2X Cricket is pleased to announce the USA CUP 2019, a celebration of cricket in the United States brought to you in an exciting new format, taking place March 20-24 at the Prairie View Cricket Complex and Moosa Stadium in Houston, Texas.
16 teams of domestic and international players will compete for a substantial cash prize while showcasing their abilities on a global stage. The tournament will be broadcast live on multiple channels and social media.
With over 10 million cricket fans in the United States and 12+ countries represented across the competing teams, not to mention global followers of the game, the audience for this event is huge.
The previous version of this event, last held in 2016, had over 3 million TV viewers in the USA and over 1.5 million across Facebook and YouTube, not including re-broadcasts.
2X (pronounced “Two-ten”) Cricket is a Twenty20 cricket match with two innings of ten overs.
The Twenty20 format has taken the world by storm, exciting crowds with its relentless, high-scoring pace. It has been a breathtaking revolution for the world’s second most popular sport, and has all demographics engaged throughout the game. The goal of the 2X format is to bring more strategy into the equation by alternating innings, adding a test match flavor into the competition.
Fresh on the heels of the United States’ inclusion in the International Cricket Council (ICC) as its 105th member, it is clear that the sport is growing in the US.
Pakistan Veterans won its fourth consecutive match against Sri Lanka Veterans at the Joe McAleer Oval Ground in Sydney by 32 runs. Pakistan Skipper Ghulam Ali won the toss and elected to bat.
Unlike the last three matches Pakistan Veterans Team could only manage 178 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the allotted 45 overs.
Pakistan medium pace bowler Amir Tousif batting at No. 10 was the highest scorer with 34 runs in which he hit 2 fours and one six.
Sajid Ali scored 29 runs with 3 fours Mazhar Hussain 27 runs and Dastagir Butt with 23 runs were the other notable batsman to score runs.
From the Sri Lankan Bowlers M. Labrooy was the most successful bowler with 3 wickets for only 26 runs in his 9 overs. S. Fernando, D. De Silva and R. Ismail took 2 wickets each for 17, 30, and 33 runs respectively.
In reply, Sri Lankan Veterans were all out in 42.1 overs for 146 runs. S. Fernando was the top scorer with 40 runs with 3 fours. S. Rahim scored 22 runs.
Pakistan Veterans off Spinner Imtiaz Ahmed bowled superbly by taking 3 wickets for 26 runs.
Jaffer Qureshi, Shahid Anwar and Javed Hafeez took 2 wickets each for 28, 29 and 31 runs respectively.
At the conclusion of the Match Mr. Lal Wickrematunge Consul General of Sri Lanka gave the Man of the Match award to Amir Tousif. Mr. Abdul Majid Yousfani Consul General of Pakistan was also present in the Ceremony.
In the points table Pakistan is at No. 2 position with Australia at the top England at No. 3 and New Zealand at No. 4. Top four teams out of 8 teams will qualify for Semi Finals.
Now Pakistan needs to win atleast one more match out of its remaining 3 league matches to qualify for the Semi Finals.
Pakistan’ next round match is against Australia on 28th November.
The final of the Tournament is on 5th December.
Last month the PCB uploaded a statement on its website which claimed that outgoing chairman Najam Aziz Sethi received an enormous amount of over Rs. 14 million as PSL allowance during his tenure in the Board.
Sethi sent a legal notice to PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani in which he had claimed that he did not take the amount of Rs. 14,181,570 as allowance for being the Pakistan Super League (PSL) chairman as is mentioned in his account in the financial sheet issued by the PCB.
The PCB also admitted in its reply that Sethi did not take the amount but as it was approved, it had been mentioned in his accounts. Very funny! The PCB reply further irked Sethi and he has threatened to go to the court.
Apparently it looked that the PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and Chariya famed Najam Sethi would engage in war of words and amaze cricket fans amidst more startling revelation. However, after going through the reply of the PCB, there is every reason to believe that Sethi’s legal notice to Mani has forced him to go on the back foot. Abject surrender!
Receiving allowances is a normal and legal routine in every public and private department and the PCB is no exception. Sethi also didn’t deny receiving any amount but contradicted the figures in his legal notice and asserted that all of those allowances/payments were duly authorized and approved by the PCB’s Board of Governors. This is the procedure. In the same breath Sethi also counter attacked Mani and alleged that he has been provided a furnished apartment by the Board — which negates his (Mani) claim that he is not getting and accommodation allowance.
Sethi in a statement also revealed that there is a Mafia in the PCB and the purpose to release such figures was to malign him, presumably at the behest of Imran Khan. The Score Line has been vehemently exposing the PCB Mafia even when Sethi was at the helm in the Board. He patronized and looked after the same Mafia.
There was almost no sports journalist across the country, particularly in Lahore and Karachi, who missed Sethi’s bounties. All enjoyed UAE trips in groups. So Mr. Sethi you was having a good time at the PCB. I wonder that he never noticed the Mafia then but soon after quitting the PCB he suddenly realized its existence.
Sethi promoted and looked after the same Mafia in the PCB and he was not naïve to understand one very simple but harsh reality that ‘once you are out nobody cares about you’. All those whom Sethi protected and patronized, immediately switched their loyalties and submitted before the new boss.
Perhaps Sethi was swayed away by Mani’s statement in the media in which he had lauded his (Sethi) services for cricket in Pakistan soon after assuming his new role in the PCB. He forgot that Mani was an audit wizard, a man of Imran Khan and he had to please the Patron-in-Chief through such mean doings. So he chose a non-issue to hurt his predecessor.
Nevertheless, there was no need for PCB to public allowances received by Sethi. He is right to protest that why he was singled out and why names of two-faced Subhan Ahmed and other members of the executive committee were not appeared on the PCB website.
It was the first instance that a sitting chairman officially leaked allowances received by his predecessor to media. As you sow so shall you reap! Tomorrow it will be you whose perks would be loaded. Mr. Mani you have set a bad example!
Karachi: Brilliant centuries by Saad Baig and Khizer Khalid of St. Paul’s school outplayed Agha Khan School by 235 runs and Falcon House Grammar school defeated Maj. Ziauddin School by 13 runs in 9th PVCA Inter School Cricket Tournament-2018 matches played.
At Eastern Star Cricket Ground Agha Khan School won the toss and put St. Paul’s school to bat first. Batting first St. Paul’s School scored 302 runs for 3 wickets in allotted 40 0vers. Saad Baig scored brilliant 136 runs with 17 boundaries and Khizer Khalid scored 109 runs. Ahmer Raza of Maj. Ziauddin School took 2 wickets for 54 runs. In reply Agha Khan School dismissed in 16.4 overs for score of 67 runs only. Soman Ali 16 runs and Mohammad Ali 12 runs could manage to reach in double figure. Tayyab Hussainy of St Paul’s school got 3 wickets for 7 runs, Saad Abdul Rehman and Abduulah took 2 wickets each.
Saad baig of St. Paul’s school who scored 136 runs was declared man of the match.
In another match played at Asgher Ali Shah Stadium Falcon House Grammar won the toss and batting first were all out by scoring 224 runs in 37.1 0vers. Tauheed Khan scored 72 runs and Umair Naqvi scored 36 runs. Danish Latif, Bilal Ali and Hasnain Mavia of Maj. Ziauddin School took 2 wickets each. In reply Maj Ziauddin School could score 211 runs in 32.3 overs. Bilal Ali scored 76 runs and Mohammad Sami scored 48 runs. Tauheed Khan of Falcon House Grammar school took 3 wickets for 43 runs and Huzaifa Ahmed, Zain Mazhar and Affan Khan took 2 wickets each.
Tauheed Khan of Falcon House Grammar School who scored 72 runs and took 3 wickets for 43 runs was declared man of the match.
In his maiden press briefing Ehsan Mani, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, had elucidated his specific mandate to revamp the Board. He had vowed to introduce a new system of good governance in the PCB and to run it on professional lines.
However, after two months in the office he has not succeeded to give any expressive direction which indicates that the PCB has at last seen a new system of governance and it is now being run in transparent and professional way.
It is all about old wine in a new bottle. The whole Mafia comprising incompetent hugger-muggers, which has already damaged Pakistan cricket in last two decades, is still around and enjoying their jobs without contributing anything noteworthy.
After his guru Imran Khan assumed the office of the prime minister of Pakistan, Zakir Khan has taken the saddle of Godfather of the Mafia from Subhan Ahmad, the most competent intriguer in the PCB. Zakir roams in the corridors of the Gaddafi Stadium like a warrior who has conquered the world and is enjoying frequent UAE visits. After all he is director international cricket.
Zakir was suspended or relieved from his job by Shaharyar Khan (reasons unknown to us) but apparently for his sheer incompetence and unwanted interference in the Board affairs. But once Sethi read the writing on the wall and quit the PCB in disgrace, Zakir was surprisingly reinstated. How? The acting/provisional chairman of the PCB, who happens to be the chief election commissioner of the Board also, reinstated Zakir soon after Imran Khan’s oath. Does the present PCB constitution allow a makeshift chairman to restore a suspended employee of the Board?
I remember when I was involved in my efforts to bring burly Ijaz Butt in the PCB, the summary was at the table of the then caretaker prime minister for his approval but he left it for the forthcoming elected prime minister. During Zakir’s over 30 months suspension, the PCB was functioning as usual and nobody felt his absence seriously. What was the necessity of restoring a suspended employee?
Zakir has spent twenty years in the PCB not because he was an educated former Test cricketer (two Test matches) but because of his friendship with Imran Khan which he always exploited to safeguard his personal interests. He once took an American returned former chairman of the PCB to Imran Khan’s residence and cemented his (Zakir’s) position in the Board. He was also spotted during the PTI’s sit-in (dahrna) in Islamabad but the then chairman couldn’t dare to take disciplinary action against him for attending a political protest.
Can anyone tell us what Zakir has contributed towards Pakistan cricket in last two decades? His only contribution in the PCB is to arrange invitation passes for the showbiz people during international cricket matches in Pakistan. Does Zakir’s academic qualification fit his job? We all know that Imran Khan has vehemently struggled for rule of law, justice and merit in the country in last two decades of his political life. I am sure that a dignified and honest Imran Khan would not like to be remembered as Godfather of any incompetent but intriguer.
Since his taking the saddle of the PCB, Ehsan Mani has done two amazing things. He issued sad media statements indicating that he is in the PCB to protect the Mafia. He issued statement in favour of cunning Subhan and brought Haroon Rasheed back at the Notorious Cricketers’ Academy (NCA). Haroon is an exhaustive YES MAN who can only impress bosses with his superfluous presentations raising their optimism. Mani has also desired to amend the Board constitution to facilitate a chief executive officer who could share his over-burdened responsibilities. Amazing! I want to remind worthy chairman of the PCB that he should recall Shakil Shaikh also, the erstwhile member of the governing board to complete his team for introducing good governance in the PCB!
Does Mani wish to slice his powers for the love of cricket or his business commitments don’t allow him to fulfill his responsibility as chairman of the PCB. A Chartered Accountant by profession and long-time UK resident, Mani is preoccupied with his numerous tasks. He is on the board of a number of UK companies mostly working in the banking and real-estate sectors. He is also the chairman of Galiyat Development Authority (KPK), member of board of governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and member of board of directors of Biafo Industries Ltd in Pakistan. Certainly, such a pre-occupied wizard can’t give full time to Pakistan cricket! But Imran is Imran who still tries to find a Vivian Richards in every Mansoor Akhtar!
Mani needs a full time CEO to look after PCB affairs. Since there is no post of CEO in the present PCB constitution, so he wants an amendment. However, it would be a cruel joke to amend the PCB constitution for personal gain. The PCB needs to get rid of its fake constitution. Get rid of dummy board of governors. Kick out nominated members of the governing board. Bring back the elected general body. Neither an amendment will bring professionalism in the governance of the PCB or a tangible change in Pakistan cricket. Ehsan Mani Sahib you need to draft a new constitution of the Board. How long every chairman would continue to amend the constitution for personal gains?
Step motherly treatment is continuing with Pakistan’s most historical cricket stadium, the National Stadium in Karachi, popularly known as NSK.
The chairman PCB Ehsan Mani, who was appointed more than a month ago, has still not visited the stadium so far due to which the employees are doing whatever they want.
Its academy remains without a director. Hundreds of tonnes of scrap has disappeared from the stadium. The NSK is still deprived of a qualified curator, a survey conducted by Score Line revealed.
Informed sources disclosed that the expensive, 8mm thick glass of media boxes, which was removed because of the ongoing development work at NSK, instead of being put in stores has been shifted to the residence of a former top official.
Tonnes of scrap lying in the stadium, stated to be worth millions of rupees, have been sold without any paperwork.
The PCB high-ups in Lahore did not care about the prestige of NSK and left it to low-cadre, narrow-minded employees. There is no need of dozens of employees, who do nothing but seek ways to mint money.
The sources said that peons, clerks and other low-cadre employees got huge promotions during the tenure of former PCB chairmen Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi due to their being close with some high officials in PCB headquarters. No one is asking them about their wrongdoings.
The pitches are the most important part of any cricket ground. But at NSK, since the retirement of Ehsan Arain, two years ago, curators have been transferred from Hyderabad’s Niaz cricket stadium, where neither international cricket nor domestic cricket has been played for a long time.
It may be noted that since the establishment of the cricket academy, there has been no qualified curator for the pitches inside the main ground or the academy.
If PCB officials had been sincere in maintaining pitches at NSK, they could have given extension to Ehsan, Pakistan’s most experienced curator. But who cares!
The PCB high officials always proved that they did not have any interest in running the Hanif Muhammad High Performance Center, which is for cricketers of Sindh and Baluchistan. First, they took seven years to complete it. Second, the appointment of the director at the academy has never been a priority.
The High Performance Centre has been inoperative since the resignation of former Test cricketer Iqbal Qasim, who worked for a short period.
Haroon Rasheed worked here just for three days after his appointment, and once again was called back to Lahore, and given the position of director domestic cricket once again.
Haroon is considered a favourite of PCB despite the series of his failures. He has held four to five different positions, including that of chairman national selection committee, since his appointment in the PCB.
The NSK needs a highly educated officer who also knows the game of cricket and understands the importance of this stadium. The newly-renovated NSK would be ruined if the current management continued.
The last time Pakistan won a Test match at ‘home’ was against the West Indies at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in October 2016 – exactly two years ago. Since then the home team have lost three Tests – one against West Indies, two against Sri Lanka and drew one Test versus Australia in their adopted home. If we don’t hear the alarm bells ringing then there must be something wrong with our hearing.
It was somewhat expected that Australian team under the new leadership – Tim Paine (captain) and Justin Langer (coach) will be a different proposition if compared to the Australian team which paid a visit to the UAE in 2014; but to secure a draw against the home team Pakistan in the first Test of the series is a moral victory for the visitors.
It’s almost like that Pakistan team have lost the recipe to win a Test at home. Team selection for the matches against the Lankans in 2017 was appalling, to say the least. One must acknowledge that this time around the selection was much better. That said, one mustn’t forget that Hafeez wasn’t included in the team until the eleventh hour. And look what he did in the Test match – he made a magnificent hundred on his comeback. Perhaps our selection cognoscenti were unaware that Hafeez is called ‘the king of UAE’. Imagine if he had played the Asia Cup!
It is good that Hafeez has made a thumping comeback and one can hope that more big scores are in the offing; especially against New Zealand in the forthcoming series. The only problem is that he’s batting at wrong position. He could’ve been ideal at number four or five in the batting order since he can provide stability in the middle order with his experience and Azhar Ali would’ve retained his position as an opener.
The Pakistan team is scheduled to tour South Africa for three Test matches later in the year. It would be unwise to send Hafeez as an opener in South Africa considering his woeful performances in Test matches in the past. As far as limited overs cricket is concerned he could be useful at any number.
The off-spinner Bilal Asif made his debut owing to indisposition of Shadab Khan who is nursing an injury. Bilal took six scalps on his debut. An off-spinner should have been the first choice, considering the number of left-handers in the Australian batting line-up. Thankfully, fate worked in Bilal’s favor.
Wahab Riaz looked rusty and out of sorts. Perhaps he wasn’t ready for a comeback, but the team management wanted a bowler with sheer pace who could reverse swing the ball, which is understandable. Though, Mohammad Abbas has proved this notion wrong by performing on all types of pitches – from the dry 22 yards in the barren UAE to the misty conditions in county cricket in England.
Mir Hamza – the talented left- arm pacer is warming the bench. Perhaps the team management could replace him with Wahab Riaz in the second Test at Abu Dhabi. Junaid Khan would have been the ideal choice, but he was sent back home after an excellent performance in a solitary match in the Asia Cup in which he took 4 wickets for 19 runs against Bangladesh.
Babar Azam is an extremely talented batsmen; his ODI record and an average of 51.92 proves that, but he hasn’t been able to live up to expectations in Test matches. A Test average of 28 for a frontline batsman is nothing to write home about. He has been fortunate to appear in Test matches on a regular basis when a player like Fawad Alam, with a Test average of 41.66 and first-class average of 55.66 languishes in domestic circuit.
If Australia manages another draw or a win at Abu Dhabi, Pakistan team will be in shambles. New Zealand team might prove a tough nut to crack especially playing against a home team with low spirits. The alarm bells are ringing; it’s time to put our house in order.
Chairman of Cricket Council USA and top administrator Mahammad Qureshi has led the way in terms of assisting financially with the scholarship fund to send promising cricketers from the United States to the University of the West Indies UWI to study and play cricket.
With the ballroom at the Hilton JFK packed with West Indians, the Pakistani stood head and shoulders above the rest when it came to contributing to the fund.
He received a standing ovation when he declared his assistance to the fund.
Speaking after he said :”We live in a global cricket scene and not because I am not from the West Indies, I wouldn’t help. I love cricket and I love people, so I love to help people through cricket.
“I am glad to be of assistance in helping you people and I was motivated to assist after seeing the tremendous work done by the executive of the US Cricket Hall of Fame.”
Every cricket board has a websites which is an important source of live scores across all cricket played by the country besides putting up key documents regarding the functioning of the board, interviews of the players, profiles of the budding players and, more importantly, hard news.
Cricket Australia has seemingly the best website of all the cricket playing countries.
The cricket.com.au website is a delight to visit. It has all the relevant information of cricket matches involving Australia, be it the national team, women’s team, under age teams and domestic cricket. They also post invaluable videos which are allowed by various media houses to use for their purposes.
England’s is not far behind. The ECB has a team that keeps the website vibrant and useful. So has the Indian board, the BCCI. The BCCI last year bagged a USD 2.55 billion for granting the IPL media rights to Star Sports. The board also gets the maximum revenues from the ICC, USD 405 million. The BCCI invest a lot of this money on its website.
The players mostly give interviews to their board’s websites and from there other media houses use these.
But Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unique in many ways. So has been its approach towards its website. There are some 15-20 people employed for the website but if for any reason you visit the pcb.com.pk site you will be left shocked. The deserted look on the website smacks of poor work by those who are in charge of the site. For many days the site is not updated. You will find material of years relating to BC and that of present day.
In fact the deserted look of the PCB website is for a reason.
The digital rights of Pakistan cricket has been sold, or you can say, GIFTED to cricingif. The name promptly suggests that it’s a gift from the PCB. Shockingly, the rights are sold at very cheap rates of 50,000 US dollars and those who are using it as a tool to take everything and anything of Pakistan cricket.
Initially the rights were sold to BLITZ, the company which also sold the rights of Pakistan Super League. You know the kickbacks were involved so after the company could not handle it comes the RAO brothers who are answer to every PCB problem. The set of brothers have become millionaire by selling commercial rights of the PCB while the marketing department led by blue eyed lady of Najam Sethi, Ms Nayla Bhatti, who earned a whooping salary by looking busy but doing nothing.
In an another blatant act of nepotism came Zaynab Abbas, who is suppose to be the step daughter of Nayla. She was made the resource person for all the contents of the CRICINGIF. So all the exclusive interviews and videos which should have been on the PCB websites can only be seen on the gifted website.
As far as the news are concerned they are shared with a private television channel.
In this regard the PCB is not only losing money but its website is deprived of its own exclusive material.
Besides a lot of expectations from the new PCB chairman Ehsan Mani one also hopes that he takes notice of the GIFTED website and bring back the content meant for PCB website to its true home.
It was a warm July afternoon in 1992 when I was invited to a get together at Manchester’s Shabab Restaurant along with some members of the recently crowned world champion Pakistan cricket team which was in the middle of one of its most memorable, eventful and successful England tours to date.
The third Test was in progress at The Old Trafford and on its opening day, dear friend and swashbuckling opener Aamir Sohail had become the first batsman in 17 years after Sir Viv. Richards to score a double hundred on a single day in Test cricket.
The event, probably on the rest day of the match, was in honour of Pakistan’s greatest captain Imran Khan, who had opted out of the tour for personal reasons after winning the World Cup.
Having known Imran Khan closely for 3-4 years as a sports journalist back then, I was already frank and bold enough to muster the courage to move to his table soon after the formalities were over, in order to have a general conversation about his future plans as well as the ongoing series.
What followed next has become glued to my mind ever since and many of those who have known me closely have heard this story more than once over the years.
During that informal chat and general discussion, the conversation obviously led to his dream project of building the biggest cancer treatment hospital in Asia in the fond memory of his mother.
Sitting right next to him on a round table engrossed in a deep conversation I told him I wanted to share my personal observation about him. Go on, he said. “Skipper, (as we all used to call him unlike Captain or ‘Kaptaan’ he’s usually referred to these days), I don’t know exactly when, but I somehow see you ending up in politics in the coming few years”, I told him right afterwards.
Seemingly unsure, he smiled and responded to me in these words in Urdu: “Nahi yaar, barra gandd hai politics mein, mein kahan parron ga iss gandd mein” (No buddy, there’s too much trash in politics, so I don’t think I can ever get into it) was his reply.
“That part I don’t know, but I am sharing this thought as I am noticing a transformation in you ever since you have started this hospital project”, was my response to him.
The reason behind my conviction was simple. From an iconic superstar of legendary proportions, Imran Khan was arrogant and picky at the peak of his cricketing days. He was a habitual offender in slapping fans who dared cross a line or intruded upon his personal space or territory.
That arrogance was slowly being replaced by humbleness and an unusual grace, unforeseen before as he set out to raise funds for the hospital across the breadth of Pakistan. I think the sheer nature of the daunting task and the overwhelming love and support he received first hand from the poorest of his supporters was having an amazing impact on him. I had noticed that change and had a strange feeling that this man may have another role for the country. I’d be lying if I suggested if I had even the slightest idea that one day he would become the prime minister at that moment.
Call it another coincidence that almost four years down the road, I was sitting in the second row of a small hall at Lahore’s Faletti’s Hotel, in April 1996 when Imran Khan launched his political party Pakistan Tehreek–e-Insaaf (PTI), that finally swept into power last month.
After the press conference was over, I went to congratulate him, shook hands, gave him a hug and whispered in his ear: “Skipper, do you remember what I told you at Manchester’s Shabab Restaurant in 1992”. A big smile was what I got in return, I recall.
Twenty-two years down the road, it is a remarkable moment for Imran, and hopefully for Pakistan, as he takes oath as the Prime Minister of the country, against all odds after seemingly endless, bitter struggle against the status quo, injustice and corruption.
His elevation to the highest office gives me hope like millions of compatriots that Pakistan could embark on a journey of deservedly becoming a far greater country than what it is today. It gives me hope that one day justice would prevail in the society and the masses would get the same chance at life that is usually meant for the haves or the elite.
Imran Khan is a hard-core fighter. He is someone programmed to be relentlessly consistent and does not give up under any circumstances. Quitting in the wake of adversity is simply not in his genes. This has been evident throughout his illustrious sporting and political careers. Every time his critics wrote him off, he came right back with vengeance and achieved the unthinkable. A top-class performer, this man believes nothing is impossible in life.
While putting these thoughts together, I can recall many more incidents to shed light on the character of this extra ordinary man, who is indeed a rare breed from many aspects, but would do it separately on a different occasion.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, before earning this ultimate honour, you have already seen and enjoyed everything people usually dream of in life. It has taken you an enormous struggle spread over two decades to get to this position. No one denies your sincerity, but the fact remains that like all human beings you have been critically wrong in your judgment several times and committed blunders in your political career. It is now time for you to leave the petty issues behind and try to become a statesman from an opposition leader. Promote healing in the society please, so that the country and the government could focus on other pressing challenges.
This is your moment to do something truly amazing and change the direction of the country.
Hope is what keeps us all going. Here’s hoping God gives you the strength and wisdom to lead Pakistan to greatness.
Pakistan Zindabad!!