Pakistan vs West Indies: Pre Series Build Up Thread

[King Aragorn]

It was a pleasure to see Faisalabad win. They didn't really have any cricketing 'stars' in their line-up, but still managed to reach the finals and trump a strong Karachi side.

PCB officials seem quite eager to host an international Twenty-20 match now, according to this Cricinfo report.

[Zainub]

I'm looking forward to that KA, and I hope the ivent is staged at Karachi. Good to see support for various sides at our forum, I'm Karachi through and through glory or otherwise. Being born and bred in this city, I'm totally addicted to it, and can't possibly support anyone else.

[Shaka]

Well my mum is from Toba Tek Singh which is District Faisalabad so my credentials are bona fide too! A fine victory which like the national team was won by non-star line up!

[Zainub]

Danish Kaneria talks about the West Indies tour, and tells Dawn how he is looking forward to bowling to Brian Lara for the first time in his career : http://dawn.com/2005/05/08/spt2.htm

Inzamam-ul-Haq talks to The News about his sides prospects in the West Indies predicting that his spin attack would play an important role : http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/index.html

Shoaib Akhtar meanwhile has found a new sympathiser in former captain Wasim Akram who has criticised the selectors for dropping him on alleged attitude and fitness problems : http://pak.cricinfo.com/pakistan/con...ry/208838.html

[King Aragorn]

Originally Posted by Wasim Akram

"The wickets in the West Indies are slow and you require to dig the ball in and pace always comes handy there. The bowlers they have picked for the tour are all honest hard working bowlers but they don't have the pace to trouble the batsmen on the West Indies pitches where the best way of taking wickets is to reverse swing the ball and dig it in."

Wasim Akram himself says that "pace always comes handy" on West Indian pitches. Certainly, speed is a very potent weapon, if combined with good line and length. But that's it. It can come in handy but if someone cannot bowl as fast as Akhtar or Sami, it surely doesn't mean that they cannot take wickets. It's just one of the many weapons a bowler can bank on. Hence, Akhtar's absence is surely not the end of the world.

The WI pitches will be fast and bouncy and Shabbir Ahmed will surely enjoy the bounce, being a tall and lanky guy. I can't see why he can't pose the WI batsmen any problems, provided that he bowls with good line and length.

We've also got Shahid Nazir who can swing the ball both ways and is a very promising bowler. He made his debut in 1996, I believe and did quite well. The reason why he couldn't cement his place in the side was because we had the two Ws in our side. Now it's time for him to grab this golden opportunity.

Iftikhar Anjum has also shone in ODIs and hopefully he can do just as well, if not better, in tests as well.

Our attack is not that strong with Akhtar sitting out, but if the bowlers stick to their basics, I cannot see why we cannot take 20 wickets in good time. As Inzi just recently said, if all 11 players give their best out there, the absence of one player won't surely be felt.

[Zainub]

I refrained to comment because I thought my response would have been obvious to at least those who visit this place often enough (or may be because I was too lazy), as it turns out I'm in agreement with KA, there is no reason what so ever, given we work hard, that we cannot pose the West Indian batting line up some problems. And its not like we don't have any bowlers who can bowl with real pace. I have personally seen both Shabbir Ahmed and even Rana Naved (yes, I'm not joking) bowling as fast as 86-88 mph. What our fast bowling attack lacks is not pace, but big-name reputation, and that, fortunately is not a pre-requisite for success at any level or in any facet of life. Hard work and devotion are - which as Wasim him self point out we have plenty of. All said and done, all this empathy for Shoaib from Wasim dose seem a little ironic now given in the past he himself has been one of the most vocal critics of the man

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

there is no reason what so ever, given we work hard, that we cannot pose the West Indian batting line up some problems

Absolutely. Kaneria alone gives Pakistan an edge over the WI (who haven't got a spinner to match Afridi let alone your specialist).. and whilst the lesser known Pakistan seamers are inexperienced and to some extent unproven.. they are all, without question, more promising than their WI equivalents: if the WI groundsmen produce wickets n which their own second rate bowlers can achieve anything then the Pakistan attack is going to have a great time (especially as half the WI batting line up have the footwork of a darts champion and the batting technique of a baseball player).

Should be a walkover... but the capacity of either side to screw things up or produce something from nowhere should never be underestimated.

[Zainub]

Quite an accurate summary that Rachael... oh how I admire your obvious and invaluable knack of mixing the expected and unpredictable, the rational and the logical... all in one pleasurable read! Brilliant!

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by King Aragorn

The WI pitches will be fast and bouncy and Shabbir Ahmed will surely enjoy the bounce, being a tall and lanky guy. I can't see why he can't pose the WI batsmen any problems, provided that he bowls with good line and length.

Are you sure about that? West Indies pitches have been pretty dry and haven't seemed all that bouncy to me in recent years. I know Sabina Park held some terrors in the heyday of Marshall, Walsh and co., but I've seen a few low-ish wickets since then. In any case, I don't think the current Windies bowlers are likely to exploit a fast track any more than Pakistan's attack. Assuming Sami is fit for the tests, a pace trio of him, Shabbir and Rao are likely to do as much, if not more damage given favourable conditions. And as Rachael has pointed out, a bouncy track will also have Kaneria licking his lips, I can't see West Indies relishing that prospect after he's done well against the two best batting line ups in the world recently.

[Zainub]

The first test is going to be at the Kensington Oval, and if I'm remembering correctly it will also be the last test to be player here before the ground is demolished as part of a massive redevelopment ahead of the 2007 World Cup. Anyway, to give people an idea of what wickets have been like in Bridgetown and Kingston off late, here's a attemp to provide a summary:

Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados - filter last 5 matches, for full filter results click:
http://statserver.cricket.org/guru?sdb=ground;groundid=199;class=testground;filt er=basic;team1=0;team2=0;notteam=0;decade=0;homeaw ay=0;month=0;season=0;startdefault=1930-01-11;start=1930-01-11;enddefault=2005-04-24;end=2005-04-24;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;schedule dovers=0;scheduleddays=0;result=0;followon=0;recen t=5;viewtype=list;innings=0;runslow=;runshigh=;wic ketslow=;wicketshigh=;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpo=0;o verslow=;overshigh=;event=0;submit=1;.cgifields=vi ewtype

 P  W1  W2  T   D   %R    Ave  Ave1  Ave2  Ave3  Ave4 R/6b
 40   9  18  0  13  68%  34.16  34.0  38.1  30.2  32.9 2.82
 5   2   3  0   0 100%  27.22  29.0  32.7  18.3  32.1 3.01

Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica - filter last five tests, for full filter results click:
http://statserver.cricket.org/guru?sdb=ground;groundid=200;class=testground;filt er=basic;team1=0;team2=0;notteam=0;decade=0;homeaw ay=0;month=0;season=0;startdefault=1930-04-03;start=1930-04-03;enddefault=2004-06-07;end=2004-06-07;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;schedule dovers=0;scheduleddays=0;result=0;followon=0;recen t=5;viewtype=list;innings=0;runslow=;runshigh=;wic ketslow=;wicketshigh=;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpo=0;o verslow=;overshigh=;event=0;submit=1;.cgifields=vi ewtype

 P  W1  W2  T   D   %R    Ave  Ave1  Ave2  Ave3  Ave4 R/6b
 40   9  18  0  13  68%  34.16  34.0  38.1  30.2  32.9 2.82
 5   2   3  0   0 100%  27.22  29.0  32.7  18.3  32.1 3.01