The Bewilderness

Pakistan fails final test

Pakistan has failed its final test in world cricket: keeping foreign cricketers safe on its soil. Sri Lankan team members were shot at last night on the way to a match for doing something that is liked and allows Pakistan to masquerade as a civilised country.

The details show a planned and targeted attack on foreigners rather than the Home Team:

"We are assessing the situation," Ejaz Butt, Pakistan cricket board chief, said.

"There were 12 masked gunmen," Habib-ur Rehman, police chief, said, adding that police battled against the assailants for about 25 minutes.

"They appeared to be well-trained terrorists. They came on rickshaws. They were armed with rockets, hand grenades, kalashnikovs."

The final victims of this outrage are the Pakistanis themselves, as any fans will find that they have to travel abroad to see their team play. No foreign team will put the safety of its players at risk. One up for the terrorists whose idea of fun is virgins in the hereafter.

Pietersen makes his point

Pietersen did the right thing when he and his men pitched up for two tests in India. They have assured themselves of lasting support by their decision to show solidarity with the indian nation at a time of difficulty and to contribute half of their fees to the victims of militants in Mumbai. How coy when we use the phrase militants rather than terrorists, or Muslim jihadists or whatever preferable coinage the media employs. The word underplays the event: and if this is the case in India, it is the case in Israel. Substitution can prove a point.

An editorial in The Hindu newspaper described the England team as perfect ambassadors for their sport.

"That Kevin Pietersen's team rallied with clear-eyed pragmatism and finally chose the difficult - yet correct - path is something that will be a lasting testimony to their sense of duty and professionalism," wrote the newspaper.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) never put any pressure on the England Cricket Board to save the tour. The ECB itself left the final decision to the players themselves. This is precisely why Pietersen and his men should be celebrated as heroes.

"Sport cannot do much to heal wounds inflicted by terrorists. But with their admirable show of solidarity at a difficult hour, the English players have sent out a simple message to professional sportsmen all over the world, the message that sport cannot run away from life. It is time to salute Pietersen and his men."

England's decision to donate half of their match fees to the victims of the Mumbai attacks will also add to the affection shown towards the team.

Doing the right thing is an overused phrase but Pietersen and his team have shown a better example under difficult circumstances than other nations might have. The importance and value of solidarity is emphasised and devalued by its overuse in other contexts. Solidarity can only be expressed during a time of crisis and requires immediate action to stress the sincerity of the expression. Playing cricket, gift-giving and expressions of mourning meet this requirement. Compare this with the assertion of Article 5 on mutual defence by NATO after 9/11, a symbolic gesture that eventually exposed the hollow and amoral calculations of the European political class.   

I would only ask the English Cricket Board to reject any manipulative and parasitical approacj from the labour Party and its leader, latching on to their courage as a substitute for its cowardice and despair.
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Flintoff's Farewell

Now that Flintoff has been sacked from the vice-captaincy and the management have asserted that they will not consider him for the role of captaincy in the World Cup (and probably not in the future), the experiment of the all-rounder has come to a close [again]. The conclusion fulfils the hallmarks of that word: unedifying.

Flintoff's record as captain will not stand up well in the annals. Yet, the episode in which he is finally reprimanded, involving allegations that he was drunk in charge of a pedalo, does hint that he had entered  Situation Impossible.  Some do not have the courage to cut through the knots that bind a particular impasse, such as resigning from the captaincy of the England cricket team. The acknowledgement of one's own failure is a difficult circumstance to embrace.

Coach Duncan Fletcher said Flintoff would not be considered for the captaincy should Michael Vaughan get injured in the World Cup.

He said in a statement: "Andrew Flintoff has been given warnings about his conduct and disciplined for previous incidents of this nature.

The Board of Selectors and the coach are responsible for ensuring that the best captain is chosen for the team. If the wrong cricketer is chosen, they should have the power and the skills to end his responsibility without undue damage to his skills or previous position within the team. Fletcher's statement on Flintoff does beg the question as to why he was chosen in the first place and retained his position in Australia. The depth of skilled cricketers within the England team is not so great that they can afford to sack a captain and remove him from the team.

England's management had initially refused to speculate on a report in Sunday's News of the World, under a back-page headline of "Sunk' n' Drunk - Freddie fined after pedalo booze shame", that stated that Flintoff had toppled into the water after a late-night drinking session at the Rumours Nightclub near England's team hotel in St Lucia. Fans who witnessed events contacted several British newspapers to tell them what they'd seen.

Nasser Hussain, Flintoff's former captain, praised England's management for their hard-line stance on Flintoff's antics. "There is a history to this story," Hussain told Sky Sports. "It is not the first time. In Australia he had three or four warnings about his drinking. The management felt enough is enough. At some stage you have to have some strong management, even with your best cricketer. Well done England for finally for having some strong management."

The end of Flintoff's captaincy prospects could have been handled better.  Did the management wait for an 'event' to carry out the inevitable withdrawal of favour inflicting disruption and psychologically unsettling a team that is already lacking confidence?

Ashes Whitewashed

Five-nil is a horrendous score and England deserve opprobrium. Could it get any worse? Well, yes! Just look at West Ham...they lost six-nil!!!

Afghanistan faces the first test

Buskashi is an Afghani game, akin to polo, that involves riding, sticks and the carcass of a goat. The carcass is soaked in cold water for twenty-four hours, so that it does not disintegrate, and then a large pack of horsemen compete to win the boz (renamed carcass) and the horsemen (chopendoz) compete to grab the carcass and throw it in a circle (the hallal).

This Afghani sport will not win any votes from animal lovers, but their fierce competitiveness has now blooded another arena: cricket. Refugees in Pakistan whiled away the long hours by learning to love cricket and have now brought the sport back to Afghanistan. Each province has a team and there are strong competitions to determine the best teams.

We know that the best team is not the Royal Marines, who emulated our Ashes tour:

ENGLAND'S cricket shame plunged new depths after a team of Royal Marines were hammered - by the Afghan National Army.

The crack soldiers crashed to a resounding eight wicket defeat after being bowled out for just 56 in 14 overs without one playing reaching double figures.

Afghans have only been playing the game since about 1992 but that did not stop the novice opponents knocking off the runs inside 12 overs

Are we seeing the birth of a new Test playing nation? I can think of no greater accolade to symbolise the departure of a country from misery and despair. We should be glad that the military skills of the Royal Marines far outweigh their cricketing skills.

Flintoff: Too Far, Too Early

I fly out to Sydney in full expectaion of a whitewash. Flintoff's captaincy, one that he eagerly sought according to reports, has proved disastrous for the team. England's failures have proved a two month lap of honour for Warne and McGrath. Who can blame them for enjoying this final high. They are two of the best bowlers in the world. Statues, stadia and status await.

Now they are contemplating the replacement of Mahmood with Jamie Dalrymple, importing an all-round spinner as a replacement for Ashley Giles. It is doubtful that this will strengthen the low morale and lack of spirit that has characterised this English side. When all heard Flintoff after the match, there was a gulf between ther supine surrender witnessed by the fans and the wilful ignorance broadcast by the captain.

Whilst Australia are by far the better side, a woeful decision to bat and poor fielding strategies, left England with a mountain to climb, and three days proved their worth. Flintoff's lack of experience, his appetite for victory and his inability to muster the troops leave me cold to the expected result at the SCG: another Australian victory.

If Flintoff wishes to redeem some small cheer for the fans, and ensure that his last game as captain is not an ignominious failure, then he needs to achieve victory. Not a draw, but victory. This may go some way to salve our pride and, perhaps, may lead to a renewed appointment, some years down the line, when he has drawn valuable lessons from his overpromotion.

Otherwise, Flintoff, follow the advice your name gives the rest of us. The second syllable is off.....