WAT Pakistan A team - reviewing the 2004 team

[Maranello]

The WAT Pakistan A team was selected in November 2004, and over the past twelve months, many of the selections have become better known international players. Others have, sadly, simply faded from the scene. As the next Pakistan domestic season gets underway in the next few months, I am suggesting a review of the team we selected last time.

The three selectors were Zainub, Haseebbutt007 and yours truly. As Haseeb no longer seems to be a visitor here, we would value some input from other Pakistani supporters, such as Captain, Orchid, King Aragorn, ahsan32 and Pure_Iman, as well as any others I have not listed and all other WAT regulars.

The reward for participating is of course to get the very exciting title of "WAT Pakistan A Selector" under your user-names....

The WAT Pakistan A team 2004 was:

1. Salman Butt
2. Mohammad Hafeez (captain)
3. Bazid Khan
4. Hasan Raza
5. Asim Kamal
6. Bilal Asad
7. Zulqarnain Haider
8. Rana Naved ul Hasan
9. Mansor Amjad
10. Waqar Ahmed
11. Umar Gul

Some of these are now regulars in the first XI, such as Asim Kamal and Rana Naved ul-Hasan, whilst others are knocking on the fringes, eg Butt and Umar Gul. Others of course have been tried at the top level and found wanting, in particular Hafeez. Of course, most are still players of potential, but may have been overtaken by others. In addition, there will be some who no longer meet the A team criteria here at WAT (age: <30 years, Test caps: <6).

For all these reasons, it would be sensible to review the XI we selected and suggest any changes where needed. We can also review the performances during the 2004/5 Pak domestic season and in the various other A-team and exhibition matches, and re-appraise our selections accordingly.

So who wants to set the ball rolling?

[Orchid]

The only person who gets knocked off this list automatically is Asim Kamal due to >6 test caps. What happens in Salman Butt's case, who has exactly 6 caps?

[Maranello]

Good question - from what I recall, the criteria said less than six caps, hence Butt gets knocked-out too - would appreciate if Mike can update.

However, he is by no means a first XI regular, and as such, ideal for the A team. Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul are both borderline, at 5 Tests each. However Gul was selected in the A team a year ago, and has not played a Test since due to injury.

Another interesting one is Shoaib Malik - ideal A team candidate, since nowhere near being a first XI regular, and a young player who is regarded very highly by Woolmer and the PCB as one for the future, and perhaps a future Pakistan captain too. However, at 9 caps he does not meet the basic criteria.

[Orchid]

Since this is just a review (rather than a restructuring), I assume we will just take the last selected team and agree/disagree on which players should be retained which should be replaced? With that in mind, we can agree first on which players should remain. My 'to remain' list at the moment:

4. Hasan Raza
7. Zulkarnain Haider (in the absence of my knowledge of any other up and coming keepers)
8. Rana Naved (even though he is a ODI regular, not so sure about the Test team, since Shoaib Akhtar could be returning. Also we can take advantage of his meeting the criteria and drop him off next year?)
11. Umar Gul (Yes he is just returning from injury, but I'm pretty convinced injury won't hamper his ability as a bolwer)

[Captain]

in the case of staying players, my say would be:

1. Salman Butt- out
2. Mohammad Hafeez - stay-however move down the order. not an opener in my book.
3. Bazid Khan -stay
4. Hasan Raza - stay-but i still think he whould be up with the regulars.
5. Asim Kamal -out, because he is mostly a regualar with the seniors and we need someone new here.
6. Bilal Asad - stay- move up order.
7. Zulqarnain Haider -stay- i like the kid future sucesser to Kamran.
8. Rana Naved ul Hasan -stay
9. Mansor Amjad -stay
10. Waqar Ahmed -stay
11. Umar Gul -out.

[Orchid]

I hope we haven't forgotten about this. Maybe a good time to restart the discussion.

After hearing about the exploits of Yasir Arafat, Najaf Shah and Shahid Yousuf etc recently, I'd like to know what Pakistan supporters here have to say about them.

[workkey]

out of these three i have seen yasir arafat only and i believe he is a very nice allrounder...just the same as abdur razzaq...but he has not been given a fair chance yet