Stani Army

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

Read the rest of this entry »

We did mention on Stani Army that Umar Gul would be missed at the Twenty20 World Cup, and today he showed just why. At the end of the 17^th over, Australia were still in it with Michael Hussey still at the crease. On came Gul for his 3^rd over and cleaned up the dangerous Hussey with a superb yorker that seemed to move both ways. At the end of that over, in which Gul also took the wicket of Tim Paine, the game was effectively over. Once again he has shown why he is the best Twenty20 bowler in the world.

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.

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.

Chasing just 128, Pakistan allowed Australia to bowl three maidens in their 20 overs; played three stupid shots when in good positions themselves; and ended up falling short by three runs. I can’t help but think that had Australia been chasing that target, they would have got there cruising with the loss of just one or two wickets.

So what was the Pakistani mindset from the beginning? Well it was one ‘hero’ after the other. Each buffoon of a batsmen that followed the previous one thought that a few quick boundaries here and the game would be over. But boundaries come with high risks attached, risks Pakistan did absolutely not need to take with a target like that. Not just once, but on many occasions throughout that innings they could have held themselves back and have gotten home comfortably.

After smiling about the recent security breach, Pakistan continued with their niceties by gifting three maidens (two wrapped in wickets) to Australia and effectively turning a chase of 6.4 per over into 7.5 an over.

Read the rest of this entry »

“…That doesn’t mean the tournament is perfect. The marketing is incorrectly playing on the name of the tournament. “Only Champions. Only the Best.”

Only Champions? That isn’t true. Runners-ups are playing too. Lots of them, some of them are good, others are Somerset.

Only the Best. But not the best? The best-performed country in World Twenty20 championships is Pakistan; they are the superheroes of Twenty20 cricket. Rajasthan Royals had two pretty important Pakistani members in the first IPL team. Even in Australia they used them domestically. And the last ICL was won by Pakistanis.

When it comes to the term champions in this format, they should probably be first in line. The team that we miss out on is the Silky Stallions (actually title Sialkot, but Silky is snappier) who have won four out of a possible five Twenty20 titles in Pakistan. I have no idea if they are good, but I have no idea if Otago are either, I assume Otago aren’t, but they get a chance to prove me wrong.

Pakistani cricketers have always been my favourite, and it seems wrong to not have them in a tournament like this. Especially when it isn’t their fault. So many idiots have conspired to ensure that there should be an asterisk in the title of this tournament…”

Couldn’t agree with him more. Until Pakistan players do participate, Stani Army will be a Champions League-free zone. Jarrod’s article can be found here. Visit his cricketing blog Cricket With Balls.

….nothing. Well there will be nothing if the ICC gets its way. David Morgan’s (ICC president) suggestion of reducing Test matches to four days has come as quite a shock to me. If the governors of the game hope to attract more spectators and encourage fewer drawn Test matches, then I’m afraid reducing the number of days a Test match is played over will not work.

The people that do not enjoy 5-day Test cricket, will still not enjoy 4-day Test cricket – simple. In modern day life, it is difficult to commit five full days to watching cricket. People work, they have to provide for their families, Test matches will always have low attendances; that’s just the way it is. Day/night Tests will help this, which is why I would not mind such a development as long as the match is contested over five days and a series is not completely made up of day/night matches.

As for the results side of the argument, surely having fewer days would lead to more drawn Test matches? Trying to squeeze an innings in each day and hope for a result in such a batsmen dominated modern game is just devoid of common sense.

Read the rest of this entry »

The ICCs deadline for submitting a provisional 30 man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup has arrived and the PCB has gone ahead and included some players involved with the ICL. The three players are Abdul Razzaq, Naved-ul-Hasan and Imran Nazir. With the tournament set to go ahead in June, this leaves about a couple of months for the ICC and the other world boards to come to an agreement in regards to the legitimacy of the Indian Cricket League. If this should not happen, Pakistan may end up carrying players they are not able to use.

Read the rest of this entry »

The ban on the 19 Pakistani cricketers who participated in the ICL has been temporarily lifted by the Sind High Court, allowing the players to participate in domestic cricket. Whilst this was positive news for Pakistan’s ICL players, for those Pakistani players affiliated with the IPL, things were not so positive.

Read the rest of this entry »