We've agreeded to disagree I think.

Initially I was going for Sami, Shoaib, Ahmed, Kaneria as front line bowling attack + Malik as the all rounder in my side. But then some people convinced me Sami was lacking form and Razzaq should play as his record as a test bowler is better than Sami's and he can also bat. So, that become Shoaib, Razzaq, Ahmed, Kaneria as the front line bowlers + Malik as the all rounder. Now with Ahmed injuired Sami takes his place and the attack becomes Shoaib, Razzaq, Sami, Kaneria as the front line bowlers + Malik as the all rounder. So you see, I'm not playing 2 all rounders, I'm actually playing Razzaq as the front line bowler, he's be going to be bowling first change with a relatively new ball, and expected to take wickets. Any runs he scores will be a bounus.

Secondly, before we start arguing again, I appreacite your efforts to go back to that last time and remind me of what happened when Azhar Mahmood was picked. But for the moment let's define an all rounder, in my books a test all rounder is a person capable of getting in his side just as a batsmen or a bowler. My personal beleife is that Razzaq (because now Ahmed is injuired and also because Sami is not in the best of forms) will get into the Pakistan side purely for his bowling (especially after how he bowled against Sri Lanka in both tests (in first test too many catches went down off his bowling, and hence his figures don't tell how well he bowled). I also beleive that Malik's batting+fielding (owing right now to Asim Kamal's poor form in the 1st test vs Sri Lanka and in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as well) is good enough to get him a place in the side just as a batsman.

Thirdly, please reconsider calling Malik and Razzaq bit and pieces players (both have won (test) matches for us with their bowling as well as their batting (seprately on different occasions). They can't be bits and pieces players, if they are bits and pieces players than what will you call Rickie Clarke...a bits and bits player? That's not the argument, I'm just asking you to consider the fact that people who have 5 fors and 100s in tests like Razzaq and 4 fors and 50s (in comparitively much fewer tests) like Malik and who are individually potentially match winning players cannot be bits and pieces players.

Fourthly, what's all the fuss about the wicket? Really, its not going to be anything but a piece of soil. The WACCA has always been famous for producing wickets with pace and bounce, but that doesn't mean its not good for batting. Australia if you check out have notched up some really big scores on that ground (Mathew Hayden scored his 380 vs Zimbabwe on that ground)and Mathey Hayden plays all the shots in the world. I'm compelled to beleive that we're much better off playing a batsman like Malik on a surface like Perth and generally all over Australia who is much more willing to play his shots than Kamal. Australian wickets are very true to good shots and are consistent in bounce and pace, and those are if anything conditions most postive stroke makers like Malik rather than accumalators like Kamal would relinquish batting in. I also think Malik has a batter all round defense than Kamal. He is the better all round cricketer than him. And has a better chance of doing the job required by Pakistan than Kamal. And he is also better rated by the coach, and is hence theoritically, and realistically speaking more likely of the two being in our XI.

Finally, Malik did go quite for a while in England, but it wasn't because he is flat track bully or because he's not a good player of the moving ball, but because it was cold, and he admitted that later that he found it difficult batting in such weather. He did score runs for us in Holland ant those were conditions different from the sub-continent. If you remember, when we went to Sri Lanka last year to play a one-day tournament in Dambulla ( a seaming wicket on a hill station, conducive to fast bowling, showing overwhelming movement both off the pitch and in the air , and generally conditions very unlike traditional Sri Lankan wickets)...they were generally poor batting surfaces and even the home side Sri Lanka, and the other team New Zealand struggled on it....in those conditions who was the best bastmen of the series?...Shoaib Malik. Not Youhanna, not Hameed, not any one else but Shoaib Malik.

I have a lot of faith in his ability as a batsman, and I think he will score runs in Australia to prove that he can score away from home, and also that he is good enough to be considered on a regular basis for the Pakistan Test side and that he is not a one-day specialist.