Pakistan seek to stay focussed

The Big Picture

Pakistan's lead-up to this tour can be described as chaotic at best. While most major teams are finalising their preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan cricket's internal discord continues to divert attention off the field. The captain and coach have complained of not being consulted over team selection, the board has warned the captain and defended not seeking the coach's opinion, while former cricketers have hit out at the rift between players and the board. Such negativity augurs badly for a team still attempting to recover from the spot-fixing controversy and working towards restoring faith in its fans.

Amid the negativity, however, there are a few things to look forward to. Discarded for most of the year, Misbah-ul-Haq has been catapulted into the role of Test captain and won his place back in the limited-overs squads as well. Things have come a full circle for Younis Khan, who, after being banned indefinitely by the board for disciplinary reasons, has been drafted back in the side.

The return of experienced heads has strengthened the batting department. But the bowling, shorn of two quality seamers who have been provisionally suspended by the ICC, will look to Umar Gul for leadership. The series kicks off with a couple of Twenty20 internationals, and Pakistan, who have been short of match practice and possibly struggling for focus, could just be facing a better team.

South Africa have been spared the distractions. They have kick-started their preparations for the World Cup by easily overcoming Zimbabwe at home. South Africa's batting, led by Hashim Amla, has been prolific and they will welcome back Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, who were rested against Zimbabwe. Graeme Smith has said that controversies may not necessarily have a bearing on Pakistan's performance but, with a strong and stable side at their disposal, South Africa have an excellent chance of upstaging their opponents in their home away from home.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Pakistan: LLWWL
South Africa: WWWWL

Watch out for...

Misbah-ul-Haq: He last represented Pakistan in the World Twenty20 this year and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of an international return, with the burden of a Test captaincy in the back of his mind. Lucrative returns in domestic cricket, experience and his reputation as a solid middle-order batsman have prompted the Pakistan board to repose faith in his abilities, especially in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf's stability in the middle order.

David Miller: A hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Miller has already made an impression in international cricket with strike-rates of 146.80 and 132.29 in one-dayers and Twenty20s respectively. The South Africa selectors will consider him a potential World Cup candidate, and after facing significantly weaker opponents like West Indies and Zimbabwe, Miller faces his first major challenge against a competitive albeit depleted Pakistan attack.

Team news

It will be interesting to see if South Africa include all the players they rested against Zimbabwe, for the tour opener. Morne Morkel injured his ankle early in the Zimbabwe series and missed a few games. Will he be brought back too?

South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Colin Ingram, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 David Miller, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan Botha, 10 Robin Peterson, 11 Dale Steyn.

Gul and Shoaib Akhtar will lead the attack with Abdul Razzaq and offspinner Saeed Ajmal as the support options. In the absence of Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider takes over wicketkeeping duties while Imran Farhat is likely to open with Shahzaib Hasan.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shahzaib Hasan, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

Stats and trivia

• The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will be hosting its first Twenty20 international between two Test-playing nations. The two matches that have been played here - Afghanistan v Scotland and Kenya v Netherlands - were quite low-scoring, with an average score of 127.75.
  
• Two of the three Twenty20 matches played between the teams have come in the World Twenty20, in 2009 and 2010, both won by Pakistan. South Africa won the first game between the two sides, in 2007.
  
  Quotes
  "I think generally there are always one or two things going on in Pakistan cricket, so they're pretty used to dealing with stuff like that at least from a playing perspective."
  Graeme Smith expects no let-ups from Pakistan
  
  
  "We have to forget what happened during the tour of England."
  Shahid Afridi wants to focus on the task ahead

PCB mulls legal action against British tabloid

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board is mulling over a plan to initiate legal action against British tabloid The Sun for leveling baseless allegations against Pakistani cricketers in a new report.

The tabloid had claimed the bookies were aware of a certain scoring pattern of the Oval match between Pakistan and England on September 17.
After holding an investigation into the claims, the ICC concluded that the match was ‘no compelling evidence of any wrongdoing’ in the match.
Pakistan had won the Oval contest 22 runs.
Pakistan ODI skipper Shahid Afridi termed the allegations are “rubbish” while PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said the England cricketers had thrown the match, after claiming it was “a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan cricket”.
According to sources, the PCB is in consultation with its British lawyer Elizabeth Robertson about its intention to start legal action against the British tabloid

Wasim Akram makes it to all time Test World XI list

Wasim Akram is the only Pakistani player to have made it to ESPN cricinfo’s all time Test World Eleven list.
The list is dominated by Australians and West Indians reflecting their pre-eminence in Test cricket over the years.
Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Sachin Tendulkar are the other players from the last two decades to make it to the XI.
Four Australians, three West Indians, two Englishmen, an Indian and a Pakistani make up the list. Three players Don Bradman, Garry Sobers and Shane Warne, were unanimous choices figuring in the first elevens of each of the 12 members of the jury.
Each of them got the maximum points possible in the exercise, that is 60. Tendulkar followed with 51 points.
The World XI is picked from the lists of each country’s XIs.
Below follow the complete lists taken from cricinfo.com:

The World XI: Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Dennis Lillee
The Second XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Barry Richards, George Headley, Brian Lara, Wally Hammond, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Bill O’Reilly, Fred Trueman, Muttiah Muralitharan, SF Barnes
Readers’ XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Garry Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath

Regrouped Pakistan target win over South Africa

ABU DHABI: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi hoped his beleaguered side is focused enough to counter a spirited South African team in the back-to-back Twenty20 matches starting on Tuesday.
Pakistan's recent tour to England was rocked by spot-fixing allegations which prompted a Scotland Yard investigation and the suspension of three of their players by the International Cricket Council.
Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were charged for violating various code of conduct during the Lord's Test against England in August, a controversy which Afridi said is a thing of the past.
"My players are professional and have put all the controversy behind them," Afridi said at the launching ceremony of the series in which Pakistan will also play five one-day internationals and two Tests.
The series is Pakistan's home series shifted to United Arab Emirates over security fears.
Afridi said the team has ample talent to counter the South Africans.
"We know we are without two of our best bowlers in Aamer and Asif," said Afridi of the two suspended bowlers. "But we still have ample talent to counter South Africa who are a very good side in the shorter form of the game."
South African captain Johan Botha agreed Pakistan will miss the talent of Asif and Aamer.
"You always miss quality players and surely Pakistan will miss the two (suspended) bowlers, but we too have injury problems in the team and when such things happen other players step in," said Botha.
Allrounder Jacques Kallis and fast bowlers Morne Morkel and Dale Styen were still recovering from various injuries and may not be able to play the first Twenty 20.
Botha hoped at least two of the three players will be available for the second Twenty 20, also to be played on Wednesday.
"Playing Pakistan is always a great challenege and they knocked us out in two major Twenty20 matches," said Botha of Pakistan's wins over South Africa in the second and third World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The two sides play the first two one-day in Abu Dhabi before the last three limited over matches in Dubai.
Dubai will also stage the first Test, while the second will be played in Abu Dhabi.


Squads:
Pakistan (from): Shahid Afridi (capt), Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahzaib Hasan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rehman, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanvir Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider
South Africa (from): Johan Botha (capt), Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Graeme Smith, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Six Pak players suspected of rigging Sydney Test: ex-PCB chief

Pakistan cricket plunged into another match-fixing controversy with the former PCB chief Tauqir Zia claiming that six national team players were suspected by the ICC of rigging the Sydney Test early this year. LtGeneral (retd) Zia said the International Cricket Council had informed the PCB writing after thetour of Australia that it suspected six players of Pakistan team of rigging Sydney Test and they needed to be kept under a close watch.
"I know the ICC had told the PCB this year to monitor these players because they had got hold of some SMS messages these players exchanged with suspected bookmakers," Zia told Geo News channel late on Sunday night.

"ICC approached the PCB after the Australian tour and warned them to keep a watch on these players as they went for the Twenty20 World Cup and Asia Cup," he said.

He said he did not know what the Pakistan Cricket Board management did after the ICC message but said he was ready to discuss anything if approached by the ICC or PCB.

Zia also made another startling claim that he was approached by suspected bookmakers in 2002 to select a 'tainted' player in the national team.

"Some people who I suspect were bookmakers called me up and pressurised me to select a particular player in the team but I rejected them," Zia said.

Zia declined to name the player but other sources indicated that it might have been former Pakistan captain Salim Malik who was banned for life in 2000 by the board for his alleged involvement in match-fixing. The ban on Malik was lifted by the court in 2008.

Asked what he had done when he was approached by suspected bookie to select the 'tainted' player, Zia said he had informed the team management and also the government.

"But we did not make a big deal out of it since that player had already been hauled up earlier," he said, making it clear that he was talking about an incident that happened in 2002 and not recently.

In August, three Pakistanis -- Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir -- were accused of spot-fixing by taking money from illegal bookies to bowl no balls during a Test match against England at Lord's. They were later provisionally suspended by the ICC.

Shahid Afridi 77 off 35 balls vs South Africa

Shahid Afridi in hot waters as the ‘PCB circus’ continue

Drama continues to unfold in Pakistan cricket as the ODI and T20 Captain Shahid Afridi has been asked to provide an explanation as to why he had criticised the selection of the team for the tour of UAE on a private television channel.

The outspoken Afridi had given an interview to a leading Pakistani channel where he had claimed that he did not get the players he wanted for the series that is set to start in the last week of this month.

"The team was announced without my input and advice," Afridi had said. "I wanted 2-3 players other than Sohail Tanvir in the side." Afridi, currently in Lahore leading the Karachi Dolphins in the domestic Twenty20 Cup, said he would speak to Chairman Ijaz Butt about the squad. Butt is, however, currently in Dubai for an ICC meeting.

The candid confession did not go down well with the administrators of the game who claim that such comments were a breach of the PCB’s code of conduct. "He has been sent a letter today [Tuesday] telling him to avoid giving such interviews." Reports have surfaced in the media that the dashing all-rounder was served a show-cause notice which the board later clarified was only an explanatory letter.

It is not Afridi alone that was not happy with the selection of team. Even head coach and legendary fast bowler Waqar Younis has conveyed his reservations to the media about the selection process. The former captain is even irked at the appointment of Misbah-ul-Haq as captain for the two match test series.

The appointment was made after PCB ran out of options in the wake of the suspension of test captain Salman Butt for his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that hit the team on their tour of UK that ended last month. 

"This has gotten particularly worse since Mohsin Khan became chief selector," claimed one source from the with-in the PCB, adding "Until Iqbal Qasim [predecessor to Mohsin] was there the chairman would never attend selection meetings. Now Mohsin doesn't consult with his own committee and only gets instructions from the chairman and essentially says yes to whatever the chairman has said.”

It was once again an eventful day for the PCB as the Chief Operating Officer of the Board Wasim Bari and outgoing team manager Yawar Saeed came in the firing line from the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports.

The committee was chaired by Iqbal Mohammad Ali, who is a member of the national assembly, and acts as a watchdog over sporting activities in the country.

However their own credibility is under question from day one as time and again new faces have emerged who have generally failed to deliver much. The committee has often made loud claims that they would rid the administration of incompetent and corrupt officials.

A day before the meeting, some members of the committee had claimed that they would tender their resignations if the Chief of the PCB is not sacked, yet in what was another comical depiction of the state of affairs all around the members who had threatened to quit did not even attend the session!

The committee understandably faced the wrath of the media as they were questioned time and again about the resignation throughout the session at a time when the committee was busy in grilling the PCB officials.

Another case of their incompetence was highlighted when the committee scheduled the meeting on Tuesday despite knowing that Ijaz Butt would not be available as he is in Dubai attending the ICC’s board meeting.

With the state of affairs as they are, one can conclude that while cricket administrators and parliamentarians make a mockery of the game in the country, one needs to thank them for providing rich entertainment with their antics.