South Africa v Pakistan

[King]

?Pak will do better than India' - Younis Khan New Delhi, January 10: Younis Khan Pakistan vice-captain Younis Khan is confident his team will fare better on their South African tour than India, who lost the Test series 2-1. The team gave a good account of themselves in the practice match against Rest of South Africa and Younis, who scored 76, said the team was in a positive frame of mind going into the three-Test series against the Proteas starting in Centurion on January 11. "It is just as well we started on the front foot because we have only a few days before the first Test. I am confident we can do better than India, who narrowly lost the series here," he wrote in a website. "We have a strong and well balanced squad and the bowlers in particular are looking good," he said. India lost the recent series against Graeme Smith's men after winning the first Test in Johannesburg before going down in Durban and Cape Town. Younis, one of the mainstays of Pakistan batting, has returned to cricket after the death of his brother Farman Ali Khan in a car accident in Germany last month. The Pakistan vice-captain had also lost his father and another brother not too long ago. "It has been a very sad time for me and my family after my brother passed away but I am hoping cricket will help me to get through this difficult time in my life," Khan wrote. Khan said he was trying to keep his mind off the personal bereavement by focussing on the South African tour. "I am trying to focus on my cricket in South Africa and it will help me take my mind off the sadness. It is important that I concentrate on cricket as we have the World Cup in two months and I have to focus on my game."

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan It will be good to revisit this thread over time for a reality check. Shoaib Akthar and Asif are both back in the Pakistan XI so no excuses can be made if Pakistan loses. If they win of course Younis Khan will be lauded for the confidence in his bowlers.

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan Shoaib will not play the first test due to non-availability of seats on flights (he could have done away getting in the cargo :hic: ).

No tickets: Shoaib to miss first SA Test Lahore, Jan. 10: Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who on Monday was asked to rush to South Africa to bolster the injury-hit Pakistan squad, will be forced to miss the first Test at Centurion starting from Thursday due to non-availability of seats on flights. According to the sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board, hectic efforts to get the fast bowler on a flight to South Africa went in vain as no seats were available ? either from Karachi or from Dubai ? till Thursday, the opening day of the first Test match. An ankle injury to promising fast bowler Umar Gul and all-rounder Shoaib Malik had prompted the Pakistan team management in South Africa to send for either Shoaib or Shabbir Ahmed and the PCB decided to send the former after his impressive show against Abbottabad in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy tie last Sunday. However, now Inzamam-ul Haq?s men will have to take the field against a strong Proteas team without Rawalpindi Express in the first Test. Despite the successive injury setbacks for Pakistan and the non-availability of prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all-rounder Abdul Razzak, the visitors have a battery of quality pacers such as Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Shahid Nazir and Mohammad Sami to fall back on and to make a match of it at Centurion.

It is interesting the come back of Shoaib. In the first place they didn't select him and quoted he was not fit enough as yet. If he was not fit enough for selection a week ago I wonder how he got fit now? I'm sure the team management didn't want him in the team in the first place. I think he is forced up on the team management now by the selectors.

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan Looks like he is ready to kick up another drama already

Shoaib also said captain Inzamam-ul Haq, who is believed to be instrumental in the bowler being ignored from the initial 17-member squad, should be more supportive of his teammates in times of despair. ?I believe as captain Inzamam should be more supportive of his teammates, especially if they are going through a rough time. As a captain, it is Inzamam?s responsibility to keep players united.?

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan Pakistani batters were in good form but the main bowlers Asif and Kaneria hardly did anything great in the tour match against South Africa 'A'. Both Asif and Kaneria bowled over 25 overs but picked up not more than 1 wicket apiece. Asif picked Morkel (not a bad bat really) a lower middle order bat and Kaneria picked up Kruger no.10 batsman :chin: [code:52137919a4] Pakistanis 1st innings R M B 4s 6s SR Mohammad Hafeez retired out 108 170 119 15 3 90.75 Imran Farhat retired out 106 217 154 15 1 68.83 Yasir Hameed c Bodi b Abdullah 79 123 99 11 1 79.79 Younis Khan c wicket-keepervan Wyk b Morkel 76 177 128 7 0 59.37 Faisal Iqbal c Bodi b Morkel 42 120 93 1 1 45.16 wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal c wicket-keepervan Wyk b Morkel 33 65 45 6 0 73.33 Umar Gul c van Jaarsveld b Morkel 0 9 4 0 0 0.00 Shahid Nazir c wicket-keepervan Wyk b Morkel 4 2 2 1 0 200.00 Danish Kaneria c Botha b Kruger 14 42 13 1 1 107.69 Mohammad Asif not out 5 15 11 1 0 45.45 Extras (lb 16, w 1, nb 1) 18 Total (9 wickets dec; 111.1 overs; 460 mins) 485 Did not bat captainInzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Sami, Naved-ul-Hasan Fall of wickets1-182 (Mohammad Hafeez, 38.6 ov), 2-232 (Imran Farhat, 48.6 ov), 3-340 (Yasir Hameed, 71.3 ov), 4-414 (Younis Khan, 96.2 ov), 5-431 (Faisal Iqbal, 100.5 ov), 6-437 (Umar Gul, 102.2 ov), 7-442 (Shahid Nazir, 102.4 ov), 8-469 (Kamran Akmal, 108.1 ov), 9-485 (Danish Kaneria, 111.1 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ GJP Kruger 22.1 4 72 1 3.24 YA Abdullah 20 3 82 1 4.10 (1nb) JA Morkel 26 1 113 5 4.34 (1w) PR Adams 19 3 89 0 4.68 J Botha 21 0 102 0 4.85 GH Bodi 3 0 11 0 3.66 Rest of South Africa 1st innings R M B 4s 6s SR HH Dippenaar b Shahid Nazir 5 42 26 0 0 19.23 GH Bodi c Younis Khan b Mohammad Hafeez 25 93 66 2 0 37.87 JP Duminy c Younis Khan b Shahid Nazir 29 65 34 6 0 85.29 VB van Jaarsveld lbw b Mohammad Hafeez 17 37 30 2 1 56.66 captainwicket-keeper MN van Wyk c Faisal Iqbal b Mohammad Sami 102 222 194 13 0 52.57 A Jacobs c Younis Khan b Shahid Nazir 143 313 227 23 1 62.99 JA Morkel lbw b Mohammad Asif 9 29 23 1 0 39.13 J Botha c wicket-keeperKamran Akmal b Shahid Nazir 13 67 41 2 0 31.70 T Tshabalala c Mohammad Hafeez b Shahid Nazir 21 37 28 4 0 75.00 GJP Kruger c Yasir Hameed b Danish Kaneria 1 29 11 0 0 9.09 YA Abdullah not out 0 8 6 0 0 0.00 Extras (b 4, lb 7, nb 7) 18 Total (all out; 113.1 overs; 466 mins) 383 Did not bat C Pietersen, PR Adams Fall of wickets1-20 (Dippenaar, 9.3 ov), 2-53 (Bodi, 19.1 ov), 3-63 (Duminy, 22.6 ov), 4-84 (van Jaarsveld, 28.1 ov), 5-272 (van Wyk, 82.6 ov), 6-296 (Morkel, 89.5 ov), 7-353 (Botha, 104.4 ov), 8-362 (Jacobs, 106.5 ov), 9-383 (Tshabalala, 110.6 ov), 10-383 (Kruger, 113.1 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ Mohammad Asif 25 6 68 1 2.72 (3nb) Umar Gul 3 2 3 0 1.00 Shahid Nazir 21 4 61 5 2.90 (2nb) Mohammad Hafeez 15 3 61 2 4.06 Danish Kaneria 28.1 6 95 1 3.37 Imran Farhat 4 0 15 0 3.75 Mohammad Sami 12 1 46 1 3.83 (2nb) Naved-ul-Hasan 5 0 23 0 4.60 Pakistanis 2nd innings R M B 4s 6s SR Mohammad Hafeez not out 48 84 56 7 0 85.71 Imran Farhat c wicket-keepervan Wyk b Abdullah 34 52 41 5 0 82.92 Yasir Hameed lbw b Abdullah 0 6 2 0 0 0.00 Faisal Iqbal not out 11 24 22 2 0 50.00 Extras (lb 2, nb 1) 3 Total (2 wickets; 20 overs; 82 mins) 96 Did not bat Younis Khan, wicket-keeperKamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif, captainInzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Sami, Naved-ul-Hasan Fall of wickets1-63 (Imran Farhat, 11.5 ov), 2-65 (Yasir Hameed, 13.2 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ GJP Kruger 5 0 23 0 4.60 (1nb) JA Morkel 5 0 24 0 4.80 J Botha 5 0 26 0 5.20 YA Abdullah 5 1 21 2 4.20 [/code:1:52137919a4]

[Gambit]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan C'mon Sud Afreeka! :hic: :hic:

[Inside_edge]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan I've forgiven Smithy, Nel, Boucher for greater cause :hic: Hopefully this series will bring our smiles back!

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

I've forgiven Smithy, Nel, Boucher for greater cause :hic: Hopefully this series will bring our smiles back!

:lmao: .. Not expecting much from the first test match but we need to at least draw the test series.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

Pakistani batters were in good form but the main bowlers Asif and Kaneria hardly did anything great in the tour match against South Africa 'A'. Both Asif and Kaneria bowled over 25 overs but picked up not more than 1 wicket apiece. Asif picked Morkel (not a bad bat really) a lower middle order bat and Kaneria picked up Kruger no.10 batsman :chin:

Both our openers scored an unbeaten century...what does this tell you about the pitch? If PAK are to win then Asif will have to perform like he did here http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/PAK_IN_SL/SCORECARDS/PAK_SL_T2_03-07APR2006.html

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

Pakistani batters were in good form but the main bowlers Asif and Kaneria hardly did anything great in the tour match against South Africa 'A'. Both Asif and Kaneria bowled over 25 overs but picked up not more than 1 wicket apiece. Asif picked Morkel (not a bad bat really) a lower middle order bat and Kaneria picked up Kruger no.10 batsman :chin:

Both our openers scored an unbeaten century...what does this tell you about the pitch? If PAK are to win then Asif will have to perform like he did here http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/PAK_IN_SL/SCORECARDS/PAK_SL_T2_03-07APR2006.html

Shahid Nazir picked up 5 wickets on that pitch though :shrug: I really think all this doping issues will certainly affect Asif and Shoaib surely. I don't think Pakistan is going to have a great tour particularly the test series. South Africa has recently played 3 tests and at home. Pakistan ideally should have played the ODIs first so that they get used to the conditions and will also have prepared for the big game i.e the "Test series". Asif and Shoaib will have a tough time and rightly so. Now their each action will be under the scanner and a couple of failure will really test their mental stength. I don't trust Shoaib to make a good come back.

[gator]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan This series will prove to me, if Asif was a fluke or not... we had irfan, balaji and now Sreesanth arrive with the same bang as Asif for the first year....

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

Pakistani batters were in good form but the main bowlers Asif and Kaneria hardly did anything great in the tour match against South Africa 'A'. Both Asif and Kaneria bowled over 25 overs but picked up not more than 1 wicket apiece. Asif picked Morkel (not a bad bat really) a lower middle order bat and Kaneria picked up Kruger no.10 batsman :chin:

Both our openers scored an unbeaten century...what does this tell you about the pitch? If PAK are to win then Asif will have to perform like he did here http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/PAK_IN_SL/SCORECARDS/PAK_SL_T2_03-07APR2006.html

Shahid Nazir picked up 5 wickets on that pitch though :shrug: I really think all this doping issues will certainly affect Asif and Shoaib surely. I don't think Pakistan is going to have a great tour particularly the test series. South Africa has recently played 3 tests and at home. Pakistan ideally should have played the ODIs first so that they get used to the conditions and will also have prepared for the big game i.e the "Test series". Asif and Shoaib will have a tough time and rightly so. Now their each action will be under the scanner and a couple of failure will really test their mental stength. I don't trust Shoaib to make a good come back.

Don't read too much in to the warm-up game...the pitch was so flat that PAK could have easily scored 700+. S Nazir must have bowled remarkably well and put in 100% effort to churn out such excellent results. You are right that both Asif and Shoaib will have a tough time but be careful before you write them of because remember even last year people had written Shoaib of but then he came in to the ENG series and ended up taking PAK to a 2 nil victory.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

we had irfan' date=' balaji and now Sreesanth arrive with the same bang as Asif for the first year....[/quote'] ummm...if you say so.

[gator]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan actually, i was wrong..... Pathan was an allrounder who won matches with both bat and ball.... Asif jus about managed a test or two with the ball and still needs to learn how to handle responsibility at number 11.... and he doesnt even have a hattrick yet....

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

actually, i was wrong..... Pathan was an allrounder who won matches with both bat and ball.... Asif jus about managed a test or two with the ball and still needs to learn how to handle responsibility at number 11.... and he doesnt even have a hattrick yet....

still trying to wind me up?:hic: In his 1st year at the highest level Irfan played 8 test matches took 21 wickets at an average of 41 and had a batting average of 25....hardly much to write home about yet it is suppose to a 'big bang'! M Asif on the other hand has played 6 test matches and has picked 30 wickets at an average of 21.

[yoda]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan Pak will definitely do better than us. We sucked outright in ODIs and managed a solo test win. I can see the ODIs going 3-2 SAF and the test series being 1-1.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan So here is the PAK team that i'll play(remember Malik, Yousuf, Akhtar and Gul are all ruled out) M Hafeez I Farhat Y Hameed Younis Inzamam Iqbal Akmal Nazir Rana Kaneria M Asif Since PAK are missing 3 key players plus their players are expected to some time to adjust to the S African conditions the logic suggests that we will be hammered in this test match.....but then again no one can ever be sure with Pakistan.

[gator]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan before the slump.... irfan averaged 18 with the ball and 32 with th bat in odis.... show me one allrounder in the last 10 yrs who had such a year.... and he was only 20 yrs old...

[King]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan I really want Shoaib and Asif to suck big time on this tour. I can't see these freakin cheaters gracing the field without serving their time. I don't mind Pakistan winning and Inzi getting 3 hundreds in a row as far as Shoaib and Asif are stuffed for ever :eew:

[Guest dada_rocks]

Re: South Africa v Pakistan

This series will prove to me' date=' if Asif was a fluke or not... we had irfan, balaji and now Sreesanth arrive with the same bang as Asif for the first year....[/quote'] and also whether naan he took is still working :lmao: