Akram keen on dual role with Kolkata Knight Riders

Pakistan’s former Test captain Wasim Akram is eyeing dual role of becoming a cricket consultant and bowling coach with the Kolkata Knight Riders in next year's Indian Premier League. Wasim who met KKR owner Shahrukh Khan and team's captain Saurav Ganguly on Sunday in Mumbai where he had revealed his interest to both of them in the meeting. "I am not just looking at becoming the bowling coach for the KKR team but also to be their cricket consultant," Wasim said. The former pacer, who is a commentator and TV show host, said he had conveyed to Shahrukh his interest to improve KKR's performance in the next IPL season. "I will decide my future with the KKR in the next few days time but I am definitely interested in the job," he said.Besides Wasim, the KKR management is also holding talks with former Indian and Kenyan team coach Sandeep Patil, the former New Zealand captain John Wright and South African Richard Pybus after two disappointing seasons in the IPL.

Source by Dunya News

Federer, Serena win opening matches in US Open

Roger Federer and Serena Williams began their US Open title defenses with easy wins in matches that will probably stick only in the memories of the players they beat. Federer defeated NCAA champion Devin Britton 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, and Williams rolled over wild card Alexa Glatch 6-4, 6-1 to fashion a predictable start to the last major championship of 2009. With his coach from Ole Miss in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Britton lost three straight games at love after going up 3-1 in the second. Glatch was in the same boat, pushing the second-seeded Williams in the first set before losing quickly in the second. Williams, who has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, is going for her second straight and fourth US Open title. Other winners in the first round included eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, 12th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 17th-seeded Amelie Mauresmo and 26th-seeded Francesca Schiavone. Paul-Henri Mathieu, No 26 on the men's side, was the first seeded player to lose, beaten by Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. American John Isner won a 16-14 second-set tiebreaker, the highlight of a 6-1, 7-6 (14), 7-6 (5) upset over 28th-seeded Victor Hanescu. Clijsters defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-1, 6-1 and didn't show much rust.

Source by Dunya News

US Open: Murray wins first-round match, Ivanovic out

Second-seeded Andy Murray has won his first-round match at the U.S. Open, a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Murray, who lost to Roger Federer in last year's final, broke Gulbis at 5-5 in the third set Tuesday, then won his service game to seal the victory. On the other hand, former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, seeded 11th, was bundled out in the first round by 52nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7). The Serb had the worst showing ever by a top-seeded woman in New York last year when she exited in the second round. Ivanovic did herself one worse this time. Meanwhile After missing last year's U.S. Open with a shoulder injury, former champion Maria Sharapova returned to the spotlight with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria on Tuesday. Otherwise, winners included 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, past runners-up Elena Dementieva of Russia and Serbian Jelena Jankovic, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Russian No. 13 Nadia Petrova. Men's winners included 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and that tournament's runner-up, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, along with Spanish No. 10 Fernando Verdasco, No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, No. 16 Marin Cilic of Croatia, Czech No. 17 Tomas Berdych and No. 22 Sam Querrey of the United States.

Source by Dunya News

National Hockey Team training session starts today

The National Hockey Team Camp for Europe Tour is starting in Lahore today after the rest of one week. Twenty seven players have reported for the camp in Hockey Stadium Lahore. The national team trials for the Europe Tour will be held on September 4 and 5. The 18-member team will be announced after the trials. According to the Hockey Federation Pakistan, the team will play matches against France, Poland and Belgium during its Europe Tour. On the other hand, Chief Selector Hasan Sardar talking to Dunya News maintained that the National Team was a good combination of senior and junior players which would help Pakistan in winning the World Cup qualifying round.

Source by Dunya News

Five Pakistani Cricketers in race to win ICC Award 2009

Nominations for the ICC 2009 awards have been announced which include Pakistani players Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Sana Mir. India's recent run in Test and one-day cricket reflected in the annual awards as seven Indian players are contenting the list of nominees for winning awards. Gul is nominated for the Cricket of the Year and T20 International Performance Awards, Afridi and Ajmal for T20 while Razaq is dominated for One Day Cricketer of the Year Award. Pakistan Women Cricket Team Captain Sana Mir is nominated for the Woman Cricketer of the Year Award. In a ceremony held in Mumbai, Dhoni was nominated for ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards. Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh were the other Indian nominees for the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award. VVS Laxman joined the trio of Dhoni, Gambhir and Harbhajan to be in the line for the Test Player of the Year award while Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were also in the fray for the honour of ODI Player of the Year. Zaheer Khan was nominated for Twenty20 Performer of the Year award while Amit Mishra will be vying for the honour in the Emerging Player of the year category as Indians led the overall nominations for the award. Mithali Raj was nominated for the Women's Cricketer of the year award. The nominations were announced by Indian opener Virender Sehwag and former captain Ravi Shastri in the presence of International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat while the awards will be presented on October 1 in Johannesburg, South Africa during the Champions Trophy.

Ref. by Dunya News

IPL asks Manohar to look at IMG issue

The IPL governing council has asked Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, to look into the IMG issue and report back to the board during its annual general meeting later this month. This was revealed by Rajiv Shukla, a vice-president of the BCCI, who emerged from a meeting of the governing council on Wednesday afternoon.

Ref. by Cricinfo

T20 match between NZ, S Lanka Today

The first twenty20 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be played today at Colombo. New Zealand will welcome back Shane Bond, who after two years ban has returned to international Twenty20. Bond's departure to the ICL in 2008 was as significant as when Richard Hadlee stepped down in 1990. Bond will be a vital player for New Zealand in the 50-over games. In 17 test matches he has taken 79 wickets, 67 ODIs he has taken 125 wickets and took 12 wickets in 9 twenty20’s. The second and last twenty20 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be played in Colombo on 4th September.

Ref. by Dunya News

Pak cricket team’s training camp starts

Ten-day training camp of Pakistani Cricket Team for the preparation of Champions Trophy will begin today in Lahore. Muhammad Asif will not participate in the camp due to ICC ban. Under the supervision of Coach Intikhab Alam, there would be only two sessions during Ramazan. First session would be from 6.30pm to Iftari and second session would be from 8.30pm to 11pm. Captain Younas Khan and vice captain Shahid Afridi will also report in the camp. PCB officials said that fast bowler Muhammad Asif can not participate in the camp till September 22 due to a dop test ban. The team will head to South Africa on September 17.

Ref. by Dunya News