Once again, as has become the norm with Pakistan, their latest tour is shrouded in controversy with embittered powerbrokers clambering for a piece of the pie as well as their 15-seconds of fame. It’s hard to find positives in Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia that saw them lose all nine matches.The poor showing will undoubtedly claim the scalp of coach Intikhab Alam and thus the revolving door of Pakistan cricket coaches since Bob Woolmer’s death at the 2007 World Cup continues to rotate freely.
Australian Geoff Lawson lasted 16 months and Alam has spent a similar amount of time with the team, the latter was fired for poor results and despite Alam leading his country to the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup title, has done little since.
Pakistan’s tumultuous cricket history is legendary – unfortunately though it has now become more legendary then their on-field success. The halcyon days of Imran Khan and Waqar Younis made way for controversial figures such as the ill-disciplined Inzamam-ul-Haq, rampant and unpredictable Shoaib Akthar and it seemed around every corner the team was faced with accusations of everything from match-fixing to ball tampering.
Team infighting still appears to be rampant; players on the tour to Australia were portrayed in the media as bickering school kids. The fact they haven’t played a home game in several years after being stripped of their rights to host international teams because of player safety concerns it is easy to understand that this is a team on the ropes.
This two-match back-to-back home series in their proxy home country of the United Arab Emirates against England will be telling on several fronts the most obvious will be the right of Pakistan to still honestly call themselves Twenty20 World Champions. Since beating Sri Lanka in the final last year and holding the trophy aloft, Pakistan have gone on to lose 19 of their past 30 internationals, drawing two and losing nine.
It’s hardly a record that rings a lot of confidence for those looking to back them against England but the good news is that they have won three out of their four T20 internationals, losing to Australia in their recent winless tour.
They have also had success playing in the UAE in fact Pakistan have only played five of those 30 matches in their quasi home town, which just shows you that travel fatigue may be a huge issue for the team and while England have similarly just returned from a two month tour of South Africa, they are by far and away the better rested of the two teams.
This series may see a new coach installed and it may see a few new faces but it is hard to see Pakistan breaking that losing trend, more the pity really because there is so better sight in world cricket than watching Pakistan on fire.
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