Pakistan in South Africa

[RoboRocks]

Shoaib at 8 NP.
Long tail then.
Still think either Saqlain or Mushtaq Ahmed should be thought of.
When is Shabbir allowed to play again, his action has been cleared hasn't.

 

[Gunner786]

Shoaib at 8 NP.
Long tail then.
Still think either Saqlain or Mushtaq Ahmed should be thought of.
When is Shabbir allowed to play again, his action has been cleared hasn't.

hopefully for the odis

 

[nightprowler10]

Swap Farhat with Butt and i'd agree with that. Farhat just doesn't cu the mustard for me wheras Butt, although not exactly rock solid at the top, deserves more chances in the side.

Farhat does well IMO, and is in better form than Butt anyway. His batting woes in England haven't been cured in domestic cricket IIRC, so there's no way he should play ahead of Farhat. The only replacement for Farhat should be Hameed.

 

[evertonfan]

Fair point I suppose. I just don't think Farhat ever really looks 'in' when he's batting but if he's the best you've got then I can't exactly argue because you know him better than me.

 

[nightprowler10]

And to elaborate on yoru Hafeez point NP, he seems pretty decent when you say he's better than Malik but what worries me is that he's a part-timer and will he be able to bowl long spells like Kaneria can? Not to mention he'll have to keep it tight at one end whilst Sami bowls expensively at the other.

Agreed. I don't agree with PCB's decision at all. By dropping Kaneria we're giving up the chance of having a decent spinner who can trouble the best on a fourth day pitch.

 

[RoboRocks]

Hameed hasn't done anything special since 2 100's on debut so not for me.

 

[nightprowler10]

hafeez
farhat
younis
yousuf
inzi
malik
razzaq
akmal
shoaib
gul
asif

4 pacers and 2 spinners in malik and hafeez

Doesn't look too bad but I think its high time we start giving specialist batsmen a chance at that number 6 position, hence my inclusion of Kamal. I also don't see the need for Razzaq with his current test form. I'd rather have Kaneria in the team. With my line up you have 3 pacers and 1.5 spinners. Why, in the presence of Akhtar, Asif and Gul would Pakistan NEED a fourth pacer? I'd much rather have a specialist spinner.

Hameed hasn't done anything special since 2 100's on debut so not for me.

Beside the dignity saving knock in the last match and his 40 average?

 

[puddleduck]

Butt really isn't the way to go, I've never thought he looked good enough. On a flatbed he will score runs as he has a good eye and some flashy shots, however when the ball starts moving he plays too far away from his body, and has a tendency to flash at the ball even when it's not in the slot. Might do well if he came in down the order, but opening the batting he is far too vunerable.

Funny thing is I said the same thing after he had a great series in Pakistan against England in 2005, and was told that I was talking rubbish and that he'd score a ton of runs everywhere including in England.

 

[nightprowler10]

Funny thing is I said the same thing after he had a great series in Pakistan against England in 2005, and was told that I was talking rubbish and that he'd score a ton of runs everywhere including in England.

To be fair, he had just recently scored a ton against Australia in Australia and then followed it up with the Multan ton. Hopes were high.

P.S: I'm going to sleep, you people are killing me, I have a class in four hours.

 

[aussie1st]

Pakistan do seem to be building up some depth both in the batting and bowling. To be able to leave out Malik and Hameed and still look strong in the batting shows the depth is coming along nicely now. Would be good to see how this full strength pace attack goes.

 

[puddleduck]

I don't think they've left out Malik have they? He's unavailable as far as I was aware, as had he been fit I'm sure he would have played?

 

[aussie1st]

Yea true going by Nightprowlers team he'll come in for Akmal which would give them that extra spinner. That still leaves out Hameed and Afridi which is not too bad.

 

[puddleduck]

Yea true going by Nightprowlers team he'll come in for Akmal which would give them that extra spinner. That still leaves out Hameed and Afridi which is not too bad.

I think you mean Kamal, unless they aren't going to play a keeper

 

[aussie1st]

Lol yea their names are so similar it got me mixed up there. Obviously you can't have Malik keeping

 

[Gunner786]

if pakistans full team is fit through to october then it would be very interesting

away to india and home to australia