Stani Army

Shoaib Akhtar - The ultimate fast bowler

Today came the much expected announcement that Shoaib Akhtar would be retiring from cricket at the end of the World Cup. Before the tournament in the sub-continent, we mentioned on Stani Army that should Shoaib play any significant role in Pakistan’s campaign, it may lead him to decide to call it a day and go out of the game on a relative high. Today Shoaib took the step and made the emotional announcement to a packed media room.

Whilst it would be easy to concentrate on Shaoib’s run-ins with the law, it would be unfair to do so at this moment. Since early 2010, you could see a contriteness and maturity come over him, but sadly, it had only now come when his body was gone. Despite all his misdemeanors, he still provided cricket fans with box office entertainment and brought undescribable joy to millions of Pakistan fans. When he played, he was the envy of every supporter of every opposition team Pakistan faced, yet at the same time, was respected by these same opposition supporters for his unrivalled brilliance.

Not only did he have exceptional pace, but he also exhibited cricketing intelligence that made him stand out from the other out-and-out fast bowlers of his era. Like the design of the modern sports car, even when standing still Shoaib looked fast. With a long and aggressive run up, the Rawalpindi express charging in at full pelt was a sight to behold, as he made the best batsmen in the world look like tail-enders. Cricket is generally known to be a batsmen’s game, yet when Shoaib was bowling, it was a bowlers game.

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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.

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Like their near neighbours on the sub-continent Pakistan will head into the cricket World Cup with the voices of their huge passionate support ringing in their ears.

Cricket is a religion in those parts, and while that has enormous benefits it also brings with it the pressure of expectation and the glare of the media spotlight with almost everyone in the country keeping an eye on their latest scores.

Pakistan have had more than their fair share of media attention in recent months, but upon their arrival in Bangladesh the players seemed quietly confident and content to concentrate on matters on the pitch.

Certainly the mood of this Pakistan team is key to their success. They possess the talent but it is their tendency to blow hot and cold that infuriates their passionate support – they know what the players can do, they just don’t always show it.

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An irresponsible captain is a bad captain

Earlier today we saw Pakistan lose the first of three Twenty20s to New Zealand, who got home with 2.5 overs to spare. Pakistan had got themselves into at least two good positions to make a game of it, only to surrender meekly.

Chief architect of the downfall was Captain Shahid Afridi. Whilst many would disagree and say he played well for his 20 of 17 balls, it was his gormless shot that triggered a signature collapse. Going at 10 an over after the first 4 overs, Afridi did not have the nous to take advantage of a fast start and begin to rein himself in, keep wickets in hand and then to accelerate later. It was as if he wanted to finish the game in that over. That was his intention, and his shot selection was even worse.

Were it not for Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, who both made 30, Pakistan would not have ended up with a defendable total of 143. It was at the start of the New Zealand innings that Afridi made his second mistake by opening the bowling with Abdul Razzaq. Even at his best, Razzaq was an average bowler. Having aged and lost some pace, he has become easy pickings for batsmen. Any late good work done by Gul and Wahab was immediately wasted as Razzaq went for 15 off his first over. Suddenly, 143 off 20 overs became 128 off 19. A different game already and New Zealand’s tails were up.

The strange thing is that it wasn’t as if Afridi was limited in choice of who to open the attack with. Wahab, Akhtar and Gul were playing, and we had Ajmal, Hafeez and Afrdi himself to make up any overs remaining. There was no need to bowl Razzaq, even less need to open with him

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Whilst the shortcomings of our batsmen have in the past been covered to some extent by our bowling prowess, now that our bowlers are having a hard time of things, it’s obvious we’re falling even further short of the mark. Of all the specialist bowers, only Shoaib could claim to be bowling well at the moment and he seems to be stuck together with bandages and supports these days.

My team: Hafeez, Shafiq, Younis, Misbah, U. Akmal, Razzaq, Afridi, Zulquarnain, Gul, Ajmal, Akhtar.

A number of things need to come off for Pakistan to be challenging in this ODI series against a powerful and adept One Day South African side; a side which has won it’s last five ODI matches.

Firstly, our openers need to form a partnership of at least 50 even if it comes up in the 14th over. With wickets in hand and Razzaq and Misbah (hopefully) coming in lower down, the score can be accelerated later on. Wickets in hand will also allow Umar Akmal to play his more natural and attacking game rather than getting confused and stuck at the crease trying to throw down the anchor. Younis also needs to quickly find form and glue the innings together.

As for the bowlers; Gul needs to step up to the mark and help out Shoaib, and Saeed Ajmal needs to rediscover his wicket taking abilities. Maybe concentrating on conventional spin and bowling slower will help

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The only evidence of ball tampering in the fourth ODI at Lord's as Paul Collingwood uses the wrong ball (his own) to knock off the bails

So what’s the next accusation the English media have in store for Pakistan? Whilst they’ve broke three match fixing stories, the next one will probably be about how Umar Gul was able to reverse swing the ball so much in engineering England’s downfall in both the last two ODIs.

In both matches, there was a sense of inevitability as Umar Gul and Shaoib Akhtar  began to reverse swing the ball as English wickets tumbled. It was as if the hand of God was guiding the ball down the wicket and giving it a little sideways nudge at the end. It was signature Pakistan. No other bowling attack in the world could ever attest to showing such quality swing bowling in cleaning up a batting line up.

As the whiter ball came into play in the 35th over of the fourth ODI, you could see the cameras starting to zoom in on the Pakistan players’ hands to check if there was anything untoward going on. There was even a comment by one of the commentators at how remarkable it is that a newish second ball can begin to reverse in and around the 42nd over, just 7 overs after it had been taken.

The ball tampering accusations were hurled at us in 1992 with Waqar and Wasim and it may happen again, but as Geoffrey Boycott said back then, “they could have bowled England out with an orange”.

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Pakistan have announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series and Twenty Internationals against England and there are a few interesting changes. It does seem that one squad of 16 has been announced for both formats with the likes of Abdur Rehman and Shoaib Malik who had made  the 14 man Twenty20 squad that beat Australia 2-0 earlier on the tour, missing out this time around.

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.

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I can’t help think that for some of the Pakistan players, this tour of England will be a defining one. Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Shoaib Akhtar seem to be in the last chance saloon and will be hoping for some better than average performances if their international careers are to be prolonged. With captain Shahid Afridi looking to introduce younger talent, and the PCB ready to come down hard on unruly behaviour, it is now or never for the aforementioned three.

Peculiarly, it will also be a defining tour for three players that haven’t made any of the announced squads: Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq. The performances of those that are about to fill the slots of these three veterans, may dictate how easily they get back into the side, or if they do so at all. Performances on the pitch aside, even just a happy camp with a good dressing room atmosphere may be enough to keep Younis and Yousuf out. I say this because the PCB and the captain may get the sense of having ‘moved on’ thus will view the selection of Younis and Yousuf as a potentially troublesome retrograde step.

Whatever happens as a result of the current side doing well over here in England, it can only be a good thing for Pakistan cricket in the long term, if the current crop put in some commendable performances here in England.