Pakistan cricket for beginners

[Paul31]

I know very little about Pakistani cricket, but I have been looking at recent Test scorecards, and it seems that a striking problem is the lack of consistency at the top of the order.

While Younis Khan, Inzaman-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana have appeared fairly consistently in the middle order, in the last 10 Tests, they have used 8 different opening partnerships (various combinations of 6 players: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik)

It seems Pakistan would have a world beating batting lineup, if they could find a settled opening pair.

[Orchid]

The lack of a stable opening pair has been a persistent problem for Pakistan for quite sometime now. One thought Taufeeq Umar/Imran Farhat/Yasir Hameed would sort of make a long term solution but that was not to be. Until Younis Khan started delivering, even the number 3 position was shaky.

Taufeeq Umar has averaged 40.73 in his 24 tests and has done quite well against South Africa at home and in SA. Now he is not even contracted. It has been an old Pakistani desease to throw young kids into the test team and discard them without giving a decent run. Personally, Taufeeq Umar and Salman Butt should be our the opening pair, but not sure what combination will be tried out against England. If there is any positives, it is that they may not try out a completely newbie but will try to make do with the exisiting players. I also read somewhere long time ago that Asim Kamal, who normally bats in the lower middle order may try out for the openers slot.

[Saad]

Do you have to have played in England (that is I presume what everyone means by County Cricket) to have any chance of doing well in the up coming cricket?

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Saad

Do you have to have played in England (that is I presume what everyone means by County Cricket) to have any chance of doing well in the up coming cricket?

No not at all, what County Cricket in England does give though is the chance to compare players from different nations in the same competition away from the international arena. It just happens that a lot of Pakistani cricketers have played in England over the last 5 years.

[Captain]

I would say use shoaib malik as and opener with Salman Butt in both forms, he is a calm and collected player and has proven well as an top order batsmen, he got one chance of openning in WI and i think he made ample use of it. He got a 60-odd( i think, i know it was a half century), and one inning got very little but it was his first time opening, and this would free a spot in the order for allrounders, that would put 5 batsman( namely Malik, Younis Khan, Inzimam, Yousuf, Asim Kamal) who can play long innings in the middle,and are pretty consistent of late. and i think for a while that would settle our batting for a while, so in this context my sample XI would look like this


1. Salman Butt
2. Shoaib Malik
3. Younis Khan (v-capt.)
4. Inzimam ul-Haq (capt.)
5. Yousuf Youhana
6. Asim Kamal
7. Abdur Razzaq
8. Kamran Akmal
9. Shoaib Akhtar
10. Umar Gul/Shabbir Ahmed
11.Danish Kaneria/ Naveed ul-Hasan(for onedayers)
*12. Shahid Afridi

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Captain

11.Danish Kaneria/ Naveed ul-Hasan(for onedayers)
*12. Shahid Afridi

Will Naveed ul-Hasan not be a first choice after his form in Engand? I though Shahid Alfridi was a good all rounder too?

[Zainub]

Ah...the grounds...sadly by deciding against playing in Karachi England have decided against playing at one of the better test surfaces in this country. But then I don't want to go and discuss that again since it makes me rather sad. The first test will be at the MCG, which is home ground to Inzamam, and he's made several big centuries here as have other people including a tripple century by Sehwag. The Multan deck is usually a belter with loads and loads of runs in it and spin later on.

The ground is self you will find quite welcoming, Multan it small-ish city relatively speaking and its people very friendly. The stadium isn't the most beautiful one you'll see, but within the city it self there's lot of culture travelling England fans might want to explore. Multan’s famous for its shrines and pottery, and of course, it's most famous for giving us our best player, Inzamam. The 2nd test will be at the Iqbal Stadium in Faislabad - which I think has been lucky to get a test ahead of Pindi. It isn't a particularly spectator friendly stadium, there are fences separating the boundaries from the stands, but I guess that's a security measure more then anything else. The stadium is also home to the reigning domestic Twenty 20 Champs the Faislabad Wolves.

The 3rd and final test will be at the Gadaffi, Lahore. Inarguably this is most modern cricket facility in the country, and perhaps the most picturesque one too. I had the pleasure of going there not so long ago, and I was awestruck by its grandiosity, and that was when it was completely empty with no competitive match being played, I can only imagine what the atmosphere must be like there when it's full to its 60,000 large capacity. The traditional red bricks, that you will see also see around much of Lahore, give it a very rich cultural feel, something that is also true of the entire city it self. For the England series the PCB have decided to install massive replay screens here and at all other venues. The pitch here is also pretty good for batting.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Phantom Ram

I though Shahid Alfridi was a good all rounder too?

Let's look at Afridi a bit more closely

1) Batting: Once a mad basher now a more controlled basher, but a basher nevertheless. Can pull off opening a test innings on the flat decks here...not so sure about elsewhere.

2)Bowling: Once a one-day specialist bowler, now a genuine strike bowler in what ever form of the game you play him. He has a developed a very handy knack of taking wickets at crucial junctures for Pakistan, especially in the last season and a half, his variety of fast-ish leg breaks (he even bowls bouncers) often surprise batsmen and induce false/poor strokes.

3)Fielding: One of our best fielders, very quick across the ground, and a bullet of an arm. Decent catcher as well. Considering we've got a few pedestrians like Asim Kamal and Danish Kaneria in the side he's a gem.

Now that by no means is your trademark test all rounder - It's arguable that Afridi isn't good enough with either bat or ball alone at this stage to make it into the Pakistan XI put the 3 of his skills put together make him a very tempting player - hard to ignore, especially if you are a 'go by you gut feeling' type selector like my self.

Given all of the above, and Bob Woolmer's love for long batting line ups I'd be surprised if Afridi didn't get a place in the test eleven. At whose expense and where, I'm not sure, but I see him playing still.

[greg]

For Pakistan's Afridi we could have England's Collingwood matching up this winter.Great in ODI's but not certain of Test places.

Is Sami likely to play or will he only play if Shoaib is injured?

[Orchid]

Originally Posted by Zainub

The first test will be at the MCG, which is home ground to Inzamam, and he's made several big centuries here as have other people including a tripple century by Sehwag.

I think I'll forever remember our MCG for that disaster against India/Sehwag. How would the weather be like in Multan in November, any ideas? I was in Bahawalpur last August with temperatures around 40C mark and was told Multan gets hotter than that!

Not to bring any regional twist to this, aren't all the tests being played in Punjab?