The POMS have landed(-worma)
And they are off to the goodwill generation activities for the tour. Vaughan and some others visited the earthquake affected areas.
Meanwhile Pak have announced their 16 man squad, with no surprises to spring. The eminently readable Osman Samiuddin, in this cricinfo piece, is not very pleased.
And did you know that Alex Loudon, the young English offspinner selected for his debut tour to Pak, learnt to bowl the doosra from an Indian!
And meanwhile, the BCCI has 'promptly' announced the itinerary for the Eng series after much pushing and prodding from ECB. Must've come as a relief for the tourists. Ohh..O..hang on....I see a test match proposed for Ahmedabad. Hmm...more fireworks coming up for Diwali season I guess :-)
Meanwhile Pak have announced their 16 man squad, with no surprises to spring. The eminently readable Osman Samiuddin, in this cricinfo piece, is not very pleased.
The headline-grabbing decision will be the inclusion of five spinners; three specialist and two part-timers. Much has been made - too much perhaps? - of the part spin is likely to play in this series; Mushtaq Ahmed's recall two years after his last, depressingly flat appearance, has been and will continue to be the focal point of the argument.and also
But another less immediately apparent, and eminently more bizarre decision, also merits remark only because it poses a greater and longer-term concern. Not very often are 16-man squads chosen with only one man who can be deemed a specialist opener. And over six Tests, Salman Butt has only twice hinted at being special.Nine combinations and six players in ten tests!!...and we complain about our selectors not being consistent enough ;-)
Gradually, over the course of ten Tests, nine different opening combinations and six different players, panic has attached itself to the openers' dilemma. Partnerships that could have been developed - and even the most failed surely deserve more than two Tests together - have been shunted out. The solution, on the evidence of this squad, suggests that openers, as an entity, have ceased to exist in Pakistan; that Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Yasir Hameed are not in fact, as we have come to regard them, openers.
And did you know that Alex Loudon, the young English offspinner selected for his debut tour to Pak, learnt to bowl the doosra from an Indian!
"I had a friend at school called Gurikk Maan who showed me how to bowl the ball," he said. "His father was a famous Punjabi pop star, apparently on the same level as Robbie Williams in England.I presume the singer in question here is Gurdas Maan? Anyone?
And meanwhile, the BCCI has 'promptly' announced the itinerary for the Eng series after much pushing and prodding from ECB. Must've come as a relief for the tourists. Ohh..O..hang on....I see a test match proposed for Ahmedabad. Hmm...more fireworks coming up for Diwali season I guess :-)
posted by worma at
1:55 PM
13 Comments:
saum...our test selection policy is much more consistent now...giving enough chances to most of the newcomers....I mean when you compare how long Das, Chopra etc got with what Taufeeq, Yasir, Farhat etc got...it really shows thing in perspective. And. according to me, some of these Pak openers that I saw, looked much more talented than Das, Chopra etc.
ar: Kolkata and knowledgable crowd? Don't you remember the recent history of that venue? I would say some of the smaller venues like Mohali are much better in all aspects.
Btw....we have 10 test centers...and matches alloted on rotational basis. I think most countries do something similar?
By
worma, at 15:33
I think the 'incident' is the SEMI Fianl incident against SL in the WC ..
By
Amit, at 16:16
bouncer...and ar and others...I am talking about the crowd trouble that we have recently witnessed in Kolkatta...the Pak test in 99, the WC semifinal in 96 were the biggest examples.
And I talk about the reputation of a venue objectively (as does ICC, when it rates venues, and decides which ones to ban etc). I have no knowledge, and no intention, of talking about the people of Kolkatta or any other region of India. Not in this forum atleast :-)
By
worma, at 16:20
and btw....I think having test matches in more 'mature' venues is already taken care of, in a way, sort of.
Consider this...we have more than 20 ODIs venues...but only 10 test centres. Why? I guess it has something to do with facilities etc? Which, in turn, has something to do with the growth, development (in a social and commercial sense) and cricketing interests(in how much importance is attached to the local cricket structure...the stadium facilities etc).
By
worma, at 16:25
ok..that was misleading....I *do* have knowledge of people of some region of India ;-)...but ok..no intention of discussing it here
By
worma, at 16:32
Problem with almost all the openers we have tried since the end of the Saeed Anwer-Aamer Sohail era is that they have got too much talent, far too impulsive our young lot - we need some one with a relaxed temperament, who isn't easily excitable, but I'm afraid I don't think Shoaib Malik and Butt fit that bill, but they're both extremely good players, crisp hitters of a cricket ball, and I badly hope for our sake, that they prove all my skepticism wrong. I do believe their judgment can improve with experience, I'm just not all that sure of how they'll do in the immediate future, in this series for instance. Malik hit an outstanding 170 odd in one of the warm up games against a very strong attack that included Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Arshad Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Mansoor Amjad (who is a talented up and coming leggie) in the build up to this series, and he opened there too, so I am hopeful he'll continue that form.
Apart from that I'm still in 2 minds about Mushy's recall, its the kind of thing that will either work very well or fail very badly. I'm not sure what will happen. But I am nevertheless very dissapointed that Umar Gul has missed out, Imran Khan the other day actually called him 'Pakistan's best hope' and he can't even get into a 16 man squad! Arshad Khan is waste of space there, he should have been replaced by Gul, Osman Samiuddin would have wanted another opener, but apart from Bazid Khan (with whom I'm ready to sympathise) I wouldn't consider any of the others, but they have picked Hasan Raza in the squad, so all is not lost. I'm a big fan of that, he's got just the kind of temperament most of our other younger lot don't (patience, and the ability to wait for a bad ball, not get excited), he's essentially middle order player, but our selectors have converted almost everyone to an opener in the past, so we could ask him too.
Over all, I don't get the kind of feeling I would liked to have got when I see this squad. Something just doesn't seem right. But I'll keep my fingers crossed.
PS: I'm wary of doosra, Loudon's or anyones, very few (if any) people can bowl it legally. And bowlers get obsessed with it, to an extent that they over bowl it, and it loses the element of being a surprise ball. Especially those who have just learned to ball one.
By
Unknown, at 18:37
The piece strikes me as very funny, solely for this line - We had to decide on the venues for the series quickly as the ECB wanted to finalise their travel schedules.
The emphasis on the word "had" is my own, but it looks like the BCCI was trying to do the ECB a favor by deciding the schedule ahead of time. But is anybody looking at the ICC's calendar for the next year (available here)? It looks like every other country has iternaries figured out well in advance. In fact the last date on the calender with play scheduled is 10th September '06, when Pakistan meets England in Egbaston for the 5th ODI of their series. And even India's away tours have been finalized. On July 4th next year, India's WI tour is ending with the last day of the 4th Test at Kingston. But hey, the WI Board is the one responsible for that!
By
anantha, at 18:45
zainub: Good analysis there, mate about the openers tried in recent times. Exactly what I thought...too impulsive...too many shots...trying to do too much on their own. So the exact nature of the problem....not enough guidance I would say. Which is surprising given the kind of guidance Woolmer is able to provide to the ODI setup! Which is why, comparing them with the Indian openers of recent times, I only did it on the talent basis. I think the Pak openers that I have seen in recent times are all more talented than some of our past Indian ones, which were persisted with....tried to develope them,..define the role for them etc.
And btw, Yasir Hameed to me looked like the one with good head to go with lots of talent. I felt he could have been developed into a mature opener. After all playing shots is not bad for an opener...as long as the attitude is correct and the role well defined.
Ofcourse Malik seems like a short term solution to me as well...although he is, IMO, a good enough batsman to play as a test batsman. I would actually like them to play Malik as the batsman/alllrounder/second spinner. And play a regular batsman in place of Afridi(unless he can play more responsibly) and a regular bowler in place of Razzaq(unless he can get the old bowling form back...which I think is gone).
About Mushy, as I've often said in this forum, I dont think he's gonna play in the XI. I think thats just a ploy....esp because there's surely going to be Afrdid and Malik. And they are both almost regular spinners. The other reason being that if Shoaib plays, then a 3rd seamer is all the more needed....otherwise you have a spinner bowling the 11th over of the day! (since Shoaib is used in small spells). Even about the effectivity of Mushy...I'm not so sure how much motivated he is.
But coming back to the openers...dont you think you should, once the talent is visible as in Hamid or Farhat or Umar, try develop them with right guidance rather than looking at the next bet in Bazid or Raza or another one?
About the 'doosra'...ahh well...the effectivity of Doosra lies in how well you bowl the 'pehla' :-)..not sure Loudon is anywhere there.
Btw...I think Saqlain, besides inventing the doosra, bowled the best and cleanest version of it...and even the amount of 'leg-spin' was the maximum I've seen in any doosra
By
worma, at 19:22
zainub...btw...is Raza also an opener?
..also agree with imran's rating of Gul...I think he's the best of the current lot (behind a fully fit Shoaib ofcourse).
By
worma, at 19:36
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Unknown, at 22:38
Raza as I said before is not an opener, he might have opened in first class cricket before once or twice (can't be sure) but essentially he's a middle order player.
He has though said before that he'll accommodate wherever in the batting order the team needs him to - and as I said too his game is probably suited to opening, in fact it is such, it's probably suited to all positions in batting order from 1-5.
I'd didn't mean to suggest we should have Raza in as an opener right away, but merely that it could be one of the options we could consider in the long term. For the moment though I’m willing to test out Butt and Malik, it is not ideal, yes, but it’s the next logical step given how things have gone in the lead up to this series.
Now that we’ve made the decision though, I’d like to see them showing some faith and stick with this pair for this entire series if not more, and then we can see where to go from.
I don’t understand what good we have achieved with the constant chop and changing after each test, it has not helped any of the players we’ve tried, not even one, and I can’t see how that can change. So that madness should definitely stop.
Also, I don't think Shehrayar must have actually said those very words, as you see too Dawn haven't put inverted commas on those remarks which is always a good hint, perhaps he meant something else, but his views were given a forward spin by the reporter. He's a reasonable man usually. However if he has said that, then that’s the daftest things he’s ever said.
How do I rate our chances? Mixed. Like Imran I believe that if all our players perform to the best of their potentials (Shoaib fires, Sami comes to the party, everyone else is not suffering from any kind of hangovers), then we’ll have a very decent chance.
If however, we keep on going on the same track that we have in the last year (Shoaib in indifferent mood, batting only waking up after losing the first test) then I think we’ll scramble a 1-1 draw, after losing the first test pretty badly or may be lose 1-0, or possibly if we go AWOL, like we did in Australia, then 2-0 or 3-0.
I have actually have been having this very weird feeling that it could all come down to Inzi, when he plays well we don’t lose that many, so I’m really pinning my hopes on him. But it’s not easy to predict things you know, in Pakistan cricket the only thing that’s predictable is unpredictability.
And did some one mentioned Yasir Hameed? I briefly had a few hopes for him too, but time has now led me to the conclusion that he, and Imran Farhat, both had an identical problem; none of them are never really set – just as likely to get out when they on 0, as when they’re on 100.
Watching him bat during some of his innings, a couple in Sydney in Australia last year, and another one at the Basin Reserve the year before that against NZ, was definitely one of the more mentally testing experiences I’ve had watching cricket. He’s so frustrating to watch I tell you, so frustrating.
One moment he seems totally in his zone, hitting one of his favorite cover drives, that he plays with a massive flourish of the blade, and follows it with an extended, extravagant follow-through, by which time the ball would have raced, quite literally in between two fielders, but then immediately after that, just when you thought he had got a feel for things, he plays the most irresponsible, most horrendous looking shot you will have heard of, of a totally needless delivery he should have given a Helium bat to.
I don’t know what went on in his mind, but I would like to. And get it sorted out, because he had some great shots in his repertoire, and he could have been an asset to the team.
By
Unknown, at 23:44
ps: of course Saqi bowled the best 'doosra', he invented it after all! :)
By
Unknown, at 23:49
zainub, great analysis.
I think Pakistan's biggest weakness in their opening pair (or lack of it).
It will be interesting to see England's strategy on this tour. Last time (under Hussain), they were very defensive and the strategy was to draw the first two Tests. They reasoned (and correctly) that the 'public' pressure would be on Pakistan in the third test and they would panic, which is exactly what hapened.
However, this time around, they recon they can win, so will be more attacking. It will be fun to watch...
Also, I think the Kaneria's bowling will be the key. If the English think they ave 'conquered' legspin by losing a mere 40 wickets to Shane Warne this summer, they are in for a surpise.
Kaneria is one of the best in the business...
By
Saurabh Wahi, at 04:51
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