On this day England won the 1966 World Cup.

Senior Pakistan Cricket journalist Qamar Ahmed attended the match.

He has written an article about his experience just before the 2014 final for Dawn, which also featured Germany, just like 1966.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1118612/comment-i-watched-england-win-controversial-world-cup-final-in-1966

2011 Call

https://twitter.com/maza786/status/87823338084376577

Cricket at Commonwealth Games

Gavaskar was keen to get cricket into the 2010 Commonwealth Games, held in India, when interviewed in 2006 during the Malaysian Commonwealth Games.

1998 saw Cricket played at the Commonwealth Games. South Africa claimed the gold medal. They also won the ICC Knock Out Trophy that year and had a successful Test series in Pakistan.

Ian Botham will be doing the MCC Cowdrey Lecture in early September for 2014. Botham was arguably England's finest cricketer. He is best remembered for his individual heroics in the 1981 Ashes. Since retiring in the early 1990s, Botham has been doing charity work and enjoyed a second career as a commentator for Sky.

Asian Games 2014

Pakistan won't be sending a men's team to South Korea for the Asian Games. However, the women's team will be looking to repeat the 2010 gold. They are going.

Pakistan Under 17s will be touring England next month

Pakistan Under 17s will be touring England next month for 3 one day internationals and a 3 day match to be played at Loughborough. This will be the next group of under 19 cricketers at the 2016 ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh. Imran Rafiq will lead Pakistan, a member of the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup squad. 

South Africa under 19s are touring England, the winners of the 16 team Under 19 championship in the UAE this year. They will be playing a live match at Derby against England, just like Pakistan did last year. The ECB are giving further international opportunities to their current 19 year olds as well as keeping one eye on the future with an eye on the next juniors World Cup event. England finished in 5th place in 2012, 3rd place in 2014, but haven't won it since the turn of the century.

Calls

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/418685657041498112

https://twitter.com/maza786/status/401496378863783936

Mushtaq Ahmed and The Flower's !

From one Flower brother to the next for spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed. Worked with Andy for England and now is about to work with Grant for Pakistan.

Misbah in UK 2014

Misbah ul Haq has returned from the UK where he has been doing some private fund raising during a brief visit. He now will be part of the training camp and is due to address the media at GSL next Friday before their brief visit to Sri Lanka.

Frustrated as Hell

Lost my respect for him. Drastically changed my mind about him. The Selfish and Shameless Younis Khan. No other way of putting it. Selected because of political interference and media pressure. Neither Captain, Coach, Selector wanted him in the team, yet has forced his way in. I have a HUGE HUGE problem with his selection. Now it's better if he fails in Tests too because he's not going to resign himself from ODIs despite being humiliated consistently in major competitions and has been outperformed by youngsters when out of the side. Team man, ideal role model - all nonsense abot YK. 

Given up on this team now. Lost interest. Waste of time. Not going to win a major World Cup game with this kind of selection. 

3 50s in his last 25 innings, one vs Afghanistan 

2 50s in his last 17 innings

1 50 in his last 8 innings

World Cup average of 23

Champions Trophy average of 15

Lowest ODI average by a specialist batter who has played 200 ODIs

Dropped 3 times from the ODI team since 2011

Got low scores in big World Cup games

13 from 32 balls in World Cup semi final

2 50s in 3 World Cups

Averages 15 in Australia where WC is happening

8/11 Scores of 15 or below in ODIs in 2012

When do you give up on a player?

How many chances do you give a player?

How many more times can you say this is his last chance?

When do you draw the line?

When do you say enough is enough?

He's not a better player than he once was.

Isn't it better to struggle with youth than experience?

Shouldn't have been in 30 man probables

Wouldn't get into a Zimbabwean side 

Pak better playing with 10 men

Doesn't look comfortable playing ODIs. Gets out in very casual, soft and half hearted ways. Neither can take pressure or has the range of shots.

India can drop Dravid from ODIs, WI can drop Shiv, Aus can drop Steve Waugh and we can't drop Younis ......

Farhat, Nazir, Shafiq would have been wiser choices, that's how pathetically performing YK has been in ODIs

Afridi, Razzaq would have even been more consistent than him at 3 and Hafeez has been

Can't have so many oldies in the one day team - Misbah, Hafeez, Ajmal, Afridi, Younis - need some balance, YK undeserving selection 

Even Hafeez is a better ODI batter than him, he wouldn't be in the team had it not been for his bowling

Like Nasser Hussain in ODIs, at least Nasser knew it was not for him. 

Ranked number 90 odd on ICC ODI rankings

He has so many blind supporters and backers in the media, but they have the memories of gold fishes.

Basit Ali

Wasim Akram

Ramiz Raja

Aamir Sohail 

Salahuddin 

It's remarkable how much blind support there is from Pakistan fans and Pakistan ex players and Pak media about YK the ODI player. 

Normally a Test player can play any form of the game, but this rule is an exception with Younis the hopeless one day player. 

1st Jan King Misbah Post

It's 2015 - nothing like the buzz of a World Cup year, particularly when it happens in the first quarter of the year, unless England host, like in 2019. 

Happy New Year to all, 1st January, on this day last year Captain scored a Test Century vs Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. 

Many lines last 4 years 'he won't play 2015' 

'need captain that can lead in 2015' 

'he wont last till 2015' 

made it despite age+media lobbying

That in itself is a phenomenal achievement for Misbah. A huge victory against his doubters. Merits a World Cup in itself.

Misbah's journey 2011-2015 very similar to Imran's in 87-92. Doubts of whether he could last with age, but got there in the end to Aus/NZ

Distinctly remember convo with some1 late 2011 where I said Misbah can genuinely play 2015WC.They said silly thinking will retire in3 months

Only fitting that Pakistan's 3rd most capped/most wins international leader gets to have a crack at a World Cup. Only IK+WA ahead of him.

Unfortunately, I won't be posting on this page during the mega event. Academic commitments take priority. I risk getting too overly caught up with a Misbah ul Haq led Pakistan in a World Cup spectacle. It's a battle of self restraint and curbing your instincts, just like Misbah does so well when he bats, given he can play assertively.

But I have supported, backed, rated, appreciated Misbah during 2011-2014 time period. And I am pleased about that. This is not a time for glory hunting or showing off our support. We know we have backed him in the long build up period to the World Cup. Now we can watch it in peace in the knowledge that we have backed Misbah in the many months and years before cricket's ultimate prize. We have covered virtually every aspect about him in a positive and factual way.

Not that I think it will happen because of the conditions, preparation, experience in those conditions and a tough group to contend with, but if they somehow manage to go the distance on March 29th at the MCG, I will post a status. My 3 favourites for the World Cup are England, New Zealand and India, but South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia cannot be ruled out.

But the fact that he has made it despite all the obstacles that have come his way, is worthy of recognition. I expect them to beat the likes of Ireland, UAE, Zimbabwe. If they can somehow beat one of India, South Africa or West Indies without being completely thrashed by either and a play a good quarter final match even if they finish second best in the quarter final tie, I would be satisfied. Keeping realistic expectations given the team quality at his disposal. If they performed so atrociously at the Champions Trophy i.e. the dress rehearsal - the mock exam for the World Cup and they lost 5-0 last time they played a series in Australia, you can't expect fortunes to suddenly change when then pressure is at its peak.

But cricket is a game for individuals too and in Misbah we have hope.

Post Football World Cup Post

Now it's "safe" to talk, post, tweet about Cricket !

Ashton Agar

On this day last year 19 year old debutant Ashton Agar scored 98 at Trent Bridge batting at number 11 in the Ashes marathon opener. It was nothing short of an extraordinary performance from the young Western Australian. One of the highlights of the series, regardless of which team you were rooting for. Australia went on to lose this Test by just 14 runs. 

10th July

Happy Birthday Sunil Gavaskar. Arguably the best opener the game has seen.

This day last year. Peter Sidde 5 fer. Ashes Test 1 day 1. Workhorse. Trent Bridge. Interestingly, played at the county this year. 

Old is Gold List

Geoff Boycott
Alec Stewart
John Emburey
Graham Gooch
Mark Ramprakash
Robert Croft
Dominick Cork
Shaun Udal
Murray Goodwin
Paul Nixon
Graeme Hick
Norman Gifford
Imran Khan
Asif Iqbal
Azhar Mahmood
Mike Brearley

Shane Warne
Murali
Gilly
Sanath

Khurram Khan
Steve Tikolo
Pravin Tambe
Brad Hogg

Clive Lloyd
Gordon Greenidge
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Sourav Ganguly
Dutch player who played in the 1996 World Cup at 47

Trent Johnston 
Gibbs
Brad Hodge
Ajay Jadeja
David Houghton 
Glen Chapple

Anthony McGrath
Younis Ahmed
Tresco
Collingwood
Chris Rogers
Jack Hobbs
Shiv Chanderpaul
Amir Elahi 
Chris Martin 

21 Pointers - The Lack of ODI century - Who Cares?

Scoring 50s in small scoring games are often worth more than 100s in high scoring games where anybody can make runs for fun

Scoring 50s consistently is better than scoring a 100 and not doing much around it

Man of the match awards and top scoring in a team innings is more impressive than centuries.

Thilan Samarawera got 2 ODI tons, but no 50. Centuries are not everything if you lack consistency around it. 

It's like a team consistently reaching finals, but not going on to win the trophy. Not a bad position to be in by any means. Losing finals isn't a bad thing. 

It's like a student consistently getting As across all academic subjects, but not managing to bag that golden A+. 

Dhoni/Razzaq never got a T20 50, do you see them being targeted?

Tendulkar's last 3 ODI tons never resulted in an Indian win

Weak tail, often left stranded

Has been not out many times, therefore harsh to count the conversion rate against him

Has got 11 List A Centuries, scored many in professional cricket still 

50 in wins are better than 100s in defeat

Best ODI player without 100 - not a bad tag to have 

Most 50s without 100, consistent nonetheless

Most runs without 100, consistent nonetheless 

Many didn't get an ODI ton: Michael Vaughan, Graham Thorpe, Dwayne Bravo, Angelo Matthews, Andrew Jones

Far too long is spent dwelling on personal milestones in a team game

If centuries are the criteria, then Hafeez and Rameez Raja are two of Pakistan's best ODI players

Often has to resurrect the innings and therefore bide his time and patiently compile his first 50 runs

He is predominantly a middle order player, therefore not all that unusual 

Pakistan's matches don't tend to be very high scoring - a 160-240 type team, hence don't need to score as many runs and score as quickly 

On this day Bumble scored 214* against India 40 years ago during his first international summer as an England player.

Ireland vs Pakistan ODIs

2007 World Cup at Jamaica

Ireland won

2011 Pakistan in Ireland at Belfast

Pakistan won

Pakistan won (close)

2013 Pakistan in Ireland at Clontarf

Tied

Pakistan won (close)

3-1 from 5, but a lot closer than it sounds

Next: 15th March 2015 at Adelaide

2nd July 2010

This day 4 years ago http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-pakistan-2010/engine/match/426408.html

1st July 2012

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/570660.html

Asia Cup Final U19s
Tied
Sami Aslam | Ehsan Adil | Unmukt Chand
Malaysia

India in England 2007

Last time India visited following England being whitewashed down under in the winter Ashes and with Peter Moores at the helm as the post Ashes debacle appointment, they won 1-0 in the Test series under the leadership of Rahul Dravid in the second segment of the 2007 international summer.

Every 3 Years

2000 = Asia Cup
2003 = Sharjah Cup
2006 = Under 19 World Cup
2009 = World T20
2012 = Asia Cup
2015 = ?????

More on CWC15

1) Like 2011 - NZ ODIs before World Cup

2) Graham Gooch played in 3 World Cup finals, all England have played, finishing second best in each one