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CAPE TOWN: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq reiterated his belief that the continued boycott of his country by international sides is hindering their chances of becoming the leading Test nation.
Ongoing security concerns mean the last Test match played in Pakistan was against Sri Lanka in 2009, one of just four home fixtures for the side in the last seven years.
In that time, the Pakistanis have played “home” matches in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and even England.
Four years ago, armed militants attacked the tourists' team bus in Lahore, killing eight Pakistanis and wounding six Sri Lankan players, with the incident bringing an end to Tests in the country for the foreseeable future.
“I obviously sympathise with their situation. I have been to Pakistan five times in the past, but I would have serious concerns as to my safety going there under present circumstances.” - Graeme SmithThere was hope that Bangladesh would tour last month, but that too has been shelved over safety concerns.
“There is no doubt that this is a problem for us, it is difficult to be the top cricket team in the world when you do not play in your home conditions,” Misbah told reporters in South Africa, where Pakistan are currently touring.
South African captain Graeme Smith offered his sympathy for Pakistan's plight, but admitted he would chose not to tour the country if a proposed visit was put forward.
“I obviously sympathise with their situation. I have been to Pakistan five times in the past, but I would have serious concerns as to my safety going there under present circumstances.”
LITTLE EXPERIENCE
Misbah added that the fact his side played just six Test matches in 2012 gave little opportunity for the players to gain experience in the longer form of the game.
“We have played some very good Test cricket in the last two-and-a-half years, but not enough matches. If you look at the experience in this South African side, they have players with over 100 matches and others with more than 50.
“Because we have not played much, our team has players with just a few games and little experience. That makes it difficult to compete.”
The Pakistan side that lost the second Test of the three-match series against South Africa on Sunday had a combined 277 Test caps between them, with Younis Khan (81) the only player with more than 50 appearances.
The Proteas, by contrast, had amassed 597 caps, with five players having passed 50 and Morne Morkel on the cusp with 49.
However, it could be argued that the touring side's relative inexperience has more to do with the rebuilding of the team than a lack of matches, as since the start of 2010, Pakistan have played 28 Tests to South Africa's 30.
South Africa lead the current series 2-0 with the third and final Test starting at Centurion on Friday.
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Comments (37) Closed
Feb 19, 2013 02:44am
terrible batting is preventing them from winning....this is just another way to blame someone else for poor play
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Feb 19, 2013 07:41pm
agree totaliy
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Feb 18, 2013 09:22pm
First of all Misbah ul Haq failed to read the wicket condition and included three fast bowlers and one specialist spinner in the playing eleven. He should have included left arm spinner Abdul Rahman at
the expense of one fast bowler to strengthen the Pakistan spin attack. Saeed Ajmal bowled superbly
in both the innings but didn't get the badly needed support from the other end. We have lost the best
chance of squaring the on going series and making the final test real interesting.
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Feb 18, 2013 08:51pm
The main cause was the apathy, lack of professionalism, poor management, lack of importance and security given to the touring team ie Sri Lanka by the PCB. This is the legacy left by the complete inept Mr Butt on whose watch this happened and which will have long term consequences. Like everything else that was destroyed by this government, so was cricket. No use crying over spilled milk.
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Feb 18, 2013 08:09pm
Remember SA didn
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Feb 18, 2013 03:06pm
Yes, a losing captain has to come up with something no matter how rubbish it is to save his skin in order to maybe avoid a bad reception back home upon return. The comments of the Pakistani skipper are no exception to this universal fact.
In fact, he did not have the right guts as well as the true grit to admit that South Africans played better and outplayed them in all three on-field departments of the game. He could have also said that they have proved to be the number one test playing country in the world in letter and spirit, to be more candid, frank and precise to say the least. However, playing with words and coming up with lame excuses is the order of the day for Misbah-ul-Haq and party. It will not be surprising if he is stripped off his captaincy in both formats of the game for his country. If so, solely on the basis of merit, he does not stand an iota of a chance to be considered in the first eleven of ODI as well as test match team for his country. Good bye skipper.
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Feb 18, 2013 08:08pm
Accept it Misbah, international cricket is not coming to Pakistan for the foreseeable future. Pakistan is in a mess not because of lack of home matches but coz of lack of quality batsmen and loss of M.Amir & Asif to spot-fixing.
S.M.Mustafa, how can you call for dropping Younis Khan when he scored a century in this match? Every time he gets out there is a collapse afterwards.
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Feb 18, 2013 01:07pm
Pakistan has got everybody's sympathies but that does not help them anymore. They should regularly play with Afghanistan, more domestic matches and hope internal security improves in another 5 to 10 years.
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Feb 18, 2013 12:51pm
whether you will say the same comment after winning it? i doubt that.
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Feb 18, 2013 07:52pm
Yeah right, if they were so not prepared for test matches due to lack of HOME test cricket, they should not have gone and played. They knew their shortcomings before going to SA. But good try .....all sympathies are with you cry baby!
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Feb 18, 2013 07:49pm
Excuses, excuses, excuses
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Feb 18, 2013 03:27pm
With the current situation in Pakistan we will have to live with this fact. Instead of complianing about it why don't we make fast and bouncy tracks at home so that the new breed of batsmen can play with more ease abroad. Have the technical faults in the batsmen corrected when playing on bouncy tracks. We don't produce good batsmen and this is the main reason of our failure abroad. Even against England (which Pakistan won 3-0) the batting was below average. We won because England played awful and could not tackle our spinners. Also why not have a permanant arrangement with UAE so that it becomes Pakistan's home grounds. And finally speak up at ICC and demand more test matches.
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Feb 19, 2013 06:12am
It's time the team including the selectors and management is revamped. Quick stop gap measures and solutions won't help, a long term strategy is required to put together solid team and management structure to support it.
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Feb 18, 2013 05:16pm
If an able government is in place, the security situation will improve in months rather than years.
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Feb 19, 2013 03:04pm
Fully agree. Azhar Ali does not bring any talent and quality to the team. He does not have any shots that even an average batsman would have, all he plays is straight defensive stroke. Forget about the pace bowlers, he was struggling against the very mediocre slow left arm bowling of Peterson. What the hell is Whatmore doing?? Is he not telling Azhar Ali that batting is about scoring runs. No one is asking for big shots but come on man do some placement and rotate the strike. Considering his capabilities, it's a crime that he is been put to bat at # 3.
MT
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Feb 19, 2013 06:00am
Looking in from the outside - from what i can see from the outside is that international test cricket will NOT return to Pakistan within the next 10-15 years. There seem to be a reluctance to understand from within Pakistan that a HUGE problem exist with security and safety. Not a day goes by that we dont read about serious violence that occur in Pakistan but nobody seem to be addressing the issue.I would like to attend a test match in Pakistan but i know that for the next 10-15 years that it will be impossible.
Imagine ...... just imagine the same conditions that is now existing in South Africa where Pakistan is now touring ... can exist in Pakistan ie good pitches, full grounds and no .. yes NO violence or threat from any source.
I am sorry Pakistan but it is not up to foreign teams to assess the security situation but it is up to Pakistan to ask .... do we want our country back ?
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Feb 18, 2013 02:33pm
:(
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Feb 18, 2013 02:31pm
I don't agree with this. If this was true then Pakistan would have won at least one series in SA since 1992. This is a lame excuse that Misbah is coming up with. Fact of the matter is that we are two short in terms of good / solid batsmen and are using piece meal players. The weakest link is Misbah himself. He didn't bowl Hafeez more often and new very well that new ball will be troubling and instead of having a plan, capitulated badly to SA. When the new ball was taken, nothing in body language of two set players showed that they can handle it.
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Feb 18, 2013 05:25pm
Pakistan rarely wins a match in South Africa, England or Australia. The reason is our batsmens inability to counter swing. Now there are something PCB could have done here for a long time investment. They could have said to these boards, look we do not get home games, our new talent doesn't get those side matches which each host team is getting, why don't you let our A-TEAMS visit every second year. And then we could send our up coming talent to play som A-games in those countries. Similarly we could have arranged at least two tours for our under 19 team to these countries. This could have helped us to develope players for these conditions. But I think all the chairmen we get, have other priorities than cricket. And then some one has a nephew and some have son-in law to get selected and be paid for nothing.
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Feb 19, 2013 05:39pm
agree 300%
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Feb 18, 2013 01:36pm
Misbah is making lame excuses. he should say good by and make way for the fresh legs. he is almost 40 years and this is the right time for him to quit the game other wise he should show the door with yunus khan, tanveer and sarfaraz. pakistan should go with youngsters.
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Feb 18, 2013 01:27pm
This is not a good enough excuse. It is a fact that no team has toured Pakistan since Sri Lanka attack and no team is coming to Pakistan for the foreseeable future. Are we going to hear the same excuses repeatedly? In fact, in Dubai, and other Guelph states, there is much larger crowd supporting Pakistan than when matches were being played in Pakistan. In Dubai, Sharjah ect
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Feb 18, 2013 06:20pm
Ravi, you rubbed it in quite nicely. Thanks. It is because of people like you on both sides that there won't be any peace in the foreseeable future.
Shahryar
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Feb 18, 2013 06:19pm
Not an excuse. South Africa had the same issue for many decades. Need to solidify the domestic infra. Imran khan has been screaming about this problem for decades now ...
Shahryar
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Feb 18, 2013 06:16pm
Misbah is RIGHT!! Pakistani need to fix their security issues as soon as possible- Sad it is that in 4 years instead of improving it has worsen....
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Feb 19, 2013 05:42am
The main problem with Pakistan team is Misbah in the team and Ramiz Raja in the commentary box. Common denominator failed Marcus Aurelius. Misbah can share the commentary box with Ramis and Pakistan cricket would be so much better .Misbah pls pls pls ..take a hike ..will ya!
Regards
Mike Jackson
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Feb 18, 2013 07:58pm
A sad commentary on Pakistan's political situation more than anything else.... what else can you expect when your country is headed to its own (self) destruction ???
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Feb 19, 2013 05:27pm
Pakistan`s batting has to ,learn to apply themselves when playing overseas. Even when foreign teams were visiting Pakistan the Pakistani batting line up was failing overseas.The Batting has been brittle and nervous for many years now.
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Feb 18, 2013 05:02pm
Karachi wala is now a canadian
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Feb 18, 2013 03:52pm
Thats a useless argument. Pakistan should have been more competitive in South Africa according to this argument as they are not playing dead, low bounce, flat tracks in Pakistan. The problem is that skill levels of our batsmen are weak and their technique is weaker thanks to being developed on lifeless and unsporting tracks in Pakistan. As a result, they cant attack when they are in survival mode. They key in both the innings was to attack when having spent an hour on the crrease. Pakistan lost hte match when Azhar Ali and Misbah were batting without any intent on third day. Azhar made just 60 facing 160 deliveries while Peterson scored 84 in 104 deliveries. The only batsmen who has shown to be able to play aggresively is Asad Shafique, but it seems he is insecure and is constantly under pressure because our cricket establishment WILL bring back loser Umar Akmal back soon on one pretext or the other.
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Feb 19, 2013 02:38pm
Well, first create green-top pitches in cities that have slightly cooler weather. Have A and U-19 teams practice there as much as possible supervised by strong batting and bowling coaches.
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Feb 19, 2013 05:12pm
This is just an excuse there are other issues holding back Pakistan the foremost problem is bad selection policies and non professional approach of the management and players. In recent series only four or five players have justified their selection others have been selected for reasons other than merit, especially the captain Misbah.
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Feb 19, 2013 07:29am
by giving promising security, ask bangladesh for 5 odi and 3 test 2 t20 again. I am sure they will not left this time.
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Feb 19, 2013 03:56pm
Shahryar, Australia played against pakistan in pakistan sometime in 2001. Can you please explain reason behind this. Why australia not touring pakistan? When did england played in pakistan? Do you think situation in pakistan will improve in another 5 years? Hope it improves. I visited pakistan in 2004. Situation was alright at that time. Hope this answers your question
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Feb 19, 2013 09:18pm
Iqbal Qasim needs to resign, he made himself popular among Karachi cricketers but did not do any favor to Pak team by selecting slowest and oldest "fast bowler" in domestic circuit Tanvir and useless and the worst wicketkeeper batsman Sarfaraz in the team.
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Feb 19, 2013 09:12pm
Forget about spending any resources on inviting and providing security to foreign teams when your own innocent citizens are being killed. I'm a big cricket fan and would love to see international cricket returned to Pakistan but my heart goes out to the families of victims of Quetta blast and many others and want government to provide security to people like them before inviting foreign teams. Pakistan cricket will survive but many citizen will not if not protected.
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Feb 20, 2013 08:47am
but before that, thank you so much Pakistan for helping SA climb higher up the test ratings !!!
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