Pakistani cricket

At stumps on the first day of the Pakistan v Sri Lanka Test Sri Lanka are 245-2. It’s not been a good day for Pakistan, but the scoreline is not the worst of their problems. The ICC have been given access to all the evidence collected by the CPS with regard to the spot-fixing case and are now looking into Pakistan’s matches before the scandal broke. It’s impossible to know what they will find, of course. It may be that all of the allegations are groundless. Any cricket fan will be desperately hoping that is the case, but it does beg the question of what to do if it’s not.

If it transpires that most or all of Pakistan’s matches are suspect and that there is a culture of fixing in the Pakistan side, as have been alleged, what could be done? It would be a problem far too deep to simply eradicate with bans, or the threats thereof. It would not be feasible to throw Pakistan out of cricket until they get their house in order, but on the other hand how could anyone watch them play with any confidence? The one saving grace is that most of the current side are different from the one that toured England, but if the corruption is set into the administration that would count for little in the long run.

Of all the things that have come out in the trial (including the desperately sad testimony by Amir about his pride of playing for Pakistan) this is, for me, the saddest. There does not seem to be any good outcome that is reasonably likely. The best that could happen is that the ICC finds no evidence of further corruption. It doesn’t look likely, but for now we have to keep our fingers crossed.

Guilty

Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have both been found guilty of conspiracy to cheat (unanimously) and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments (by a 10-2 majority). It was also revealed today that Mohammad Amir had pleaded guilty to the charges. Their sentences will be handed down later this week; Butt faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

I am glad to see that they were found guilty; any other verdict would have cast doubt on the ICC’s decision earlier this year. It is also a welcome change from the general dithering that has previously accompanied fixing allegations. I’m not convinced that it is a good idea for the courts to meddle in a case of sport, but in this case it did work out well.

I do hope, however, that the jail sentences are not harsh. I doubt that they will act as a deterrent more than the existing bans would. What I would like is for the ICC to use this to enforce the suspended aspect of the bans, but that does not seem feasible. Hopefully this is the end of the matter and in future we will not have to question every dropped catch. I’m not sure how feasible that is either.

The TV’s been off

I was planning to write this morning about how either the Texas Rangers had won the World Series with substandard pitching or how the Cardinals had forced a Game Seven for the first time (in the World Series) since 2002. But instead the game was postponed mid afternoon as it was clear that it was going to rain all day. Well worse things have happened in Bangladesh.

I couldn’t stay up to watch Pakistan play Sri Lanka, but so far the match is following much the same course as the first test with Sri Lanka bowled out cheaply in the first innings and Pakistan on course for a big lead after the second day. Also like the first match, Pakistan are scoring at under three an over. They’ll probably need to get a move on.

I couldn’t watch the England Women’s T20 against South Africa because it wasn’t on, but England won comfortably again. South Africa posted 128-6 off their 20 overs, with Alison Hodgkinson making 51 off 37 balls before being run out. England chased down the runs with almost three full overs to spare. Laura Marsh was out for a duck, but Charlotte Edwards scored 49 off 46 and Sarah Taylor made exactly fifty off just 33 deliveries. Those were the only three to fall for England, who now lead the three match series 1-0.

Catches win matches

Pakistan ought to have won the first test against Sri Lanka. The match was drawn despite the fact that Sri Lanka were bowled out for 197 in the first innings and it never rained. Sri Lanka fought very well in the second innings, Kumar Sangakkara scored a brilliant double ton, but Pakistan did not allow themselves enough time to force a result. Perhaps they had watched the Cardiff test and assumed that Sri Lanka would roll over again. Whatever the reason, Pakistan didn’t make much of an effort to kick on in their first innings. The only batsman who looked like he was batting for a declaration was Misbah-ul-Haq who scored a quick 46 before being unfairly given out. That dismissal made it 436-4, but the new batsman, Asad Shafiq proceeded to crawl to 26 off of 94 deliveries! To cap his disaster of an innings he ran out his partner, the double centurion Taufeeq Umar. It was a dreadful innings, especially in the circumstance. When Umar Gul was out for a duck it brought the declaration on 511-6. Pakistan had scored at less than three an over. Although Shafiq was the worst culprit, both Azhar Ali and Younis Khan had strike rates of only 35.

This left Pakistan just over two days to bowl out Sri Lanka with a lead of 314. They still ought to have done this, although the conditions favoured the batsman. They got one wicket before close on the third day; a fortunate one as Tony Hill unfairly gave Paranavitana out LBW first ball. They took only four wickets on day four however and dropped five catches. They put down another on the last day, though by that time Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene had already steered Sri Lanka to safety. Sangakkara’s 211 will have been particularly galling; he was reprieved multiple times.

I’ll be interested to see how Pakistan go from here. The next test is on Wednesday in Dubai and the conditions are unlikely to improve. They gambled a bit by playing Junaid Khan in this test ahead of Wahab Riaz, but he very much justified his place and was arguably Pakistan’s best bowler in the match. (Umar Gul is the other possibility.) I doubt Pakistan will make any changes, they played well overall, but they need to improve their fielding.

KHAAAAN!

I’ve known for a while that Junaid Khan was a very good bowler. Specifically I’ve known this since he played for Lancashire in the FLT20 and was probably the single biggest reason why we made it to Finals Day. (And his subsequent absence probably cost us the semi-final, but there was nothing to be done about that.) So I like to see him do well, especially in the longer form. And did he do well! He took 5-38 as Sri Lanka were skittled for 197, and Pakistan were without Amir and Asif!

Pakistan won the toss and rather surprisingly elected to field first on a flat deck and in very hot conditions. (Though the match is in the UAE, so all conditions are very hot.) Sri Lanka, however, never got going and went into lunch on 50-1. Khan was actually the second change bowler (Mohammad Hafeez, a spinner, came on first) and did not take a wicket until the middle of the 49th over when he had Mahela Jayawardene caught at first slip. The wicket made Sri Lanka 112-5, with the first four having been shared around the other three main bowlers. Very soon thereafter Khan was on a hat trick. He clean bowled Prasanna Jayawardene with a brilliant yorker (so familiar to those who watched Lancs in the FLT20 this season) off the last ball of the 49th over to give him two wickets in four deliveries and then began the 50th over by trapping Ragnara Herath LBW. This was the nadir of the Sri Lankan innings with the score 114-7. Khan didn’t get his hat-trick and Angelo Mathews, the only batsman to look fluent in the innings, steadied the ship with Suranga Lakmal in a partnership of 54. Gul ultimately broke the partnership and Khan quickly blew away the last two with pace.

It’s only the first day of the first match of a series of course, but I expect England will be looking on with some interest. The England v Pakistan series last summer belonged to the bowlers, but I certainly didn’t think the UAE leg would. That may still be the case, of course, as I expect England to bat better than Sri Lanka did. (Not that Sri Lanka batted abysmally, though it wasn’t great, more that England are simply more talented.) But it does mean that England will have to bat sensibly and cannot take big runs for granted. The bowlers will certainly have their work cut out for them and this shows that if the batsman lose their concentration England could find themselves up against it very quickly.