Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

What was Mr Elliot (Idiot) talking about when he criticized Shoaib Akhter for not being a team player and a bad influence in the dressing room? Solanki as CAPTAIN of the team, had no problems with Shoaib, then the question which needs to be asked is what was the chairman’s motive in making such outlandish remarks? Then, we have to ask ourselves, why do we (the fan’s) allow such remarks to influence our opinions, should’nt we hear both sides of the story?

As Shoaib continues to play for Pakistan, the once cloudy skies are becoming clearer and very conducive for the truth. There was a deliberate media campaign against Shoaib, who instigated it is still not known, but it costs a Player his reputation and Pakistan its series in WI.

http://khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/sports/2005/December/sports_December169.xml&section=sports&subsection=cricket

Akhtar has exceptional talent, says Solanki
(AFP)

7 December 2005

LAHORE — England one-day specialist Vikram Solanki has praised Shoaib Akhtar for reinventing himself as a lethal Test bowler in the series triumph over England.

And he has also dismissed claims the Pakistani paceman is a trouble-maker.

Shoaib is a very interesting character, quite a unique type of a guy and his cricketing abilities have been proved in the recent series, and I didn’t have any problems with him,” Solanki, captain at Worcestershire where he had Akhtar as a team-mate this year, :smiley: told reporters.

“A change from 90 miles (144km) an hour to slower deliveries was quite impressive. He has exceptional talent and sometimes people expect lot from him. He is a fairly smart cricketer,” Solanki added.

A transformed Akhtar took 17 wickets in Pakistan’s 2-0 series win over England which finished with an innings and 100-run win in the third and final Test here last week.

Akhtar’s career had been at the crossroads after he missed Pakistan’s last two series against India and the West Indies and his commitment was questioned by coach Bob Woolmer and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.

But he stamped his class on the emphatic win over Ashes winners England.

Solanki regretted recent comments by Worcestershire county chairman John Elliott who blamed Akhtar for creating problems during his stint with the county this year.

“It was unfortunate that sort of comments were made. Shoaib has obviously worked very hard on his fitness and bowled exceptionally well in the Tests,” Solanki said.

Solanki said he was happy to be part of the England one-day squad.

“I am just pleased to be here, it’s fantastic to be part of the squad. Obviously I would like to take full part and make best use of the opportunity,” he said.

England tune up with a warm-up match against Pakistan A on Wednesday, before taking on Pakistan in the first of five day-night fixtures here on Saturday.

Solanki, the first super substitute since it was implemented in May this year, described the rule as strange.

“It is a very strange rule as it obviously depends on the toss and sometimes you can gauge whether you can play a part in the game or not,” he said.

“I think the rule needs some sort of tinkering, but I am not in a position to make judgement, I like to bat high up the order.”

The new soccer-style rule permits teams to replace a player at any stage of a one-day match.

The replaced player will be ruled out of the rest of the match while the replacement will be entitled to assume any remaining batting or bowling duties.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Thanks fartie for posting, and I am so glad that we all supported our cheetah when every one was ready and so willing to hang him.
I was just thinking that it is actually fun, now going back and checking previous threads (5-6 months old) and see what all the bashers use to say.
So I was doing that and found one of my post regarding the dumba$$ county chairman who for a moment became the hero of all shoiab bashers:D . All I can tell Mr. Elliot is that he can go and f*uck himself now.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Khan Sahib

its always been a herd behaviour with the majority, rarely will u find ppl willing to swim against the tide in search of fairness.

Shoaib bashers had their reasons, some reasonable and some not so reasonable, my issue is with our cricketing officials, wtf were they doing when a Pak player was being publicly humiliated? Sad story of Pakistani cricket, A%sholes like Elliot continue to get away with their racial prejuidices, Ian Bell can take an illegal catch and not worry about the consequences, Mike Gatting can publicly declare war on a standing umpire, match iteneries can be changed, grounds can be rejected, for what? Better relations? BS. We have a board which doesnt hqave the balls to stand upto anybody, even its own officials, players or other boards. They too depend upon foreigners (Woolmer) to do their job and really dont care whether principles or country pride is being compromised.

Humain thoree cee ghairath honee chahiya..we sud have some self-respect, whats the point of winning if we have no self-respect.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Good to hear all this after Shoaib has already proved it by playing all three tests happily and fully fit with the team, where was this Solanki after Elliott gave his remarks before the series started until now? Is he also part of some plan like bad comments from Elliott didn’t work now may be start praising to see if that will bring a bad change for Pakistan?

Good job Shoaib, you have come clean :k:, I’m glad for him.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Why singling out Elliot? A lot of us, including myself had issues with Shoaib's overall attitude. Shoaib has made an attempt and worked really hard to fix himself. He has done it. We acknowledge it. End of story. Let's move on.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

I second that!!!

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

He is “chairman” of a team where Shoaib was playing as part of squad, so words coming out of his hole are supposed to be true.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

So? Tell me if you did not agree with Elliot at the time he made those comments? I had no doubt about his analysis.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

And they probably are true!!!, we are now talking about the new and Improved Shoaib Akhter, the point is “New and Improved” that does not in any way imply that the chairman was lying.

It just means that Akhter is making a genuine effort, which is what what all of us including your good self were asking, isnt it???

Aejaz

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Whether I agreed to it or not doesn’t matter, cuz now a member of same team is now telling us an opposite story.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Agreed.!!! Even Shoaib in his interviews agreed that he had problems. It is only some people on this board who think there were no problems. Time to move on. He is fit, committed and delivering, that is what all of us wanted.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

I think the chairman went too far in his comments but Shoaib definitly had his problems and a much as i am enjoying his bowling i am worried when will the shoiab of old take over again..............hope he can maintain this fantastic attitude and discipline ........... credit must go to Inzi and Woolmer for taking a tough stance on this issue which in the end made Shoaib realise............................. really really hope he and all others are fit for indian tour

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

I agree with fungoo, aejaz bhai and ehsan bhai. He had problems, got rightly criticised by public and media, he was handled correctly first time in his career, he learned the lesson, now has changed his attitude and improved his fitness and delivering like a top bowler in the world (which he should have been), getting praise for his excellent performance, fitness and relationship with other teammates.

I hope he will continue with his newself and we will see him on the top of ICC bowling rankings after Indian tour, inshallah. Which is his right place.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Yes shoaib is definitely New and improved but I guess again alot of people here are mssing a point like they did in the past. In the past people use to see only one side of the story without realizing that there could be another side as well. As Ehsan bhai said that “some people on this board” thinks that there were no problems. I would say these some “some people” (including me) actually thought that there were alot of problems. There were problems with shoaib, there were problems with inzi and there were problems with PCB. The biggest problem was lack of communication/understanding and that was something which was bothering those “Some people”. Every time when ever there was some issue regarding shoaib every one use to blame shoaib or should I say give credit to him. No body use to think that shoaib could be a person who is slightly different and difficult from other players and therefore you need to tackle him in a different manner to get the best results from him.
And now when he is improved, again people here are missing a point. They are giving credit to shoiab without thinking that a major part has been played by inzi. Alot of poeple on this board declared shoaib a hopeless case just couple of months ago. How come a hopeless case all of a sudden can turn into a hero now? Yes it is possible that shoiab has changed but don’t you think that inzi with the passage of time and as he is developing into a good leader has realized that there must be something wrong in his way of handling shoaib as well. Isn’t it possible that inzi started acting in a different manner with shoaib. In a manner which was missing in the past and thats why shoiab also never bothered to change his attitude. Isn’t it possible that inzi realize and said to himself that yes there were mistakes which shoaib did and there were mistakes which I did, but I won’t mind a player like shoiab akhtar in my side who is different. If I also deal with him in a different manner, he could be an asset for the team.
Just think over it and try to understand that there are always 2 sides of a story. The only difference between other people on this board and “Some people” was that they were giving benefit of the doubt to shoiab because they were trying to see both sides of the story unlike the “other people”.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

fKhan, thou speaketh the truth, if only "others" could differentiate btw reality and fiction. Even now, Shoaib is being subjected to the same treatment.."he has reformed"..."he is a different player"...no one seems to be bothered as to how the captain and chairman of the same team could have such different opinions on a players behavior. Given that a team captain would be interacting with his players on a daily basis on and off the field, it can be said safely that his opinion would prevail and carry more weight. Yet, our benevolent "others" do not seem to be bothered with a lying or possibly misinformed chairman with minimal contact with players.

Problem lies with our "others" who have always and still hold Shoaib responsible and do not wish to acknowledge or contemplate the idea that Shoaib may not have been entirely responsible.

Solanki did not have anything to say b4 cause nobody bothered to question the chairman and check out the veracity of his story, everyone "just" assumed he was right. Well Folks, guess what? Captain of the same team has contradicted his own chairman, and quite unequivocally I must add. If only Pak cricket fans could have the same honesty as exhibited by Solanki.

Finally, its not enough to say these things are of th epast lets move forward, fact is that a man of responsibility (chairman) deliberatly made misleading comments about a Pakistani cricketer, why should he not be held accountable simply becose he is gora or chairman orrrr he criticized Shoaib Akhter who everyone loved to hate.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

his own team’s captain is saying that he lied, Shoaib wasn’t an issue at Worcestershire, it was readily acceptable/agreeable for us who criticised Shoaib because similar view was also expressed by our own PCB/coach/captain… I also believed his words just because of that same reason. Now Solanki is providing a different story which proves Eliott wrong, so Eliott should be singled out, criticised and sued (for wrongly accusing him) but I guess that there may be a provision in contract to save his butt.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

^ So Solanki said something and the chairman is lying because Solanki cannnot lie. I am not taking sides but to say that chairman lied because Solanki had no problem with Shoaib is carrying things bit too far. How do we know Solanki is not lying? Some of you might say why would he lie, but than why would the chairman lie? Both have their own views and both could be right.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Fkhan2 Bhai, Fartguru Bhai and to some extent Captain1 Bhai,

Yaar when I say that Shoaib is New and Improved, I dont mean that he did not have it in him to begin with, the only bone of contention was application.

Yes we also have to give due credit to Inza and Chacha Bablu, to make him realize his potential, and use it to its utmost!!!!!

Lekin like Funguy Bhai said lets just move on!!!!!!

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

Aejaz Bhai I really hope that we all can move on. But what one should really hope from all this drama is an over all change of attitude. A change in attitude by individual players, the team, the management, the board and last but not the least the fans. Shoaib needed respect from his team mates and his team mates wanted him to respect them. With a change of attitude from both parties, now everyone is getting the due respect. It was all about communication and understanding other person’s view point. No one is an angel and therefore every one can make mistakes but what important is that one should accept this fact.
The root of the problem here was something else i.e miscommunication. But if peope think that the problem was only shoaib akhar who was not performing intentionally and now is performing, than sorry to say they are just being stupid. That would mean that even in future they are going to point fingers at him when ever he will not perform.
Being an important part of Pakistan cricket, the fans should realize their responsibility. Yes they have the right to point fingers on players when they are not performing or are showing lack of professionalism but being a part of Pakistan cricket they also have to have a justification for their actions. They should use some commom sense or logic while making their point otherwise people will say that let them say what ever they want to say, they are just a bunch of immature emotional people who needs to grow up but their fanaticism is actually not letting them grow up.

Yes every one will move on and they should,but with this immature attitude it will only be the fans who will be stuck at the same point forever.

Re: Worcestershire Chairman was lying?

What I’m trying to say is that when Worcestershire chairman’s statement came out we (atleast I) readily accepted Shoaib as bad boy in Worces’'‘s camp. May be we shouldn’t be listening to ‘outsiders’ comments when it comes to teams’ internal affairs or our cricket player’s credibility/behaviour etc.