Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
well inzamam is likely to play shabbir eventhough he has'nt bowled all that well in domestic.i think he should gamble with one of the best performers in domestic like irshad or wasim khan both of them are quite fast.in these dry conditions ball is not going to swing or move too much unless you can bowl like asif which only mcgrath can..u gotta go with extra pace.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
That will not happen .........simply because one person in particular will not approve of him joining the squad.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
The super stars played well and good luck to them in the next match as they will need it.
If they avoid defeat - they are likely to get a red carpet reception when the go back and possibly invitation from the prime minister and the president and likes of Akmal and Inzi may be given a cabinet post............
If they lose than especially the likes of Akmal may not find place to hide............
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
No Shabbir pleeeeeeze....no more jhatkas please.
Yes no more jokers in the team as few already exist in the squad including an actor i.e. Farhat, Hafeez, Sami, Shoiab Makik, Faisalal Iqbal, Nazir and not foregtting Mr Akmal.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Well I thought Sami bowled quite well in this match. In the absence of Akhtar we do need someone with raw pace.
His pace was up in the early 140s kph. Although he did n’t take many wickets, he kept it reasonably tight from the other end.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Sami was exceptional in this game, the figures don't tell the whole story. I would personally go with Shabbir rather than either one of the deadly duo of Nazir and Rana. I wonder if Razzaq has recovered yet.
I would love to see Hameed and Farhat get the axe, but I don't see it happening :(. I predict the same team with the exception of Shabbir for Akhtar.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
[QUOTE]
Trying to prove that bowlers win you Test matches and batsmen only save them is a bit like trying to prove whether the chicken or the egg came first. Both are essentially self-defeating arguments.
But if you look at the away record of Pakistan, a country where fast bowling is inked in as the secondary occupation on most national identity cards, then you might be deluded into thinking you're onto something. Of the subcontinent sides, their performance is far and away the best; **this was their 44th Test win abroad, exactly a quarter of all their away Tests. Sri Lanka and India, countries where penetrative bowling attacks have been rare, have won 15 and 27 respectively and, as a proportion, far less than Pakistan. **
[/QUOTE]
Amazing, we have won only quarter of all tests played abroad. We need some serious batting coaching and pacey wickets on U15/19 levels. Immediately.
Also that India and SL are trailing way behind us on winning record abroad.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
our problem is DOMESTIC cricket structure and pitches ..simple! ( as discussed million times before )
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Also that India and SL are trailing way behind us on winning record abroad.
but our away record is still 4th best after Australia, England and WI which is no mean achievement considering NZ, India and SA have been playing international cricket a lot longer than us.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
goldenAsif its times like these when my ami would say to me.. beta why come 4th when you can come 1st?
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Your mother has a point. One should be an optimist but sometimes in life you have to be a realist. Both Windies and Australia have good away records because they have been the two dominant teams of the past 30 years or so. Windies from 1975 - 1990 and Aussies since 1999. Windies have been losing away matches like anything since the Lloyd-Richards era and if this trend continues for a few more years we would soon be in third place 
As for England they have been playing cricket for donkeys years and they owe their good away record a lot to some of their earlier successes.
Still an away Win% of 41.50 is n’t that bad
In overall terms, we are already the second most successful team in test history after Australia
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/RESULTS/TEST_RECORD_BY_COUNTRY.html
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
It would be interesting to know the same stat for the last 10-20 years only.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
is anyone else concerned about parker mota's umpiring or i m just being paranoid. After Darryl hair's incident i see wrong decisions against pakistan more than just bad calls. he can cause us match/series if he continues to make judgements against pakistan.
How many wrong decisions were made against SA by Parker?
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Give Akmal a break choozay, he just scored a match winning knock. Maybe we can play him as a specialist batsman 
.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
By the way Rocky Express beta, does Asif still need to prove to you that he is world class, or is this good enough for you?
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
My best win as captain - Inzamam
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
I never doubted his ability and always have said he is a very good and promising bowler. But than again you would not have remembered as you seem to have a bad memory.......
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
He will be left alone for the next 3-6 months and needs more time to learn as he is a slow learner.
Re: South Africa vs. Pakistan - 2nd Test - 19-23 Jan at Port Elizabeth
Waise his keeping has been really horrible. Our problem is that we can’t introduce a new keeper just before the Cup starts. Is Moin out of jail yet ?