Pakistan may have suffered defeat but his players granted his wish with an outstanding bowling and fielding display that has consequently increased speculation over who will take over the Pakistan captaincy.

Unfortunately, Afridi himself will be remembered more for his ball-biting antics than his captaincy. His actions were deplorable and he needs to learn that Malcolm X’s mantra of ‘any means necessary’ is not fitting for a professional cricketer and certainly not for an aspiring future captain of Pakistan.

His behaviour was a huge shame because up until that point he was outstanding. The difference in captaincy between Muhammad Yousuf and Afridi could not be more disparate.

Defending a meagre total, Afridi displayed intent, aggression, energy and motivation which rubbed off on the previously lethargic Pakistan players.

Pakistan’s fielding has been appalling all summer and Mohammed Yousuf stated that the hiring of a fielding coach would be futile. He further reminded his fragile side that even under the training of the best fielder in the world in Jonty Rhodes, Pakistan still dropped catches – a total of 20 during the 2006 series in England.

This was the extent of Yousuf’s problem solving abilities. Rather than being treatable like the common cold, Yousuf preferred to declare Pakistan’s fielding a terminal cancer, something endemic to Pakistani’s and something untreatable.

With such encouragement how could he possibly motivate his troops in the field? Nothing is more important in battle than confidence and the belief to win.

The Sydney Test debacle showed Yousuf’s negativity. Rather than attack, he was constantly on the defensive. Asif and Aamer, a more than capable attack, were cursed with negative fields showing a complete lack of faith in their ability to dismiss the opposition.

The fields for Danish Kaneria were even more ridiculous. At no point did Pakistan look like they believed they could win under Mohammed Yousuf. With the Aussies stranded on 80 for 8, Yousuf showed no confidence in his team.

It was a picture perfect moment after last year’s Wimbledon final. Champion Roger Federer with two other Wimbledon greats – Pete Sampras and Bjorn Bjorg.

At that time, broadcasters said that Federer had bettered Sampras as the tennis’s greatest ever player – and that statement stayed with me for a long time.

Is Federer really the greatest tennis player of all time? Or is he just in the right place at the right time? Questions open to debate and argument – even a fistfight for die hard Federer fans.

Comparing champions of different eras in any sport is virtually impossible. But let’s look at four different eras in the history of tennis, and the champions from each era:

The Rod Laver era: Laver is, and probably will remain, the last men’s champion to complete a Grand Slam of the four majors in a single calendar year. He did that not once but twice and won 11 Grand Slam titles in all.

But that is not why he is in contention to be the greatest. Look at the class and caliber of players that Laver was competing against – Ken Rosewall, Arthur Ashe, Pancho Gonzales, John Newcombe to name a few. All of them won Grand Slams.

The Bjorn Borg era: Borg was one of the coolest ever to play the game. Very high on style quotient – but also literally with a very low pulse rate; or so I have read.

He had the big challenge to break Jimmy Connors’ domination, and he did it with great gusto. He won five Wimbledon and six French Open titles which is quite astounding.

Borg probably had the toughest competition of all the ‘greatest’ candidates. He had to deal with Connors, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. Each one of these payers was a multi Grand Slam winner and it must have taken some doing to win so much competing against so many great players.

The Becker-Edberg-Lendl era: They won a lot of tournaments between them and dominated the 80s. But none of them could be labelled  ‘the greatest’. Then came Sampras. He destroyed all the opposition to emerge as the best player of the 90s.

His rivalry with fellow American Andre Agassi is well documented as Sampras went on to rule Wimbledon. It was a given that out of the four Grand Slams, Sampras would win Wimbledon.

Then it was a tough fight for the other Slams. Sampras had tough opposition in Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter. The only blemish on Sampras’s otherwise stellar career is that he never won the French Open.    

The Roger Federer era: I am a huge Federer fan. But I am not entirely convinced that he is the greatest ever. Apart from the last three or four years, I don’t think he has had serious competition, nothing on the scale of Agassi, Ivanisevic, Becker and Connors, etc.

Rafael Nadal was a one-surface player until the last couple of years. Andy Murray, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick and Leyton Hewitt are good, but not good enough to consistently challenge Federer.

What Federer has achieved is phenomenal. But would he have achieved the same level of success in the eras or competition that I mentioned above? I doubt it.

So is Roger Federer the greatest of all time? My take – No. But he is, without doubt, one of the greatest to dominate a particular era.

With a score of 4-0 on the night, and a staggering 7-2 aggregate score, United have sent a message across Europe, that they will be the team to beat for this year’s prize.

It was business as usual for Wayne Rooney, another brace bringing his total to four goals in two games against the once feared Milan defence.

United started off the match as if they were the team trailing 3-2 and set a precident within the first few minutes. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were finally side by side in defence which stayed firm all night

GARY 

Neville – a player who would seemingly give his life for the club – was a constant threat in the early exchanges. Love him or hate him Neville divides football fans but there is no denying that most football teams miss a Gary Neville. Passion with a killer instinct.

One can only think of Inter Milan’s Marco Materazzi with regard to Neville’s commitment.

Milan on the other hand had nothing of the sort. And tactically they were a mess. Yes it didn’t help that United scored early and then again straight from the second half kick off, but you had to question coach Leonardo.

Firstly having three players up front in Ronaldinho, Klass Jan Huntelaar and Marco Borriello. Yes they needed to score goals tonight, but neither one of them were interested in tracking back, affording United the gift of space so early on.

Indeed for much of the game it felt as though the Italians were playing with eight men.

And Huntelaar, oh Huntelaar how very fustrating you are, sir.

Every other week the humble 22  year old is sent on to the field of play to let his feet do the talking, to help relieve another stressful working week for the fans and to show how football can be played.

With blistering pace and a sort of play taken out of a child’s fantasy he has been instrumental in Barcelona’s current success. Holders of the Champions League, Spanish La Liga, World Club Cup and the soon to be relinquished Copa del Rey - Lionel Messi has the world at his feet.

On Sunday he had the Valencia back four at his feet as he whizzed and waltzed his way through them with ease. Valencia, who are chasing a Champions League place suffered, as Barcelona and Messi toyed and teased with them on another memorable evening.

It was a much needed win for the Catalans, who had relinquished first place in the Liga standings to Real Madrid, albeit with the same points. Many observers predicted that Valencia would be a stern test and that Barcelona would not be guaranteed three points

But Messi had his own ideas. He  would score a delightful hatrick in 27 minutes, after having at least five good chances to have opened the scoring in the first half. But it was in the second half that the Argentinian came to life.

His first goal was set up by Andres Iniesta. But to be fair it was a goal of individual brillance. Receiving the ball on the right hand side of the Valencian area, a side where all of Messi’s goals would come tonight, he glided past three defenders weaving in and out and sticking the ball past a hapless Cesar Sanchez in goal. 

The celebrations from players and fans seemed to go on for a few minutes, it was a genuine contender for goal of the season. More significantly though it was a celebration for the game itself.

Messi’s second goal came nine minutes from time and killed the game off, after a superb bending shot sailed into the top left of the goal. His hatrick was completed sixty seconds later, after an assist from Thierry Henry, which Messi met with ease.

Barcelona coach Joseph Guardiola then done the honourable statement and brought his star player off to a resounding cheer of applause. Fans the age of 12-70 could be seen bowing their heads

You get the feeling that Messi will tie up the encounter and make way for a tidy Barcelona entrance into the Quarter Finals.

The torn Achilles tendon will ensure he never plays top level football again. He won’t be going to the World Cup in South Africa with England in June and he will struggle to play again for the likes of AC Milan and even LA Galaxy or whatever they are called.

But he is being pushed as an ambassador for the sport here in England as the country bids to land the 2018 World Cup.

Becks would only have been a bit part player in South Africa anyway even if he had been chosen in Fabio Capello’s squad, but his presence would have been of great use to the powers that be at Lancaster Gate.

He can still do a job for them and its just a pity he didn’t get one final fling at helping England do something they have never done for almost 44 years – win a major tournament!

Becks should not be too disheartened at never having won anything for England despite all his caps and other achievements. No one else has since that day way back in 1966

He won everything he did under the superb guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson and was discarded, quite rightly, by the aforementioned genius when he started to believe he was bigger than the club.

His money and fame driven wife played a big part in that but she should never be allowed to take away and diminsh the fact that Beckham was a very, very good player and in my opinion he could have been even better.

I think he would have excelled as a central midfield player and saw him do just that way back in the triple trophy winning year that Manchester United enjoyed.

He came into centre midfield in the FA Cup final against Newcastle United and produced a wonderful passing display that set up a whole host of chances in a game that United won 2-0.

He was never given a lengthy run in that position though by United, Real Madrid or England and now we will never know just how good he could have been.

At the end of the day he was a player who could cross a good ball from the right and hit a great free-kick. The rest, well sadly it won’t even be history

Eto’o's goal would be the winning one in a quite frankly shock 1-0 victory over Chelsea at the Bridge, dumping the Blues out in the second round of the Champions League and winning 3-1 on aggregate.

Eto’o had not scored a goal for Inter in any competition since the draw for the knockout rounds took place in December, but what a match to mark his return.

The game of course, before a ball was kicked, had deep roots with Mourinho’s emotional return to the dug-out at Chelsea and his war of words with Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti’s.

After their 2-1 first leg victory at the San Siro Mourinho remained optimistic that his side could progess in London by saying that ”Mourinho never loses at Stamford Bridge”.

This is backed up by his extrodinary 60 game home league unbeaten run whilst he warmed the home teams bench. Ancelotti ever the believer responded that if Chelsea win the Champions League he will say publically what he really thinks of the ”Special One”.

Despite Inter going into the 2nd leg leading the game, they remained the underdogs, and they would certaintly battle like the dogs of war during their encounter with a team who had been to five Champions League semi finals from the past six years.

The Nerazzurri were brutally physical in the first half, a tactic so obvously deployed by the Portuguese tactician.

Watching Inter reminded one of watching Mourinho’s Porto side back when they unexpectadly won the Champions League in 2004.

Loaded with talented but not spectacular players, that team knew how to bodycheck the opposition and make them feel uncomfortable from the kick off.

In the Group ‘B’ encounter, Robert Nunoo came first with 67 net followed by Abdul-Aziz Amankwa with 72 net when he beat K. Hall on count-back while O’Brien Camara placed fourth with 74 net. In the Ladies segment, Esther Amedzro came first with 75 net Clara Price took the second position with 77 net after she beat Adelaide Owusu-Adjapong on count-back while Mona Captan placed fourth with 78 net. Victor Brave-Mensah won the Professional’s category with 142 gross followed by Vincent Torgah at the second spot with 143 gross with E. K. Osei placing third with 145 gross.

The one-day 18-Hole Stable-ford competition which was sponsored by Mr Kofi Yim, President of the Tema Country Golf Club, attracted 120 golfers. Mr Leonard Kweku Okyere, Captain of the Club praised Mr Yim for assisting the Club to make its mark in the sport over the years’. He called on the members to contribute positively towards the developmental projects of the Club. Mr Yim said plans were far advanced to change all the ‘Browns’ into Greens’ to make the game more enjoyable and playable.

The phase of stability was probably the late 80s and the 90s when Imran Khan had an iron hand on things. Wasim Akram continued the trend for a few years before tragedy struck.

No other team in international sports has the knack to be in the news for all the ridiculous reasons that Pakistan has. This is in addition to the occasional shades of brilliance they display on the field. Yes – and sadly occasional.

I was a big fan of Pakistan cricket in the Imran Khan days. In fact I used to wish that India had a leader of that stature who would select the team himself and lead that team by example. Such was his stature that his teammates after playing a rash shot; would fear more about what Imran would say more than anything else.

In fact there is an incident to this regard where Salim Mallik played a rank bad shot and got out with the match on the line. His immediate reaction to the Australian wicketkeeper was that Imran will kill him back in dressing room. But at the same time players were ready to run through a brick wall for their leader. Such was the leadership and charisma of Imran.

Earlier cricket in Pakistan was always mired by controversies. This was before the ICC Umpiring Panel days. It was always a case of playing against not 11, but 13 players, for the visiting teams.

It was almost impossible to get Miandad out leg before wicket; as was surviving if the ball hit your pads while batting. But Imran made a conscious effort to change that. He demanded neutral umpires so that Pakistan would get their due credit for wins rather than teams blaming the home umpiring.

Pakistan reached their peak in the 90s with the World Cup win in Australia. They then dominated other teams with their fearsome fast bowling duo of Akram and Waqar Younis. They probably had one of the most destructive opening partnerships then in Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar.

But as we entered the 21st century, things started changing for the worse. These charges have chased Pakistan to this day.

There were match-fixing charges on more than half of the team. I think every time Pakistan lose badly, these charges suddenly crop up. As do the ball-tampering charges. It’s funny how almost every year Pakistan are charged with tampering with the cricket ball.

Then the merry-go-around of the captains, the coaches, the selectors and the board members. Every time the Pakistan government changes, or the team loses for an extended period, there are wholesome changes in the entire Pakistan cricket establishment, including the captain, coach, selectors, etc.

They also lost a lot of good players to strange selection policies. Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Imran Nazir, etc were all very good players. But they were overlooked for various reasons, when they should have been given more chances.

Things deteriorated further especially under Inzamam’s leadership. The players focused more on Islam and prayers rather than cricket. Nothing wrong with that but it probably distracted the team and showed in the results on field.

But to give Inzamam his due, while he was the captain, the team was unified and played as a unit. He retired and the factions started showing up.

Groupism, or revolting against the captain, is also not a recent phenomenon in Pakistan cricket. The team revolted against Akram when he was the captain and he was removed from the captaincy.

Very recently the team revolted against Younis Khan’s captaincy. Their recent failures therefore come as no surprise. There is no vision. There is no proper plan to take Pakistan cricket forward. Until about last year, the Pakistan Board had been turning a blind eye towards Shoaib Akhtar’s stupid acts in the hope that he would return as a lethal bowler.

Despite so many strong signals that he was finished as that match-winning bowler he once was, Pakistan cricket continued to tolerate his foolishness. Now, after the embarrassing tour of Australia, there is talk of revamping the entire cricket structure of Pakistan. But yet again there seems to be the usual confusion

Pakistan may have suffered defeat but his players granted his wish with an outstanding bowling and fielding display that has consequently increased speculation over who will take over the Pakistan captaincy.

Unfortunately, Afridi himself will be remembered more for his ball-biting antics than his captaincy. His actions were deplorable and he needs to learn that Malcolm X’s mantra of ‘any means necessary’ is not fitting for a professional cricketer and certainly not for an aspiring future captain of Pakistan.

His behaviour was a huge shame because up until that point he was outstanding. The difference in captaincy between Muhammad Yousuf and Afridi could not be more disparate.

Defending a meagre total, Afridi displayed intent, aggression, energy and motivation which rubbed off on the previously lethargic Pakistan players.

Pakistan’s fielding has been appalling all summer and Mohammed Yousuf stated that the hiring of a fielding coach would be futile. He further reminded his fragile side that even under the training of the best fielder in the world in Jonty Rhodes, Pakistan still dropped catches – a total of 20 during the 2006 series in England.

This was the extent of Yousuf’s problem solving abilities. Rather than being treatable like the common cold, Yousuf preferred to declare Pakistan’s fielding a terminal cancer, something endemic to Pakistani’s and something untreatable.

With such encouragement how could he possibly motivate his troops in the field? Nothing is more important in battle than confidence and the belief to win.

The Sydney Test debacle showed Yousuf’s negativity. Rather than attack, he was constantly on the defensive. Asif and Aamer, a more than capable attack, were cursed with negative fields showing a complete lack of faith in their ability to dismiss the opposition.

The fields for Danish Kaneria were even more ridiculous. At no point did Pakistan look like they believed they could win under Mohammed Yousuf. With the Aussies stranded on 80 for 8, Yousuf showed no confidence in his team.

He proved a catalyst for the pessimism to what was already a fragile side. When you play not to lose, often the result is a defeat. During the fifth ODI, Pakistan looked liked they believed they could win, a self-belief and confidence previously absent for the whole duration of the Australian summer.

Yousuf’s ‘never-say-win’ attitude carried over into the one-day series. Rather than encourage the Aussies to take risks, he encouraged the Aussies to take singles. Yousuf failed to build partnerships whilst batting but was instrumental in constructing partnerships for the opposition.

The best form of defence is attack and blessed with naturally attacking bowlers Yousuf consistently refused to utilise his resources effectively. Yousuf suffered from a disease of his own as he contagiously spread his inferiority complex amongst his team.

Pakistan’s batting in particular has been a victim of this negative culture, playing to survive rather than to attack the Aussie bowlers. 

In contrast, Afridi was aggressive from the start and displayed faith in his bowlers. He demanded his bowlers attack and his fields reflected the courage and fearlessness his bowlers have been alien to this summer.

The desire to get wickets, the perseverance with attacking fields, the energy and aura of self-belief resonated throughout the team.

Pakistan, constantly maligned for their fielding, produced an exemplary performance. The fielders inside the ring restricted the singles, catches were held and dives were coming off. Pakistan were buzzing and enthusiastic.

I am in full agreement with Mohammed Yousuf about fielding coaches being futile, but for very different reasons. Rather than being a cancer, Pakistan’s fielding is a curable ailment for which the medicine is aggression and self-belief.

Afridi possesses an impressive captaincy resume and is a more than promising candidate for the vacant post. In the long format he led Sind brilliantly to a Pentangular Cup triumph in 2008. Aggressive declarations, good bowling changes, and good field placing complemented his natural determination and ability to inspire.

However, is he good enough to get into the Test side?

When Shoaib Malik was given the captaincy, debates arose over his eligibility to make the Test side and similar debates will arise over Afridi. He has not played cricket in its long form since November 2008 and last played a Test Match in 2006.

It is evident, however, that he has improved immensely as a bowler and definitely warrants a fifth bowling spot. A first class average of 27.05 with a strike rate of 52.1 is impressive for a leg spinner.

Amritraj and Qureshi scripted a sensational 6-4, 6-7 (12), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 triumph after slogging it out for close to four hours in a match that spanned two days.

The two teams were locked 2-2 yesterday and Amritraj and Qureshi finished it off in their favour on Wednesday.

The 16th seeded Australian-Brit pair of Huss and Hutchins were in for a tough fight. After losing the opening set, Huss and Hutchins battled it out for 70 minutes in the second to clinch it 14-12 in the tie-breaker.

Amritraj and Qureshi came back well to go one up again but not the ones to give up, Huss and Hutchins equalised in the next set.

The roller-coaster match finally ended with the Indo-Pak pair dominating the decider to script a magnificent triumph.