(All Rounders): Shoaib Malik (Captain), Abdul Razzaq , Shahid Afridi, Mohamamd Hafeez, Fawad Alam.
(Fast Bowlers): Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Shabbir Ahmad, Abdul Rauf, Mohammad Irshad, Najaf Shah, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Khalil.
(Spinners): Abdul Rahman, Tahir Khan, Atif Maqbool, Mansoor Amjad.
I thought it would be useful to reproduce the full list here. These players will meet up on the 28th of April at the Gadaffi and there will be a 'camp' here until May 5 before a final squad of 15 is announced by May 6. Four players which were -at some stage at least- part of the World Cup squad have been dropped or are missing from this squad. I guess most of you will have already picked who they are, but for the more dimwitted like my self, the four are:
Shoaib Akhtar (who reportedly needs yet more time to recover from yet another so-called 'injury'), Younis Khan (who is unavailable) and Rana Naved and Danish Kaneria, who, we can only presume, did not fit the new selection committee criteria (“The players were selected based on their previous performance and they are the unanimous choice of selection committee headed by Salahuddin”, said a spokesman of PCB on Sunday).
Quite a few interesting names in there though. Baring one or two, I've heard of most of them at some point in time, many of those in very recent times, but the squad as a whole is still too large to be commented on. The final 15 will be even more interesting. I'll postpone the intro on some of the young guns in the list until May 6 then. Right now I'll go and try and catch some sleep. Nighty night.. See you all later.
I'm surprised at the lack of reaction at this. Younis Khan has made him self "unavailable" for the Abu Dhabi series against Sri Lanka because he's busying playing for Yorkshire! I suppose people haven't said much about this because he had already hinted just after the World Cup when he turned down the captaincy that he was considering retirement for one-day cricket altogether.
And I suppose, that had everyone mentally prepared in advance. But alas, its not quite like that with me. In fact, not only am I not mentally prepared, but I also can't help feel a bit peeved about this. Its not that I have a definite issue with him wanting to retire. He can do that if he wants to.
Really, if he feels that doing so would be the best option for him in terms of prolonging his overall professional career, then who am I, or indeed any one, to tell him otherwise. It is his career, after all, he's in the best position to judge. I'd respect whatever decision he makes. But I do have an issue with players having to pick and chose when to represent Pakistan and when not to. No, sir, this is not acceptable to me.
Either you retire from one-day cricket full time, or make your self available all the time. The selection policy and current and future planning can't revolve around the availability or otherwise of one or two players. If Younis isn't serious about representing Pakistan in limited overs cricket again, well good for him then We'll look elsewhere and give Fawad Alam or Asim Kamal or some one else from this gigantic 39 man probables squad a prolonged run in the side. There's no shortage of talent.
But if he's serious, then spare of us such call-centre like announcements (''the number you have dialed the player you have contacted/selected is not available at the moment, please try again later'). I've had enough of those with my phone already.
I'm a bit late on this (college and the heat, as always, the reasons) but I expect you'll already have heard about the news of Shoaib Malik being appointed Pakistan captain.
The official yada, yada formalities were completed at a press conference at the Gadaffi on Thursday, in which we were told that the appointment has been made till December of this year. Dawn has this photo of him in their report, dressed in his Pakistan blazer and tie, looking all prim and proper.
Its always interesting to picture-read. What does the smile tell you? What does it translate as?
Happiness? Definitely (he did, of course, talk about how he felt "honored" and "thrilled" to get the job) but the smile, I can't help but feel, is as much a reflection of happiness as it is of self-belief.
"I'm confident all the players will support and co-operate with me", he told reporters in response to questions about how his team mates may respond.
As Osman Samiuddin notes too, that question of how his team mates will respond to his appointment, is going to be one of the keys to how well he can do this job.
Comparisons with Graeme Smith have been pretty widespread in discussions about Malik's appointment, and contrary to most of the horses for courses comparisons which are a frequent feature of arm chair cricket discussions, this particular one has some weight to it.
Smith, like Malik, was given over the reigns after his side had just crashed out of the World Cup. Like Malik, Smith too, had in the team he was given to lead, other players which may have been contenders and/or aspirants for the job. And crucially, both of the them, when given the captaincy, had yet to fully arrive at the international stage as players in their individual capacity.
It would be inaccurate to say they hadn't establish their places in the side. Smith may not have been part of the initial World Cup squad SA picked four years ago (he only made it after Rhodes was sidelined due to a finger injury), but his test place was never in doubt, having scored a mammoth hundred against Pakistan earlier that season.
Malik too, similarly, has though, only just become a non-performing regular in the test side, has a one-day record that in last two to three years is as consistent as any player in the Pakistan side. But there is a difference here that should be noted.
I'm not saying that both Smith and Malik hadn't become regulars in the team where they were appointment skipper; both of them, in some capacity had, but well and truly arriving on the international stage is another thing entirely.
Later in the same year, when Smith led SA on their tour to England, and scored back-to-back double hundreds in the test series, that's when he fully arrived. Smith's own batting heroics have been far less consistent since then, but that big start first up had taken care of any rebellions senior team mates aspiring for the his job might have staged against his appointment.
Not to say there were any in the South African team at the time, but just making a point. That's what Malik needs to do too. The sooner he is able to deliver an innings like that, the sooner he is able to fully arrive, the easier will it become for his team mates to see why he is the best man of the job at the time, and the more readily will they, in turn, begin to function affectively under his leadership.
Of course it is not going to be simply about performing well with the bat for Malik; man-management and diplomacy will be crucial skills for Malik to have, but if the runs keep coming, they'll certainly make the man-management part of the job thing easier.
Just ask Inzi. No one dared question his leadership when his form was rampant. Its not like his deficiencies as a leader had magically disappeared in such times, but they were less easily remembered. Few knew the Inzi who had allowed sides to claw back from hopeless positions by not being ruthless enough all the time, when the runs of his bat and Pakistan's victories (luckily for us despite his tactical blunders) were the bigger realities.
Fast forward to present times, those tactical blunders are still the same as before, but with the cushion of his own form and the team's success rate not there to fall back on, few people can now see any good that ever come out of his leadership.
Nothing, in other words, succeeds like success. Malik's tactical nous and presence of mind, fortunately for him, are his natural areas of strength, so the only thing he needs is to do, for the moment at least, is get runs. A lots of them. The rest, can pretty much, take its due course. Still, I don't suppose it will be easy, the pressure, for one would be immense, but I wish him luck all the same.
Heck, if Kamran Abbasi can see the light at the end of the tunnel here, I just can't stay behind. Lets make this an official prayer than, shall we? All raise your hands and say, 'oh god, please, make this a start of better things ahead'. Amen. Now I shall hover off to bed.
Good riddance was what I was inclined to say when I first read the headline "Evaluation committee completes inquiry". But I have to admit, even though the inquiry (which interviewed nearly 40 players, officials, and retired PCB functionaries during a two-week period) and its subsequent recommendations may not come to much use in the practical sense, but at least they've made some correct observations. I was pleased to read that one of the committee members, Ijaz Butt, had been quoted by AFP as describing PJ Mir's statement about the team's religious activities "stupid". The fact that many players them selves, including Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal, rubbished the allegations may have something to do with that. Or may be they committee was more competent then I was willing to give them credit for (their evaluation report, Cricinfo adds, also terms suggestions that the Ireland-Pakistan game was fixed "baseless").
Talat Ali, who was our manager at the World Cup, has been rewarded for his good management skills, particularly in the aftermath of Bob Woolmer's death, with a job as the temporary coach-cum-manager of the Pakistan team. Until the board decides on a long term option, for which they're looking at both home-grown and foreign options, PCB insist, Talat Ali will serve as the coach. Ali had a brief test career for Pakistan during the 1970s and will s u p e r v i s e as coach during the one-day series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi starting from May 10th. He would also continue working as manager-cum-coach in a charity one-day game against India in England this summer. I don't know much about Ali, but I hope Ashraf isn't any more impressed by him then he already is.
Dawnreport that the WICB have send Pakistan an invitation to take part in a four nation 20Twenty tournament in Canada in August. Ashraf, who is scheduled to travel to the West Indies to watch the semi-finals of the World Cup, is reportedly expected to give a “green signal” for Pakistan’s participation. The aim of the tournament, organizers say, would be to serve as a warm up for the inaugural 20Twenty World Championships in South Africa in September, but it might more aptly be described as a money making gimmick. I hope they invite Canada to play, at least that way it wont all be just about money.
Waseem Akram will s u p e r v i s e a special two-week camp that is to be held in mid-May, Akram reportedly "volunteered to help" after a phone request from Dr. You Know Who. The trial will be for 'young and upcoming fast bowlers'. Akram will later also s u p e r v i s e another training camp in June for the national team in (the northwestern city of) Abbotabad,
And finally. In yet another typical PCB u-turn, Ashraf and co. first sacked 80 of its employees, in line with suggestions by the management consultancy Ferguson Associates to "bring about major re-organisation of its management structure". But three days later 66 of those initially sacked were reinstated on "humanitarian grounds". The decision to sack 11 high-ranking officials, however, a PCB spokesman clarified, "will stand". Okay, so I don't have a lot of idea about how these HR issues work, here are the PCB, on one hand talking about, "corporate governance" and on another hand, holding on to employees that don't, in their own words have the ‘qualifications and skill-sets that match with the relevant requirements of their positions". I’m confused. Are you too?
Pakistan announce brand new paid selection committee
Ladies and gentleman, please brace your self to get familiar with the names, identities, idiosyncrasies, weird theologies and even weired preferences of a brand new, and this time, fully paid, selection committee. The much awaited announcement of who would comprise and lead the new selection panel following the resignation of Bari and co. after the World Cup was made a few hours ago by the PCB.
Salahuddin Mulla Ahmed (more famously Sallu Bhai) who is a veteran selector that has previously been on the committee no less then 13 times both as a member and as the chairman, will lead the three member panel again. The other members of the committee are Shafqat Rana, who is also a previous member on three occasions, and the former Test left-arm fast bowler Saleem Jaffar, who is the only debutant in the panel. Jaffar is currently the coach of the Sindh team in the Pentangular Cup 2007, and he's told Cricinfo he'll try to put his local knowledge of domestic cricket into use. What's more interesting to me then the actual committee however, is this so-called "new" selection policy. I quote from Cricinfo:
For any home series, the selection committee will choose the final playing XI after consultation with the captain. For away tours, the committee will select the squad after consultation with the captain, while the final playing XI will be decided by a tour selection committee which includes the manager, coach, captain and vice-captain.
That indeed is interesting. This means that for a home series, if the captain and selection committee differ over the final playing XI, the selection committee will have the final say. Make what you will of this, but I for one, have always felt that once a squad of 15 has been selected, it should be the prerogative of the captain primarily, and then coach secondarily, to chose a playing XI.
I know you will point towards the allegations that Inzi had misused his powers in this capacity (Wasim Akram reportedly referring to him as a 'dictator') but I see little point in giving the captain, some one who has the job of handling all of the team's resources once it is out in the field of play, a team that he is not happy with.
Who is to say he might not marginalise the resources he was not happy with but still given? Who would suffer as a whole then? The team, of course. Of course this doesn't mean you give a free reign to the captain to do whatever he wants; the key in the power distribution over this issue is a good working relationship and accurate communication to and fro between the selectors and team think-tank, but selecting the final XI, for some reason, some how, I've always felt, should be the exclusive domain of the skipper.
As for the members of this panel, though you cannot deny the cricketing know-how of some one like Salahuddin, who has been around for ages, but I'd personally have liked it more to see some fresh names and new faces we haven't seen before. I'm willing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt as they start another stint though, but the jury certainly remains out on them for the meanwhile. All the Fawad Alams, Zulqarnain Haiders, Salman Butts, Mansoor Amjads, Abdur Rehmans out there - get ready all the same. Show time, I suppose, might be nearing.
Well, well, well, turns out the PCB aren't that unsure after all. According to a report in The Nation yesterday, insiders have confirmed that Shoaib Malik is the man for the job. The report says a decision by the PCB has already been made and an official announcement will be made "in a couple of days". The report also acknowledges that even though the PCB has decided on the captain, it is yet to "address the grouping problem in the wake of a number of aspirants and their supporters in the playing eleven", adding that everyone from Shoaib Akhtar, to Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq were interested in the job. Interesting (and crucial) times lie ahead for Pakistan Cricket.
He [Dr. Naseem Ashraf] said P.J. Mir, who was Pakistan’s media manager at the World Cup, had no more association with the PCB after the mega event. “P.J. Mir’s press statements from now onwards are not taken as those from a PCB official,” the PCB boss clarified.
A good indication of how preoccupied I have been with college and life is that I missed a news as big as this. Many thanks to Ahmer for pointing it out. A rare happy occasion for the Pakistan Cricket following fraternity this. We ought to celebrate. The PCB now comprises on one buffoon less. Quite an achievement that.
Seems like a month after our exit from the World Cup, we're still no closer to realising who we might want to give job of the skipper to. After Younis Khan ruled him self out, Yousuf was out saying he has no qualms in taking the role if he's offered it, but Osman Samiuddin's report on this issue is fairly concerning. He's quoted a couple of senior players being highly skeptical of the idea of a younger player taking over.
One player reportedly told Cricinfo, "The names mentioned are all players who aren't really sure of their places in the side" (which is true), "To burden them with leadership isn't a good move," (which isn't necessarily true or untrue, but merely depends on what your opinion on this is). But another player, who was also not named, was much more frank in his observations, "This is Pakistan, not a club or department team" he said.
"Whoever is chosen should be a regular, proven performer," he continued, pointing out that "some of the younger candidates mentioned haven't even performed well recently", asking eventually, "How can they be expected to lead a team in which their own position is not certain?"
My, my, things certainly aren't going to be that rosy in the dressing room if and when that younger player in question does get the job. You can guess who these 'senior' players Osman has quoted could be, the first sounds like Abdul Razzak for my money, where as the second has a definite Pathan ring of Shahid Afridi to it.
And I suppose if I'm right about that, you can understand why these players would have reservations too. Both Razzaq and Afridi have been in and around the Pakistan team for almost a good decade now, and it would be natural if they had captaincy ambitions them self.
And of course, they'd be not all that pleased seeing names like Shoaib Malik and even Salman Butt being widely mentioned ahead of them now that the job has opened up, and they're in some position to being considered. May be their egos came in the way of their better judgement there, but either way, Pakistan have a problem to solve now.
This scenario certainly makes picking a young player like Malik extremely risky, if the said players don't really agree with a younger player coming into the fray of captaincy now when there's only casual chit chat about the possibility of it happening, as Osman has pointed, future dissent against the skipper, and worse things (internal team lobbying, uneasy dressing room atmosphere, etc) could be a serious problem in the future.
Of course all of this could automatically be solved if Younis was to reconsider his decision, and I guess that is what the PCB would be hoping for. Naseem Ashraf has been quoted by Dawn as saying he's "unaware" of Younis's recent withdrawal and has hence refused to comment on the matter, but how long will the PCB live in this denial?
Wasim Bari and Waseem Akram have meanwhile both said separately that they would also recommend a younger player to lead Pakistan now, with Akram also criticising Inzi for becoming a "dictator" during his time in charge, something Javed Miandad also spoke against (but in a different vein) not that long ago, calling for a curb in player power.
Amongst all this talk, the joke of the performanceevaluationcommitteeinterviews (links here are to reports about various officials and players' quotes) has kept going on. All of Waseem Bari, Iqbal Qasim (another selector), Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Younis Khan, Inzamam, Naseem Ashraf, PJ Mir, Talat Ali and even former test cricketers Intikhab Alam, Shafqat Rana and the former Secretary of PCB Col (retd) Rafi Nasim have gone ahead and completed some utterly useless formalities by recording their statements over the course of the last week or so.
I call them useless formalities because the committee it self is a useless one. Baffles me how any three member committee can carry out an 'investigation' into the 'causes' of any sports team's performance (this isn't murder for God sakes, you can't 'investigate' performances) but especially when the committee comprises names like Ijaz Butt, Salahuddin Ahmad and believe it or not, Saleem Altaf him self!
Even if we ignore the skepticism surrounding their ability to judge and analyse the result of a one-day cricket tournament when neither members of this team have played any one-day cricket between them, it is hard not to see the insult to injury Altaf's presence adds to the scenario!
Altaf, in his position as Director Cricket Operations of the PCB, has been directly involved with the PCB, and is therefore equally responsible as any other PCB official for the mess we are in, but yet he can be both the jury as well as the accused! The irony, the irony...
PS: I shall do up a round of the Woolmer murder inquiry updates later in the night, after the Bangladesh-Ireland match is over, so stay tuned I guess.
Aaah, Friday, my favorite day of the week. No more college now for another two full days, and lots of spare time to blog. How I love the weekends.
First up, a news which has been looming around for a while now. That Younis Khan has turned down the captaincy was not something completely surprising. His reservations on this matter had been circulating in the media here ever since he returned from the Caribbean but I avoided blogging about it before in the hope that perhaps if I live in denial for long enough, some one might just be able to sway his decision.
People like Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt, which are some of the names being taken now, could mark the beginning of a new era and a new style too in Pakistan Cricket, different from a past where 'seniority' alone could get you the captaincy by default. Which is precisely why names like Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf, some say even Abdul Razzaq may be in the mix, have not been ruled out. But the news still saddens me. Not because I think the alternative captain Pakistan will now chose in Younis' place might not be good enough, some one like Shoaib Malik, is arguably in his own self a very capable, insightful and bold personality, but because in the annals of Pakistan Cricket's history, this is another loss for the nation's cricket.
Younis was a dynamic leader. Yes, he was and perhaps still is a hasty decision maker, but whenever I saw him captain he seemed like one of those players that not only read the game well, but also had a good gut feeling, and which he was, crucially, brave enough to follow.
Innate leaders are a rare being, like eagles, they don't flock, you tend to find them one at a time. And who could no this better then Pakistan? As a country on a whole, inspiring leadership is struggling phenomena here, people just don't have any confidence in those in power, let alone talk of being inspired by them.
With power abuse and corruption such a norm in the society here, that is understandable, but another consequence of this is that many potential leaders are skeptical of bringing a change in these cultures by taking responsibility them selves.
That's why Imran Khan's venture into politics is so inspiring to me personally, he dared to try and bring a change, and not that's he's achieved much success in it so far, but he did dare, and he hasn't given up as yet, which alone is quite something.
That's why I'm sad. After so many years, in Younis Khan, Pakistan Cricket finally had some one who proved him self capable of being able to inspire that kind of passion and confidence in his companions. But once again, through our own cynicism, over-reactions and loss of perspective, we drove a potential leader away.
Younis has also hinted he may retire from one-day cricket as well and I'm sure this will surprise many people, and may even bring criticism from others, but some how I don't find it that difficult to see where he is coming from in that respect either. Desire is one of the biggest motivating factors for any professional in any working field, but especially in sports; if over a period of time, you are constantly paddled back and forth between hero and zero, desire can lesson, or run out altogether. You get bad days in your work in every field, but there's only few careers in which a bad day will become a cause for you to increase security outside your house. It would be normal if you ask your self after a while if it was all really worth it. So, I really do have sympathy with modern day cricketers in this respect.
Of course Younis will still be available as a test player, and who knows, he might still continue as a one-day player too, but just to reinforce my point about this being a loss for Pakistan's Cricket, Younis Khan's test average has risen from 39 to 48 since the 2004-05 season when he was first elevated to vice-captaincy following the tour to Australia that year (where he was incidentally the team's top run getter). Of course you can counter that by pointing out how his average in matches he has actually captained since then has been much less impressive, but its hard to not see, that his reluctance to take up the captaincy is yet another story of yet another talented individuals talent not being fully utilised.
How many more Younis Khan's will we sacrifice before we learn from our mistakes?
Kamran Abbasi has done a post on his blog Pak Spin, where he has come up with a 10 point recommendation to the PCB with regards to the selection of Pakistan's next captain and coach. I agree with most of the stuff he says, but have a problem (a serious one at that) with recommendation No. 3 which says:
3. Choose a captain who is capable of balancing his religious beliefs and his cricketing responsibilities. While Pakistan's players have every right to be as religious as they wish, they must know that their job is to win cricket matches. Nobody should be ostracised or made uncomfortable for not being as pious as the most pious member of the team. Religion, for cricketers, should be a private matter not a badge of honour.
What is my problem? That he gives no evidence of his claims. That he accuses Inzamam of not having balanced his religion with his profession, when he is unqualified to do so, of having "ostracised" other players for not being as pious as him, when Inzi has denied this, and when evidence to suggest the contrary exists. What religion should or should not be, either a badge of honor, or a private thing, for any one, cricketers or otherwise, is no business for any one else to decide, but that person alone him self.
Merely by suggesting that religion should not be a "badge of honor" for the players, he is suggesting to do exactly the same thing he accused Inzi of doing. If say, some one is prevented from observing their religious beliefs as a "badge of honor" would we not in turn be making him feel uncomfortable for not being as liberal, for lack of a better word, as the others? Of course we would be.
That is why, whether the next captain of Pakistan is less public in the display of his religious beliefs, or more private, then the last, should be the last thing on the mind of those appointing him. Abbasi also goes on to say that Mohammad Yousuf would be the wrong "personality" to lead Pakistan. I'm not sure what he meant by the term "wrong personality", but if it was to refer to the manner in which he chooses to practice his faith, then that would be the most prejudiced, discriminatory and offend-able idea Abbasi has ever has ever expressed.
Yes, there are other, genuine cricket reasons, why Yousuf probably isn't the most ideal candidate for the job (like the fact, that he, much like Inzi, has in the past shown him self to be laid back captain) but sighting the way he chooses to practice his religious beliefs to disqualify him? Sigh. You'd think people like Kamran Abbasi would be above such things. I know I probably wouldn't be saying this the last time, but I'll say it again nevertheless: can we please leave the players' religious beliefs alone?
Not long after Inzi concluded his press conference Messer Naseem Ashraf was out to officially disclose his “plan of action” as he called it. Not content with destroying my mood last night with the news of his resignation not being accepted by the President, Ashraf sprinkled a healthy serving of salt on my fresh wounds by announcing amongst other things that all the players’ central contracts had been terminated with immediate affect.
To maximize the irony he added that the board would not make any “drastic” measures anytime soon, and a decision on who should be appointed captain and coach will be made patiently as Pakistan’s next international outing is a good six months away, implying in effect, that terminating all the players’ contracts, is not a “drastic” move! The selectors, he added for good measure, would also be appointed in due course, and this time they’ll be fully paid ones, he insisted.
Wholesale changes were also announced in the PCD a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . Director Cricket Operations, Saleem Altaf, was sacked and Zakir Khan (who?) was brought in his place; Shafqat Hussain Naghmi (who?) was also appointed as Chief Operating Officer and Suhail Mansoor (who?) is hence forth the new Media Director. Shafeeq Papa (who?) was apparently named in charge of the domestic cricket and Aqib Jawed was made the Director of the CricketAcademy (I thought he was already head of the Academy, wasn’t he?) And what exactly is the different between the job of a ‘Director Cricket Operations’ and ‘Chief Operating Officer’?
It was also announced that the next Pakistan head coach would be Pakistani, and a baseball catching expert would be called in as a s p e c i c i a l i s t fielding coach. Still though, despite all these changes, he insisted that they weren’t doing anything “drastic”. One of the many journalists there ought to have asked how Mr. Ashraf defined drastic, just for clarification stakes, no? It was also declared, during another answer to a question about how he plans to streamline the functioning of a board, which reportedly has as many as 400 paid employees, that a human resource department would be established and that they'd review all the employees and appropriate action would thereafter be taken in line with their recommendations.
Only God knows though, why these present appointments were made before the recommendations of any such human resource department, if one is ever made. We can only wonder if these folks also got the job because of their credentials of being in Ashraf's contacts.Also, as per in line with regional traditions, a three member committee just had to be formed; it will look into the reasons for our World Cup “debacle” and appropriate action would thereafter be taken based on their recommendations.
Just to refresh our memories, a similar 3 member committee was also formed to submit its recommendations four years ago also. This is national tradition in fact, no matter what the issue is a committee is sure to be formed. As the saying goes “a committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done.”
There were loads of other impressive sounding though totally hollow promises of how Mr. Ashraf and his new team were going to revamp the cricket infrastructure at the grass roots level, with special emphasis on school and club cricket. Domestic Cricket he added was also going to be re-looked at and suggestions from Imran Khan will be considered, but the real slap on the face of domestic cricket was the announcement that a special talent hunt will be underway that will seek to find 25 cricketers under the age of 13 from across the country.
These players will thereafter be shifted to Lahore, where they'll be raised and natured; all expenses, including their school education, would be taken care of by the PCB. When he was asked by one of the journalists if such reality show like hunts reflect a lack of confidence in the existing domestic structure and their ability to find and nature young talent, he just beat about the bush without making any conclusive arguments.
He also defended his credentials in the face of criticism about how he could handle two jobs (he’s a physician by professional training in case you’ve missed that) sighting the example of how other cricket board chiefs from around the world were also multi-careered persons (Percy Sonn, of the ICC, he said was a lawyer, and David Morgan, for the ECB, a businessman). But when asked how he’d address criticism of the board's undemocratic nature, he had no answer; he could not help but concede that ad-hocism was a “serious problem”. Obviously this led to questions about the PCB constitution, and when it will finally arrive, to which there were the usual “oh, you see, there’s a few legal technicalities that need to be sorted out, I promise that…bla, bla, bla”
In fact, you could pretty much some up the entire press conference in that one phrase. It was a whole lot of bla, bla, bla. Sigh.
Emotional Inzi blames media of being un-supportive in adversity
I’m just coming back after watching the press conferences Inzi and Naseem Ashraf held at Lahore today, GEO NEWS, albeit intermittently with really shoddy sound quality, were broadcasting them live.
I think it’s fair to say I’ve never seen Inzi so emotional before. He had a poor World Cup last time around too, but didn’t have to face the media as much I guess, not at least so directly, and things often got quite charged up during last August’s Oval saga, but there was a visible anguish in his voice today, and even on his face, that I’ve never seen before.
There were at least two times when he nearly broke into tears again, speaking of his disappointment at having to end his career in such a way. Also the frustration at the knee jerk way people tend to react also come out in full flow as he also criticized the media and the fans for being fair-weather supporters.
Again, I can understand where he is coming from, but I don’t necessarily agree with the line of thinking that the national media should rally around the team all the time. That should be the forte of the fans; the media’s job is to report the facts as they are.
I’m not justifying any of the ‘criticism just for the sake of it’ type mentality possessed by some of the former test cricketers that are out on many private channels analysing Pakistan’s performances, but we had lost the World Cup, and questions needed to be asked.
Again, its not that I don’t have sympathy for Inzi, we’re renowned for not giving our legends the proper exits they deserve, but emotion got the better of Inzi in that press conference as he also rubbished allegations of match fixing and of rifts between the team, pointing out how such rumors only surface when Pakistani are losing.
Younis Khan was praised, the selection defended, and censure of his refusal to bat in the top order also dismissed explicitly by stating that he had scored 12,500 runs in his career batting from No. 5 and 6.
As the emotionally charged hand waving and fiery staring of the initial half hour drifted into calmness, characteristic Inziesque pauses mixed variedly with a dead-pan looks on the face become a recurrent theme towards the end of the press conference.
And then with the same suddenness as he had arrived and was now leaving the international stage, PJ Mir announced that was it, Naseem Ashraf, the sizeable contingent of press were told, would appear in another hour.
As was widely accepted(excuse my horrible spellings/typing)expected, President Musharraf, has not accepted Naseem Ashraf's resignation. The official reason? Well because Mushy thinks he still needs to work on "his duty to rebuild the Pakistan cricket team on modern and professional lines". Apparently Ashraf in response has promised that he will "endeavour" his "best for the development and progress of cricket in Pakistan" and not only that but he'll also bring in "a transparent cricket set-up" and "implement short and long term action plans immediately". Yeah right!
He reportedly also "expressed deep gratitude to all cricket lovers, the general public and well-wishers for their continued support over the last week." You don't need to thank us Mr. Ashraf, they only reason you still have the job is because you're a good pal of President Mushy, thank him, and him alone. Here's a short summary of his 'achievements' as noted by Kamran Abbasi, who shares the Pakistan cricket community's collective outrage at this development:
Ashraf has presided over the dumb reign of Younis Khan as "dummy" captain, the doping fiasco, Waqar's dismissal and the horse-trading that lead to Mushy the coach being appointed, the injury and selection chaos, the unfettered power of Inzamam and the sidelining of Woolmer (on this I quote Bob: "Since the resignation of the last Chairman any views I have had have not been wanted! The new Chairman certainly has his own way"), and a failure to deliver the constitution that he solemnly promised. What's more he has annoyed the team and management by hanging out with them on tour like some sort of star-struck groupie, worse still a groupie who has got involved with team matters. In short, I hold him responsible for orchestrating this disaster.
So do I. Down with Mushy, down with Ashraf.
PS: I'm in serious anti-Mushy rant mood today, also had a dig at him over at Desicritics for an entirely different set of reason, here is a link in case you want to have a quick read.
The 2007 Wisden Cricketers' Alamnack, the so-called Bible of Cricket, is out now. Mohammad Yousuf, who had a record breaking, last year with over 1700 runs to his name, was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year 2006. There were no surprises in the other four names either, with Monty Panesar, Paul Collingwood, Mahela Jayewardene and Mark Ramprakash all making it their via their impressive performances during the English season last year.
In other official things, Shane Warne featured on the cover, Muttiah Muralitharan was named Leading Cricketer of the Year, and four other Pakistani players, apart from Yousuf, also made it to Wisden's list of 40 Leading Players of the Year, 11 of which were Australians. The other four players from Pakistan are Inzamam ul Haq, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Asif. Whilst most of the names one that list were predictable, the naming of Murali him self as the leading cricketer of the year, might have brought "some backlash" but Simon Barne dismissed those suggestion unequivocally:
"Muralitharan is a truly great cricketer. Those that cannot go along with such a sentiment have something lacking in their souls. The spirit of cricket, perhaps."
Well said and well done. You can buy the Alamnack by going here and check out the 2007 Alamanck home online here.
Pakistan's early exit from Cricket World Cup. What next?
Interesting results from a poll Dawn is carrying on its frontpage at their website. What shocks me is that a good 20% percent of the voters did some how belief adhocism was the way to go forward. I wonder how they would justify their views.
You knew this was coming, didn't you? Imran Khan has put forward the name of Aqib Jawed, currently director at the National Cricket Academy, and previously the coach of two time world cup champions Pakistan Under 19 side, as a candidate for the vacant position of coach for Pakistan's senior side. He also says Younis Khan should be promoted from vice captaincy to full time captaincy.
I don't really know what I feel about the first suggestion, though I do agree with him about how the constitution needs to be restored and adhocism abolished.
Aqib has now doubt got a good resume to show for him self, and unlike some of the other contenders for the job (Jawed Miandad, Mudassir Nazar, Intikhab Alam, etc etc) he's never had a shot at the job before, so I guess he does have a bit of an advantage in that respect too.
But I can't make up my mind. Its highly unlikely we'll go for a foreigner again this time (or to put it another way that a foreigner will agree to taking the job) so I guess he could be the man, but still can't decide how I feel about this.
As for Younis Khan being made the captain, he seems the obvious enough choice on paper, given he's been Inzi's understudy for a while now, and whenever he's had the chance to take over, he's proved him self to be good enough tactically also, especially when you compare him to Inzi, who was almost tactically asleep in comparison...but (there's always a but in such discussions, isn't there?), is his batting really consistent enough?
Imran Khan has always been his number one fan, so its not point in asking him, but ask you self. Try and recall the last time you saw a major Younis Khan innings that wasn't against India or at home soil.
The first requirement of a captain is that he should be an automatic selection in the side, I'm not saying Younis Khan isn't that, but can he lead from the front when his own batting has never really put the world alight, at least at the one-day level?
Lets us not forget that very few people raised questions about Inzi's batting so long as he was scoring a lot of runs, he was, in fact, hailed by many during our tours to India and the home series against England and India.
But all that changed as his batting form worsened. Younis Khan, unless he improves his one-day record (an average of just over 30, from over 150 games, 54 half centuries and only 2 centuries, one of them against a non-test playing nation, quite a poor conversation record at that) will face the same dilemma.
His test record is much better (an average nearing 50 in just over 50 games with no less then 12 centuries, 7 one of them away from home); in fact it is an excellent record, but as he will probably admit him self too, he does need to improve his showing at the one-day level.
Besides he also has a reputation of being some what impatient? Anyone remember his "I don't want to be a dummy captain" episode?
I'm not saying he shouldn't be made captain, in fact it would be a most logical transition to make him captain given he has been Inzi's deputy for a while now, but he ought to grow as a batsman, and more importantly, as a cricketer over all, for him to be able to command the sort of respect from his players that Inzi did.
Then there is of course the question that if not him, who else? People have raised up names like Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi, but my argument in that is the same as before, neither of the two qualify as an automatic place in both of the Pakistan's one-day and test side.
Unless we plan on having different captains for different sides, or pick players as captains on the basis of their apparent leadership skills (like SA did with Smith four years ago) then Younis Khan is really the only option we have.
People will also say why not Mohammad Yousuf, and that's a valid question too, given with Inzi's one-day retirement he has now become the best player in the side. But I don't really know the answer to it. Yousuf had been the vice captain before Younis came into the picture, and he stood in for Inzi, during our troubled tour of Australia, three years ago, and he didn't impress too many with his tactical nous.
In a sense he wasn't much different from the laid back approach we had seen in Inzi's reign. You can never rule out anything in Pakistan Cricket completely, but it does seem like Younis will be the man for the job. If you have suggestions your self, make your self heard via the comments. Who should be, in your opinion, Pakistan's next coach and captain, and why?
I have linked to this report about Naseem Ashraf maintaining the players will leave back home this Saturday earlier, and I wouldn't want to comment on whether this will happen or not, but I wanted to do another post on this business of Ashraf separately all the same.
According to this report Ashraf also said Bob had written him an email on the morning of his murder, saying he would have "retired" after the World Cup. He also went on to reveal, much to Ahmer's displeasure, that his resignation wasn't accepted by President Mushy.
Rameez Raja has been saying he fears for the future of Pakistan Cricket which has been dealt with numerous blows in the past six months or so, adding that a foreign coach would probably never take up the job now, but if people like Ashraf continue to be at the helm, that alone could be a single reason enough to worry about the future of Pakistan Cricket.
"I have no lust for the job" Ashraf said in another hypocrisy laden statement, continuing that he would "not like" others to make personal remarks at him but that he was "professionally open to criticism".
For a man whose has a well documented history of having a fondness for hogging the limelight and speaking in matters he has no business butting in, such repeated doses of rhetoric, and now preaching others to not criticise his personal attributes, the words pot, kettle and black come to mind.
Wait a second! I thought things weren't suppose to get any worse. I hope no one in the PCB gets any where near this report from the BBC. Something has gotten into Vic Richard's head and he's been telling the BBC that Miandad of all people could have what it takes to be Pakistan's coach!
Dear lord, no please. Richard's basis for the assertion is Miandad's "passion for the game" which I completely stand by too, but passion isn't the only thing you need to be a good coach. Miandad has already been coach three times, and just passion was not enough in any of his previous stints.
The man was a great street fighter in his playing days, still is a very good talker, but I've never rated him as a coach. Great players, as a matter of fact, often make the worst coaches. Its no surprise that almost all of the coaches in world cricket right now, have not had the biggest of test careers.
Greg Chapel is an exception, but people like John Buchanan, Bennett King, Mikey Arther haven't even played test cricket at all. In any case, a man that has had no less then three previous stints and failed each time, should never be given a fourth go.
Richards also says Imran could be an option, but Imran's a full time politician now, so not sure he would be available. We need some one else, some one fresh, some one who can mould these guys, some one who isn't Miandad. Anyone but him.
Waseem Bari has found his lost self respect and submitted a resignation on behalf of his entire selection panel, of which Iqbal Qasim, as I said earlier, had already submitted his personal resignation before. So that makes it three days and a bit in which pretty much everyone at the top has been wiped off.
Mushy and Saleem Altaf still remain, but that's still a pretty swift clean up still all the same. Now we need to decide who replaces these guys, and since, only Mushy from amongst the top hierarchy remains, it seems he'll first appoint some one in the Doc's place and then he'll do the rest of the honors by opening his address/phone book and appointing as many of his his friends and relatives as he possibly can.
Or at least that's what been happening since 1999, when ad-hocism was brought in for the first time. Imran Khan says is all the time, but it really is imperative right now that the constitution be restored, unless that happens, we'll be making all those mistakes we made in last four years preparing for this World Cup all over again.
Some how that needs to be restored first, and all the rest will take care of it self automatically; a democratically elected CEO should emerge from amongst all the stakeholders of the game at the lower level (associations and the like) and there after, he ought to set up a human resource department that should do proper interviews before hiring people for the remaining positions. That's what should be done. But I might as well dream on they tell me.
I'm a bit late on 
Aaah, Friday, my favorite day of the week. No more college now for another two full days, and lots of spare time to blog. How I love the weekends. 
Younis was a dynamic leader. Yes, he was and perhaps still is a hasty decision maker, but whenever I saw him captain he seemed like one of those players that not only read the game well, but also had a good gut feeling, and which he was, crucially, brave enough to follow. 
I don't really know what I feel about the first suggestion, though I do agree with him about how the constitution needs to be restored and adhocism abolished. 
Besides he also has a reputation of being some what impatient? Anyone remember his "I don't want to be a dummy captain" episode?