Stani Army

England had no answer to Gul's reverse swing

A quite brilliant spell of swing bowling from Umar Gul clinched Pakistan the third ODI against England at the Oval. Gul finished with figures of 6-42 which included three bowled dismissals. Through certain parts of the Test series and the previous two ODIs, Gul has looked a shadow of the man who holds the accolade of being the best bowler in Twenty cricket – the form of cricket which is harshest on bowlers. Gul does seem to be one of those bowlers that needs to be near optimum fitness in order to perform at his best. A few niggles whilst he has been over here in England may lay claim to why he hadn’t shown the type of bowling he showed today.

At most points throughout the England innings it seemed as a forgone conclusion that England would knock off the runs and go into a 3-0 unassailable lead. Indeed, Billy Doctrove who saved Andrew Strauss and England in the last game tried his best to do so again today when he for some reason did not refer a stumping appeal to the third umpire. Luke Wright was the batsman and Umar Akmal, deputising for his injured brother behind the stumps, did very well to time the stumping just as Wright’s foot was off the ground. Rather than go up to the thrid umpire and make sure, Doctrove immediately said no as Akmal appealed.

Earlier in Pakistan’s innings, there was a far less convincing appeal by England, and one that would be far less in line with the spirit of the game, when Shahid Afridi took evasive action to a throw which struck his bat and went onto the stumps. Docrtrove walked over to the stumps to replace the bails and seemed as if he wasn’t going to even consider it as a run out until Stewart Broad queried it. After taking a few seconds to think about it, Doctrove

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that I’m talking about match fixing here but I’m not. This ugly face of cricket is one that is acceptable to fans, players and the game’s law makers alike. In Pakistan’s second ODI against England on Sunday, Andrew Strauss deflected the ball off his glove to the wicket-keeper yet stood his ground and refused to walk after umpire Billy Doctrove unbelievably failed to give it out. Now some may say that this is just part of the game but why does it have to be?

Andrew Strauss sullies the game but it's acceptable

Cricket has always seemed to take the moral high-ground when it comes to sports related problems such racism and hooliganism we see in football, or the continued battle athletics has with drugs use. But there is no other sport where cheating is so blatantly accepted as just a part of the game. We saw the hue and cry over the recent spot fixing allegations against the Pakistan player where law makers, supporters and players of various nations acting as if they had been truly hurt, but where are these voices when something like this happens? I deplore match-fixing, let me make that clear, but I deplore this form of cheating too. Whilst people may argue there is no comparison between the no-balls Amir and Asif bowled, I will simply ask them which act influenced the result of the game? Was it those no-balls or Strauss’ failure to walk when he was on 38 and went on to make a match winning 126. Who is the bigger cheat?

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As Mohammed Aamer dismissed Ricky Ponting on day one of the first Test at Lord’s, there was a coming together of the two players which may be brushed off as just nothing by some. But, here on Stani Army, it does rile us when the spirit of cricket is not upheld and especially in the MCC Spirit of Cricket series. The manner in which Shane Warne tried to justify Ponting’s actions on commentary was disgraceful but it was to be expected. Had it not been for the camera angle from behind Ponting, we would not have clearly seen Ponting put out his elbow as Aamer ran past. Then Ponting’s got the nerve to complain to the umpire when he walks off? Yet there is the old tactic of influencing the umpire, something which Shane Warne can tell you all about as influencing the umpire was one of his variations along with the leg-break, the top spinner and the flipper.

Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson demonstrate their childishness

Ponting was clearly frustrated at not being able to get bat on to ball as Aamer mesmerized, yet Ponting could learn a great deal from his vice-captain Michael Clarke, who clashed with Aamer in the 2nd Twenty20 but accepted Aamer’s apology with good grace. Whilst Ponting has built himself a certain reputation in cricket, there is a side to him that is not so immendiately obvious. Back in December 2009 when Chris Gayle and Shane Watson had their falling out

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Having found their mojo again, Pakistan must now switch their attention to the form of the game that they’ve underachieved in the most, Test Cricket. We knew we were good at Twenty20, we knew we would give Australia a game, so though we can take some confidence from the 2-0 series win into the Tests, it is important that the players to make the mental and technical switch to the longer form.

The batting concerns were highlighted previously and it was good to see that more batsmen chipped in today although no one went on and accelerated to a 50+ score. The worry is that these batting frailties will be highlighted even more so in the Test matches, with Pakistan, unlike Australia, going in to the Tests with a very similar line-up to their Twenty20 side.

The final word must go to Michael Clarke for the manner in which he held himself together after Aamer collided with him upon his dismissal. It would have been very easy for Clarke to make more of it but he accepted Aamer’s apology and carried on walking. Had it been someone like Watson, or even Tait, who seemed to couple the F-word with every

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