South Africa series: ‘Tried and tested’ on the roster again

PCB selectors meet today to discuss preliminary squads against the Proteas .


Fawad Hussain September 15, 2013
Despite calls for the exclusion of senior players from the team, the selection committee is expected to resist making any major changes to the squad for the upcoming South Africa series. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI:


The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) selection committee is expected to kick off the selection process for the home series against South Africa today, targeting to form preliminary squads for all formats in the first phase.


Salim Jaffar, who is supervising the selection committee in the absence of a head, flew out to Lahore yesterday for a day-long meeting at the PCB’s headquarters that will take place today.

The selectors are meeting at a time when calls for drastic changes in the team have recurred following a humiliating defeat to lower-ranked Zimbabwe in the final Test in Harare.

Former cricketers are demanding the exclusion of players, who have failed consistently, and want the injection of new blood in the team.

However, an official close to the selection committee confirmed to The Express Tribune that the selectors’ initial list of probables hardly carries any surprises.

“There is no panic situation within the selection committee,” said the official.

“The initial pool of players will be more or less the same. The selection committee is targeting to form a pool of 40-50 players for all the formats in addition to the three-day warm-up game against South Africa.

“All the senior players including Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat and Umar Gul are in contention at the moment as the selectors aren’t overlooking any mainstream player.”

Pakistan will host two Tests, five One-Day Internationals and a couple of Twenty20s against South Africa in the UAE from October 14 to November 15.

Selectors to wait for Misbah, manager’s report

The official said that the final decision on the squads will be taken after reviewing reports on the tour of Zimbabwe from the manager Moin Khan and captain Misbahul Haq.

“Moin accompanied the team for the first time as manager. His feedback will carry weight and definitely be assessed. The committee will also wait for Misbah to return from the Champions League for a detailed meeting.”

The official acknowledged that the South Africa series will be an uphill task and the selectors will take all the stakeholders into confidence to avoid any conflict.

The manager is scheduled to return today along with other Karachi-based players. The selectors are hoping for a report from him by the end of this week.

Hafeez on 50th spot in Test batsmen’s rankings

Meanwhile, after Pakistan slipped to sixth in Test rankings from fourth spot, Misbah’s men experienced mixed fortunes in the ICC Players’ Rankings for Tests.

Misfiring Mohammad Hafeez managed a 50th spot after failing in the two-match series against Zimbabwe. He scored just 59 runs from four innings with an average of under 15 runs. Asad Shafiq, who also failed miserably scoring just 43 from four innings, is in 34th spot. However, Misbah moved three places up to 12th in the batsmen’s ranking while Younus Khan remains in sixth position.

In the bowlers’ rankings, Saeed Ajmal lost a place and now stands in fourth in the list but his partner Abdur Rehman moved up two places to 11th. The other Pakistan bowler to move up is Junaid Khan, who is now at a career-best 32nd from 34th.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2013.

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COMMENTS (6)

Bharat | 10 years ago | Reply Its not possible to predict anything with Pakistan team.I expect better players to come to the team soon
US CENTCOM | 10 years ago | Reply

I think the time is absolutely right to try out some new players. We cannot expect players like Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq, and M.Hafeez to go on forever. They are already in their mid to late 30's. The world cup is not too far, and the time is just perfect to introduce some new players. The next yr or so will give them enough experience to get ready for the world cup.

Ali Khan

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