Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news
^ lolz…
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news
I sure hope and pray the Younis’s optimism stems from the real yonus behind the resurgence of Pakistan fast bowling …I mean Wicki the great bowling coach’s wonders are showing…
almost everyone is trying the late inswinging yorkers now… :clown:
OTOH the over zealous VC of our team is big on talk at best…as has been proven…
:hoonh:
Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavpak/content/current/story/275001.html
…I do not want to comment on this, but all that is being reported is not correct (Some of it is)," said Inzamam. “The selectors feel he needs more time to regain match fitness and we are hoping he will join us for the one-day series in South Africa. Shoaib has not played cricket for the last three months, but I have no doubt that if he proves himself (He still needs to prove himself) match fit after playing domestic cricket, he will get a chance to come back.” …
“The selectors have picked a balanced squad particularly in the pace department (means, we don’t really need Shoaib),” said Inzamam. “We are up to the task and know how important this tour is for us. I am confident that the team will do well and be ready for the World Cup.”
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news
Inzamam denies rift with Shoaib
Cricinfo staff
January 3, 2007
All’s well between Shoaib and Inzy, or so claims the captain © AFP
Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has denied all speculation that Shoaib Akhtar’s exclusion from the touring squad to South Africa had anything to do with personal differences between the two.
The Pakistan media had reported an alleged rift shortly after the squad was announced, saying that Inzamam was unhappy when Shoaib was discussed at the selection committee meeting. Speaking to reporters prior to the team’s departure for Johannesburg, Inzamam insisted that Shoaib was left out purely for cricketing reasons.
“I do not want to comment on this, but all that is being reported is not correct,” said Inzamam. “The selectors feel he needs more time to regain match fitness and we are hoping he will join us for the one-day series in South Africa. Shoaib has not played cricket for the last three months, but I have no doubt that if he proves himself match fit after playing domestic cricket, he will get a chance to come back.”
Looking ahead to the tour, Inzamam said he was happy with the composition of the team as Mohammad Asif returns to boost the pace-bowling department. Asif is one among five fast bowlers in the 17-member squad.
“The selectors have picked a balanced squad particularly in the pace department,” said Inzamam. “We are up to the task and know how important this tour is for us. I am confident that the team will do well and be ready for the World Cup.”
Both Asif and Shoaib got their drugs bans overturned by a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) tribunal, making them eligible for selection. While only Asif made the cut to the Test squad, Shoaib was on the list of reserves submitted by the PCB and was in the preliminary one-day squad. Cricket South Africa clarified that it had no objections to either of them being selected.
The tour kicks off with a three-day warm-up match at Kimberley on Saturday before the first Test at Centurion on January 11.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Why do we have conflicting statments coming out of the camp. Inzamam says Shoaib needs to prove his fitness, Woolmer says he would prefer a half fit Shoaib over a fully fit Sami. Now if the confidence of the coach is so bad in a player what is the point of taking that player with the team on tour. How good would that be for the dressing room atmosphere. Sami has been given chances time and again, He has been with the team for even longer. He joined the team when the two W's were in the team and upto now he has done nothing spectecular. I know he is not super old but he isnt 19 anymore either. Giving him more chances is taking away from deserving players, not to mention your premium fast bowler is sitting out when declared himself fit.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
A one-man vision won’t work
Kamran Abbasi
Inzamam sung a famliar song on arrival in South Africa: The past is forgotten we’re all for one and one for all. Pakistan churn out this piece of ham-fisted spin-doctoring so often that it has become tedious. For once, it would be nice to know that such statements aren’t required. Inzamam, though, has brought this current controversy about the tour selection and his relationship with Shoaib Akhtar upon himself. It’s simple enough to conclude that power is back in the hands of Pakistan’s captain after Nasim Ashraf’s premature attempt to slap him down. The reinstatement of Mushtaq Ahmed is evidence enough. Magic Mushy may well have much to offer Pakistan cricket but I’m not sure what he could have done in the past couple of months to bring about this volte-face.
The lesson that Ashraf has learned is that people care more about cricketers than they do about officials. And secondly, people care more about results than they do about individual cricketers. Pakistan’s abysmal failure in the Champions Trophy punctured Ashraf’s machismo but the worry is that the pendulum has swung too far back in Inzamam’s favour for the good of Pakistan cricket.
Inzamam’s hold over the team is a double-edged sword. If he uses his influence in a positive way Pakistan may well be capable of achieving great success this year. However, if his mood crushes the people around him, which it began to do during last summer’s tour of England, Pakistan cannot succeed.
Imran Khan once had a similar hold over his team but he was wise enough to know that he had to harness the talents of people that he may not have liked or necessarily agreed with. The outcome was more important than pride–although he had plenty of that too. The test of leadership is whether or not you will include or seek counsel from people you may not choose as your friends but who have something to contribute to the mission. This is a test that Inzamam has not passed, and for the sake of Pakistan cricket he needs to. There is a huge risk in allowing one man to monopolise strategy, particularly when he has able support around him. Indeed, Inzamam is no Imran. He has never struck me as having the clarity of vision or ideas to do it alone.
Inzamam has succeeded in many ways in his career, and he is a contender for the title of Pakistan’s greatest ever batsman. He has single-handedly won international matches and almost single-handedly won a World Cup. He has brought great stability to Pakistan cricket under his leadership. But his biggest failing is that he has become over-bearing and fallen too easily into a negative mindset. This is evident in the kinds of pitches that Pakistan have prepared under his leadership, the suggestions to Mohammad Sami to drop his speed, his on-field decisions, and now the selection of the current touring party. Pakistan had no need for so many batsmen, particularly those in the middle order, for this short tour of South Africa. That extra place should have gone to a bowler.
Yet that is Inzamam’s way. It is the mindset that I believe inhibits Pakistan cricket. Yes, stability is essential and I have argued for it myself, but leadership is about allowing the talents of your charges to flourish and managing–not excluding–difficult personalities. It is also about seeking wise counsel and including your management team in deciding which is the best way forward. Inzamam, great player that he is, needs to harness the knowledge of his fellows and free the spirit of his players–and he needs to begin now.
SOURCE: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/pakspin/archives/2007/01/a_oneman_vision_wont_work.php
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^ very well written I must say.
Come on Inzi prove your supporters right...overcome your timidness and petty issues with players..
Lets show how a man can grow in understanding.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
This is a great article, pointing out the exact problem in this scenario. Difficult personalities need to be dealt with for the better of the country.
See how the South African curator changed the pitch for the 3rd test between India & SA. Indians are saying it’s like playing in India, a flat track. They were scared of losing, like they did the first test match when the Indian pace bowlers ruled....If Pakistan took Shoaib, similar things could have happened. Now even before the series gets kicked off, SA has the upper hand and the psychological advantage.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Inzi should realise that he's no Imran. It's about time he grew up and settled whatever his personal differences with Akhtar. Akhtar is the only one who can speak English with any fluency. Does Inzi have an inferiority complex? I hope I am wrong. The rest like Inzi are all lalloo panjjoos so he probably feels at home in their company :)
I personally feel that Inzi has n't really done enough to groom promising young players like Samiullah Niazi, Anwar Ali, Jamshed and Fawad Alam who all played a big part in U-19 WC triumph. Infact because of his negative and defensive mindset the same dull selections (like Sami and Rao 'the very ordinary' Iftikhar Anjum) have been going on for quite sometime. The PCB should do something before this hindrance becomes a nuisance for up and coming players like Fawad Alam etc. If Inzi again fails in SA then people would say (and quite rightly so) that he failed as captain in the series that mattered. It's no secret that most of his series wins up until now have come at home. His away record isn't that great
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
[quote=fkhan2]
A one-man vision won't work
Good attempt but will fall on deaf ears cause Inzi suffers from ASDS (Attention Span Deficit Syndrome) when it comes to dealing with ppl who do not agree with him.
On Shoaib Akhter, well he did not appear to be fit in the 20/20 tournament not that sud be used as a fitness benchmark, then again others were willing to be put in that extra effort. Therefore, on Shoaib Akhter's issue Iam going to side with Inzi even though he may be doing it for some other reason.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
No surprises expected in Pakistan’s preliminary WC squad
Pakistan will announce their 30-man provisional squad for this year’s World Cup in the Caribbean early next week, according to Ahsan Malik, the PCB’s director of communications. With Wasim Bari, the chief selector, out of the country and Iqbal Qasim, the former Test cricketer and member of the national selection committee, hospitalised after suffering a heart attack, Pakistan were forced to hold back on the announcement.
“We are more or less clear on what sort of pool to announce for the World Cup but would announce the provisional squad after a final round of discussion among the selection committee and the national team management,” Malik told The News. "The list would be announced within a couple of days after the chief selector returns home. The selectors might have a few discussions among each other and may also discuss the issue with [Bob] Woolmer and Inzamam-ul-Haq before naming the squad.
The deadline is January 13, though several of the 16 teams, including defending champions Australia, have already announced their squads. Pakistan are unlikely to make any surprise additions to a list of 25 players who attended a brief conditioning camp in Lahore late last month in preparation for the tour of South Africa. Medium pacers Mohammad Khalil and Samiullah Khan, Fawad Alam, the young allrounder, and and Imran Niazi, the opener, are likely to be added in the World Cup preliminary squad. Fawad, who was the best player of the domestic Twenty20 Cup last month, is the only new face expected to make the list.
According to the ICC, the deadline for submission of the final 14-member squads for the World Cup is February 13, a month before the tournament’s opening game between Pakistan and the West Indies on March 13 in Jamaica.
SOURCE: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/275423.html
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Waqar Younis , Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf return home after performing HAJJ.
Yousuf may miss the first two tests against SA because of his wife’s illness (? pregnancy related)
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
alhumdulillah. 
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Yeah and then Wicki decides he needs to quit.
and Some one realizes they forgot Shoaib Actor back in Pakistan!!
(just trying to keep a timeline)
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
WEll atleast our coach sheds some good light on the subject
Pakistan’s success in South Africa will depend on how they adapt to conditions
A tough task ahead
Bob Woolmer
January 10, 2007
‘We have a very good seam attack with discipline and talent’ © Getty Images
On January 3 Pakistan landed in Johannesburg, wheeled their luggage across to the domestic terminal and flew to Kimberley, the home of the African diamond. Here they prepared for six days leading up to the first Test, to be held at Centurion Park in Pretoria. As is the case globally now, preparation and acclimatization time for tours is nonsensically short. So don’t ask me whether we are under-prepared or not.
The modern-day international cricketer has no time, so he has to adjust quickly mentally and physically to conditions. Fortunately, the pitches at Kimberley and Centurion Park, could provide ideal surfaces for us to find batting form quickly, as they are usually good batting tracks.
South Africa are an extremely difficult side to beat and since their 1992 readmission into cricket, only Australia and England have managed to beat them in a series. Looking at Pakistan’s previous record, and indeed having been the coach of the South Africa team during two of those series, the task ahead for this Pakistan side is a difficult one. I personally view it as a test to gauge whether the side has grown individually and collectively. Asian teams do not travel well and success will depend in large part on whether this team embraces South Africa as a country and culture.
Pace like fire
I hesitate to say that we have a better seam attack than those that toured in past tours only because in the 1997-98 series, when Pakistan drew with South Africa, (read Wisden and Cricinfo reports of the tour) they had Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram (who only played the last Test), two of the acknowledged greats of the game, and Fazl-e-Akbar who is not a bad seamer. Shoaib Akhtar was also starting his career then.
Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed had played a big part in that victory at Durban (12 wickets between them). Mushtaq, as assistant coach, will be able to offer valuable advice for Danish Kaneria. All things being equal we have a very good seam attack with discipline and talent. If they bowl to their potential, there will not be any easy runs and in Kaneria we have a class spin bowler, so I am optimistic about our bowling.
It’s the batting, stupid
The main frailty on those tours was the batting, though in a way it is ironic that on the 1997-98 tour, Pakistan did have a famous opening partnership in Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail, an area where there has been considerable criticism of the current team. Anwar, in particular, did well against the daunting duo of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock.
‘Inzamam as captain is the direct opposite of Graeme Smith: undemonstrative and endlessly calm and still a great batsman’ © Getty Images
It is in batting that we will have to tighten up and if we are to beat South Africa then runs are going to be the key. The Australians were always awesome, making South Africa’s bowling toil by batting so well and so rapidly. The Australians, of course, are brought up on faster, bouncier pitches and South Africa is similar, though there is more seam movement. But I remember when I first played in South Africa, John Edrich advised me to just play straight and wait for the bad ball, which wasn’t bad advice.
Like all international sides, the Pakistan team has abundant talent and probably more so than I have ever witnessed in my career. Inzamam as captain is the direct opposite of Graeme Smith: undemonstrative and endlessly calm and still a great batsman. The two Y’s, Younis Khan and Mohammed Yousuf, are also tried, tested and successful players. Much might depend on how the youngsters, such as Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat to name but three, adapt in these conditions against a fiery and competitive host.
Ntini’s angle and Nel’s tantrums
I am most interested in the strides made by Makhaya Ntini, who has developed into a very fine bowler. He makes life very awkward for batsmen, managing to bowl from very wide of the crease. It is this angle that creates indecision in defence. It is an area that we have been addressing and hopefully will help blunt the attack.
Dealing with Andre Nel, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall and Jacques Kallis will take courage, a great deal of skill and a slice of luck. Nel will provide an interesting challenge, especially his demeanour on the field, which takes some getting used to. The South Africans made a tremendous amount of noise on the field in Durban against the Indian batsmen and this mental disintegration, as Steve Waugh put it, is an area that any team has to overcome.
And finally
The deciding factor may well be the pitches that we play on and we must be able to adapt. Centurion, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town are three excellent venues. Centurion usually has a lot of grass on it but spongy bounce. Port Elizabeth tends to be slightly low and uneven by the end of the Test, while Cape Town can turn and there will be bounce. In the last two venues, the wind direction also makes a difference.
All in all, it will be a tough tour but if we are to be genuine contenders for the World Cup, we need to be competitive against South Africa. The Indians showed at the Wanderers that they can be beaten.
© Cricinfo
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Pace on its way!!
South Africa v Pakistan, 1st Test, Centurion Park
Prepare for battle of the quicks
Preview by Osman Samiuddin
January 10, 2007
Mohammad Asif will be one of most naturally gifted pacemen on show © AFP
Not so often do you get the opportunity these days to really savour the prospect of a series where pace bowling, in all its glory, will come to the fore. But over the next few weeks, as Pakistan takes on South Africa, you can hark back to the long-held (sometimes even true) maxim that the batsmen, they will save a game, but the bowlers, they will win them
Read more here…
Lets see if Asif and Shoaib lite up the tracks with their tracer bullets…
and it is not just our batsmen wanting they had vest on for the pacers…
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Cricket itineraries nonsensical - Woolmer
January 10 2007 at 03:56PM
Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer lashed out on Wednesday against international cricket itineraries which he says make it very hard to win away from home.
“Today’s preparation for Test series away is nonsensical,” Woolmer told journalists on the eve of the first Test between South Africa and Pakistan, starting at Supersport Park on Thursday.
"There’s so little time to prepare. In the past, you would have a couple of four-day games, you’d have 10 or 11 days in the nets, and then you’d walk into the first Test match. Now you have to adapt as best you can to the conditions.
"South Africa have come off the back of two very good wins. We had one game in which to prepare, so we’ll have to work very very hard.
“Unfortunately, in today’s merry-go-round, I think you can call it, tour itineraries are just nonsensical.”
Woolmer said the problem was not caused by the International Cricket Council (ICC) but by the individual countries that drew up the itineraries.
“They’ve got to sit down and really think it through. I’m particularly worried that the World Cup comes so soon after a three day Test series and five one-day internationals crammed into just
over a month,” continued Woolmer.
"I think it could be a bridge too far for a lot of our players and I’m really worried about it.
"The modern coach is going to have to factor in a completely different way of structuring practices and structuring tours in order to cope with this situation.
“This all makes winning away from home very tough.”
Woolmer revealed that he had asked for one Test and five one-day internationals on the tour of South Africa. - Sapa
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Shoaib signs central contract
http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/11/spt1.htm
By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 10: Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is due to join the Pakistan team in South Africa this week, finally signed the central contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board at its headquarters in Lahore on Wednesday.
Shoaib’s previous contract in the ‘A’ category was cancelled last year after he was banned along with fellow paceman Mohammad Asif for taking banned steroid, nandrolone.
But a PCB appellate tribunal overturned the two-year ban imposed on the 31-year-old speedster by a doping panel in October last. Asif was also exonerated from doping charges by the tribunal, headed by retired Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim.
The Rawalpindi-born pacer, who is now scheduled to leave for Johannesburg via Dubai on Thursday night, also signed a contract with cellular company Mobilink which is one of the main sponsors of the PCB.
Arguably the fastest bowler produced by Pakistan, Shoaib has claimed 165 wickets in a chequered 42-Test career which began in 1997-98 and 208 scalps in 133 One-day Internationals. He hasn’t featured in a Test since India played at Karachi almost a year ago while his last ODI appearance was against England at Trent Bridge in September 2006.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^ good thing to have a player sign some thing on paper before they actually send him out to the field…
people should really try make that a practice these days…I mean with all the dope and stuff going around…
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Shoaib leaves for SA
(Dawn) http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/12/spt2.htm
KARACHI, Jan 11: Pakistan express bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Thursday evening left for South Africa to join national cricket team. Shoaib left from Karachi for Johannesburg via Dubai. He would be joining Pakistan Test squad as a cover for paceman Umar Gul and will be available to the team for the second Test at Port Elizabeth, starting from Jan 19.
“I am delighted to be in the national team and eager to play an important role against Proteas from Pakistani side,” Shoaib said.
He once again ruled out any differences with the skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and vowed to give his 100 per cent in the second Test.
“I do not know who was behind my exclusion from the preliminary national squad for South Africa but I am a team man and would give my best.”—Agencies
Although Actor’s recent omission has a lot to do with PCB politics I am not sure he even understands the meaning of team player