Kamran Abbasi
Cricket needs to stop being parochial
The best Associates need a shot at Test cricket immediately, as opposed to the more tedious pathway via the Intercontinental Cup
Kamran Abbasi
13-May-2015
This year, Kumar Sangakkara was Wisden's leading cricketer in the world. The greatest left-hand batsman since Brian Lara by some accounts. His country, little Sri Lanka with its population of 20 million, is a difficult Test side to beat. Muttiah Muralitharan is the leading wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket. Three thousand kilometres to the northeast, Bangladesh matched Pakistan in the first Test. Pakistan were embarrassed by the draw. They had beaten Bangladesh in every previous Test. A first victory against Pakistan can't be too far off for the Bengal Tigers.
When I started watching cricket in the 1970s neither Sri Lanka nor Bangladesh was a Test nation. The last country to be awarded Test status was Pakistan, in 1952. South Africa were exiled. Zimbabwe was known as a land of farmers and part-time cricketers. Test cricket was a small world. Television coverage was confined to home Test matches. Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies, India and Pakistan. That was the world of Test cricket. A six-nation tournament.
This week Namibia host Hong Kong in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. Dave Richardson, the ICC's chief executive, says this tournament "is now the platform for emerging nations to fulfil their ambitions of playing Test cricket". The winners of this round robin league, which includes Ireland and Afghanistan, will play the bottom-ranked Test side in 2018. What happens next? Ireland have won the competition four times in the last decade, yet they remain an Associate ICC member. Afghanistan have won it too. The current ICC pathway is too long and too slow.
Full postPakistan lost it in the middle of both innings
Their spinners exerted no pressure on India, and their batsmen largely brought about their own downfall
Kamran Abbasi
15-Feb-2015
India always beat Pakistan in World Cups, but rarely is it so comprehensive. India's game was at a higher level, a song of greater purity, on a memorable night in Adelaide, when supporters created a thunderous sound. With the one-day rules favouring batsmen, India will hope that this win is a rousing overture to better days in Australia. Pakistan, by contrast, have much to rectify. Misbah-ul-Haq's team played a dirge. We have been here before, Pakistan fans will say, although usually with better quality to perform a rescue.
Virat Kohli, India's champion, built his country's total with a measured hundred, well supported by Suresh Raina's hitting and some tight bowling from India's attack. With Kohli in this majestic form, India will challenge strongly for that fourth semi-final spot behind South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Early World Cup results generally count for little, and this tournament in particular offers every opportunity for major nations to qualify for the quarter-finals. Pakistan may be a different prospect in a month's time, but they will need to work hard to find a winning strategy and improve their form.
Full postDoes Amir have an automatic right to be rehabilitated into cricket?
Wrong-doers must be given a second chance, but not necessarily in the same profession they let down
Kamran Abbasi
09-Jan-2015
Ched Evans is a footballer trying to resurrect his career. He is also a convicted rapist. Evans says he is innocent and since his release from prison he is looking for a new football team. First, he made plans to train with his old club, Sheffield United, but the public outcry was such that Sheffield United distanced themselves from him. Any subsequent opportunities with other clubs have ended abruptly following protests and threats by sponsors to end deals. Evans and his supporters argue that he deserves a chance at rehabilitation.
A few weeks ago, Ramiz Raja questioned the rush to return Mohammad Amir to professional cricket. The crimes of Amir and his fellow spot-fixers are different to that of Evans, of course, but the principle championed by Amir's supporters is the same, that he deserves a chance at rehabilitation. Ramiz spoke from the heart, of how it would feel for other players to welcome back a cheat. Pakistan's linguistic innovator has also worked as chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board. He speaks from board and broad experience.
Rehabilitation of offenders is an important principle that has benefits for individuals and society. No doubt that Evans and Amir and other sportsmen who commit a crime during their sporting careers have every right to be rehabilitated, but the question is whether or not they have an automatic right to be rehabilitated back into the sport they have dishonoured?
Full postIs Sarfraz Ahmed Pakistan's best wicketkeeper-batsman ever?
He may only be 12 Tests old, but his stats so far and the calm assurance he showed in Dubai mark him as one to watch
Kamran Abbasi
22-Nov-2014
For a while, the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand hung in the balance. Pakistan lost their fifth wicket. It wasn't an ordinary wicket, an average player. It was Younis Khan, the form batsman in international cricket.
Younis approached another fifty. He fancied the flight of Mark Craig's offspinners. Pakistan's innings was shifting from a period of quiet reflection to full contemplation of an unlikely victory. Younis danced down the track. Craig dropped short in response. The ball turned and spat at Younis' face. He was only able to defend with a glove and divert it to the hands of slip. With Younis gone, New Zealand's moment had arrived. But Sarfraz Ahmed, the understated revelation of Pakistan's desert uprising, had other ideas.
It is hard to debate with people who don't like the concept of a drawn game after five days of play. They just don't get it. If you don't understand the value of a draw, the heroism in a stalemate, the fascination of a dogged session, Test cricket isn't for you. The sternest examination of temperament is often reserved for the final day, when players are forced to stick or twist and any mistake can bust your team's prospects.
Full postBatting: Pakistan's surprise weapon
An inexperienced bowling attack may have stunned Australia, but the batting had a bigger impact on the result, led by the genial Younis Khan
Kamran Abbasi
29-Oct-2014
Abandoning hope brings its benefits. All expectations are banished, any capacity for disappointment is exhausted. Exiled from a home in political tumult, shorn of world-class bowlers and any decent back-ups, trapped in a downward spiral of shocking form and results, the moment to abandon hope in the fortunes of Pakistan cricket was upon us. Except, the cricketers of Pakistan had not abandoned hope. They shook themselves free from a spiral of negativity. They found new heroes in men of inexperience. The cricketers of Pakistan created a tumultuous victory in their home in exile. It may be judged to be the most surprising performance ever.
A win in the results table doesn't tell the full story. Pakistan utterly dominated Australia, for session after session, day after day. This wasn't any team, this was Australia. And Australia fought. They might have struggled in the heat but Australia isn't exactly Alaska. They might have lulled themselves into false confidence but they should have shaken such complacency after the second day, if not the first. Australia fought with all their power to save this Test but it wasn't enough to touch Pakistan's performance. For once we can unequivocally say that Pakistan were that formidable. The cricketers of Pakistan were so good that Marais Erasmus, in an unprecedented act in the history of Test cricket, scrutinised the heavens for evidence of divine intervention before raising his finger at Peter Siddle and ending Australia's agony.
The unsung bowlers of Pakistan were impressive. Zulfiqar Babar, a kindly uncle in the grand tradition of Iqbal Qasim, mesmerised when mesmerism wasn't expected to feature in his straight-laced bag of tricks. Yasir Shah impressed on debut with energy and occasional vicious turn, which won over Shane Warne. If Yasir's first-innings dismissal of David Warner was a straight ball - Darren Lehmann take note - then Warne's Ball of the Century was a little drifter. Imran Khan had his moments too, including a yorker of which his namesake, the Great Khan, as well as Umar Gul, the less great man he most resembles, would have been equally proud.
Full postMisbah's place in Pakistan history
He was the next great leader after Abdul Kardar and Imran Khan, standing between Pakistan cricket and its end
Kamran Abbasi
14-Oct-2014
Misbah-ul-Haq is a sober man full of surprises. Defying age and adverse circumstances, Misbah has carried the responsibility for his country's cricket on ever more drooping shoulders. Sportsmen, and particularly their managers, who represent high-profile teams, love to mention the weight of the shirt that they are wearing: the expectations of supporters, their own ambitions, and the scrutiny of television cameras create an unbearable pressure for some players, whose best performances are reserved for low-intensity encounters.
Misbah is no such man. He has faced the demons of Pakistan cricket and clutched them to his bosom. Whether or not you agree with Misbah's methods, there should be no questioning his willingness to accept the immense challenge that Pakistan cricket has posed in this post-Mumbai, drone-war era. The team and Pakistan are first, says Misbah, on his surprise decision to step down from the final one-day match against Australia. It is a statement rarely heard from Pakistan cricketers, and hats off to you Misbah for it.
AH Kardar was the first to bend Pakistan cricket to his will, helping establish his nation as a competitive team in international cricket. Kardar was Pakistan cricket's first great leader, whose immense contribution is forgotten with the death of his contemporaries and our fading memories.
Full postMoeen Ali: England's man of the summer
He has won respect with his cricket doing the talking, not letting himself be crushed by shameful boos from fans
Kamran Abbasi
09-Sep-2014
In September, when the end-of-season gloom sets in, English cricket begins its anguish over a difficult winter to come. After all, it has been a mixed summer. The dominant narrative is the flaws in the one-day team at the expense of some outstanding Test performances against India. English cricket is lost, you might think?
Perhaps it is wrong to be so gloomy? The development of Joe Root and Gary Ballance is important for England's future. Progress isn't always best judged by results alone, though. Indeed, cricket is a greater story than that told by any scorecard, and in that sense the man of England's summer has been Moeen Ali.
His beard brought instant suspicion. A beard of such length and luxuriance always does, despite the best efforts of Hashim Amla to create a positive image for Islamic facial hair. It also invited questions about loyalty and purpose. And Moeen fell into a trap. He said that he was representing the Muslim faith - presumably in all innocence - but the journalists and commentators of the world are ready to pounce on any unqualified statement. They did. In our age of 140-character sound bites, context is nothing. Subsequent events have confirmed that Moeen's loyalty lies firmly with England. He does represent the Muslim faith too, but as an English Muslim of Pakistani heritage, and positive role models of that genre are to be embraced.
Full postThe spirit of cricket and the 15-degree rule
The phrase means nothing in this day and age; only the laws and playing regulations are of any importance
Kamran Abbasi
15-Aug-2014
What is the spirit of cricket? What does it mean? I'm prompted to these questions by Graham Cowdrey, former professional cricketer and son of Colin Cowdrey, a great England captain and an example of honourable behaviour in sport. When Colin Cowdrey was recalled for the Ashes tour of 1974-75 at the age of 42, to face Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in their prime on their home wickets, he answered his country's call and took bouncers and abuse with equal stoicism. When Michael Holding, another great and terrifying fast bowler, played the sport he now commentates on, his actions and an occasional stare were enough. No words or insults were required for Whispering Death's version of mental disintegration.
Graham Cowdrey laments the demise of the spirit of cricket. Why has abuse become acceptable? Why has it become common in every level of cricket, from Test cricket to junior cricket, to sledge the opposition? Cricket is a game of sufficient fascination and such immense challenge at the highest levels that discourtesy and invective aren't simply unnecessary, they are also destroying the sport. Can the MCC play a role in rekindling the spirit of cricket?
"The MCC are in a no-win situation with the spirit of cricket at present," says Graham Cowdrey. "Too many players, coaches, and sadly broadcasters on the game, go through periods when they profess not to know what the spirit of cricket stands for. The core values presented in the spirit of cricket are not difficult to understand - it's just convenient for many to turn it on and off like a tap.
Full postTeams cannot risk tours to Pakistan
The board must instead concentrate on developing offshore bases, strengthening domestic cricket, and getting other countries to host their A team
Kamran Abbasi
13-Jun-2014
An armoured vehicle is patrolling a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Armed police guide national teams through streets that are cordoned off in this enthralling city. Poverty and wealth are uneasy neighbours, the fuse of a powder keg ready to explode. Months of demonstrations, of civil unrest, of violence and protests, have been an unexpected build-up. Nonetheless a government struggling for control is welcoming the world and promising a safe passage for the planet's richest sportsmen and their wide-eyed supporters. This is perhaps how sport should be, crashing directly into the rocks of social division. Brazil, in football, is the prime example of sport as national expression, a representation of the ambitions of Brazilian people within a complex sociopolitical environment.
The World Cup, this glorious showcase for the beautiful game, was never in doubt. No security issue is considered too hazardous, no stadium is declared too unready. High-profile international sport in a volatile country is possible. We all know that it is. A successful tournament may even heal some of the social wounds and conflict that now threaten Brazil's favourite sport.
A similar argument once seemed reasonable when discussing international cricket teams touring Pakistan. The security threats were containable. The benefits to Pakistan cricket and society in general far outstripped the remote, almost non-existent, risk of harm.
Full postWhat price credibility in Pakistan cricket?
Pakistan cricket, like Pakistan itself, is about political and personal whims. There are no notions of honour among the powerful, and to expect people to act on principle is delusional
Kamran Abbasi
15-May-2014
Mushtaq Ahmed was the first cricketer I interviewed. It was 1996 and Pakistan had just defeated England in the Test at Lord's. Mushtaq spoke freely, almost at random. He was not yet an evangelical Muslim but he was already a hero, a World Cup winner in that famous year of 1992.
Manchester United have a Class of '92, Giggs, Scholes, Beckham et al, and Pakistan have their own. By a twist of fate, a cruel injury, Waqar Younis missed that World Cup campaign. But when he returned to cricket later in the year it felt like a second coming. Waqar was an utter sensation at the start of his career. He was pretty good after 1992, a world-class fast bowler, but he never quite recaptured the speed and the domination of his early years. Incidentally, Waqar was the second cricketer I interviewed. In contrast to Mushtaq, he didn't say much. He didn't need to, his feats spoke loudly enough.
Now those once-unsullied heroes of Pakistan cricket, are reunited at the helm. Waqar is national coach, Mushtaq his spin bowling ally. Moin Khan, class of '92 again, chairman of selectors. Thinking ahead during that 1992 bubble, a future combination of Waqar and Mushtaq might have seemed an unlikely prospect. Much can happeen in 22 years; strangely, more has happened than anybody ever expected.
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