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!

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!

Does Hafeez suck that much? Yes!

Hi all and a busy afternoon. It feels so weird...I think I might have attended my last lecture of campus life...and I have no idea what's around the corner. Oh well, at least the Pakistan team know what's happening with them, even if I don't.

Some news today, which I'll be mostly linking since I'm so out of it.

Pakistan is getting tired of the suckiness that Mohammad Hafeez displays and so have replaced him with Khalid Latif. I have no idea who this guy is, but apparently he did well against Australia A. He's supposed to be a much more reliable opener than the current lot, and he may play in the match after next. Cool, it would be nice to see us with a few runs on the board and not being two down.

I guess that's a plus, but Mohammad Asif is still out for the next match tomorrow, since he hasn't recovered from his elbow injury and it's being considered resting him for the whole series, so he'll be fit for the tour of India. While there is the option of Shoaib Akhtar for the final match (his ban will run out by then), it's still a question whether the final will even be played, as it happens in Karachi, where all the bombs and crap are going on. -Roll eyes-

Finally, Pakistan are putting their feet down and will fight to protect one of their best batsman, after discovering there's a possibility that Mohammad Yousuf could be taken to court for cancelling his contract with the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Naseem Ashraf, chairman of the PCB says:

"The ICL cannot prevent him from playing for Pakistan. Yousuf signed a contract for them but later he cancelled it and since the ICL has not started yet, any other player or he can do this,"

Big words man, big words. Can I say how typical it is for Indian's to screw things up? Lol, but I won't and it's wrong. Cheers all!