The team flies to England, the venue of their most important test series of the year, for the Champions Trophy.

England and Australia could not have chosen a worse year to play back to back Ashes series.

We are talking about 10 test matches between the world number 2, who were recently the world number 1, and a team that is struggling in every format of the game after losing key players.

It is going to be one tough ride for Australia.

Can you imagine bowling to and trying to get the wicket of Alistair Cook, Jonathan Trott, and Kevin Pietersen day after day over the course of 10 test matches?

Or for that matter what will the batsmen be thinking when the thought of James Andersen, Steven Finn, and Graeme Swann crosses their minds?

I can just see Australia being tormented and destroyed in England and later in Australia.

There is no Ponting, there is no Hussey. Michael Clarke is injured, and David Warner's future looks quite bleak.

Australia's batting is pretty much non existent.

They have some pacers of quality but no where the quality required to overcome England's powerful top 6.

It is going to be one tough 6 months for Australia. Many a career might be destroyed.

For England, however, it could be a glorious 6 months, as a team, as well as for certain individual players.


For example, Alistair Cook could easily over take Colin Cowdrey, Mike Atherton, Geoff Boycott, David Gower, Alec Stewart, and Graham Gooch and become England's leading run scorer in test cricket by the end of these 10 Ashes tests.

He may not go past Gooch unless he has a really terrific series, but he will surely go past Alec Stewart.

Actually, Cook might not be the only one to manage this. Kevin Pietersen is not far behind Cook either - only 25 test runs separate the two. So by the end of the series, we could see two new leading run scorers for England in test cricket.



I really don't think Australia stand a chance in these two Ashes series this year.

Would have been so much better if Australia were a far stronger side.

South Africa confirmed their status as perennial tournament underachievers after choking in a major semi on Wednesday as England breezed through their top order to reach the ICC Champions Trophy final by seven wickets.

The hosts bowled AB de Villiers’ men out for just 175 in 38.4 overs, a score that could have been much worse had ninth-wicket partnership, David Miller and Rory Kleinveldt, not put on a 95-run stand when England were on top at 80-8.

Despite the late pair’s consummate batting, England eased their way into Sunday’s final with 75 balls remaining. The Proteas must look at themselves and work out where it all went wrong. They were sent into bat on a muggy, overcast day at the Oval but the cricket betting in 2013 and beyond did not expect England’s seamers to be quite so dangerous.

The openers went early thanks to some fine pace delivery from James Anderson and Stephen Finn, while Stuart Broad got in the act with three wickets himself. This pace trio look destined to rip apart Australia later this summer and, if the baggy green play anything like South Africa, the Ashes will be a non-entity.

AB de Villiers has had a disappointing campaign, going for a duck, much like opener, Colin Ingram – who impressed once (73 v West Indies) during an otherwise lacklustre tournament. Lonwabo Tsotsobe has underperformed with just four wickets taken for 169 and, were it not for Ryan McLaren’s flurry against Pakistan, that match would have been tighter too.

The defeat was South Africa’s eighth semi-final exit in international cricket and so their trophy drought continues. It was reminiscent of their semi loss to India in the 2002 Champions Trophy where, like Wednesday, two men batted with purpose while the others failed to deliver.

South Africa were one of the favourites heading into this tournament but without captain Graeme Smith they looked ill prepared against India and were lucky to beat West Indies. Next month, they face an ODI series with Sri Lanka and must perform to regain some credibility after a stuttering campaign that offered so much but produced very little.

When a die hard eternally optimistic Pakistan cricket fan gives up, it pretty much shows how damn sad the state of affairs is in Pakistan cricket.

I can't watch the Pakistan ODI team any more.

Since Ijaz Butt committed the single biggest mistake ever in the history of cricket in Pakistan by removing Shahid Afridi from the helm of Pakistan's ODI team and making Misbah its captain, Pakistan's ODI cricket has suffered immensely.

His supporters will always talk about the Asia Cup win and the amazing series win over India at the end of 2012, but that is not enough.

We have been humiliated 4-0 by England and 3-1 by Sri Lanka, we have lost ODI series to Australia and South Africa, and we have just been miserably embarrassed in the Champions Trophy.

The Asia Cup, the series win in India, and the 4-1 domination of Sri Lanka at the end of 2011 are the only 3 major ODI victories that Misbah's ODI team can boast of.

Take a closer look and you will find out that it is the same set of players that led Pakistan to those ODI wins - Shahid Afridi, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal and ofcourse Misbah.

These are your match winners.

What the other players are doing in the XI, or for that matter even in the squad, is beyond me.

Pakistan's utterly disgraceful ODI performances over the past two years have nothing to do with the captaincy, the presence of Misbah, or a defensive mindset.

The foremost reason for these horrid ODI performances is the selection.

The selectors who select the squad, along with Misbah and Whatmore who select the XI, are all at fault.



Mindboggling to see players like Shoaib Malik continue to play every single ODI despite not putting up even one half decent performance for over 3 years. I do not understand how he makes it to the squad in the first place, let alone the playing XI.

The same is the case regarding Imran Farhat who has been torturing us for 12 years now. I have been watching this sorry batsman since 2001 and there has been absolutely no change in the way he looks, bats, and loses his wicket - it was shit in 2001 and it is shit now in 2013.

When will the selectors realize that both Malik and Farhat are mediocre cricketers, domestic bashers, and no good for international cricket?

I really do feel that the average public is far smarter than those people warming the selectors seats in the PCB.

What is even more disturbing is that players like Malik and Farhat continue to keep getting their chances while promising batsmen like Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, and Haris Sohail do not even make it to the squads.

The treatment of Umar Akmal is a sorry tale, while Haris Sohail probably does not understand what more he needs to do to break into the team.

Much like Shoaib Malik doesn't understand what he has to do to get the damn axe!

The selectors and the team management have committed so many blunders in the past 2 years that it is quite inexplicable how they continue to hold their positions.

1. How can you drop Umar Akmal, first from the playing XI and then from the squad, while he is your top ranked ODI batsman and averages 40 in the 30 ODIs that he has played under Misbah?

2. How can you drop Azhar Ali from the ODI team after he has averaged 41 in 14 ODIs under Misbah? I understand that he may not have the best strike rate in the world but for a team that struggles to play 50 overs these days, a batsman who can stand his ground for a long time should be a blessing.

3. How can you drop Shahid Afridi, not once but twice from the ODI team, but continue to select Shoaib Malik?

4. How can you drop Nasir Jamshed, who averages 46+ in 20 ODIs under Misbah, for the last 2 ODIs against South Africa and play Imran Farhat in his place?

5. How can you drop Asad Shafiq for the Champions Trophy match against South Africa, yet play both Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat?

6. How can you not find a wicket keeper to replace Kamran Akmal?

7. I agree with the decision to drop Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi, but I don't understand how they can be axed when players like Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat are in the team?

8. Are the stats shown above only understood by the public? Are the selectors really that illiterate?

So many questions, absolutely no answers, and yet no accountability for the selectors, coach, or captain.

Sad.

1. Cricket in the late 90s and the better part of the first decade of this century was dominated by Australia - they were the number 1 test team, they won the World Cup thrice in 1999, 2003, and 2007, yet the Champions Trophy eluded them. They did not even make the final of the Champions Trophy in the first 4 editions held in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.
   
   
2. Interestingly enough, Australia won the next two editions in 2006 and 2009 and are the only team to win the Champions Trophy twice. They enter this edition in an effort to make it three on the trot.
   
   
3. Besides MS Dhoni, none of the other captains from the Champions Trophy in 2009 are captaining their teams this year. Besides Sangakkara and Vettori, the other captains (Ponting, Smith, Strauss, Younis, Reifer) from 2009 are not even in the squads.
   
   
4. Misbah Ul Haq, Alistrair Cook, Angelo Matthews, and Brendon McCullum are captaining their teams for the first time in an ICC tournament.
   
   
5. Misbah Ul Haq has never played an official ODI in England.
   
   
6. The Champions Trophy is the only ICC event, which has witnessed Pakistan win against India. In fact they have played twice in the Champions Trophy with Pakistan winning both times. While in ICC World Cup and World T20 events, Pakistan has never beaten India.
   
   
7. This is the only ICC tournament that South Africa have won. They won the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998. That remains their only ICC silverware in multi-nation ODI / T20 events.
   
   
8. Besides Chris Gayle, none of the leading run scorers nor the leading wicket takers in all Champions Trophies till date are taking part in the 2013 edition of the tournament.
   
   
9. This is the last ever Champions Trophy. The ICC has decided to scrap the tournament and replace it with the ICC Test Championship in 2017.

Pakistan were supposed to play 6 ODI matches in the UK leading up to the Champions Trophy but the weather permitted them to play only 4.

And they lost none of them.

If there was ever an effective way to warm up for a major tournament, this is it.

An easy win over Scotland, a nerve wrecking 1-0 series win over Ireland, which could have easily been 2-0 to Ireland, and a clinical victory over South Africa should give Pakistan enough confidence going into the ICC Champions Trophy, a tournament that they have never won.

As always unpredictability surrounds the Pakistan team. Even though they beat South Africa easily, the fans have no confidence in the team at all due to their ability to implode on any given day.

The same common theme of great bowling, coupled with unreliable batting, characterizes the Pakistan team.

However, there is a new look to it. There is no Younis Khan, no Shahid Afridi, no Umar Akmal.

I don't fully support the exclusion of Afridi and Umar, however I believe that without Younis Khan, the ODI team is a lot more stable, and without Afridi it is a lot more balanced.

Mohammad Hafeez at number 3 gives the batting line up a new look and a lot more solidity. Kamran Akmal is definitely better off at number 7, and the sacking of Afridi allows Pakistan to field 3 seamers, which is needed in England.

All the batsmen, besides Nasir Jamshed, have been among the runs in the 4 matches that Pakistan has played. Poor Nasir hasn't crossed 20, but he is too good a batsman to not come good in the important matches.

Hafeez with an unbeaten century and a fifty, Misbah with an unbeaten 80 odd, Asad Shafiq with 80 odd, Imran Farhat with a couple of 50s, Shoaib Malik with a hard fought 40 odd, Kamran Akmal with a match winning 80 odd, and Umar Amin with his unbeaten 20 odd runs last night against South Africa have all got good outings at the crease over the past two weeks.

We can always count on Pakistan's bowling to be good; and if the batting can remain steady, Pakistan can be the most dangerous team on show in the Champions Trophy.

Martin Guptill, Shane Watson, JP Duminy, Virat Kohli, and Dinesh Karthik have all shown that the pitches in England this time around are very batsman friendly.

This can only be good for Pakistan as the bowlers can trouble the best batsmen on any wicket, and our batsmen only look good on flat decks.

In Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan, Pakistan has got a potent opening attack. Asad Ali has impressed in the short time he has been with the team and Wahab Riaz has looked good on the UK pitches thus far. But the team will have two choose between Asad and Wahab.

I like Asad the bowler and he is definitely more effective than Wahab, but Wahab's batting just might give him the edge over Asad.

Add Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez to the mix, and its an attack that would be the envy of most teams.

I am not sure who they will play at 6 - Shoaib Malik or Umar Amin. I guess that will depend on the conditions. Umar can bowl handy medium pace, while Malik provides a spin option.

Probable playing XI: 1. Imran Farhat 2. Nasir Jamshed 3. Mohammad Hafeez 4. Asad Shafiq 5. Misbah Ul Haq 6. Umar Amin / Shoaib Malik 7. Kamran Akmal 8. Asad Ali / Wahab Riaz 9. Saeed Ajmal 10. Junaid Khan 11. Mohammad Irfan.

Pakistan kicks off its campaign on Friday against the West Indies at the Oval, before shifting base to Birmingham where it will play South Africa and India the following week.

And this time round, Pakistan's got a serious chance!

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