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After an attritional Test series – with sub-standard pitches and sweltering conditions being assigned majority of the blame – Pakistan and South Africa embark upon a five-match ODI series beginning in Lahore. Expect a lot of changes in the middle, bar the weather, as the teams swap their whites for the traditional greens. There will be a marked increase in crowd figures as the Lahore pitch is expected to be a nightmare for the bowlers.Brimming with confidence after a salutary performance at the ICC World Twenty20, Pakistan will go into the series hoping to have shrugged aside their Test defeat. It is their first 50-over series since May and Shoaib Malik, whose captaincy was found lacking in decision-making and strategy during the Tests has impressed in the shorter format.”We need to put the Test series loss behind us and I know all the players are professional and know their responsibilities, so I am confident of a good show,” Malik said.Although Mohammad Asif remains doubtful for the match, Pakistan will hope to avail of the Afridi-factor that was sorely missed in the Tests. Having opted out of the matches due to religious commitments, Shahid Afridi returns to the squad and along with Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s hero in the ICC World Twenty20, will form a destructive partnership in the final overs. Mohammad Yousuf will also hope to make his comeback after being dropped from the tournament in South Africa and add firepower to the middle order.Iftikhar Anjum is set to be used first-change behind Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir, Pakistan’s surprise package in South Africa, if Asif fails the fitness test before the match. With the home side relying on the spin of Afridi and Malik, Abdur Rehman, who had a successful Test series, was likely to miss out.South Africa, meanwhile, have sent back Paul Harris, the highest wicket-taker in the Tests, but their line-up now includes Justin Kemp and Albie Morkel, two powerful hitters who also pitch in with the ball. Graeme Smith, who’s wary of Pakistan’s success at Twenty20, is confident of a good show.

“Pakistan’s confidence will be high after their recent success in the Twenty20 tournament. But obviously it’s another challenge for their captain and we will try to put them under pressure,” Smith said.Barring an injury to Vernon Philander, who replaced the injured Morne Morkel half-way through the first Test, the rest of the squad looks in good shape especially after thrashing the PCB XI in their only tour-match before the ODI series. Although there were complaints of a congested itinerary, mainly due to security concerns on the tourists’ part, Smith feels the Test victory has helped his side.”We are pretty confident after the rush start to the tour. It was nice tohave a good rest and we are going into the one-day series knowing we havethe potential to do well.”Potential is one word that South Africa somehow manages to defy at crucialmoments and, although, history favours the tourists – who’ve won seven of thelast 10 ODIs between these two teams – Pakistan were victorious in the two encounters at Lahore when South Africa last visited.TeamsPakistan (probable): 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Salman Butt, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Misbah-ul-Haq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Iftikhar Anjum, 11 Umar Gul.South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs,3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Justin Kemp, 6 Albie Morkel, 7 Mark Boucher(wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Johan Botha, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Simon Katich has corrected a technical flaw in his batting and is capable of opening for Australia in Tests, according to his batting coach Bob Simpson. Katich made a spectacular 306 for New South Wales against Queensland on the weekend and Simpson said it was a sign he was ready for a Test recall.Simpson believes Katich used to move his head too far towards the off side, leaving him off-balance and vulnerable to edges. However, having worked with Katich since 2005, Simpson is confident the problem has now been rectified.”What you’re seeing now is Simon using a wider array of shots, particularly straight down the ground,” Simpson told the . “I think he has both the temperament and the technique to open the batting for Australia. When it comes to selections, I think you have to select the man who is in form at first-class cricket.”Although he is unlikely to receive an immediate Test recall, Katich has made the selectors take notice with his first triple-century in first-class cricket, following a terrific county season in which he made 1284 runs at 75.52 for Derbyshire. Simpson said he was impressed with the way Katich had handled the disappointment of losing his national contract during the off-season.”He has never shown any bitterness at the way he has been treated,” Simpson said. “He never spat the dummy or threatened to quit or anything like that. He just realised that the only way he could get his way back into international cricket is score runs at first-class level, and that’s what he’s been doing.”

A memorial service will be held in honour of Highveld Strikers player WalterMasemula on Friday, 26 April at 10.30am in the Long Room at the WanderersStadium, Corlett Drive, Johannesburg. His body will be arriving from the UK on Friday morning.The funeral will be taking place at the Alexandra Oval on Sunday, 28 April 2002. Proceedings will start at the Masemula home at 07.30am and will move from there to the Oval at 8.00am. The address is 933 Alexandra Mews, Sole Crescent, Alexandra. The procession will be moving to the Tembisa Cemetry at 11.30am, where Walter will be buried.UCBSA Deputy Director of Coaching and Amateur Cricket, Niels Momberg, who knew Walter throughout his career, will speak on behalf of the UCB at the funeral.”What will always stay with me is Walter’s fighting qualities. He was left out of sides many times but never lost heart and always proved his detractors wrong and through pure determination and bloody-mindedness always fought his way back,” Momberg recalled today.”At Soweto Cricket Club he was always the one guy who would bowl the extra over and invariably get the necessary breakthrough for the team. He never got the accolades that he deserved but will leave a mark on the game in our country that will never be forgotten and will make the road to the top for other youngsters from the townships just little bit easier.”

Dismissal of the day
Mahela Jayawardene has heeded the plea from his main man,Muttiah Muralitharan, and spent much of this second innings scouting aroundfor a potential spin partner. First he tried Jehan Mubarak, to nogreat success; then he dusted off his own offbreaks, aftertwo-and-a-half years in mothballs. Then, finally, he lobbed the ballto Chamara Silva, whose only international overs had come – bizarrely- in Twenty20 cricket. He sent down three half-decent overs of legspinbefore lunch, and then struck with the very first ball of theresumption, as Alastair Cook prodded lamely to slip.Bravado of the day
Ian Bell is nothing if not positive at the crease these days. No shotbetter exemplified his new-found derring-do than the lofted drive forfour which took England to the lunch break. There was no timidity inthat choice of blow, as he strode down the pitch, plonked Muralitharan over mid-on, then turned on his heel and went to put hisfeet up. Admittedly, he later gave his wicket away with an identicalchoice of stroke, but as Steve Harmison said on the fourth evening:”If you die in a hole, you’re going to get battered.”Shot of the day
.There wasn’t a whole lot to choose from on a day that never reallyignited. But Kevin Pietersen can always be relied upon to enliven theproceedings. He made light of the problems that Silva had been causinghis peers, and pummelled him ruthlessly over midwicket for six. It wasEngland’s only maximum of the match.Klutz of the day
Lasith Malinga bowled with customary pace and hostility, but in thefield he had a shocker. There’s not much that can go wrong when you’rebeing hidden at third man and deep midwicket, but Malinga somehowmanaged to make a meal of two of the simpler shots that came his way.On 9, Pietersen whipped Muralitharan through the leg-side, where Malinga stuck out a boot, missed, stumbled, and tumbled into the rope as he tried to make amends. Then, seven overs later, he was at it again, as a delicate nudge rolled straight through his legsat third man. The Barmy Army bugler gave him a quick burst of BennyHill for that effort.

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South Africa’s Under-19s suffered their second straight loss in the tri-nation tournament largely because of Tanmay Srivastava’s unbeaten 105 in Pretoria. Set to chase 266 by India U-19s, South Africa regularly lost wickets and eventually fell 62 runs short.India lost their first wicket for 39 and it was Srivastava’s 190-run partnership with Shreevats Goswami that anchored their innings. South Africa used eight bowlers in their attempt to break the stand and it was Wayne Parnell, replacing Kelly Smuts in the side, who eventually trapped Goswami leg before for 97.South Africa’s other changes in the squad, Clayton August and Sybrand Engelbrecht, in place of Dwaine Pretorius and Audrey Swanepoel, went wicketless.Opener Pieter Malan made up for his poor show against Bangladesh with a half-century. He added 68 with Riley Rossouw before D Shivkumar had Rossouw caught for 17. South Africa were unable to forge any more useful partnerships. Pradeep Sangwan took four wickets, while Srivastava chipped in with two.

Lou Vincent, the New Zealand batsman, is undergoing treatment to recover from depression, a report in the revealed. The news comes on the heels of Shaun Tait announcing his indefinite break from the game, citing physical and emotional exhaustion.Vincent confirmed to the newspaper he was on anti-depressants and taking the help of a clinical psychologist. He had been dropped for the home series against Bangladesh following a string of poor scores during New Zealand’s tour to South Africa and the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in Australia.”For as long as I can remember I’ve been riddled with self-doubt, I’ve had no self-belief, and I’ve just been hating the guy I’ve seen in the mirror,” he told the Sunday Star-Times. “I remember so many days that should have been great days when I’ve gone home, slumped over a chair and thought `I just hate this and I hate myself’.”The Herald reported the depression took a heavy toll on Vincent and his family, and he didn’t feature in the domestic fixtures for Auckland for more than a month after returning from Australia. However, he seems to be coping better, having scored fifties in two Twenty20s and a one-dayer since his comeback.Dion Nash, a selector and former player, said the panel was aware of Vincent’s problem and he had spoken to him often. “From what we can see, he’s dealt with it, and seeing the right specialists and getting back on track, which is good for everyone,” he said. “I feel for the guy. Lou’s a great guy – we really wish him all the best, we value him very highly.”Nash said cricket was a tough game mentally, especially when touring overseas, and said he had seen similar cases. “If they weren’t [diagnosed],” he said, “I have known a few guys who should have been, including myself at times.”

The Dubai Cricket Stadium, being built at the Dubai Sports City, will be ready by October 2008 according to a report in the Gulf News.ICC officials, including Malcolm Speed, the CEO, and Ray Mali, the president, visited the construction sites at the stadium and the ICC Global Cricket academy. “It’s a great improvement on what I saw during my last visit in September,” Mali said. “I am sure this world class stadium and the state-of the-art academy will be completed on time.”David Morgan, who will succeed Mali in June, was equally pleased. “Even at this stage of construction, it is very clear that it will be a significant stadium which will have its own charm.””It will be truly a world class stadium,” Speed said. “The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible. When I saw this site the first time it was a camel farm and now we have a world-class cricket stadium come out of the ground. The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible.”Mali added the development would boost to cricket in the UAE. “It will surely stimulate cricket in the UAE and will make the children get interested in the game. The academy will not only help the elite players from different parts of the world but it will also help the developing players from the associate and affiliate countries.”

When is a batsman said to have been “mankaded”?
When the batsman at the non-striker’s end has backed up out of his crease and the bowler in his run-up removes the bails with the batsman out of his crease, the batsman is said to have been “mankaded”. Technically, the dismissal falls under the run-out category.How do the views of ICC and MCC differ?
The law, which is written by the MCC, says the bowler is allowed to attempt the run-out only before entering his delivery stride. However, the ICC playing conditions permit the bowler to attempt the dismissal before releasing the ball provided he has not ended his delivery swing. The said playing condition was introduced in 2011*.Why is the dismissal so named?
The most famous instance of this mode of dismissal came when Vinoo Mankad ran Bill Brown out in the Sydney Test in 1947-48. Mankad, in the act of delivering the ball, held on to it and whipped the bails off with Brown well out of his crease. There was a previous to this, as Brown had been similarly dismissed by Mankad earlier during the tour too, in a match against an Australian XI, after having warned Brown that he was backing up too far. The dismissal got extensive coverage in the Australian press, with Mankad being accused of unsportsmanlike behaviour. The term “mankaded” caught on in the wake of the controversy.What are the other famous instances of mankading?
Things got ugly when Kapil Dev ran Peter Kirsten out after repeated warnings in Port Elizabeth in 1992-93, the last such dismissal in international cricket. Kirsten walked off reluctantly after he was ruled out, while Kapil fumed angrily too.Other instances of mankading, in chronological order, are Ian Redpath by Charlie Griffith in Adelaide, 1968-69; Brian Luckhurst by Greg Chappell in Melbourne, 1974-75; Derek Randall by Ewan Chatfield in Christchurch, 1977-78; Sikander Bakht by Alan Hurst in Perth, 1978-79; and Grant Flower by Dipak Patel in Harare, 1992-93.The Bakht dismissal had its part to play in an unsavoury moment later in the same Test, when Sarfraz Nawaz successfully appealed for a handled-the-ball dismissal against Andrew Hilditch when all Hilditch had done was return the ball to the bowler out of courtesy.Among the most famous instances of a dismissal not being effected under this mode was when Courtney Walsh famously let Saleem Jaffar off with a warning in the last over of a 1987 World Cup match in Lahore. The last Pakistan pair was in and they needed four off the last ball when Walsh refused the run-out that would have sealed the match. Pakistan went on to win, which cost West Indies a potential semi-final place.Can a bowler mankad a batsman at any time?
It used to be that a bowler could dismiss a batsman in this fashion at any point in his run-up, delivery stride included. However, the Laws of cricket have since been changed to ensure that a bowler cannot run out a non-striker once he has entered his delivery stride.The delivery stride is defined as the stride in the course of which the delivery swing is made: it starts when the bowler’s back foot lands and ends when the front foot lands in the same stride.Is it unsporting to mankad a batsman?
The unwritten code of cricket suggests that a bowler ought to warn the batsman at least once before running him out. When Mankad was criticised for running Brown out, Don Bradman, Brown’s captain then, defended Mankad solidly.*June 4, 2014, 9.45am – The latest playing condition has been added to the piece

Beau Casson, the New South Wales left-arm wrist-spinner, must be counting the days until Australia’s selectors announce the Test squad to tour the West Indies in May. Stuart MacGill’s successful return at the end of the domestic season means he will be the first slow bowler chosen but Casson is firming as a possible back-up.Casson, 25, bowled unchanged in the second innings of the Blues’ Pura Cup final win and was halfway through his 30th over when he grabbed the match-winning wicket. His four for the game left him with a season tally of 29 at 35.13, which was nine fewer than the selectors’ other main option Bryce McGain, the Victoria legspinner who is 36 and played two more matches than Casson this summer.”It’s very flattering when someone mentions that you are in the frame, and that’s the main reason I came out here [to Sydney],” Casson told the . “I thought it was the best place to develop my craft. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. Spinners do tend to mature a lot later, it is just the nature of what we do.”Casson’s move from Western Australia before 2006-07 initially looked questionable after he struggled through last summer with little impact. However, MacGill’s wrist surgery opened a door for him this season and after the prolific Doug Bollinger broke his foot late in the campaign, more wickets were suddenly up for grabs.”It was quite tough early on,” Casson said. “With our quicks going so well, the likes of Doug Bollinger killing it, there weren’t many chances to have long spells and develop some sort of rhythm.”The retirements of Shane Warne in 2006-07 and Brad Hogg in 2007-08 have left the selectors with few slow-bowling options – MacGill, McGain, Casson and Dan Cullen are the most likely choices. Regardless of who is picked the squad for the Caribbean trip will feature at least one man preparing for a Test debut, with Brad Haddin set to replace Adam Gilchrist behind the stumps.

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