Our reliance on unreliable big names backfires
A scholar cannot be automatically an excellent teacher; a good doctor is not essentially a good human being and a good cricketer is not necessarily a good coach
By Pervez Sajjad
Cricket is a very vengeful game and if mistreated, it has its own ways of taking its revenge. To those masters of the game, who start thinking that they have completely dominated it, cricket immediately puts them under the depressing shadows of failure and those who think that they have become the conquerors of the world, it takes no time in making them ordinary. In other words, like any other sphere of life, in the world of cricket also one has to be repentant in defeat and humble in victory.

I simply can't help it. When someone talks about the exploits of the Pakistan Women's cricket team, or I myself follow its progress in world cricket, I continue to draw parallels with the Shah Rukh Khan-starring, hockey-based storyline that a recent Bollywood blockbuster 'Chak De India!' had to offer. The otherwise rag-tag army of women -- cricketwise only, of course -- of the smartly turned out ladies in their uniform of various shades of the Pakistan green had most sports enthusiasts sit up and notice when they ended as runners-up to South Africa in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women's World Cup Qualifiers Series tournament, played in South Africa exactly a year ago.

Being in the final of that competition enabled Pakistan to qualify for the ICC Women's World Cup that's starting in Australia next Saturday (March 7). They are one of the top eight international women's teams participating in the tournament.

Nobody is really expecting the Pakistan ladies to finish any higher than eighth and last in the competition, unless they somehow spring some kind of surprise while pitched against some of the best and strongest women's cricketing outfits in the world. In fact, they are already booked on a flight back home on March 15, a full week before the World Cup final, as soon as the seventh place play-off match gets over on March 14.

Yet, the Pakistan Women have earned every bit of praise and applause for having made it to the 2009 World Cup. Several years ago, in 1997 in fact, a Pakistan Women's team had appeared in the World Cup staged in India and lost each and every one of its matches miserably. But those were early days, the Pakistanis had been in this field for just a few months, the girls were virtually a privately-organised bunch of enthusiastic cricketers basically trying to bring home the idea to the general public that women can play cricket too.

Since 2005, when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took official charge of women's cricket also, the ladies have taken part in three Asia Cup competitions, toured South Africa twice -- once to appear in the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifying Series -- and last month visited Bangladesh to play in a Tri-Nation Series that was eventually won by the Sri Lanka Women.

The Pakistan Women beat Ireland in their first match of the World Cup Qualifiers Series tournament. The victory margin was a convincing 57 runs. Questions were bound to be asked. Has a Pakistan Women's cricket team ever won by a bigger margin? Has a Pakistan Women's cricket team ever won a cricket match? Well, whatever answers one had ready for the skeptics, just days later the Pakistani girls were involved in a triumph that beat all imagination. They defeated the Scotland Women in the same tournament by the whopping margin of 252 runs.

After having notched up a big total of 278 runs for eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs, Pakistan had Scotland dismissed for a mere 26 runs in 28.3 overs. This win took them into the competition semifinals, where they beat Netherlands Women by the somewhat smaller difference of 94 runs, an achievement that not only took them into the final but into the World Cup proper also, regardless of what the result was going to be in their match against South Africa.

Of course, the Pakistan Women, in spite of the fact that they have been active on the international cricket scene for just over a decade now, really are not familiar faces even in the context of their home public. Hardly anyone knew who the team's skipper Urooj Mumtaz was, until questions started being asked as Pakistan qualified for the Women's World Cup.

Urooj is an articulate, 23-year-old young woman from Karachi, who has qualified as a dentist. Her parents are both dentists too. Moreover, she plays cricket in the manner of a professional, having scored a big knock of 172 in an international fixture not so long ago and bowls her right-arm leg-breaks with quite a bit of success.

In the World Cup Qualifiers, when the Pakistan Women defeated Zimbabwe Women by nine wickets, Urooj completed a hat-trick as she returned figures of three for 14 in 7.3 overs. Zimbabwe were bowled out for a poor 58 runs in 35.3 overs and Pakistan knocked off the 59 runs in just 13 overs for the loss of one wicket.

Unfortunately, only three of Pakistan Women's five matches at the Qualifiers enjoyed full One-day International status -- teams like Scotland and Zimbabwe have not reached those standards yet. Urooj's hat-trick thus doesn't become part of the women's cricket official records. But the fact remains that the skipper and her teammates' superlative efforts have got them through to the highest level of their sphere of cricket.

Even with its short history, women's cricket in Pakistan can be divided into two distinct phases. The sport flourished in this country, even before the PCB decided to institute its own women's cricket wing and take charge of the ladies at the official level. This happened not so long ago three years ago, when the Shaharyar M Khan-led PCB got geared up to organise women's cricket at the national level.

But a bunch of enthusiastic girls, under the tutelage of Shaiza Said Khan, the daughter of one of Pakistan's leading carpet manufacturers and exporters, made a tour of New Zealand in the year 1997 and played One-day Internationals which, of course, they lost quite pathetically.

In spite of this setback, which was their initial foray into the realm of cricket, the Pakistan Women were invited to play in the Women's World Cup held in India later the same year. There were 11 teams in all in the contest and, needless to say, the totally inexperienced Pakistan team lost all its five group matches by heavy margins.

The Khan sisters, Sharmeen is the younger one who bowls right-arm fast-medium unlike Shaiza who is a leg-spinner, used generous donations from their father, money coming in from sympathetic supporters and rebated tickets from the national airlines to fund their tours abroad. The Pakistan Women's team had travelled to places like New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Netherlands in just a few years' time.

Both Shaiza and Sharmeen played for Leeds University when they were studying textiles related subjects in England. They also represented the MCC women's side and appeared for clubs around the area. One of their friends Kiran Baloch, a masterly batswoman, also joined the Khan sisters in their cricketing pursuits in England.

The Khan family looked after all the women cricketers as their own, providing them board and lodging in their own factory premises when they were attending camps and practice in Karachi. All expenses for matches and tours were also borne by them. Moreover, the girls survived court cases and death threats from fundamentalists and conservatives alike and, for a long time, no male visitors were allowed in grounds where the women were playing.

The Khan sisters formed their own Pakistan Women's Cricket Council which they got registered with the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC), without getting official cover from the PCB. Once the PCB got control of women's cricket, the IWCC had also given way to the sport going under the wing of the ICC and the pioneering Pakistan women found it difficult to hold on to their exclusive standing as the lone representatives of women's cricket in the country.

With the PCB organising a women's wing, with an independent chairperson and secretary, in addition to a women's cricket adviser, the team also had to be built anew. The Khan sisters were found to be reluctant to join in, as their hold on the affairs had slipped. They were found wanting fitness-wise too and discovered they had no place in the new-look line-up.

Several girls from the 'old team' would have gained automatic selection to the new team. But Kiran Baloch, showing solidarity with her mentors, refusing to move over to the official camp. Wicket-keeper Batool Fatima and all-rounders Urooj Mumtaz and Sajjida Shah did, however, switch allegiance. All three are proud members of the squad that is taking part in the World Cup.

Although most observers say that the Khan sisters' playing days were already over, Kiran's loss has been disappointing. She remains the record holder of the highest innings ever played in a women's international match. In March 2004, playing in a drawn Test match against the West Indies Women at National Stadium Karachi, Kiran scored a monumental 242, that saw her bat for nine hours 44 minutes, face 488 balls and hit 38 fours.

In the same match, Shaiza captured more wickets than any other woman in an international cricket Test, with her figures of 13 wickets for 226 runs. Sajjida Shah from Kotri, who started cricket at the age of 12 and is still only 21, stands on top of the list with best figures in a Women's One-day International.

In an ODI against Japan Women, in Amsterdam in the summer of 2003, bowling her off-spinners Sajjida had figures of eight overs, five maidens, seven wickets for only four runs!

Still, wins have been hard to obtain for the Pakistan Women in international cricket. Of their 63 one-dayers they have won just 10, with 52 lost and one abandoned. They have lost two of their three Test matches and drawn the other one.

Still, their overwhelming record at the World Cup Qualifiers warmed a great number of hearts. They beat Ireland (8) and Netherlands (9) in South Africa, two teams placed higher than their own number 10 ranking in women's cricket. They lost to seventh ranked South Africa in the final but both have joined the big six -- Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies -- in this year's World Cup.

The Pakistani girls may be in for a torrid time in Australia in much stronger company. But they are really not promising anything in terms of results. They start their Women's World Cup campaign with a Group B match against India Women at the Bradman Oval in Bowral, Australia, on March 7, the opening day of the competition.

Bowral is a small town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, in Wingecarribee Shire. It has a population of just around 11,000 but is world famous for being the birthplace of Australia's greatest cricketing son, Sir Donald Bradman.

The Pakistan Women, however, have their work cut out for them. They will be encountering teams in Australia, against which they have lost all their previous One-day Internationals played.

On Saturday, Pakistan will be playing at Bowral against India Women, a team which finished as runners-up to Australia in the last World Cup staged in South Africa in the year 2005.

On March 9, they come face to face with Sri Lanka Women at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Pakistan have been beaten in all their 18 ODIs against Sri Lanka, including all three in the recent Tri-Nation Series in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka also won the trophy.

Pakistan's last Group B match is against England Women at the North Sydney Oval. Realistically, they will only have to win one of their three group matches to qualify for the Super Six stage. Otherwise, they would be coming back home after appearing in the 7th Place Play-off at North Sydney Oval No.2 on March 14.

The eight-nation tournament is divided into two groups. The four participants in Group A are hosts and defending champions Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. After the Super Six matches (March 14-19), the play-offs and the final will be played on March 21 and 22.

Australia have been champions in five of the last eight Women's World Cup tournaments staged -- in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997 and 2005. England won the inaugural competition in 1973 and once again in 1993. New Zealand took the trophy in 2000.

Several warm-up matches have been arranged ahead of the 2009 event. Pakistan Women will play against New Zealand Women at Manly Oval Sydney on March 3 and against South Africa Women at Village Green Sydney the next day.

The 15-member Pakistan Women squad, which leaves for Sydney on Sunday (today), is being led by Urooj Mumtaz Khan, who is a right-handed middle-order player and leg-break bowler. The skipper's deputy is Sana Mir, a right-hand batter and right-arm medium-pace bowler.

The team's openers are Nain Abidi, Bismah Maroof and the ucapped Sukhan Faiz, with Qanita Jalil also having been used in this role lately. The middle-order has Sajjida Shah, Urooj, Sana Mir and Nahida Khan.

The pace bowling duties will be performed by Asmavia Iqbal, Qanita Jalil, Sana Mir, Sania Khan and the left-armed Almas Akram.

The spin bowling attack will depend upon off-spinners Sajjida and Javeria Khan, and the leg-break bowlers Urooj and Naila Nazir. The team's two wicket-keepers are Armaan Khan and Batool Fatima.

All I can say at this stage is 'Chak de Pakistan!' which roughly translated means 'Go for it Pakistan!'. The girls have already come a long way in the realm of cricket in the last decade or so. The only way from here onwards is up.

The writer is Group Editor Sports of 'The News'

The Karachi Test, which was Pakistan's first in 14 months, kept the cricket statisticians busy from the very first day. The five-day contest though could not produce an outright winner, it managed to attract cricket enthusiasts due to its record breaking proceedings. At one stage, on the final day, Younis Khan, through his sensible captaincy, gave Pakistan a victory hope when the home bowlers dismissed half of the visiting team in their second outing.

It was Younis's amazing triple hundred which not only saved the new-look home team from a possible defeat -- that was very much on the cards in the face of mammoth Sri Lanka total -- but also transformed a dull first Test at Karachi's National Stadium (NSK) into a memorable one.

Younis justified his status both as a batsman and captain quite strongly in the Karachi Test. Younis has been Pakistan's prolific scorer in Test matches almost throughout his career as his excellent average shows. Younis, who struck a century in his debut Test match at Rawalpindi nine years back against the same opponents (Sri Lanka), has scored four centuries in his last six Test matches. It is interesting to note here that Younis hit three centuries of the four, in the second innings which reflects his potential to play in tense conditions.

Younis became only the sixth Test captain to score a triple century after Mahela Jayawardene, Mark Taylor, Brian Lara, Graham Gooch and Bobby Simpson.

Scoring a triple century in a Test match has always been a source of great satisfaction and it has been considered as a great feat. Younis's 313 was the 23rd triple century in game's 132-year history.

If we review the history of Test triple centuries we will find several exciting facts. England's Andy Sandham struck the first ever triple century in Tests 79 years ago in 1930 against West Indies at Kingston. Interestingly, Sandham could score only two centuries in his 14-Test career including the historic triple century.

So far there are three instances when two triple centuries were recorded in a year. Those years were 1930, 1958 and 2004. If we study the history of Test triple centuries minutely, we will find two long gaps -- 20 years and 16 years between two triple centuries. There were no scores of 300 or more between 1938 and 1958 and then from 1974 to 1990.

On the other hand, cricket fans saw two triple centuries in just two weeks time in 2004 when India's Virender Sehwag and West Indian Brian Lara struck triple centuries at Multan and St John's in a short period from March 28 to April 13.

So far the most number of triple centuries (7) have been scored in the West Indies followed by six in England. Younis's match-saving knock was the fourth triple ton on Pakistan soil. West Indies Test venue St John's and England's Leeds jointly top the table by hosting three triple centuries each. However, at St John's all the triple centuries were scored by home batsmen.

As many as seven triple centuries have been scored against England while Pakistan and South Africa have conceded three triple tons each so far.

World champions Australia are at the top when it comes to score the most number of triple centuries (6). So far five Aussies (Don Bradman 2) have bagged this honour. England and West Indies are at number two with five big innings each. The distinction of being the youngest triple centurion goes to West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers. Sobers was aged 21 years and 213 days when he hammered an unbeaten 365 against Pakistan at Kingston in 1958. Sir Don Bradman (21 years and 318 days) was the second youngest batsman to hit a triple century.

India's Virender Sehwag struck the fastest triple century in the history of the game. He consumed just 278 balls to reach the milestone against South Africa at Chennai two years ago. Pakistan's batting pioneer Hanif Mohammad completed his 300 runs in 858 minutes against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1958. Hanif's knock of 337 is known as the slowest in Test history as he went on to bat for a total of 970 minutes.

The latest triple ton was the eighth during the last seven years which shows the batsmen's unending hunger for scoring huge knocks. Younis's classic was also the first triple ton scored against Sri Lanka. The previous highest against them was Martin Crowe's 299 in Wellington in 1991. It is to be noted here that Bangladesh is the only Test-playing nation, against whom no batsman could score a triple hundred so far.

Apart from Younis's triple century, there were several other notable batting and bowling distinctions achieved during the five-day Test.

On the opening day at Karachi's National Stadium, Jayawardene joined an elite club of Test history when he completed his 25th Test century. It was also his first Test hundred against Pakistan -- making him the 10th batsman in history to score a Test century against all Test-playing countries.

On the second day of the Karachi Test, Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera smashed double hundreds during a world record stand of 437 as Sri Lanka left Pakistan with a mountain to climb. Jayawardene struck his first double-century outside Sri Lanka -- his fifth overall -- while Samaraweera went past 200 for the first time in Tests.

It was the 15th instance in Test history when two batsmen of a team went past 200 individual runs in the same innings.

The pair batted with authority to beat the previous best fourth-wicket stand of 411 between England's Peter May and Colin Cowdrey against the West Indies at Birmingham in 1957.

The partnership also took Sri Lanka past their highest Test total against Pakistan -- 528 at Lahore in 2002.

There were no sixes in the Sri Lankan innings. It was the eleventh time when a team scored 600 or above in an innings without hitting a six. The batting trio of Mahela Jayawardene, Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal also accumulated individual landmarks.

Pakistan captain Younis joined the 5000 Test runs club during his mammoth knock. Before Younis, five Pakistani batsmen had already achieved this distinction.

Pakistan wicket-keeper-batsman Kamran Akmal also completed his 2000 Test runs in style. Kamran became the 25th Pakistani batsman and third wicket-keeper after Moin Khan (2741) and Imtiaz Ahmed (2079) to score 2000 Test runs.

Kamran Akmal's unbeaten knock of 158 brought another rare distinction in the result-less Test. It was the fourth 150-plus score in the Test after Younis Khan's 313, Jayawardene's 240 and Samaraweera's 231. It was for the first time in Test history that four 150-plus scores were recorded in a Test. Prior to this, there were 21 instances of three 150-plus scores in a Test. Akmal's knock was also his highest in Tests, going past his previous best of 154 against England.

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene on the first day of Test, reached his 8000 Test runs feat. He became the first Sri Lankan, sixth Asian and 20th batsman of the world to bag this distinction.

It was also the first instance in Test history of both captains scoring at least a double century in the same Test. The Karachi Test provided only the second instance of three batsmen scoring more than 200 runs in a Test. The previous occasion was in 1965, in a Test between Australia and West Indies at Barbados, when Bill Lawry, Bob Simpson and Seymour Nurse all struck double centuries.

It is interesting to note that actually there were four centuries including three doubles in the Barbados Test but incidentally all the four batsmen scored their runs using only three digits 0, 1 & 2. Bill Lawry scored 210, Bob Simpson 201, Seymour Nurse 201 and Bob Cowper struck 102 during this very rare and amazing happening. However, the Karachi Test was the first time when two double-hundreds and a triple have been recorded in a Test match.

Pakistan's total of 765 for six is the fifth highest score in Test cricket. Pakistan's previous best was 708 against England at The Oval. It is also the highest by any team in Pakistan, and the highest by any side against Sri Lanka.

Pacer Sohail Khan conceded 164 runs in the match, the most by a bowler without taking a wicket in his first Test. The only other bowler to concede 150 runs on debut without taking a wicket is Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistan fast bowler.

The French say "Le plus ca change, Le plus c'est la meme chose" -- the more things change, the more they stay the same! This saying accurately describes cricket in Pakistan. It had been hoped that the new guard would have learnt from the mistakes of the previous three lots. Additionally one had also hoped that with previous management experience, though at a provincial level, they would improve matters.

This had certainly prevented me from being critical about the performance to date believing that in the initial days they deserved the benefit of the doubt. Sadly the world will not wait while we apparently bungle through from one day to the next continuously repeating the mistakes of the past. It had been expected that experience would have taught us to think things through before making decisions that would be considered as popular with the hope that it would gain them public sympathy. The appointment of Javed Miandad without any regard to a clear definition of his task typifies such actions and proves my above comment.

How do you appoint somebody into a post of Director General in an establishment that is not sanctioned such a post? How do you appoint a great cricketer like Miandad whose nature and past record indicate that he takes things too literally and is a loner, with the fond hope that he would work alongside the Chairman and in effect be his second in command when a designated CEO existed? This was a disaster waiting to happen. It happened.

A recent interview of the PCB Chairman on our national television channel did little to explain away the apparent problems that face our cricket. May one for a moment deviate from the main subject to say that PTV seems to select its interviewers by the same doubtful yardstick that it selects its commentators. The object of the interview was introduced as aiming to outline the problems that face PCB and the Chairman's response towards the correction of the same.

The interviewer however paid not the blindest bit of notice to the hyped reasons for the programme. Having discussed the programme with many cricket lovers who were as frustrated as me while viewing it, the general comment was that the interviewer had obviously been told to ensure that no difficulties were created by insisting on a proper reply to any question. Well, you need to be very good at your job to be able to follow such directions and still make the interview look real.

In this case it just embarrassed the guest. It was felt by all that the national channel was chosen so that official muscle could ensure that it would be a 'safe' interview. To be able to confirm to the reader that the above is a valid comment some of the questions and replies are being outlined below (to the best of my recall):

Could you please explain what happened with Miandad? The reply only told us what a great player Miandad was. If there was a mess up it appeared as if 'Human Resources' caused it by not issuing an appointment letter. What exactly were the contents of the letter that was or was not issued was not explained.

The interviewer made no effort to at least ensure some semblance of logic connecting the question to its response. Else why ask a potentially thorny question? The viewers were no wiser after the reply than they were before the question was asked. The public deserved to know the truth! Sometimes it really is best to get the facts into the open.

Did the appointment of the CFO not indicate nepotism? The reply that as perchance every body in the finance department had abandoned the PCB in a moment and the only replacement that could be found in a country of 160 million people was a relative; albeit with previous experience; should not be considered as nepotism, was not questioned.

Why was the PCB not receiving the full 750,000 dollars that the Chairman had indicated, when the Champions Trophy was moved away from Pakistan? The reply was that we were going to receive 300 and some thousand dollars which was the fee!!! Why the original sum was to be considerably higher was not clarified.

What was the standard system of the ICC to check the security level in a member country? The reply did not outline the ICC checklist. The reply also suggested that as individual governments had the right to stop their teams from visiting a country considered unsafe, Pakistan could not insist that the ICC ensure participation. It was ignored that the ICC is an independent body not subject to any one government's laws.

The fact is that should member countries not follow ICC rules which presumably are equitably applied, the concerned Board can be penalised. Zimbabwe is a case in point.

England returned to India, New Zealand stayed on in Sri Lanka and security concerns were totally ignored. This would suggest that our representatives who attend ICC meetings are unable to represent Pakistan's interests on this subject.

Let's face it the excuses that the ACB and BCCI have hidden behind are that their respective governments would not let them visit Pakistan. Well the ICC should at least have independently checked the security in Pakistan and then made a ruling. This did not happen. The Chairman stressed that he travelled everywhere in Australia and met all concerned in the Australian Board but was unable to achieve any positive results. This is not surprising as it is the ACB's stand that their government is preventing the tour.

Should Pakistan play at neutral venues? Some cricket played anywhere is better than no cricket was the not unreasonable reply. Regrettably this tarnishes Pakistan's image. I appreciate that a precedence has been created, but my comment to that is why continue a wrong practice. It is a major concern that if we are not careful and change our approach the World Cup will also be taken away.

Why not insist that if ICC member countries do not adhere to the FTP it is the responsibility of the ICC to take action. If Sri Lanka can visit here and if their Board and government did not consider their players in any danger, it implies that somehow Australia or New Zealand lives are more important than the rest of us poor mortals.

Surprise, surprise! Umpires standing in on the current tour who are from countries that consider Pakistan unsafe are obviously considered expendable. The Chairman did stress that on a previous occasion the PCB had managed to get support for their very reasonable view point but it seems his think tank did not brief him to follow the same line. There remains this lurking feeling that the ICC as also some 'interests' in Pakistan are very keen to take official matches to Dubai.

The technical questions asked were: Did the Chairman believe that a wicket-keeper should be a specialist? What were the reasons that led to the spat between the chief selector and the captain? The replies were necessarily diplomatic but the interviewer made not the slightest attempt to give the programme some credibility. The fact that the Chairman had to make a press statement denying a problem must surely suggest that a problem did exist.

Why not let Mohammad Yousuf and other ICL involved players play for Pakistan? The reply quoted Article 32 b of ICC Rules as the excuse. Surely this rule does not take away the sovereign rights of member countries. I feel sure that we can enlist support from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to take a joint decision in the interests of our players. Their remains a lingering suspicion that we are continuing to pander to the interests of our neighbour. We must realise they only have self interest in mind.

In fairness it is stated that just possibly one is not aware of the entire story in every case and thus some of the above judgments may be harsh. My excuse is a burning desire to see our cricket in a better place. I am sure that the mess left behind in the PCB for the new incumbent will require some time to address. It is also accepted that international events added to the problems facing the new team which may well have contributed to some of the hasty steps that have been taken.

The fact is that in addition to leaving an apparent administrative mess, the last lot spent vast sums of money thus leaving a big hole in the accounts. One would have hoped that a clean audit would have been the starting point to ensure that the responsibility for the state of affairs of the PCB could have been fixed. That something is fishy in the state of Denmark is apparent but without an audit it must be premature to apportion blame.

Regrettably Pakistan is not well known for corrective actions. Our officials go off to new pastures and then use influence to hamper any investigations and also proceed to make life more complicated for the incomers. It is one of the ills of our society that rumour, whispering into the ears of the powerful, disinformation and other under hand methods make life near impossible for a honest dedicated worker.

How one wishes that as a starting point the Patron had been requested for authority to immediately reinstate the old constitution which had served the PCB well and remains a proven system. Since no constitution was then in force it would have been the simplest solution and whatever improvements were necessary could have been easily incorporated through and by use of the constitution.

This would have prevented all and sundry from voicing there opinions based on vested interests and making life even more difficult for the present Board.

Finally one last hope, it is high time that the Chairman starts shedding some ninety percent of the 1100 staff. The broom must start the cleansing from the top and only professional ability should be the guiding principle. This is critical for the future of the PCB.

I cannot end this article without a comment on the first Test match in Karachi. The remarks by a concerned, responsible official during the game that changes would be made for the next one, must surely be termed as most unprofessional. Why for heaven's sake further down hearten players who have hunted leather for two days. Whose side are you on anyway?

The National Stadium pitch and curator are also again under fire. Public statements by all interested and responsible parties have always publicly demanded a lively pitch before any Test match, yet on the day it remains the ever brown track with no trace of grass. All the responsible officials and the curator in spite of the outcry carry on and on. This defies reason.

The writer is a freelance contributor

Day one of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Karachi Test stimulated quite a bit; there were whimpers and wild calls. Younis Khan replacing Shoaib Malik as the country's captain was intensely targeted for poor leadership failing to imply tactically sound field positioning. His arrival as Pakistan's captain didn't see a trademark start. It looked like a lobster.

A lobster, yes! It has remained relatively unchanged for nearly 100 million years and it is built funny... the brain is in its throat, its nervous system is in its belly, it listens with its legs, it tastes with its feet, its teeth are in its stomach and its kidneys are in its head. On day three there were curtains to an anti-Younis sloganeering. Sticking to his most honest credentials, he responded manfully to join the party, scoring a massive triple-century.

Younis's triple-century presented the synthesis of his philosophy and its concretisation; in it we saw the effects of embracing his genuine responses to adversity -- and his critics. We saw his path leading to grand achievements, glory, peace and tranquility; it was also an answer to failure, rot, corruption, self-hate, and eventually social destruction of Pakistan cricket.

Younis's wild, careening plot concerned the first strike by the creative men of the mind. His was not only a supreme innings, it had a handful of messages woven discreetly and ready to be examined minutely. As Sri Lanka amassed a 640 plus total, and with a million tongues wagging and spurning words, Younis displayed his emotions with each stroke he played.

He explained to a Pakistani game heading to ruin exactly where it had made its wrong turns, he stitched together his philosophical vision, by the end of the third day known as objectivism. He left everyone in a trance he went on, famously, at great length.

Younis, when challenged on day one, charged of rigid and innocuous captaincy, was able to deliver a precis of his philosophy while standing untiringly: objective reality. Epistemology: Reason. Ethics: self-interest, selflessness; politics; cricket's capitalism. Younis's exposition gave meat, context and drama to this bare presentation -- and connected the nightmare world of the Pakistan game. Younis's innings could be called emotional fuel and the spark plug of cricket's soul. He actually set a soul on fire and never let it go out.

Younis's multiple hundred gave the viewers a chance to contemplate in dramatic form the thrilling, fulfilling places to which the intelligent, dedicated and purposeful seeking after goals could lead. And it didn't matter whether or not those goals were grand in the eyes of the rest of the world -- not everyone admired his technique and method of run-scoring, even his batting architecture. And he didn't just tell, he showed, with the unique combination that great fiction provides of the emotional and the rational in a package weightier, yet easier to grasp, than either alone.

Although he sometimes saw himself on the wrong end of the stick, dropping the country's captaincy twice and was often written off as merely a clumsy power-passionate ideological cricketer, the most significant part of his appeal, then, was not purely classical; it was from the top-tier. Younis batted with the notion that the Pakistaniness wasn't obsolete from the India dominated world game. While conservatives mostly found little to admire in Younis -- and vice versa -- he, more than most conservative and orthodox batsmen, that his batting could focus the human soul on greater aspirations.

He presented the real theme of his grand achievement inspiring and creating an aspiration toward a higher, better, more wondrous and brave vision of what batting could be -- however unrealistic a triple hundred for a batsman like Younis could see because since 1999 he didn't talk or act like the folks at the corner. As Younis collected his 300th run, he nailed the key to what was really glorious and inspirational about Pakistan.

And throughout his marathon innings, there was a philosophical demonstration that to live for one's own rational self-interest, to pursue one's own goals, to use one's mind in the service of one's team and its happiness, is the noblest, the highest, the most moral of human activitiesÖspeaking to the unnamed, un-championed, beating heart of his new land, and I said: "Younis, yours is the glory".

Younis knew from the beginning that that glory had as much, if not more, to do with individual creative striving as with cricket politics per se. He was the type who was in the centre of action, battled and played marvellously, a complete team man and yet he never was part of the politics-ridden culture. Politics did matter, of course -- and no one dramatised that in a career better than Younis, especially when he intended to break the power-driven mores.

There we saw precisely how the decisions of faceless, malign, or the just ignorant PCB's top-tier lead to dire effects in the game's environment. Twice he rejected Pakistan's captaincy, standing firm on principles and during this period, we saw real-world confirmation of his notions in the grim, constrained deprivation that gripped Pakistan cricket through much of 2007-08, and on a smaller scale in the PCB where any number of dreams and lives were destroyed by eminent domain and local zoning and regulations.

Younis agreed to captain Pakistan in an hour of pure distress, at a time when the national game didn't seem on track, and there were a lot of nannying, bullying, commands, and a huge skim off the top. That can seem abstract, especially in Pakistan cricket.

As the first Test against Sri Lanka shaped one-sidedly on day one and day two, Younis helped us really see, and really feel, what mental toughness and complete faith could do to times of depression when his effort, his life, his essence were hijacked from his own choices and subjected to the whims of the powerful.

When Younis rejected Pakistan's captaincy for the first time, immediately after the World Cup 2007, in spite of common misunderstanding based on the use of the phrase 'the virtue of selfishness' (used intentionally to shock), his decision was by no means purely selfish in the sense that he wanted only himself to be satisfied and happy.

He was motivated by love, conviction and admiration for what he saw as best in humanity and his desire for a world that could encourage and rewarded that opportunity. Younis played under Shoaib Malik and mostly showed a sense of deep compassion for how decent humans were injured in a world that followed wrong premises motivated what his detractors saw as horribly uncharitable contempt of people who could destroy the values of an ill-driven culture.

Younis's critics who heard only hate and heartlessness in him were themselves tone-deaf to peals of glory. In his presence and in his work, one felt that command: a command to function at one's best, to be the most that one could be, to drive oneself constantly harder, never to disappoint one's highest ideals.

Younis on day four of the first Test against Sri Lanka himself put it the essence of life is the achievement of joy, not the escape from pain. He reverse-swept one to reach the magical 300-mark, and in spite of cavils about his unrealism, he was a man of consummate skill, bursting creativity, and unyielding integrity, a man eminently worth being.

That is the positive side to what is sometimes seen as purely negative vision of restricting someone of Younis's calibre. His epoch-making innings was not contempt but his passionate belief in the possibility of individual glory and greatness, and his burning admiration for it.

His standards were demanding -- a call to be the best he could be, achieving the most he could achieve. But the respect and admiration he showed for those who rose to those demands was a warming, revivifying sun. Younis's one great innings at a time when Pakistan cricket was not sinking but it had already sunk has had such an energising effect on millions, including almost every significant figure in the Pakistani game.

This one batting performance will doubtless stay in print and continue to capture and thrill future generations -- and, through his romantic evocations of heroic individuals, continue to lead a certain observant, thoughtful percentage of people to really see, and really feel, how personal liberty is necessary for such heroic striving to reach its zenith.

The writer is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and official historian of Pakistan cricket

Our reliance on unreliable big names backfires

Cricket is a very vengeful game and if mistreated, it has its own ways of taking its revenge. To those masters of the game, who start thinking that they have completely dominated it, cricket immediately puts them under the depressing shadows of failure and those who think that they have become the conquerors of the world, it takes no time in making them ordinary. In other words, like any other sphere of life, in the world of cricket also one has to be repentant in defeat and humble in victory.

Recently a lot of things have happened on the cricket scene in Pakistan, which, on the outset, may look to be ordinary, yet one cannot ignore the eventual deep hidden impact of these on our cricket.

To start with, we had a tour of Sri Lanka for the one-day version of the game and we were beaten fair and square in that. One of the major reasons was our reliance on the unreliable big names. In this regard the first name which comes to mind is that of Shoaib Akhtar, an explosively talented player.

However, one fails to understand one basic aspect and that is that the only thing which a serious player can control fully is his fitness, of all types. Although he keeps announcing every time when he is questioned that he is supper fit, when the test comes, he breaks down and thus the team is left high and dry.

This psychologically creates an atmosphere in the dressing room which makes the loyalties drift apart and thus the gulf enlarges further between the in-group and the out-group within the team. This disintegrates the team and then even the best teams become the losing combinations. This sort of situation was aggravated even further, in case of the Pakistan team, when another three-in-one star of the team once again failed to come up to the hopes and expectations of the nation. Resultantly, when the team fell, the scapegoat was the captain who, in my opinion, needed more sympathy, a caring and loving hand to heal the wounds.

When Ijaz Butt assumed the charge of the PCB, he must have thought, like all previous Chairmen, to gather the best possible team to be his colleagues in running the affairs of PCB. He preferred to choose that team amongst the cricketers of the past with experience of administration, marketing or finance. I think that some he chose just because he had utter respect for them as cricketers.

The case in hand is that of Javed Miadad, an exceptional, courageous and shrewd batsman of the past who always walked imperiously on the highest peaks in the cricketing world with such ease that very few have done it before or will do it in future. The PCB Chairman, to honour and associate this legendry cricketer with the PCB, specially created a post of Director General and offered the same to him.

I thought that it was an honorary pedestal where he was installed for veneration but not for remuneration. However, it seems the thinking of Javed was different. The noble gesture, or so it seemed to me, of the PCB Chairman, turned into an ugly incident of gall and harangue, when Javed disassociated himself from PCB, which was rather sad for the brotherhood of Pakistani cricketers.

It has been noticed that those who excel in a particular field, proved to be quite ordinary and a failure in others. There can be so many reasons for this failure. For one, each field requires special skills to conquer it. For example, a scholar cannot be automatically an excellent teacher; a good doctor is not essentially a good human being and a good cricketer is not necessarily a good coach.

The other factor is that once you have attained a place in the galaxy, then you live within the orbit of that and hence you become unfit for the other orbits. We have seen this happening so often. Miandad belongs to a different galaxy and in case he wants to enter another galaxy then he has to acquire the skills for that. However, in my opinion, it does not befit him to go into a galaxy which has a different hue of light. It is just like a president of a country wants to be the governor of a province also.

Today, our cricket is going through a period of drought, the same which we had seen in the 1960s when we played very little international cricket, although for entirely a different reason. There were fewer teams at that time in the international arena and all of them either already had a full calendar or would not play with us for one or the other reason. So we either used to have teams like Commonwealth, International Elevens, Sri Lanka (which did not have official status at that time) and once in a while the official side of New Zealand, yet players had never shown any despondency and always continued pursuing their goals with dedication and seeking guidance from the senior cricketers.

Let us use this period of drought to rejuvenate and develop cricket in Pakistan at the grass root level which had been neglected completely. I am sure that PCB must be having some plans already in place for that, but then to have a plan is one thing and to implement it with the intention to achieve results is another thing. PCB should allow the associations to play their proper role and their performance must be monitored by the cricketing auditors and their quarterly report should be made public so that cricket lovers can judge that how far the high flying claims of the Associations are justified.

There is a lot to do and I would say that cricketers, instead of going into petty things should unite and make it happen. It is always nice to notice that the honourable committee on sports of the Senate takes a keen interest in cricket and calls the PCB officials from time to time to explain the things about which they themselves do not know. My only request to the honourable Senate committee is that "Hath haula rakho".

I hope that members of the House of Lords in England do not read our newspapers, or else they may get the idea and ask the ECB and the English team management to appear before them and explain how they can get out for 51 runs and lose to West Indies, once a majestic team but now just another cricket playing nation.

In any case, one can only sincerely hope that under the present set up of PCB, Pakistan cricket will be put on the right track and that it will flourish and enhance the prestige of Pakistan because otherwise, we always have people standing in the line.