Thats interesting actually Pie, as before the TV umpire could only comment on what the on-field umpire actually asks him to & nothing else, but the way that reads it looks like he has carte blanche to me
What it'll probably is that to stop themselves looking foolish, any really thin nicks they'll go upstairs which could disjoint the game
proof is in the pudding I guess......
Pakistan have announced yesterday that Shoaib Akhtar & Mohammed Asif are out of the World Cup. This is a massive dent to their hopes & makes them virtually unbackable in my eyes. I ahavent checked the effects on the odds as yet.
Theres been a lot said on this subject, none more so than by Malcolm Speed, who really should keep his mouth shut at times as he seems to want to be more like George Bush than ICC President
The 2 were banned in october by their own board for taking nandrolone, & subsequently cleared later by the same board. The Anti-Doping people are involved in this so its complicated but the crux of the matter is that nandrolone stays in your body for a long time, & it became clear that the ICC would random test during the WC....& its hardly rocket science to believe that one or both would have been targetted. Pakistans itinerary after the WC is not hectic & I guess the hope is that they'll be clear by then.
It brings into question why they were allowed to resume playing but if they tested positive in the WC they'd likely get life bans, & Asif is likely to be the cornerstone of the attack for many years to come.
My belief is that for a week now theyve been sat in London being tested daily to see if the nandrolone levels were falling, therefore making a risk possible, but it was not to be & the loss of both makes the WC a less attractive place playing wise, if not morally.
So what of Pakistans chances now ?? Razzaq has already been replaced by Mahmood & now Arafat & Sami join the squad, leaving lt like this:
This means the quicks are Umar Gul, Naved & Sami backed up by Mahmood & Anjum, whilst the spinners will include Kaneria, Afridi, Malik & Hafeez.
Gul is returning from injury but has done well in the past year or so, although whether hes good or confident enough to be the mainstay of the attack is very much open to question. Naved has been a very good death bowler but has fallen away alarmingly in recent times & was lucky to be in the original squad, but his experience is badly needed. Sami isnt good enough I'm afraid, you just cant set a field to him....a ropey track might help him but other than that I just think hes meat & drink. Anjum is in as back up & is nothing to write home about, whilst Mahmood has been a good player on the county scene for Surrey in recent years but seemed as far from selection as earth is to the moon until the Pakistanis were dropping like flies in SA.
The winner in all this is Hafeez, as hes now guaranteed his place I would think. Afridi, Malik & Kaneria were all certainties in my eyes but the selectors will probably want another back up bowler with the potential problems with the seam attack.
I can see this attack going for runs tbh, & on small grounds it remains to be seen how effective part time spinners will be, as opposed to reliable full time spinners.
Being Pakistan, you can never write them off, & its true the batting can still get a big enough score that this bowling attack can defend, but I think medium pacers that spray it will go far & wide in this WC, so the batting will have to be looking at 325+ IMO.
What is in effect the group decider is the 1st match of the tournament when Pakistan play West Indies, & obviously 2nd stage points are on offer as the finishing positions dont matter as long as they both qualify. West Indiea bowling attack is under-rated I think, particularly at home, & people like Bradshaw & Taylor, backed up by Gayle, should do well. I fancy in normal circumstances that I'd back WIs to win this game 6.5 times from 10, although granted its dangerous to write off Pakistan at any time, & I've had a decent punt on
Centrebets 1.67 for WIs to win the group.
The thing is, of the 8 strong nations, I'd now put Pakistans bowling as the weakest, which means theres potential for an upset. I did originally think that if there was to be an upset then it'd be Kenya versus either New Zealand or England, but I think the confidence & rejuvenated morale of those 2 sides now makes that unlikely. Now I'd say its Ireland or Zimbabwe versus Pakistan.
Ireland have come a long way in recent years, although its always hard to judge these things when teams are playing different levels of opponents, as in Zimbabwe have sunk as low as they can go at times but they still tend to play test sides in ODIS, rather than the non test sides that Ireland play. Theirs a few ifs & buts as there always is in potential upsets, but Ireland play Zimbabwe first & will see it as their best chance of a win by far. If Zimbabwe win by a street then its not worth touching the Pakistan match, but I feel it will be close & just a decent showing might make Ireland worth looking at in the next match.
The reason I plump for Ireland is 2-fold. Its the 3rd match & as all group matches are played on the same ground it will be the 3rd match in 5 days not even taking into account reserve days. Therefore I think its likely that the pitches will be used for 3 games each making this potentially worn & breaking, in life terms it will be a 5th day pitch, if not in playing terms.
The Ireland bowlers will have to have a golden day but if theres inconsistent bounce around its possible, but looking at the batting I'm pretty confident tbh. This is Irelands ODI history:
1 Eng 301/7 50 50 - W Only ODI v Eng in Ire 2006 at Belfast [
2383]
2 Ire 263/9 50 50 302 L
1 Ire 240/8 50 50 - W Euro CC 3 v Sco in Sco 2006 at Ayr [
2396]
2 Sco 155 41.3 50 241 L
1 Ire 274 50 50 - N Euro CC 7 v NL in Sco 2006 at Ayr [
2401]
2 NL 125/5 19 48 272 N
1 Ire 280/7 50 50 - L ICC WCL 3 v Sco in Ken 2006/07 at Nairobi (Gym) [
2492]2 Sco 284/7 50 50 281 W1 Ber 275/8 50 50 - L ICC WCL 4 v Ber in Ken 2006/07 at Nairobi (Jaff) [
2494]
2 Ire 276/6 48.4 50 276 W
1 Ire 284/4 50 50 - L ICC WCL 8 v Ken in Ken 2006/07 at Nairobi (Ruaraka) [
2499]
2 Ken 286/9 49 50 285 W
1 Ire 308/7 50 50 - L ICC WCL 11 v Can in Ken 2006/07 at Nairobi (Jaff) [
2503]
2 Can 312/4 49.4 50 309 W
1 NL 260/7 46 46 - W ICC WCL 15 v NL in Ken 2006/07 at Nairobi (Gym) [
2509]
2 Ire 254/8 46 46 261 L
Yes, England are the only 'proper' nation in there, & you have to take into account they had over 300 on the board, but Irelands lowest score so far is the 240-8 they scored at Ayr where they bowled Scotland out for just 155. You could also point to Canadas 312-4 (
) but it may well be that at that level the batting is stronger than the bowling.
Unless they get the worst of the pitch, the Pakistan attack doesnt strike me as one guaranteed to knock Ireland over for under 220, which gives them a chance in my eyes.