Ayear is often a long time in most spheres of life and cricket is no exception on that count. The glory of the 3-0 whitewash of England is already a distant memory, replaced by the throbbing pain of the 0-3 whitewash by South Africa.

Critics, as is their wont, have a field day. There is everything to be critical of; from selection to planning to execution. And when they have uttered a mouthful, there is still a bit more to be critical of. And they have reasons to base their arguments on. Right? Actually, wrong.

For the man and the fan on the street, the sentiment is absolutely valid. But for those who follow the game with a little more attention than the emotional attachment of a diehard, the writing was always on the wall.

There were two basic apprehensions long before the tour started. Pakistan over the years has shown lopsided preference for the shorter versions of the game at the cost of ignoring Test cricket, having played 16 Tests against 73 ODIs and T20s since January 2011. Besides, beyond the subcontinent, we have never been great contestants, historically speaking. The early days under Abdul Hafeez Kardar and the brief patches under Mushtaq Mohammad and Imran Khan stand out as the only exceptions.

Ahead of the tour, much was made by a number of pundits about Pakistan’s recent Test record. In the preceding two years, Pakistan had played 16 Tests, wining nine (56 per cent), losing just two (12 per cent) and the remaining five ending in a draw (32 per cent). The focus, naturally, was on the English whitewash. Not much weight was accorded to the rest of the opposition — Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, the West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

In a nutshell, the victories came either playing in subcontinental conditions — the UAE included — or against sides that mattered little, if at all. Even the 44 victories in the 73 ODIs and T20s had the same pattern; 30 (68 per cent) having come in local conditions, and the remaining 14 came in Zimbabwe, the West Indies, New Zealand and Ireland.

With such a track record, a Test series in South Africa was more a test of the PCB management than that of the players. Everybody knew what happens to Pakistani batsmen in alien conditions in Australia, England and South Africa and yet there was hardly an element of planning. What would you say to the fact that a batting consultant was hired for the short tour to India — that entailed no Tests and there was nothing alien about the conditions — but on the tour to South Africa, the PCB thought it prudent to leave it to the players to learn through trial and error?

Apparently, Zaka Ashraf, who has had more to do in life with agriculture than cricket, didn’t know what had been the fate of Pakistani teams in managing affairs while dealing with the best in business, especially in the rival territory.

Against Australia, for instance, starting January 2000, Pakistan has played 11 Tests, losing 10 (91 per cent), including two straight 0-3 whitewash embarrassments — first in 2004-05 and then again in 2009-10. In effect, it means Pakistan lost every single time it played in Australia in the last over a dozen years. It never even managed a draw.

Against England, the tally in the corresponding period is 19. But more relevant are the 10 Tests that have been played in England. Of them, Pakistan teams lost seven (70 per cent), winning two (20 per cent) and one (10 per cent) game ended in a stalemate.

When it comes to South Africa, of the 11 Tests Pakistan played before the start of the 2013 season, it won just two. Of the five played in South Africa, four (80 per cent) had ended in defeat, with the lone victory (20 per cent) coming up at Port Elizabeth in 2007.

With such massive losses — 100 per cent, 80 per cent and 70 per cent — against three leading sides in conditions unfriendly to the Pakistanis, the 0-3 scoreline, which has now taken the team’s loss percentage in South Africa to 88 per cent, should not be a matter of surprise.

There is another perspective to the latest series. The performance of Pakistan teams in the said period was pathetic even in days when Inzamamul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan represented a formidable middle order. Supporting them was a bowling attack that had names like Wasim Akram, Waqar Yunus, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria and Saqlain Mushtaq.

Compare the current team with these names and see what chance did it have. The players were nothing but sacrificial lambs who were led to the slaughterhouse time and time again. Lest it be mistaken, the argument does not absolve any individual of his responsibility. They are professionals and are paid to do a job. It is their responsibility to deliver and they didn’t … and they didn’t by a long way.

The three Test matches together lasted just 875 overs of the total 1,350 available. With 90 overs-a-day being the standard, the series lasted 9.7 days when there were 15 days to gut it out. With 5.3 days left, there was enough time to have at least another Test, if not two. That was some spectacular failure on the part of the players.

Having said that, the responsibility rests with the PCB management. With such historical and statistical evidence available ahead of a tour that was scheduled long ago, the PCB did precious little to prepare for it. The batting coach may or may not have been able to do much, but if the PCB found it proper to have one on the tour to India, and to have none in South Africa is evident of the strategic bankruptcy within the Board.

The writer is a member of staff.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com