A gripping season

While kids in England were watching football on the telly, their counterparts in Pakistan were bowling and batting in whatever space they could find and with whatever implements came to hand. As in India, the route from the streets to the stadiums is circuitous and littered with obstacles and injustices. But in Pakistan it tends often to be a shorter leap, and more of the elan of street cricket — the hustle, the improvisatory spirit — survives in the Pakistani game. Combine that with sophistication of technique and discipline, and you have a cricket team that's both competitive and entertaining.