McIlroy back for ‘unfinished business’

"Last year I had a tough week. I guess I let frustrations get the better of me and perhaps should have adopted a more mature approach," Rory McIlroy. PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES: One of Rory McIlroy’s lowest points during a frustrating 2013 campaign came at the Honda Classic in Florida, but he is looking forward to returning to ‘one of my favourite events’ for this year’s edition.

McIlroy announced his intention to compete from February 27-March 2 at the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, where he won the tournament in 2012 after holding off a final-round charge from Tiger Woods to take over as world number one.

“I really can’t wait to get back to The Honda,” said McIlroy. “It is one of my favourite events of the year and winning in 2012 was an important landmark in my career.

“Last year,I had a tough week. I guess I let frustrations get the better of me and perhaps should have adopted a more mature approach.”

Twelve months ago, McIlroy withdrew from the PGA Tour event after eight holes of his second round, initially saying he was in a ‘bad place mentally’ and then later citing toothache. His actions earned him widespread criticism by his peers.

“I’m playing really well now, enjoying the game much more and I am looking forward to getting back to PGA National,” he said.

“You could say that I have unfinished business to attend to this year at The Honda.”

Pietersen ‘sad’ as England career ends

SWITCH HIT: Pietersen’s nine-year international career saw him become one of the world’s leading batsmen, his 23 Test hundreds coming amidst a Test tally of 8,181 runs at an impressive average of 47.28. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON: Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen expressed sadness over the end of his international career on Wednesday and said that he was ‘incredibly overwhelmed’ by the support he had received.

Pietersen’s days as an international cricketer came to an end on Tuesday when the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that it had ‘unanimously’ decided to move forward without him.

With England due to name their squads for the forthcoming tour of the West Indies and the World Twenty20 on Thursday, the ECB’s new managing director, Paul Downton, elected to make a decisive call on the batsman’s future.

Pietersen posted a picture on Instagram of himself leaving the field after his final Test match against Australia in Sydney during England’s recent 5-0 Ashes defeat.

He wrote: “So sad that this will now be the last time I leave a field in an England shirt.

“I’m incredibly overwhelmed by the support. Thank you so much. I love England and I honestly hope they have every success in the future.”

Now Pietersen appears to have more time to make the vast sums of money in the lucrative Indian Premier League – something his critics have always claimed is his main motivation.

But he insisted on Tuesday: “Playing cricket for my country has been an honour. I will continue to play, but deeply regret that it won’t be for England.”

Pietersen, England’s record scorer across all formats, bows out with a purely Test tally of 8,181 runs in 104 matches, including 23 hundreds, at an average of 47.28.

Pietersen axe splits England pundits

Pietersen’s outspoken personality and on-pitch single-mindedness have made him a polarising figure, with former England players divided in their reactions to the news of his axing.

Former captain Michael Vaughan wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Pietersen’s sacking was ‘preposterous’, but former fast bowler Bob Willis said that he had ‘disrupted every single dressing room he’s been in’.

Nasser Hussain, Vaughan’s immediate predecessor as England captain, had mixed feelings at a decision that left current skipper Alastair Cook without one of his most talented players.

“Some people believe in cutting out the virus and moving on; others just say ‘manage your best players’.”

Pietersen’s exit is the latest chapter in the damaging fall-out from the Australia tour for England, after head coach Andy Flower resigned, spinner Graeme Swann retired, and batsman Jonathan Trott had to leave the squad with a stress-related illness.

ICC restructuring: Sri Lanka joins Pakistan in opposing 'Big Three'

Sri Lanka opposes ICC reforms. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLCB) on Wednesday joined Pakistan in rejecting the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) proposed ‘Big Three’ restructuring, reportedExpress News on Wednesday.

The rejection by Sri Lanka comes at a time when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has opposed ICC’s proposal.

The ICC proposal aims to concentrate management of world cricket in the hands of just three cricketing nations including England, Australia and India. The proposal has become a contentious issue and was rejected by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

A similar stance has been adopted by Cricket South Africa also who had initially termed the position paper presented by the Big Three ‘fundamentally flawed’ The ICC executive committee has said ‘all rights of Sri Lanka Cricket will be safeguarded in the reforms.’

However, the proposal has secured support from some of the smaller cricketing nations such as Bangladesh.

The once mighty West Indies predict that they will get a hundred per cent increase in revenue after restructuring takes place. New Zealand too seems to have sided with the proposal.

A voting on the draft is expected to be made in the next ICC meeting scheduled to take place in Singapore on February 8.

If we keep the momentum going, we can expose them’

Home captain Brendon McCullum was unfazed by the huge gulf in the rankings between the two sides, where India are second to New Zealand's lowly eighth. PHOTO: AFP

AUCKLAND: New Zealand are quietly confident of their ability to exploit the green state of the Eden Park wicket and upset India in the first Test starting in Auckland on Thursday.

A combination of a bowler-friendly pitch and the success of the same XI, who won back-to-back Tests in similar conditions against the West Indies in December, meant the selection was a no-brainer for Captain Brendon McCullum.

“It’s a bit of both,” he said on Wednesday. “It’s a nice luxury to be able to continue with the same team, and obviously the pitch as well.”

It was definitely a bowl-first wicket, he added, with New Zealand intent on continuing the short-pitched attack that proved to be India’s undoing in the just completed One-Day International (ODI) series won by New Zealand 4-0.

The home captain was also unfazed by the huge gulf in the rankings between the two sides, where India are second to New Zealand’s lowly eighth.

“We know how tough a challenge it is but we’ve got a quiet confidence that if we continue to bowl and field as well as we have done this summer, then we can expose some of the not-so-strong aspects of their game.”

The pitch has ‘a decent covering of grass’ and the promise of more bounce than when New Zealand had England on the ropes here last year, only to be denied victory by a heroic century from Matt Prior on the final day.

You can pick and choose in Tests: Dhoni

While New Zealand were confident enough to name their side 24 hours before the toss, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was more circumspect in delaying naming his side as late as possible.

He also batted away any suggestion that India’s well-documented failings against the short-pitched deliveries in the one-day series would have a bearing on the Tests.

“The plus point in Test matches is you can pick and choose,” he said, adding that India were hampered in the ODIs by their openers not setting a solid enough platform.

“If you don’t get too many runs in the first 10 [overs], it means the middle order have to come in to play those strokes because the asking rate keeps on rising if you keep leaving them.”

Shahbaz Sharif approves Rs100 million grant for Pakistan Hockey Federation

Secretary PHF Rana Mujahid Ali thanked Shahbaz Sharif for the noble gesture. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday announced a grant of Rs 100 million for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

The governing body of the country’s national sport had sought immediate release of funds to ensure revival of the game.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Secretary PHF Rana Mujahid Ali welcomed the announcement. “The announcement by the chief minister is nothing less than restoring oxygen supply for the national game, we were desperate for funds and on the behalf of the entire hockey fraternity and players. I thank Shahbaz Sharif for this noble gesture, we will disclose our future plans in a press briefing tomorrow (Thursday)”.

Earlier in December, the PHF had requested that the government release Rs 300 million to cover their expenditure for this year.

They also asked that Rs 500 million be sanctioned for the sport in the annual federal budget, this year onwards.

The PHF saw a new set-up in November after the elections. It was lacking funds even to pay salaries. According to the PHF, they needed an immediate ‘bail-out package’.

The ‘bail out package’ stated that the PHF wants to focus on schools, colleges and universities. The proposal also included a programme for jobs assistance to players and promoting departmental hockey

Banned for spot-fixing, Salman, Asif, Aamir dream of comebacks

Salman Butt (L), Mohammad Asif (C), and Mohammad Aamir (R) were sentenced on February 5, 2011. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

LAHORE: Pakistan’s talented but tainted cricketing trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir on Wednesday vowed to return to international cricket, three years to the day after they were banned for spot-fixing.

On February 5, 2011 an anti-corruption tribunal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) banned the three players for a minimum of five years for arranging no-balls to order during the Lord’s Test against England in August 2010.

Butt, 29, the captain of the Pakistan Test team at the time, finally admitted his guilt in June last year and said he wanted to move on from the disgrace.

“I try hard to forget but someone always makes me remember that tough day,” Butt told AFP.

Butt was banned for 10 years, with five suspended, Asif for seven with two suspended and Aamer for five years. All of them could return to the game in August 2015.

“I regularly play cricket as I cannot adopt any other profession and I am very, very keen to stage a comeback,” said Butt.

The ICC tribunal made rehabilitation, including anti-corruption courses, mandatory to avoid the suspended part of the players’ sentence.

West Indian Marlon Samuels is the only player ever to return to international cricket after serving a two-year ban on fixing.

Butt said he wanted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to help him get permission to play first-class cricket.

“The PCB has taken up Aamir’s case and I have appealed to them to help me play first-class cricket, as I am very keen to resume my career,” said Butt, who played 33 Tests, 78 one-day internationals and 24 Twenty20s for Pakistan.

The ICC last year formed a committee to consider relaxing some of the sanctions of Aamir’s ban.

Asif has found a sideline on the silver screen and is about to star in a joint Indian-Pakistani film, but says he wants to return to the game.

“Although I am going to act in the film, my first love is cricket and I am counting the days until my ban is over,” Asif, 31, told AFP.

“Cricket will always be part of my life, it’s in my blood and I will bowl once again for Pakistan.”

Meanwhile 21-year-old Aamer – who was just 19 at the time of the scandal and received a great deal of sympathy – said he was looking forward to returning.

“I train a lot because I cannot think of anything else to do other than playing cricket,” he told AFP.

Before the ban, the young left-armed was seen as one of the brightest fast-bowling talents in international cricket.

Obama meets war commanders as Afghan plan in limbo

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaking during a ceremony in Kabul on February 4, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama met top Afghanistan war advisors on Tuesday with US plans for a post-2014 military force in limbo over President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a security agreement.

Obama met Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Marine General Joseph Dunford, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, as he deliberates on the pace of US troop drawdowns and future strategy.

Karzai has infuriated Washington by declining to sign a bilateral security agreement (BSA), which would allow some US troops to remain behind on a training mission when American and allied combat missions end at the end of the year.

The White House has warned that if he does not sign soon, it will have to begin preparing to leave no troops behind in the country.

“As each day passes and we move further into this calendar year it becomes more imperative that the Afghan government sign the agreement that was negotiated in good faith so that NATO and the United States can make plans for a post-2014 troop presence,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The White House says Obama has so far made no decisions about how many American troops would remain behind to advise the still fledgling Afghan armed forces.

But it has made clear it is not prepared to wait out Karzai’s last few months in office to sign the BSA after elections that will not likely identify the next Afghan president until late May.

“This has to be a matter of weeks,” Carney said.

The State Department meanwhile said that Dunford and James Dobbins, the US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, would travel to Brussels and Berlin in the next few days to consult NATO allies.

The United States had earlier pushed for the BSA to be signed by the end of October so that the NATO military coalition could schedule the withdrawal of its troops.

Karzai has said that before he signs the BSA, the United States must foster a genuine peace process with Taliban militants.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Afghan leader had been engaging in private contacts with the Taliban — without the involvement of the United States or its Western allies.

The paper said that the contacts had made no progress so far.