Stani Army

With Pakistan’s batting sinking to a new low in the 2nd Test against England, should we abandon this Test batting approach and play like we would in the shorter form, something we are much more comfortable with? There has definitely been some thinking going on in regards to how the Pakistan batsmen were going to go about tackling the swing generated by the English bowlers. It was obvious that their plan this time was to occupy the crease, play defensive and wait for the ball to get old. The plan didn’t work of course. The Duke ball tends to stay newer for longer and once Pakistan began losing early wickets then the plan had effectively been derailed from the off.

Would an ODI batting approach make Pakistan a happier and more productive camp?

From what the Pakistan bowlers have shown, they are clearly capable of restricting England to an ODI total, provided the fielders hold on to the ctaches. And should the Pakistan batsmen set or chase an ODI total themselves – which they are capable of if they go back to what they know – then we may even see a contest between the two sides.

With the backs against the wall, having tried various options, it’s time to fight back with no fear. This does not mean they shoud bat carelessly, but be postive like they are in the shorter form of the game and look to set to a total of 230 to 300, which would give our much suffereing bowlers something to work with. There is simply no point in

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…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.

…at their brilliant worst. Well who would have thought it? Those Pakistani fans around the world who stayed up to watch the climax of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, will probably now be wondering why they bothered. Those who thought they’d hit the sack since the contest was over will still be asking themselves if they are yet to awake from their nightmare.

Having required just 97 runs over night, Pakistan managed to lose their remaining 8 wickets for just 46. Divide that 97 by 8 and all each batsmen had to make was a measly 13 runs and victory would have been achieved. Unbelievable when you look at it like that right?

So was it devil of a wicket, good Sri Lankan bowling or Pakistani complacency? Judging by reports, the wicket was not a 46 for 8 type of wicket and though the Sri Lankan bowlers did bowl well, their first innings bowling and the small target meant that this second reason wasn’t the main cause of Pakistan’s downfall either. This leaves the reason of complacency, for which I will now introduce Mr Younis Khan: “We never thought we’d lose this game”. Lovely.

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While batsmen were licking their lips, spectators, commentators and bowlers alike can’t have enjoyed the recent Test matches we’ve witnessed in the West Indies and Pakistan. Boring encounters on lifeless tracks have brought the issue of pitch preparation to the fore.

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