You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that this is not a Mohammad Asif thread. Quite the opposite.
Mickey Arthur's mantra on team composition and pace bowling is well-known. This is what he wrote in his book "Taking the Mickey" about the team which toured Pakistan nine years ago:
"We had a simple plan of attack, at the centre of which were three fast bowlers who could all reach 140 km/h on a consistent basis. Kallis would be our fourth seamer, and he too was still capable of bowling at serious pace."
Modern cricket has moved on a little since then. Pitches in England have become drier due to improving drainage while in Australia and South Africa they are increasingly looking to make matches go 5 days by reducing the bounce and grassiness.
All of this has meant that fast bowlers who are tall thrive - from Hazlewood to Broad to Abbott - while shorter bowlers like Trent Boult and Mohammad Amir struggle to find a length which they cannot be hit from.
Meanwhile Pakistan has a major problem with its right-arm pacemen. The all-leftie attack failed both in England and at Brisbane, but Imran Khan and Sohail Khan just are not nearly good enough, unless having New Zealand and Australia declare on you in four consecutive Tests is viewed as "good enough".
Mickey Arthur nailed their deficits.
Sohail Khan delivers one good spell - at around 134K - then gets slower and less accurate with every successive spell.
Imran Khan is far too slow - rarely reaching 130K - but also has hopeless control of line and length. His bowling to Dave Warner in both innings at Sydney was a masterclass in bowling the wrong length.
And Mohammad Asif is not the future. He's better than they are, but a new 2 year cycle is under way, building up to England in Spring in 16 months and South Africa in 23 months' time. This is no time to go backwards.
So not only does Pakistan need to start again, they need to get moving FAST.
They are really covered for left-arm quicks, so I'm not going to go there, other than to say that Ghulam Mudassar really needs to work on his batting - 45 runs in 22 First Class innings should be considered an absolute obstacle to national selection. Pakistan needs to start being able to save Tests like Melbourne and Hamilton when the tail is at the crease.
So we are back to a need for right-arm quicks. Preferably tall ones. And they need to be quick enough and good enough with the bat and in the field.
Whoever is picked needs to be removed from the domestic scene and put in the hands of the national coaches to work on 4 domains:
Pace and fitness
Technique
Batting
Fielding
It is obvious from the atrophy of Ehsan Adil and the incompetence of Imran Khan than languishing in domestic cricket will not fix those areas in a young player. They need to go the way of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis - removed from domestic cricket and groomed with intensive coaching and nets with the national team.
I nominated Ehsan Adil, who meets my height criteria (minimum 6'4) and has bowled in the 140's in the past and used to show signs of being a decent batsman.
[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] has nominated:
1) Waqas Ahmed
2) Irfanullah Shah
3) Sameen Gul
4) Mohammad Irfan Junior
Why not just skip a generation and go to them now, as soon as the Australia tour is over?
Sohail Khan is roughly the same age as Mohammad Asif, and will only get worse.
Imran Khan is never going to grow taller or to put on 15K of speed.
The destinations are clear: England in May 2018 and South Africa in December 2018.
So shouldn't Pakistan just get on with it, and move to those tall, right-arm youngsters?
Mickey Arthur's mantra on team composition and pace bowling is well-known. This is what he wrote in his book "Taking the Mickey" about the team which toured Pakistan nine years ago:
"We had a simple plan of attack, at the centre of which were three fast bowlers who could all reach 140 km/h on a consistent basis. Kallis would be our fourth seamer, and he too was still capable of bowling at serious pace."
Modern cricket has moved on a little since then. Pitches in England have become drier due to improving drainage while in Australia and South Africa they are increasingly looking to make matches go 5 days by reducing the bounce and grassiness.
All of this has meant that fast bowlers who are tall thrive - from Hazlewood to Broad to Abbott - while shorter bowlers like Trent Boult and Mohammad Amir struggle to find a length which they cannot be hit from.
Meanwhile Pakistan has a major problem with its right-arm pacemen. The all-leftie attack failed both in England and at Brisbane, but Imran Khan and Sohail Khan just are not nearly good enough, unless having New Zealand and Australia declare on you in four consecutive Tests is viewed as "good enough".
Mickey Arthur nailed their deficits.
Sohail Khan delivers one good spell - at around 134K - then gets slower and less accurate with every successive spell.
Imran Khan is far too slow - rarely reaching 130K - but also has hopeless control of line and length. His bowling to Dave Warner in both innings at Sydney was a masterclass in bowling the wrong length.
And Mohammad Asif is not the future. He's better than they are, but a new 2 year cycle is under way, building up to England in Spring in 16 months and South Africa in 23 months' time. This is no time to go backwards.
So not only does Pakistan need to start again, they need to get moving FAST.
They are really covered for left-arm quicks, so I'm not going to go there, other than to say that Ghulam Mudassar really needs to work on his batting - 45 runs in 22 First Class innings should be considered an absolute obstacle to national selection. Pakistan needs to start being able to save Tests like Melbourne and Hamilton when the tail is at the crease.
So we are back to a need for right-arm quicks. Preferably tall ones. And they need to be quick enough and good enough with the bat and in the field.
Whoever is picked needs to be removed from the domestic scene and put in the hands of the national coaches to work on 4 domains:
Pace and fitness
Technique
Batting
Fielding
It is obvious from the atrophy of Ehsan Adil and the incompetence of Imran Khan than languishing in domestic cricket will not fix those areas in a young player. They need to go the way of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis - removed from domestic cricket and groomed with intensive coaching and nets with the national team.
I nominated Ehsan Adil, who meets my height criteria (minimum 6'4) and has bowled in the 140's in the past and used to show signs of being a decent batsman.
[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] has nominated:
1) Waqas Ahmed
2) Irfanullah Shah
3) Sameen Gul
4) Mohammad Irfan Junior
Why not just skip a generation and go to them now, as soon as the Australia tour is over?
Sohail Khan is roughly the same age as Mohammad Asif, and will only get worse.
Imran Khan is never going to grow taller or to put on 15K of speed.
The destinations are clear: England in May 2018 and South Africa in December 2018.
So shouldn't Pakistan just get on with it, and move to those tall, right-arm youngsters?
Last edited:
. 
