***Official*** Pakistan in New Zealand 2015

[Flem274*]

Latham is the sponge cake you get at the supermarkets. On the surface its plenty of cake, but it's mostly air and really isn't that good.

so cruel but so good

 

[Jezroy]

I'm not even Pakistani, but surely its not to harsh to question why a man with 261 games with an average of 31 is in the team? ,

Stephen Fleming - 280 games - average = 32.4

No one would have dropped him from the NZ ODI side.

 

[GGG]

Our BMac has an average of 30 after 239 games, and he is regarded as one of our best, and he had that captaincy issue a couple of years ago, but I see most people are pretty chill about him now.

Sorry don't know where you are from, just seeing a few posts by different users been quite...unimpressed with Younis for on and off field stuff, reminds me of Pakistani stars' house getting burnt down in 1999 (or 2003) after the WC.

Of course he is, just pointing out that statistics don't always tell the true picture.

 

[Niall]

Our BMac has an average of 30 after 239 games, and he is regarded as one of our best, and he had that captaincy issue a couple of years ago, but I see most people are pretty chill about him now.

Sorry don't know where you are from, just seeing a few posts by different users been quite...unimpressed with Younis for on and off field stuff, reminds me of Pakistani stars' house getting burnt down in 1999 (or 2003) after the WC.

Understandably their is a lot of contempt for Younis the batsman, nobody wants anything to happen to the guy in real life, its only cricket. He went on a massive cryfest when dropped last year which annoyed a lot of people. It probably does not help his cause when the likes of Fawad Alam are left out of the squad for him and someone promising like Masqood is benched for him either.

If you look at his stats, since the beginning of 2009, he has played 82 ODIS, for the most part he has batted very high and as Pakistan play a lot in Asia, quite a few roads. He has scored one century in that time, and 13 fifties at a strike rate of 70 with an average of 25.

He has played 5 ODIS in Australia and has averaged 13, and in New Zealand he averages a majestic 20.

Sorry but that is complete and utter rubbish.

 

[Niall]

Come on, Hafeez hasn't been able to bowl for all of five minutes and he isn't a terrible ODI batsman. He has done the job quite a lot for Pakistan. I wouldn't necessarily be starting with him but he definitely deserves to be in the team.

Agreed. and while I am doubtful about Hafeez opening in Aus/NZ, at least I am somewhat confident he would do quite well down the order if they were ever to move Safaraz up the order. Hafeez has scored a lot of runs in the last few years and yes quite a few have came on roads, but heh at least he scored them unlike others who have failed in such favourable conditions.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm glad we copped some Afridi and Irfan tonight. Pity we only have one more game. Sri Lanka were an excellent test (probably one of the strongest tbh) of how we bowl to powerful top fives and take on world class spin bowling and medium pace swing bowling, but we haven't seen a good death hitter or a pace and bounce bowler since South Africa.

Gauging the various teams around the world has been tough. We're getting good preparation because a combined Pakistan/Sri Lanka side would probably win the World Cup but we won't get a look at Australia before the World Cup. We know we're gonna die if we play South Africa without all our best players because we got smashed. We missed Malinga as much as Sri Lanka did imo.

South Africa are preparing by playing a side that's just being ridiculously daft on and off the field atm and their loss the other day to the West Indies was probably the best thing that could happen to them. Likewise for the West Indies it will give them confidence to know they can beat the big guns in their backyard.

India are being lame so Australia get less preparation than they would like and I have no idea what Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are doing.

Honestly, England have probably had the best prep. They're facing an awesome all round side or an awesome batting line up every game. They don't have the best players but they've got the best practice.

 

[Antihippy]

Our BMac has an average of 30 after 239 games, and he is regarded as one of our best, and he had that captaincy issue a couple of years ago, but I see most people are pretty chill about him now.

Sorry don't know where you are from, just seeing a few posts by different users been quite...unimpressed with Younis for on and off field stuff, reminds me of Pakistani stars' house getting burnt down in 1999 (or 2003) after the WC.

BMac played as a wicketkeeper batsman for the majority of his career (though I can't remember when he dropped the gloves in ODIs) and his SR is 90.

Not really that comparable honestly.

 

[Athlai]

BMac played as a wicketkeeper batsman for the majority of his career (though I can't remember when he dropped the gloves in ODIs) and his SR is 90.

Not really that comparable honestly.

Jayawardene?

Younis Khan is definitely not a great ODI batsman, but he is certainly a serviceable one and Pakistan have frequently struggled to have any sort of reliable batting lineup. He is probably a worse ODI batsman than Hafeez but he still has value to the team.

Probably wouldn't make it if Pakistan actually played Fawad Alam but that'll never happen.

 

[Greenlite]

We get a warm up game against SA do that might help, but I doubt they would give us a look at their top 3 pacemen.

Maybe when the WC start NZ will have a surprise arrangement for their bowling line up, I think they opened Cairns in 1999 (or vise versa) for instance, I would think Hessan and Bond has some tricks and not show their hands now. I might be wrong though.

 

[Prince EWS]

Lots of players have long careers and end up with mediocre averages that don't represent their value for various reasons -- the longer your career, the more likely you are to have a trough, get used in a role that doesn't suit you or get used in a role not condusive to good stats even if you do it well. Career averages aren't very useful in judging whether someone warrants their place now if they've played as many games as Younis has, but the real problem lies in this:

If you look at his stats, since the beginning of 2009, he has played 82 ODIS, for the most part he has batted very high and as Pakistan play a lot in Asia, quite a few roads. He has scored one century in that time, and 13 fifties at a strike rate of 70 with an average of 25.

He's declined rather than shaken off a poor start. I know he tonned up pretty soon after his recall but he really shouldn't have been recalled when he was IMO. Maybe he'll prove me wrong at the World Cup but I really don't think he should be in the side.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Maybe when the WC start NZ will have a surprise arrangement for their bowling line up, I think they opened Cairns in 1999 (or vise versa) for instance, I would think Hessan and Bond has some tricks and not show their hands now. I might be wrong though.

I reckon there will be at least one game where we go for a strangle strategy instead of a take wickets strategy. This would involve Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Mills and Southee most likely.

For example, we might come up against SA and decide that they're too good to risk trying to bowl them out at the expense of conceding a higher run rate, and frankly we'd rather that de Villiers and Miller faced fewer balls anyway. So we open with Mills and perhaps even Vettori and try to get them 70-80/1 at the 20 over mark.

The reasoning would be that even if they bat out their fifty, we can still score faster than them with hitters like Guptill, McCullum, Anderson, Ronchi, Taylor et al.

 

[Antihippy]

Jayawardene?

Younis Khan is definitely not a great ODI batsman, but he is certainly a serviceable one and Pakistan have frequently struggled to have any sort of reliable batting lineup. He is probably a worse ODI batsman than Hafeez but he still has value to the team.

Probably wouldn't make it if Pakistan actually played Fawad Alam but that'll never happen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a judgement on whether Younis khan deserves a place in the side, just saying that the comparison between him and BMac is pretty superfluous.

 

[Niall]

Lots of players have long careers and end up with mediocre averages that don't represent their value for various reasons -- the longer your career, the more likely you are to have a trough, get used in a role that doesn't suit you or get used in a role not condusive to good stats even if you do it well. Career averages aren't very useful in judging whether someone warrants their place now if they've played as many games as Younis has, but the real problem lies in this:



He's declined rather than shaken off a poor start. I know he tonned up pretty soon after his recall but he really shouldn't have been recalled when he was IMO. Maybe he'll prove me wrong at the World Cup but I really don't think he should be in the side.

He averages 23 in World Cup cricket after 15 matches in it, 2 fifties one of those against Kenya. Its pretty impossible to justify his spot whatever way you want to look at it. His last world cup performance was against India where he smashed 13 of 32 balls in the world cup semi final. Misbah gets hammered a lot for his odd innings, but Younis was nearly as bad, his innings really hurt the chase.

Mahela has been named in this page, as another with a mediocre ODI record, but he gets some sort of pardon as his world cup final innings was magnificent. I still don't think he has done as good as he should have in ODI cricket, but I'd be more confident of him in the world cup than Younis.

The only positive I can say for Younis, if Berdych can hammer Nadal in a Slam, then heck anything is possible and he may have a splendid world cup. Doubtful though.

 

[smash84]

This is easily the worst ever pakistan side going into a world cuP. Its going to be very painful watching them. Batting is so ****e its depressing. **** you selectors

 

[Prince EWS]

This is easily the worst ever pakistan side going into a world cuP. Its going to be very painful watching them. Batting is so ****e its depressing. **** you selectors

I don't think the selectors picked the best squad they could.. but the batting being **** isn't something better selection would have solved. Pakistan's batting stocks are just poor right now, particularly for games in Oceania.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I don't think the selectors picked the best squad they could.. but the batting being **** isn't something better selection would have solved. Pakistan's batting stocks are just poor right now, particularly for games in Oceania.

Definitely would've helped the squad if Fawad was in instead of Younis and literally anyone instead of Shafiq.

 

[Prince EWS]

Definitely would've helped the squad if Fawad was in instead of Younis and literally anyone instead of Shafiq.

Yeah I agree; the selectors did not do a good job. I still think the batting would've been **** if they picked their best squad though tbh.

 

[Niall]

Yeah I agree; the selectors did not do a good job. I still think the batting would've been **** if they picked their best squad though tbh.

Pretty much. The only player we all agree should be in the squad is Alam and probably for Younis but that's it really. They gave the likes of Jamshed, Shafiq, Amin and Malik numerous chances over the years and they never really took advantage. The likes of Babar Azam and Sami Aslam could be stars but its way to early to be even considering them.

Ultimately no matter what batting combinations they selected, its the bowling which will determine their success or lack of it, they need to get Junaid and Wahab fit.

Hafeez getting cleared will also be crucial as well.

 

[OverratedSanity]

He averages 23 in World Cup cricket after 15 matches in it, 2 fifties one of those against Kenya. Its pretty impossible to justify his spot whatever way you want to look at it. His last world cup performance was against India where he smashed 13 of 32 balls in the world cup semi final. Misbah gets hammered a lot for his odd innings, but Younis was nearly as bad, his innings really hurt the chase.

That Younis innings was so terrible... he was extremely lucky Misbah got all the blame.

 

[Niall]

That Younis innings was so terrible... he was extremely lucky Misbah got all the blame.

Think he also dropped Sachin as well, although who didn't on that day.