Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

How the Kangaroos were conquered by the Eagles..!

First of all, the whole nation thanks the Pakistani cricket team, for giving immeasurable joy and happiness to the entire nation, on the very auspicious occasion of the Pakistan Day, falling on the 23rd March.

The positive attitude and the aggressive mind set of our cricket team, was visible from the very word go. Our players displayed the INTENSITY of a wounded tiger, which was clearly missing against the Indians, thus Pakistani team was looking a totally different unit, from the Friday’s match.

Let us now dwell, on where we improved over the 1st match and where still we could have done a better job.

1. The score we got in 20 overs vs India, was achieved in 14 overs vs Australia. Our run rate (RR) on completion of 10 overs (83 runs) was reasonably good at 8.30 runs /over. In the next 10 overs, we scored another 108 runs, at a RR of 10.8 runs/over. We scored 191/5, at a healthy RR/ over of 9.55.

2. Pakistan played only 34 DOT balls (22 or 3.4 overs in 1st 10 overs and ONLY 12 or 2 overs in 2nd portion of 10 overs). Remember, we played 51 DOT balls against India.

3. Pakistan ONLY gave 5 no ball runs, that too on a single no ball, bowled in the whole Australian innings. Whereas, Australian bowlers also bowled 1 no ball, but gave 9 runs on wide account, by bowling 3 wide balls. This also reflects remarkable bowling discipline displayed by the Pakistani bowlers, as compared with the Australian bowlers.

4. Here, we must give full marks to the captaincy of Mr. M. Hafeez, for keeping his cool and focusing on the victory, in this high voltage match, when Australia blasted off to 102/2 in just 8 overs, during which the last 5 over, went for 82 runs. The way Hafeez marshalled his bowlers and fielders, immediately paid dividends in the next 10 overs, which resulted in 8 wickets for 58 runs.

5. We must salute the captaincy of Muhammad Hafeez, who in my opinion deserves 99 marks out of 100, for his crisis management abilities.

Just let me repeat, that we got to overcome our following short comings, if the remaining 3 matches journey to the final match, has to be without any hiccups.

a). Again our score in the 6 power play overs, was just 34 runs, when ONLY TWO fielders are allowed out side the 30 meters circle. We may ask Shahid Afridi to open the innings, with license to play freely, as per his temperament. However, we must aim for a score of 60-80 runs in the power play period. Not forgetting that Australia scored 82 runs against us last night, in 30 balls during overs numbers 4 to 8, even when they had lost both of their openers, in the first six balls; and their score was just 8/2, in the 1st over. Actually, we don’t have to look back whatever happens. Just focus on our aim of 60-80 runs in the power play overs.

b). Again we played a very high number of 22 dot balls in the 1st 10 overs. As we did in the 2nd half of the innings, where we played 12 dot balls, our aim should be (as we are aiming to be the world T20 champions) that not more than 8-10 dot balls are played in the 1st half, where there is a luxury of 6 overs of power play, as well. Our players ought to shun any negativity coming into the mind, due to the falling of early wickets, as was displayed by the Australian number 3 and 4 batsmen.

c). Mr. Hafeez, must realise that there is no room for complacency, because our position in the group is extremely precarious; as Australia, can easily bounce back, with better run rate, to oust us, from the race of the semi finals.

d). The joke must now end, of playing Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal. Believe me, whatever, they are contributing to the team, Younis Khan, Fawad Alam and Misbah ul Haq can do much better. These players (Shoaib and Kamran) are not the T20 material (obviously nothing personal against them or any other player, management committee members or any PCB person). And now, the next matches against the West Indies and Bangladesh, are going to be very crucial for us, because if we have to remain in the contention for the semi finals, we have to win these games with not a big margin, but with a HUGE margin.

e). As our team showed during the match against Australia, our players must remember that OFFENCE IS THE BEST DEFENCE. All our game scheming and strategy planning, must be based on just one premise, not just to win, but to win with a HUGE margin.

Wishing and praying for all the best for our cricket team in the days ahead.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

PCB and Pakistan..!

Again, we lost to India tonight, a match which was very winnable. The only problem with our cricket is that it is being led by nincompoops, who may be very good in their own spheres of professional and sporting activities, but alas, they know nothing about the leadership requirements of cricket affairs. On this account, there is no need to single out the leadership incompetence of the chairman PCB or his think tank wizards. It is sufficient to explain the whole problem, with a very relevant definition of a leader, as below:

“A good manager ensures that ladder is being climbed efficiently by his men. However, a good leader is responsible for the ladder to be leaning, against the right wall”.

Despite the fact that all the requirements of winning the T20 World Cup were informed well in time today, as well as, earlier in an analysis titled “How the Asia Cup was lost” to the all and sundry in the PCB; still the brainy think tank of the PCB, comprising of the manager Mr. Zakir Khan, chief batting consultant, Mr. Zaheer Abbas, head coach, Mr. Moin Khan and the captain Mr. M. Hafeez, made certain cardinal blunders during the match vs India tonight, explained as below:

a). It is a rule of thumb to select horses for the courses. But PCB brains made sure that wrong players like Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal were selected for ODI and T20 games, over fresh legs of Awais Zia, Hammad Azam, Anwer Ali, Sami Aslam, Umer Waheed, Imran Khan, Zia ul Haq, Aezaz Cheema and many other budding youngsters. Rather than losing with oldies, who have passed their expiry dates, we should not be afraid of losing with players, who can be truly called, as a future investment.

b). There was no need to play unfit players like Umer Gul and Shahid Afridi. There is no harm in sending them back and calling the replacements.

c). Mostly, a T20 game is won or lost in the first six power play overs. In fact, I had already submitted at point # 1 below that we should aim for a minimum of 60 runs in the 1st six overs. Anyway, our team scored almost half of that target i.e., 34 runs.

d). In the point #6 below, it was suggested that at any cost, playing dot balls must be avoided, as it was the biggest crime in an ODI and T20 games. But, what we did was amazing, to say the least. We played 51 dot balls out of the total available 120 balls. Which means that instead of utilising 20 overs, we wasted 8.3 overs and played only 11.3 overs. You can’t even think of beating a team like Zimbabwe, by batting for just 11.3 overs.

e). At point #4 below, it was proposed that there was no place for players like Shoaib malik and Kamran Akmal in the playing XI. Yet, they were played and what they performed was no surprise for any person, having rudimentary knowledge of the game. But, this glaring issue of destroying our teams balance, is not being realised by our so called think tank of the PCB. It seems, this tank is doing every thing, except thinking.

f). Weaknesses of our team’s fielding are not being attended by the so called fielding coach, about whom the captain has already given his piece of mind, in a media interview, before leaving for Bangladesh.

g). Mr. Muhammad Hafeez must be asked to explain the reason for giving 4th over to Umer Gul who had an economy rate of 10 runs per over in the match, whereas, he kept un utilised, his own and Junaid’s 1 over each, whose ER/over in the match was 4.66 and 7.66 respectively.

h). The two run outs of the total 7 outs of the Pakistani innings, is also a big question mark, on the fielding abilities of the fielding coach.

i). Shame on the PCB person responsible for the purchase of substandard kits for the Pakistani team.

The shape and stitching of the cap on the head of our captain Mr. Muhammad Hafeez was pathetic and abysmal and was no comparison with the cap on the head of MS Dhoni.

Mr. Najam Sethi, Chairman PCB, must conduct an urgent enquiry over the purchase of miserably substandard and pitiable kits for our national team; and hand over the responsible person to the FIA, for defaming Pakistan’s prestige, image and reputation. The inquiry should also encompass the possibility of any direct or indirect connection or related link, of any PCB insider, with the firm, which provided the kits to the PCB. This will ensure the transparency and enhance the image and reputation of the PCB.

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sure shot recipe for victory in T20 World Cup matches for Pakistan

1. Must target to score above 60 runs in the power play overs.

2. Must bat second in case of winning the toss for night matches.

3. No over dependence on any one player, more so on Shahid Afridi.

4. Must not, repeat must not, include Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal in the playing XI.

5. Must control, repeat must control, wide balls. To control this habit every bowler be fined Rs.50,000 per wide ball.

6. Must not, repeat must not, play a dot ball which is the biggest crime in the T20 and the ODI matches. To control this bad habit, every player be fined Rs.50,000 per dot ball. According to Sunil Gavaskar, dot ball is like giving a wicket to the opponent team in the T20 matches.

7. To control the habit of catch dropping during the fielding, every fielder be fined Rs.1,00,000 for every dropped catch.

8. Every fielder be rewarded with a direct throw run outs with Rs.50,000/-, an excellent attempt for fielding with Rs.10,000. Two or more fielders involved in indirect throw run outs, be rewarded with Rs.50,000/- prize, equally divided among the fielders.

9. Batsmen hitting a six be rewarded with Rs.10,000/- and a boundary with Rs.5,000/-. Batsmen scoring 1, 2 and 3 runs be awarded with Rs.1,000/-, Rs 2,000/- and Rs.3,000/- respectively.

10. Every bowler be rewarded with Rs.50,000 per wicket and also penalised for each no ball with Rs.50,000.

Best Regards.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

Mr. Zaka Ashraf must thank his stars that our PM, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, didn’t sack him, while he was on board the return flight to Pakistan.

At least, Zaka Ashraf was allowed to land.

This is called learning by experience..!

The big three and the scrawny seven

By Shamshad Ahmad
Thursday, January 30, 2014
From Print Edition of the daily “The News”.

This is unbelievable. They want to divide world cricket on the basis of money-making clout and credentials. A surreptitious plan by the so-called ‘Big Three’ or B-3 to assume a monopolistic role in pursuit of their lust for power and money reminds one of the ancient Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’, which could perhaps never have been more relevant than to these times when three most influential countries – which claim to be champions of democracy and equality – seem to have joined hands in opting for the most undemocratic means to acquire arbitrary control over world cricket.

We, indeed, seem to be witnessing ‘interesting’ times which are also times of troubles. Money is the endgame. If the Big Three succeed, it will be nothing but a new apartheid – neo-colonial adventurism in sports. At the very onset of this new millennium, it is disgusting to see self-centred retrogressive forces at full backward ‘silly’ swing in cricket. India’s Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) seems to be behind this whole sinister plan.

Cricket’s power-brokers met in Dubai this week amid an apparent threat from India to withdraw from major global events unless there is radical reform of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The Indians managed to take Australia and England on board in formulating a draft plan – the self-avowed B-3 – that seeks for their cricket boards’ arbitrary decision-making powers and also creation of two ‘divisions’ for Test cricket. This doesn’t affect their own status because of their known commercial importance and also because between they represent the game’s wealthiest nations.

If they succeed, the B-3 will not only control the five-member executive committee atop the board in charge of all policy but also will be protected from relegation in a new two-tier competition, and extract vast ‘contribution costs’ that are essentially appearance fees for their participation in ICC events such as the World Cup and World T20 Cup. At stake is also the current ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), a system that ensures that all the 10 leading nations play each other over a set period with no selectivity or exclusion, thereby guaranteeing that smaller countries aren’t starved of Test cricket in particular.

The very concept of the Big Three not only divides the cricketing nations into two unequal classes but also contemptuously reduces the other seven countries (Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe) into a non-consequential group of perhaps the ‘Scrawny Seven’ or S-7.

The B-3 by virtue of their cricketing money-power is out to grab effective control of the game’s governing body at the international level. A BCCI official at its final working committee meeting was conscientious enough to admit the plan will formalise “dadagiri” (thuggery) or bullying in cricket.

There couldn’t be greater tragedy for the game of cricket. No one with genuine cricket conscience can accept the move that makes the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board a privileged ‘oligarchy’ of world cricket. They seem to have lost sense of time altogether. We are not in the 19th or 20th centuries; this is the 21st century. Other than the notorious P-5, a post-World War Two anachronism in the UN system, there is no room for any more vestiges of power. The era of colonialism and apartheid is long gone.

But the money-conscious cricketing boards of world’s three principal democracies seem to have lost not only the sense of time but also of the fundamental values and norms including the cardinal principle of sovereign equality on which is predicated the very moral edifice of today’s global order. Let us not refer to them as Australia, England and India, for that is an insult to the good folk and cricket fans in those countries. It would be appropriate to refer to them by name in alphabetical order: Mr Clarke of the EWCB, Mr Edwards of Cricket Australia, and Mr Srinivasan of the BCCI who have clandestinely produced a document that has sent the rest of the cricket world scrambling.

A vast majority of cricket fans all over the world are shocked at the BCCI’s attempted ‘dadagiri’. Perhaps it is time for the foreign ministries of these three ‘civilised’ states to give their cricketing barons a power-point presentation on the contemporary rules, laws, values and norms of international cooperation including in the field of sports. Instead of seeking to create elitist centres of power and privilege, these boards should be asked to promote greater democracy, participation, transparency and accountability in the work of the ICC.

The three self-centred cricketing boards need to understand that they are just governing bodies of cricket in their respective countries and are only affiliated to an international governing body. But the B-3 caucus is already bullying the other boards, particularly the vulnerable ones through a carrot and stick policy and also promising them of ‘benevolence’ if they become obedient followers of their planned new architecture of global cricket hierarchy.

How patronising. New Zealand and Zimbabwe already seem to have yielded to the pressure. The boards of the other five – Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – are only half-heartedly resisting the pressure.

Both South Africa, currently Test cricket’s top-ranked nation, and Sri Lanka, losing finalists against India in the last World Cup, had called for the proposal to be deferred and indeed it was taken off the table at this week’s Dubai meeting. The decision on the B-3 proposal has only been deferred, not dropped. It will now be taken up next month.

The real challenge for the aggrieved cricket boards is to act fast and in a united manner to pre-empt this controversial plan. They must coordinate among themselves and also with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) whose chairman Paul Marsh, the son of Australia’s great Rodney Marsh, has publicly castigated the B-3 plan which in his view will not serve the best interests of the global game.

Three former heads of the ICC also find the B-3 plan unacceptable. “Giving into blackmail never works”, said one, “what will the next demand be?” Another former ICC president questions the very integrity of the plan by exposing gross inaccuracies in its facts and figures, calling for an independent review of the document. Ironically, nowhere in the document is there any serious attempt to grapple with the underlying problems of administrative incompetence and venality within the ICC hierarchy.

In the ultimate analysis, whatever the pros and cons of the B-3 plan, its auspices are highly questionable if not malafide. Caucusing secretly, they never engendered an environment of trust or fair dealing. Instead, they seem to have brazenly signalled: OK guys, enough with the democracy, you are either with us or against us. They are sending a message to everyone in the cricket world: High ideals? Moral code? Forget it. Might is right is the new ‘spirit of cricket’.

The Pakistan Cricket Board must not take this as a simple procedural matter. It is a question of fundamental principles and values and should brook no compromise.

The writer is a former foreignsecretary.

Email: shamshad1941@yahoo.com

Mr. Imran Khan Niazi Sahab, your SILENCE on the nefarious plan of the big 3 of the ICC to hijack world cricket is not only very strange, but DEAFENING, as well.

However, even if now you say something on the ICC crisis, it will be too late, as they are already huddled today for the crucial meeting.

Anyway, we expected from YOU a thundering response for safeguarding the Pakistani interest and the interest of the world cricket.

Why the most respected former cricketer in the world, Mr. Imran Khan Niazi is silent and not raising his voice against the Indian plan to split the ICC into a two-tier system?

Mr. Imran Khan, time is running out very fast..!

As such, please do take some immediate concrete steps, to unite all the worlds legendary players, against the Indian plan to hijack the ICC, in collusion with the ECB and the ACB.

And don’t forget that the FICA and the South African cricket board, has already rejected this BCCI led plan, to destroy ICC.

ICC (Indian Cricket Council) is now being turned into INTERNATIONAL CASH COUNCIL for BCCI, CA & the ECB on the lines of the UN Security Council, under which all the remaining cricket playing countries will be OUT CAST. This will be the the worst form of the apartheid in sports world, being planned by the BCCI, CA and the ECB, just for the sake of their avarice.

If the BCCI, CA and the ECB do not want the 7 remaining ICC board members as equal partners, it will be better for the remaining 7 members of the ICC, to form their own ICC (International Cricket Committee) in consultation and cooperation with the FICA. This new ICC should grant official status to all members for playing Test matches (day and night with 100 overs per innings limit, ODI’s of 40 overs with two innings of 20 overs and T10 revolutionary games. This new ICC should also introduce highly popular Tennis ball (taped) matches all over the world.

Cry of Cricket Australia..!

Edwards responds to ‘Big Three’ criticism
Daniel Brettig and Brydon Coverdale
January 22, 2014

Cricket Australia’s chairman Wally Edwards, seen here with the ECB chairman Giles Clarke, has been a key figure in the proposal to be voted on by the ICC © Getty Images
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News : BCCI working committee to discuss ICC draft
News : Draft proposal could hit a snag
News : Boards silent on ICC revamp consequences
News : CSA demands ICC proposals withdrawn
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News : Big Three could control revamped ICC
Audio/Video: ‘Dice heavily loaded in favour of big three’
Players/Officials: Paul Marsh
Sites: Cricinfo ICC Site
Wally Edwards, the Cricket Australia chairman and a key figure in the drafting of a proposal to centralise power in world cricket with India and England, has broken his usual silence to defend the plan in the face of heavy criticism from the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).

Through FICA’s chairman Paul Marsh, the world’s cricketers have voiced their strong opposition to the proposed revamp of the ICC’s structure, declaring that it would only serve to strengthen India, England and Australia while weakening the rest.

Commonly preferring to work the back channels of cricket administration before speaking publicly, Edwards said he felt compelled to respond to FICA’s contention that the nations involved in drafting the proposal had defied their commitment to work in the best interests of the ICC by doing so.

“Traditionally, CA does not comment on ICC discussions it is about to have – we talk to other ICC nations across the table rather than via the media,” Edwards said. “But we were today disappointed to see the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations question whether CA and others have met their fiduciary duties as ICC members.

“Setting aside the fact that we are yet to discuss and vote, CA’s approach internationally is consistent with its approach at home where we have made significant strides improving the governance of Australian cricket. There will be a discussion in the next few days among the ICC’s full member nations about possible changes to how the ICC works.

“CA’s view going into that discussion is that we need to continue to promote international cricket competitions including the primacy of Test cricket, we need to improve global cricket leadership and we support that members should be working to promote the interest of the game as their priority.”

Edwards is the first chairman of the three nations tabling the proposal to speak publicly about it. Neither N Srinivasan of the BCCI nor Giles Clarke of the ECB have been prepared to talk about the proposal or its implications, preferring to wait until the raft of changes are voted on by the ICC executive board at their next meeting on January 28 and 29.

FICA, which represents player associations in seven of the ICC’s ten full member countries, had declared itself “extremely concerned” with the leaked proposal, which would place the ICC largely in the control of the so-called “Big Three” nations. Marsh said players had a real fear the proposal would leave countries outside the Big Three to “wither on the vine”.

“There are a myriad of issues with this proposal,” Marsh said. “First and foremost, as board directors of the ICC, the Chairmen of the BCCI, Cricket Australia and ECB owe fiduciary duties to the ICC that include putting the interests of the ICC ahead of those of their individual boards, a duty to remain loyal to the ICC and avoid conflicts of interests and to act in good faith to promote the success of the ICC. We seriously question whether all of these duties have been met.

“The proposals relating to scheduling are disturbing. The reassurance to the boards outside the ‘Big Three’ that they are guaranteed to earn more in the next rights cycle than they have in the current one ignores the fact they are almost certain to lose more money from a re-shaped Future Tours Programme (FTP) than they will gain from ICC distributions, when the ‘Big Three’ inevitably pick and choose who, when and where they will play.

“Of significance is the section that offers a guarantee from Cricket Australia and the ECB to play three Tests and five ODIs per cycle to each of the top eight members, yet there is no mention of any such guarantee from the BCCI. Each of the member countries, including Australia and England, rely heavily on Indian tours for sustainability of the game in their country. What chance do the majority of members have of survival if the BCCI decides not to tour their countries on at least a semi-regular basis?

“The result of this is that the gap between the ‘Big Three’ and the rest will get bigger and bigger, which will undermine the competitiveness of future ICC events and therefore the value of rights in future cycles. This will affect everyone and it cannot possibly be in the interests of international cricket nor of the health and sustainability of the world game of which the ICC is supposed to be the custodian.”

Boards of ICC members outside the Big Three have expressed differing views on the proposal, with Cricket South Africa arguing the idea is “fundamentally flawed” and “in breach of the ICC constitution”, while New Zealand Cricket said it was wrong to jump to the conclusion that the proposal would be bad for cricket. However, FICA has raised concerns about the potential increased financial strain that could affect countries already struggling to make money from the game.

“We also have significant concern with the notion that distributions from ICC events should be based on commercial contribution,” Marsh said. “The result of this will be the countries that need ICC income most will receive the least, whilst the ‘Big Three’ will get the lion’s share even though they are already financially healthy because of the value of the rights to their bilateral series.

“The role of ICC events should be to assist in levelling the financial playing field by distributing the proceeds from these events fairly, rather than further widening the gap between the rich and poor. Whilst these are an entirely foreseeable commercial outcomes, for the cricket fan the greater concern is the increasing gulf in quality between the ‘Big Three’ and the rest. The essence of sport is competition and those in control of the ICC should be doing all they can to promote and provide a level playing field. This proposal will achieve the complete opposite.

“Ironically the proposal espouses the principal of meritocracy. The linking of immunity from Test relegation for BCCI, ECB and CA to an argument that this is necessary ‘solely to protect ICC income’ is plainly wrong, given the fact no Test-based ICC events feature in the forward thinking and therefore all revenues generated from Test cricket are kept by the boards hosting the respective series.”

Daniel Brettig and Brydon Coverdale are assistant editors at ESPNcricinfo

Feeds: Daniel Brettig
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

The great Eusebio was hailed as a national hero both in Portugal and Mozambique
Eusebio who passed away on January 5 is widely acknowledged not only as the finest footballer of Portugal but also the greatest to come out of Africa. Named in the top ten players in the all-time list, Eusebio gained eternal fame when he spearheaded Portugal to their best ever show ñ a third position in the 1966 World Cup.

Nicknamed “Black Panther” for his pace and awesome presence, the gifted striker netted nine goals to top the scorers’ list. He was deservedly declared the player of the tournament.

He was born in 1942 in Mozambique. The South East African country was a Portuguese colony at the time. Born in an impoverished family, he had to endure further hardships as his father passed away when he was only eight.

All this meant his earlier games were played barefooted with socks or a newspaper rolled into a ball. But his precocious talent was very much evident. Eusebio was only 15 when Juventus, the famous Italian club, expressed interest in him; only to be refused by his doting mother.

However, it was only a matter of time. The scouts of Portugal’s two top clubs, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, both wanted to have the rare talent in their ranks. Benfica offered better terms and the mother agreed to allow her 18-year-old son to move to Europe for a better future.

His salary was believed to be twice as much as paid to any African footballer before. It is said that Benfica had to hide him in Portugal for a few months so as to prevent Sporting reaching him.

Eusebio made an immediate impact. After making his club debut in 1961, he donned the Portuguese national shirt the same season.

At the time, Mozambique, being a colony of Portugal, didn’t field their own national team; all the Mozambicans were Portuguese. From then onwards, it was a great success story as he starred for both the club and the country.

Also called “Black Pearl”, he turned out for Benfica from 1961-1975 and helped them win the Portuguese league as many as 11 times.

He was blessed with amazing physical attributes — he could run 100 metre in 11 seconds and had massive thighs. He had a superb technique and a thunderous but accurate right-footed shot.

He topped the scoring charts in his domestic league on no less than seven occasions.
On the continental stage, Eusebio’s Benfica won the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) in 1961-62 (he scored twice in the final against Real Madrid). He appeared in three other finals in the 1960s. They had to wait till 1987-88 for the next appearance in the final.

Eusebio was the 1965 European footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) and finished as runner-up twice, in 1962 and 1966. In 1968, he was the first winner of the Golden Boot Award, as Europe’s leading scorer, a feat he repeated five years later.

The 1966 World Cup earned him an immortal status as one of the game’s all-time greats. Ironically, it was Portugal’s first ever appearance in soccer’s quadrennial showpiece event.

In the group phase, they won all the three games, including one against the mighty Brazil (two-time defending champions) with Eusebio netting twice in the famous 3-1 victory.

In the quarter-final, Portugal came across North Korea who had reached the knockout stage by eliminating Italy in the group phase, one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup.

The East Asians had one foot in the semi-finals as they led the Portuguese 3-0 after 25 minutes. But then there was a turnaround and it was a one-man show. Eusebio scored four successive goals, two before the half time and two within 15 minutes of restart. The final score was 5-3. His feat is arguably the finest individual performance ever witnessed at any World Cup match.

With four goals, he also tied the record of the most individual goals in a World Cup game at the time. Portugal equaled the World Cup record of overcoming the greatest deficit to win a match.

Their semi-final was against the hosts England. The gallant Portuguese narrowly lost 1-2; no need guessing the scorer. Eusebio was inconsolable after the defeat. He regained composure to score one more in his team’s 2-1 win over the Soviet Union in the 3rd place tie to take his tally to nine, the highest of the 1966 competition.

These performances at the biggest stage made him the world’s most popular footballer in the era of Pele, George Best and Bobby Charlton.

The 1966 Eusebio show in England enthralled the people so much that his wax statue was immediately added to Madame Tassaued’s museum in London.

His 41 international goals remained a Portuguese record until 2005. In 2003, at the celebrations for UEFA’s Jubilee, the Portuguese Football Federation selected Eusebio as the Golden Player of Portugal — the country’s most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

No wonder, following his death, the Portuguese government declared three days of mourning. Despite rain thousands lined the streets of Lisbon to pay tribute to their country’s most loved sportsperson. Hailed as a national hero in Mozambique as well, there was grief in his country of birth as well. The President of Mozambique stated, “He’s a figure who has contributed to the deep and rich history of Mozambique. Eusebio came here from time to time. He always maintained a link with Mozambique.”

Written by the famous international sports journalist Mr. Ijaz Chaudhry
Link:- http://tns.thenews.com.pk/au-revoir-black-panther/
Published by the daily “The News” on 12 January, 2014.

Pakistani cricketers always bear the burden of representing the image and the hopes of millions of fans. Their behaviors have a social and political significance that goes well beyond the field and enter into the houses of all citizens and the most powerful institutions. The victory in a world cup ODI or T20 contest, can move nearly all sections of Pakistani nation in an un comparable manner.

Thus, for the ordinary Pakistani cricket fan, PCB is not just an organisation; rather, it is a mini Pakistan.

Hence, PCB not the players…. needs a turn around..!

It is suggested that PCB must be totally revamped from the top to the bottom, to make it function like a top class world level organisation, with zero tolerance for old amateur and bureaucratic style of working, intellectual, moral and financial corruption, nepotism and favouritism, in each and every sphere of its operations, with its vision statement as “Better than the Best”.

If PCB wants to survive in the fast changing world of competition, it must change its old habits and rebuild itself inside out. PCB must know that a professional organisation is “of and for professional people”.

For inside out rebuilding, the PCB must come out in a crystal clear manner that “how it want to be thought of” and then consider every thing that PCB “say and do.”

Every PCB department must also be converted into a “cost center” responsible for its revenues and expenses.

Side by side, PCB must also shun its CULTURE of politics and self serving policies. This is absolutely necessary, because culture of an organisation is the environment under which, all it’s employees perform their duties. What is needed by the PCB is to create a culture of team work, which stimulates the employees for working with absolute honesty and recognises and rewards employee efforts; and these values permeates the entire organisation.

While chaos, politics and leg pulling is rampant in the rank and file employees of the PCB, how it can be expected to produce players, who will not be equally, if not more, afflicted by these malaise? As they say in the IT jargon, garbage in garbage out, or output can not be more than the input.

However, the top notches of the government and the PCB, must know very clearly that PCB can not be turned into a first class world level organisation, by just transfers, postings, change of designations, hiring or firing of employees. In fact, such steps breeds even more discontent and ill will, among the employees and the general masses. To achieve the desired results, PCB needs a total and complete overhaul, disregarding any political or other pressures for serving any vested interest(s), examples of which (running the organisation on an absolutely 100% merit basis) can be seen in many Pakistani organisations like LUMS, SKMCH & RC, IBA and the GIK etc.

Till such time, PCB itself is turned into a center of excellence, it can’t produce a bunch of players, who can be the world beaters, on a consistent level.

In any team game, a team do not need champions like Don Bradman or David Beckham to be the world beaters. But, greats like Don Bradman and David Beckham in any team, can not excel, without the cooperation of other team members.

For our players to consistently excel at the international arena, PCB coaches need to repeatedly hammer into the minds of the players, the following famous quote of Aristotle.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

Now world over competitive sports is not considered just a past time hobby or entertainment and fitness activity. Rather, sports activities are considered and handled as a science. As such, PCB must shun business as usual decades old approach. Moreover, the PCB think tank must “PLAN FOR SUCCESS” with clear and measurable objectives.

Gone are the old decadent ways of assembling players for a camp, just before the tour to show their fitness and playing abilities. It must be the specified duty of the think tank and the selectors to devise a plan to monitor 24/7 the health, eating habits, general behaviour and performance of the CONTRACTED players, in a scientific manner. These contracted players must not be allowed to have a free reign, even during the off days, as they are almost like paid employees of the PCB.

Moreover, the FINE TUNING and grooming of the marked pool of all the talented and upcoming players (non-contracted) should be the SPECIFIC responsibility of the NCA staff, who must constantly produce, highest calibre five players, for each position of the game, both for the men and the ladies teams.

It will not be out of place to conclude, by mentioning the quotes of the two famous sports coaches, for the motivation of our players, who are under tremendous pressure to perform on a consistent level.

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”
– Quoted from Vince Lombardi

“When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.”
– Famous quote by Pat Riley

Pakistan lost, but there is no shame in going down fighting. Yes surrender is always shameful. However, if seen in the true objective perspective, our team didn’t lose; the match was lost by the team management and its leadership.

In the next match, Sohail Tanvir must be replaced with Anwer Ali, who is a much better bowler, batsman and a matchless fielder, as well.

Moreover, we only scored 43 runs in the 1st power play (when only 2 fielders are out of circle) of 10 overs, which is absolutely not acceptable. In fact, this was the singular reason for our defeat in the 2nd ODI, which was won by the SL team, on the 4th ball of the last over.

Onwards, we must aim for 80 runs in the first 10 overs of the power play, when only 2 fielders are allowed outside the 30 yards circle, never forgetting that not failure, but low aim is a crime.

Our biggest problem since the advent of the ODI game is that whenever wickets fall, we go into the shell, forgetting that keeping wickets in hand, at the end of the innings, is absolutely useless.

What is the benefit of batsmen like Umer Akmal, sitting in the pavilion, without getting a chance of showing their attacking prowess? And if, his batting is not required, then why not play a specialist wicket keeper, dropping Umer Akmal, altogether.

It must be indoctrinated in the minds of the players that attack is the name of the game, in the ODI matches.

All our planning, strategy and execution of the game, which includes selection of the players, batting order, the decision of batting or bowling first in case of winning the toss, batting strategy and plans during the power play and other segments, with particular emphasis on minimising dot balls (very few people know that a research revealed that Pakistani cricket team plays the maximum number of dot balls), bowling plans and shrewd field placings, must be based on just one premise “OFFENCE IS THE BEST DEFENCE”.

Further, Misbah should have allowed to bat Umer Akmal and Bilawal Bhatti, ahead of himself.

We must not forget that Pakistan lost, on the 4th ball of the last over, meaning thereby that Pakistan was just short of 8-10 runs, which hard hitting batsmen like Umer Akmal and Bilawal Bhatti, would have quickly scored.

Anyway, we must learn from our mistakes, which caused defeat, which was not inevitable for Pakistan, in the 2nd ODI.

Better luck next time, but the team management (chairman of the tour selection committee, head coach and the captain) is solely responsible, for this absolutely avoidable defeat.