Woolmer’s son praises Younus: Dawn

LAHORE: Dale Woolmer, son of Pakistan’s late coach Bob Woolmer, said captain Younus Khan dedicated Pakistan’s World Twenty20 victory to the nation and his father to acknowledge his association with the Pakistan cricket.

Appreciating the comments of Younus, Dale thanked the skipper for giving consideration to his father and to dedicate team’s success to him.

He also spoke highly of Younus’ performance as captain. ‘Dedicating the Cup to my father is very sweet and lovely,’ said Dale in a statement made available here on Wednesday.

He recalled his father’s attachment with the Pakistan team and said, ‘My father used to say that Pakistan can be the best team if they believe in themselves.’

Dale visited Pakistan more than once and stayed in Lahore with his father spoke warmly about the people of Pakistan and described them friendly.

Commenting on the situation after the refusal of foreign teams to visit Pakistan, Dale said, ‘People of Pakistan are great and foreign cricket teams should visit Pakistan.’

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Celebrations in Indian Kashmir after Pakistan win: AFP

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — Residents in Indian-ruled Kashmir Sunday fired crackers in the region's main city after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to win the World Twenty20 championship, witnesses said.

Srinagar -- the Kashmiri summer capital -- erupted in celebration after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets and as scores of Kashmiri youth poured on to the streets and lit firecrackers.

The youths also chanted pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom slogans as Indian paramilitary troops stayed in their bunkers, witnesses said.

Thousands of Kashmiris, including women and children, were glued to their televisions sets to watch the tense final.

"It is a great victory and one day I hope we will merge with Pakistan," said a die-hard Pakistani cricket fan, Mohammed Yaseen.

Residents in Muslim-majority Kashmir valley traditionally support Pakistan in sports events.

Indian Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly 20-year insurgency that has so far claimed more than 47,000 lives by an official count.

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Four Pakistan cricketers named in ICC World Twenty20 squad: Daily Times

LAHORE: Four Pakistan cricketers have been named in an International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 squad. The ICC on Monday announced the team of the tournament for the Twenty20 World Cup 2009 that finished at Lord’s on Sunday. The Pakistan players are Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Kamran Akmal. “The team was chosen by a select group of experts who were given the task of picking a balanced side for all conditions on the basis of performances in the tournament,” a spokesman for the ICC said. “Statistics were used but were not the sole basis for selections,” he added. The men’s team, including 12th man, also included three players from South Africa, three from Sri Lanka and two from the West Indies.

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Pakistan Stuns South Africa to Reach Final: New York Times

By HUW RICHARDS

Published: June 19, 2009

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND — Rarely does the honking of a car horn in a British traffic jam express any emotion other than anger and frustration. But the cacophony that erupted from the vehicles snarling the roads around the Trent Bridge ground in Nottingham after Pakistan had qualified for the World Twenty20 final Thursday night was an expression of pure joy.

Flags were waved from car windows, there were choruses of the victory chant “Pakistan zindabad!” and an impromptu party broke out on the corner outside the venerable Trent Bridge Inn. It was a truly joyful moment for a people who have had it hard of late. Winning a cricket match won’t, of course, solve the grim security situation in Pakistan or ease the economic and social pressures on Pakistanis in Britain, but it will, for the moment, make them feel a lot better. It was also a celebration of a magnificent performance by Pakistan’s team.

Pakistan lost the first World Twenty20 final in 2007. It earned a shot at going one better by beating the previously flawless South Africa by seven runs.

It was hard to believe this was the same team that had lost its opening match to England 11 days earlier.

As Younis Khan, its captain, said in yet another beaming stream-of-consciousness post-match news conference, “We are always slow starters.”

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Science v art in clash of cultures: Cricinfo

The Preview by Osman Samiuddin

It's first a clash of ethos, of philosophies and even of time, more than a semi-final. Here is truly man against machine, the art of cricket against the science of it, cricket's future and cricket's past. South Africa's progress to this point has been smooth, well-planned, calculated and inevitable, as if their players were born to do this. Pakistan have got here in shambles - losing games, winning some, treating it all as a bit of fun - and the players not so much born to do this are struggling to discover why they are doing it at all.

South Africa lack nowhere and nothing. If Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith are the efficient drones at the top, there is heart in the middle, with the ever-frail skills of Herschelle Gibbs and the creativity of AB de Villiers. Even Albie Morkel, in whom there are glimpses of Zulu, thankfully smiles more. They've always had pace, but now they even have spinners, who are not batsmen forced to bowl. Sure, they are a little one-dimensional (watching videos of Umar Gul's yorkers?), but they are spinners - South African and successful; how often have we said that in the past?

The whole machinery is intimidating, determined to iron out all kinks, the mission pre-programmed; with seven consecutive wins in this format, they have apparently also taken the inherent unpredictability of this format out of the equation. They are well-trained, well-oiled, and their psychologist talks about 120 contests and of processes over outcomes and how choking is not really an issue anymore. They win even warm-up matches and the dead games because every game counts. They are cricket's future.

Pakistan are the past. They are wholly dysfunctional, but just about getting along, though unsure where they are going. They don't control their extras, they don't run the singles hard and they field as if it were still the 60s. They are least bothered about erasing the flaws because any win will be in spite of them. They did hire a psychologist though, and you can only imagine what those sessions were like and how much they actually talked about sport and cricket. There are permanent mutterings of serious rifts. They may not bat, bowl or field well all the time, but sometimes, they do what can only be described as a 'Pakistan': that is, they bowl, bat or field spectacularly, briefly, to change the outcome of matches. You cannot plan or account for this as an opponent because Pakistan themselves don't plan or account for it.

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Pakistan want to win T20 title for Woolmer: AFP

By Julian Guyer – 10 hours ago

LONDON (AFP) — Pakistan captain Younus Khan has said his side would love to win the World Twenty20 as a tribute to their former coach Bob Woolmer.

The ex-England batsman died during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, hours after Pakistan's shock loss to Ireland.

However, a 39-run victory over the same opponents at the Oval on Monday saw Pakistan into the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 where they will play South Africa at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Woolmer, one of the most innovative coaches of his generation who guided English county side Warwickshire to several trophies before enjoying a successful spell with South Africa, was in charge of Pakistan for more than two years and many members of the current side played under him.

"He was an inspiring person for us," said Younus, who hopes to lead Pakistan to victory in Sunday's climax at Lord's after seeing them lose the inaugural 2007 World Twenty20 final to arch-rivals India in Johannesburg.

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Pakistan Can Bring the Noise to Final Four: New York Times

By HUW RICHARDS

Published: June 17, 2009

LONDON — Of the four teams left in the World Twenty20 tournament, which starts its semifinals in England on Thursday, Pakistan represents both continuity and passion.

It stands for continuity because it is the only survivor that also reached the final four at the first World Twenty20, in South Africa in 2007.

Pakistan represents passion because, alone among the final four, it can guarantee the atmosphere that comes only when a large section of the crowd cares desperately who wins and which lends any sporting event a sense of occasion.

In many countries that support could be generated only by the host and England was eliminated Monday when it lost to West Indies. But this is Britain in the 21st century. India also draws huge support. Its fans outcheered the English when the two teams met at Lord’s in London on Sunday. But India lost that match and it too has been eliminated.

That leaves Pakistan to pull in emotionally involved fans.

The results earlier this week show that crowd support can take a team only so far, but Pakistan will need all the help it can get when it plays South Africa at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday.

Each semifinal has a clear favorite.

In both of them, a team that has won all five of its games faces one that lost matches at both pool and Super Eight stages.

South Africa has been remorselessly victorious. Pakistan has won only one match out of three against test nations — its progress has been made possible by victories over Netherlands and Ireland, both on the second tier of international cricket. But its single victory over a test nation, New Zealand, was perhaps the most emphatic result of the tournament.

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