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Wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman, allrounder Hammad Azam and left-arm seamer Junaid Khan are the new faces in Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies.Misbah-ul-Haq who led the Test side creditably in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, remains in charge. Salman, Azam and Junaid have all been, in effect, kept on after being blooded in the limited-overs leg of the West Indies tour.The only minor surprise in the squad was the exclusion of Adnan Akmal, who has been the Test wicketkeeper in charge since his elder brother Kamran lost his place in the five-day format in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal last summer. Over four Tests against South Africa and New Zealand he performed well with the gloves, generally neat and clean and, importantly given his brother’s faltering form, safe in taking 17 dismissals.Though there was no big innings with the bat, there was a handy 44 in Hamilton earlier this year. His replacement has impressed behind the stumps in the ongoing ODI series but hasn’t really had an opportunity to do so with the bat, having batted once in three ODIs upto the fourth game between the two sides.There is a fair degree of stability from the last Test squad for New Zealand with the three newcomers the only changes. Sohail Tanvir has been replaced by Junaid and the continuing development of middle order batsmen Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali means there is no place for Khurram Manzoor. Azam, for the first time since Yasir Arafat’s brief Test flirtation in 2007-08, offers Pakistan a genuine Test all-round option – Shahid Afridi’s one-Test comeback last year at Lord’s notwithstanding.Younis Khan, who was rested for the one-dayers, returns for the Tests, as does Umar Gul.The first Test will be played from May 12 at Providence Stadium in Guyana, and the second will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts from May 20. The series is widely regarded as Pakistan’s best chance to win their first-ever Test series in the Caribbean, against a weakened West Indies side that might be missing several key players.Pakistan already have an unassailable lead in the five-match ODI series, having won the first three. West Indies won the lone Twenty20 fixture.Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam

The one piece in the jigsaw Pakistan have been unable to fit during theWorld Cup has been, to no great surprise, the opening partnership. Forfive matches in the group stages, with commendable patience, they stuckwith Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez despite the pair putting on ahighest of 28.Eventually they chose to drop Shehzad for the game against Australia;Hafeez’s skills as an offspinner enough to retain him. The change meant areuniting of one of Pakistan’s more successful ODI opening pairs in recentyears, of Hafeez and Kamran Akmal. Almost immediately there was a return;the pair putting on an unbroken 113 against the West Indies in thequarter-final in Dhaka in the ten-wicket win.That was their second century stand in the ten ODIs in which they haveopened together, to go with four fifty starts and a healthy averageoverall of 62.55. Though they had opened twice before, in 2006-07, it waslast summer in the ODI series against England that they had an extendedand successful run, putting together stands of 62, 122, 8, 62 and 63 inthe series.But since then, in the continuing fall-out of the spot-fixing scandal, thepairing has been disrupted again, allowing Shahzaib Hasan, Imran Farhatand Shehzad to open with Hafeez. “There was a problem in opening; theperformance that was expected wasn’t happening, like we had in Englandwith Kamran,” Hafeez told ESPNcricinfo. “In Abu Dhabi I had different guyslike Shahzaib, Imran Farhat opening with me; in New Zealand Shehzad wasthere. So it was difficult to adjust to everyone.”But Hafeez has always felt most comfortable with Akmal, with whom thecontrast in intent works well. “I have opened before with Kamran andobviously, when you play together, you understand each other’s game,”Hafeez said.”When Kamran plays with me, I have great confidence because I know heattacks the bowlers. He plays beautiful shots and the opposition gets underpressure. I actually find batting easier because I know he is attackingthe bowlers at the other end. That gives me confidence in playing my ownshots.”The domestic and international careers of both have overlapped to a largeextent and they know each other well off the field as well, spending timetogether in Lahore. Kamran’s younger brothers Adnan and Umar also playwith Hafeez for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) on the domesticcircuit in Pakistan.”Hafeez has been doing so well since the England series with ball andbat,” Akmal told ESPNcricinfo. “He brings so much confidence to the team.I love batting with him because we have a good understanding. Wecommunicate with each other all the time at the wicket, talking about thewicket, the bowler, what we need to keep doing. If one of us is strugglinga little, the other is always there to help him out. I had thatunderstanding with Salman Butt as well.”

The Champions Trophy could go the way of the dodo as part of the ICC’s push to reorganise the global cricket calendar. The next edition of the tournament is supposed to be held in 2013, but Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said they were looking to have just one primary tournament in each of the three formats of the game”What we’re trying to work towards is a pinnacle event in each format,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive said at a press conference in Chennai. “So if we’re looking to our next cycle, we might think definitely about [losing] the Champions Trophy.”Another potential problem for the tournament is fitting it into the new Future Tours Program. In October, the ICC approved the creation of a league-style Test Championship and redrew the lines of one-day cricket as part of an extensive restructuring of the international game. The first play-off in the newly constituted Test Championship is now scheduled to be held in 2013, the same year as the next Champions Trophy.A one-day cricket league – mirroring the existing team rankings – will also be part of the FTP, starting in April 2011 and running over four years to culminate in the crowning of the first ODI league champion in April 2014. The league will run separately from the World Cup, further crowding the calendar.The Champions Trophy was first played in 1998 and has typically been held every two years since. The first two tournaments were intended to raise the profile of the game in the host nations, Bangladesh and Kenya. Australia won the last tournament in 2009

Stuart Broad has taken the glass-half-full view of the injury lay-off that forced him to miss the last three Ashes Test and current one-day series, believing he will benefit from the rest over the next year. Broad suffered an abdominal strain on the fourth day in Adelaide and is still working his way back towards full fitness, but is confident of being ready for the start of the World Cup.He returned to the squad mid-way through this one-day series to continue his recovery away from the British winter, aware that there is a rapid turnaround to the World Cup with England’s first game against Netherlands on February 22. Broad is eager to get back into action, but even with the current injury crisis in the squad, he won’t be getting a game in Australia.”I don’t think the doctors will even let Straussy ask that question,” he said. “I’m keen to play but I don’t think it will happen. I’ve been unfortunate to miss the last seven weeks but we have got a huge amount of cricket coming up so this little break might just help me fire on all cylinders for the next year or so.”I’m probably a little bit ahead of schedule. I probably bowled at 50-60 percent yesterday and pulled up fine this morning. Hopefully by the end of the Australia tour I’ll have come off near a full run-up, my aim is to try and play the first warm-up game of the World Cup so I’m hopeful of that.”Broad is crucial to England’s World Cup chances because, even though the fringe bowlers have performed well in Australia, his aggressive, in-your-face style, will be important on flat pitches. He is also one of the team’s key Powerplay and death bowlers, while also featuring heavily in the middle overs when breakthroughs are needed.”I’m desperate to get back playing, it’s felt like a long seven and a half weeks,” he said. “I love playing cricket, that’s what I do, so it’s hard when you injured and don’t get to try and improve yourself. I’m certainly looking forward to getting back playing and there’s a lot of cricket coming up.”He was the only injury England suffered during their successful Ashes campaign, but since then bowlers have dropped like flies with the workload catching up with them. Tim Bresnan (calf) and Graeme Swann (back) have flown home to try and recover in time for the World Cup while Ajmal Shahzad limped off during the Brisbane ODI with a hamstring strain and Chris Tremlett, a possible replacement for the squad if needed, has a side strain.”I think the injuries are pretty minor so I don’t think it will affect any balance to the World Cup squad or anything like that,” he said, “but it’s a little frustrating in this series to have lost as many players as we have. It’s been hard to find the right balance that we’ll go into the World Cup with. But you can’t do anything about injuries and after a lot of cricket on this tour I think we’ve done well with the amount of injuries we’ve had.”Despite having to sit out the final three Ashes Tests and miss the moments of glory at Melbourne and Sydney there is no resentment from Broad who, apart from the bitter weather in the UK, enjoyed every moment of the team’s success on television.”It wasn’t difficult, it was brilliant to see. I’m an England fan at the end of the day. It was great to see the lads perform so well. It was difficult because it was freezing cold with snow everywhere. Obviously I was disappointed to miss out on those celebrations and achievements, but I still feel part of the team. It was fantastic to see and enjoyable to watch.”Although the tour is finishing on a sour note with the one-day series loss, Broad doesn’t think it should take the gloss off what has been achieved. “I don’t think England players deserve to have any negative memories about the tour so it’s important we finish this series strongly and look back with great fondness on the last three months.”

ScorecardUmar Gul rearranged Brendon McCullum’s stumps on the third day•Getty Images

New Zealand Cricket XI, a shadow New Zealand Test team, have come out of the tour match against the Pakistanis in Whangarei with the psychological advantage of having taken a 97-run first-innings lead. The match ended in a draw after both teams decided to end the third and final day’s play early, with New Zealand having reached 111 for 4 in 32 overs in their second innings.Misbah-ul-Haq, the visitors’ captain, completed his century on the third day as his team added another 53 runs to their overnight total of 234 for 8. Misbah, who has scored half-centuries in each of his last three Test innings, remained unbeaten, finishing on 126, but New Zealand will be satisfied that he was the only Pakistani batsman to go past fifty. The New Zealand Cricket XI bowling attack was similar to the one expected to take-on Pakistan in the first Test, which starts on Friday, with Chris Martin, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee and Brent Arnel all featuring in the tour match.Martin and Vettori had already taken three wickets apiece on the second day. On Tuesday morning, James Franklin picked up his second wicket of the match, dismissing Sohail Tanvir for a duck. Pakistan’s last-wicket pair put together 51 runs, with Tanvir Ahmed scoring 25 and sticking around for 52 balls to support Misbah. Southee finally took the last wicket, getting Tanvir Ahmed out caught by Tim McIntosh.Umar Gul was able to prevent Brendon McCullum from building on the confidence he earned with his first-innings double-century, bowling him for 18. Gul dismissed Kane Williamson two balls later for a duck to leave the home side at 25 for 2. McIntosh and James Franklin spent some time at the wicket, getting 26 and 30 respectively. Younis Khan took the final wicket of the day with his seamers, bowling McIntosh. Wicketkeeper Reece Young and Southee were unbeaten at the end of play.

Suspended Pakistan trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have flown out to Qatar to attend a hearing of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Tribunal. The three-member tribunal headed by Michael Beloff QC will hold a six-day long session starting Thursday before delivering its verdict on the three players.The players were suspended by the ICC in September following spot-fixing allegations against them during the Lord’s Test against England a month earlier. The allegations were raised after a sting operation by Britain’s tabloid claiming that several Pakistani players took money from a bookmaker to bowl deliberate no-balls.”My lawyer has prepared the case extensively and I hope that I will be cleared,” Amir told reporters at Lahore airport. “This is the toughest period of my life but I am confident that it will be over and I will be playing for Pakistan soon.”Salman is being represented by British-based lawyer Yasin Patel, Asif by Allan Cameron, brother of British Prime Minister David Cameron, while Aamer’s lawyer is Shahid Karim from Pakistan.The ICC’s three-man tribunal includes Beloff, Justice Albie Sachs of South Africa and Sharad Rao of Kenya. Beloff, the ICC’s code of conduct commissioner, had chaired the hearings into the appeals of Amir and Butt against their suspensions in Dubai, and had upheld the ICC’s decision.

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan opener, has sent a legal notice against the player agent Mazhar Majeed – the central figure in the spot-fixing controversy – who named him as one of the seven players working for him in video footage released by a Pakistani TV channel. The development was confirmed by Farhat’s father-in-law Mohammad Ilyas, who is also a Pakistan selector.”Through our London-based lawyer, Farhat has sent a legal notice to Majeed asking him to prove his allegation,” Ilyas said. “If he fails to do so or to apologise, then we will take further action.”We want Majeed to clarify and prove what he has said, or at least admit that what he said was unintentional and incorrect. Otherwise we will take legal action for defamation.”On November 30, , a Pakistani TV channel broadcast previously unseen video footage of Majeed in which included the names of four Pakistani players who, he claimed, worked with him. The footage is part of the hidden camera recordings that formed the original sting operation in August. In those, an undercover reporter pretending to be a member of a betting syndicate was seen meeting with Majeed a number of times to allegedly orchestrate spot-fixing scams involving members of the Pakistan team.At the time the tabloid revealed the names of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, and claimed that there were four others involved but didn’t name them. Butt, Asif and Amir have since been provisionally suspended by the ICC, and will face an anti-corruption tribunal in January.

Pakistan limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi has said he hopes his side can put the troubles of the recent England tour behind them as they begin their build-up to next year’s World Cup.Pakistan lost both the Test and one-day series to England, and three of their players – former captain Salman Butt and fast-bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – were suspended by the ICC following their alleged involvement in ‘spot-fixing’ during the last Test at Lord’s.They now head out to UAE to meet South Africa for two Twenty20 games before a five-match ODI series which starts in November. A two-match Test series follows before the team sets off for New Zealand. Afridi feels his side has the talent to win the limited-overs series and hopes the upcoming World Cup can galvanize a side that has been beset by off-field troubles.”It’s all about confidence. We can improve our World Cup chances by boosting our confidence and should do that by winning matches against South Africa and later against New Zealand,” he said. “We have to forget what happened during the tour of England. What the team desperately needs is some good results and I’m sure that if we play to our potential we can do that against South Africa.”Shorn of the services of the suspended players, Afridi refused to condemn the trio and insisted that his spinners could prove to be Pakistan’s biggest weapon. “We are going to miss the three because they are our key players,” he said.”But we can’t just sit back and cry over it. We have to focus on the upcoming assignments and thankfully, we still have several match-winners in our side. Spinners will certainly be playing the major role in UAE, the wickets there should give them a lot of assistance.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suresh Raina made mincemeat out of the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack•Getty Images

A steady drizzle, a slippery ball, a wet outfield and a shortened game did nothing to dampen the action-packed tenor of the Champions League semi-final between two Indian heavyweights. Suresh Raina more than compensated for the loss of a Powerplay over in an electrifying innings that sealed Chennai Super Kings’ place in the final in Johannesburg. Capitalising on a significantly weakened Royal Challengers Bangalore attack which was deprived of Dale Steyn due to a lower back injury, and with support from M Vijay, Raina treated the sporting crowd to an air show. It propelled Chennai to a massive score and put the game beyond the reach of a line-up even as power-packed as Bangalore’s.The turning point was Steyn’s injury off a superbly-judged catch in the fourth over. Michael Hussey, looking to force the pace after a 153-minute rain delay, tried to loft Vinay Kumar over mid-off where Steyn was stationed. The shot was mistimed and Steyn back-pedalled several yards to snap the catch over his head, but fell backwards in the process. The impact of the fall left him gasping in pain and he had to be helped off the field, robbing Bangalore of the short-ball barrage he would have unleashed in the middle overs, a strategy that had served them well.Raina had little time to settle in with the Powerplay overs running out and the game reduced to 17 overs, but set about getting into his groove against a generous offering of length and short deliveries. Bangalore captain Anil Kumble had to resort to Virat Kohili’s dibbly-dobblies and the medium pace of Dillon du Preez, who was himself a replacement for Jacques Kallis, out due to a neck injury. Raina’s response was ruthless, one that forced Vijay to cede the floor after he had himself set the tone with a couple of imperious pulls off the opening seamers.The onslaught began, ironically, in the over after the Powerplay as two of Kohli’s pitched-up deliveries disappeared over Raina’s favourite zone on the cricket field – the deep-midwicket region. du Preez met the same fate and his attempt to show any spunk with the short ball, as his injured fast-bowling team-mate had so successfully done in previous attempts, was laid to waste. Raina pulled him into the stands over deep square leg.There were a couple of moments when Bangalore could have rebounded against the psychological setback that Steyn’s loss had dealt them. Raina slog-swept Kumble to deep midwicket in the seventh over and Manish Pandey attempted an acrobatic catch but couldn’t hold on. The effort was praiseworthy but incurred Kumble’s wrath as Pandey had walked in a fair distance for that delivery rather than standing at the edge of the rope. In the 11th over from Kumble, Raina attempted the same shot, only to top edge it towards short-fine where Rahul Dravid simply lost the ball and backed out of what would have been a sitter. Kumble, this time, could only react with a cold stare.Vijay’s supporting role in the partnership had its moment in the sun when he smashed du Preez for a six over midwicket. Bangalore’s woes did not abate even after he was dismissed by Vinay in the 12th over; Raina slapped the next ball ferociously into the crowd to bring up his half-century.It only got worse for Bangalore from there, and the helplessness was evident amid further catching lapses, missed run-outs, byes conceded by Robin Uthappa and the spate of no-balls and wides. Cameron White had bowled just once in 37 Twenty20 games but Kumble had no option but to turn to him. Bowling seam-up, White conceded two wides and as many no-balls in an over that yielded 13. The result was worse when Kumble reposed his faith in the final over where Raina deflated White with three fours, all off long-hops.Nor was Kumble spared. On a track and in conditions where he could only hope to skid the ball through, his variations were less potent and Raina cashed in. Two short balls were dispatched for fours in the 15th over and, as if to not deny the Bangalore captain of the treatment meted out to the rest, Raina gave him the customary swipe over cow corner. Kumble’s spell was acrimonious one, Raina’s victory sweet and Bangalore’s woes endless. Not long after, Kohli injured himself taking a catch but he did come back to bat in what soon developed into a hopeless chase.The signs were ominous for Bangalore in the first over of their response. Albie Morkel moved the ball prodigiously, beating the bat with a frequency normally witnessed on the first morning of a Test. The bounce was uneven and amid the mounting pressure, a wicket looked seemingly inevitable. Doug Bollinger snared Dravid off his first ball to an unconvincing drive, Morkel got Uthappa to produce a top-edge and Bollinger returned to undo Ross Taylor with some extra bounce. Kohli fell soon after and at 35 for 4 in the eighth over, there was no coming back. Manish Pandey and Praveen Kumar, though, did display some pyrotechnics of their own to give Bangalore some consolation on an otherwise dispiriting day.

England will play seven Tests, 10 ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals next summer against Sri Lanka and India, which will include the first Test staged at the Rose Bowl. Fans in the north of England, however, will have to make do with a solitary Test at Trent Bridge, with Headingley, Old Trafford and Chester-le-Street all limited to one-day fixtures.Hampshire’s home ground will host the third Test against Sri Lanka in June following matches at Cardiff and Lord’s. There will then be a one-off Twenty20 at Bristol before five ODIs complete Sri Lanka’s tour.It is a similar pattern for India’s visit but they will take part in a four-Test series with matches at Lord’s, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and The Oval followed by the one-day leg.The summer will be slightly less hectic than this year with three fewer ODIs than in 2010. The players will also have a lengthy break following the conclusion of the World Cup with the first Test of the season starting on May 26 at Lord’s. The international programme will finish on September 16 with the final ODI against India at Cardiff.”With India currently the number one ranked Test side in the ICC test rankings and Sri Lanka in third place, England supporters can expect to see two exciting Test series against high quality opposition,” David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said. “Both teams will also provide a tough challenge for England in the shorter forms of the game in what promises to be a highly competitive and entertaining summer of international cricket all round.”England v Sri LankaMay 26-30 – 1st Test, Cardiff
June 3-7 – 2nd Test, Lord’s
June 16-20 – 3rd Test, The Rose BowlJune 25 – Twenty20 international, Bristol
June 28 – 1st ODI, The Oval
July 1 – 2nd ODI, Headingley
July 3 – 3rd ODI, Lord’s
July 6 – 4th ODI, Trent Bridge
July 9 – 5th ODI, Old TraffordEngland v IndiaJuly 21-25 – 1st Test, Lord’s
July 29-August 2 – 2nd Test, Trent Bridge
August 10-14 – 3rd Test, Edgbaston
August 18-22 – 4th Test, The Oval
August 31 – Twenty20 International, Old Trafford
September 3 – 1st ODI, Chester-le-Street
September 6 – 2nd ODI, Rose Bowl
September 9 – 3rd ODI, The Oval
September 11 – 4th ODI, Lord’sSeptember 16 – 5th ODI, Cardiff