New address

Final time, just wanted to tell you guys.

This blog has moved to overtheslips.soggycornflakes.com

Cheers all, and thank you for reading.

Shoaib makes a fun comeback

Ok, last few posts on this blog before we move permanently to the new site. Things are looking quite good for Pakistan and they might win the ODI series against South Africa, which they haven't done in ages...or according to my brother, never.

Pakistan are currently at 88/2, after restricting SA to 233/9. Shoaib Akhtar was included in the squad, ahead of Mohammad Asif (who's still clutching his elbow) and Umar Gul (unfair I think, Gul is brilliant, though I guess Shoiab Akhtar may be better, since he's genuinely fast). I swear, Shoiab would rock so much if he behaved...no drugs, no attacking people, no sneaking out. Piaget (a psychologist) would say that Shoiab is still stuck in his egocentric phase...can you tell I'm writing my psyc exam tomorrow?

Now Pakistan are 121/2. Shows how long I'm taking to update here. We lost our openers Imran Nazir (who is better than Yasir Hameed I guess, at least he scores before he goes out) and Kamran Akmal (who still sucks so bad as a wicketkeeper) went on a slogging spree and Imo made 17 and Kamran 24 before going out. Since then, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan have been out there, taking quick singles and whacking the ball when they can. Well done to them both for playing smartly and hopefully they'll take us to the end.

Now let's talk about some players of note. Shoaib Akhtar obviously, who managed 4 for 43. He bowled brilliantly at the death and took the wickets of Smith, Kallis, Boucher and Morkel. Kallis made 86, which I blame on Kamran, because he dropped a sitter earlier on in the day. We really need a new wicketkeeper! It's kinda become a thing of shame really, to be caught behind by Akmal, who may be the worst wicketkeeper in the world from the big teams.

Geoff Lawson talks about the games, captain Shoaib Malik and his Urdu, an excerpt below:

How is Shoaib Malik coming along as captain?

We have a very good understanding and we get on very well. We sit down and discuss whatever, how practice is going, certain players, who's in the team etc. We're very good that way. The fact that he is a young captain helps both of us. He hasn't got entrenched ideas. He listens, takes things on board. He likes to do things a certain way. But he's only going to get better. He has done two Tests and a few ODIs but he is going to get better.

He is even better with the players. From what I can understand, how he interacts with the players is a bit different to how it used to be traditionally in Pakistan and that is a good thing. It's more towards - for want of a better word - an Australian type of system. Everyone in the Australian cricket team is basically equal: yes there are senior players but a player making his debut can have whatever conversation he can have with the captain any time. That is what we have to get to.

In this group we have at the moment, we're getting the hang of that. If you exchange ideas you become better cricketers and that is the bottom line. That is why we want more communication within the team and whatever squad we pick.

Has communication with the players been an issue at all?

My Urdu is coming along - they love it when I use Urdu. But no, there is very little problem. I just have to speak slowly because Australians speak quickly anyway. Just a couple of times if there has been a problem with some of the guys whose English isn't quite that good, the other guys will make sure they know. So that's almost been no problem at all. As long as I speak slowly and pronounce my words clearly which you should any time, there is no problem.

Cute. Geoff, while you're there, please teach the team some English, except without the Australian accent. Also, Lawson is looking forward to the India tour, insisting that the Twenty20 defeat has just whetted Pakistan's zest to beat the crap out of India. Metaphorically of course. He also says that while Pakistan are getting fitter, they still have a long way to go before reaching their fitness peak.

"They are really a group of good people besides being good cricketers. They want to do well and work hard,"

"But physically they are still nine to 12 months away from being as fit as they should be. They are that far away from being where they should be as professional cricketers.

"The players have responded well to hard training but what is frustrating for me most is we do some things really well and than we fall back. But I knew it would take time and I am reasonably happy with the progress."

Finally, before going back to the game. Abdur Razzaq has come out of retirement and insists that he has a lot of cricket left in him and will play for the ICL (where he signed on after not being considered for the Twenty20 World Cup). He has not ruled out playing for Pakistan however and says he'll discuss things with the PCB in case they need him like they needed MoYo.

And back to MoYo and YoKha...yeah, that doesn't sound too good, lol. They are now at 138/2, with Younis Khan having made his 28th ODI fifty. Unfortantely, Mohammad is taking things easy and has scored just 40 runs from 70 balls. Oh well, better to preserve the wickets of course, and save them for the last 5-10 overs. Pakistan need 90 runs from 21 overs. Things are looking good and I'm out here to study.

Cheers all, go Pakistan!

What are Pakistan trying to do?!

Good morning all and another wet and windy Joburg day. How brilliant. Things looking a bit dodgy for Pakistan though. Some admin crap...still doing the shifting. I'm too scared to move it all before the end of the month because I wanna disable this blog first...Google might get me for duplication of content. Anyways, back to the cricket.

Pakistan are desperate to win this match so we can win the series...so today, when they won the toss (for once) Shoaib Malik took the bat. So far, it is not paying off. Shahid Afridi went out for a duck in the second over...so there's another opening partnership that sucks. And now Yasir Hameed just went out in the 9th over and Pakistan are 20/2...could it be looking any worse?

-Roll eyes- This is so not good! I still think that Pakistan are better at chasing than scoring big totals. Pressure does us good...erm, sometimes. Now Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf are out there. Please, they have to do something! Though losing this match wouldn't be the worst thing. We'd still have a chance in the final ODI...but knowing Pakistan, we'd lose that, just from the pressure. Ok, some boundaries being made, but we need some serious slogging and clever shots to get us to a decent total.

Let's leave that mound of depression for a while. In other news, Shoaib Akhtar probably won't be playing in the final ODI, but Nasim Ashraf (PCB chairman) insists that he expects the best from Shoaib and the rest of the squad when they go for the tour of India.

"The tour of India is certainly the most important assignment for our team and is perhaps even more important than the World Cup...I expect that all the players, including Shoaib Akhtar, would be at their best behaviour and give 100%.

"I hope that Shoaib will be a changed man on the tour of India,"

"It is his last chance and we all hope that this time he would not waste it. He also has a point to prove and should give his best to silence his critics who believe he is a spent force."

Why would you put such pressure on the team Nasim? While Pakistan-India is always interesting, it's stupid to say that it's more important than the world cup. India is always a bogey team for us, no matter how well we're performing because there's just so much pressure to win. Why can't you just wish them the best and say you'll be proud of them no matter what the result? Then when they come back, you can ax anyone who played badly, quietly.

And Indian bowler RP Singh thinks that because of the way that India lost to Australia, they will surely win against Pakistan. Yeah RP, that makes so much sense. India lose terribly to Australia...and thus, by the natural balance of things, they should win against Pakistan? Whatever. If anyone should get a beamer, it's him...and Sreesanth. That little goblin annoys me to no ends.

Crap...I really have to stop cursing people. I will leave you all in a depressed state. Pakistan are now 38/3, with Mohammad Yousuf just being run out. 13 overs are now over and it's just Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq there to do something. And Kamran Akmal I guess, but I don't really set any hopes on him. And now I shall leave, weeping bitterly.

Bye all!

No-one likes Karachi

Me neither. The only place in Pakistan I like is Lahore...and Maree, which is like this totally gorgeous place on the hills. Primitive as hell but you get snow there. SNOW!

Ok, can you tell I love cold weather? And the fact that it's a chilly, gloomy Joburg morning is so getting to me. Nice, nice weather. Now I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that OVER THE SLIPS is closing...at the end of the month. Wait, 'redirected' would be a better word. It's found it's permanent home at overtheslips.soggycornflakes.com. But I know it'll take me a while to get everything up and running over there (Blogger is so much easier than Wordpress) and I have to move posts and resubmit the site to all these funny places. But it will ok, I hope and I'll have a whole new template to screw around with, yay. Oh ya, and the bad news is I have to do all that work mentioned above.

So, cricket news. All people in Karachi, sorry. South Africa refuse to play the final ODI there and so it is being moved back to Lahore. See? This is what you get when you let a bunch of nutters walk to street...you don't get to watch good cricket. The PCB doesn't like the decision though and insist that Karachi is safe...have you institutionalized the nutters? No? Then it isn't safe. Yes I know I'm not being the most patriotic Pakistani but whatever.

The pathologist who said that Bob Woolmer was strangled is standing by his findings, insisting that the ex-Pakistan coach really was poisoned and killed. However, he has been critisized for his methods and since 3 pathologists said he died of natural causes, who are you going to believe?

Finally, with Pakistani's more than happy to bomb up their own country and people, India are scared that they might do the same over there and have only allowed 250 visas to be issued to Pakistani's for the tour in India. This is way, way less than what was asked for by the PCB (5000 visas) but crap happens.

And that's it. Have a good day everyone. Oh, and before you start thinking of me as the Pakistani girl who's lost all her roots, I'm not. And I know Pakistan is full of great people and just like any other country, a few freaks ruin it for the rest of us. Oh well, good luck Pakistan for tomorrow!

We won, we won, we won, we won!

Now put that next to a picture of me dancing around my room. Yesterday was a good day for my teams. Pakistan won at night and Arsenal totally thrashed Slavia Praha in the evening...so Yay! Not much going on in the cricketing scene though...

The Bob Woolmer inquests continues and basically it's a dissing session for international pathologists to tell the Jamaican ones how much they suck. Reportedly, the pathologists who said that Bob had been strangled were full of crap.

The Pakistan tour of India will clash with the matches of the Indian Cricket League. How very exciting. I don't really care anymore since we got Mohammad Yousuf back. Everyone else sucks and they can go play for money.

Finally, Shahid Afridi has dropped out of the All-star sixes in Hong Kong this weekend, preferring to play against South Africa. And ya...that's it for the day.

And another good morning...

Inshallah Pakistan can bank on another win today. I'm not jinxing it but Pakistan have played well today to restrict South Africa to 194 all out. Even with the almost half centuries from Smith and Kemp, South Africa's batting line-up struggled and no-one else could manage to get more than 20 runs. It's very sad...but yay for Pakistan!

Shahid Afridi and Iftikhar Anjum picked up 3 wickets a piece and Umar Gul got two, restricting the South Africans nicely before cleaning up the tail.

Oh crap. Pakistan are now at 58/2. Everyone got tired of waiting for Imran Nazir to click and so Afridi and Yasir Hameed were sent out to open. While it was nice to pass 5 overs without losing a wicket, Afridi went on his usual slog-out, scoring 32 from 18 balls before being caught by Smith with a good catch. Yasir is a bit expensive though. Yes he can stay at the crease, but he doesn't score much and went out for 18 after 46 balls. Another Salman Butt maybe?

Oh well, now Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan are at the crease and let's hope they can take Pakistan to the end. This match shouldn't be too hard to win...we are staying above the required run rate, which is a nice low 3.65. No-one should get complacent though and since I had a terrible dream about the match last night, I will seriously be praying for the best.

There isn't any confirmation about whether the last match in Karachi is going to be played but officials say:
"A South African security official will go to Karachi today to assess the situation on the ground there...He is expected to report back tomorrow afternoon after which the situation will become clearer."

Ok, and that's it for today. Pakistan are at 63/2...even if they can't go to Karachi, at least set Faisalabad alight.

Come on boys!