If I understood correctly (from my low urdu level), the article says naveed and rana will fly to England by Sunday. That's good at least these two can be lethal in ODIs
Now I don't expect much from Paki team in tests, still a victory will boost them in their confidence and would be better than a whitewash 3-0 defeat.

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“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees”

England’s triumph

By Mike Selvey

England’s two new kids on the block have made Pakistan pay a heavy price for their poor performance

Shortly before 3pm on Aug 8, Sajid Mahmood, a second-generation Pakistani and a young Sikh by the name of Panesar, reluctant and slightly self-conscious the pair of them, were pushed to the fore by their colleagues and together led the England side from the field and into the celebratory dressing room. Between them they had taken seven Pakistan wickets and bowled England to an emphatic 167-run win in the third Test and, with an unassailable 2-0 lead, the series. By any standard this was a memorable day for the future of multiculturalism in modern Britain.

Pakistan simply subsided, their target of 323 never a serious consideration. Only Younis Khan flourished but his 41 was cut off by what may be viewed as the finest delivery that Panesar has sent down in his life. Later Inzamamul Haq made 37 with outrageous ease but, unable to come in until the fall of the fifth wicket because of time spent off the field the previous day, and lacking any semblance of staunch support, it was only going to be in a losing cause. On what should have been a day of attrition and patience, England needed just under 48 overs to bowl Pakistan out for 155.

This England is an inclusive side — one for all and all for one — and the delight in the success of the two young bowlers was palpable. Mahmood, in particular, has had a rough time of it this season in his effort to establish himself as a credible alternative to the injured Simon Jones, suffering embarrassingly at the hands of the ruthless Sri Lanka batsmen in the One-Day series, wicketless and largely ignored in the last Test at Old Trafford. His rhythm has been in tatters, the propensity for his right wrist to contort into strange positions a challenge to any semblance of consistency or accuracy.

He has pace though, plenty of it, and on Tuesday, striding smoothly down from the Kirkstall Lane end — running down a slope can cause a bowler to overstride but it can rein them in, too — the other ingredients of his game came together in a compelling performance that brought him four wickets for 22 runs.

At the other end, a young man surely was securing his cricket future and status as a national hero. Panesar’s reputation is being matched by deeds and it is no exaggeration to say he is now arguably the best — certainly the most reliable — bowler in the England side and has yet to put in a performance that is any way close to being described as substandard.

Three for 39 was his reward on Tuesday from almost 18 unrelenting overs of high-class spin, giving him six of 16 wickets to fall to England bowlers on a strip regarded as a graveyard for slow bowlers. That, for the statistically minded, is three times the number taken by England spinners in total in the last decade, and one of those went to Michael Atherton. The coach Duncan Fletcher is seeking affirmation from Panesar that he can deliver quality in all conditions, and, short of bowling on a flat Adelaide pitch in 100C heat — which might well be his lot in a few months — he has now given that.

What has become apparent is that Panesar offers a package that goes beyond the normal Fletcher ideal of all-round cricketing excellence. In difficult circumstances he will lend control: his economy rate of well under three runs per over is remarkable in these days of fast scoring. When there is something in the pitch, his eyes bulge and he smells blood. He will not burn out. Even the curmudgeonly, pragmatic coach, who in the past year, but for other factors, might have played each of Ian Blackwell, Shaun Udal and Jamie Dalrymple rather than Panesar, whose perceived deficiency with the bat and in the field were seen as insurmountable obstacles, must now realise he has a very special cricketer on his hands.

Panesar has taken 31 wickets in nine Tests and has consistently, and classically, dismissed the finest players of spin in the game. On Tuesday, fittingly it seemed, he finished the match by luring Inzamam down the pitch so that the returning wicketkeeper Chris Read, a fellow who has done everything asked of him in this match, could deftly remove the bails. Somehow symbolic that.

Panesar’s sublime moment had arrived earlier, however, shortly after lunch. At that stage, Pakistan’s chances of an unlikely victory had long since disappeared with the crass run-out of Mohammad Yousuf — one of four such calamities for Pakistan in the game — so that his third-wicket stand with Younis Khan produced 347 runs fewer than their record-breaking effort in the first innings.

But Younis, brilliant centurion then, is in stunning form and had made 41 defiant runs in the second innings when Panesar accounted for him and all but won the game for his side. Panesar manages to get considerable rotation on the ball and, from round the wicket and aided by a flag-snapping breeze from left to right, he was gaining some sharp indrift to the right-hander. This ball had flight on it, too, tantalising and drawing Younis forward so that, in following the dip, he exposed his off stump. It had opened the door and, pitching on leg stump, the ball spun past the outside edge of Younis’s bat and gently removed the off bail. The repercussions of that delivery are highly likely to reverberate through the game. n

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag14.htm

Something to forget


ONLY last week I wrote about huge batting partnerships becoming increasingly possible only in the subcontinent. Before the readers could actually go through those lines, Yunis Khan and Mohammad Yusuf made me eat humble pie with their gigantic third-wicket stand worth 363 runs. In fact, many of the readers would actually be going through that column last Sunday with an eye on their television sets where live pictures were coming from Headingley featuring the two in full flow. Such is the fickleness with this business of writing weekly columns in publications that have a considerable gap between the two stages of writing the text and getting it printed and circulated. If you thought life was tough, think again.

It was not quite the world record 500 plus stand between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, but for sure had the same class and domination over the bowlers in the rival camp. And it certainly proved the point that a quality batsman is a quality batsman regardless of weather or playing conditions. It is a pity that unlike their Sri Lankan counterparts the effort of two Pakistanis was in a losing cause at Headingley. But it was a great sight while it lasted.

As for the match itself, there were quite a few ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and there may be any number of what-might-have-been statements, but in hardcore practical terms, all it boiled down to was the difference in the fielding skills of the two sides. Take the runout of Mohammad Yusuf out of the equation, and the scenario changes.

While we continued with our unbelievably slippery fingers in the field, the Englishmen took their chances and, not to forget, hit the stumps directly on three occasions — Kevin Pietersen, Sajid Mahmood and Paul Collingwood sending back Salman Butt, Yunis Khan and Mohammad Yusuf. These are all key wickets of frontline batsmen, and the English bowlers did not even have to make an effort to get them.

The Headingley pitch was a far cry from what it used to be in my playing days. In fact, it continued to be a seamer’s paradise till recently. It was my first experience of watching the ball doing little after hitting the track. Earlier, there used to be demons beneath the somewhat under-prepared surface. As you must have seen on your television sets, there was much talk in the ground about the fact that in the last ten years only two wickets had been taken by all English spinners combined. This time, however, Monty Panesar alone took six, which was a three hundred per cent improvement on history!

Being associated with the Pakistan team, it is only natural that I felt the pinch on losing a series in a country where Pakistan had been doing fairly well over the last several years, and of which I personally have such fond memories dating back to my own playing years with the national team as well as with Gloucestershire with whom I had a lengthy innings. But once I wear my neutral cap as a cricket columnist, I have to say I am pleased for England. Pleased because they have been able to get back into the groove after a dismal year since their great and famous Ashes victory over the Australians. It is even better that the win at Headingley came with their younger players leading the way. Panesar and Sajid both seem to be good prospects for England, and, indeed, for world cricket.

As for Pakistan, it is time for the team management to get back to the drawing board and analyse what made them lose a test in which they scored as many as 538 runs in the first outing and, in fact, had a slight lead over England. It doesn’t happen often that a team with such a first innings profile actually go on to lose that encounter. That we did, is something to think about.

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag15.htm

can someone translate this plz?

If I understood correctly (from my low urdu level), the article says naveed and rana will fly to England by Sunday.

__________________
“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees”

maybe they can play in 4th test

is this injury stuff actually a ploy by pak to catch england off guard?

Woolmer doesn't rule out Shoaib

Rain put paid to any hopes Shoaib Akhtar had of another bowl at Shenley

Bob Woolmer has refused to rule Shoaib Akhtar out of the final Test against England, at The Oval, but the paceman remains doubtful after he was denied another chance to bowl following the wash-out of Pakistan's match against West Indies A at Shenley.

Following yesterday's draw, the two teams were due to face each other again but heavy showers in the South East of England caused the game to be called off before the scheduled start. It means Shoaib is well short of the amount of bowling Woolmer had earmarked before he'd be considered for an international return.

"We saw enough of Shoaib yesterday [when he took 1 for 59 off 11 overs] to hold on to him and we'll make a decision later on in the week as to whether we play him or not," Woolmer told PA Sport. "We're erring on the cautionary side. He did look very fit yesterday but obviously short of match practice but overall I thought he looked very good.

"The plan had been for him to bowl at least 30 overs for him to be ready. Everything happens for a reason and maybe this is a sign that he is not ready to play in a Test match. But it's not just up to me, there's the captain involved and a whole medical team as well, not to mention Shoaib himself. I'll go away and talk to them and then we'll decide."

http://usa.cricinfo.com/engvpak/cont...ry/256372.html

Shoaib still in the picture after washout

LONDON: Bob Woolmer has refused to rule Shoaib Akhtar out of the final Test against England, at The Oval, but the paceman remains doubtful after he was denied another chance to bowl following the washout of Pakistan’s match against West Indies A at Shenley on Sunday.

Following Saturday’s draw, the two teams were due to face each other again but heavy showers in the South East of England caused the game to be called off before the scheduled start. It means Shoaib is well short of the amount of bowling Woolmer had earmarked before he’d be considered for an international return.

“We saw enough of Shoaib yesterday [when he took 1 for 59 off 11 overs] to hold on to him and we’ll make a decision later on in the week as to whether we play him or not,” Woolmer told PA Sport. “We’re erring on the cautionary side. He did look very fit yesterday but obviously short of match practice but overall I thought he looked very good.

“The plan had been for him to bowl at least 30 overs for him to be ready. Everything happens for a reason and maybe this is a sign that he is not ready to play in a Test match. But it’s not just up to me, there’s the captain involved and a whole medical team as well, not to mention Shoaib himself. I’ll go away and talk to them and then we’ll decide.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=19753

My interest is gone from the test series, now I want Pak wins the ODI series to save some pride. It doesn't make any difference if Pak looses the last test as well. However, I don't want that... But still, the result is in Eng favour.
All Pak can do is try to learn from their mistakes and play positive cricket.

After that should focus on ODI cricket. This is the different form of gam eand they can play better if they forget the test series.

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Winning isn't the Everything, Its the Only Thing :)

1- M. Hafeez
2- S. Butt/T.Umer
3- Yunus Khan
4- Inzy
5- M. Yousuf
6- Kamran Akmal
7- Afridi
8- Faisal Iqbal
9- Rana
10- Shoaib
11-Asif

There is a selection dilemma for the Pakistan. On one hand, we need Shoaib, Asif and Rana included in the Oval test to lift the spirit of the team.
On the other hand, there is a real risk of these bowlers potentially getting stressed out due to their long absence and may not be available for the ODIs.
It seems like management is tilting towards playing them all.

1-Sulman Butt
2-Imran Farhat
3-Younis Khan
4-Muhammad Yousaf
5-Inzamam-ul-haq
6-Shahid Afridi
7-Abdul Razzaq
8-Kamran Akmal
9-Rana Naved
10-Shoiab Akhter
11-Muhamad Asif

i would only have one of them in the match, as i mentioned before all of them are not match fit, taking all three into a test match will be ridiculous.

I wouls have Just Asif in the last test, as he has had more recent injury than the other two, he has bowled in a match more recently, asif only got injured before the first test, but rana and shoiab have been out for a long time. So its best to go in with the player who has had the most recent match practice! And in my eyes thats asif!

all the teams look good yaar but lets jsut hope dat they all stay fit

I wopuld play both asif and rana, in order to give them some harsh work so that they come in ODIs by knowing the difficulty of the task.
there is no immeidate risk that they can be injured.

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“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees”