Should we feel sorry for Woolmer?

Its probably good for Woolmer that in 3 months he won't have to deal with all the headaches of being a Pakistani coach. In one interview, two newspapers put a fairly different spin on the same comments, putting Woolmer in a bit of a bind when it comes to Imran Nazir. First, The News essentially tried to say that Woolmer was washing his hands off the whole Imran Nazir selection.

Direct Quote: "Imran Nazir was picked by the chairman of selectors and you should ask him why he is here," Woolmer told Pakistani reporters when asked to comment on Imran Nazir failure to find form in recent matches.


Further, The News from an unnamed correspondent goes on to say that Woolmer is unhappy with Nazir, but feels stuck with no other options at the #1/#2 position. Interesting, in another report on the same interview,
Dawn is reporting, that Woolmer stressed to the reporters to try and give Nazir a chance, as Pakistan really has no other options right now with Afridi being suspended. Woolmer even went as far as challenging the reporters and saying that why should they drop Imran after one game.

While I can understand Woolmer's desire to be given some time to settle things down, Imran Nazir hasn't shown himself to be the guy who could do with some more time. I think the time has come for Woolmer to cut his losses, play Kamran Akmal at the #2 position for one game, and then plug Afridi in, as Hafeez's partner. That is the only solution which I think could even conceivably work.

Technorati Tags: pakistan, cricket, world cup, bob woolmer, imran nazir, shahid afridi, kamran akmal

Akmal to open against Ireland?

Interesting thoughts from Woolmer. He appears willing to experiment for the upcoming matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe, in both the opening formats and also the lineup. I think a telling remark is the desire to have eight batsmen and six bowlers in the squad. The squad that played WI on the 13th had 7 batsmen, and 6 bowlers so not as versatile a squad as Woolmer now wants to have.

I must say, these comments sound pretty wishy-washy, "Maybe Imran Nazir will continue to open, maybe Kamran Akmal could open and Hafeez will drop down," Woolmer told reporters. "When Afridi comes back maybe he will open. At this stage one would hope that the batting lineup, which was supposed to be a strength of the side would be on firmer ground, yet that is obviously not the case.

As I have stated in earlier posts, the issue revolves around what happens with Azhar Mahmood/Yasir Arafat and Danish Kaneria and their role in the squad. The batting lineup is thin enough that Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez cannot be dropped willy-nilly at this point in the game. Getting Kamran Akmal to open is a thought, as he has gotten all of his ODI 100s and 50s from the opening spot. I like OH's suggestion to maybe whack Imran Nazir and send him back to Pakistan as injured, and bring back Yasir Hameed to maybe give Pakistan some more options from the batting side.

Kamran Akmal & Mohammad Hafeez to start, with Yousuf, Inzamam and Younis, in that order, gives Pakistan a lot more authority and versatility in the top order, further I just think Hafeez is a lot more reliable than Nazir. After the top 5, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi should be at 6 & 7 in whatever order, with Azhar Mahmood or Yasir Arafat at 8. The bowling can be rounded out with Gul, Rao and Naved or Sami. Keep Sami as far away as possible from this squad, and I really don't see any room for Danish in this squad.

This is not going to be easy for Woolmer.

Technorati Tags: pakistan, cricket, bob woolmer, world cup, kamran akmal, yasir hameed, imran nazir

No shock and awe, only implosion!

When Pakistan announced their ODI squad for South Africa, most of us were quiet surprised, and perhaps even hopeful. Kamran Abbasi, writing in his blog on CricInfo, thought that this strategy of bringing in Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi would pay dividends, by giving the Pakistani batting attack a form of "shock and awe". Well, after the only Twenty20 match against South Africa, I think there was more implosion rather than shock and awe for the Pakistani squad, losing the match by ten wickets. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez were the only batsmen that even looked like they were even close to settling in, reaching the 20s, and what about the shock and awe squad?

Abdul Razzaq: 10, Shahid Afridi 7, Imran Nazir: 5. Definitely seems more like implosion folks. Shahid Afridi in this situation, as much of a fan of his I am, needs to be on a short leash. If he does not come good in the next one or two ODIs, I think he should be sent back to Pakistan, and that is definitely when Fawad Alam needs a call up. I hate to sound like a broken record, but that kid looks special to me. Hopefully Pakistan do better in the ODIs than they did in the Twenty20 match.

Is this the squad?

Five changes to the Test squad. Danish Kaneria, Shahid Nazir, Faisal Iqbal and Asim Kamal are definitely coming back, while it appears that patience has run out with Imran Farhat as well, or as according to this report, Kamran Akmal might be coming back from South Africa. Wasim Bari has brought back Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmed and Abdur Rehman as expected, but the recall of Shahid Afridi is a positive step and hopefully it will pay dividends. What I find intriguing, is the selection of Imran Nazir to the squad.

For the last four months, Pakistan has been remarkably patient with the opening combination of Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez, albeit with limited success in South Africa. Given this situation, one would have thought that there might be thought to either returning to Salman Butt, who has been performing well in domestic cricket, or perhaps going a different route altogether. Imran Nazir has been burning up domestic cricket for the past few seasons, scoring at around 45 a click, and I have no beef with him. It would have been interesting to see Fawad Alam being given a shot, specially given his performances this past while. Well, I hope Imran Nazir does well, we need a young batsman to finally come through.

Probable XI (or Ahmer's XI!): Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir or Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naved, Mohammad Asif, Abdur Rehman

Technorati Tags: pakistan, cricket, imran nazir, fawad alam, shahid afridi, salman butt