Pakistan back on couch ahead of Champions Trophy

KARACHI : Pakistan will again seek the help of a sports psychologist to inspire them to repeat their Twenty20 World Cup success in the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Pakistani players had several counseling sessions with sports psychologist Maqbool Bari before heading to England where they upset a string of more-fancied sides to clinch the T20 World Cup in May.

The team faltered badly, however, immediately after during their recent tour to Sri Lanka where they lost both the test and one-day series.

"There is no doubt that the sessions with the psychologist helped improve the self belief and focus of the players before the T20 World Cup," Pakistan captain Younis Khan told Reuters in an interview.

"Those sessions were one of the reasons for us showing great fighting spirit to win the T20 World Cup."

Younis said he had asked the Pakistan cricket board to arrange more time with a psychologist during a short conditioning camp to be arranged for the Champions Trophy in mid-September.

"We will have two proper counseling sessions because there is a problem with us that we tend to suffer from a mental block when it comes to handling pressure or finishing off matches," he said. The Pakistan board has also appointed former captain and batting great, Javed Miandad as batting consultant for the Champions Trophy.

Younis said that former captains, Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar would also visit the conditioning camp to work with the players.

"I think our players can gain a lot by seeking advice from these former greats and a psychologist. We need these things to do well in the Champions trophy which is a mega event."

ICC sets date to resolve Pakistan World Cup row

NEW DELHI : The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Pakistan board chiefs will meet later this month with a view to resolving their dispute over the staging of the 2011 World Cup.

ICC President David Morgan and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt will meet in Dubai on Aug. 27 to discuss the distribution of 14 matches to co-hosts India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh after they were moved out of Pakistan due to security concerns.

"Although nothing has yet been agreed, there remains a strong will on both sides to conclude this matter as soon as possible without recourse to legal means," Morgan said in a statement on Saturday.

"With that in mind we will meet in Dubai with a view to reaching a resolution that is acceptable to both parties."

The officials spoke by telephone on Friday to help narrow the differences.

"In the light of our latest discussions I remain confident we can achieve that goal, something that would allow all of us, the ICC and its members, to focus on our key objective -- the staging of a successful World Cup in the Asian sub-continent in 2011."

Pakistan mounted a legal challenge in May after the ICC decided to move all the matches out of the country following the armed attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in March.

The PCB failed in its bid to stage the matches at a neutral venue and is now eager not to lose the revenue it would have earned by hosting the matches on home soil.

Blind Pakistani team protest UK visa refusal

ISLAMABAD : The head of Pakistan's blind cricketers on Saturday demanded that the sports's World Cup be shifted from England after the team was denied visas to play two series there.

The Pakistani cricket team for the visually impaired, the reigning world champions, were due to tour England from August 9-18 to play three one-day matches and a Twenty20 game as part of preparations for the World Cup 2011 -- also scheduled in England.

However, the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) denied the team visas earlier this week because it was not convinced the players would return to Pakistan once the tour was over.

Pakistan's Blind Cricket Council Chairman Syed Sultan Shah said he has complained to the India-based World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) about the visa refusal and demanded the World Cup be re-located.

"We are protesting this with the WBCC. We are demanding that the World Cup be shifted from England because Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka will also face the same problem... why stage a mega event in a country who will not give us visas," Shah told AFP.

He said it was ridiculous that the UK visa authorities said they were concerned players would not return to Pakistan and that they did not have sufficient income.

Dravid makes one-day comeback

NEW DELHI : Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid on Sunday made a return to India's one-day squad for next month's tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Dravid, 36, last played a one-day international in 2007 but his form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa and the poor show of India's younger batsmen in the World Twenty20 turned the scale in his favour.

With 10,585 runs from 333 games to his name, Dravid is expected to bolster the middle-order which struggled against rising deliveries in England, hosts of the World Twenty20 in June.

Dravid replaced Rohit Sharma, who managed 15 runs in three innings during India's last one-day engagement, against the West Indies, in June-July.

Aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was ignored by the selectors as he is yet to recover fully from a shoulder injury.

Suresh Raina, out of action owing to a hairline fracture of the thumb, made a comeback while Amit Mishra replaced

Trott aims to keep cool in Ashes cauldron

LONDON : Jonathan Trott vowed to stay as ‘relaxed as possible’ after being handed arguably the most daunting set of circumstances possible in which to make his England Test debut.

The South Africa born batsman was named Sunday in England's 14-man squad for next week's must-win Ashes Test against Australia here at the Oval and national selector Geoff Miller confirmed that, late injury permitting, Trott would play in place of the dropped Ravi Bopara.

Essex batsman Bopara managed just one and nought during England's innings and 80 run fourth Test defeat at Headingley, a result that saw Australia level the five-match Ashes series at 1-1 with the Oval finale, which starts on Thursday, to come.

Record for Coventry as Zimbabwe bat first against Bangladesh

BULAWAYO : Zimbabwe made 312 for eight wickets batting first in the fourth One-Day International against Bangladesh here on Sunday with Charles Coventry equalling the best ever individual score.

The 26-year-old Coventry made 194 not out from 156 balls hitting 16 fours and seven sixes. His total equalled the all-time ODI record set by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar which had stood for 12 years.

Zimbabwe, who went into the match 1-2 down in the five-match series, won the toss and elected to bat first.