Today was another proud Pakistani moment, when the Pakistan team pulled out a to-be-drawn test match into a nail clinching victory. On the 5th and final day of the 3rd Pak-Eng test match, the English team went to lunch confident for a draw with eight wickets in hand and half a day left, draw to them was inevitable.
Who knew lunch would be the life changing moment for the Pakistani team, they came out firing. Danish Kaneria started the funeral rites of the Barmy Army with edging Collingwood to first slip and soon Pieterson and Flintoff were back home serving drinks in the locker room, Kaneria almost claimed a hat-trick scalp (which was unjustly turned down by Darryl Hair)
Shoaib Akhtar was also not to miss out on the hunt with his well controlled slow mesmerizing balls had the English running for cover. Post lunch session saw only 47 runs and 8 wickets to fall to finally serve Pakistan with a stunning victory of an innings and 100 run.
My Analysis
Umpiring: This test series will be remembered more for its controversial umpiring, and Darryl Hair again proved to have a Gora-skin bias. I honeslty don’t believe he is a genuine cheat but even his slight sympathy for the goras makes him judge the 50-50 calls to a more 60-40 in favor of the gora skin. He has repeatedly shown this bias, Hair needs some intense reevaluation by the ICC and evaluate his judgement call especially while supervising in the subcontinent area.
Daryl Hair missed Danish Kaneria’s hat trick wicket which seemed to hit Jones on the off stump, but somehow nature would not favor Jones as he was wrongfully adjudged LBW to Shoaib Akhtar by Rudy Kirstein where he had an evident inside edge. Call it a returned favor but bad calls should not be served with even more bad calls. We all remember the Ian Bell’s bump catch or Vaughn’s catch in the slips a few contorversoes in this series like Inzaman run out, though Inzi’s run out was given by a Pakistani third umpire despite having so much technology at his disposal with a number of slow motion replay angles, even if so much technology could not help them give a fair decision. I can only pray that the cricket Gods have mercy on us alll.
Shoaib Akhtar: A few matches ago, I was Anti- Shoaib to the extent I lambasted him when he was in Australia partying. He was reprimanded and sat out a few series too cool his over-inflated ego, and regain his bowling form. As this series started I was againg cursing him and BCCP for a poor choice, what worried me more was not his bowling form but his untamed ego which was in my opinion has been a contributing factor to internal rifts in a cohesive Pakistan team.
He proved us all wrong this series, and I am impressed, three brilliantly controlled slow balls in the 2nd innings to claim Vaughn, Bell and Plunket. All were beauties and only a fine-tuned bowler with tremendous control can deliver such magic beauties. I would not shower praise and let Shoib off the hook just yet, I would still keep an eye on his behaviour, if he behaves I am OK, cricketing form can come and go but its the attitude I worry about. For now Shoaib ROX
Shahid Afridi: I am still ashamed of his pitch damaging action and feel he needs a bigger punishment, a crook once caught is sent to jail, I consider him a cheat. I love that guy but sadly cheaters are always cheaters.
Inzamam ul-Haq & Bob Woolmer: Both captain and coach have this team on the up, whatever magic potion they are using better keep it boiling hot for the Indians in 2006.
Comments
10 responses to “Barmy Army Sent Home Packin’”
yay. i am really happy. the english are really bummed. i am really proud of our guys. its a pity i didnt bet on the match. ladbrokes had great odds on pakistan winning heheh.
Good Cricket All Around!
How many times have we been in these situations before but rarely have we sustained that and brought consistency to our performances. I guess thats the next step. Things are looking good at present though, and Woolmer should get a lot of credit for that.
Woolmer Rocks…Inzi Rocks..Rana Naveed Rocks and Now Shoaib Too….
Inshort, the whole team rocks!
with regards
FM
Come on , do you really think that Hair is biased, you could say he is an incompetent but not biased. I am sorry that persons like you could think in those lines. To err is human. When more than millions of persons are watching your every deed and critisizing your every deed then you do not do it unless you are insane.
By the way did you get a chance to watch Aleem Dar umpiring in Aus/WI series , he made some very horrible decisions, is he also biased ??
Please never ever portray that white people are biased, I have been living long in these white areas and I think that such lame excuses are used by us to hide our problems and to blame others for every thing.
Good and bad people are every where but never use generalization please; atleast I expect educated class in Pakistan not to fall in that category.
the english are the greatest pakistan suck, pure luck. none of them rock, their ameturs.
typical pakis had to cheat because they knew they were nothin compared to the mighty England. i say good umpiring
@ mike and @matt
my my its so interesting to hear these comments from spoilsport goras who are so fucking paranoid that they can barely function. you all are the cheats. dont call pakistanis cheats. its like all stupid white people are part of the same clique who love to show their superiority (how delusional can they get). The english and aussies are the biggest cheats around. There is a term which is used in sports and thats called “being a good sport”. unfortunately that is not a term which cant be associated with sore losers like u all. you all thought you were on top of the world when you won the ashes. well tough luck. lightning does not strike twice so dont think that you all are so fucking superior. contesting a charge is not called cheating. i bet you all would still be glad if the whole team came down with the flu and had to fortfeit the match. thats how low you can go to claim that england won. its not who wins the game. its how one plays it. unfortunately teh english arent great sports men. tsk tsk. its a pity that england didnt reach the world cup finals. you all are a bunch of loud mouthed racist football hooligans anyway having the support of ur silly tabloids run by the right wing. so get stuffed.
Darrell Hair was following the letter of the law. So who asked Inzy to walk off? All that he did do isgive England a second place in the test rankings. Just who does he think he is? Cricket is a game where umpies hold the final say. Did Inzy think he was in a soccer match? I get a feeling that calling Darrell Hair racist is the most childish thing ever done. He called Murli for “chucking”. That was when Murli’s action was still in doubt. If Inzy is goin to hold the run-out decision that Hair gave against him, its terrible. Further, he has umpired tons and tons of matches in the sub-continent, so he is allright.And the pakistanis dont have a stellar reputation on the field. They have been caught cheating too.
I find your insinuation that Darrel Hair is racist extremely diststeful and this web site should be sued by Darrell Hair for defamation of character, and then shut down. He is the best umpire on the circuit now that David Shepherd has retired and deserves more respect.