Calls for clemency as the kid is caught in the corruption

“They got their hooks into him as a baby, at a time when he would have had few confidants in the dressing room, few colleagues he could have gone to for guidance. These men, his team-mates, were meant to look after him; instead they corrupted him, blackened his soul and diminished his talent.

Look at Aamer’s no-ball. It is a joke. It is so exaggerated, so utterly out of keeping with his bowling performance on Friday that it attracted the attention of the television commentators.

Look at Asif’s. Barely over, a small misjudgement, hardly noticeable. To the naked eye, one man looks as if he knows what he is doing, the other hasn’t a clue. If the allegations are correct, both are cheating, but the older man appears better at it; one might even say more practised.” Martin Samuel – Daily Mail

“When I heard on Saturday night that Pakistan were involved in a match-fixing scandal, I immediately thought two things. The first was: I’m not massively surprised. The second was: please, don’t let it be Mohammad Aamer.When it turned out the lad was involved, it felt hugely disappointing. Mohammad Asif has got himself into scrapes before, but Aamer has been a breath of fresh air all summer. He’s revived the dying art of proper fast bowling and his future looked fantastic. Now it’s been tarnished. Lord’s felt a shallow place to be yesterday.” Nasser Hussain – Daily Mail

“the pain of witnessing a young boy of the most beguiling talent and apparently sunny nature making what might just prove to be his last strides in a theatre of sport he had come to command so brilliantly, so quickly.

Assuming that Aamer’s name goes up on the Lord’s honours board after his astonishing haul of five front-line English wickets, and the not inconsiderable scalp of Graeme Swann, last Friday, we can only hope there will be difficulty in explaining to some future generation of cricketers how it was that such talent was banished from the game at such an early age.” James Lawton – The Independent

“To see an 18-year old boy being dragged into the controversy is the worse part. He had the world, everyone was raving about the talent and praising him. It is such a sad moment in cricket.

Amir comes from a humble background. He is 18, with an impressionable mind, and if he has been keeping bad company, it’s possible he could have been drawn [into wrongdoing]. But if that’s the case, then the guys who got him in should be put behind bars because they’ve spoilt a grand career. They’ve infiltrated and spoilt a young mind, and it’s such a shocking state of affairs.” Ramiz Raja – Cricinfo

“I probably feel for him more than anyone because he’s only a young, naive and innocent young guy. Unfortunately he’s caught up with something.

Whether it’s in their culture I don’t know, I don’t know how deep it runs, but it’s unfortunate that someone of his skill has got tied up with something that is damaging to cricket and to the individuals. I found him to be a brilliant competitor on the field.” Shane Watson

“He should not be punished as an example to the rest, as everyone seems to suggest, rather he should be made aware of the issues, educated, rehabilitated and held up as an example of what can be achieved.

Amir’s rehabilitation should be at the heart of the cleansing of Pakistan cricket. The brilliant young bowler is not the cause of the problem but the most tragic consequence of it.” Michael Atherton – The Times

“It was impossible to take one’s eyes off Amir, but for reasons different than those of a couple of days ago, when he was utterly compelling as he glided in and made magic with the ball. Now you watched him walk in with the knowledge that every eye in the stands looked on in judgement. A wan smile tried to hide the storm that surely raged within as he tried to defend his mere wicket with a shadow looming over his honour. The heart ached for the bowler who had captivated us all year. Surely a boy so gifted couldn’t have let his soul be corrupted at such a tender age? It was a relief when Graeme Swann spun a ball past his bat and bowled him. Surely we’d see Amir bowl in a Test match again? The alternative is too depressing to contemplate.” Sambit Bal – Cricinfo Editor

“Yet we ought to understand part of what might drive a young precocious talent such as Amir to such involvement. Pakistan cricketers are poorly paid, with the riches of the subcontinent in India and a world away. Some, such as Amir, come from poor backgrounds. They are celebrated and feted, showered with gifts. Nice gifts might gain trust. A chance remark, a bit of team information, and the hook is in. Such things are not always about money for the player, for those involved in the vast illegal gambling syndicates of the subcontinent and Far East are uncompromisingly evil. Who knows the threats for non-cooperation?” Mike Selvey – The Guardian

“Perhaps the desire for smallish bans simply stems from a need to see Amir again. The thought that his career is over is far too heartbreaking to even consider. It is his involvement that has made this case so sickening and sad. We tend to reach for hyperbole at times like these, but Amir really is comparable with any 18-year-old bowler in the history of the game. And those who would easily dismiss him as a greedy deviant should recall his overwhelming joy at taking a Lord’s five-for on Friday, when he bent down to kiss the turf. The News of the World described it as “a kiss of betrayal”, but it wasn’t: it was the kiss of a kid who adores the game. He may have done something gravely wrong; if so, we must hope the ICC does not compound it with a hasty and excessive punishment.” Rob Smyth – The Guardian

“We must remember that we are judging these guys by the standards of our own country, when their situations are vastly different. The first time I met Mohammad Amir was when he was 16, coming to an Under-19s camp. He comes from a small village near the Swat valley and was delayed by three hours because the Taliban had closed the highway. That doesn’t happen in this country.

One thing that struck me about Amir was his constant smile, his zest for the game. That has not changed. I will never condone any form of fixing, but we should consider that a cricketer might not be thinking of personal gain but of getting money to buy a generator for his village because they don’t have electricity.” Geoff Lawson – The Age , Melbourne

“In the case of Amir, who is 18, it is terrible that a supremely talented youngster could be exposed to this. He is a delightful bowler with terrific skills. How sad it would be if it turns out his career is wrecked, but if anyone is involved in corruption he must be banned for life.” Jonathan Agnew – BBC Cricket

“I think one of the great sadnesses of all of this, and it’s a widely held view, is that a great young talent like Amir has been implicated in this one,” said Parry. “I think that’s what perhaps separates this from many other cases, because it suggests that the bad guys got to him before the good guys did.

But in terms of educating the players, it could be that they’ve (the ICC) not done enough. It would have to be a shock that a talent that has broken onto the scene so very, very quickly is at the centre of all this.

He’d have been enrolled in a cricket academy from a young age, and from the moment he shot to prominence with the international squad, you’d think that the Pakistan Cricket Board might have recognised a vulnerability and a need to put an arm around him. I can’t imagine it would have been that difficult to do, because when you read of the sums involved in betting in the Far East – with up to $500 million on a single game – the temptation is potentially there for relatively lowly paid cricketers. It’s beholden upon the authorities to step in and provide appropriate support systems.” Rick Parry – Cricinfo

“Only 18, and from an impoverished background, Amir would appear as much victim as perpetrator, a teenager whose head was easily turned.

If found guilty Amir, who was Pakistan’s Man of the Series, must be punished for his role, but he must not be crushed, despite those who think he should have known better. Morals are not limited to those with an education or experience. Amir might very well have been targeted precisely because he lacked both those things.

He was allegedly manipulated on two fronts; by the apparent loathsome fixer, promising riches beyond his means, and by the senior players also allegedly involved in the scam: Salman Butt, his captain, and Mohammad Asif, his new-ball partner.

He must be saved for another reason too, for cricket is not so well endowed it can afford to cast its prize assets on to the bonfire and hope others rise phoenix-like in their place. Amir is the youngest bowler in history to reach 50 Test wickets, so imagine how good he could be if he concentrated solely on getting batsmen out and not on the instructions needed to complete shady deals.” Derek Pringle – The Telegraph

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.

But what gave the bowlers something to bowl at was the superb innings from Umar Akmal. With Pakistan missing Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq from their squads, the talk before this tour was of the younger Akmal having to step up to the mark. He has certainly started off very well, with an innings of class, filled with a complete range of strokes. Hopefully there will be more to come from him.

Shahid Afridi also had a good game in the field. Though he failed with the bat, he bowled at his attacking best, took two very good catches and made the right bowling changes at the right times. His decision not to risk Shoaib Akhtar for a 3^rd over was a strong and correct one. Akhtar still seems a bit heavy and though his speed was there, he bowled the ball far too short and his pace was used to score easy boundaries. Akhtar needs to be persisted with so that he can find his rhythm but he could do with concentrating less on the pace whilst he gets back into the swing of things.

Though the first win in thirteen games against Australia will go some way in bringing joy to the long suffering Stanis, the same old concerns still remained. The out-fielding was still very poor, with Abdul Razzaq and Salman Butt being the main culprits. The other old issue of our batsmen not performing was still evident as it took a man of the match innings from Umar Akmal for Pakistan to post a competitive total. Once again it was the bowlers who had to step up and save the team, and as Nasser Hussain mentioned on commentary, it is Pakistan’s bowling attack which is the reason behind why Pakistan win more Twenty20s than any other team.

The Australians didn’t do much wrong, and Pakistan will have to bear this in mind come tomorrow’s second Twenty20, in which the Aussies will come back strong.

Scorecard

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.

I have always felt that Nasser Hussain (along with Duncan Fletcher) till this day has never been given enough credit for what he did for England. People are all too ready to shove their heads up Michael Vaughan’s behind yet fail to recognise the work Hussain put in in dragging the English side off the floor and onto its feet before Vaughan arrived. Those that point to Vaughan’s Test record should know that a captain is only as good as his team. Had Hussain had half the players Vaughan had at his disposal, he would have done much better in my opinion.

Many Asian cricketers have manged to break into the English set-up but have not been given a fair chance and have been axed at the earliest opportunity, or have been ignored completely even when excelling in county cricket; the yard stick used by the ECB. Sajid Mahmood, Kabir Ali, Vikram Solanki, Mark Ramprakash and Owais Shah are just a few that come to mind. On the other hand, their lighter skinned colleagues always seem to get ample opportunity to play themselves back into form on the bigger stage when they’re struggling. You cannot, with an open mind, look at the names above and say I’m being paranoid. What other reason could it be?

The whole of the English batting line up in the ongoing Ashes has underperformed but the man to make way had to be Ravi Bopara. Ever since Shane Warne opened his mouth (I think it was his mouth), and said he would have selected Vaughan instead of Bopara for the Ashes, various folk have been on Bopara’s back. Over the last 12 Test innings, Bopara and Cook have an identical average yet Cook’s name has not even come close to being mentioned when talking about changes in the line up. Yes, Ravi has not made a 95 like Cook has this series but Cook did not get three centuries in a row in the two series preceding this did he? Also, Bopara hasn’t exactly been helped by Cook whose aversion to staying at the crease meant that Bopara was as good as playing like an opener on many occasions.

None of Bopara’s critics mentioned the blatantly wrong decision he received in his last innings, in which had he gotten a century, it would given the selectors something to consider….or maybe not.

Don’t get me wrong, some of Ravi’s play demonstrated technical flaws but rather than dropping him, it should have been a message to the powers that be that Ravi is not a number three. As soon as Pietersen got injured and Bell came in to replace him, they should have demoted Ravi to four and put Bell in at three, which strangely, they are doing now after bringing in Trott.

Geoff Miller, England’s Chief selector came on Sky Sports and said: “we have a consistent team selection and a consistent selection policy and we’ll stick by it”. Yes, I collapsed laughing. How is it consistent when you drop someone for the last and deciding Test of an Ashes series when he has played in all of the last four matches? That’s not consistent, that’s gambling.

It seems as if the Asian contingent have to work twice as hard to get in the side and then twice as hard to keep their places. As John Emburey once said when speaking of Owais Shah’s exclusion: “perhaps his face doesn’t fit”.

There’ll be lots of ifs, buts and maybes from the Indians; would India have did it had Yuvraj stopped the 5 byes in Harbajan’s last over? Yuvraj himself would say that he made up for that with a ridiculously good first ball 6. Then there’s Jadeja who faced 3 overs of dots. Many said that he played too slow yet he will argue that he got two important wickets including that of Pietersen’s and took an important catch.

It was clear what Pietersen and Collingwood felt fired the English up and that was the booing their team got at the beginning of the game. It was a strange thing to have occurred, especially at a cricket ground, yet supporters of other sides should take note of the possible real consequences of booing the opposition.

But the day India lost to the Windies, they also lost to England as the English watched and noted the Windies paceman trouble the Indian batsmen with bouncers, and licked their lips. If the English had thought at the time of employing the same strategy against India, the question must be asked if the India coaching staff told their batsmen to practice countering short pitched balls in the nets. It was an effective tactic to employ against the Indian batsmen as it’s not the type of shot they often use and also because many of them use heavier bats. Indeed, Nasser Hussain suggested on commentary that the short pitched ball was effective because the Indians love to drive. Unfortunately for the Champs, they won’t be driving but flying, all the way home.

To all Indian fans who still have tickets to the remaining games, we invite you to come and get behind Pakistan.