On the surface, it appears that no one here in Pakistan has ever been satisfied with the domestic cricket system in vogue in the country. Every time a new season dawns, there's a clamour for a change in the format of the various competitions. Just where should the changes be implemented? And the big question is: Does the system really need an overhaul?

Each season starts with the Inter-District Under-19 tournament which is generally followed by the Inter-District Senior championship. Currently, there's an Inter-Region Under-16 competition too and then there are the Inter-Region Under-19 one-day and three-day tournaments.

There is a non-first-class Inter-Region Grade-II championship also, which is contested by second-string sides of the country's 11 cricketing regions. The main limited overs competition is the National One-day Cup in addition to a now feverishly followed and well accepted National Twenty20 Cup, which are both sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) -- formerly the ABN-AMRO Bank, as is most of Pakistan's domestic cricket.

The premier first-class event of the season is the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Championship, which is the symbol of Pakistan's national cricket title. As all the leading regional and commercial departmental teams of the country have now been bunched together in the Quaid Trophy tournament, the first-class Patron's Trophy competition at the moment is not part of the circuit, though the Patron's Trophy Grade-II championship is.

The Pentangular Cup championship remains one of the more prestigious events on the domestic circuit. It enjoys first-class status and is played among the 'best' five teams in the country. Its format, however, continues to be tampered with every season and it has, perhaps, not yet gained the kind of respect it deserves.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) arranges regional and national level competitions for the country's women and boys and girls school teams also every season. Do we still need to have more cricket?

It appears that the national cricket body has been doing its job quite efficiently over the years, but the questions that still rankle the mind are: Is the domestic cricketing structure providing the country with real top class cricketers? Has the base become strong enough to provide just the right kind of launching pad for all aspiring players?

Recently, a meeting of cricket-related people from various segments of the stakeholders' fraternity -- government ministers and officials, the PCB's top brass, presidents and office-bearers of various cricket associations, leading former cricketers and noted sports journalists and mediamen -- was called in Islamabad jointly by the Federal Ministry of Sports and the PCB. A point that was raised by a few attendees was top class cricket should revert to the 'divisional' system all over again.

Although this demand was not pressed upon much in the said meeting, and the invitees continued to relate problems faced by the country's eleven regional cricket associations -- no one, unfortunately, raised a voice for the plight of the departmental teams -- the grapevine reveals that some people in the PCB hierarchy are seriously considering to bring back the divisional set-up in Pakistan's first-class cricket.

DIVISIONS WERE ABOLISHED BACK IN AUGUST 2000

The bad news for these so-called 'revolutionaries' is that the administrative divisions in Pakistan's political system were abolished as long as eight years ago! Now, the country is divided into districts instead.

The districts of Pakistan form the third tier of government here, ranking as subdivisions of the provinces of Pakistan. Prior to August 2000, the provinces contained administrative units called divisions which contained districts as the fourth level of government. Eight years ago, the divisions were abolished as an administrative tier, and the provinces are now directly divided into districts.

The PCB didn't immediately introduce a district-based system in the country's cricketing structure. In 2000-01, the 12 teams that competed in the season's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Championship represented Pakistan's former 'divisions'. There were two teams each from Karachi and Lahore, in addition to Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sheikhupura and Islamabad.

Of course, Islamabad was never considered a full-fledged division, neither in a political sense nor a cricketing context. It had a separate status as the Islamabad Capital Territory. But its cricket association had become a part of the first-class circuit in 1992-93 after having won the previous season's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade-II competition.

In 2000-01, however, as many as twenty-six (26) teams formed part of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade-II event. They all could be called district-level outfits, except for Hazara, Malakand and Makran, which had been termed as divisions before the August 2000 changeover.

While the Grade-II teams were not divided into the four pools according to the cricketing regions they came from -- because the latter had not been formed yet -- the 44 teams in the subsequent season (2001-02) were divided according to the provinces that they represented.

In the 2002-03 season, 26 of these district teams played in the tournament called the Cornelius Trophy, named after Justice AR Cornelius who was one of the pioneers of Pakistan's cricket after Independence, while 28 were placed in the non-first-class Patron's Trophy Championship.

District-level cricket was introduced in its full essence finally in the 2003-04 season, in the shape of the Inter-District Senior Championship. As many as 78 teams were put in the nine regional sections, which had a total of 14 pools. The number of cricket-playing districts in Pakistan has now risen to 82.

DISTRICT-LEVEL CRICKET SEEMS TO HAVE FAILED

Unfortunately, the district-level cricketing format has not done much to raise the competitive standard of Pakistan's domestic game. Not that the other system can be termed perfect or even good enough either. But the difference between the teams within various cricketing regions is so vast that the respective champions are more or less decided even before the competitions get under way.

Currently, there are two inter-district cricket contests in operation in Pakistan, one contested by 'senior' teams and the other by under-19 sides. In the six seasons after being introduced in the year 2003, they really have outlived their potential in the existing format.

Thus, before the PCB domestic cricket committee moves to make the much-needed alterations to the system in the country's major first-class cricket, it first needs to streamline the district tournaments.

First of all, it should immediately end the practice of putting the district teams into their respective regional association brackets. For example, there are as many as 11 outfits that form the Abbottabad region -- Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Bannu, Tank, Mardan, Abbottabad, Swabi, Mansehra, Haripur and Upper Dir. In contrast, there are only four districts in the Islamabad region -- Islamabad themselves, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gujrat and Northern Areas.

The idea that I would like to float in this situation is that I feel district-level cricket in the regions has been going on for too long and it has continuously become more meaningless each season, so why not create a seeding system for all these teams.

This is how it works: Let's start with the Inter-District Senior Championship first. Add up all the points that each of the 82 districts have accumulated in the six competitions since 2003-04, give an additional 25 points to the sides that have become champions in their regions each season and, then, work out the average points per match in all those six years. It's simple arithmetic.

SEED THE TEAMS ACCORDING TO RESULTS

According to the average points per match, give the 82 teams seedings in descending order. The accompanying table shows how the various outfits stood at the end of the 2008-09 season's programme, based on their performances in a total of six competitions. The table is self-explanatory though some readers would be surprised at the standing of the some of the teams which, in fact, goes on to prove exactly the point that I want to make.

Quetta have been seeded number one in the list that I have prepared. This, first of all, goes to show the huge discrepancy between them and the other eight teams -- Kalat, Loralai, Turbat, Killa Abdullah, Pishin, Sibi, Naseerabad and Naushki -- in the Quetta Region sector.

Quetta, surely not the strongest of district-level cricket teams in Pakistan, have won all six senior tournaments played so far, so over and above their points per match they have gained a further 150 points for their six wins. Added to their other 150 points, they have a total of 300 which, after 28 matches, gives them an average of 10.71.

Quetta are, in fact, so far ahead of the next best team in their region that Pishin only gets a seeding of 29th with a poor average per match of a mere 2.95 points. According to the system that I have devised, Pishin only get to be placed in Grade 4 of the 'new' Inter-District Senior tournament.

Of their 28 matches, Quetta have been victorious in as many as 27. They have lost not a single match in the senior competition and the only time one of their games didn't provide a result was when they and Loralai shared the four points, in a rain-hit match back in August 2006.

Quetta would certainly have been in a different league altogether, had they been pitted against some of the best and strongest teams of the competition. The new inter-district system thus puts all the teams in order of how they have performed over the last six seasons.

There are 11 grades instead of 11 divisions according to cricketing regions. The top 12 teams have been placed in Grade 1 as they were seeded on the basis of average points gained. The other 10 grades have seven teams each, accommodating all the 82 cricket-playing districts.

Competition will first be completed in the 10 lower grades each season. The top two teams from Grade 11 will be promoted to the next season's Grade 10 and the two bottom-placed teams from Grade 10 will be relegated to Grade 11. This procedure will be followed in all 10 grades, with similar promotions and demotions.

The Grade 1 tournament will be the last item on the agenda. Instead of waiting for the next season, the top two teams from Grade 2 will join the 12 Grade 1 teams the same season and these 14 outfits will fight it out for the title of the Inter-District Senior champions.

The bottom two teams from Grade 1 will then be relegated to the subsequent season's Grade 2 event. The bottom teams from Grade 2 would already have been demoted to Grade 3 and the two top outfits from Grade 3 joined the Grade 2 line-up.

The questions that now arise will be: How will the number of matches be managed in such a large-scale tournament? How will the demotions and promotions system work? How will the seedings be organised in subsequent seasons?

First of all, it will not be a 'large-scale' event. The number of teams (82) is the same and there are the same number of divisions (11). Even if all teams in the 10 lower grades played against each other on a league basis, no more than 22 matches -- including the final -- would be required. That gives us a total of 220 matches.

In Grade 1, where there will be 14 teams, the competition should be divided into two groups. Here we would have a total of 43 matches including the final. This all adds up to a total of 263 matches and no more.

But, some people would ask, there is a total of 182 matches played in the Inter-District Senior event every season. How would we be able to accommodate another 81 matches? Well, then have a different format altogether.

NUMBER OF MATCHES CAN BE REDUCED

Let's have 43 matches in Grade 1 in two groups as decided. Divide the seven teams in each of the other 10 grades into two groups too. There would be four teams in one group and three in the other. Played on a league basis, there would be nine matches there plus the final. That gives us a total of 143 matches in the entire tournament, which is in fact 39 matches less than what we have now!

How would the finals in each grade be managed? The PCB domestic tournament committee will come to the rescue here. Surely, we can't have a final between the top team of the first group and the top team of the second group. That would be simple but unfair. The PCB would decide which two teams, regardless of which group they were in, gained the most average points per match and have a final between them. These two teams will also gain promotion to the next higher grade.

What of rained-off or abandoned matches, which provide no points to either team? Well, it is a tough life, isn't it? No points mean no points, you have to live with that fact. Unless, of course, the PCB decides to go soft and give either side three points each to keep them in the running and wipe off their tears.

Where will the matches in each grade be played, as there would be teams from various districts in the same bunch. The regional associations will have to raise some funds themselves and, to keep the fires burning, the PCB should come forward with adequate financial assistance of their own. Surely, this matter can be easily resolved.

It is interesting to note how the best top teams have made it to be among the 12 teams placed in Grade 1. All these represent the various cricketing regions of the country except Lahore, though the two Lahore teams placed in Grade 2 have every opportunity to join the Grade 1 line-up to make up the final number of 14 sides.

It is quite amusing to go through the names of the seven teams in Grade 11, the lowest of all groups. Northern Areas and Tank are placed at rock bottom; neither team has as yet won a single match in the Inter-District Senior tournament. Jhelum has only one victory to its credit.

Being placed in a grade with teams of similar strengths has a big advantage. You have every chance to get promoted to the next higher grade! Who knows in some years a team from Grade 11 would travel the distance all the way to Grade 1.

HOW MANY DISTRICTS ARE THERE ANYWAY?

As for the seedings, in a season or two they would really lose their significance. Teams in each grade would be more interested in getting elevated to the next higher grade instead of holding on to their seedings, which would surely become of secondary value as time goes by. Competing with the other teams will become of the ultimate importance.

At the same time, even though the tournament would still remain non-first-class, it would turn into a much more meaningful exercise. The best players will have the opportunity to face the best players of opposing sides. The regional associations will have more authentic performance value from each cricketer and, in the event, they will have a stronger pool to choose from in the major competitions.

There are 112 districts in the four provinces -- Balochistan, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab and Sindh -- of Pakistan. Islamabad Capital Territory has, as mentioned earlier, has a separate status. In the cricketing context, the PCB has considered FATA, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Northern Areas as single districts.

FATA is composed of seven tribal agencies -- Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, Orakzai and South Waziristan. Northern Areas have three agencies -- Baltistan, Diamer and Gilgit -- further divided into six districts while Azad Kashmir has two divisions -- Mirpur and Muzaffarabad -- with eight districts of their own.

The PCB has toyed with the idea of giving all these regions their own separate cricketing status and the system could soon accommodate more district teams in tournaments at this level. Perhaps, the newer teams will have to start at the very bottom, from Grade 11, if such a competition could be approved and gets under way.

While the number of district teams in the PCB-run tournaments is 82, in effect there are only 71 districts playing at the moment. Both Karachi and Lahore are, in fact, single districts but for cricketing purposes Karachi is divided into seven city zones and Lahore has six zonal teams. For the 'cause' of cricket, these teams are deemed to be representing cricketing districts!

NEXT WEEK: Under-19 cricket, return to the divisions and Imran Khan's ideas on domestic cricket

Teams Pts Ave Pts Seeding

Teams Pts Ave Pts SeedingGRADE 1

Quetta 300 10.71 1

Faisalabad 268 10.30 2

Islamabad 200 9.09 3

Bahawalpur 286 8.41 4

Rawalpindi 218 8.38 5

Gujranwala 189 6.75 6

Peshawar 209 6.74 7

Hyderabad 221 6.50 8

Sialkot 151 5.39 9

Kohat 142 5.25 10

Mardan 165 5.15 11

Karachi Zone VI 184 5.11 12

GRADE 2

Lahore East Zone Whites 130 4.33 13

Dadu 129 4.16 14

FATA 116 4.14 15

Abbottabad 124 4.00 16

Lahore West Zone Whites 120 4.00 17

Okara 135 3.97 18

Shikarpur 130 3.93 19

GRADE 3

Nowshehra 102 3.92 20

Larkana 124 3.75 21

Karachi Zone IV 130 3.61 22

Rahim Yar Khan 108 3.60 23

Sargodha 92 3.53 24

Mirpurkhas 107 3.45 25

Nawabshah 100 3.33 26

GRADE 4

Lahore West Zone Blues 99 3.30 27

Karachi Zone III 112 3.11 28

Pishin 65 2.95 29

Multan 86 2.77 30

Dera Ismail Khan 77 2.75 31

Karachi Zone I 98 2.72 32

Sheikhupura 76 2.71 33

GRADE 5

Lahore North Zone Whites 80 2.66 34

Bahawalnagar 74 2.38 35

Mianwali 60 2.30 36

Naseerabad 41 2.27 37

Gujrat 49 2.22 38

Layyah 55 2.20 39

Sukkur 65 2.16 40

GRADE 6

Swabi 65 2.16 41

Sibi 36 2.11 42

Sahiwal 61 2.03 43

Kasur 52 2.00 44

Turbat 43 1.95 45

Kalat 43 1.95 46

Swat 48 1.92 47

GRADE 7

Narowal 19 1.90 48

Killa Abdullah 36 1.80 49

Bannu 43 1.72 50

Haripur 48 1.71 51

Karachi Zone V 60 1.66 52

Karachi Zone VII 60 1.66 53

Naushki 25 1.66 54

GRADE 8

Karachi Zone II 58 1.61 55

Azad Jammu & Kashmir 35 1.59 56

Lahore North Zone Blues 47 1.56 57

Sanghar 44 1.46 58

Charsadda 40 1.42 59

Chakwal 36 1.38 60

Dera Ghazi Khan 40 1.37 61

GRADE 9

Vehari 41 1.36 62

Attock 32 1.23 63

Lahore East Zone Blues 37 1.23 64

Mansehra 35 1.16 65

Loralai 26 1.13 66

Khairpur 32 1.06 67

Muzaffargarh 31 1.06 68

GRADE 10

Rajanpur 28 0.96 69

Mandi Bahauddin 26 0.92 70

Badin 27 0.90 71

Upper Dir 22 0.88 72

Lower Dir 18 0.81 73

Bhakkar 21 0.80 74

Khanewal 22 0.73 75

GRADE 11

Jacobabad 21 0.70 76

Haafizabad 19 0.67 77

Jhang 16 0.61 78

Thatta 16 0.53 79

Jhelum 13 0.50 80

Northern Areas 6 0.30 81

Tank 5 0.23 82

The flamboyant, graceful, abrupt and strong-willed Ijaz Butt is the new Chairman of the PCB. I wouldn't have felt elated had I been in his shoes. I would have been tortured and feeling sympathetic. Playing cricket and managing it are two different ball games. And interestingly, Butt has played it, at times painfully and mettlesome with a bleeding nose and also managed it, taking on arrogant people like Dennis Lillee, making an uproar about him after he had kicked the then Pakistan captain Javed Miandad.

Butt, an entrepreneur, candid and subtle yet strong and unmoving, cuddling and affectionate, reserved and cajoling, he has been admix of a player and an administrator. None better than Butt could realise that cricket management is something reasoned and heaving; and playing the game something winged, flashing and inspired.

It is the acme of cricket to understand what cricket is. The height of being a player is to speak the language of gods and managing those who play it a discretionary hellfire.

Ijaz Butt, one fact is abundantly clear may well be needed to provide inspiration with an assortment of specific characteristics. At 70 plus, he would be required to show energy of a fifty year old, predominantly physicalistic, mixing it with intellectualism and also becoming an excellent example of the principle of mind-body-integration.

The state in which Pakistan cricket is, Butt would be horrified to note that every single thing has gone wrong and he may well have to become a grand scale character towering through a work of fiction, whether on the printed page, stage or screen or in actual existence to undo what people like Dr Nasim Ashraf had done during their times. More prosaically, Butt would be expected to combine everything to eradicate the stagnation, contamination and contagion erupting in every corner of the PCB.

Despite ridiculous talk of cricketers running cricket, it would seem that no two creatures could be more dissimilar than an ex-player and games administrator. Who else but a cricket administrator is disturbed by the deepest questions of meaning, and wishes to make a vocation out of solving the knottiest problems of truth and knowledge, bigotry and hypocrisy, morals and logic, discipline and indiscipline, existence and death. And who else but an international cricketer, ex- or current could declare himself exempt from the strictures of conceptual thought, free to tamper with words and events to achieve any playful effect his mood and situation requires.

A cricket manager must be mindful of method and pay careful attention to assertions, evidence, arguments, ambiguities, facts; his work must withstand the most thoroughgoing scrutiny; a player's work need only be a good performance -- entertaining, soulful, humorous, clever; a player's performance should not mean but be.

Although this sounds about right, and yet, some of the most cherished performances happen to have had an unmistakably leader's or an administrative character; in the present scene Butt may well have to believe that some of the profoundest sages happen to have condensed their thought in practical form, and the situation may well require him to be Gautama Buddha, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana or a Kahlil Gibran. And sharp distinction between being an ex-player and chairman of a horrendously confused PCB must thus be considered problematic.

It might be said that Butt, an ex-player may well have to walk onto the administrator's stage when, abandoning none of his style and form, he turns his descriptive and metaphorical powers to the weightiest policies, but the considerations of the right and the good, speculation about mortality and eternity, or rough sketches of the natural world around him.

Not having a thesis to defend or an argument to advance, the new Chairman PCB would be required to let his imagination and his ears be his guide; and if his sentiments and core knowledge are irrelevant to the realm of hypothesis and paradigms, they would surely welcome as conjectures in speculative management of events and environment.

What Butt, for instance, could render the indescribable world of the beyond -- realm of nowhere and no-when -- anymore beautifully than what he is capable of. At times, too, having an experience being an ex-player is a better conduit to insight than the outpourings of the voluble specialist.

The formalism which has been deprecated and despised by recent history of Pakistani cricket, and which has arisen one more in fashion itself, will not disappear with brave-decision making, even though its inadequacy is known and felt, till the knowledge of absolute reality has become quite clear as to what its own true nature consists in.

Having in mind that the general idea of what is to be done, if he precedes the attempts to carry it out, facilitates the comprehension of this process, it is worthwhile to indicate here some rough idea of it, with the hope at the same time that this will give us the opportunity to set aside certain forms whose habitual presence is a hindrance in the way of achieving results and eradicating the flaws.

I have been into cricket writing since 1988, almost twenty years spent, exhausted or wasted in making attempts to observe, visualise, prevent and contribute to see the Pakistani game being presented nicely, wrapped in decency and modernity. I don't know whether I may well be able to meet or talk to Butt in seclusion, now him being at the helm of the PCB and a gauntlet of advisors without advisory roles ready to poke their straw noses in.

Nonetheless, I must suggest through my writings which my dear friend Rameez Raja thinks as abstract without legs and a carcass and contradictory to his diction, another gem of a man Aamer Sohail finding it gullible and effective. I must acknowledge comparing people like Shaharyar M Khan and Nasim Ashraf and now with Ijaz Butt in the fray a man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead. Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when living, but dried and shriveled when dead.

Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and the weak are the comrades of life. Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish; a tree that is strong will suffer the axe. The strong and big takes the lower position, the supple and weak takes the higher position. It is difficult to decipher what Butt must be having in his mind -- he needs to be expressive and a doer, which he is capable of and if he fails or trips, the turgidity would not be blamed on us; if anything what little I know of Butt he is harder on the eye and ear.

His predecessors suppler and more limpid by contrast, and in a mere two weeks he would be required to illustrate the meaning of paradox quite well. His hard decisions may well leave us agitated in the attempt to figure out; let's hope he plays on his experience, expertise and imagination encouraging a second and third thought.

Butt would be required to address important aspects of cricket management in an engaging way. What would be lost, in insight and meaning, by translating them into average, run of the mill actions of his predecessors, or into the reasoned and heavy uttering of a highly imaginative and well-schooled man like Arif Ali Khan Abbasi.

Butt may also be required to understand the complexities and the annoying incompetence of most of the people working in the PCB to take a step forward. He may well have to sustain political pressures and likewise. It is not wisdom to be only wise, and on the inward vision close to the eyes, but it is wisdom to believe the heart. Christopher Columbus found a world, and had no chart, save one that faith deciphered in the skies; to trust the soul's invincible surmise.

Was all his science and his only art? Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine that lights the pathway but one step ahead, across a void of mystery and dread; bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine b y which alone the mortal heart is led unto the thinking of the thought divine.

Pray not! The darkness will not brighten and ask naught from the silence, for it cannot speak and vex not your mournful minds with pious pains, naught from the helpless gods by gift and hymn, nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruits and cakes, within yourselves deliverance must be sought, each man his prison makes if any teach nirvana is to live, say unto such they err, not knowing this, nor what light shines beyond their broken lamps, nor lifeless, timeless, bliss.

I am saddened Arif Abbasi couldn't make it I am gladdened that Ijaz Butt did. Two different characters, more or less dressed in a similar civic robe and it may well be true that the latter has managed to squeeze on the sheer weight of his political links, still in recent times I must confess it is presumably the best thing that has happened to Pakistan cricket.

Butt has in him the power, fortitude, insight and ability to deliver and regardless of the graying hair and aged seventy plus, his persona, determination and ability to understand Pakistan cricket's jumble and rumble is like a young warrior standing on a minefield ready to take on the challenges, storming in and cutting edges he wants to. Cricket may well be getting a terribly needed lease of life -- it should move a step forward, it will.

After a long wait finally Pakistan came back into international cricket in the four-nation Twenty20 tournament in Canada. But once again they failed in the crunch match when they lost to Sri Lanka in the final by five wickets.

The Pakistan team are as good as any other world class team if they play as a team and they have proved it so many times, but inconsistency in their performance makes them the most unpredictable side in the world.

In the round matches Pakistan remained unbeaten against Zimbabawe, Sri Lanka and Canada. Except the real opposition Sri Lanka, no team resisted against the veteran Pakistanis, though Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in its second league game in the absence of skipper Mahela Jayawardene and spinner Ajantha Mendis.

At one stage, the spectators had lost hope when Pakistan were reduced to 91-7 while chasing Sri Lanka's 137 runs. But skipper Shoaib Malik and young all-rounder Fawad Alam turn the tables in the last three overs.

But when the time came to prove that the league victory was not a fluke, the experienced Pakistani batting fumbled against the talented Sri Lanka bowling in the final. New spin sensation Ajantha Mendis led the foundation for his team's victory when he took 3-23 and restricted Pakistan to just 132-7 in 20 overs.

Planning is very important for any game. The Lanka management took a wise decision of giving rest to its match-winning bowler Ajantha Mendis against Pakistan in the league match. Pakistani batsmen faced Mendis for the first time in the final and remained helpless against his magical spin bowling.

For Pakistan's low score, Malik accepted that Twenty20 cricket is always thrilling and minor mistakes on the part of any team can benefit the other side, and this is what happened when they did not post a good total.

If batting failed to post a decent total on the board the responsibility of the bowlers and fielders increases. No doubt defending 132 was not an easy task but accurate line and length with some variations makes it a close contest.

Chasing a below seven runs per over target, master blaster opener Sanath Jayasuriya -- who loves this type of a game -- got his team off to a brilliant start and provide a 66 runs (half of the target) opening partnership in just seven overs.

In the middle the Pakistan team get some hope with four quick wickets but when a leading strike bowler concedes 40 runs in just three overs, nothing is left for the other bowlers to defend. Shoaib Akhtar made a comeback in international cricket after a long time but the management and he himself were confident to deliver something extra, but some dreams never come true.

He began the tournament with an encouraging performance against hosts Canada when he took two wickets for just 11 runs in three overs. But against a tough opponent -- Sri Lanka -- he conceded 31 runs for one wicket. He didn't play against Zimbabwe. Overall in three matches he played he bowled 10 overs, conceded 82 runs and took three wickets while his economy rate was 8.20 per over in a low scoring tournament.

After the introduction of the 'free hit' system on a no-ball, bowlers have tried their best to avoid it and especially bowling wides and no-balls in the shortest version of the game is a crime. Pakistani bowlers bowled 13 extra deliveries (7 wides, 3 no-balls and 3 free hits) for which they paid the price.

Skipper Shoaib Malik defended Shoaib Akhtar and refused to identify any bowler for the defeat and said that he expected that they would be able to get two or three early wickets, "but our bowlers did not bowl with a good line or length".

Every time the crowd cheered with 'Boom Boom' when Shahid Afridi walked in to bat, each time Afridi disappointed his fans with his same-style dismissal. After 12 years of having made his ODI debut, a batsman who is not in good touch, should be more responsible and shouldn't throw his 'valuable' wicket.

According to reports the coach and skipper were not in favour of including Afridi in the squad, but his useful bowling skills helped him being preferred over other players.

Twenty20 is the game of young guns. The hit and run type of format demands more than a 100% strike rate from the batsmen. In this format batsmen don't exactly have to be technically correct, they just have to be able to hit the ball hard as much as possible and score as fast as possible. But this type of cricket reduces the gap between a good and technically adept batsman and an ordinary player.

Surprisingly, Zimbabwe's Hamilton Masakadza emerged as the top scorer of the tournament with 169 runs in four matches at an average of 42.25. He was the only batsman who scored two half-centuries in the tournament. From Pakistan opener Salman Butt was the highest scorer with 158 runs while for Sri Lanka Mahela Udawatte scored the most (66) runs.

Player of the series Ajantha Mandis took most (11) wickets in three matches he played at an incredible average of 5.0. Umar Gul was the most successful bowler for Paksistan with seven wickets, averaging 9.00.

Jelena Jankovic has now almost confirmed from her performance that she would like to end the year as World No 1. In the last three weeks she has won three WTA titles, the China Open, Stuttgart Grand Prix and Kremlin Cup. Jankovic entered the China Open as world number two and top seed for the tournament.

She won the tournament by defeating Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 at the 600,000 dollar Beijing tournament.

Jelena Jankovic celebrated her imminent return to the top world rankings with 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in the Stuttgart Grand Prix final.

"I am really excited about winning in Stuttgart, it's my second win in two weeks and my confidence is high. I played some good tennis this week and I am proud of myself," said Jankovic.

The third tournament that she won was Kremlin Cup -- her first tournament after being declared World number 1 -- she overpowered Zvonareva in the final to secure a comfortable in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in spite of back problems.

The win at the Kremlin Cup insured that she will be staying at the top spot for more than a week unlike the last time when she was number 1 for a week before she was taken over by another Serb Ana Ivanovic.

Three weeks are left in the season ending Sony Ericsson Championship to be played at Doha, Qatar. Jelena is so far leading in the WTA Championship race as well as the World rankings. She is currently playing in the Zurich Open -- amongst the few tournaments left in the WTA calendar.

So far five women have qualified for the tournament including Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic. The race is on for the next three as the remaining four WTA tournaments will decide the top eight who will participate in the year ending event.

The championship is to be held from 4-9 November at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar.

Last year's champion and former world number 1 Justin Henin has surprisingly retired from professional tennis.

The final at Doha 2007 was No 12 on the all time best matches of WTA history. It gave an epic ending to an epic year; two of the greatest fighters in history went to war, both battling for season-ending glory at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

And after a three-hour, 24-minute marathon it was Justine Henin who was victorious, capping a record-breaking season with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 triumph and her 10th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of 2007.

"This was one of the best moments of my career; to finish an amazing year with an amazing match, the longest I've ever played, makes me very happy," Henin said in post match press conference.

"I felt pretty fresh physically but it was mentally and emotionally tough. And she played an amazing match -- it's great to see her at her best level again," she added.

Maria Sharapova has been plagued with injuries after a fantastic start to the year by winning the Australian Open i.e. the first Grand Slam of the year. But after that she has failed to impress as she is constantly under the shadow of her shoulder injury. It might be tough for her to qualify as she has yet to participate in any of the forth coming WTA tournaments.

Venus Williams has also shown a decline in her form as after winning Wimbledon she has not secured any title. So it can be said that the race is on amongst the top ten women in the rankings to fill out the remaining three spots in the Sony Ericsson Championship.

Dinara Safina has set herself for Doha 08, and has said that she is taking one tournament at a time. Silver medallist Elena Dementieva (who also qualified for the Championship) in the Beijing Olympics is all set to win as all her energies are now focused on the event.

Serena Williams who won the US Open this year seems a touch out of form as she tumbled out of the Kremlin Cup in the Second round.

Four spots left in final showdown of ATP calendar: Theyear ending ATP event Masters Cup is to be played at Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai, China from November 90 to 16.

Till now four players have qualified for the event -- Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Four spots are still left to be filled before the start of the tournament.

The race to Shanghai has many contenders as the points difference amongst the remaining players is too little to be conclusive and with five ATP tournaments remaining it is an interesting race as to watch who will qualify.

Juan Martin Del Potro who was being considered a strong contender for a spot was faced with a nail injury and had to drop out of the Kremlin Cup due to that.

Amongst the top contenders for the vacant spots Andy Roddick is the only one who has won a title, the China Open.

Roger Federer, the defending champion who last year won in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 against Spain's David Ferrer, has taken leave from professional tennis after winning the year ending Grand Slam -- the US Open. He has been resting and practising in Dubai.

Federer withdrew from a Hometown event -- the Stockholm Open -- which was criticised by many but he justified himself as he told that he was resting and will make a return to tennis as soon as he gets rid of all the symptoms of glandular fever, which he suffered from late last year.

Federer has qualified for the Masters Cup as second seed. He will be marking his return in the MadridOpen, the first tournament he plays after winning US Open.

Rafael Nadal is top seed and favourite to win the Masters Cup. Nadal who has already won two Grand Slams (Wimbledon and French Open) and five ATP titles along with an Olympic gold medal, would like to end the year on a winning note.

British tennis star Andy Murray said that he is focusing his efforts on the challenge presented by the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup. "It is definitely my big goal at the moment," Murray said.

Murray is currently in Madrid to play the Madrid Masters Series event. But he told reporters that his energy is focused on the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. Murray admitted that his preparation was totally focused on achieving success in China.