Yousuf not happy with Pakistan Team selectors

Karachi: Pakistan's former captain and senior batsman Mohammed Yousuf has expressed disappointment at the treatment being meted out to him by the national selectors but stopped short of announcing retirement plans.

Yousuf told the media while playing a match of the national one-day championship in Karachi for Lahore that he was disappointed at not being picked for the one-day series in New Zealand.

"I don't know what is the criteria of the selectors for selecting someone. I am in form and I am fit what more can I do to convince them I should play for Pakistan," Yousuf said.

The national selectors did not consider him for the ODIs in New Zealand but have named him in the preliminary list of 30 players for the World Cup.

But sources close to the selectors say that they are not convinced that Yousuf is 100 percent match fit for a major tournament like the World Cup.
But Yousuf, who scored 63 for Lahore on Sunday, said he was match fit or would not be playing in domestic cricket.
"I had some problem with a strained muscle while touring UAE for the South Africa series but now I have made a complete recovery. An unfit batsman cannot take three and two runs regularly during his innings," he said while referring to his innings.

Yousuf said that at times he was so upset with the attitude of the selectors that he felt that he should never have come out of retirement.

"In Pakistan it has become like a 'Sunnat' (good deed) for selectors to drop and sideline senior players who are their peak."

Yousuf, 36, who has twice announced retirements in his career spanning 90 Tests and 288 ODIs, said he was batting well and knew he could still serve Pakistan cricket.

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Dhoni missed his top spot, Sehwag rises in ICC ODI rankings

Dubai: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost his number one spot, but opening batsman Virender Sehwag gained eight places to go back to the top-10 at eighth in the ICC ODI rankings issued on Sunday. India held on to the second spot in the team rankings in spite of losing the tri-series final to Sri Lanka last night.
Sri Lanka, sixth before the series, are just at the back of India, and in front of South Africa, who drop to fourth, when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
New Zealand drop to sixth from fourth as Australia, at the top, and England, in fifth spot, stay unchanged. In person rankings, Tillakaratne Dilshan broke into the top five of the batting chart. Dilshan's match-winning attempt of 110 in the final against India last night was sufficient to earn him a three-place boost in the rankings and he now sits in fourth position, level with Hashim Amla of South Africa.
Amla's team-mate AB de Villiers has benefited from Dhoni's slip with the 26-year-old from Pretoria taking over at the top of the rankings. The other main mover upwards in the top 10 is Sehwag, who was confirmed Man-of-the-Series in Sri Lanka.
The hard-hitting opener was the series' top-scorer with 268 at an average of 67 and that attempt has moved him up eight places on the rankings to eighth place. Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested as of the tri-series, lost four places and now sits in 10th position.
A player loses half a per cent of his ranking for every ODI he misses. In the list for bowlers, India pacer Praveen Kumar has gained five places to smash into the top 10 for the first time in his career.The 23-year-old took nine wickets in the Sri Lanka tri-series at an usual of 23.66 and now sits in 10th position in the ranking, level with Pakistan's Shahid Afridi.

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New Zealand squash India by 200 runs

Against New Zealand with a feeble bowling and batting display on Tuesday. After the Kiwis put up a competitive 288 on the plank, riding on captain Ross Taylor (95) and Scott Styris (89), India suffer an mysterious batting collapse to bundle out for a paltry 88 in just 29.3 overs. In what twisted out to be a totally lop-sided contest, only three Indian batsmen could score double figures as the Kiwis ripped through the young batting lineup to open their campaign on a high. It was a powerful show by the New Zealanders who relied on a 190-run stand for the fourth wicket between Taylor and Styris before Daryl Tuffey (3/34) and Kyle Mills (2/26) and Jacob Oram (2/15) shot out India to complete a persuasive win.

Chasing 289 to win, openers Dinesh Karthik (14) and Virender Sehwag (19) made a alert start but New Zealand struck two times in as many deliveries to get rid of the openers and reduce India to 39 for two in 7.1 overs. Sehwag was the first to go when he botched to discuss a short ball aimed at his body by Mills as the ball kissed his glove and landed safely at wicketkeeper Gerath Hopkins' hands. Karthik then followed suit when he played Tuffey's delivery down the wrong line and missed the ball, which struck on his pads in front of the wicket.

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Death a twice loss for rugby and cricket

Eric Tindill, the only man to play tests for New Zealand in both cricket and rugby, and preside in a test in both, has died in Nelson. He was 99 years old.
At the same time as others have become known as double rugby-cricket internationals though appearing only in tour games as different from tests in one or the other sport, Tindill was single in his four-strong achievements.
A halfback or first five-eighths for Wellington, Tindill played 16 matches for the All Blacks, include one test, a 13-0 loss to England at Twickenham in 1936.
Fourteen years later he was refereed three tests, two between the All Blacks and the British Lions, and then one against Australia in 1955. Tindill played five cricket tests as a wicketkeeper-batsman between 1937 and 1947, his first appearance against England at Lord's. His first-class career spanned 18 seasons.

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