Umar Akmal's debut century rescued Pakistan from a disastrous position © Getty Images

A debut Test century is a moment of optimism, a flower about to bloom. Now that Umar Akmal has joined Pakistan’s bouquet of record-making debutants—most of those flowers have wilted quickly—expectations will soar even higher than they were already. Can young Umar be the next batting star of Pakistan cricket?

A decade’s wait underlines the misery that Pakistan fans have had to endure. Many young men have flickered briefly only for their temperament or technique to send them into oblivion. Almost every year a clutch of new prospects raise and shatter our hopes. Nobody has emerged with class enough in recent years to suggest a comparison with the legends of Pakistan’s batting history.

Even debutant century makers have a dismal record. Javed Miandad, Salim Malik, and Younis Khan the only three that have gone on to forge substantial careers. The remainder have failed to turn potential into results. Some have been aided by friendly home wickets or friendly opponents, in Yasir Hameed’s case by both—and he succeeded twice over, a century in each innings of his Test debut. Nonetheless, Pakistan must have expected better progress from these men.

Could there be something different about Umar Akmal? In just about every innings he has bristled with intent and confidence. He has a wide range of attacking strokes yet is capable of defence, comfortable against spin and pace. He has a desire to dominate, an encouraging trait. He has achieved his debut success away from Pakistan like Fawad Alam did in Sri Lanka. Indeed, New Zealand isn’t known as a happy home for Pakistan’s batsmen. Most importantly, he triumphed in adversity, rescuing a near disastrous position of 85 for 5.

These are early days. Umar Akmal will be judged over many years not a few months or even one innings. For once, however, Pakistan fans will dare to believe that a young champion has been discovered. They will also hope that Fawad will seize the opportunity thrust upon him.

Tours of Australia and England will further examine the potential of these young batsmen. But the next day’s play, chasing a difficult final innings total, will be the first genuine insight into the future capabilities of Pakistan’s new batting pretenders.

I’ll be tweeting during the first session of the final day’s play. It should be exciting. You can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KamranAbbasi

	Younis Khan remains the best man for the captaincy role, and it is a bitter disappointment that he has withdrawn from the tour to New Zealand © Associated Press

Pakistan cricket is on the 'critical' list. Mohammad Yousuf will lead the team in conditions that will severely test his batsmen -- and to many eyes the captain himself is the only credible Test batsman in the squad. Younis Khan's withdrawal has depleted the reserves of proper batsmen by 50%. The fault lies partly with the paucity of cricket that Pakistan have played recently but mainly with the PCB's inability to develop batsmen over the last decade.

Unfortunately, a sequence of Test series in New Zealand, Australia, and England is an inhospitable agenda for players with inexperience or technical frailties. Pakistan have many batsmen in both categories. This situation is a shame for Pakistan's blossoming bowling attack. The gulf between the two major arts of cricket has become wider than at almost any time in Pakistan's history.

A bigger concern, however, remains the leadership. It is hard to see Yousuf possessing
the attributes that are required. Already, nervousness about the batting conditions in New Zealand and talk of decision-making by committee are causes for concern. Only strong leadership can pull Pakistan out of this hole. We need Pakistan to grow over the next months and arrive in Australia and then in England ready for battle. Next summer, and what it means for the survival of Pakistan cricket in particular, demands a strong showing.

Which brings us back to the Younis saga. He remains the best man for the job, and it is a bitter disappointment that he has withdrawn from this tour. Younis is disillusioned with the captaincy, his poor form could have been accomodated if his fellows had supported him. This partybazi [groupism], player muscle-flexing is a root of Pakistan's ills.

Worryingly, Ijaz Butt and the PCB failed to stub out the dissent in the team. They failed in their governance role. Once Younis was awarded the captaincy, any player unwilling to play under him should have been dropped however big his ego or reputation. The PCB must accept responsibility for not managing this crisis properly. The whole future of Pakistan cricket is plunged back into jeopardy.

The New Zealand tour may already be a lost cause -- just look at the batsmen in the squad -- but by the time Pakistan arrive in Australia the captaincy issue must be settled. And that means Younis in charge with a team made up of players willing to play under him, at least in Test cricket. At a push, Shahid Afridi could manage both one-day formats. But Test cricket, the blue ribbon event, requires Younis. He should be urged to build for Pakistan's future and given the right backing by his cricket board.

I've never been more worried about Pakistan cricket. This is a make-or-break year and disastrous decisions by the PCB, such as choosing the wrong captain, could destroy any chance of Pakistan's revival as a cricketing force. Pakistan fans will always support their team, whoever leads and whoever plays, but it is the habitual mismanagement that we cannot tolerate.

Mr Butt and his fellow board members must recognise the danger that Pakistan cricket is in and act.

	ECB chairman Giles Clarke has backed his words with actions © AFP

The history of cricket relations between England and Pakistan is a tale of unpleasant controversy. From the early days when an MCC touring party debagged a Pakistani umpire, doused him with water, and left him to run home naked, our cup runneth over with disagreement and general nastiness.

Mike Gatting and Shakoor Rana, Chris Broad and Lahore cricket stumps, Ian Botham and mothers-in-law, Imran Khan and David Constant, Imran Khan and Ian Botham, Norman Tebbit and his cricket test. Javed Miandad and Aaqib’s jumper, Mike Atherton and buffoon journalists, the Two Ws and ball tampering, Inzamam and The Oval, a glorious catalogue of conflict and disrespect.

Now these might have just been the growing pains of a young country coming of age or the frustration of an imperial power seething at the uppity behaviour of a former colony. The socio-political analysis could take 50 years to write. The outcome, however, of each spat has been to strain the relationships between cricketers, cricket boards, and populations—both native and expatriate.

Enter Giles Clarke, Urdu speaking chairman of the ECB, and the man who has extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan cricket in its time of crisis. Clearly, hosting next year’s series between Pakistan and Australia will be beneficial to the ECB, but the main purpose is to offer Pakistan cricket a safe haven in the midst of its firestorm. This will be achieved through the PCB effectively running the series with help from the ECB, and taking the lion’s share of ticket and television revenue.

These issues matter less to Pakistan fans, especially the many hundreds of thousands in England, than the prospect of seeing their team in regular action. It’s the cricket that matters. Pakistan fans will want to see a strong, confident side tackle Australia and England next summer, and the current captaincy shambles is especially unwelcome at this moment of optimism. Another concern is that the PCB will find some extraordinary way to look this gift horse in the mouth and smash its teeth.

At the launch event for Pakistan’s “home” series against Australia, a landmark home series that will have Lord’s at its epicentre, Giles Clarke declared that relations between the ECB and PCB have never been better, and reiterated his desire to support Pakistan cricket at this time of crisis. He has backed his words with actions. The series will take place. Former England captains Mike Atherton and Mike Brearley, John Barclay of the MCC, and David Morgan of the ICC, all supported the event and the desire to ensure the survival of Pakistan cricket.

It’s usually easy, and often fair, to criticise administrators, but this is one initiative that should earn plaudits for those responsible, as well as those showing solidarity at a time when it is fashionable to knock Pakistan and its people. The Pakistani community in the United Kingdom now needs to respond by making next year’s tours a thunderous success. Pass that test and we may see Pakistan back in 2011 to take on India.

Love spreads.

	The selection of Mohammad Yousuf as stand-in captain underlines Pakistan's poverty of resources © AFP

Younis Khan has withdrawn from the tour of New Zealand requesting a break from cricket. This is nonsensical. Pakistan have barely broken sweat over the last two years. Younis has just won a pivotal power struggle to secure the captaincy. Pakistan require some consistency, not flip-flopping, and regular changes in leadership create inconsistency and doubt. The team needs to build its form and strategies for the big challenge of an Australian tour.

Moreover, Younis' mixed messages have become baffling. As much as many fans believe him to be the right choice as captain, he either wants the job badly enough to stick with it through thick and thin or he should give it up. The problem for Pakistan is that there are few genuine alternatives, and the selection of Mohammad Yousuf as stand-in captain underlines Pakistan's poverty of resources.

All the Pakistan fans who recently supported Younis against the establishment, like me, will be bemused, disappointed, and let down by his decision.

	Pakistan isn't a country to tolerate a non-contributing captain © AFP

This was set up to be an ideal start to Pakistan’s big year of international cricket. A World Twenty20 victory followed by a Champions Trophy semi-final were better outcomes than could have been imagined six months ago. Yes, the batting remained unpredictable but the bowling combination had quickly established itself as possibly the most exciting in limited overs cricket.

Younis Khan had tightened his grip on the captaincy, ready to build his team for great battles against Australia, England, at some point India, and then in the next World Cup. A fiery and ambitious vice-captain had restated support for his fellow Pathan’s leadership. All Younis now needed was a run of form to add some more clout to his captaincy.

The neutral venue was to the liking of Pakistan, homespun wickets that would encourage form from the most fragile of batsmen. Even the opposition boded well, a team that Pakistan are usually confident to beat.

Yet it all went wrong. Pakistan’s batsmen crumbled, leaving a teenage No. 10 to produce a most audacious innings, show his senior batsmen the art of determination, and offer Pakistan supporters some solace at this moment of disappointment.

The seeds of this defeat, however, were sown on the verandas of Lahore. Pakistan’s selection committee, possibly aided and abetted by their captain, played its usual dirty trick of changing the guard at the top of the batting order.

This seven-year itch is baffling. It hurts Pakistan. Since Saeed Anwar’s departure Pakistan have fiddled and failed with this crucial position. All short-term strategies based on personal likes and dislikes and nothing built to last.

Despite the loss in the Champions Trophy, Pakistan seemed to have arrived at a formula that could prosper, especially on the favourable wickets of UAE: Kamran Akmal to open with an ambitious striker. Instead Pakistan’s selectors, tinkers in chief, changed the personnel and the plan.

The touring party baffled us further by dropping the one major batting discovery of the past year, Umar Akmal, for the flimsiest of reasons. And then out went Mohammad Yousuf, a player whose position in the one-day team I’ve questioned myself but the decider seemed a strange time to switch strategies.

All this confusion does is question the new-found authority of Younis Khan. He remains the right leadership choice for Pakistan but he does himself no favours, in his new powerful incarnation, by allowing baffling decisions of strategy and selection.

Every captain makes mistakes. Yet successful captains are able to call on their personal form to cover their shortcomings. Younis faces a testing time. He strengthened his hand but lost his eye. Pakistan isn’t a country to tolerate a non-contributing captain. On the contrary, it depends on the performances of its captain to set the right example and deliver regular success.

These are issues, issues of selection and form, that Younis must address or his ambition of leading until the next World Cup will become a fool’s dream, his claim to the crown ring hollow. Pakistan cricket needs Younis to succeed. In many ways, the easy part was securing his position. Now he has to show greater skill by retaining it.

	Pakistan should dominate the one-day series in UAE © Associated Press

Pakistan embark on their busiest period of international cricket for several years. This is a relief for Pakistan cricket fans who have been deprived of seeing their team play regularly and further deprived of a team that is able to develop. It will be a tough antipodean summer of cricket for Pakistan, who traditionally struggle on these tours -- and that's with a settled and confident team.

As ever, the current squad has potential but this one looks light in the fast bowling department. Provided the first rank of bowlers stay fit, Pakistan should dominate the one-day series in UAE. The dormant tracks will ease the pressure on Pakistan's brittle batting order, which accomodates a curious return for Imran Farhat. It seems the Pakistan selectors are never sure who their best batsmen are. The omissions of Fawad Alam and Imran Nazir are baffling.

On a brighter note, Younis Khan has made an expected return to the captaincy after his recent show of brinkmanship. Younis must now avoid future distractions and focus on building a team that can seriously challenge for the 2011 World Cup and become a force in Test cricket. He has been promised a two-year window to forge his team. That is time enough as the next 12 months will be a serious test of his vision, strategy, decision-making, and strength of character.

Pakistan's reinforced captain has stated that the upcoming series is not about revenge for the Champions Trophy, but the heat of the UAE will be Pakistan's closest stab at home advantage over the next months against a team that they can beat. A false start here will be an ominous omen for the challenges to come. Pakistan need a strong start to their international labours, and if revenge is a motivation then so be it.