I had the opportunity (or misfortune) to sit alongwith a cricker “exshphert” in one of the iftaar parties… and this guy spell-bounded whole of the audience with his amazing insight…
Forget Moin Khan and his defensive tactics…
Forget Wasim Akram’s bad form…
Forget Stupid silly pitches…
Nah… thats is not why we lost the match against Englad (and the series)
We lost bcz we have forgotten how to play test matches! Yup. Our cricket board has gotten too greedy for its own good, and accepted one-day tourney left right and center… and see where it has left us. A team which does not know how to play test matches…
Abdur Razzak. A great bowler, right. Wrong! He is a great accurate bowler of the one-days. In tests, tap-tap-tap. Thats what happens. AR can bowl all day and Thorpe will play him tap-tap-tap… karr lo gal!
Saqlain: Bowled 74 overs in Lahore. Per this “exshpert”, no finger-spinner can bowl 74 overs without blood oozing out of his fingers. He claims that Saqi was just bowling from his palm… i.e. no finger spin, except rarely. Just flat straight bowls, without any flight.
These are just a few examples…
Anyway, the remedy suggested was that Pakistan should seriously consider having 5-6 specialist players for test matches whoi should not be corrupted by over-dose of 1 dayers… These ppl should have the temperament on how to play a long innings and how to bowl consistently correct line and length…
Does this all make any sense..?
My head was reeling by the time dinner was served. Do we really need 2 teams, one for tests and one for 1-days?
If this is an arithmetic problem, then yes, 5 test specialists, and 5 one day specialists. Each of these specialist 5 get together with an all season group of 6 others to make a great test and a great one day team.
But realistically speaking....how feasible is it for the all season 6 to play with the first 5 today, and the second 5 tomorrow? They will spend a better part of their time adjusting with the new group, and that, in turn will tone down their own performance. So in effect, we will always have just half the team performing at their best.
All other teams of the world play with the same team, whether its a one day match, or a test match, so the mechanics are the same for everyone. We just have to admit the fact that Pakistani cricket is in a disarray thanks to power struggles, insubordination, indiscipline and erratic personal behaviors to name a few. Pakistan has great individual players, but they submit to command only as long as they want entry into the system. Once they create a demand for themselves on the team, they turn turtle and bite back.
well the difference between a test cricket and oneday Cricket is ,
1.Test cricket is a longer version of a game which comprise of five whole days
2.One day is 50 overs game (each side)
DITTO !!! n ODI’s still worth watchin unlike the test matches… i dunno y they even bother playin test matches…test matches r simply really boring.. u wouldn’t even wanna go to the stadium or on tv..huh
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One falsehood spoils a thousand truths. ===============
Howzzaaaaaaaaat !!!
I don't call the guy an idiot at all.Although I don't agree with having 2 different teams for tests and one-days,this idea has been projected by many real cricket experts.Infact the australian cricket board advocated it at ICC level.
Anyway as eastern analogue says most teams play with same team for both versions but actually many do keep 2 or 3 specailst players.But not 5 or 6.A case in point is the England team itself.Has anyone seen them play the same team?They always announce a different team for different version of the game.Michael Atherton is just one example.
Coming to pakistani team,several former players have said over the years about our current team that it hasn't enough test experience and that PCB should arrange more test series.
[This message has been edited by Ahmed (edited December 17, 2000).]
ZZ: You don't consider Saeed Anwar a good test opening batsman?
Also, I am a bit confused. What is the genuine batting number for Ganguly. He usually comes in as opener, but sometimes lately I have seen him going down the order... Isn't he a genuine opening batsman? If he is, I suppose, he is a decent batsman for tests as well.
Spinners... You are right... There are a few spinners, whom I rate better than the rest. I still believe Shane Warne is very good, and MacGill also spins a lot. I really liked Paul Strang of Zimbabwe but he just fell apart. Still hasn't regained his touch.
saeed anwar, u r right, but again he is 32. definitely one of best test openers we have today though not many years left for him. mark waugh should be retiring soon.
ganguly does not want to open in tests. in general, ganguly has not done well in tests though in odi's his average is thumping 10 points more than sachin on pitches abroad, so definitely more valuable. sachin can play on pitches abroad and against good teams as his test record shows. but ganguly is better in odi's.
People have more fun watching a ODI, and thus the art of Test cricket, is being lost.
I mean pakistan this year played 10 tests max.
Next year we only play 2 series till July.
We have a 2 month break till Feb.
Spinners tend to spin it alot in the sub-continet.
Saqi and Murli are just to examples.
Saqi has lost his edge due to the clones, shoiab mailik and the other tall guy.
Murli is still damn good.
Slips yes have been lost, but that can be blamed on the fact that there are no up an coming truly wasim waqar, ambrose walsh, mcgrath fast type bowlers.
India the new muslim khan guy.
Agakar is mediocre, but not fast.
Pakistan, had that Zahid guy, but he did a waqar and messed up his back.
Shoiab the chucker is out.
So we don't have a fast pair or even one except for the two W's.
SL has never had any good fast bowlers.
Eng has a good range of medium fast, or slow fast pace bowlers.
But nothing that can compare to the top 5.
Since most of the teams don't have these fast bowlers, there is no need for a slip, as the probability of getting an edge on a medium pacer is far far less.
Openers?
Nazir and Hall (SA) are very good finds.
I can't think of any new people who make good openers.
But there are very few.
Its a good point you made. Pakistan usually ends up playing close to 40 ODI in a full season and barely 7-8 Tests - thats just pathetic. Teams like England for instance - make sure they play at least 10-15 Tests in a season - they play 5 test series insted of 3. We need to do that as well. As for different test and ODI teams..its a good idea. At the moment 2only 2 of our players can walk into both sides..eg Saeed Anwar can walk into any test and ODI side in the world and Wasim Akram can do the same. It would be a good idea to say..make Aamir open in Tests and Nazir in ODI, M.Wasim in at 3 in Tests, and Elahi in the ODI...etc. Lower down the order..Mahmood, Razzaq and Afridi in ODI and
Waqar,Akhter,Kaneria in Tests..and so on. Having two teams is a good idea but only one captain for both sides would work..not the Aussie way..ie Taylor for tests and Waugh in ODI...that wont work in Pakistan.
BTW, many ppl have suggested in news columns and opinions here that Nazir does not have the temprament for Tests, so instead, Wajahat Wasti or M Zahid should open with Saeed in the tests… Care to comment?
Wasti = kallis, this guy can only plod.
He is ok, not hot, nothing to right home about.
Wasti is slow, but is that truly the quality you want for a test player???
If that is true, heck then i can play for the pakistan team, blocking every ball for a 5 days.
But that does not make test material.
Also Nazir is not test material, you do something pakistan has never done before, you teach how to play test cricket.
Also the spinner thing, we should have 2 spinners yes, but how other than saqi is qualified to play in a test series.
First get them going in the ODI and then move the spinners to tests.
Also why don't you agree with the 4 fast and 1 spin approach.
The WI ruled the world for 20 glorious years with that approach.
Yaar Wasti cant even prod for that matter unless hes playing against the Sri Lankans! His technique is nowhere - he plays with an angled bat and thats the reason all his dismissals have had him either caught behind or at gully. Wasti is no good....he's nowhere. Aamir Sohail is a good option to open with Saeed in tests - but if Sohail is unavailble or flops like he did last time - then it's probably wiser to play either Elahi or Nazir and let them learn the hard way. At the moment, the only other good young opener is Saeed Anwar Junior but hes still raw although Id love to see him opening with Saeed bhai..that should be fun
… & folks for God’s sake Aamir Sohail ki jaan chor do… He is now into commentary big time, a sure sign that his playing days are over. Plus his playing days ARE over!
Saeed Anwar Jr is a 22 year old left handed opening batsman from Multan. He's a carbon copy of Saeed - during Saeed`s early days.
These are some of his stats -
Saeed Anwar jr (KRL) 1999-2000
M Inn N'O Runs Hs Avg 100 50
14 14 2 969 177 67.75 3 5
[This message has been edited by ManiaX (edited December 18, 2000).]
I don't think having two teams would be a good idea. But there are few players that should play in one dayers only. Like Abdul Razzaq Azhar Mehmood. For test you need genuine quick bowlers not medium pacers. Shahid Afridi is also good for one dayers only (not sure though). So rather than having two team we should switch few players.
Someone metioned test cricket is no ood I still like test cricket more than one day game because its the test of a players true ability.
[quote]
Originally posted by fantastic1:
**I don't think having two teams would be a good idea. But there are few players that should play in one dayers only. Like Abdul Razzaq Azhar Mehmood. For test you need genuine quick bowlers not medium pacers. Shahid Afridi is also good for one dayers only (not sure though). So rather than having two team we should switch few players.
Someone metioned test cricket is no ood I still like test cricket more than one day game because its the test of a players true ability. **
[/quote]
abdur razzak and azhar mahmood define the future of pakistani bowling. both have excellent allrounder abilities though that are not going to be extraordinary bowler. but hey, razzak can be in team as a mere batsman. they are going to be here for long time to come and given their talent, i believe they will do well in tests as well if given enough exposure like playing in counties or like.