[thumb=B]PCB1.JPG[/thumb]
The Team that was announced for England tour as follows.
[thumb=B]pakteam1.JPG[/thumb]
[thumb=B]pakteam2.JPG[/thumb]
[thumb=B]pakteam3.JPG[/thumb]
[thumb=B]pakteam4.JPG[/thumb]
[thumb=B]pakteam5.JPG[/thumb]
So happy to see Imran and Misbah back!! I agree that Hafeez is slow, but do you think that maybe he just needs more practice?
If he didn't open where would you place him considering Misbah will probably play at number three? I don't really see him in the middle order either. But I think we still need him because he's a good bowler and an excellent fielder.
I also think that maybe we need someone steadier to open with Imran considering he's pretty aggressive. I would love to see Imran and Yasir open though I think they would be good, but Yasir seems aggressive as well and I don't know if both our openers need to be aggressive. I mean Australia has Hayden and Gilchrist because they balance each other out. What are your opinions?
aggressive openers:
england - trescothik and knight
india - tendulkar, sehwaq and ganguly whatever combination, even that new guy i forgot his name
australia - gilchrist and hayden
newzeland - fleming (he doesnt play in one mood) and nevin
srilanka - jaysuria and kaluwitharna, attapatu is an exception
windies - gayle and ganga
I would like to see Imran and Yasir, as some of the guppies mentioned they both are aggressive I’d say give them a chance and if it goes well than good otherwise pick any one of them to try along with Hafeez. But the problem with opening Imran and Yasir is that Imran can give away his wicket easily and PAK will be in the same dilemma of picking a good opening stand. I don’t know about Yasir so I can’t comment on him so I guess Yasir and Hafeez would be a good choice. :k: As I have seen Hafeez he tend to keep his head down.
Hafeez can be a good opner along with Imran Nazir or Yasir but thats if Hafeez stick around till the 15th or 20th over with 30+ or - runs under his name. That way the other end (Imran or Yasir) can play aggressive to keep the score board ticking.
I think PCB will test Imran or Yasir with Hafeez in the upcoming England tour. :k:
Ehsan, bilal asad was in my school in beaconhouse, one year senior to me. His brother was in my class. He used to be our team’s wicket keeper, and would single handedly murder the opposition team!!! The man could do everything, bat, bowl, keep wickets and even play badminton 
Im so excited, as Bazid used to be in our school too, and just because bazid had his dads safarish, he got more chances and favours compared to Bilal, who started playing for Islamabad and made his way up through the proper way.
Good luck Bilal!!!
saby, do u know him from beaconhouse? were u in beacon too?
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by armughal: *
**aggressive openers:*
england - trescothik and knight
india - tendulkar, sehwaq and ganguly whatever combination, even that new guy i forgot his name
australia - gilchrist and hayden
newzeland - fleming (he doesnt play in one mood) and nevin
srilanka - jaysuria and kaluwitharna, attapatu is an exception
windies - gayle and ganga
[/QUOTE]
These days the windies are opening with Gayle and Powell.
Sweet I am excited to see this guy in the upcoming England series. This time there will be no excuse for any player, like the one while in SL the pitch was bad. This time the pitch, the ground everything will be prefect. :k:
[QUOTE]
Anyway, the players that you mention are aged and mostly past their prime.
[/QUOTE]
i also mentioned azhar mehmood is he past his prime. he is 28 this year and he a great all rounder, certainly better than abdul razzaq (current form wise).
i don't agree with pcb policy of driving the seniors out of the game, its diabolical. experience does come in handy and aamir sohail will see that when we tour england and host other nations later this year with the current team facing them.
Gough recalled to new-look one-day squad
Andrew Miller - May 29, 2003
A new era: Jim Troughton celebrates his call to colours
England's selectors ushered in a new era of one-day cricket today, with one notable exception, as a new-look 15-man squad was announced for the NatWest Challenge against Pakistan, and the NatWest Series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa.
With the 2007 World Cup firmly in mind, six new names have been included in the squad. Some of them are not entirely unfamiliar – Anthony McGrath and Robert Key played against Zimbabwe in last week's Lord's Test, while Richard Johnson might have made his England debut as long ago as 1995, had injury not intervened. The others are Kabir Ali and Rikki Clarke, who were fringe members of the squad during the winter, and Jim Troughton, the highly rated Warwickshire batsman, whose inclusion was almost as inevitable as James Anderson's recent Test debut.
Anderson is there as well, of course. But with a new captain in Michael Vaughan, and the wise old heads of Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart, Nick Knight and Andy Caddick all in retirement, the selectors have returned to the man who can never say die, Darren Gough. His return to form and fitness after a chronic knee injury is a triumph of will, and he will be able to impart all his know-how to Anderson, but Gough will be 36 by the next World Cup. One imagines he is strictly short-term cover, but then, with Gough, you never can tell.
"The bulk of this squad is under thirty years of age and has been chosen with the next World Cup firmly in mind," said David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors. "Darren Gough's inclusion is clearly an exception to this rule. But he is a proven match-winner who was badly missed during the World Cup and his inclusion will add experience to our bowling attack. As well as providing a strike bowling capacity, we also believe Darren can play an important role in passing on advice to the younger bowlers within the squad."
Craig White and Paul Collingwood have been ruled out through injury, but even a broken thumb couldn't prevent Chris Read earning his recall at the expense of Stewart and ahead of James Foster. Andrew Flintoff is also included despite his shoulder problems, while Solanki's return will give Ian Botham plenty to wax about during his commentary stints. Solanki was tried and discarded in 2000, but confirmed his recall with a coruscating innings for Worcestershire in the C&G Trophy yesterday.
Graham Thorpe was another man who declared that he is ready and willing to return to England colours, but even a timely hundred at Taunton yesterday couldn't sway the selectors. With Thorpe, there is too much emotional baggage attached, and Gough's selection was the final nail in his coffin. For now, at least.
Adam Hollioake's international career can also be assumed to be over, after a semi-return to the fold over the winter, but his Surrey team-mate and last season's Young Cricketer of the Year, Clarke, is just setting out. One man who has missed out this time is Will Jefferson, Essex's lofty opening batsman, but his fielding is not yet considered up to scratch at international level.
*England ODI squad Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Robert Key, Jim Troughton, Andrew Flintoff, Vikram Solanki, Anthony McGrath, Rikki Clarke, Chris Read (wk), Richard Johnson, Ashley Giles, Kabir Ali, Darren Gough, James Anderson, Steve Harmison. *
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
Good to see a young English squad, now it will be an even contest. Both are young and on a rebuilding process.
James Anderson and Gough will give our young batsman a hard time.
I'm pretty happy to see Razzaq dropped as his bowling has become a liability and his batting alone isn't good enough to justify a place in the team. Good to see Umar Gul and Shabir Ahmend keep their places also, I think they will do ok in England. I am also happy to see Imran Nazir and Misbah back as well.
I think we'll do well to win this series, I don't think our batsmen will cope very well with early away swing from the English seamers, but If we can put up some decent totals, I think we can expect some good games.
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by armughal: *
**aggressive openers:*
australia - gilchrist and hayden
[/QUOTE]
Gilchrist is an aggresive opener, I dont think Hayden is that aggresive. He is more like a rotater of the strike until he settles down and with this rotation of the strike Gilchrist gets a chance to go at the bowlers. This is the only thing we need in our openers. We dont need everyone coming in and trying to hit out, if someone can rotate the strike that keeps the score board ticking and batsman dont come under a lot of pressure.
Pakistan will be playing 6 total matches, 3 against County teams and 3 ODI, I think Aamir Sohail has plenty of time to try all different opening combinations, listed below.......
Hafeez - Bilal Asad
Hafeez - Fasial Athar
Hafeez - Imran Nazir
Imran Nazir - Faisal Athar
Imran Nazir - Bilal Asad
Imran Nazir - Yasir Hameed
Re-building process is also process of elimination, Aamir Sohail is looking for the perfect opening pair. I though about Faisal Iqbal & Mohd Hafeez but their were seems to be communication problem between Hafeez and Faisal Iqbal in Sharjah & Sri Lanka. Even though Faisal Iqbal has played good but I am sure he will play aganist Bangladesh & New Zealand in August -November.
I think Pakistan needs opening pair which balance each other out, we don't want another Shahid Afridi or Taufeeq Umer who threw way their wicket for cheap shots. I think Yasir Hamid (WK) & Faisal Athar will be a good combo. Mishbah has pretty much taken #3 and Shoaib Malik @ #6 so we really need #1 & #2 maybe #3 to rotate with Misbah.
I have doubts about Imran Nazir (hope he is not another afridi style player), he has't played good in domestic cricket I don't see the point of taking him to england. I maybe wrong but I feel that PCB should have waited on him and let him play againt Bangladesh at home to see his performance.
Schedule in England
7 June v Scotland
9 June v Essex
11 v Northamptonshire
14 June v Leicestershire
17 June 1st ODI, Old Trafford
20 June 2nd ODI, The Oval
22 June 3rd ODI, Lord's
I think Pakistan can try Bilal Asad, Imran Nazir, Mohd Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Shabbir Ahmad, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria aganist County Teams to see which players will be perfect of the 3 ODIs. We should be able to WIN these Series.
Taufeeq is a very talented and a good batsman, but like Amir Suhail mentioned, when he is getting out everytime the exact sameway, then something must be a problem with his technique, Imran Nazir had a similiar problem last year, he had too many inside edge and got bowled or he would knick the ball to the slip, I hope he worked on his technique in his time off. Taufeeq should do the same and I think he is a very good test batsman, he was phenominal in the test series against South Africa, maybe he should be reserved only for test cricket.
His main problem is that he likes to drive the ball either towards mid off or deep square, but the field restrictions in the 15 overs gets him frustrated and he tends to play an agressive shot and he misreads the delivery and is likely bowled. Similiar thing happend in the match against India.
I think the duo of Imran Nazir and Hafeez will be the likely openers with Mizbah ul Haq coming at 3.
Here is what I think Rashid should field in the whole series
Hafeez
Nazir
Mizbah
Youhana
Younis
Malik
Azhar
Rashid
Shoaib
Sami
Shabbir
Disappointed Inzamam
** Disappointed Inzamam **
LAHORE, May 28: Seasoned Pakistan batsman Inzamam-ul- Haq has expressed his disappointment for not being selected in the England-bound team announced on Tuesday.
Talking to reporters, Inzamam, who has eight centuries and 64 fifties to his credit and is Pakistan’s top one-day scorer claimed that he was fit and was practising regularly.
He remarked that it was a bad practice that whenever a player had gained experience his selection was overlooked.Inzamam was shown the door by the new selection committee, headed by Aamir Sohail, for his dismal performance in the World Cup.
The burly batsman, who was also the vice-captain of that team, could only score 19 runs in the mega event.Meanwhile, Dawn has learnt that PCB has decided to confine Inzamam for only Test matches due to his bad showing for the last one year in the one-day cricket
No Waqar for English Series, the biggest Disadvantage.
as far as senior players not being chosen is concern i am totally in favor of that. i think the selectors are showing maturity by sticking with same team. the only worry is not choosing waqar as senior pacer. if i have to Pin point a player most crucial for pak's future it would be Mohammad Sami , he is a great prospect for Pak, and at this point in his career he needs a father figure in the team. somebody who could teach and nourish him as young fast bowler. in my personal opinion waqar was the perfect man for that job, his influence could do wonder for Sami's future and also for Pakistan. i hope selectors realize that soon. people can say that there is already a senior fast bowler in Shoaib, but i dont think he is the kinda person who could do same job as waqar in guiding smai. it can also be said that sami has been part of team for two years now and has been part of almost every tour so he must have learned some thing from that time. but i think he still needs somebody in middle with him in tough situations, coz in such situation he tries a little too hard,for example: last innings of 2nd test match in SA, where 85 % of his bowling was short pitc, and recently in SL final he bowled so many no balls. in both cases he did not have a senior pace bowler with him.
[thumb=B]024038[1].JPG[/thumb]
i think it would be un lucky for Sami and Pak if the selectors dont realize this fact.
[thumb=B]044677[1].JPG[/thumb]
what do u guys think of it.?
I disagree, Sami doesn't need a senior team mate but a bowling coach specifically for bowlers, some teams have bowling coaches and I advise Pakistan should get one. I think most fast bowlers who participated in Sri Lanka tourney were having no ball problems, mainly because they were bowling against the wind.
I don't think no ball should be a problem for fast bowler like Sami, as long as he constantly takes wicket then there shouldn't be no problem. Wasim had the same problem in early stages of 92 WC, Imran told him to control his extras, Wasim tried and his attacking style of bowling went down, Imran then told him to bowl his natural line and length and he started taking wickets.
Thats why bowler like Sami, Shoaib, Lee should never be told to decrease their extras, it will only decrease their performance.
Very sad.Inzi deserved to be in team.Team will badly miss him.He has always played great cricket in England.