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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The stupidity of Shahid Afridi’s actions was profound, there is no question. As if the two whitewashes hadn’t caused us fans enough embarrassment, Afridi had to compound it by taking a bite out of the ball with as much subtlety as that spectator’s tackle on Khalid Latif. By the way, everyone’s talking about security in Pakistan, what happened here Cricket Australia?

Captains take a bite. Maybe there was something wrong with the Australian food?

Afridi was being touted for captain in the Test and ODI formats and I would not have minded. He made a good case with his recent performances and showed signs of maturity but his actions here have got me wondering if he really has matured. Yes, every team probably does it Shahid, but I doubt they use their teeth and make it so blatantly obvious. He may as well have gone up to umpire Asoka De Silva and asked to use his dentures. And when quizzed on Pakistani television

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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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