SHARJAH: Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur on Sunday praised an unnamed player, believed to be captain Sarfraz Ahmed, for reporting a spot-fixing approach as “a real example to our team”.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Saturday confirmed a player was approached with a fixing offer during the ongoing five-match ODI series with Sri Lanka but he reported the matter to the Board’s Anti-Corruption Unit.

A source close to the team, on the basis of anonymity, later identified the said player as Sarfraz, although the management is sticking to not making the name public.

PCB informs ICC about bookie approach to Sarfraz

“To be honest the player reacted unbelievably well,” Arthur told media at Sharjah Stadium. “He did everything required of him and we had a chat straight afterwards. It was handled brilliantly and I think that is a real example to our team and to the cricket world that a really important player was approached and acted to the letter of the law and did exceptionally well as a true ambassador of the game.”

PCB chairman on Friday tweeted that the matter was also referred to the International Cricket Council.

Arthur remains confident that all of his players would’ve acted the same way had they been approached. “I am very comfortable with our players. They are outstanding and they are intelligent young men and individuals and I have no doubt that if anyone is approached they will do the same way as the individual did,” said Arthur.

Per the anti-corruption rules, a player is required to instantly report a fixing offer, failure to which results in a minimum of six months to a maximum of lifetime ban.

Pakistan cricket received a jolt in February when two of their players — Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif — were caught in a spot-fixing scandal which rocked the second edition of the Pakistan Super League held in the UAE.

Beating the bookies

Sharjeel was banned for five years (two and a half years of which were suspended), while Khalid was banned for five years and fined one million rupees ($10,000).

‘Fakhar needs to adjust to slow pitches’

Fakhar Zaman, centurion in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, hasn’t been able to replicate the same flair in the ongoing ODI series, and Arthur believes he needs to learn to adjust to the pace in the pitch.

“It worries me that a good player like Fakhar is not able to score runs,” he said. “What Fakhar needs to learn is that he played on fast pitches in England, but in UAE the pitches are slow and don’t allow him to play much strokes.”

Arthur suggested Fakhar to rotate strike more to develop his game further. “He needs to learn to rotate strike a bit more, and needs to learn to take singles to get to the other end. That is going to be the key in the development of Fakhar if he wants to become a good batsman. He still is a key player for the team and after he plays the last ODI, he will be taking his form to the T20 series.”

‘Players hungry for victory’

Pakistan are leading 4-0 in the five-match ODI series and will be taking on Sri Lanka in the fifth ODI in Sharjah on Monday to try and earn a whitewash, and Arthur says players have enough hunger to pull that off.

“They guys have hunger for the win which they had been having in the previous ODI matches, so I am pretty confident they’ll win the [last] match, but if they don’t, it will be really disappointing. We are not very far away from making a world record so we want to maintain that too.”

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JAKARTA: Indonesia said Sunday its military chief had been refused entry to the United States and asked Washington for an explanation.

General Gatot Nurmantyo was due to attend a conference in Washington at the request of General Joseph F Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, but the military said he was unable to board his Emirates flight in Jakarta on Saturday.

Military spokesman Brigjen Wuryanto said the general was refused entry by the US Customs and Border Protection agency.

Nurmantyo has decided not to attend the conference until the situation is explained, Wuryanto said.

“Shortly before the departure the TNI [military] commander and his wife received a notification from the airline that they were not allowed to enter US territory,” Wuryanto told a press conference.

The Indonesian embassy in Washington has sent a formal note to the State Department asking for clarification and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has sought an explanation from the embassy in Jakarta.

“The [US] ambassador is currently not in Jakarta so we have asked the deputy chief of mission in Jakarta to come into the ministry tomorrow for clarification,” foreign affairs spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP.

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The US embassy said in a statement it had been in touch with the general’s staff about the matter throughout the weekend and working to facilitate his travel.

It said US ambassador Joseph Donovan has apologised to Marsudi for any inconvenience.

“The US Embassy was, and remains, prepared to facilitate the General’s travel to the United States,” it said.

“We remain committed to our Strategic Partnership with Indonesia as a way to deliver security and prosperity to both our nations and peoples.”

The conference of national defence chiefs is on countering violent extremism.

Since being appointed armed forces chief by President Joko Widodo in July 2015, Nurmantyo has been at the centre of several controversies.

Earlier this year he abruptly suspended all military cooperation with Australia in a row over teaching materials, and has been rebuked by members of Widodo’s cabinet for making misleading public remarks.

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He helped stoke a wave of anti-communist sentiment sweeping Indonesia by ordering the screening of an anti-communist propaganda film to members of the military Nurmantyo will step down as leader of the armed forces in 2018 and many analysts believe he has political ambitions.

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KARACHI:  

Ajaz Amjad scored three goals to help Pakistan win bronze medal in the 2017 Asia Cup after they dominated South Korea with a 6-3 win at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.

The greenshirts opened the scoring with a goal courtesy Amjad in the 10 minute of the first quarter. The second quarter then saw three goals as Pakistan scored two and South Korea lessened the deficit to two goals.

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South Korea’s Suk Hoon Cho scored a field goal in the 20th minute, while Pakistan veteran Rashid Mehmood scored in the 26th minute. Amjad added one more to his and the team’s tally in the 30th minute to end the second quarter on a high.

Pakistan opened the third quarter with a goal from a penalty corner as Abu Mehmood pushed one in. Amjad then completed his hat-trick in the 36^th minute to help Pakistan go 5-1 up.

South Korea then scored their second goal before the end of the third quarter thanks to Namyong Lee in the 43rd minute.

As the last quarter started, Pakistan’s defence was once again breached Inwoo Seo through a penalty corner in the 55th minute. However, Muhammad Yaqoob scored Pakistan’s last and sixth goal in the 56th minute to end the match 6-3.

2017 Asia Cup: Pakistan draw 1-1 with South Korea

The captain of the team Muhammad Irfan told The Express Tribune: “We wanted to finish at least on the third place when we came to play the tournament and beating South Korea in the third-place match with this margin is an achievement for the team. The boys did overcome their mistakes and helped the team finish third.”

Irfan added that they’ve got a lot of positives out of the event and if they continue like this, they’ll soon be able to vie for the top spot in Asia.

“India and Malaysia are two of the top teams in Asia, but if we keep on putting in the hard yards then soon we will be the top team in Asia,” he said.

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Source: Tribune News | 2017 Asia Cup: Pakistan finish third as Amjad scores hat-trick

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became the first Pakistani premier to fly a military helicopter by taking the Turkish T129 for a test flight on Sunday.

Later, the PM told reporters that the  T129 ATAK was an “impressive and good machine”.

To a question about Pakistan’s plan to purchase T-129 helicopters manufactured by the Turkish Aerospace Industries, Abbasi said, “Our army is evaluating the helicopter, and we are negotiating the contract and terms.”

He added that the Turkish defence production industry was one of the best in the world and second to none.

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He lauded the Turkish aviation industry as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the achievements in defence production.

Earlier, he inspected the helicopter and was briefed by Turkish aviation officials about the specifications and technical parameters of the combat chopper.

Turkish Aerospace Industries CEO Temel Kotil told APP that T-129 was a light weight attack helicopter equipped with missiles and guns. “It ‘s small and effective,” he added.

He said Pakistan and Turkey had strong ties and were collaborating in the defence production area as well.

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Source: Tribune News | Abbasi becomes first Pakistani PM to fly a military helicopter