Cricket World Cup 2015 countdown: Shoaib Malik hopes to play for Pakistan
DISCARDED former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, says he wants to play in the 2015 World Cup, but needs clarity on his role.
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DISCARDED former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, says he wants to play in the 2015 World Cup, but needs clarity on his role and must be told what is expected of him.
The 32-year-old last played an ODI in June 2013, but was included in Pakistan’s 30-man preliminary squad for the upcoming tournament.
“The World Cup is a big event and every cricketer wants to play in it,” he said.
“It was portrayed that I don’t want to play, I was frustrated over being left out but I always wanted to play.”
Malik, who is also due to play for the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, said he is not happy with the selection process.
“I have a problem with the system because we cricketers want clarity (on selection) and want to know what is expected of us and how many matches we are going to play because it increases confidence when a player knows how many matches he is going to play,” he said.
“I am of the opinion that players who know the conditions of Australia and New Zealand can play well there.”
FORMER international paceman Brett Lee believes Australia has the talent and temperament to win the World Cup on home soil.
With four Cricket World Cup titles, Australia is the most successful team in the history of the tournament.
And while playing at home comes with increased pressure, Lee believes Australia have the players capable of winning it a fifth time.
“Fingers crossed the boys can win it,” he said.
“We’ve definitely got the right guys, players that can go out there and play a role. Obviously you can only pick 11 players on the day, but we’ve got depth in our batting, with our keepers and then we’ve obviously got the quicks as well.”
PAKISTAN’S Saeed Ajmal has ruled himself out of the World Cup on Saturday after the suspended off-spinner decided not to go for official testing of his suspect bowling action.
The 37-year-old, who was suspended for a suspicious bowling action in September by the ICC, will continue to work on his remodelled bowling action with Saqlain Mushtaq and a bio-mechanist at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
The Pakistan Cricket Board believes the off-spinner needs more time to bowl within the allowed elbow extension of 15 degrees.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said if Ajmal’s bowling action is found illegal during official ICC testing, the off-spinner faces a ban of two years, which means the end of his international career.
“The PCB fully supports Ajmal in his attempt to regularise his action and to return to cricket as Pakistan’s top performer in the future,” the board said in a statement on Saturday.
THE vibrant, multi-coloured volunteer uniforms for the 2015 Cricket World Cup were unveiled on Boxing Day during the Tests at the MCG and Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 chief executive John Harnden and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews launched the uniforms at the MCG, while International Cricket Hall of Fame members, Sir Richard Hadlee and Debbie Hockley, modelled the bright blue, orange, green, yellow, and white uniforms in Christchurch.
.@BLACKCAPS legend Sir Richard Hadlee and Debbie Hockley model the #cwc15 volunteer uniforms at Hagley Oval today. pic.twitter.com/dXOfBWqa4V
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) December 26, 2014
Harnden said there will be more than 3000 volunteers across the 14 host cities who will play a big part in welcoming cricket fans from around the world.
“We had an outstanding response when we launched the volunteer program in March and 50 days out from the opening match have a full quota in each of our host cities,” Mr Harnden said.
DEBUTANTS Afghanistan confirmed its 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup, with Mohammad Nabi named captain.
Nabi is Afghanistan’s most experienced player, scoring 1058 runs at 34.12 and taking 38 wickets at 35.94 from his 41 ODIs so far.
Nabi is part of his country’s core group of senior players, along with Samiullah Shenwari, Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai and Shapoor Zadran, who have all played over 30 ODIs.
Afghanistan also injected some younger faces into its World Cup squad, including 18-year-old batsman Usman Ghan, who already has an ODI century to his name.
Afghanistan Squad: Mohammad Nabi (C), Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Samiullah Shenwari, Afsar Zazai (WK), Najibullah Zadran, Nasir Jamal, Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Javed Ahmadi, Usman Ghani.
Originally published as Cricket World Cup 2015 countdown: Shoaib Malik hopes to play for Pakistan
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