DID YOU KNOW: Shahid Afridi scored 80 runs off 42 balls for Hampshire last night against Somerset.

This, 80, is Shahid Afridi's highest Twenty20 score in 92-match career. It was also his first 50 for any team other than Pakistan. He has played 49 matches among Karachi Dolphins, Deccan Chargers, Hampshire and South Australia, but his first 50 came in 49th domestic appearance.

Last night's 50 was also his first in 2 years, previous one was against Sri Lanka in August 2009.

28th August: One of the darkest days of Pakistan Cricket. Today, in 2010, three Pakistan players [Aamir, Asif and Salman Butt] were alleged for spot-fixing after a sting operation carried by the British tabloid, News of the World.

Later, in February 2011, the players were found guilty and, eventually, banned for minimum five years

Semi Finals and Final of Friends Life t20 will be played tomorrow at Edgbaston, Birmingham:

1st Semi Final: Leicestershire vs Lancashire at 3.00pm PST

2nd Semi Final: Hampshire vs Somerset at 6.30pm PST

FINAL at 10.45 pm PST

All matches will be broadcast live on Star Cricket

Hampshire will have Shahid Afridi whereas Leicestershire and Lancashire will have Abdul Razzaq and Junaid Khan respectively.

# Cricket BREAKING NEWS: Two Pakistanis [Azhar Ali and Wahab Riaz] are selected in category of Emerging Players in ICC's reduced list for Annual Awards.

Complete list is: Devandra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Azhar Ali and Wahab Riaz

BREAKING NEWS: Wahab Riaz is short-listed for ICC's annual awards in Emerging Players category.

Alistair Cook, Hashim Amla, Jonathon Trott, Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara (WK/Captain), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Dale Steyn, James Anderson, Zaheer Khan (12th man).

Team looks like fine but bizarre to see Sangakkara as captain as he has announced retirement.

ICC is short-listing annual awards list. List will be announced soon in few minutes. Will Misbah, Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Azhar Ali remain in list?

Sri Lanka announced Test squad for series against Australia, starting from August 31:

Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Angelo Mathews, Suraj Randiv, Suranga Lakmal, Chanaka Welegedara, Dhammika Prasad, Shaminda Eranga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath

1st Semi-Final: Leics v Lancashire at Birmingham
Aug 27, 2011 PKT 3 PM

2nd Semi-Final: Hampshire v Somerset at Birmingham
Aug 27, 2011 PKT 6:30 PM

Final: TBA v TBA at Birmingham
Aug 27, 2011 PKT 10:30 PM

Geoff Lawson blasted former captain Shahid Afridi for his run-in with the board which has led the team to a captaincy crisis.
“He’s playing well enough and I’d love to see him in the team. However, he needs to realise he’s not the most important person in the team. He’s a part and that needs to dawn on him. He doesn’t accept criticism and thinks he’s bigger and better than the team. That won’t lead him anywhere.”

Whitewash statistics

Teams suffered from whitewash
India 7
West Indies 7
NZ 6
ENG 6
South Africa 5 Pak 5
Aus 3
Sri lanka 3 Teams achieved whitewash
against oppositions:
Aus 18
Eng 12
Pak 4
Sri 3 West Indies 3
SA 2
India 2

Pak vs Zim schedule

Date Local GMT Match Details Venue
Sep 1, 2011 09:30 07:30 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 1st Test Bulawayo
Sep 8, 2011 09:00 07:00 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 1st ODI Bulawayo
Sep 11, 2011 09:00 07:00 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 2nd ODI Harare
Sep 14, 2011 09:00 07:00 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 3rd ODI Harare
Sep 16, 2011 14:00 12:00 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 1st T20 Harare
Sep 18, 2011 14:00 12:00 Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 2nd T20 Harare

Ireland vs England - only ODI match will be played today!

Ireland defeated England recently in World Cup 2011 round match courtesy Brilliant century by O'brien.
Expecting a good match today!

Cricket Update

Zulqarnain Haider is not selected in either of the teams of Lahore for upcoming domestic T20 tournament, starting from September 25.

Zulqarnain has blamed Kamran Akmal for his exclusion. He says that due to Akmal he is not selected.

Cricket Update

Mitchel Johnson has replaced Saeed Ajmal at number Three in ICC ODI Rankings for bowlers. Ajmal is now at fourth.

Graeme Swan is number one while Daniel Vettori keeps place at number two among ODI bowlers. As far as batsmen are concerned: Hashim Amla is first followed by AB de Villiers and Shane Watson.

Shane Waton also enjoys being number one in ICC Rankings for ODI all-rounders. Shakib al-Hassan comes second in this list while Shahid Afridi is third.