Thursday, December 22, 2005

Shabbir to retire?

This is not good. As is being reported everywhere, Shabbir Ahmed is contemplating quitting the game after a ban imposed on him due to concerns with his action. The PCB needs to take this seriously and determine what faults there are in Shabbir's delivery method and try to address them. Granted at 29, these changes will not be easy, but Shabbir has too much heart and bowls too well to be abandoned by the PCB at the first hint of trouble. This is the time for the PCB to lay their politics aside and get a senior pacer from the past to sit down and work with Shabbir to correct any discrepancies in his action.

The ICC must look within itself also. I realize that the competition committee is composed of representatives from all countries, but why is it that only cricketers from the subcontinent are being called for concerns about their bowling actions? What is the disconnect here? If there is no disconnect, are there problems with the game at the domestic level in the subcontinent? What is the issue? The ICC owes it to cricket to sort this out.

0 comments: