Michael Holding's ill-judged words on Saeed Ajmal was a sorry whimper that diminished the image of a bowler the world had loved in his pomp © AllSport UK Ltd

First there was fire, when West Indian pacemen torched the world’s best batsmen, breaking bones and turning stiff spines to jelly. Those fearsome fast bowlers didn’t talk much—they didn’t need to—pace, swing, bounce, and a wickedly intimidating line and length sufficed. There was no talk, only walk. Michael Holding was the prince amongst those athletes, Whispering Death they called him, in homage to the effortless grace of his sprinter’s run and deathly lightning bolts.

Where was once there was fire, now there is ire. West Indian fast bowlers are making a healthy business out of whispering into television and radio microphones; Holding, Ian Bishop, and Colin Croft the most prominent voices, and good luck to them, it’s a reward they richly deserve. But there is something quite disheartening about hearing Mr Whispering Death whispering bitterly.

When ICC changed the bowling law to allow for the scientifically proven variation in flexibility of human joints, it was a sensible end-product of detailed biomechanical analysis of a wide variety of bowling actions in nets and in match conditions. All bowlers were flexing their elbows. High performance cameras were picking up joint movement that was previously undetectable by the naked eye, and fifteen degrees was established as the level at which the naked eye could detect a throw. Of course, a simple cut off wasn’t enough because the shoulder and elbow joints move through various planes during a delivery and what seems like a throw with the naked eye isn’t always one after biomechanical analysis.

Holding, who was part of the ICC bowling review committee that set the fifteen degree rule, remains confused about the change in the law. You might argue that a complex law is bad for the game, and it should be easily interpretable by all cricketers. But that would be missing the point. The change in the law was an attempt at fairness and a cut-off did make it simpler. By creating well defined criteria for ruling on the legality of bowling actions, even though technical expertise is required to pontificate definitively, the ICC lessened any suspicion that certain umpires were making prejudiced calls against particular countries. Agreement on consistent and replicable criteria also ensured that bowlers would not be deprived of their livelihood by arbitrary decision making.

These are points lost in the mists of time. They are certainly lost on Holding, whose assault on Saeed Ajmal was an act unbecoming of a man of his repute. When Holding urged his commentary colleagues to judge Ajmal’s action from a front-on angle, with the use of a clumsy protractor graphic, he belittled a fellow professional whose action was cleared by ICC in 2009, but he did a grander job of belittling himself and the status of ex-cricketers as commentators.

No bowler is ‘cleared’ forever, and any suspicion of Ajmal’s current action is the umpires’ responsibility to report. It certainly isn’t the business of Holding to launch an attack live on air. When Holding implied that Ajmal’s long sleeve shirt served to obscure his bent arm, he was casting suspicion on the character of a fellow professional. In that moment, there was shame for Holding and the television producers who allowed such zealous attacks throughout the series.

The real story at the end of the second Test should have been the dismal failure of Holding’s countrymen to play any kind of spin bowling, crumbling to a sorry defeat. West Indies were once a great side, the best I have ever seen. A team I loved like my own. Their results and performances spoke for themselves. Defeat was rare and quickly avenged with a fiery comeback. But, as Whispering Death whispered his ill-judged words to a global audience, this ire in Babylon was a sorry whimper that spoke volumes about the collapse of a mighty cricketing power and diminished the image of a bowler that the world had loved in his pomp.

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Misbah-ul-Haq missed the chance to become the first Pakistan captain to win a series in the Caribbean © AFP

When Pakistan reflect on their defeat in the first Test, courtesy of the occasionally decent bowling of Darren Sammy, they should examine why their batsmen have developed a habit of falling to some of the world’s least celebrated bowlers? They might struggle. Batsmanship has become an unfathomable art in Pakistan cricket, lost with the ancients. By default, Pakistan teams can bowl and can’t field. The batting, meanwhile, has been spasmodic.

Misbah-ul Haq had an incredible opportunity to carve his name in history by leading a first Pakistan victory in a Caribbean Test series. Those dreams are dust. Misbah might curse his misfortune that West Indies were stiffer opponents than expected, but his frustration would be better directed at the chronic neglect of fundamental batting skills at the highest level of Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan have always struggled for batting, certainly in comparison with their neighbours to the East, yet you would not have described it as a poverty of batting resources. How could you when you could call upon Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan, Hanif Mohammad, and even Asif Iqbal and Mushtaq Mohammad. Up to the 1980s Pakistan teams might have batted with unreliable spirit, but there would be flashes of genius to inspire hope.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad added some spine to Pakistan’s performances. Too often it was only their backs to the wall, but their leadership did enough to coerce greater responsibility from their fellows on enough occasions to make Pakistan genuine challengers to West Indies. Fear of Imran’s wrath aside, English county cricket played a part in honing and strengthening techniques.

Imran and Javed, Pakistan’s contrary heroes, left a legacy of batting promise. Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul Haq, Salim Malik, and Ijaz Ahmed were in place to shepherd Pakistan through the 1990s and into the new millennium. Pakistan’s batting remained strong if increasingly unpredictable, and underperformance began to become a frustrating norm after the 1999 World Cup.

Following a glut of inevitable departures in the early 2000s, Inzamam remained the champion of Pakistan’s middle order with increasing support from Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Yet Pakistan’s problems began to unravel as the opening slot became a position of crisis, and has been as such for a decade; Pakistan haven’t had a world-class opening batsman since Saeed Anwar’s last Test match in 2001.

The batting disaster has many complex explanations. Cricketing isolation and an inadequate domestic structure are major factors but that doesn’t excuse the inadequacies of the approach taken in recent years by Pakistan’s cricket board

It is no coincidence that the last spur of Pakistan’s batting strength, and the peak of performance from Inzamam, Younis, and Yousuf, came under the guidance of Bob Woolmer. Those very instabilities that surround Pakistan cricket, and the unusually young age of players when they are blooded, means that Pakistan’s international batsmen still require much work on the technical basics of their craft. Even world-class performers can benefit from a wise word or subtle pointer when form has deserted them.

Since Bob Woolmer’s death, Pakistan’s international batsmen haven’t had that essential tutelage. It is too much to ask Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed to fill those important gaps. Until the Pakistan Cricket Board reconfigures the national team’s coaching structure to properly develop and improve its international cricketers, Pakistan will continue to miss golden opportunities to win series by the same country mile that Saeed Ajmal missed the final Darren Sammy delivery in the Guyana Test.

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The ODI series ended with Pakistan winners. Can Misbah-ul-Haq lead his team to glory in the Test series? © AFP

Is Misbah-ul Haq about to achieve what Imran Khan couldn’t? Misbah, whose Mohali innings doesn’t become any easier to swallow with the passage of time, has a sumptuous opportunity to win Pakistan’s first ever Test series in the West Indies. A drawn series against South Africa and a success in New Zealand suggest that Pakistan should be too strong for these hosts, although nothing is ever certain with this team.

The recent one-day series reminded us of Pakistan’s fluctuations, and suggestions of a selection dispute between Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis are ill-timed tidings. But Pakistan’s opponents are so weakened that Misbah’s team surely cannot fail to take advantage?

Much will depend on the captain himself, especially as he is surrounded by inexperience in the middle order. Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have already impressed with their level-headed approach but they are new to international cricket, making Umar Akmal look an unlikely veteran.

Misbah does, however, have the professorial experience of Mohammad Hafeez to call upon. Hafeez is living the dream he dreamt for himself a decade ago: Pakistan’s go-to man at the top of the order and handy spinner. Aamir Sohail must finally feel vindicated, having championed Hafeez’s cause — to great ridicule — when Hafeez first entered international cricket.

While the batting appears solid but unspectacular, a welcome development in itself, Pakistan’s bowling carries great threat for an unproven West Indian side. Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, and Saeed Ajmal are a match-winning triumvirate for Pakistan, the men most likely to achieve a historic victory in this low-key series. Pakistan expects but the team doesn’t often deliver.

Now Misbah’s Pakistan is not a team of stars or glamour, although it does boast a man from fashionable Abbottabad. The captain himself is an enigma, a curious performer and a dependable fellow. This unlikely band of cricketers is perched on the threshold of history thanks to the ineptitude of their opponents. Incredible as it sounds, where Imran the Cornered Tiger failed, Misbah the Mohali Goat might succeed.

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