World Cup Cocktail

An imposter posing as a former Pakistani cricketer has duped the BBC into paying him to appear as an expert on cricket shows and even took part in a discussion involving ex-Indian batsman Aakash Chopra. Nadeem Alam posed as ex-batsman Nadeem Abbasi to give his "expert" opinion on BBC World News, BBC Asian Network and Radio Five Live, despite only ever playing cricket for his home town of Huddersfield. Abbasi, furious about the fraudster's deceit, has decried the BBC for failing to check its facts. "If I ever find Nadeem Alam, I will punch him in the face for damaging the country's reputation. The BBC is a big institution and surely they must check?" he told the Sun newspaper. Abbasi, a wicket-keeper batsman, played in three Tests for Pakistan in 1989. Alam, however, told the daily that he is "no longer pretending to be Nadeem Abbasi"."I like to think I have been talking good cricket," he said. The BBC has apologised and launched an inquiry.

India losing sleep over schedule

India's cricketers have already complained about the quality of food and the state of practice wickets this summer, you can now add travel to their list of gripes. Though this time they might have a bit more sympathy. Captain MS Dhoni was not happy with a schedule which left them with just a four-day gap between matches in Perth and Hamilton. The fixture meant Dhoni's men had to travel from Perth to Melbourne on March 7 for a connecting flight to Auckland, arriving in New Zealand at midnight local time. They then had a one-and-a-half hour bus trip to Hamilton, which is five hours in front of Perth. The Indians will fly to Melbourne on Monday for their quarter-final with Bangladesh. "[We] hope to get decent business class seats so that we are properly rested before our next game!" Dhoni said. "A lot of people had problems in adjusting with the change of time and it affected their sleeping pattern."

Johnson's  milestone

It's not quite the gift Ricky Ponting received from his teammates after his Test career but Mitchell Johnson was chuffed nevertheless with how his 150th one-day international appearance was commemorated. The left-arm pace demon was given two bottles of Penfolds Bin 150, which retail at $75 each, though his will be worth infinitely more. One was signed by Australia's World Cup squad to be kept as a memento. "Thanks to the lads for making my 150th game special!" Johnson tweeted. Ponting was given 33 bottles of Grange Hermitage, one for each Test century, when he hung up the baggy green in 2012.

Zimbabwe facing difficult times

Zimbabwe's cricket director, Alistair Campbell, fears the country might have a "bleak future" unless their players can lift to fill the void left by the departure of star batsman Brendan Taylor. Campbell is worried Zimbabwe will not get enough matches from the major nations in order to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup and says the players must accept that "their futures lie in their hands". "By winning more games and being consistently more competitive, they will ensure themselves a future," wrote Campbell.     

--Compiled