WAQAR QUIET ON AFRIDI TALK

Coach Waqar Younis has refused to speculate on the possibility of Shahid Afridi returning as Pakistan's limited overs captain.
Afridi was stripped of the captaincy on the eve of this weekend's two one-day internationals against Ireland in Belfast after allegedly claiming interference from Pakistan Cricket Board officials in team selection.
The all-rounder is due to face a meeting with the PCB to explain his comments, although the governing body have denied his demotion came as a result of them.
Afridi was widely lauded after leading Pakistan to the semi-finals of the World Cup in March but, after pulling out of the Ireland series to be with his sick father, question marks remain around his future role with the national side.
"I have got no idea about that. It is the Cricket Board's decision what they want to do about the captaincy," Waqar said.
"My job is to look after the team and to deliver the goods.
"It's tough to say anything about it."
Waqar also denied reports he had fallen out with Afridi, after claims the all-rounder had also been unhappy with his role with the team.
"It was the papers that made all this," he added. "There is nothing in it."
Waqar was more concerned with his team's preparations ahead of Saturday's opening match against an Ireland team he is wary of following their World Cup exploits.
Waqar pointed to Ireland's stunning success over England on the sub-continent as reason to be on guard as he aims to maintain his side's motivation for a series that has followed hot on the heels of a tour of the Caribbean.
"They are a good side. They are young, they are very enthusiastic," he added.
"They chased 300-plus against England. Who thought they could do that?
"They are a very positive side and they are big fighters. We have to play really well."
Waqar is also fearful of literally being caught cold by the Irish after his side flew in from the balmy temperatures in the West Indies on Thursday.
"Coming from 35-40 degrees with a lot of humidity there and coming into this weather it is hard to adjust, especially with all those flights as well," added Waqar, who also pledged to play a full-strength team.
"I think we are professional enough to adapt to the conditions very quickly.
"We know what Ireland are capable of. They are a very tough opponent. We have to be very, very careful."
The Pakistan coach also backed calls, led by the Irish, for the International Cricket Council to backtrack on their decision not to include associate nations at the next World Cup in Australia.
The ICC's chief executive committee is due to discuss the possibility of introducing a qualification process at a meeting in Hong Kong next month.
Waqar believes Ireland would be fully deserving if a decision was made to allow them a route back into the 2015 World Cup.
"Just looking at the last World Cup, because I haven't seen much of their cricket outside that, but there they played like champions. It was top-level cricket," he said.
"The ICC have got a different ruling but I personally believe they have a good side and they are getting better day by day.

Intikhab Alam's report led to Afridi's sacking as captain

Shahid Afridi's media outbursts were not the only reason for his sacking as Pakistancaptain, it has emerged that team managerIntikhab Alam and coach Waqar Youniscontributed to it with a critical report of his conduct during the just-concluded tour of the West Indies.

Well-placed sources in the board have confirmed that the report was sent after the ODI series during which serious differences developed between Afridi and the team management over selection issues.

"PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt asked the manager and coach to send a report on reported incidents where Afridi walked out of a team meeting and was also reluctant to lead the team in the last two one-day internationals because of selection issues with Waqar," a source disclosed.

"The manager in his report outlined the details of the incident and differences between Afridi and Waqar and also highlighted that Afridi had not behaved like a captain during the entire episode and was only persuaded to lead and play in the last two one-dayers by Intikhab and all this drama had a detrimental effect on the team atmosphere," the source said.

Pakistan lost the last two one-dayers in the West Indies after winning the first three in a row by comfortable margins and appeared set to clean sweep the five-match rubber.

The board has not given any reason for removing Afridi as captain of the one-day team but Butt has admitted there were disciplinary reasons for changing the captain.

"I will not elaborate on the reasons right now but I can say this much we had valid ground for taking this decision and we will give details once the Pakistan team returns home and we get the full tour report from the manager and coach," Butt said.

Butt insisted that the board was very clear now that no indiscipline would be tolerated from any player.

The PCB chief said a full review of the happenings in the West Indies would take place once the team is home and anyone found guilty of causing damage to team spirt and discipline would be taken to task.

Butt, while removing Afridi as captain, appointed senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq to lead the team in the two one-dayers against Ireland on May 28 and 30.

Afridi, who was picked as a player for the two one-dayers, has pulled out of the series due to the illness of his ailing father who is under treatment in the USA.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Intikhab has played a role in getting the captain changed.

In early 2009, as coach of the national team, he and the then manager Yawar Saeed recommended replacing Shoaib Malik as captain who they felt was not able to communicate properly with the other players.

Later that year, Intikhab and Yawar were again in charge when Younis Khan pulled out of the team and stepped down as captain during a one-day series in the UAE.

Yawar was later accused of helping Afridi, Malik and some other players meet Butt to whom they voiced their opposition to Younis as captain.

After the tour to Australia in mid 2009 it was on Intikhab and Yawar's reports that the board held an inquiry and removed Muhammad Yousuf as Test captain.

Misbah’s Pakistan face tricky Ireland series

Pakistan are set to play a two-match one-day series against Ireland with Misbah-ul-Haq, their fifth limited overs captain in three years.
Misban was handed the captaincy last week following the sacking of Shahid Afridi, who, it was announced on Tuesday, is not travelling to Ireland.
“Afridi has informed us that his father has been admitted to hospital for liver treatment and he wants to be with him and would not be available for the two matches in Ireland,” said Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar.
The 31-year-old Afridi took over as Pakistan captain last year and guided the team to the World Cup semi-final where they lost to India – who went on to win the final – in March.
After the recent series against the West Indies, Afridi accused Pakistan coach Waqar Younis of meddling in team selection upon his return home on May 9.
“Everyone should do his job and should be answerable for his duties,” Afridi said. When asked about his differences with Waqar, he replied: “They are not at a stage where we cannot resolve them.”
The weather could hardly be more different to that in the Caribbean the Pakistanis left barely 24 hours earlier before they arrived in Belfast here on Thursday amid cool, breezy conditions.
Meanwhile, the Stormont ground, the venue for both matches, on Saturday and Monday, was too wet Thursday to allow Ireland to train.
If Pakistan can adapt to the drop in temperatures and not think too longingly of home after more than a month away, they should have enough all-round strength to see off the leading Associate nation. But anything less than a fully committed performance could see them struggling.
Since Ireland knocked Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup, they have gone from strength to strength, defeating England at this year’s edition.
And even one victory against Pakistan will consolidate their 10th place ranking in the ODI table, just four places behind the tourists.
Afridi will probably be missed more by the Irish public – he was a popular professional for Ireland in 2006 – than his team-mates because his bowling is much more dangerous than his batting these days and, as Pakistan proved in the Test matches in the West Indies, they have plenty of quality slow bowling.
Between them Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez took 32 of the 40 wickets in the two matches although it is unlikely the Stormont pitch will turn nearly as much as in Guyana or St Kitts.
Ireland coach Phil Simmons, the former West Indies all-rounder, is hoping for a similar surface to the one served up at Stormint for the ODIs against Bangladesh in July last year.
That pitch didn’t turn, the Tigers were tamed and Ireland drew the series 1-1.
While Pakistan have a 15-man squad at their disposal, including the return of Umar Gul and Younis Khan, both rested for the five one-dayers in the Caribbean, Ireland will be without the injured Niall O’Brien and George Dockrell.
O’Brien, man of the match in the 2007 World Cup match between the teams, is averaging 94 in one-day cricket for his county Northamptonshire this year.
Dockrell, a talented 18-year-old left-arm spinner, took this year’s World Cup by storm but hasn’t bowled a ball since dislocating his shoulder in Ireland’s last game against the Netherlands in Kolkata 10 weeks ago.