I said England did not stand a chance.

Dope tainted fast bowler, Mohammad Asif, will don the Pakistan colors again during the Champions Trophy that will be held in South Africa next month.

And so am I.

If Dilshan's first innings 92 off 72 deliveries was more off a twenty20 innings, his second innings effort of 123 off 131 deliveries was more of an ODI one.

C'mon Lalit, sign these guys (errr, gals?) up right now! Let IPL break new frontiers in the gentleman's game, and in all of sport really. TV ratings through the roof guaranteed! Actually, maybe this is what the ICL needs to resurrect itself. Surely there won't be any ICC/BCCI conflicts!

Humor aside, this is a pretty heartwarming story. "Hijras" have a very tough life in South Asia, and something like this can only be uplifting. And, perhaps, it could help increase acceptance and understanding.

Well done Sanam XI!

Eunuchs in Pakistan have won what is believed to be the first cricket match their team has ever played in the country.

Their opponents were "normal" young men from a local cricket club in the southern city of Sukkur.

...

"I want to dedicate our victory to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry," Sanam Khan, captain of the eunuchs' team, told the BBC.

"It is only due to him that things are changing for eunuchs in Pakistan."

Mr Chaudhry is Pakistan's chief justice.

He has recently ordered Pakistan's government to stop discrimination against eunuchs and granted them special medical and public facilities.

...

The eunuch's opponents were from a local cricket club called the Olympians, while the eunuchs' team was called Sanam (Beloved) XI.

The match was held at the largest stadium in the city and a sizeable crowd turned out to cheer both teams.

The Olympians won the toss and elected to bat first.

They managed to score 65 runs in their allotted eight overs.

Sanam XI comfortably overhauled the target, with their star batsman, Allah Rakhi, scoring 20 runs.

She was later declared "man of the match".

The eunuchs did an impromptu dance on the pitch after they won the match, and said that they felt "very greatly appreciated" by the crowd.

Full article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8208216.stm

Charles Coventry sounds like someone from the British Royal family; he is not though!

If reports are to be believed, John Wright could become the man that replaces the sacked Kolkata Knight Riders coach, John Buchanan.

The PCB have asked Javed Miandad to help the Pakistan batsmen before next month's Champions Trophy in South Africa.

The loss at Headingley was so shocking for England that they are now in a situation where they have no idea what to do.

Many would have you believe that the sight of a topless Shahid Afridi wrapped up in a white towel was the moment to cherish from today's twenty20 match against Sri Lanka.

It has been 13 long years since Shahid Afridi made his debut for Pakistan.

Pakistan's tour is not yet over with one Twenty20 game left but the test and ODI series losses must have taught them something.

So I miss 2 days of the Ashes due to a 12-hr flight and a bit of the jet lag, and I find that in 12 hours of cricket England lost 15 wickets for less than 200 runs!

I landed in San Francisco yesterday afternoon with the news that Pakistan had finally won their first game of their tour to Sri Lanka.

So what is new?

I'm no fan of PCB, I think that's pretty clear. But, I'm also not a fan of this knee-jerk reaction by former cricketers to slam PCB at every opportunity. It seems to be as entrenched a tradition as any in Pakistan.

Today, I read an article on Cricinfo about former crickters attacking PCB for the defeats in Sri Lanka. Here are some of the comments:

Former captain Aamer Sohail said the decision to experiment with makeshift openers was baffling.

"No one, from the board officials to the team management, seems to have a clear plan in mind," Sohail told AFP. "Some of the decisions make no sense, like two regular openers were sent to Sri Lanka but we used makeshift openers in the series which we have lost now."

...

Another former captain, Zaheer Abbas, said the blame lay with the PCB. "The World Twenty20 win had hid all the weaknesses in the team and the cricket board," he said. "Since this board has taken over we have lost the Champions Trophy (hosting rights), we have been stripped of World Cup 2011 matches and we have failed to handle the team, so this is total mismanagement, which is unacceptable.

"The coach (Intikhab Alam) must go, and the captain (Younis Khan) also lacks the qualities of a good leader."

Former chief selector Abdul Qadir was unhappy with the nature of the defeats. "They should feel ashamed," he said. "Defeats are part and parcel of the game, but shameful defeats are unacceptable."

To Aamir: ok, you have a point. But Pakistan has had an opener problem ever since you and Saeed Anwar left. At least you should know that. They couldn't persist with Butt. And there are some contenders so they have to try them out at some point, and given the dearth of international cricket for Pakistan, there are only so many opportunities they have.

To Zaheer Abbas: Wow. Yes, losing the Champions Trophy and WC 2011 hosting rights was totally PCB's fault. Newsflash - Pakistan has been virtually under siege by terrorists for the last few years. A former PM, the Sri Lankan cricket team, and a major hotel in the capital are among the more well-known targets. But of course, this is all PCB's fault. I mean, if Ijaz Butt could just grab an assault rifle and some army fatigues and take care of the terrorists, we'd have been able to host both tournaments. Simple as that! And as for Intikhab Alam - he's the only Pakistan manager/coach who has won us World Championships, so you may want to rethink that. Re: Younis Khan, ok, you may have a point. But substantiate it - give examples.

To Qadir: Hmmm, are you still kicking yourself in the balls for relinquishing your selection duties a bit too early, so that you are made a laughing stock when Pakistan won the T20 WC??? Sounds to me like that. Has it occurred to you that Pakistan are playing a much superior team, and are just outclassed? And that playing their first Test series in so long may have had something to do with it.

Rashid Latif seemed to be a voice of reason:

Former wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, however, ruled out changes in management and said the fault lay with the players. "Changes are not the solution," Latif said. "I think the team needs to go back to basics and there should be no interference in team planning. The team must play to its own plan."

Here's the simple truth - Pakistan is not a good ODI or Test team at this point. They are ok in T20 and were able to put together some remarkable performances to win the WC. But in the longer forms of the game, they are rusty and the players lack the temperament. This is something that will hopefully change once they play more international cricket; to expect them to immediately perform great in all arenas is unfair.

I think the pool of players is pretty good (even if the final selection/order can be tinkered around with). And Management is doing a decent job by getting Pakistan lots of international cricket after somewhat of an exile. But the lure of T20 and a weak domestic structure is changing cricketers' habits, and that especially impacts Pakistani cricketers who are almost genetically inclined to play T20 style in all forms of the game.

Is there justifiable criticism to be made against the PCB? Yes, always. But is this knee-jerk shouting and screaming by ex-cricketers for heads to roll justified after every single loss, especially this series? I don't think so. If there is criticism, put some reasons out there, and offer some solutions. I'm a huge fan of ex-cricketers like Zaheer and Qadir (and even Aamir to some degree! :), and mean no disrespect to them, but I think that they have all had their chances to make changes in PCB and the cricketing setup, but they enjoy being armchair administrators instead.

Oh, and if you thought the mental image of Ijaz Butt with a gun was too much too handle, well here's something to make that image permanent!

So far on this tour of Sri Lanka, Pakistan's bowlers have done outstandingly.

Can you imagine someone asking you for your whereabouts for the next 3 months and also for an hour on each of those 90 days during which you would be available?

Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq hold the record for the highest partnership for the 8th wicket in test cricket.

I highly doubt that Younis Khan or anyone in the Pakistan team management reads Well Pitched, but one may be fooled to think otherwise if they had read this post yesterday.