By hook or by crook

Centurion Park is an ideal venue for the home team. The pitch has bounce and reasonable pace and while our tactics of taking on their pace bowlers were well-conceived, both our shot selection and timing went awry in the first innings, with seven of our players out hooking. Our total was adequate but not a winning one. In order to beat South Africa you have to score big runs like the Australians do. South Africa were able to build a substantial lead which, on that type of surface, is match-winning.

Make that a large one

Mohammed Yousuf's unavailability meant that the younger members of the team needed to put their hands up. Though Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed both scored fifties at Centurion they needed to score hundreds. The fact that no Pakistan player scored a hundred in the series is a telling statistic. Inzamam's quite superb innings in Port Elizabeth, Yousuf's cameo in Cape Town and Younis Khan's belligerence went close but were not enough, though in Port Elizabeth they helped win the Test.

Bowl, bat, catch, appeal: Is there anything Jaqques Kallis can't do? © Getty Images

A man of many talents

You can't blame the batsmen entirely for we have to give credit to Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and Andre Nel who all did their bit for the home team. But South Africa have, in Jacques Kallis, one of cricket's great batsmen and bowling allrounders.

At Centurion and Cape Town we managed to dismiss Kallis in the first innings but he was rock-solid both times. At Port Elizabeth, he nearly denied us victory. His technique and desire enabled South Africa to cross the finishing line and he was ably helped by Ashwell Prince who has matured into a fine batsman.

Ultimately, Kallis turned out to be the difference between the two teams as his performances, especially at Cape Town on the last morning, were magnificent. He saw off two of the most outstanding young bowlers to emerge recently in Mohammed Asif and Danish Kaneria. Pakistan had their chances but crucially the few that they did have were missed despite a fielding display that was much better than in recent times.

Not all gloomy

Despite the doom and gloom that prevails over a Pakistan loss, I believe it was, as Inzamam said, a real sign that this side is progressing to a new level. The squashed nature of itineraries increasingly creates fatigue among the bowlers and leaves little or no time to work on the frailties of batting techniques. Therefore it conspires along with lack of preparation time to change the flow.

The win in Port Elizabeth was absolutely fantastic. A brief glimpse of Shoaib Akhtar in the game positively cries out for an Asif, Akhtar and Gul combination. There is no doubt in my mind if these three were fit together then Pakistan would be a real force. With today's schedules though, it may be asking too much.

Ntini is an exception to the rule and somehow his body seems to be indestructible although it was abundantly clear that, at Cape Town, he was exhausted. Steyn, who had been injured earlier in the Indian series, provided pace and took vital wickets at the end and by contrast Asif almost needed a wheelchair to get to the crease by the end, such had been his workload.

Lessons learnt

1. Never again must two countries agree to these torturous schedules, especially before the World Cup.

2. Players have to be completely match-fit in order to play Test cricket.

3. Pakistan need to create bouncier faster-paced pitches if they want to succeed abroad.

4. South Africa they need to look at the preparation of their pitches if they are to produce more batsmen of Kallis's pedigree.

The pitches were bowler-friendly throughout and Newlands in Cape Town has a lot of off-season maintenance ahead in order to bring the ground back to where it was. I say this remembering the bowler-friendly pitches at the Wanderers and Trent Bridge. Transvaal and Nottinghamshire used the conditions to win trophies with great bowling attacks, but eventually it cost their sides dear as their batsmen began to struggle.

And finally

I believe that Pakistan and India are improving on bouncier surfaces. Pakistan showed steel, competed harder than ever before and with more focus on weaknesses they will soon test southern hemisphere nations and eventually beat them.

Ultimately, it was a fascinating and competitive series. It will serve both teams well at the World Cup to have had a contest like this where all games could have finished differently and the result was never a forgone conclusion. This is what Test cricket is about.

Close but no cigar about appropriately sums it up. So many what ifs. What if Akhtar and Gul were fit. What if Yasir had played at #6 and Younis/Yousuf/Iniz stayed where they should have. Or better yet what if Yasir had opened and Asim Kamal had come in at #6 instead of Farhat or Hameed. What if Akmal remembered how to keep!!

But bottom line is, this was the best performance by a Pakistani side in SA and hopefully the ODI's will continue in the same vain. I guess we cannot do any worse than the Indians did.

I agree with Bob, that the series was fairly well contested. The first test could well have been a draw and the final test could have gone either way. Had we one more bowling options. . . . . . .

The Test series is past. Its time now to plan for the world cup. Its good to see Imran Nazir, Afridi and Shabbir making their way into the side although I felt Salman Butt should have been a given a try ahead of the world cup as well.

Most of the team (if fit) selects itself so I will only comment on some of the players.

The three above inclusions should be given an extended run alongwith Yasser, Zulqarnain and Abdur Rehman.

One felt when Pakistan last toured Australia, that Shahid Afrid had found a suitable place in the side at number 6/7. I hope he is not used as an opener especially in South Africa where the balls gonna be moving around especially in the opening spells.

Kamran Akmal needs a rest. He has dropped more catches than he has caught and most of Pakistan’s recent losses can be attributed to him. He is a fighting player but he needs to seriously work on his ever deteriorating wicket keeping. Zulqarnain I hear and hope is very good.

One player who has disappointed all is Mohammed Sami. He has been the pressure reliever for the opposition. So much was expected of him but he has shown no sign of improvement and imo does not deserve a place in the side. We harp on and on about Pakistan’s fast bowling strength but where is it. Shoaib, Umar and Shabbir remain injured/banned. Mohammad Sami is the scud missile that doesn’t go off. Rana is an on and off player whereas Rao is unimpressive to say the least so we are left with Asif, the one man demolition squad. We need a talent hunt and get some good fast bowlers onboard (too late for the world cup now). I am certain that there are very exciting prospects in Pakistan.

Finally I wish the Pakistani team well in the South Africa One Dayers and ofcourse the World Cup as well.

Try the following against SA.
Pakistan needs 10 solid players and Afridi for the World Cup. Let Afridi open with Malik and have the remaining line according to his score. That is,
Afridi = 0, regular line up.
Afridi = 100, Razzaq one down, Akmal 2 down and then regular
Afridi 30-100, Akmal 1st down and then regular line up.

Hi Bob,
Its a well concieved piece u wrote and i liked it. As far as my individual views are concerned I wud really hope that U along with the PCB should finally sort out the problem of our opening batting, cuz especially on this issue the whole nation is worried. Secondly, I really do hope that U sit with the PCB management especially the team selectors and make them read "LESSONS LEARNT" section of UR latest article above so that the lessons learnt uptill now on the south african tour should be really put into practice for once. Apart from all this I finally hope that the combination of Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Asif and Umar Gul wud be seen soon for one dayers esepcially for the upcoming world cup.
All the best.

I think Bob Woolmer is a damn good coatch.It was his hard work that Pakistan compete well in south africa .South africa is a monster like team on its own grounds, to beat them is difficult especially for asian teams but not impossible.I think if Pakistan will be able to learn lessons as Bob mentioned in blog, thety can beat southafrica on their grounds.Most importantly Pakistan should make good pacy and bouncy tracks to counter other conditions.

i agry with most of the points made by woolmer.But i feel that it was the injury factor that denied pakistan a test series win in South Africa.with Shoaib,Asif and Umar Gul i dont see pakistan losing too many tests any where against any one.in this series who so ever had a best bowling attack was going to win.There wasnt much difference between batting line ups of the two teams.The wickets were bowler friendly too.Anyway not a bad effort at all by Pakistan.

hey. sack imran farhat hes got a bad stance not likely to improve which will keep edging balls into slips. give hafeez another chance last series but better is still shoaib malik whose proven himself. call back salman butt give him another chance he did well against the south africa A team. and forgods sakes play yousuf and inzimam higher up the order younis could go down at 5 or 6. same thing happened to Kevin pieterson in the ashes where they kept sendingi think inzimam is best at 3. 5 down is too low for him send him at 3 till he retires and then younis can take his place.

The series was in balance till the last day, it was that because only two bolwers Danish & Asif was on show, there wasn't any support from the others, anyhow the test series has gone now, and we must look toward the ODI's, I think Imran Nazir & Afridi inclusion is a nice one, if Nazir gets the chances that the other has got I think he will be a destructive on, please let him play for while before dropping him, we all know that there is no sutitute for Afridi, even he is out of form, but he needs onfidence before the WC.

I am not an integral part of the Pakistan camp, therefore I would refrain myself from suggesting where whom should bat or not, simply for the reason that I don't know the ground realities; and let people in charge with the adequate knowledge be the judge of that. And I am pretty much sure that the people with this responsibilities have taken note. However, I would commend the performance with minimal resources at hand. And also agree with the fact that the schedules are a joke, ICC and for that matter the Boards should strike a balance between business endeavours and essence of a game whereby players shouldn't suffer. I hope and pray that during the World Cup, Akhtar, Asif and Gul combo can be pulled off.

I am very proud of the way Pakistan fought in this whole series. After all it was a complete different episode of the side that toured in 2002-03.Surely Pakistan bowling was severely depleted as opposed to South Africa.
Hats off to the lone warrior Asif who led the one man show.I am sure he must have been grasping for breath after his lung busting heroics.Pakistan badly missed Shoaib and his pace undoubtedly unsettles the opponent as South Africa found out at Port Elizabeth.
I wish and pray for Pakistan's success in the forthcoming world cup.

I agree with Woolmer.The tour schedules are too hectic and the main reason Pakistan had too many injury problems.I think Pk. could learn from India's rotation theori and rest some players in between so they are fresh for the more important matches.There is not much difference between the two sides:Pakistan lacked quality back-up bowlers to supplement Asif&Kaneria whereas SA had no such problems with Ntini,Pollock,Steyn,Nel,Kallis and Hall around.

Hi,
I would have to agree that this is probably the best performance by the Pakistani team in South Africa. Even the little words being spoken out by Nel or Gibbs or Prince or even from the crowd couldn't stop us from winning the second test. However, I thought Pakistan had a good chance of winning the series in the last test but I guess 161 is too low, something above 200 would have been great. Overall a great performance but hopefully the Pakistanis can take this confidence into the one day series, which is more important. Farhat should definitely be rested, Hafeez should be given more chances, Nazir should be tried as an aggressive opener, Asim Kamal should have been given a chance ahead of Hameed in the test series.
In the commentary I think Rameez is excellent. I totally enjoy listening to him but I think it would be great if we had more than one Pakistani commentator in South Africa. Amir Sohail or Wasim Akram (who was a commentator on the Indian tour of South Africa....couldn't he come with Pakistan?)

Nice, Mr Woolmer. Not a word of praise for Mohammad Sami. And to aftab, Malik and Afridi sshouldn't open. Pakistan have four openers, Hameed (opener or one-down), Butt, Nazir and Hafeez. Afridi may open when there's a big score needed and Sami, unless he's injured because of his hand, should play. Rest Asif for this series and thw World Cup. Farhat should have been dropped years ago and for some reason, unless Younis Khan is on, Inzamam never lets Malik bowl enough.

Well written though some more lessons need learning. Why in the world we keep on playing kamran when is sloppy? Similarly why we donot give a try to the likes of Anwar Ali who have performed well as bowler and drop likes of sami and nazir altogether. Similarly why yunus khan gets out in stupid style? We need an alternate for every one in the team, just look at how many top-quality alternates Australia have for each position. Bob you cannot just say what you like, be ready to appreciate other Major issues not handled by you.

A defeat not critized suggests that the team played well. I guess the only problem to which there seems to be no answer is the lack of new/up-coming batting talent. If we cannot make bouncy pitches in Pakistan can't PCB send our future batting prospects to England, Australia and SouthAfrica for two years so that they can play their league cricket and get a good idea of the playing surfaces abroad?

On the whole this was the best perfomance by a Pakistan team in South Africa. However, this was not the best they could have done. I think there were some technical errors:
1 - Hooks cost Pakistan the series - 7 in the 1st Test (really unbelievable).South Africa could not believe their 'luck' - as wicket after wicket was gifted away.
2 - Selection & batting order: Yasser Hamid has been known to be weak out-side the off-stump.What is the point of playing him on bouncy wickets.
Yunis should always bat 3 and in 1st test Asim Kamal should have been preferred over Faisal Iqbal who talks more than scores runs.
3 - Fast medium bowlers for sake of speed without quality is useless. For the 3rd Test, Abdul Rehman should been called and played and that would have given Inzy better option than he had.
4 - Shabbir Ahmed to me should have been the choice to partner Asif as he gets lift even on docile wickets. In view of uncertainty of Shoaib Akhtar, I think Pakistan should plan with Asif, Shabbir and Gul as regular trio.
5 - During England/Pakistan series in England, I heard Mohammed Akram (Sky) saying that Adnan Akmal is a far more talented wicket keeper than Kamran. To me, those missed chances behind the stumps cost Pakistan very dearly. It is time to look for replacement before futher damage is done.
Danish Kaneria's potency is lost when the wicket keeper is not of the highest quality.
6 - Imran Farhat has no one to blame. My friends and I were almost predicting before-hand how he would be out. Talent without discipline in the modern age is a waste. His fielding is below par.
7 - If you can find during your tenure a good wicket keeper and a stable opening pair, then you would leave Pakitan with a golden legacy.

I totally agree with Bob, i think Pakistan have certainly improved their performance out of sub-continent.Pakistanis played with alot off aggression infact a little too much (1st test Hook shots Dismissals),which let the oposition gain upper hand in the series.The inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar in the 2nd test proved that he is still a match winner if fully fit.The decision not too take him in the 1st place i think was totally wrong.Asif what an herculian effort he made bowling over 125 overs in a 3 match series is in itself a great effort let alone taking 19 wickets.He's my man of the series, all respect too Kallis's efforts.
I think Pakistan has a great chance of winning the One day series with players like Afridi and Razzaq in its lower middle order too give the team a boost at the end and so on for the world cup, a fully fit Pakistan Team is a World beater.

It was a good performance by Pakistan but at the same time it was disappointing simply because we lost.

I think deep down both Pakistan and Bob will feel disappointed for the same reasons even though they have focused on the positives that have emerged.

Though we pushed South Africa all the way I still don’t think we have made enough progress. Pakistan has always had the bowling firepower to make any side struggle. From the days of Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Waqar & Wasim and now today’s bunch led by Shoaib and Asif. I have no doubt the Pakistan factory of fast bowlers will keep churning match winners out.

The problem has always been the batting and once again it was the real reason why we lost. Our batsman can not put enough runs on the board for our bowlers to defend. The entire onus seems to be on the bowlers to turn on the magic and win games...this can not always be as we found out.

We are still no closer to finding a half-decent opening partnership and that is of no fault of the selectors or the coach. They have tried almost everyone and it seems there is no half-decent opener in Pakistan. This leads to the problem of exposing our strength in batting...the middle order of Younis, Yousuf and Inzamam to early to the new ball and hence giving an increased chance for the opposition to run through us.

Having said that Younis,Yousuf & Inzamam have the skill of combating the new ball and have proved this on a number of occasions. But we as a batting side we are too heavily reliant on these 3. This is a major concern as these 3 are not exactly young when it comes to cricketing careers.

I also think Pakistan made 2 major mistakes before the test series even started and that was the non-inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar and the non-selection of Asim Kamal.

We all saw what Shoaib can do in just 11 overs. He is simply a match winner and his 4 wickets in the 1st innings of the 2nd test basically set the test match up. Yes he did get injured but that was due to a lack of match fitness. Had they initially picked him then he could perhaps have eased into the tour like the rest of the squad by participating in the one warm up game and practice sessions and hence acclimatizing better. Remember his hamstring injury occurred mainly due to him not getting to grips with the conditions (i.e. ground conditions) and that is all due to the lack of time he had.

On Asif Kamal's non selection in any of the tests I am bemused. He is a solid middle/lower order batsman that has a short but good record in tests especially against SA. One of Imran Farhat or Yasir Hameed should have been left out to make way for his inclusion. Preferably Imran Farhat as I feel he simply doesn’t seem to have the mentality of being an opener nor the technique. Asim Kamal adds more to the team down the order than Farhat does up the order.

It is plain to see that for Pakistan to win overseas against decent opposition they have to bat better...a problem we have had for a very long time. So in that sense we haven’t made great strides. We were losing then and still are losing now...though it’s arguable that we are at least being competitive.

If Umer or Shoaib with Asif then result surely different and Kamran Akmal is not good enough for test series because he is totally out of form.He need rest.

Hi there i agree with bob.pakistan really played very well but,they have to think forward for the best opners.One thing i want to bring to your notice is that why u dont give chance to salman butt.i think he is good in both odi's& test.In odi's u people tell him how to play bowlers like irfan.But he is not a great bowler now.And u should assign waqar as a bowling trainer.allah hafiz

i watched the whole series against SA and it was the most even battle series that pakistan have played since playing india last year!

i would just lik 2 say that if we had akhtar, asif, gul & kaneria playing all three tests we would have won 3-0! i really belive that because of SA's batsmen....they only had 2!
kallis & Prince were the only threat and these two cannot play a big innings (i.e 200+) and are not attacking.
the other SA batsmen were too easy to get out (i.e smith, de villiers, amla & gibbs)
we missed a great oppurtunity! it was our series to win but through luck we lost our bowlers!

we can still beat them in the ODI series but the onus shifts to our batsmen to score runs.....Imran Nazir is a great opening batsmen along with Hafeez or Malik, then u have the solid middle order....and the fireworks with afridi/razzaq and maybe akmal.

and bob if u read this then plzzzz do not leave pakistan after the world cup u are great!
also can u plzzz makup with shoiab akhtar....he is a maverik but he is great/ fast & leathal.
hard to handle but a match winner so if u cud sort things out and let him play.....he will boost the pak team!

we need more aggresive players lik akhtar & afridi!
nazir is one but a few more bowlers lik asif & rans....they are gud but need to be more aggressive!

Interestingly, not a single comment here has made mention of the fact that the schedule, if anything, worked against South Africa and in Pakistan's favour. By the time the third test in Cape Town rolled around, South Africa had played six test matches in seven weeks.

That's right, six in seven weeks.

That, I think, is a far more punishing schedule than anything the Pakistanis had to deal with.

And for the home side to end up victors in both the Indian and Pakistani series was not only a great effort but wholly deserved.

Give credit where it is due, look at all the factors rather than Bob Woolmer's selective smorgasbord.

Well said mate, Pakistan did play really well but just didnt have the edge like they usually do with players such as Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Yousuf. I think Hafeez althogh not posting a big score was one of the pick of the batsman, Pakistan should persist with an opener with a temperament like him.

i think to me the key for pakistan in the upcoming one dayers (including the world cup) is to find a right team combination. my proposal is:
1.Malik
2.Hafeez/Farhat
3.Yousuf
4.Inzi
5.Younus
6.Afridi
7.Razzaq
8.Akmal/Zulkarnain
9.Rana Naved/Shabbir
10.Gul
11.Asif
the opening fair should concentrate on giving a solid start. later on Razzaq and Afridi can pick up the tempo. this sort of tactics gave incredible success in the 1999 world cup. so why not try it again.

Paul you have mentioned above the SA team played 6 test matches in 7 Weeks but Pakistan also played in the same period 6 tests, before Pak Team came to SA they have played the series against WI, So I think ICC should look at the work load. For Next time can you please make sure have your fact right.
Also Pak WC chances.
In theory we can win the cup but we need to get rid of Imran Faraht & Yasir Hameed a pair of them can NOT bat to save their lives.
I would be nice if can win the WC But heart says we can but head says NO.
Good Luck Pakistan

I think that the main issue is with the batting. Farhat is a club level player, he consistently flashes wildly and throws his wicket unlike any southern hemisphere player I have known in 20 years. Hafeez is really only a fill in due to the dearth of decent openers in pakistan. Yasir Hameed is seldom in the right position to play the right shot to the right ball... and wastes his wicket too often. That means the top 3 are not delivering and Younis/Yousuf/Inzamam have to fight it out with the tail... meaning we dont get 350+ scores consistently enough. I think Imran Nazir (who would have matured since 2000-01) and Salman Butt should be trusted. At least he doesnt throw his wicket away so frequently. Fitness, diet, strength and rehab need to reviewed. Our bowlers need to be sharpened weapoons. egards
Tahir.

I don't agree with the schedule argument at all. The reason being south africa had a much tougher schedule. They played 6 matches in 6 weeks.

The reason we lost was because asif and kaneria were are only bolwers that were penetrative. The newlands pitch was a seamers paradise and yet shahid nazir was completely ineffective.

What has happened to kamran akmal he has been in appalling form since the english summer.

We had a huge opportunity here and we have blown it. However lets try and redeem ourselves in the one dayers. If we can win a one day series here it will show that we will be a real force in the world cup. South africa record at home is superb so it won;t be easy to beat the proteas.

good luck bob and pakistan you are going to need it!!!!

Nice Article from Woolmer, but woolmer should have comment on team selection. Specially our opening pair (Imran Farhat and Muhammad Hafeez) is really pathetic. Both the batsmen are below average and dont have caliber to play international cricket. We have players like Taufiq Umar, Imran Nazir and Yasir Hameed. I beleive Afridi is better choice for open in test cricket because he is a fighter and really a tema man.

I would say that the key combination of Asif, Akhtar and Gul will play a significant role in the World Cup. Had pace been present in the third test match, Pakistan would have been able to stop the run scoring and perhaps clinched a draw.
South Africa's schedule was much more hectic than Pakistan's, therefore for Bob Woolmer to constantly blame the tour itenary would be wrong.
The arguement between Woolmer and akhtar shows the lack of team spirit: in a team where there is no manpower, there can never be success

I appreciate Woolmer's words and works. I feel that too many Pakistan batsmen throw their wickets in the same fashion. Why can't they avoid repetition of sorry acts. I feel that field umpires favor home teams (around the world) almost all the time, especially in LBW decision, which is not fair. I hope we will avoid a five-nill defeat from South Africa

Before the last test ended I told my brother that i won't be dissappointed if we lost the final test. If you look at the last time that Pakistan toured South Africa they lost the series 3-0. There was a 300 odd opening partnership for South Africa and Pakistan were nowhere near South Africa. But looking how how close this series was it is obvious how far the team has come since then. Bob Woolmer has transformed Pakistan from a sorry test side into a world threatning one. I believe that after all the controversies in Pakistan cricket Bob has done well to stick with the team. He has never made any controversial comments and in a country like Pakistan that should be credited. It would be a sad day when Bob Woolmer walks away and i wonder who is good enough to replace him. Or will we again be struggling to find a proper manager just like before 2003? I think yes.

You summed it up really well Bob. The injuries that Pakistan team suffered really brought them down to their knees. But if you step back and look at the fight Pakistan gave to South Africa despite its key bowlers not in lineup is really amazing. I remember when the fully fit Paki team used to get out on silly score while playing against teams like Australia, England and South Africa. We can now see the difference in the Psyche of Paki players that they are not afraid of any team. They wanna fight till the last bowl is bowled.
I give credit to South African team for a much deserved win as they had a hectic schedule. But come on, they were at home (not a visiting team).

I particularly like the lessons learnt part of your article bob. We should work on getting the bouncy and fast pitches. I seriously doubt that PCB will do anything about it though. Imran Khan has been preaching this for the last 20 years now. Goodluck dealing with PCB :-)

Anyway Bob, you are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. Lots of luck for World Cup.

Firstly this article shows what Bob Woolmer is, A South African. He has all praise for the South African players and how great they are. I think if the stupidity of continuous selection of Kamran Akmal had not taken place, results may have been different. I am sure even then Woolmer would have praised South Africa.

My comment is that Kamran Akmal cant keep wickets, period. For Spinners he is a disaster. Ask any of the spinners whether it be Kaneria, Afridi, Shoaib or Hafeez. He does not sight the ball when standing up. There is no such work as stumping. He only takes catches to spinners if by fluke they get stuck to his gloves. This was clear even on the tour to England. He has given more chances to Prince then anybody else. HE SHOULD BE DROPPED IMMEDIATELY AND NOT SELECTED UNTIL HE PROVES OTHERWISE. As to his heroic innings in the second test, if Graeme Smith had put third slip, he would be out ten times over. This was proved in the third test. He only fends the rising ball.

A nice article ! it was a good summary of the whole test series! Woolmer was absolutely right the sub-continent teams are improving with the time in playing on bouncy tracks! He didnt mentioned the Shoaib Akhtar episode , when both were involved in exchange of heated arguments

Well played Pakistan, it was great to see a fighting series and the SA fans will be the first to say so. Asif was simply awesome and I heard Kallis says this week that he was really surprised at just how much ability he has with ball in hand.

By winning both series this summer, the SA TEST side is still rather poor if compared to previous teams. The only players who should get a permanent selection are Ntini, Polly, Kallis, Boucher and Prince. The rest in my view, still leave a lot to be desired. Also the pitches prepared here in SA were really strange. The only pitches that had true pace and bounce in the summer were in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Bob's knowledge of SA conditions also played a massive roll in Pakistan's progress.

Looking forward to a fantastic ODI series with the 2nd and 3rd best sides on display. I have no doubt that it will be ultra competitive and great preparation to both sides for the WC.