Boasting can't improve performance

Karachi: Wasim Akram's big boast was exposed to ridicule at Brisbane when Pakistan was roundly beaten by ten wickets after scoring 648 runs in both innings. Cricket is ofcourse by chance, as the maxim goes, but not as much as our losing team made it look in the first Test against Australia.

Let us examine and assess our mistakes instead of trying to mask them with inane excuses like lack of practice, Saqlain Mushtaq's unfitness or Mushtaq Ahmad's absence of touch. Ironically when the latter was in full cry during the world cup matches he was not played even once by thesame skipper and yet Pakistan reached upto the final.

The way our openers were selected for the Brisbane Test betrayed partiality and even dishonesty. Muhammad Wasim, a middle order batsman, was entrusted with the responsibility of an opener, a manifestly wrong strategy. There were two regular openers available besides Saeed Anwar namely Wajahatullah Wasti and Ghulam Ali who has come in after a five year lapse mainly because he happens to be the Captain's PIA pal.

One does not know why these two were included in the squad when the skipper had no intention to give them a chance. As regards Muhammad Wasim let me remind the fans that he was played in a one day match in Pindi at the expense of Youhana which was a costly decision. I think on a strip like Brisbane a batsman was only liable to get out because of a palpable mistake on his part.

A bowler has little say in the matter. On such a pitch a defensive field is set not an attacking one and the captain's instruction to the bowler is to bowl according to field. Thus either a batsman will pay for hismistake or at least the scoring rate will be hampered.

Here the Aussies were allowed a free rein and our stock bowlers Azhar Mahmood and Abdur Razzak were wayward in line and length.

These two allrounders had a successful run in one day games. The reason is obvious. There is a world of difference between one day game and Test matches. In the shorter tightly time-bound frame the batsman has to attempt a scoring shot even on an outgoing ball while in the conventional format one has to be selective and cautious. Consequently different strategies need to be adopted.

Today Mr Pybus poses as a PHD in cricket whereas his assigned responsibility, to improve the fielding, went openly by default. The way catches were missed, particularly by Mohammed Wasim, will be ruefully remembered. The fact is that Pybus is entrusted wih a responsibility for which his credentials are far from being authentic. His opinion on batting, bowling and keeping is hardly of any consequence. He is merely a trainer.Wasim Akram should not barter our international cricket prestige for his personal friendship in this case or for that matter in persisting with Ejaz at this stage.

The basic difference between our batsmen and those of Australia was one of attitude. They stood their ground, applied and concentrated, showed mental toughness and above all single-minded devotion. Countries which had willow-wielders of this ilk and calibre like our own little master Hanif, Sunil Gavaskar of India, Geoff Boycott of England and Desmond Hayens of West Indies, were made of the stuff that wins Test Matches. Our batsmen - at least some of them - should take a cue from old masters.

Even if they look upto Saeed Anwar as a role model as he was in Brisbane they will do better. By the way Saeed could handle Shane Warne easily because he is a left hander and by saying so I do not want to take away any credit that rightly belongs to him. A little more patience and tenaciousness will bear fruitful result. If Wasim Akram takes Wasti as Saeed's opening partner and brings in Saqlain, resting Mushtaq for a while, the team's performance can be considerably improved.

In conclusion my advice to Wasim Akram - a world class cricketer among whose admirers I count myself too - is to refrain from making long-winded remarks after losing a match. His world cup harangue sounded as if his script was swapped with Steve Waugh's. As an experienced professional he should leave speech - making to his so-far mum manager and concentrate on cricket and ask the boys to do the same. We do not lack talent, only Test temparament is wanting, which the captain should inculcate. He should remember that deeds speak louder than words