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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Top Pakistan cricket officials quit after team's defeat in World Cup

Top Pakistan cricket officials quit after team's defeat in World Cup

 The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Naseem Ashraf, and the country's three-member selection committee resigned Tuesday following their team's shock early exit from the World Cup.

"I have talked to Ashraf on the telephone and he has confirmed that he has sent his resignation to the patron of the PCB," said Ahsan Malik, communications director of the cricket board.

The patron of the board is President Pervez Musharraf.

"Ashraf faxed his resignation last night and it's now up to the patron whether he accepts it or not," Malik said.

Pakistan's cricket program has been in crisis for three days since Ireland handed it a stunning three-wicket defeat in a World Cup Group D match on Saturday.

The former test left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim and medium fast bowler Ehteshamuddin were the other members of the committee.

"We had decided soon after the debacle against Ireland that we are going to resign," Bari said. "After talking with Ashraf last night, we had submitted our resignations to the PCB."

The selection committee faced heavy criticism from other former Pakistan test players, especially for not choosing the opening batsman Salman Butt and the middle-order batsman Yasir Hameed.

"If we can't do well with experienced players like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik, then I don't know who else could have done wonders for us," Bari said.

West Indies, the host, beat Pakistan in the World Cup's opening game. With two successive defeats, Pakistan was ousted from the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

Coach Bob Woolmer died in the team's Jamaican hotel less than 24 hours after the loss to Ireland and Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his retirement from limited-overs games.

"Coach Bob Woolmer paid a heavy price for a failed campaign," said Qasim, another selector. "This is what we should have done earlier."

Woolmer, 58, was a diabetic, but no cause of death has been released. One of his sons said stress was a factor.

"We've been speaking to the doctors and they think it is either stress or a heart attack," Russell Woolmer said on a radio program in Cape Town, South Africa. "There was a lot of stress in his job and it may have been stress that caused it. We're all very shocked and we don't know what to do."

India rebounds with record

Brian Lara ensured that the West Indies will feature in the second round, and India rebounded from an upset loss with a record-setting victory over Bermuda, The Associated Press reported from Bridgetown, Barbados.

India amassed 413 for five to raise the World Cup mark for highest total, then bowled Bermuda out for 156 to win by 257 runs Monday and secure — by one run — the record for winning margin in a limited-overs international.

Until then, no team had surpassed 400 in a World Cup. Sri Lanka's 398-5 against Kenya in 1996 was the highest total.

But a victory over Sri Lanka is what India now needs to reach the next round. A shock five-wicket loss to Bangladesh put Rahul Dravid's side into the position of having to win by big margins.

Virender Sehwag pounded 114 from 87 balls, including 17 boundaries and three sixes for his first ODI hundred in two years and shared a 202-run second- wicket stand with Sourav Ganguly, who was out 11 runs shy of his fifth World Cup hundred.

In Kingston, Jamaica, Lara finished 44 not out, guiding West Indies to a six- wicket victory over Zimbabwe with 13 balls to spare and into the second round of a World Cup for the first time since 1996.

West Indies, with four points, will advance regardless of what happens in its last Group D match against Ireland.

New Zealand was aiming to clinch a Super 8 berth with a victory over Kenya, the surprise semifinalist in 2003, on Tuesday, when South Africa takes on Scotland in another chance to fine-tune for its Group A grudge match against Australia on Saturday.

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