Stani Army

Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq have been brought back into the fold by the PCB after resigning from the ICL. This comes too late for either of them to participate in the T20 WC.

Having initially had Razzaq as one of the three ICL players they had picked in the initial T20 WC squad, had the PCB  not later withdrawn them then Razzaq would have been able to participate.

Many would not have Yousuf in their T20 squad but I am not one of them. Fall of wickets in the shorter form of the game does require stability in the batting order and he is the perfect man to do it. I have seen him play attacking also and he does it with as much grace as he does when constructing a Test century.

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Did anybody notice Brett Lee and Shane Watson with their guitar cases as the Australian team turned up at Birmingham airport for the World Twenty20? Music fans everywhere will be praying that Lee doesn’t release a single whilst he is over here like he did when he was in India for the 2006 Champions Trophy. (WARNING – Music Video is only for the hard of hearing, the visually impaired or Brett Lee fans)

Better still, let’s hope they are custom made cases to carry cricket bats in, designed to ward off bat thieves at the

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It seems as if even Pakistan’s women’s cricket hates the PCB. The PCB have been issued with a writ by the Lahore High Court in which the Pakistan Women’s Cricket Control Association (PWCCA) accuses the PCB of discriminating against them. They say whilst other cricket councils (e.g. Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC)) have been able to affiliate with the PCB and receive financial assistance, they have been completely ignored.

Though the case was registered two years ago, it is only now that it is making some head way.

It was in 2005 that the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) merged with the ICC, but Pakistan have yet to affiliate with their women’s cricket council.

With the whole cricketing world against them, the PCB

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Was Lalit Modi talking out of his backside recently when he was quoted as saying “Unfortunately, the Pakistan government won’t give them [Pakistan players] clearance to come to India, and since Saturday was our cut-off date, it’s not possible to have a team from Pakistan this year”. The PCB say they were not consulted or told about any deadlines so why has Pakistan been isolated from the Twenty20 Champions League and why did Modi not just tell the truth?

Some may argue that Pakistan had banned its players from travelling to India so Modi had no choice. The thing is that this was a decision made in regards to the IPL and could have been reviewed and indeed lifted had the PCB been contacted and asked its position in regards to the Champions League. It seems this did not happen. We cannot therefore be too critical of the PCB in regards to knowing what was happening as they were not brought into the fold at all. What we can be critical is of their weak response thus far.

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With all the noise about the Australian players coming over to England to play some County cricket before the Ashes, questions must be asked of England’s negative and defeatist responses.

Andrew Strauss said that English counties were being short sighted and national selector Geoff Miller said he was “disappointed” at the developments. Yet their responses could have been much more positive. They should have said that it doesn’t matter and that it also gives us (England) a chance to have a closer look at their players. It can work both ways.

And surprise surprise, the Aussies have picked up on the negativeness with Phil Hughes going back home and

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Saeed Ajmal’s action has been cleared by Shane Watson’s fellow Aussie, Professor Bruce Elliott. Ajmal’s action came under scrutiny recently in Dubai when Shane Watson complained to the umpire that this guy could not be this good and make him look a fool this easily and do it all legally. Unfortunately Shane, he did….Bummer!

Ajmal will still be allowed to bowl his doosra as it too fell with in the 15 degree limit set by the ICC unlike the doosra of South African Johan Botha (Watson was not involved in grassing up Botha…although one can never be too sure).

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With Pakistan searching for a home to host Australia next year, the minnows of Ireland and Scotland are emerging as favourites. It has been banded about that one of the reasons for this is that it would help the minnows get more competitive cricket. Pakistan has done a lot for smaller nations in the past (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) and still is with Afghanistan and China, but the simple reason that the PCB would go for Ireland or Scotland to host their matches is cost.

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The PCB has released Shoaib Akhtar from the 15 man World Twenty20 squad and replaced him with Rao Iftikhar Anjum. In a revealing statement, the PCB has disclosed that Shoaib’s skin infection was of the sexually transmitted kind. No other board in world cricket would have released such details had it been one of their players but not the Pakistanis. I guess Shoaib is not exactly in the PCBs good books so they’d do pretty much do anything to stain his character. So much for patient confidentiality though.

To be honest, they’ve probably caused themselves as much embarrassment with their unprofessionalism as they have Shoaib.

Why Rao Iftikhar though? Decent bowler yes but not suited to Twenty20. Stani Army had suggested that Rana Naved should be called up having cancelled his ICL contract but it seems that the PCB still fear the reaction of the ICC and BCCI.