February 21, 2012 / Posted in  Australia

Ricky Ponting has confirmed that he will play on in Test cricket but has conceded that his one-day international career is over.

Ricky Ponting Press Conference

Ponting announced his decision at a press conference in Sydney the day after he was dropped from Australia’s one-day international squad. Although Ponting did not expressly state that he was retiring from ODIs, he said the national selector John Inverarity had told him he was not in the selectors’ plans in the 50-over format as they build towards the 2015 World Cup.

“It’s a little bit hard to come here today and say I’m retiring when I’ve already been left out of the side,” Ponting said. “I don’t expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I’m pretty sure the selectors don’t expect to pick me either.”

Ponting will leave the ODI arena with 13,704 runs at 42.03, second only to Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time run tally...

February 12, 2012 / Posted in  England, Pakistan

Shahid Afridi will add another dimension to Pakistan’s spin attack

Pakistan v England, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi  Match Facts and Predictions
Another trial by spin awaits England

Having suffered a 0-3 blanking in the Test series, England now head into the ODIs eager to make amends and regain some of their lost pride. On the other hand, Pakistan who have been in splendid form in all forms of the game, will look to add more to their wins tally.

Pakistan: While they have been on top of their game in the Test format, the World Cup semi-finalists have also been very successful in the One-day arena. Since January 2011, Pakistan have played 33 ODIs and have lost only 7 matches, including a loss to India in the 2011 World Cup. Since 2011, Pakistan have secured series victories against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Ireland apart from winning six games in the World Cup. They also won the only ODI against Afghanistan recently.

Coming to the current series, the Paki...