Rain ruins Tigers' preps match
The players, split into two groups, were taking part in the match before heavy rain stopped play but the players later practiced in the central wicket.
Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was absent yesterday for a family commitment. The cricketers will be back to business on Sunday after a two -day break.
A total of 26 cricketers have been selected for the upcoming five-match home series against New Zealand who are now practicing under Jamie Siddons.
New Zealand is likely to arrive in the capital on September 29.
England 39 for 1
England were 39 for one for at tea after rain had washed out the entire morning session before bad light then stopped the match in only the 13th over.
Cook, dropped on one, was 10 not out and Jonathan Trott eight not out with England 2-1 up in this series after Pakistan's four-wicket win across London at The Oval last week.
It was no surprise when Pakistan captain Salman Butt opted to field first in after winning the toss in the kind of overcast conditions that have troubled batsmen on both sides all series.
Poor catching has hampered Pakistan throughout this series and their 18th dropped effort in four Tests -- a remarkable and damning statistic by international standards -- was one of their worst.
England were on seven in the third over, when Cook was drawn into a defensive edge outside off-stump by left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer only for third slip Umar Akmal to drop the seemingly straightforward two-handed chance, much to the teenage bowler's evident and understandable disgust.
Next ball Cook added to Aamer's frustrations by edging him unconvincingly through the slip cordon for four.
Pakistan thought they had Cook caught behind off Aamer for nine, with England on 25.
Billy Bowden eventually gave Cook only for the Essex batsman, fresh from a century at The Oval to refer the decision.
Bowden, after replays indicated Cook had missed the ball, reversed his original verdict.
But Pakistan had the wicket their new-ball pair deserved when Mohammad Asif produced a superb full-length delivery that swung in a touch to bowl left-hander Strauss for 13 and leave England 31 for one in the 12th over.
Strauss has now gone over a year without a Test century and he may only have one more chance to end that run, should England bat again at Lord's, before England begin their defence of the Ashes in Australia starting in November.
Although the Lord's floodlights were on, Bowden and fellow New Zealand umpire Tony Hill halted the match midway through the 13th over after it appeared players were having difficulty seeing the red ball out of the otherwise dark background.
SCORES IN BRIEF
ENGLAND: First innings 39 for 1 (Strauss 13, Cook 10 not out, Trott 8; Asif 1-17)
PAKISTAN: Farhat, Hameed, Butt, Yousuf, Ali, U Akmal, K Akmal, Aamer, Riaz, Ajmal, Asif
Toss: Pakistan.
Umpires: Billy Bowden and Tony Hill.
Hockey players off to Europe
Hockey players will leave here for Germany on Sunday to take part in the Germany second division hockey league for different clubs as a part of their preparation for the upcoming 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in November.
"After getting visas to the players from the German embassy, we yesterday confirmed Gulf Air tickets and the players leave on August 29," said Anvir Adil, member of Bangladesh Hockey Federation yesterday.
Of the 29-member preliminary squad, the top 18 players will be touring Germany and Austria for seven weeks before returning home in the third week of October and continue the practice at home before leaving for China.
Striker Russell Mahmud Jimmy would leave the country later as he has been accompanying his ill father, though Adil could not make it clear.
German coach Gerhard Peter Rach already left Bangladesh for the arrangement of the players. So far ten players will play in a single club and the rest -- two each at two different clubs in Bonn and the remaining four in Austria -- will play in separate clubs.
The German coach has also plans to bring his charges staying in Germany in a practice session twice a week and then arrange practice matches against different German clubs.
As a part of the SA Games, the hockey players were also taken to Europe last year for different clubs. But on their return the players alleged that German coach Rach did not take much care of them and they had to sweat over managing themselves before each exhibition match since they were scattered across different clubs.
However, this time the German coach has promised not to repeat mistakes and the game's governing body also ensured the matter through signing an official deal with him for four months.
After the departure of 18 players, the hockey federation would call a trial with 25 players in quest of picking up 14 players, who will join remaining 11 of the preliminary squad and continue the practice at home.
Chief selector Mamunur Rashid again confirmed they must consider those players staying at home before picking the final squad for the Asian Games.
Those who will be traveling to Germany are Zahid Hossain, Manwar Hossain Rasel, Moshiur Rahman Biplob, Mamunur Rahman Chayan, Imran Hasan Pintu, Tapash Barman, Enamul Kabir Turja, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy, Sheikh Mohammad Nannu, Hasan Jubair Niloy, Kamruzzaman Rana, Pushkor Khisha Mimo, Krishna Kumar, Maksud Alam Habul, Iqbal Nader Prince, Al Mashiur Rahman Firoz, Hosne Mobarak Sumon and Shamsul Alam Sujan.
Ricky targets Eng cracks
Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes his side can take advantage of the "cracks" in England's top-order during the upcoming Ashes series.
Ponting has been trying to rile England with a series of bullish statements from his squad's pre-India tour training camp in Queensland, including a suggestion Australia could repeat their 5-0 Ashes rout of 2006-07 in the forthcoming Ashes, which get underway in Brisbane in November.
England have not won a Test series in Australia since 1986-87 and Ponting turned his attention Thursday to their top-order batting.
Andrew Strauss's men have collapsed several times in their ongoing series against Pakistan, notably at The Oval last week where the tourists won by four wickets to reduce England's lead to 2-1 ahead of the fourth and final Test starting at Lord's here on Thursday.
Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood are all averaging under 20 against Pakistan and Ponting told Sky Sports on Thursday: "There are probably a few little cracks starting to open up with England, particularly with the batting side of things."
England have an Australian bowling coach in David Saker but Ponting added: "You can have all the coaching you want -- it is what you do on the field that wins you matches."
Meanwhile senior Australia batsman Michael Hussey said Ponting's remarks concerning a whitewash had been misinterpreted and that the team could regain the Ashes without retired bowling greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
"We go into every Test trying to win. That's what Ricky means," Hussey told reporters in a teleconference on Thursday.
"I don't think he's making any claims were going to win 5-0...
"But our aim is to win every Test."
Hussey added: "A lot of legends left the team a few years ago, but we've been able to keep a core group of players together for a good couple of years now and we've been slowly building.
"We've built up a good base of fast-bowling stock. It holds us in very good stead.
"We've got the pain of losing last time as well."
Ponting, 35, was on the losing side when England regained the Ashes 2-1 in Britain last year and the star batsman has had an up and down time of it late, with Australia bowled out for just 88 by Pakistan in a three-wicket loss in the second Test at Headingley last month.
But, with Australia defending their World Cup title in Asia after the Ashes, Ponting said he was not about to call time on his brilliant career.
Jose denies Fabio snub
Jose Mourinho has vehemently denied launching an astonishing attack on England manager Fabio Capello in a British tabloid.
The outspoken Real Madrid coach was quoted by The Daily Mirror on Wednesday as claiming that England under Capello would never win a major tournament.
But in a statement issued on his behalf by his spokesman from Madrid Mourinho later rubbished the article, insisting it was "completely false".
The Mirror had quoted Mourinho as saying: "The problem is the manager. Capello will not work for England.
"He has a one-track relationship with players.
"Ask anyone here at Real Madrid. He can't change. You cannot go around just shouting at players. They need to feel special.
"It is clear. Capello will not work for England. He does not know the players. They are frightened of him and they can't play for him.
"For me, it is a mess for England. Players need clear tactics.
"They cannot be confused about what they have to do.
"It is the manager's fault. And it is a big shame."
Mourinho's denial, issued later Wednesday by spokesman Eladio Parames to Spanish media, said: "The interview published today by The Daily Mirror is completely false.
"Jose Mourinho never spoke to the newspaper, that's why he categorically denies having said what was written."
Parames added that Mourinho was considering legal action against the Mirror.
The paper also quoted Mourinho as slamming his successor at Inter Milan, Rafael Benitez, saying the Spaniard's stewardship of Liverpool had seen the north-west club become a progressively weaker force in the English game.
"It is very difficult for Roy (Hodgson, the new Liverpool manager) to do it with Liverpool as, over the last few years, they have been getting worse, worse and worse," Mourinho said in the Daily Telegraph.
"The Liverpool of 2004 was better than the Liverpool of 2005, 2005 was better than 2006 and 2006 better than 2007.
"And they arrive at a situation now where, but for Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres, if his head is there, it is very difficult for Roy to make Liverpool champions.
"He needs time and it's not easy because I don't think they went in the right direction."
A different world for Cannavaro
FABIO CANNAVARO
Fabio Cannavaro has been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and the winner's medal to go with it.In a career now entering its 19th year, he has captained his country to World Cup success, been named the best player on the planet, won titles in Spain and Italy, seen the club he captained be tarnished by match-fixing, and even been tested, tried and exonerated from doping charges.
It would be easy to think he has seen everything the game has to offer, but not so. This has been a month of firsts for the great Italian centre-back.
His first experience of Ramadan in the Middle East, for a start.
And, as a consequence, the first time he has regularly turned up to training for a 9.30pm start, with the temperature still hovering near 40°C.
Tonight will mark his first club match outside of European football's biggest leagues, and the contrast could not possibly be more stark.
Al Ahli, his new team, are kicking off the season
The Stadio delle Alpi, the former home of Juventus, it is not.
However, he is unlikely to be fazed. Despite all he has achieved in the sport, Cannavaro is famously grounded or “no Big Time Charlie”, as Malky Thomson, one of Ahli's coaches, puts it.
After being introduced to the game by his banking-clerk father, Cannavaro served as a ballboy for Napoli, his hometown club who later gave him his break.
He will be 37 next month, but he retains his boyish enthusiasm for the game.
“I started playing football in the streets,” he said at the press conference to mark his arrival as Ahli's new captain.
“For me, my passion is just to play the game, it doesn't matter if no one comes to the stadium to watch.”
It is an attitude which might serve him well tonight.
Ahli are stopping at nothing to right the wrongs of a miserable season last time out. The capture of Cannavaro was their biggest statement of intent, and the club are doing all they can to get their money's worth.
Given his standing in the game, Ahli might have been forgiven for thinking Cannavaro was big enough to look after himself after landing in Dubai.
Clubs often do. Back in 1983, AC Milan, the Italian giants, signed Luther Blissett for £1 million from Watford, a modest, community-centric English club. Blissett's dream move quickly soured. In one low moment, he mused: “No matter how much money you have, you can't seem to get Rice Krispies”.
Ahli have their own man to look after any Rice Krispie whims, or otherwise, that Cannavaro might have, in the form of Jehad Muntasser, a multilingual former Libya international.
Muntasser is nominally the assistant to Ahli's sporting director, but he has become the equivalent of the club's relocation consultant since arriving in the summer.
It has been his task to find a suitable school for Cannavaro's three children, Christian, 11, Martina, eight, and Andrea, five, to make sure the sponsored BMW is purring, and to track down a home within the club's generous relocation budget.
“It is easy with him because he is a nice person,” Muntasser, whose own playing career was largely spent in the Italian leagues, said. “He is adapting very well to the reality of football here.”
The reality is undoubtedly a lower standard of play than Cannavaro, who retired from international duty after this summer's World Cup, has experienced before.
Yet he has been happy to muck in. “[Ahli's players] have been so used to players coming here, experienced pros, that it has just become another part of their system,” said Roy Aitken, Ahli's assistant coach.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
Preparations smooth
The local organising committee (LOC) of the 2011 World Cup is confident that everything will fall into place before the deadline.
Bangladesh is going to host a big tournament like the World Cup for the first time as one of co-hosts along with India and Sri Lanka, and they have been given eight matches including two quarterfinals beside the opening ceremony.
The venues including the Bangabandhu National Stadium, where the grand opening ceremony will take place on February 17 next year, are now under constructions by the supervision of National Sports Council (NSC).
"We are happy with the progress and we are hopeful that we can hand over the venues to the ICC (International Cricket Council) on time," said Ali Ahsan Babu, host tournament director, adding that they have to complete everything within November this year.
"We are getting tremendous support from all quarters. Everything is running smoothly. The ICC team will start their inspection from November 15 and Bangladesh will be their last destination. We had organised a knockout tournament involving all the major cricketing nations (1998 Mini World Cup) but we have never hosted tournament of this magnitude, so many things are new to us," he added.
"ICC delegates already expressed their satisfaction over the preparations of the pitches and grounds," said Babu.
Bangladesh government has allocated Tk 256 crore for the infrastructural development of the venues.
A total of six matches including two quarterfinals and the opening match between Bangladesh and India will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium while the remaining two games will take place at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the port city. The Fatullah Cricket Stadium and Khulna Stadium have been chosen as alternative venues.
"We are in touch with the NSC officials regarding the progress and we are monitoring everything. As per our observation everything is in the right place. LOC officials recently visited the Chittagong venue and met with the new mayor (Manzur Alam)," informed Babu.
"We have already decided about the hotels. There was supposed to be a new hotel in the port city but finally we had to decide on Hotel Peninsula where five teams can reside at a time," he added.
Ali Ahsan informed that for the opening ceremony, ten foreign companies will put on their presentations on August 30 and 31 and the respective committee will finalise one to assign for the grand show.
"There is a big plan with the opening ceremony. You know, ICC allocated 1.5 million dollars for the opening ceremony while Bangladesh government also allocated the same amount of money," he said.
Security is another major issue for the tournament and Babu said that the concerned authorities have been carrying out random meeting to make sure of the highest security during the World Cup.
"The concerned authority has been carrying out meetings regularly. We already sent the security plan to the ICC. Now we have to send specific security plan for the respective venues," informed Babu.
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