Shahid Afridi to lead in Asia Cup and England tour

Shahid Afridi has been named Pakistan's Test and ODI captain ahead of a busy summer which takes in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and then six Tests, five ODIs, as well as four T20Is, in England against Australia and the hosts. Pakistan's board and selectors also opened the door on a possible return for Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik, two men only recently banned by the board for indiscipline. Another old hand at the indiscipline game, Shoaib Akhtar, has been called up in a 35-man list of probables, which will be culled down before the two events.

The squad announcements were among the most eagerly-awaited in some time, given the chaos that followed since the tour to Australia. Pakistan effectively have been without a Test and ODI captain since then and had punished seven leading players - including four former captains - over disciplinary issues. But in recent days, speculation had grown that Afridi, already the Twenty20 captain, would be appointed.

Once he had publicly announced that he would be available to play Tests, a format he had left four years ago, the decision was all but sealed to once again unite the leadership of all three formats under one man: "We requested Afridi to take on the Test captaincy and he very graciously accepted," Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB, told reporters, flanked by Afridi and Mohsin Khan, chief selector. Today Afridi spent in meetings with Butt and the selectors to finalise a probables list.

Afridi now becomes the 27th man to lead Pakistan in Tests and the fourth captain since the start of 2009.The decision remains a risky one, given that Afridi played the last of his 26 Tests almost exactly four years ago on Pakistan's last tour to England. Until recently he has appeared unsure about a return to the format, but it is believed the appointment was part of an agreement to become the Twenty20 captain before the World Twenty20.

Afridi asked for patience in what he accepted will be a challenging role. "As a challenge I have accepted this," Afridi said. "Pakistan needs a senior player right now to lead them and that is why I accepted this. I don't think we should have too many expectations for Test cricket right now but I will try to get our ranking up to where it should be."

The other big decisions were recalling the two former captains Younis and Malik back into the squad. Their return is dependent on their appeals against the ban being overturned by an independent arbitrator, but having been selected it seems unlikely their bans will now stay. In any case the PCB has thawed in recent days, Butt telling reporters yesterday that he will review the punishments and praising Younis in particular. Younis was handed an indefinite ban by an inquiry committee after the Australia tour earlier this year and Malik was given a one-year ban; neither's indiscretions were specified, only a vague reference made to acts of indiscipline and unsettling the team.

But their potential return and that of Shoaib [Akhtar] was insisted upon by Afridi, who said the summer would require experienced heads at the helm. Shoaib last played an international for Pakistan in May 2009 and his last Test back in December 2007, but has this season turned out in domestic cricket in a bid to prove his fitness; he was particularly impressive in the Pentangular ODI cup in Karachi recently.

"It will be good if we can get back Younis and Shoaib because the team will be stronger with them in it," Afridi said. "England is always a difficult challenge as a tour and you need experienced players on it. The mix has to be right between juniors and seniors."

Afridi revealed that he had also spoken to Mohammad Yousuf in a bid to get him to take back his retirement and return to international cricket. Yousuf had walked away from the game earlier this year after also being handed an indefinite ban by the board and he is the only one of the seven players punished not to have appealed against his punishment. But Afridi said Yousuf was unwilling to change his mind.

Misbah-ul-Haq has been dropped once again, following disappointing results on his recall for the tours to New Zealand and Australia. Though he was picked for the World Twenty20 also, he didn't make any significant contribution towards Pakistan's semi-final run. The bigger surprise is perhaps the retention of Kamran Akmal; though he did well enough in the Caribbean with the bat, he remains as a result of this probables announcement, the likely first-choice wicketkeeper for the Test side. That is some achievement in itself given his performance in the last Test he played at Sydney (where he dropped four catches and fluffed a run-out), his behaviour in the aftermath of his subsequent axing and his generally shaky form with the gloves in Tests for a number of seasons now.

The 15-man squad for the Asia Cup will be decided in the first week of June after a short, five to six-day training camp in Karachi. The squad for England will be decided soon after that.

Probables: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hassan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hasan Raza, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Tanvir Ahmed, Aizaz Cheema, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal (wk), Zulqarnain Haider (wk)

Barbara Mori

Mori Ochoa was born on 2 February 1978. She is of Uruguayan-Japanese and Mexican heritage; her Japanese ancestry is from her paternal grandfather. She has two siblings, actress Kenya Mori and brother Kintaró Mori. Her parents Yuyi Mori and Rosario Ochoa divorced when she was three years of age. Mori spent her early childhood between Mexico and Uruguay and finally settled in Mexico City at the age of twelve.
One day, while working as a waitress at the age of fourteen, fashion designer Marcos Toledo invited her to work as a model. She became independent by the age of seventeen and went to live with her cousins. At nineteen she met actor Sergio Mayer, who would later become father to their son Sergio, born in 1998. They never married.
She later studied acting in El Centro de Estudios de Formación Actoral. She made her acting debut in the Mexican telenovela Al norte del corazón. She then participated in the comedy series Tric Tac and Mirada de mujer the following year. She obtained her first TVyNovelas Award for her role in Mirada de mujer for Best New Actress.
In 1998, Bárbara Mori got her first leading role as "Azul" in the series Azul Tequila, co-starring with Mauricio Ochmann. A year later she filmed the series Me muero por tí in Miami, with Peruvian actor Christian Meier. She participated in her first film in 2000, in the Mexican comedy Inspiración. Later, she acted in various other telenovelas, including Amor descarado and the highly–rated Mexican soap opera, Rubí, which earned her another TVyNovelas Award.
In 2005 she obtained the starring role in the blockbuster film La mujer de mi hermano as Zoe, and her husband was portrayed by Christian Meier, with whom she had previously co-starred in Me muero por tí. After breaking up with Mayer, Mori dated Manolo Cardona.[citation needed] She also won the leading role in "Pretendiendo", a Chilean/Mexican-backed movie which was critically panned.[citation needed]
Indian film producer Rakesh Roshan signed her as the leading lady for his upcoming movie Kites opposite his son, Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan. It was shot in New Mexico, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, it went into production by the end of July 2008, and will be released on May 21st, 2010.
Mori was diagnosed with early stage cancer and is now a proud survivor. She talks about her journey in UniGlobe Entertainment's docu-drama titled 1 a Minute, scheduled for release in 2010.[6] The documentary is being made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and will also feature cancer survivors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Melissa Etheridge, Namrata Singh Gujral, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith as well as William Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt, whose lives have been touched by cancer. The feature is narrated by Kelly McGillis. The film will also star Lisa Ray, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Brittany.

Films

1 a Minute (2010) Star
Kites (2010) as Natasha
Violanchelo (2009) as Consuelo
Cosas insignificantes (2008) as Paola
Por siempre (2007)
Robots (2005) as Cappy (Spanish language version)
La mujer de mi hermano (2005) as Zoe
Pretendiendo (2005) as Helena/Amanda
Inspiración (2000)

Telenovelas

Rubí (2004) as Rubí Perez de Ferrer/Fernanda Rivera Perez
Amor descarado (2003) as Fernanda
Mirada de mujer: El regreso (2003)
Súbete a mi moto (2002) as Nelly
Amor es... querer con alevosía (2001) as Carolina
Me muero por tí (1999)
Azul Tequila (1998) as Azul
Mirada de mujer (1998) as Mónica San Millán
Al norte del corazón (