Stani Army

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.

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“…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.

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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.

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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.

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After a quite resounding win for the Indians over Pakistan in the tri-series in Mirpur Bangladesh, one can’t help wondering whether we are seeing the effects of the IPL on Indian cricket already. There is no doubt that the Indian youngsters playing for their respective franchises would have benefited from the top international players they played with and against. Another thing they would have benefited from is the experience of being asked to perform when it matters in real match situations in front of large crowds something which net sessions just cannot provide.

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The recent introduction of the money spinning Twenty20 Indian leagues has seen a number of players’ heads turn towards the subcontinent. Mouths watering and dollar signs in their eyes they seem to have forgotten what it means to represent their country.

The same, thankfully, cannot be said about some of the top English players who have recently come out in the media saying that they have no need to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian Cricket League (ICL) as they are already adequately taken care of by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). What this shows is that if a board takes care of its top players financially (and in other ways) then the players would in return repay their faith.

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