PAK in ENG (2006) - Media Coverage Center - Post articles here

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Pakistan to stick with opener Imran Farhat

*By Mirza Iqbal Baig

*MANCHESTER: Pakistan cricket team management has decided not to call any replacement for the injured opening batsman Imran Farhat. Coach Bob Woolmer told Daily Times here on Monday that Imran was doubtful starter for the Leeds Test but the management had decided not to call any new player from Pakistan as Imran’s replacement. Imran got injured while taking the catch of England batsman Kevin Pietersen during the Old Trafford Test on Friday. Pakistan lost the second Test by an innings and 120 runs. Woolmer said Imran’s fitness test would be taken before the Leeds Test. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s middle order batsman Faisal Iqbal has been cleared to play the third Test. Faisal got injured while fielding during the second Test in Manchester. Captain Inzamamul Haq and his men are departing to Leeds on Tuesday (today).

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\08\01\story_1-8-2006_pg2_4

They should stick with farhat and bring Salman Butt in as well to give them both enough chances before dumping them.

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Afridi is going to open with Farhat (if fit)

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Why would they need to call for a replacement for Farhat? Isn't that what Taufeeq is here for? All you need to do is have Taufeeq have a few catching drills with Jonty and voila, you have Imran Farhat 2.

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Pakistan think tank has booked score of 30/2 if not worst :bummer:

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^ And a score of 300-2 for England.

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^ yep sigh

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^ And the match ending on the third day with Pakistan losing by an innings and 456 runs.

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^ :bummer:

Gidar ki jab maut aati hai....
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SHOAIB - TOURISTS WILL FIGHT BACK

Shoaib Akhtar is expecting Pakistan to shrug off the psychological damage caused by their three-day second Test defeat at Old Trafford and bounce back strongly against England at Headingley.

The Pakistan fast bowler spent last week in Manchester in the nets starting his comeback from ankle surgery while his team-mates slid to an innings-and-120-runs defeat out in the middle.

But having studied their response to the three-day humiliation, Shoaib is convinced Pakistan have the necessary mettle to shrug it off and come back strongly in the third npower Test starting on Friday.

“It was a bad game for Pakistan, but it’s one of those games you have to go through,” stressed Shoaib.

"I would try to forget all about it if it was me.

"They were not too low about the performance. I think we have a very good captain in Inzamam-ul-Haq because he’s very determined, but he’s also very relaxed.

“Now we’ve lost there is nothing you can do about it apart from have a couple of days off and then look at the things we’ve done wrong.”

Shoaib is banking on a Pakistan response simply because he wants the series to remain alive for his possible comeback in the final Test at The Oval starting on August 17.

Before then Shoaib hopes to compete for Berkswell against St George’s in the Birmingham League this weekend and to try to improve his match-fitness before he attempts to convince Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer of his readiness for a Test.

Shoaib has been training hard with Warwickshire since the Test but took a break to attend the latest promotional event of Urban Cricket, the new game backed by Test sponsors npower to promote interest in cricket among children.
“I hope to be playing next weekend,” he explained.

"We are still monitoring my fitness with my trainer and the management and hopefully I will be able to play this weekend.

“I can’t wait to start playing again. I want to get a bit of match practice before the Oval Test. I’m building up to bowling at full pace and power and I am getting there.”

Should Shoaib come through his league outing unscathed, he is scheduled to make his Pakistan comeback against West Indies A at Shenley on August 12-13.

SOURCE: http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/06/08/01/CRICKET_Pakistan_Nightlead.html

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It would be a tragedy for Asif and Shoaib to be fit for the 4th test only for our boys to have lost the series by then. :(

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I have a feeling that will be the case...unfortunately.

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Pakistan urprised by Kamran Akmal’s ordinary show

By Khalid Hussain

MANCHESTER: Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal’s unconvincing showing in the opening two Tests against England has put the Pakistan team management under extra pressure.

Kamran, tested as an opener at Old Trafford last week, flopped miserably in that role and could just get eight runs from his two outings in the second Test. But more than his batting woes, it is his performance behind the stumps that has put a question mark on the player’s form and has bewildered the team officials.

Pakistan have come to England on this marathon tour with just one specialist gloveman as the team officials ignored the national selection committee’s advice to take along a substitute wicket-keeper on the trip that include four Tests, five One-day Internationals (ODIs) and several side games. Zulqarnain Haider was singled out as the reserve wicket-keeper and there was this option for the team management to take him to England as an understudy of Kamran.

But the team management decided to keep faith in just Kamran who was in superb form at home and abroad during the last few seasons — both with the bat and behind the stumps. The idea was to shield Kamran from any extra pressure which the team management thought could be posed by having an extra wicket-keeper in the touring party.

But the management may now be regretting that decision. Kamran did well with the bat in the drawn Test at Lord’s but was very unconvincing behind the stumps. His performance dipped further at Old Trafford where he had outings of 4 and 4 as an opener and was unable to collect the ball behind the stumps on several occasions. Kamran’s lack of form has been a huge setback for Pakistan who are currently without several of their strike bowlers here because each time he drops a catch or allows unnecessary byes off the bowling of pacers like Mohammad Sami or Umar Gul who are already running low on confidence, it further dents their morale.

“Kamran’s less than satisfactory form has really taken us by surprise,” admitted Pakistan manager Zaheer Abbas while talking to ‘The News’. “He is such a good wicket-keeper and a prolific batsman but so far he has been far from his best here in England,” added the former Test batsman.

According to Zaheer Kamran himself is unable to tell what has gone wrong with his form. “The boy is clueless. He has been unable to give a neat showing behind the stumps so far and that is really hurting him,” said Zaheer.

The manager said the only clear reason behind Kamran’s erratic showing is that he is yet to come to terms with the movement of the ball in England, saying, “Sometimes the ball nips in sharply after crossing the batsman and Kamran is finding it difficult to cope with the movement.”

The team officials have asked Kamran to make an extra effort to train ahead of the Leeds Test starting from August 4. He was also seen training for long durations ahead of the second Test at Old Trafford but failed to show any improvement.

Kamran’s butter fingers could get worse once the world’s fastest bowler joins the Pakistan line-up sometimes later this month. Shoaib Akhtar is expected to make his Pakistan comeback in the fourth Test against England at The Oval from August 17 and there are fears that if Kamran cannot keep wickets properly with Sami, Umar or Abdul Razzaq bowling, then he could be in more trouble when Shoaib returns to hurl his 100-mph missiles.

However, Zaheer allayed such fears saying that Kamran would surely do better at Leeds and Lord’s. “He (Kamran) is too good a player to play like this for too long. He is bound to improve in the coming matches,” he said.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=18094

I am surprised that the management has not suggested idea of getting a wicket keeping coach to work with him.

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Annoyed Shaharyar wants Pakistan to improve performance**

By our correspondent

MANCHESTER: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan may be a kind-natured man with a soft spot for his players but the national team’s embarrassing loss by an innings and 120 runs in the second Test against England at Old Trafford last week has rubbed him the wrong way.

‘The News’ has learnt through reliable sources that Shaharyar was utterly displeased with the poor performance of the team and what is seen as a rare instance did not hide his anger at the was the tourists flopped in all departments of the game.

According to the sources, Shaharyar has made it clear that the national players, including the more senior members of the side, will have to improve if they are to continue enjoying the PCB’s support.

Shaharyar, who is in England to watch the four-match Test series, is said to be a huge supporter of Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq which is one of the major reasons why the burly batsman is one of the most authoritative captain Pakistan have ever had.

But the PCB chief was unhappy with the way Pakistan succumbed at Old Trafford without even giving England a reasonable fight and expressed his anger in a discussion with a team official a day after the second Test ended inside three days with Pakistan giving their second worst performance ever on English soil.

Shaharyar told the team official that most of the Pakistan players have been unimpressive on this tour and if they failed to show any improvement in the coming matches then these players might find it tough to stay in the side.

There is a general impression within the circles close to the Pakistani team that any player having the support of Inzamam would keep his place in the squad even if he is unable to deliver consistently. But according to Shaharyar, the only factor that would help the players stay in the side would be their performance.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=18095

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Looks like Akmal is trying to take a leaf out Farhat’s book then. No runs and dropped catches seem to do the trick for Farhat so why not for Akmal.

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Woolmer hopeful over pace trio

Pakistan’s injury concerns surrounding their pace attack have not eased in time for the third Test against England, but the trio of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan could return before the end of the tour.

Asif is the closest to playing again, while Shoaib is aiming to continue his rehabilitation with a match for Birmingham League side Berkswell this weekend. The Pakistani camp is also hopeful that Naved-ul-Hasan will have recovered from his groin injury in time for the five-match one-day series which follow the Tests.

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, said: "Asif went through a fitness test yesterday [Wednesday]. He bowled eight overs pain free. Shoaib plays his first game in the Birmingham League on Saturday and we’ll see how he comes through that. And Naved-ul-Hasan is due to start bowling again in the next couple of days.

“There is a thought he [Naved-ul-Hasan] might return to Sussex and work under the Sussex team and see if we can get him fit there. They did bring this up through Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed] and suggested that might be the case. We will certainly look at that. But he definitely won’t make the fourth Test match - and nor should he because he hasn’t bowled for some time”

Woolmer stressed that Shoaib won’t be rushed back before he has proved his fitness: “We want him to bowl at least eight full days of cricket before we can make any sort of statement about whether he will be fit for the last Test .”
Turning to Asif, Woolmer added that he was on target to take part in Pakistan’s last tour match ahead of the final Test: “He’s got another test today [Thursday] and if he comes through that he’ll play against West Indies A at Shenley.”

SOURCE: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvpak/content/current/story/255522.html

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Pakistan facing dilemma

Telegraph.co.uk

Pakistan must decide whether to stick or twist when they come out to face England at Headingley today.

The safe option would be to drop Shahid Afridi, the rakish all-rounder who has managed only 49 runs and three wickets in the series to date.

The brave one would be to give him more responsibility by promoting him from No 8 to opener, where Afridi has scored two of his five Test hundreds.

Afridi hardly fits the conventional description of an opening batsman. He is more likely to flay the new ball than see it off, but on a Headingley pitch that looks full of runs such a combative stance might just disrupt the England bowlers.

And if he fails, well, Pakistan would be no worse off than they were in the first two Tests, where their opening stands numbered 28, 0, 4 and 21.

At least they would not have sacrificed a bowling option - a dangerous thing to do when your opponents keep piling up 400-plus in every innings.

The problem with promoting Afridi is that - even more than most batsmen - he dislikes genuinely fast bowling. But then few Asian batsmen enjoy going in against the new ball in England.

The Sri Lankans lost their first wicket for 10 runs or under in every one of their six Test innings.

Pakistan might have expected to fare better, but their lot has been complicated by injuries - first to Shoaib Malik, who flew home with elbow trouble, and now Imran Farhat, who fractured his right index finger when catching Kevin Pietersen at Old Trafford.

“We had a pretty settled opening partnership against England in Pakistan,” said a wistful Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach. "Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik averaged 60 for the first wicket, which was enough to see off the new ball. We had it working then, but we’ve had to shuffle them around a bit since then.

“We’ve got Taufeeq Umar here as well as Butt and I think we’ll play it by the book - six batsmen, a wicketkeeper and four bowlers.”

Reading between the lines, that suggests a certain dissatisfaction with the performance of Pakistan’s all-rounders, Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, neither of whom distinguished himself at Old Trafford. It may be that the medium-pacer, Shahid Nazir, comes in for this game as a support seamer.

The key to the Pakistan performance, as always, will lie in their middle order. With Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq all ranked among the world’s top 10, this is an engine-room with enough combined horsepower to shunt England backwards.

“If we’re to have any chance of winning the series, the first day of this Test is a very big day for us,” Woolmer said.

“We can bounce back, we have a reputation for doing that, and the team are very determined. The boys were stung badly by the last performance.”

Even a draw would not be the worst result for Pakistan, who are hopeful of having their fast-bowling pair of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif back in harness for the final Test.

Asif got through an eight-over fitness test on Wednesday without pain; if he emerges unscathed from yesterday’s workout, he will fly in to play against West Indies A next weekend.

SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/08/04/scpaks04.xml

I actually won’t mind playing afridi as an opener in place of Butt. I am not suggesting him as an opener in test matches for future but only in this current crises.

A question
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^ Very interesting comments by Woolmer. Who knows, maybe they might decide to do away with the all rounder approach and drop Afridi/Razzaq. I am not in favor of this idea simply because the back up specialist bowlers are just as good if not worse than the all rounders! Now if we had Shoaib, Rana or Asif coming in, it would make sense. But for the likes of the Nazir, Samiullah, Rao, I really don't think sacraficing Afridi and Razzaq is worth it.

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Asif bowls fine spell in friendly

LAHORE, Aug 3: Medium-pacer Mohammad Asif, showing rapid recovery from an elbow injury that forced him out of the Pakistan-England Test series last month, delivered an unhindered spell of eight overs during a friendly match at the National Cricket Academy on Thursday.

It was good news for the struggling Pakistani cricketers in England as the lanky bowler looked in no pain whatsoever and had several of his deliveries skidding past the bats of the NCA players.

“So far Asif has not complained of any pain in his elbow and I will wait till tomorrow before taking a decision about his fitness,” Pakistan Cricket Board specialist Dr Saleem Sohail told Dawn at the NCA ground.

"I would like to arrange one more match for Asif in the next few days to asses his fit-ness better.”

SOURCE: http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/04/spt10.htm

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‘There is a determined air about the side’

Friday August 04 2006
Bob says

Bob Woolmer has warned England of a Pakistani fightback in the third Test at Headingley this week.

Pakistan were humbled by an innings and 120 runs in Manchester last weekend to go behind in the four-match npower series.
However, Englishman Woolmer is expecting a staunch response from the tourists, who have a recent history of Test comebacks, having levelled campaigns in both West Indies and India last year.
Woolmer said: "I would be very disappointed if we didn’t fight back very hard in this Test match.
"There is a determined air about the side, we cannot say what is going to happen but they will fight.
"We can bounce back - we have a reputation of doing that and the team are very determined.
"They were stung badly by the last performance and I hope, as all coaches would do in a similar situation, that the boys can bounce back and hit England hard.
“Assuming the game goes the distance, which it looks as though it should do on the surface out there, then we have got to play a lot better cricket than we have done so far in this series.”
Pakistan will have to revamp the top of their order once again with Imran Farhat (fractured finger) almost certainly out.
That could signal a recall for Salman Butt, who has failed to replicate his winter success against England on this tour, and possibly a promotion for Shahid Afridi.
Woolmer added: "We had a pretty settled opening partnership against England in Pakistan and nothing really changed until Shoaib Malik failed to recovery from surgery.
“In the winter we were doing okay, averaging somewhere in the region of 60 for the first wicket so that was enough to see off the new ball, which is the main job of the opening batsmen.”
With Pakistan keen to field four frontline bowlers, the one spot in which Afridi could be accommodated is as opener, from where he has made two of his five Test hundreds.
Pace has dominated wicket-taking in Leeds over the years yet Pakistan will be without a trio of their frontline attack.
Shoaib Akhtar takes part in a Birmingham League match this weekend, Mohammad Asif has made some tentative progress in the nets back home while Rana Naved-ul-Hasan may continue his rehabilitation with Sussex in the next couple of weeks.
“We are not making any excuses,” insisted Woolmer, referring to the injuries to both teams.
“Test cricket is 11 against 11 on the field and you cannot do anything about the guys who are not fit to play.”

SOURCE :- http://www.cricket365.com/news/story_20907.shtml

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Innocent bhai.... itnay innocent na bano.... ^ this article is not anything about Pak vs Eng :p

a way to know that ur in love or not!