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football Controversies
take the shine off Australia's win cricket Are
we on the right track? Pakistan
cricket continues to suffer lack of opportunity
WAPDA, after their remarkable achievement, have now qualified for the AFC President's Cup in Chinese Taipei. The tournament, which will start in early April, will see the best club teams of the region in action By Muhammad Shahbaz Zahid It turned out to be a nail-biting scenario when Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) took on Pakistan Army in their last league match. Needing a win to grab the coveted title, whereas Army needed just a single point to have it their own way, WAPDA stunned their opponents to win the fourth edition of the Pakistan Premier Football League last Monday. The Pakistan Football
Federation (PFF) organised the yearly tournament once again Fourteen outfits of the country, having top footballing stars of Pakistan in their line-ups, fought it out for the top prize. Where a few tried to avoid relegation to the bottom (B Division) league, it was up to the stronger outfits to vie for the trophy. And they surely displayed wonderful football throughout the tourney making the event a success for the organisers. WAPDA were the outright leaders right from the start and never looked like surrendering their lead. Though Army didn't hold back either and chased the leaders like a shadow, they still weren't able to hold their nerves in key ties. The 182-match tournament got off to a flyer on November 1 last year with four matches being played on the first day, in Karachi and Rawalpindi. Defending champions Army, looking to win the 53rd edition of the National Football Championship and securing their spot in the fourth Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President's Cup in April this year, opened their mission with a stylish 2-0 win over first-timers Punjab Medical College (PMC) team from Faisalabad. Other matches on the opening day saw star-studded Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) overpowering Lahore's Wohaib Club 4-0 while Chaman's Afghan Club and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) played out a 1-1 draw. Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on the other hand held their nerve to register a 1-0 win over Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) in their first match. Other teams in the tournament started their campaign on November 2. Making their debut in A Division football, Pakistan Television (PTV) made an unsatisfactory start when they were hammered 0-3 by WAPDA. Five-time champions WAPDA, who eventually made it six titles to their credit, seemed unstoppable in that match and absolutely overpowered their opponents. Two-time champions Pakistan Railways also made a substandard start when they were held 2-2 by Pakistan Navy. The match between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) also ended in a draw, 1-1. But as the tournament grew, with each side having to play a total of 26 matches in the course of the league, things started to fluctuate a lot. Teams having big-match temperaments and star players in their line-ups, eventually started making strong progress and gave away nothing in their quest for the title. And the teams played in such an aggressive manner with a have-to-win attitude that only 56 out of the 180 matches during the league were drawn. And to cap that figure, a massive 448 goals were scored. Three teams -- WAPDA, Army and KRL -- seemed in control of their games all the way through and it was left to these three sides in the end to strive for the crown. Strong temperament, an injury-free squad and having a will and desire to win are the ingredients to make a winning combination and these outfits surely showed their spirits and aspirations for the league coronet. KRL, though, lost their form and just went out of title contention in the end. In the end, it was left to WAPDA and Army to face each other and play out a match to remember. In the final, Army were seeking to play out only a draw and to win their third consecutive title. WAPDA started the proceedings in a positive manner in the first half and kept more ball possession. The first goal finally came in the second half, 63rd minute, when Army conceded an own goal. Tanveer Shahid was the poor defender then. Football, sometimes, is all about strikers. Not many people love to watch goalless stalemates when it comes to the world's game. Goals cheer up the crowd and lift the tempo as well. The Premier Football League turned out to be no different. It saw a lot of goals being scored and gave a true essence of attacking football that is being adapted mostly around the globe. And the show-stopper during the tournament, who scored the most number of goals, was WAPDA's seasoned forward Arif Mahmood. And he didn't disappoint in the final either scoring yet another goal for his team, in the 79th minute, to give WAPDA a 2-0 lead. Army hit one back two minutes before the end but it only proved to be a consolation as WAPDA ran out winners, grabbing the title also. WAPDA coach Khalid Mahmood Butt, after the match, expressed his satisfaction over the team's performances and said he will not forget this triumph. On the other hand, Army manager Major Shafqat said his team's relaxed approach towards the WAPDA match cost them the title. He said they had in mind that they only needed a draw to retain the league crown and that very approach let them down. With a goal in the final to his credit, Arif ended the tournament with an impressive tally of 21. WAPDA's Zulfiqar Ali also had a big hand in contributing towards his team's success as he scored 18 goals. Imran Hussain, the Army striker, scored 17. Shakir Lashari, having a huge reputation in local footballing circles, could just score 10 for his side as PIA finished on sixth spot. HBL's Ishtiaq Ahmed and KPT's Abdul Rehman also scored ten goals each in the tournament while NBP's Farooq Shah scored nine. Pakistan skipper and presently playing for KRL, Mohammad Essa couldn't live up to the expectations and scored just nine goals in the whole tournament. His teammate, Mohammad Qasim, also ended the league with the same tally. Essa, though, stole the show when he scored the quickest goal of the tournament. In a league match against HBL, the star player got onto the scoresheet in just 43 seconds! As many as nine hat-tricks were scored during the fourth edition of the Premier League with Arif leading the charts with two hat-tricks to his name. The other players to score hat-tricks were: Adeel Ahmed (KRL), Abdul Rehman (KPT), Imran Hussain (Army), Nomi Martin Gill (Navy), Muhammad Rasool (KRL), Zulfiqar Ali Shah (WAPDA) and Yasir Afridi (KRL). And to the surprise of nobody, WAPDA scored the most number of goals in the competition. The triumphant squad got onto the scoresheet a staggering 64 times. Though Army didn't match WAPDA in the scoring charts, they had another record to be proud of. Army conceded the least number of goals in the entire journey cementing the fact that they had a very strong defensive line-up. They conceded just 10 goals. Where there were good performances, bad footballing display was also on the cards. Wohaib Club, who were relegated to B Division football, had the poorest records -- both of scoring and conceding goals. They scored just 15 and conceded 57. WAPDA, for all their efforts, received a cash prize of five lakh rupees whereas the runners-up got a purse of Rs three lakhs. Third-placed KRL got Rs two lakhs. The debutants PTV finished twelfth in the league but ran away with the fair play trophy along with a cash purse of Rs 50,000. And the players were also rewarded for their displays with Arif, after being declared the best striker obviously, receiving Rs 30,000. The Most Valuable Player award went to Army defender Muhammad Imran, who also got Rs 50,000 in cash. A prize of Rs 30,000 was also given away to KRL goalkeeper Muhammad Aamir. Chief Guest, President of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Faisal Saleh Hayat, gave away the trophies, medals and cash prizes. WAPDA, after their remarkable achievement, have now qualified for the AFC President's Cup in Chinese Taipei. The tournament, which will start in early April, will see the best club teams of the region in action. They have been drawn in Group A along side Bangladesh's Abahani Krira Chakra. The other teams in the group are 2005 champions of the competition Regar-TAdaz (Tajikistan) and a league side from Nepal. These teams will play their matches in Kathmandu. Group B comprises Taiwan Power (Chinese Taipei), defending champions Dordoi Dynamo (Kyrgyzstan), who won the title in Pakistan last year, and Nagacorp FC (Cambodia). These teams will play their matches in Chinese Taipei. Colombo, on the other hand, will host Group C matches involving local side Ratnam SC, Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Transport United (Bhutan) and Kanbawza (Myanmar). Meanwhile, Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) were promoted to the Premier League after winning the PFF B Division League on their debut. Another team that will accompany PEL in the 5th edition of the Premier League are Pakistan Steel. Both the teams finished the tournament on 11 points each. PEL, though, finished on top after having a better goal difference. They will replace Wohaib Club and Railways. Sui Southern Gas Company, Pakistan Air Force, Pak PWD and Pakistan Ordinance Factories were the other teams in B Division. The
writer is a staff member at 'The News' Karachi shehnu@gmail.com PAKISTAN
PREMIER FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2007-08 Teams P W D L GF GA Pts WAPDA 26 16 10 0 64 23 58 Army 26 17 6 3 41 10 57 KRL 26 15 8 3 45 13 53 KPT 26 12 8 6 36 24 44 NBP 26 11 10 5 36 31 43 PIA 26 9 12 5 32 23 39 Navy 26 9 11 6 36 26 38 KESC 26 8 8 10 27 30 32 Afghan FC 26 5 13 8 23 29 27 HBL 26 7 4 15 35 42 25 PMC 26 5 7 14 19 43 22 PTV 26 5 5 16 18 47 20 Railways 26 4 7 15 22 51 19 Wohaib FC 26 2 6 18 15 57 12
During the last Test at Adelaide, Australian vice-captain and wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist unexpectedly announced his retirement from international cricket By Khurram Mahmood Australia retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy after winning the Test series against India by 2-1 last week. Australia won the fist two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney while the third Test at Perth was won by India and the last Test at Adelaide ended in a draw. The recently concluded
Test series will be remembered for a long time due to some During the second Test at Sydney one of the major disputes of Test history arose when Indian players and the board criticised umpire Steve Bucknor and demanded his removal for the third Test at Perth after some disputed decisions which cost India the match. In the same Test Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh received a ban for three Tests by South African match referee Mike Proctor following charges under the ICC Code of Conduct following his on-field exchange of words with Andrew Symonds while he was batting. The charge was forwarded by umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor after the close of play following a complaint they received from Australian captain Ricky Ponting. The Indian board reacted immediately on both issues and threatened to cancel the tour on the Harbhajan ban and umpire Steve Bucknor issues. After the ICC's interference Steve Bucknor was removed from the third Test panel and ICC appointed New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen as Appeals Commissioner for the Harbhajan case. Hansen released Harbhajan from the charges as the Australians failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove his charges. In the second Test at Sydney, Australian captain Ricky Ponting equelled former captain Steve Waugh's 16 consecutive Test wins record. Waugh created the most wins record from 1999 to 2001. Interestingly both times India stopped the Australians' winning streak and on both occasions Australia lost the Test. At Perth, Indian captain Anil Kumble became the third bowler in cricket history to complete 600 Test wickets. Kumble now stands with 604 Test victims at an average of 28.85. Only Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (723) and Shane Warne (708) of Australia are ahead of him. Ricky Ponting scored a century in the fourth Test, it was his 34th hundred in 116 Tests. He joined India's Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara as the all-time second highest Test century-makers. Sachin Tendulkar is on top with 39 centuries in 146 Tests. During the last Test at Adelaide, Australian vice-captain and wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist unexpectedly announced his retirement from international cricket. He has also taken 414 Test dismissals and set a host of batting records, including the most sixes, and the second fastest century in Test history. Adam Gilchrist has admitted that dropping the catch off Laxman on Day 1 of the fourth Test against India prompted his decision to retire as he felt he probably didn't have enough "desperation" left in him to succeed Though Australia won the Test series, overall except the first Test at Melbourne India fought hard and kept under pressure the world champions in the remaining three Tests. In spite of the series win the Australian bowling looked not effective as in the past. After the retirement of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne last year, new fast bowlers will take time to replace their bowling legends. There is no match of McGrath's accuracy and swing and magical spin bowling of Shane Warne. The first Test at Melbourne Australia won convincingly. Chasing an impossible target of 499 India on the fourth day were all out for just 161 and Australia won the Test by a huge margin of 337 runs. The second Test at Sydney was also won by Australia by 122 runs. But some decision errors and the Harbhajan-Symonds clash made the Australian victory disputed. Australia won the Test at a time when only seven balls remained on the last day. When the second last over began Ponting gave the ball to part time bowler Michael Clarke who got the wickets of Harbhajan and RP Singh on the first two balls. New batsman Ishant Sharma survived for two balls but on the fifth ball of the over he was caught at slip and Clarke's three wickets in an over gave Australia an unassailable lead in the series and Ponting his 16th consecutive win. A hype was created for the Perth pitch regarding its pace and bounce. Everybody was expecting that Australia won the Test in four days and the Indian batsmen will not survive against Brett Lee and Shaun Tait who was specially included to make the Australian pace attack stronger. But the Indians surprised everyone with an unexpected win. Batting first India scored 330 runs and restricted Australia to just 212 and took an important lead of 118 runs. Australia fought back and bowled out India for 294 in the second innings. But a target of 413 runs remained out of reach for Australia and they were all out for 340 runs as India won the Test by 72 runs. The last Test at Adelaide was very important for both teams as India wanted to win the game to level the series while Australia wanted to finish the series on a winning note. But the batting paradise pitch won the battle and only three innings were completed in five days which allowed Australia to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy till the next series in India. India's little master Sachin Tendulkar was the highest scorer of the Test series with 493 runs including two centuries and two fifties, averaging 70.42. For Australia opener Matthew Hayden and all-rounder Andrew Symonds made 410 runs each at averages of 82.00 and 68.33, respectively. But Matthew Hayden missed the third Test at Perth. In the bowling department, Australia's fast bowler Brett Lee took the most (24) wickets in the series at an average of 22.58 while skipper Anil Kumble was the most successful bowler for India with 20 scalps at an average of 34.45. The
writer works in the art department at 'The News on Sunday' in Karachi khurrams87@yahoo.com TEST
AVERAGES: BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY 2007-08 Australia batting averages Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 ML Hayden 3 5 0 410 124 82.00 62.21 3 0 A Symonds 4 7 1 410 162* 68.33 72.31 1 2 MG Johnson 4 5 3 112 50* 56.00 59.89 0 1 GB Hogg 3 5 2 148 79 49.33 61.66 0 1 MEK Hussey 4 7 1 292 145* 48.66 47.71 1 0 MJ Clarke 4 7 0 316 118 45.14 53.65 1 2 RT Ponting 4 7 0 268 140 38.28 57.63 1 1 PA Jaques 4 7 0 243 66 34.71 48.21 0 3 AC Gilchrist 4 7 0 150 55 21.42 70.09 0 1 B Lee 4 7 2 86 59 17.20 41.34 0 1 SR Clark 4 5 0 56 32 11.20 76.71 0 0 CJL Rogers 1 2 0 19 15 9.50 70.37 0 0 SW Tait 1 2 0 12 8 6.00 63.15 0 0 Australia bowling averages Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ 5wi 10wm Ct St B Lee 186.5 33 542 24 5/119 22.58 2.90 1 0 1 0 A Symonds 91.0 19 247 9 3/51 27.44 2.71 0 0 1 0 SR Clark 146.0 37 395 14 4/28 28.21 2.70 0 0 0 0 MJ Clarke 38.5 4 126 4 3/5 31.50 3.24 0 0 6 0 MG Johnson 168.1 31 530 16 4/86 33.12 3.15 0 0 1 0 GB Hogg 125.0 15 481 8 2/51 60.12 3.84 0 0 1 0 SW Tait 21.0 1 92 0 - - 4.38 0 0 1 0 AC Gilchrist - - - - - - - - - 25 0 ML Hayden - - - - - - - - - 3 0 MEK Hussey - - - - - - - - - 9 0 PA Jaques - - - - - - - - - 0 0 RT Ponting - - - - - - - - - 6 0 CJL Rogers - - - - - - - - - 1 0 India batting averages Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 V Sehwag 2 4 0 286 151 71.50 64.26 1 1 SR Tendulkar 4 8 1 493 154* 70.42 65.64 2 2 VVS Laxman 4 8 0 366 109 45.75 53.19 1 2 R Dravid 4 8 1 237 93 33.85 31.60 0 2 A Kumble 4 8 2 179 87 29.83 37.29 0 1 SC Ganguly 4 8 0 235 67 29.37 63.00 0 2 Harbhajan Singh 3 6 0 142 63 23.66 56.12 0 2 I Sharma 3 6 4 43 23 21.50 38.73 0 0 IK Pathan 2 4 0 83 46 20.75 61.48 0 0 MS Dhoni 4 8 0 141 38 17.62 37.50 0 0 Z Khan 1 2 1 11 11 11.00 68.75 0 0 W Jaffer 3 6 0 49 16 8.16 27.84 0 0 RP Singh 4 7 1 47 30 7.83 41.22 0 0 Yuvraj Singh 2 4 0 17 12 48 35.41 0
India bowling averages Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ 5wi 10wm Ct St V Sehwag 27.0 3 75 4 2/24 18.75 2.77 0 0 1 0 IK Pathan 69.0 6 229 8 3/54 28.62 3.31 0 0 0 0 A Kumble 181.3 16 689 20 5/84 34.45 3.79 1 0 2 0 Z Khan 43.4 3 187 5 4/94 37.40 4.28 0 0 0 0 RP Singh 117.5 15 507 13 4/68 39.00 4.30 0 0 1 0 I Sharma 101.0 11 358 6 3/115 59.66 3.54 0 0 1 0 Harbhajan 154.0 17 490 8 3/101 61.25 3.18 0 0 1 0 Yuvraj Singh 2.0 0 11 0 - - 5.50 0 0 2 0 SR Tendulkar 10.0 0 30 0 - - 3.00 0 0 5 0 SC Ganguly 12.0 3 34 0 - - 2.83 0 0 2 0 MS Dhoni - - - - - - - - - 10 3 R Dravid - - - - - - - - - 9 0 W Jaffer - - - - - - - - - 2 0 VVS Laxman - - - - - - - - - 5 0
Pakistan cricket: Grappling hopelessly with the protocol boys We are mesmerised by high flying ambitions and short-term self-serving plans and the higher you go, it seems, the greater is the insecurity By Dr Nauman Niaz Dr Nasim Ashraf, the
Chairman of PCB, is under great pressure to survive is another They arrive to a royal welcome with promises to set things straight and to invest in the development of cricket in Pakistan. Barring a few of these successful gentlemen they hardly know three feet outside their plush cubicle, descend into or create a moribund system amidst great fanfare and are received by everybody with great expectations. Within the PCB and outside feted, feasted, chauffeured and pampered by every rank, they enjoy and when it's time to go, they leave some ambiguous statement hovering in the air that puts cricket's future in a spin and the crackpots back in motion again. Presently, I feel, not always but mostly that cricket in the country is being run by protocol boys aided by their blue book or whatever colour it is. To think of the number of people being picked on the committees, jobs and governing bodies, coming and going, you'd think you have a bumper sale on -- some say this is true and everything that has not yet been sold to the most undeserving bidder, us up for grabs depending only on how good your grab is. You can have everything. Unlawful decisions, heavy sums of money given in cash on wrong vouchers, papers that can and are fudged till no one can comprehend where it started and where it's ending and every rule under the sun up for gross defiance on a massive scale-a state of instability? Yes, indeed, but what a flux it is and how rapidly it is transforming not just on our landscape or our failing cricket environment, but worse, our inner core. We are mesmerised by high flying ambitions and short-term self-serving plans and the higher you go, it seems, the greater is the insecurity. Why are we still grappling hopelessly with what must be the most basic things that are necessary to run the game. Why are all of us so full of nonsense, foul airs and great pomposity, absolutely unwilling to come to terms with reality? There are many examples to quote. The treatment meted out to Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi is purely capricious. On January 25, 2008 the Board of Governors of the PCB met. During the meeting besides the conspicuous green blazers that the attendees wore, several dampening decisions were taken regarding the renewal of central contracts of the players. The board insists they have applied a formula; that they always do. Shoaib Akhtar has been relegated, not even to Category C or D but given only a token retainer. This should be an indication enough for Shoaib to refer to other options? Whilst Akhtar was not considered up to the mark, Mohammad Asif retained his place in Category A. He has played only one One-day International and two Tests since the last contracts were announced in July 2007. Akhtar's relegation purely on discipline could be termed a judicious step taken by the Nasim run PCB. There shouldn't be any space for indiscipline -- agreed. Nevertheless, it looks Akhtar and Afridi have fallen on the wrong side of the powerful troika operating within our cricket's circle. Recently, there has been a conflict between the team management and the three national selectors. Dr Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, didn't deny the reports, but softened them instead. "Everyone is operating within their sphere of responsibility," he told the correspondents. About the reported incident, Ashraf elaborated "this is a healthy debate and no signs of a rift". At Lahore, the selectors met Geoff Lawson. Reportedly he had reservations when told about the team selected for the first One-day International against Zimbabwe at Karachi. Lawson was not eager to have Shahid Afridi in the eleven, preferring Fawad Alam. As informed, Lawson also wanted Kamran Akmal to open the innings. His claims were rejected by the selectors intending to pick Nasir Jamshed. Lawson had the tenacity to compare Kamran with Adam Gilchrist and when challenged by Salahuddin he then regressed putting Akmal at par with Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka -- comparisons or illusions? As reported, Lawson didn't agree with the team. Whilst the meeting was on Zakir Khan, PCB's Director Cricket Operations interrupted. He informed Salahuddin that Shoaib Malik was on line. Salahuddin deliberately started the conversation in English to ensure that Lawson listened to what he was saying. Malik agreed with the team. When Salahuddin reassured Lawson that Malik didn't have any problems, infuriated he said he didn't trust them and wanted to recheck with the captain himself. Salahuddin lost his cool and abrasively asked Lawson to come back -- "This is healthy debate and no signs of a rift", as Dr Nasim had reiterated. Over to Karachi as alleged, after the first match Pakistan team was busy practising. The selectors went to the National Stadium. Salahuddin asked Malik to spare some time for a meeting. He promised to meet at the team's hotel by 14.15 pm. At the hotel, the selectors waited until quite late in the afternoon. Running out of steam, Shafqat Rana called Malik. Malik sardonically replied that he was in the stadium 'playing cricket'. And he further added "why do you want to meet, you just give names of the eleven players as you have done before the first match" before dropping the call. He must have been operating within his sphere of responsibility as Dr Nasim had stated. Problems there are in plenty. Allegedly, the Internal Auditor of the PCB observed that the board's banking relations should have only been with six to seven top quality organisations promising high credit rate. As reported, approximately twenty branches of different banks in Lahore are giving services to the PCB. The list includes Khyber Bank, Mybank, Metropolitan Bank and Atlas etcetera whilst National Bank of Pakistan and Muslim Commercial Bank have been brazenly overlooked. And to add to the desolation, Habib Bank is being phased out. PCB has an account worth Rs 50,000,000 with Lahore's Soneri Bank, and Rs 17,013,000 with Khyber Bank. It seems a case of putting money at stake without doing the risk management and diversification. Expenditure is one thing that hasn't been taken care of. Rs 10.73m have so far been exhausted in renovation of the proposed ICC Secretariat located at Lahore's Jail Road. The only consolation is that the ICC is expected to pick up the cost. As told, one of the members of the PCB's Board of Governors in his report has rightfully inquired about Rs 4.2m advanced to the Pakistan team's ex-assistant coach during the series against England and India in 2005-06. Ironically, there was no approval or any contract of payment between the two parties. He also highlighted the discrepancy where ineligible employees of the PCB were awarded house building loans. He also cautioned the authorities that there has been a delay in receipt of the sponsorship money from Pepsi Cola Limited. To end, he had concerns about the expired rent agreements of the stadium shops in Lahore and he wanted to know why they had still not been renewed. Allegedly, for the period falling between July 2007 until November 2007 budget for the Media Department of the PCB was Rs 39,286,100 out of which Rs 29,616,700 were utilised and for the Marketing a sum of Rs 62,323,000 had been allocated out of which Rs 50,665,900 were exhausted. It is customary in Pakistan cricket management to be shafted and that too royally wherever you may be. Or in terms less hip, it is customary to get a raw deal wherever you might be and whoever you might be dealing with. The general idea -- although these days the number of ideas that the directors have are not too inspiring, is that the board should ever get a good deal, a real discount or a genuine profit. Instead, the hallowed and standard operating procedure is to make sure that you are bled dry or at best given crumbs thinly disguised as caviar. During the first meeting of PCB's Board of Governors at Karachi, the Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi also brought another point of conflict under discussion. He told the members of the Board of Governors that the Board of Revenue was in a documentary phase to sign the lease agreement for the National Cricket Academy Lahore. The mosque at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium has been taken over by the Punjab Auqaf Department. The COO advised that PCB were contemplating on appointing a new inquiry committee as to who gave the land for building the mosque. He regretted that the inquiry committee headed by the Internal Auditor had failed to do its job. And a de novo inquiry was warranted Hare-brained schemes are hot favourites and almost always in season. There being no shortage of crackpots in the country with the vision often associated with every blind mice in a dark chamber and you have the great creaking infrastructure on spindly legs rests a nation of 160 million busy pushing the teams (management and players) of virtual mediocre forward by quantum leaps.
The PCB has reiterated its firm resolve to ban those who featured in the rebel ICL. The question is who would be the beneficiary of the exercise as by banning players like Abdul Razzaq, only Pakistan's cricket would suffer By Muhammad Asif Khan It was indeed a
groundbreaking announcement that was made by the Chairman of the The job of the vice-captain is considered as a potential captain, but a misfortune with the Mianwali-born right-hander is that his age is not on his side as he is in his 34th year of life. The responsibilities of a vice-captain, apart from assisting the on-field skipper, are to fill the captaincy slot in the absence of the original captain, and take over the top slot (captaincy) after the departure of the skipper. In the first two cases Misbah seems fine, but the last option appears to be highly unlikely. I am not at all against Misbah, but the future should have been considered in this regard. I have earlier emphasised in my previous write-ups on a rotation policy for not only players but also for vice-captains and captains to shun crises. By a rotation policy for vice-captains I meant that more than one deputy should be kept in view and should be groomed with opportunities in a series or two. With this strategy, we would have a few people to consider for the skipper's job in challenging situations. Along with the promotions, there were demotions also, as some senior players like Shoaib Akhtar, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul were snubbed and were not offered central contracts. I can't say about others however, Akhtar should only blame himself for the treatment he got. Although his performance during the Indian tour was not that bad, but because of his "extra curricular" activities during the trip, he ended up in hot waters. Wake up Shoaib and concentrate more on your game and fitness; you can join Bollywood soon as you don't have many years left in you. Having said that, I still believe that the PCB came down a bit harsh on the speedster. If his omission was based on his fitness then one thing should have been kept into consideration that he was playing the series in India after a very long lay-off, secondly if he was not handled properly during the Indian trip and he got involved in some extra-curricular activities, then the tour management should share a bit of responsibility for not properly managing him. As far as his frequent breakdowns are concerned, he has always been like this. The problem is that the board has not produced another player to replace him, that's why he might think that he is indispensable. Last but surely not the least is the tussle between PCB and players representing in the Indian Cricket League. The PCB has reiterated its firm resolve to ban those who featured in the rebel Indian league. The question is that who would be the beneficiary out of the exercise as by banning players like Abdul Razzaq, only Pakistan's cricket would suffer. Many would argue that the PCB's decision is based on principles, but I disagree as things can be modified as per the situations. I would like to ask that if it was a principled stance then why Mohammad Yousuf was pulled back from ICL. Please don't recall that he misunderstood a clause while signing the contract which says that he would not be allowed to represent Pakistan during the ICL matches. No that was not the case as I personally spoke to the president of the ICL's Executive Board, Kapil Dev and he made it clear that the ICL would release a player to perform his national duty. If there are rules and regulations then they are the same for each and every individual. I want to quote a statement given by former Pakistan's skipper Waqar Younis while commenting on the third ODI, he said this ICL issue should be resolved keeping in view the national interest supreme as by taking this issue to the court of law is only bring bad name to Pakistan. I agree with Waqar who said that "after all they are kids and kids do make mistakes". I urge the players as well as the authorities to resolve the issue behind closed door rather that washing the dirty laundry in public and this matter should be tackled in a manner that Pakistan cricket setup would remain intact. The
writer is a freelance contributor mak374@hotmail.com Pakistan cricket continues to suffer lack of opportunity It is just because of the acute planning and strong lobbying on part of the Indian cricket board that there are more than enough chances for their team By Muhammad Akram Chohan The Australian cricket team's tour to Pakistan is in jeopardy due to political instability and the worsening law & order situation in the country. If this tour does not materialise, an ordinary cricket lover will be deprived of a sensational and explosive series but the most thinkable matter is the coming assignments of Pakistan team. If one goes through
the international cricket calendar, he will not end on a very Out of these six Test matches, three of them are against the visiting Australians in March. This series is seriously under threat after the reservations shown by some of the former and current Australian players. The remaining three Test matches are against the Indians at home soil in December. Between these two series, which will take place after an almost eight months gap, there are only two other assignments which the Pakistan team will be having at their disposal, and these are the Asia Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy which they most probably be hosting on home turf. This is really a matter of grave concern for our players and cricket lovers. On the other hand, we find a busy schedule for the Indians for the whole duration of the year. It is just because of the acute planning and strong lobbying on part of the Indian cricket board that there are more than enough chances for their team. Now the Indians will participate in the triangular one day tournament in Australia involving Australia and Sri Lanka after the conclusion of the Test series against the Aussies. In February they will figure in yet another triangular tournament in Bangladesh. The home side will confront them in a three-ODI series after the conclusion of the said tournament. After that the Proteas will be in India for a series of three Test matches. From April onwards to the end of the year, they will be in action in quite a few home and away Test and ODI series along with the Asia Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. The main reason for giving this lengthy detail is that due to the comprehensive exposure of playing international cricket, the Indian players have reached various milestones of international cricket, among them the most notable ones are Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. All these above mentioned players have succeeded in achieving the heights of brilliance in their respective fields. Rahul Dravid has played 119 Test matches in his international cricket career of almost 12 years while Sourav Ganguly has represented his homeland in 103 Test matches in the same duration of time. It is also worth mentioning here that due to inconsistent form and fitness, he was overlooked for some of the matches. Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar have 125 and 146 Test appearances to their credit, respectively. By taking full advantage of the given chances, the quartet has succeeded in getting various cricket records for themselves. In our country the situation is entirely different. If we have a look at our glorious past, it is very painful to observe that our legendary cricketer Imran Khan could play only 82 Test matches in his illustrious career spanning nearly 21 years. It is correct that he had skipped some of the Test matches due to his studies and the stress fracture but the number of those matches are not many. If we assume that the Test matches in which Imran could not play were 20 to 25 in number, then the total Test matches Imran would have played, should be not more than 105 which comes to five Test matches per year which is half in comparison to the average of the most Indian players of his era. Former Indian player Kapil Dev played 131 Test matches in his 15 years international career thus achieving the highest wicket-taker's position in that particular era. Sunil Gavaskar had also succeeded in reaching the heights by becoming the highest run-getter thanks to his 125 Test appearances. Our star all rounder Wasim Akram could play only 104 Test matches in his career during 19 years as an international player. He had the capability and technique that if he had been given the same opportunities like the neighboring country's players, he would have succeeded in achieving most of the bowling records but this could not happen. The boards at that time never took any concrete steps to provide him sufficient chances to demonstrate his skills in a befitting manner. It is very unfortunate on part of our cricket administrators that in the past our talented youngsters could not perform up to their potential due to inefficiency and lack of proper planning of the earlier boards but the real disturbing matter is that the current situation is not very different from yesteryear. The board needs to focus on this by improving its strategy and lobbying at international forums so we could succeed in getting our due share in the international cricket calendar. This will surely enhance the enthusiasm and passion of our upcoming and budding cricketers. They would be able in setting their eyes on becoming the legends in their respective fields whether they are bowlers, batsmen or wicket-keeper. The formation of various committees for smooth functioning of the board is not asolution of the problem. They will have to put up all out efforts very seriously to bring in a change in the attitude of top officials of the world's governing body towards Pakistan cricket otherwise the current lot of talented youngsters will have to face the same fate as their predecessors.
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with the top teams of the country participating in the top tier local
league.
disputes and records in the series. It was one of the most controversial
series ever between the two countries.
crackpot theory I am bored to tears with. Pressure where? And how is
this pressure exerted? I ask you. It seems to me, as history suggests,
retired and serving generals, judges, doctors, bureaucrats and
politicians, various other factotums of varying plumage, having time at
their hands and a return ticket about to lapse, head to Lahore's Gaddafi
Stadium.
Pakistan Cricket Board that Misbah-ul-Haq will be the vice-captain till
December this year. Misbah has surely and rightly been rewarded for his
superb performance since making a come back. Misbah-ul-Haq has also been
promoted to category A. Recognition to his services is an appreciable
move, however, his appointment as the vice-captain is seen as a bit
unconvincing.
pleasant note. The Pakistan team will play only six Test matches during
the whole year.