Third Umpire: Misbah and the cult of hope.

There is a propensity within Pakistan cricket, administrators, players and fans alike, to always hinge the outcome of a game upon that one indispensable ingredient called 'hope'. Ever since Javed Miandad hit the last ball six against India in 1986 at Sharjah, the element of hope became an integral part of Pakistan's cricket psyche. We hoped the Akmal brothers will come through, and time after time at crucial moments they failed us. We hoped in most games that one of the many players who had under performed would suddenly become the Javed Miandad of the moment.

Yes there were periods where planning and developing a scientific approach to each game took front stage, but when the planning failed, be if better opposition or poor execution of the game plan we gravitated back to the 'hope'. At times players seem to have that belief that their cameo can save the game and they would abolish the game plan and go for that one slog that will change their fortunes more than that of Pakistan cricket.

The current tour of Australia suffers from two major set backs. A coach like Misbah who is steeped in being defensive, and the continuation of relying more on hope than planning. Yes Misbah has the distinction of being a successful test captain, compared to most others from Pakistan, but one cannot dispute that an aggressive strategy and mind set are not his forte. Most of the games he won were not from the implementation of a game plan but more from the individual brilliance of some of the players. Usually when two or three players clicked Misbah, as captain got the credit.

Hope, on the other hand, continues to be an integral part of the dressing room accessories that the Pakistan team carries in its kit bag. Sadly this cocktail has often been mixed with liberal doses of favoritism and inexplicable exclusions or inclusions of players that do not fit into any rationale of selection policy; like the inclusion of the tall Irfan on this tour of Australia. Someone must have said the Aussie pitches have a good deal of bounce and we have Irfan who is 7 foot 1 inch tall lets include him, forgetting that he is 37 years old, with highly questionable fielding and even more questionable fitness!

Well there was the hope that he would rattle the likes of Warner, and Steve Smith; none of that happened and much more capable bowlers were sidelined because someone, perhaps Misbah, introduced the element of hope and of course no one in the Pakistan selectors argues with hope. After all we have been hoping that Fakhar Zamman will find form, even though after a dozen consecutive failures someone would have woken up and said this is simply not working. We continue with the hope that Haris Sohail, who can be effective in the shorter format will somehow become a test player of class.

Yes we have reorganized Pakistan cricket, as indeed Imran Khan promised he would, and while the results of this may take time to show up, I personally do not believe replacing corporate owned teams by provincial teams (like in England as Australia) is the sole answer. We need to build a base to the game and the base is built at the school level. Create and effective school cricket system and the results will show in a few years. Take the example of New Zealand rugby. Why is it such a formidable force for over 50 years? Because the school rugby system in New Zealand is strong, well supported and encouraged. Any All Black players will proudly speak of his heritage of school rugby.  Pakistan cricket needs to concentrate on long term plans not just a quick fix glued together by hope.