Where are you, Pakistan?

Osman Samiuddin, writing in the Crest, traces the history of some of the present problems afflicting Pakistan cricket to a pay dispute between the players and the board in 1976.

The relationship between board and player was reversed so that players, for long servants, became masters. Television, particularly after the broadcast of that '78- '79 series, helped spread the game beyond any administration's dreams. Talent began to spill in from around the country, away from just Lahore and Karachi that had dominated Pakistan sides till then.

This new player was unrecognisable from earlier generations who were city boys without fail and products of a thriving college scene. This breed came from smaller towns, villages in some cases. Education was no longer the only access to cricket. And in any case, as Imran Khan points out, the public education system had aged particularly badly in Pakistan. Television, money and some success has made the player today more powerful than ever, but probably least-equipped than ever before to handle it.

Also in the Crest, Ayaz Memon says, "Sharad Pawar could hardly have anticipated that his first assignment as ICC chief would be to tackle the ogre of match-fixing. Nevertheless, now that this has erupted in his face even before he has measured out his office, so to speak, he must move with alacrity to counter a menace that threatens the very existence of the sport."

"It shakes my faith in sport that Mohammad Amir — a boy touched by genius but betrayed by dreadful role models — could be corrupted," writes Ed Smith for the Deccan Chronicle. "But I am convinced that the game is better with Pakistan than without it. And I would rather be disappointed again than close the door on that country."