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, why on earth did he come out with the excuse that he was smelling the ball? He would have even been better off saying that he was starving because of the poor Australian cuisine.

Afridi has history of course. In a game against England, he walked onto the middle of the pitch and preceded to do a few pirouettes to scuff up the track with his spikes. Highly subtle once again. Yet maybe he should have used his spikes on the ball this time by stepping on it as it obviously legal as it worked for Stuart Broad in the recent match against South Africa where he got away with it.

Stuart Broad, sinking his spikes into the ball & doing "nothing wrong"

And the difference between what Broad and Afridi did? Nothing. So why did he get away with it? Well it’s obvious, Broad is an Englishman. Broad knew what he was doing and as soon as the allegations emerged, the English PR machine went into overdrive with Broad being “astonished” by the allegations, Strauss calling them “malicious” and Cook being angry since they’d done “nothing wrong”. At the time, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Simon Wilde of The Sunday Times had suggested that the outcome would have been far different if the bowler who did it was from Pakistan. It is clear this difference they spoke of is being shown to some extent in how Afridi’s actions were dealt with. If you look at the effect it has on the ball, surely metal spikes are worse than the enamel that teeth are made of? But I guess in the eyes of the ICC, a Pakistani is worse than an Englishman too.

What Afridi did was wrong and embarrassing, but that and what Broad did shows why it continues to pay to be from certain countries. Just ask Sulieman Benn who was suspended after an incident with Mitchell Johnson and the saint that is Brad Haddin. Haddin, who instigated the clash, and Johnson who clearly makes physical contact with Benn first (at 3 minutes 55 secs), were only fined a fraction of their match fees, whereas Benn was banned, after the match referee had finished analysing his findings. That match referee was Broad’s daddy Chris, by the way. If you don’t want to call it racism, then call it whatever you will, but what it is, is obvious.

Shahid Afridi, time to pull out the Test whites

Just imagine that was Afridi bowling to Watson when he was on 99 in the second innings? Now that would have been entertainment and I’m sure Watson would have been heading for the dressing room having left a brown trail behind him. The good thing is that Afridi is close by, currently in Australia playing for the South Australia Redbacks in a twenty20 competition in which he won the man of the match award just yesterday with bowling figures of 4 for 19.

Though he scored 0 with the bat, it’s not really his batting that is regarded as his strong point now anyway. That said, brought into the Test side, he could easily contribute what Faisal Iqbal and Imran Farhat are currently doing with the bat. Also, his average in Tests is a very respectable 37.40 at an excellent strike rate of 86 with 5 Test hundreds, 3 of which came against India. His aggressive bowling would be the major asset, something to break the shackles. Along with his intelligent variations, he does not take up time between deliveries, cleverly giving the batsmen little time to rest or gather their thoughts.

“I always enjoy bowling in Australia and in this situation my team needed me as a bowler”, Afridi speaking after his man of the match performance for South Australia 29th Dec 2009.

One Australian fan, whose identity I shall protect for fear of reprisals, said to me “why isn’t Afridi in the Test side? Not complaining as he just helped our state side win T20 yesterday”. Now if my dear Australian friend is asking, what are the PCB and the management doing? My understanding is that though Afridi has not retired from Tests, his preference is not play them after he came out of retirement and was subsequently dropped after some poor showings against England in 2006.

Afridi’s inclusion would also lift the entire team and give them a sense of belief that was missing in the first innings and the last day when they were in a relatively strong position but surrendered meekly. For sure, the balls Umar Akmal and Misbah Ul-Haq received from Mitchell Johnson were very good but the problem lie in our body language. The Australians looked pumped and ready to go; our batsmen looked ready to go too….back to the dressing room. It was as if the Australians had been playing for 10 overs already and our batsmen had just been dragged out of bed. There was still a glimmer of hope when Kamran Akmal came to the crease but he was needlessly aggressive and that was that.

So, ideally, this would be my team: (1) Butt (2) K Akmal (3) Younis (4) Yousuf  (5) U Akmal (6) Misbah (7) Afridi (or open) (8) Aamer (9) Gul (10) Kaneria/Ajmal (11) Asif. It would mean dragging Afridi away from the twenty20 tournament, flying Younis out in time and getting Kaneria fit but it does look a much more competitive team than the one we put out in the first Test. This batting line up has a much better chance of getting 350 at least, a total which we have only reached twice in the last 14 Test innings. Put another way, in our last 14 Test match innings, we have made 12 ODI  totals – simply not good enough.

Farhat and Iqbal would be dropped with the former not demonstrating any more maturity since his teens and the latter simply not deserving of a place. As for Abdur Rauf, this must be his last Test match for some time unless he undergoes some radical improvements. He cannot bowl, he cannot catch, and he cannot bat to International standards. I don’t want to be too harsh on him because it was not his fault he was picked. He is though, a perfect example of how weak our domestic leagues are and how deceptive domestic performances can be.