Top cricketers visit Dhaka protest rally

Bangladesh’s top cricketers and officials, led by the captain Mushfiqur Rahim and board president Nazmul Hassan, visited the scene of a high-profile protest movement in central Dhaka on Sunday following public calls for their participation. Others who were present at the show of solidarity included Mashrafe Mortaza and Mohammad Ashraful.The protesters are demanding severe punishment for war criminals who had collaborated with Pakistani forces during the war for independence in 1971. An International Crimes Tribunal had been set up in 2010 to try these collaborators, many of whom are politicians.On February 5, the Tribunal sentenced Abdul Quader Mollah, a convicted war criminal, to life imprisonment in two of the five cases filed against him. Hours after the judgment, five people took to Shahbagh, an intersection near Dhaka University, to demand stricter punishment to those who had been charged (directly and indirectly) with sedition, murder, rape and overall collaboration during the war in 1971. Since then it has attracted tremendous response from the rest of the country as more than a million people have joined the protests in six days.After a grand rally on Friday attended by nearly a million people, there were calls for the cricketers’ participation in the protest. After a discussion with the BCB, the players decided to come under the official banner of the national cricket team in solidarity with the protesters. The team walked in from the eastern side of the Shahbagh intersection, now known as the , and were led towards a truck from where many of the protesters – mainly students, bloggers, professionals and members of the general public – voice their opinion and demands.Mushfiqur, Mashrafe, Ashraful, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak and former captain Habibul Bashar got up on the truck along with the board president and several BCB members. Others like former captain Akram Khan, former cricketer Jahangir Shah Badshah and current players Nazmul Hossain, Elias Sunny, Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi soaked in the atmosphere. Some were seen walking around the square, and speaking to people and even gaveautographs to school and college students. None of the players officially spoke and remained at the protest scene for around 20 minutes, before walking back towards the bus, accompanied by thousands of people.Later Hassan, the BCB chief, said that the team had decided to visit to lend “solidarity” to the protests.”Their presence here is very exciting,” said Miraj, a college student who has been coming to Shahbagh for the past few days. “To see our national heroes here would mean a lot. I know they are not politically involved, so it is more inspiring to see them here.”Although some of the ministers and political leaders have visited the protests and there have been similar demonstrations all over Bangladesh and around the world among expatriate Bangladeshis, the visit of the cricket team has been the most high-profile yet.

New Zealand retain Anderson, Munro, Neesham for ODIs

Batsman Colin Munro, allrounders Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson, and fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan have been named in New Zealand’s one-day squad for the South Africa series. These four players were the new faces to take the field for New Zealand in the Twenty20 series that preceded the ODIs; they have not played any other international games apart from those three T20s.McClenaghan being picked comes as no surprise as, earlier this week, he had also been added to New Zealand’s Test squad for the series starting on January 2, in place of the injured Tim Southee.Left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira, who is yet to debut in ODIs, was also picked. Batsman Kane Williamson, keeper BJ Watling, and quicks Kyle Mills and Adam Milne have been called-up for the one-day leg of the limited-overs series.Fast bowler Doug Bracewell missed out in the 15-man squad. The decision to leave him out, coach Mike Hesson said, was in view with ‘managing his workload’. “[It] is in-line with our policy to sensibly manage player workloads,” Hesson said. “He has a big role to play in the Test series against South Africa and will benefit from the opportunity to freshen up ahead of the home series [in February-March] against England.”Eleven out of the 15 from the Twenty20 squad were retained to give the limited-overs squad stability, national selection manager, Kim Littlejohn, said: “We’re keen to show consistency in selection for our short-form side and retain the nucleus of the squad who competed in the T20 series, along with four players from the last ODI series against Sri Lanka.”There is healthy competition for places in our starting line-up at present and we are working on developing a larger group of players who can compete at international level.”New Zealand will play three ODIs against South Africa, between January 19 and 25.

India A spoil Giles coaching debut

ScorecardAshley Giles’ first competitive match in charge of England’s one-day side ended in defeat•Getty Images

Ashley Giles’ first game in charge of England’s ODI side ended in a convincing defeat against India A in Delhi in the first of two warm-up matches ahead of the one-day series.Giles named Ian Bell, with whom he has had a close association at Warwickshire, to open the England innings with Alastair Cook standing down from the opening match with a heavy cold. The opportunity to open the innings introduced what could be perceived as a straight shoot-out for the role with Kevin Pietersen.Bell responded with 91 from 89 balls to strengthen the possibility that he will be Cook’s opening partner in the first ODI in Nagpur on Friday, with Pietersen batting at No. 3 in the absence of Jonathan Trott. Hgave chances on 21 and 35 and had they been taken England’s plight would have been considerably worse.Bell’s response was designed to hearten England’s new one-day coach during an otherwise dismal batting display on a cold, foggy day in which England collapsed to 72 for 6 in search of a target of 229 in 39 overs and eventually lost by 53 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.In a match reduced to 39 overs because of bad light, England were up against it from the moment that the Tamil Nadu opening pair, Abhinav Mukund and M Vijay assembled a century opening stand.Mukund, known to England after playing for India in their Test defeats at Lord’s and Trent Bridge in 2011, famously once put on 462 with Vijay for Tamil Nadu in a Ranji Trophy match, only two runs away from the world record, but on this occasion 118 in 24 overs was enough to deflate England.James Tredwell, who can anticipate a leading role in the five-match ODI series in the absence of his fellow offspinner, Graeme Swann, then had Mukund stumped for 57. Samit Patel bowled Vijay for 76 from 75 balls but an unbeaten half-century from Maharashtra’s Kedar Jadhav, maintained the impetus.England’s prize scalp of Pietersen fell to Sreesanth, who was making a much-publicised reappearance after two toe operations which threatened to end his career and which confined him to a wheelchair for several months.As Bell battled on, England then lost five wickets in nine overs. Jalaj Saxena’s offbreaks soon accounted for Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler and Buttler’s Somerset team-mate, Craig Kieswetter, found no immediate release from a shaky year in an England shirt when he fell for a fifth-ball duck, medium-pacer Mohit Sharma having him caught at the wicket.Kieswetter’s ODI place is assured in the absence of his fellow wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow for personal reasons, but if England become fearful about the reliability of their batting order, Buttler could face competition for the final batting place from Joe Root.England switch from the Model Sports Complex to the Feroz Shah Kotla to face Delhi in the second warm-up game on Tuesday.

WICB announce franchise-based T20 league

The West Indies cricket board is preparing to launch its franchise-based Twenty20 league in 2013 and they have finalised an agreement with Verus International, a Barbados-based merchant bank, for funding the competition.The league is likely to comprise six Caribbean city-based franchises with the majority of players from the West Indies.As part of the arrangement, the WICB will receive annual funding for additional retainer contracts for players. The board currently funds 20 annual retainer contracts.”A significant number of players at the regional level will benefit through greater financial stability both from playing in the league and from year-round retainer contracts while having an international platform on which to showcase their skills and talent,” Dr Julian Hunte, the WICB president, said.”Most importantly, the league will bring a huge financial injection into the Caribbean and create significant job opportunities across the region in a wide cross section of sectors.”Ernest Hilaire, the former chief executive of the WICB, had initially revealed that a “commercial Twenty20” league in the Caribbean was in the works in September. Last month, Hilaire’s successor, Michael Muirhead, said negotiations for staging the inaugural Caribbean Premier League were on track and that “might mean that the regional T20 cricket tournament might have to be done away with”.

England have point to prove – Finn

Steven Finn has said that England will head to India in search of a fresh start and eager to restate their credentials as one of the best Test sides in the world, after a difficult year in which they lost the No. 1 ranking, their captain and very nearly their star batsman.A 2-0 defeat at home to South Africa led to England being deposed as the top-ranked team in Tests and precipitated Andrew Strauss’ retirement from cricket, leaving Alastair Cook to assume the Test captaincy ahead of one of the most difficult touring propositions in the game. Finn is likely to be among those spending almost two months in India, with two T20Is to follow the Tests, as the squad departed for a training camp in Dubai before arriving in Mumbai on Monday.England have not won a Test series in India since 1984-85 and struggled against subcontinental opposition last winter, being whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the UAE and drawing 1-1 in Sri Lanka. England’s victory in Colombo was only their fifth Test win in Asia, against countries other than Bangladesh, in 27 years but Finn said Cook’s squad have a point to prove and invoked their landmark Ashes victory of 2010-11 by way of inspiration.”It is almost a fresh start for us,” Finn said, “the Test team hasn’t played together since August so we’ve had a bit of time and we’ve got a new captain who will have his own ideas how he wants the team to move forward. There are a few fresh faces in the squad and I think we like proving people wrong. We like rearing our backs up in the face of adversity.”It is something we’re excited about, I don’t think an England team have won out there for 27 years so we’re looking to do a similar thing to what we did in Australia, by breaking those sort of records.”The tour is likely to provide Cook with plenty of challenges, not least brokering a successful return to the England environment for Kevin Pietersen, after a turbulent summer in which he retired from limited-overs internationals and was then dropped from the Test side after admitting sending messages about Strauss to members of the South Africa squad. The circle will be completed when Pietersen joins up with England, after his IPL team, Delhi Daredevils, were knocked out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage.England have set much store by team unity in recent years but Finn said that he was looking forward to playing with Pietersen again. “He is a world class player and has produced some splendid innings that have won us games so I think it’s great to have him back and good for English cricket,” he said.England’s last win on the subcontinent, against Sri Lanka in April, was inspired by Pietersen’s magnificent innings of 151 and knitting him back into the fabric of the team would appear to be essential to the tourists’ chances in the four-Test series. While India will be seeking to avenge the 4-0 whitewashing they suffered in 2011, England also have plenty at stake.”We have a massive point to prove,” Finn said. “We have to prove to the general public, to the people who comment on the game and to people within the game. If we want to be the number one side in the world again and get that mantle back we have to be able to perform in subcontinental conditions.”We have done a lot of work since we played Pakistan earlier this year, as a unit and as a team, developing skills that we will need in the subcontinent – playing against spin, using old balls on wickets that aren’t doing much. We have done a lot of work to refine our game to become better in the subcontinent and hopefully that will bear fruit on this tour.”With England’s problems against slow bowling in mind, four county spinners, in addition to squad members Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar and Samit Patel, will link up with the players in Dubai. James Tredwell, Scott Borthwick, Simon Kerrigan and Azeem Rafiq have been flown out to try and replicate the kind of tests the batsmen are likely to face in India, despite the lack of a spinner in the squad named for England’s first warm-up match.Investec, the specialist bank and asset manager, is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. Visit the Investec Cricket Zone at investec.co.uk/cricket for player analysis, stats, Test match info and games

Norwell hauls Gloucs off the bottom

ScorecardLiam Norwell claimed five wickets as Gloucestershire moved off the bottom of the County Championship table with a 207-run victory inside three days against Northamptonshire at Bristol.Norwell followed up his 3 for 23 in the first innings with 5for 51 in a Northamptonshire second-innings total of 224 that featured half-centuries from David Sales and Andrew Hall. The visitors were set an unlikely target of 432 after bowling Gloucestershire out for 311 in the morning session from an overnight 286 for 6. Will Gidman failed to add to his 52 as Hall finished with 5 for 50.Gloucestershire took 20 points from their third Championship win of the season and have one game left to further improve their position, while Northamptonshire had to settle for three in their final fixture.The pitch had aided the seamers all through the game and that continued to be the case as Gloucestershire added only 25 to their score for the loss of their last four wickets. Hall claimed the last three after David Willey had removed Will Gidman, but it was too late to prevent Northamptonshire facing a near impossible task.Opener Stephen Peters fell lbw to the fourth ball of his side’s second innings, leg before to Will Gidman without a run on the board, and it was 51 for 2 when Niall O’Brien edged Norwell to wicketkeeper Jon Batty. Just before lunch Kyle Coetzer was bowled by Norwell and, although Sales batted effortlessly for his 55, he too had his stumps disturbed by the same bowler to make it 80 for 4.A stubborn partnership of 78 between Hall and Rob Newton, who made 44, ended when the latter pulled a short ball from Norwell straight to Ian Cockbain at midwicket. James Middlebrook and David Murphy went cheaply to Benny Howell and Norwell respectively and by tea the result was all but decided with the visitors on 184 for 7.Hall fell for 56 straight after the break without a run added, bowled by Howell, who finished with 2 for 37 having made a handy contribution with his medium pace to a Gloucestershire side lacking a specialist spinner.Jack Brooks was taken in the slips off James Fuller for 22 after a defiant stand of 39 with Wiley and the game ended when Luke Evans was out for a duck, caught by Cockbain off Anthony Ireland.Norwell took six wickets in an innings on debut against Derbyshire at the start of last season, but was then plagued by back trouble. He recently claimed 6 for 52 in a Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Leicestershire at Grace Road and Gloucestershire will hope for more of the same next summer.

Gayle and Powell deflate New Zealand

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSunil Narine picked up his maiden Test five-wicket haul•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography

Chris Gayle didn’t show any nerves or caution after slipping into Test whites for the first time in one and a half years, smashing 85 not out and sharing an unbeaten opening stand of 145 with Kieran Powell to demoralise New Zealand on the second day. It was a day on which the hosts took complete control, with bat and ball. Sunil Narine did justice to the hype surrounding him by taking his maiden five-wicket haul to restrict New Zealand to 351, after the visitors were well-placed on the opening day to post a more competitive score.The few who bothered to show up at North Sound witnessed another Gayle special. It was as if he was still wearing one of his many Twenty20 jerseys when he walked out and thundered four consecutive boundaries in the first over of the innings. Gayle needed only two deliveries to warm up. Chris Martin pitched it full and Gayle pushed forward a touch reluctantly and yet found the timing to beat mid-on. The next three balls were all thrashed past mid-off, the last ball of the over sent soaring over the infield. Gayle was harsh on anything pitched up or full on the off stump, and despite the flurry of boundaries, New Zealand didn’t push the fielders back. There were a couple of ungainly slashes over the off side, if the bowlers dropped it short.New Zealand had their chances though, that too off consecutive balls. Powell, who was a mute spectator during Gayle’s initial onslaught, decided to slash one off Neil Wagner, but the edge flew past Martin Guptill at second slip. Guptill didn’t have time to react, but Daniel Flynn did, the following ball. Gayle stabbed at a delivery from Doug Bracewell and Flynn didn’t time his jump well at point and gave Gayle a life on 36. Gayle rubbed it in by swatting, slicing and driving Wagner for three fours to race towards his fifty.Wagner had a few things to say to Gayle, but it had no impact. The left-armer was taken out of the attack after conceding 35 off five overs, and New Zealand had to turn to the part-time spin of Kane Williamson. The best the tourists could do was put a lid on the scoring, which the spinners managed. Daniel Vettori and Williamson bowled flatter, defensive lines and the batsmen were happy defending.

Smart stats

  • Sunil Narine’s five-wicket haul is his first in Tests and the seventh by a West Indian spinner against New Zealand. The last five-for by a West Indian spinner against New Zealand was Jimmy Adams’ 5 for 17 in Barbados in 1996.

  • The number of runs conceded by Narine (132) is the fifth-highest for a West Indian bowler in an innings in which they have picked up five or more wickets.

  • During his innings of 85, Chris Gayle went past Gordon Greenidge to become the highest run-getter for West Indies against New Zealand. Gayle now has 905 runs in 12 innings at 82.27.

  • The 145-run stand between Gayle and Kieran Powell is the sixth century stand for the opening wicket for West Indies against New Zealand. Gayle was involved in the previous such stand too (with Darren Ganga) in Auckland in 2006.

  • Gayle hit 16 runs off the first over from Chris Martin. This is the third-highest number of runs scored in the first over of an innings in matches since June 2001. The highest is 18 runs off Darren Gough’s over against Australia at Edgbaston in 2001.

Vettori did create an opportunity when a flashy drive by Gayle found the inside edge and beat the wicketkeeper. Powell, who played second fiddle to Gayle, produced some pleasing shots himself, including the pull, the flick and two effortless straight-driven boundaries off Wagner. He reached his third Test fifty with a swept boundary off Vettori, by which time the opening stand had swelled to 127. At 138, West Indies had surpassed their highest opening stand since Gayle began his exile in December 2010. In that period, till the start of this Test, they had managed only two century stands.Towards the end of the day the pair focused on occupying the crease until stumps. The run-rate in the final session had dipped to just over two runs an over, but West Indies could afford to slow down. Powell showed good concentration and maturity in leaving deliveries outside the off stump. Wagner managed prodigious reverse swing late in the day, but the pair managed to bat to safety and not give New Zealand an inch.In the morning session, the focus seemed more on survival, rather than aggression as New Zealand made slow progress, adding only 55 runs. Narine posed questions with the old ball and the seamers spiced up the action with the new ball, making run-scoring difficult. After getting rid of the nightwatchman Wagner early, Narine continued to bowl with the older ball, hoping to exploit the rough. Williamson and Dean Brownlie went on the defensive, and at one stage New Zealand had scored only 10 runs in as many overs.Darren Sammy gave Narine a break and opted for the second new ball after 106 overs. Kemar Roach signalled his intentions by banging it in short and Williamson did well on one occasion to keep it down with his glove. In his following over, Roach varied his length by pitching it up and Williamson, failing to move his feet, only managed an inside edge on to the stumps. Roach peppered Kruger van Wyk with the short stuff, and it looked like another wicket was around the corner. Brownlie couldn’t carry on after making a start, edging Ravi Rampaul to the wicketkeeper.West Indies wrapped up the innings in just under 12 overs after lunch, after Vettori and Bracewell helped themselves to cameos. Narine went for a few, but picked up his fifth wicket off a bat-pad catch to get rid of van Wyk.At that stage, it looked as if 351 would still be enough to test West Indies. But Gayle and Powell didn’t leave the visitors feeling too chuffed with their own batting performance.

Khawaja excited at working with Lehmann

Usman Khawaja has explained his decision to move to Queensland, declaring that his enjoyment of the game had ebbed away during his last summer with New South Wales. Khawaja also said that he was excited by the prospect of working with the Queensland coach Darren Lehmann, who steered the Bulls to the Sheffield Shield title in his first season in charge.Queensland have added three former Australia representatives to their squad for 2012-13: Khawaja, the offspinner Nathan Hauritz and the troubled batsman Luke Pomersbach. Although he has lost his Cricket Australia contract and has slipped behind others in the Test batting queue, Khawaja is the Bulls import with the most immediate prospects of an international recall.But his aims at the start of the summer will be much simpler than regaining his baggy green. After the Blues finished second-last in the Sheffield Shield with only one win last season, and Khawaja failed to score a first-class half-century after losing his Test position in December, more than anything he wants to enjoy playing the game again.”It was a tough year for everyone at New South Wales,” Khawaja told the . “It got to a point where I wasn’t enjoying my cricket as much. I need to be somewhere that will allow me to enjoy my cricket a little bit more. That was the catalyst for my move. Cricket New South Wales over the years has been an excellent organisation so it was a pretty tough decision.”Khawaja said working with Lehmann was particularly enticing, and he was hopeful that as a prolific former domestic and international batsman Lehmann would be the perfect coach to help him find his way again.”I felt last year at New South Wales that by the end of the season I was somewhere I didn’t want to be in terms of my cricket progress,” Khawaja said. “To be under Darren Lehmann is a real plus. Boof [Lehmann] can’t help me when I’m on the field. I just have to go out there and score runs. But off the field he’s had so much experience in different situations.”I’ve spoken to him a few times and I like the way he thinks about cricket, I like the way he goes about being a coach. He can be hard when he wants to and quite relaxed when he wants to. He’s quite a confident bloke and just watching him bat over the years, I think he’s got a lot to offer in terms of how to deal with different situations on and off the field. I’ll be picking his brain and learning from him.”Khawaja said there were aspects of his game that needed work, but he was confident that he could regain his best form with the Bulls. He has spent the past month playing Twenty20 cricket with Derbyshire and when the county starts playing first-class cricket again later this month it will give Khawaja valuable opportunities to impress the national selectors in English conditions ahead of the 2013 Ashes.

Prince stars for improving Lancashire


ScorecardAshwell Prince spent almost five hours at the crease for his century•Getty Images

It may not have been regarded as the most significant result of thesummer but Lancashire have gained important momentum from last week’sbattling draw at Edgbaston to deliver their best batting performanceat Aigburth this season.Seven matches into their title defence and still without a victory isnot the start Lancashire had anticipated, particularly afterstrengthening their mis-firing batting line-up by re-signing SouthAfrican batsman Ashwell Prince. But they showed character in abundanceto turn around their fortunes from another shaky start.Deciding to bat first after winning the toss, they slipped to 55 for3 and were facing yet another failure to record a competitivetotal in a season where they have passed 300 only twice in the last 10innings. Building on the spirit developed against Warwickshire lastweek, when the saved the game after following on 360 runs behind,Prince’s first century in county cricket since 2009 ensured theyfinished on top at the end of an absorbing first day’s play.”We needed this,” admitted Prince, who finished unbeaten on 121 aftera disciplined innings spanning nearly five hours at the crease. “Wehad to dig deep at Warwickshire, we didn’t want to roll over.”If we are honest we put in a way below par performance in the firstinnings there on a good pitch. This is what we needed to do tokick-start our season.”Having battled through the first hour’s play, Lancashire providedMiddlesex with encouragement when Stephen Moore pushed to cover andset off on a quick single only for Joe Denly’s brilliant throw to runout Paul Horton. Karl Brown lasted only two balls before falling inthe next over, rewarding Tim Murtagh’s excellent new ball spell byedging behind.To compound Lancashire’s disappointment at having their solid startundermined, Moore was all too eager to make up for a run of 15 firstclass innings without a half century by mis-timing an attempted hookoff Gareth Berg to long leg.Having been dismissed for 250 and 124 in the first innings of theirprevious two matches at Aigburth this season, Lancashire knew theyneeded a partnership if they had any hopes of posting a competitivescore against a Middlesex line-up including Eoin Morgan, who wasplaying his first championship match since July, 2010.They were provided with a 176-run stand between Prince and StevenCroft, who were both forced to play within themselves for longperiods. They compensated for a 23-over spell without a boundary byscampering between the wickets and both used their feet to combatOllie Rayner’s off-spin intelligently.”Steven has played very well this season and he always seems to cometo the party when the team needs him and he did it again,” enthusedPrince. “It was a nice partnership and I enjoy batting with him.”He’s really maturing as a batsman. We really had to knuckle down andget a partnership together to get ourselves out of a bit of trouble. He played the situation perfectly.”Croft, a naturally aggressive batsman, hit only one four and a slogsweep for six off Rayner in his half-century, but fell for 78 to thefirst delivery with the new ball when he edged Murtagh behind.Prince remained defiantly, however, and progressed to his firstcentury in county cricket since scoring an unbeaten 135 againstNottinghamshire at Old Trafford three years ago, reaching the landmarkwith a push for three through mid-wicket off Corey Collymore.”I have been close a few times this season so it is nice to get overthe milestone of getting a hundred,” he conceded. “People won’trealise that the last 10 times I have been passed 50 I haven’t beenable to convert and that has been on my mind. It has been afrustrating season for me back home, so it is a bit of a relief.”

Ajmal optimistic of playing till 2015 World Cup

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, has said he will ensure that there are enough quality spinners to replace him in the national side when he retires. Ajmal, the top-ranked spinner in the ICC rankings in both Tests and ODIs, also said that he was optimistic of playing till the 2015 World Cup.”I hope by the time I am ready to walk out, another Ajmal would be ready to take my place,” Ajmal told ESPNcricinfo. “I will ensure this and it’s my responsibility to do so. Pakistan has very talented players and there is no dearth of spin bowlers. There are a lot of good spinners. (Abdur) Rehman is playing and Raza Hasan is a talented boy heading in the right direction.”Ajmal, 34, made a late entry into international cricket at the age of 30 but has earned a reputation for being one of the best spinners in the world. Ajmal didn’t play his first Test till he was almost 32 but has since picked up 107 wickets in 20 Tests. He said that he did not worry about having lost so much time before he got the chance to play international cricket.”Age definitely plays a key role but I have no regret for being late into international cricket,” Ajmal said. “Who knows if I had played earlier I might not have been the same Ajmal. What I am today is more important for me.”I am currently 34 and I know my age won’t let me play perhaps more than three years. But it’s also a matter of fitness that can actually extend a player’s life. I am optimistic that I can play at least till the 2015 World Cup before calling my time from the game.”Ajmal hoped that he had inspired enough young players to take up spin bowling. He is also planning to launch a cricket academy next year in his city Faisalabad. Ajmal recently wrecked England with his doosras and off-breaks and finished with 24 wickets in the three-Test series in the UAE.”A lot of bowlers around the world are so much keen about the doosra and I love to help. Being a quality spin bowler is tough and it takes time to obtain results. You need to be very patient.”A spin bowler normally does not inspire kids as compared to a fast bowler who creates an instant impact with the youngsters who want to play cricket. But I think I have inspired a lot of youngsters to play the game.”Edited by Abhishek Purohit

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