**Official** Pakistan in Australia Thread

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Argh, typed up a long post, only for me to get a server error when I clicked to reply... So I'll shorten what I had to say here...

A good 2.5-3 days of cricket (well from my perspective anyway!) A great performance from the WA boys put Pakistan to waste (for the 2nd time).

There were however a few players who looked good and showed a few good signs for Pakistan. (This is going on the 3 warmup games so far, vs Chairmans XI, vs WA 2nds and vs WA)

Salman Butt - The young bloke looks very good. Was steady at the crease, and wasn't afraid to play his shots. He stuck around at the crease and looked pretty comfortable.

Danish Kaneria - Troubled the batsmen in all 3 games. Had them playing and missing, unsure whether to go back or to come down the pitch. He got some good turn and bounce on the WACA pitch, which is pretty rare for our WACA, it isn't known for being a spinners deck! At first glance in the first match I thought he was one of the Pakistani young pace bowlers (Asif or Khalil). Extremely tall for a leggie, which gives him some good angle and bounce. He Kaneria might trouble the aussie batsmen a bit.

Abdul Razzaq - Stuck around with the bat. Did very well batting with the tail and co. Scored some useful runs, looked to be quiet handy down the order there. His bowling was pretty ordinary, but that pretty much describes the whole Pakistan bowling attack over the last 3 days!

I'm no expert on Pakistan cricket, but I noticed the wicket takers against them (Justin Coetzee - 10 wickets, Brett Dorey - 8 wickets) are all extremely tall quicks. Brett Dorey is around the 204cm mark, Justin Coetzee is around the 194cm mark. Now with their height, combined with the WA pitches seemed to have the Pakistani's rattled. Taking into account the caught behinds there were, it is reasonable to say they have struggled against the tall quicks so far.

I've got a few pictures of Lilac Hill and the game @ the WACA. May aswell chuck em up here.

BTW - Richard, commentating on the pitch from England again?

 

[wahindiawah]

Panic Stations For Pak

australia should leave it as is, mainly because akhtar is a bigger threat than any of their batsmen are.

He's not even match fit and he's probably going to trouble his own captain with his lackluster performance

READ THIS

Panic stations for Pakistan
By Chloe Saltau
December 12, 2004
The Sun-Herald

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Two former Pakistan captains yesterday forecast a grim tour for Inzamam-ul-Haq's team against the might of Australia, criticising fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar as the tourists suffered another feeble collapse and tour match defeat ahead of the first Test.

Former batsmen Aamir Sohail and Rameez Raja both cast doubts on the fitness of Akhtar, who has bowled only short spells in Pakistan's warm-up matches, and on the ability of Pakistan's fragile batting line-up to withstand the inevitable assault from Australia's pacemen at the WACA Ground when the series starts on Thursday.

Indeed, Pakistan's most in-form batsman is 20-year-old opener Salman Butt, who has played only one Test and yesterday added a 47 to his 42 in the first innings against the Warriors and his fighting one-day century in the Lilac Hill festival match.

Pakistan only just managed a score big enough to make WA bat again, and were all out for 174, with a negligible lead of 32. WA chased the runs in five overs for a 10-wicket win.

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AdvertisementPakistan were again humbled by fast bowler Brett Dorey, who only weeks ago was an anonymous paceman for Fremantle without a state contract and yesterday captured 5-41 in his third first-class match.

Captain Inzamam failed again, caught sharply in the gully by Shaun Marsh, making 14 after underwhelming scores of 16 and four in his previous warm-up innings.

"I've toured Australia four or five times and the first few matches have always been difficult for Pakistan because of the adjustment factor," Rameez said. "But this particular team will need to do a lot of hard work and homework, because except for Inzamam and [Yousuf] Youhana I don't see any world-class athletes in the batting line-up."

Both said there was not enough back-up for the main bowlers, Shoaib, Mohammad Sami and leg spinner Danish Kaneria.

"I personally think that Shoaib Akhtar will struggle in Australia to pick up wickets, because I think he is not match fit," Sohail said.

"Sami is touring for the first time in Australia so he will find it difficult to find the right length at the WACA [Ground]. Most bowlers have really struggled at the WACA because they think the bounce is too much, they try to bend their back, but they forget you have to find the right length to really create problems for the batsmen," he added.

"Danish Kaneria can make a difference provided the fast bowlers can pick up early wickets. If the fast bowlers don't pick up early wickets, then it's going to be a huge pressure on Danish Kaneria and I don't think he's going to be able to sustain that.

"If [Shoaib] is not bowling fast I don't think he's very effective because his main strength was reverse swing. If you're not match fit, then you have your problems. Either he's not match fit or he's been asked not to bowl very fast. In both cases, the team is going to suffer."

Rameez said Shoaib, who took 2-41 in 17 overs in the first innings against WA, needed to take more responsibility in a young side.

"There's always been a question mark over his fitness and there have been calls to shorten his run-up," he said. "I think he needs to bowl more and he needs to get into action rather quickly because there's hardly any time now. He's got to take the workload. In this team he's got to be a star and try to take the responsibility by bowling more overs and taking the attack to the opposition."

Pakistan will begin the Test series after two confidence-shaking losses, to WA and a WA second XI, and a less-than comprehensive one-day win over a Cricket Australia Chairman's XI.

 

[imranrabb]

thanks for the match report AUST_HiTMaN

 

[vandemataram]

Well BOB Woolmer should now think twice before shooting his mouth off. When Pakistan arrived in Australia BOB came with a wierd claim tthat Pakistan can beat Australia and he knew how Australian can be beaten by his side.now the the first test is just around the corner BOB is saying that his side cannot beat anyone at the moment!

I wonder if PCB is paying BOB to coach pakistan team or to making them a big laugh

 

[vandemataram]

It will be interesting to see How Salman Butt perform in the test matches, he seems to be the only batsman with some promise in this pakistan team.

 

[Tony Blade]

I wonder if PCB is paying BOB to coach pakistan team or to making them a big laugh

I think they are paying him to make them laugh. It just would not be appropriate otherwise.

 

[imranrabb]

i wonder if they did pay bob to make them laughing stock.Yes after beating india 4 times in a row we are laughing stocks.

 

[vandemataram]

i wonder if they did pay bob to make them laughing stock.Yes after beating india 4 times in a row we are laughing stocks.

So just beating India in onedayers makes you happy? I guess by now everyone is well aware of the limitations of Pak cricketers, i mean with a bunch of half-skilled baatsmen Pakistan cannot even think of matching Australia in Australia (like India did earlier while playing in Aus) or even matching India (playing anywhere) in the longer format of cricket!

 

[Dasa]

Can't you two give it a rest?

 

[Choora]

I think there is no point in playing Imran F or Yasir Hameed as they are totally out of sorts. Afridi can't do the job in australia, maybe Pakistan should try out malik as an opener. My 11 would be,


Malik
Butt
Inzi
Youhanna
Younis
Razzak
Akmal
Sami
Akhter
Danish
Khalil.

 

[Jono]

Can't you two give it a rest?

Agreed.

 

[bryce]

can't wait for the series as it is being televised in NZ which is a real suprise since not even the NZ tours to Sri Lanka and Pakistan(the Inzi 329 one) were televised here.

 

[imranrabb]

So just beating India in onedayers makes you happy? I guess by now everyone is well aware of the limitations of Pak cricketers, i mean with a bunch of half-skilled baatsmen Pakistan cannot even think of matching Australia in Australia (like India did earlier while playing in Aus) or even matching India (playing anywhere) in the longer format of cricket!

I recall when india played australia,they were missing mcgrath and warne.

 

[biased indian]

I recall when india played australia,they were missing mcgrath and warne.

Did both Macgrath and Warne played in the practise match that Pakistan lost yesterday

 

[imranrabb]

baised indian if you check indias warm up matches in oz you will see they struggled too

 

[Mister Wright]

It's not only that. On a pitch where support is being given to your fast bowlers, you need to give support to your batsmen. Three fast bowlers are enough, and anything more is redundant, not to mention counterproductive.

The other option is to leave Warne out, he only averages about 45 at the WACA. They've left out spinners before at the WACA.

 

[Mr Casson]

The other option is to leave Warne out, he only averages about 45 at the WACA. They've left out spinners before at the WACA.

Yeah that'd be fine. I don't have a problem with a "horses for courses" policy, as long as the selectors are consistent about it and do not hesitate dropping players like Warne despite their reputations.

 

[marc71178]

That would be a major shock - can't see it myself.

 

[biased indian]

The other option is to leave Warne out, he only averages about 45 at the WACA. They've left out spinners before at the WACA.

but warne does have a good record aganist PAk

 

[biased indian]

baised indian if you check indias warm up matches in oz you will see they struggled too

i dont remember how many games we got last year or how we performed, but i think we were not that bad