Showing posts with label Pakistan vs England 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan vs England 2015. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2015

Pakistan, England, and DRAMA!


Posted by Q at Monday, October 12, 2015 Pitched (2)
Pakistan vs England test series always provide entertainment, on the field and off it as well! Rarely does a series against England go by without one controversy or the other. While the cricket between the two sides has been extremely entertaining, there has been plenty of drama dished at us as well in the past.

Arguments with umpires, ball tampering allegations, forfeited tests, spot fixing, pitch tampering, court cases, you name it and we have seen it in a series involving Pakistan and England.

With yet another test series between the two sides starting tomorrow, here’s a look at some of the controversies we have witnessed in the past in Pakistan vs England tests.

Umpiring Altercation: GATTING vs RANA

Back in 1987 when there was limited TV coverage and barely any cameras covering the action on the ground, the naked eye of Shakoor Rana spotted England captain Mike Gatting moving a fielder while a bowler was in his run up (during the 2nd Test at Faisalabad). Rana immediately halted play and reprimanded Gatting for breaking the rules, and with it the spirit of the game. Gatting waving his finger at Rana is an image that has been played repeatedly on Pakistan television and the internet.

Umpiring Altercation: AAQUIB VS PALMER

During England’s tour of 1992, Pakistan’s pace attack was arguably at its best and England’s batsmen had little answers for them. During the 3rd test at Old Trafford, Roy Palmer warned Aaqib Javed about intimidating bowling to number XI Devon Malcolm. Aaqib had bowled a couple of bouncers and Palmer was not too impressed. Aaqib bowled another short one but it was not a bouncer from any stretch of the imagination. Malcolm ducked and the ball hit his helmet smack in front of the stumps. Palmer called it a no ball! At the end of the over Aaqib snatched his sweater and cap back from Palmer in anger and Miandad had to intervene to calm things down and also give Palmer a piece of his mind.

Umpiring Altercation: INZAMAM VS HAIR

Who can forget the episode with Darrel Hair who accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering and docked them 5 penalty runs during the 4th test at the Oval in 2006. Pakistan’s captain, Inzamam Ul Haq, took this so personally that he decided not to take the field after tea and forfeited the test match. The first such instance in the history of test cricket. Administrators from both sides and ICC officials failed to convince first Inzamam, and then Darrel Hair, to restart the game and an exciting test match ended midway during day 4 with the first forfeiture ever in test cricket history.

Ball Tampering Allegations

That wasn’t the first time the Pakistanis were accused of ball tampering; though it was the first time that they were docked 5 penalty runs because of it. No Pakistan tour to England is complete without ball tampering allegations.

It all started in 1992 when Wasim and Waqar swung the old ball so late into the batsmen that the English had no idea what hit them. They were so confused by what was happening that they termed it cheating and accused the Pakistan pacers of tampering with the ball. The British Tabloids were full of stories about Pakistani bowlers running their nails into the ball and lifting the seam with their fingers. Accusations were passed left, right, and center as the English batsmen continued to fall like nine pins.

The allegations continued during Pakistan’s tour to England in 1996 and 2001; and then finally culminated in that forfeited test in 2006.

The Spot Fixing Saga

Arguably the worst scandal to hit Pakistan cricket. Despite all the match fixing allegations levelled against Pakistani cricketers throughout the 90s, surprisingly tours to England remained devoid of such accusations. Besides one-off rumors about ODIs during the tour in 1992 and 1996.

Pakistan’s last tour to England in 2010 has got to be their worst tour there ever. In Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir, Pakistan had found a potent new ball pair that was right up there with the very best. Finally, Pakistan boasted a new ball attack as lethal as Wasim and Waqar. What could have been is a question that still lingers around the minds of cricket fans as we all witnessed the downfall of the two best bowling talents produced by Pakistan in the past decade.

The 4th and final test of the series was underway at Lord’s when the News of the World broke the news about a spot fix that Asif and Aamir has been involved in along with their captain Salman Butt. Pakistan’s cricketers had been caught in a sting conducted by the now defunct investigative British tabloid.

Every tour of England has been full of drama for Pakistan’s cricketers but there was none that had been as embarrassing as the one in 2010.

 Whether you are a fan of off-the-field drama or not, you can't miss action in a Pakistan vs England game, so use these bonus codes and pick your side and get ready for some non-stop action packed cricket.
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There are several more off-the-field stories like British tabloids reporting Imran Khan’s affairs during tours to England, Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi partying at Soho on nights before matches, and the famous pitch tampering that Afridi got involved in during England’s tour to Pakistan in 2005 that have added extra spice to Pakistan vs England contests over the years.

With Pakistan’s current test squad largely subdued compared to their predecessors, one doubts that we will witness drama of this kind in the test series that gets underway tomorrow. But then again, one thought the same about the Inzamam led team.

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How Pakistan's Bowlers have Tormented England


Posted by Q at Monday, October 12, 2015 Pitched (2)
While no series brings with it as much excitement as Pakistan vs India, it is also true that no series provides for nerve wrecking and dramatic test victories for Pakistan the way a test series against England does.

From Fazal Mahmood in 1954 to Saeed Ajmal in 2012, Pakistan's pacers and spinners have been tormenting England's batsmen in tests and orchestrating test wins in games Pakistan had no business winning.

Imran Khan and Mudassar Nazar did it in the 80s; Wasim-Waqar-Mushtaq did throughout the 90s; Shoaib Akhtar-Danish Kaneria-Saqlain Mushtaq did in the 2000s; and most recently Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman did it in the 2010s.

Given the way some of the Pakistan vs England tests have unraveled in the past, I am looking forward to witnessing Yasir Shah run through the England batting line up on the final afternoon of a test match while chasing a moderate target.

It has happened repeatedly against England and it may as well happen again.

Fazal Mahmood single handedly and successfully defended 168 at the Oval in 1954.

Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed combined to bowl England out for 243 after they were 168-1 on the final afternoon at Lord's in 1996 to win a match that was heading towards a draw.

Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed did something similar at the Oval in 1996, bowling England out for 242 after they had reached 136-1 to ensure that the game ends in a draw. 

Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq ran through England and bowled them out for 261, after they were 146-0, at Old Trafford in 2001 to win a match that was heading towards a draw.

Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria combined to bowl England out for 175, 22 runs short of a moderate target of 198, which should have been easily achieved, in Multan in 2005.

Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman crushed England, bowling them out for a mere 72 in Abu Dhabi in 2012. All England needed for a win was 145!

These are victories forever etched in the memories of Pakistan fans purely because of the way they were achieved. On the back of magical spells that struck on England like a bolt of lightning leaving them clueless about what hit them!

It is victories like this that make being a Pakistan fan so damn exciting!

I dont think Pakistan has scripted such test wins against other opposition, which is what makes a test series against England all the more exciting for me.

I can't wait for the test match to get underway tomorrow.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Are Butt, Aamer, and Asif really worth it?


Posted by Q at Tuesday, September 08, 2015 Pitched (2)
Five years have passed since Pakistan cricket was rocked by the worst scandal ever in its history -then Test captain Salman Butt and Pakistan's two premier fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were accused of spot fixing.

It seems like yesterday when they were handed 5-year bans from the game and jail terms for their role in spot fixing during the summer of 2010. There is some irony in the fact that they are once again eligible to play international cricket when Pakistan is gearing up for a series against England, the same opposition they played against last.

Noise has already been made by all three players about resurrecting their international careers.

Aamer's return is most likely considering that his return-path was paved for him 6 months ago when the ICC allowed him to return to domestic cricket, enabling him to play some competitive cricket before making a fully fledged international return. For Butt and Asif, it will be harder. They haven't played any competitive cricket for 5 years and both players are not as young as Aamer, who at 23 has a full career ahead of him.

I would place my money on them returning. Would be interesting to see what the odds are on betting sites regarding the return of these three cricketers.

Whether they will return to the Pakistan team or not is all together another question. Should they return is the more pertinent question really.

It seems a little unfair that Butt, Aamer, and Asif are now allowed to play international cricket again after disgracing their country and the sport on the international stage, while a player like Danish Kaneria is banned for life for coercing a domestic cricketer to accept money for fixing in a domestic game. What this means is that wrong doing in international cricket can be forgiven, while the same in domestic cricket cannot be? That is a bit perplexing for me.

And what about all the players who have represented Pakistan during the past 5 years with integrity and success? Is it fair for Aamer and Asif to come back into the team at the expense of Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, or Rahat Ali? Is it fair for Salman Butt to make a return at the expense of Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Nauman Anwar, Sami Aslam, or Babar Azam? Definitely not.

These are arguments based on moral grounds.

Here's a look at how these three faired in the three formats before their bans, and whether their return is warranted on a statistical basis or not.

The records that stand out are Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer in ODIs, and Mohammad Asif in Tests. In T20Is, all three had below par figures. While in tests Butt and Aamer were just about average, and likewise for Asif in ODIs.

I can probably shed more light on these three after comparing their figures with those of the players who replaced them in the past 5 years.

In test matches, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, and Taufeeq Umar have all performed far better than Salman Butt ever did in his career. Even Shan Masood, who is just finding his feet in test cricket, seems like a better test opener than Salman Butt. 

Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed have been a revelation at the top for Pakistan, and have performed better than most openers. Even Shehzad has a solid record that is comparable to Salman Butt's. 

Salman Butt was never an opener in the T20 mould and Pakistan have far better batsmen to do that job. Shehzad and Mukhtar have both performed better than Butt did, while all the batsmen in the table above, barring Nasir Jamshed, have a better T20 strike rate than Butt's.

It is quite clear from all this that Salman Butt has no place in Pakistan's international team for any format.

On the bowling front, however, the story is a bit different. 

In tests, there has been no fast bowler for Pakistan who has performed as well as Asif. Not even one who has done so as well as Aamer either, besides Tanvir Ahmed who appeared for a short time and then fell out of favor for reasons best known to selectors. In fact, besides Tanvir, only Imran Khan averages under 30 among the pacers that have played for Pakistan in the past 5 years since Aamer and Asif got banned. 

While there have been several bowlers for Pakistan who have done far better than Asif in ODIs; such as Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali, Aizaz Cheema, Mohammad Irfan, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, and Junaid Khan; there has been not a single one who has performed at the level of Mohammad Aamer.

Pakistan's pace bowling has definitely not been the same during the absence of Aamer and Asif, who together created arguably the best attacking pair Pakistan has had since Wasim and Waqar. It is unfortunate that they played together for less than a year and that their best years were taken away from them due to their own grave mistakes.

Once can only sit and wonder what could have been had these two not succumbed to greed and had continued to share the new ball for Pakistan over the past 5 years.

While statistically there is no argument about whether Aamer and Asif should return to Pakistan's colors; however on moral ground there is still plenty of debate.

On Salman Butt however, there should be no debate. Pakistan has far better resources at the moment to go back to a dead weight like Butt.

Butt might have served his 5-year ban from cricket and his jail term, but the damage he has done to Pakistan cricket deserves more punishment in my opinion. He was the captain of the team when all this drama ensued. That only means that he needs to accept more responsibility than both Aamer and Asif who were in a way coerced by Butt to bowl those no balls. Butt was in control of the bowers on the field. He was the sole decision maker regarding who to throw the ball to. He was the one who ensured that Aamer and Asif bowled those particular overs and the no balls on those specific deliveries. The control was all in Butt's hands. He was critical to the whole spotfix. Without him, it would not have been possible.

Just this fact that it was Butt who enable the whole fix should ensure that he never plays for Pakistan again. Ban or no ban, Salman Butt should never be allowed to don the Pakistan cap.

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