Never Again

Hello and welcome back to my blog

This week the Pakistan Cricket Board and selectors continued their ruthless approach to team selection after the team was smashed in the first tests against England. Wicket keeper Kamran Akmal was culled after getting a pair and dropping important catches in that match while Kaneria was ousted to make way for off-spinner Saeed Ajmal. In one sweeping movement, the team was stripped of its only remaining players of any great experience save Salman Butt himself, but he is the captain after all - he will get cut after the second test. These actions at once appear reactionary and completely lacking in forward thinking - how is the team to develop without senior players?
The Pakistan cricket team has always suffered from internal politics, mirroring the nation itself, but this must surely be the final folly of that caustic environment. The backstage drama of the team has always been overshadowed by the success of some of the game's greatest players on the field but now that balance, for lack of a better word, has been destroyed. Now the team will not even have that to save face with.
In contrast the ACB confirmed that they are standing by Marcus North, their beleaguered number 6 batsman despite poor form for the left hander in recent months. This patience may bare fruit in The Ashes this summer and the point will be made.
For a more local example of the stupidity of the Pakistan selection policy consider the surprise retirement of Blackcap Nathan Astle who found it too hard to focus and enjoy his cricket with the Bracewell regime of pure-performance based selection criteria. If reports are to be believed the retirements of McMillan and Cairns were results of the same thing.
Selectors need to be more thoughtful with their work and ignore external pressures to cut this player or that. The PCB may soon learn this when their team stagnates and falls to the bottom of the world rankings but by then it may be too late. The only thing that might prevent this is ironlcally the volatile nature of Pakistan cricket - namely the way the partisan selector gives up his hard nose for a week spines

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now