Ajmal All Fix

A second unofficial test at Loughborough University has found Saeed Ajmal's action for his stock delivery, the offspinner, and his faster balls to be legal. His action for the doosra, however, is still not below the 15-degree limit. Pakistan's National Cricket Academy head coach Mohammad Akram confirmed the news to ESPNcricinfo.

Ajmal will now undergo a third unofficial test, before returning to domestic cricket in Pakistan if cleared to bowl these two deliveries again. Once he gets enough bowling time there, the PCB will apply for him to be officially reassessed by the ICC.

"He worked so hard to reduce the flex," Akram told ESPNcricinfo. "The latest test in the biomechanics lab on Monday revealed that he has started bowling within the ICC's 15-degree limit. His conventional offspin and faster deliveries are very well bowled within the limit now, that's the good news."

Ajmal's average elbow extension was found to be more than twice the permissible limit of 15 degrees, going up to 42 degrees on average in the official tests conducted before he was suspended from bowling in September. Following that, Ajmal underwent extensive remedial work over six weeks, but had still not fallen under the 15-dregree limit when he first underwent an unofficial test at Loughborough University earlier this month.

Akram said Ajmal's medical history and several cricket injuries have been hindering his bowling action. It is understood that the PCB had maintained Ajmal had a medical condition following an accident which affected the movement of his elbow when he was previously reported in 2009, and that had been accepted by the ICC when his action was cleared then.

"There is no doubt that he is a true fighter. He, despite his medical history, has achieved a significant result in reducing the flex in his elbow.

"But at the same time I would like to request ICC to give him a benefit of doubt as his chronic injuries forced him to bowl [differently], with the wrist collapsing and shoulder dislocating. This is something which is exceptional in his case."

Akram said the new testing methods were very stringent, but the PCB fully supported the ICC's stance. "It very hard to clear tests under the ICC's new protocols, with 3D software. Some of the very clean-looking actions via the naked eye can be questioned. There should be a benefit of doubt in testing protocol, and consideration for the exceptional cases.

"But PCB has been working extensively to weed out the illegal bowling actions from the domestic circuit. We have already cracked down on all bowlers with suspect action and are presently working with them on their actions. We always stand with the ICC and support the no-tolerance approach in dealing with suspected illegal bowling actions."

Shehzad on The Ready!

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board has said that opener, Ahmed Shehzad has recovered from his head injury and will be considered for the one-day and T20 series against New Zealand starting next month.

An official said that the medical panel of the board which includes senior manager medical, Dr Sohail Saleem had declared Shehzad fit and cleared him for selection again after he missed the two Tests against New Zealand due to depression and hairline fracture in his cheek bone.

Shehzad was hit by a short-pitched ball from Corey Anderson during the first Test on November 10 and scans later revealed he had suffered a hairline fracture in his cheekbone and he was sent back to Pakistan for treatment.

PCB has said that opener, Shehzad has recovered from his head injury and will be considered for the one-day and T20 series against New Zealand starting next month. (Getty Images)

#pakistan vs new zealand 2014 #ahmed shehzad #pakistan #new zealand

But just few days after saying that specialists had advised Shehzad to avoid contact sports for six weeks, PCB apparently has had a change of heart about Shehzad's fitness.

"Shehzad has batted for an hour in the nets today and also did training and he is fine now and his recovery has been strong," the official said.

Shehzad's health condition has become significant as just days after his injury incident Australian batsman, Phil Hughes suffered a sickening blow to the head during a Sheffield Shield match on Tuesday and despite an emergency operation is in critical condition in a hospital in Sydney.

Besides Shehzad, experienced pace bowler, Umar Gul is also in line to be called up for the ODIs and T20 matches against New Zealand.

Gul, who has been kept out of the national side due to fitness issues, has been bowling consistently well in the domestic first class matches.

"Gul has bowled long spells and has taken around 29 wickets so far in domestic cricket and apparently he seems to have recovered well from the knee injury that has troubled him for a while now," a member of the selection-committee said.

The selectors are also expected to call up the in-form wicketkeeper-batsman, Sarfaraz Ahmed for the limited over series after his impressive batting displays against Australia and New Zealand in the Tests.

"The inclusion of Sarfaraz is on the cards and this means that Umar Akmal who has been struggling for form in the first class event will not keep wickets anymore," a source said.

PK Cricket!!

This year has been amazing.  We are the shining star of the subcontinent and I am so proud of our players.  Insha'Allah....we will continue our ways in 2015

Here Come the Kenyans

Pakistan have not played top-flight cricket at home since March 2009 © AFP

Kenya are set to tour Pakistan next month for a series of five one-dayers against Pakistan A at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The tour will hold considerable significance for Pakistan, as the PCB looks to break their isolation as an international venue.

Kenya will arrive in Lahore on December 11 and will play the five games between December 13 and 20, before leaving on 21st.

The PCB had invited Kenya, and the two boards discussed holding the series in November initially, before the tour was postponed as the PCB waited for government clearance. For Kenya, the series will help them prepare for the ICC World Cricket League Division Two event in January, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Pakistan has been a no-go zone for major international cricket since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009. Kenya are the second Associate country Pakistan have invited over in the last six months. Ireland had been invited earlier and had been willing to tour Pakistan in September, but the terrorist attacks in and around Karachi airport in June ruled out the proposition. The PCB had also asked Sri Lanka to come over earlier this year, without much result.

Aussies to Visit

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough that could help revive international cricket in Pakistan, Australian High Commissioner Peter Heyward on Monday said that his country would send their top women and army cricketers by next year.

The development has come five years after militants attacked the visiting Sri Lankan team in Lahore. Millions of cricket-crazy fans have not witnessed any international cricket action in the country since the March 2009 attack.

Pakistan have been compelled to play all their home series at neutral venues, mostly in the UAE, as almost all foreign sport teams including those of cricket have avoided touring the country due to security concerns.

Speaking to Dawn.com over telephone today, High Commissioner Heyward expressed his disappointment over the more than five-year absence of international sport in the country.

“This is really unfortunate that international teams are not visiting Pakistan,” said the high commissioner and hoped for an early revival of the sport in the cricket-mad country.

He said that authorities in his country were working closely with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in this regard. “We intend to send our top women players to play against Pakistan women cricket team,” he said.

Heyward added that Australia’s Army team would also be seen playing against Pakistan Army team in 2015.

It is pertinent to mention that Kenya’s men team is also scheduled to visit Pakistan in December this year. The tour of Kenya is part of a campaign launched by the PCB to revive international cricket in Pakistan.

Even before the attacks on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, players' safety had been an issue in Pakistan which has faced a homegrown Taliban insurgency since joining hands with the United States after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998 over security fears.

They were due to tour in October 2002 but the series was played in Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates after a suicide bombing outside the hotel of the New Zealand team forced them to cut short their tour in May that year.

IS Ahmed PK's Hank AAron

For a while, the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand hung in the balance. Pakistan lost their fifth wicket. It wasn't an ordinary wicket, an average player. It was Younis Khan, the form batsman in international cricket.
Younis approached another fifty. He fancied the flight of Mark Craig's offspinners. Pakistan's innings was shifting from a period of quiet reflection to full contemplation of an unlikely victory. Younis danced down the track. Craig dropped short in response. The ball turned and spat at Younis' face. He was only able to defend with a glove and divert it to the hands of slip. With Younis gone, New Zealand's moment had arrived. But Sarfraz Ahmed, the understated revelation of Pakistan's desert uprising, had other ideas.

It is hard to debate with people who don't like the concept of a drawn game after five days of play. They just don't get it. If you don't understand the value of a draw, the heroism in a stalemate, the fascination of a dogged session, Test cricket isn't for you. The sternest examination of temperament is often reserved for the final day, when players are forced to stick or twist and any mistake can bust your team's prospects.
Batsmen face the greatest challenge. Modest targets become insurmountable on a devilish pitch when the mind plays tricks. In these circumstances, Pakistan tend to disintegrate. Routine draws, and even routine wins, become extraordinary defeats, leaving supporters shocked, angry and disillusioned.
Hence, the final day of the second Test promised to be one of intrigue, a true measure of the progress of Misbah-ul-Haq's team. Bad old Pakistan might have lost here. They didn't. Naya Pakistan, the team that convincingly won its last three Tests, might have been expected to pull off another thumping victory. They didn't do that either. Without losing or winning, Pakistan played an impressive final day. We didn't see a reckless assault on a difficult target. We didn't see a strokeless capitulation. Pakistan's innings was measured. The batsmen dug in at times to defy New Zealand, and accelerated at others to push for a win. The chase failed - that's the reality of Test cricket on a spiteful final-day track - but it was the approach that mattered, that spoke of a new maturity in this squad.
Sarfraz Ahmed has been pivotal to this revolution. A few mistakes haven't detracted from his neat glovework, but it is his batting that has helped transform Pakistan. One of the many batting problems is the general inabilty of the lower order to contribute. The bowlers still need to rise to the batting challenge. Sarfraz, meanwhile, has gone beyond handy contributions to take his place as a top-order batsman. Averaging over 45 in Tests, he is a tier above any of his predecessors.
Inevitably, those stats will be tested when he plays away from the UAE, but the gap is a significant one. Kamran Akmal is a distant second, with an average of 30.79. Kamran has scored six centuries in 53 Tests, Moin Khan four in 69, Sarfraz already has three in 12. In terms of a wicketkeeper-batsman, Pakistan have never had it so good.

The calm authority with which Sarfraz secured a draw is invaluable for the development of this Pakistan team. Sterner tests and greater pressures lie ahead, but he has set a course for a career to watch

The first Pakistan keeper I saw was Wasim Bari, whose status was somehow legendary. Everything about Bari was big. Big pads, big shirt collars and big hair. Everything, that is, except his batting average. With an average of 15.88 (in 81 Tests), the "great" Bari is the worst wicketkeeper-batsman since the 1970s. His keeping was decent but unreliable. In truth, much wasn't expected of him in a side that fielded woefully.
Saleem Yousuf was identified by Imran Khan as a fighter, and although he lacked the flamboyance of Bari, he was a step up in batting and keeping. Saleem was an irritant. He was noisy and sometimes pushed the boundaries, as when claiming a catch off Ian Botham at Headingley; he had dropped the ball and then retrieved it. But Pakistan required irritants at that time to fit with Imran's strategy of shedding any post-imperial deference to his opponents.
Moin's batting average was similar to Saleem's but he scored enough hundreds and fifties to offer a batting dimension that his predecessors were unable to. He was a chirpy keeper, making up in comment what he lacked in glovework. In terms of batting, there wasn't much to choose between him and Rashid Latif. Rashid was a superior keeper, possibly the best gloveman in Pakistan's history, and a more stylish batsman, although his opportunities were limited by team politics.
Surprisingly, Kamran's record compares favourably, his dismissals per Test being higher than any of these keepers. But statistics can lie. Kamran's keeping was a liability, especially from 2006 onwards, yet he managed to keep out his brother Adnan Akmal and Sarfraz mainly on the promise of his batting. It now seems even more inexplicable that Sarfraz was ignored for so long.
He may only be 12 Tests in but Sarfraz has an opportunity to better all of Pakistan's previous wicketkeepers. Pakistan have never had the luxury of a keeper who is a reliable gloveman and can play as a top-order batsman. That role has ben fundamental to the leading international teams of the last 40 years.
Pakistan have had many stars in these series against Australia and New Zealand, yet Sarfraz has had little attention. His contributions have been huge, from his lightning century to demoralise Australia in the first Test of that contest, to ensuring that Pakistan closed down New Zealand's total in the first innings here.
The session at the end epitomised the fascination of Test cricket. With little to play for, Sarfraz's character was on trial. The calm authority with which he secured a draw is invaluable for the development of this Pakistan team. Sterner tests and greater pressures lie ahead, but Sarfraz Ahmed has set a course for a career to watch.

Ajmal Eyes ICC REturn

KARACHI: Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal is pleased with the progress he has made with the remedial work on his bowling action, and has said he is targeting the 2015 World Cup for his international comeback.
He recently underwent unofficial tests on his bowling action at the ICC-accredited testing centre in Loughborough, where biomechanist Dr Mark King noted "substantial improvement" in his action, even though the straightening of his elbow still exceeded the permitted 15-degree mark.
"I'm very pleased with the assessment of Dr. King," Saeed Ajmal told a a website, the other day.
"It was very heartening to hear what he had to say. I was expecting a reduction to about 30 degrees but to see that some deliveries are down to 20 degrees is fantastic and positive news for me," he said.
"Also, what is really encouraging is that most of my deliveries are now within the 15 degree limit. The ICC's rules of course stipulate that all deliveries have to be under 15 degrees and I'm very confident that I will achieve that target with the help of [former Pakistan offspinner] Saqlain Mushtaq and all the other individuals who are helping me and guiding me." Saeed Ajmal said his elbow extension exceeded 15 degrees only for the doosra, and that all his other deliveries were now falling within the permitted limit. "I'm working hard on adjusting the doosra to ensure that it is also under 15 degrees and I'm confident that I will manage to do that."
The ICC banned Saeed Ajmal from bowling in international cricket in September. He had been reported after the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, and testing of his action in Brisbane revealed his average elbow extension to be more than twice the permissible limit.
It was the second time Saeed Ajmal had been reported, but the first time - in 2009 - he had successfully cleared tests on his action. Ajmal said he was puzzled by the lack of consistency in the test results.
"The frustrating thing is that I was tested in 2009, tested again earlier this year and have had private tests on my bowling action recently. Every single one of those tests has produced different results," he said.
"There is just no consistency at all in these tests and the subsequent reports. If there was consistency then I would know where I stand. I work on rectifying one issue and then in the next report something different is pointed out to me."
He went on to say that the 15-degree limit was too strict on bowlers, particularly under the ICC's new testing protocol.
"I think 99% of bowlers these days would fail the 15 degree test for at least one or more of their deliveries," he said. "I also think that the technology being used in match situations to assess bowling actions is too strict.
I think they should use the normal television cameras to assess our bowling actions, but instead what is being used are cameras that can virtually see the blood running though our bodies."
Saeed Ajmal was confident the doosra would survive as an offspinner's weapon, despite the ICC's crackdown on illegal actions and the widespread belief that the delivery can't be bowled legally.
Following on from the private tests and most probably next month we'll go for tests with the ICC and hopefully be cleared for a return to cricket", Saeed Ajmal maintained.

 

 

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