Stani Army

If the recent Test series in Sri Lanka has left you depressed, here’s something to cheer you up. I received this email of some excerpts of commentary by the legend that is Waqar Younis. Have a read, it’s hilarious!

1) “Dhoni has got a beautiful head on his shoulders…..” – Waqar when praising Dhoni’s calm demeanour.
2) “The Virender Sehwag is really on the rampage tonight” – When praising Sehwag’s attacking batting.
3) “Oh…..he is a smart bowler! He has got a protection there” – When praising some bowler for field placing.
4) When Aamir Sohail praised Ishant Sharma saying, “Waqar, I think the reason that Ashant is getting all that extra bounce is that he is a big lanky lad” Waqar: “Another reason could be that he’s also very tall”
5) When praising Salman Butt, “All Salman did was just put bat on ball and timing was perfect. Beautiful play…….”
6) “Trescothick makes a room outside off stump”

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With the emergence of Mohammad Aamer, would a fit Shoaib have a place in the Pakistan first team?

In the past, we’ve had to keep on going back to Shoaib because there was no one else fast or good enough to partner Umar Gul as the other of the two Pakistan pace spearheads. Maybe part of the reason for his bad behaviour was that he felt he brought something unique to the Pakistan attack so was thus indispensable and could do pretty much what he liked. His recent comment, “I am the fastest bowler in history and it’s not possible for everyone to bowl at 150 (kph)”, does give some indication of such a mindset. Yet now that we have Aamer, and due the reasons which we will now examine, I think Shoaib would find it very difficult to get a place in any of our sides.

His reverse swing and slower ball skills will not be missed as Gul has demonstrated that he is one of the very best exploiters of these qualities. His pace will not also be a miss as both Gul and Aamer are adequately fast enough. In most of our sides, barring injury, we will probably go with three main fast bowlers due to the strength of our all rounders and spinners. With Gul and Aamer a certainty, this leaves one place

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I for one am glad I didn’t get too carried away by Pakistan’s day 2 second innings recovery as they would have inevitably let me down having raised my hopes. And so it proved, as another batting collapse saw them go from 285 for 1 to 320 all out in their second innings. This left Sri Lanka needing 171, and with their tales up they ran through comfortable winners in the end, getting there in just 32 overs with 7 wickets in hand.

Pakistan’s 2nd innings recovery did nothing but raise even more questions as to why the 1st innings performance was so bad, and despite the 2nd innings collapse, it was this 1st innings total which cost in the end. Had they scored even a hundred more, they would have fancied bowling out Sri Lanka for less than 270 on a 4th innings pitch.

So, where did it all go wrong? Pakistan’s 2nd innings collapse all started when Sri Lanka took the new ball and the Pakistan batsmen just did not have an answer. The Sri Lankan’s did bowl well but questions will be asked of the Pakistan batsmen, particularly the early to middle order. Though Misbah was unlucky to be given out today

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Well the Twenty20 Champions couldn’t even manage that in the first innings of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 1st Test, today’s batting performance must have left Pakistan’s coaching staff seething. I suppose this would have been mainly to save their own skins as what ever they would have told the players in between the last Test and this one, quite clearly has not worked. It is difficult for the coaching staff to have much effect whilst a match is on going yet in between matches is where they must have an influence. But with four ducks and just three double figure scores (the highest being 39), it seems as if the Pakistani players did not come into this match with a single thought of what had transpired in the last.

Another change to the opening pair saw Fawad Alam come in for Salman Butt. Many had asked for Fawad’s inclusion yet he could only manage 16 runs having being sent in to open which was something he had never done before in an international game. This decision seemed even more bizarre than when Alam was asked to bowl the very important 15th over of the T20 semi-final having not bowled at all in the tournament previously. Sure, Fawad would have been asked if he would like to open today but as a youngster desperate to play for your country, you just say yes, whether its opening or coming in last.

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…at their brilliant worst. Well who would have thought it? Those Pakistani fans around the world who stayed up to watch the climax of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, will probably now be wondering why they bothered. Those who thought they’d hit the sack since the contest was over will still be asking themselves if they are yet to awake from their nightmare.

Having required just 97 runs over night, Pakistan managed to lose their remaining 8 wickets for just 46. Divide that 97 by 8 and all each batsmen had to make was a measly 13 runs and victory would have been achieved. Unbelievable when you look at it like that right?

So was it devil of a wicket, good Sri Lankan bowling or Pakistani complacency? Judging by reports, the wicket was not a 46 for 8 type of wicket and though the Sri Lankan bowlers did bowl well, their first innings bowling and the small target meant that this second reason wasn’t the main cause of Pakistan’s downfall either. This leaves the reason of complacency, for which I will now introduce Mr Younis Khan: “We never thought we’d lose this game”. Lovely.

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Well if anyone had forgotten about Mohammad Yousuf’s talents, then they would have been well and truly reminded about what he is about in his first Test innings since his return from the ICL.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have just concluded day 2 of their first Test in Galle, a day on which Yousuf finished top scorer with 112 at a strike rate of 60.

Much had been made of Yousuf’s fling with the ICL, which all began after he had been unfairly excluded from the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup squad. Having then being brought back but rejoining the league, it was difficult to see when he would again grace the cricket field in a Test for his nation.

His comments about Shoaib Malik being chosen as captain at the time, were well off the mark but showed the mentality in Pakistan cricket and general life, where seniority is akin to superiority. But cricket has a great way of bringing people together

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….nothing. Well there will be nothing if the ICC gets its way. David Morgan’s (ICC president) suggestion of reducing Test matches to four days has come as quite a shock to me. If the governors of the game hope to attract more spectators and encourage fewer drawn Test matches, then I’m afraid reducing the number of days a Test match is played over will not work.

The people that do not enjoy 5-day Test cricket, will still not enjoy 4-day Test cricket – simple. In modern day life, it is difficult to commit five full days to watching cricket. People work, they have to provide for their families, Test matches will always have low attendances; that’s just the way it is. Day/night Tests will help this, which is why I would not mind such a development as long as the match is contested over five days and a series is not completely made up of day/night matches.

As for the results side of the argument, surely having fewer days would lead to more drawn Test matches? Trying to squeeze an innings in each day and hope for a result in such a batsmen dominated modern game is just devoid of common sense.

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