Shoaib Akhtar

Umar Gul

Sohail Tanvir

Rao Iftikhar

Sohail Khan

Yasir Arafat

I'm not listing the fast bowling options that Pakistan has but the names of those pacers that have been included in Pakistan's squad for the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka later this month.

Pace seems to be the order of the day and from what I have heard the pitches to be prepared for the series are going to be quicker and bouncier.

Thats what the PCB has ordered the groundsmen to do.

Good thinking that from whoever it was.

It was definitely not Javed Miandad as he had recently ordered all the wickets for the domestic matches to be more batsmen-friendly.

Don't even ask why but he had.

Looks like Abdul Qadir and possibly Intikhab Alam had some plans in mind and its good they managed to keep Miandad out of the selection process.

Fast wickets. Fast men.

Sounds good to me.

But then where the selectors do right, they blunder and do wrong as well.

Its good to see the pacers, Sohail Khan and Yasir Arafat, back in the fold but where's Nasir Jamshed?

He was unfit for the Abu Dhabi series against West Indies and was replaced by Khurram Manzoor, but surely Nasir was the preferred one for the longer term.

Nasir played some outstanding innings during 2008 and impressed one and all.

Khurram did alright as his replacement, but Nasir definitely deserves to be the first choice opener given his performances.

The selectors in the past destroyed the careers of Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Tuafeeq Umar, and Yasir Hameed by chopping and changing them as openers without giving either of them a fair run.

They are nor doing the same with Nasir, Khurram, and Khalid Latif.

It would be better for Pakistan cricket if they stick to one of them for a longer period and give one a proper chance.

Nasir should have been the choice.

The selectors have also inducted a fresh face in the squad in the form of Umar Amin.

Umar has played some brilliant knocks at the under 19 level and was also the second highest scorer in the RBS Pentangular One Day competition recently.

He is definitely one for the future, but again I feel the selectors should let these youngsters bide their time at the domestic level before pushing them on to the international stage.

There was no reason why Nasir could not have been in the squad instead of Umar had the selectors wanted to continue with Khurram.

The rest of the squad are the usual suspects including Malik, Afridi, Misbah, Younis, Akmal, and Salman Butt.

Good to see that they have retained Saeed Ajmal as well.

As always, its a mixed bag from the PCB selectors. On paper the team looks good, on the field its always another story.

But if they stick to the script that dictates pace, it might bring back the shades of Pakistan of old.

Rewind back a year and the Nasim Ashraf led PCB had announced the fresh list of contracted Pakistan cricketers.

Mohammad Asif had been upgraded to a Category A contract putting him among the top notch of cricketers in Pakistan, while Shoaib Akhtar had been relegated to mere retainership, a new category that was formed purely for players who did not appear in enough international games de to lack of fitness or discipline or selectorial blunders.

That had resulted in an outburst from Shoaib Akhtar, who criticized the PCB, refused to sign the retainer contract, and went on to bad mouth Nasim Ashraf & Co.

Shoaib was eventually banned, fined, and dumped, while Asif, the new blue eyed boy of the administration went on to smuggle some drugs and test positive for a banned substance for the second time in as many years.

A year and an administration change later Shoaib Akhtar has landed a Category A central contract from the PCB, while Asif is no where to be heard of.

Life comes a full circle they say.

For Shoaib and Asif it has not only come a full circle but they have exchanged the circles in the meantime as well.

The Ijaz Butt led PCB announced this years list of contracted players this afternoon and as always they dished out quite a few surprises.

Besides Shoaib, Danish Kaneria, who had also been relegated to retainer status last year, has also landed a Category A contract.

How absurd is that.

Kaneria did not play a single international match during 2008.

If Pakistan doesn't play any tests this year, like 2008, Kaneria will not play any internationals in 2009 either.

And he would have ended the year pocketing Rs 3 million (US $150,000) without playing a single game.

Same for Shoaib who as history tells us may play only a handful of matches.

I'd like to smoke what Intikhab Alam, Yawar Saeed, and Abdul Qadir have been smoking.

The men who decided on the contracts.

As expected Mohammad Yousuf is no where in the list either.

I believe this was the ideal time for the PCB to take steps in bringing the ICL players back into the fold given the situation with India at this point in time.

With none of the players expected to appear in the ICL or the IPL, this was PCB's chance to make sure that its players stayed loyal to them.

Yousuf along with the likes of Razzak and Imran Nazir could have been roped in.

Obviously the PCB thinks otherwise.

There are yet more surprises in the list of contracted players.

Faisal Iqbal, Yasir Hameed, and Mohammad Hafeez have been handed Category B contracts.

Niether of them is even close to playing an international match for Pakistan yet they are placed in a category above the likes of Nasir Jamshed, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, and Rao Iftikhar, who have not only are regular members of the side but have also put in some match winning performances during last year.

Whats more, Sohail Tanvir is placed in Category B. The country's best 20-20 bowler and arguable the best ODI one as well and he is among another 3 cricketers who don't stand a chance to play for Pakistan.

Get me those smokes. Seriously.

PCB has definitely pleased some players for reasons best known to them. But at the same time they have also snubbed quite a few by placing them in the wrong categories.

The men behind it claim that the criteria was different than last year and seniority was given more importance than performance amongst other things.

Whatever it was, some common sense should have prevailed.

There is no reason why a Faisal Iqbal should make Rs 2.1 million a year when there are the likes of Azhar Ali, Nasir Jamshed, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, and Naumanullah making much less than that.

Azhar Ali has atleast managed to land a Category C contract, as has the talented Umar Amin.

This is the first time that uncapped players have been considered.

They both deserved it.

Azhar Ali, a 23 year old batsman from Lahore had a tremendous last year and first caught the eye when he led the scoring charts during the ABN Amro One Day tournament in early 2008.

He is also among the leading scorers of this season in both the first class and List A competitions.

Azhar averages over 50 in both forms of the game and is a great find for Pakistan. He should make his debut this year and is in my opinion the ideal replacement for Mohammad Yousuf in the test side.

Umar Amin is only 19 and created waves at the under-19 level last season with a couple of centuries in youth tests against England and Bangladesh.

This Rawal Pindi boy is only in his second domestic season and has already given smashing performances with the bat in both first class matches as well as List A games.

He is averaging over 50 in 13 List A games and is only behind Shoaib Malik in terms of runs this season.

Umar has a tremendous future ahead of him and this contract should give him the much needed confidence from the powers that be.

Well sometimes the PCB can make some sense after all.

They also showed some sense in retaining Shoaib Malik as the captain of the team for an indefinite period.

Malik's term had expired at the end of 2008 and there was no reason to replace him and rightly so, the PCB didn't.

Its a new year and the PCB has taken a fresh start. It has made some mistakes but then it has put some things right as well.

Malik's in charge and the men have been identified. Hopefully the international series will take place as well Pakistan will play some cricket.

One can only hope for a good international season for Pakistan.

I have a feeling, it will be just that.

Misbah Ul Haq played his first match in the ongoing Pentangular One Day Cup and scored a run a ball 63 to guide the Bears to a good total of 275, but Umar Amin and Afaq Rahim led chase with brilliant unbeaten centuries leading the Leopards to an easy 7 wicket victory with over 4 overs to spare.

Kamran Hussain, who had led the Bears to a thrilling 1 wicket win over the Dolphins with an unbeaten 45, smashed 56 off only 34 balls to push the Bears total to 275.

Shoaib Akhtar, captaining the Leopards, and Sohail Tanvir were both in great form with the ball picking up 7 wickets between them.

The Leopards chase was made easy through an unbeaten 251 run partnership for the 4th wicket between U19 opener Umar Amin and Islamabad opener Afaq Raheem, both batting in the middle order for this match.

Brief Scores:

Baluchistan Bears 275 all out in 49.3 overs (Fahad Iqbal 68, Misbah 63, Shoaib Akhtar 4-57, Sohauil Tanvir 3-5) lost to Federal Areas Leopards 276-3 in 45.2 overs (Umar Amin 125*, Afaq Rahim 129*).