Stani Army

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

'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

Read the rest of this entry »

I did mention a while back that this tour would be a defining one for three of our experienced batsmen that did not make the squads, namely Misbah, Yousuf and Younis. Well it seems the discussion about their exclusion will now be re-ignited after the current batting line up failed again, this time against England.

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

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, Shahid Afridi has decided to quit Tests after just one game in charge, a  reign that lasted the captaincy equivalent of one of his Test innings. Surprising though it may seem, it now seems clear that through his body language and two innings in the Test against Australia, Afridi was always telling us that he didn’t really want to be out there.

So what now? Both Afridi and Manager Yawar Saeed intimated that it would be Salman Butt to take over. Yet after being the only batsman to perform in the recent Test, should we be hurling such a responsibility on him? It is likely Butt’s personal performances will take a hit should he be burdened with the extra responsibility of leading the side. It also must have come as something of a shock to him therefore it cannot be easy for him to just take over where Afridi left off. Three of the other four realistic candidates, Yousuf, Younis and Malik

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

It seems that the continuation of Younis Khan’s international cricket career is entirely dependent on him apologising to the PCB. Of the six punished players to have filed their appeals, it is believed that Younis is the only one who did not apologise for his behaviour, whereas the others did, so have been welcomed back in to the international fold.

It was obvious that something wasn’t right as despite Younis’ appeal, his name was not included in the squad for the Asia Cup unlike that of Shoaib Malik, who had also appealed his ban and was included in the squad. It was believed at the time that Younis’ appeal had been put back because he wanted a personal hearing to clear things up rather than, in effect, admit to a guilty plea like the others in return for having his place back.

Sorry? But I didn't do anything!

Certainly with the weak looking batting line-up chosen for England, Pakistan could have done with Younis’ services. Just to get a taste of how fragile our batting has been and how dependent it has been on Younis Khan and Mohammed Yousuf; I read statistics the other day that the pair have score 30% of Pakistan’s Test runs since October 2004. Not only that, they’re responsible for almost half of our Test centuries also.

Read the rest of this entry »

…and that’s just in One Day Internationals. The saying goes that the only completely consistent people are the dead, so going by that, Pakistan cricket seems well and truly dead and buried. The old criminals were back from the dead – the likes of Akhtar and Malik – in a desperate attempt to breathe life back into the team, but to no avail as Pakistan exited the Asia Cup at the first opportunity.

It had been the view of many that a complete clear-out and introduction of new young talent to the international fold would have been worthwhile even if they did nothing but lose for the first few months, because as the evidence shows, the superstars that currently occupy these places have done nothing but that.

Pakistan have won only three international matches since December of last year, a period which included 3 Tests, 7 ODIs and 9 Twenty20 Internationals. Most disturbingly of all, the three matches they won were all Twenty20 games, two of which were against Bangladesh and a poor South African side. And if you think that at least they are good at Twenty20s, well that period included two warm-up Twenty20 losses, one to Pakistan A, and the other to Zimbabwe. Having won just 3 of the last 19 internationals, the up and coming home series in England will bring with it a lot of pressure to put things right and bring some cheer to us long suffering fans.

The PCB has once again demonstrated it’s pointlessness in almost retracting every punishment they handed out to the seven players after the Australian tour. At the time, Ijaz Butt came out with some tough talk saying that he was going to hand out harsh punishments. Indeed, he kept his word at the time with life bans for Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, one year bans for Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved, and heavy fines for the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi. With Rana Naved’s hearing still to be concluded, all punishments have been retracted except for the fines the Akmal brothers received which have been reduced by two thirds. It thus goes without saying that If Mohammed Yousuf should come out of retirement, his ban would also have to be lifted.

Untouchables of Pakistan cricket: Innocent when proven guilty

With all that has come out of the inquiry and various player statements, it is clear that Shoaib Malik was one of the worst culprits. Unfortunately, with Malik still around, I can’t see Yousuf changing his mind and returning to the side. I know who I’d rather have back if I had a choice between Malik and Yousuf.

In some ways, the return of the players is evidence of the dearth in Pakistan talent with hardly anyone from the domestic game being trusted to be able to step up into the international side and keep these criminals out.  Many would say that this is something the punished players know and have been taking advantage of for some time. It is why, for most of the seven, it was important that the punishments were upheld, if not entirely, at least to some worthwhile degree. Right now the players must be inwardly laughing at the administration which governs and disciplines them. Ijaz Butt has denied that this will make the PCB seem like a soft touch to the players, but if everyone else thinks that is how it is looking then I’m certain the players are thinking likewise.

Read the rest of this entry »