Rafa:
The King of Clay
By Abdul Ahad Farshori
One of the more compelling questions raised by Rafael Nadal's emergence as an all-court Grand Slam champion in late 2008 and early 2009 was: Just how often does this talented boy have to win Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Paris before he looks at the red-clay lineup of tournaments, shrugs, and says, "Been there, done that. Think I'll go visit my family this May, or maybe take a six-week surfing vacation in Hawaii."

From glory to dust
In the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958, Pakistani athletes bagged five gold, four silver and four bronze medals. Since then things have been downhill for the country
By Alam Zeb Safi
From 1954 to 1974, Pakistan was regarded as a force in athletics at the Asian level. In 1954, in Manila Asian Games, Pakistani athletes got four gold and four silver medals. Then in the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958, the Greenshirts finished with five gold, four silver and four bronze medals. In the 1964 Jakarta Asian Games, Pakistan grabbed two gold, two silver and two bronze while in the 1966 Bangkok's event, the country took only one gold. In the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games, Pakistan missed the gold for the first time in the event's history and had to settle with a silver, and two bronze medals.

Pakistan cricket: Is the stage set for the funeral?
We should try overcoming the savagery of the political deadlock and Pakistan cricket's isolation. We shouldn't be fearful of what may well happen and we shouldn't let the events dampen our exhilaration. Even, if we haven't been up to the mark, we should try now
By Dr Nauman Niaz
Pakistan despite winning their first match against Australia at the Sports City in Dubai subsequently lost their focus and in the backdrop was a team trying coming to terms with its new role of playing home series on neutral venues, its first clumsy step towards uncertainty and start of a journey to isolation.

A couple of days after a group of Pakistani journalists sent reports back home that two Pakistan Academy cricketers broke the team's curfew and were seen at a Nairobi nightclub, Aaqib Javed -- who was at that time the Pakistan Academy coach -- vented his anger against the reporters for catching his charges red-handed.

"What's wrong with visiting a nightclub?" he asked this correspondent at the Nairobi Gymkhana on the sidelines of a match between the visiting Academy team and Kenya. "Those boys were punished because of such a trivial thing. If such deeds were punished during my playing career, I would have remained suspended all through it," he had added at that time with his tone loaded with both frustration and anger.

During that entire argument, Aaqib was unable to see that there was an obvious reason why such misconduct couldn't have gone unpunished. Opener Ahmed Shahzad and pacer Anwar Ali -- both youngsters -- were present at a club in an unsafe Nairobi neighborhood at around 2.00 am despite the management imposing a strict 11pm curfew. They were members of the Pakistan Academy team at a level where discipline is probably the most important quality to have.

Ahmed, who was only 16 at that time, was fined $400 and banned for two matches while Anwar was fined $200 and banned for one match.

While Aaqib failed to appreciate the fact that the journalists had actually done his job by locating them at the disco, team manager Haroon Rasheed was quite thankful.

"I'm really shocked to know that they were partying so late in the night," Haroon had told this correspondent. "It's a bit unbelievable too because we just arrived in Nairobi at about 11.30 on Thursday night and I thought the boys would have been too tired to venture out... especially because of the fact that we had played a one-day game in Mombasa earlier in the day."

Haroon, a former Test batsman, added that the situation was compounded by the fact the club was a fair distance from the team's hotel. "I'm really upset at the boys because they've not only violated the code of conduct but also risked being mugged because Nairobi is a dangerous city after dark."

In a twist of fate that can only happen in Pakistan cricket, while Haroon was dumped by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) once the Academy returned home, Aaqib was promoted as a bowling coach of the national team.

The reason behind narrating the Nairobi story is to underline the fact that while the PCB top brass will always make tall claims that it will never compromise on discipline, it will mostly do the opposite.

In recent times, the Board has been making all out efforts to convince its critics that its most important target was to ensure that there is no compromise on fitness and discipline as far selection is concerned.

Recent happenings suggest that if this really is PCB's most important target then the Board is not really taking its targets seriously.

Reports that came from UAE where Pakistan played five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 game against Australia from April 22-May 7 were not really very encouraging.

It seemed that discipline was the last thing on the players' minds during their stay in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and that fitness didn't really come first. If Pakistan had believed that fitness was of utmost importance then they wouldn't have selected the half-fit Shoaib Akhtar in the one-day squad. But the controversial pacer wasn't just included in the squad, he went on to play four of the five one-dayers even though he merely seemed to be a shadow of his previous self during the best part of the series that Pakistan lost 2-3.

Later, the 33-year-old Shoaib even managed to find a place in the 15-man squad for next month's World Twenty20 Championship in England.

It was a shocking decision even though it wasn't entirely unexpected.

I mean, just a few weeks back, everyone in the Pakistan team management was telling you that the Shoaib Akhtar chapter is closed. "You don't have to worry about him (Shoaib) anymore because he is history," they would tell you.

Just days after Shoaib flopped miserably in the one-day series against Sri Lanka at home earlier this year, a senior team official rejected the controversial pacer as spent force and told this correspondent that Pakistan will be "complete fools" if they fielded him in the World Twenty20 Championships.

One is surprised that there wasn't any opposition from any quarter over Shoaib's selection in the Pakistan squad. One did hear from 'sources' that chief selector Abdul Qadir wasn't happy over the fast bowler's inclusion and his feelings were shared by Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam.

But publicly, the two senior members of the Pakistan team's think-tank didn't say anything against it.

The injury-prone Shoaib played in four of the five games against Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, bowled a total of 27 overs and took a combined haul of 3-152 at 50.66. In what was quite a low-scoring series, Shoaib had an expensive economy rate of 5.62.

Pakistani officials have time and again said that fitness and fielding skills play an important role in the shortest version of the game. It was quite clear in UAE that Shoaib is by far the most sluggish fielder in the Pakistani line-up. Even if one agrees with skipper Younis Khan that Shoaib will just have to bowl four overs in a match and that his experience will benefit Pakistan, what will he do when Shoaib will be unable to run fast enough to save a boundary or stop the rival batsmen from converting a single into two runs?

When Younis Khan took over from Shoaib Malik after that disastrous ODI series against Sri Lanka at home this January, one had great expectations from the Mardan-born batsman. He did respond well to captaincy initially, scoring a match-saving triple ton against the Sri Lankans in Karachi in what his was first match as a regular captain.

But in UAE, Younis flopped both as captain and as the team's senior batsman. He was unable to contribute much with the bat in the five one-dayers and as captain some of his moves were appalling. One can also question the wisdom behind his support for Shoaib Akhtar. It is believed that Younis also overruled national selectors and included unheralded batsman Shahzaib Hasan in the squad for the June 5-21 World Twenty20 Championships. Shahzaib is regarded as a hard-hitting batsman on the domestic circuit but the youngster has hardly proved himself worthy of a Pakistan cap. It's a gamble which should pay off in England or Younis will be asked a lot of questions when he returns home.

On a positive note, Pakistan can take some solace in the fact that their most experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi is back to his brilliant best. Afridi, who went through a lean patch that almost threatened his future with Pakistan, was his team's top performer in UAE. He finished as the top wicket-taker and also managed to hit some boundaries which have eluded him in recent times. Also in good touch was wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who helped Pakistan earn a consolation win the final ODI match with sparkling hundred. Pakistan will certainly need similar performances from Afridi, Akmal and the rest of their senior players, if they are to win the Twenty20 extravaganza this summer.

Twenty20 cricket is spreading like an epidemic across the globe, all cricket playing nations setting the stage for this form of the game, even in North America -- where cricket is not so popular and still known as a 'bug'.

At first it was all started by Allen Stanford -- a Texas-based millionaire who introduced T20 in the continent but it was still outside the mainland USA -- in former British colonies of West Indies. It seems like the idea didn't die after Stanford's downfall.

It sparked plenty of controversies around the world specially in England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) involved it's chairman Giles Clarke, and then Stanford was accused of a fraud in the US and Caribbean, England decided that they will not take part in any future $20m Stanford Super Series matches or the Stanford-sponsored Quadrangular Twenty20 games.

However, now a new league is coming forward in North America, it appears that Jay Mir, the president American Sports and Entertainment Group (ASEG), is capitalising on the huge interest evoked by IPL in the US by planning to run a tournament called APL (American Premier League).

The inaugural series of the lucrative APL -- which will take place twice a year -- will be played out on a converted baseball ground in New York from October 6-26 and the next one in April 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Matches will be played at the home of Minor League baseball team, the Staten Island Yankees, which has a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, a view that would challenge any of the world's great cricket grounds.

Mir lined up a three-year deal with minor-league baseball team, Staten Island Yankees.

"We have completed everything and the stage is set," Mir told Telegraph Sport. "We have a contract with the stadium, we have one of the top event managers working on the project, the New York Yankees are big backers and will organise the event for us. They will help manage security which is obviously a big thing these days as well as the crowd in the stadium."

A spokesman for New York Yankees confirmed they were in talks, adding they were "very excited" at prospect of bringing cricket to the city.

Though it is purportedly modelled on IPL, it has also taken a leaf out of ICL and given national names to its teams. For instance, there is a Premium World Team, Premium India, Premium Bangladesh, Premium Pakistan, Premium Windies and a home team called Premium America.

Mir has been in negotiations with former West Indies captain Ritchie Richardson to recruit the West Indian team. Also has found an agent to recruit the world team.

Bidding for the players in the APL sides will take place in the same way as that of the IPL, with players being sold to franchise holders with the highest offer.

According to a report, former South African cricketers Nicky Boje, Andrew Hall and Lance Klusener -- who have jointly represented South Africa in 113 Tests and 374 One-day Internationals -- had already been offered lucrative contracts to participate in the APL.

The three South Africans were banned from participating in their team after they became the first local players to sign up for the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) two years ago. The International Cricket Council (ICC) refused to recognise the ICL, with the BCCI launching the IPL in its wake.

Mir said the tournament has signed up players from the major cricket nations with the majority coming from the ICL.

"Most of those involved are ex-players and ICL players. Some would be affected (if the tournament was not recognised) but that is the choice of the players," he said.

"Sixty to seventy percent of the tournament's players are ICL players," he said. "Former England spin bowler John Emburey, a coach in the ICL, had agreed to be coach of a 'Premium World' team in the competition with Richie Richardson coaching a Caribbean XI."

"The 'Premium World' team is made up of players from England, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka," said Mir, who declined to name any of those contracted.

"However, that former New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee has signed up as an 'executive board member' of the event and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has agreed to play," he added.

Beside Hadlee, two former Australian players Jason Gillespie and Damien Martyn have signed up also to play in the league.

From the Pakistan point of view, Inzamamul-Haq and six other players are planning to feature in the league.

ìRana Naved, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain Mushtaq and I have agreed to play in this league when it is launched in New York," Inzamam said in an interview.

It leaves one man out of this signing spree -- Mohammad Yousuf -- who is keen to clear his record in order to play with Pakistan.

Inzamam didn't elaborate if he had received clearance from ICL organisers for American league as ICL claims it still has valid contracts with Pakistani cricketers even though its league has been delayed this year.

"Players were keen to play in American league as it was a new concept, new venue and it would be exciting to play in America," said Inzamam.

Sources said Inzamam and other players had received ICL approval before signing up. Mir looks forward to sign other players including pace bowler Mohammad Asif.

The fate of APL is not known, because (Board of Cricket Control of India) BCCI is lobbying against the league like it did against the ICL.

The ICC, meanwhile, issued a memo to members last week, which warns against involvement in the American venture.

"Members are... precluded from releasing their players to play in this event until such time as ICC confirms that the event has been approved," read the memo.

A spokesman for the USA Cricket Association (USACA) said, "Mir had last contacted the body on the phone a month ago but had yet to make a formal application for authorisation."

John Aaron, the secretary of the USACA said, that the board's "blessing was not sought in promoting the tournament."

"The entrepreneurial sprit is alive and well in the USA, therefore many individuals continue to seek opportunities to arrange events," he added.

Mir said he was confident of getting that authorisation but that the tournament, which was no longer recruiting players, would go ahead with or without the blessing of the sport's official bodies.

"APL will go down all avenues to work in conjunction with USACA, but in case that does not happen, it will not affect APL from hosting this historic event," he added.

"I want to bring this great game of cricket to America," said Mir. "We have had a phenomenal response and what we have achieved in one month no one has achieved in 20 years.

"The business model is very unique. The name is unique and is helping the success. I believe cricket and USA are at a historic crossroad and it is the right time for this great sport to flourish in America," he said.

Pakistan regained some respectability towards the end of the five-match One-day International series after winning the final game against Australia last week, but lost the rubber 3-2.

After winning the first game convincingly, Pakistan were fancying their chances to win the series, but as the Aussies settled down to the warm conditions and put the security concerns behind them they fought back and took the rubber without much fuss.

Before starting the ODI series, Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam was confident that his spinners will cause problems for Australia's batsmen, who had struggled against slow bowlers in the preceding ODI series in South Africa and in the first One-day International at the Dubai Sports City Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal proved their coach's prediction right.

Australia were unable to counter the two spinners effectively. But the world champions proved themselves a superior side by bouncing back successfully and overcoming their weaknesses quickly to take the next three One-day Internationals and the series.

The lack of discipline and usual inconsistency displayed in the batting department can be described as the root-cause of Pakistan's below-par performances in the series, specially the third ODI. Chasing a modest target of 198, Pakistanís openers though unexpectedly provided an excellent start of 95 runs, but the middle-order failed to capitalize on the advantage and the last nine wickets fell for just 76 runs and Pakistan lost the game by 27 runs.

Giving rest to experienced pro Umar Gul in the fourth do-or-die game came as a shocking move from the management. The players who are complaining about being short of practice had to take rest after just three outings! If it had something to do with the 'rotation policy' then Afridi or Ajmal should have been dropped in favour of the untried Fawad Alam, especially for the last match.

Before starting the series, Pakistan captain Younis Khan had expressed his disappointment that Australia had rested their key members including captain Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson for the ODI series. By the time the series ended Younis must have been thanking Cricket Australia for not sending these players which allowed his team to win at least two matches.

Though Younis, too, was not expecting too much from his team, yet he was hopeful that his players would learn from Australia's attitude on the field.

Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who returned to the squad after recovering from a knee injury, was also confident of his team's chances against Australia in the one-day series. He believed the world champions are less of a threat than in the past and are now much easier to beat than before. According to him Australia had been weakened by the loss of the three key players.

But after all those claims from the coach, captain and a senior player Pakistan failed to clinch the ODI series where conditions were in their favour.

As far as the bowlers are concerned they performed much better. Except for the last ODI, the Pakistanis did not allow the Australians to cross the 200-run mark whenever they batted first.

But it was the usually inconsistent batting that let Pakistan down again. Chasing modest targets the batsmen failed to deliver, specially the senior players. Skipper Younis is a brave and good middle-order player but unfortunately he failed to take the pressure of captaincy. The additional responsibility affected his batting badly as he managed only 73 runs in the series at an average of 14.60 with a highest score of 28.

Younis' track record against Australia in One-day Internationals is quite ordinary. Against the world champions he has played 16 one-dayers and scored only 231 runs at an average of just 15.40 scoring just one fifty.

Surprisingly all-rounder Afridi remained the most successful bowler of the ODI series with 10 wickets at an average of 17.40. His best ODI figures of 6-38 in the first match had provided Pakistan an opportunity to win the series against the world champions after a long time. Afridi and Ajmal created problems for the Aussies throughout the series.

Pakistan's much-publicised ëtrump cardí Shoaib Akhtar took only 3 wickets in four matches averaging a generous 50.66. Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat went wicket-less conceding 50, 69 and 99 runs, respectively.

Overall it was not a disappointing series especially for a team that had not played enough international matches during the last 12 months. The series result could have been 3-2 in favour of Pakistan, but the lack of match practice and some sloppy batting let them down.

By Abdul Ahad Farshori

One of the more compelling questions raised by Rafael Nadal's emergence as an all-court Grand Slam champion in late 2008 and early 2009 was: Just how often does this talented boy have to win Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Paris before he looks at the red-clay lineup of tournaments, shrugs, and says, "Been there, done that. Think I'll go visit my family this May, or maybe take a six-week surfing vacation in Hawaii."

Apparently, the answer is ëat least five times'. Nadal won Barcelona and the Monte Carlo event for the fifth straight year while he won the Rome event for the fourth time.

David Nalbandian, penciled in as Nadal's quarter-final opponent, pulled out of Barcelona with a bum hip. Far be it for me to question Nalbandian's integrity, but really, why should he -- or anyone else -- go out there when they know they're just going to get an old-fashioned whipping at the hands of this 22-year-old clay-court demon?

Same was the fate for former world no 3 Novak Djokovic -- defending champion at the tournament -- as he was beaten by the King of clay in the final of the Rome Open. This was the fourth crown for the Spaniard in Rome.

Twenty-two is a pretty young age to claim you're the greatest ever, at anything, unless you're a gymnast or professional ice-skater.

I'm living the best time of my career," said Nadal after easing into his fifth straight final at his home event. I really need to appreciate this time because it will not be repeated," Nadal said after defeating Davydenko in the semifinal of the Barcelona Open.

The Spaniard lived up to his claims and won the tournament for the fifth consecutive year by downing David Ferrer

Just contemplate some of these numbers: Nadal's career record on clay is 166-14, but that includes 10 losses incurred before 2005 -- in other words, back when he probably was still reading ëHarry Potter' books.

Since the start of 2005, he's 139-4. The fantastic four who own wins over him in that period are: Gaston Gaudio, Igor Andreev, Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero. The win must have been cold comfort for Ferrero, because he's the Spanish guy everyone immediately forgot when Nadal emerged on the tennis scene.

So far, Nadal has bagged 23 clay-court titles; that's as many titles as former world No 1 Jim Courier won during his entire career -- on all surfaces. That figure includes Nadal's four consecutive French Open titles. In fact, Nadal is unbeaten at Roland Garros -- and could remain so for the next, ohÖ lets say five or seven years.

Nadal has absorbed just three losses against members of the current top 25: Federer, David Ferrer and Fernando Gonzalez.

You can bet that the eight members of that distinguished group who are yet to play Nadal on clay aren't exactly elbowing each other out of the way to get a go against his highness.

The most extraordinary element in Nadal's history on clay is his ability to sustain that through-the-roof level of play. And any suspicions that, with the Wimbledon and Australian Open titles in hand, he'd ease up or find it hard to get motivated for another clay-court season have been pretty much blown out of the water.

This inability of Nadal to slow down, lose interest or rest on his laurels is a key to understanding, and it points to some of his extraordinary virtues as a competitor.

Chief among these is his sheer love of tennis combat. If he were just a gifted title-bagger, or a young athlete hell-bent on achieving fame and fortune, it's unlikely that he'd be playing this clay-court season as if it were his first.

No player in our era has shown such a profound and simple love of competition, and it's that devotion to the process that has enabled Nadal to transcend the stereotype of a ëclay-court specialist'.

Having only dropped one set over the three-week stretch, it's tough to imagine someone taking three sets from Nadal at the French Open, which begins in three weeks.

The Spaniard will be aiming for a record fifth consecutive title at Roland Garros, which would break a tie with Bjorn Borg, who won six French Opens overall.

"Every tournament is completely different," said Nadal, who will play in the Madrid Masters before heading to Paris. "In Roland Garros we will see. Important thing is (to) play well. If I am playing well, I'm going to have a lot of chances to have good results in both tournaments. But you never know what can happen. Tennis is always like this."

While all is going good in the Kingdom of Nadal its trouble times for the Swiss great, former World no 1, as he is yet set his mark in 2009. But under pressure Roger Federer has questioned the importance of Andy Murray's rise to world No 3 as the Scot continues to heap pressure on the out-of-form Swiss.

Murray will become the first British man to rise to No 3 in the world when next week's rankings are released.

But world No 2 Federer, who Murray is likely to usurp by the end of the year, thinks the Scot's move up from No 4 is nothing to get excited about and hinted that the 21-year-old needs to win a Grand Slam to be considered as good as himself and Rafael Nadal. Federer's No 2 slot could be snatched by the in-form Murray.

"It's nice but is there a big difference between being No 3 and No 4 in the world? I don't think so," Federer told the BBC in an interview. "It's about being No 1 or No 2, being the top seed, being the top dog. That's what it's about for Andy. It's a nice story and he would deserve it. He's had probably the best hard court season with me and Rafa.

"I won the US Open and Rafa won the Australian Open. Murray unfortunately didn't win in Shanghai (the Masters Cup), actually Djokovic did. He didn't win the big ones but he was very solid in the Masters series."

Murray over took the third spot after replacing Djokovic who needed to win the Rome title to retain his ranking but failed to do so.

In the end, as much as Nadal loves the clay, it isn't about the clay. The roots of Nadal's success are far, far below the surface.

The writer works as sub-editor for

The News, Karachi

aafarshori@hotmail.com

From 1954 to 1974, Pakistan was regarded as a force in athletics at the Asian level. In 1954, in Manila Asian Games, Pakistani athletes got four gold and four silver medals. Then in the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958, the Greenshirts finished with five gold, four silver and four bronze medals. In the 1964 Jakarta Asian Games, Pakistan grabbed two gold, two silver and two bronze while in the 1966 Bangkok's event, the country took only one gold. In the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games, Pakistan missed the gold for the first time in the event's history and had to settle with a silver, and two bronze medals.

In 1974 Tehran Asian Games, our athletes returned with one gold and two bronze medals. After this event, the decline started and though Pakistan took one silver medal in the Bangkok Asian Games held in 1978, they returned empty-handed from 1982 New Delhi and 1986 Seoul Asian Games.

Interestingly, after eight years of hibernation, Pakistan bounced back, clinching one gold and a bronze medal in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. But in the subsequent 1994 Asiad held in Hiroshima, Pakistan claimed a bronze medal which proved to be their last one as since then the country has not won any medal in athletics in the Asian Games.

The above statistics indicate that in the 1954, 1958 and 1966 Asian Games the performance of the Pakistani athletes was more impressive. It would be unfair to ignore the contribution of Brigadier CHB Rodham, the then lifetime president of the Army Sports Control Board, who later became the Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). Rodham used to send top ten to 12 athletes to England for four to six months of training and competition every year on a regular basis and that was the main reason that Pakistan's medals-winning graph in the Asian Games held in the 1950s and 1960s was praiseworthy.

In 1957, former Test cricketer Abdul Hafiz Kardar, who was acting as advisor to the Ministry of Education, came with an idea that the top athletes of the universities of Sindh, Peshawar, Punjab and East Pakistan should be trained in Abbottabad, so that it could serve as a binding force for the diverse cultures on the one hand and to produce talented athletes for the future use on the other hand.

The initiative paid dividend and it was in 1959, when a team of five athletes of the Pakistan Universities was sent to Italy to feature in the World Universities Games held in Torino. Interestingly, four boys of the five-member team later got Pakistan's colour. In 1961-1962 a ten-member combined team of the Pakistan's education boards and universities, also carrying two boys from Dhaka, was sent to Germany for training and competitions under the aegis of the University Grant Commission (UGC).

However, the continuity was halted when the UGC also included other sports in the programme on the insistence of some influential elements within the body, minimising the proportion of athletes which ultimately had adverse effect on the athletics standard of Pakistan. These were some good steps towards building a strong base which are no more seen. These days only the athletes with strong backing can take part in the World Universities Games while there is no planning seen to train the youth on foreign soil on regular basis.

How can we expect medals from our athletes at the Asian level when we don't have any solid programmes? Few days ago, when I asked a top official of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) about his future planning, he looked disappointed. He was of the view that there is dearth of good athletes in the country. He even went on to say that there is no need of any further tartan track in the country when there are no athletes at all. He also said that there are only three boys out of the available lot who, if properly trained, could win medals for the country at the Asian level. Is it not disappointing that in a population of almost 170 million, we have only three promising athletes? This shows that no sincere effort is being made for the revival of the lost glory in athletics, which is called the mother of all sports.

Ask Muhammad Talib, a former international athlete, and he will tell you what is wrong with the present system and how it could be corrected to produce good results.

"It is wrong to say that there is dearth of talent in athletics in Pakistan. Talent is there but who will bell the cat to hunt and groom it. Currently, due to growing population, the authorities can get even more talent from educational institutions. The Inter-school Athletics Championships should be conducted regularly and the AFP's coaches should monitor them and pick talented athletes for the future use," Talib, who was awarded Tamgha-i-Imtiaz on August 14, 1997, said.

"The whole structure is faulty. All the power rests with the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP). The role of the provincial associations is minimal. The AFP should fund the federating units so that talent could be hunted and trained at regional level."

"The authorities should work on building athletes in three phases, from eight to 12 years, 13 to 18, and then from 18 years of age to 40. Academies could also play a major role in preparing the athletes, but who could establish them. Four years back, the reigning president of the AFP had announced here at the KESC's office that the federation is going to establish an academy at Lahore. Now, I must ask, where is that academy?" he stressed.

While terming the current set-up of the AFP as useless, Talib questioned, "What have the AFP secretary Khalid Mehmood and his team done during the last nine years? They are just wasting precious time. There are talented people like former international athletes including Salman Butt, Dr Meesaq Rizvi, 100 metres national record holder Habib Shah, and the most qualified persons in sports sciences Dr Waheed Mughal and Akhtar Nawaz Ganjeera of the PSB, who, if given the reins of the AFP, are competent enough to bring the athletics out of crisis. They know the sport and have the administrative qualities to run athleticsí affairs in the country," he suggested.

A month ago, two athletes from a powerful unit in the National Championship in Lahore set new national records. But I would advise the AFP that it should conduct the drug test of the duo so that it could be discerned whether their records are genuine, or not.

If the authorities are to revive athletics in the country, they should put in sincere efforts to remove all the ills from the domestic structure, flush out irregularities in the selection of the athletes and coaches for foreign tours and to fight against the drugs menace, besides devising solid long-term strategy for hunting and grooming of the talent.

The writer is a staff member of The News, Karachi

73.alam@gmail.com

Pakistan despite winning their first match against Australia at the Sports City in Dubai subsequently lost their focus and in the backdrop was a team trying coming to terms with its new role of playing home series on neutral venues, its first clumsy step towards uncertainty and start of a journey to isolation.

I am particularly severe on the team for I had gone bonkers, maturing in years to suggest that the PCB and the Pakistani game was being severely disrupted and it could end in shreds.

It hasn't come as a shock to me to learn how deeply insecure we have been about our own state; completely trumped and slipping to non-entity in the cricket world. I still do not believe that terrorism and militancy represent a clear and present danger to the Pakistani game, though I do understand that there has been an ideological conspiracy, but I still stubbornly think that despite the BCCI squeezing us tight, the Pakistan team or the PCB still aren't a ripe fruit ready to fall.

From the five matches between Pakistan and Australia it is clearly evident that the national game is on the rockers, rapidly ending on its feet. It's time PCB does the thinking or asks for a funeral. They need their people to stand-up to challenges, to pick-up the shreds as they have four-pronged problems a) External and peripheral resistance b) Inadequate talent resource and inefficient domestic structure c) poor management teams d) lack of vision and plans.

In Asia, BCCI has become one too powerful with everything falling in the slot and the ICC presumably in their pocket. One must credit India for executing their plans astutely and industriously while Pakistan lead by Dr Nasim Ashraf tried dancing to their jingle. Nonetheless, BCCI's recent apathy against the PCB and their untiring arm-twisting has appalled me and I am surprised how little confidence they have in themselves. I have written about India's over-optimistic endeavours to leave Pakistan licking their wounds in absolute seclusion, not even a housefly buzzing near its nose. Pakistan has been prudently, termed as a place where militancy has grown out of proportions and though sporadically it has looked getting out of control, providing enough reasons for the already biased lot to sloganeer against our incapacity and collapse.

You do not need to be a Sherlock Homes to discover that Pakistan has been trumped by the BCCI and ICC has decided not to accept us as a mainstream member as anything approaching equality. Pakistan, in this regard due to the events and of course mostly because of their own failings (the ambush at Lahore on March 3rd, 2009) has been luckless. PCB's repeated failures and their helplessness, also their incapacity to understand BCCI's designs and the subsequent fallouts still do not down my spirits.

Pakistan cricket is in turmoil of far-reaching change. There have been trepidations, some anxiety of the trembling kind, and there seems no freshness of sprouting leaves in the behaviour of the top-tier of the PCB. I understand these are really difficult times with the world politics having a negative impact on Pakistan's internal security, economy and geo-political balance.

We should try overcoming the savagery of the political deadlock and Pakistan cricket's isolation. We shouldn't be fearful of what may well happen and we shouldn't let the events dampen our exhilaration. Even, if we haven't been up to the mark, we should try now.

We must admit that India has now become a world cricket power and soon they would be the most powerful. And by introducing leagues such as the IPL, they have dropped a bomb, adding a new dimension to cricket's future destruction. BCCI must realize that temporary elevation to a high global status would create anarchy within the white nations. There should be a feeling of guilt as BCCI has started the ruination process of Asian block's demolition.

Now in the region with Pakistan trounced badly, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh more than eager to tap India's huge resource, there is a multiplicity of worlds, different religions of the game and their sub-divisions, a variety of voices though India is trying to pay hoots to its adversaries. Asian cricket's secular religion is no more a free enterprise and India's rugged individualism isn't a perfect blessing. Pakistan cricket has to rise through the morning hopes and evening dreams, by developing simple faith in our way of doing things, a belief in happy endings that should now become part of our optimism.

Time has come, despite global restrictions and impediments at our own level we must stop practicing supply-side economics, monetarism and try building our resource through a free enterprise system, through market forces and private ownership of the regional or domestic teams. We must believe in the free enterprise system and its mystique. Assuredly and slowly we could have everything good and plentiful, every bounty, every gift of success stemming from free enterprise-this should become our supreme inventiveness. We have to rise from our dead status otherwise there wouldn't even be a tombstone that Pakistan cricket ever lived.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) now needs to consider the vigour and the romanticism of this bit of braggadocio. We need to follow the beguiling simplicity of the philosophy of United State of America's most formidable tycoons, Henry Ford: "Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice".