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By Lawrence Booth
Last updated at 9:21 AM on 18th February 2011

England take on Pakistan today in a warm-up game that feels more like a grudge  match following the acrimonious events of 2010.

The sides have been staying in the same Dhaka hotel during the build-up to the  World Cup, which starts here tomorrow with Bangladesh against India following  last night's colourful opening ceremony, but Stuart Broad admitted the two  teams – who have not met since the summer – have given each other a wide berth.

Come here and say that: Wahab Riaz clashed with Jonathan Trott last year

'We’ve seen them but not spoken to them,’ said the England fast bowler. ‘And it’s not like we've been going out for dinner with them.’

The banned trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer are absent  following their part in the no-ball scandal that wrecked the Lord’s Test.

But  Wahab Riaz – the seamer who clashed with Jonathan Trott before the one-day  international at the same ground – is in Pakistan’s squad.

Broad, whose career-best 169 at Lord’s was all but forgotten amid the controversy, admitted: ‘Obviously it was a tough time for us last year: all  England players will say the same.

'We enjoyed the cricket, but the  off-the-field incidents did damage our wonderful summer of cricket. But you've  got to move on and the World Cup campaign is our sole focus.’

England made an unconvincing start to their tour on Wednesday when they  squeezed out minnows Canada by 16 runs in their opening warm-up match Fatullah,  but Broad’s haul of five for 39 in his first game since tearing stomach muscles  in Adelaide in December was a rare ray of light.

‘It was great to get back on the pitch,’ he said. ‘I was a bit nervous before  the start, but I feel very fresh having not played for a long time and very fit  after all the gym work.’

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Labels: daily, England, final, friendly, hardly, Itaposs, Match, Pakistan, warmup

{ GETTY IMAGES

Andrew Strauss enjoys some local hospitality at the World Cup's opening ceremony in Dhaka yesterday

Perhaps a lack of intensity was part of the problem for England during their uninspiring 16-run victory over Canada earlier this week. Well, there should be no shortage of either passion or full-blooded commitment in Fatullah today with Pakistan providing the opposition.

In football, it would be termed a friendly international. In cricket, it is called a World Cup warm-up game, which is probably for the best considering the less than cordial relations between these two countries in recent times.

The other 12 teams have completed their preparations, and all 14 captains lined up alongside one another at last night's opening ceremony in Dhaka. But with most attention now switching to tomorrow's first match of the tournament proper – between many people's favourites, India, and co-hosts Bangladesh – there is a bit of unfinished practice for England and Pakistan to squeeze in.

England won a five-match one-day series against Pakistan last September by a margin of 3-2. What most people remember, though, is the bad feeling between the two sides in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing storm that engulfed the tourists during the Lord's Test.

Andrew Strauss and his team were furious that their summer of triumph had been soured by events completely beyond their control – and anyone needing confirmation of their anger received it when Jonathan Trott and pace bowler Wahab Riaz clashed in the nets before the penultimate match of the one-day series.

Both teams are presently staying in the same Dhaka hotel, but have not been chatting about old times by all accounts. "We have not seen a huge amount of them in the hotel," said Stuart Broad. "We haven't been going out for dinner with them.

"Obviously it was a tough summer for us last year – all England players will say the same. We enjoyed playing the cricket but our wonderful summer of cricket was damaged. But you've got to move on. It is international sport and we've got a job to do."

Right now, that job is to suggest Wednesday's performance against Canada was a one-off so far as this World Cup campaign is concerned. Apart from Broad, who returned from his Ashes-wrecking side injury with a five-wicket haul and some aggressive lower-order batting, there was precious little to indicate England are anything other than the long shots most people believe them to be.

Kevin Pietersen's first attempt at an opening was a partial success, at best, and Canada – World Cup no-hopers – not only hit more boundaries than England but also threatened to pull off a remarkable victory.

England have argued that they had only been in Bangladesh for a few days and were still acclimatising to playing conditions different in just about every aspect to those they encountered in Australia while losing that one-day series 6-1. Today, though, there needs to be significant improvements in all departments.

Pakistan, as ever, are just about impossible to weigh up. They have sufficient talent – even without the banned Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – to win this World Cup, and the capacity to self-destruct so completely that a first-round exit is not impossible.

On the evidence of their first warm-up game, though, the good Pakistan are in town. They trounced potential dark horses Bangladesh by 89 runs on Tuesday with the mercurial Abdul Razzaq taking three wickets after centuries from opener Ahmad Shahzad and Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

That was one of several impressive victories this week. No one, though, will enter the tournament in better heart than India, who defeated holders Australia by 38 runs and New Zealand, by a whopping 117 runs.

Sri Lanka have also looked good. And South Africa's supporters will feel entitled to predict a first ever World Cup triumph after the way their side performed against Australia – winning by seven wickets.

Few people, though, will be brave enough to write off the Aussies on the strength of two defeats in warm-up matches. And even fewer, perhaps, will want to talk up England's chances too much, regardless of how they perform today.

Some signs of encouragement would be handy, though, with Strauss's men facing a potential banana skin, in the shape of the Netherlands, in their opening match of the tournament on Tuesday. Thankfully, Graeme Swann, England's all-important spinner, will be available: his wife gave birth to their first child, 8lb 9oz Wilfred, yesterday.

Probable teams

England A J Strauss (captain), K P Pietersen, I J L Trott, P D Collingwood, M J Prior (wkt), M H Yardy, J C Tredwell, J M Anderson, S C J Broad, A Shahzad, R S Bopara

Pakistan (from) S Afridi (captain), M Hafeez, M ul-Haq, A Shafiq, Y Khan, U Akmal, A Shehzad, K Akmal (wkt), A Razzaq, A Rehman, W Riaz, S Ajmal, U Gul, S Akhtar, J Khan

Today, Fatullah, 8.30am

Umpires B Oxenford (Aus) & B Doctrove (WI)

Weather Expected to be warm and sunny, with a maximum temperature of 27C.

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Labels: desperate, England, grudge, Independent, Match, Pakistan

Pakistan
27 soldats tués dans un attentat
Vingt-sept soldats ont été tués aujourd'hui, jeudi, par un «adolescent» en uniforme d'écolier qui a fait exploser sa bombe dans une enceinte de l'armée dans le nord-ouest du pays. L'attaque a été revendiquée par les talibans. L'attentat a été perpétré dans un camp militaire à Mardan, une petite ville garnison, au moment du passage en revue matinale des jeunes recrues. «Vingt-sept soldats ont été tués et 35 blessés», a déclaré le ministre de l'Information de la province de Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (nord-ouest). Mardan est une ville garnison proche des zones tribales du nord-ouest, frontalières avec l'Afghanistan, bastion des talibans pakistanais, principal sanctuaire d'Al-Qaîda dans le monde et base arrière importante des talibans afghans. Cette petite ville est également située à une cinquantaine de km du district tribal de Mohmand, où l'armée mène, depuis fin janvier, une offensive contre les talibans. Leur plus important regroupement, le Mouvement des talibans du Pakistan (TTP), est le principal responsable d'une vague de près de 450 attentats -suicides pour la plupart- qui ont fait plus de 4 000 morts dans tout le pays en trois ans et demi. A plusieurs reprises, ces derniers temps, le TTP a revendiqué des attentats ciblant les forces de sécurité en représailles, disent-ils, aux offensives de l'armée contre eux et à la campagne de tirs quasi-quotidiens de missiles des drones de la CIA américaine dans leurs fiefs des zones tribales, visant des cadres d'Al-Qaîda et des talibans pakistanais et afghans. «Nous revendiquons avec fierté l'attaque» de Mardan, a déclaré ce jeudi matin le porte-parole du TTP, Azam Tariq, dans un entretien téléphonique avec l'AFP depuis un lieu inconnu, quelques heures après l'attentat.      


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Labels: ICCaposs, Pakistan, players, punished, Shift, Sport, stance

{ Amir (left), Butt (centre) and Asif (right): will face court

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have charged Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir with conspiracy to cheat bookmakers over the match-fixing scandal.

The trio will face court over their actions during the fourth Test against England at Lord's last August.

All three players were questioned by Scotland Yard detectives over claims made in the News of the World newspaper that they had accepted cash to deliberately bowl no-balls.

Agent Mazhar Majeed, accused of accepting £150,000 to fix the actions of players, was also charged with conspiracy to cheat bookmakers.

The CPS said all four men have also been charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments.

Simon Clements, of the CPS, said: "These charges relate to allegations that Mr Majeed accepted money from a third party to arrange for the players to bowl 'no balls' on August 26 and 27, 2010, during Pakistan's Fourth Test at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.

"Mr Majeed has been summonsed to appear for a first hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 17 March.

"Summonses for the same court date have been issued for the three players and they have been asked to return to this country voluntarily, as they agreed to do in September last year. Their extradition will be sought should they fail to return.

"The Crown Prosecution Service has been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service since the allegations of match-fixing became public on August 29 2010.

"We received a full file of evidence on December 7 2010, and we are satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute.

"I would remind everyone that these men are entitled to a fair trial and should be regarded as innocent of these charges unless it is proven otherwise in court.

"The International Cricket Council tribunal is due to announce its decision tomorrow, but criminal proceedings are active now.

"It is extremely important that nothing should be reported which could prejudice the trial."

A fourth player, Wahab Riaz, was also interviewed under caution but it is understood prosecutors did not consider bringing charges against him.

Butt, Asif and Amir were already suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and also the Pakistan Cricket Board but denied any wrongdoing.

A three-man ICC tribunal, which met for six days at the start of the year, will announce their decision on whether the players will face sanctions on Saturday.

Accepting corrupt payments is an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and carries a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Cheating is an offence contrary to Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005. It carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

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Labels: charged, Pakistan, SkySports