Are Pakistan the new Australia?

Forget the winter encounter with Australia. The hardest cricket England will be playing over the next twelve months is upon them now. My reasoning is that Pakistan can stake a claim to being the number one Test side in the world, based both on the merits of the players and an examination of recent results.

Their openers, 21 year-old Salman Butt and 24 year-old Shoaib Malik, benefit from being a right-left handed combination, and will gain from the experience of playing at this level. Malik also doubles up as an off-break bowler with 162 first-class wickets.

There is no middle-order that can rank with Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq, who are seventh, fifth and third respectively in the ICC world rankings. Younis Khan returns from injury for today’s Test, hoping to build on the five hundreds he has scored in his last 11 internationals.

In Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq Pakistan have two destructive all-rounders, who can turn games with either bat or ball. Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal is Adam Gilchrist’s heir apparent, and could come in at number 8. Akmal scored 154 to set up Pakistan’s victory in the third Test against England in the winter, followed by two centuries in the one-day series.

If all this is still not convincing, Pakistan have an array of bowling talent, ranging from the explosive Shoaib Akhtar, to the youngsters Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif, all under 25 years and equipped to dominate batsmen to come. Throw in the leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, and this unit is not far from complete, especially when you consider the role of the all-rounders as well.

Pakistan come to England having not lost a Test series here since 1982. A number of their players have familiarised themselves with English conditions through membership of county sides, and they also exude a unity that was absent in previous teams. This has been attributed to the increasing influence of Islam within the side, but is also due to the lack of big names that dominated and intimidated past sides. Pakistani cricket has shaken off its elitist past, and cricketers now come from all walks of life.

Pakistan is a poor country and this is reflected in its cricket, the majority of which is played using a tape ball, which is similar to a tennis ball and covered in tape to maintain pace off the surface and sharp bounce. Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper and captain, claims that 70% of all cricket is now tape ball. Mohammad Sami learned reverse-swing with a tape ball, and Umar Gul did not play with a cricket ball until he was 16.

Let’s not pretend, though, that this is a side without any faults. For a start not all of the above players are here, as Pakistan are carrying as many injuries as England. The real weak areas are those that come from the deficient domestic set up, which lacks structure and organisation. They are shown in a decline in the basics, such as fielding, running between the wickets, backing up and playing away from the body.

Pakistan may lack the discipline and intensity of the Australians, but on paper this young team has the players to give any side a contest. Having recently beaten England and India at home and Sri Lanka away, any claims to greatness are made on a solid foundation.

The Fire Burns Out - Fred Trueman obituary

The Fire Burns Out

Tributes have been pouring in to honour ‘Fiery’ Fred Trueman, the England and Yorkshire cricket legend who died last week aged 75 following a short battle with lung cancer. Trueman, often called England’s greatest fast bowler, took 2,302 first class wickets (including four hat tricks) at an average of 18.27 and 307 Test wickets at an average of 21.54. His first class career spanned an incredible twenty years (1949–1969).

Trueman was born at Scotch Springs, Stainton, to the east of Rotherham and near the Maltby Main colliery, where his father Allan, a keen cricketer himself, was a miner.

At 14, he started playing club cricket, at 15 became an apprentice bricklayer, and at 16 joined the cricket club Sheffield United. An invitation to play for Yorkshire Boys followed, and in 1949, at 18, he made eight county appearances. At 21 he was representing England, and well on the way to becoming the nation’s leading wicket-taker.

Underlying his great talent was an enormous confidence in his own ability. He published three autobiographies in 1961, 1965 and 1976, and suggested to John Arlott that his biography should be called ‘The definitive story of the finest fast bowler that ever drew breath’. Arlott settled for ‘Fred’.

He was a opinionated figure which did not endear him with the authorities. This ‘professional northerner’ resented ‘posh sods who had come straight from university into a county side and never done a real day’s work in their lives’. In Australia on tour with England during the winter of 1962-3 he told the Duke of Norfolk that he would be addressed as ‘Fred’ or as ‘Mr Trueman’, but not by his surname alone. He also complained that England sides were not chosen on ability alone, but that some players were picked because they were a gentleman and a decent chap.

After retiring from the game, Trueman enjoyed a successful broadcasting career as a cricket commentator, where his judgements were expressed in catchphrases such as ‘in my day’ and ‘I don’t know what’s going off out there’, in which he reminded listeners of how much harder it was when he played. The writer Stephen Wagg suggests this maybe down to his working class roots. Trueman felt guilty about escaping from the world of physical toil, and so presented cricket as hard graft.

Despite his brushes with authority, Trueman was a rebel only to himself. He was the classic working class deferential voter who always supported the Conservative Party. In Don Mosey’s biography, he reveals on the very first page his subject’s loathing for Arthur Scargill, the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. Trueman was often heard to use language that breached common decency, and he also supported the racist Cricket Union in South Africa, featuring on their promotional videos.

There are many myths that surround this legendry cricketer. Some tributes have bordered on the ridiculous. According to former England captain Mike Gatting “he never bowled a bad ball.” Trueman was renowned for his action and technique as a bowler, but his control was occasionally wayward.

His claims that the game was tougher ‘in my day’ defy logic. The training facilities, coaching and diet are so superior in the current game. The gruff Trueman represented a nostalgic perception of a better time that existed in his head. At best he was a contradiction. At worst, a throwback reactionary, and a bit of a joke.

The National Pastime

Sri Lanka’s role in the English season has been fulfilled and, whilst many were anticipating a warm-up for the Pakistan series, they leave with England in complete disarray. The one-day game appears devoid of strategy and confidence and the bowling suddenly seems very thin.

To coincide with the Sri Lankan tour the academic Michael Roberts has issued a booklet charting the key events in the island’s cricketing history. Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History (Social Scientists’ Association) starts by telling us that cricket is the one game in Sri Lanka that has penetrated the world stage in a consistent fashion. As the national pastime for a large section of the population its purpose is beyond the mere aesthetics of leather on willow.

Roberts weaves into this history politics and sociology, leaving his reader not only more enlightened as to the history of cricket on this island, but knowing more about the social forces that have influenced Sri Lanka itself.

Cricket was introduced into Ceylon, as the island was formerly called, by an imperial machine that had taken over the island in 1795-6 and later in 1815-18. The first recorded game in 1832 featured members of the armed forces and a gentleman’s club. These class links were maintained through elite educational institutions.

Roberts identifies the Malays and the Burghers as the two groups that sustained early cricket within the local population. Both owed their residence to the consequences of imperialism. The Malays had served in the Dutch armies in the eighteenth century, and had become incorporated into the Ceylon Rifle regiment in 1827. The Burghers are believed to have been the descendents of the Portuguese, the Dutch and Europeans serving the Dutch East Indian Company. It was hoped that these communities would be immersed in western values and provide a bridge between east and west.

Roberts employs lists throughout to review a range of developments. The key developments between 1948 and 2000, for example, are neatly summarised as six points which take into account Sinhalese broadcasts in the 1960s, the emergence of television, gaining Test status in 1981, the expansion of facilities, widening opportunities and the victory in the World Cup.

The island’s greatest cricketing moment is explored in both its sporting and political contexts. The Tamil Tigers detonated a bomb outside the Central Bank on February 4, to coincide with Independence Day celebrations, which for Tamils is a mark of their oppression. This led to Australia and the West Indies forfeiting rather than carrying out their obligations to play in Sri Lanka. This in turn distributed the top teams over the final stages of the tournament in a way that favoured Sri Lanka. Roberts then provides another list to provide the cricketing factors that explain why Sri Lanka were victorious, principally the way the batters attacked at the start and the deployment of four spinners to exploit subcontinent conditions.

The booklet concludes with a consideration of the forces of social change. Roberts warns of the role of Sinhala nationalism in creating disharmony within Sri Lankan society, which will ultimately affect its cricket. Very few Tamils, with the notable exception of Murali, play first-class cricket. Chief among the nationalist hardliners is former captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, who follows his father as an MP. As a member of the right-wing Patriotic Front, Roberts predicts that Ranatunga is supporting a line that could lead Sri Lanka back into civil war.

As a cricket writer Roberts chronicles, analyses and provides insights. His platform is the article and the essay. He suggests in his introduction that an account of the seamier side of cricket politics is beyond the scope of a single historian. I’m not sure I agree. With his passion for the island, and cricket – displayed in this booklet through an array of illuminating photographs – there is only one person to provide the comprehensive history of Sri Lankan cricket.