LONDON: Pakistan will begin the defence of their World Twenty20 title in the Caribbean next year against fellow Asian Test nation Bangladesh in St Lucia on May 1, organisers announced on Sunday.
Pakistan, who beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in last month’s World Twenty20 final at Lord’s, will complete its group phase programme at the same venue the following day against Australia.
The West Indies will open the event in Guyana on April 30 against one of two qualifiers for the tournament.
If the West Indies, also in a group with England, reaches the second round Super Eights, they will then go on to play in St Lucia and Barbados, something that would see the hosts play in all three locations for the men’s tournament.
India, the inaugural 2007 champions, will start their campaign to regain the trophy with a match against the other qualifier in St Lucia on May 1.
The qualifiers, who will join the 10 full or Test nations in the Caribbean next year, will be drawn from the top two sides at a tournament due to be staged in the United Arab Emirates in October.
During the 2007 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean, organisers were criticised for pricing local fans out of the market for tickets.
But for this event, the maximum price for a first round double-header ticket in Guyana will be 10 US dollars, with Under-16s getting in for free.
And for finals day in Barbados, tickets will range in price from 10 dollars to 40 dollars.
Entry to all first round matches in the women’s tournament will be free.
England, who beat New Zealand last month at Lord’s in the inaugural women’s World Twenty20 final, start their quest for back-to-back titles against Australia in St Kitts, where all the women’s group matches are being played, on May 5.
The men’s and women’s semi-finals will be played in St Lucia, with the finals of both events taking place in Barbados on May 16.
Next year will see Zimbabwe back in the World Twenty20.
They were forced into withdrawing from this year’s tournament after the British Government said they would not grant them entry visas because of their disapproval of the policies of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
The World Twenty20 is intended to be held every two years.
But the decision to hold the third edition of the tournament in 2010 was taken after the 2008 50-overs-a-side Champions Trophy, due to be played in Pakistan, was postponed because of security concerns.
The next Champions Trophy is now due to be played in South Africa this coming September and October.
Without the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, there was a risk it would have next been played in the same year as the next 50-over World Cup, due to be staged in the Indian sub-continent in 2011.
By having the World Twenty20 in between its two major 50-over tournaments, the Champions Trophy and the World Cup, the International Cricket Council hopes to ensure a better spread of its major events.

GALLE, Sri Lanka: Teenaged fast bowler Mohammad Aamer ripped through Sri Lanka's middle-order to leave Pakistan in control of the first cricket Test here Monday. The 17-year-old left-armer, playing his first Test match, grabbed three wickets for two runs as Sri Lanka collapsed from their lunch score of 70-2 to 101-5 soon after resumption. The hosts went to tea on the third day struggling at 182-7 in their second innings, an overall lead of 132 runs with three wickets in hand at the Galle International Stadium. Angelo Mathews (27) and Nuwan Kulasekera (25) steadied the ship with 35 run partnership before the former fell too a wide Abdur Rauf delivery, caught by Salman Butt at third-man. Kulasekra was then accounted for by Saeed Ajmal, missing a straight one to be trapped LBW. Thushara then hit a few lusty blows, but just when he threatened to take the Sri Lankan score to some respactibility, last man Ajantha Mendis fell to a quick, straight ball off Ajmal. The hosts ended their innings at 217 thus leaving Pakistan with a total of 168 with 39 overs and two days to go. AAMER AGAIN Aamer, who hero-worships Pakistan's left-arm pace legend Wasim Akram, followed his three wickets in the first innings with a hostile burst soon after lunch.He had Tharanga Paranavitana, Mahela Jayawardene and skipper Kumar Sangakkara caught by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal in the space of 16 deliveries on a lively wicket freshened up by early morning rain. Paranavitana, top scorer in Sri Lanka's first innings with 72, once again held the innings together with 49, but found little support from the top order. Jayawardene failed to score and Sangakkara, leading Sri Lanka for the first time in a Test series, made nine and 14 in the two innings. Sri Lanka were just 51 runs ahead with half the side back in the pavilion when Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 37 for the sixth wicket. Dilshan looked set while making 22 when he fell to Pakistan captain Younus Khan's part-time seam bowling, edging a catch to Khurram Manzoor in the slips.Samaraweera was dismissed soon after for 34, beaten by the flight and turn from off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to give Misbah-ul Haq a low catch in the slips. Rangana Herath, who opened the innings late Sunday as a nightwatchman and played out the lone over from Aamer, batted for an hour and 28 minutes to make 15. When play started 30 minutes late due to a wet outfield, Pakistan earned a break off the second ball when Malinda Warnapura edged Umar Gul to a diving Younus at second slip before a run had been scored. Left-handed Paranavitana and Herath defied the Pakistani seamers to put on 68 for the second wicket before the nightwatchman was trapped leg-before-wicket by Younus just before lunch.

LONDON: Switzerland’s Roger Federer beat American Andy Roddick in one of the most extraordinary finals ever seen at Wimbledon on Sunday, holding off an incredible challenge from the American to win 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14. The final set alone of an unforgettable Centre Court duel lasted 95 minutes before Roddick’s mishit forehand gave Federer his sixth Wimbledon title and the record of 15 grand slam titles he so cherished. Fittingly, Pete Sampras, the only other man to have previously won 14 slams, was sat in the Royal Box as a match of unrelenting drama stretched into a fifth hour. ‘Andy I want to say you’re going to come back and win one, I’m sure,’ Federer said on court as a shattered Roddick contemplated his third defeat to Federer in a Wimbledon final. ‘Today I was on the lucky side. It feels funny to have the trophy back. It feels great. It was a crazy match, my head’s still spinning. It’s an unbelievable moment in my career.’ Few imagined that Federer’s seventh consecutive Wimbledon final could come anywhere near close to emulating last year’s epic when he lost his crown to Rafael Nadal — a five-set thriller that ended in near darkness. The Swiss, who claimed his first French Open title last month to complete his career grand slam, dropped just one set in reaching the final and had won 18 of his previous 20 matches against the American who is still waiting for a second career grand slam title after winning the US Open in 2003. Roddick has reinvented his game though in the last 12 months after his career began to slide and after stunning British hope Andy Murray in the semi-final he came agonisingly close to another shock. Federer was stretched to the limit in an unforgettable duel of energy-sapping tension despite firing 107 winners. After losing the first set he was then reeling in the second set tiebreak as Roddick moved 6-2 ahead and seemed set to move two sets clear. Federer then won six consecutive points to level the match, Roddick wasting one golden chance at 6-5 when he sent a backhand volley wide. Crucial moment Federer could make no headway on the Roddick serve but remained solid on his own delivery to win the third set on another tiebreak 7-5. Roddick, beaten twice in previous finals here by Federer, refused to buckle and broke at a crucial moment of the fourth with a great backhand to set up an enthralling decider. With Wimbledon greats Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver watching intently from the Royal Box, Federer kept his nose in front in a nerve-racking decider and clinched victory after four hours and 16 minutes when Roddick’s resistance finally cracked and the Swiss broke serve for the first time in the match.

According to the IPv6 Forum website, the IPv4 Exhaustion Counter’s http://inetcore.com/project/ipv4ec/index_en.html present status is:
Reserved Blocks (IANA) 11% = 30/256 blocks
Until X-day estimation: 736 days
The new solution over IPv4 is IPv6, a new protocol promising to offer the possibility of more unique Internet addresses. IPv6 has been available for sometime now and allows for virtually almost unlimited address space. The adoption of IPv6 has been very slow todate and for the Internet to connect billions of people as well as smart environments comprised of devices that need to run on the Internet to provide new communications services are all need of the addressing space that IPv6 provides.
As earlier mentioned, smart environments use new kinds of applications, like sensor networks, intelligent agents and communication devices. Such an example may be quoted from the construction industry where they are using IPv6 to create smart and intelligent buildings. IPv6 is used to enable Internet based remote controlled security cameras or manage home appliances from remote locations. These smart buildings also save on energy which is a very critical global concern nowadays.
In terms of the state of adoption of IPv6, we stand at the bare minimum. Despite the fact that Telecommunication and Internet Service Provider companies have adequate knowledge about IPv6, the general population that uses the Internet is yet unaware of the issues of IPv4 address space depletion and IPv6 address space counter solutions. There is an expert group of networking engineers and professionals that have been sandbox testing IPv6 in Pakistan but how will this knowledge be passed on to the general Internet user population remains an issue of concern.
Enabling the IPv6 address block is very necessary at this point in time to enable sustainable growth in the use of the Internet but making the switch from IPv4 to IPv6 remains a difficult and daunting task as it takes both time and resources as well as a commitment by all stakeholders including the Government, Private Sector, Academia and Civil Society. Let’s see what the Internetworking experts have to share on this?