I was in Koh Samui in Thailand on the morning of the 2nd when I was walking around the island and stopped at an Irish Pub which was showing the India vs Australia match. I walked in to take a seat to get a good view of the action and noticed that the entire place was full of Aussies. Which wasn't surprising cause the Island was full of them. I ordered some English breakfast and watched the last session of an India vs Australia test at an Irish pub with a bunch of Aussies in Koh Samui. It doesn't get more multi cultural than that. Did I mention I'm Pakistani?

During the week of cricket that I missed the Proteas levelled the series against the Windies and the Aussies won an amazing test match that was marred with bad umpiring decisions and a ban. A lot has been covered on that so I won't go there.

Back home in Pakistan the final of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, the domestic season's first class competition is being played between Habib Bank and Sui Northern Gas. Habib Bank, led by Shahid Afridi are trying to win the title after a span of 30 years, while Sui Northern led by Test reject Mohammad Hafeez, are trying to do so for the 1st time ever. Both teams boast of test players with Younis Khan, Hasan Raza, Danish Kaneria, and Abdur Rehman playing for Habib Bank and Misbah-ul-Haq for SNG besides the 2 captains. SNG is ahead at the moment with Misbah in familiar territory - top scoring and getting the side out of trouble. Here's the scorecard.

The Zimbabwe series, which was in doubt due to the political mess in Pakistan, is going ahead and will get underway in less than 2 weeks. Pakistan have announced a 2-day conditioning camp for 20 odd players comprising of all those who did well during this season's Quaid-e-Azam trophy. I would think that around 5-6 players from this camp will be a part of the national squad to face Zimbabwe.

Pakistan's management have publically stated that they will be trying out a number of new faces against Zimbabwe. Asif and Gul are still out due to injury, while Shoaib and Sami are not expected to play. Akmal is also expected to be 'rested', while Yousuf and Younis could find themselves being rotated during the 5 ODIs. I think it s a good time for the PCB to try some younger players, especially those who have done well on the domestic circuit. There have been many and I'll briefly discuss them in my next post.

Meanwhile, Geoff Lawson has returned to Pakistan after a trip back home. He has recommended that PCB hire a sports psychologist for the team. I wonder if the Paki players will benefit much from that. Lawson has also said that Shoaib Akhtar is Pakistan's best bowler when fit. Thats a big 'when'. And finally he ended by saying that the Australians can be beaten. Surely he doesn't think that the Pakis can give the Aussies a serious run when they come down in March. Or IF they come down considering the bombs flying around Pakistan.

That was a ramble about Paki cricket. Its good to be back.