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Younis Khan has said that he had decided even before the World Cup started that he would retire from Twenty20 cricket if Pakistan won the tournament. He also said his statement about Twenty20 cricket being a fun game was part of his plan to ease the pressure off his players.

“It’s not a disaster for Pakistan if we fail to qualify for [the] Super Eight round because this Twenty20 cricket is all about fun, though its an international but it’s all a fun game,” Younis had said at the start of the World Cup. Now, after winning the cup, Younis has revealed that it was part of a well-thought out plan.

“It was in my mind before going to the World Cup that if we win it I will retire from Twenty20 cricket,” Younis told the Pakistan television channel Geo. Younis said he was confident about the success of Pakistan’s campaign. “We felt if we played consistently and played seriously we can win it. I was cool and calm and knew if we played well we can win. I had worked a lot during the series against Australia which affected my performance but I think the way we worked hard it paid [off] in the World Cup. Like all my other countrymen I am also proud to win the World Cup. Like in the last World Cup we came very close to winning it, but we could not.”

Younis said that he chanced upon the ideal playing combination during the Super Eight games. “When we won last match in the Super Eights I knew which combination we have to play with, lots of players like Misbah, myself, Shoaib Malik and even Fawad Alam did not bat in the last few matches as our team clicked at the right time.”

He also said he wanted to give opportunities to youngsters like Shahzaib and Mohammad Aamer so that it would benefit Pakistan in the upcoming Tests and ODIs.

AUSTRALIA may have to send an SOS for Ashes reinforcements after Shane Watson was sent for scans on his injured knee. Evergreen Victorian batsman Brad Hodge - who recently retained his Cricket Australia contract - is the most likely candidate should Australia have to rush a spare player to England to cover for Watson.

Herald Sun Online revealed yesterday that Watson was too sore to train and the all-rounder was sent for medical scans today after missing his second successive training session.

Less than three weeks from the first Ashes Test in Cardiff, it could be the worst possible news for the injury-plagued all-rounder and captain Ricky Ponting clonceded Australia may have to

send for a replacement.

“We might have to do that. That’s what some of the discussion this afternoon has been about. We certainly have to consider that,” Ponting said.

“Shane was probably picked as the spare batsman on the tour.

“Now if we happen to have a batter hurt themselves, we would be a little bit short.

“He has had a scan today, we are awaiting the results of that and will probably know those tomorrow morning.

“We are hoping nothing major shows up on the scan.

“For him it’s obviously a bit of a setback. It is an opportunity that has slipped out of his grasp.”

Meanwhile, pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson will be rested from Australia’s tour game against Sussex starting at Hove tonight.

That means comeback quicks Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle will engage in a  “bowl-off” to decide Ashes spots.

Johnson is the only paceman assured of a spot for the first Test starting on July 8 and Ponting said all quicks were desperate to impress.

“I’m pretty sure they will have a fair bit of intensity going into the game,” Ponting said.

“They will know there could only be two or three bowling opportunities leading into the first Test.”

All-rounder Andrew McDonald will not play the tour game - which would appear to greatly reduce his chances of playing in the Ashes opener.

Marcus North is set to win the coveted No.6 Ashes slot with Australia likely to play three quicks and Nathan Hauritz or even four frontline quicks.

“We just felt with the conditions we have got here and we were likely to have in Cardiff, it would be a good idea to give the four quicks that we have got an opportunity in this game and give Nathan Hauritz some good exposure,” Ponting said.

“Andrew McDonald is the unfortunate one to miss out.”

Australia’s medical staff are nervously awaiting the results of scans on Shane Watson’s injured knee, which will sideline him from the opening tour match against Sussex. Though cautiously optimistic - the allrounder will be available for Australia’s second practice match against the England Lions, beginning at Worcester on July 1 - the tourists are concerned enough to have begun devising contingency plans in the event Watson’s knee is worse than initially thought.

Watson has endured a wretched run of injuries over the years, and this latest setback will do little for the confidence of the team or player ahead of the Ashes. He was a notable absentee from Australia’s last two training sessions at Hove, and was ruled out of the game against Sussex, which begins on Wednesday.

Watson has at the very least missed a prime opportunity to impress the selectors in his bid to dislodge Marcus North from the No. 6 Test position, and at worst is facing another early Ashes exit. His last Ashes campaign ended before a ball was bowled - hamstring problems forced him from the squad on the eve of the Brisbane Test - paving the way for Andrew Symonds to make his Test return.

Watson was struck down with back stress fractures during the most recent Australian summer, and only made his return to competitive bowling during Australia’s truncated World Twenty20 campaign. Though hopeful he will return to action in the next week, Australian captain Ricky Ponting nonetheless said the team was considering calling in a shadow player, given Watson’s history of serious injuries.

“We might have to do that,” Ponting said. “That has been some of the discussion this afternoon, particularly if we happen to have a batter hurt themselves in this game, we could be a little bit short. We certainly have to consider that. Shane was probably picked as the spare batter on the tour anyway, and someone who could give us some valuable overs if required, so it could get to the stage if someone happened to get hurt in this game that Shane could probably come in and play as a batsman if required anyway.

“He’s had a scan today, and we’ll probably get those (results) tomorrow morning. It’s not a major thing at the moment , and we’re hoping it’s not anything major that shows up on the scan, but he’s a bit sore so we’re giving him a couple of days off.

“Hopefully within a couple of days he’s right to start working back up on his bowling and hopefully he plays the Worcester game at 100% fitness. For him it’s obviously a setback. He’s disappointed he wasn’t available for selection in this game. I don’t know if it harms his chances any more for the first Test match, but it’s an opportunity that has slipped out of his grasp I guess.”

Watson will be joined by Graham Manou, Andrew McDonald and Mitchell Johnson on the sidelines for the 12-a-side tour match against Sussex, although none of the latter three are understood to be burdened with injury. Johnson’s omission is a clear indication that selectors now view him as Australia’s premier paceman, leaving Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Stuart Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus to fight for the remaining fast-bowling slots for the Ashes series.

“We have got the right to play twelve players in this game, but that does not mean we will be using it as practice,” Ponting said. “We will be using this game to get used to the conditions. We believe this wicket will be the most like Cardiff anywhere in the country, so it will be a good opportunity for us as batsmen to get used to the pace and bounce, maybe a bit of spin.”

Watson was in buoyant mood at Australia’s open media day in Hove on Monday, despite missing the day’s training session. Though admitting he had pulled up “a little stiff” the previous day, he gave a strong indication that he expected to be back bowling shortly.

“I’m not exactly sure what the selectors are thinking,” Watson said. “But my bowling has been progressing really well. The Twenty20 was the first time I had bowled in a game competitively since Christmas time. The things I’ve done technically are definitely going to help me improve a lot.”

NOTTINGHAM, England, June 17 (Reuters) - South Africa go into their World Twenty20 semi-final against Pakistan on Thursday confident they have ditched their reputation as chokers.

The South Africans have regularly failed to take opportunities to reach finals and semi-finals and to close out test series from winning positions but coach Mickey Arthur said he believed this team was different.

“We could get beaten tomorrow, and then again the chokers tag might surface,” Arthur told reporters on Wednesday.

“But for us, that’s not an issue. As long as we are playing the game to the best of our ability and we are not panicking in the crucial situations, we’re not scared of losing.

“The guys have been put in these situations over the last 18 months and have come through with flying colours. Mentally, our team is very, very strong and ready to go to another level.”

South Africa needed only 126 to beat India on run rate at the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup and make the semi-finals but they fell 10 runs short.

In the 50-over World Cup the same year they were thrashed by Australia in the semi-finals after trying to change their tactics.

In 1999 in England they tied with Australia in the World Cup semi-final after panicking in the final over, crashing out on a technicality when they were favourites to progress.

But they have been working to ensure they stay cool in pressure situations with the appointment of Englishman Jeremy Snape as high performance manager, specialising in psychology, an example of their attention to detail.

Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, a survivor of the 1999 tied match, joked that Snape “has been on my couch a couple of times”.

He said the former England player has developed a mantra called the “three-second chill” which is designed to help players compose themselves at pressure moments.

“We have been in a couple of semis before, but there is a different feeling this time,” said Boucher. “We have a different management, different players — and we’ve been through a lot of tests in the last year that we’ve come through.

“We’ve handled pressure pretty well and we hope that’s a sign of things to come in the latter stages of this tournament.”

Jacques Kallis, rested for the match against India on Tuesday because of a sore back, should return at Trent Bridge.

The experience of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul guided West Indies into the ICC World Twenty20 semi-finals after the top order threatened to lose their heads in a reduced chase of 80 in nine overs. A succession of wild shots meant West Indies were 45 for 5 in the sixth over, but Sarwan and Chanderpaul calmly added 37 to complete the victory with four balls to spare and send the hosts out.

Chris Gayle wanted to have the final say in the extended duel between these two teams which dates back to February. He briefly threatened to carry the chase on his own but was yorked by a beauty from Ryan Sidebottom and he was grateful for calmness of his two senior batsmen. A second brilliant piece of glovework from James Foster to stump Dwayne Bravo had put England on top, but Sarwan and Chanderpaul showed there is room for sensible batsmanship even in a nine-over thrash.

When Sarwan hit the winning boundary with four balls to spare the rest of the team - apart from Gayle who strode out at his own pace - sprinted onto the outfield in scenes reminiscent of their 2004 Champions Trophy victory on the same ground. Weeks of moping around England for the Tests and one-dayers were long forgotten.

A heavy thunderstorm after England’s innings concluded on 161 for 6 meant Duckworth-Lewis came into use. It would have been understandable if West Indies were nervous at the prospect after John Dyson’s embarrassing error during the one-day series, when he handed England victory, but the calculations benefited West Indies as much as they knew what was needed and could attack hard.

However, they almost went too hard. Andre Fletcher bagged his third duck in a row when he top-edged a pull off James Anderson, although Gayle was only going to play one way. He slammed Sidebottom’s first ball over midwicket and then cracked him over cover, but the bowler responded in fine style as he speared a yorker under Gayle’s bat.

Stuart Broad struck with his first ball when Lendl Simmons carved to third man and there was a manic nature about the run-chase that threatened to unravel West Indies’ hopes. Paul Collingwood used his bowlers in one-over spells and when the three-over Powerplay was finished he brought Graeme Swann into the attack. The offspinner responded with five excellent deliveries that yielded three runs, but the sixth ball was lofted over long-off for six by Kieron Pollard.

Collingwood then gambled by tossing the ball to Adil Rashid - preferred in this game to Dimitri Mascarenhas - and his first delivery was magnificently driven over extra cover by Bravo. In two shots, West Indies were back in front and the pressure was on a young spinner. That Rashid responded with a top-spinner to bowl Pollard is a huge credit to him and shows great promise for the future.

Then came what looked a pivotal moment as Bravo was beaten by Swann’s flight and Foster made a split-second stumping as the batsman raised his foot. At that moment West Indies needed 35 from 22 balls, but this time Foster wasn’t a match-winner.

Sarwan drove Anderson through cover and whipped him behind square for a second boundary and that was to prove the final twist. Chanderpaul nudged, nurdled and responded to his partner’s screams to run hard (despite an injured thigh) and swung a priceless boundary past fine leg that meant Sidebottom would have little to work with in the final over.

England will look back and think the reduction in overs was harsh on them, but once again the batting had failed to build on a solid start against an attack lacking Fidel Edwards who was forced out moments before the toss with a back injury.

As Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen added 56 all was looking good, but once Pietersen picked out deep square-leg with a top-edged lap the innings stalled and nearly went backwards. There wasn’t a boundary from the 11th over until the penultimate ball of the innings, when Broad swept Sulieman Benn and followed it up with a clean straight six as the bowler struggled with a wet ball.

Bopara’s 55 from 47 balls was full of elegance and class, with two on-drives as perfect as you could wish to see, but at times it seemed as though others were playing with hollow bats. Bopara and Pietersen managed 10 of the 13 fours between them and a lack of power in the middle order was cruely exposed. It is that absence of brutal hitting that was decisive, not the rain.

Pakistan’s captain, Younis Khan, has expressed his exasperation at the allegations of ball-tampering that marred his team’s crushing victory over New Zealand at Lord’s on Saturday, and has called upon his critics to produce TV evidence of any alleged misdemeanours, rather than resort to innuendo.

Speaking in the aftermath of the 39-run victory over Ireland at The Oval that sealed Pakistan’s progression to the semi-finals, Younis defended his star bowler, Umar Gul, who followed up his figures of 5 for 6 at Lord’s with another superb spell of 2 for 19, and hit back at the comments made by New Zealand’s captain, Daniel Vettori, who claimed after the Lord’s defeat that he had never seen any bowler achieve reverse-swing as early as the 12th over of an international fixture.

“Everyone has his own opinion, especially when you get out cheaply and lose a game like that because New Zealand have a big reputation in world cricket,” said Younis. “But for reverse swing you need pace and a good action, and Gul has a good action. It is an art, it is not cheating, and Umar knows the art, especially in Twenty20s. In every single game he performs like that.”

Vettori confirmed that he had “raised a couple of concerns” with the on-field umpires and the match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, after Gul had claimed the first five-wicket haul in Twenty20 internationals to dismiss New Zealand for 99, but he later added that he had put the matter behind him after the officials had “no issues at all with the state of the ball”.

“The amount of reverse swing that we saw was new to us and therefore we raised a couple of concerns,” Vettori said. “They relayed back to us that they had no issues at all with the state of the ball. We accepted that and now we move on to our important game against Sri Lanka.” Vettori also said he had no discussions with Younis after the game regarding the matter.

Younis, however, maintained that the roughed-up condition of the ball had been due to the hard hitting in Twenty20 cricket, and was not impressed that the matter had been allowed to escalate, especially given how damaging Pakistan’s last ball-tampering row, again at The Oval back in August 2006, had turned out to be. On that occasion, the team, captained by Inzamam-ul-Haq, had refused to retake the field after being docked five runs by umpire Darrell Hair, and went on to complete the first forfeiture in the history of Test cricket.

“We are not cheating, but today was very embarrassing,” said Younis. “All the time the umpires were checking the ball, and there are plenty of cameras, so how could we cheat? It’s not good. And every time it is happening in England. Why? We have good actions and we have pace. So don’t disrupt a boy like Umar Gul, he has a good reputation.

“And don’t embarrass a team like Pakistan, we already have a lot of controversies in the whole world, and we are suffering a lot of things. Forget these things and focus on the game. Let the cameras catch it if anything is happening with the ball. In this game a lot of sixes are hit, and the ball goes in the crowd, and hits the concrete.”

The Pakistan board and team management also expressed their disappointment that questions were being asked about Gul’s reverse swing. Coach Intikhab Alam said it was down to Gul’s talent. “It is disappointing to hear these things,” Intikhab told AFP. “Umar is a fantastic bowler. Not everyone can bowl a reverse ball. You’ve got to have a special ability to do that. He’s quick and his action makes a lot of difference.”

Younis agreed with that assessment. “He does his hard work, and like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, it’s all about hard work in the nets. He chats with Wasim, he chats with Waqar, and he chats with Shoaib Akhtar as well. He improves day by day, and he knows the tricks, all the yorkers and slower balls. He knows the art.”

There was also strong criticism from Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, over Vettori’s comments. “I didn’t expect it from a cricketer like Vettori,” he told Cricinfo. “I have a lot of respect for him, but he made a statement which is uncalled for. [Gul] would never do a thing like this.”

Geoff Lawson, the former Pakistan coach, was commentating on Saturday’s match at The Oval and noted that several New Zealand pacemen achieved subtle reverse swing towards the end of their innings.

“My first reaction after reading [Vettori's] comments was of being pretty disappointed,” Lawson told Cricinfo. “It sounded as if an issue was being made just because the New Zealand batsmen couldn’t play him. There was no great mystery to what he was doing. He was bowling it nice and full and getting it to go just enough, not metres.

“I was commentating the game, and we were noting on air that some of the New Zealand bowlers were getting it to go a little bit reverse when they were bowling full towards the end of their innings. Gul was the best bowler at the last World Twenty20 and it’s pretty disappointing for New Zealand to have made an unofficial approach. It seems Pakistan carry the cross for these kinds of things.”

Justin Langer has likened the unflappable temperament of Phillip Hughes to that of Matthew Hayden and Steve Waugh, and predicted his opening successor is poised for a prolific Ashes series. As Hughes arrived in England for his first Ashes campaign on Tuesday, Langer lauded the 20-year-old for his determined, uncomplicated attitude towards batting.

“I have spent 20 years working on my batting and I still stress over it,” Langer told Cricinfo. “Just the other day I was thinking about whether my stance was right, and my grip. I am always thinking about these things. He doesn’t. I have encountered that kind of thinking before, but never in someone so young.

“Matty Hayden was someone who mightn’t pick his bat up in the period immediately before a Test, preferring to just go out in the middle and sit cross legged on the pitch. I used to come up to him all the time asking him about this and that, and he would just turn round and say, ‘Just watch the ball.’ I would be thinking, ‘It can’t just be that easy.’ Tugga (Steve Waugh) was the same. It’s something you encounter from time to time in the great players after they’ve been around for a while. Hughes has got it now, and that’s incredible.”

Langer received an intriguing insight into the challenge that awaits Andrew Strauss this summer, when he captained Somerset in a recent Friends Provident Trophy match against Hughes’ Middlesex. Somerset sought to deny Hughes any width to unleash his thunderous cuts and drives, but the rookie Australian opener would not be denied, blasting 119 from 112 deliveries to round out a sublime county stint.

“I had no idea how to set a field to him,” Langer said. “He scored a hundred, and it was impossible to know what to do with him. You pitch the ball in one place, and he makes room for himself. So you pitch it in another, and he starts driving you as if he were facing a bowling machine. He doesn’t get all caught up thinking about batting. He just does it. It is so uncomplicated. He hits the ball so hard. Technically, he doesn’t get all that far forward, but Allan Border didn’t get that far forward either.”

Langer’s relationship with Hughes was forged long before the former entrenched himself in the Australian top-order. As an emerging batsman with New South Wales, Hughes emailed Langer for batting tips. The maturity of the questions impressed Langer, and the pair have been in regular contact ever since.

“You get requests quite often from young kids, and most of the time their questions are about the technical aspects of the game,” Langer said. “But I remember (Hughes’) email, and it was all about the psychology of batting. There was a maturity to his questions that blew my mind. To me, the psychological aspects of batting are much more interesting to talk about, and are often overlooked. He already had his own ideas, and wanted to learn more.

“There is a brilliant youthful exuberance about him. You watch him batting, and more often than not there’s a little grin on his face. There are no airs or graces about him. It’s pretty simple. He wants to learn and get better. For an older bloke like me to be chatting with a young bloke who is all about the cricket, and not the fancy house and cars, is brilliant. You don’t get that all the time these days, what with all the money around the game. He is switched onto what is important. He wants to score lots and lots of runs, and if he does that, then the fancy cars will take care of themselves anyway.”

HE was given chance after chance and he knew he was on borrowed time. Many thought he couldn’t waste another opportunity but he has and the chances of him playing for his country again are all but over. Last Thursday he was sent home from England.

If you haven’t guessed by now, it’s    Andrew Symonds.
How many chances can one man have? Symonds has joined the long line of sports stars to throw away what millions of young kids would class a dream, a chance to strut your stuff on the world  stage, this time for what is believed to be  some sort of misdemeanour relating to alcohol.
It’s not the biggest offence in the world by any stretch of the imagination but, for a man with a rap sheet that reads like his, enough to draw headlines all around the world.
Earlier this year, Symonds was reinstated to the Australian squad to play Pakistan. He hadn’t done a thing in domestic cricket to earn a spot; his selection was based on reputation. Cricket Australia loved him but he has done his dash this time.
Ever since he burst onto the scene in 2003, with his blistering knock at the World Cup, his name has been up in lights. His cricketing abilities shone above any other early in his career as he forged the reputation as arguably the best one-day player in the world.
In 2005 Symonds and officialdom had their first  brush over his     taste for alcohol. He rocked up to a game against Bangladesh in Cardiff drunk. Less than 12 months later, after being told the incident in Cardiff was his last chance, Michael Clarke had to pull him away before he was going to have a dance with a rugby union player.
The events that followed were the racial taunts, the Harbhajan Singh controversy (both were not his fault), the infamous fishing in Darwin and admissions to drunkenness. Despite these acts of stupidity, he still landed gigs as the face of Solo and Ford, plus many other commercials during the summer of cricket.
Symonds is set to lose all of these sponsors plus his lucrative Cricket Australia contract.  There is still the  IPL salary   estimated at a lazy $1.5 million, plus endorsements, but is making millions from the IPL the same  as representing your country? He will never climb the heights he once did.
This paper has been the driving force behind the Just Think program,  urging   young people to think about the responsible use of alcohol. The  Symonds case  and the subsequent waste of talent  will remain a key example for the program.

Andrew Symonds should be remembered for his amazing  talents. Instead he’ll be  remembered as the booze boy of Australian cricket.
Mitch Cleary is one of The Advertiser’s  Hot Shots, a group of 16   aspiring young journalists getting  their hands dirty in the newspaper industry.

ENGLAND booked a place in the second round of the World Twenty20 today with a 48-run win over Pakistan at the Oval. Two days after a shock four-wicket loss to the Netherlands, the hosts bounced back to record a win which, because their net run-rate became superior to that of the Dutch, ensured their progress in the tournament.

Pakistan, finalists at the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, now face a make or break Group B clash against the Netherlands at Lord’s on Tuesday.

Kevin Pietersen came back from an Ac hilles injury with 58 to lead England to a total of 5-185 after missing the Dutch debacle.

“It was exactly what we needed,” England captain Paul Collingwood said. “I think we showed a lot of character.

“(The loss to the Netherlands) was a massive blow for us. We were under a lot of pressure to put in a good performance but this showed how much we wanted it.”

Collingwood, who said Pietersen had been passed fit on Sunday morning, added: “He was desperate to play and he made a huge impact.”

All-rounder Collingwood, asked how England could play so poorly against the Dutch and yet win so well against Pakistan, added: “I wish I knew the reasons, I’m still convinced (losing to the Netherlands) was just meant to happen.

“But today we got it 100 per cent right. It was do or die and we delivered.”

Pakistan, chasing 186 for victory, saw Stuart Broad take two wickets in as many balls to reduce them to 3-41 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

Kamran Akmal holed out to Luke Wright at deep mid-wicket before opener Salman Butt exited for 28.

Pace bowler Broad led England’s attack with three for 17 from three overs.

It was a heartening display by the Nottinghamshire quick after his nightmare last over against the Dutch where he missed several chances to take a wicket.

“I went out for a beer with him last night,” Collingwood said.

“He’s an experienced player. I trusted he would bounce back and he did.”

Pakistan’s innings petered out as they finished on 7-137 with captain Younus Khan stranded on 46 not out.

Defeat left Pakistan needing a big win against the Dutch to go through to the Super Eights and Younus said: “We must win against them and the onus lies on the senior guys like Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik and myself.”

But Younus refused to get too downhearted about the possibility of Pakistan making an early exit from the tournament.

“It will be sad if we don’t make it to the Super Eights but it won’t be a disaster,” he said.