10
Netherlands Spun Out
By Tabrez Janjua for Stani Army in Pakistan Cricket
32 ViewsPakistan take the last spot of the super eights with a very comfortable win over the Netherlands.
Though Pakistan did reach a total of 175, the batting was not as easy as it seemed. The Dutch came back very well in the middle of the innings with Pakistan taking 43 balls to go from the 50 to 100. Credit to the Dutch, the boundaries dried up and Pakistan were left nervous, needing to bowl well to secure their last eight place.
The Pakistan fielding was still poor. Why Salman Butt is still being persisted with I do not know. It’s the same old issue of players being picked because of seniority. He was guilty of a dropped catch again just like in the previous game whilst all the players went for catches looking like they did not believe they’ll catch it. When Borren hit the ball in the air for the catch Butt did actually take, the silence from the rest of his team mates rather than shouting “catch it”, told us everything.
Another mistake by Younis was not to take off the injured Tanvir for a sub. Why not bowl him out and bring on a sub fielder or take him off without bowling him out? Tanvir let one four go and possibly two half chances which, against a better side, could have cost us the game.
As we said on Stani Army yesterday, its the spinners that made the difference as much for their lack of pace as for their spin as the Dutch had to use their feet and so it proved. A world class performance from Saeed Ajmal (3 for 20) and our man of the match performance from Shahid Afridi (4 for 11). Also, a special mention for Kamran Akmal who kept very well behind the stumps to two spinners who vary their deliveries a lot especially with the faster ball. It was obvious the faster ball was a definite plan between Akmal and the spinners for batsmen coming down the pitch. Akmal also broke the record for the most stumpings in International T20 by getting four, beating the previous record of three stumpings also held by him.
As for the super eights, I would keep the same team except swapping Butt for Shehzad. He is better at playing all around the ground (Butt too off sided, so easy to place field against) and a better fielder. We also need to get Tanvir fit as his swing is vital in these conditions. Let’s not kid ourselves, we still need to improve in every department to compete in the last eight. This victory may hide a lot of faults which we mustn’t allow to happen.
The Dutch can hold their head up knowing that they made what seemed a easy group for England and Pakistan to progress from, to beating England and giving Pakistan a big scare. Their future looks as bright as their outfits.
Loading ...
June 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Netherlands were clueless against the mystery and guile of Ajmal and Afridi as Pakistan piled up the runs and won convincingly to enter the super eights. Kamran Akmal played superbly with the bat and kept well behind the stumps for a thoroughly deserved MOM award.
Consequently Pakistan enters an easier group for the next stage of the tournament and there shan’t be any excuses for why they don’t reach the semi-finals from here. Certainly with the ball spin shall hold the key to compliment the potency of Umar Gul’s Yorkers. Hats off to Pakistan for this victory as we LOL at poor Australia.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
It was a victory alright but we were far from perfect.
Ur spot on abt Butt.. he needs to go.
Our fielding has to improve a hell of a lot to compete against the Likes and Lanka and NZ in the Super 8s.
We’re fortune we have a relatively easy group, now we need to make the most of it.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Maza; I think it’s all about spin for us from now on. I doubt Arafat will get another game not because of his own doing but because we have such a potent spin attack. Gul is a must so then it’s just about observing the conditions on any given day before going with Aamer and/or Tanvir.
I agree, semi-finals is the minimum we should expect and to be honest, I’ll be happy with that as long as we go down fighting if/when we lose.
Q; just imagine our fielding was even marginally better? Or even our running between the wickets? We have all the ingredients to be the the best.
You’re right about being far from perfect. I wasn’t too pleased with some of our batting. At one point we went something like 21 balls with out a boundary. Three and a half overs with no boundary in a T20? With the way we run between the wickets, that’s a big effect.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
It was actually 30 balls without a boundary, i.e. 5 overs!!
They need to improve.
The good thing is that we get better with each game.. and if we keep going our performances will keep improving.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:23 am
That’s one quarter of the innings Q! We could have made 200+ easily. Take into account all our other short comings and we can see just how hard we make it for ourselves.
We may be in the easier group but our performances so far haven’t convinced me that it’s going to be as straight forward as we’d like to think.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:11 am
I think the key is that we will improve with every outing.. thats usually how we fare in foreign conditions.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:29 am
You’re going to have to pick up your fielding if you want to beat NZ & Sri Lanka Stani. That said its nice to see your boys advance (even at the expense of Dirk). Salman Butt is appropriately named too because he sure needs a good swift kick up the butt! (see what I did there?)
June 10th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Yes Es; we may have to pick up the ball before we learn to pick up our fielding.
Butt I see what you did there! Is there no ‘end’ to your talent?
Dirk’s Aussie right? Why did he choose orange instead of yellow?
June 10th, 2009 at 7:01 am
He is Aussie with Dutch heritage. But wasn’t picked for the Aussie side, not even the initial 30. Dirk’s the best domestic T20 bowler going in Oz. So he went to a team that would appreciate him.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Doesn’t matter Es, at least you still got Doug Bollinger.