With the disappointing tour to Australia over, yet another tough test awaits Pakistan. What happened Down Under is a true reflection on what Pakistan should expect in the near future. The ‘Austrophobia’ continues to haunt Pakistan, and nobody knows how long it will take Pakistan to be able to compete with the Aussies on even terms.

No doubt the previous series must have left the youngsters short on confidence, but the experience they have gained there would help them better prepare for the Indian trip later this month. The three-Test rubber and the five-match One-day International series in India will provide them a chance to put to test what they have learnt during the two-month-long Australian tour.

What happened in Australia was not beyond expectations. Pakistan were playing with an inexperienced team, and apart from a few most of the players were touring that country for the first time. Australia is a tough place to tour for the seasoned campaigners, and for youngsters it’s even tougher. Pakistan had to play the VB tri-series with a very inexperienced pace attack, but all credit to them for not bowing to the pressure of playing in front of some great players of the game. The result was not a convincing one, but even better teams from Pakistan have failed to achieve what even this weak outfit did.

And again it was Shoaib Akhtar who was responsible for disturbing the balance of the team with his disgusting attitude. His antics always create problems for him and the team management, but he fails to behave himself. And for some unknown reasons even the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) adopts a soft life while dealing with him.

Once again he courted controversy on the eve of the New Year, which, apparently, ended with his early return to Pakistan. The team management was never happy with his attitude and off-the-field activities. And, obviously, Shoaib, too, was not very pleased with the way the management reacted. Everybody knew that it was Shoaib’s differences with the management that led to his return, but a hamstring injury was cited as the reason.

Shoaib has just met the PCB chief to clear the ‘misunderstanding’ regarding the incident. Nowhere in the world a cricket board’s chief holds meetings with individual players to listen to their point of view and ‘grievances’ with relation to a particular incident. The tour management is and should be powerful enough to deal with such cases and penalise players for any breach of discipline.

But here we have a tradition where the board chief himself speaks to players to find out their own version of any incident thus undermining the authority of the team management. This uncalled for action on the part of the Board puts the coach, manager and captain in an embarrassing situation. This practice only serves to aggravate the controversy as statement follows statement and a war of allegations then ensues.

Shoaib’s contribution to Pakistan cricket is invaluable, but he has got an attitude which usually does not go well with the team management, and the result is a sudden pull-out for one reason or the other. Most of the times it’s an injury which is mentioned as the cause for his pull-out, but in effect it’s the differences with either the captain or coach that lead to this unfortunate situation.

Pakistan are already without their first-line pacers, and the absence of Shoaib or an equally fragile Mohammad Sami means the team has to look to untested and inexperienced pacers. That’s exactly what one saw Down Under. Had Pakistan been playing with their first-choice eleven, Australia would certainly have struggled in the latter part of the one-day series.

It was not a pleasing sight to see rookie pacers like Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan struggling against the Australian batting might. But it was certainly heartening to note that these youngsters bowled their hearts out and did not hold anything back.

More than bowling it was Pakistan’s fragile batting that helped Australia win the Test as well VB one-day tri-series. Whenever Pakistan batted first it seemed no total could prevent the Aussies from running away with the game, and whenever it was the hosts’ turn to bat first they somehow managed to score what always proved to be beyond the tourists’ reach.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq stood out as the best Pakistan batsman, hitting five fifties in eight one-dayers. Apart from him no other player managed to impress with the bat. And with a depleted bowling attack at his disposal for the entire one-day series it must have been the most difficult series for Inzamam. But he does deserve credit for leading the team at a time when nothing seems to work for him. He has got a very young side at his disposal, and he must be praised for keeping his calm and making every effort to pull his wards through this difficult stage.

Australia have taught Pakistan a harsh lesson, and the sooner they make improvements the better. India will be another tough assignment, but if Pakistan can get their best bowlers back, who could see the tour through, it would be an interesting series. Otherwise yet another thrashing awaits Pakistan.

Tendulkar-less India gear up for Pak series
Sachin Tendulkar’s absence stands out glaringly as India’s cricketers flex their limbs to prepare for next month’s highly anticipated series against Pakistan.

Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman in contemporary cricket with 34 Test and 37 one-day centuries, has still not fully recovered from a tennis elbow injury sustained in August last year. The 31-year-old, who last played in Bangladesh in December, was advised by doctors not to pick up a bat for six weeks, a period that ends in mid-February.

Tendulkar missed the Challenger one-day series, which featured the country’s top 36 players, and a major part of the subsequent inter-zonal Duleep Trophy first-class tournament. He was rushed back from injury for two of the four Tests against Australia in October and also played against South Africa and Bangladesh - scoring a double-century against the minnows.

As Tendulkar rests, the other Indian probables are gearing up for the Pakistan series. Most of the top stars have not played competitive cricket since the Bangladesh tour. With a settled batting line-up and two world-class spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in hand, the selectors’ main worry is finding a suitable wicketkeeper who can also bat. Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik played in the Test series earlier this season, while Mahender Dhoni was picked for the one-dayers against Bangladesh.

Frequent injuries to pace bowlers have also not helped India’s cause, but Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Laxmipathy Balaji and Ashish Nehra are fit to play the trial matches.

Waugh among candidates for SA coach’s job
Australia’s Steve Waugh, the most successful captain in Test history, could be a candidate to become coach of the South African national team. Newspaper reports have linked Waugh and compatriots Tom Moody and Geoff Marsh with the job.

And Waugh’s manager, Robert Joske, was quoted as saying: "It is something we would consider."
South Africa are currently coached by Ray Jennings, but his contract expires in May after a tour to the West Indies. They have been beaten by India and England since Jennings took over and unless they can repeat their 2001 victory in the Caribbean, the United Cricket Board may look to make a change before next winter’s tour to Australia.

Waugh captained Australia in 57 of his 168 Tests, 41 of them victories, before retiring in January 2004. He recently coached the World XI in a tsunami relief game in Melbourne and is keen to remain in the game in some capacity.

"We haven’t heard from South African authorities in relation to the job," said Joske. "But if an approach was made, or the opportunity arose, we would definitely sit down and talk it through. We’ve a strategic plan that we’ve put together for Steve’s retirement and our approach is that every valid approach that comes his way should be seriously considered."

Moody, who is currently in charge of English county side Worcestershire, has also denied receiving any approach about the job. Marsh, meanwhile, has obvious credentials for the job, having already coached Australia and Zimbabwe at international level.