Akmal was dope tested before the World Cup. Unfortunately they tested for the wrong kind of dope

Pakistan’s unbeaten record at the World up came to an end with an almighty crash today, as they were put to the sword by Ross Taylor.

In all honesty, Pakistan followers would have known that there was a performance like this just around the corner, and on closer inspection, this unbeaten run wasn’t as special as it was being made out to be anyway. Two of the three victories came against minnows, in games that were not as comfortable as they should have been. The only real decent victory was against Sri Lanka, and one good game is no winning run. Certainly this false sense of things going well may be the reason why they have failed to make the necessary changes in team personnel.

Chief architect in today’s defeat was wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal who dropped three catches – two off Ross Taylor, when he was on 0 and 4 respectively. Taylor went on to make an unbeaten 131, helping New Zealand make 102 runs off the final 5 overs.

Many of those that have called for Kamran to be axed must be banging their heads against a wall right now. Had he been a South American footballer, his mistakes would have seen him go into hiding in fear of his life. The captain and coach need to take the decision and take the gloves of Kamran for the rest of the tournament, even if they still play him as a batsman or, they should drop him outright. As a friend of mine once said, maybe it’s time to drop Kamran just so he knows how the ball feels.

The other two concerns are over the places of the opening pair and that of Abdul Razzaq. The ‘winning run’ has masked the failling of Ahmad Shahzad and Mohammad Hafeez at the top. Apart from Hafeez’s 32 against Sri Lanka, the two have failed to pass 13 runs in all of the other innings of the four games played. Asad Sahfiq needs to be brought in for one of these two.

The main criticism about Razzaq’s place has been his poor bowling. Today he was brought on near the end when Shoaib Akhtar was removed after being plundered for runs. Razzaq duly did worse. It was a crazy and desperate decision by captain Afridi, to bring Razzaq on in place of Akhtar, merely replacing Akhtar’s pace for Razzaq’s lack of and making things easier for Taylor. If Razzaq is used solely as a batsman in the side, Pakistan have to make scape for their other pacer in the squad, Wahab Riaz.

Both Akmal and Razzaq have kept their place in the sides of the recent past because of the argument over their batting. Yet despite this, neither of them make up in their batting for what they give away in mistakes behind the stumps, in Akmal’s case, and giving away cheap runs when bowling in Razzaq’s.

Pakistan have a lot of thinking to do in regards  team selection if they hope to challenge the big guns in the knock-out stages of the tournament. It may well be too late now for the replacements to come in and make an impact, as the faith placed in some of the under-performing players begins to catch up with the team.

Earlier in the week Afridi promised to do all he could to bring the World Cup trophy home after Pakistan were banned from hosting the tournament alongside India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh following the terrorist attacks of 2009, and he looked to make good on his promise with an impressive bowling performance.

Bigfreebet will have installed Pakistan as clear favourites, but their opponents were poorer than expected and sent down a joint record number of wide balls, unenviably matching the 37 the West Indies bowled in the 1991 tournament.

The Kenyans had begun the game well, and restricted a Pakistan batting attack looking to take advantage of their lesser opponents. Two wickets down with just 12 runs on the board, Kenya looked to replicate the success of the Netherlands against England yesterday by putting pressure on their esteemed opponents.

But the Pakistan middle-order came good as they accelerated through the innings, moving from 129-3 off 28 overs to an imposing 317-7; a figure which always looked out of Kenya’s reach.

Umar Akmal’s pacey innings of 71 from 52 balls lead the way, while Kamran Akmal (55), Younus Khan (50) and Misbah-ul-Haq (65) provided ample support in posting a large score for Kenya to chase.

Kenya completed a miserable day all round as their response failed to get off the ground. Jimmy Kamande’s side lost their last seven wickets for just 39 runs as they fell apart in the face of an aggressive Pakistan bowling unit, led by Afridi.

All-rounder Collins Obuya provided some resistance with a 58-ball innings of 47, one of only four to reach a double figures.

Pakistan will now move on to face Sri Lanka, who also won their opening game at a canter, on Saturday in Colombo. Big free bet will have trouble separating the two closely matched teams as they look to establish themselves as the dominant force in Group A.

By Thomas Rooney

Akmal: "Being dropped is not an easy thing to take". Yes, imagine what the ball feels like Kamran!

With the World Cup fast approaching, and Pakistan choosing to send in a early preliminary list of layers to the ICC for vetting, Kamran Akmal has decided to come out into the open about his frustrations at being ignored. Having asked the ICC if he is under any investigation and been given the green light, Akmal is surprised as to why he has not been brought back into the fold after being dropped for his poor performances in England.

The belief is that Akmal is being shunned by the PCB as there are suspicions that he has been involved in match fixing. With the PCB recently being told by the ICC to clean up their act, they may just be playing it safe by keeping Akmal away from the international side, even if there is no hard evidence he has been involved in fixing.

So why is there this cloud over Akmal? Suspicions first arose during the tour of Australia when Akmal dropped four catches behind the stumps in the 2nd Test, three of them off of Michael Hussey, who was Australia’s only hope left in the innings. Hussey managed a century, and carried his bat with the tail with Pakistan eventually losing by 36 runs. This led to Akmal being questioned by the PCB, and he was later dropped for the Twenty20s against England in Dubai.

When Pakistan flew to England, Akmal was sent a notice by the ICC seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean, as the suspicion in regards to Akmal’s performances continued. On the same tour, he was dropped for the 2nd Test against England after a string of missed opportunities behind the stumps and poor batting scores.

He was also recently named in a video by fixer Mazhar Majeed as one of six Pakistan players that Majeed had on his side, ready to engage in fixing games.

Akmal in thought after dropping an easy chance off Strauss - one of many mistakes

Another thing I noticed was Akmal’s demeanour after the match fixing scandal involving Amir, Asif and Butt came out into the open in England in August. Up until then, he seemed very edgy and pressured with his batting and keeping. After the scandal broke, he seemed to begin to play with more freedom. Whilst the statistics for his wicket-keeping before and after the scandal are not available, and he has played only two Twenty20s since, we can compare his One Day innings’ before and after the spot fixing scandal broke in August 2010 adequately enough.

Akmal averaged a very good 40.2 in the five ODIs he played after the fixing scandal. If we take the same number of innings (five) before the scandal, his average drops to 21.2. What made Kamran suddenly want to score after the scandal had broke? Was he know playing freely rather than to the instructions of a fixer? Since then, he has also made his first ever double century in first class cricket scoring 268 for National Bank of Pakistan last month, and has generally batted well in the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy scoring 530 runs at an average of 75.71 so far this season. What could explain Kamran’s sudden run of form?

Whilst any one of the above points would probably not mean much on their own, brought together, they certainly raise question marks over whether Akmal gave it his best every single time. It does not tell us he was fixing games, but if he wasn’t trying his best, you would have to ask why?

Want your child to play for Pakistan? Name him Akmal!

Adnan averages just under 23 runs with the bat in the domestics, which is 11 fewer than Haider and 7 fewer than his brother Kamran. If he is any good at keeping though, expect him to cement a place in the side as Zulqarnain has gone into retirement and Kamran is well known for his blunders with the gloves. It means it is a complete turnaround for the Akmal family after just recently, both Kamran and Umar’s places were under scrutiny during the tour to Australia. The question is, with three brothers now in and around the set-up, how many more Akmals are there to come and can they do something other than keep wicket?

As expected, Younis Khan has been retained and brought in to the Test squad after the PCB had not included him earlier as they wanted to have a look at his performances in the ODIs. Mohammad Hafeez has also been given a place after finishing the ODI series as Pakistan’s top runs scorer with 203 runs in 5 innings. His bowling will also reinforce the spin department after Danish Kaneria was denied clearance to join the Test squad for reasons not yet known.

Squad: Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Adnan Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz.

My Team: Hafeez , Taufeeq, Younis, Yousuf, Misbah (c), U Akmal, Rehman, A Akmal (wk), Gul, Sami, Riaz.

Having received evidence from the newspaper, the ICC have felt it necessary to launch an investigation into allegations that the Pakistan batting innings was scripted, with scoring patterns in two specific overs matching the evidence provided to the ICC before the game. Could something still be going on or could the said scoring patterns have been just a coincidence?

The fact that the ICC felt it necessary to launch an investigation will point to them having some substantial evidence to do so. But there are a number of reasons why these recent ongoings may just be a coincidence.

With the spotlight of the world on the Pakistan side, would anyone in the team have been brave or foolish enough to take instructions from bookies? I would be very surprised if this was the case. Secondly, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir who had been implicated previously are no longer in the side. Salman Butt was even referred to as the ringleader, so with the aforementioned not being there would something untoward still be going on? Also, with the police on Mazhar Majeed’s tail, it would be highly unlikely that he would still have contact with any of the players let alone be setting up fixes. It’s certain any other agent looking from the outside wouldn’t have dared try anything now too.

Which batsmen could have been involved?
If you look at the Pakistani line up, the only player there to have been linked with the original scandal was Kamran Akmal. Yet just looking at his innings on the day would tell you that Akmal wasn’t in long enough to carry out any instructions and neither would his freak dismissal (the ball deflected off the underside of his thigh pad, behind his leg and onto the stumps) have been something purposely planned out.

It is yet to be revealed the two overs in which the alleged fixed scoring pattern took place or who was at the crease at the time. We’ve already seen why it probably wasn’t Kamran Akmal so if it is true who could it have been?

Mohammad Hafeez, along with Akmal fell in the first three overs and both made 1 and 5 respectively so it’s unlikely it could have been them. The next batting partnership was between Asad Shafiq who has just got into the side and Mohammad Yousuf, a deeply religious guy, who himself has recently returned having been sidelined because of infighting. Neither of them would seem likely to do anything sinister. After Yousuf’s dismissal, we had the Shafiq and Fawad Alam partnership. Fawad is another battling to secure his place and his innings was no different to his usual. Then there was Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, all them would have came in at points in the innings where the total at that oint in time would have been not something they could have controlled. Akmal would have been less likely to do something due to the suspicion surrounding his brother and Razzaq and Afridi played the types of innings you would usually associate with them. Also, being the captain of a side that is under the microscope with all that has gone on, Afridi would be even less likely to get involved with something. I think his response to the recent allegations “All this is rubbish”, said it all. He is frustrated as any Pakistan fan that new allegations have been thrown at the team in the attempt to kick them whilst they’re down.

Individual batsmen aside, I think the rate at which the wickets fell and the mode of many of the dismissals means that scripting a specific target over two overs would have been very difficult to achieve unless more than at least three players were involved. Considering all the evidence, I’d be surprised if there was any truth in the Sun’s allegations but you just never know.

ICC – Inept and crass as the PCB
The ICC was very quick to reveal to the media that they had begun investigations on what are just allegations without considering the potential consequences on Pakistan cricket. Indeed, they did not even inform the Pakistan Cricket Board that they were about to do so. It seems the spot fixing scandals have woken the ICC up from their slumber and highlighted the ineffectiveness of their Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU). Now the world is watching, the ditherers at the ICC feel they have to be seen and heard to be doing something, whatever that may be. They could have prevented the trial by media the Pakistan team has been and will be subjected to but instead they took the main role. In general, the ICC’s actions seem very much like those of an organisation that is always chasing the the crime rather than preventing it from happening.

Crude Flower and classy Strauss
Andy Flower has opened his mouth again and you would have to wonder if he thinks before he speaks. He felt it necessary to give his view on the Sun’s allegations saying “From a selfish perspective it’s really annoying because it devalues our Test series and it’s also devaluing this one-day series”. With two ODIs left to go, the ECB can’t have been too happy with Flowers comments as they battle to fill the seats in the grounds. Flowers comments are in direct contrast to that of England captain Andrew Strauss who, when questioned, made it clear that credibility in the allegations had still to be substantiated saying “we don’t know how credible the evidence is” and “[The ODIs have] been three very hard-fought cricket matches. There certainly seems to be passion on both sides, they’ve been high intensity affairs”. He went on: “The only thing you can say is give the benefit of the doubt that these allegations are well off the mark. That is certainly my attitude at the moment – because I would be dumbfounded if it was taking place after everything that has gone on in the Test series.” Flower could learn a thing or two from his captain. Maybe Andy is feeling the pressure and trying to deflect the attention after England not performing as well in the ODIs as they had hoped especially with the World Cup around the corner.

Ijaz Butt loses the plot
So as to be not outdone by the ineptitude of the ICC, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt has responded with some remarkable claims of his own. He alleges that English players were involved in match fixing in the third ODI saying “There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match [the third ODI]. No wonder there was such a collapse”. He also claimed that there was a “conspiracy to defraud Pakistan cricket” by various people and groups.I hope for the sake of Pakistan cricket that he has some real evidence because it’s not as if certain players haven’t brought enough embarrassment on this nation and it’s cricket. Should Butt’s claims fail to stand up, we may well see Pakistan losing it’s member status in international cricket.

Truth in the allegations against Pakistan or not, I think the newspaper certainly got their required response with the ICC jumping the gun, the ECB holding meetings in regards to the tour, England’s coach Andy Flower saying the series has become devalued, South Africa already feeling the need to speak out on whether the games against them will go ahead in the UAE, and pundits everywhere questioning the future of Pakistan Cricket. Allegations or not, the reaction from various corners has been quite pathetic, sad, irresponsible and inconsiderate.

The PCB needs to drop Salman Butt and the other three named players with immediate effect

It’s been suggested by some writers that the remainder of Pakistan’s tour should be stopped after Sunday’s match fixing allegations. Fixer Mazhar Majeed was taped telling  the undercover News of the World reporter that two of the upcoming ODIs against England had been marked out to be fixed. This has rightly raised doubts over the legitimacy of the contest between the two sides during the rest of the tour.

But as long as the players who the allegations were brought against are withdrawn from the squad, stopping the tour will serve no purpose. We must think of the Pakistan fans and the players in the squad that are completely innocent. We must think of the host nation and the losses they will suffer due to any abandonment.

The chances of the plans for the two matches that were to be fixed going ahead are pretty slim now. The issue has come to the world’s attention and any player would not even consider putting a foot wrong, pardon the pun, in the ODIs and Twenty20s to come. Should the PCB drop the suspected players – including Salman Butt who was refereed to as the ring leader – then the alleged plans to fix the two ODIs would have even less chance of going ahead. Though slight supporter suspicion will remain, the two points above would almost guarantee that the integrity of the contest in the remaining fixtures is maintained. Stopping the tour would be an overreaction and pretty pointless.

Yet for the good of the game, it is vitally important that the PCB take swift action in dropping the players. For the nation that has invited us to play, and for Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman who has been one of a very few who have gone out of their way to help Pakistan cricket in it’s hour of need, the PCB needs to act fast. There should be no problem in the PCB finding justification for withdrawing the players concerned as they are under police investigation. It does not matter whether withdrawing the players looks like they are admitting guilt, because the only way Pakistan can carry on playing with any sort of trust on this tour is by removing the named players from the touring party. Carrying on with them should not even be entertained as a possibility. Once the tour finishes, not only the players involved but also the complete set-up and administration needs to be looked at and cleared of corruption. But stopping the game right now is not the way to go. Whilst it is a good thing that these players are found out, it will only remain and end a good thing if those that do not deserve punishment are not punished along with the guilty.

At a time when the nation of Pakistan is suffering from horrendous flooding, the subject of match fixing seems relatively trivial. But just as life for the flood victims must go on, so must the cricket.

In footage which will send a shudder through Pakistan fans, Mazhar Majeed is seen telling the reporter exactly at which point Amir and Asif will bowl no-balls in the Lord’s Test.  Majeed tells the reporter that it will be the first ball of the third over and the last ball of the tenth, bowled by Amir and Asif respectively. Shockingly, this is exactly what happens and in the case of Amir, he no-balls half a foot over the crease. If it is proved that the video was filmed before the event then the evidence I’m afraid looks pretty damning. Majeed’s other promises to the reporter that turned out to be correct were another no-ball from Amir and a maiden over batted out by captain Salman Butt.

Crooked Majeed, went on to name Captain Salman Butt and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal as two other players he has on side. He bragged that he has links with Indian bookies, manages ten of the Pakstani players and works “very closely with the PCB” who he has been involved with for around seven years. He is also pictured posing for the camera with the News of the World reporter and none other than the Pakistan captain Salman Butt himself.

In more shocking footage, Majeed is filmed showing Wahab Riaz and Umar Amin the inside pocket of his jacket where he had stuffed £10,000 earlier paid to him by the undercover reporter. Majeed then hands over the jacket with the money inside to Wahab Riaz who casually slips it on.

And it may not be just the Test captain Butt who knows about what is going on. It does seem that ODI captain Shahid Afridi is also reluctantly in the know, though maybe not directly involved, as Majeed also promised that two of the upcoming ODIs will be thrown. When referring to Afridi he said: “A lot of the boys want to f*** up Afridi because he’s trying to f*** up things for them”. The reason Majeed gave for not fixing entire Test matches was “because we’re trying to win this game (the Oval Test) and the Lord’s game. Because we want Salman Butt as captain”. When pressed whether Butt was on-side, Majeed said: “Of course, of course”.

Majeed claimed that not may of the players are actually there to represent their country or for the love of the game: “You’ll find there’s only a few players who are genuine and who are actually here for the love of the game and there’s not many believe me. A lot of them are just looking for money, women and food”.

Pakistan fans the world over will be devastated and feeling a sense of betrayal and anger right now. If the allegations are proved, I’d be happy to see every one of the players, backroom staff and/or administrators connected banned for life from all cricket with maybe the exception of Amir. It would be heartbreaking if it is proved that young Amir was knowingly involved and on his own accord. A prodigious talent who has taken international cricket by storm, and recently made the shortlist for ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year, would have wasted such a promising career and disgraced himself, his family and his nation.

The fortunes of Yousuf and Malik seem to be going in opposite directions

Shoaib Malik’s exclusion for the last Test against England came as no surprise but his exclusion from this limited over squad is slightly more surprising. With Fawad Alam and Mohammed Hafeez coming back in, maybe Malik’s role would have been seen as being covered adequately enough. Hafeez’s inclusion also means that there is no place for Imran Farhat, who strangely enough, is probably more suited to the shorter form.

Most interestingly, Mohammed Yousuf has completed his come back by being named also. One would think that he’d only be used in the ODIs but I for one am certain he could do a job in the Twenty20 see-ball hit-ball form of the game. Younis Khan was overlooked because, according to captain Shahid Afridi, he has not sorted out his dispute with the PCB. In what seems a very unsympathetic and ruthless statement, Afridi said: “I asked the chairman PCB about the situation with Younis twice. But the clearance wasn’t given by the PCB. I did what I had to do”. Make of that what you will.

An inclusion that I am certainly in favour of was that of Azhar Ali. With the absence of Younis Khan, Azhar should go straight into the ODI side to bolster the middle-order batting line up. He has all the attributes: technique, temperament, talent, to become a permanent fixture in our ODI side for years to come as I am sure he will be in the Test side.

As expected, Shoaib Akhtar also retains his place from the squad that faced Australia in the Twenty20s earlier in the tour. With Wahab Riaz also included and Akhtar’s level of fitness considered, it will be interesting to see if Akhtar makes the ODI team. If he does, it may well be a straight battle between Umar Gul and Riaz for the final spot with the other two taken up by Asif and Aamer. We must not forget Gul’s deadliness in the shorter form and that Wahab has been quite expensive in this form in the past. Although, with Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal also in the squad, and considering the fact that Afridi will bowl himself, it will be interesting to see how many pacers are included in the attack from the five of Aamer, Asif, Gul, Akhtar and Riaz. Certainly that’s one area in which we’re spoilt for choice.

All in all, it looks a very exciting squad with plenty to work with for captain Shahid Afridi ahead of the World Cup:

Squad for the five ODIs and two Twenty20s:

Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammed Aamer, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz.

Reserves:

Sarfraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Abdur Rehman.

'We're not dumb, we batted rubbish so that we could lose the Test early to give our bowlers a rest'

If just for the sake of our bowlers, then the PCB must react to the current batting situation even if it means sending out a call for Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and maybe even Misbah Ul-Haq. The argument that we should persist with the youngsters would be a fair one in any other situation, but we need to get these youngsters out of the cauldron they are in because this is not helping them or our bowlers.

The longest our batsmen have occupied the crease thus far in England has been 90 overs. With only Asif and Aamer of the bowlers showing any form, and Aamer being just 18, there is a worryingly huge workload placed on the bowlers, in particular the aforementioned two.

Kamran Akmal: The ‘wicket-keeper batsman’
The other thing exacerbating the situation is the dropped catches and general fielding. It is as if the bowlers have to get the opposition batsman out twice for every one dismissal. The chief culprit in this is Kamran Akmal. I stated in my last post that enough was enough, that since Kamran is making the same mistakes and not showing any improvement, then he has to be dropped. The argument that we select him because of what he gives with the bat is a false one. If you look at his contributions with the bat, then there is no reason why he should remain in the side in place of a good wicket-keeper who is not a batsmen because Akmal doesn’t look like much of a batsman either. In his seven Test innings in England, he has managed an average of just 14.58.

Disappointment all-round, as the ground fails to swallow up Kamran Akmal

Team for the next Test
Whilst it is drastic, this is the side I would go in with for the secnd Test against England and it looks like a much more competitive one to me: Butt, Hameed, Malik, Younis (or Misbah lower down), Yousuf, Azhar/Umar Akmal,  Zulqarnain, Asif, Aamer, Gul, Ajmal.

Listening to Salman Butt’s after-match interview, it did not seem as if changes were going to be made and it felt as though they were going to stick with the same line up. Butt backed the young batsmen and the wicket-keeper Akmal. His argument was that after losing similarly to Australia in the first Test, we came back strong. Yet, our batting was still poor in that game and we were lucky to win that one in the end, and should not forget that after making just 88 in the first innings, Australia still managed to get back in the game, with our bowlers having to hit the winning runs under pressure on what turned out to be the last day.

And if we do stick with the same side as Butt indicated, what happens when we lose the next one in a similarly embarrassing manner? Knowing the media and ex-cricketers back in Pakistan, our young batsmen will get overly criticised. Both the players (current and those that are called up) and the backroom staff, need to forget the clash of personality issues, forget the character issues, it’s time to be professional and come work for the country.

UPDATE:
Danish Kaneria has been dropped for the remainder of the series and is now available for Essex. Mohammed Yousuf has been called up into the squad for the remaining games against England. Both positive steps in my opinion.

Whilst overhead conditions were favourable to the English bowlers, it was a good track and for the Pakistani top five to make a combined score of just 40, some fault must lie with them. Nasser Hussain said in the break that when he was captain, batsmen did have the tendency to come back with a resigned attitude after being dismissed in swinging conditions, as if to say ‘ Oh well it’s swinging, there was nothing we could do’. Yet he went on to say that that should not be an excuse because that is the true test of the skill of the batsman, whether he can negotiate the movement or not. It’s obvious the skill of our batsmen was lacking.

Whilst there have been some encouraging performances here and there, it has to be said that our batsmen have so far failed on the whole. In the four innings we had against Australia, our highest innings total was just 289. For a Test match that is simply not good enough. So, what are our batsmen doing? What are they contributing to the team? If they are not making the runs, what is their purpose? Bangladesh had just finished playing against England in similar conditions and I would have to say that their batting line up looked much more composed and generally better than ours.

You have to feel for our bowlers, who after just around 50 overs, may well be out there bowling again if we fail to avoid the follow on. Let’s not forget that it is our bowlers that have scored almost half the total we have on the board right now anyway. The PCB should collect the wages of the batsmen by the end of the series and divide them up between the bowlers, because it is they who deserve it.

So, should we persist with the same batting line up and just be patient or should we send for Yousuf and Younis? Many of us had called for youngsters to be given a chance (Umar Amin and Azhar Ali), and we knew we’d have to be patient with the likes of Farhat, Malik and the Akmals, yet none of us expected them to be this bad. I think most fans expected better from this batting line up.

Most of the hype has been around Umar Akmal, yet so far he hasn’t even looked like anything special. Far too nervous and stuck in the crease, he seems to be there for the taking as soon as he gets in. As for his brother, well he will now be single-handedly responsible for losing Pakistan yet another Test as he did in Australia. Dropped catch, missed stumping, failed with the bat and was stupidly consulted for two reviews that he declined that would have gone our way.

Kamran Akmal needs to be dropped, to persist with him is just futile. He has had enough chances yet we are seeing the same mistakes, and that I’m afraid, is the bottom line.