In a detailed interview with Dawn, Wasim Akram tells Shoaib Naveed about his early days bowling with a tape ball, some of his memorable performances and the batsmen he has bowled to. Brian Lara, he says, was the most difficult batsman to bowl to, while Adam Gilchrist was the most intimidating because he was not just a pinch-hitter but a proper batsman who could hit you anywhere, anytime.

I got Ponting out on several occasions, without getting hit around much. As for Tendulkar, I didn’t play a Test against him for ten years at the peak of my career, I have also dismissed Lara but I think he was the most difficult. He seemed very unusual to a bowler’s eye, with the bat coming down from up high at an awkward angle. He would also jump here and there, so it made him a very different and difficult batsman to bowl to.

After he was handed a ban in March 2010, Younis Khan’s Pakistan career seemed finished. He ditched the captaincy and walked out on Pakistan cricket, much like Shahid Afridi, and at one stage the PCB couldn’t locate him. Speaking to Osman Samiuddin in The National , Younis explains why he quit the captaincy in the first place, talks of his second coming as a batsman under Misbah-ul-Haq and his ambitions to revive Karachi’s club cricket scene.

And so who knows who Younis Khan really is, other than those friends and family he escaped to? A little like those dandelion seeds (and also like his cricket mentor Rashid Latif), he's engaging and substantial but the minute you've got it, you know you have nothing at all in your hands but the wisp of an elusive presence.

Aizaz Cheema, the Pakistan seamer, speaks to Shahid Hashmi in the Dawn about the struggles he faced while trying to make it to international cricket and the mentors who helped him get there.

Born in a small village called 75-FB near Sargodha, he was brought up and educated in Lahore. He was lucky that a proper mentor was at hand at home as his mother, a teacher by profession, guided him in his studies. He studied hard and since most of his family members were in the education sector, he got little support when he picked up a bat and a ball.

In an exclusive interview with Pakpassion.net, Bazid Khan, son of former Pakistan great Majid Khan and nephew of Imran Khan, talks about the advice his father gave him and how he has coped with the expectations that come with having famous relatives.

Sunil Gavaskar talked about his son going through the same thing. It is quite difficult as you are always compared to your father and how good he was; how good you are and all that is added pressure. But the pressure on yourself also, I think it increases with this expectation. But it has its pros and cons, and it is something you can’t avoid, you can’t change, and you have to bear it.

In the Express Tribune, Z Ali looks at how the Niaz Stadium, in the Pakistan city of Hyderabad, is in a state of disrepair two weeks before its golden jubilee celebrations are to be held. Among the notable events that happened at the stadium are the first one-day hat-trick, the 1000th Test and the opening match of the 1987 World Cup.

A privately sponsored enclosure is the only decent thing standing with a structure formerly used as a ground-floor pavilion with VIP seats, crying out for repairs. The two-storey pavilion houses termite-ridden cupboards, once used to store players’ belongings, crumbling washrooms and broken frames of historic photographs.

Nur Khan, the former head of the PCB who passed away recently, would be remembered as a visionary when it came to sports administration, even though cricket wasn't his favourite sport, writes Osman Samiuddin in the National. He proposed the idea of neutral umpires in Tests long before the concept was introduced.

At the very first meeting he attended of the International Cricket Conference (as the ICC was then) as head of the Pakistan board, Nur Khan told those around him he was ashamed to be sitting with them.

"I've been involved in other sports and they solved issues by building a proper institution, not a private body like the MCC," he later remembered. "I said aren't you ashamed after so many years that hockey and other sports have 80-90 members? Squash had many countries and here you are only six or seven after so many years?"

In a review of Imran Khan's autobiographical book Pakistan, A Personal History, the Economist says that the impression left for the reader is of a man who is likeable and sincere, but not much gifted at understanding the motivations and plans of those around him.

But even by his own record, Mr Khan comes across as naive, short on the cunning displayed by Pakistan’s brilliantly awful politicians, who milk funds from the state to keep control of their regional fiefs. More important, he still looks unable to organise. He talks grandly in his book of Pakistan’s desperate lack of strong institutions, arguing that these are what made Western countries flourish. Yet judge by how his own party has failed to develop over the years, and Mr Khan seems to have little gift for building any structure that goes beyond his personal brand.

"Until recently, I've not known what to make of Misbah-ul-Haq," writes Osman Samiuddin in the National. "We're never sure how history will judge someone until they are done, but over the course of a career or life you can make out a tilt in one direction. With Misbah, whose batting provides no clue - sharp and attuned one day, lethargic and disoriented the next - I've just not been able to decide."

You see, Misbah's real misfortune is that his rise to captain has coincided with the age of Shahid Afridi, a vibrant, expressive media-savvy charmer and a man of such colour it blinds you to what is really inside. Afridi has also led successfully in this time and he remains a people's captain, the anti-establishment rouser to Misbah's system lackey. Much of Pakistan embraces Afridi's irrationality without understanding what he is, and more after each ball bite, each pitch-spiking, each retirement and subsequent unretirement, each public spat.

Misbah, by contrast, is pheeka, or bland. To triumph or defeat, to boundary or dismissal, he gives no reaction and how can you love no emotion, no jazba (passion)? The one revealing image I recall is his sunken head, on his knees leaning against his bat, just after the shot that ended the 2007 World Twenty20 final. You cannot even see his face. So when Afridi agitated against Younis Khan's captaincy, people got over it. But when Misbah was part of a similar movement? Not forgotten.

The true story of Pakistan's fast bowling cannot be traced just through the big names, the Fazal Mahmoods, Imran Khans, Wasim Akrams and Waqar Younises. No, the true indicator of just how rich and bountiful this tradition is lies in the men behind these men, writes Osman Samiuddin in The National.

What are the challenges ahead for Zaka Ashraf, the man who replaced Ijaz Butt as chairman of the PCB? Khalid Khan lists them out in the Dawn.

Also, coming from a political background could, ironically, prove a blessing in disguise for Ashraf rather than a dilemma given the intriguing politics of the PCB. The much cursed ad hoc system on which the PCB had been functioning since July 17, 1999 is one issue that all subsequent chairmen since the respectable Khalid Mahmood’s tenure have failed to resolve.

Saad Shafqat, writing in the Dawn, says Lahore’s great Test centre is no ordinary stadium and it is a travesty for it to carry the name that it does.

It [the Gaddafi Stadium] is the headquarters of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which makes it not just the spiritual but also the official home of Pakistan cricket. It is a magnificent arena that has seen some stirring cricketing moments ... Contemplating a new name for this hallowed turf is not a straightforward exercise ...

It seems to me that the best chance of reaching universal agreement would be to honour a cricketing personality of enormous significance, and who better than some who also happens to be a son of Lahore. No, I’m not thinking of Imran Khan, although God knows he deserves it. The problem with Imran is that his political dimensions would prevent any such attempts proceeding further in our [Pakistan's] current national climate. And since Gaddafi is now a laughing stock, we really have no time to waste. I believe the ideal new name for Lahore’s famous Test centre would be Kardar Stadium. Just saying it out loud is gratifying—it resonates with a lovely ring.

Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National, looks back on how Pakistan cricket was rocked, yet again, one year ago, and how the team has responded creditably on the field in the aftermath of that scandal.

A year on, Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif - a spine for the side - are gone, probably forever. Even the News of the World is gone. Pakistan are still standing; standing still if nothing more. They are not better without the three but they have not been worse either. The bite, the glamour is gone, resilience and grit is in. Learning how not to lose, winning ugly, these are the new goals.

They have not lost any of three Test series since, though only one - against South Africa - was quality opposition. They reached the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup in an unusually coherent manner. And they have been competitive against all opposition in 50-over cricket; only India have won as many ODIs since then. Herein lies the central truth that underpins ... Pakistan cricket. It does not quite reach Rudyard Kipling's standards of meeting triumph and disaster, and treating them just the same. But just to remain, to be alive after facing both, is sometimes an achievement.

Despite making a late entry into the international game, Saeed Ajmal has quickly emerged as one of the top spinners in the world. In an interview with PakPassion.net, he speaks about his county experience at Worcestershire, having Sachin Tendulkar in trouble at the World Cup, his mastery of the doosra and a new variation that he is working on.

Sachin Tendulkar is a world class player and going up against him was a challenge. That was the first time we came up against one another. He was having a really hard time picking my doosra. You can study videos as much as you want of a bowler, but going up against a new player on the field is always a different challenge. There's a world of difference between what you see on videos, and what you encounter when facing someone for the first time. As I say, he's a world class performer and I thank the Almighty that on the day I did well against him.

An editorial in the Express Tribune says Waqar Younis' calling it quits as Pakistan captain will be viewed differently by different people, but it is not an unexpected move given the current atmosphere in Pakistani cricket.

The resignation of Waqar Younis as coach of the Pakistan cricket team is sure to elicit mixed reactions. The beloved Shahid Afridi resigned the captaincy and retired from international cricket in part because of a feud with Waqar, whom he felt was undermining his authority. At the same time, there has been a marked improvement in our cricketing fortunes since Waqar took over from the malleable Intikhab Alam.

... He cited medical reasons for his departure and it is no wonder that he was worried about his health given all the stress he has been placed under since taking over. He has had to deal with the ramifications of the spot-fixing crisis, train a team that cannot play at home, manage players who are constantly at loggerheads with one another and report to a chairman who is easily the most incompetent in the history of international cricket.

Osman Samiuddin analyses Waqar Younis' resignation as Pakistan coach in the National, and says it was a build-up of small battles that finally led him to quit.

There was the England tour last year that took so much out of him, the beginning of the end in New Zealand where the Shahid Afridi spat first became serious and even at the World Cup, by which time he said in an interview he felt one of his achievements had been to get out of bed every day and go to work. "Some days I didn't feel like getting out of my room, thinking another controversy," he said.

Emmad Hameed traces the history of tape ball cricket in Pakistan in Dawn. The tape ball is harder than the tennis ball, swings more, and flies faster off the bat he explains.

The transition from tennis to tape tennis ball came around the time the Kerry Packer revolution hit international cricket, the introduction of white balls, coloured clothing, black sight screens and floodlit cricket brought a new dimension and thrill. While closer to home, tape ball generated a new interest in players and fans alike.

The ICC's Pakistan Task Team recently released a report that recommended substantial changes to the way the PCB functions. Unsurprisingly, the report has drawn plenty of criticism from the board, which rejected the idea that there was anything wrong with its set-up. Writing for the Associated Press, Rizwan Ali says that there is no authority in Pakistan that could force the PCB to change.

Incumbent PCB chief Ijaz Butt had a modest record as an international cricketer, but his brother-in-law Ahmad Mukhtar is a defense minister in the present government of the Pakistan Peoples Party. It was no surprise when the then 70-year-old Butt got the PCB post when the government came to power in 2008 under Asif Zardari.

The governing board includes eight direct appointees of the president with six representatives of associations and departments. Even the appointment of the associations’ and departments’ representatives required Zardari’s approval.

Writing in Jang, Saad Shaqat attempts to unravel how and why Pakistan have become the de facto bad boys of international cricket.

Australian icons Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh once bet against their own team at 500-to-1 odds, went on to lose the match (the famous Headingely Test of the 1981 Ashes series), and pocketed huge wads of cash. Shane Warne, another Australian icon, was found using a banned steroid, and also got into trouble sending unwanted text messages with lewd content. And let us not forget that Hansie Cronje -- the only player so far to have confessed to match-fixing in cricket -- was not a Pakistani but a South African.

Yet you don’t see Australia or South Africa derided as thieves or cheats, and the idea of suspending these teams from the ICC does not even remotely cross the mind. Cronje even died in mysterious circumstances when a chartered plane in which he was a passenger crashed inexplicably, but the matter was glossed over. Clearly, Pakistan is not the only international team to which bad things happen. But the stigma sits heavier on Pakistan.

Since he made his debut for Pakistan last summer, 25-year-old Azhar Ali has impressed many with his technique, ability and temperament. Here he talks to PakPassion.net about his introduction to international cricket, the advantage of playing most of his cricket in Rawalpindi, his lack of a Test century and the key to his excellent temperament.

"I made my debut at the age of 25. Some would say that is quite late, but I would turn that around and say that I then had the benefit of nine years of experience in first class cricket. We have all seen instances of young cricketers being thrust into the limelight of international cricket and then failing to live up to the expectations. I haven't had things easy in domestic cricket, there had been ups and downs and I had all that experience to fall back upon."

Tracking the latest fallout between Shahid Afridi and the PCB, Dileep Premachandran writes that there will be those that say Afridi spoke out of turn, that he has always lacked tact. But would a player really jeopardise his livelihood by going public with his grouses unless the situation behind the scenes was that dire, he asks in the Dawn.

The approach to captaincy has resembled a game of passing the parcel at a kids’ birthday party, while little has been done to address batting and fielding frailties that have repeatedly cost the team in recent series. Most of all, the culture of insecurity that Butt has presided over has made it impossible to create a leadership group with the vision to build for the future.

On June 3, 1971, the 23-year old Zaheer Abbas took guard at Edgbaston in his second Test and began his journey towards a sublime double-hundred, to announce himself to the world. The Dawn's Qamar Ahmed remembers the day, and pays his tributes to one of the most graceful batsmen to have emerged from Pakistan.

No one has summed up his skill and style better than John Woodcock, the celebrated cricket writer of The Times and the former editor of the Wisden Almanack, when he wrote these lines about Zaheer: “The most ruthlessly mechanical of them must have been the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, the most enduring was Sir Jack Hobbs with 197 first-class centuries, the most calculating may well have been Geoffrey Boycott, but none of them could have played with more ease and elegance than Zaheer whose batting gave as much pleasure in England when he was with Gloucestershire, as it must have done in Pakistan.”

Given the number of Pakistan cricketers who have quit and then returned to the game in recent years, Paul Radley says in the National that Shahid Afridi's retirement will probably not last long.

Shahid Afridi has never been shy of retiring. As such, his latest announcement feels like it has all the permanence of a snowman on Jumeirah Beach in July. Retiring seems like something to do to pass the time in Pakistani cricket. In much the same way as players from England and Australia, for example, compete for Twitter followers, social standing in Pakistan seems to depend on how many retirements you have had.

Misbah-ul-Haq's comeback in Test cricket has been remarkable, but such is the nature of Pakistan cricket, there is no guarantee how long his run will last, Amir Hussain writes in the National. If the example of Shoaib Akhtar is anything to go by, Misbah should not take anything for granted, he says.

Not surprisingly, Misbah-ul-Haq's career seems to be following the same pattern. The only difference? Shoaib's decline was slow and steady as his pace slowed. Misbah's dips in fortune have been followed by inexplicable flashes of brilliance which have resurrected his career on many occasions.

Commenting on the PCB's decision to remove Shahid Afridi as Pakistan's ODI captain, an editorial in the Dawn states that while Afridi may have had his faults, he was an inspirational captain. He did not deserve to be sacked, for the simple reason that he was putting Pakistan back on the winning track after several years in the cricketing wilderness.

To his credit, Afridi has opted to continue playing even though he is no longer captain. What is needed now is a shake-up in the governing body, not the team which is doing itself credit despite the myriad problems it faces. Ijaz Butt should fully realise the importance of the job he is expected to do, or leave it.

In the National, Yasser Alvi likens the ongoing spat between Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis, Pakistan's captain and coach respectively, to the one that occurred between England's Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores two years ago. He notes the success England had in replacing those two with more understated characters.

In time, though, the PCB may just have to bite the bullet and follow England's lead. Waqar's public squabbles have made his position almost untenable and, given current Pakistani woes, the team would be better off with a specialist batsman as the coach. England's fortunes improved remarkably when they replaced the two squabbling incumbents with a well-educated, "boring" but impressively focused captain in Andrew Strauss, and a tactically astute and apolitical foreign coach in Andy Flower

Farooq Nomani argues in the Dawn that the PCB's recently released 'Registration of Agents Regulations, 2010' – a set of rules intended to oversee the legitimacy of player-agent arrangements - is inadequate.

In the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, “agent” was the catchword of regulatory hawks because that’s what Mazhar Majeed sold himself as. But what if the next Mazhar Majeed presents himself as a lawyer? An accountant? Or a ‘business manager’? Are such service providers covered by the Agents Regulations? I suppose that depends on how the Agents Regulations define an “agent”? Problem is, they don’t. The Agents Regulations are silent as to what would constitute an “agency activity” and neither does the ICC Players Handbook or the PCB Constitution provide any guidance on the scope of the term.

Sushant Sareen, who works with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, writes in Tehelka that Indo-Pak cricket will never be the right vehicle for taking bilateral relations to the next level.

That cricket can never be a substitute for quiet, serious diplomacy is borne out by past record. Gen Zia-ul-Haq initiated cricket diplomacy in 1987 by forcing himself on a reluctant Indian government after a near crisis caused by the Operation Brasstacks military exercise had been diffused. Pervez Musharraf’s sojourn in 2005 to watch the match in New Delhi also didn’t lead to any major breakthrough.

Over the past year, Wahab Riaz has become one of the brightest prospects in Pakistan cricket. The Dawn speaks to him about his five-for in the much-hyped India-Pakistan semi-final at the World Cup, and his struggle to break into the national team.

When reminded of the selection drama, Wahab said he got relaxed after Shoaib`s magnanimous gesture in the nets prior to the semi-final. “Shoaib Akhtar came up to me during the pre-match nets session and said `It`s not about you and me, it`s about Pakistan! Do your best!` What a fine gesture on his part,” narrated Wahab.

As protests in Libya intensify, responded by a brutal crackdown from the state, Murtaza Rizvi writes of how Pakistan's most well-known cricket stadium got its name. Read his article in the Indian Express.

It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as the prime minister, who embarked on the policy of looking west to the Arab world for bonding and the obvious financial benefits that would accrue to Pakistan by being a player in the petrodollar economy of the Arab states, even if they were run by despotic autocrats. In 1974, Bhutto hosted the heads of Muslim states in Lahore for the Organisation of Islamic Conference summit, which included such adversaries as the reigning sheikhs of the oil-rich Gulf and Arab revolutionaries like Gaddafi and Yasser Arafat. The occasion was chosen to elicit support for Pakistan’s nuclear programme, as India was all set to go nuclear, and Gaddafi fitted the bill. In a grand ceremony at the Lahore Stadium, Bhutto announced the renaming of the cricket ground after the man whom he came to call one of his best friends.

David Leggat, writing in the New Zealand Herald, says Pakistan's successful run on the tour of New Zealand has much to do with their captain Misbah-ul-Haq's impressive performance.

Misbah scored 9, 76 not out, 77 and 58 not out in the two drawn tests against the South Africans. Put those together with his New Zealand test return and Misbah has hit 451 runs at 112.75.

Unwanted in the one-day team for a year until last October, Misbah is averaging 40.27 with 11 fifties from 62 games overall.

Fast bowler Abdul Haq moved from North Waziristan in Pakistan to Abu Dhabi after being overlooked by the Pakistan selectors. But he was spotted by the team coach and management during the Abu Dhabi Test against South Africa - and, after a fiery bowling stint at the nets, got an offer to try out again back home. The Express Tribune has more.

"I was called by [Pakistan coach] Waqar Younis - who gave me the title of Tagray Pathan (strong pathan) - to bowl to his batsmen. I felt honoured and extremely encouraged when the batsmen seemed to struggle against my bowling," Haq said. "Younis and [bowling coach] Aqib Javed really appreciated me and later, team manager Intikhab Alam took down my contact details and invited me to the NCA." Haq has played with frontline Pakistan bowler Umar Gul in Peshawar but complained that due to the situation in North Waziristan, he never got proper guidance.

Mike Norrish of the Telegraph says that the PCB’s suspension of Zulqarnain Haider's contract was expected but it is the ICC that should have come to his aid.

The real issue here isn’t the farcical PCB. It’s the International Cricket Council. Presented with the most rare, fleeting and precious of opportunities – a potential whistle-blower – the ICC should have sent officers straight to London to meet with Haider. Its entire resources should have been directed toward protecting and reassuring him.

Even if Haider had proved to be as unreliable as his critics are claiming, the ICC was surely obliged to find out first. He is a desperate man looking for a sanctuary – literally – but the ICC have done nothing to provide the safety or security Haider is seeking. Or worse than nothing – they have left it to the PCB.

The success of the Faysal Bank T-20 cup was a fine testament to the resilience of the Pakistani cricket fans, writes Sana Kazmi in a blog on the Dawn. Not only were the crowds packed for almost every evening game (including the group matches), there was significant interest in those watching and following from home.

There is something to admire about a tournament that doesn’t take itself too seriously and produces a champion in exactly a week (I am looking at you, ICC World Cup 2007 and Indian Premier League). However, you can’t help but feel that a little more thought could have been put into the format. With four groups and a total of 13 teams, playing just two group matches each before the semis, it was essentially a knock-out from the get-go.

The argument in favour of multiple teams from one region is that it prevents any one team from being too strong, while making sure all the deserving players still get to play. In practice, though, this only ends up diluting the competition, not enriching it. A better approach to make the league competitive would be to loan some of the top players to a weaker side, like Quetta.

Saeed Ajmal made his debut for Pakistan at the advanced cricketing age of 30, but made an immediate impact with his variations, especially the doosra, and his ability to handle pressure. He played a crucial role in Pakistan's drive to the 2009 World Twenty20 title, but in the same event the following year was taken for 22 runs from four balls by Michael Hussey, as Australia stole a memorable semi-final. Ajmal talks about all this, and more, in an interview with PakPassion.net.

If no English cricketer can bowl the doosra then does that mean that no other bowler can do it with a legal action? If an English bowler was bowling the doosra then it would be considered a world class delivery. The same things were said about reverse swing. Reverse swing was introduced by Pakistani bowlers, the googly was introduced by Abdul Qadir, and the doosra was introduced by Saqlain Mushtaq. They will never accept it unless an English bowler can bowl it. The English have been playing cricket for more than a 100 years, why can't they come up with such variation? Our country is small but we've been blessed with great talent. We don't have the resources that other countries have but we make up for it with talent and hard work.

ICC's announcement that it couldn't find any compelling evidence of wrongdoing against Pakistani cricketers in The Oval ODI is just a crumb of comfort, writes Khalid Hussain, in the News. Now is the time to clean up the mess instead of celebrating what is just a small victory.

It's certainly one of the darkest periods in our country's brief history. In almost every walk of life, we as a nation are sinking towards rock bottom. Cricket is no exception. But the thing is that we can't afford to let it get destroyed. Cricket is not just a game in our part of the world. It's a passion, perhaps the only one which is shared by the entire nation -- from the rugged tribal areas to the shores of the Arabian Sea. If there is anything that can unite us, even in these troubled times, its cricket. It's the heartbeat, even the soul of our nation. And it needs to be saved.

Cricket is a long-term sport, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn, so it is important to contemplate the long view. The first thing you need for that is an accurate measure of performance, which is provided by the Win-Loss ratio. Pakistan's performance graph is quite revealing.

The unsurprising, yet concerning, revelation from these graphs is that Pakistan’s prowess in international has been eroded during the past decade. The dip is marginal in ODIs, but alarming in Tests. Pakistan has spent the 2000s near the bottom of the Test table, ranked sixth out of eight, ahead of only New Zealand and West Indies.

The News in Pakistan, has criticised PCB chairman Ijaz Butt for his failure to appear before the parliamentary committee on sports. The time has come for Butt to quit, it says in an editorial.

The performance of Mr Butt is nothing short of a national disgrace. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the allegations against players, his conduct throughout the tour was boorish and reprehensible, worthy of nothing but contempt. He is powerfully connected and has 'protection' at the highest level, but enough is enough Mr Butt, time to go.

Pakistan cricket remains mired in this seemingly endless things-getting-worse phase as people at the helm of Pakistan's cricket affairs continue committing the same mistakes again and again writes Khalid Hussain in the News. And the latest such decision is to recall Misbah ul Haq out of nowhere and install him as Pakistan's Test captain for the series against South Africa in next month while snubbing Younis Khan once again.

Misbah was touted as a future captain after scoring prolifically on the 2007 tour of India but is yet to prove his leadership ability. In contrast, Younis Khan inspires a lot more trust. The 32-year-old may not have played for Pakistan since the catastrophic tour of Australia but nobody can argue the fact that he is one of Pakistan's most prolific Test batsmen.

But people at the helm of Pakistan's cricket affairs will tell you that Younis needs a 'clearance' to get selected for national duty. What clearance? Has he been accused of fixing matches? Has he used or carried illegal drugs? Has he beaten up a team-mate?

Writing in the Dawn Khalid H. Khan says the decision to bring back Misbah as Pakistan’s fourth Test captain this year has put an end to all talks of rebuilding the Pakistan cricket team with an eye on the future.

It is a clear indication that selections were done in a bid to make up for the blunders committed in the past. According to Mohsin, Younis was the first-choice on the selectors’ list to bolster the middle-order batting but that choice, given the rotten state of PCB chairman Ijaz Butt’s mind, was vetoed.

Masud Alam visits Changa Bangal, Mohammad Amir's village in Pakistan, and speaks to family and friends about one of their very own at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy. Read his piece in the Hindu.

We take the dirt track and stop in a square that is the entrance to the enclave. Two narrow, winding streets lead off at a right angle. All the houses have low boundary walls and identical name plates stuck to them. The streets are paved and clean. No open sewers and no stench of cow dung. Many of houses are single-storied and all are small but neat and well presented. Amir's house is at the far edge of the enclave with open fields on two sides. A Pakistani flag embellished with golden border is flying on a pole fixed on the rooftop — a symbol of pride for Amir's father, Mohammed Fayyaz, for having served in the Pakistan army. He retired as a sepoy.

Cricket has drawn Pakistani society together but now shows apparently disparate elements are more similar than people think, writes Osman Samiuddin for the Observer.

Cricketers have come from places much smaller than Asif and Amir, from poorer backgrounds, and gone through entire lives – let alone a career – without a scandal to stain them.

Pakistan's players do not get paid as much as counterparts around the world, it is being said. This is true. They have also missed out on the life-changing riches of the Indian Premier League. But at 250,000 rupees (£1,900), 175,000 rupees and 100,000 rupees per month in the three grades of the PCB's central contracts, they are not paid peanuts. They live in Pakistan, not India, Australia or England, and in this country that kind of salary is seen by very, very few.

Add on match fees – roughly the same again as the monthly retainer – and on‑tour fees, board and personal endorsements, salaries from their first-class sides (which are run by organisations such as banks, airlines and power companies, offering the option of a stable, secure job after retirement), deals with counties and league clubs and now Twenty20 domestic sides, and most elite players really are kings of this land.

This is why the alleged leadership of Salman Butt is the most difficult aspect to grasp. Amir's errors can too easily be explained by his youth and his background, and Asif has previous, having failed a drug test. But Butt? Whenever there is talk of him it is inevitably of his English-speaking and educated ways. He is a truly urban product, to a degree polished. "He's been brought up well," Bob Woolmer once said of him. Had he not been a cricketer, he could have been nine-to-fiving somewhere and who knows, his floppy locks might have got him into the music gig.

Has any game waged such war on its reputation as cricket? Has such a war occurred on so many fronts? asks Gideon Haigh in the Age.

Cricket is both prone to abuses, and not bad at naturally correcting them. Which is just as well, given that authorities are usually so hopeless at imposing order, arriving on the scene like a fat, panting, 60-year-old outfielder chasing a ball to fine leg and turning to throw just as the batsmen complete their fifth run.

The manufacturing of outcomes and the fixing of results, however, belongs to a unique category of reputational risks. Cricket's on-field blow-ups have always been about the craving of an unfair advantage, the quest for victory.

Doing the bidding of a third party for money, even on a limited scale, is no such thing. It's corrosive of trust, of credibility, of pleasure in the contest. It poisons all that surrounds it.

Osman Samiuddin, writing in the Crest, traces the history of some of the present problems afflicting Pakistan cricket to a pay dispute between the players and the board in 1976.

The relationship between board and player was reversed so that players, for long servants, became masters. Television, particularly after the broadcast of that '78- '79 series, helped spread the game beyond any administration's dreams. Talent began to spill in from around the country, away from just Lahore and Karachi that had dominated Pakistan sides till then.

This new player was unrecognisable from earlier generations who were city boys without fail and products of a thriving college scene. This breed came from smaller towns, villages in some cases. Education was no longer the only access to cricket. And in any case, as Imran Khan points out, the public education system had aged particularly badly in Pakistan. Television, money and some success has made the player today more powerful than ever, but probably least-equipped than ever before to handle it.

Also in the Crest, Ayaz Memon says, "Sharad Pawar could hardly have anticipated that his first assignment as ICC chief would be to tackle the ogre of match-fixing. Nevertheless, now that this has erupted in his face even before he has measured out his office, so to speak, he must move with alacrity to counter a menace that threatens the very existence of the sport."

"It shakes my faith in sport that Mohammad Amir — a boy touched by genius but betrayed by dreadful role models — could be corrupted," writes Ed Smith for the Deccan Chronicle. "But I am convinced that the game is better with Pakistan than without it. And I would rather be disappointed again than close the door on that country."

Pakistan are playing England at Edgbaston under the shadow of the floods that have laid waste to much of northern Pakistan and claimed thousands of lives while displacing millions more. In the Hindu, Peter Roebuck asks cricket to stand up for Pakistan in its time of need.

Pakistan is in disarray. Cricket is a victim of forces beyond its control. Years might pass before international teams are allowed back. At such times it is important to show solidarity. A smile can achieve more than a hundred scowls.

Every cricketing country ought to reconsider its response. Over the years Pakistan has contributed enormously to the game and it remains one of the powerhouses. Numerous English clubs sign professionals from the Punjab. The national team has been considerably strengthened by settlers from Pakistan.

Australia has just added Usman Khawaja to its ranks. Now cricket needs to show Pakistan that it cares, and to that end ought to put its mind to staging relief matches to raise extra funds in this hour of need. Its not right to pick and choose between disasters.

The controversial administration of the PCB under Ijaz Butt has prompted one of Pakistan's leading sports broadcaster, Zakir Hussain Syed, to propose a doctorate degree for cricket system demolition and team disintegration. In his column in the Daily Times, Syed lists out the various blunders and inexplicable decisions taken by the Butt administration.

The first requirement after this tragedy should have been to go to Sri Lanka and express public sorrow over this tragedy with some compensation for players but this is beyond the PCB officials who are more interested in their own foreign travels and the huge daily allowances that they earn. Example Ijaz’s numerous trips at PCB expense including the latest summer stay in England. Reportedly, he received $48000 as daily allowance during one year alone.

Mohammad Aamer's swing and zip at Leeds on the opening day was brilliant from cricket's perspective and the upshot was two fold. Firstly, it is evident that the Pakistan trio could test England as much, if not more. Secondly, though, it rammed home just how important Pakistan cricket is to the wellbeing of the game, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

There is no shying away from the fact that Pakistan's cricket has had its own self-generated problems over the past couple of decades, but the situation in which they now find themselves, forced to play matches in the Middle East or Lord's and Headingley as "neutral" venues, is not of their doing. Security issues were already playing havoc with international cricket in Pakistan even before the atrocity involving the Sri Lanka team in Lahore. Domestic cricket has been unaffected largely, but the public have no top-level cricket to maintain their interest beyond that on television. For the health of Pakistan cricket then, there has to be an imperative to find a way that the national side can compete at home.

Shahid Afridi slogged his fourth ball to midwicket © Getty Images

Steve James of the Daily Telegraph doesn't rate Shahid Afridi highly as a Test cricketer, and welcomes the Pakistan captain's decision to end his Test career.

His Test career is over. Injured side or not, he will surely not play next week at Leeds and, quite frankly, Test cricket will be none the poorer for his absence. His brainless batting besmirched this match; his astonishing lack of leadership mocked some of his team-mates’ best efforts.

He was a curious choice as captain anyway; cricketers who pirouette deliberately on a length to scuff up a pitch and bite cricket balls do not generally get to captain their country. But then Afridi joins a list of Pakistan captains that is at once both a gallery of rogues and a roll call of truly great cricketers. It sums up Pakistan’s bewildering contradiction; its brilliance mixed with its villainy.

In an in-depth interview with Abdul Habib from cricistan.com, David Dwyer, Pakistan's fitness trainer, talks about the lack of a properly structured and competitive junior programme in Pakistan cricket and the need for consistency in personnel; discusses the work he has put in with various players and highlights his three golden fitness rules for the Pakistan team.

The only thing preventing this country from taking over world cricket is the lack of a properly structured and competitive junior program. A program that instills the basics from an early age. There are some other things such as the lack of access to gym equipment and that logistically there's not as many grounds. But it's scary to think how strong Pakistan cricket would be if it had the sort of support structures we have in place in Australia

There's a core of players with very good athletic ability. Umar Gul, Fawad Alam and Younis Khan's fitness levels are through the roof. They can run for days. Salman Butt has done a huge amount of work recently and Mohammad Yousuf has trained very hard with me over the past three years. Misbah is a great trainer, so is Kamran Akmal

Of the six punished Pakistan players to have filed their appeals, it is believed that Younis Khan is the only one who did not apologise for his behaviour, whereas the others did, so have been welcomed back in to the international fold. Should Younis apologise, for the sake of his future? The Stani Army, the Pakistan equivalent of the Barmy Army, asks this question in their blog.

So, is Younis right to be taking this stance or is the PCB being too fussy and childish? What is it that Younis has supposedly done and will be apologising for anyway? Many would argue that he should apologise for the sake of it as it is obvious how much his country needs him. But if ’sorry’ is a hard word to say for the likes of us, then it is near enough impossible, not only for a Pathan, but one that thinks he is innocent.

Umar Amin, one of the new faces in the Pakistan team for the Asia Cup, talks to Pakpassion.net about his journey so far, his idols, the Tendulkar bat presented by Shoaib and more.

What happened was that my overnight score was about 20 not out and the team was struggling at 4-120 chasing 240 runs. The next morning of the match Shoaib Bhai told the entire team that this is Sachin Tendulkar’s bat and everyone was eyeing it. When I was padding up, Shoaib Bhai who was sitting next to me said that if you perform well today and make us win this match then I will give you this bat.

In his blog for the Dawn, Ahsan Butt has picked his Pakistan dream team - Mohammad, Anwar, Younis, Miandad, Inzamam, Imran, Wasim, Latif, Qadir, Fazal, and Waqar.'

First things first: I understand the batting is a touch weak. Playing two all-rounders at six and seven is usually a recipe for disaster, particularly if you lose a couple of early wickets. Plus, the tail is a bit long – Qadir, Fazal, and Waqar could all bat a bit, but none count among the uber-dogged tailenders who could bat a session. And it’s not like Rashid was Adam Gilchrist with the bat.

But you know what? It can’t be helped. If Pakistan had a super-duper star available at number six, I’d pick him, shunt everyone down a spot, and drop Fazal. But I can’t do that because there are no contenders. Asif Iqbal is a possibility, but when you consider that his batting average of 38.9 is barely better than Imran Khan’s (37.7), it doesn’t make much sense. One could also play Mohammad Yousuf here, but other than that one ungodly period from October 2005 to February 2007, his career has flattered to deceive. He doesn’t belong in this team. No, two allrounders at six and seven is the only way to go. But I’ll come back to this.

Younis Khan, the former Pakistan captain, currently serving an indefinite ban imposed by the PCB, speaks to Pakpassion.net about when he plans to retire, Pakistan's squad for the ICC World Twenty20, his success at the No.3 slot and his experience as captain.

If you look back at the period right after the 2003 World Cup, you will see that a handful of players including Saeed Anwar, Wasim Akram, Ijaz Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq were discarded from the team. Wasim Akram didn’t even actually retire; he was in England when he got the news (of his ouster). That is when I decided that I want to retire from cricket when I am at my peak.

Four candidates are in the running to lead Pakistan for the World Twenty20 in the the Caribbean. Sohaib Alvi in his blog on the Dawn website assesses their strengths and weaknesses of Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Misbah-ul-Haq and Salman Butt.

While the motives behind the decisions to hand out bans to the Pakistan players are laudable, the haphazard manner in which they are likely to be carried out could see Pakistani cricket sink deeper into the quagmire. Rishad Mahmood, writing on the BBC website, believes the verdict has come five years too late.

There's no doubt that bad governance from politically motivated, less-than-competent cricket board officials has also contributed hugely to the current cricket scenario. More often than not, it has been the PCB heads themselves - including Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, Shaharyar Khan, Dr Nasim Ashraf and now Ijaz Butt - who have made monsters out of level-headed, talented players like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar, Afridi and many others.

Digging deeper into the PCB ban, Khalid Hussain suggests that the motives behind the stunning move are not all that noble. He throws up some uncomfortable questions in his piece in the News.

It’s quite absurd actually. If things were so bad in the national team for so many months that you were forced to kick several big names out of it then what was the Board and the management it had hired to run the team was doing all that time? If Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan made so much trouble in Australia that the PCB had to ban them for a year, then what stopped it from calling them back home when the tour was still in progress? Why didn’t the team management take action against them and the other culprits then and there when it had the mandate to so?

The Nation has an editorial which agrees with most of the punishments handed out, but questions the composition of the inquiry committee, which was entirely made up of PCB members.

Given Pakistan's poor performance in Australia, former chief selector Iqbal Qasim felt it was his duty to resign as chief selector. However, he notes two big reasons for the team's debacle - not playing to their potential and the lack of professionalism. Read his full interview in Pakpassion.net.

PakPassion.Net: With regards to the choice of captain for the tours of Australia and New Zealand, obviously the selectors and board were put in a difficult position with Younus handing in his resignation shortly before the tour of New Zealand. Yousuf was appointed as skipper, was that a unanimous choice?

Iqbal Qasim: The choice of captain was not the selection committee's decision to make. It was the job of the PCB chairman and the Executive Board members to choose the captain, remove the captain and appoint any captain. We (the selection committee) were never asked about this decision and we didn't interfere in this decision.

Ijaz Butt doesn't seem to have many friends these days. The latest to criticise Butt's term as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board is Col Rafi Nasim, himself a former PCB chief executive officer, who writes in the Daily Times that over the last two years Butt's management has made a thorough mess of the game as well as its administration. Such an astounding public demand for the removal of the PCB chairman and his partners, for bringing disgrace to the country, is absolutely legitimate, he adds.

	All is well. Seriously? © Getty Images

Blogging on the Dawn, Sohaib Alvi marvels at a five-hour TV show aired in Pakistan - called Cricket Ka Muqadma - that attempted to get to the bottom of the country's latest cricket crisis. Not a single official had a copy of any written minutes for reference purposes, everyone cited the high salaries of board officials, but no one rationalised the salary structure with any calculated presentation, and then there was the unproductive mudslinging.

Present in the ’galleries’ were the people who own the country’s cricket. Every 15 minutes they were heard through live feeds from all major cities of Pakistan. An hour into the show and the ‘jury’ had already reached a decision without waiting for a summary at the end of the proceedings: Don’t blame the cricketers; it’s the board, people. Normally this would read ‘It’s the Board, Stupid,’ but in this case, no one’s stupid except those claiming to be the messiahs who will part the seas and walk us through.

There is more purpose and coordination among street janitors when they change shifts. In those five hours, it became evident that not a single board administrator had spent an overlapping period with his predecessor after taking up a function; worse, no one had set up a system for that.

Pakistan’s abject failure in Australia had left a vacuum in fans’ hearts, which the country's Under-19 side doing duty in the World Cup in nearby New Zealand stepped into with ease, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn.

On the eve of the India match, people were busy exchanging notes about the game and discussing prospects. Details of the TV coverage had spread like wildfire, and alarms had been duly set for 2:30 am. That the national team was meanwhile lurching from one disaster to another proved a great boon to the youth team.

Writing in Dawn, Shoaib Alvi vents his frustrations with the PCB (read: Permanently Confused Board). He has more questions than answers and believes the chairman's evolution committee, formed after Pakistan's dismal showing in Australia, is nothing but a farce.

The more achieving captains — Kardar, Hanif, Mushtaq, Imran, Miandad, Wasim — all led the right mix. To the people who go hoarse shouting that we should have fresh blood in the team or those who hark for experience, I would say just go for balance and range in thinking in all aspects that affect performance in management, coaching and on the field. You are all barking up the wrong tree.

Yet another Test series against Australia has seen Pakistan swept cleanly aside and many people have announced they will stop following Pakistan cricket forthwith. You can't blame them, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn, because frustrations have to be vented somehow, and one does what one can.

Ultimately, the failure in Australia is Mohammad Yousuf’s to own. He was the best batsman and the captain but he wilted. Even schoolboy captains would not have set the defeatist field that he configured on that fateful fourth morning in Sydney. Yousuf may be capable of the most silken and sublime batting strokes, but as a leader he is simply not good enough.

While Pakistan were busy making a meal of the Test series in Australia, in the same country Shahid Afridi has been dining out royally — on both the cricket and local hospitality, writes Jenny Roesler in the Dawn.

In the grip of a heatwave, Adelaide has caught Afridi fever. Home games have sold out and he has been swamped at practice with dining invitations from the local community, which have included lavish 10-course meals at strangers’ homes.

When out and about relaxing, however, the public have otherwise only offered him the occasional nod, wave or handshake upon recognition. Used to being mobbed in Pakistan, India and England, for Afridi it is a change to be able to sit in a cafe or buy his favourite Armani gear in peace.

The MCG Test was always Australia's, going by the way they held the edge for majority of the game. But Pakistan, depleted to an extent by the loss of Gul, Kaneria and Younis, did put up a fight and credit should go to Mohammad Yousuf for the way he has got the team to gel better, a contrast from the previous touring teams, writes Peter Roebuck in the Age.

Pakistan has often been taken apart; has lost 10 consecutive Tests against Australia. But it kept trying. Before each session its players gathered in a huddle. That has not always been possible in Pakistan. In bygone years a few corpses could have emerged as the huddle broke up. Now the visitors appeared more cohesive.

Taufeeq Umar, part of an assembly line of Pakistan opening batsmen since 2000 who were tried and discarded, hasn't given up hopes of an international recall. In an interview to Pakpassion.net, Umar recalls the early days of his career, training under Javed Miandad and what the ICL meant to him.

I was dropped after just one match. A player can have an unlucky innings or two If you drop someone based on just one match especially someone who is making a comeback then I feel it is unfair. I feel I should been tested for the whole series.

The PCB has to find a way of addressing issues leading to dissent within the Pakistan team and try to restore Younis Khan as captain, while Younis himself has to come out with a direct response to end any speculation surrounding his stepping down, writes S M Ibrahim Farooqi in the Dawn.

Unfortunately, on many occasions the authorities shattered all hopes of tens of millions of Pakistani fans. The present management is no exception.

The glaring proof is the casual manner with which the board coped with Younis’ break from the game, accepting his plea without any queries or concern. Rather than backing the captain fully at this crucial juncture of his career, the Ijaz Butt-led PCB gave the senior batsman the impression that they were too eager to see him go off the scene.

Amid reports of differences with some of the players, a tough competitor like Younis was left out in the cold by the authorities who perhaps didn’t realise the gravity of the situation that had been developing quietly for several months.

Pakistan cricket is not alien to crisis. From time to time we have experienced it in every era and the present one is not any different to others. Already a year in the office, the administrators have neither managed to have a constitution nor have been able to convince their critics about the irregularities in maintaining accounts, writes Qamar Ahmed in Dawn.

This is a huge scam and even the governing body of the PCB, which is supposed to bring some sort of transparency in the working of the board, has so far failed to make their presence felt. The few voices of dissent from a couple of members from time to time in the meetings did little but not enough to go past the deaf ears of the PCB chairman who could have done the game some service had he not so far resorted to arbitrary decisions.

	After the World Twenty20 it all went downhill for Younis Khan © Getty Images

Whatever happened lately with Younis Khan is not a new thing in Pakistan cricket. This tussle between the players, the officials and the cricket board is an ongoing process, writes Rashid Latif in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Sometimes a captain bears the brunt, at other times an official comes in the line of fire.

The big question is how long will these hidden quarters be allowed to make or break the team in Pakistan? They throw their weight when a makeshift opener is accommodated but when specialist openers are picked, these very forces take a U-turn and slight the captain for the move. The same is the case with playing the younger players or resting the experienced ones. When the younger players are provided with an opportunity, these forces jump to the defence of seniors and question their omission? And when the younger players are given the backseat to accommodate the stalwarts, these very forces make life hell for the selectors and the captain?

The rumpus created by Younis Khan’s decision to abdicate the reins of leadership for the sake of ‘taking time off from the sport’ is simply too hard to digest, writes Khalid H Khan in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Younis was never really allowed to settle down into the job by a group of players with vested interests, but is Yousuf the best replacement?

Without being disrespectful to Yousuf, it’s a point worth noting that probably the most lethargic fielder in the current national team will lead the country while his deputy Kamran Akmal is a man who is known for ruining Pakistan’s victory hopes by crucial mistakes behind the timber. Where will Yousuf hide himself on the field will make compelling viewing on TV sets during the coming Tests in New Zealand? There is no guarantee that Yousuf will continue to lead Pakistan if the results of New Zealand Tests are not favourable enough.

An editorial in the same newspaper says it isn’t surprising that no one is buying the official line. Younis 'asked for a rest’ and that is why Yousuf was appointed captain of the Test team for the series against New Zealand. That explanation, not so cunningly, glosses over a key point: what compelled Younis to go into hibernation?

The emergence of Umar Akmal as an exciting middle order batsman has all but bolted the door on Misbah-ul-Haq. After being dropped once, he showed resolve to make a comeback, but the past has come back to haunt him. He may have responded with a double-century in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, but his response may have come too late in the day, writes Saad Shafqat in Dawn.

With captain Younis Khan at number three, Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan’s best batsman) at number four, and now Umar Akmal in the side, Pakistan’s Test middle-order is packed. In ODI and Twenty20 cricket, the batting line-up has to accommodate all-rounders too, which leaves even less room. The only scenario in which Misbah forces his way back is if someone gets injured or loses form. No one knows the future, but the odds are against it.

The PCB hasn’t learnt from the way squash and hockey has gone awry in Pakistan. The organisation has run into disarray and failure despite having the world’s top-notch cricketing talent at its disposal. Iftikhar U Hyder presents a grim picture in Dawn, the Pakistan daily.

Pakistan cricket’s Achilles’ heel is not its ability to produce good openers, reliable middle-order batsmen or good fielders. The real Achilles’ heel is the inability to build a cricket structure in which only competent managers could survive.

Huma had a calming influence on Wasim Akram and his career and for 16 glorious years she redefined his life giving it the much-needed stability. Ajay Naidu remembers her, in his obituary in the Times of India.

Amir Mir offers his condolences as well in Daily News & Analysis.

On Monday the Pakistan board is expected to take a decision on the future Younis Khan's captaincy after he offered to resign following speculations over the team's exit from the Champions Trophy. In the Pakistan daily News, Khalid Hussain writes that board president Ijaz Butt is in a catch-22 situation since he was the one who had lobbied for Younis to be made captain in the first place.

... it's not easy even for the most powerful man in Pakistan cricket. Even with his sweeping powers, Butt cannot just take this decision and solidify Younis's hold on team captaincy. There are too many other factors involved. Sources told 'The News' that following the Champions Trophy, around nine or ten members of the Pakistan team have met Butt and told him that they are unhappy playing under Younis. A couple of players confided in this correspondent that the atmosphere in the dressing room that was already far from perfect under Inzamam-ul-Haq and then Shoaib Malik, failed to improve much under Younis either. They say that even the title-winning triumph in the World Twenty20 championship in England failed to really unite the players. Some senior players were unhappy with the Board's choice to have Younis as captain and never really supported their new leader right from the outset.

Pakistan's domestic cricket calender for 2009-10 is flawed because it doesn't pay much attention to youth cricket and the sport in the country will only take a backward step. One such example is the scrapping of the inter-region under-19 three-day tournament which has benefited so many youngsters in the past, writes Gulbaz Aafaqi in the Daily Times.

Yet another great miss is PCB Hunt for Heroes Programme. This programme benefited young boys of under-16 age during the last couple of years throughout Pakistan. The selected boys were trained at district level by PCB qualified coaches for a week and the best of them would play inter-region one-day tournament. Our current under-19 three players, Babar Azam, Usman Qadir and Faraz Ali are product of this programme and they are good prospects. This programme has been scrapped although the agreement was valid for the current year.

The chairman of the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports feels that Pakistan deliberately lost to Australia in the Champions Trophy, and the sports minister of Sindh has suggested there was a deal between Indian bookies and the umpires' who stood in Pakistan's semi-final. An editorial in the Dawn rebukes them for levelling charges of match-fixing in the Champions Trophy without any evidence.

Maybe the parliamentarian ignored the last 10 overs of the Australia match, which we were poised to lose by a significant margin. Pakistan bowled an immaculate line and length and, fielding with vigour, came excruciatingly close to an improbable victory. That game produced one of the most thrilling finishes in recent ODI history and gave the beleaguered limited-overs format a much-needed shot in the arm. As for the Sindh sports minister, he needs to be reminded that a team that plays badly is unlikely to win the match.

Also in the paper, SM Ibrahim Farooqi writes that blind optimism undid Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.

Heroes one day, villains the next. That's the plight of a Pakistan cricketer. Their showing in the ICC Champions Trophy ought to have pleased the cricket-starved nation, but the latest allegations of match-fixing have clouded their efforts. The way certain sections of the Indian media reacted to that story was just as sorry as the episode itself, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.

On Tuesday morning, just a few hours after Australia had clinched the trophy, Osman Samiuddin, Cricinfo's Pakistan editor, was repeatedly woken up by calls from various reporters asking for a "reaction to the sacking of Younis Khan and Intikhab Alam [the coach]". We had shared an apartment during the fortnight, and in my early-morning stupor, I could hear Osman asking what their sources were. Frantic calls were made to journalists in Pakistan, and others in South Africa. No one had a clue. By then, the Times of India and others that should know better had already run the "sack" story. No credible source, no confirmation. But why let that come in the way of a good yarn?

Former Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nazar talks to Pakpassion.net on his playing days, playing under Imran Khan, his stint as a coach with the ICC and the NCA in Lahore and gives his opinions on the upcoming stars in Pakistan cricket.

I came across Sohail Tanvir in 2005/06 at the Academy. He was offered some league cricket in England and I advised him to stay at the Academy so we could work with him in areas that we felt he needed to improve upon. Unfortunately and in no way would I criticise him, Sohail opted to go to England and earn some money there. Sajid, you know I would never criticise any cricketer from earning money as some of the boys are the sole breadwinners and there are some very sad stories out there. I feel that Sohail needs to work on his fitness. If I was still at the academy I would have him there with a strict fitness regime and I would be working on his batting, as he has the ability to bat properly, but he doesnt seem to be batting that way these days. I think Sohail is someone who should be part of the T20 squad.

Given the testing times that Pakistan cricket is facing, the current flux in the PCB is remarkable even by the board’s standards. This editorial piece in Dawn, the Pakistan daily, claims chairman Ijaz Butt is not the man to provide stability and that he must be shown the door.

	Ijaz Butt has come under severe criticism as chairman of the PCB © Associated Press

Saad Shafqat, writing in Dawn, tracks Ijaz Butt's tenure as chairman of the PCB from the time of his appointment to the resolution of the dispute with the ICC over the staging of the 2011 World Cup. Butt's chairmanship, he says, was welcomed initially but hopes began to sour with his failure to resolve differences with the likes of Javed Miandad, Aamer Sohail and Abdul Qadir, who quit their positions within the PCB on unfavourable terms. The biggest letdown, Shafqat writes, was the "organisational negligence" during the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore followed by the "farcical handling" of the 2011 World Cup dispute.

Judging by cricketing standards, Ejaz Butt is a failed captain. He selected some highly talented players for his management team at the PCB but was unable to get the best out of them, with the result that his best people have either left or been marginalised. Insiders report that the atmosphere within the Board has become very fractious and dispiriting. Pre-occupied with self-preservation, Butt has surrounded himself with loyalists and cronies while the larger goal of preserving and promoting Pakistan cricket remains adrift.

Irfan Husain, writing in the Dawn, examines some of the problems plaguing the game in Pakistan. The incompetence of the PCB, the concerns associated with coaching, be it local or foreign, the constant feuds between players and the board and the inconsistency of the team are some of the issues he explores.

To begin with, PCB, the cricket board charged with organising the sport, is largely composed of government nominees whose basic interest is to enjoy the perks as long as they can. Few of them have the expertise and the dedication required to lift standards and provide the infrastructure needed for the development of the sport at the grassroots.

Qamar Ahmed, writing in the same newspaper, says that the PCB's initial decision to take legal action against the ICC for moving the World Cup out of Pakistan was an exercise in futility. He adds that the board should consider itself lucky to have sorted out the dispute in an out-of-court settlement. The important thing now, he writes, is to see how the PCB manages the financial returns - which includes its host fees as well as compensation - it is expected to gain after its agreement with the ICC.

One hopes that all that big purse that the PCB is in possession is spent on sensible and cricketing projects from which at least we are able to save our face from people who now believe that we are only a bunch of nincompoops and nothing else.

Shahid Afridi will lead Pakistan in the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, and it will mark a remarkable turnaround in the life of the allrounder. Huw Richards, in the New York Times, looks at his career which has seen him transform from the reckless to the responsible.

Afridi, 29, has had a career whose colorfulness is eclipsed among current players only by his turbulent erstwhile Pakistan teammate Shoaib Akhtar. Afridi’s extensive rap sheet includes a four-match ban for insulting opponents and a match umpire; a dressing room dispute with his captain and vice captain over his place in Pakistan’s batting order; sanctions after a girl was found in his room — his explanation that she was seeking his autograph was not accepted — and being fingered as the provocateur two years ago when Akhtar finally lost it and struck a teammate with a bat.

There was a brief, mysterious and never fully explained retirement from test cricket three years ago, and as recently as last year the Indian star Vangipurappu Laxman, his captain in the first Indian Premier League tournament, complained that “Afridi has no team ethics.”

Pakistan’s famously volatile cricket team repeatedly tests the resolve of even the most committed fans. The euphoria of a world Twenty20 title sandwiched between terrorism in Lahore and embarrassment in Sri Lanka has left supporters spent and exhausted, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn. The writer breaks down the various types of Pakistan fan, from fair-weather to die-hard to sceptics and malcontents.

A category closely related to the theorist is the obsessive, whose signature trait is an insatiable appetite for anything to do with the game. Like the theorist, the obsessive too has mastery over the details of cricket. But unlike the theorist, who maintains a healthy interest in the game, the obsessive overdoes it, becoming consumed with cricket to the exclusion of everything else. You know you’re an obsessive when your preoccupation with cricket starts interfering with the course of daily life. A moment eventually comes when you run into trouble, and the excuses you can come up with are all somehow cricket-related.

Mohammad Zahid, the former Pakistan bowler who was among the fastest in his time, speaks to PakPassion.net about his initiation into cricket, his experience bowling with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the current state of fast bowling in Pakistan and his plans for the future.

It saddens me to think that just 10 years ago each domestic team had at least one bowler who was consistently clocking over 90mph. In those days it wasnt a big deal for a Pakistani bowler to clock 90mph nobody would get excited by it. But these days if we see a player clock 140k then 'poore Pakistan mai shor mach jaata hai' (the whole of Pakistan starts shouting his name).

Tariq Mahmood was an offspinner who starred for Pakistan in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup before fading from the international spolight. His action was reminiscent of Muttiah Muralitharan's, and came under scrutiny, forcing Mahmood to modify it. Mahmood, who plays for Sialkot in the domestic ciruit, talks to PakPassion about his mentor Aaqib Javed, memories of the 2004 U-19 World Cup, meeting Murali, and the art of offspin.

When it comes to bowling actions you just have to remember two main things, you must at all times keep complete control over your wrist and your shoulder/arm. If you can control those two things then the ball always falls where it's supposed to and you keep a good line and length too. However if you cant control those two things then you can have the sharpest brain in the world and the most powerful shoulders and wrists but it won't do you any good.

The Shoaib Akhtar saga continues with the fast bowler being overlooked for the one-day series in Sri Lanka. If he says he was fit and was denied the chance to make it to the ICC World Twenty20, one wonders if he is suffering from problems that are much more grave than just physical, wonders Humair Ishtiaq in the Pakistan daily Dawn.

Shoaib’s claim that he can play for another five years is another successful attempt to tickle the funny bone, as a look at his statistics shows that his career should have come to an end five years ago. It is his showmanship and the PCB tendency to blow hot and cold over such affairs that has kept him alive off the field.

Pakistan cricket is at a crossroads. Malik Arshed Gilani in the Pakistan daily Dawn says the PCB's approach, witnessed by its many statements, as one of the main partners in the next World Cup truly reflects the overall competence it has in the management of its affairs.

We have in with our normal brilliance turned this into a legal matter. Let us examine our actions from the beginning; we arrive at a meeting of the ICC totally unprepared to tackle a subject that should have been topmost in our minds.

How weak is the excuse that the topic was not on the agenda. The event is just two years away, the world is talking about the security in Pakistan after the Lahore attack but we, the PCB, have not thought this through and then hide behind the excuse that they are unprepared.

	Shahid Afridi has somehow tamed himself © Getty Images

To a nation that is still savouring the victory at the ICC World Twenty20 it may not go down too well, but the fact of the matter is that there is something more important to celebrate and talk about. It was a tournament where Shahid Afridi reinvented himself and that would mean much more to Pakistan than just the victory, provided, of course, he can keep it going, writes Humair Ishtiaq in the Pakistan daily Dawn.

The biggest gain is in his success to curb the irritating tendency to hit everything out of existence. His one-dimension batting technique was simple: close the eyes and hit through the line. But no more. It was truly and simply refreshing to watch Afridi ducking under the short balls and leaving the ones that wobbled around early in his innings. That he chose the shortest version of the game, which is more about the wham-bam stuff that he is known for than the straight-bat niceties, was a bit ironic but refreshing nonetheless.

Pakistan's win in the World Twenty20 must be celebrated for many reasons, not the least for what it means for cricket. But no one can argue that now that they are world champions, all cricketing nations should tour Pakistan, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

Let us celebrate the win for what it is. It just goes to show that Pakistan cricketers despite setbacks, still retain the zest and passion for a game in which they are talented and if they were to vanish from the cricketing tournament, it would be a sad day for the fans.

Pakistan are resigned to the fact that they will either have to play their ‘home series’ at offshore venues or not play at all. But things are a little different now that they are World Twenty20 champions, according to the editorial in the Dawn. Pakistan’s victory tells the world that they can win wherever they might have to play.

Even in India, which with its deep pockets now virtually controls the ICC. It will take some doing to crush Pakistan’s spirit. We will not simply go away and sulk. We can triumph in the face of adversity. Besides the cup, the best thing this slam-bang version of cricket delivered was a sense of self-belief. Also, this Pakistan side seems to enjoy itself on the field.

Will a glorious sport rescue Pakistan from the Islamists? Thats what Tunku Varadarajan wonders in Forbes magazine. The cricket victory is the best news that Pakistanis have had since the departure from power of their military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, says the writer.

How moving it is that three Pushtun players contributed most to Pakistan's victory: the team's captain, Younis Khan, who is everything this once-proud nation ought to want to be: competitive, yet deeply gracious and good-humored; Umer Gul, their fast-bowling spearhead; and Shahid Afridi, the team's match-winner in the semi-final and final. What a very valuable example these three men provide the young in Pakistan

Not too many had given Younis Khan's side much of a chance in the World Twenty20, but they are now in the final of the tournament. Kamran Abassi writes in the Dawn that one of the reasons for the success, especially against the favourites South Africa, is that Pakistan have played with passion, pride and fearlessness.

This was how it always used to be. When Imran Khan changed the mentality of Pakistan’s cricketers in the early 1980s, he gave them the confidence to risk everything for victory. That philosophy endured under Wasim Akram, Imran’s disciple, but was lost in the introspective days of Inzamam-ul Haq’s leadership.

And in a blog on the Dawn website, Imran Yusuf has a light-hearted piece doling out advice to Pakistan fans.

To the die-hard fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of Pakistan cricket who, every match, stares open-mouthed at the selection of Fawad Alam and asks, dumbfounded, ‘What is he doing there?’: Man, just get over it. It’s like the meaning of life, or one of Donald Rumsfeld’s ‘known unknowns’. Just resign yourself to the fact that some things are forever beyond the understanding of us mere mortals.

The former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson is currently in England as a commentator for BBC and Saj Sadiq of PakPassion.net caught up with him for a chat on his coaching stint and two cents on the more colourful characters in the side. Lawson wasn't very forgiving of Shoaib Akhtar.

"Akhtar was totally unprofessional as a cricketer, he trained when he felt like it, didn't contribute to the team, I couldnt think of a more unprofessional player, which is a pity as he is such a talented player". "Akhtar is using 5% of his natural talent and was being disruptive to the other members of the team".

	"I don’t care if I get out. I try and play a positive game" © AFP

The Pakistan management haven’t always known what to do with their maverick entertainer Shahid Afridi over the years. If the men who mattered had given him a chance in Tests when he started instead of stamping him as a one-day players, things might have been a lot different, Afridi tells cricket magazine Spin in a rare and free-wheeling interview. Apart from his career, Afridi talks about his philosophy of batting, the history of bust-ups in the Pakistan dressing-room and his love of guns. Excerpts:

Have you had captains and coaches shout at you over getting out irresponsibly?

In the old days, two or three years ago. When I came off, and I was saying bad things to myself about how I’d got out and I was trying to take my pads off and the coach is standing over me going “What the f**k you doing, what kind of shot was that?”

You retired for a full fortnight back this April. What was that about?

When the India tour finished, I said I’m not playing anymore: you guys are playing too much cricket, you can’t expect me to perform in both times of cricket. It’s not like a sport now, it’s like a business. So I wanted a rest. And some time to spend with my kids. This is the right age to spend time with your kids – when they get older, they just keep themselves in their rooms!

Why has the team got more religious in the last five or ten years?

It’s not five or ten years, it’s only the last two years. One of our religious leaders in Pakistan worked very hard on us, told us that there’s something apart from cricket. When this life ends, was it all about just hitting fours and sixes? They tried to put good things in our heads, to make us good people, to be all-round people. And that’s the type of situation we’re in now. God has changed our lives now. We’re not drinking or going with girls or clubbing. We’re trying to be good Muslims. So our life has become very simple, very good, very down to earth. If we perform or not, we are satisfied from the inside.

Pakistan's game against Netherlands could just be the most important match for the nation since the 1992 World Cup final, writes Imran Yusuf in the Dawn

Younus Khan has said that he has ‘never attached too much importance to Twenty20 cricket.’ Younus, quite simply, you’re wrong. Pakistan are cricket’s outcasts. No team is willing to play in our country. Last month the whole world (including The Netherlands’ Dirk Nannes) apart from us were invited to the biggest party in cricket, the IPL. We need to belong again. We need to prove - again, as much to ourselves as to the world – that Pakistan matters.

Rohit Sharma's 53-ball 80 carried India to an emphatic victory in the much-anticipated warm-up game against Pakistan on Wednesday. Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express that Rohit's performance is the sort that the new breed of Indian cricketer, who emerged in 2004, likes to play. "Fearless, confident, willing to live for the day and for whom a shot was a calculated gamble, not a risk-free effort," is how Bhogle describes the new type of Indian player.

With Sharma, as with Raina and Sehwag and Yuvraj and Gambhir, you sit back and enjoy, not get frustrated because they are not playing the way you want them to. It is a different generation; ideas of restraint and conformity and frugality have long been replaced, having a dark side is not worth a sleepless night, the first ball can be hit over mid-wicket from just behind a good length.

	Did we really need to know what afflicted Shoaib Akhtar? © AFP

It would be unfair to expect any man to concentrate on line and length while he's preoccupied with the presence of several cauliflower-like florets where no cauliflower-like florets were ever meant to be, so it is heart‑warming to hear that the PCB has at least left its wayward son in no fewer than three pairs of good and presumably gloved hands. In a scene that calls to mind a trio of match umpires inspecting the contents of a box of cricket balls, their three-man medical board has declared that although Shoaib will not be participating in the World Twenty20 his condition should be reassessed. Presumably by all three of them and possibly on prime-time TV.

In the meantime, the unfortunate 33-year-old has undergone a course of electrofulguration, a treatment that sounds more like the kind of torture designed to break particularly stubborn prisoners who laugh in the face of waterboarding, but involves nothing more sinister than having an instrument not unlike a cattle-prod held close enough to one's manhood for the sparks it generates to desiccate any "unwanted lesions" (as opposed to all those wanted lesions us chaps like to see down there).

Mohammad Asif, currently serving a ban for testing positive for a prohibited substance, in an interview with Pakpassion.net, speaks of Pakistan's chances at the World Twenty20, the country's upcoming talent and his own return to the international fold in September.

I’m hoping we reach the final again, and we get India again and of course this time round we manage to win. We have a strong side, just recently we beat Australia in the 20/20 format and we are due to play a domestic tournament before coming to the UK. This way we get enough practise, only thing is the conditions will be a bit different here so we’ll need to adjust quickly. But I’m hopeful we have the type of batsmen which can adapt their game, they’re definitely mature enough to adapt.

The Dawn's Humair Ishtiaq looks at Pakistan's series against Australia in the UAE and says the lack of fight was surprising. Pakistan had been desperate for international cricket after being given the cold shoulder even by minnows like Bangladesh, but didn't show it on the field. While the Australians overcame the absence of big names and showed commendable intensity, the Pakistani approach was not clear-headed. And then there was Shoaib Akhtar's flat return.

It was hardly the stuff expected of him, but Shoaib could still bask in glory of some kind; his two wickets in the fourth match of the series was the first time he had taken more than a wicket in the shorter version of the game since his 3/42 against India at Mohali on November 8, 2007. Not that he had been getting one-wicket ‘hauls’ on a consistent basis, but two-wicket ‘bursts’ have been well and truly rare. The one in Abu Dhabi came a mere 539 days after that historic day in Mohali.

Times are tough and Pakistan cricket needs a 'wartime consiglieri', who can help it come out of the current crisis, writes Khalid Hussain in the News on Sunday.

In Godfather, Don Corleoni removed Tom Hagen as his chief adviser when it was time to battle against rival mafia gangs because he was not a 'wartime consiglieri'.

President Asif Zardari -- PCB's chief patron -- should also look for a competent individual who is capable of running Pakistan cricket in a professional manner. Butt may be an ex-cricketer, an experienced administrator and a well-connected man, but he is far from the sort of PCB chief Pakistan cricket needs at the moment. In the first seven months of his stint, he has failed on so many fronts to be allowed to continue.

What the PCB needs is a chief who has the will and qualities to pick up the pieces. He should have the sort of vision needed to rejuvenate Pakistan cricket because things cannot be allowed to go on like the way they are. Our cricket is going through a serious turmoil and with Butt at helm, the future seems to be bleaker.

No normal sport in an abnormal society. This was the rallying cry of the South African Council on Sport over three decades ago. And although it was with reference to apartheid, the slogan can be applied universally. To Zimbabwe, which practices a form of apartheid in reverse in cricket, and to Pakistan, a major cricketing country on the verge of collapse, writes Suresh Menon on ESPNStar.

To argue that the tournament is two years away and therefore the ruling is premature is specious. The venues that will now replace the ones in Pakistan need time to prepare. And it is sensible to decide early enough to avoid endless speculation and lobbying. Lahore busted the myth of the safety of cricket in the subcontinent, the myth that cricket and cricketers would never be harmed by terrorists. And cricket's biggest showpiece cannot afford to take a chance - emotion cannot be allowed to rule over practicality.

With no international cricket to be played in Pakistan in the forseeable future following on from the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, the Gulf would be the closest thing the team would soon have to a ‘home ground’. Kamila Shamsie, writing in the Indian Express, feels a great sadness as she recalls the particular history of her hometown, Karachi, and international cricket.

I found myself thinking of the status update on a friend’s Facebook page which declared she was “already missing the sound of plastic bottles hitting stadium chairs.” There are, of course, plastic bottles in Dubai, and Pakistanis enough there who will know that the true sound of cricket spectatorship, particularly during the ODIs, is not cheering or applauding but the thwacking of those empty bottles against the backs of chairs. But even so, there is a sadness to outsourcing that noise, that jubilation.

Mike Coward, writing in the Australian, says Pakistan must embrace playing at neutral venues or perish from the consciousness of the international cricket community.

And this must not happen. In the Test match context, in particular, world cricket is fragile and needs Pakistan to be conspicuous and competitive. And, to this end, Australians can assist by supporting the home series with Pakistan later this year. Whether the game can survive in Pakistan, let alone prosper, with the elite players playing all home games out of the country is problematic.

Like Coward, Ron Reed has toured the country with Australia’s team. In the Herald Sun Reed says it is now the duty of the rest of the cricket family to look after their own and make sure Pakistan continues on the international scene.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck takes a step back and reflects. No other game had as many problems, and no other game has as many possibilities. And the miracle is not that cricket occasionally suffers setbacks, but that any international cricket is played at all.

Not much has been heard of Mohammad Wasim, the former Pakistan batsman, since he faded away from the international scene in 2000. In a rare interview on the pakpassion website, Wasim opens up on his domestic and international career, his favourite Test innings, playing for Otago, his inspirations and promising talent he has scene on Pakistan's domestic circuit.

I remember walking out onto the ground before the game [his debut Test] and the crowd were shouting who is this sifarshi to me. It was a big crowd and there was quite a lot of abuse as they didn't know who I was and why I had been selected. It startled me a little in that this was a Pakistani crowd saying this about a young Pakistani debutant, but it also made me feel more determined to do well. I was very young and didn't really feel any pressure.

Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistan fast bowler, now serving as a senior coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), shares his thoughts on the upcoming talent in Pakistan and the role of his institution in grooming young players to play top-level cricket. He spoke to Pakpassion.com in a two-part interview.

On how the NCA functions.

It would be impossible for the NCA to go to every village which is why we have 11 regional academies working under the NCA. The way it works is that these acadamies identify regional talent at a young age and develop it, their job is to groom their local players. They give these youngsters personal development plans and teach them how best to utilise their talent.

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On bowlers struggling to make the transition to hard balls after impressing with tennis balls

You need a really big heart, you have to really want it and you must have a good professional attitude too. Fast bowling is the toughest job in cricket, you wont make it unless you're totally dedicated to your bowling. The tennis ball gives you the basics and it encourages you to bowl fast but there has to come a point where you move on to the hard ball

	The divisions in the Pakistan unit are apparently widening © AFP

Pakistan's embarrassing 234-run defeat against Sri Lanka has sparked questions on the unity of the side under Shoaib Malik, an insecure captain in charge of an equally insecure team, writes Khalid Hussain in the News. He writes that several seniors, including Younis Khan and Umar Gul, feel they are on Malik's hit-list.

According to an insider, Malik has spent the best part of his first two-year tenure as captain trying to convince the PCB top brass and national selectors that the national team will be better off without the services of several senior players.

“Malik used to bring a list of five players, whom he wanted out of the Pakistan team. From day one, he was against Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and even Umar Gul,” said the insider who was present at the meetings held between the selectors and the national team management during 2007 and 2008.

In the Nation, Nabeel Sabir says the scantiness of Malik's captaincy talent was exposed as he failed to attack when it was required in the middle overs and continued bowling the spinners when the faster bowlers should have been brought in. He also questions Shahid Afridi's presence, as he's barely contributed much of note with the bat of late.

It has to start with selection and harsh decisions have to be taken. Seniors with experience are an asset for any side and you can't just write them off on the basis of a few bad performances. The right way ahead is to have a good balance between youth and experience and learn from the mistakes and not keep on repeating them.

To fault the PCB, as some have done, for not being able to ‘persuade’ foreign sides to tour Pakistan, is grossly unjust. The assessment and perception of Pakistan is created largely by events that take place inside the country and the reaction of society — consisting of leading politicians, officials and the media — to these events. That is where Pakistan seems to be losing out, writes Asif Iqbal in the News.

Mohammad Aamer is just 16 and has only played two first-class matches but he's not short of confidence. In an in-depth interview with Pakpassion.net, he says he's ready for international cricket, talks about how he considers himself a fast bowler and not a swing bowler, though he can "swing it in both ways with the new ball and then reverse swing with the old ball too", and how Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed are helping him.

Pakpassion.net: Who is the most difficult batsman you've ever faced.

Mohammad Aamer: I've never thought of any batsman as a difficult batsman to face, not to me. That's a negative way of thinking.
...

PakPassion.Net: So you dont feel that you could do with some more time getting forged in domestic cricket? Maybe another year?

Mohammad Aamer: When you start playing at the first class level then you quickly mature as a cricketer, you learn far more at the International level than you can in domestic cricket. I feel that I'm ready to play for Pakistan.

Should India tour Pakistan or not? Pakistan may still be at the receiving end of the blame game after the atrocities in Mumbai, but it doesn't necessarily mean that India should snap cricketing ties with them in haste, writes Dileep Premachandran, in the Guardian.

Does the cancellation of a cricket tour make the jihadis go away, or does it merely strengthen the hawks on both sides? What does the average Pakistani have to do with Lashkar-e-Taiba or the Taliban? About as much as the normal Indian has to do with lunatic right-wing groups like the Bajrang Dal. Nothing at all.

He also justifies why Pakistan isn't as dangerous as people think it to be.

I've been kicked in the ribs with Doc Martens as a child growing up in England, been treated like vermin by a thuggish Croatian restaurant owner in fashionable St Kilda in Melbourne and nearly mugged in Johannesburg. Pakistan is the one place I have no bad memories of.

Javed Miandad’s new role [as PCB's director-general] requires walking a fine line. He was always great at tailoring his cricket to suit the situation of the game. If anyone can do it, he can, Saad Shafqat writes in the Dawn's Sunday Magazine.

For someone who has so unquestioningly served his country whenever called upon -- whether as a player, captain, coach, or ordinary citizen -- it is surprising how often Miandad gets mixed reviews. On the one hand, there is a category of Pakistani fans defined by an irrational love for Javed Miandad. On the other hand, more than a few observers of Pakistan cricket feel his name is synonymous with trouble. The reasons for such a polarised reputation are varied but, one way or another, are centred on a personal style and manner that courts controversy.

Nevertheless, certain facts are undisputed. Miandad’s arrival in the Pakistan side shook things up. He became quickly recognised as the best batsman in the team. He hit a six in Sharjah that was heard around the world. He succeeded everywhere, including the proving grounds of the West Indies, where he made unforgettable centuries in epic battles. He anchored Pakistan to a World Cup title. He dominated his opponents’ psyche to the exclusion of almost everything else. He understood the game tactically and psychologically like few others. He was at the forefront of an improbable golden age. It was said of him that so long as he was at the wicket, Pakistan always had a chance, no matter what the circumstances

The ICL card is the only pressure tool that Pakistan can use to save its ‘iconic’ home series against India from getting cancelled, postponed or moved to some offshore venues, writes Khalid Hussain in the News.

The BCCI senior officials have been saying that their hands are tied and it would their government’s call over whether the cricket team should tour Pakistan. It may be true, but the BCCI has a lot of clout in India and if it wants the tour to go ahead, a government clearance shouldn’t be a problem. After all, India came here for the Asia Cup this summer when the security situation here wasn’t worse than its now. Like Pakistan, India itself has been a target of terrorism and should identify with their neighbour’s problem. If not, then Butt should raise the ICL issue.

During his playing days Abdul Qadir was not only a master of his craft, but the champion legspinner was also a team-man to the core. In an interview to Sumit Mukherjee in the Times of India, Pakistan's newly-appointed chief selector says he hopes to inculcate some of that quality into the current bunch of players as he kickstarts an arduous rebuilding process with an eye on the 2011 World Cup.

No one is indispensable. There will always be someone to fill the void. When Fazal Mahmood ended his playing career, we didn’t expect someone of his calibre to come along, but in came Imran Khan and changed the face of Pakistan cricket. After Imran, we got Wasim Akram. No one goes on forever, but life does.

One can imagine the nervousness that the Pakistan cricketing authorities must be feeling over the issue of the India tour, supposed to take place in less than two months’ time. That India should tour is a matter of fundamental importance for Pakistan cricket, writes Asif Iqbal in the News.

If the Indians refuse to come, the prospects of any Test side other than Bangladesh and maybe Sri Lanka visiting Pakistan in the foreseeable future may be classified as remote; one of the almost certain fallouts of it would be the cancellation of the Champions Trophy to be held in September-October 2009 and, unless the law and order situation improves noticeably over the next couple of years, the future of the Pakistan leg of the World Cup could also have a serious question mark hanging over it. One has every sympathy for the position in which the Pakistan Cricket Board finds itself, for this is not a situation of its making, but one with which it has nevertheless to try and come to terms with although the means of rectifying it are also not in its control either.

	Unlike others, Mohammad Yousuf didn't pick the patently smarter option © Getty Images

Mohammad Yousuf is peeved. Thats not new. Yesterday, after returning to Pakistan following the Lahore Badshahs' win in the ICL finals, Yousuf warned that the national side will suffer without him, saying that the country doesn't have anybody good enough to replace him in the middle-order at the moment. In the Karachi-based Dawn, Saad Shafqat says that by even accepting the ICL offer, Yousuf showed everyone that he had placed greed above the country. It’s been great for the Badshahs and for the fans who are once again enjoying the rarefied pleasure of Yousuf’s silken batting. But in a more obvious sense, says Shafqat, Yousuf is back where he started, accomplishing little and inviting ridicule in the process.

It was the princely sum of $1million that started it. This is the amount that the Indian Cricket League offered Yousuf through former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who had become the manager of the Lahore Badshahs and was recruiting for them.

Naturally, Yousuf was tempted. Who wouldn’t be? Around the world, leading contracted players from many national teams were made similar offers to join one of the ICL teams and add their stardust to the league. Yet while everyone else resisted, Yousuf caved in.

Asif Iqbal, in his column for the News has backed the PCB's decision to appoint Intikhab Alam as the coach of Pakistan but cautioned that his role needs to be specified clearly before he takes over. Given Alam's seniority, Iqbal feels Alam would be better off with a mentoring role with specialist coaches to assist him. He also wonders why the board didn't consider Mudassar Nazar.

It would also be pertinent to highlight the fact that Mudassar Nazar, a very experienced former Test player and still in the age zone for a traditional coaching assignment, has only recently been appointed as a coach by the ICC for its academy in Dubai. If he is good enough to be a coach for the ICC — as I am certain he is — should he not have been good enough as a coach for Pakistan? And going on from there, as a Pakistani, should not the PCB have made the first move to acquire his services?

In a freewheeling interview with PakPassion, Sohail Tanvir talks about how he got selected to the Pakistan side, how tape-ball cricket helped hone his skills, the importance of a good captain, and also what makes him angry on the cricket field.

If I'm out there bowling my heart out and trying to force the batsman into a false stroke by drying up the runs, then why can't the fielder put as much effort into his job? When I'm bowling I count the runs I'm conceding after each delivery and in each over, I enjoy studying my analysis and I hate being hit around. Anytime that I end up conceding a lot of runs I'm furious with myself and I work even harder to make sure that it won't happen again.

Imran Khan, in an extensive interview with PakPassion.net, talks of the turmoil within Pakistan cricket. He discusses issues such as political intervention in the PCB, the board’s inconsistent discipline policy, allegations of ball tampering, the Champions Trophy debacle, and his political career.

We need to separate politics and sport, it's unacceptable for the head of state to appoint the PCB Chairman. This ad hoc system needs to stop, we need a full time salaried head of the PCB who is selected solely on merit and not because of his connections. I mean it's not rocket science, it's the same system in place elsewhere.
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If you don't have discipline in the team then you would have the chaos that Pakistan cricket is going through right now. The reason Pakistan cricket has so many issues right now is because of their inconsistent discipline policy. If a player is performing well then he can get away with anything, he can break all of the rules without censure but if he's doing badly or on his way out then he gets punished.

Shortly after the appointment of Ijaz Butt as the PCB chairman, Asif Iqbal, the former Pakistan captain, is puzzled at the number of calls from different quarters to have a prominent former cricketer head the board. Writing for the News, he justifies why a board chairman should ideally have administrative experience and be capable of handling the behind-the-scenes affairs. He clearly spells out the role of the PCB chairman and says that many in the past have misunderstood their brief.

Unfortunately, since so many of the appointments of late have been political appointments of people who are cricket buffs and long to be seen rubbing shoulders with the big names in the sport, their identification of what their job demands has been immature, sometimes to the point of being childish; one former chairman was so excited with his appointment that he asked a leading cricketer to accompany him as he did the rounds of men’s stores in central London buying clothes; he just could not resist the temptation of showing off the cricketer who, rather than the Chairman, was instantly recognised wherever he went.

In the same paper, Masood Hasan explains where the former chairman Nasim Ashraf went wrong, and welcomes Butt to the post.

The chief executives of other cricket boards are hardly heard and seen even less. Mr Butt should roll up his sleeves and get to work and give interviews when there is something tangible to report and where he can talk not in the future tense but in the present.

Michael Atherton, writing in the Times, feels the unpredictable nature of Pakistan cricket and the Indian cricketing establishment's resistance to change have made coaching enormously difficult in the two countries.

Pybus could not cope with the irrationality and the uncertainty of Pakistan cricket. Using an unfortunate analogy, given the present situation, he said this of his time there: “They have an amazing capacity to ambush themselves ... you're always sitting there waiting for someone to lob a hand grenade and waiting for it to go off. You can never plan with such a team because you don't know what is happening tomorrow.” Dismissed twice, Pybus urged Pakistan to take a more scientific - meaning Western - approach to their cricket.

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India presents different problems, in so much as it is not the unpredictability that challenges a coach, but the lack of it. Chappell wanted to modernise Indian ways and challenge what he saw as a cosy club of ageing, unathletic stars. But anyone who wants to challenge the status quo must remember that it is the players in India who call the shots. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly are icons, wealthy and revered beyond measure, and used to playing on their terms or not at all.

	Mushtaq Ahmed believes Pakistan's ex-players have a big role to play in nurturing future talent © Getty Images

PakPassion.net’s extensive interview with legspinner Mushtaq Ahmed covers various aspects of his long career, starting with his initiation into international cricket to his current stint with the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL. Ahmed also speaks of the problems with the current Pakistan team, his differences with the PCB, and his future.

If you stop investment into anything, then it will die. The PCB needs to invest at the grass roots level, ex-players should play a big part in going to small towns to hold camps and scout for talent. Why am I getting offers to work with spinners in England despite not having any formal coaching qualifications? There are lots of qualified coaches in England that could do the job, why ask me? It's because experience counts for something. The PCB need to learn from that and start to tap into the wealth of experience that they have in Pakistan in the form of all our talented ex-players.

Pakistan cricket which has been going through a crisis requires an able administrator to bring cricket back on track after the resignation of Dr Nasim Ashraf. Shahid Hashmi in his column for Cricketnirvana.com feels appointing a cricket boss in the country will be no easy task as he takes a look at the long list of possible candidates.

Ironically, PCB's post also defies democratic system, just like governments in Pakistan. The country is ruled more by army than by politicians. The same is the case of the appointment of the PCB chairman. Unlike other countries where there is an elected president in the cricket boards, PCB chairman is appointed by President of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s status in the cricketing world has declined precipitously. The reasons for this, according to some of the leading figures of Pakistan cricket, range from security issues to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s internal problems, a change in players’ attitudes and the ICC’s “shoddy handling of various issues”. Daily News and Analysis’ Ankita Pandey talks to Asif Iqbal and Javed Miandad about the sorry state of the game in their country.

Asif Iqbal, former captain and now an ICC match referee, agrees that change in Pakistan cricketers’ attitude has affected the game.

“The 80s and the 90s were certainly the best years of Pakistan cricket… Even early 2000. Somewhere between early 2002 and 2003 we saw a tremendous change in the players’ attitude towards the game,” he says.

“By this I mean that cricket took backstage and senior players in particular led the decline in team ethics and discipline. The juniors lacked proper encouragement and opportunities as the old brigade clung to each other and kept a tight hold on the reigns.
Not necessarily for cricketing reasons. Sporting culture was no longer a part of the dressing room.”

Meanwhile, Pradeep Magazine, in his article in the Hindustan Times, attributes Pakistan’s lack of money-power as the main reason for cricket’s regression in the country.

Poor Pakistan! What does it have to offer to the cricketing world? Neither sponsors flush with money, or mouthwatering prospects to play in a league like IPL and no social life which can tempt the young, fit hulks.

In a very candid interview with PakPassion.net, Mohammad Akram looks back on his career, talks frankly about the two Ws and speaks out on the demerits of the cricketing system in Pakistan.

So which one of them [Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis] was more helpful to you?

Mohammad Akram: Neither of them, they didnt do anything for youngsters. It was part of their policy to not let youngsters in.

This isn't the first time I've heard this, about Wasim and Waqar blocking the progress of youngsters...

Mohammad Akram: (interrupts) ...no I wouldn't call it blocking, they didn't block anyone. It was more a case of the fact that they didn't like to see anyone coming near them or reaching them. That was part of the reason they didnt like Shoaib, they were well against him.

...The final straw was in 2001 when Aaqib Javed (who was then a selector) came into my hotel room to tell me that with both Wasim and Waqar being fit I was not needed in the squad for the upcoming Asian Test Championship. I had a contract with a club here in England and so I took the next flight out of Pakistan and came to England to play some cricket. Then suddenly I got a phone call from another selector, Zakir Khan, telling me that not only was I in the Test match squad but I was also going to be playing in the final XI vs Bangladesh at Multan. He also stressed that the game was taking place the day after tomorrow and that I needed to come back, so against my better judgement I tried to get a flight back to Pakistan. Unfortunately it was too short notice and I was unable to get back in time, so they banned me for two years for not turning up to play

What's your opinion on Shoaib? Is he as arrogant and aggressive as we are led to believe?

Mohammad Akram: If you know Shoaib then he's a lovely chap to be around, you'll really enjoy his company and you'll certainly never be bored (laughs). However if you dont know him then it's a different story, he's that sort of character. To understand Shoaib you have to get to know him, once you get to know him, you can understand where he's coming from and what he's talking about. When it come to Shoaib as a cricketer, I always think 'what a waste'.
.

In Part 2 of Ehsan Mani's observations on Pakistan cricket in Dawn, he talks about the security situation in Pakistan and feels the PCB should have anticipated a mass pull-out from the Champions Trophy and swapped the tournament for the 2010 or 2012 ICC tournaments. However, he strongly feels it's a misconception that Pakistan is largely unsafe to tour. On the functioning of the PCB, he says it's important all cricketing matters be handled by former players, and that it isn't always necessary to appoint a former national player as the chairman.

While I was President of the ICC, before an ICC Board meeting in Lahore in 2004, I took a number of directors including the then Chairmen of the Boards from Australia, West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe to Gilgit and Hunza. We drove up the KKH and flew back. It was an eye opener for them. It showed them a Pakistan very different from the perception they had. To this day they all consider it the highlight of their cricketing travels anywhere in the world. Each one of them would come back to Pakistan at the first opportunity.

For Part 1, click here.

Ehsan Mani, the former president of the ICC, writes in the Dawn that the frequent changes at the helm of the Pakistan Cricket Board has contributed to damaging the fundamental structure of cricket in the country. He laments the decline of the Wazir Ali league in Lahore, calls for increased wages for domestic players and wants the PCB to spend more money on the personal development of players in the national team.

Rawalpindi had a number of grounds apart from the Pindi Club Ground on the Mall Road. Gradually these grounds have disappeared. The Army ground is now the parking lot for the GHQ, the T&T ground is now a housing estate; others have simply disappeared as commercial and residential developments took over the vacant spaces where children could just turn up and play. Regretfully, this has been the case throughout Pakistan ... Without investment in playing facilities a large pool of talent will be lost.

The cricket forum PakPassion, has interviewed Yasir Hameed, the middle-order batsman who has slipped off the international radar after a spectacular Test debut, against Bangladesh in 2003, when he scored two centuries to become only the second player to do so.

I'm grateful to Allah that I got a century in each innings on my debut but I agree with you that it does end up creating an unrealistic expectation. To be truthful, I'm very disappointed in my performance in international cricket so far as I've missed out on 12 international centuries. I feel that if a player gets past 50 runs in an innings then it's a crime for him not to convert that score into a century. If you're in good enough form to score 50 runs, then you owe it to your team and to yourself to make your form count and get a really big score.

	Abdul Razzaq now plays for the Indian Cricket League © AFP

In an interview to PakPassion, a cricket forum, Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq says he was handled poorly in the later stages of his international career, and that led to a decline in his performance. Razzaq explains why he couldn't replicate his form during Wasim Akram's tenure under other Pakistan captains:

There's only so much a player can do by himself, the captain's backing and his correct utilization of each players skills is also critical to a players success. Imagine if you've spent the whole day practising your batting and you've got yourself worked up to go out there the next day and bat, then when the next day comes you are slotted in at number 7 or 8 and you either dont get a chance to bat or you only face a dozen balls. How disheartened would you feel? Wouldnt it get you down mentally to know that you were fully fit and mentally ready but you didnt get a chance because you are batting too low in the order?

In the same way if you're confident about your bowling ability but you dont get a proper chance to show your skills then what can you do about it? Fast bowling in cricket is about the new ball, the best time to pick up wickets in an ODI match is within the first 15 overs. That's when the batsmen are unsettled, the ball is new and the batting team is willing to take risks off your bowling. The first 15 overs is when bowlers can either take a bad beating or pick up some crucial wickets, it's the best time to bowl. What's the use of introducing one of your most experienced bowlers between the 20th and 40th overs?

	Shoaib Malik should be handed the captaincy on a series-by-series basis, insists Imran Khan © AFP

While impressed with the 'young and fearless' Indian side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, is not too pleased with the state of affairs across the border. He writes in the Hindustan Times:

The same optimism cannot be shown as far as Pakistan is concerned. Right from the moment Inzamam-ul Haq forfeited the Test match in England, Pakistan cricket has gone from one crises to another — World Cup exit, drug scandals, Shoaib Akhtar’s ban and now Mohammad Asif’s detention.

...

At a time when talent is hard to find in Pakistan, Asif’s case has been a serious blow to the team. I am also not in favour of Shoaib Malik being given a two-year tenure as captain. Even when I was established as captain, I was always made captain only for the series ahead. Such long-term planning is another example of how high-handed and arbitrarily cricket is run in Pakistan.

	Mohammad Asif: what lies in store? © Getty Images

The latest scandal has little to do with the ones Mohammad Asif has been involved in before, but what's annoying is that it will still be stacked together with all the others, writes Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times.

Asif, 25 by his own estimation, will know now that even his best-case scenario — being found not guilty on a technicality or for lack of conclusive evidence, and there’s nothing to suggest that so far — his life will never be the same again.

An editorial in the Pakistan-based Dawn terms the latest scandal as 'Yet another embarrassment'.

Another editorial, this time in the Daily Times, blames the establishment for the Asif scandal.

Because there is no proper first-class cricketing structure in Pakistan, highly talented boys get into the team without any mental or other strategic grooming.

Also read Osman Samiuddin's views on the same topic in Cricinfo.

Mohammad Asif was detained in Dubai on suspicion of possessing drugs and Khalid Hussain believes the Pakistan board has only itself to blame for his latest misadventure. He writes in the Karachi-based News:

Asif’s latest episode involving drugs is by no means an isolated incident. Less than two years back, the fast bowler tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone along with Shoaib Akhtar. But while Shoaib — the ‘bad boy’ of Pakistan cricket — was relegated to the role of a villain, Asif was treated by our cricket bosses as an innocent kid ‘who didn’t know what he was doing’.

It is this patronising attitude of the PCB that is indirectly responsible for the latest embarrassment Pakistan has been forced to suffer courtesy one of its cricketer stars. Asif’s detention in Dubai for possession of drugs was flashed by TV channels and websites worldwide on Tuesday. Hardly the sort of publicity, Pakistan or Pakistan cricket needs after all that has happened in recent times.

Monica Attard speaks to Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson on ABC Sydney.

Monica Attard: If you had been a player now would you have gone [to Pakistan]?

Geoff Lawson: In 1980 the Australian cricket team was sent to Pakistan for the first tour since 1956. Russia had just invaded Afghanistan, the neighbouring country. There were tanks, fighter plans, troops. I would have considered it a thousand times more dangerous than it is now and yet we went off and played no problems. I would have thought security was minimal. We went and played our cricket, did what we had to do in conditions, and I'm talking hotels, cricket grounds, the whole lot, considerably worse than what these players go through. So having been there in those circumstances, having been sent there and not even one consideration of not going.

Monica Attard: You don't think the situation is different now that cricket has such momentum in the subcontinent that perhaps they would target - terrorists might think to target cricketers?
Geoff Lawson: Well, you can never say never. But that has not been - there has been no history of even random terrorism in Pakistan. We're talking about, as it happened in Jaipur the other day, bombs in market places. The targets have always 100% of the time been military, political or security forces.

Monica Attard: You feel quite safe there?

Geoff Lawson: Quite safe.

The Dawn's M Wasim meets Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain, and seeks his views on a range of cricketing issues. In the interview, Miandad minces no words when asked about his opinions about the Pakistan board.

There is not a single person in the board who knows [about] cricket. None of them have even played first class cricket. That’s why they are only ‘yes-men’, and authorities always look for such people. It’s a one-man-show in the team. The chairman of the board is there because he has the backing of higher authorities. You can easily evaluate his tenure. For the last nine or 10 years, ad-hocism has always prevailed in the country.

"On April 26 Dr Nasim Ashraf told the Senate’s Standing Committee on Sports that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had “nothing to hide.” The truth is that it has a lot to hide," writes Masood Hasan in The News. "No single chairman of the board has created controversies like Dr Ashraf, who has been around for just 18 months. The stories, the details are different, but through it all, there is one common strand. Dr Nasim Ashraf. He sails on, despite open and proven evidence of incompetence and fiscal waywardness."

	"I've never tried to copy anyone so I don't think my action matches anyone else's" © International Cricket Council

Ahead of the Women's Asia Cup, scheduled to begin in Sri Lanka on May 2, Pakistan captain Urooj Mumtaz spoke to PakPassion.Net about cricket, her life, fitness, legspin, Jonty Rhodes, why she thinks the Pakistan women's team is a committed unit, and a whole lot more.

Sample some snippets from the exclusive interview:

Even now a lot of the girls still have a lot of problems stemming from society (not from their immediate families), where people talk and this causes complications for them. It's very sad actually because it's such a beautiful sport to play. I think a lot of girls will understand when I say that even if the immediate family are willing, they often get influenced by society and that causes them to object to the girl playing cricket. Hopefully if the media give us more coverage and people get to see women playing cricket all the time, then it will become more acceptable to everyone.

or this:

The Shahid Afridi [of our team] is Kanta Jalil who's also a fast bowler but she loves to strike the ball out of the ground and she does hit it a very, very long way. When she gets it in the middle of the bat, the only place you'll find the ball is outside the ground! The Shoaib Akhtar is Asmavia Iqbal, she's the fastest bowler in our team and her favourite player is Shoaib Akhtar. She copies everything he does. The only difference between him and her is that she's completely fit, sticks to her game and does the job she's asked to do.

	Asif Iqbal feels the act of criticising the board does certainly not merit anything as drastic as what is for all practical purposes, a life ban © AFP

Pakistan’s fast bowling superstar Shoaib Akhtar seems to have timed his protest against his five-year ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board just right, says former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal in the News.

I agree with the majority of opinion that seems to think that a five-year ban on Shoaib is excessive and out of proportion for the offence that he was hauled up for on this occasion. True, that his record has a lot more than this or any one offence, but since the ban has come following the last offence, which was of criticising the board, the perception inevitably is that this is the offence for which he has been punished.

To that extent, the punishment is draconian; the act of criticising the Board does certainly not merit anything as drastic as what is for all practical purposes, a life ban. In fact, such a punishment may have been considered befitting if it was imposed after the drugs scandal or after the incident in which Shoaib was alleged to hit teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat in the dressing room.

These were much bigger misdemeanours and a ban, if imposed following these offences, would be more difficult to agitate against. But this was not the right time for such a drastic punishment; the crime simply did not fit it.

That said, Shoaib’s outburst against the Board and its Chairman is equally wrong. His claim that he is being punished for being a loyal Pakistani only qualifies as an utter load of rubbish, for by insinuation all those who are not punished — which includes the overwhelming majority of cricketers — are not loyal Pakistanis, and those who have inflicted the punishment on him are not either.

The British Pakistani cricket fraternity are to voice their anger at the banning of Shoaib Akhtar in a Southall curry house this evening. The Times’ Patrick Kidd has the full story at Line and Length:

Tonight at 7pm, members of the British Pakistani community will be gathering in Chaudhry's TKC, a restaurant in Southall that has been catering for Pakistani touring teams to Britain for more than 30 years, to air their displeasure at the five-year ban handed down to Shoaib Akhtar for criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Dalawar Chaudhry said that more than 100 guests were expected to attend the protest meeting - "everyone who is important in the Pakistani cricket fraternity in England" - and that they want to air their displeasure at the PCB's actions. "The PCB should support their players," Mr Chaudhry said. "The penalty really does not fit the crime. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif can be forgiven after criticising the Pakistani government, but Shoaib, who has some of the best Test statistics by any fast bowler, is not forgiven. It is very harsh when you consider that far more sacrilegious crimes, such as match-fixing, get lesser penalties."

In the Age Alex Brown looks at the fall – and excuses – of Shoaib.

He has never learned his lesson. He has chosen to wound those who have defended him and act without a shred of remorse or accountability. And, this time, he intends to take the game's reputation with him.

	Shoaib Akhtar could be out of international cricket for five years © AFP

The only surprise in the PCB losing confidence in Shoaib is that it took them so long. Yes, at a time when bat is dominating ball his record of 178 Test wickets at little more than 25 apiece places him among the leading pace bowlers in the world. He was indulged by captains and coaches because he was special.

In his blog for the Times, Dileep Premachandran writes that by banning Shoaib, the Pakistan board has taken another step on the road to oblivion.

The Guardian's Andy Bull recalls watching Shoaib bowl for Worcestershire on a hot September afternoon three years ago:

Sitting up in my seat, squinting into the sunshine, I'd see him run in, I'd see his arms describe an arc and the ball leave his hand. And by the time the batsman began his stroke the bails would already be hitting the turf somewhere beyond second slip.

He took three wickets in four balls, and went on to record the best limited overs figures (7.2-2-16-6) in Worcestershire's history. It didn't stop the club moaning about what a poor signing he'd been, but it did give their supporters something to remember him by.

Pakistan daily, the Dawn's Khalid Khan feels the board should be applauded for making a bold move to curb probably the worst case of indiscipline committed by an individual in the chequered history of Pakistan cricket.

	Abdur Rauf is intent on becoming a regular in the Pakistan team © PCB

Of course it was [to turn down the offer]. Imagine you or your members turning down the equivalent rise in your own salaries. Could you do it? I had to say no because the only reason I started playing cricket was to represent Pakistan. It's been my lifelong dream to wear our national colours and help Pakistan to win matches. I don't think you can put a price on that. I'll see how it goes over the next few years, I don't want to give up on my dream of playing for Pakistan but if at some point in the future it becomes clear that there's no place for me in the Pakistan team then I'll have to re-evaluate where I stand. I hope that day never comes because every wicket I've ever taken, I've seen as another step in my journey towards playing for the national team.

Rauf also talks about the change in his action and his decision to shorten his run-up.

It's true that I did slow my pace down by altering my run-up and action but it wasn't something I was made to do. It was my own choice, nobody told me to do it. What you have to understand is that it's senseless to continue with such a demanding action for years and years at domestic level. If as a fast bowler you don't get into the national team at an early age, then your chances for making it into the team become very limited. You never stop trying but you need to be honest with yourself about what sort of beating your body can keep taking everyday. You have to economize with your run-up and your action and concentrate on out thinking batsmen rather than just blasting them out.

Australia's decision to postpone their tour to Pakistan has drawn a sharp reaction from Khalid Hussain of the Times.

Cutting a long story short, one has to say that Australia’s decision to stay away from Pakistan is another huge loss for a country where cricket is perhaps the biggest passion. It might sound like a cliche but by chickening out of what was a challenging assignment, the Aussies have handed the terrorists operating in this unfortunate country a major victory.

That said, Cricket Australia’s decision to hold back its cricketers came as no surprise. All the wrong signals had been coming from Down Under for quite a few months. The Australians, it is believed, made up their mind against touring Pakistan after the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto last December but players like Andrew Symonds had been cribbing about the visit much before that tragedy.

Having won the Under-19 World Cup two editions in a row, Pakistan's young heroes returned empty-handed from Kuala Lumpur this year. While the side failed to defend its title, the Dawn's M Wasim says the overall performance was quite praiseworthy.

Saad Shafqat writes in the Pakistan daily, Dawn that it makes no sense for Australia to single out Pakistan as a country they are unwilling to tour for security reasons. Since 9/11 Australia are the only team not to visit Pakistan.

The reality behind the canard of safety and security is that Australia have never liked coming here to begin with. Cricket may be a global family, but Pakistan is its poor relative, living in a poor, rough neighbourhood. As with any poor neighbourhood, the place struggles with its reputation. So rich relatives like Australia, nestled in material comforts and stable circumstances, have been loath to visit.

Pick any cricket autobiography from Australia, New Zealand or England, and it will make a point to complain about the drudgery of touring Pakistan. The playing conditions are alien, and there are no bars or nightlife to liven up the evenings. That the cricket can provide intense and satisfying competition doesn’t seem to enter the equation.

	Nasir Jamshed enjoyed a fine debut in Karachi but did Shoaib Malik really want him in the team? © AFP

It's a new year, but there appear to be the same old problems for Pakistan as talk of disagreements between selectors and team management grow stronger. Ahead of the current Zimbabwe series, Shoaib Malik said he preferred Kamran Akmal as opener, but the selectors wanted to try Nasir Jamshed. The Dawn explains further.

Malik’s insistence on playing the struggling wicket-keeper-batsman Kamran Akmal as opener against the Zimbabweans and his unflinching loyalty with a rather expensive Rao Iftikhar are among the few issues that are being constantly debated over by the selectors.

Also, the skipper’s reluctance to try out newer, younger players against Prosper Utseya’s men and his obvious disregard for seasoned all-rounder Shahid Afridi and pacer Umar Gul has also irked the selectors no end.

Now there are also questions being raised as to whether Geoff Lawson is the right man to haul Pakistan out of their slump. Although they reached the World Twenty20 final in September, results have been poor during his short spell in charge. The News says that time is running short for Lawson.

Another charge against Lawson is that he loses his temper too quickly. Sports scribes witnessed it themselves after Pakistan lost the Karachi Test against South Africa last October when Lawson became rude while answering to queries — not an appropriate thing to do considering the fact that it was his first post-match press conference since taking over as national coach. He was also quite unconvincing.

The selectors also got a taste of Lawson’s temper during a few meetings to discuss the team combination ahead and during the ongoing series against Zimbabwe. According to one selector, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Lawson actually becomes ‘unreasonable and rude’ while arguing with the selectors.

Shoaib Malik's appointment as captain of Pakistan, that too at the sprightly age of 25, was a proud moment for a family of seven from Sialkot. Imran Malik, brother of Shoaib, now in Delhi to watch the first Test between India and Pakiatan, talks about the family's humble origins and how his brother benefitted from their father's constant support. Read the full piece at Indiatimes.

"Our father owned a small shop of electronic goods. He always encouraged us to take up the sport. He used to tell Shoaib not to be too serious about studies and play cricket."

	© The Independent

In the UK The Independent devotes its front page to the news, with claims that Imran’s life is in danger, and it also outlines the British government’s role in events which Imran claims have led to his arrest.

In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs looks at what Imran has been up to since he quit cricket.

When Imran launched his party, it was initially seen as a whimsical vehicle for a man who could not bear to be out of the public eye. But after a false start in the 1997 elections, he kept battling away and eventually claimed a seat in Pakistan's National Assembly in 2004.

	© Getty Images

There was really never a moment in the entire series when Pakistan could have claimed to have put the South Africans under anything even remotely resembling pressure, writes former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal in News while revewing the recent series.

It is a sad commentary on Pakistan’s batting that its real strength, its fast bowling, has to be neutralised in order to protect the poor batting. Pakistan, it seems to me, has been forced to shy away from fast wickets and rely on spin for fear of what the opposition pace bowlers may do with our batting. That has meant a reliance on spin which, regrettably, has just not delivered.

Also read views on the same topic from Osman Samiuddin and Kamran Abbasi .

Meanwhile an unknown 13-year-old legspinner has caught the attention of the touring South African team, according to a PTI report.

The manner of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s exit has somewhat tainted what otherwise would have been a truly rich and sublime legacy, writes Humair Ishtiaq in the Dawn magazine.

Regardless of what the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the man himself say in public, the manufactured sendoff, especially the financial part of it, has only tarnished the very image that the so-called ‘deal’ tried to salvage

Though the PCB has categorically denied having offered Rs 10 million to Inzamam to bring down the curtain on his career, those close to the happenings insist otherwise, citing former Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar as the man who made it all happen after he was approached by the PCB bosses in view of his close association with Inzamam. More than that, the way the episode unfolded itself clearly tells a tale that is much different from the official version.

	© Getty Images

The Sunday Telegraph's Scyld Berry bids adieu to Inzamam-ul-Haq:

For all the comic appearance of his Falstaffian exterior, he was a serious batsman. A rare few, at their peak, have an answer to every ball that is bowled at them: Allan Border was one, at least when England were bowling, Steve Waugh another, and Brian Lara. On England's last tour of Pakistan in 2005, Inzamam was the same, a barrier, a mountain preventing travellers reaching the plains.

Nadeem F. Paracha offers a contrarian view in Dawn's weekly magazine.

Inzamam's Raiwind regime may have turned the Pakistan cricket team into a (seemingly) well-knit unit, but its many critics accused the captain of operating at the expense of ostracising talent that refused to bend to the religious dictates of his regime. Many also believe that Inzi's religious zeal actually softened the team's innovative and competitive nature, a nature that was rigorously nourished and encouraged by the likes of former captains like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.

	© Getty Images

The retirement of Inzamam-ul-Haq marks the end of an era and the game will miss his larger-than-life character, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.

He gave new meaning to the phrase "economy of movement", mainly because he wasn't fussed about using his foot, either at the crease or between the wickets ... His attitude to practice would have driven Duncan Fletcher to distraction. His press conferences were tedious (Vic Marks called them "much Urdu about nothing"). Yet few could match him. He was the lumbering antithesis of modern sport's obsession with bleep tests, energising drinks and fat-free diets. Perhaps he encouraged us to think we had a chance too.

Also read Osman Samiuddin's tribute in Cricinfo.

Neil Manthorp, in Karachi for the Pakistan-South Africa Test and writing for the Supercricket website, finds the people friendly, but also notices the security officers with their machine guns lurking everywhere.

On the roof there were two snipers with extremely powerful weapons and telescopic sights, one permanently trained on the road leading to the main gate and the other towards the field of play. There were 10 more Rangers with them on the roof and they were not slacking. All were armed. Reality kicked in once again.

A more pleasant aspect of the stay in Karachi was a dinner party hosted by former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas.

Zaheer Abbas and his wonderful, equally gracious wife Samina ("call me Sam, everyone does") live in a house so elegant, so cleverly designed to beat the heat, and so stylishly decorated that one could rightly call it a small palace. He is revered in Pakistan, and rightly so.

	A beleaguered Shoaib Akhtar will now face a disciplinary hearing on October 6 © AFP

The script went something like this:

Shoaib and Shahid Afridi sitting alone in the Pakistan change room.
Shoaib: "I have the same status in Pakistan cricket as Imran Khan..."
Afridi: [convulsive laughter]
Enter Mohammed Asif
Afridi: "Listen to this [laughter] he says he has the same status as Imran Khan!"
Asif: [muffled giggle].
Shoaib chases after Asif and swings his bat as hard as possible hitting Asif on the thigh.

Pakistan's administrators deserve no criticism for the action they have taken now.
They deserve criticism for ever allowing Shoaib's ego to become so hopelessly out of control, for allowing him to make his own rules for so many years and to get away with serial misbehaviour before it ever came to this.

If they couldn't control him, or didn't want to, they should have delegated that responsibility for the sake of Pakistani cricket. And if he really was uncontrollable at least they would have known six or seven years ago.

After the cataclysms of the year just gone, Pakistan are still celebrating and berating equally, writes Osman Samiuddin in the Indian Express.

... what else is there in this nation if not cricket, politics and cricket’s politics? Hockey dies anew each year, only to keep people vaguely interested, it does so spectacularly. (“Lost to China? No worries, we’ll lose to Japan this time.”) Squash is less sport, more memory, a glory long gone. (“Isn’t that a drink?” I heard a child say recently). Cricket survives because nothing else did.

In the Age, Peter Roebuck analyses Geoff Lawson's first few games as a national coach and decides that perhaps Lawson was just what Pakistan needed.

He did not have much to lose, a steady but peripheral media career and a tangential involvement in the game. Why not go for broke? From the Pakistan perspective, Lawson was the right choice. Proven candidates had not applied. At least he wanted the job and was prepared to look past current complications. Moreover, he was an outsider and came with a clean plate.

Shoaib Akthar isn't getting much sympathy after the latest in a long list of misdemeanours. In an editorial in the News, a Pakistani daily, Asif Iqbal calls for Shoaib to be banned for life and poses this dramatic question:

The line has to be drawn somewhere and if it is not drawn here, the question has to be asked — are we waiting till he commits mass murder?

Former Pakistan captains Javed Miandad, in Rediff, and Rameez Raja, in the Telegraph, take potshots at the Pakistan Cricket Board while criticising Shoaib.

Imran Khan tells the Dawn that Shoaib failed to handle the fame.

"He has such great potential [as a fast bowler] he could have done wonders but he has let himself down for being in the news for the wrong reasons."

An editorial in the Dawn categorically demands that Shoaib should not be picked for the national team again.

Shoaib Akhtar has to be shown the door — permanently. Irrespective of the provocation, hitting a team member (with a bat no less) is simply inexcusable. It is now abundantly clear that Shoaib comes equipped with a self-destruct button that is always within reach and could be pressed at a moment’s notice.

And according to Geo TV, a Pakistani television channel, even General Pervez Musharraf, the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan board, wants no leniency shown towards Shoaib.

The folks at Pakistan's the Post newspaper don't seem to be particularly fond of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Here's an editorial lambasting the PCB.

PCB seems to be jinxed. The long and tragic history associated with it speaks volumes of how things have been working over many years. The current state of affairs therefore is no surprise.

And their daily cartoon says much the same

	Geoff Lawson: "There are less concerns than I'd have going to London or New York" © AFP

The letter came from Gill Woolmer, the wife of the late Bob Woolmer.

"It's a lovely letter about how he loved coaching Pakistan, loved the people and she wished me all the best,'' Lawson said. "It comforted me in the fact [Woolmer's family] gave me their support and they don't have any concerns whatsoever.''

Lawson also shrugged off the concerns over security.

"There are less concerns than I'd have going to London or New York. I was in England in 2005 when all the bombs went off, and that was scary. [People] see the Red Mosque shootout there and hear about bin Laden hiding in the hills of Pakistan. But it's like if you're hiding in outback Australia and you live in Sydney.

Lawson has learnt a few tricks of the trade too, marking each point he made when he met the players in June with the Urdu phrase Inshallah, meaning God willing.

	Saqlain Mushtaq last played a Test match in 2004 © AFP

Rohit Mahajan of The Hindustan Times caught up with Saqlain, who left some hints that his cricketing future lies in England.

So much has changed in his life in the last eight years: the mastery of the doosra, acclaim and ignominy, injury and insult — and now a new British passport. Monty Panesar should soon have competition.

Saqlain, though, wishes to play down this talk. He is in his 31st year, a stage in life when spinners peak, but injury troubles have made him prudent, and he's not looking too far ahead — or at least not speaking about it.

“If I start saying that I want to play for England, and my body doesn't allow me to play, it would be very embarrassing,” he says. “Yes, if my body is okay, if all goes well, then I'll see what happens…”

Himalmag finds out.

Boria Mazumdar believes cricket has transformed India, as much as India has transformed the sport.

Cricket today provides India a feel-good space, where nearly all differences can be overcome. The assertion of an Indian ‘identity’, the expression of cultural nationalism or the feeling of a common emotion – these are no longer confined to the stadium and post-match activities. For instance, a poll conducted a few years back found that more than 50 percent of India’s youth would prefer to live in another country. However, as journalist Sandipan Deb has observed: “Even when they do go away to some other country, they have a live cricket scorecard open surreptitiously on their computer monitors throughout their working day, and they turn out in daunting numbers at the stadium whenever India’s playing in their adopted country.” The global Indian wants simultaneously to escape his country and to embrace it. Clearly, cricket is no longer a mere ‘national’ obsession.

Michael Roberts looks at the ceylonese origins of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Amber Rahim Shamsi writes on the journey of women's cricket in Pakistan.

If there is one art Pakistan's cricketers have never been able to master, it is that of the well-timed farewell. From Hanif Mohammad to the two Ws, Pakistan's superstars have exited less than gracefully. Inzamam-ul-Haq, argues Saad Shafqat in Dawn, is likely to be another addition to that list.

It is an affliction with which we are all too familiar. When the time comes for our cricketing heroes to retire from the game, they make a mash of it. The signs will all be there, but they either cannot read them or choose not to.

Bob Woolmer's death sparked off a storm of speculation and rumour unlike any seen in cricket before. Mushtaq Ahmed, former Pakistan legspinner and assistant coach, was one of those at the centre of the episode. He was close to Woolmer and one of the first to his room when the news broke. In an exclusive interview with Sue Mott, which you can read in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mushtaq recounts the shocking circumstances of Woolmer's death and the hell the team went through in its aftermath.

"These were the saddest days of my cricketing life. We lost a great man who spent 3 years with us. It was a bad blow. Sad and shocking. Dark days. The players spent 24 hours a day together in groups. We hardly spoke."

Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf remembers his last few moments with Bob Woolmer in a chat with the Kolkata Telegraph:

Yousuf, in fact, took the same elevator as Woolmer when the devastated team returned to the Jamaica Pegasus. “Shoaib Malik and a couple of other players were also there and when it stopped on my floor (third), Bob quipped ‘ladies first’... We laughed... I didn’t get to see him after that...”

In The Daily Telegraph, Peter Foster looks at the bookmakers who still stalk cricket, seven years after the ICC set about rooting corruption out of the game.

From the back-streets of Karachi and Mumbai to the gleaming towers of Hong Kong and Dubai, cricket's bookmaking underworld is still operating. Chief among those nations are the sub-continental rivals of India and Pakistan where, despite betting on cricket being illegal, millions of pounds regularly change hands over a single game. Annually, the profits can be counted in billions.

But the nature of gambling has changed, forced to adapt from the brash efforts to influence entire teams to a far more subtle approach.

It makes grim reading. In the same paper, Simon Hughes gives a first-hand report from the subcontinent.

On a trip to Pakistan some years ago, I stopped by an anonymous club match one afternoon. Two batsmen were slowly playing themselves in. After one apparently featureless over, a gaggle of spectators suddenly engaged in an unseemly scuffle. When some time had elapsed and peace was restored, I ventured over to investigate what had happened. It emerged that one man had bet another the over would be a maiden. When a leg-bye was run off the last ball of the over, they couldn't agree who had won the wager (despite the extra it still constituted a maiden) and fists flew.

Michael Henderson, never one to take the safe option, writes a long article in The Daily Telegraph on Pakistan cricket and its place in the modern game.

“While India have the money to confront the old order, the Pakistanis like to portray themselves as maligned outsiders, an image their players have reinforced in the past three years by favouring a hard-line Islamic faith.”

And he finishes with a swipe at the ICC and its reaction to calls for the tournament to be scrapped.

“The ICC will disregard him, of course, arguing that the show must always go on, if only to avoid shelling out millions to compensate the television companies covering this bloated tournament.”

Simon Kuper gives the inside dope on Netherlands cricket. Its origins, characters and the life of a minnow cricketer.

Cricket only ever penetrated a few pockets of Dutch society. In The Hague, it’s played by posh types who regard it as a sort of magical rite with the power to transform them into English gentlemen. The game somehow also took root in Schiedam, a tough town just outside Rotterdam, known as the only place in the Netherlands where boys play cricket on the street. Schiedam once even produced a rare case of Dutch cricket hooliganism, when thousands of fans watched two local teams contest the national title. Van Troost, Holland’s captain, is from Schiedam. And increasingly since about 1990, Dutch cricket has been played by poor Asian immigrants. When these dockworkers and cleaners meet Hague bankers, both sides presume (often correctly) that the other is cheating.

Neil Manthorp argues for the inclusion of the 'minnows' in the World Cup. His point? It helps in spreading the game and improves quality of cricket in these countries. How? Click here to read.

What does cricket want for itself in the future? To remain a game in which just eight teams can compete? It's not a very broadminded outlook.In order to grow the game in any country, money is required. And the easiest way to gather money in sport is to put it on television. So Ireland, Scotland, Holland and Bermuda can offer their sponsors television coverage and, consequently, command a far greater sum of cash.

... And for those who haven't noticed, the ICC has gone to a great deal of trouble and expense trying to make the minnow nations competitive and to guard against the humiliating thrashings which are so harmful to the image and reputation of the game.

The World Cup is closer than round the corner and Pakistan are in disarray. Morale is down, players unfit, the doping issue still lurks, threatening to rear its head any moment; what better time than now, then, for a few words from the straightest of straight talkers, Rashid Latif, to put things in perspective? In a guest column for Dawn, Latif says that though it looks bad, all may not be lost just yet.

All this talk of World Cup ‘pressure’ is also getting to me now. What pressure are they talking about? In my opinion , all these people have fairly mixed-up notions about ‘pressure’ and ‘reality’. Pressure is what the poor people are facing for their survival, for their do-or-die efforts in trying to feed their families. There is no pressure in cricket compared to that. Yes, I know a victory in any big tournament can be tremendously difficult to pull off for any team or coach, even for those who are considered favourites. But that, in short, is their job; a reality that they know they will be facing in due course of time and they must prepare themselves well for it.

No openers, no fit fast bowlers, an out-of-sorts keeper, too many allrounders, not enough in form, two crushing defeats; with the World Cup just over a month away does anyone in Pakistan know what their ideal XI will be, asks former captain Asif Iqbal in The News.

The worst aspect of Pakistan’s almost humiliating defeats has been that barely a month away from the World Cup, the team does not have what anyone would described as a settled look to it. It seems that all the questions that were raised four years ago during the last World Cup and to which the management has been struggling to find answers, today remain as unanswered as they ever were.

An English journalist, Ian Wooldridge, suggests there may be calls for Pakistan to be chucked out of the World Cup. Writing in the Daily Mail, in London, he says:

Cricket's World Cup opens next month in the West Indies. I may just be alone in anticipating its start with a violent political explosion — a demand for the expulsion of Pakistan. If you recall, two of Pakistan's most volatile fast bowlers were found guilty of drug abuse in October. Shoaib Akhtar was banned for two years, Mohammad Asif for one. Both appealed. Their appeals were heard by Pakistan's Cricket Board without external influence.

Both were exonerated. Both were immediately chosen to play again. Don't tell me this is going to pass unnoticed.

Read more of his thoughts on other topics here.

	Mohammad Yousuf stands now having broken one record and on the verge of another two © Getty Images

Much in the manner of the previous seven hundreds he has constructed this calendar year, so too was Mohammad Yousuf's record-breaking eighth century a thing of some beauty, writes Osman Samiuddin in The Age.

Yousuf Youhana averaged nearly 48 in his 59 Tests. He crossed himself for each of his 13 hundreds and couldn't quite shake off the tag that he was a rascally drifter, capable of composing dreams (such as his hundred at Melbourne in December 2004: "my best innings as you have to score against the best to prove yourself") but also prone to flimsiness and gifting wickets.

Mohammad Yousuf averages nearly 92 from 14 Tests, he has performed the sajda (act of kneeling in Islamic prayer) for each of his nine hundreds and, at no expense to his artistry, has acquired the skills of graft and run-gathering. His hundreds are bigger (two doubles and three 190s) and his conversion rate, since his conversion, is remarkable (only four 50s to his nine 100s).

Click here to read more.

	'Revive school cricket, university cricket and club cricket... that is where the strength is' © Getty Images

It has never come to fruition and it may never yet come off any better. These summits summoned by every new chairman taking over the reins of the PCB have so far turned out to be an absolute waste of time, money and energy and nothing more than an exercise to announce that they exist and know better than their predecessors.

In good times no one cares. I, however, find it glaringly distasteful that every time the graph goes downhill of a Pakistan team they become a laughing stock. The players, the officials and those responsible for it are then summoned for explanation.

I think the most comical of all is the Senate Standing Committee on Sports which I feel is no more than a bunch of publicity seeking individuals, hungry for seeking attention and spotlight without much to show for.

Scroll further down the page and read Sohaib Alvi's account of the Multan Test of 1980 where Sylvester Clarke, hit by an orange thrown by spectators, replied with a brick.

There's been no honeymoon period for Nasim Ashraf, the new chairman of the Pakistan board. Hardly did he settle into his seat than a number of hard decisions had to be taken. In an interview to the Kolkata Telegraph, he speaks to Lokendra Pratap Sahi on his appointment, the controversy over the Pakistan captaincy, the drugs scandal and much more.

I know I’m in a high profile seat, but I want the powers and perks of the PCB chairman to be reduced. I’ve already delegated responsibility to colleagues and I want corporate governance. I’ve assigned a leading head-hunting firm to help get us the best possible chief executive.

Adam Parore, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, looks back at his experience of playing against Pakistan and wonders how their bowlers managed to bowl "25 overs on a searing hot day and seem to get faster as the day wears on".

I remember thinking more than once in the subcontinent, "something's not right here". I prided myself on being pretty fit during my career. I'd look at some of these guys and think "you can't do that".

Read the full piece in The New Zealand Herald.

Some may suggest Akhtar's cricketing career has been one long dress rehearsal for an entry into the acting world … not noted for his devotion to training, Akhtar seems to be an outside chance, at best, of resuming his career beyond the World Cup, especially considering his creaky back and troublesome hamstring.

On the surface, a move into acting does not seem a major leap for Akhtar, who has made as many headlines for his activities off the field as his performances on it. On his latest tour of Australia with the Pakistan team, Akhtar was spotted in nightclubs across the country, invariably in glamorous company, while he was said to be battling back and hamstring injuries.

Last year, it was much the same in England, when injury ruled Akhtar out of Worcestershire's tour match against Australia, only for the fast bowler to show up in several of Worcester's premier nightspots. Again, no guesses as to the aesthetic calibre of the company he was keeping

	© Getty Images

The weekend newspapers were almost universally critical of the way the whole episode was dealt with, and while there was not much sympathy for Darrell Hair’s on-field actions, there was concern about the way the ICC has treated him.

Leading the assault was Michael Atherton in The Sunday Telegraph. he wrote that the affair:

Showed the ICC at their worst: prevaricating, in that a judgment which should have been handed out on the fourth evening of the game was allowed to fester for a month; callous, when it revealed confidential e-mails from an employee; and ultimately fudging a verdict so as not to upset the key players in this very political game – the Asian bloc.

When the big issue arose, the ICC official froze. Woe-betide anyone who walks out to bat with a logo half an inch too big, mind you. Moreover, shortly after the ICC announced that Hair had been withdrawn from the Champions Trophy because of security concerns, India, the host country, flatly contradicted the game's chiefs. Who is being open and honest?

Stephen Brenkley in The Independent on Sunday was in an equally unforgiving mood:

The ICC are a governing body, but only when their members can be bothered to let them be so,” he wrote, adding that the blame lay with the members. “The ICC look as toothless today as they can have ever done. That will remain so until their members allow them actually to govern.

In the News of the World, Richie Benaud described the hearing as "crass and unbecoming". He added:

There are two men with stilettos between their shoulder blades - the Pakistan manager Zaheer Abbas, who has been sacked - and Hair, the ICC umpire. But at no point in any of this has Hair acted alone.

Reacting to Malcolm Speed’s comment that “we all move on and put this issue behind us”, John Stern in The Sunday Times said that:

There seems little chance of that when so many questions remain unanswered and so much resentment remains.

Referring to Darrell Hair, he went on:

He claims that he is happy with the support he has received from his employer, the ICC, although it is hard to imagine he really believes that. The ICC hung him out to dry by publishing the e-mails in which he demanded $500,000 to resign and also by standing him down from this month’s Champions Trophy in India, citing security concerns — a claim that has been denied by the Indian cricket board.

In The Australian, Malcolm Conn cut to the quick:

What a joke: the ICC has dedicated next month's Champions Trophy to the spirit of cricket … whether it's from players or the game's governing body, the rhetoric does not match the reality that the game is still a shambles and has little credibility as a major international sport.

Inzamam-ul-Haq's actions are also forcing the ICC to reconsider its laws regarding umpiring protocols, particularly in regard to accusations of ball-tampering and the decisions involving forfeitures, writes Richard Boock in The New Zealand Herald.

But more than anything else, Inzamam showed that despite all the opposition and outrage, there is still a place in sport for protest.

	© The Daily Telegraph

In The Independent, Angus Fraser reveals that he has actually seen the ball at the heart of the whole row:

The state of the ball surprised me. It was protected in bubble wrap and treated as though it was part of a murder investigation. My first impression was that there was not a great deal wrong with it. I expected there to be more. This was not a ball that was about to reverse swing - the phenomenon created by the type of ball-tampering the Pakistan side had been accused of - extravagantly. The seam and quarter seam were in as good a condition as you would expect from a ball that was 56 overs old. They had definitely not been tampered with. There was a contrast between the two sides of the ball, as there always is. This is because one side has sweat and spit put on to it and is polished, while the other is left alone. The darker side is the one that has been polished and it generally looks tidier, while the other side always appears rougher.

In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Hughes, who was one of the expert witnesses called to the hearing, said the conclusion was:

A victory for common sense, an entity that had been in short supply at that same venue a month earlier … it emerged during the hearing that that afternoon was one of allegation, obfuscation, provocation and indignation resulting in the forfeiture of a Test match. There was chaos behind the scenes in the pavilion after tea. At the very moment officials were indulging in desperate brinkmanship with the enraged Pakistanis, the on-field umpires were independently removing the bails to declare the match awarded to England. It is clear that, with a bit of discretion here and a deep breath there, this fiasco would never have come about.

In a column in the same paper which will infuriate those who back Pakistan’s indignation, Derek Pringle offers a different take on why Hair was appointed to so many Pakistan matches:

According to one umpiring source, he has warned them about suspected malpractice over the ball eight times in that period [four Test series in 14 months], so the Oval, despite the sketchy evidence, may have been a last straw. Perhaps the question the PCB need to ask themselves is why Hair, a stubborn but principled man, was given so many of their Tests to stand in? Could it have been that the ICC wanted the team's wilder excesses to be placed in check by an umpire bold enough to take on the players?

	© The Guardian

Boycott in particular delivered a veritable tour de force. At one point, he took the infamous match ball in his hand, held it up and said: "That's a good ball, not just a playable ball. Boycott also took exception to the idea that an accusation of cheating should be tolerated. "If me or any of my friends were ever called a cheat," he told the hearing, the accuser would be "decked with a bunch of fives".

Elsewhere in The Guardian, Mike Selvey suggests that Hair has been stitched up by the ICC and that he is effectively finished … and the excuse put forward for his omission from the Champions Trophy is risible:

To invoke grounds of safety and security, when he has received by all accounts a single cranky email and no other threat, is just an expedient way of keeping him out of the way. But the umpire himself has said that he has been given no assurances of any firm commitments beyond that, or even an indication that there would be any. He is in limbo, on gardening leave, technically employed but actually unemployable.

In The Times, Simon Barnes believes that Hair “stood on the authority of his office, but a changing world had moved on without him”. He continues:

My colleague, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, is concerned that insufficient respect for the umpire is a recipe for anarchy. With both respect and affection, I am inclined to disagree. I think that if the umpire gets too much authority, there will be occasions when the authority is abused.

In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain raised a question over a man who was at the heart of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans but who has somehow escaped almost unscathed – mathc referee Mike Procter:

Procter didn’t do his job properly … he sat there for five days worrying about small things like illegal logos, but when something major came up he did nothing about it.

Also in the Daily Mail, Mike Dickson is of the view that whatever the rights and wrongs of what Hair did, he has not been treated well by the ICC. At The Oval he faced the media without a lawyer sitting next to him, as Shaharyar Khan and Ranjan Madugalle had, and no other official involved at the match was asked to stand up to be counted:

Hair has been hung out to dry or cut adrift might be a more appropriate metaphor.

	Ranjan Madugalle and David Pannick QC prepare for the hearing yesterday © Getty Images

In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs claims that the Pakistan Cricket Board’s legal team are ahead on points:

In the course of the hearing, it became clear that Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove — the umpires at the centre of last month's ball-tampering storm — had not fully followed protocol during the emotional and chaotic afternoon of Aug 20. Insiders say this has weakened their case substantially.

The mood of the meeting is reported to have been largely sympathetic towards Pakistan. While it has been acknowledged that Inzamam's sit-in protest was inappropriate, the umpires' conduct has provided Pakistan's lawyers with an opportunity to argue extenuating circumstances.

He adds that the PCB will argue that the disrepute charges should be kicked out as a result, and furthermore:

Extended to its logical limits, this argument could be used to support a change in the result of the game, which would then become a draw or no-result rather than an England win. But this will not happen, if only because of the upheaval it would cause within the betting industry.

In The Times, Matthew Pryor also suggests that things are going Pakistan’s way:

With so many lawyers in the room, the ball-tampering allegations that, if proved, would lead to only a fine or a ban of one Test match or two one-day internationals, are likely to be thrown out. There would seem to be a lack of the evidence required in a court, if not by ICC rules. If the verdict goes against them, Pakistan are likely to appeal or take Darrell Hair, the umpire, or the ICC to court. But they may yet be celebrating with President Musharraf, of Pakistan, who arrives in London tomorrow to meet Tony Blair, at a function in Park Lane.

	© Daily Telegraph

Today, a report by Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times claims that Inzamam did not act on his own in refusing to resume play after tea but was persuaded by others.

The refusal to take the field may not have been his idea but that of Waqar Younis, the touring team’s bowling coach, or one of the other senior figures in or around the Pakistan dressing-room at the time, The source said that Waqar, who was suspended and fined in 2000 when found guilty of changing the condition of the ball by a referee in Colombo, took Inzamam into the lavatory for a secret discussion at the start of the tea interval, from which point the situation spiralled out of control.

In The Guardian, David Hopps concentrates on the roles of the officials, and particularly that of Mike Procter, the match referee, whose actions, or lack of them, make him appear increasing ineffectual:

Pakistan's lawyers will also claim that the match referee, Mike Procter, failed for several hours to inform Pakistan of the ruling by umpire Hair that they had forfeited the match. They will argue that it was this breakdown of communication, rather than any act of rebellion led by Pakistan's captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, that was primarily responsible for the Test not continuing.

In The Daily Telegraph, Mihir Bose claims that Billy Doctrove was at odds with Darrell Hair and Procter.

I understand that Hair and … Procter, have strongly declared that they believe the ball was tampered with. In contrast, Doctrove's statement is far less strong and open to interpretation that he may not be entirely convinced that this is the case. That Doctrove should have doubts is no surprise. In his match report on the incident he is said to have suggested that the umpires allowed play to continue for a few more overs to identify what caused the ball to change condition. Hair, though, persuaded him that if the ball had changed condition it should be replaced immediately. Doctrove agreed.

Bose goers on to state that Inzamam’s defence will centre on suggestions he was unaware of much going on around him:

[His] statement is believed to include further evidence of how the Pakistani captain saw that dramatic Sunday's play. I understand Inzamam says he did not see Hair's signal awarding England five runs, did not know why the ball was changed, and only realised what had happened in the dressing room. He will admit that the team's failure to take the field after tea was a mark of protest against the ball-tampering charge but that he did not know Pakistan stood to forfeit the match if his team failed to take the field.

	© Daily Mail

Drafts of a few general questions had been forwarded to representatives of Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood — who were all at the crease around the time of the furore. The Professional Cricketers’ Association have sought assurances about the confidentiality of their replies. However, there was no followup from the ICC and the players have gone on holiday.

In The Independent, Angus Fraser summed things up:

One side will, undoubtedly, claim victory but the whole affair has done nothing but damage to the game.

	© Getty Images

My religion has helped me big time It makes me disciplined. Now I don't think of tomorrow, I think for today. I used to take five wickets in a day and worry about tomorrow rather than enjoy it. I don't feel under pressure to perform any more.

People have no idea what Islam is about because of the media's negativity. If people read the Koran they would see a different message. If I do something wrong it doesn't mean Islam is wrong. Don't believe that Islam is the religion that makes people do these things. Islam says if you kill one man, you kill mankind.

Nick Bratt, who skippered him when he played league cricket in Staffordshire, hints at a different side to the old Mushtaq:

I think he got to a period in his life when he felt that things had to change and he found Allah … Mushy told us about some wild nights but he can tell you more about that than I can.

In The Times, former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle highlights the fact that cricket's international merry-go-round is not only hard on the players, it's also pretty environmentally unfriendly. He recalled that while editing Wisden Cricket Monthly a few years ago, he commissioned an investigation into the mileage of top players:

"We named the first winner — Australia's Ian Healy, who had done, from memory, about 70,000 miles. Within a few years, the winner (by then Stephen Fleming, of New Zealand) was doing 100,000 miles. International cricket’s total emissions, for a relatively small sport, must be colossal."

"Open an Indian magazine and the chances are you will see Sachin Tendulkar sharing a little of his personal cachet with a motorbike. And administrators in the subcontinent still think it’s OK to give the man of the match a bike or even a car. Not even the umpires are immune. Fly Emirates, say their shirts, which is demeaning to them and damaging to the planet."

	© The Daily Telegraph

Yesterday, however, Steve Harmison blasted out Pakistan. While the pitch was poor, it was the fast bowling that grabbed the headlines.

Derek Pringle in The Daily Telegraph was blunt, arguing that “it was a gutless display by the visitors, with many of the later order backing away”.

But he also pointed out that while the pitch may not have been perfect, Harmison’s performance was, nevertheless, a great one.

“With his height and pace, Harmison can be a handful on most surfaces, but when given conditions that amplify his gifts he brings a fear factor that make batsmen do foolish things. Of his victims only Inzamam-ul-Haq was dismissed by a ball that did anything unexpected, in his case climbing sharply from a good length after hitting one of the many cracks pitting the surface of the pitch.”

In The Guardian, Mike Selvey was in no doubt that groundsman Peter Marron’s work was not good enough.

“The pitch did not quite play to order. It had promised pace, which it delivered, and ditto good carry. What should not have been evident yet was a nasty, if occasional, variation in bounce as the ball struck either side of the cracks, which, if the sun continues to bake the surface, will only get wider and more influential.”

Selvey was also critical of the Pakistan batsmen who, he wrote, “batted with questionable commitment and a negative mindset”.

	© The Mirror

“Harmison and England were aided by a fast, bouncy and slightly unpredictable pitch, and a woeful batting display from Pakistan. The venom of Harmison and the steep bounce he extracted from the helpful surface unsettled the tourists who showed minimal resistance.”

In Dawn, Kamran Abbasi pondered Inzamam’s decision to bat:

“Winning the toss turned into a nightmare for Inzamam-ul Haq. He is unlikely to see a quick end to the public debate about his decision to bat first on a hard, greenish track, under gloomy skies and a humid day. Forgive my meteorology but weren't those once known as ideal bowling conditions?”

He also had little time for the Pakistan batsmen:

“Most of these fair-weather youths have grown fat on the plunder of lifeless pitches. They have indeed pulled Pakistan out of some desperate situations but those rescue missions have been in conditions that have offered little for bowlers. Yesterday, a more testing examination questioned the quality of their defence. The same examination that is failed each time we tour Australia, and particularly at Perth. On this evidence we are no more ready.”

Imran Khan was more than just Pakistan's cricket captain. He was a warrior, an ambassador and a playboy of the Western world. But after retirement and divorce from one of Britain's most glamorous heiresses, he is dedicating his life to saving his country from political corruption. Tim Adams, of the Observer, travelled to his secluded villa to talk to him about his mission.

The most alluring figure at Lord's was Imran Khan, writes Mark Nicholas.

From tearaway fast bowler to inspirational captain, from international playboy to domestic politician, Imran Khan has been many things to many people. Tim Adams of The Observer sought out Imran in his house near Islamabad, and found him in the mood for a chat. They talk about cricket, about politics, but a domesticated Imran even reveals:

I have fruit trees. Cows for fresh milk, yoghurt. My own wheat. I'm basically self-sufficient. I have made my boys a little cricket ground.

It’s worked for other teams, it could work for Pakistan – they are considering employing a baseball coach to help with throwing techniques. They have their sights set on Mike Young, who is currently working with the New Zealand team on a short-term basis. Read what the Khaleej Times has to say on the matter here.

A former captain, the iconic Hanif Mohammad looks back at his career in an interview with the Kolkata-based daily The Telegraph. He talked about his standout memory from his famous triple hundred (337 in Barbados,1957-58) against West Indies.

That of a West Indian, who would sit on the branch of a tree... Initially, he would taunt, but then began to appreciate my batting and our fightback... On the fourth day, the poor chap fell and had to be hospitalised. Yet, he returned the next afternoon... ‘You’re still there? I’m back, my friend... I’m back’ he kept saying. After the Test got over, Kardar and I invited him to our dressing room for tea and sandwiches. We thanked him for his support and gave a couple of mementos...

Ramachandra Guha, the social and the cricket historian, had once written about that knock and Hanif's meeting with Don Bradman, whose record the short Pakistani had broken.

When they played South Australia at Adelaide, Sir Donald Bradman walked into their dressing room and asked to meet the man who had broken his record score of 452. Hanif got up, and apologetically said, ''Sir, you will always be the greatest.'' The Don looked him up and down and replied, shaking his head: ''So you are the fellow. I always thought that the batsman who broke my record would be six feet two inches tall. But you are shorter than me!''

© Dawn

It's a lesson in what can go wrong with the best of grounds in the wrong hands. When built, it was a state-of-the-art sports stadium. But things have gone badly awry ... for example:

The ground has been treated badly over the last decade. In 1994, stagnant rainwater of surrounding areas was released on its outfield and nobody took notice of it for several weeks. It was drained out only when the press raised the issue and the entire outfield had to be dug out.

Whenever you watch a match involving Pakistan there will always be at least one familiar face in the crowd, the flag-waving Abdul Jaleel. He makes a living out of supporting Pakistan and receives a scholarship from the PCB for his efforts. Now, he has decided to write a book about his experiences. The English title will be, unsurprisingly, 'Flag Flying'. It is expected to hit the shelves in August - just as he will be following Pakistan around England.

Wasim Akram's solicitor has rubbished the statements of Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who in an interview with Cricinfo had said a "soft corner" for Akram might have influenced him while handing out a lenient punishment in the match-fixing case

Wasim's solicitor, Naynesh Desai, responded to Qayyum's comments: "It beggars belief that he can say something like this six years after the event. He is not suggesting that Wasim lied to him, but that he had let him off because he liked him. It looks like the judge is peeved about something and he is having a pop at everyone. How can he help Saleem Malik on his appeal when he banned him from the game in the first place?"

Click here to read the article by Angus Fraser

Inzy has said he wants to play county cricket:

I would like to play once in county cricket, that is something I have not done as yet. Last year there was an offer from a county but I was not in a position to accept it," he told Reuters on Monday.

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Pakistanis cheering the opposition? Unlikely you might think, but Cricinfo's very own Andrew Miller says so at The Times:

“I am praying for England with full zeal and zest,” Nayyur Abbas, 18, said as he sat with his cousin, Haroon Shehzad, 16, in the top tier of the Waqar Younis enclosure. On his face was painted a St George’s Cross and on his walls at home are posters of Andrew Flintoff. “He is a great attacking bowler,” Nayyur enthused in the manner of a true connoisseur.

Richard Williams wonders whether Salman Butt could become Pakistan's new Saeed Anwar:

...Butt is better known for his strokeplay than his ability to blunt an attack through dogged occupation of the crease. Another left-hander, small and lithe and, like Anwar, more inclined to use his wrists than his feet to anything outside off stump, he came into this series with a reputation as a stylish but brittle opener who preferred facing the new ball to the challenge offered by spin.

Another interesting Pakistan-related feature, this time by Jonathan Dyson in The Guardian, who writes about Pakistan's cricket-obsessed public: specifically, "tapeball."

Every Saturday night, all across Pakistan, matches between families, groups of friends and organised teams take place in the streets.

[...]

Since its inception in the early 1980s, tapeball has revolutionised the game here - and it could do the same in England, having been adopted by the London Community Cricket Association as a children's game on 30 council estates, thus making cricket available to those who would not normally be able to play it

In this week's From Our Own Correspondent, Owen Bennett-Jones - who was formerly BBC's "Man in Pakistan" - talks about the intensity and passion of cricket in Pakistan. But, more interestingly is he found someone who doesn't like the game:

Dancing, listening to music and watching television were all wrong, he said.

I tried to find a chink in the armour and said: "Ah well, as a Pakistani you must at least love cricket?"

"Cricket?" He raised his eyes to the heavens.

"Why all this cricket, cricket, cricket? Don't people realise they are wasting their time? People should think of Allah, not cricket."

Listen to it here (MP3 - starts at about 22mins 40secs) or read it here

Bob Woolmer has revitalised Pakistan - but how they will do in the forthcoming series is still impossible to predict, writes Osman Samiuddin

It is not only his batting, which at its languid best can make Marcus Trescothick's footwork seem like a qualification for a starring role in Riverdance, but the whole way he approaches being in the game's top echelon. He is the absolute antithesis to the gym culture into which everyone must now buy: burp rather than beep test.

He is generally impassive, immovable if given out lbw (in one Test we saw the game restart before he had crossed the boundary rope), hates fielding with a passion, has been responsible for more cockups between the wickets than anyone else in cricket history and, with the coach Bob Woolmer, currently forms perhaps the most corpulent management team seen since Warwick Armstrong ran the Australian side on his own.

Shahid Hashmi of AFP tells a stirring tale of two women who were rarely allowed to go out in public, overcame several societal barriers and yet made it to Pakistan’s women’s national cricket team. Armana Khan, one of them, says: "In an era when tolerance and equality are promoted in all sports, cricket give us girls a way to live freely."

But what of the men's side? In Dawn, Qamar Ahmed previews Pakistan's forthcoming series against England. Conquering Australia in familiar conditions is one thing, he says, but beating Pakistan in their own backyard could turn out to be a different kettle of fish.