Pakistan team named for Australia tour, Younis left out

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cricket selectors on Monday left out Younis Khan from a 16-man squad and retained middle-order batsman Mohammad Yousuf as captain for three Test matches and five One-day Internationals against Australia.

Former captain Younis opted to rest after scoring only 22 runs as Pakistan lost the one-day series against New Zealand 2-1 in the United Arab Emirates last month.

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt had urged Younis to end his hiatus from the national team and play against Australia, but the former captain did not compete in the first class tournament to regain his batting form.

“Younis wanted to rest but he didn't play in the domestic cricket since the one-day series against New Zealand,'' chief selector Iqbal Qasim told reporters. “He didn't give his
availability to us and therefore we did not select him.''

Pakistan team will fly to Australia directly from New Zealand after playing three Test matches against the Kiwis with the first Test beginning at Melbourne on December 26.

Shahid Afridi, who will lead Pakistan in the only T20 international against Australia, will be Yousuf's deputy in the five-match one-day series. However, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal was named vice-captain for the three-Test series.

Iqbal Qasim said the team for ODI series against Australia will be named after the second Test ends at Sydney on Jan. 7.

Test squad: Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (vice-captain/wk), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdul Rauf, Umar Akmal.

Source Geo.tv

Oil higher in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices lingered near $74 a barrel Tuesday in Asia after a strengthening US dollar extended a four-day sell-off in crude to two-month lows.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 23 cents to $74.16 at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.54 to settle at $73.93 on Monday.

The dollar, boosted by a better than expected US jobs report last week, helped push oil prices out of a two-month range of between $75 and $82.

Investors have been buying crude as a hedge against inflation as the dollar has slid this year amid massive government stimulus spending and low interest rates. When the dollar rises, traders tend to sell their positions in oil.

"The movement of the dollar has continued to be a leading driver of oil pricing," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "But when the price falls to the mid-$70s, many market participants see that as a buying opportunity."

In Asian trade, the dollar pared some of its recent gains. The euro rose to $1.4834 from $1.4820 in New York late Monday while the dollar fell to 88.90 yen from 89.49.

In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil was steady at $1.96 while gasoline rose 0.54 cent to $1.96. Natural gas jumped 4.6 cents to $5.02 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude for January delivery rose 37 cents to $76.80 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Three arrested with suspected Uranium in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai crime branch has arrested three people from Panvel for being in possession of a chemical looking substance that is suspected to be uranium.The material has been seized and sent to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for further analysis. The trio was arrested on Monday evening and as much as 5 kilograms of the material was seized from them.
Source : http://geo.tv