Night-watchmen as openers?
A sea of mediocrity is what the selectors get to choose from – not that they are all that good at spotting talent anyway.
As Mohammad Hafeez chopped on the first ball of Pakistan’s second innings at SuperSport Park, Pakistan’s opening partnerships in this series came to a fitting end. On this tour Pakistan’s openers have very much been fish out of water, scoring 72 runs for the opening partnerships over the course of the six innings. When the best new-ball pair in the world has failed to get them out, they’ve obliged by throwing their wicket away. While it was pathetic, it was not at all surprising. Whereas the openers are the foundation on which most international teams are based, in Pakistan it seems suitable to send two night-watchmen as openers, whose only role is to see off the new ball – a role that they fail to achieve more often than not.
The quality of Pakistan’s openers has always been the Achilles Heel of the national team. Even the greatest side in the country’s history had to employ the likes of Mudassar Nazar and Shoaib Mohammad – capable batsman, but never world class. In fact, with the exception of Hanif Mohammad and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan has never had openers that could be considered in the highest echelons of the game. For a country with six decades in international cricket, that’s a disgraceful output.
But it’s a predicament that has gotten worse over the past decade. A sea of mediocrity is what the selectors get to choose from – not that they are all that good at spotting talent anyway. Since the turn of the century, Pakistan’s openers average 32.85 – outside Asia that drops to 26.54. For comparison, the numbers for each of South Africa, England and Australia’s openers show them averaging more than 40 in that time period. And it truly is a sea of mediocrity – Pakistan, after all, have tried more openers than any other team in this time period; and the only ones to average over forty during this time period are Saeed Anwar, Fawad Alam and Shoaib Malik! Pakistan’s openers in this Test are indicative of this talent pool: on one end was Mohammad Hafeez, who has one fifty in 11 Tests outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe); on the other was Imran Farhat who, after more than a decade during which he has played 26 Tests outside Asia, still averages less than 30 in these environs. Sure he may make the odd score every now and then, but good teams aren’t built on flimsy and inconsistent foundations. And it’s not as if there is a horde of young opening batsmen knocking on the selectors’ doors, trying to get into the team. The domestic stats of the previous couple of years don’t paint a pleasant picture.
The records of the group that debuted between 2000 and 2005 are eerily similar. All of them average in the late 30s to early 40s in First Class cricket, but even translating those not-too-extraordinary numbers to the international stage has been a struggle.
In Pakistan, the players are allowed to learn on the job as they get into international cricket – a worrying state of affairs in the first place. Not for us the likes of Mike Hussey and Kevin Pietersen who can immediately call the highest stage their own. But while the middle order batsmen – from Younis to Asad – do occasionally improve as the seasons go by, the openers seem to plateau at a mediocre level. Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez are still playing the innings they were a decade ago. Not for them the incremental changes that the likes of Steve Waugh and Hashim Amla made over the course of their careers. When I asked Hafeez about what changes he was making to his approach in light of his poor form – and poor record outside Asia – he defended his technique, and said that he was working hard in the nets. Make of that what you will.
It’s a problem that can only be solved at the lower levels; by diversifying the nature of Pakistan’s pitches, by making Pakistan A and age-group teams travel far more than they do right now to alien areas. Those are exactly the things that the best teams in the world can call upon. The PCB is judged by the standard of the national team even if it’s purview and responsibility is far larger than a group of 11 individuals trying there very best, more often than not.
In order to motivate and fire-up the pakistani batsman,The PCB needed to drill into the minds of pakistani players that steyn & co. were the ‘enemy’ of islam and were conspiring against the world’s sole nuclear islamic power and the self-proclaimed leader of the ummah. If that did not work, they should have told the players that the south african pace bowlers were hindu and jew lovers, this would have brought the required motivatation for the pakistani batsman to play with gusto and zanoon!
The problem with Pak batting has to do with poor batting technique adoption at the very early stages of learning. There are no proper batting coaches at school level ..that’s where all the correction needs to happen. So lets bring in a Keppler Wessels / Gavaskar to tour major cricketing centres nationwide and give coaching to the school coaches .. who can go on to their schools and get it right from the get go.No other solution has worked before …it is time for proper coaching at the very early stages of learning.
Mike
To know how good r u,play against the best.Pakistani team just find out they r nothing more than buch of loser,selected based on connection not on merit. Please learn how to bat & bowl from south africa and donot embaress the Nation.
The difference between the two teams is Hasim Amla. Take him off from the South African team or, better co opt him in the Pakistan team result will be very different in favour of Pakistan.
did u guys forget sayed anwar and aamir sohail pair. they have bothered us a lot early to mid nineties ?
A good article; and we need more of such articles where there is analysis of factual information rather than non-factual theory. Opening batsmen averaging around 32 is telling. Pakistanis love to say “we have so much talent in Pakistan”. Of course, it is not based on facts because we don’t read; and we don’t inspect records; and we don’t analyse with an open mind. But we dream (it is good coupled, with action though) and hope, forgetting that Allah rewards those who work hard and are honest. We are neither. This is a Pakistani disease. A nation of over 180 million cannot even hope for a single bronze medal in Olympics. We just need to look at Jamaica, an island nation, and see their performance at Olympics and their population. Shame on us!!!! But then what do you except? The head of PCB who also decides on selection and rewards, is none other than the President of Pakistan – the best cricketer that the nation has produced!
Sadly its true, we never had any world class openers and we are not even looking for any.
“the openers are the foundation on which most international teams are based, in Pakistan it seems suitable to send two night-watchmen as openers, whose only role is to see off the new ball”
Lol! That sums it all.
No sign of light in the dark.
First the Hockey followed by Squash, Kabaddi, Volleyball and Badminton now its time to dump the Cricket.
God bless us.
adios
In south Africa it seemed that the pakistanis players were “Waiting for Allah”
Allah helps – but he helps those who work hard, think intelligently, persevere, reward performance, select on merit, etc. Pakistanis, being mostly Muslim, should know that. BUT THEY DON’T.