Pakistan Cricket Team suffered another 3-0 routing in Australia, but in the aftermath of this defeat, the Pakistan Cricket Board Management Committee is taking steps in the right direction to ameliorate things in the future. PCB MC chairman Zaka Ashraf and COO Salman Naseer have negotiated reciprocal tours of juniors, A teams, Under-16, and women’s teams with Cricket Australia. This is a step in the right direction and will go a long way in improving results in Australia.
17 Test defeats in a row, one win in the last 13 one-day internationals, no Test series win ever, last Test win in 1995: this is Pakistan’s abysmal record in Australia. No team has ever lost 17 Tests on the trot in any country. Reprise after reprise. This shows how hapless Pakistan teams have been when it comes to play cricket Down Under.
Ian Chappel, the former Australian captain and a blunt analyst of the game, lashed out after Pakistan’s 3-0 defeat in 2016-17 in strong words. “Pakistan have now lost 12 Test matches on the trot in Australia, and somebody’s got to give them a kick up the bum. Cricket Australia have got to start saying ‘listen if things don’t improve, we will stop with the invites’,” Chappell had said at the time. Adding, “You can’t continue to (play poor) cricket. You can’t bowl poorly, have conservative field placings and field sloppily and expect to play decent cricket in Australia.”
Although Pakistan put up a better and competitive fight this time around but when we look at the record they will still be saying: Whitewashed 3-0 this time too. It was complete annihilation in the first Test at Perth, a 360-run mauling inside four days and it looked like things will be worse in the next two Tests. But Pakistan did well at Melbourne and Sydney and lost by a narrow margin of 79 runs and then by a misinterpreted-looking, eight-wicket. In fact, Pakistan could have won the last two Tests but for some sloppy fielding and losing wickets in a cluster snatched them defeats from the jaws of victory. Pakistan dropped as many as 12 catches in the series. The two they dropped off Mitchell Marsh at the MCG — on 20 dropped by Abdullah Shafique when the batter went on to score 96 — and then on 7 by Saim Ayub as Marsh went on to make 54 — cost them dearly.
There was plenty of praise for this Pakistan team. “Three Cheers for Pakistan’s fight,” was the banner headline in the Sydney Morning Herald after the series, praising Pakistan’s ability to compete in the series. As Ian Chappell said, “you can beat Australia by seeing them eye to eye, match their aggression and be one step ahead of them. Shan Masood’s team did that but not being able to grab the moments put paid to his team’s effort.
So why do we fare so badly in Australia? Quoting Chinese philosopher CONFUCIUS gives us the right answer. His famous saying is “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” Australia has been a difficult destination for teams from Asia. It demandes previous preparation. Only India have won Test series in Australia — 2018-19 and then in 2020-21 while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have never been on the winning side. Bangladesh were invited only once and lost in 2003. India did those preparations admirably well. They benefited from tours to Australia by their “A” and Junior teams. India “A” tours were very successful and gave India players like Cheteshawar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishab Pant, Mohammad Siraj et al. Most of them performed well in India’s 2-1 series win on both the occasions.
Put simply, Pakistan has been on the wrong side. There were never any previous preparations. We lost 3-0 in 1999, 2004 and 2010 and then 2-0 in 2016 and 2019 but there were no previous pre or after tour preparations. Pakistan’s last “A” team tour to Australia was in 2008-09 from where we found players like Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Umar Amin, Khalid Latif and Mohammad Talha. But since then Pakistan did not plan any tour to Australia. The last Under-16 tour to Australia was in 2018 from where we matured Saim Ayub.
Previously, the problem that impeded junior teams’ tour for Pakistan teams was that it was only one-way traffic. PCB was unable to negotiate such tours on reciprocal basis as security in Pakistan was a main concern for foreign teams. Pakistan had become a ‘no go’ area for foreign teams, primarily for Australia, since terror attacks on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. Australia “A” last toured Pakistan in 2007 and despite a bomb blast in Lahore continued that, although with serious concerns. Hosting “A” teams on the neutral venues of the United Arab Emirates was not considered because of the expenses. Hence Pakistan “A” tours were mainly confined to Sri Lanka , Zimbabwe and Kenya — countries where there were little learnings.
So when Zaka Ashraf and Naseer toured Australia they were focused on the future. It was imperative in the aftermath of another clean sweep. How can Pakistan improve results in Australia and they hit the nail on the head. The duo has negotiated junior tours to Australia which can go a long way in improving Pakistan’s performances in Australia.
“After a meeting with the Prime Minister he appreciated our plans to negotiate with Cricket Australia and the PM admitted that it will benefit Pakistan cricket. We had that in mind after consultation within the PCB. On the sidelines of the ICC meeting during the World Cup in India we held talks with Cricket Australia and the aim was to have a joint program that would help both the countries,” Zaka Ashraf told a press conference. “We were honured by Cricket Australia chairman (Mike Baird) and held talks with them.”
Naseer revealed the plans in a detailed manner. “There are quite a few challenges that we are facing and the main thing is too much cricket. We are thankful to Cricket Australia and on this particular tour we took our previous talks with them a bit further. One of the things that is important is that the leagues of both the countries should not clash, like BigBash and our PSL are held at different times so that a good panel of players are available for both of our leagues.
“The main thing was the development of cricket and was talked about at length. We discussed tours of Pakistan Shaheens, Junior teams Under-19 and women teams’ tours so that we can have a good exposure of the Australia conditions and they have familiarity with our conditions. Our efforts are to collaborate on such tours. We are also exploring to include one more country to have a tri-series. We are looking at annual tours to address our problems. We also discussed training methods and how to improve our curators because our chairman has a strong vision of improving the curators and using the latest technology. Cricket Australia have agreed to help us in that regard as well.
“We are working on the details and an agreement will also be signed at a subsequent stage. We hope such tours materialise from this year.”
Pakistan Shaheens toured Australia to play a Twenty20 tournament with three teams from Australia and Papua New Guinea also competing last year. Pakistan lost the final to Northern Territory but it was a beneficial tour for young players. Azam Awais, Ahmed Khan, Arfat Minhas, Irfan Khan, Shamyl Hussain, Ali Asfand, Basit Ali, Faisal Akram and Amir Hassan are few names who can be developed for senior team from that tour.The task would be to give more chances to players from this tour so that they can mature further.
Pakistan have white ball series (ODIS and T20Is) in Australia later this year and if we can have two to three players from Shaheens it would be a bonus. The case in point is the remarkable performance by Aamer Jamal on the recent tour. He did well mainly because he knew about the conditions having played league and state cricket previously in Australia.
All said and done, efforts are great but for that Pakistan cricket needs continuity. Plans will be shelved if a new set up comes. Lets pray these plans come about, for the betterment of Pakistan cricket.
