England's another helter-skelter win over demoralized Pakistan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

What would you expect of the world champions, playing on their own turf, when taking on a demoralized and under-prepared outfit besieged by monumental problems? Obviously the hosts will make mince meat of the underdogs in such a scenario.

But this was not the case in either of the two Twenty20 Internationals between England and Pakistan at Cardiff. The home side emerged triumphant on both the occasions to pocket the mini-series 2-0 but they couldn’t display the kind of efficiency that was anticipated in the prevailing circumstances.

England fared marginally better in the second game, winning it by six wickets. They should have cruised to the target of 90 but they lost four wickets in the process to keep the contest alive.

The bowlers had done the job for England with the speedsters forcing the vulnerable Pakistan top order to submission with some hostile stuff and there was not much element of surprise in it.

Tim Bresnan, generating speed in the region of 90 mph, was rewarded for his magnificent attacking bowling performance and he richly deserved the figures of 3 for 10 off 3.4 overs. Stuart Broad proved equally lethal with the new ball and his short-pitched bowling brought him wickets.

Ryan Sidebottom, for the second game running, delivered an ordinary first over and was taken for runs in double digit. But his second spell was far more purposeful that cleaned the threatening tail.

The spin duo of Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann exploited the conditions by keeping it tight against the batsmen who were looking for singles in the middle overs. Umar Akmal, not for the first time, dared taking on Swann but the off-spinner had the last laugh.

Swann has been at the peak of his career of late and it’s not often to see him clobbered for sixes in the manner Umar did it two times. But the rampaging batsman was foxed by the slower one and it was all over for him.

Pakistan were losing wickets regularly and the overs were ticking by but England could not have taken anything for granted, having suffered against the same opponents in not too dissimilar situation in the past.

How would England forget the onslaught of Abdul Razzaq in Dubai earlier this year? For that matter they would not have taken Umar Gul lightly either after he got away with a few streaky shots.

Pakistan were bowled out for 89 inside 20 overs on a pitch that wasn’t horrible for batting. The bounce, more than the swing, undid the visitors and England were expected to coast to a comfortable win.

Openers Steven Davies and Craig Kieswetter got the hosts off to a confident start but both of them departed on successive deliveries against the run of play. Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara also failed and it was left to Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy once again to do the job.

It looked like that the cricket enthusiasts in South Wales had assessed the situation beforehand and the amazingly thin attendance at the ground reflected the clear lack of interest to be a part of something not measuring to their standard. With a county-standard attendance of 5,821 in a Twenty20 International on a Sunday evening the people had given their verdict at the state of the affairs.

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Lawson judges Ijaz Butt to perfection

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Geoff Lawson, the former Australian fast bowler, may have had a brief stint as the Pakistan coach but he has judged Ijaz Butt, the current Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), to perfection.

Isn’t it a shame that so many of Pakistan’s former Test cricketers and commentators who appear on various television channels in role of experts whistle in the dark and very few of them are courageous enough to bring to light the real issue.

Either they lack in knowledge or they are not prepared to call a spade a spade due to the fear of annoying Ijaz Butt more often than not the patience of the viewers is tested. The real issue of the Pakistan cricket is the PCB Chairman and it’s amazing how Lawson has assessed him so well, much better than the Pakistanis.

In an interview Lawson has bitterly criticized Ijaz Butt for failing to provide the strong leadership that the country's cricket needs during one of their biggest challenges.

"Even through this crisis we have heard virtually nothing from their chairman. He hides from a crisis, he is not a leader and when Pakistan need a strong leader and people to show them the way forward, they are not getting it from their board," Lawson pointed out very correctly.

Lawson revealed that before the appointment of Ijaz Butt, Pakistan cricket had in place detailed long-term plans to develop the game from the grassroots up.

"There were 10 and 15 year plans, plans to build regional cricket academies, fitness, fitness trainers, physios and stocking gyms with better equipment and better pay for the first-class players," the former Australian fast bowler remarked.

"After the elections in 2008, it took some months with their hung parliament to appoint a new chairman and Ijaz Butt was appointed and really, I just see from that instant, there has been a decline in Pakistan cricket," he added.

Lawson was of the opinion that Salman Butt had done a great job with a young side since being appointed captain of Pakistan and he would be shocked if the left-handed opener turned out to be at the center of the spot-fixing scandal.

"If it is the case that these young players are being affected, then there is something very bad with the environment in which Pakistan cricket is being played in," he said.

Lawson considered the current crisis is the greatest Pakistan cricket has faced, and unlike previous crises, the team will not have the opportunity to mend fences by playing matches at home once things calm down.

"The hearings on Asif, Amir and Salman will be extremely important. I hope against hope that things will turn out alright but this is very much a watershed for Pakistan cricket right now," the former coach reckoned.

Lawson, it may be recalled, was one of the initial casualties when Ijaz Butt had succeeded Dr Nasim Ashraf as the Chairman of the PCB in 2008.

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England make heavy weather of modest task

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan’s cricket team, demoralized and weakened, due to the ongoing spot fixing scandal, came up with more than satisfactory performance in the first Twenty20 Internationals at Cardiff on September 5.

England, the reigning world champions in the shortest version of the game, made a heavy weather of the modest target of 127 and it was the unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 67 in 7.1 overs between Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy that took them through after some anxious moments.

England had themselves to blame for having let their opponents come close to them. While the bowling was generally steady their catching left a lot to be desired. It was quite unusual for their fielders to have grassed as many as three catches in a T20 game

With the majority of the Pakistan players not well versed with the unpredictable weather conditions of England there was certainly an opportunity for the home team to dictate terms.

Pakistan’s tactics, after being put into bat by Paul Collingwood, were unsurprisingly as strange as ever with everyone bent upon playing his individual game rather than doing it for the team.

Kamran Akmal and Shahzeb Hasan, who opened the innings, went after the bowling from the very first ball as if they were to face dire consequences for treating the good balls with some degree of respect.

I don’t know what the Pakistan openers thought of themselves but it was really something out of the extraordinary to hammer the bowlers from the outset without getting their eyes set in the middle.

The agricultural shots commenced in the opening over bowled by left-arm quickie Ryan Sidebottom, one of the stars in England's World Twenty20 conquest in the Caribbean earlier this year. Kamran was not lucky enough to play around with Tim Bresnan whose extra pace did the trick.

The veteran Mohammad Yousuf, who was not in the scheme of things for T20 cricket for quite sometime, was probably drafted in the team more because of his vast international experience rather than his ability to play the ball late to bisect the fielders.

Yousuf chanced his arms once too often and many of his mistimed lofted shots just eluded the fielders. He was unable to get on top of the wily off-spinner, Graeme Swann, who bowled yet another magnificent spell. Shahzeb also was bamboozled by the same bowler. With the pitch offering extravagant turn, left-arm spinner Yardy also proved to be a hard nut to track.

With four wickets having gone down for 88 in 15.1 overs the pair of Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi refrained from throwing caution to the wind in the final stages and they were happy to collect 38 runs off the last 29 balls of the innings. The hard-hitting Abdul Razzaq was not even required to bat.

England were not expected to be tested while chasing a target of 127 but the game had become wide open when lost fifth wicket at 77. The pace of Shoaib Akhtar and the spin of Shahid Afridi caught the hosts napping and it was left for Morgan and Yardy to repair the damage and they did the job to perfection.

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Now it’s Yasir Hameed in news for wrong reasons

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The anarchy prevailing in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for almost two years now resulted in another controversy and this time it was top-order batsman Yasir Hameed in the news for the wrong reasons.

The News of the World newspaper's Sunday edition has quoted Yasir having alleged that the Pakistan players are throwing matches.

"They were doing it in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages. It makes me angry because I'm playing my best and they are trying to lose," Yasir has been shown saying in the interview.

The News of the World also quoted Yasir as saying he been offered up to 150,000 pounds ($232,000) to throw a match.

Yasir, in his conversations with a couple of private television channels in Pakistan, has denied the claims, which the News of the World says he made to an undercover reporter.

"I have not given any interview. All the claims of newspapers are false. I can't think of giving any statement like this one. Whatever the newspaper has written, it's their own,” Yasir said in a choked voice.

The uncertain manner in which the denial has come has certainly raised suspicions. He didn’t help his cause by hanging the phone when asked for the clarification by the Geo Television Network.

Yasir had played in the last week's fourth and final Test against England, in which Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are alleged to have deliberately bowled no-balls in conspiracy with bookmakers.

Yasir’s case is the latest blow to the Pakistan cricket while the Chairman of the PCB, Ijaz Butt, remains aloof in this probably the most critical phase in the cricketing history of the nation.

The PCB Chairman has been deaf and dumb for the past few days and there has hardly been any effort to control the damage. His cronies have not been able to handle the situation and the task of dealing with the crisis has apparently been passed on to the Pakistan High Commissioner, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, who obviously doesn’t seem to be having the complete information with him.

The Pandora’s Box has been opened and the Pakistani cricketers are at the centre of what has been described as the biggest controversy to have rocked the world cricket for a number of years.

The observations of Yasir have only added fuel to the fire. By the look of things he didn’t know that he was sharing the information with a journalist but he should have still not talked the subject with someone he didn’t know well enough.

In any case he should have avoided a discussion on this issue with anyone at this stage when each and every move of the Pakistani cricketer is being monitored.

The News of the World has been on the lookout for gathering maximum possible information into the story they have broken and they are also looking at the soft targets.

Being a fringe player, who only recently staged a comeback in the national team, Yasir obviously was more likely to speak his mind and he ‘obliged’ them with the kind of ‘material’ they were looking for.

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Kapil Dev desires Imran Khan to run Pakistan cricket

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The spot fixing scandal having marred Pakistan’s ongoing tour of England has brought to light a few tales of the unexpected and on top of them is Kapil Dev’s statement in which he has heaped lavish praise on Imran Khan, one of his illustrious contemporaries, now heading a political party.

Alongwith Richard Hadlee of New Zealand and Ian Botham of England, both of them knighted later, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev formed the quartet of the greatest all-rounders to have ruled the world in the 1980s. All of them brought unmatched glories for their respective countries.

Kapil had led India to victory in the 1983 World Cup against the heaviest of odds while Pakistan were crowned as the world champions nine years later, under Imran, in not too dissimilar circumstances

Kapil has now called upon Imran to help Pakistan restructure itself around morals, ethics and values in light of the match fixing that has come to light.

“I appeal to Imran Khan to take charge of the current situation in Pakistan. Being the cleanest player, it’s he who can save and look after Pakistan cricket. None of us want the game in Pakistan to be finished, as this is one country that has produced some of the finest cricketers,” he stated.

Kapil appears convinced that Imran remains the ideal man to run Pakistan cricket after so many scandals have damaged it over the years.
He described Imran as the “cleanest and the strongest” person in the country to fix the downward trend of cricket in Pakistan.

“In this time of crisis, I can only think of Imran as the cleanest cricketer to look after Pakistan cricket. He can really put the nation out of this controversy and other ones because he also has a strong personality and a sharp mind,” Kapil reckoned.

Kapil has spoken quite highly of Imran. I can’t recollect of Imran having ever expressed similar sentiments for any of his contemporaries.

The former Indian all-rounder, who also held the world record for the highest number of wickets for sometime, had sympathy for the Pakistan cricketers but also reiterated that those found guilty of it should be taken to task.

“I do feel sorry for Pakistani cricketers and Pakistan cricket. But at the same time, the alleged ones should be severely punished if proved guilty,” the former Indian captain was quoted as saying.

He also implored the International Cricket Council (ICC) to uphold the image of the game and get rid of people who have interests other than cricket.

“I’m not qualified to say ICC should ban players. But I appeal to the governing body to look after the game and make sure right people investigate the current issue. It should ensure that betting scandals carried out by a handful of negative people do not taint the wonderful game,” Kapil observed.

“Don’t bet on cricket,” was Kapil’s warning to the budding youth wanting to play cricket professionally.

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PBSA assured of special government grant for Asian Games

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Federal Ministry of Sports and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have been directed to provide special financial assistance to the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) for participation in the various international events during the year.

Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, PBSA, has claimed that the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Sports, headed by Iqbal Mohammad Ali, has instructed the Ministry of Sports to arrange for the necessary funds besides facilitating a foreign coach and building academies in Karachi and Lahore.

“I had a detailed session with the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Sports in Islamabad the other day in which detailed briefing was given to them about the accomplishments and future plans of the PBSA. They recognised that snooker has brought glories to the country and there are bright prospects of our cueists bringing home more medals in the Asian Games. They advised the Ministry of Sports to meet our requirements on an urgent basis,” the PBSA President revealed.

“The Chairman of the Standing Committee was particularly appreciative of the efforts of the PBSA for generating Rs 4 million from sponsorship to offset the costs of national ranking tournaments. He agreed that that the grant of Rs 4 million the PBSA was seeking to from the government to ensure the participation of the cueists in the international events was fully justified,” Alamgir Shaikh disclosed.

The PBSA President described the meeting as extremely fruitful and he was upbeat about getting the desired support from the government in not too distant future.

“We had been given an understanding that the Federal Ministry will facilitate in hiring a foreign coach for the Asian Games for the Pakistan snooker team to participate in the singles and team events. We were awaiting the release of funds so that we could implement the plans,” Alamgir Shaikh said.

“Our cueists have a very busy international schedule and we desperately need the financial assistance from the government. Besides taking part in the 16th Asian Games 2010 at Guangzhou, China, in November we are also committed to participate in the IBSF World Championship 2010 to be staged in Syria in December,” the PBSA President pointed out.

“Then in the very next month our cueists are due to contest in the Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship 2011 to be held in China in January to be followed by the IBSF 6-Red World Snooker Championship 2011 in India in April and the 27th Asian Snooker Championship 2011 also in India in May next,” Alamgir Shaikh continued.

“With so much activity to take place in the next few months we are looking forward to the governmental support besides seeking the help of the corporate sector and the philanthropists,” he said.

Meanwhile the PBSA, confident of overcoming the financial constraints, has decided to hold the 6-Red National Championship prior to the third edition of the Ranking Cup later this year. They will be organizing the 6-Red Championship in the last week of September and it will be followed by the 3rd Ranking Cup in October.

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Not much element of surprise in yet another scandal

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

I was invited in a talk show aired live by Business Plus on August 30 in which the topic of discussion was the latest controversy having engulfed the Pakistan cricket.

Understandably nearly every television channel in the country has continued non-stop coverage of the massive scandal ever since it had broken out during the course of the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s.

Anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada had done quite a bit of research from the various sources and he was ready with probing questions as the show started immediately after the news bulletin at 8.10 pm.

Prior to the 8 pm news bulletin, the viewers of Business Plus had watched a fiery talk show featuring former Test cricketers, Sikander Bakht and Shoaib Mohammad, and sports journalist, Ehsan Qureshi.

The viewers as well as the anchorperson were stunned when I made it clear that I was not surprised when enquired about my immediate reaction at learning about the implication of a few of Pakistan’s cricketers in the latest case.

My cell phone had started buzzing once too often since the day the story was carried by the British media and my reply to everyone was that they should wait until the matter is probed before jumping into any conclusions.

The reason why I am not surprised because the Pakistan cricket has been in a state of anarchy for the last couple of years and there has been complete lawlessness ever since Ijaz Butt has been nominated as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

It’s the single greatest blunder by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the Patron of the PCB. The appointment of Ijaz Butt as the PCB chief was not viewed with suspicion because the cricket circles had expected him to mobilize the available resources for the betterment of the game.

Unfortunately Ijaz Butt has proved to be a complete failure and he has been instrumental in causing irreparable damage to the national interest. In this context the office of the President has not taken the measures to remove him despite repeated requests by the various quarters including the parliamentarians.

The situation has come to stage when you are never sure what’s coming next. With the cronies of Ijaz Butt accompanying the national team on the various tours under the cover of ‘officials’ any thing can be expected when the boys are under nobody’s administrative control.

With the aspect of discipline missing from the Pakistan camp you can always be prepared for one controversy or the other. When there is no rule of law you are always more likely to have chaos than not.

The likes of Yawar Saeed and Shafqat Rana are being obliged by Ijaz Butt on a consistent basis and the decision to involve Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed in the management of the team, overlooking the recommendations of a Chief Justice, was too big an adventure.

Whatever the fate of the Pakistan cricketers in the latest case of spot fixing, one thing is crystal clear than these youngsters do run the risk of getting engaged in wrongdoings in the absence of proper guidance and lack of discipline at every level.

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Trott, Broad save England’s blushes with record stand

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad saved England’s blushes with their 332-run world record stand for the eighth wicket in the fourth and final Test against Pakistan at Lord’s that ended rather prematurely on August 29.

England had themselves to blame to be cornered at 102 for seven on the second afternoon when the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood looked like novices.

The English batsmen having grown up there are expected to be well versed in tackling the conditions that are generally alien to the visitors. It was pathetic to find all their big guns perishing so unceremoniously.

Mohammad Aamer was putting the ball in the right areas and there was plenty of movement and encouragement available to him. Yet it was inconceivable to watch the England batsmen demonstrate so much weakness in negotiating him.

Trott had not come from another planet although he had certainly arrived from another continent, being a South African by birth. He applied himself and made adjustment in his stance, standing way outside his crease, to negate the prodigious swing and that was it.

Trott was on top of the bowling when the senior ‘pros’ of his team were coming and going as if they had something more important to attend. It was really shameful cricket by England that morning which saw them reduced to 47 for five, after having resumed at 39 for one.

Matt Prior got the cue from Trott and together they saw off the remainder of the morning session. But another double blow soon after resumption saw them crash to 102 for seven.

Enter Stuart Broad. He had his credentials as a lower-order batsman but not many people would have expected the young left-hander to keep his cool in the intense pressure his team was under.

It was Broad who took the initiative of attacking the bowlers who had earlier been allowed to dominate and settle into a groove. Suddenly there were positive strokes on display. Initially they went straight to the fielders and one wondered if he would have the patience to stay focused.

With his partner Trott in complete control Broad enjoyed the freedom of playing his natural game. The tactics worked and the runs started coming at a brisk pace.

The Pakistan skipper, Salman Butt, as expected neither had any backup plan or an alternate strategy to come to terms with the counter-attack. With no worthwhile advice coming from the dressing room either the momentum shifted and England moved into the driving seat.

The members of the Pakistan team management, Yawar Saeed, Waqar Younis and Shafqat Rana, were more absorbed in photo sessions at the balcony of Lord’s where they were celebrating the fall of every wicket as if that had come totally unexpected.

The partnership between Trott and Broad continued growing and it was broken only due to the technology. But the damage had been done and England merrily endured another mini-collapse to be bowled out for 446.

It was a huge first innings score and it looked even bigger when Pakistan were bowled out for 74 to concede a deficit of 372. Following on they fared little better and England won the match by an innings and 225 runs.

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