Volunteers needed for Cricket World Cup 2011 in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
The World Cup Secretariat in Sri Lanka will be accepting applications for volunteers for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The secretariat is seeking to fill 150 positions in Hambantota, Pallekele and Colombo.
"We are targeting school leavers, University students and graduates, as well as experienced corporate workers. Regional recruitment drives and walk-in interviews will be organized between 9th and 20th December 2010," according to Shevanthi Fernando, Volunteer Manager at the World Cup Secretariat in Sri Lanka.
"Interviews and selection will be done from mid December. There are limited slots we encourage interested individuals to apply early. Suitable candidates will be selected on a first come basis, based on their alignment to our requirements."
Application forms will become available over the coming days via Sri Lanka Cricket's website: www.srilankacricket.lk
Labels: Cricket, Sri Lanka, Volunteers
posted @ 3:15 PM,
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Too much cricket will hurt India in World Cup
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wasim Akram put in bluntly: India are playing too much cricket. And that could hurt the team in next year's World Cup. Speaking at the Hindustan Leadership Summit on Friday, Akram said: "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should cut down the number of matches India are playing."
"They are playing New Zealand now and will go to South Africa. They have already played Australia and Sri Lanka. They will come back and play their first match on February 19 in the World Cup. That's too much. They won't get time to recover. They will be tired, especially the bowlers. Too much cricket is another reason for frequent breakdowns of fast bowlers," said the 44-year-old former Pakistan skipper.
Akram said the 50-over World Cup was far ahead of the T20 World Cup in terms of quality. "Your skill is not tested in T20. You just have to whack the ball. In the 50-over format, you can slip in bouncers and your batting skill is tested."
For Akram, Test cricket is the ultimate thing. "It's here where all your skill is tested," he said. "The International Cricket Council must do something to save Tests."
Asked for a solution, he said: "Preparing sporting wickets is the only way we can bring crowds back to Tests." He also said that ICC should cut down the number of T20 matches and play more Tests.
Akram said cricket's lost ground in Pakistan due to match-fixing controversies. "It's sad. But the PCB must act. If some players have been accused, they should not be playing for the country. I have seen players against whom action has been taken playing for the country again in six months. That should not happen. The team managers and coaches too must play a crucial role in grooming young players."
As for Pakistan not hosting any World Cup match, Akram said, "It is sad. We were not hosting cricket for a while. This way the new generation will not get to see star cricketers in action, which will motivate them to take up the sport. The sport will lose its popularity."
posted @ 2:40 PM,
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PCB suspends Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday suspended the central contracts of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir, the three players under investigation from the ICC in the infamous spot-fixing saga, dispatching the letters to the effect at the players’ respective addresses.
“Yes, the letters have been dispatched at the addresses of the three players in which their central contracts have been suspended with effect from Nov 1,” Zakir Khan, a senior official of the PCB, confirmed to Dawn.
However, Zakir was not ready to comment further on the matter but added that it was the duty of the PCB to follow its parent body ICC’s Code of Conduct under which a provisional ban had been imposed on the three players.
When asked whether Salman and Aamir would face any further sanctions for issuing statements against the ICC in the media after their appeals against the suspension were rejected, Zakir shied away from making any comments on the issue but advised the players not to violate the code of conduct any further.
Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that the ICC is quite unhappy with Salman and Aamir for issuing those hard-hitting statements in the media since the international body is yet to announce a final decision regarding the spot-fixing case.
“Obviously, the ICC will consider every aspect of the case before announcing its decision and it would be better for the ‘tainted’ players not to issue anymore statements on the matter,” the sources said.
They further disclosed that some lawyers had even advised the players not to appeal against the provisional suspension from the ICC as their case was not a very strong one.
The sources added that Asif, in fact, had made a wise decision of not challenging the suspension and that could well get the ICC to develop a soft corner for the pacer.
PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has already taken the Governing Board’s approval on suspending the central contracts of the three players in a meeting held on Nov 1.
posted @ 11:05 AM,
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Save cricket
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Pakistan Cricket Board is still in hunt for a reliable opening pair since Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwer said adieu to the game. Just Salman Butt showed some glimpses of quality of the late but his career is now at stake over spot-fixing allegations.
The Pakistan team since the greats have left been struck in the caldron of inconsistency. Looking at even the players of the recent past like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamamul Haq etc they used to snatch win from the jaws of defeat. They were raw talents horned under the guidance of legends like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. But that does not mean the Pakistan cricket has lost talent but it has lost direction. At a time when the cricket world has marked their replacement players for the coming decades, Pakistan cricket is still lingering on without proper planning. The International Cricket Councils recent directive might make the difference in Pakistan cricket discipline wise but there is still a lot of work required at the domestic level to meet the international standards.
The Pakistan team’s defeat ignites lot of criticism at all the forums but nothing fruitful has been done as yet at the domestic level which is the main source of any game.
After organizing a successful domestic T20 tournament at Lahore, it is the right time to salvage the Pakistan cricket. Watching the T20 Cup, the question arises despite having players of quality why Pakistan is not producing great bowlers, batsmen and in particular finger spinners.
The PCB needs to identify a talented under-19 player who should be prepared on the professional lines that has been the practice of the past. Take the example of PACO’s under-19 team that appeared into the domestic Under-19 tournament.
It produced many players who later played for Pakistan. These included players like Wasim Akram, Ijaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar. It later it employed in a single day players like Aaqib Javed, Ata-ur-Rehman and Zahid Fazal. The then captain of PACO took the initiative. So it is understood that when players start professional cricket at young age, they can easily serve for Pakistan for about 15 to 18 years.
Another area the PCB needs to think about is the fast bowlers department. There was time when Imran Khan was leading bowlers like Wasim, Waqar, Aaqib Javed, Atta-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Zahid set up the pace attack and then came Shoaib Akhtar, who remained out of Pakistan cricket for one reason or the other. And for over the last two decades or so Pakistan is playing without a genuine fast bowler. Punjab produced most of the pacer but now it seems Pakistan main weapon is dying down and no attention is being given towards it.
All PCB is required to do is produce supporting wickets at domestic level and appoint coaches for every department of the game – bowling, spin and fast, batting and fielding - at regional level to identify talented players, remove their errors and make them available for further training at the National or Regional Cricket Academies. If proper steps were not taken now then the game would become stale like other sports.
posted @ 10:33 AM,
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A week for the cricket-starved
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The rest of the cricket world might not know (or care), but Pakistan’s premier Twenty20 competition ended this weekend, and it was a fine testament to the resilience of the Pakistani cricket fans. Not only were the crowds packed for almost every evening game (including the group matches), there was significant interest in those watching and following from home. Popular fan site, Pakpassion, which runs a live match discussion forum, had as much activity on their Rawalpindi-Karachi semi-final thread as they did for the series-changing third England-Pakistan one-day international.
Format: Fewer teams, more matches?
There is something to admire about a tournament that doesn’t take itself too seriously and produces a champion in exactly a week (I am looking at you, ICC World Cup 2007 and Indian Premier League). However, you can’t help but feel that a little more thought could have been put into the format. With four groups and a total of 13 teams, playing just two group matches each before the semis, it was essentially a knock-out from the get-go. It kept things fun and competitive and meant the big teams couldn’t afford to relax, but you have got to feel sorry for teams like the Quetta Bears, who came perilously close to beating the Shoaib Akhtar-led Islamabad Leopards, or the Hyderabad Hawks, who beat a Lahore side with four players from the current Pakistan team. (Neither of these teams progressed to the second round which meant we only saw them play two matches).
Also, do we really need to have two teams each from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad? Wouldn’t a Karachi fan rather see a team with the combined bowling riches of Anwar Ali, Kaneria, Sami and Afridi instead of being forced to choose between two lukewarm attacks with half the potency? The argument in favour of multiple teams from one region is that it prevents any one team from being too strong, while making sure all the deserving players still get to play. In practice, though, this only ends up diluting the competition, not enriching it. A better approach to make the league competitive would be to loan some of the top players to a weaker side, like Quetta.
Best Contest: Shoaib Akhtar vs.Mohammad Yousuf
The mini-contest of the tournament came in the 11th over of the Islamabad Leopards-Lahore Lions semi-final, when Shoaib Akhtar brought himself back into the attack to attempt to get rid of a well-set Yousuf. Mr Lazy Elegance himself up against Pakistan’s most ferocious fast bowler, both leading their sides – and possibly for the last time – in a fight to the final of a tournament neither had ever won. A fiery bouncer first up had Yousuf caught at point, but it came off the helmet. Next, Yousuf somehow kept out a couple of fast, inswinging yorkers. Those wrists (no, Cricinfo ball-by-ball, that phrase is not reserved for VVS Laxman alone) came back strongly with a perfectly-placed drive over mid-off for four. Shoaib came back with a fuller one, which swung in late and made Yousuf look schoolboy-silly going for the drive. Cue five wides because, hey, it’s Pakistan. Shoaib ended the over with another late inswinger that forced Yousuf back and rapped him plumb in front, but for an inside edge. Yousuf survived, but this round of the battle of the 35-year-old rockstars of Pakistan cricket went to Shoaib.
International player watch
All the surprise picks for the South Africa series failed to dazzle: Misbah-ul-Haq led a strong Faisalabad team to an early exit; Tanvir Ahmed got a few breakthroughs but also got hammered; Mohammad Sami was Mohammad Sami; Taufeeq Umar had one good innings against a weak line-up; Mohammad Hafeez did nothing of note; Sohail Tanvir was erratic though you could see his utility with both bat and ball, and finally, Imran Farhat…well, I guess his selection can’t really be a surprise anymore, so let’s skip him.
The one exception was Wahab Riaz. Regardless of what you might think he was doing with that jacket outside that restaurant, he bottled the opposition with some smart, spirited bowling, picking up 10 wickets with an economy rate of 4.12 in a tournament where teams were chasing down scores of 200-plus in 18 overs for fun. He wasn’t afraid to mix things up and surprised both an in-form Shahid Afridi and tournament top-scorer Shahzaib Hasan with some well-targeted short-pitched deliveries in the final. Definitely a good prospect for the similarly road-like tracks expected for the 2011 World Cup.
Speaking of Shahzaib, he completely dominated with the bat, as he often does on the flat pitches at home. It was good to see him demonstrate some maturity and bat through the innings to see his side home. Shahid Afridi’s strong support for him, both as his captain and senior batting partner on the field, as well as his most vocal supporter off the field finally came good as he became a belated addition to the T20 and ODI squad for the UAE, along with Wahab Riaz.
Players to watch
The exciting 22-year-old leg-spinner from Dadu, Zahid Mahmood (Hyderabad Hawks) not only has all his variations spot-on and an encouraging thumbs-up from Abdul Qadir, he also has the fire, the attitude, and the hair that made Boom Boom the heartthrob that he is. Too bad Hyderabad played only two matches and he was only picked for one. Raza Hasan (Rawalpindi Rams), Kaneria’s unlucky passenger-replacement on the England tour, also impressed.
Other performers include Abbottabad’s Junaid Khan who bowled his heart out and, along with his captain and middle-order bat, Yasir Shah, played a vital role in making a lacklustre team competitive.
Hammad Azam emerged as the best all-rounder apart from Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, and should be nurtured for the future.
Openers Ahmed Shehzad (Lahore) and Nasir Jamshed (Lahore) looked in good touch and can both hit a lusty blow, though almost every other team had an opener who looked better than Imran Farhat.
Coverage
The local sports channel behind live coverage should be commended for telecasting what looks like the only cricket we are going to see in Pakistan for a while. The free entry, floodlit night-matches, and short tournament helped fill the stadium night after night, which was heart-warming to see. However, given that it is the only spectator-friendly cricket we are going to see for a while, I feel the PCB has a bigger responsibility in terms of ensuring the tournament reaches every Pakistani.
There was no visible marketing of the event outside of the (private) media group that broadcast it and its associated newspapers. Also, the PCB must try to get at least the semi-finals and the final aired on the national broadcaster for those parts of the country that are still without cable television. Teenage cricket fan Ahmed Hassan and his cricket-obsessed friends from one such village (Saiden Hattian, near Attock) travelled 20 kilometres to the city to watch every match. As fun as he says these trips were, it is only fair he gets to watch the games at home.
Also, I understand this is not a disease peculiar to any one desi sports channel, but the length and timing of the ads was beyond ridiculous. Forget cutting to ads as soon as the last delivery of an over was bowled, or even before they could show the replay of a wicket, they didn’t even show the winning team (Lahore Lions) lift the trophy! And did they really have to interview the tournament sponsors’ CEO in the middle of an over?
Finally, the Urdu commentary was immensely enjoyable. Almost everyone on the team was either hilarious(Mirza Iqbal Baig), insightful (Aamir Sohail) or both (Abdul Qadir). Tariq Saeed was all that, and eloquent – it almost made up for Mushtaq Ahmed exclaiming “OUTSTANDING SHOT!” at Shastri-volume every single time a boundary was hit. My favourite out of all the commentary gems would have to be Abdul Qadir’s proclamation that super-talented players like “qaum ka khoobsurat heera,” Shahid Afridi, naturally tended to think less than the average player.
“Match delayed – Mosquitoes”
That was the official match status for a bit during the Karachi vs. Rawalpindi semi-final, when Karachi captain Shahid Afridi refused to take the field after his bowlers were constantly stung in the eyes by a mutant army of “helicopters” – some sort of rare Lahori crossbreed between mosquitoes and fireflies. The bug-busters, who had forgotten to spray the field before the start of the night game, strolled on to the field in the typically Pakistani carefree abandon. Karachi returned to the field with a variety of smart accessories, not least of which were sported by Fawad Alam who fielded with his usual athleticism for the remaining 18 overs, except with a towel tied around his mouth to prevent swallowing any more bugs (Yeah, he looked pretty cool, everyone on the commentary thread was calling him Daku). A special mention too for Mohammad Sami, who became the fastest man to bowl with sunglasses: quite a sight under lights (still bowled a consistent short-and-wide line, dotted with the full-toss or two per over, in case you were wondering).
The forgotten Akmal
Guess what – the Akmals have another brother who could yet make the national team: Adnan. Winner of the tournament’s best keeper award, he looked a better keeper than Kamran from the little that was seen of him. Apparently the day Kamran was first picked for Pakistan, both him and his brother Adnan were called to the national team’s nets, and it was Adnan, not Kamran, who was being tipped to get the nod. If you thought it was frustrating being Zulqarnain Haider or Sarfaraz Ahmed, spare a thought for this kid: he not only gets to live with the resentment of being kept out of the team by an undeserving player, he has to go home to him and pretend to love him at the end of the day.
The biggest let-down
Fielding standards were non-existent. The most disappointing thing on this front was that the best fielders on display were not the young guns trying to break through to the regional or national team, but veterans like Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf. Runners-up Karachi Dolphins dropped six sitters in the final, and this was a side packed with international players. Yousuf, much to his surprise, was awarded the Best Fielder prize in one of the most comical awards-ceremonies ever, where everyone from the presenter to Ijaz Butt enjoyed a hearty laugh at the expense of Maulana Jonty.
And, finally, an Amir sighting
Mohammad Amir made an appearance in the stands. The crowd erupted into a roar when he was shown on the big screen, though it was unclear whether it was an expression of support, surprise, anger, or all of the above. Earlier, he was reportedly booed by fans outside the stadium as he honked his way through throngs of people who were forced to park their cars at a distance because of security concerns. National hero to undeserving holder of parking privileges in a few no-balls’ time: why, Amir, why?
Labels: Cricket
posted @ 9:38 AM,
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Misbah named Test captain, Shahid remains ODI, T20 skipper
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Test cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq has been named the new Test Captain of Pakistan, while Shahid Afridi would lead One-day and T20 teams, Geo News reported Friday.
Earlier on Thursday PCB in a surprise move had announced the captain-less squad against South Africa, which had given rise to the suspicion that Afridi being replaced by Misbah.
National selectors came out with quite a few surprises on Thursday, recalling senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq and once again overlooking former captain Shoaib Malik for the limited-overs series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates.
Kamran Akmal was replaced with Zulqarnain Haider, while former captain Younis Khan was ignored once again.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) added another twist to the story when it decided against naming the captain even though it had earlier earmarked experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi to continue as skipper till World Cup 2011.
Afidi, who has been leading Pakistan in ODIs and Twenty20s since this year’s ICC World Twenty20 championship in the Caribbean, has been included in the 15-man touring party.
Misbah’s stunning return and a delay in naming the captain has raised quite a few eyebrows. According to media report, during a marathon meeting with national selectors in Lahore on Thursday, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt declared that the team’s captain will be named later.
It is reported that one of the prime reasons why Misbah has been recalled is because he could lead Pakistan if Butt agrees to sack Afridi as captain. However, a top official has insisted that Misbah’s recall is based purely on cricketing merit. Mohsin Hasan Khan, Pakistan’s chief selector, defended the decision to recall Misbah, who last played a One-day International in September 2009.
“We needed a senior batsman in the team,” Mohsin told. “Due to the unavailability of Salman Butt, there weren’t many experienced batters in the side,” he added. Salman Butt together with fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last month after being accused of accepting bribes from match-fixers during the Lord’s Test against England.
But why was Misbah, who is already 36 and was discarded as a spent force almost a year ago, preferred over younger and fitter batters like Faisal Iqbal, Aamer Sajjad, Khurram Manzoor and Taufeeq Umar — all prolific run-getters on the domestic circuit last season.”
“Misbah was really successful in the Pentangular Cup,” said Mohsin. But Misbah played just two matches in the Pentangular Cup, scoring 176 runs. The Mianwali-based batsman, however, top scored in the National One-day Cup with 490 runs at 163.33.
There was no room for the experienced Younis Khan in the team. Mohsin said that the PCB is yet to clear Younis for national duty. “We didn’t get any clearance as far as Younis is concerned.” Mohsin, a former Pakistan Test opener, said that Shoaib Malik will have to prove his form before earning a recall.
“He needs to come back in form. There was a lot of discussion about him but in the end we decided to give him more time to win back a place in the team.”
Mohsin said that Kamran Akmal, who recently underwent an appendicitis operation in Lahore, can regain his place in the team once he attains full fitness. “We have dropped him because of health reasons,” he said adding that the selectors want to groom wicketkeepers like Zulqarnain Haider and Sarfraz Ahmed.
“We are trying to make an all-round combination of youth and experience which is why Zulqarnain and Sarfraz will be given ample chances.” Zulqarnain has replaced Akmal as the team’s stumper for the limited-overs series against South Africa, while Sarfraz has been included in the Pakistan ‘A’ squad for the tour of West Indies getting underway from November 3.
Meanwhile, Imran Farhat has been recalled to the ODI squad at the expense of big-hitting opener Shahzaib Hasan. Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul will lead the pace attack in the absence of Asif and Amir. Veteran all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and rookie fast bowler Tanveer Ahmed complete the pace quartet.
But it will be there spin quartet that is likely to trouble South Africa on pitches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which are expected to assist spinners. Pakistan have included two specialist spinner — Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman — in the squad. With Afridi and Muhammad Hafeez, also in the squad, they will have ample spin options during the series, which will kick off with a Twenty20 International in Abu Dhabi on October 26. “We have some really good spinners and I’m sure they will do well in UAE,” said Mohsin.
Pakistan squad: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Tanveer Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider
posted @ 11:56 AM,
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Is Pakistan cricket down in the dumps
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Just before he took the Pakistan team to Sri Lanka and then England this summer, I had a detailed chat with Shahid Afridi in Karachi.
It was June and though the 2011 World Cup was still almost nine months away, Pakistan's cricket captain was more interested in talking about the quadrennial spectacle than anything else. He almost sounded obsessed with the idea of leading Pakistan to the World Cup crown almost 20 years after the great Imran Khan achieved that feat in Australia.
A few months and a series of controversies later, Afridi is still optimistic of Pakistan's World Cup chances though the captain doesn't sound as convincing as he did in June.
It's hardly surprising.
Pakistan cricket is going through its worst phase at the moment. Many of the country's leading cricketers are suspected of having links with match-fixers. Corruption allegations have tainted Pakistan's cricket team to the extent that several former cricketing great Ian Botham is calling for a ban. Such is the intensity of the charges against Pakistan that there are even fears that the 1992 world champions might not even take part in next year's World Cup.
Three of Pakistan's players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer — remain suspended as investigations continue into allegations of corruption against them. Asif and Aamer have been accused of bowling deliberate no balls on the orders of match fixers. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is also investigating claims that Pakistani players were involved in 'spot fixing' during their third One-day International against England at The Oval earlier this month.
As if all of it wasn't enough, Pakistan's cricket chiefs have engaged themselves in a bitter row with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) following Ijaz Butt's insane comments about the England team throwing The Oval one-dayer for huge sums of money. ECB has demanded a public apology from the PCB chief but sources in the Board say that Butt is in no mood to say sorry.
There aren't many positive reports emitting from the Pakistan team either. The squad is back home after completing its acrimonious tour of England where Pakistan lost the four-Test series 1-3, Twenty20 International series 0-2 and finally the One-day International series 2-3.
During the best part of the tour, even if you put aside the so-called 'spot fixing scandal', there weren't many happy stories as far as the team is concerned.
Afridi, who came out of Test exile to lead Pakistan in their first Test against Australia at Lord's last July, made a shocking announcement that he was quitting Test cricket again after playing just one match.
Later, when Pakistan were hit by a bombshell that came in the form of an expose by News Of The World, sources close to Afridi claimed that the all-rounder was forced to retire because he wasn't happy with the fact that some of his players were allowed by the team management to openly mix with several 'suspicious' characters. One of those characters was Mazhar Majeed, the British business at the center of the 'spot fixing' scandal.
Pakistan went on to win their next Test against Australia - their first Test win against the Aussies in 15 years. The triumph was hailed as a turning point for Pakistan cricket as many thought that under Salman Butt, the team was destined for more glory.
Sadly, things began to fall apart after that series-leveling triumph at Headingley.
Pakistan were crushed by England in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston where the visitors batted like novices and gave more proof that they were easily the worst fielding side among all Test nations.
Pakistan dropped the controversial Kamran Akmal for his awful catching and poor batting after Trent Bridge and instead fielded debutant Zulqarnain Haider as their wicket-keeper at Edgbaston. The lanky stumper made a fighting 88 in the second innings but was sent back home ahead of the third Test at The Oval because of a finger injury.
Well-placed sources in the team had revealed that the injury wasn't a serious one and that Zulqarnain could have played at The Oval. But there was no such luck for the youngster and Kamran Akmal was brought back to keep the wickets for Pakistan.
Conflicting reports continuously came out of the Pakistan camp during the tour regarding relations between the players and their coaches.
While sources claimed that the team officials and some of the senior players were not even on talking terms, Afridi - Pakistan's one-day captain - kept insisting that he was at the helm of a completely 'united' team.
The players and team coaches, according to the sources, also developed bitter differences on the issue of fielding practice during the tour.
While Ijaz Ahmed, the man who was entrusted with the responsibility of bringing about an improvement in the team's fielding standards insisted on marathon training sessions, many of the players believed such sessions did more harm than good.
"Sometime we are so stiff after those long sessions just before a game that the idea of fielding in the match used to make us really uneasy," one of the team members, who requested anonymity, told The News on Sunday.
Among the senior players there was this suspicion that Ijaz and company were against their presence in the team. The players feared that the extensive fielding sessions were aimed at ruining their fitness so that they could be kicked out of the team.
"Some of us (senior players) were convinced that the coaches want to get rid of us so that they can have their favorites in the team. It wasn't a good feeling at all," said another Pakistan player.
It wasn't just the players and officials who were not really getting along during the tour. The players, too, had their differences.
"The players began to suspect each other after the (spot fixing) scandal," said a source. "If there was any unity in the team, it was pretty much gone after those three players were named in the scandal," he added.
In nutshell, Pakistan cricket is down in the dumps at the moment.
So, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Sadly, with a man like Ijaz Butt at the helm of our cricket affairs, one can't be optimistic about anything.
What Pakistan cricket needs is a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief with a vision, somebody who can build bridges with the rest of cricketing world. Someone who can form a competent team, which can first carry out damage control and then rebuild Pakistan's credibility as a respected Test-playing country. It won't be easy but it's not impossible.
For the moment, as long as Ijaz Butt is in charge, such a turn-around is quite unlikely. You can't expect a man, with a sizeable contribution to the current mess, to suddenly change overnight and carry out this mammoth task. He has to go otherwise Pakistan cricket will become a lost cause.
posted @ 11:56 AM,
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Pakistan cricket: great rivalries and bust ups
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The evolution of Pakistan cricket teams has triggered a rather queer phenomenon: the notorious squabbling within the Pakistan team has turned itself into the kind of personal rivalries between players that have actually helped them perform in the most stunning manner (both in victory and defeat). It is as if to perform at their best, Pakistani cricketers have had to challenge each another first.
Each time Pakistan plays, the question is, will they swallow the opposition, or combust into flames?
Raja vs. Raja
Late Wasim Raja – elder brother of Rameez Raja – was perhaps the most enigmatic cricketer of the 1970s and early 1980s.
In his book, ‘An All-Round View,’ Imran Khan describes Raja to be one of most gifted stroke makers he had ever seen, but someone who never thought he needed any practice – a carefree trait that did not go down well with Raja’s captains. They all described him as a loner who could not bond well with the team.
Raja bloomed under Muhstaq Muhammad’s captaincy, but not without incidence. Dropped from the team (for being irresponsible) during the 1976 home series against New Zealand, Raja was picked (on skipper Mushtaq’s insistence) in the 18-member squad that toured Australia and West indies during the 1976-77 season.
Pakistan drew the series 1-1 against the Aussies, but Raja did not figure in the final IX, despite scoring a hard-hitting century in a side game. Expecting to be picked for the third test, he was ignored.
In his autobiography, ‘Inside Out,’ Mushtaq writes that he was tempted to select Raja, but since Pakistan were 1-0 down in the series, he wanted a more responsible batsman in the side. Then Mushtaq goes on to describe how badly Raja took the decision.
Raja, in a ‘drunken rage,’ smashed a mirror to bits in his hotel room, and then stumbled across the hotel lobby, accusing the team manager, Shujauddin, of favouritism.
Raja was finally selected (in place of an injured Zaheer) on the West Indian leg of the tour. In a closely fought contest, Pakistan went down 2-1, and ironically, Raja topped the batting averages, scoring more than 500 runs in five tests, with a century and five fifties.
Famous West Indian commentator, Tony Cozier, described Raja’s batting on that tour as ‘breathtaking.’
A future Pakistani Test player, who was then a young member of the touring squad, remembered Raja’s batting (and antics) fondly: ‘He was a law unto himself,’ he told this writer in 1997. ‘Five down for 130 odd, and Raja would come in and hit Joel Garner for a straight six, first ball.’
He also affectionately remembered how Raja, while waiting for his turn to bat (during the second Test on the same tour), slipped out, bumped into a few West Indian fans of his outside the stadium, gleefully shared with them a smoking pipe brimming with ganja, came back, padded up and went on to score a most prodigious fifty!
Javed Miandad in his book, A Cutting Edge, described Raja as one of the hardest-hitting batsmen. But he also thought Raja was his own greatest enemy.
After having a great tour of India in 1979, (where during one side game in Amritsar, he mischievously threaten to grab the groin of an approaching fan), Raja once again became a frustrating in-out case, finally bidding farewell to cricket in 1985.
Sadly, he died at the age of 55 in 2004.
_______________________________
Mushtaq Muhammad vs. Asif Iqbal
Whenever there is talk of great Pakistani cricket captains, three names spontaneously spring to mind: Imran Khan, A H. Kardar and Mushtaq Muhammad.
It was under Mushtaq that a bunch of individualistic talents became a world-beating side. With Mushtaq at the helm, Pakistan managed to beat New Zealand and India, as well the 1970s’ mighty Australian and West Indian sides.
Highly competitive, Mushtaq is also remembered as the captain who had a habit of taking struggling players to hotel bars and discussing their form over a glass of beer. It was also under him that Pakistanis attempted to match the Aussies’ knack for ‘effective sledging,’ and he turned Miandad and Sarfraz Nawaz into sledging machines!
It was Mushtaq’s good luck that his long-time vice-captain, Asif Iqbal, was also one of his best friends. But as Mushtaq explains in his autobiography, after captaining Pakistan for four years (1976-79), he was suddenly replaced due to ‘Asif’s intrigues. He blamed Asif (and Majid Khan) for ‘stabbing him in the back,’ by telling the selectors that he was ‘over the hill.’
Mushtaq was all set to continue as skipper for the 1979 series against India, when he was asked to retire by the selectors. Asif became the new captain, leading Pakistan across the turbulent series that Pakistan lost, 2-0.
Humiliated, Asif decided to retire after the disastrous tour, and Mushtaq was asked to return as captain. He declined, and instead suggested the board make Miandad the new captain, and which it did (in 1980).
________________________________
Imran Khan vs. Sarfraz Nawaz
Along with the Wasim-Waqar bowling pair, the Imran-Sarfraz bowling duo is considered to be the best Pakistan cricket has produced.
But unlike Wasim and Waqar, Sarfraz and Imran were also considered to be bosom buddies, and on tours the dashing, ‘playboy’ Imran, and the hard-drinking and boisterous Sarfraz were a regular feature at assorted night clubs. It is said that it was Sarfraz who taught the art of reverse swing to Imran.
The long friendship lasted till 1994 – until Imran Khan began planning to join politics, and refused to welcome the then Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, when she made a trip to his charity hospital. A long-time supporter of Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sarfraz had joined the party in 1988.
But what really broke the camel’s back for Nawaz was when Imran (after going through his post-retirement born-again-Muslim routine), started using populist Islamic symbolism and rhetoric. Nawaz went public with his outrage, calling Imran ‘a hypocrite’, saying that a former ‘playboy’ had no right to preach morals. Imran retaliated by calling Nawaz a ‘mad man’ and a ghoonda (scoundrel).
The severe brick baiting between the two has continued unabated.
____________________________________
Javed Miandad vs. Imran Khan
Miandad and Imran are perhaps the two most popular set of cricketers produced by Pakistan. Both served the team together for almost 20 years.
According to a 1996 interview of former Pakistan opener, Mudassar Nazar, Imran and Javed had a ‘classic love-hate relationship’ – a fact that becomes obvious when their assessment of this relationship in their respective autobiographies starts reading like a soggy soap opera! Within a space of a single chapter, Imran in his book, ‘Imran,’ both praises and criticizes Miandad in equal measure. Miandad does the same in his own book, and string after string of sentences showering liberal praise as well as attacks on one another.
Both became friends while playing for Somerset in England in the mid-1970s, where they also shared a flat. However, the friendship began to fall apart after a 23-year-old Miandad replaced Asif Iqbal as captain in 1980.
In 1981, ten players revolted against Miandad’s captaincy and refused to play under him. Miandad blamed Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas as being the ‘ring leaders’ of the revolt. In his book Miandad suggests that the revolt only became successful when the ‘ring leaders’ convinced Imran to join them. Miandad felt ‘like being stabbed in the back.’
Interestingly, after Miandad stepped down, he told the board that he will not play under either Majid or Zaheer, but will be more than glad to play under Imran. In 1986, Miandad became Imran’s vice-captain.
Some of the most successful ODI and Test cricket by Pakistan was played through the Imran-Miandad ‘think tank,’ an example of which was seen during the fourth Test against England (in England) in 1987.
In an attempt to halt England’s run chase, one side of the wicket was marshaled by captain Imran, while the other side was being maneuvered by his vice-captain, Miandad. The game was saved and Pakistan won the series.
The re-established friendship between the two broke down again when (after Imran’s retirement in 1992), Miandad (as captain) accused Imran of trying to divide the team and get the board to make Wasim Akram captain.
Imran denied the accusation, but in 1993, Miandad stepped down and Akram did become the new skipper.
Miandad retired from cricket in 1996, and has since rekindled his friendship with Imran.
____________________________
Imran Khan vs. Qasim Umar/Yunus Ahmed
Qasim Umar was a dashing young talent who emerged on the scene in the early 1980s. However, by 1988 he was out, banned by the cricket board.
After a 1986 Australian tour, Umar stunned the media by declaring that Imran and his team were ‘junkies.’ He claimed that most of the players (including Imran) smoked cannabis (hashish) and were involved in prostitution. Umar’s timing couldn’t have been worse. The Pakistan team was on a high (pun not intended), and popularly being led by Imran and his vice-captain, Miandad.
In 1987, after an Indian tour, Yunus Ahmed – who’d been brought out of retirement (by Imran) to play against India – repeated Umar’s accusations, claiming that Imran and his team were ‘drunkards’ and smoked dope.
Ahmed, was banned as well.
Qasim Umar today is a member of the Tableeghi Jamat (Islamic evangelists).
______________________
Wasim vs. Waqar
Easily one of the most destructive fast bowling pairs to grace international cricket, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus were never buddies. According to their own admission, each tried to outdo the other, but of course, it was the team that benefited from this intense rivalry.
Ironically, it was Akram and Waqar who (supposedly on Imran’s instigation), rebelled against Miandad’s captaincy in 1993. Consequently, Akram was named captain, and Waqar became vice-captain.
But the arrangement did not last long. Akram, after being arrested along with a few other Pakistani players, for smoking dope on a Caribbean beach, was disgraced, and Waqar eventually led a players’ revolt against him in 1994.
Akram returned as skipper twice (1996; 1998-99), but his relationship with Waqar remained strained, until both finally reconciled during Waqar’s captaincy (2001-2002).
____________________________
Inzamam-ul Haq vs. Shoaib Akhtar
Inzamam-ul Haq is ranked up there with greats like Miandad and rightly so. But in spite of captaining Pakistan for three years (2004-2007), he was constantly criticised for being ‘lethargic’ and too defensive.
Some of his critics also point at his born-again religiosity in which he tried to unite the team on the basis of a particular brand of evangelical Islam (tableeghi).
He regularly allowed certain celebrity-turned-preachers into the dressing room. As he went about changing the team’s culture – blaming alcohol, partying and drugs as the main culprits of the team’s problems – he failed on two major counts.
First of all he alienated some players who did not agree with his brand of religion (mainly Abdul Razzaq, Yunus Khan and Shoaib Akhtar); secondly, the ‘Islamisation’ of the team did absolutely nothing to curb the kind of reckless greed that has seen many players fall pray to shady bookies.
Maverick tear-away fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, became the most prominent victim of Inzi’s religious dabbling. A throwback of the ‘wild’ Pakistani cricketers of yore, Shoaib constantly squabbled with Inzamam, calling him a hypocrite for dragging religion into sport.
According to cricket journalist, Osman Sammiuddin, Shoaib sometimes openly rebelled against and mocked Inzi’s ‘Raiwind regime.’ Shoaib refused to give up his love of late night partying, saying that it was his personal matter. Then, during a series against England (in 2005), he kept calling Inzamam in the middle of the night, sarcastically asking him to get ready for prayers!
Shoaib remained an outsider in Inzimam’s team, and the tableeghis who became a regular fixture in the dressing room, avoided him like the plague.
‘They found him to be mocking and rude, and stayed clear of him,’ Osman said.
Shoaib lamented that had he been playing under Imran, he would have achieved a lot more as a bowler. Instead, alienated by Inzi and the team’s overt religious fervor, Shoaib stumbled from one controversy to another.
Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com.
posted @ 12:03 PM,
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Is cricket corrupt?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
By Des Kelly
Well, that's solved then. Job done. We can all pack up and move on. Who needs an investigation? Pakistan's High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan says he has spoken to the cricket players accused of corruption and already discovered 'they are innocent'.
'I have got to the bottom of it,' said our sleuth. 'I spoke to the players for two hours. They were set up.' So move along now. Nothing to see here.
Of course there is the inconvenient matter that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer all appeared to deliver no-balls to order, exactly as an alleged fixer predicted on camera in an undercover sting.
But that is just detail, something the High Commissioner believes can be swept away in a bluster of indignation, scattergun counter-accusations and waffle.
Right now, the Pakistan authorities are in denial. As far as Hasan is concerned, there is need for a diplomatic silence until the charges are proved either way.
It is far easier for Pakistan to paint this sporting scandal as part of a wider conspiracy. The head of the International Cricket Council is an Indian, you see. The bookmakers involved in the alleged spot-fixing scam were Indian, too. 'That is why this whole frame-up has come about!' Hasan exclaimed. So, it was India's fault.
As misguidedly gung-ho public defences go, this was way past William Hague's effort. Had Hasan stuck to an argument that the burden of proof lay with the newspaper that made the accusations, innocent until proven guilty and all that, he might have garnered some sympathy.
As soon as he cast Pakistan as political martyrs to their Indian neighbours and political enemies, he was cast as a preposterous fool.
But the battleground was still shifting. Here, it might appear a simple case of whether three sportsmen took money to fix specific moments in a game; a topic for curious conversation between sips of tea and snippets of Radio 4 long wave.
That takes no account of the hysteria that surrounds cricket across the South Asian sub-continent (where sensitivities are such that even the phrase 'Indian subcontinent' is now frowned upon). Cricketers in India and Pakistan are idolised and inspire more devotion than a dozen David Beckhams on these shores. Cricket is their football.
And news that Pakistan's team were caught in yet another scandal was a terrible blow for a country that has little to cheer about right now. But it looks as if the events will be twisted and turned until the truth is lost, if Pakistani officials have their way.
After the ICC wisely suspended the accused players, the Pakistan High Commissioner - I cannot seriously call him a diplomat - was defiant.
'The ICC had no business to take action. The ICC is playing to the public gallery,' he said, noisily playing to the public gallery. He wanted to tell us the 'true facts', he said.
But it seemed difficult to imagine this blinkered, excuse-making apologist would ever be able to find the truth even if he was hunting for it with a pack of lie-detecting sniffer dogs, straining on leads held by Sherlock Holmes.
Hasan berated Scotland Yard and complained the charges were 'unhelpful'. This came just 24 hours after the delightfully named Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, insisted the trio of accused players would remain in the touring party unless official charges were brought - thus forcing everyone's hand.
And then you remembered who was really being unhelpful. Pakistan are guests in this country. They have used England as their base for a Test series against Australia because they are unable to play in their own land following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore last year. This was no way to reward their hosts.
On many occasions I have scorned the laughable priorities of female tennis players, who increasingly believe their main concern is posing as some kind of catwalk diva rather than bothering with the actual business of using a racket. So it is only fair that mention be made of women in sport who take their trade very seriously indeed.
England's women rugby team face New Zealand in the World Cup final at Twickenham Stoop tomorrow.
Having watched a couple of games recently (a lack of midweek football can do that to a man) I assure you the contests are fast, clean and very physical indeed.
In fact I wouldn't dare condescend to scorn it, mainly because they would probably beat the Pietersen out of me, which is exactly how it should be.
Pakistan are also due to return for the next two summers, although they might not be able to count on that invitation now.
That doesn't mean the News of the World allegations are automatically right. What they have looks comprehensive and sophisticated, but they will still need a watertight case to make this stick. Video evidence of implausibly wayward no-balls during play will not be enough.
But, regardless of guilt or innocence at this stage, the Pakistani officials should know when to shut up, rather than inflame the situation further by ludicrously playing the 'victim' card.
For all the posturing and the appearance of stern action by the ICC, you suspect this sort of incident would have never been mentioned but for the fact it was splattered all over a national newspaper.
The ICC have been feeble and weak in the past when faced with fraud. They have all the clout of a Parish council and it is usually possible to make coal in the time it takes them to deliver a conclusion to any enquiry.
For all the mentions of their Anti- Corruption and Security Unit, nobody can recall them actually delivering anything tangible. They claimed to have been 'keeping an eye' on the Pakistan team for several months, although many would surmise this is the sort of incident that would have been quietly killed over lunch in an oak-panelled room had it not burst into the public domain.
Equally, you can bet (although it might be best not to) that this is just the ugly tip of a substantial turdberg of corruption, with countless incidents of spot-fixing and even the rigging of entire games going undetected over a number of years right across the world.
A few have been caught in the past. But how many have not? We'll never find out, not if officials insist on playing politics.
The upshot is that every time a ball is dropped, or a foot steps over a line, we'll all shake our heads and wonder.
I'm going to reserve judgment on Manchester United's new signing, Bebe. I've decided to take the extraordinary step of waiting to judge whether he is worth £7million until I see him kick a ball. I consider this to be a requisite part of the process.
The fairy-tale of a 20-year-old Portuguese discovered in a homeless team during a street football competition is a compelling one. It's been fascinating and bizarre to read how his value suddenly rocketed.
I can even see how it is an extraordinary gamble by Sir Alex Ferguson, who made the uncharacteristic admission that he had never seen the player before he signed him, not even on DVD.
Yet it is too soon just to assume he will be a flop. The kid might have the raw talent and just need time to adjust. He may turn out to be the most inspired gamble of this or any season.
The truth is, we don't know yet, because . . . We. Haven't. Seen. Him. Play. For. United
PL's global gold rush
It's time for the Premier League to get the atlas out again. They might as well, because everyone else is.
The NBA are staging two regular-season basketball games between the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors at London's O2 on March 4 and 5 next year.
This follows on from the NFL's seasonal sell-out at Wembley, where the San Francisco 49ers will face the Denver Broncos at the end of October.
Sports are tripping over one another in the airport in the rush to go global and, with gates down and season ticket sales in a slump, the Premier League might suddenly find excursions into new markets more attractive.
Richard Scudamore's original plan to play fixtures abroad collapsed because he wanted to add a 39th game to the schedule, which unbalanced the symmetry of the league.
But there is one thing clubs always want to balance - and that's the books.
The excellent BBC tribute to the late Alex Higgins on Wednesday night stayed on just the right side of affectionate.
It delved into the snooker star's faults, his drunkenness, erratic temperament and fights. It skipped over his drug use somewhat while highlighting his obsessive gambling.
Throughout, it managed to retain a kindness and warmth while capturing his genius with superb archive material, stuck together rather beautifully by director and producer Jason Bernard.
It was also remarkable for the gracious contributions from fellow professionals, some of whom had more than enough reason to bear a grudge against the volatile snooker star.
As the credits rolled, I was glad to have had a reminder of Higgins in his prime. But also struck by what a boon it would be to have the likes of Dennis Taylor, Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Barry Hearn in your corner.
This page went to press before last night's international games, but having witnessed the ridiculous vilification of the England manager that has taken place over the last few weeks I know what will happen. Whatever the result against Bulgaria, Fabio Capello won't win. (You can check for England reactions from Des on Twitter.)
Labels: Cricket, Cricket Economy
posted @ 1:34 PM,
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Need for reforms in the cricket administration
Thursday, August 19, 2010
By Rizwan Ali
ISLAMABAD — Age, merit and credentials seem to matter little when it comes to determining who will run cricket in Pakistan.
It's the prerogative of the president of Pakistan to appoint anyone he decides is qualified to run the Pakistan Cricket Board. A relationship with the president, then, is a key criteria.
It was no surprise after Asif Ali Zardari took over as president in 2008 that within a month he replaced Nasim Ashraf as head of the PCB with the man of his choice — 70-year-old Ijaz Butt.
Butt, who played eight Tests for Pakistan, also happens to be the brother-in-law of the country's defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar from the ruling Pakistan People Party.
That kind of appointment certainly wasn't unprecedented. The three previous heads of the PCB — Ashraf, Sheheryar Khan and Tauqir Zia — were also hand-picked by the then president General Pervez Musharraf.
The previous three chairmen had promised to implement a new constitution and streamline the cricket board's affairs, but all were replaced before it could be achieved.
Butt has been no different. In almost two years since his appointment, the drafting of the constitution has continued, but a completion date remains unclear.
With no clear set of rules at the highest administrative level, it's little wonder that the Pakistan cricket team is inconsistent in international competition. The talent is undoubtedly there.
"On paper, Pakistan still has a team full of talent, yet because it has been handled and managed so badly, it has been completely unsettled," explains Osman Samiuddin, Pakistan editor for the popular global cricket website cricinfo.com.
It was back in the 1960s when the president's direct appointment of the country's cricket board was first introduced.
"Cricket needed money and patronage from the state to run itself," Samiuddin said. "That need is no longer there as the sport makes enough money comfortably to run, yet the system remains in place in Pakistan."
During Butt's tenure, Pakistan has lost 19 limited-overs internationals and won 12. In the test arena, Pakistan briefly celebrated its first test win against Australia in 15 years last month in England — at its home-away-from-home for that series — while it also beat New Zealand in a Test last year.
But during that time, there have been nine Test defeats and four drawn Tests — including a 3-0 series whitewash in Australia that resulted in senior players being banned from the national team.
Parliamentary committees of both lower and upper houses have frequently summoned the top PCB officials for explanations about the inconsistencies and also requested Butt to step down, but it looks as though the PCB head has enough backing from the president — at least for the time being.
Iqbal Mohammad Ali, chairman of the lower house's standing committee on sports, last month wrote a letter to the president condemning several of Butt's decisions. Ali's main suggestion for change was that an age limit of 65 be introduced for the head of any sports federation.
Something needs to be done to restore Pakistan's cricket credibility.
Evidence of the abundant natural talent has come in the shortest form of the game: Pakistan won the World Twenty20 in England last year. But T20, while increasingly popular with the masses and the sponsors, is still yet to take hold among cricket purists.
Under Butt's lead, the Pakistan captaincy has been a problem issue in all three forms of the game.
He has handed the captaincy to Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and now Salman Butt, but the team — it seems — is still looking for the right man to match the hopes of 170 million people of Pakistan.
In patches, Pakistani players are a threat to any international team, but as a team it is far from matching the likes of Australia, India, Sri Lanka or South Africa.
"There is no stability whatsoever," says Samiuddin. "They (PCB) have not supported any captain they have themselves appointed, thus overseeing a remarkable four changes in leadership in just over a year."
Off the field controversies are so badly managed by the PCB that after its own appointed inquiry committee first fined and banned seven cricketers after the winless tour of Australia, an arbitrator slashed the fines and lifted bans.
The ambush on the Sri Lanka cricket team's bus at Lahore, in which six police and a van driver were killed and several Sri Lankan players and officials were injured in March last year, was a major setback for Pakistan.
Pakistan was subsequently stripped of its status as co-host for the 2011 World Cup — which is now being staged in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Foreign teams have made Pakistan a no-go zone, although the ICC is planning on sending an invitational World XI to get tours started again.
Despite all the scrutiny from abroad and the ramifications on Pakistan as a sports host, a review of the attack on Sri Lanka's team bus at Lahore was finally sent to the sport's world governing body this month. That came after several prompts from the ICC.
"In the broader sense, the whole situation of the ongoing militancy in the country is out of PCB's hands," Samiuddin said. "But by not being able to do the basic requisite, such as provide a report into the attack pointing out who went wrong where, they have ensured that no international board has any confidence in their ability to run cricket.
"Consequently, when and if the security situation in Pakistan improves, this board will struggle to convince others to tour simply because it has killed its own credibility."
Vocal former Test cricketers constantly appear on talk shows and criticize Butt whenever the team does badly in international matches, but it seems very few have the answer to this key question: Who is the right man to head the PCB?
Cricket analyst Zakir Hussain Syed thinks the great Imran Khan is the right man, but since Khan is more inclined toward establishing himself in Pakistan's politics, it seems outside of his current interest.
Syed suggests Ehsan Mani or Dr. Zafar Altaf, a former chief selector, as possible candidates.
Mani, a former ICC president, has recently shown interest, but he also wanted to bring in his own administration.
However, Syed says that whoever replaces Butt should be given a fixed timeframe to streamline the PCB affairs, including the constitution and forming a general council in which representatives of cricket associations from all over the country should be allowed to elect the PCB chairman.
Recently, Imran Khan suggested in a television interview that a panel of cricketing experts — in which he was willing to sit — should interview interested candidates for the post of PCB chairman.
"One should know the vision of the candidate beforehand, how would he take forward Pakistan cricket," Khan said.
The former Pakistan captain suggested his cousin, former test captain Majid Khan.
Pakistan trails 2-0 in a four-test series against England, undoubtedly a result of the constant chopping and changing. Every negative result adds pressure on Butt to reform the structure of the PCB.
With another tough, three-Test series against South Africa planned in October in the United Arab Emirates, it is unlikely that the team will be settled under new captain Salman Butt.
Samiuddin has not lost hope, despite the outward appearance that Pakistan seems to be struggling like West Indies and Bangladesh in the five-day format or in turmoil like Zimbabwe.
"Superficially the results may look the same, but the reality is different," he said. "In West Indies, youngsters are moving toward other, more lucrative sports, like basketball, and interest in cricket itself is declining.
"In Zimbabwe, the political compulsions were of a unique nature and that required a different restructuring altogether. In Pakistan, cricket's popularity remains mostly unaffected — it is still the sport most kids want to play."
So Samiuddin remains confident of improvement.
"The team, if selected on merit, can actually be representative of a pretty robust system still capable of producing talent capable of succeeding on the world stage."
posted @ 10:48 AM,
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End of an era?
Monday, August 16, 2010
Test cricket is universally acknowledged as the pinnacle of the game, a real test of a team’s ability; however, Pakistan has been guilty of not according enough respect to Test cricket over the past two decades or so. A look at Pakistan’s performances suggests that the victory graph has slowly but surely come down over the years as Pakistan has lost its last Test series against all major opposition.
Pakistan’s Test cricket over the past quarter of a century can easily be classified into three distinct phases; the first one from late 1985 when Zaheer Abbas was deposed as captain of the team to early 1993 when Javed Miandad suffered the same fate. The second phase from mid 1993 when Wasim Akram took over the reins to the beginning of 2003 culminating in the ouster of Waqar Younis from the hot seat. The third and the last one can be classified from mid 2003 to date.
The ‘golden era’ saw Pakistan winning Test series against almost all the big teams i.e. the West Indies, England, Australia and India and losing only one.
Pakistan’s success remained an impressive 54 per cent during the second phase but that number would have been on the wrong side of 50 had Pakistan not played against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe – teams that had not got Test status during the first phase in question. The team lost a Test series to England at home for the first time in 39 years; it could manage only two victories against Australia as opposed to nine losses in 15 Test matches. Pakistan lost a Test series against Sri Lanka for the first time ever and also became the first team to have lost a Test match and a Test series to Zimbabwe.
The last phase has seen Pakistan’s success slip further down to 46 per cent and that includes three straight wins against Bangladesh. Pakistan has lost more matches than it has won against majority of the big teams like England, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka and has been unable to even draw a Test match against Australia – let alone winning it – till last month’s Headingly Test. The team lost a home series against India for the first time in history and established a new world record of 13 successive losses against a single team i.e. Australia.
Leadership during the first phase was completely dominated by two individuals namely Javed Miandad and Imran Khan with the latter being the regular captain and Miandad taking over whenever required. Imran Khan’s captaincy never came under threat despite him losing a number of important one-day international (ODI) contests such as the World Series Cup in Australia in 1988-89 and 1989-90 plus the 1987 World Cup. Pakistan’s tied Test series against the West Indies in West Indies in 1987-88 was celebrated in the country even though the team was thrashed 5-0 during the ODIs. Similarly, Pakistan’s 1-0 victory during the 1987 English summer was also cherished despite the team coming second best in the ODI series.
The next phase saw captaincy change hands among seven players including Wasim Akram, Saleem Malik, Rameez Raja, Rashid Latif, Aamer Sohail, Saeed Anwar and Moin Khan. The captaincy during the last phase has rotated between Rashid Latif, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt.
It is an accepted fact that a captain can only extract the best out of his team by leading from the front. Hence, it is easy to determine one of the main reasons for Pakistan’s wonderful show during the first phase in question. Imran Khan and Javed Miandad were easily the team’s best players and led the bowling and batting departments of the team with distinction.
Interesting statistics that signify the number of new caps awarded to youngsters by the selectors. Only 19 players were able to make their Test debuts during the Imran-Miandad tenure; this number rose to an astonishing 51 during the next phase. For a team to become a fighting unit over a sustained period of time, it is necessary that the players are provided enough chances to play together and develop a certain amount of rapport among themselves. This also helps them in getting tuned to the finer aspects of the game such as running between the wickets as they can only improve their communication by spending time together in the middle. It is quite clear from the above numbers that the team was not allowed to settle down during this middle phase and hence results deteriorated. The trend appears to have continued in the current phase as well as 28 Test caps have so far been distributed among youngsters. Out of these 28 players, as many as 15 have been dumped without being provided the chance to play even five Tests.
Either the players are being picked without having their credentials properly judged or the selectors are impatient with these youngsters. It seems that selectors prefer flamboyance, flair and youth over grit, determination and experience. It is evident that there are serious problems with the team’s existing batting lineup; reasons for which are not difficult to determine. Proven performers at first-class level such as Aamer Sajjad and Asad Shafiq have failed to find spots in the squad; players who have shown that they are prepared to work hard at the Test level despite limitations in technique such as Fawad Alam and Khurram Manzoor have been axed. No serious effort was made to bring back world-class batsman Mohammad Yousuf, till it became clear that the English bowling attack will expose the limitations of the existing lot; but the seasoned Younis Khan continues to be ignored.
Bowling outside the current pace trio of Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer and Umar Gul looks thin; still, experienced bowlers with hundreds of wickets at the first-class level such as Abdur Rauf and Yasir Arafat are constantly being overlooked for Test matches; a ‘home’ Test series against South Africa has been scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while Pakistan’s premier bowler and most potent weapon in Test cricket, Mohammad Asif cannot travel to the desert state. Also, preference of Saeed Ajmal over Abdur Rehman and of Kamran Akmal over the likes of Sarfraz Ahmed and Zulqarnain Haider suggest that heroics in shorter format of the game influence Test team selection.
The team’s downfall in Test cricket has not been complemented by its ODI performances. Even in the T20 format, Pakistan has been extremely impressive having remained the World Champion once and ending up as runner-up on another occasion in addition to getting the better of Australia on multiple occasions indicating the team’s fascination with the shorter format of the game even at the expense of losing out on Test glory. Today, Australia is considered the world’s best team not because it has won three World Cups on the trot but for its continued domination in the longest format of the game. Via
posted @ 9:22 AM,
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Cricket and Terrorism
Friday, August 13, 2010
Terrorism of late has become such a menace that it has encroached even into the domain of a gentleman’s game like cricket.
ICC and the bodies of Indian cricket association are afraid that terrorism may upset the upcoming World Cup Cricket to be held in 2011. Terrorists are everyday devising newer methods to create fear.
The shifting of venue from Pakistan is really unfortunate and affects the morale of the teams as well as the participating nations.
We expect sports to spread brotherhood and understanding but now all this has become nothing but wistful thinking.
posted @ 12:18 PM,
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Sri Lanks Cricket
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee with D. Somachandra de Silva as President and Nishantha Ranatunga as Secretary and the new members will be celebrating their first anniversary, and can be proud of what they have achieved.
When the new Interim Committee took over the reins of administering the game, they did so with determination and with the will to do things for the game and all that it stands for.
Looking back on the 12 months that have passed they can pat themselves on a job well executed and performed.
In taking strike on unfamiliar territory, they had the blessings of the sports loving President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
This gave them the strength and the courage to step out and put the game on a fast pitch.
“Gamata Cricket” is the credo of President Rajapaksa and the IC is working hard to take the game to the villages where there is untapped potential.
It is said that those who dare win.
The IC piloted by former leg spinning all rounder and national captain D. Somachandra de Silva and another all rounder cricketer Nishantha Ranatunga dared and stepped out like all top batsmen with commitment and dedication to get on top and score for the game.
It is said that stones are thrown on trees that bear fruit. Likewise the IC attracted their fair share of critics.
But what was admirable in the IC was that they continue to ignore the critics and do a job that they had been installed for.
Very soon the 2011 World Cup will be at our door step and the IC has left no stone unturned to see that every thing will be tops when the umpires call play here. Hambantota and Pallekelle will have two stadiums to international standard. Kettarama is being refurbished.
When these stadiums are complete, they will look a picture and will have the necessary facilities to conduct any international tournament even a high profile one like the Indian Premier League.
Once the Pallekelle stadium is completed the Hill Capital can boast of having a stadium to international standard.
Kandy has over the years given great cricketers to the game and the present Captain Kumar Sangakkara and vice captain Muttiah Muralitheran hail from there.
Here are the achievements of the Interim Committee in brief-
* The number of contracted players have been increased to 75 from 25.This has spurred the younger cricketers to knock on the door for national representation.
* Ten new practice pitches have been constructed at Kettarama.
* The proposed high performance centre will greatly assist cricketers and will provide accommodation for outstation cricketers. It will consist of eight indoor practice wickets and a swimming pool.
* At an international event held at the Taj Samudra, fifty Sri Lankans who had done their bit for the development of cricket in the country were felicitated.
* For the first time in international cricket Sri Lanka was ranked number two in the Test rankings and was in line to create history if they beat India.
* Had they beaten India they would have been the best team in the Test scene.
* Thanks to the unstinted efforts of the chairman and members of the Interim Committee there will be a surfeit of cricket with inbound tours by Pakistan and New Zealand and India for a triangular. Sri Lanka toured India and played three Tests and a series of one-dayers.
* Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh for a triangular followed by the World T20 in the Caribbean and the ground breaking tour of the US where two Twenty20 games were played with New Zealand.
* The future cricketing calendar for the country looks wonderful and cricket lovers are in for good times.
* New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka will soon play a triangular. In November the country will host the West Indians for a Test series and a one day bash.
* Sri Lanka will tour Australia in October followed by the all-important World Cup in 2011.
* It is great that the ICC has asked Sri Lanka Cricket to conduct the next Twenty20 World Cup in 2012.
* This is because there are plenty of international stadiums available and the ICC is happy that the game and the administration is in safe hands and is on the right track.
* So the Interim Committee can sit back and pat themselves on a job perfectly executed. X
posted @ 10:59 AM,
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