reason.

According to sources, the event was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

The sudden cancellation generated speculation that it may be because of the less than flattering remarks about India's batting stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

In his tell-all autobiography, Akhtar has made many controversial claims including one where he says that the Indian batsman Tendulkar did not have the ability to finish matches in the initial stages of his career.

Meanwhile, a protest was held in suburban Dahisar today against Akhtar, for his comments on Tendulkar. Protesters carried Akthar's posters on donkey-backs.

On Monday, Akhtar is scheduled to attend another function to promote his book in the city.