It’s my belief Pakistan’s bowlers have lived off past glories for a long time. Pundits often wax lyrical about Pakistan’s “world class bowling talent” but in reality, Pakistan’s bowlers have underachieved for years particularly in the so-called SENA countries.
Let’s take this series vs Australia. Pakistan’s bowlers collectively averaged 89.92 – the worst bowling performance in a Test series in Pakistan’s history. The second worst display was on the 1962 tour of England where the bowlers averaged 65.63.
The reasons are simple. Pakistan always fail to bowl the right length in Australia which is just a fraction fuller than a good length. Pakistan’s pacers historically tend to be skiddy and reliant on swing rather than continually hitting a hard length. That’s why Pakistan enjoy English conditions where the Dukes ball with its more pronounced seam always keeps a seamer interested, but struggle in Australia with the Kookaburra that stops swinging after 15 overs. Reverse swing also tends to be less of a factor in Australia (unless one has access to sandpaper).
Putting some numbers to the argument, this is how Pakistan’s bowlers fare historically in the SENA countries.
Already you see there’s a gulf between how we perform in “SEN” compared to Australia, even with the presence of the greats such as Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis factored in. What about our last three tours in the SENA countries ?
Despite small improvements in the other countries, our performances have now fallen off a cliff in Australia as Pakistan’s pace bowling resources have dried up. Not only are we failing to take wickets, but we are going at nearly 4 RPO. The decline in Australia is particularly damning when you look series by series:
There’s an argument that Australian wickets provide great value for strokeplay, and actually one should ask more from the batsmen. Whilst partially true, to that I reply let’s compare our bowlers in Australia to other teams in the last 20 years (since November 1999). You may want to put the kids to bed. From worst to best:
That’s right, only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe bowlers have fared worse in Australia. So much for the Pakistani bowling mythology. However this is not a thread for crying and whining. Let’s focus on solutions.
1) Prioritise fitness. On those hard, unforgiving Australian grounds and in the heat, you need fit fast bowlers who can bowl long spells and sustain their speeds. That means not picking Sohail “huff and puff” Khan or unproven kids who haven’t fully grown into their bodies.
2) Identifying the right seamers for the conditions. Short skiddy bowlers like Musa Khan who can’t land six balls in the same place won’t cut it. Possessing pace but consistently failing to hit the right lengths always costs us. Accuracy plus height (ideally as close to 6ft and above as possible) and a bit of pace (don’t have to be express) must be the criteria. I’d look at guys like Sameen Gul and Ehsan Adil.
3) A five man attack. I know Australia and India have succeeded with four bowlers, but without the quality of their seamers, and a holding spinner, it’s difficult to justify. What’s happened in 2016/17 and now is that Yasir Shah has been brutally targeted, forcing us to overbowl our seamers without rest.
4) Pick the right spinner. Yasir Shah should never tour the Southern Hemisphere again. Unless you’re Shane Warne, leggies can be expensive. I’d look at a left-arm spinner like Zafar Gohar who can give the ball a rip but most importantly, is more likely to just hold up an end and allowing the captain to rotate his seamers.
If PCB are serious about learning the lessons, then the first thing is to accept our shortcomings and ensure our preparations are far more thorough next time. After England were humiliated in the 2006/07 Ashes, Andrew Strauss in 2010/11 put his team through a military boot camp, played a month of warm-ups against the state sides before the First Test, but most importantly picked the right profile of bowlers for the conditions and they won 3-1. We need a captain and coach with the same vision and determination to avoid another whitewash.
Let’s take this series vs Australia. Pakistan’s bowlers collectively averaged 89.92 – the worst bowling performance in a Test series in Pakistan’s history. The second worst display was on the 1962 tour of England where the bowlers averaged 65.63.
The reasons are simple. Pakistan always fail to bowl the right length in Australia which is just a fraction fuller than a good length. Pakistan’s pacers historically tend to be skiddy and reliant on swing rather than continually hitting a hard length. That’s why Pakistan enjoy English conditions where the Dukes ball with its more pronounced seam always keeps a seamer interested, but struggle in Australia with the Kookaburra that stops swinging after 15 overs. Reverse swing also tends to be less of a factor in Australia (unless one has access to sandpaper).
Putting some numbers to the argument, this is how Pakistan’s bowlers fare historically in the SENA countries.
Already you see there’s a gulf between how we perform in “SEN” compared to Australia, even with the presence of the greats such as Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis factored in. What about our last three tours in the SENA countries ?
Despite small improvements in the other countries, our performances have now fallen off a cliff in Australia as Pakistan’s pace bowling resources have dried up. Not only are we failing to take wickets, but we are going at nearly 4 RPO. The decline in Australia is particularly damning when you look series by series:
There’s an argument that Australian wickets provide great value for strokeplay, and actually one should ask more from the batsmen. Whilst partially true, to that I reply let’s compare our bowlers in Australia to other teams in the last 20 years (since November 1999). You may want to put the kids to bed. From worst to best:
That’s right, only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe bowlers have fared worse in Australia. So much for the Pakistani bowling mythology. However this is not a thread for crying and whining. Let’s focus on solutions.
1) Prioritise fitness. On those hard, unforgiving Australian grounds and in the heat, you need fit fast bowlers who can bowl long spells and sustain their speeds. That means not picking Sohail “huff and puff” Khan or unproven kids who haven’t fully grown into their bodies.
2) Identifying the right seamers for the conditions. Short skiddy bowlers like Musa Khan who can’t land six balls in the same place won’t cut it. Possessing pace but consistently failing to hit the right lengths always costs us. Accuracy plus height (ideally as close to 6ft and above as possible) and a bit of pace (don’t have to be express) must be the criteria. I’d look at guys like Sameen Gul and Ehsan Adil.
3) A five man attack. I know Australia and India have succeeded with four bowlers, but without the quality of their seamers, and a holding spinner, it’s difficult to justify. What’s happened in 2016/17 and now is that Yasir Shah has been brutally targeted, forcing us to overbowl our seamers without rest.
4) Pick the right spinner. Yasir Shah should never tour the Southern Hemisphere again. Unless you’re Shane Warne, leggies can be expensive. I’d look at a left-arm spinner like Zafar Gohar who can give the ball a rip but most importantly, is more likely to just hold up an end and allowing the captain to rotate his seamers.
If PCB are serious about learning the lessons, then the first thing is to accept our shortcomings and ensure our preparations are far more thorough next time. After England were humiliated in the 2006/07 Ashes, Andrew Strauss in 2010/11 put his team through a military boot camp, played a month of warm-ups against the state sides before the First Test, but most importantly picked the right profile of bowlers for the conditions and they won 3-1. We need a captain and coach with the same vision and determination to avoid another whitewash.
