Pak vs SA; 1st Test: Not the ideal result but we didnt do that badly.

[Mercenary]

We were missing three huge players in Yousuf, Gul and Akhtar plus Malik who's getting there.

We only had one warmup match on a deadpan flat wicket against a club attack but despite all that we did ok.

Sure we lost by 7 wickets but that doesnt tell the whole story.

Our batsmen showed resolve and intent in the first innings by letting the Saffie bowlers know that they weren't scared of them. Sure it got us skittled out for 100 less than we should've got but it also took a lot of the edge off the Saffie bowling, perhaps even for the remainder of the series.

Kaneria was tight whilst Asif was dangerous and Hafeez showed that he can be an able backup bowler when we need him. Gul and/or Akhtar's return in the next match will double our firepower.

All the batsmen did fairly well except for Faisal Iqbal and we were in with a realistic chance of winning the match till after lunch on Day 5!

This result means that we'll have to be spot on for the next two test matches to ensure that we win this series.

[Salman]

I feel the return of Shoaib, Gul and Yousuf is great but not enough to win the next 2 tests...

We lack the killer fielding that the saffies are blessed with, along with Shoaib + Asif's overstepping to add to the extras section, we could be giving them a free 50 run lead an innings...

Oh well, think the worst, hope for the best.

[Kashif]

Merc, I agree with your analysis. We needed Waqar since it was a first time SA series for all the bowlers.

The last time we were in SA for a test series, we never even gave the SAfricans a fight barring the test on a flat pancake, where even Razzaq scored a ton.

Shoaib/Gul/Yousaf to replace Nazir/Rana/Bhanja will help double our strengths. I am happy with the openers, they gave us ok starts. We need to cut down the no-balls.

[shoaib]

Please stop kidding yourselves.....

Pakistan pretty much always do badly away in S Africa and Australia...nothing has changed.

The only way Pak can get back into the series is if the Saffies play badly.

Our team just is not good enough except for a couple of players.

[161]

a match we could have easily won if our best 11 played ... unfortunately shoaib and rehman were left out due to pcb stupidity, gul was out injured and moyo out due to family reasons.

3 out of the above 4 will return in the second test .. but sadly the most important position of all ( the test spinner) will remain uselessly in the incapable hands of danish kaneria.

[Mercenary]

Originally Posted by shoaib Please stop kidding yourselves..... Pakistan pretty much always do badly away in S Africa and Australia...nothing has changed.

Well I didnt see any games as close as this in our last tour of Australia and our last tour of South Africa was nothing to write home about either.

In comparison this series has started off quite promisingly.

[shoaib]

Originally Posted by Mercenary Well I didnt see any games as close as this in our last tour of Australia and our last tour of South Africa was nothing to write home about either. In comparison this series has started off quite promisingly.

If you analyse the game we got beaten bad... we could not keep the Saffies under 400; we only took 3 wickets in their 2nd innings; we barely got over 300 in our innings'.

The highlight for me were our boys Rana, Shahid N and Kaneria whupping the Saffies with the bat.

[invincible]

If whippy had posted a similar thread as this one, there would have been 1274912874 replies saying "Excuses ... excuses ... excuses" ...

Do I see any hypocrisy ?? no offence guys ... I am not opposing to what all you said ... but why being so hostile when others try to putforth some sensible points too ?? A bit of a self-realization needed ??

[Easa]

There were a few players injured but that isn't much of an excuse. We had a good side but we were beaten by an even better South African side, who batted and fielded better than us. The most important thing, though, is that we fought and it was typical Pakistani effort. From a lead of only 97, we doubled it by some very gritty batting from our tailenders. With the ball in our hand, we never gave up, and Inzy said attacking fields throughout the match. With the bat, we tried to take the South Africans on, and it made them stand up and take notice of us. Sure, we were out, compulsively hooking in the first innings, but at least we had the right approach, just poor execution at times.

Pakistan have done reasonably well in this match and there is no reason they can do even better come 2nd Test, with 3 class players to return.

[Daoud]

Yeah, Im disappointed but I dont mind it too much as long as the rest of the team still performs in the rest of the series

Plus a possible benefit is that we lost and Faisal Iqbal failed. Hopefully it proves he just isnt good enough. Had he scored a scratchy 30 odd he may well have been included the next time one of the big three is unavailable

[Mercenary]

Originally Posted by invincible If whippy had posted a similar thread as this one, there would have been 1274912874 replies saying "Excuses ... excuses ... excuses" ... Do I see any hypocrisy ?? no offence guys ... I am not opposing to what all you said ... but why being so hostile when others try to putforth some sensible points too ?? A bit of a self-realization needed ??

A forum is made up lots of posters. PakPassion itself has over a thousand regularly posting members!!

Now all those posters are not going to have the same opinion, they are human beings not machines.

Just because Pak Fan A says one thing it doesnt mean that Pak Fan B, C, D or E agrees with it.

A little perspective goes a long way!!

[TaZ]

SA are not a great side they just execute all the basics 10% better and it adds up over 5 days.

[Noman]

Originally Posted by TaZ SA are not a great side they just execute all the basics 10% better and it adds up over 5 days.

I agree completely

[Pace]

I agree with what Merc says. Expect a more determined and better prepared Pakistan in the next game, this will be a very entertaining series.
I would also urge a more realistic approach to Moyo. He has had absolutely no match practice in SA and has gone through a lot recently on a personal level.

[TaZ]

Originally Posted by Pace I agree with what Merc says. Expect a more determined and better prepared Pakistan in the next game, this will be a very entertaining series. I would also urge a more realistic approach to Moyo. He has had absolutely no match practice in SA and has gone through a lot recently on a personal level.

Anyone is better than Faisal Iqbal though

[the Great Khan]

oh my God how dare we be positive about this match..no according to some posters especially our pariosi ones we should get the effigies ready already!!!....

[Monsee]

Yeah, I agree with Great Khan...chop chop the 'Chopping Block' is ready for Pak team

Pak team Hai Hai :-)

On a serious note, exactly my feelings Merc, except that I would have felt better if we were able to get 5-6 SA wickets

[SameerAhmad]

Yeah, I wasn't too dissapointed with the team as I could've been if not for Asif and the heroic tailenders..I'm sure we'll do much better next test!

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by SameerAhmad Yeah, I wasn't too dissapointed with the team as I could've been if not for Asif and the heroic tailenders..I'm sure we'll do much better next test!

Yes, next time you will do much better in losing. Innings defeat anyone...?

[tradecars]

we did ok. we were short of atleast 110 runs to make the saffies think twice about chasing a target of around 310 or so.
kaneria for me needs to improve and become a more regular match winner and take more frequent wicktes. but i think this will never happen so lets move on and find another spinner
i would say its the end of rana as a test bowler same for nazir. so we need to find some more younger reolacements for the future.

possibility of rehman for kaneria
a few bowlers who are around 22 to 24 years of age. for me we despratly need a left arm seamer.
we need a real quicky

[Shayan]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer Yes, next time you will do much better in losing. Innings defeat anyone...?

thanks for that.

[ZM]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer Yes, next time you will do much better in losing. Innings defeat anyone...?

you havent got any bowlers to even compare to the likes of asif, akhtar and gul
also our batting is looking much better than india's nowadays
if india can get a test win in south africa im sure pakistan can do much better! pakistan to win last 2 tests!

[IMMY69]

plenty of positives to come out of this game...and i agree pretty much with what merc has written...i also think some of those lbw decisions contributed too...in my opinion saffies would not have made anywhere close to 400 had the correct lbw decisions been made..plus that caught and bowled chance...and it could have been the telling factor...

with respect to the fielding...saffies are much more athletic and thats for all to see...but all in all they dropped far more catches then we did and akmals keeping was pretty much spot on...with moyo, shoiab and gul coming into the side i think we'll have a far better attack and even danny tends to bowl better when shoiab is in the side...

[Rob H]

Originally Posted by Mercenary we were in with a realistic chance of winning the match till after lunch on Day 5!

Not even Hash is that optimistic.

From what i can see from this match is
- The batting got exposed
- Too reliant on Asif, Akhtar, Gul
- There is a huge problem playing ordinary spinners

[Ilyas]

Too much reliance on Asif, Akhtar and Gul: That does not make sense, since to rely on three bowlers in not bad: If the team is relying only on one bowler in this case Asif in the 1st match, that is wrong...Inzi has aged a bit and Younis did not apply himself to play the true anchor role in the absence of Yousuf...In spinning department, PCB Selectors have given not much choice to the touring selection committee by not selecting Abdul Rehman...

[ZM]

Originally Posted by Rob H Not even Hash is that optimistic. From what i can see from this match is - The batting got exposed - Too reliant on Asif, Akhtar, Gul- There is a huge problem playing ordinary spinners

thats like saying england are too reliant on flintoff, harmison and hoggard
its like saying australia are too reliant on lee, mcgrath and clark
its like saying south africa are too reliant on ntini, pollock

im sure you get the picture
fact is you take 3 top bowlers from any team and they will struggle. But we did very well with just asif in the team

[prepare]

looking good

[OZGOD]

Originally Posted by invincible If whippy had posted a similar thread as this one, there would have been 1274912874 replies saying "Excuses ... excuses ... excuses" ... Do I see any hypocrisy ?? no offence guys ... I am not opposing to what all you said ... but why being so hostile when others try to putforth some sensible points too ?? A bit of a self-realization needed ??

Merc's a positive kind of bloke!

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by Ilyas Too much reliance on Asif, Akhtar and Gul: That does not make sense, since to rely on three bowlers in not bad: If the team is relying only on one bowler in this case Asif in the 1st match, that is wrong...Inzi has aged a bit and Younis did not apply himself to play the true anchor role in the absence of Yousuf...In spinning department, PCB Selectors have given not much choice to the touring selection committee by not selecting Abdul Rehman...

not when half of the time two of them are injured. Frankly, its becoming clear that Pakistan
does not have bench strength. I am surprised that you guys are not tired of excuses
such as "missing players". Your team is called "Team Pakistan" and not "Team Yousuf" or
"Team Shoaib"

[Uzi]

Disappointed with the result obviously, but I'm backing Pakistan to come back in this series and InshAllah win the next 2 tests. With MoYo, Akhtar and Gul available things can hopefully only get better from now on in.

Pakistan Zindabad!

[Rob H]

Originally Posted by ZM thats like saying england are too reliant on flintoff, harmison and hoggard its like saying australia are too reliant on lee, mcgrath and clark its like saying south africa are too reliant on ntini, pollock im sure you get the picture fact is you take 3 top bowlers from any team and they will struggle. But we did very well with just asif in the team

I'll phrase it differently. Back up bowlers lack quality.

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by Rob H I'll phrase it differently. Back up bowlers lack quality.

Which other team has quality backup bowlers?

[Pak_Attack]

Originally Posted by shoaib Please stop kidding yourselves..... Pakistan pretty much always do badly away in S Africa and Australia...nothing has changed. The only way Pak can get back into the series is if the Saffies play badly. Our team just is not good enough except for a couple of players.

Im glad none of the players have your type of mentality, its that type of attitude that makes losers, we have many advantages over SA and I think we have ourselves to blame for this defeat in terms of talent alone we are well above South Africa.

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer Yes, next time you will do much better in losing. Innings defeat anyone...?

Aaa gaya saala...mein bih keh raha thaa yeh badboo kahaan seh aa rehi hai

[Amjid Javed]

It was a decent performance but pakistan were exposed in areas.

Batsmen lack of grit, concentration levels and ability to go on when set were areas exposed. The lack of decent back up bowling in this test was exposed.

Also poor fielding at times.

I was dissapointed espcially with likes of younis khan and inzamam who should have lead by example and piled up alot more runs then they did.

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by Monsee Aaa gaya saala...mein bih keh raha thaa yeh badboo kahaan seh aa rehi hai

lagtaa hai inzy nai bahaut parathey khaye the. inzy ki badboo se shayad gibbs pareshan
ho gaya tha.. ab monsee bhi pareshan ho raha hai.

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer lagtaa hai inzy nai bahaut parathey khaye the. inzy ki badboo se shayad gibbs pareshan ho gaya tha.. ab monsee bhi pareshan ho raha hai.

Na Bhai, yeh tumm logon ki special smell hai...Kut Kut Vut Vut. smellogne

It is world famous...

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by Amjid Javed It was a decent performance but pakistan were exposed in areas. Batsmen lack of grit, concentration levels and ability to go on when set were areas exposed. The lack of decent back up bowling in this test was exposed. Also poor fielding at times. I was dissapointed espcially with likes of younis khan and inzamam who should have lead by example and piled up alot more runs then they did.

Why disapponited, we all know that, Younis only plays against India and Inzamam never
shows up against Australia and SA. Infact, I was hoping that Pakistan can win this match with
their bowlers, but as I have stated earlier they have become as bad as India, atleast
away from home.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer Why disapponited, we all know that, Younis only plays against India and Inzamam never shows up against Australia and SA. Infact, I was hoping that Pakistan can win this match with their bowlers, but as I have stated earlier they have become as bad as India, atleast away from home.

Theres still 2 more tests to go! Its not as if we just lost 2-1.

[Amjid Javed]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer Why disapponited, we all know that, Younis only plays against India and Inzamam never shows up against Australia and SA.

Well inzamam has 2 tests left to gain some credible performances against S.A abroad. His last few tests in Australia were pretty shameful.

[KB]

We only had one warmup match on a deadpan flat wicket against a club attack

The PCB ought to be held to account for agreeing to the ridiculous schedule, yet no Pakistani journalist has commented on that.

The shortage of preparation probably contributed to the lack of discipline in the bowling. Kepler Wessels also felt it was a factor in so many batsmen perishing to the pull shot, as they had not adapted to the extra pace of South African pitches.

Even if Pakistan had played 3 first class games prior to the Test, they may well still have lost. But surely you must give yourself the best chance.

Whereas England, Australia and India have over 70 Tests to play under the ICC six year schedule, Pakistan only have over 50. So there is no excuse for not organizing more lead up games to ensure the players are near their best before the first Test.

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by Monsee Na Bhai, yeh tumm logon ki special smell hai...Kut Kut Vut Vut. smellogne It is world famous...

lagtaa hai tumhe is special smell ka kafi experience hai, itna karib rehna acha nahi

[Sultan Yusuf]

When we lose without Akhtar we have the excuse - no Akhtar (huge player).

When we lose with Akhtar we have the excuse - Akhtar (unfit *****)!

Make up your minds please. If it is deemed that he is not fit enough, doesn't play for the team blah, blah then don't mention we were missing him!

Anyway - my analysis:

Positives:
Opening partnership (nothing to write home about, but nothing to cry about either. These days that can be taken as a positive!).
Asif - even though not in rhythm, was among the wickets and shows he has that rare ability to perform even when rusty.
Fight shown by the lower order (not that most of them should be in the team in the first place, but showed the so-called "big guns" that putting the saffies under pressure has it's advantages. Let's hope we can learn)

Negatives:
Tactics (Go slow in 2nd innings, overuse of spinners in 1st innings)
Danish himself
Lack of 2nd, 3rd seamers
Faisal Iqbal
Lack of leadership
Lack of responsibility
gave up rather easily today.
Intensity of performance (should be present throughout the match and not in the odd session)

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by Amjid Javed Well inzamam has 2 tests left to gain some credible performances against S.A abroad. His last few tests in Australia were pretty shameful.

I believe in his Last Test series in Australia in 1999...he scored a 100 in the 2nd test and couple of 50's in the tests before that

Don't know which tests you have been watching cause 'Few Test' suggests like he has been failing for 4-5 tests or something like that ; yeah in 2003 tour he only played one test and failed but still 'Last few'?

http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru?sdb=p...ields=viewtype

[Amjid Javed]

Monsee for such a talent and quality player inzamams record in Aus and S.A is pretty poor. Id expect alot better return then he has given, no-one doubts his quality but facts are his preformances in Aus/S.A overall have been average/mediocre to say the least.

secondly inzamams record in last 5 tests (4 for pakistan and 1 for ICC X1)

Inzi --------------- Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0
In Aus ----------- 8 16 0 494 118 88 62 30.87 1 3 2
Last 5 in Aus -- 5 10 0 262 118 88 22 26.20 1 1 2

last 5 test scores in Aus - (88 & 12) (12 & 118) (22 & 8) (1 & 0) (1 & 0)

record in S.A

Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0
6 11 0 324 95 60 42 29.45 0 2 1

niether record makes that good a reading for such a quality batsmen!

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer lagtaa hai tumhe is special smell ka kafi experience hai, itna karib rehna acha nahi

Kia karain Parosiites saay bachna mushkil hai raay baba...1.2 billions woh bhi

[Daoud]

Monsee he also played against them for the ICC World XI. So technically he has two 0s and two 1s in his last four test innings

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by Amjid Javed Monsee for such a talent and quality player inzamams record in Aus and S.A is pretty poor. Id expect alot better return then he has given, no-one doubts his quality but facts are his preformances in Aus/S.A overall have been average/mediocre to say the least.

Average YES...I agree 100% but to say his last few tests were pretty shameful is going over...

Daoud, mickey mouse cricket...for money; is that the standard how we define players these days?

Have you see the level of competition in those World XI games...they resemble Charity matches than anything else

[the_game]

I am not too disappointed, as I really think we can win the next two tests if we get Yousuf, Gul and Akhtar back. Our openers are finally fighting and not throwing it away. Things are not looking too bad.

[KB]

As Osman Samiuddin said

"A seven-wicket win over five days doesn't hide much and though Pakistan will be disappointed, they might not be entirely disheartened. Their batting, the cause of most palpitations before this tour, wasn't shred to pieces, bounced or bullied out. They fell instead to their own impulses which, if you're looking for pluses in a defeat, is something to grasp onto."

Although some of their dismissals were frustrating, it was at least not down to lack of ability. At least it seemed that they can improve.

[midwicket]

Lots of good points on positives/negatives from this match. However the disturbing thing is how easily the defeat has been accepted. Nobody on the team management is really that upset - the missing players are a great alibi. We had a good team (barring Iqbal) and the game should have been much closer.

[James]

Teenda did alright, one of his better test series in a while, he played some classic shots. My favourite was an uppercut over the slips on the first day of the series, he rocked back and just powered it to the boundary. Shot of a genius. However his slow 14 in the closing stages of the series, when India needed to win, was a massive disappointment.

Dravid was just awful.

[shan]

Originally Posted by Whippy Teenda did alright, one of his better test series in a while, he played some classic shots. My favourite was an uppercut over the slips on the first day of the series, he rocked back and just powered it to the boundary. Shot of a genius. However his slow 14 in the closing stages of the series, when India needed to win, was a massive disappointment. Dravid was just awful.

tendi was best Indian batsman in SA tour apart from last innings. Gangotely was the most lucky. But parosis will come and make fun of our batting but will forgot about mighty lineup they have. At least we got past 300 two times but it was low score because of our bowling standard.

[MediumPacer]

Originally Posted by shan tendi was best Indian batsman in SA tour apart from last innings. Gangotely was the most lucky. But parosis will come and make fun of our batting but will forgot about mighty lineup they have. At least we got past 300 two times but it was low score because of our bowling standard.

I think your batting did much better than I expected.
It is your toothless bowling that surprised me a lot. Looked like Indian bowling attack except for Asif. SA has learnt some valuable lessons from the India tour and it will become
very difficult if not impossible to tie this series.

[shan]

Originally Posted by MediumPacer I think your batting did much better than I expected. It is your toothless bowling that surprised me a lot. Looked like Indian bowling attack except for Asif. SA has learnt some valuable lessons from the India tour and it will become very difficult if not impossible to tie this series.

Asif was coming back after long time and as a result he bowled about 25 no-balls. And our batting without Moyo is pathetic the reason is now days Inzy and Yk are making starts but not 100s. With three big players coming back it will be diffrent Pakistani team in 2nd test.

[Hash]

Originally Posted by Rob H Not even Hash is that optimistic. From what i can see from this match is - The batting got exposed - Too reliant on Asif, Akhtar, Gul - There is a huge problem playing ordinary spinners

Maybe not at lunch on day 5 but certainly on the morning of day 5 we had a realistic chance of winning.

The batting did not get exposed. I actually think we did rather well considering the predictions of us getting blown away by the South African bowling.....we got 300+ in both innings without much time to prepare at all. All we got was one lousy warm up game with most batsman only having one innings to get themselves ready for the 1st Test. The batting will get better as the series goes on.

To say we are too reliant on Asif, Akhtar and Gul? Rob that has to be one of the most ridiculous things you have ever said in the history of PakPassion, quite possibly even in the history of mankind. They are our three best bowlers for crying out loud. Just go through every team in test cricket and take out two of their three best bowlers and you will understand the point.

I wouldn't say playing ordinary spinners is a HUGE problem but it is an area that needs to be looked at. We played Murali pretty well when we went to Sri Lanka so the spin itself is not the problem.....it is obviously something not related to skill and more to do with the mental approach of the batsman when facing them.

[Hash]

Originally Posted by midwicket Lots of good points on positives/negatives from this match. However the disturbing thing is how easily the defeat has been accepted. Nobody on the team management is really that upset - the missing players are a great alibi. We had a good team (barring Iqbal) and the game should have been much closer.

7 wickets is definitely not a fair reflection of the differences between the sides. It was a lot closer than the result margin suggests. I think there may well have been only 50 or so runs in it. I think a target of 250 would have made a big difference.

[deep82]

I am pretty pleased with the way PAK openers handled Ntini/Nel....If only Indian openers would have given us such starts, we would suirely roll ed over the Saffies.

BTW certain pak passioners are "happy" the way PAK played last test considring the prepartaion....let me remind that this was not a typical SA pitch....I am still waiting what PAK batsman would do on really fast bouncy tracks which India got in first 2 tests!!

[Zeenix]

I am utterly disappointed at this result and performance. I expected a win to say the least. I don't see anything in the South African side which should've troubled us, MOYO or NO MOYO, we shouldn't have come with such a pathetic batting display for starters. The absolute suicidal tendency in the first innings, and the going into a shell tendency in the second was our reason for defeat. There was nothing in the pitch to suggest such a performance, especially after our openers had seen of the new bowl.

[Zeenix]

Originally Posted by deep82 I am pretty pleased with the way PAK openers handled Ntini/Nel....If only Indian openers would have given us such starts, we would suirely roll ed over the Saffies.

If i am not wrong the only test (3rd) in which the openers gave them a very good start, India Lost that test.

BTW certain pak passioners are "happy" the way PAK played last test considring the prepartaion....let me remind that this was not a typical SA pitch....I am still waiting what PAK batsman would do on really fast bouncy tracks which India got in first 2 tests!!

On the Contary, i am waiting to see HOW SOUTH AFRICA PLAYS SHOAIB, GUL AND ASIF on LIVELY TRACKS.

[adit_sh]

I think Pak played better than India in this test for sure. One must remember that they were not used to the conditions in SA ( although nullified by the fact that they got flat pitch in Centurian) compared to india who had 4 ODI practise match to begin with
India definitely skitted away the chance of beating SA 1-0. They should have drawn both 2nd & 3rd test. Tendulkar played one of the worst cricket. Dravid was offcolor due to captaincy burden. You cannot rely on Viru. Bowlers bowled extremely well , one of the best i have seen. Aussies would have won 3-0 again. This is the weakest SA team that you can face, so Paks - go & get the series. Go with Quality bowlers Akhtar, sami, Gul,Asif & Kaneria. Don't ever include Allrounders. Youd should be the first asian team to do so. good luck

[zaf1986]

First innings we were at least 100 runs short, and chasing 300 would have been a different ballgame altogether. Nazir and Rana were disappointing in their bowling (but brilliant in batting).

Here's a brave (stupid?) suggestion:

Drop Faisal and Hameed, bring back Yousuf, put Rana at 7 and play an extra bowler.

[Zeenix]

Originally Posted by zaf1986 First innings we were at least 100 runs short, and chasing 300 would have been a different ballgame altogether. Nazir and Rana were disappointing in their bowling (but brilliant in batting). Here's a brave (stupid?) suggestion: Drop Faisal and Hameed, bring back Yousuf, put Rana at 7 and play an extra bowler.

Why would one want to Drop Hameed. He put a decent enough performance in his return Test. Surely you can't expect him to score centuries in both innnings. And by the way we struggled in our batting department. And Rana can stay away from the Test team for a while.

[Osman]

Originally Posted by Kashif Merc, I agree with your analysis. We needed Waqar since it was a first time SA series for all the bowlers. The last time we were in SA for a test series, we never even gave the SAfricans a fight barring the test on a flat pancake, where even Razzaq scored a ton. Shoaib/Gul/Yousaf to replace Nazir/Rana/Bhanja will help double our strengths. I am happy with the openers, they gave us ok starts. We need to cut down the no-balls.

i think that was the ODI where Razzaq scored a ton ... he doesn't have a test century to his name against South Africa.