Pakistan's Next 'Mohammad Aamir'......

The bans which were imposed on the trio at approximately 3pm GMT on Saturday 5th February 2011 were realistic, reasonable & totally fair as far as I and many are concerned. We should acknowledge and appreciate the ICCs attempt to set the example straight and eradicate corruption from the game, regardless of personal abilities, past heroics and previous tendencies. The integrity and credibility of cricket is arguably a dying art and something which needs to be restored with immediate effect in order to prevent such disgraceful incidents from being witnessed on the cricketing field time and time again. If that means we have to use Pakistan, provide no exemption for age and prevent giving them second chances, so be it. If we don't take action NOW we will NEVER and cricket can continue to be expected to be dominated with controversies and acts of shamefulness. The trio have been found guilty of bowling pre-arranged no balls during the 4th Test Match at Lords this summer. They have purposefully sold out the name, image, pride and dignity of the country in return for money. Such individuals do not deserve to represent a nation at any capacity. Mohammad Aamir's career could and perhaps should be used as an example setter for the strictness to follow. There is no room for any degree of fixing in some professional society.

Although this is a less significant point I am about to make, but for of the emotional ones this could provide some relief. Pakistan is blessed with endless talent and continues to lead the way and thrive in producing gems from the youth and domestic circuit, especially in the fast bowling club which is second to none and thankfully has been for several generations and doesn't look like dying out anytime soon! Therefore, rest assured there are capable world beaters waiting in the wings, developing and performing who have the capabilities of being as effective, sensational and brilliant as Aamir was without being tainted and shameful. Pakistan can literally afford to lose Aamir and co for the non cricketing reasons and there are various replacements who can do equally as well or if not better when it comes to the cricketing stuff. Here below I have a look at some young mouth watering fast bowling prospects which are worth keeping a close eye on and could break into the national side very soon and do exceptionally well as long as the selectors are creative and brave like they once were with Aamir! Remember this line :" Pakistan will find their next 'Mohammad Aamir' within the next 12 months." Watch this space and never underestimate the greatness of our long lived fast bowling legacy. We do not need cheats and traitors in OUR team. Anyhow, without further ado let's get on to having a look at them:

1) Junaid Khan: A highly rated left arm fast bowler and the guy which looks like being the obvious successor. He has claimed 167 wickets in 35 First class appearances. He can move the ball both ways with control at sharp pace and swing the ball enough to get the in roads. Generally has a smooth run up and orthodox point of release. At 21 years of age he has a good head on his shoulders and is pushing through the ranks very nicely indeed.

2) Mohammad Talha: In the recently concluded Faysal Bank One Day National Cup Division One, 2010/11was the joint leading wicket taker with 21 scalps at an average of just 14 for his domestic team NBP. He has made his Test debut before in 2009, but unfortunately had it coming on a flat bed. Nevertheless, this Tall skinny skiddy seamer is progressing nicely and it will be hard for the selectors to ignore him for much longer.

3) Anwar Ali: The wonder kid which bamboozled the Indian U19 line up in the intriguing low scoring U19 WC final in 2006 from Colombo to give Pakistan their 2nd consecutive U19 triumph. He has been well spoken off amongst the closest of Pakistani cricket fanatics. He has apparently developed on the "outswinger" to go with his prodigious inswingers and also worked on his batting and voiced aspirations of becoming a genuine all rounder too.

4) Sadaf Hussain: A Tall Left arm fast bowler from Rawalpindi who was the leading wicket taker in the 2010/11 Quaid E Azam Trophy Season. He has notched up 85 scalps in just 15 FC matches which is astonishingly good and suggests he has something "special" about him.

5) Asad Ali: A young tall seamer from Faisalabad. He played league cricket in 2010 for a club in the Staffordshire league called Moddershall CC which has previously signed the likes of star internationals, Imran Tahir & Rangana Hearth to name a few. During his stint with the club he made an immediate impression totalling with 37 wickets from just 12 matches including 4 5fors. His First Class stats make excellent reading with 246 scalps from 54 games at an average of approximately 22. I recall viewing some footage of his bowling where he successfully managed to move the ball appreciably.

The Future Is Safe

The tainted trio

Sunday afternoons for me are a snooze feast, I spend most of them dozing away in front of the idiot box except for when Asia United have a match to play.  Though the Sunday in question here is the 29^th August 2010, and since Bangkok Cricket League season 2011 was still a couple months away, I was busy with my favorite pass time visiting dream factory on my bed.

It was also the 3^rd day of the now infamous Lord’s Test between England and Pakistan. England had pilled up runs, 444 of them and with Pakistan bundled out for 74 in the first innings, and an innings defeat was imminent.  Watching cricket on Tele therefore was out of the question so once again brings me back to my dreamy afternoon snooze. I must have been just about to blast a short ball for a six to get to my first even half century for Asia United when an SMS sent my IPhone 4’s Ferrari engine ringtone roaring.

The SMS was from my dear friend Ahsan Awan. With Ahsan being a bigger Cricket Fanatic than me, I tend to rely on news and updates on PCT from him, as he is very resourceful when It comes to anything cricket.  I remember his SMS vaguely as I had just woken up and after reading the news of no balls, I for once thought I was still dreaming and ill soon be up in to see a revival in batting fortunes by PCT batsman. I kept reading and though I have never been a big fan of Salman Butt, I was in a state of shock over the involvement of the young speedster and like I said was waiting for someone to pinch me out of this nightmare.

I tried to make some sense of what I was reading about the players, the agent and the ultimate betrayal as it was being termed. I tried so hard to doubt the video (maybe it was doctored, maybe the Mazhar Majeed was or is party to a setup). Questions kept arising to all those questions; I could find none to answer them for me. Why and how did this happen? Where is PCB in all this? Why was the manager so clueless about everything that had been brewing under his nose? How can an 18 year old favor Money over a career, which had been promising to be extraordinary? Asif again? Two Tests into a captaincy and promises of future being safe, could Salman Butt pull something off like that, he looks so harmless? 

No matter how much of an eternal optimist you might be, your mind can never really deny the comprehension of your eyes. The proof was clearly there, it was in your face. They had been caught red handed. The sting operation was so comprehensively executed that the players and their agent had no clue as to what sort of shrewd but necessary entrapment they were falling into.

Some have said that the players were framed into delivering the spot balls, but then can someone please explain to me as to why were they even party to such an arrangement knowing fully how this could affect their careers?  And I am not even going to talk about the country as the representation for which was long forgotten by these players in question.

For me what frustrated me to the point where I stopped giving them any benefit of the doubt was the look on Salman Butt’s face at the press conference, which was held after the conclusion of the lord’s test match. Why did he not have any answer to the media scrutiny? Why was he so damn confused? Did he see the walls closing in on him? Guilt is not a word I would use for him, as we have seen over the course of this emotional rollercoaster for all PCT fans that he has not once come out and said anything in his defense, or to assure his countrymen of his innocence.

Over the course of six months or so since the NOTW blew the case wide open on what had been happening for sometime, these three have not only lost so much credibility but also the trust of each other and their countrymen. The ultimate betrayal surely it was. For a country raged with War on Terror, little insecurity from its government, cricket was seen as the shining beacon of hope and a game that albeit for a few hours made us one, freed us of our troubles.

For those few hours we were all praying, enjoying, sitting on the edges of our seats, rejoicing in victories and disappointed in losses. At least during those simpler times we could just get back to our lives knowing out team did their best, or it wasn’t their day. But now every loss in the aftermath of this spot-fixing saga is being labeled as dubious. It’s a stigma that might stay with the fans of PCT for quiet sometime.

Many of us kept ourselves from judging these players as guilty unless proven, and now that they are all proven to be anything but innocent, we can all just now move on and rejoice the fact that this did happen. Because, if the leadership which promised us a secure future, stabbed us in the back and took away one of our most promising prospect in the span of weeks, just imagine how bright the future would have been a few years later.  A team controlled by money would have been a bigger disgrace to Pakistan than just 3 corrupt players. 

The career of Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are all but over, and as for Amir it is very bleak. It is their loss after all, Pakistan has never been short of talent, and already there is no sense of void owing to their absence from the team. Ahmed Shahzad might not have gotten a chance to play had we been relying to Salman Butt right now, Wahab Riaz is no Mohammad Asif and Razzaq is not Aamir either but the team has delivered us series victories in New Zealand recently but ironically I shall conclude with the words of wisdom from the biggest idiot we have had leading our team, the future of Pakistan Cricket Team without the three players is bright. The Future is safe.

Written by Nadeem Shehzad

20 Interesting Cricket Facts

1. The Don (Donald Bradman) once scored 100 runs in just 3 overs (8 ball overs) in an unofficial match.

2. Aqib Javed was the youngest player in Pakistan to play First Class cricket. He made his debut at 12 years old.

3. Saqlain Mushtaq was the fastest to reach 100 wickets in ODIs. It took him only 53 games to get there.

4. Afridi is the youngest player to get a 100 in ODI's. He achieved this feat at just a tender age of 16.

5. Javed Miandad has played the most cricket world cups. He has been involved in 6 world cups.

6. Usain Bolt as a child used to Support Pakistan and Waqar Younis was his favourite player

7. Sarfaraz Nawaz invented reverse swing and took 7 wickets for 1 run against Australia in 1978.

8. Brian Lara was once dismissed by a woman cricketer in a charity match.

9. Brian Lara once scored 500 runs in a county game.

10. Pakistan's lowest total in ODI cricket is 43. It was against WI in 1993.

11. The only law of Cricket that has not had any changes or modifications, is the length of the pitch.

12. In the first ever Test in 1877, Australia beat England by 45 runs. 100 years later, In the Centenary Test, the result was exactly the same.

13. Nawaz Sharif was formerly a First Class cricketer, although he only played one match and got out on zero in the only innings he played.

14. Shahid Afridi used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis to score the fastest century in a One-Day International and Waqar Younis borrowed it from Sachin Tendulkar.

15. Hanif Mohammed batted for 16 hours and 10 minutes - nearly 3 full days - against the West Indies, scoring 337*.

16.Wasim Akram is the first player to take hat tricks in both ODI and test matches.

17. Only 3 players have 6000 runs and 200 wickets (almost 300 wickets as well) in ODI cricket: Shahid Afridi, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuria.

18. Misbah is the only Pakistani test captain who has won a test but has not lost any.

19. Chris Martin, the New Zealand bowler has scored 100 runs after 60 test matches.

20. Amir took wickets in his first over in Test and T20.

Justice will prevail

Whether the Pakistan trio is guilty or not is still up for debate (for me at least, but most of you have made up your mind) but the deferment of the ICC verdict can be beneficial in the long run for Pakistan cricket. If a decision had been taken in haste without putting much thought into we could have possibly seen a couple of life bans and a 5 year or longer ban for Aamir.

What the postponement tells us is that the ICC is not willing to destroy the career of the 3 players but in fact is willing to listen to the suggestion of Mohammad Aamir’s lawyer, by carefully deliberating over the case before passing the judgment and potentially leading to small time bans/fines.

Missing the World Cup is a sacrifice I’m willing to make if it makes sure that (if the players are innocent) they will be available for selection as soon as possible.

Trio should have denied charges right away

The newest revelations made by the British tabloid News of the World has Pakistan cricket in turmoil again. Cricket followers in Pakistan are trying to fathom the fact that their stars were involved in the embarrassing spot fixing scandals. The latest revelations have Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan opener going berserk with claims that all Pakistan matches are fixed and that he too was offered 150,000 pounds by match fixers.

This crisis has gone from bad to worse for cricket lovers in Pakistan and the end is nowhere in sight. People are looking for scapegoats while blaming everyone from the players, to the cricket board and to the tabloid News of the World. In all this blame game, it makes me wonder whether things would have panned out differently if the players would have denied the allegation right away.

I was initially surprised that at the press conference after the Lord’s test ended, the Pakistan captain, Salman Butt when asked about the spot fixing accusations did not robustly denied all the allegations right away. Instead he gazed at the apparently deaf team manager (75 year old Yawar Saeed), as if looking to him for direction regarding what to say. The combo of team manager and team captain came out with a half hearted answers to the media men questions. There should have been an undisputed and united statement from all the players accused denying all allegations.

Another question that needs answering is why the players and the PCB did not file a defamation case against News of the World when they knew that they are being framed?

If the players are undeniably not guilty and they think they are innocent, then they should have by now sued the News of the World tabloid. I don't think they should delay this further. We've seen Younus Khan telling his legal representatives to initiate legal actions against The Telegraph newspaper. This is precisely what the three Pakistani cricketers and their legal team should have done.

Picture Courtesy: Times of Pakistan

A fair share of the fault lies with the PCB for their handling of this crisis. That the board is run by incompetent people is no secret to the public but in a crisis like this when national honor is at stake, our senile PCB Chief is nowhere to be seen. Instead of the cricketing boss we have one of the most corrupt diplomat and Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shamsul Hassan (of the Swiss file saga) shooting idiocies left, right and center while defending the players.

The fact that the trio or the PCB have not come out and powerfully denied the allegations or brought legal proceedings against the News of the World makes them guilty in the eyes of the public, and not just Pakistani public, people all over the globe are pointing fingers at our stars and they have become a laughing stock of the cricketing world.

With the help of the English lawyers players have evaded being criminally charged in UK. But my fear is that if the ICC has enough evidence (as they say) then all of them will be receiving suspension/bans.

If I am not wrong, none of the players suspended in the past (i.e. Salim Malik, Ajay Jadeja, M. Azharudin, etc) were ever charged criminally, they were all suspended by the ICC.