Loud Thinking

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Punishment for cricket match fixing in the eyes of Sir Vivian Richards

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

AoA.

Sir,

Since the news of Moin Khan’s late night visit to a casino in NewZealand broke in Pakistan, a debate is raging in every section of the society to send the cases of all the Pakistani cricket players and PCB officials, found guilty of match fixing, during the ongoing World Cup cricket matches, for their trial in military courts.

In this regard, the views on punishment for match fixing, of the world’s most famous cricketer, Sir Vivian Richards, are reproduced below for your kind perusal please.

Sir Vivian Richards, writing at page 219 in his book titled “Sir Vivian The Definitive Autobiography” states:

“The problem (match-fixing) needs to be taken more seriously and be throughly investigated. Anyone caught and proved beyond doubt to be involved in match-fixing should be given the maximum punishment, both within the game and under the laws of the country in which it happens. In my view, it is a kind of treason, selling your country out. At one time that would have meant being put in front of a firing squad! How can anyone sell out his or her country for a few bucks? It is beyond my comprehension.”

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Mr. Prime Minister please don’t allow anyone to sell Pakistan with impunity and the traitors must NOT be allowed to go unpunished..!

Media is reporting as a breaking news that Moin Khan found for about four hours, in a casino (where you obviously go to indulge in betting) in NewZealand, before the match vs West Indies, after which Pakistan lost the match in the most humiliating manner.

It is a known fact that the chairman PCB, Mr. Shahryar Khan, never wanted to send Moin Khan with the team, but as per reports, Mr. Najam Sethi convinced him to allow Moin Khan to go with the team on tour for the World Cup, incurring an additional expenditure of Rs.44 lacs, for the trip of the chief selector, who was earlier sacked himself by Mr. Najam Sethi, after the Dhaka debacle; and then again hired by Mr. Najam Sethi, for the twin positions of manager and chief selector.

Now, It is high time that the PM Pakistan must immediately orders a formation of JIT (consisting of ISI, MI, Police, FIA and NAB officials) to investigate the links of betting of PCB officials (in Pakistan and with the team) and cricket team players along with the entire coaching staff, in favour of Pakistan’s defeat vs India and West Indies.

In this regard, if anyone is found guilty, he should tried in military court for treason against the country.

Moreover, during the inquiry period of the JIT, all suspects be put on the ECL and arrested so that they are unable to destroy any evidences of their crime against the country.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister and Patron in Chief Pakistan Cricket Board.

AoA.

Sir,

Saturday, 21 February, 2015 will be remembered in the annals of the history as the day when last nail was hammered in the coffin of the Pakistan cricket, right under your patron-ship of the PCB.

As compared to the strong Indian cricket team, which defeated us by 76 runs, on 21 February, 2015 a lower ranked West Indian cricket team, beat Pakistan by a record and huge margin of 150 runs. We batted 47 overs vs India; and only 39 overs vs the West Indian team.

Mr. Prime Minister, more than the defeat, the sudden dip of standards in the batting, bowling and fielding departments of our team, against an ordinary (West Indies) team (which was defeated in our World Cup round match a few days ago by Ireland, a non Test playing nation) is to say in very mild words, just horribly alarming.

However, still I believe that it is NOT our players who are responsible for the World Cup debacles. Along-with the chairman PCB and his top advisors/directors and all members of the BOG PCB, the major responsibility of this rotten state of affair lies with the tour management committee, consisting of the Head Coach, Chief Selector, Manager and the Captain.

At the moment, the PCB leadership has converted the Pakistani cricket team into a rudderless ship with a big hole in its hull, which is sinking deeper with every passing moment or match.

This decline was bound to happen with a team whose entire management leadership in Pakistan and Australia is, to say the least, not only nincompoop and throughly incompetent, but also not fit and capable, to lead the national team, to any international level competition.

However, we should never forget the fact that Pakistan has immense cricketing talent of boys and girls, which if properly harnessed and given the right guidance, with policy of MERIT and MERIT alone, can easily win all the international competitions.

The nation earnestly appeals to the cricketer (which fact you also told to the Indian PM during his recent telephonic conversation with you) Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, to kindly reconcile with the fact that our cricket team’s performances have touched the lowest ebb ever; and the fact that the experiment of handing over (about two years ago) the reigns of the PCB to Mr. Najam Sethi and his associates, has not only back fired, but has resulted in irreparable damage to the country’s image, reputation and prestige, that too in an unprecedented manner.

As such, kindly order immediate dissolution of the PCB and its entire governing board by replacing it with someone, who has the ability and capacity to re-build (within 60 days) a new PCB, which should be a world class professional organisation, second to none in the ICC.

Sir, your this action will be totally in line with the decisions of sacking all the top bureaucrats, responsible for the petroleum shortage, in the province of Punjab in January 2015; and your swift handling of a serious crisis, was very well received by the public at large.

As far as our cricket team is concerned, it is again reiterated that a professionally knowable, impeccably honest, highly respected and a hard task master senior cricketer from amongst M/s Wasim Bari, Javed Miandad, Mohsin Hasan Khan, Abdul Qadir or Aamir Suhail may be IMMEDIATELY sent to Australia, as DG PCB, with FULL administrative and cricketing decision making powers, to ensure that our team must NOT tamely surrender in the next matches and put up a good fight, so as to MUST reach, as a first step, to the quarter-final stage; and from there, gradually move up-wards.

Mr. Prime Minister, action is better than inaction; and now when the water level has crossed over the heads, the whole nation is looking towards your decisive move, to stem the rot from the Pakistan cricket, by taking strict and swift action (even if an ad-hoc is to be imposed for a short time) without any consideration of personal or party likes or dislikes; which will be obviously in the interest of your own public image: and highly enhance your stature, as a true statesman, produced by the country, after a long time.

Best wishes and all the prayers for success, in your endeavours to take out Pakistan, from crisis after crisis, in every field of life.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Before selecting Pakistani players for the ODI World Cup 2015, we must refresh the results of the ODI matches played since the last Asia Cup, held about a year ago in Bangladesh, during February – March 2014.

– Pakistani team lost the final match of the Asia Cup Vs Sri Lanka in a most pathetic manner.
For details please read “How the Asia Cup was lost?” Link:- https://www.snayyar.com/loud-thinking-april-22-2014-at-0851pm.html#sthash.XI0iLFh6.dpbs

– In August 2014, Pakistan again lost 2-1 ODI series played in SriLanka.

– Pakistan also lost two ODI series against both Australia (3-0) and NewZealand (3-2) played during October – December 2014, at the UAE.
For the detailed analysis of these performances please read:

1. How to win the ODI World Cup-2015? Proposals sent to the PCB in Sept.14 confined to the dust bin..!http://t.co/tfZeNe6lOq

2.Pakistani cricket in the abyss..Patron in Chief of the PCB must act now..! – See more at: https://www.snayyar.com/loud-thinking-october-12-2014-at-0710pm.html#sthash.A30YoIqP.dpbs

3. A clarion call to the Prime Minister and Patron in Chief of the PCB..http://t.co/L6gUnZ9Prg

4. Why the chief selector is larger than life for the PCB..? Honourable Prime Minister and the Patron.. http://t.co/i9B8goXuQt”

The conclusion drawn from the above analysis, is summarised as below:

1. The proof of pudding lies in its eating. Since, the take over of the PCB affairs by Mr. Najam Sethi, our team’s ODI performances reached historical low levels; by losing the Champions trophy in a manner that our team earned 8th position, amongst the 8 participating teams; and then even lost an ODI match Vs Zimbabwe, as well. And after all that down slides, leaving aside the Proteas, each and every ODI tournament/series was lost in such a pathetic manner that with World Cup almost at hand, we created a sort of a world record, in last ODI series vs Sri Lanka, by scoring only 19 runs in the first 10 overs of an ODI, when only 2 repeat 2 fielders, are stationed outside the 30 yards circle.

2. With such an ignominious recent past record, the entire PCB never ever thought to get rid of Misbah ul Haq and his coterie of few other bunch of oldies, who seems to have burnt their entire fuel, for the ODI version of the game.

3. What is now needed is to re-build a Pakistani team, with an eye on the future, by inducting promising and talented young players, which should also be led by a young dare devil and fearless youngster, as a captain.We need a captain, with a heart of a lion and agility of a tiger…جوانوں کو پیروں کا استاد کر

4. Since, Pakistan’s national team is no body’s personal team, PCB should not hesitate to say good bye to the oldies, who have given their contribution since long and are a sheer liability, for any future ODI games, particularly on the wickets and conditions of the down under. Even if these highly respected oldies are physically fit, the problem lies with their defensive and negative mental approach. Yes these seniors can still stand in the field but they are unable to gather the team to put up a fight. Actually, putting up a fight does not mean hitting sixes. In cricket, it means giving the opposition a run for their money and snatching victories from the jaws of defeat.

5. Even if our team of the youngsters is not able to give any worthwhile performance during the World Cup, they will gain a lot of experience for the future. Moreover, no heavens fell, when all the stars studded seniors team lost miserably in the Champions trophy matches, where our team got the last position. So, why to shy away in banking over the youth and giving these raw players a feel of the World Cup atmosphere. In a national team, there is no place for joy riders. The fact is that these senior players also know that their steam is totally consumed. Otherwise, why they are ready to quit after the World Cup? Any player who can not deliver beyond the World Cup, how can we take a chance with him to perform at the fag end of his career? As such, we must bet on the performances of the rising stars. As far as the element of the experience is concerned, this aspect should be the specific responsibility of the coaching staff.

6. One very important matter which must be considered for NOT selecting the oldies, is the VERY HIGH chances of physical breakdown of the senior and old players, during the World Cup.

In view of the foregoing, it is suggested that the following players should be selected for the Pakistani team for the ODI World Cup 2015.

1. Ahmad Shahzad
2. Awais Zia (with license to play very positively/aggressively)
3. Umer Akmal
4. Sami Aslam (Captain material).
5. Imam ul Haq
6. Sarfraz Ahmad (captain material).
7. Adnan Akmal (regular wicket keeper is a must and he is also better than Sarfraz Ahmad).
8. Anwer Ali
9. Bilawal Bhatti
10. Imran Khan
11. Muhammad Irfan
12. Yaser Shah
13. Raza Hassan
14. Azhar Ali
15. Fawad Alam (captain material).

Batsmen. 8
Spinners. 2
Pacers.     4
Wicket keeper       1+1 (Adnan as regular and Sarfraz as contingency)

Total.     15

Reserves:

1. Wahab Riaz
2. Sohail Tanvir
3. Muhammad Hafeez
4. Harris Sohail
5. Asad Shafique

Junaid Khan and Sohaib Maqsood not considered on the reports that they are not 100% medically fit. However, if they are fit, then Bilawal Bhatti and Azhar Ali can be dropped in lieu of the above named two players.

Why the chief selector is larger than life for the PCB..?

Honourable Prime Minister and the Patron in Chief PCB,

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab,

AoA.

Dear Sir,

At the outset, I must say that you deserve full Kudos, for deciding to take the direct command of the daunting challenge of the elimination of the menace of terrorism from Pakistan. You also deserve felicitations that you have successfully rallied all the segments of the society behind you; and the entire nation is totally united and standing behind the government, for this noble cause.

Sir, Now, coming to the subject matter, I take this opportunity to appreciate the decision of Mr. Shahryar Khan, Chairman PCB, in removing the most controversial person namely, Mr. Moin Khan, from the post of the team manager and appointing a very professional, competent, direct, efficient and quite tough person, Mr. Naveed Akram Cheema, as manager for the Pakistani cricket team, for its tour to Australia and NewZealand, to play the ODI World Cup matches.

However, the media reports of today, detailed as below, have provided some very astonishing information about the strange decision of the PCB, to still allow unnecessarily, Mr. Moin Khan (considered as an apple of the eye of the former chairman PCB, who himself told in one of his TV programs that the Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in a meeting, hand picked him for the post of chairman PCB, by holding his hand in his hand and pleaded to him to accept this position of chairman PCB) to have a joy ride with the team, for its ODI World Cup 2015 journey, to Australia and NewZealand.

– The cost of the visit of the chief selector PCB Mr. Moin Khan, will be around Rs.40 lacs wherein, he will travel full length of the tour in business class and get $700 per day for hotel and other expenses (as reported by the media).

– Neither, there is a past tradition during ANY previous ODI World Cup nor, any requirement of the chief selector, to accompany the team.
Actually, the job of the selectors finishes when they select 15 players for any foreign tour. And, during the currency of the tour the playing eleven is selected by a committee, which is headed by the manager and generally consists of the head coach and the captain.

Moreover, you being a cricketer your self, also know the fact that unnecessary personnel traveling with the team and their presence in the dressing rooms neither, helps building of congenial atmosphere in the dressing room nor, is good for the performance of the team.
Sir, it has been surprisingly reported that during the last tour of Sri Lanka (where we lost Test series 2-0 and ODI series 2-1) a 12 members PCB management and coaching staff toured, with ONLY 15 Pakistani cricketers.

Even Mr. Ishaq Dar Sahab has been reported by the media today, to have stated that now Pakistan needs to change VIP culture and curb prodigal (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant) expenditures.

In view of the foregoing, you are requested to issue necessary orders to the PCB, to strictly curtail any wasteful expenditures that too, in valuable foreign exchange, by NOT allowing joy rides of absolutely unnecessary personnel, on foreign tours.

With best wishes and kind regards,

PROPOSALS SENT TO THE PCB 5 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE START OF THE WORLD CUP 2105

From: Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad [mailto:nayyarahmad51@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 1:59 PM
Subject: World Cup 2015 – Few proposals for our team

Pakistan cricket team always had the potential and talent to win, any and all of the past cricket ODI & T20 world cup tournaments.

As such, there should be no doubt, about its chances of winning the next cricket ODI World Cup, scheduled to commence from 14 February 2015, to be played in Australia and New Zealand, where our (Pool B) 1st match, will be against the Indian team, on 15 February, 2015 at Adelaide.

The details of Pools A and B teams are given below:

Pool A.           Pool B.

England.        South Africa.
Australia.        India.
Sri Lanka.       Pakistan.
Bangladesh.   West Indies.
NewZealand.  Zimbabwe.
Scotland.        Ireland.
Afghanistan.   United Arab Emirates.

Since 4 teams from each pool (total 8 teams from both the pools) will move forward, to play quarter final matches, we can safely assume (barring any upset) that the following teams may qualify for the quarter finals.

Pool A.            Pool B.

England.         South Africa.
Australia.        India.
Sri Lanka.       Pakistan.
NewZealand.  West Indies.

Obviously, for all the teams playing quarter finals, semi finals and the final match, will be a do or die affair. Hence, for all intents and purposes, they will be considering all these matches, as a KNOCK OUT OR FINAL MATCH.

Now, for Pakistan to prepare for this ODI World Cup tournament, it has less than 5 months. Luckily, we also have the opportunity to play 8 ODI matches during coming Oct-Dec 2014, against Australia (3) and NewZealand (5).

PCB must ensure that firstly, it must also pick few newcomers with fresh legs, for the World Cup team, who performs outstandingly in the ongoing T20 national tournament being played in Karachi. This is high time that daring, fearless and hard hitting batsman like Awaiz Zia, is given an opportunity to play in all the 8 ODI matches vs Australia and NewZealand in UAE, to bolster his confidence for the World Cup tournament.

This is all the more necessary, because our low scores in the 1st power play part of the game, during the starting 10 overs, has been the achilles heel (a portion, spot, area, or the like, that is especially or solely vulnerable).
With World Cup almost at hand, we created a sort of a world record in just concluded ODI series vs Sri Lanka, by scoring only 19 runs in the first 10 overs of an ODI, when only 2 repeat 2 fielders, are stationed outside the 30 yards circle.

(On 1 March, 2015 Pakistan created even a more shameful world record that too against minnows Zimbabwe by scoring only 14 runs in 1st 10 overs).

We also possess the world record for playing the maximum number of DOT balls in the ODI’s and the T20 matches.

Pakistan also has the world’s lowest average of scoring the runs in the 1st 10 overs, which is 3.94/ over.

Our basic weaknesses in the ODI’s, as well as, in the T20 matches, have been the failure in scoring during the power play period (as if we have burdened the mind with the fear of losing the wickets during the power play, which in any case, on many occasions, we do lose, even with NOT scoring freely in the power play) and secondly, committing the CARDINAL mistake of not taking singles regularly, or playing huge number of DOT balls.

Both the above problems are obviously due to a negative mind set. And if our coaches particularly Mr. Waqar Younis, fails to address this very serious issue, our team will continue to perform, as we did in recent series in Sri Lanka played in August, 2014.

Our team management, must realise that it is not an issue of the ABILITIES of our players. Rather, it is related to the NEGATIVE mind set, imbibed or embedded in the MINDS of our players; and the only way to come out of this rut, is to do specific practise (particularly during the coming 8 ODI and 3 T20 matches vs Australia and New Zealand) of these two short comings, explained above.

In the coming 8 ODI and 3 T20 games, our tour management committee must give a minimum target of 80 runs, during the 1st 10 overs of the ODI’s; and 60 runs during the 1st 6 overs of the T20 games. Because, if at all we have to be the #1 team of the world, we will have to be BETTER THAN THE BEST.

However, our all batsmen must be told that they are required to play FAST but NOT at all required to play RASH.

They should also be told that the basic difference between cricket and the baseball game is that in baseball, you are supposed to hit every ball; and in cricket every ball has to be played on its merit. However, that doesn’t mean that batsmen should fail to score singles and doubles, if boundaries are not coming.

Moreover, to overcome the chronic problem of our batsmen, in effectively scoring runs of the short balls, coming fast over their shoulders, particularly on the bouncy wickets of Australia and New Zealand, they should be given rigorous practice, with special bouncing rubber balls, bowled over the cemented pitch.

Regarding fielding, the players should be taught that all 11 fielders must focus 100% during the game, just like a wicket keeper; and the best way to NOT to drop a catch and stop a hit, is to EXPECT that EACH and EVERY ball will be coming to me. This mind set will VASTLY improve the catching and fielding.

Further, while throwing the ball for a direct run out, first the fielder must LOCK his eyes on the wickets and then throw the ball towards the stumps, with one bump to the ground, rather than, direct aerial throw to the wickets. Research has proved that one bump throw to the wickets, increases the chances of hitting the stumps, compared with the aerial throw.

In the bowling field, the old adage of bowling wicket to wicket, still pays the maximum dividends. However, in the modern day cricket, disguised slower balls, the balls bowled away from the off stump (just short of wide ball) and surprise bouncers and slower bouncers have proved extremely useful and productive, during the crunch times; and in the case of FREE hits.

In this regard, PCB must prepare a plan named ”Vision 2015″. This plan should be a fool proof strategy with specific focus on winning the 2015 ODI World Cup tournament, considering all risk factors, like sudden unavailability of any player due to various reasons (as happened with Saeed Ajmal), at least five umpiring decisions going against us (two in batting; three in bowling innings), dropped catches/missed run outs and failure of main bowlers and batsmen etc. This plan should be based on preparations of the mind set of the players that in modern day ODI cricket, no score of any team, even if it was 300 or anything way above 300, should be considered a safe score, because the boundaries are small and rules heavily favouring the batsmen.

We should remember that plans never fail, we fail to plan. Moreover, the PCB “Vision 2015″ must state that “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

Best of luck to the Pakistan cricket team….you can do it…you can win the World Cup…just believe in the fact that InshaAllah, you will be the world champions..!

Dear Mr. Prime Minister and the Patron in Chief PCB,

AoA.

Sir,

I take this opportunity to bring to your kind notice that if seen in the perspective of the ODI World Cup, scheduled to start from 14 February, 2015 (exactly after 53 days) all is not well, with the Pakistan cricket.

In fact, Pakistan’s ODI cricket is going from bad to worse, since, Mr. Najam Sethi took over in June 2013; and even Mr. Shahryar Khan has failed to stem the rot (mainly because he is religiously following the policies of Mr. Najam Sethi and working on his dotted lines, as if Mr. Najam Sethi is still his boss).

Now, as per the latest ODI team ICC rankings, Pakistan stands at # 7. Pakistan is now just 1 point ahead of the West Indies and then we come in the league of the teams of the Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland.

It is known for sure that you being yourself just not only a cricketer, but an ardent and passionate follower of the game as well, can not just wait and see the downfall of our team, which is mainly because of the nincompoop senior PCB leadership and team management.

Sir, you as the Patron in Chief of the PCB, would also never tolerate an early (but very much looming) exit of the Pakistan team from the World Cup 2015, as happened in the year 2007, 9th ODI World Cup held in the West Indies, when Pakistan failed to go past the group stage while Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked Test playing nation, and Ireland, an associate (non-test playing) nation, made it to the Super 8s.

Sir, just for your kind information other cricket boards are taking the World Cup 2015 so seriously that the ECB has dismissed its tested and tried ODI captain Mr. Alastair Cook and appointed Mr. Eoin Morgan as England’s ODI team’s captain. Even West Indian Cricket Board has also corrected their course midway, by appointing Mr. Jason Holder (23 years young) replacing Mr. Dwayne Bravo, as West Indies’ ODI captain.

I really appreciate the BCCI for their professionalism in going at the jugular of the Indian teams coaching staff for losing the Test match Vs Australia, due to an unrest in the dressing room.

However, the state of affairs at the PCB can be easily gauged by our team’s dismal performances in the last 8 ODI’s that Pakistan played in UAE (considered as home ground for Pakistan), where it only won 2 and lost 6 matches Vs Australia and NewZealand.

Sir, the reasons of our teams down hill trend can be found from the answers of the following questions:

1. Why our team management and defensive minded ODI captains (M/s Misbah & Afridi) are playing most of the matches with 4 regular bowlers, knowing very well that 50 overs must be completed by 5 regular bowlers? Why not take to task Messrs Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Misbah ul Haq and Shahid Afridi for this cardinal blunder, constantly being repeated, since the series played in SriLanka?

2. Why the team management and ODI captains are not looking at the fact that even after including 7 batsmen in the playing eleven, we have failed mostly to score over 300 runs and also on many occasions we could not bat our quota of 50 overs?

3. Why our openers and rest of the batsmen play so defensively in the 1st 10 overs (when only 2 fielders are allowed outside the circle and where acres of space is available to score runs) that rarely our team scores above 50 runs in 10 overs? So much so that during the match played Vs NZ on the 19 December 2014, our team created a new world record, of scoring 50 runs with the help of ONLY one four.

4. Why Mr. Sarfraz is being given the duties of a wicket keeper, when even the foreign commentators talk about him as a below average wicket keeper, who keeps on dropping vital catches and thus contributing heavily in the defeats of the team?

5. No team allows unfit player (even if he is a captain) to have a joyride with the team. Why Mr. Misbah ul Haq was allowed to sit with the players and why he was not sent back home?

6. Why after announcing that Mr. Hafeez will not play the last 2 matches, he was included in the team?

7. Why Mr. Yaser Shah was not given the chance to play any ODI match, when he was sent from Pakistan as a replacement?

8. Why Mr. Sami Aslam originally selected for the ODI team, was sent back to Pakistan from the UAE to play in the A team?

10. Who selected Mr. Asad Shafiq for the ODI matches (where he miserably failed) when everyone in the country was laughing, at his out of merit selection?

11. Who dropped Mr. Fawad Alam from the team and why the chairman PCB kept mum, when this blunder (along with inclusion of Mr. Asad Shafiq) was pointed out by the experts, well before the final approval of the chairman PCB?

12. According to Mr. Waqar Younis the head coach of the team, our players are weak in fielding and also can not play bouncers. Firstly, these are no new findings and secondly, why not to dismiss the fielding and batting coaches for utterly failing to improve these VITAL short comings, in even a single player of the team?

13. Since, the buck stops at the top, why not ask the chairman PCB to immediately submit his resignation for 3rd consecutive ODI series defeat after his takeover, demotion of Pakistan’s ODI ranking to its lowest ever level and his failure in taking action (despite his own commitment) that he will not allow dressing room to be overcrowded and most importantly his impotence in taking back two positions of chief selector and manager, from Mr. Moin Khan.

Mr. Prime Minister, the existing PCB structure has failed to deliver, because it has collapsed, due to the incompetence and failure of its leadership consisting of its Chairman, BOG members, COO and senior directors. And to expect from a dead horse to run and win the race for you, is expecting the impossible. However, still Pakistani team has a chance to regroup and perform to its full potential if:

– Entire PCB echelon (top level command) is immediately replaced with NOT your FAVOURITES but true no non sense professionals like AVM Farooq Umar/ Mr. Razak Dawood/ Mr. Asad Umar and they should be given absolutely free hand to appointment the rest of the top PCB personnel.

– To aim for winning the World Cup 2015, we need to encourage innovation and risk at every level. The defensive minded old Mr. Misbah and spent force Mr. Shahid Afridi, at best can be retained as members of the team. PCB must appoint a new and young ODI captain of Pakistani team, as has been done by the ECB and the WICB.

– PCB must appoint a broader advisory committee with senior former cricketers, to submit a plan of action to win the World Cup 2015.
This plan should be a fool proof strategy with specific focus on winning the 2015 tournament, considering all risk factors, like sudden unavailability of any player due to various reasons, at least five umpiring decisions going against us (two in batting & three in bowling innings), dropped catches/missed run outs and failure of main bowlers and batsmen etc.
We should remember that plans never fail, we fail to plan. Moreover, this plan must state that “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

– PCB must not be afraid of changing the course at a time when the World Cup 2015, is not far away.
Nothing is impossible. However, in order to achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable, which must be thought.

Mr. Prime minister, let the posterity record the fact that you as the Patron in Chief of the PCB, did everything possible within your command, to see the Pakistan’s flag fly high, when InshaAllah, our team wins the ODI 2015 World Cup, repeating the history of the glory of the 1992 ODI World Cup victory.

Last but not the least, no one else knows better than you, Mr. Prime Minister, that after having suffered so much agony, distress and pains inflicted by the WOT, we as a nation are yearning for some moments of collective joy and happiness; and nothing equals the joys and nothing unites the nation than the celebrations of a cricket World Cup victory, for which we expect from you to even go out of the way, crossing over your party lines, for delivering this PRICELESS gift to our terror stricken nation.

With kind regards and best wishes.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

For all intents and purposes (barring any miracle) it seems that New Zealand may well be on course of a very well deserved and well earned victory in the 3rd and last Test match vs Pakistan.

And for the Pakistani team, it looked like they were outplayed by the NZ players in every department of the game.

However, the wicket keeping and fielding of the team, rather than showing any improvement, has depicted further decline of the standards.

As such, if we have to show any worthwhile performance in the coming ODI World Cup, the board and team management must revamp the whole process of fielding training drills and strategy.

Else, we should not forget that our cricket team performed so badly in the last Champions Trophy that it got the last possible position in the tournament.

We should never forget that plans never fail. Actually, we fail to plan.

Team management and players must be told that “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win”.

ICC must consider reducing the hardness of the cricket ball as fatalities and serious injuries are increasing almost on daily basis in this glorious game named cricket..!

Israeli umpire killed after ball strikes him in the face
JERUSALEM Sat Nov 29, 2014 10:42pm IST

(Reuters) – An umpire standing in a cricket match in the Israeli city of Ashdod was killed after being struck by a ball on Saturday, Israeli police said.

Police said the 60-year-old umpire, who was not named, was taken to hospital in the nearby town of Ashkelon in critical condition where he died of his injuries.

One of the players who witnessed the incident told the Nana10 website that the umpire, standing at the bowler’s end, was struck by the ball in his face after it ricocheted off the stumps from a shot that came straight back down the pitch.

The death came two days after Australian batsman Phillip Hughes died in hospital after being struck by a ball during a domestic first-class match in Sydney.

Cricket is not a major sport in Israel but Ashdod is one of the main centres for the sport where a large number of Jewish immigrants from India live.

(Reporting by Ori Lewis, editing by Ed Osmond)

The criminal silence of the ICC..!

Is there any ICC code of conduct for an on field criminal negligence of players and their beastly show of callousness..? while law of the land stipulates you can’t ignore an injured person on road which law allows players to dance over a fallen player fighting for his life?

@nayyarahmad: NZ players criminally ignored semi conscious AS & danced over a fainted player. Shame..Fractured cheekbone lucky esc http://t.co/VmYnKYXRro

@nayyarahmad: NZ players must b censured for criminally dancing over a fallen player Waqar fears for Abbott’s future afterhttp://www.dawn.com/news/1147296

@nayyarahmad: Any criminal case on NZ players 4 dancing over AS who was fighting 4 his life? Australian batsman Phillip Huhttp://www.dawn.com/news/1147254

@nayyarahmad: Why not a debate on the criminal act of NZ players who danced over a almost dead AS? Hughes’ death reopens age-http://t.co/ESAKzBzwCz

@nayyarahmad: Bigger tragedy is that NZ players danced & ignored almost a dead AS. Death on the field: A look at cricket tragedies http://t.co/XykfzqxdYX