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DUBAI: Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi has expressed confidence in the country’s emerging talent, backing youngsters to step up in the absence of former mainstays Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Babar and Rizwan, once Pakistan’s revered T20I opening pair, have been sidelined from the format as the team pursues a more aggressive approach under new leadership. The transition follows the appointments of Mike Hesson as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach and Salman Ali Agha as T20I captain earlier this year. Hesson has publicly stated that Babar and Rizwan need to refine their T20I skills to reclaim their spots in the…

LAHORE: On the sidelines of the Pakistan Open MMA Championship on Friday, Omar Ahmed, the president of the Pakistan Mixed Martial Arts Federation, outlined an ambitious vision to establish Mixed Martial Arts as a premier sports property in the country, while detailing the significant systemic hurdles that stand in its way. A former kickboxer, Omar spoke candidly about the challenge of attracting advertisers in a market dominated primarily by the game of cricket. “Our purpose is to create a sport property in Pakistan,” Omar told Dawn. “At the moment, Pakistan Super League [PSL] is the only sports property of Pakistan.…

LAHORE: The six-member Coaching Affairs Committee formed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last month to interview and recommend new coaches has seen little involvement from its designated members, with only one actively carrying out the task alongside officials not part of the committee. The committee — announced on July 16 — includes Director High Performance Aqib Javed, Director Domestic Abdullah Khurram Niazi, Director HR and Administration Abdul Faisal Malik, Pakistan men’s head coach Mike Hesson, Head of Coaching Education Shahid Aslam, and GM Academies Imran Abbas. However, sources told Dawn that only Shahid Aslam has been conducting interviews, joined…

LAHORE: Contestants in action during their fight at the Pakistan Open MMA Championship on Friday. —courtesy ACTIVIT LAHORE: Heavy rain lashed Lahore on Friday but inside the Packages Mall a different storm was brewing as the much-anticipated Pakistan Open MMA Championship exploded into action with punches pouring down in the cage. The quarter-final round of the multi-nation tournament concluded with a series of pumped-up performances, setting the stage for a thrilling semi-final line-up. The three-day event is an official qualifier for the IMMAF World Championships in Georgia later this year, offering fighters a precious chance to earn their place on…

USA CRICKET [Representational Image only] The board’s legal counsel also cautioned that the termination was unlikely to hold up in arbitration © Getty In a significant development, USA Cricket has formally severed ties with its strategic partner, American Cricket Enterprises (ACE). The national governing body entered a 50-year agreement with ACE, the company behind Major League Cricket (MLC), in June 2019, granting it exclusive rights to own and operate a top-tier T20 league in the United States. The deal also covered commercialization of the national teams and plans to develop cricket infrastructure in a country with limited dedicated facilities. However,…

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2025 The DY Patil Stadium will host three league fixtures, one semi-final and potentially the final © Getty The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai will play host to five games for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 and has replaced the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as a venue for the mega tournament, the ICC announced on Friday (August 22). This comes after the Karnataka State Association failed to secure permission from the Karnataka State Government to host the games.The uncertainty of Bengaluru hosting games in the mega event wasfirst reported by Cricbuzz on August 7…

Quick revealed Marnus Labuschagne dismissal was the result of a perfectly-executed Protea plan Ngidi rips through Aussie middle order in Mackay Lungi Ngidi says he loves defending with the ball in one-day internationals and that Australia’s bowlers gave him a “blueprint” for success. Ngidi took a match-winning 5-42 on Friday night to cripple Australia’s chase, claiming the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne with the new ball before grabbing 4-9 to clean up the innings.South Africa stand-in captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bat first at Great Barrier Reef Arena, bucking a trend in the format. Since the last…

England pace bowler Kate Cross described her Cricket World Cup omission as “savage” and says she was left feeling “quite sick” after hearing the news.Cross, a mainstay of her country’s 50-over team in recent years, was left out of a 15-player party for this autumn’s ODI showpiece in India and Sri Lanka. England have selected four spin options in their squad – Sarah Glenn, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith and Charlie Dean – and with Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell and Em Arlott picked as the frontline seamers, fellow quick Cross has been pushed out. England’s Women’s Cricket World Cup squad Nat…

AUS V SA, 2ND ODI Chasing a target of 278, Australia were bowled out for 193 inside 38 overs © Getty Lungi Ngidi stepped up in the absence of the injured Kagiso Rabada, picking up 5/42 as South Africa clinched the three-match ODI series with a 84-run win in the second ODI. This gave South Africa their fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win against Australia. After opting to bat, South Africa found themselves in familiar territory at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay – rebuilding after early strikes before a dramatic late-order collapse threatened to derail what looked like…

Wicketkeeper started northern Australia tour with scores of 0, 0 and 5 as he fought the flu Inglis cracks highest international score on home soil Josh Inglis was relieved to be back to full health and back in the runs after a “miserable” 10 days that rocked the Australian wicketkeeper. Inglis was Australia’s top-scorer with a dynamic 87 in his side’s 84-run loss to South Africa in Mackay on Friday, ending a run of low scores across formats. The 30-year-old battled the flu in Darwin at the beginning of the BKT Tyres T20 series against South Africa, confining himself to…