A fiery Pakistan is good for cricket

Mohammad Aamer's swing and zip at Leeds on the opening day was brilliant from cricket's perspective and the upshot was two fold. Firstly, it is evident that the Pakistan trio could test England as much, if not more. Secondly, though, it rammed home just how important Pakistan cricket is to the wellbeing of the game, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

There is no shying away from the fact that Pakistan's cricket has had its own self-generated problems over the past couple of decades, but the situation in which they now find themselves, forced to play matches in the Middle East or Lord's and Headingley as "neutral" venues, is not of their doing. Security issues were already playing havoc with international cricket in Pakistan even before the atrocity involving the Sri Lanka team in Lahore. Domestic cricket has been unaffected largely, but the public have no top-level cricket to maintain their interest beyond that on television. For the health of Pakistan cricket then, there has to be an imperative to find a way that the national side can compete at home.