Earlier in the week Afridi promised to do all he could to bring the World Cup trophy home after Pakistan were banned from hosting the tournament alongside India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh following the terrorist attacks of 2009, and he looked to make good on his promise with an impressive bowling performance.

Bigfreebet will have installed Pakistan as clear favourites, but their opponents were poorer than expected and sent down a joint record number of wide balls, unenviably matching the 37 the West Indies bowled in the 1991 tournament.

The Kenyans had begun the game well, and restricted a Pakistan batting attack looking to take advantage of their lesser opponents. Two wickets down with just 12 runs on the board, Kenya looked to replicate the success of the Netherlands against England yesterday by putting pressure on their esteemed opponents.

But the Pakistan middle-order came good as they accelerated through the innings, moving from 129-3 off 28 overs to an imposing 317-7; a figure which always looked out of Kenya’s reach.

Umar Akmal’s pacey innings of 71 from 52 balls lead the way, while Kamran Akmal (55), Younus Khan (50) and Misbah-ul-Haq (65) provided ample support in posting a large score for Kenya to chase.

Kenya completed a miserable day all round as their response failed to get off the ground. Jimmy Kamande’s side lost their last seven wickets for just 39 runs as they fell apart in the face of an aggressive Pakistan bowling unit, led by Afridi.

All-rounder Collins Obuya provided some resistance with a 58-ball innings of 47, one of only four to reach a double figures.

Pakistan will now move on to face Sri Lanka, who also won their opening game at a canter, on Saturday in Colombo. Big free bet will have trouble separating the two closely matched teams as they look to establish themselves as the dominant force in Group A.

By Thomas Rooney

Cricket is a religion in those parts, and while that has enormous benefits it also brings with it the pressure of expectation and the glare of the media spotlight with almost everyone in the country keeping an eye on their latest scores.

Pakistan have had more than their fair share of media attention in recent months, but upon their arrival in Bangladesh the players seemed quietly confident and content to concentrate on matters on the pitch.

Certainly the mood of this Pakistan team is key to their success. They possess the talent but it is their tendency to blow hot and cold that infuriates their passionate support – they know what the players can do, they just don’t always show it.

Their batting line-up stretches down as far as eight, combining a blend of youthful exuberance – think Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, and Asad Shafiq – with the cool, calm heads of experience like Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq. Their latest cricket scores heading into the tournament are pretty good, and they will be looking to shine on the biggest stage.

Bowling wise they are obviously weakened by the bans handed down to Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir but their strength still lies with the ball.

Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul are cricketing warhorses will plenty left still in the tank. Wahab Riaz is growing at international level and will be a useful post-power play back up while spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman have all the capabilities required to extract the maximum out of the sub-continent pitches.

They have all the tools therefore to go far in this competition, but like many Pakistan teams across the years, will they bring those tools with them when it matters?

Pakistan's new Test captain Misbah Ul-Haq showed the way with three half-centuries in four innings

Pakistan can come out of the drawn two-Test series against world number two South Africa with their heads held high. Though the argument may be that the wickets in the UAE were batsmen friendly, Pakistan’s reconstructed batting line up still held it’s own against South Africa’s, and South Africa had the better bowling attack. Let us also remember that Pakistan’s batsmen have struggled to pass 250 in Tests for a while now, batting paradise or not. Were it not for the time factor, Pakistan could have come close to or matched South Africa’s aggregated total in both the Tests, and that’s no mean feat.

The return of Younis Khan was a major factor in the ability of our batsmen to finally start playing Test match innings and setting Test match totals. The successful re-emergence of Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah Ul-Haq and Taufeeq Umar was also pleasing to watch. I have always been a big fan of Taufiq yet he is just one of many that have been the victim of selection favouritism in the past. He is a proper Test batsman.

Then there’s the emergence of the two youngsters Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. For some reason, Azhar, despite being a reserved young man, seems to really irritate the opposition, ending up at the receiving end of some hostile bowling. He did so in England and here against South Africa also. But his composure and temperament was a joy to see. Shafiq came into the ODI side in England and you could immediately tell the young man was going to be here to stay. I was hoping to see him in the Test side much sooner as it was clear he had what it took to succeed. He got his chance in the 2nd Test though, in place of the out of form Umar Akmal, and he didn’t disappoint with a well played 61 in the first innings.

The biggest positive after the performance of our batsmen was the captaincy and personal performances of Misbah Ul-Haq. Amongst his supporters, of which I am one, Misbah could and should have been Pakistan’s captain years ago. But as the fixing scandals have revealed, people were in and out of the Pakistan team for reasons other than cricket back then. Hopefully Misbah will continue his good form and still provide us with a few good years during which time a younger future captain can be identified.

And last but not least, we must mention Abdur Rehman. The left arm spinner has been in almost every squad in recent times but rarely gets a game. He is the type of cricketer that, though he may be limited in natural ability, makes the most out of what he has got. He reminds me very much of England’s Michael Yardy. You know what you will get with these guys – good team players that will always play their part, with bat or ball. Maybe Pakistan need a few more of this type of player rather than the natural gifted types, that blow more cold than hot.

The only concern now is with the bowling attack. Had we had Mohammad Asif and Amir in the side, it would be no over-exaggeration to say that we may have even come out of this series as victors. It was unfortunate that Wahab went down with an injury and it is now clearer than ever that Mohammad Sami is just not good enough for the game at the top level. I still remain hopeful that Amir will be allowed back into international cricket and that alone really could make the difference to our Test team bowling attack.

There was almost a resigned pointlessness to Pakistan playing Tests not so long ago, due to the depressing manner in which we capitulated. But the character and heart shown by the players in the performances in these two games has given the Stani fans lots of hope.

RELATED POLL RESULTS. HOW DID YOU DO?

How will Pakistan do under new captain Misbah Ul-Haq in the two game Test series against South Africa in the UAE?
* 0-2 Loss (29%, 9 Votes)
* 0-1 Loss (26%, 8 Votes)
* Draw (23%, 7 Votes)
* 2-0 Win (16%, 5 Votes)
* 1-0 Win (6%, 2 Votes)

Will Mohammad Sami be seen in a Pakistan shirt again?
* No, it’s time to move on (42%, 5 Votes)
* Yes, but he shouldn’t be (33%, 4 Votes)
* Yes, he still has what it takes (25%, 3 Votes)

Want your child to play for Pakistan? Name him Akmal!

Adnan averages just under 23 runs with the bat in the domestics, which is 11 fewer than Haider and 7 fewer than his brother Kamran. If he is any good at keeping though, expect him to cement a place in the side as Zulqarnain has gone into retirement and Kamran is well known for his blunders with the gloves. It means it is a complete turnaround for the Akmal family after just recently, both Kamran and Umar’s places were under scrutiny during the tour to Australia. The question is, with three brothers now in and around the set-up, how many more Akmals are there to come and can they do something other than keep wicket?

As expected, Younis Khan has been retained and brought in to the Test squad after the PCB had not included him earlier as they wanted to have a look at his performances in the ODIs. Mohammad Hafeez has also been given a place after finishing the ODI series as Pakistan’s top runs scorer with 203 runs in 5 innings. His bowling will also reinforce the spin department after Danish Kaneria was denied clearance to join the Test squad for reasons not yet known.

Squad: Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Adnan Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz.

My Team: Hafeez , Taufeeq, Younis, Yousuf, Misbah (c), U Akmal, Rehman, A Akmal (wk), Gul, Sami, Riaz.

My team: Hafeez, Shafiq, Younis, Misbah, U. Akmal, Razzaq, Afridi, Zulquarnain, Gul, Ajmal, Akhtar.

A number of things need to come off for Pakistan to be challenging in this ODI series against a powerful and adept One Day South African side; a side which has won it’s last five ODI matches.

Firstly, our openers need to form a partnership of at least 50 even if it comes up in the 14th over. With wickets in hand and Razzaq and Misbah (hopefully) coming in lower down, the score can be accelerated later on. Wickets in hand will also allow Umar Akmal to play his more natural and attacking game rather than getting confused and stuck at the crease trying to throw down the anchor. Younis also needs to quickly find form and glue the innings together.

As for the bowlers; Gul needs to step up to the mark and help out Shoaib, and Saeed Ajmal needs to rediscover his wicket taking abilities. Maybe concentrating on conventional spin and bowling slower will help. The contribution of Mohammad Hafeez with the ball will have a big say in our success in restricting the South Africans. Ideally, I wouldn’t want Razzaq bowling. If we have to go to him then he should be given a few overs in the middle part of the innings when things slow down. Going in with the team above, we would be able to bowl 50 overs without the use of Razzaq yet that does not take into account a bowler having an off day. Hence, Razzaq may well be used.

With the World Cup around the corner, the coach and the captain should be looking to experiment and get some idea of the make up of their squad, one which they will hopefully be consulted on. Players will want to do well and I hope some of the players on the periphery are given the chance to do so in this series.

Pakistan street cricket - Waiting for a bat and a bowl

Yet the introduction of youngsters has seen some fielding improvements in the national side, but that is just mostly through athletic ability rather than good fielding technique. Some of the youngsters are still found wanting every game. There are signs that they are trying though. In the recent One Day series’ in England, we saw Umar Akmal take the field in football boots in a bid to get that little bit of extra traction to help him in the field. Football studs would be more conducive to good grip on grass than cricket spikes, helping the fielder to be quicker off the mark and run faster. I’m not entirely sure who first thought of the idea of bringing the football boot on to the cricket pitch but one of the first players I saw do so was Herschelle Gibbs, one of the best fielders in world cricket. So it’s good to see the likes of Akmal looking to improve and searching for that bit extra, and Gibbs is certainly not a bad fielder to try and emulate.

Umar Akmal uses football boots for extra traction in the field

But will Pakistan’s fielding ever improve to a standard demonstrated by the likes of Australia, England and South Africa? Well it will take a generation at least. The whole attitude to fielding within Pakistan will have to change. There are a number of reasons why fielding has never been of great importance to the Pakistanis. Growing up and playing in the streets or the parks, all anyone wants to do is either have a bowl or a bat. Fielding has only one purpose, and that is to retrieve the ball so the next ball can be bowled and the next shot played. Then there’s the space issue and the hard grounds. Played in the streets, there is not much room hence no need for fielders. And where there is space in the fields, the ground is generally made up of hard, dried mud, which is not exactly the best surface to practice diving on.

Watching Pakistan over the years, I can confidently say that no other side has given away as many runs through poor fielding as Pakistan have. The fact that we have done reasonable well in world cricket has been purely down to our reliance on the natural talent to dig us out of the holes we create through our indiscipline and shortcomings in the field. But as other teams begin to counter natural talent with pure hard graft, Pakistan need to catch up too and look at areas where they can improve. I’m not sure we’ll see much improvement in our fielding through the coaching at the top level, so the effort should be concentrated on to those youngsters on the production line. One place to start would be for the PCB to make it compulsory for every domestic side to employ a professional fielding coach. Then we may see things beginning to change for the better.

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 went upstairs for the decision and Afridi was given out. The difference between the two events was a clear case of double standards that could probably only be explained by some sort of inferiority complex displayed by umpire Doctrove.

In regards to Doctrove not going upstairs for Wright’s stumping; getting a marginal decision wrong is one thing, but when you have the third umpire as a back up and you don’t use him, it’s criminal. I hope Pakistan raise the issue and Doctrove is reprimanded as this kind of thing cannot happen again at the top level of the game. He has already cost Pakistan the previous ODI, and he almost cost us another one. Of course, this is the same Billy Doctrove who stood back quietly as umpire Darrell Hair decided to act as judge jury and executioner in the infamous Oval Test in 2006.

So onto the fourth game in the series on Monday with Pakistan unfortunate to be trailing 2-1. Should the Stanis take the next one, it will leave an exciting decider at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.

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.

An inclusion that I am certainly in favour of was that of Azhar Ali. With the absence of Younis Khan, Azhar should go straight into the ODI side to bolster the middle-order batting line up. He has all the attributes: technique, temperament, talent, to become a permanent fixture in our ODI side for years to come as I am sure he will be in the Test side.

As expected, Shoaib Akhtar also retains his place from the squad that faced Australia in the Twenty20s earlier in the tour. With Wahab Riaz also included and Akhtar’s level of fitness considered, it will be interesting to see if Akhtar makes the ODI team. If he does, it may well be a straight battle between Umar Gul and Riaz for the final spot with the other two taken up by Asif and Aamer. We must not forget Gul’s deadliness in the shorter form and that Wahab has been quite expensive in this form in the past. Although, with Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal also in the squad, and considering the fact that Afridi will bowl himself, it will be interesting to see how many pacers are included in the attack from the five of Aamer, Asif, Gul, Akhtar and Riaz. Certainly that’s one area in which we’re spoilt for choice.

All in all, it looks a very exciting squad with plenty to work with for captain Shahid Afridi ahead of the World Cup:

Squad for the five ODIs and two Twenty20s:

Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammed Aamer, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz.

Reserves:

Sarfraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Abdur Rehman.

'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, then there is no reason why he should remain in the side in place of a good wicket-keeper who is not a batsmen because Akmal doesn’t look like much of a batsman either. In his seven Test innings in England, he has managed an average of just 14.58.

Disappointment all-round, as the ground fails to swallow up Kamran Akmal

Team for the next Test
Whilst it is drastic, this is the side I would go in with for the secnd Test against England and it looks like a much more competitive one to me: Butt, Hameed, Malik, Younis (or Misbah lower down), Yousuf, Azhar/Umar Akmal,  Zulqarnain, Asif, Aamer, Gul, Ajmal.

Listening to Salman Butt’s after-match interview, it did not seem as if changes were going to be made and it felt as though they were going to stick with the same line up. Butt backed the young batsmen and the wicket-keeper Akmal. His argument was that after losing similarly to Australia in the first Test, we came back strong. Yet, our batting was still poor in that game and we were lucky to win that one in the end, and should not forget that after making just 88 in the first innings, Australia still managed to get back in the game, with our bowlers having to hit the winning runs under pressure on what turned out to be the last day.

And if we do stick with the same side as Butt indicated, what happens when we lose the next one in a similarly embarrassing manner? Knowing the media and ex-cricketers back in Pakistan, our young batsmen will get overly criticised. Both the players (current and those that are called up) and the backroom staff, need to forget the clash of personality issues, forget the character issues, it’s time to be professional and come work for the country.

UPDATE:
Danish Kaneria has been dropped for the remainder of the series and is now available for Essex. Mohammed Yousuf has been called up into the squad for the remaining games against England. Both positive steps in my opinion.

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. So, what are our batsmen doing? What are they contributing to the team? If they are not making the runs, what is their purpose? Bangladesh had just finished playing against England in similar conditions and I would have to say that their batting line up looked much more composed and generally better than ours.

You have to feel for our bowlers, who after just around 50 overs, may well be out there bowling again if we fail to avoid the follow on. Let’s not forget that it is our bowlers that have scored almost half the total we have on the board right now anyway. The PCB should collect the wages of the batsmen by the end of the series and divide them up between the bowlers, because it is they who deserve it.

So, should we persist with the same batting line up and just be patient or should we send for Yousuf and Younis? Many of us had called for youngsters to be given a chance (Umar Amin and Azhar Ali), and we knew we’d have to be patient with the likes of Farhat, Malik and the Akmals, yet none of us expected them to be this bad. I think most fans expected better from this batting line up.

Most of the hype has been around Umar Akmal, yet so far he hasn’t even looked like anything special. Far too nervous and stuck in the crease, he seems to be there for the taking as soon as he gets in. As for his brother, well he will now be single-handedly responsible for losing Pakistan yet another Test as he did in Australia. Dropped catch, missed stumping, failed with the bat and was stupidly consulted for two reviews that he declined that would have gone our way.

Kamran Akmal needs to be dropped, to persist with him is just futile. He has had enough chances yet we are seeing the same mistakes, and that I’m afraid, is the bottom line.