Pakistan bounce back

Pakistan look to have got over their recent setbacks (Ovalgate, drugs, captaincy) with a straightforward win over the West Indies in Lahore. A huge 192 from Mohammad Yousuf pretty much won the game for them. Good to see that they aren’t letting problems bother them on the field as they often did in the past.

New Zimbabwe domestic format

The Logan Cup, the first class tournament in Zimbabwean cricket has been re-formatted, after the abandonment of the tournament last season. Instead of Zimbabwe’s provinces competing for the tournament it will now be five select XIs; Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe A, Zimbabwe Board XI, Zimbabwe Development and the National Academy.

This new format is a joke. Whilst it may give more players the chance of playing first class cricket, what is the point in the tournament, as it’s essentially a series of inter-squad practise games instead of an actual competitive tournament.

All hell breaks loose

What up to then was a series without controversy between two teams whos encounters have thrown up more than their fare share of incidents in the past was ruined yesterday.

Daryl Hair accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering, which led to the players refusing to come back out after tea, and the match being awarded to England by forfeit.

None of Sky’s cameras have picked up any ball tampering, and they have at least two dozen of them. Did Pakistan tamper with the ball? I doubt it, no one is that stupid these days. But one assumes that Hair isn’t so stupid as to accuse someone without actually seeing something. But Hair isn’t saying anything.

If Hair hasn’t seen anything, then the Pakistani team were well within their rights to protest. They may have done it for too long, but they were within their rights. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this. Statements need to come from all parties, including the umpires.

Anyway, for a little fun, you can enjoy more details of Hair and Doctrove incompetence at Cricinfo, here.