Stani Army

Owais Shah was once again left out of England’s squad after having an average series against the West Indies. Having done twice as much as others to get into the English side in the first place, it seems he has to do twice as much to keep his place. While the likes of Collingwood, Cook and Bell, in the past, have been given numerous chances even when out of form, Shah has been axed at the very first opportunity.

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Saeed Ajmal alleges he was reported for a suspect action only after Shane Watson had been seen speaking to the umpires during the match. The positive for Ajmal is that both Harbhajan and Murali have previously been reported for their doosras and subsequently cleared.

Players reported for suspect actions in the last 10 years:

Harbhajan Singh – IND
Shoaib Akhtar – PAK

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In a previous post, Stani Army questioned why the PCB had included the 3 ICL players from Twenty20 World Cup squad only to remove them, and it seems it was a tactical ploy by the inept PCB who wanted to keep the ICC happy before the meeting in which Pakistan’s co-hosting of the 2011 World Cup was to be discussed.

Well it obviously didn’t work. Had they had any brains, they would have indeed not included the 3 ICL players at all rather than bringing embarrassment on themselves by including then dropping them.

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Still two years left until the 50 over format World Cup and the ICC has wasted no time in taking it away from Pakistan. Though it was probably on the cards, there was always a little ray of hope in the heart of the optimistic Pakistan cricket fan.

But was there any need to decide this early? For one, if terrorists were going to target the 2011 World Cup, the ICC has just told them not to bother planning for Pakistan but for the other three countries right?

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Younis Khan has recently said that had he been caught in the line of fire as the Sri Lankan team were in the terror attack in Lahore, then he would have walked away from international cricket. Only the Sri Lankan squad and the officials who were there could know how those terrifying few moments were but would them quitting cricket solve anything?

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In another demonstration of their lack of professionalism, the PCB has withdrawn and backed down in its selection of the three ICL players included in its preliminary Twenty20 World Cup squad of 30, causing more embarrassment for itself. We had hoped, in a previous post, that the board would show some fight and stand up to this ridiculous ICL ban but they have once again shown their lack of spine.

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Many of us love sport for its unpredictable twists and turns. Let’s take the final one-day match of England’s tour, for example. Or the captivating fluctuations in fortune of the English Premier League. On-field events are the focus of our fascination, a blessing that Pakistan cricket has not received for almost two years.

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The ICCs deadline for submitting a provisional 30 man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup has arrived and the PCB has gone ahead and included some players involved with the ICL. The three players are Abdul Razzaq, Naved-ul-Hasan and Imran Nazir. With the tournament set to go ahead in June, this leaves about a couple of months for the ICC and the other world boards to come to an agreement in regards to the legitimacy of the Indian Cricket League. If this should not happen, Pakistan may end up carrying players they are not able to use.

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