Showing posts with label Kamran Khan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kamran Khan. Show all posts

Pakistan lose T20I by 7 runs against West Indies

on Friday, April 22, 2011

Pakistan lose T20I by 7 runs against West Indies GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: Pakistan lost the only Twenty20 International by seven runs in an exciting finish here at the Beausejour Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing a modest target of 151 runs, they made 143 runs for nine wickets in the first ever T20I between the two countries.

For Pakistan, no batsman except Umar Akmal (41) and Asad Shafiq (25) could resist against accurate bowling by the West Indians as leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo claimed four wickets for 17 runs and fast-medium bowler Ravi Rampaul took three for 31.

West Indies picked a youthful team for the one-off game and the upcoming ODI series, having dropped experienced batsmen Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

One of the young faces, opening batsman Lendl Simmons got West Indies off to a great start with a lively 65 off 44 balls and left-hander Darren Bravo struck 42 off 33 as the Caribbean side brought up their 100 in the 13th over.

But, as so often, Darren Sammy's side failed to build on their good foundation and ended up falling short of a really strong total, with just two other players making double figures.

Pakistan lost both their openers, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, early but Umar Akmal's 41 from 60 balls put them in with a chance.

Bishoo, who caught the eye of West Indies selectors with his performances in regional Twenty20 cricket, then showed his value in the shortest form of the game with some astute bowling.

The vital breakthrough came when Sammmy made a fine catch at extra-cover off Bishoo, to dismiss skipper Shahid Afridi (12) and break up what was a potentially match winning partnership.

Sammy then ran out Mohammand Salman and when Marlon Samuels caught Umar at deep midwicket off Ravi Rampaul, Pakistan were in trouble at 109-7.
]
But some loose bowling and some spirited resistance from Saeed Ajmal (21 not out) at the end gave the tourists a glimmer of hope and the last pair needed 14 from the final ove

NATO does not need US for Libya: Biden

on Wednesday, April 20, 2011

NATO does not need US for Libya: Biden WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview published Tuesday that NATO can handle Libya without US help, saying Washington's efforts are better focused on places like Pakistan or Egypt.

"If the Lord Almighty extricated the US out of NATO and dropped it on the planet of Mars so we were no longer participating, it is bizarre to suggest that NATO and the rest of the world lacks the capacity to deal with Libya -- it does not," Biden told the Financial Times.

"Occasionally other countries lack the will, but this is not about capacity," he told the daily amid deep unease among the US public and lawmakers over military action in Libya.

Washington coordinated operations in the first days of allied intervention in Libya after the United Nations Security Council approved international military action to thwart attacks by Kadhafi forces on rebel-held cities.

It transferred command to the NATO alliance earlier this month, leaving the Pentagon primarily providing refueling and surveillance aircraft, but it still flexes its military might.

Biden argued that Washington had to decide whether to spend resources "focusing on Iran, Egypt, North Korea, Afghanistan [and] Pakistan", or give Libya more attention, stressing: "We can't do it all." "The question is: Where should our resources be?" he asked.

"This is about our strategic interest and it is not based upon a situation of what can the traffic bear politically at home," he said. "The traffic can bear politically more in Libya: There's a bad guy there, everybody knows he's a bad guy, the people don't like him, and so that's not hard," he added, referring to Kadhafi.

Same formula still makes a decent 'Scream

on Thursday, April 14, 2011

Same formula still makes a decent Ghostface's 11-year layoff hasn't made the "Scream" franchise feel any fresher. But with a decent beginning, a mushy midsection and a killer ending, the latest installment at least doesn't feel any staler.

"Scream 4" is pretty much the same-old thing, which the filmmakers hope will seem new again given how long the horror-comedy series has been festering in its temporary grave.

Honestly, it's not an unwelcome thing to watch the return of Neve Campbell as the slasher victim who wouldn't die, Courtney Cox as the tabloid hack in bloodlust for a story and David Arquette as the bumbling Barney Fife of fright-flick cops.

Director Wes Craven has added an attractive young harvest of fresh meat on the victim and psycho front, led by Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin, along with amusing cameos from Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell and others.

"Scream 4" opens with the franchise's usual prologue, this one modestly clever, heavier on laughs than suspense.

But it gets the action rolling and the blood flowing for the main event: Campbell's celebrity victim Sidney Prescott returns to her hometown on a book tour for her memoir about surviving her encounters with the various Ghostface slashers.

Her arrival coincides with the anniversary of the original slayings, when the town's teenage Sidney idolaters already are in a frenzy for the annual "Stabathon" party built around the Hollywood franchise inspired by her experiences.

Of course, bodies pile up as a new Ghostface goes on a rampage.

Cox's Gale Weathers now is married to Arquette's Sheriff Dewey, and the moments of domestic duress the characters experience add a little subtext, given the actors' real-life marriage was breaking up while they shot the movie.

Bored and looking to get back into the journalism game, Gale leaps in trying to unmask the latest Ghostface, while Dewey cluelessly suffers along again, aided by a gung-ho deputy (Marley Shelton) harboring a major crush for him (Anthony Anderson and Adam Brody add decent laughs as a couple of other deputies).

Ghostface's circle of prey includes Sidney's cousin (Roberts) and some of her friends and classmates, among them Panettiere and Culkin. Mary McDonnell also appears fleetingly as Sidney's aunt; the movie progresses in such patched-together fashion that much of her role may have been sliced out.

With a screenplay by original "Scream" writer Kevin Williamson, the movie is an over-long, sometimes plodding collision of characters, any of which could turn out a killer or victim in the arbitrary world of the franchise.

This time, the crisscross of blind clues and red herrings almost makes it feel as if Craven left the unmasking of Ghostface for the last day of filming then simply handed a knife to someone with the instruction to start stabbing.

What comes after that unveiling is great fun, a really clever twist on the clichés of slasher-movie violence.

The movie drags in many spots before that climax. Craven often seems to be finger-painting with the entrails of the first three movies, slopping random blood, gore and gags on the walls to see what sticks.

"Scream 4" slathers on winking, self-referential banter about the conventions of the franchise, along with horror flicks and sequels in general.

Much of it is funny, some of the best laughs resulting when people ponder their place in the hierarchy of horror-genre characters and how that affects their odds of survival.

Pakistan cricket team leaves for West Indies

on

Pakistan cricket team leaves for West Indies LAHORE: Pakistan cricket team has left for West Indies from Lahore after completing the training camp.

Talking to media before departure at Allama Iqbal airport, team manager Intikhab Alam said, "I am hopeful with young cricketers, they will perform well and InshAllah would help to win the series against West Indies."

He said that young players have a golden chance to get experience and to show their performance.

National cricket team would play a T-20 and a series of one-day international matches under the captaincy of Shahid Afridi, while two test matches under the captaincy of Misbah-Ul-Haq.

National cricket team will start the tour of West Indies with a practice match. The practice match between Pakistan and West Indies teams will begin on 18 April.