Stani Army

You have to wonder why such a fuss was made of Mohammed Yousuf’s recall. When it comes to the reasons for why he was banned by the PCB, I for one am still none the wiser. Stani Army supported Mohammed Yousuf after the debacle of the Australian tour, and we still support him now.

We did mention in a previous post that Yousuf’s return will not only have the obvious effect of adding runs to the scoreboard, but also have an influence on the opposition and the young Pakistan batting line up. Certainly, it was obvious from Azhar Ali’s body language, that he was delighted to be out there in the middle with Mohammed Yousuf, and it is no coincidence that it led to Azhar’s highest score of his young Test career.

Did someone call for Yousuf? Mohammed Yousuf's return coincided with Pakistan's first 300 plus total of the tour of England

Yousuf’s affect on the mindset of the opposition was obvious, with Strauss adopting defensive fields to him very early on  as it became clear that the tactics employed previously to the other Pakistani batsmen, were not going to work with Yousuf. Just his name on the team sheet would have put doubts in the minds of the English bowlers, as Swann later touched upon in an interview, that he had looked down the Pakistan line up and identified Yousuf as the prize wicket for his 100th Test victim. As it turned out, Swann did manage to get him, but more through a lapse in the great man’s judgement to a negative Ashley Giles type of round the wicket line from Swann, than through the guile of the bowler himself.

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So Andrew Flintoff has decided to become a freelance cricketer after rejecting an incremental contract offered to him by the ECB?

If anything, it shows how desperate, short sighted and foolish the ECB were for giving him a contract in the first place. Now he’s chucked it in their face, how silly do they look? Even Flintoff himself said he was “flattered” and wasn’t “expecting” a contract. Not only did the ECB offer him the contract but they are also paying for Dave Roberts the physio to help Flintoff  recover in Dubai. Surely the ECB should have only offered this if Flintoff was contractually bound otherwise why does he deserve it? A board paying for a physio for a freelance cricketer? Crazy.

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