Pakistan cricket has been in freefall for more than a year, failing miserably against every opposition other than Zimbabwe and suffering an early exit from the 2003 World Cup. One can only hope it plunges no deeper in this 20-year low.Reading the media hype before the first game against the Aussies, Pakistan cricket fans remained optimistic of resurgence, hoping that the World Cup was ideal for that, but it never came. The patience of the passionate but now frustrated public has run out and there is an outcry for immediate and dramatic remedies.The authorities will need to solve the problem with the current lot of players who, after the series of losses have lost faith in themselves and their levels of determination and commitment have gone. Persistence with old warriors has meant little new talent has come through, and when these experienced players fail, there is no one to turn to. The present side has an average age of 28 which is rather high when their past strength lay in the exuberance of youth.It is time to give serious thought to a complete re-structuring of the team – bidding farewell to the old faces and letting the youngsters take over. Wasim, Waqar, Inzamam, Rashid and Saeed have been great servants of Pakistan cricket but now best advised to retire with dignity than face an unceremonious exit. Some media reports mention the possibility of Moin Khan being brought back as captain, or Wasim Akram reported as wanting to continue for another year. While both may be capable, such short term solutions will not help Pakistan cricket for the future.Now is the time to hand over the reigns to a younger skipper, the options being Youhana, Younis Khan or Saqlain, and then to build a young side around him. The greatest advantage of introducing new players is they have not been sullied as part of a losing team; morale is high and they will remain committed to cricket as they have a point to prove, not past laurels to rest on.The ‘powers that be’ need also to think about the future of the ‘never got there stars’ who have been tried out long enough but have failed to show any signs of improvement or maturity. Afridi for one, has been given every possible opportunity to prove himself but another promising all-rounder must be given a go. Pakistan should observe and learn from the Australians, where they have built a team around specialists, not ‘bits and pieces’ players.Unlike Wasim’s thoughts published in the press, I firmly believe there is a great pool of talent in domestic cricket and deserving candidates should be given every chance to prove themselves. The PCB, instead of appointing more committees to study the Pakistan debacle at the World Cup would be better advised to start training and selection nets right away and shortlist the players – the domestic season is almost over, the weather is cool and the time ripe.Yes, in the formative phase the ‘new’ side may suffer due to lack of experience but by the time more important events come along they will have matured and the selectors been able to identify the players of the future. The various possibles are:
Batsmen: Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Taufeeq Umar, Hasan Raza, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat and more.
Bowlers: Mohammed Sami, Mohammed Zahid, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Danish Kaneria, Irfan Fazil and more.
All-rounders: Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Naved-ul-Hasan, Yasir Arafat, Shoaib Malik.
Wicket-keepers: Kamran Akmal, Humayun Farahat and Atiq-uz-Zaman.The above are just a few of the ‘possibles’ with many more waiting in the wings. The choice of wicket-keeper is also a source of concern, the selectors need to find the ideal balance between sheer ‘glovemanship’ and talent as a genuine batsman. Kamran Akmal is one who fits those requirements perfectly as he showed in the tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa. He deserves an extended run to cement his place in the squad as the lead wicket-keeper.All these drastic measures may be in vain as it is finally up to the players to perform. No amount of coaching can change the way they think unless sufficient motivation and more importantly, cricket education is provided. It is easy to pick up ‘spoken english’ playing county or league cricket in England but where are the psychological skills to be learnt that are part and parcel of modern cricket?Admittedly, English county cricket provides a lot of training but these days, not many foreign players get to captain a side to learn the rest of the required skills because players are picked to perform a particular role. Imran Khan and Wasim Akram learnt a lot more being skippers of their county but this chance is not available to all.This is the ‘essential education’ the PCB needs to provide the young talent, for many of our players do not have much formal education and little mental toughness to face the rigours of international cricket. This is key if we are to groom professional attitudes in our cricketers; sheer talent is not enough, we need players who have been trained to think of their team and not just for their place in the team.They need to learn control of emotions and attitude, not crumble when the going gets tough – defend stoutly and fight when some of the top order batsmen are downed early or when they get tonked about by Tendulkar’s magic, get back to bowl a tight line and length to make things tougher.That’s what I am on about, professionalism not raw talent and this is what needs to be learnt through proper ‘cricket education’.It is high time our cricket bosses too show a greater deal of commitment and prove themselves through accepting healthy criticism rather than rest on the glory of what they have done for grounds, floodlights, academies or grass-root cricket in Pakistan. One does feel for them as it is true a lot of development work was done, but the essentials of building a professional team was perhaps underestimated. Instead of accepting defeat, Pakistan’s cricket managers need a proactive ‘reaction’ and come out of their corner fighting to set things right.As frustrated and disappointed as cricket fans may be after the World Cup, they will soon forget and all ready to cheer as soon as they see Pakistan cricket return to its rightful status at the top of international cricket.Ed: If readers wish to correspond with the author, please email Taha Noor

Pakistan has only to blame itself for being in a between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea situation in this World Cup. As Waqar Younis’ men go into the crucial match against India, all they have to show are a string of poor performances. What’s more, the momentum is with India; Sourav Ganguly’s men have somehow regained their lost confidence and are peaking at just the right time.Pakistan, then, will have to play at a level they have not reached before in this World Cup to upset their great rivals at Centurion, as a loss will almost certainly end their dreams of winning the cherished Cup.Having said that, there is another vexing question that comes to mind – how can the Pakistan skipper trust a batting line-up that keeps crashing like a pack of cards? It was not just a disappointing batting performance against England at Cape Town; it was disgusting to see the experienced batsmen disappear after making brief appearances in the middle.Time is, then, running out for the Pakistan batsmen and possibly even for their cricket management. If they don’t get their act together by the time they take on India, they are bound to draw a lot of flak.Even against the Netherlands, the batting was least impressive despite the superb efforts of the Pakistan bowlers. However, it is not that they are incapable. Inzamam-ul-Haq, for instance, is one player who can actually counter anything that Sachin Tendulkar come up with. Inzamam has a lot more talent in him than he realises, though, sadly, his recent poor form has meant that even teams like Namibia and Holland did not have a problem in removing him.None of the other batsman too seem to be at the top of their game. Saleem Elahi played good hands against Australia and Namibia, and I think he should bat high in the order. There were also glimpses of the Yousuf Youhana we all know about in the game against the Netherlands. Rashid Latif has been chipping in with some runs. But all said, it is worrying that the man whose primary reputation is that of being the fastest bowler in the world, Shoaib Akthar, heads the averages purley due to his never-say-die temperament!Indeed, the Pakistan batting so far has been a disgrace. With India’s seam bowlers attacking with a renewed enthusiasm after what Nehra and Co did to England, there is a serious danger of our batting falling woefully short of requirements.There might be people who will try to explain it all away with the argument that it is all down to the fact that Pakistan cricket is riddled with politics. But I have been watching the body language of the boys over the last few games; they are indeed playing as a team. The communication within the side on the field looks spot on, and Pakistan should not be worrying about these peripheral issues. What they should rather be worrying about is getting their batsmen refocused on the job.India’s strength is their batting, and if they win the toss, in all probability they will decide to bat first. Pakistan’s strength, in contrast, is their bowling and I expect Wasim, Shoaib and Waqar to be at their very best against India. If we can break the dangerous opening partnership of Tendulkar and Sehwag, then things get a bit easier. Wasim and Shoaib can give Sourav Ganguly a real work out, given the Indian skipper’s distinct dislike for a short-pitched delivery. What they must ensure is that they have a clear plan for every Indian batsman, which they can put into practice.There was a time in the past, when every time Pakistan took on India, we held the whiphand. Things have changed now and we are the underdogs going into Saturday’s match. But we need to remind ourselved that this is a game that we just cannot afford to lose. If every player in the Pakistan XI digs deep inside and finds the inspiration and motivation required to beat India, then Pakistan stands a chance. It takes outstanding courage and determination to win a game against India, when the odds are stacked against you. One brilliant individual performance is all Pakistan needs to get fired up and get through.

Glamorgan`s friendly limited overs match against Middlesex at Cardiff on Friday, 2nd Maywill be played according to National Cricket League rules, with the players wearing colouredclothing and each side batting for a maximum of 45 overs.The match will start at 11.00am and there will be an admission charge of £5 for non-memberadults.

Abdul Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Taufeeq Umar and Faisal Iqbal have all been left out of the Pakistan squad for the short tour of England for three one-day internationals – but there is a place for the suspended Shoaib Akhtar.The out-of-form Taufeeq, who played in Sharjah and more recently in theBank Alfalah Cup in Sri Lanka, has made way for the more aggressiveopener Imran Nazir. Misbah-ul-Haq has replaced Faisal Iqbal, who alsofailed to impress in Sri Lanka, while Azhar Mahmood, currently playing for Surrey, has been recalled after being dropped following a modest World Cup. A new face, the uncapped Bilal Asad, replaces Abdul Razzaq.In the recent triangular tournament in Sri Lanka, a young Pakistan squad made it to the finals but lost to New Zealand. This performance has pleased Aamer Sohail, Pakistan’s chief selector, who said: “We won in Sharjah and were the losing finalist in Sri Lanka which means that we are on the right track. And keeping this in mind, we have tried to make minimum changes in the squad.”Aamer also had good words for Azhar Mahmood. “He has been included keeping in view his excellent form with the bat and the ball for Surrey. He is a utility player who, we strongly believe, will make a difference to the outlook of the team.”Aamer added that Imran Nazir came back after a recent trial where “helooked in good nick”, but the selectors still felt that Taufeeq “is an excellent prospect and a future asset, but he is getting out in a similar fashion which means that he has a flaw in his technique. I am sure he will sort out his problem.”Bilal Asad, who has come in for Abdul Razzaq, is a batting allrounder who performed well in Pakistan domestic cricket with an average of 63 and scored more than 1200 runs last season.Another notable omission was that of Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has been the bulwark of Pakistan’s batting in the past. Aamer offered him some consolation: “He has not played cricket recently, but we are aware of his talent, experience and potential, and it is just a matter of time before he will be back in the side.”Shoaib Akhtar is also included, but he will need to sit out the first of the three ODIs after incurring a two-match ban in Sri Lanka.The Pakistan selectors have stuck with the young players who they brought in after the dismal performances in the World Cup. The feeling is that a tour of England is always tough, and they hope to hone the skills of the younger players in an effort to carry on the rebuilding process.Pakistan are due to play warm-up games against Scotland and threecounty teams, followed by three ODIs against England. The tour kicks off with a game against Scotland on June 7.Pakistan squad Rashid Latif (capt and wk), Yousuf Youhana (vice-capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Faisal Athar, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Bilal Asad, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmad, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria.
Coach: Javed Miandad
Manager: Haroon Rashid

Chairman Robert Appleyard and his hard-working band of helpers at the Bath Cricket Festival are receiving an unexpected helping hand, from the non-cricketing nation of Spain.Maria Mediavilla, a 30 year old economics graduate from Palacios de la Sierra, near Burgos in northern Spain, was on a language course in Bath when she decided to fill in her spare time doing something “typically English”.She went to the Volunteer Bureau and saw notice inviting volunteers to get involved with the Bath Cricket Festival.Maria said: “I knew nothing about cricket, but I wanted to do something useful and to work with English people, so I thought that looks interesting, why not? I’ll try it.”She contacted Michael Davis, a member of the festival organising committee, and within a few weeks she had been co-opted onto the committee and was using her Spanish flair and business skills to organise a mailing shot and help with a number of festival fringe events.Among Maria’s projects has been the eve of festival reception on Tuesday evening, June 3, at the Hot Bath Gallery with tours of the Thermae Bath Spa complex.The festival itself begins the following day, Wednesday, June 4 on the Bath Recreation Ground when Somerset takes on Worcestershire in a four-day championship match and this will be followed by a one-day match between Somerset and Northamptonshire on Sunday June 8th.During the festival one of Maria’s tasks will be to ensure that corporate hospitality clients are happy with the facilities and services they have ordered.Maria said: “Hopefully, I will also see more of the cricket.”Until she came to Bath Maria had never seen the game. Committee members took her to Taunton to see Somerset play one of the season’s opening fixtures.Michael Davis said: “We did our best to explain what was happening and why there were no goal posts. She had a great time, and so did we. I think the social side of the game was something she had never expected.”Maria said: “It is a very complicated game, with many rules, and we have nothing like this in Spain. The game stops for tea and lunch and goes on for days and is very relaxing.”Another aspect of English life that surprised Maria was the existence of so many voluntary organisations, all doing good works.She said: “You can volunteer and take part, it’s open to all. It’s not like that in Spain. Here you can do something useful and have an experience and work with other people. You can get involved in marketing, fund-raising and many other things — even cricket!”Maria’s language course ends in June, but she hopes to stay a little longer. She has already worked abroad, at Constance in Germany, after graduating and the experience fed her wanderlust. She heard so much about England that she made that her next destination and came to Bath because she heard it was a good centre for language courses.

England fast bowler Matthew Hoggard will join 19 of the UK’s fastest youngbowlers who will be battling it out to win this year’s NatWest SpeedChallenge Final at Lord’s on Saturday (12 July).The young cricket stars, who have also won a day’s coaching with an Englandplayer, will compete for the title of the Fastest Young Bowler in their agecategory (Under 18, Under 15 and Under 12, girls and boys).Now in its second year and with over 5,000 kids taking part this year, TheNatWest Speed Challenge is a nationwide competition searching for thefastest young bowlers. The NatWest Speed Challenge competition has formedpart of the NatWest Interactive Tour that has visited towns, cities, cricketclubs as well as selective matches in The NatWest Challenge and The NatWestSeries between May and July this year.At each venue kids have had the opportunity to record the speed of theirfastest delivery under the guidance of ECB coaches. All the results havebeen displayed on www.natwest.com/cricket enabling the kids to check theirspeed and position in the competition. The fastest four kids in each of thethree age categories – Under 18, Under 15 and Under 12, boys and girlsqualified for The NatWest Speed Challenge Final.Matthew Hoggard, England and Yorkshire fast bowler, will be joining thefinalists on the Nursery ground at Lord’s to offer them advice andencouragement in their training on Friday afternoon and before thecompetition gets underway at 10am on Saturday.The kids will have three chances to record their fastest delivery to claimthe title in their age category. Matthew Hoggard and England Women’sCaptain, Clare Connor will present the winners with their medal and a batsigned by all three teams competing in this year’s NatWest Series.Steve Day, Head of Brand Strategy, NatWest said: “Grassroots cricket isfundamental to the success and future of the sport and we are delighted thatThe NatWest Speed Challenge competition has been such a success once again,with over 5,000 kids taking part this year.”The NatWest Speed Challenge is part of a major grassroots campaign toencourage and develop children’s interest in the sport. NatWest haveinvested over £1/2 million over three years in a series of grassrootsinitiatives including the distribution of 800 flicx pitches and 10,000skills balls to schools and clubs across the UK and the newly NatWestsponsored Inter Cricket programme.The NatWest Speed Challenge Finalists 2003 are:

Under 12 Girls Under 12 BoysGeorgia Elwiss (Wolverhampton) Harry Wilson (Denmead, Hants)Laura Crofts (Rugby) Matthew Geffen (Chicester)Isobel Byrne (Sutton Coldfield) Louis Conradie (Canterbury)Under 15 Girls Under 15 BoysKathryn Hayes (Radcliffe, Manchester) Ahmed Hassan (Lytham St Anne’s)Naomi Bygrave (Folkestone, Kent) Siraj Rafique (Barkenside, Essex)Vikki Vallance (Retford, Notts) Shahir Rahman (Wallington, Surrey)Eliza Smith (Laindon, Essex) Davies Chishimba (Bedminster, Bristol)Under 18 Girls Under 18 BoysHeather Willey (Northampton) Dean Smith (Bourne, Lincolnshire)Lydia Fenny (Wokingham, Berks) Joseph Goreira (Croydon, Surrey)Christopher Rainger (Edenbridge, Kent)

No great surprises have occurred in the naming of players contracted to the six major associations for next summer.However, Otago has suffered the loss of another its former Auckland players with fast bowler Kerry Walmsley opting to return to Auckland. A feature of the Auckland announcement is the return of Aaron Barnes. He had signalled his intention at the end of last season to remain in Wales but he has decided to make himself available for the new season.Paul Hitchcock’s return to Auckland had been forecast and the power base of the game is going to be further strengthened with Walmsley and Hitchcock adding depth to the bowling resources. Auckland will be without Richard Morgan who has retired and Bradley Nielsen who is unavailable.In Canterbury, Robbie Frew was not offered a contract while Carl Anderson was unavailable due to overseas commitments.Central Districts have firmed up their relationship with their promising young players, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder and Greg Todd by including them all on contracts while Greg Loveridge and Martyn Sigley have missed out.The three new players to be offered contracts by Northern Districts are Gareth Irwin, Mark Orchard, and Grant Robinson. All three have graduated through Northen Districts’ development programmes.Missing from last year are Michael Parlane, who has opted to move to Wellington, David Kelly who is moving to Christchurch to study and Simon Andrews who is heading north to Auckland.Wellington has not offered contracts to Mark Jefferson, Mark Gillespie, Grant Donaldson or Ash Turner.The contract players in each of the associations are:Auckland: Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, Paul Hitchcock, Llorne Howell, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol, Craig Pryor, Gareth Shaw, Brooke Walker, Kerry Walmsley, Reece Young.Canterbury: Neil Broom, Wade Cornelius, Stephen Cunis, Andrew Ellis, Peter Fulton, Chris Martin, Michael Papps, Aaron Redmond, Gary Stead, Shanan Stewart, Warren Wisneski.Central Districts: Campbell Furlong, Bevan Griggs, Lance Hamilton, Brent Hefford, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Michael Mason, Jesse Ryder, Andrew Schwass, Craig Spearman, Glen Sulzberger, Greg Todd.Northern Districts: Graeme Aldridge, Matthew Hart, Nick Horsley, Gareth Irwin, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Bruce Martin, Mark Orchard, Grant Robinson, Gareth West, Joseph Yovich.Otago: Craig Cumming, Chris Gaffaney, Gareth Hopkins, Robbie Lawson, Marcel McKenzie, James McMillan, Warren McSkimming, Mohammad Wasim, Nathan Morland, David Sewell, Jordan Sheed, Jeff Wilson.Wellington: Matthew Bell, James Franklin, Richard Jones, Chris Nevin, Iain O’Brien, Michael Parlane, Neal Parlane, Jeetan Patel, Andrew Penn, Matthew Walker, Luke Woodcock.

Worcestershire 117 for 5 beat Glamorgan 122 for 7 by four runs at New Road (D/L method)
Scorecard
Glamorgan missed their chance to overhaul Gloucester and Surrey at the top of Division One, after losing out to Worcestershire in a thrilling finish at New Road.In a match that had been decimated by rain, Worcestershire managed a meagre 117 for 5 in 18 overs, although they had been expecting to bat for 23 overs. The match had eventually begun under floodlights at 7.15pm, and when Anurag Singh and Vikram Solanki added 36 in five overs, a healthy total seemed likely.But Mike Kasprowicz dismissed Solanki for 20, and later added Graeme Hick and Andrew Hall, both for ducks. Only Ben Smith, who finished unbeaten on 43, was able to maintain the momentum.Glamorgan were set a revised target of 126, and though Mike Powell (33) and Matthew Maynard (32) made good headway, 10 runs from David Leatherdale’s final over proved too much. Glamorgan’s chase was severely hampered with 15 runs still needed, when Adrian Dale edged a Kabir Ali delivery into his face and was forced to retire hurt.

Cricket is a hard sell and takes time and effort to assimilate. But as the administrators map out their plans for the New World they must not forget the pastIt was said of Mikhail Gorbachev that his flair was for walking backwards into the future. Cricket shares that talent. Coping with the present has been hard enough, without worrying about what’s been round the corner.The period in which Wisden Cricket Monthly was founded was a rare instance otherwise. Having been elaborately repackaged and modernised in Australia during the intrusion of Kerry Packer’s World Series, cricket arrived in the 1980s a few months early, having been gifted a market for games in a day, in a night, in eye-catching colours and tri-cornered tournaments, with more pizzazz for television, greater rewards for players and advertisements between overs to bankroll both.Two dozen years later, cricket finds itself in another bout of serious forethought, led this time by the ICC. The ICC is finding that the earlier revolution wrought most of the more obvious changes and its activities have so far involved more of the same: more cricket, more television, more marketing, more money. The next wave of reform will be more fundamental, redesigning cricket for a rising generation of sports consumers and priming it for pastures new.Some years ago I was at an Australian Cricket Board function as the chairman Denis Rogers unfolded a vision of a globalised game. With great solemnity and ceremony he announced that Australia, as part of its ICC remit, would be taking cricket to China. One imagined a Lord’s war cabinet with a world map on the wall: “OK Australia, you take China; India, Asia; England, South America. The rest of you, spread out. Meet you back here in 20.”Extending cricket’s sphere of influence was never going to be that easy, for three interwoven reasons. Its initial spread was as an Imperial game. Its success sprang from its capacity to serve both colonial and nationalist ends, to be a means for the payment of homage and for the expression of independence. In post-colonial times it is drained of that meaning: it becomes simply a game to win, drawing its prestige from money and marketing. Invoking the riots at Lambing Flat, the goldfields scene of the worst anti-Chinese riots in Australian history in 1861, would only get you so far in building a Sino-Australian sporting rivalry.This throws the stress back on to the game itself. And, let’s be honest: much as we all love it, cricket is a hard sell. “No thanks,” said the pretty girl that RC Robertson-Glasgow, with “misplaced kindness”, once invited to a game. “Nothing ever happens at cricket; it is just all waiting.” Of course, it only seems to be – but she had a point. Cricket takes a long time. It can look spectacular, but isn’t designed for spectacle. It can entertain, but isn’t calibrated as an entertainment. The complexity and eccentricity of its tenets and techniques are not welcoming; many of its dottier rituals seem superfluous.Five-day cricket, regarded by those who know as the game’s paramount variant, is a particularly fiendish form in which to interest the uninitiated. A weak international football team can thwart strong opposition by throwing everyone behind the ball, aiming to grit out 90 minutes for a scoreless draw, and might even get an upset goal against the run of play; a weak Test XI, with 1,800 minutes of available time, will always get thrashed. As they are at present.Cricket, in other words, takes a bit of effort to assimilate: it’s the party you realise is great after an hour in the kitchen surviving the shock of seeing three ex-girlfriends on arrival, when you find there is heaps of beer in the bath and you know the songs they are playing. Many of the game’s subtlest and most confounding aspects, furthermore, are intrinsic to it. Change them for the sake of broader appeal and you endanger not merely the goodwill of the existing community but the very qualities that distinguish cricket from other games.It might be more helpful to render meaningful what is already there. There is nothing like seeing others enjoying a game, however strange, to encourage you to join in. At the moment there does not seem a lot of enjoyment going round. “International cricket feels flat, undramatic, even dull,” complained Scyld Berry in these pages a year ago. “Everyone is playing too much. Australia’s pre-eminence in the Test and one-day game has become predictable … `Cricket goes in cycles’ is an adage that only a fool will cling to.”Having shrugged off its amateur past, of course, cricket must bear a certain burden of professionalised tedium. It has spent its inheritance of great players who learned their cricket the old-fashioned way, rising through the established grades and playing at state, county and provincial level before higher honours. The generation that succeeded them, streamed into youth teams and academies as well as the first-class game, have been raised with different expectations: knowing that cricket could be their living, they’ve never needed to live for cricket. If the game today seems more routine, perhaps that should not surprise us. Has anyone paid money to watch you work lately?What can we say, then, about a quarter-century of professional international cricket? The trade-off was a necessary and unavoidable one: cricket could not withstand the tide of sporting commercialism. Television and sponsors had re-priced all games and the remuneration of players could not stand still. But, for players, it was only a partial emancipation. The attitude of boards of control since Packer has been an unconscious observance of Alfred Hitchcock’s advice regarding actors: “Pay them heaps and treat them like cattle.” And some heaps have been taller than others.It was this climate of mistrust and cynicism that smoothed the path to malpractice. When Sir Paul Condon’s anti-corruption unit reported to the ICC on match-fixing in May 2001, it noted that players were “not sufficiently involved in the administration of the game and ownership of the problems”. While the ICC does not have a great record taking advice from others, one might have thought it could take its own.Administrators have fared badly believing in cricketers’ worst instincts; it might be more fruitful appealing to their better natures.One would be even more emphatic about this had professional not become so pregnant with meaning. It suggests diligence, dedication, attention to detail, as in “professional qualification”, but it also implies contrivance, conspiracy and sleazy expedient, as in “professional foul”. Cricket is witnessing both: we have what might be called “professional appeals”, displays of calculated intimidation and petulance bearing no relation to the matter for adjudication, even “professional catches”, like the one for which Sourav Ganguly remarkably escaped censure during the World Cup final. These displays are not evidence of an overabundance of high spirits, or of being supremely tough and competitive: they’re just cheating. To make the most of the dividends of professionalism, players must confront some of its less appetising manifestations. It will not only be beneficial for the game; it will make the case for their influence in it unassailable.We are at a hinge moment in cricket’s history – a tipping point, to use the expression beloved of marketers and military men alike. A new age beckons; the trappings of the old are slipping away. But while cricket should not walk backwards into the future, the occasional glance over its shoulder might still be useful.Gideon Haigh is a Melbourne-based cricket writer and author.The Wisden Cricketer launches on September 19. Click here to subscribe.The September 2003 edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly is on sale at all good newsagents in the UK and Ireland, priced £3.40.

The already high security for the South African cricketers was further reinforced after the assassination of a religious leader prompted violent riots, with fears that the South African team could be targeted. Azam Tariq, a Sunni extremist leader and an MP, was murdered on Monday in Islamabad, an incident which has inflamed tensions between the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim sects, especially in cities like Faisalabad where sectarian rivalries exist. South Africa are currently in Faisalabad to play the third one-day international.According to an AFP report, Sunni mobs rampaged through Jhang, Tariq’s hometown, where five Shi’ites were stabbed and their mosque set on fire, and in Islamabad, where a man was killed when a cinema was set alight by mourners at Tariq’s funeral. Around 3000 policemen and 150 commandos were deployed in and around Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium, where the ODI was being played, and along roads leading to the ground.”We have alerted police to avert any possible reaction on the incident,” Arif Rahim, the chairman of the series organising committee, told AFP. “We have electronic gates at all nine entrances to the stadium to scan all spectators before they enter.” Two commandos were posted outside both teams’ dressing-rooms. The South African team management refused to comment on the situation, saying that they were following the advice of their own security personnel travelling with the squad.South Africa initially cancelled their tour citing security worries after a bomnb-blast in Karachi, and only went ahead with a shortened trip after a revised itinerary was drawn up, in which the matches scheduled at Karachi and Peshawar – considered high-risk venues by South Africa – were shifted to safer venues.