Category: Pakistan

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Cricket for Americans, Jan. 5 2019: Neither here nor there

Day three of the South Africa v Pakistan Test in Cape Town is on in the background. It’s 4:23 in the afternoon there, and a balmy 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Pakistan is batting in their second innings there at the bottom of the world. I am sitting at my kitchen table in St. Paul, Minn. It’s 30 degrees Fahrenheit here at 8:23 in the morning.

Cape Town is 8,808 miles away. But the signal from Willow.TV is clear and clean and perfect.

It’s a big old world, but it’s also a magical one.

Sure, we were promised flying cars and jet packs and day trips to the moon, but this is pretty good too. I get to sit in my apartment in Minnesota and watch a Test match on the other side of the world, live and in color, with only probably a 30 second delay. If that’s not the future delivering on a promise, then I don’t know what is.

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Pakistan are 214 for five. That is to say, they have scored 214 runs and lost five wickets. If they lose five more, they are dismissed. They only scored 177 runs in their first innings, while South Africa scored 431, so they have to score at least 36 runs to make South Africa bat again, and a whole lot more than that if they want to win the match or force a draw. In other words, it’s South Africa’s Test to win, but Pakistan is putting up a good fight here this afternoon, which is lovely to see. Pakistan has always been a favorite of mine. A friend once told me that while they won’t always win, they will always entertain, and I have always found that to be true. They are a real joy to watch, they play fun, swashbuckling cricket with a swagger and a smile. And their fight this afternoon is a great advertisement for Test cricket

If you are looking for a team to support this summer at the World Cup, may I suggest Pakistan. Their first match of the tournament is at 4:30am Central US Time on May the 31st.

Personally, I don’t have a team. I never really have. I have tried. But nothing has stuck. Pakistan, England, New Zealand, IPL squads, County Cricket teams, like water through my hands. But that’s never really taken away from my enjoyment of the game, in fact I think it only adds to it. I am a true neutral, and therefore while I never enjoy the highest of the highs, I also am never forced into the lowest of the lows. All I care about is if the cricket is enjoyable or not.

The game also just has so many wonderful personalities, and each match it seems a new cast rises to the top for us all to savor. And, in that way, it’s similar to golf or tennis — almost an individual sport in the guise of a team one. You can have your favorites and it doesn’t matter which uniform they are wearing. And while I am a neutral, this is true for most fans of the game. If a player scores a beautiful ton or double ton away from home, the opposing home crowd will applaud the effort, express the appreciation for his wonderful batting. It’s one of those little cricket intricacies that I love.

In Cape Town, Pakistan are collapsing to 221 for 7. They have three wickets left and 33 runs to get. The match is slipping away from them and there’s nothing they can do. South Africa is running downhill now. But I am neither overjoyed nor am I miserable. I am simply enjoying the cricket, the shadows long in the late afternoon at the bottom of the world. The crowd murmuring, bits of song, voices rising with each potential wicket. Players in white against the green of the Newlands’ turf. The sound of bat defending ball, of bowlers racing in, of batsmen tapping their bats against the hardness of pitch. The commentators droning on, their voices like music. Pakistan fighting on despite the odds.

Saturday afternoon in Cape Town.

8,000 miles away.

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Cricket for Americans, Jan. 3 2019: from Neesham to Pujara

A busy day in cricket yesterday. New Zealand beat Pakistan by 45 runs in a One Day International that saw the return of James Neesham: who crushed 47 runs off of just 13 deliveries — including five sixes in one over — and would have cruised to the fastest ODI half century ever had New Zealand not simply run out of overs. Then the all-rounder came back and took three Pakistani wickets to seal the game.

And he wasn’t even Man of the Match! Those plaudits fell to veteran opener Martin Guptill who’s run-a-ball 138 to kickoff New Zealand’s innings were enough to put them into a good position and keep them there all day. With the World Cup around the corner, you have to give some thought to the idea that this might finally be New Zealand’s time. They currently rank third in the ICC’s ODI rankings behind England and India. And while you have to make England the favorite this summer on their home turf, New Zealand are really making a case for themselves. Either way, things are setting up for what should be a tight, highly competitive tournament this summer in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, up the road a bit in Sydney, India won the toss and chose to bat on the first day of the fourth and final Test against Australia, with a chance to take the series 3-1 before they move into the ODI stage of the tour. And boy oh boy bat they did, highlighted by Cheteshwar Pujara who continued his run of good form, scoring a slow-burn 130 not-out to lead Australia to 303 for four wickets at the close of play.

It really was a tale of two batsmen then. First you have Neesham, who scored 47 off of 13 in probably like 15 minutes — while Pujara has defended his way to three centuries already this tour and has spent over 30 hours at the wicket since the Indian plane landed in Melbourne. Many people have said that batsmen like Neesham who revel in the shorter forms of the game will end up ruining Test cricket’s methodical pacing, and so they will be warmed to hear of Pujara’s success down-under these past few weeks.

I believe, personally, that there is room for all styles of batsmen in cricket, no matter the format. And new styles will only serve to provide more color to older formats. It’s a big old world, and there’s plenty of cricket, let’s mix it up now and again. It gives the game a variety that other sports simply don’t have. Neesham and Pujara are barely even playing the same sport, and yet somehow they are.

And people have been saying that this or that is going to finally be the nail in Test cricket’s coffin, and it never is, because there will always be people like Cheteshwar Pujara who simply like to bat, and score runs, and want to do it all day, no matter the format or the venue.

It takes all kinds. And yesterday we saw two of them. Cricket is infinitely interesting. And the above is just one example of its near constant state of curiosity. It’s an old bat and ball sport played with 22 people on empty fields of green yet somehow every day it throws up something different for us all to enjoy. You tune in one day and watch a muscle-bound hulk score 50 runs in 20 minutes, and you tune in the next and watch a skinny kid bat all damn day. It’s almost a miracle.

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Sri Lanka A v England Lions at Colombo (RPS), 5th unofficial ODI

I was planning on writing a post on the Woolf report. Summing up the main points, giving my own thoughts…etc.

But then I read this post over on Idle Summers and realized that it said everything that needed to be said. I highly recommend it.

Back on the pitch:

Pakistan finished off the 3-0 white wash of England. There will be commentary galore over the next few weeks from every corner of the Internet: what went wrong for England? What went right for Pakistan? Are the ICC ratings a sham? Should the ECB sack Flower and Strauss?

All good questions, surely, but I  as I have mentioned several times a strong Pakistan is great for world cricket.  I am really excited about the result.  I am going to enjoy it for a bit before deconstructing it.

Also, if South Africa can do the job down in New Zealand in March, their test series in England this summer will decide who is number one in the world, just like last year’s England v India tests.  Now that is something to look forward to.

But: watch out South Africa. New Zealand are not pushovers. They look a very strong side. Lest we forget they just recently defeated Australia at Hobart; the same Australian side that dismantled India.

And what’s next for Pakistan? They host Bangladesh for three tests in April, and then head to Sri Lanka in August for three more.

Down the road a bit, in February of 2013, they travel to South Africa for three tests: another series that could very well decide the world test number one.

Lots and lots to look forward to.

Until next time.

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South Africa Under-19s v Pakistan Under-19s at Stellenbosch, Tri-Nation Under-19s Tournament

On the pitch:

Last night, while I slept, on the other side of the earth: Pakistan humbled England, and the two openers in Chennai batted on and on and on.

Re: the former: When I woke up and checked the score on my phone, at first I was a little confused. Pakistan had gotten to 338 in the first innings, okay, and then it appeared as if England were 160 for none in their second innings, but something didn’t look right, and then I saw it: “Pakistan won by 15 runs.”

England were not 160/0, they were 160 all out, bowled out by Gul and Ajmal. Then Hafeez and Umar came back out, batted for just shy of 30 minutes, and won the match.

Amazing turn of events.

I have not had a chance to read any commentary, any punditry, not even any tweets, but I must say this: England are in real trouble; they are going to lose this series.

Not 48 hours ago, I was reading articles from England fans saying that they had a real chance to win not just every series in 2012, but every match, as well.  And now the former dream is over, and the latter dream is in serious doubt.

Some might say that it is far too early to panic, that England is the number one test team on earth.

But, really, outside of the ICC rankings, are they?  Sure, we all know what happened last year: retaining the Ashes IN Australia, beatingSri Lanka 1-0 (thanks to one hapless day in Cardiff from the visitors), and white washing India (in England.) But they lost a series to the West Indies not three years ago, and before that most of the test results were mixed, at best.

Sure, the last two years have been a great run, but Bangladesh aside, they have not won outside of England or Australia since 2007/2008 in New Zealand; and they have not won on the subcontinent since 2000/2001 against Pakistana and Sri Lanka.

If we are going to lambaste India for losing outside of the subcontinent, then we need to paint England with similar strokes for their absolute failure to win in Asia.

And, yes, it is time to panic. They did not lose a squeaker in five days, they had their doors blown off, pure and simple.

Optimists will point to England’s resilient bowling as a silver lining, but I didn’t see resilient bowling, I saw bowling that allowed Pakistan to put up 338 runs on the same pitch that England were bowled out on for 192 and 160.  That’s not resilient bowling, that is troublesome and worrisome bowling.

And even if Monty Panesar comes into the squad and evens out the attack with more spin, then what of England’s batting?  I can only assume that the wicket will be similar in Abu Dhabi, and Pakistan surely will not make any squad changes, and this is an England side that saw the majority of its top order batsmen losing their wickets with single digit run totals.

Cook’s two innings total? Eight.

Pietersen’s? Two.

Bell’s? Four.

That’s 14 total runs from three of England’s best batsmen.

Troublesome.  Worrisome.

For England.

Pakistan on the other hand? They look unstoppable. Unfortunately, they will not be playing a test series against the other scorching hot team in world cricket, Australia, until the fall of 2014.

The second test of #pakveng starts on the 26th and it very well could be the most important test of 2012 for England.

Meanwhile, in Chennai, Rajasthan won the toss, put Tamil Nadu in the field, and Chopra and Saxena batted on and on and on and on. 221/0 – a big score in a match where the tiebreaker is first innings runs.

I had a lot of fun watching that match last night, and hope to be able to watch more tonight.

Also, tonight, look for a LimitedOvers style preview of the only New Zealand v Zimbabwe test.

Until then.