Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
I hope Farhat is dropped and the new opening pair does well so that we get rid of Farhat forever, Itis about time to give Imran Nazir another chance, I am hoping that he has learned from his mistakes, I doubt that Fawad Alam will get a chance anytime soon(wait till he is 28)
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^ Don't worry, Fawad Alam will get his chance well before that, very likely soon after WC '07.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Bob Woolmer upset over hectic Schedule for players after series loss to SA
Woolmer attacks workload
Cricinfo staff
January 28, 2007
The packed international calendar has again been blamed for a team’s Test series loss with Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, criticising a “ridiculous” schedule. Injuries finally caught up with Pakistan as they lost the series-deciding third Test against South Africa by five wickets at Newlands.
Pakistan’s problem on the third day was that the other bowlers couldn’t maintain the standard set by Mohammad Asif and Danish Kaneria, especially with Mohammad Sami having split the webbing of his bowling hand while fielding Saturday. Woolmer pointed out that three of his leading bowlers were back in Pakistan.
“The current schedules are ridiculous,” he said. "You are already seeing players like Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini who are exhausted and today Asif was an example. Fatigue leads to injuries. It’s a proven equation. If you have too much fatigue, your back goes or you twinge a hamstring or get a stress fracture.
“Cricket has to look at it. As a coach I have to manage these things. We’ve got Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar and Shabbir Ahmed sitting at home. Somewhere along the line the commercial aspects and the physical aspects of looking after players have to be revisited.”
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was off the field for much of the final day with a back injury and Woolmer added: “We don’t know the severity of it yet but he couldn’t bend down so he came off the field. He’s had the same injury before.”
He said it was too early to make a call on the likelihood of Inzamam being fit for a five-match one-day series which starts next Sunday following a Twenty20 international at Johannesburg on Friday.
Woolmer said that while the series loss was disappointing sections of it had showed Pakistan’s overseas form was improving since losing all three Tests of a series in Australia two seasons ago on similar, bouncy pitches. However his counterpart Mickey Arthur will argue the surfaces were a little too much like home.
However, Woolmer saved special praise for Asif, who bowled more than 125 overs in the series. “Asif has been incredible,” he said. “He’s a top quality bowler. He’s still young in Test cricket and has got a long way to mature but he’s very close to the top of his trade already. With fine tuning and greater fitness levels he’ll be a real force in the future of Pakistan cricket.”
Inzamam rued Pakistan’s missed opportunity to make history in South Africa, having come so far. “We have lost a golden opportunity to win a series overseas against a top side,” he said in a televised interview. “It is one of the biggest disappointments of my career.”
© Cricinfo
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Osman Samiuddin ranks Players after SA test series loss for Pakistan](http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavpak/content/story/278076.html)
Pakistan marks out of 10
Asif the lone ranger
Osman Samiuddin
January 29, 2007
A tired host, Shaun Pollock rested for the decider and a strong pace attack meant that this was Pakistan’s best chance to win a series in South Africa in recent memory. They didn’t capitulate as they had in 2002-03 but despite a tough battle, they couldn’t quite sneak through. Still provided enough gumption to warm the heart on occasion.
9
Mohammad Asif
For much of the series, he was Pakistan’s sole threat but what a threat. The weaker batsmen were worked out with cruel efficiency and the better ones with a little more thought as he dismissed the entire South African top seven, Ashwell Prince apart, at least once. The pace was down but he was relentless, lion-hearted (most overs by any fast bowler in the series) and intelligent throughout. His Port Elizabeth five-for will be remembered as one of the best spells of the year, already. With due respect to the 31-year-old Stuart Clark, Asif is the most exciting young pace bowler in world cricket at the moment.
7
Danish Kaneria
Wheeled away admirably through the series for 15 wickets, including a match-turning spell in the first innings at Port Elizabeth. He even unveiled a flipper of sorts late in the series. Will not be thanking Kamran Akmal who shelled any number of chances off him. But as has become the norm, he bowled well, without luck, with little support and without ever threatening to run through a side. Given the bounce and turn in the surfaces, that will irk him.
7
Younis Khan
Remarkably similar to his 2004-05 series against Australia, where he was the leading run-scorer for his side and consistently its most solid player, but incapable of making starts count. In the first two Tests, he should have made three fifties and a hundred, instead of the two fifties he ended with. Loses marks for irresponsible wafts at Cape Town but makes up for it by being Pakistan’s most reassuring presence at second slip since a young Inzamam.
6
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Unusually, got off to starts and didn’t make them count through the series, apart from once. His unbeaten 92, a lesson in batting with the tail, at Port Elizabeth was every bit as good as any of his 17 match-winning hundreds and equally as effective. Sadly, will end career without a hundred in South Africa. Captained astutely when he was a bowler short at PE and took two very good slip catches.
6
Mohammad Yousuf
Looked mostly untroubled in the four innings he batted, yet had only one score to show for it. His 83 was a stunning knock but as befits a batsman in his form, it twice required superb deliveries to dismiss him. Still searching for a first hundred against South Africa.
6
Mohammad Sami
At Port Elizabeth, gave his best Test bowling performance in a couple of years, combining pace, aggression and accuracy but no fortune. Threatened to revert to type at Cape Town, before injuring his finger though he batted with good sense and spirit. With injuries galore, has given Pakistan a glimmer of hope to cling to.
5
Imran Farhat
Scored nearly half his runs in second innings at Centurion, but apart from that never appeared comfortable at any stage. Continued to slash and burn in the slips and six years after his international debut, you have to wonder whether Pakistan aren’t better served by trying out someone, anyone else. Dropped only one catch and held on to a rather good one.
5
Yasir Hameed
Announced his return with a pleasant, battling fifty at Centurion but threw away his wicket. It wasn’t the last time either and at as crucial a position as one-down, it was criminal. Wasted both his starts and a chance to cement his spot in the team.
4
Mohammad Hafeez
Never failed to get to double figures but never went beyond 32. The pattern was repetitive: a couple of pleasant boundaries to begin, a few plays and misses and a dismissal. Impression that he is merely a short-term replacement for Shoaib Malik forever lingers. Given that Malik is not a specialist opener either, that is worrying.
4
Kamran Akmal
An awful, horrific series behind the stumps, the kind that you have nightmares about, and shelled so many chances you eventually lost count. Looked as lost with Kaneria’s legspin as the English have against Warne’s. Worryingly, it caps a poor year for him with gloves and bat, as calls for resting or replacing him continue to grow. But for a brave, bustling fifty at Port Elizabeth and a couple of useful lower-order hands, would have scored even less.
3
Shahid Nazir
Not just ineffective with the ball, apart from a beauty to Kallis at Cape Town when it didn’t matter, but damaging as he continued to let up pressure at ever opportunity. Useful tailend biffing on occasion.
3
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan
Test matches continue to flummox him as a desperately poor stint with the new ball at Centurion confirmed. Leaked runs for fun and never looked like taking a wicket until the very end. Cheery, breezy run-bashing lower down, reinforcing the belief that he is a key ODI player.
3
Faisal Iqbal
Errr. Asim Kamal anyone?
Choose your own marks
Shoaib Akhtar
A five if for those who think he left his team in the lurch by getting injured when they needed him most, and picking a fight with Bob Woolmer to boot. A nine for those who think his 11 overs and four wickets set up and eventually won the Test for Pakistan.
Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Blunders cost Pakistan series win
From correspondents in Karachi
January 29, 2007 PAKISTAN made too many mistakes and spoiled a golden opportunity to win their first-ever Test series in South Africa, former cricket greats said today (AEDT).
South Africa earned a five-wicket win in the third Test at Cape Town on Sunday to take a hard-fought three-match series 2-1.
Former captain and all rounder Imran Khan said the selectors’ decision to drop fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar from the tour was wrong.
Akhtar was flown to South Africa after injury to the main strike bowler, Umar Gul, and destroyed South Africa’s top order on the opening day of the second Test match, which Pakistan won.
He pulled a hamstring after bowling just 11 overs, during which he took four wickets. He was later sent back home for treatment and rehabilitation.
“Pakistan committed the blunder of not taking Akhtar from the start of the tour and his injury at Port Elizabeth could have been because he wasn’t match fit,” said Khan of Akhtar.
“Some good things have also come out and now the team management realise Tests can only be won through match winners,” Khan said.
Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince hit half-centuries during their 117-run fifth wicket stand as the hosts successfully chased a challenging 161-run target on a tricky Newlands pitch.
South Africa won the first Test at Centurion by seven wickets. Pakistan squared the series with a five-wicket win in the second Test at Port Elizabeth.
Khan praised spearhead Mohammad Asif for putting up a good show.
“Asif is well on his way to become one of the greats. If he gains a little bit of pace through weight training he can be more lethal,” said Khan of the 24-year-old paceman, who claimed 19 wickets in the series.
Khan, now a member of Pakistan’s parliament, said not selecting batsman Yasir Hameed in the first Test was also a blunder.
“Hameed’s 35 in the second innings of the third Test showed his class and to me his progress was halted by not selecting him earlier.”
And Khan criticised the decision to bat captain Inzamam-ul-Haq at six and Mohammad Yousuf at five.
“Yousuf is the best batsman alongside Australian Ricky Ponting at the moment but how many times Ponting has batted below three? And Ponting always leads from the front,” Khan said of the Australia captain.
Khan said leg spinner Danish Kaneria had talent but lacked the temperament of the now-retired Australia leg spinner Shane Warne.
“Temperament was the biggest of Warne’s assets and he used to perform when his team needed the most and when under pressure,” said Khan of the legendary Warne, who retired earlier this month from Test cricket with a word record 708 wickets.
Another former captain, Zaheer Abbas, blamed players’ fitness and poor fielding for the series loss.
“We fought well in the series but our fitness and fielding left a lot to be desired,” said Abbas, who was nicknamed Asia’s Don Bradman because of his ability to score big runs.
Abbas disagreed with Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer that the hectic schedule was the reason for Pakistan’s frequent injury problems.
“You need to have good back-ups (for injured players). South Africa was struggling but they were fitter and were a good fielding side,” said Abbas.
He said Pakistan’s fielding would be further exposed in the one-day series starting with the first match at Centurion on February 4.
Agence France-Presse
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21137579-23212,00.html
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Shoaib’s injury is not serious](http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=350679&sid=SPO)
Shoaib’s injury not of serious nature: Pak team physio
Lahore, Jan 29: Pakistan cricket team physio, Grant Compton has said that the hamstring injury to star pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar is not of a serious nature, but rather, quite manageable at this stage.
“The hamstring is of A grade nature which is not serious,” said Compton, who started the rehabilitation of the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Saturday.
He said he has examined the hamstring and has asked the tearaway bowler to start light exercises right away.
The Dawn quoted Shoaib as saying that he was now fit and his main target was the World Cup scheduled for March-April in the West Indies.
Bureau Report
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Zaheer Abbas’s Pen - Pakistan in Doldrums
PAKISTAN IN DOLDRUMS
BY ZAHEER ABBAS
Team not building on success and is losing the plot
As things stand today, I am afraid Pakistan appears to be in a serious danger of losing the plot as far as its World Cup preparations are concerned. Having said that, there are more things going wrong off the field than on it.
Whatever combination Pakistan has put on the park in the last few months, the players have tried to do their best in terms of cricketing ability. However, they have suffered on account of lack of focus and concentration, and when you see it in the context of all that the media has carried in recent months – the spat between Shoaib Akhtar and Bob Woolmer being the latest episode – the conclusion can hardly be any different from what I have deduced.
The sudden and unceremonious departure of bowling coach Waqar Younis took place on the eve of the team’s departure for South Africa, and the almost constant disagreement between the team management and the selection committee back home are incidents that do not instil a lot of confidence in those who have the good of Pakistan cricket close to their hearts.
SUDDEN
Go back a few months and there was another equally sudden and equally unscheduled departure from the scene; that of Shahrayar Khan who was heading the Pakistan Cricket Board. Immediately, the mantle of captaincy changed hands twice inside as many days. And this happened as the team was about to leave for India to take part in the Champions Trophy.
The doping crisis that gripped Shoaib and Mohammad Asif, and the manner in which it was handled by the PCB tells its own tale. The appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in the International Court for Sports Arbitration is still pending and no one knows for sure if the two would be available for the World Cup campaign at all.
If they are not there, no one would be utterly excited about the team’s chances at the Cup.
It may not be a particularly delightful expression, but the fact of the matter is that the deluge caused by the urine samples of Shoaib and Asif has the potential to wash away any practical hopes of Pakistan making it big for the second time in the history of the Cup, the first one being the memorable feat back in 1992.
The performance graph in the one day arena over the last few months itself suggests the team is suffering on one count or the other. Their failure to do well in England against a side that is not too well known for its exploits in the shorter version of the game – is something that speaks lowly of Pakistan’s own ability under pressure.
At the Champions Trophy the team had a fair chance of regaining lost confidence and silencing the naysayer, but it failed yet again. It recovered well from the doping shock and scored a thrilling win against Sri Lanka in its opening game.
LOSSES
But the victory and the rather grim backdrop in which it had come drained the emotional resources of the players to such an extent that the team could register nothing except tame and eminently forgettable losses against New Zealand and South Africa in its next two matches to get kicked out of the competition.
That being so, fears among the followers of Pakistan are not entirely misplaced that facing the high and mighty of the game at the World Cup, the national team may not be able to put up any notable effort of sustained brilliance.
Having said that, anyone who has followed Pakistan for any decent length of time would think twice before ruling Pakistan out of contention. I’m keeping my fingers crossed as a Pakistani. I have to remind myself time and again that they have always been an enigmatic outfit; not necessarily in a positive sense, but enigmatic all the same.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^sad but true !
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Waseem Bari says Akmal needs to be rested!](http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavpak/content/current/story/278369.html)
Rest might be best for Akmal - Bari
Osman Samiuddin
January 31, 2007
Kamran Akmal, Pakistan’s struggling wicketkeeper, might be best served by taking a much-needed rest from the ODI series against South Africa, according to Wasim Bari, the head of Pakistan’s selection committee.
Akmal had a poor Test series against South Africa, where he fumbled a number of catches and stumpings in all three Tests, and some at crucial points. It was the second poor away series in succession, following an equally miserable tour to England last summer. His performance has led to calls for replacing him with Zulqarnain Haider, the reserve wicketkeeper on tour.
Bari, one of the world’s best wicketkeepers in his time, told Cricinfo that a rest might be just the tonic for Akmal. “It isn’t the worst idea to rest him. Sometimes a rest does you good as an international player, especially when you are going through a bad patch as Kamran is right now,” Bari said.
“I will recommend it to the management, though I am not sure how they will play it. Maybe they could rest him from the first three games and give Zulqarnain a chance,” he added.
Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, also admitted that Akmal was struggling with his confidence, telling Cricinfo: “He is fighting with his confidence now. Technically his hands are hard and not soft and he is not concentrating on the ball hard enough for long enough. He will come right, he just needs support.”
Haider has yet to play an international for Pakistan though he has been on the fringes of selection over the last two years. He was Pakistan’s Under-19 wicketkeeper during their World Cup triumph in Dhaka during 2004. That year, as the senior team looked beyond Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, Haider was competing with Akmal for the spot. The latter’s batting won him his place and since then his form, and Pakistan’s policy of taking only one keeper on tour, has meant little opportunity for Haider. That may now change.
“I have always suggested that Zulqarnain be given a try at international level. If you don’t, you will never know how mature he is, how suited he is to international cricket,” Bari said.
Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
'ts About time they realized this. :naraz:
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Pakistan in South Africa, 2006-07
Shoaib - ‘Woolmer thought injury was fake’
Cricinfo staff
January 31, 2007
Shoaib Akhtar: a short-lived return to action in South Africa © Getty Images
Shoaib Akhtar has explained the altercation that led to his fine of US$2500 in a disciplinary hearing last week, by saying that his coach, Bob Woolmer, had accused him of feigning the injury that led to his withdrawal from Pakistan’s tour of South Africa.
Shoaib, 31, who also failed a dope test last year but was cleared on appeal, was not originally selected for the Pakistan squad on fitness grounds. He was belatedly called up, however, after Umar Gul suffered a twisted ankle, and arrived in time to play a winning hand in the second Test at Port Elizabeth. But after taking 4 for 36 on the first day of the game, he limped out of the tour with a hamstring strain.
It had been Shoaib’s first appearance in Test cricket for 12 months, but in a further twist to his latest saga, television footage showed him pushing Woolmer and exchanging heated words. He was later fined for his actions by the team manager, Talat Ali.
“Woolmer thought I feigned injury which led to our altercation,” Shoaib told reporters in Lahore. “I apologised to Woolmer and he also said a few soft words with me and the matter was closed. Whenever someone doubts my commitment my soul gets hurt, it’s worse than any physical injury.”
This is not the first time Shoaib has been accused of feigning injury. He had to undergo medical tests after he suffered a hamstring injury during Pakistan’s third Test defeat against India three years ago. The Pakistan team’s management, including Inzamam-ul-Haq and the former coach, Javed Miandad, doubted the severity of his injury.
It prompted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to launch a medical inquiry into the fast bowler, although Akhtar was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing as the medical examinations proved his injury was genuine.
Shoaib said he had offered to bowl through the pain in South Africa. “I was ready to play by having injections but doctors advised against it as they feared it would have ended my chances of playing in the World Cup,” he said. “I am 80 percent fit and am working hard to be fit for the World Cup.”
Wasim Bari, Pakistan’s chief selector, who came under criticism for not selecting Shoaib in the original squad, said he would not make any premature decision. “The PCB has now formed a medical panel,” said Bari, “and only after it clears Shoaib we can consider him for the future matches.”
© Cricinfo
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavpak/content/current/story/278389.html
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Its good that Shoaib came out with this. Especially when Waqar has uncovered some other messes in decision making created by key individuals of the team and the board.
I pray he is found fit and can play in the WC without incident though.
Nodoubt we can hardly say Shoaib is an innocent victim. His own actions off the field have contributed to the scrutiny being passed on him now!
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Pakistan in South Africa, 2006-07
Close but no cigar
Bob Woolmer
February 1, 2007
Ooooh, it was close. In the end it wasn’t enough, as Inzamam knows only too well © AFP
So near yet so far is, I guess, the story of Pakistan’s Test series against South Africa. I used a figure of 5% as the likelihood of a subcontinent side winning a Test here before. The figure for a series win is, of course, lower.
Statistically, South Africa deserved the victory. Subcontinent teams have pushed them since their readmission, but only Australia and England have bettered them over a series. Interestingly, Inzamam said that of all his tours this was the closest and best effort by a Pakistan side. I hope that the words I use will not be construed as excuses but will provide fair reasons why Pakistan failed at the final hurdle.
Madness of the modern-day calendar
I believe that, with these itineraries, it will become harder for teams to have enough preparation in adjusting to conditions. Seven days was not enough for us and the problem was compounded by Shoaib Malik and Umar Gul picking up injuries during Pakistan’s Twenty20. So our best bowler and a fine allrounder missed the Test series, after both broke down during the one warm-up game in Kimberley.
By hook or by crook
Centurion Park is an ideal venue for the home team. The pitch has bounce and reasonable pace and while our tactics of taking on their pace bowlers were well-conceived, both our shot selection and timing went awry in the first innings, with seven of our players out hooking. Our total was adequate but not a winning one. In order to beat South Africa you have to score big runs like the Australians do. South Africa were able to build a substantial lead which, on that type of surface, is match-winning.
Make that a large one
Mohammed Yousuf’s unavailability meant that the younger members of the team needed to put their hands up. Though Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed both scored fifties at Centurion they needed to score hundreds. The fact that no Pakistan player scored a hundred in the series is a telling statistic. Inzamam’s quite superb innings in Port Elizabeth, Yousuf’s cameo in Cape Town and Younis Khan’s belligerence went close but were not enough, though in Port Elizabeth they helped win the Test.
Bowl, bat, catch, appeal: Is there anything Jaqques Kallis can’t do? © Getty Images
A man of many talents
You can’t blame the batsmen entirely for we have to give credit to Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and Andre Nel who all did their bit for the home team. But South Africa have, in Jacques Kallis, one of cricket’s great batsmen and bowling allrounders.
At Centurion and Cape Town we managed to dismiss Kallis in the first innings but he was rock-solid both times. At Port Elizabeth, he nearly denied us victory. His technique and desire enabled South Africa to cross the finishing line and he was ably helped by Ashwell Prince who has matured into a fine batsman.
Ultimately, Kallis turned out to be the difference between the two teams as his performances, especially at Cape Town on the last morning, were magnificent. He saw off two of the most outstanding young bowlers to emerge recently in Mohammed Asif and Danish Kaneria. Pakistan had their chances but crucially the few that they did have were missed despite a fielding display that was much better than in recent times.
Not all gloomy
Despite the doom and gloom that prevails over a Pakistan loss, I believe it was, as Inzamam said, a real sign that this side is progressing to a new level. The squashed nature of itineraries increasingly creates fatigue among the bowlers and leaves little or no time to work on the frailties of batting techniques. Therefore it conspires along with lack of preparation time to change the flow.
The win in Port Elizabeth was absolutely fantastic. A brief glimpse of Shoaib Akhtar in the game positively cries out for an Asif, Akhtar and Gul combination. There is no doubt in my mind if these three were fit together then Pakistan would be a real force. With today’s schedules though, it may be asking too much.
Ntini is an exception to the rule and somehow his body seems to be indestructible although it was abundantly clear that, at Cape Town, he was exhausted. Steyn, who had been injured earlier in the Indian series, provided pace and took vital wickets at the end and by contrast Asif almost needed a wheelchair to get to the crease by the end, such had been his workload.
Lessons learnt
And finally
I believe that Pakistan and India are improving on bouncier surfaces. Pakistan showed steel, competed harder than ever before and with more focus on weaknesses they will soon test southern hemisphere nations and eventually beat them.
Ultimately, it was a fascinating and competitive series. It will serve both teams well at the World Cup to have had a contest like this where all games could have finished differently and the result was never a forgone conclusion. This is what Test cricket is about.
Click here to comment on this article.
© Cricinfo
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/extracover/content/story/278405.html
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Woolmer is clever never to mention his altercations with Actor.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^AOA bhai, its good he didn't hr didn't need to spread even more turmoil and unneccesary rumours by doing so....shud be in the past, more controversies and tension is not a good thing.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Chalo Jee…Ab Kaneria bhee upset hain…](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/pakistan/6320829.stm)
Kaneria angry over one-day snub
Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria has hit out at the selectors after being overlooked for the one-day series in South Africa.
Kaneria is in a provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup but fears he will miss out on the final 15-man list.
“I am very much disappointed. I feel like the team management has let me down,” the 26-year-old said.
“I was expecting to be given a chance in this series before the World Cup. I don’t understand why I am not considered for the one-dayers.”
Kaneria impressed in the 2-1 Test series defeat by South Africa, finishing with 15 wickets to take his overall tally of victims to 198 wickets in 46 Tests.
But he has played in only 16 one-day internationals.
“I have worked so hard and have given 110% for my captain and the team. I have also improved my batting and fielding,” he added.
"I don’t understand, unless they play me how can they know how I will perform in the one-dayers? “My ambition is to play in the World Cup. But I don’t know if I will get that chance now.”
Pareshan mat ho beta…woh samajh dar hain aur bara PLAN bana rahay hain WC kay leeyay…
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
A cricket board with much to answer
February 4, 2007
Posted by Kamran Abbasi at 11:41 PM in Politics
‘Dr Nasim Ashraf promised: “By the start of the new year, I want the board to turn a new leaf and work under the new constitution.” Where is it?’ © AFP
Now is the time for anguish, pain, inquisition. When cricketers underperform we see their sins laid before us, especially if we’ve managed to acquire ourselves a high-definition widescreen television. Yet it’s the men who scurry around in the shadows that worry me. Most Pakistan supporters had hoped for a regime that would stabilise the international team. Events have conspired against the current cricket board, of course, but the last few months have produced more questions than answers. Here are some issues that are troubling me:
1 Dr Nasim Ashraf promised: “By the start of the new year, I want the board to turn a new leaf and work under the new constitution.” Where is it?
2 He also said: “We intend to plan for it [the World Cup] in detail. I am fully intent on making the selection process foolproof.” Hmm, perhaps “approved by fools” would have been more accurate? The handling of Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Azhar Mahmood, and Shahid Afridi, for example, could hardly be interpreted as foolproof.
3 Waqar Younis. An enlightening exchange between Salim Altaf, director of PCB operations, and Waqar on GEO television was a public relations triumph for Waqar. Altaf, who revealed himself to be a man mired in bureaucracy and unwilling to address Waqar’s complaints directly or in detail, implied that Waqar had been employed by the board for just under a year without any appraisal or review of his performance. Shameful management, I’d say. No wonder then that Waqar’s role drifted so far from his original job description to render it irrelevant. Yet Altaf clung to that original job description as if variation from it was impossible and used it to justify the board’s final treatment of Waqar.
My view is that the board handled Waqar’s ouster in a crass and insulting manner. By Waqar’s own admission, Bob Woolmer and Inzamam-ul Haq both preferred to have Mushtaq Ahmed as assistant coach. But on the evidence of the first two crash-wallop games in South Africa, Pakistan’s fast bowlers are going backwards rather than forwards.
Indeed, to say that Waqar would not be useful for one-day games is mindboggling for Pakistan supporters who saw him become one of the greatest one-day bowlers ever, particularly in pressure situations. Not just that, he was a pioneer.
4 Mushtaq Ahmed. I want to understand how one minute Justice Qayyum’s inquiry can be used as one of the reasons to keep Mushtaq out of the coaching set up but is then conveniently forgotten a few months later? Where’s the intergity in that about turn?
5 Appointments by acquaintance. It’s not always wise to protest too much. The PCB has got into a peculiar habit of refuting criticism by penning rebuttals in newspapers. One such rebuttal denied a charge of nepotism in appointments at the board and refuted an earlier piece published in Dawn, Pakistan’s most highly-respected newspaper.
I made some inquiries of my own and discovered that senior Pakistani journalists are convinced Ahsan Malik, the new head of media at the PCB, is closely related to Nasim Ashraf. Malik was one of the first appointments by Ashraf’s regime. Now my view is that it is fine to appoint a relative provided they happen to be the best person for the job. Unfortunately, the jury is out on Malik. And now that the board has publicly denied this relationship–in a piece curiously penned by Malik himself–it has got itself into a potentially disastrous situation. The disaster would be this: If the two are indeed related, which senior journalists insist that they are, then I do not see how either of them can remain in post having denied that they are related each other?
To add to the sequence of doubtful recruitments, the PCB appointed PJ Mir, a friend of both Ashraf and President Musharraf, as its media manager for the World Cup.
Where’s the independence in these appointments? Not much if critics are to be believed.
6 One of the latest media brainwaves is for the PCB to help newspapers send journalists on foreign tours by introducing a “cost-sharing” scheme. Excuse me, in case I’ve forgotten how journalism works, but anything that compromises the independence of those journalists is unacceptable. In a poor country like Pakistan, he who pays the piper really does call the tune. Most journalists in Pakistan do not enjoy the power, freedom, or the pay of their colleagues in richer countries, and the PCB’s initiative is not one of liberation but of media management.
7 With each new PCB regime we are promised merit, ethics, and transparency. Nasim Ashraf’s is no different. He also said he wanted to be judged by performances and not mere words. Well, I’m afraid that both the words and performances are causing concern.
Pakistan fans, who care passionately about their favourite game, want some answers. This is not just about the World Cup–although it partly is–but it is about something far deeper in Pakistani society: Whether or not we can trust our major institutions?
If the PCB were to address these concerns I would be delighted to share its responses here. Don’t hold your breath though, this is a cricket board already with much to answer.
But they won’t . They will just choke. :snooty:
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
The confusion around retesting deepens
Akhtar and Asif risking life bans, says doping expert
KARACHI: Pakistan’s decision to drug-test their entire World Cup squad could end in life bans for Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who recently won doping reprieves, an expert warned on Friday.
Danish Zaheer, vice president of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine, said the two bowlers could still have banned substances in their systems after testing positive in October. “To me it is not the good timing for Akhtar and Asif to have re-tests because if they test positive again, which is likely to happen, then on a second offense they face life bans,” Zaheer, a doctor, told AFP. Akhtar and Asif are both likely inclusions when Pakistan’s squad is announced on Tuesday, despite testing positive for banned steroid nandrolone in internal tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Akhtar was banned for two years and Asif for one year by an Anti-Doping Commission in November.
But a month later, both were controversially reinstated by an appellate committee, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The CAS, based in Switzerland, is unlikley to hear the case before April. Zaheer said Pakistan should have dealt the WADA appeal before the blanket re-testing, which was announced this week. “The PCB and the athletes should have settled the CAS issue first which would have allowed them to have a suitable line of action in order to avoid double penalty or life ban,” said Zaheer.
Zaheer said Akhtar and Asif should keep away from the World Cup if they want to prolong their careers. “The two players must get maximum time away from the competition in order to avoid any testing until the World Cup. Their chances of having over limit of banned substance would be much lower then, rather than if PCB decides to test them now.” Pakistan have been given permission by the International Cricket Council to replace any World Cup squad members who test positive.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\10\story_10-2-2007_pg2_4
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
^ GA weren't you the one who posted the total cycle of such a drug in the blood stream? I thought you had found that it won't stay more than a few hours or something inside the system. So how will they test positive again provided the last scare was enough of a warning to them to stop using over the counter steriods.
Re: Pakistan Team - developments and news (merged)
Yes AA I did.
Nandrolone (also known commercially as Deca-Durabolin) has the IUPAC name 17-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one, is an anabolic steroid (a muscle-building chemical) which occurs naturally in the human body, but only in tiny quantities. It is very similar in structure to the male hormone testosterone, and has many of the same effects in terms of increasing muscle mass, without some of the more unwanted side-effects such as increased body hair or aggressive behaviour. As such, it is being actively examined in clinical tests as a possible treatment for wasting diseases, and to strengthen and increase body tissue and musculature in HIV infected men.
However,*** what is detected in the drug tests is the metabolism product of this molecule, called 19-norandrosterone, which is excreted from the body in urine,*** making it easy to obtain samples. A limit of 2 ng per ml of urine (set by the International Olympic Committee) is the maximum concentration thought possible to occur in human body by ‘natural means’, and if this is exceeded the drug test is considered positive. Since some samples given by athletes have shown levels up to 100 times higher than this, the conclusion is that the athletes must have been taking extra quantities of the drug to enhance their performance.
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/nandrolone/nandc.htm
Although the half-life (i.e. the time it takes for the body to get rid of half the drug) of nandrolone is only 30-40 minutes, there is a question mark over how long it’s metabolites (break-down products) can stay in the body.
Half-Life = The time it takes to metabolize 50% of what is still in the body. For example, if we inject 100mg of a steroid with a half-life of 4 hours, at the four-hour mark we should have only 50mg left as active. After another four hours have passed the drug is still in the body, however another half-life has expired and the total active dosage will be around 25mg. It may take several half-lives before the drug is completely inactive.