What next for Pakistan?
As Pakistan depart England after a tour besieged by grave controversy, James Lawton, writing in the Independent , says cricket must not cast them into the wilderness.
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
As Pakistan depart England after a tour besieged by grave controversy, James Lawton, writing in the Independent, says cricket must not cast them into the wilderness.
What cricket cannot afford to do is write off Pakistan as a lost cause before properly recognising that it is not in a position to hand down such arbitrary moral judgement; not, at least, without acknowledging that the richest part of its empire, India, is also beset by terrible doubts about its freedom from spot- and match-fixing and that even such a sturdy sports nation as South Africa was unable to escape one of the worst examples of corruption in the history of any sport.
None of this is likely to sweep away the great mountain of doubt and dismay that has accumulated in England this summer – or diminish the challenge of attempting to reform a Pakistani game that operates in a society where corruption is not so much a threat as the norm and the legitimate rewards of the most successful Pakistani cricketers are dwarfed by those of their chief rivals.
While Nasser Hussain isn't condoning the controversies that marred the English summer, writing in the Daily Mail, he says "you've got to admit that watching Pakistan is never dull."
Like them or loathe them, they know how to electrify a crowd. Deliberate no-balls or not, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were great to watch during the Tests.
There's Saeed Ajmal with his doosras, the theatrics of Shoaib Akhtar, the reverse-swing of Umar Gul and the late hitting of Abdul Razzaq. And we haven't even mentioned Shahid Afridi.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo