Pakistan v West Indies - Brisbane

[Maranello]

I agree when you that with the current attack we will struggle to defend perfectly good scores like 270. Hence, including Kaneria as an attacking option seems to be a good idea to me. Sure, he might go for some runs, but he will also pick up some wickets. More than that, it gives the bowling some cutting edge. At the moment, the opposition knows its "lollypop" medium pace once Akhtar is out of the way, and that puts too much pressure on one guy to deliver straight away. Kaneria and Hafeez bowling in tandem could be quite a handful. Imran Khan went against all established trend and was the first to play Abdul Qadir, a leggie, in ODIs. It generally worked and Australia have followed suit with Warne. If Kaneria is accurate and bowls with control, I see no reason why he cannot be included too, at the expense of one of our mediocre pacers.

On another note, Hafeez is a better bowler than Malik, so he should be given an extended run. Malik's continuing unavailability is annoying though, his action should have been cleared by now!

[Shaka]

I have already put my feelings on Malik's suspension from bowling on record. Coming to Australia I always thought our best chances of success were in the VB Series but Shoaib Malik as an allrounder was a crucial part of the equation. I don't know whether he should have been cleared or not, that's not my decision to make, but it's hardly as if he is bending his arm like Muralitharan. I can't for the life of me see anything wrong with his action but someone has obviously scrutinised it with a telescope!

Shame really because it takes away a lot of enjoyment and tilts the balance heavily away from Pakistan. I hear now that he might be cleared in Feb...by which time the VB series will be over...so that's handy!

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Guys, was sami sent back because of an injury? i cant remember.
Anyway, if you bring back kaneria now, the match is on Wednesday and he would surely be jet-lagged etc. and i don't think there would be any point of him for the Windies match..... but he could then play in the later games. Anyway i still feel that kaneria isnt an ODI bowler

[Shaka]

RD, Sami was sent back due to a heel injury but it's more or less recovered now. Kaneria might not be a ODI bowler, but he's of a lot better quality than some of those that are playing instead. With so many medium pace trundlers in the team, he would provide some cutting edge at least.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Great news guys. Just read that chris Gayle should be playing

[Zainub]

Same team for me as well, but different batting order, Inzi needs to bat at 4, Malik at 3, if we wanna give Kamran Akmal another go at the top then Hafeez must bat at 9, in correct batting order my team would be

1)Akmal/Hafeez 2)Butt 3)Malik 4)Inzi 5)Youhanna 6)Razzaq 7)Afridi 8)Mahmood 9)Hafeez/Akmal 10)Akhtar 11)Naved-ul-Hasan

[Maranello]

There is no point in Hafeez coming in at no.9, that negates the whole point of him being a batsman! He is not a tail-end slogger or a pinch hitter, rather is a more sedate batsmen, who opens in first-class cricket. Send him in between Inzamam and Youhana, to add some backbone to the middle order. If anyone has a bettre suggestion on where to play him, I am happy to listen, but please, no.9 just won't do it :-)

I would still send Akmal as opener, give the guy some time in the middle, and also see how the whole pinch hitter thing works out. Hence my batting order:

1. Salman Butt
2. Kamran Akmal
3. Malik
4. Inzamam
5. Hafeez
6. Youhanna
7. Razzy
8. Afridi
9. Mahmood
10. Akhtar
11. Khalil

[Zainub]

I thought about Hafeez at 5 too, but some how I thought Inzi and Youhanna being our 2 best players must bat in top five at least, you are right though, opener at nine doesn't sound right, you've made me chaneg my mind so I'll take the order you're suggesting.

[Maranello]

Youhana at 6 is not a problem, he is a finisher-type batsman, good at keeping the score moving along without taking risks, good at finding gaps with wristy touch shots, but not a slogger. Hence below 6 is too low for him, his ideal positions are 5 or 6, similar to Lehmann and Bevan for Australia, I don't think it makes a difference which is used; Woolmer knows that one-day batting line-ups need to be flexible, open to changes at the last second as the match situation changes!

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

what if hafeez was at no.3 and malik went in at 6, with youhana at 5?