Pakistan's long wait continues

Pakistan has never won a test match in the West Indies and now they have to win in St Kitts to level the series. West Indies were just about in front for most of the first test, their disciplined bowling and obdurate tail end batting winning them the game. This was the West Indies first win since their remarkable win against England two years ago .

The wicket in Guyana was pretty poor for a test match – variable bounce and plenty of spin on day one – but I don’t think that is a bad thing. There are lots of test matches played on flat wickets where the bat always dominates the ball. It is a refreshing change to see the converse. I am not advocating a policy of producing poor test wickets but I think a bit of variability is a good thing.

World Cup: one week left

Overall the cricket at the current World Cup has been very good. We have not had too many poor matches. Of the four quarter finals:

West Indies were thrashed by Pakistan and rightly so. Pakistan, like West Indies are a team that can beat anybody one day and lose to anyone the next. Pakistan at least have more ‘good’ days and could easily will the competition.

India beat Australia in a close game that in the end India deserved to win. India have, to quote the Heath government, been walking around the battlefield looking for someone to surrender to. In this match they got their act together. I was really impressed with Australia even though they lost. Not for one minute did they stop trying to win. There is no shame in being beaten by a better side, especially if in doing so you give everything. Australia, and Brett Lee in particular, embodied that. It was good to see such dominant champions going out on their shield.

South Africa has a side that should have won the 2011 world cup. They can beat anyone. Unfortunately that extends to themselves and the serial underachievers did just that. Credit must go to New Zealand who was clever enough to see it coming and exploit it. A World Cup just wouldn’t be a World Cup without a South African choke.

Sri Lanka looks like a side that might be peaking at the right time. Their bowling was superb to restrict England to 229. The Harath, Murali, Mendis, Malinga quartet are superb with the ball; Dilshan and Tharanga similarly so with bat. England looked a tired side at the end of a long set of tours. However, the reality is that they were beaten by a better side.

Roll on the semi-finals. Who will win? Toss a coin.

Hey Abbot!

What sort of scheduling was it to play Bangladesh three times in a row? How could that produce close exciting cricket, the type that is needed to keep Test cricket to the fore. Granted the third instalment is against West Bangladesh and this side seems to have a better bowling attack but a much more fragile batting line-up than their eastern cousins. They also seem to have a wicketkeeper who would make Gerraint Jones look world class – which is strange because I am sure Kamran Akmal used to be quite good.

What on earth has happened to Pakistan? I can guess the real answer has something to do with their laughable cricket board. If ever there was a set of guys who the ECB could sit next to an (almost) guarantee to look competent it would be PCB officials. The PCB have a special kind of genius, unfortunately it is not for cricket but for the Lou Costello style of comedy. The trouble is it cannot be very funny for Pakistani supporters, or the hapless teams that have to play them.

Pakistan in turmoil

The Pakistan cricket team; what a weird place that must be. They are always involved in some sort of controversy and have now picked a captain known for being, shall we say known for his ‘sharp practice’? No, no pussy-footing around, Afridi is a cheat and has been caught on camera a few times. Hmm... lots of disciplinary issues and they appoint a cheat – how is that going to end do you think?

Pakistan toured Australia a few months ago and the ramifications are still going on. Most of it revolves around the match at Sydney where it is suggested that some players helped to ‘throw’ the match. Pakistan managed to lose after gaining a 200 run lead on first innings. Impressive. There seems to be much fire aimed Kamran Akmal for various wicket keeping mistakes. Next time someone suggests that Pakistan have thrown a game, remember this little nugget, Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s coach is

“critical of the players' behaviour away from the field, questioning their education levels and upbringing, their mental aptitude and ultimately concluding that they "seem to be mentally retarded.". He suggests, as remedial measures, that Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan be removed from the team, though he says of Younis that "he is not a troublemaker but he has other issues."”

I can certainly see how Akmal’s mind may be not been 100% on the job in hand, can you imagine playing for a team where the coach thinks that? I suspect the players are scared silly about making mistakes in such an environment.

Pakistan give South Africa a chance to choke

South Africa choking in a semi final is almost as good as Australia getting knocked out of the tournament early on. Not as good, obviously. I didn’t think they would blow it this time, I thought they had a good enough team and enough form to carry them through. Happily I was wrong and we saw the choke-meister generals do it one more time. Pakistan, it must be said, played superbly. Afridi played a classic innings and followed it up with a spell of leg-spin bowling that had the South Africans turning their ovens to gas mark nine. Umar Gul delivered the killer blow with some awesome death bowling. Magic stuff. Pakistan of course narrowly lost the first ICC T20 final and ten years and one day after they last played a final at Lords, they will play another. Hopefully this one will be closer.

Every ICC Final has a special ‘ICC shoots foot’ moment. This year they organised it early: the Final clashes with the British Formula 1 Grand Prix...

Win, Lose or Draw? Part II

It seems the ICC have, in a moment of madness, made the correct decision and decided England did after all win the match against Pakistan at the Oval in 2006. We all know England won. England knows England won. Pakistan knows England won and now it seems the ICC have recognised the fact. What's next: the end of two match Test series?

Win, Lose or Draw?

It appears that history is going to be ‘revised’ tomorrow, rewritten to make it look more cuddly and less, err, factual. The ICC is going to change the result of the England v Pakistan 4^th Test 2006. Pakistan conceded the match and therefore it is clearly an England victory. The ICC is going to change it to ‘Match abandoned – Draw’. This is another example of what I like to call a lie. It is a lie because everyone involved: ECB, PCB and ICC know that it is not true. They are all aware that Pakistan conceded the match by refusing to play:

• The Pakistan team had ample opportunity to change their minds and continue with the game
• The weather was good and England were prepared to play
• The Pakistani captain, Inzamam-u- Haq, was banned for four matches for bringing the game into disrepute
• The ICC report into the matter makes it clear that the match was conceded according to Law 21.3

The match was not abandoned, it was conceded.

Quite understandably the forfeiture of the match has been confused with the initial cause of the problem – the alleged ball tampering by Pakistan. I use the word alleged because no one was actually found guilty of doing it although both umpires at the time seemed clear it has occurred. Darrell Hair has been made a scapegoat for what happened that day, being accused of racism by Pakistan and shown a disgraceful lack of support by the ICC. It is worth remembering that Umpire Doctrove also thought there had been ball tampering, to quote the hearing

“At the end of the 56th over, at about 14.32, Mr Hair again inspected the ball and considered that its condition had been altered unfairly. He reported this to his fellow-Umpire, Mr Doctrove. Mr Hair considered that it was necessary in accordance with the Laws of the game that the ball be changed. Mr Doctrove agreed, but he told us in evidence that his initial preference was to play on with the ball because he wanted to try to identify the person responsible.”

Umpire Hair may well have been on the lookout for cheating, he was an umpire, less than a year previous when there had been a similar incident.

They say history is written by the victors. In this case it is being rewritten by the ones that sulked in the dressing room.