Game In Focus (FIFA 2011)

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Loving the FIFA Franchise? Then think again before buying this one...

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Rating: 7/10

Difficulty: Hard (Adjustable)

Learning Curve: 5-10 minutes.

Time Spent: 10-20 Hours

The Bottom Line: "Mixed Reactions"

Graphics: ***
Music: *****
Gameplay: ***
Replay Value: 95% (55% for Career Mode)

Developer: EA

Release: September, 2010

I really had a lot of expectations with FIFA '11 after playing FIFA '10 up till the day '11 broke into the market, and was one of the first to try it among my friends and consequently the most disappointed.

The developers have taken a very disastrous route. In a bid to make the game feel at par with realism, they have integrated some pretty useless and pathetic stuff.

Messi can be overcome by a brawny, unheard of defender and so can Kaka, skill takes the back seat in this installment, you gotta have body power to survive on the field, a thing that I think EA should reserve for their American Football line.

Every unknown club in the world has a superman deployed instead of a regulation keeper, saving the most unstoppable of shots, it really feels like you are shooting at a wall instead of a goal. And if this wasn't enough, the guys at EA's Soccer Sim department have tried their utmost to make our opposition's defense impregnable and ours, totally pervious, your CPU controlled defenders will behave like total noobs, no matter what the back of their shirt says.

Despite all the glitches and mediocre things '11 ships with, there are some appreciable alterations too. The menu has been revamped to good effect. The graphics are quite good but still not good enough as the crowds are still those sickening cardboard cutouts! and the Career Mode is quite playable.

I will really not recommend this game if you had been addicted to the FIFA series, but my recommendation won't matter to you all the same because of the fact that every conventional FIFA gamer gets the newest sequel and plays it for himself, no matter what the reviews say. This is the FIFA tradition...

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Game in Focus (Mafia)

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You won't rest until it ends...

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Rating: 10 /10

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Curve: 15 minutes.

Time Spent: 10-20 Hours

The Bottom Line: "Highly Addictive"

Graphics: ***1/2
Music: ******
Gameplay: *****
Replay Value: 70%

Developer: Illusion Softworks (Now 2K Czech)

Release: August, 2002

Ever wondered if the word 'masterpiece' could compliment a PC game...if yes then no need to wonder anymore...the manifestation is here...MAFIA...

Perfectly intriguing gameplay and a story line that can warrant box office hit; couple it with music of the highest quality and great environmental detail and you have a cult classic...

Mafia has so many positives that it will take a copious amount of time to list them all, apart from rare flaws in lip-syncing the game is picture perfect. The play area is highly detailed with a variety of gorgeous cars, interactive pedestrians and a good 'ol '30s American city. The breath-taking scenery of the countryside is a sight to behold, I loved driving there and wished every mission took place in that area.

The music of the game is, in my opinion, Oscar winning. The tracks are beautifully composed and capture the essence of the situation flawlessly.

The missions are fun to do and highly addictive, they leave you craving for more due to superb design and an absorbing and twisting story.

The cut scenes are aesthetically pleasing and it feels as if they are straight out of a blockbuster, especially the ending sequence, it gets etched in your memory.

In short it is a game that is not to be missed if you have any links with PC gaming, or for that matter 3rd Person Shooters and I promise that you won't be disappointed...and remember....Mafia II can wait but the original Mafia cannot...it, coupled with the Max Payne series, is a game that covers the whole spectrum of a third person action game...

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Game in Focus (Family Feud 2010)

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Good but not good enough...

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Rating: 5 /10

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Curve: 5 minutes.

Time Spent: 3-4 Hours

The Bottom Line: "..."

Graphics: *
Music: *
Gameplay: ***
Replay Value: 20%

Developer: Ludia Inc

Release: September, 2009

Just a time pass game you would like to switch to for around 15 to 20 minutes in the hours when you have nothing left to do.

To be precise it is not really a game that you would not rest until you have finished or end it in one go; it is highly monotonous for that, same recycled character models and music and you will have enough of it after a level or two despite the work developers have put in to make it appealing (i.e unlockable content and challenging families as you move up the ladder, not to mention the alterations you can make to your character).

Although you might like it if you are a fan of the tv show...because visually it is the best of the series.

The surveys are the strongest of its dimensions (it had to be :P), they can be funny and challenging at the same time; not to mention enlightening!

I'd say avoid if you are looking for some solid fun...but still if you have got a few bucks to spare then go for it all the same...

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Game in Focus (Mafia II)

First things first, in my new section Game in Focus, i'll be posting condensed reviews of hot games...

Note: The pattern is Gamespot.com type.

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A game that took a long time coming but was never really worth the wait...

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Rating: 7.5 /10

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Curve: 15 minutes.

Time Spent: 10-20 Hours

The Bottom Line: "Don't Believe the Hype"

Graphics: ****
Music: **
Gameplay: ***
Replay Value: 10%

Developer: 2K Czech

Release: August, 2010

The prospect of having a Mafia sequel, when I first heard the news, was drowning me out with utter bliss. I was in love (and still am) with the original Mafia and getting a second bite of it with 'considerable' improvements was heartening even to think of.

But when the game came out and I tried it, with heart beating at full pace, I was disappointed to say the least in fact disenchanted is the correct word. The game never really assimilated the essence of the original Mafia, the soundtrack is a let-down and so is the level design, not to mention the intricate story that has an unbridgeable chasm between itself and clear understanding.

The only positive thing about the game are the graphics. The texturing is vastly improved but still can be a bit substandard at places. The utilization of Phsx is also worth-mentioning making the game feels a lot more closer to life and believable...

The spineless missions are a few making the game short (thankfully) and the characters are also forgettable...compare it with the original Mafia...I bet (if you have played the org. one that is) that you still have the faces of Paulie and likes etched in your memory much to further pain.

I'd still recommend that you give it a try, just to respect the 9 years that the developers have put into god knows what...

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Science Watch (September 2010)

This week's top science stories...

2012...No! Add 6 billion years or just make it 2112!

The fate of our universe, or our planet at the least have always fascinated us, from ancient Mayans to today's Harvard graduates. Well according to research, at the most, we have six billion years until our planet gets swallowed up by the sun...yes swallowed! According to the reports, the sun will get bigger and brighter and 'puff up' to one million time its size (A Red Giant), swallowing Mercury, Venus and most probably our beloved Earth. Afterwards, as the Sun consumes the remnant hydrogen in its blistering core, it will shrink to become a White Dwarf.
But the realist President of the Royal Society of London, Sir Martin Rees, believes that considering all the stuff we have been doing of late, this well might be the last century of life on our planet. According to him we are in "self-destruct mode, causing havoc to our environment through global warming caused by reckless burning of fossil fuels, developing weapons of mass destruction, emergence and spread of new diseases and carrying out dangerous experiments that can create black holes that may gobble up the planet."
I believe all but that last shit. But we will look at it.


Creating Black Holes...artificially...
The RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) is a facility in Long Island, New York, where scientists have set up large tubes in which they collide subatomic particles close to the speed of light in an effort to know even simpler particles (like what makes up an electron?!).
So whats the big deal in two electrons colliding together in a 2.4 mile long isolated tube? Well, upon collision, a super dense matter is created with temperatures close to 1 Trillion degrees, yup! roughly 10,000 time the temperature of the mighty sun! These conditions are recreating the atmosphere after the Big Bang, think about it, when physics wasn't even worth a damn...

One of the consequences of such an experiment is thought to be a Black Hole, a place where matter becomes so dense that even light is sucked in and cannot escape! This is due to the super-strong gravitational pull they generate. So the point is that when the particle smasher whacks together a few electrons, the resulting matter might be dense enough to become a black hole, albeit a minute one (at around 10 picometers), that has an ability to hulkify as it eats surrounding matter to an extent that it would swallow the Earth and then turn to our Solar System to quell its hunger!
Thats a theory you guys! No nightmares intended...:-P


More Dinosaurs
Paleontologists discovered two horned dinosaur fossils in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, south of Utah. The dinosaurs are of a new species and related to the famous Triceratops.
The smaller creature is called Kosmoceratops. Kosmos is a Latin word meaning “ornate,” because of the dotted horns around the skull. Komoceratops is regarded as “the most garish headed dinosaur ever known.” It has 15 horns, which are found over the top of each eye, over the nose, at the tilt of each cheekbone and the rest are across the rear portion of the bony frill.
The other creature is bigger than the Komoceratops. It has a skull, which is about seven feet long, and named Utahceratops. Ceratops is from an ancient Greek word, which means “horned face.”
They sure look sexy...:-D


Pumping the Antibiotic Out
Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory researchers have discovered the crystal structures of pumps that remove heavy metal toxins from bacteria, making them resistant to antibiotics.
Edward Yu and his colleagues purified and crystallized the membrane proteins that make up an efflux pump of E. coli bacteria. Then they used X-ray crystallography to compare the various structures, identify the differences and understand the mechanism that removes heavy-metal toxins from cells.
What those pumps do, Yu wrote, is "recognize and actively export these substances out of bacterial cells, thereby allowing the bugs to survive in extremely toxic conditions."
This is understood as one of the three mechanisms with which bacteria fight-and-down the antibiotics. The other two being enzymes that alter the medicine or degrade the 'biotic completely.


Sources:
http://www.internetbits.com/paleontologists-discover-new-dinosaurs-in-utah/53447/
http://sify.com/news/scientists-discover-pumps-that-allow-bacteria-to-resist-drugs-news-international-kjynaiafbee.html

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Match Box (Look Who Blames...)

Pakistan's tumultuous tour of England, fittingly, folded with another controversy as the English daily, Mail, accused Pakistani maverick, Shoaib Akhtar of ball tampering.
The article, published on 23rd September implicated Pakistan in another dispute as it contained clear pictures of Akhtar involved in the dodgy act.

Accepted! But where was all this hullabaloo when the seemingly innocuous Broad (yes Broad!) mirrored the acts shown above in this very year (against South Africa in January 2010).

and when in the same series James Anderson repeated the felony committed by Broad...

The biased stance of the British media becomes even more evident when we come across this TV grab from the very same match in which Shoaib handled the ball in blatant disregard of the rules.

Well, as we can see, Bresnan here was clearly working his nails on the seam, an act that can aid the ball in reverse swing.
Finally, albeit at the wrong time, we state as to what is ball tampering...

Ball Tampering is an action in which a fielder or bowler illegally alters the condition of the cricket ball. Under Law 42, subsection 3 of the Laws of Cricket, the ball may be polished without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed from it under supervision; all other actions which alter the condition of the ball are illegal. These are usually taken to include rubbing the ball on the ground, scuffing with a fingernail or other sharp object (like spiked boots), or tampering with the seam of the ball in any other way.

Now the judgement is up to you....do you think that the British media is impartial when it comes to the violation of cricket laws? A flag-bearer of fair cricket when anyone else has done the violation and becoming meekly silent when their very own stars are under scrutiny or just completely deny the news in the latter case.

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Match Box (A victory that took 15 years in the making)

Scenario; Pakistan is taking on Australia in a test match away from home. What happens? What comes to your mind? Yup, "OMG! Another loss?!"...Such is the dominance of Australia over Pakistan in recent times that almost every Pakistani cricket fan links Australia to being unbeatable, especially when we are not playing on the dead plasticine pitches of Pakistan.


So here goes...you switch on the TV and hear the news channels bustling about a rare victory, you sit bolt upright "No, It cannot be...", you stammer. Eyes wide open. You pinch yourself to make sure it is not a dream and it isn't!!! Pakistan have finally overcome the fifteen year old jinx of not winning a test match away or at home against the mighty Aussies!!! July the 24th 2010 remember the date!!


And Ah! If you had been one of those ardent supporter of the Pakistani team like me, you should have been sitting before th TV screen an hour before the match was scheduled to begin! Alas, you never witness such spectacles everyday [the last time Pakistan beat the Aussies in a test match was when I was three =P]. So you have a bag of popcorns at hand, ready to relish a distinguished battle being won! But being a Pakistani cricket team fan is a pain of its own, requiring just 40 runs with 7 wickets in the bank you assume quite wrongly that it would be an easy win...


The two overnight batsmen walk in, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal..apparently oozing with confidence..


First ball, full toss, whacked for four, you toss a handful of popcorns into your mouth. "This gonna be a piece of cake", you say to anyone within earshot and you haven't taken down the first batch of popcorns and pop goes Azhar Ali back to the hut. Your mouth hangs open in apparent dispair, half-chewed popcorns streaming down your chin and into your lap..."Oh God! Not again!!", you mutter inaudibly.


And out comes the husband of Sania Mirza...associating this guy with cricket is a shame,you remember a news piece, and you call out disgustfully "Pagal kahee ka, team meeting chor ke Sania ko London dekhata phrta hai!!". You sigh and settle in again. Block: Block: Swing and a miss: Block: Appeal: Left Alone: Block. You start getting nervy and you demand from the on-screen Umar Akmal "yar chake choke laga! ye kia khel rha hai?" And even before your painful plea is fully out of your mouth...Umar Akmal is snared by Hilfenhaus...and the ghost of the Sydney test suddenly becomes active in the core of your poor little heart... adrenaline starts rampaging through your blood stream...your heart starts beating like a sledgehammer against your heaving chest!


You go up with every lbw appeal, every swing-and-miss and every ball that just about kisses the blade through to the keeper or the slip squadron. Finally some runs...as Malik clips a ball off his pads...and then....EDGES but it drops just wide of the diving Clarke at 3rd slips...you get all the more nervy..."Ai allah madad farmana!!"...


Then Malik in the next over tried all his very best to lob the ball to North at short extra-cover and finally succeeds in doing so off the ultimate ball of the over, you get crude, abuses start spewing out of your mouth, popcorns rain down to the carpeted floor as you shake and writhe with a mixture of anger and agony.


In walks Aamer...you see his confident face and suddenly you get a bit relieved...like after balm is applied on chapped lips..."He scored 70-odd in that Kiwi match", you whisper huskily to the sibling near you,"He can bat!"...he gets beaten first up...you shiver...then solidly defends the next few balls and some of your faith in him returns...


Four! Kamran drives, the spectators roar...you nearly fall of your seat..."Alhamdullilah", you call in your heart. And then all of a sudden you realize that Kamran is Pakistan's only hope and you start phooking kalam at the on-screen Akmal in a frenzy...


Well your phooking had some good effect on Akmal who cracks two fours in Hilfenhaus's next over...bringing Pakistan closer...you start to look like an archetype of utter bliss...


And oh no! Kamran slashes at a wide delivery and Hussey pouches it at gully....your hearts sinks, your eyes become watery and you cry out Noooooo--- but your cry is interrupted midway as the truth dawns upon you...the 3rd Umpire has been called in...Kamran doesn't look happy...He and you staunchly believe that it hasn't carried....and you start a gardan of "Nhe hua, Nhee hua, Nhee hua!"...the TV grabs are all hazy and you pray that the benefit goes to the batsman and it does! You roar as the rafters are brought down by the Pakistani contingent at Headingley!!!


Aamer vs Hilfenhaus..."Please ye over kisi tarah nikal le", you call out! And oh! Aamer has edged this one past third slip for Four!!!! HOHOOOOOOO you are just a run away now...bouncers follow but it doesn't matter...we have won or have we...


In the next over Akmal goes after a Johnson half volley only to have a thick edge and this time it is a clean take by a diving Hussey who looks toward Akmal and the Umpire with both the question and the answer in his eyes...and you cannot believe it...so near yet so far away...here comes Gul....


The tension builds up, Johnson steams in, bowls the effort bowl, and it is his lackluster wide half volley, Gul goes after it, connects, it stays in the air but beyond the diving short cover and to the boundary...Gul leaps, you leap...."Yesss---", you scream in mid-air, but before you have hit the ground you pass into a coma...

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[Social Eye] USA the real enemy?

A majority of Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy, oppose the US-led war in Afghanistan and are less concerned about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda than a year ago, a Pew Research poll said Thursday.

Despite billions of dollars in economic and military aid received from Washington, the United States' image in Pakistan was the lowest among the 22 nations included in the 2010 Pew Global Attitudes Survey of 2,000 Pakistanis taken between April 13-28.

Fifty-nine percent of the respondents described the United States an enemy, with 17 percent having a favorable view and only 11 percent considering it a partner, the poll said.

Only eight percent trusted US President Barack Obama to do the right thing in world affairs, the lowest rating of the 22-nation survey, and only 20 percent had a favorable view of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, down from 64 percent two years ago.

Most Pakistanis also oppose US involvement in neighboring Afghanistan, with 65 percent saying US and NATO troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible, and relatively few believe the Taliban and Al-Qaeda pose a serious threat to their country.

Only 25 percent thought it would be bad for Pakistan if the Taliban were to again take over Afghanistan, while 18 percent thought it would be a good thing and 57 percent said it did not matter or had no opinion.

The respondents were less concerned about either group getting the upper hand in Pakistan: the Taliban was rated as a serious threat by 54 percent, against 73 percent last year, and Al-Qaeda's threat perception fell to 38 percent, from 61 percent.

Nevertheless, Pew noted, both groups still had an overall negative image in Pakistan with the Taliban getting a 65 percent unfavorable rating and Al-Qaeda 53 percent.

When asked which was the bigger threat, Taliban, Al-Qaeda or India, 53 percent chose neighboring India over 23 percent for the Taliban and only three percent for Al-Qaeda.

Despite Washington's poor rating, most Pakistanis (64 percent) believe it is important to improve relations with their powerful ally, up from 53 percent last year, Pew Research said.

And about their own country, 84 percent of the Pakistanis surveyed by Pew were dissatisfied with the state of their nation; only 14 percent were satisfied.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.

So as far as drawing a conclusion is concerned, USA is seen far from being an ally of Pakistan, the general public, in reality abhors the States and its constant nose-poking in their country's matters. Not to mention the punctuating Do More(s)!. The USA's has tarnished its image in the eyes of a conventional Pakistani, probably to an unrepairable state, so much so that the terrorists get the back seat in the aforementioned poll results.

Moreover the current position of Pakistan is not a likable one, power-cuts, climbing inflation rates, increased expenditure on services and the dark cloud of terrorism that looms over every Pakistani. Therefore understandably, a normal person won't like his/her government when the living conditions take such a shape, couple it with the reports of corruption, the tug-of-war between the judiciary and the government and the general insensitivity of the politicians to their peoples' woes and you have a recipe for a loathsome government.  

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Match Box [Pakistan vs. England First Test]

MATCH INFO CENTRAL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

• Match: Pakistan vs. England, nPower Test Series 2010.
• Date: July 29, 2010 - August 2, 2010
• Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham [Also Known as Trent Bridge Ground (TBG)]
• Type: International Test Match
• Series-at-a-Glance: The four match series will initiate from this match. 
• Time: 03:00 pm PST, 11:00 am local, 10:00 am GMT, 03:30 IST, 1:00 pm MEST
• Live Telecasters: CricOne, Geo Super, Super Sport 2, Star Cricket, Sky Sports HD, Sky Sports 1
• Live Scores: Cricinfo, CricBuzz, Cricket365
• Live Streaming: WebCric CricPK, HQLive
• Highlights: MyCricketHighlights, Cricket-Online 
• Radio Coverage: City FM 93
• Live Views: cricket@npower.co.uk

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THE GROUND

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Established in 1899 as a ground to fulfill the needs of the Nottinghmashire Cricket County and the Notts Football Club. In the early 20th century though the two home teams took their own different routes and it became solely a cricket ground. In 2008 the ground mangement installed floodlights and it started hosting day and night fixtures as well.

Australia vs. England, limited overs series, Trent Bridge, 2009.
 

Trent Bridge wicket is fast and pacy and the bowl comes to bat very nicely. The outfield is also quick and lush. The seam and swing movement in Nottingham is pretty limited and you don't see any drastic changes in it unless moisture and overcast conditions fulfill their roles.

The highest total put up by any team here is 658/8 [England against Australia, 1938] and the lowest score is 88/10 [South Africa against England, 1960].

Radcliffe Road End at Trent Bridge
 

As far as my opinion is concerned, win the toss, bat first, put up a good score of around 300-400 and you will have a good chance of winning the game.

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TEAM PERFORMANCES

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Pakistan: Pakistan have not one a game here. Of the three matches they played at this ground, they lost two and have drawn one.

England: England have played 54 fixtures here and winning 17of them and drawing a further 21 of them. Their win percentage at the Premadas statium is 31.48.

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WEATHER FORECAST

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Day 1: Partly Cloudy.

Day 2: Partly Cloudy

Day 3: Mostly Cloudy.

Day 4: Partly Cloudy.

Day 5: Party Cloudy.

Precipitation Chances remains 10% throughout. 

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SQUADS

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Pakistan: Salman Butt (c), Kamran Akmal (vc/wk), Umar Akmal (rhb), Umar Amin (lhb), Azhar Ali (rhb), Yasir Hameed (rhb), Shoaib Malik (rhb), Imran Farhat (lhb), Zulqernain Haider (wk), Tanvir Ahmad (rfm), Mohammad Asif (rfm), Umar Gul (rfm), Wahab Riaz (lfm), Mohammad Aamer (lfm), Danish Kanera (lbb), Saeed Ajmal (obb).

England: Andrew Strauss (c), Alastair Cook (lhb), Jonathan Trott (rhb), Paul Collingwood (all), Eoin Morgan (rhb), Matt Prior (wk), Kevin Pietersen (rhb), Steven Finn (rfm), Stuart Broad (rfm), Ajmal Shahzad (rfm) [injured], James Andersen (rfm), Graeme Swann (obb), Tim Bresnan (rfm).
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Stats Source: www.cricinfo.com
Weather Forecast: Weather.com 
Photos: WikiCommons.
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Head---to---Head [Pakistan vs. England Test Series]

Both Captains of their respective sides and both top-class left-handed openers although after becoming the captain of his side Strauss has been in sublime touch and has been very difficult to see the back of. On the other hand Butt will try to take the confidence from the win against Australia into this series and will try to keep up his performance.
Andrew Strauss avges. 43.91
Salman Butt avges. 32.64
Advantage England

Both are gifted and talented left-hand openers but technque-wise Cook and Farhat are miles apart. Cook has been the firt choice opener for England since the retirement of Marcus Trescothick and so far have seen no challengers. Farhat has also been the automatic choice for opening slot for Paksitan in recent time but has yet to find consistency.
Alastair Cook avges. 44.97
Imran Farhat avges. 33.98
Advantage England

Both batsmen play at a very crucial and pivotal position in the game, one-down, although experience and the amount of runs holds them apart but patience and compact technique is a common between the two...
Jonathan Trott avges. 50.06
Azhar Ali avges. 34.75
Advantage England

One a sublime cricketer and the other a new arrival in the international arena, comparison doesn't look fair, but still....
Kevin Pietersen avges. 49.20
Umar Amin avges. 14.75
Advantage England

Both players oozing with talent and are the anchor-points of their respective sides, atleast in the limited format of the game. But they are yet to clearly prove their skills in the classic format. Umar Akmal didn't have a very good test series against the Aussies and will be looking to set it straight this time, Morgan on the other hand will be trying to cement his role in the side, keeping in view that Bell's untimely injury has provided him with a great oppertunity.
Eoin Morgan avges. 40.06
Umar Akmal avges. 39.62
Considering that Morgan is yet to claim an international test fifty, let alone hundred...
Advantage Pakistan

Both players are around for a very long time but the Englishman is a clear winner in batting prowess, another factor that tells them apart is the Pakistani's controversial career and difficulty in performing with the bat in recent past...the Blocker in Chief clearly comes out the winner here...
Paul Collingwood avges. 43.62
Shoaib Malik avges. 35.29
Advantage England

Both wicket-keepers are outrageously gifted when it comes to glove-work but the consistency in their batting separates them, Akmal may have been fumbling with the gloves and throwing his wicket away at crucial stages, but then still he is the first choice wicketkeeper for Pakistan. Conversely, Prior has faced a lot of competition around him which has helped him to mature as one fo the finest wicketkeeper-batsman in the test format of the game.
Matt Prior avges. 40.53
Kamran Akmal avges. 32.80
Advantage England

Both players are right-arm offbreak bowlers but Ajmal has an additional nick in his armoury, the lethal doosra, that can bamboozle anyone and everyone at a given time. Swann on the other hand owes his success to his adeptness at using the drift, that comes about due to his quick and angled action, to his advantage. And although Ajmal has played 1/4th the tests Swann has played but he still comes out the winner due to his possession of the wrong 'un despite Swann being particularly handy with the bat.
Graeme Swann's S/R: 60.1
Saeed Ajmal's S/R: 90.2
Advantage Pakistan

Both are eerily similar in a way, batting with the left hand and throwing seemingly gentle medium pacers with the right. But consistency and accuracy tell them apart. Asif has an envious control over line and length, most often residing in the corridor of uncertainty, apart from him being Pakistan's premier test bowler for the last year or so and the world number two. On the other hand Broad has been consistently inconsistent despite having a bucket-full of talent but when he ignites he can be a match winner.
Stuart Broad's S/R: 67.3
Mohammad Asif's S/R: 46.3
Advantage Pakistan

Both players are raw in the international arena but have turned loads of heads during their short careers so far. One is a lanky and towering 6ft 7in fast bowler and the other is dubbed as the mirror image of the great Wasim Akram. Strike rate and averages certainly swing the balance in favour of Finn but it should be noted that his performances have come against a lowly Bangladesh but Aamer has proven his guile from the likes Ponting and Vettori. Although Finn's extra bounce will sure test the best of the best but at the moment current performances favour Aamer.
Steven Finn's S/R: 37.2
Mohammad Aamer's S/R: 64.6
Advantage Pakistan

Both are aggressive bowlers but when it comes to slingy and strappy swing Anderson is a clear winner. Debuting in 2002 he has so far been quite impressive with the new ball and when conditions favour he can be one nerve-wrecking bowler. Gul on the other hand relies more on seam movement and reverse swing later on and would be itching to remove that 'limited overs' tag he has been wearing for the last few years. While Anderson will sure prove a handful for the rickety batting line up of Pakistan.
James Anderson's S/R: 60.2
Umar Gul's S/R: 57.6
Advantage England


So the final score-line reads ENGLAND 7 - 4 PAKISTAN.

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[Relegatedz Rankings] 10 Businessmen Who Made Billions By Simple Ideas

Businessmen are mostly though of as people having no special brains but lots of money to invest! And this 'definition' of businessmen is correct to some extent as the following list will prove, 10 Billionaires who started off with the most simples of ideas...

10. "Chocolate Spread, Anyone?"
Monaco-based Michelle Ferrero owns one of the biggest chocolate companies in Europe, Ferrero, loves church and chocolate and has a total fortune of $11 billion. But his real hit-the-jackpot-moment came when he thought about inducting chocolate spread in our daily breakfast routine and thus Nutella was born, which is single-handedly responsible for a big jump in Ferrero's revenues.
An advice, keep this stuff away from your babies...or else...

9. Clogged Vacuum Cleaners
James Dyson is basically a UK-based guy who has a degree in design and engineering...but additionally owns $1.6 billion! How? Well his hit-the-jackpot-moment showed up when he though about constructing a vacuum cleaner that is upright and sucks dirt without the hassle of clogged filters. 5124 prototypes and a perfect G-Force was ready. No need to mention that it was an instant hit with the masses!!

8. Simple Candies are Obsolete

Hans and Paul Reigal are German brothers who have a craving for creating the most weird of candies, chewy, fruity and savory candies in all sorts of shapes. According to an interview, the 85-year-old elder Reigal gets his sweety ideas from reading comics and watching kid's movies! According to reasonable estimates, their confectionery Haribo, has got sales of around $2.2 billion, so much for oddly-shaped candies!

7. "Wanna Locker?"
Brad Hughes is an happy ol' man, having $3.6 billion in his pocket and everything he desired for (except for a Kentucky Derby win!). Brad's hit-the-jackpot-moment came whilst on a road trip, he stopped at a warehouse and found it full, got home and set up a bunch of lockers off a highway, effectively kicking off his storage business Private Storage. But with this sort of a name he drove off a lot of customers so he opted for a more friendly Public Storage and people started coming in hordes. He also bought his biggest rival Shurguard in 2005. The ol' man doesn't like competition, it seems, well no businessman does!

6. "I am a BookWorm!"
Although he looks more like a stand-up comedian but you gotta respect this guy! He gave you Amazon.com! Jeff Bezos initially got an inspiration from the woes of thousands of book lovers who have to make countless trips to the book stores. He wanted to curtail this hassle and offered at-your-doorstep book provision upon online order. His solely booked Amazon.com went online in 1997 and now has emerged as a one-stop-shop for all our needs! And yes $8.3 billion is this guy's total fortune!

5. E-Market!

Pierre Omidyar is a French computer programmer who had his hit-the-jackpot-moment when he thought about creating a website that would provide the world with an online portal for buyers and sellers to converge upon and so ebay.com was born! Since 1995 it has become a primary or secondary source of income for over two million people around the globe and in the meantime has generated average revenues of $7.7 billion!
One complaint, the logo of ebay looks more like a title of a hip-hop album...

4. Everybody Loves Cuties
Ty Warner, a salesman's son who dropped out of of college and didn't give the tiniest notion that he would be a billionaire one day. His hit-the-jackpot-moment showed up when he though about selling stuffed bean bags shaped like cartoon characters with cute names. Beanie Babies hit the shelves in mid-1993 and stirred up a collecting craze that would bless him with $4.1 billion as fortune. He has expanded his business with the Ty Dolls line and a bunch of seasonal resorts. Well ask me, I don't know why people wanna cuddle with purple-eyed doggies?

3. I have got Wiiiiiings!
Chaleo Yoovidhya and Dietrich Mateschitz may be from nations far apart but they had their mutual hit-the-jackpot-moment when they thought about concocting an energy drink that is heavily caffeinated and super-concentrated with B-vitamins, Redbull was born. Easily the most sold energy beverage of our times. Caffeine seems to keep you up when you have drank a pitcher of Coke or Pepsi,well...these guys knew it (who doesn't?) and concentrated that amount of caffeine in a good, 'ol, handy can, popping in some steroids and vitamins as they sealed the can. No need to mention that caffeine in itself is addictive as well...so the two are pretty well off with average sales of $4.4 billion...

2. Simple Polo Shirts? Duh!
Ralph Lauren can be considered as one of the most prestigious apparel designers in the world. No fashion fiesta touches the barrier of completion without him (at least the organizers say so =P). He launched his Ralph Lauren apparel company in 1967 which has pretty much crept into everything, from perfumes to house-paints.
But his money-making success initiated from the moment he thought about grabbing a polo shirt, adding a horse decal and pricing it at $50... and b00m! His sales rocketed, so much for that little horse and its tiny golf-club bearing rider which would have cost Lauren less than a dollar on its own! $4.2 billion are what he has got...

1. Smelly Feet...Yikes!
Mario Moretti is this Italians' name, who had his hit-the-jackpot moment when, repulsed from smelly feet (foot fetishism any one?), he thought about adding tiny holes to the bottom of shoes to release sweat thereby eliminating that nasty stink that is enough to rid anesthesia from a general hospital! Initially he wanted to sell this idea to Nike, but Nike had standards this guy didn't know, so they turned him down and with it a multi-million dollar yanking advertisement proclaiming the pope to be their customer! Therefore Moretti started off his own shoe company Geox which has helped him to get a fortune worth $2.9 billions, just by selling shoes with holes at their soles...hell I could do that..just hand me over a pair of compasses!! And apparently this guy loves smelling his creations...

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