Friday, February 3, 2012

England vs Pakistan: Placing All Bets On Pakistan

Ashar Zaidi

   

by Ashar Zaidi

Profile: A Sports correspondent at Geo New

Logic might favor England but passion is eager to topple it down; let’s see who rules the deserts.


Agreed, you are the number one test side in the world. Agreed, you have dominated your last six test series. Agreed, the world’s best have kneeled before your might, that you are gifted with some of the best performers in the game and you feel refreshed after a four months rest, but that doesn’t mean things will walk your way all the time. Sharpen your swords England, Misbahism is geared up for a showdown.


England and Pakistan are two top teams. Try comparing them in any aspect and the equilibrium will hit the middle mark each time.  That’s precisely the reason why fans and experts appear impatient for a mouth watering encounter, followed by the trickiest question of all, who will come out victorious?


This is a tough question to answer. The bookies love England but ask me and I see this love affair as a well disguised googly. My hard-earned money is on Pakistan and I won’t risk it without rock-solid reasoning.


Strauss has a world conquering squad just like Michael Vaughn did in 2005, but like the Indians, they are mostly back-yard heroes that can win in favorable conditions. Expose them to hostile terrain and they fall like autumn leaves. I remember England touring Pakistan in 2005 still basking in the euphoria of their Ashes triumph, only to see their top names licking injuries and Shoaib Akthar puncturing their batting sedans. With mud for UAE pitches flown in from Karachi, I can only see history repeating itself.


So, here are six reasons why I believe England will return home with only Arabic hospitality to talk about.


1- Stepping into the Unknown


It’s UAE, meaning it’s an arid-zone. Even in January the place can be devilishly humid, dusty and the scorching sun beats hard on your head. No coach in the world can teach you how to handle quickies while dry winds are slapping your face. Long days in the heat can drain life out of your legs and water alone would fail to quench the English thirst, instead tons of Gatorade would need to be gulped.


For statistic devotees, England are yet to play a test match on UAE soil and the last ODI they played here was way back in 1999. As for Pakistan, UAE is their second home. The green shirts have played nine matches and are well versed with the conditions.  Will the ball turn or skid on these placid wickets? England must have spent sleepless nights solving this enigma. For Pakistan, they have the perfect idea for mix and match.


2- Paki Pace Factory Fired Up


They say a team is built around its fast bowling therefore it can’t possibly go wrong in Pakistan’s case. Pakistani spinners have been capturing bulk of headlines recently, somewhat over shadowing the brilliance pacers have shown with the ball. The likes of Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Tanveer Ahmed and Aizaz Cheema have largely been responsible for causing early dents and paving way for the spinners to wipe out the cake. These maverick quickies are equipped with a plethora of lethal deliveries, good enough to sink any batting line on Earth.


To fine tune their every move is the bowling maestro Aquib Jawaid (Bowling coach) who himself has bowled countless memorable spells on these barren fields. Hard to forget would be his seven against Sri-Lanka in Sharjah. He is a living example for his militia to follow.


England, on the other hand could have wished for a few better options. Let’s admit, Tim Bresnan was one bowler who could have extracted life out of Dubai’s moribund surface. But with him out of the picture the English pace battery appears vulnerable. Major work load will fall on James Anderson and Stuart Broad and don’t expect the likes of Grame Onions, Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett to cause Pakistanis much trouble.


This will be the ideal setting for an unseen injury popping up to one of these pacers. If that happens, England is sure to lose heart. In most of their previous victories, it’s the combination of four fast bowlers that have guided them through; Dubai could be a different story.


3- Spin Fear


We heard it before, now we have seen it. England doesn’t like to play spin. Take the two practice matches for example: M. Nabi, the off-spinner from Afghanistan bagged five while the Swabi born Leggie, Yasir Shah cleaned up eight in the second, exposing a huge feebleness in English defense.


This is their fragility before second string spinners, and the big boys haven’t even stepped in. Both Saeed and Rehman are world class spinners and their fingers are itching to cast magic. The spot-light is on the tricky Ajmal who some see as the English tormentor, with 50 wickets in the calendar year, he is one player around whom the hype has been building.


Ajmal is a darling character; he loves challenges and has a habit of cracking jokes. Remember the “Special Delivery” he warned about? It is now termed “The Teesra”.  We have seen the traditional off-spin, then Shane Warne invented the “Seedha” while Saqulain brought out the “Doosra”. Where in the world Ajmal’s Teesra will spin is still a mystery!


The spin night-mare doesn’t end here. Rehman and Hafiz are equally good supplements that give their Captain plenty of option to juggle.


England on the other hand is pinning hopes on their Desert Rose, Grame Swann, but whether their vital cog can live up to expectations is another story. Ask me and I would say he is an over-rated bowler, simply because England doesn’t have another quality act. Just 27 wickets in 2011 and you expect him to make you shiver? C’mon, even a club bowler could do better. While some would argue that he is nurtured under Mushtaq Ahmed’s watchful eyes, let me remind you that Pakistani batsmen are best mediators of spin. As for Monty, let’s first see if he finds a place in the final 11. We can ponder about his vitality later on.


4- The Younis Factor


Mince no words, Younis will be the difference between victory and defeat.  While many credit Misbah for keeping the unit together and turning it into a winning lot, if you knew the dynamics of the Pakistan dressing-room you would know it’s Younis that has keeps the fabric knitted. On the field he is a classy batsman, an excellent exponent of classic stroke-play and a skilful fielder with a deadly accuracy of hitting the stumps. Back in the drawers, he is the best pitch reader, an astute thinker, motivator and a strategy genius for his side.


The 34 year old Khan from Mardan is a tough nut to crack and possesses a dreadful appetite for runs. His mountainous 313 at Karachi and epic 267 at Bangalore are credible proof’s he can play really long innings and bat England out of the match. 2011 has been a fantastic year for Khan, cracking 765 runs in just 12 innings with a staggering avg of 85. England definitely won’t want him batting long and nursing the tail.


5- No Rating Fear, Only Hunger to Prove


The brutal fact is that this is one horror Strauss can’t shy away from. Stepping in 2012 as the top ranked test side, the English have a lot at stake. They might have belted the Protease, Aussies and the Indians, but they are well aware of the un-predictability and destruction Pakistan can cause. If England loses, the Telegraph, Guardian and Times would cry that England succumbed on the first real litmus test.


Pakistan are enjoying life out of any such fear. Their recent feats have been looked down as being against toothless opponents, so this is their proving stage. If they win, it will be a testimony of their metal. If they lose, Misbah would simply shake off the loss as it would be one against the best side in the world.  


6- Pakistanis Don’t Break Under Pressure


England reached summit No. 1 after thrashing India last summer. Apart from their prolific play England had two other factors to thank. India is a team of ageing legends and as Brad Haddin rightly pointed out, it’s a team that breaks down under pressure. Rest assured Strauss won’t find anything like-wise here.  Even at 38 and 34, Misbah and Younis are the fittest horses in the stable and whenever stakes are down, even Ajmal can show heroics with the bat. It’s an All for one, and one for all equation.


May the Best Team Win:


And so my bragging comes to an end. Thankfully, Pakistanis are realistic and focused on the task ahead. Opener Taufiq Umar couldn’t be more candid admitting that his team would have to exceed their abilities to beat England. On the other hand, the placid tracks of UAE demonstrate the rarity of a positive result. This means a single session played loose could slip out the series. Have no doubt in mind; there will be loads of storms in the deserts.

Anonymous gain access to FBI and Scotland Yard hacking call

The hackers published a video of the call on YouTube

Hacking network Anonymous has released a recording of a conference call between the FBI and UK police in which they discuss efforts against hackers.
The call, said to have taken place last month, covers the tracking of Anonymous and similar groups, dates of planned arrests and details of evidence held.
Anonymous also published an email, apparently from the FBI, showing the email addresses of call participants.
The FBI and Scotland Yard confirmed the leak and said they were investigating.
It also emerged on Friday that hackers linked to Anonymous had accessed the websites of several US law enforcement agencies and that of the Greek justice ministry.
 
'Email intercept'

The FBI said in a statement: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."
London's Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.
It was unclear how Anonymous had managed to obtain the recording but a lawyer for one of the suspects discussed told the BBC it appeared to have been taken as an audiofile from an intercepted email, rather than having been eavesdropped on.
A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the recording, which was published on YouTube, will be highly embarrassing for the cyber crime detectives.
At one point an FBI agent thanks the Metropolitan police for their help with investigations, to which the British detective replies: "We're here to help. We've cocked things up in the past, we know that."

Analysis

While it now appears that the FBI-Scotland Yard conference call was obtained through an intercepted email recording, recent research does suggest it is possible for hackers to intercept communications systems once thought secure.
Earlier this week, two researchers from Germany's Ruhr University Bochum announced they had reverse engineered two of the secret ciphers used to encode calls made by satellite phones. The pair said the devices - used in military campaigns and natural disaster areas - used algorithms that were "considerably weaker" than what was available elsewhere.
Another noted security researcher, Karsten Nohl, told a conference he had generated a code book which allowed calls made on mobiles using the GSM standard to be decrypted.
One solution is to make VoIP (voice over internet protocol) calls using the latest encryption techniques. But such conversations only remain safe if any recordings are similarly encrypted and the decryption codes safely guarded.
The FBI said in a statement: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."
London's Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.
It was unclear how Anonymous had managed to obtain the recording but a lawyer for one of the suspects discussed told the BBC it appeared to have been taken as an audiofile from an intercepted email, rather than having been eavesdropped on.
A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the recording, which was published on YouTube, will be highly embarrassing for the cyber crime detectives.
At one point an FBI agent thanks the Metropolitan police for their help with investigations, to which the British detective replies: "We're here to help. We've cocked things up in the past, we know that."
'Attention seeker'
According to the alleged leaked email, the 17-minute phone call took place on 17 January.
The email was sent to law enforcement officials in the US, UK, Sweden, Ireland and other countries, inviting them to "discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous, Lulzsec, Antisec, and other associated splinter groups".
The recording features the voices of about five men, apparently speaking from London, Los Angeles and Washington.

What is Anonymous?

Anonymous describes itself as an "internet gathering". The term is used to describe a collective of people who come together online, commonly to stage a protest.
The groups vary in size and make-up depending on the cause. Members often identify themselves in web videos by wearing the Guy Fawkes masks popularised by the book and film V for Vendetta.
Its protests often take the form of disrupting websites and services.
Its use of the term Anonymous comes from a series of websites frequented by members, such as the anarchic image board 4Chan.
These allow users to post without having to register or provide a name. As a result, their comments are tagged "Anonymous".
In the past, groups have staged high-profile protests against plans by the Australian government to filter the internet and the Church of Scientology.
Many Anonymous protests tackle issues of free speech and preserving the openness of the net.
They begin with light-hearted conversation but move on to discussing the names of some of the people being tracked and their plans for legal action.
The online pseudonyms of suspects are included in the recording, but some of the real names appear to have been bleeped out.
Among those discussed are several British men accused of being behind cyber attacks in the US and UK, including Jake Davis and Ryan Cleary who were arrested last year.
The British detectives discuss delaying some arrests while US investigations are being carried out.
The police also refer to a 15-year-old who claims to have been behind an attack on online gaming site Steam last year, where the identities and credit card details of tens of thousands of users were accessed.
"He's a 15-year-old who's basically just doing this all for attention," says the British detective.
Anonymous is a loose collective of hackers, anarchists and pranksters which has targeted the websites of a range of governments, companies, law enforcement agencies and individuals in recent years.
Also on Friday, Anonymous claimed credit for an attack on a police website in the US city of Boston. A message posted on the site said it had been hacked several months ago in response to "police brutality" towards the Occcupy Wall Street movement.
This followed another attack on a police website in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, where officials say personal information on informants, crimes and residents were accessed.
Hackers operating under the Anonymous name also took over the website of Greece's justice ministry on Friday, prompting officials to take the site down.
The hackers said the action was a protest against Greece's signing of a global copyright treaty and the government's handling of the economic crisis.
The website was replaced with a video of a figure wearing the symbolic white mask of Anonymous supporters, saying: "Democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it."

10 Tips To Get Google Adsense Approved in Pakistan


I know many of you’d desperately want to read this post as Google is now very strict with its Adsense account approval polices, especially for those living in Pakistan.
We know that all professional bloggers are very serious about their blogging and hence they will not get involved in any activity which is against Google Adsense Terms and Conditions. Then why Google is banning Adsense accounts of professional bloggers in third world countries like Pakistan?
Well there is a reason, that has been repeatedly discussed on this website, which is mainly the misuse of Adsense accounts in Pakistan by spammers. They create Google Adsense account via third party websites and upon approval sell these accounts to non professional bloggers, who than put ads on their spammy blogs. Sorry to say but this is not the way to earn money from Google Adsense.
Buying and selling of Google Adsense accounts is not the only misuse in Pakistan. Just pickup the newspaper and look at Classified Ads to see the number of ads related to Google Adsense. All these spammers are trapping innocent people claiming that they will tell a way through which one can easily earn 25,000 to 30,000 Rupees per month. When you contact them and ask them what is the way of earning this much money online, and guess what there answer would be “Google Adsense”.
There are hundreds if not thousands of Groups working in Pakistan, which are misleading people saying that Google Adsense is a easy way to earn money on internet.
Here’s how they trap innocent people:
Almost every trainer/fake teacher creates free blogs on blogger.com and redirect it to free domain name services like Dot.tk or Co.cc. They pick articles from article directories like Ezinearticles.com or Goarticles.com and post 5 to 10 articles on each blog. Now such a blog won’t get adsense approval, hence they get these accounts through third party website like FLixya and Docstoc. After that they put ads on these crappy blogs and show them to innocent people and charge them thousands of rupees.
One more thing I would like to add before I tell you the 10 killer Tips to get your Google Adsense account approved in Pakistan. After creating these blogs they create groups of different peoples in different cities and assign them tasks, such as visiting these websites regularly to generate impressions. Also they ask users to cross-click on Google Ads of other members to earn money.
This whole situation is really terrifying and if it continues Google will surly ban Pakistan. So we must condemn these activities and must educate our people that this is not the way to earn money from Google Adsense.
Below are the few tips through which everybody can get Google Adsense account, which is of course illegal.
10 Tips To Get Google Adsense in Pakistan
1. Buy your own Top level domain and a reputable webhosting service, examples are Godaddy or Hostgator. If you’ll buy cheap webhosting from an ordinary webhost, initially Google might accept your application but after some time when your site traffic increases Google will surly ban your Adsense account because of the slow server speed.
2. Second and most important thing now a days specially after Google Panda Update is choosing a theme or template for your site. Its better to buy premium theme rather than free themes because of SEO optimization and other rich features. This way you can tell Google that you are serious about your blogging profession and you are not a spammer.
3. Some of you might not agree with me but try to use blogger as your blogging platform and avoid WordPress. After Google banned thousands of Pakistani bloggers Adsense accounts i have manually checked nearly 100 blogs and believe me or not more than 90% blogs were on WordPress and very few Top level Domain blogger blogs were banned by Google (as we all know blogger is owned by Google so you can understand).
4. Register your domain on your own name and address and provide same name and address when you apply for Adsense account. Its better to provide working Telephone number, full address including postal code as well.
5. Wait for at-least 6 months before applying for Google Adsense. Yes I know this is the most painful step and you don’t want to wait this long but friends we are not alone in this case. China and India are also with us and Google is not accepting applications from these countries before 6 months.
6. First 6 months of your blog wants real effort and hard work. Write as much quality and unique content as you can. This will surly leave a good impression on Adsense team and no doubt they want to partnership with you.
7. Make sure you blog has neat and clean design and easy to find navigation system. Recently Google has banned many Pakistani bloggers account saying that your blog is not providing user experience.
8. Never apply for Google Adsense if your blog has less content and is not optimized according to Google terms and Conditions. Make sure your blog has Privacy policy, Copyright Policy, Disclaimer, About Us and Contact Us pages before applying for Adsense.
9. Never try to create Adsense account via third party websites like Flixya or Docstoc. If you create account from these websites and put ads onto your blog than you are wasting your blog. In future Google will surly catch you and will ban your account.
10. Make sure that your blog has at-least 300 unique visitors per day before applying for Adsense. If you blog’s traffic’s main source is Facebook than there are little chances that Google will accept your application. Try to optimize your blog so that it gets natural traffic from search engines rather than social networking websites.
Hope it helps.

PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost





PTI thumb PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans LostPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s more than 30 fan pages were hacked today in a single go, costing the political party millions of fans go wasted.
No one has taken the responsibility for this massive hack down of PTI’s facebook fan pages.
Citing President of the Insaf Students Federation in Karachi, Arsalan Ghumman, The Express Tribune reported that the official Facebook pages of PTI leader Imran Khan, the student wing Insaf Students Federation, and several, more including that of Dr. Alvi were hacked into and hidden from the public’s eye.
“The pages were hijacked at 3 pm on Friday. We are in touch with the Facebook authorities to recover them,” he said.
On other hands Facebook is notorious for taking such cases non-seriously.
Reportedly, hacker first cracked the gmail id of Mr. Imran Ghazali, the web manager of PTI social media team before cracking into facebook pages of political party.
It is unclear so far if pages were deleted or are kept private (hidden from public) by the hacker.
If not recovered, this is going to be a big blow PTI’s short term plans. This incident yet again reminds us that we are living in a country without cyber law..
 
PTI 001 PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost
PTI 002 PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost
PTI 003 PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost

Beating England 3-0 will be big, says Misbah

Captain Misbah-ul Haq believes routing world number one England 3-0 will be a big achievement but stressed his team will not take that extra pressure into the third and final Test starting here from Friday.

No team has ever registered a clean sweep in the 58 years of Pakistan-England cricket and Misbah's team has a good chance of creating history after their comprehensive ten wicket win in the first Test and by 72 runs in the second.

England, who will also be in danger of losing their world's top rankings if they lose here, will have to find a quick solution to counter Pakistani spinners Saeed Ajmal (17 wickets) and left-armer Abdul Rehman who has 12 in two matches.

Misbah said Pakistan will look for an encore in the third Test.

"It will be a big achievement for the team (winning 3-0)," said Misbah of the clean sweep which Pakistan last achieved against Bangladesh at home in 2003, while their last against a top Test nation was beating West Indies 3-0 in 1997.

"The way the team is performing with consistency, if we play well like we did in the first two games good results will come but we will not take that extra pressure (of clean sweep)," said 37-year-old Misbah.

Since taking over as captain in the aftermath of spot-fixing scandal during which Pakistan lost 3-1 to England in 2010, Misbah has led Pakistan to eight wins with one defeat and five draws.

Misbah said England were still a good team and winning the last Test will not be easy.

"No doubt, England is a good team, they are number one in the world and it will not be easy because they will be more prepared, but we will try our best," said Misbah, who praised Ajmal and Rehman.

Ajmal took a career best 7-55 in the first Test here and Rehman registered his best 6-25 in the second in Abu Dhabi, feats which Misbah said were extraordinary.

"I think both have been bowling well for quite some time now and they create pressure on the batsmen and never give any opportunity to let them out of that and on top of that England batsmen were low on confidence," said Misbah.

Misbah hinted about keeping the same combination, although Pakistan have the option of using the bench player in paceman Wahab Riaz in place of Junaid Khan.

"I am a firm believer in the balance of the team because the first priority is to win and I think we will go with whatever is the best combination for the team," said Misbah, predicting the Dubai stadium pitch will help batsmen more than in the first Test.

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted the key would be countering Pakistan's spinners.

"That's one of the crucial things about playing spin, you have to adapt your game according to the surfaces you play on. I am very optimistic, you'll see people a bit clearer in what their gameplan is and how they are looking to play, which is a good starting point," said Strauss.

"These conditions are slightly different, so it's more about adapting your game to the conditions than going right back to square one and saying 'right, I need to change everything'. That's a dangerous route to go down.

"It's a setback (2-0 down) in the sense that we didn't want it to happen, and we didn't want to lose a series. But that's gone, finished - and in some ways, maybe it's a good lesson for us that if you're five percent off your game against the majority of sides you're going to come unstuck."

"We desperately want to avoid losing the series 3-0; we desperately want to come back and show we're better than we have shown so far in the series. I think there's a feeling among the whole squad that we can and should come back and do that."

Strauss added that middle-order batsman Ian Bell was fit after suffering stomach problem which forced him to miss practice on Wednesday.

The only question remaining is whether England will play with two spinners or drop one from Graeme Swann or Monty Panesar.

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