The opening match of the World Cup was the type of game we can expect from all the sides here. It was a tough, no-holds-barred game. In the end West Indies deserved to win. I had wondered, before the game, if the pressure of the occasion might get to them. I had also wondered if the occasion would spur them on to greater deeds. The wondering is now over.

There were a number of turning points in the game. The first was when Sarwan came in as though he had a train to catch. His aggression might have taken the game away from us but the bowlers held their nerve and a good ball from [Iftikhar] Rao dismissed him. [Marlon] Samuels, after a circumspect start, decided it was time to accelerate and played a gem of an innings in the context of the game a gem. He is a sweet timer of the ball and can also hit it very hard.

West Indies bowlers bowled a good line and length to defend their moderate total of 241 © Getty Images

West Indies eventually totalled 241 on what looked like an excellent track but we thought that they might be 20 to 30 runs short. We needed a solid start, something like 40 for 0 off ten overs would have been great but West Indies were dynamic in the field. They exuded energy as they dived, stopped and caught everything. Their bowlers bowled a superb length and line. Despite having two of the best batsmen in world cricket today the Windies bowlers bowled with consummate discipline and as the run rate went from 4.7 to 7.3 I knew that it was going to be very hard for the lower order to score at such a high rate.

West Indies rose to the occasion and played with pride, passion and steel. Pakistan's effort was good for they worked hard all the time but in the end it wasn't enough. To sum up I will add some more from my notes.

* It is easy to point fingers and I really thought that 241 was a good effort in the field but if you add up all the little things then you can see that scoring 242 to win needed a good start and wickets in hand. Danish's throw and Rao's last over - all these little things add up. Our running between the wickets leaves a lot to be desired and we hardly turned a single into two runs. West Indies bowled with great discipline and two early wickets has not helped our cause.

* Statistically West Indies ran seven more twos, hit seven more sixes, and scored 10 more fours than Pakistan. It quietly highlights why we are behind the eight ball.

Our game against Ireland will be a tough one as they have proved that they are one of the best equipped of the Associate sides and are very keen and well-organised. There will be no easy games in this World Cup.

Your notes and analysis is good bob... but thats what we have been doing lately and it seems we have not learnt from it yet. I hope we will win the next two matches and proceed to the super 8's with a high note and specially with a well planned strategy. A strategy with not only our strenghts and weaknesses in mind but also considering the opponent team. From the last 8-10 onedayers, i donot see any good reason of playing Rana Naveed. He has been all around, expensive infact very expensive i would say. His batting and bowling both are not helping atleast pakistan in any way. I think these coming matches against ireland and zimbabwe can really be the matches we can try a lil bit as well with our playing 11.
My wishes are with my team, and they always will be no matter what.. :)... but everyone will like his team to win.. more often. :)
cya

It was a very disappointing loss, especially considering that even 241 had been about 40 runs more than West Indies had looked likely to get around the 46th over.

Rana's poor run has to dealt with immediately. It doesnt help if Gul is blocking one end and Rana is leaking from the other. Theres simply no pressure on the batsmen that way. Even Rao is more consistent, and would be a better option than Rana to open the attack. Is Sami really that bad that he cant replace Rana with his current form?

The less said about the way the batting folded the better. Personally, I switched off the telly when Younis Khan swated his way into the slips hands chasing a wild one(AGAIN! Will this man not learn??). I decided going to sleep was a better idea than watching the oft repeated debacle unfold. Sure enough the morning newspaper detailed a dismal performance.

I'm all for supporting the team, but Ive got to be honest; they're making it pretty hard. They've got to show more grit. Right now they are batting like a village team.

The real test will now come in the super 8s (yes, the optimist in me does believe we will make it to the next round). Lets hope we will pull up our socks from here on.

Regards,
A stubborn Pakistani supporter

Dear Bob

I noticed that yousuf and inzi tend to play like this a lot whilst they are chasing. They can sometimes get away with this when we have the finisher Razzaq in the team.

However our tail was a bit longer than we are use to. So I felt they put themselves under too much pressure in the power play overs.

Why don't one of the big 3 open. Younis Khan always comes in early, why don't you tell him to open and drop nazir to 6. He quite obviously a huge hitter and when the ball is no longer swinging that's when he could be at his most devastating. If you are serious about competing at this world cup then the big 3 need to bat one place higher. You want them to have the most overs to score their runs. Let the younger guys play the cameos at the end.

GOOD LUCK BOB

hi bob
i dont know if this will get to u and whether u will read it but how do u justify the selection of rana in front of sami.i understand that it is easy to say these things after the game but anyone and everyone in would agree that rana's form even against in the warm up was poor.Sami too is inconsistent but atleast he did ok against South africa in the warm up game and his pace could have been of good value in the early stages.kaneria's selection is a question mark too??i say that because on such small grounds in windies u and i and we all know that mistimes are gonna go for sixes let alone well timed shots.Again u won't have really known this before the game but u would surely remember what Lara did to him in the second test in Pakistan.We usually bat till number 8 and yesterday we batted till number 6.The two above reasons i think merit azhar mahmood's selection who is a good player of pace bowling as u would have seen from his exploits against south africa when u were coaching them.Why Lara did not use any spinners was simple;that spinners would get smashed by the batsmen due to the ground being so small.That is the prime reason for them hitting 7 more sixes than us.With such unreliable openers why Yasir hameed is not in the team is completly inexplicable.out of the available players we picked our 11 wrong in addition to the injury worries that we already were dealing with.inzi and yousuf played uncharacteristic of themselves because as rameez raja said the pressure got to them.That was simply caz they knew they did not have anybody to follow them.i hope u don't take this criticism wrong.i just had to write my opinion about the game because i was utterly disappointed and dejected.
Nabeel

Kaneria overthrows and you call that funny? FUNNY? Disgust, despair, anger, and frustration don't come to mind? Game notes are valuabe, but Woolmer's seem to be running commentary about everything that is not important.

What in the world are you talking about Mr. Woolmer. Your comments come across more as a case of defence against a lethargic performance by Pakistan.
You found the catch dropeed by Younis Khan tough, I think this is what professional cricketers are supposed to do. And this is the World Cup, mind you. Danish's overthrow was funny? It was downright disgusting. We contniued to be lax in the field. Pakistan had WI at 77 for 3 in 28 overs. But once the runs started flowing there was no stopping them. Inzamam is an unimaginative captain. Once the rot started, he didnt know how to stop it. Plus, who tries to bowl his key fast bowlers 7-8-9 overs on the trot in such heat.
Pakistan should have restricted WI to 210-220.
In batting the top 3 got out to reckless shots, especially Younis and Hafeez. Ridiculous display by Pakistan.
They say the first step towards improvement is acknowledgement of one's shortcomings. Bob Woolmer and Inzamam are hiding their faces like ostriches in the sand by giving useless excuses for the defeat. Pakistan needs to shape up and quickly too.

What is reason to putting inzi down the order? If Pakistan sends Yousuf and inzi bit early may be at No 3 and 4 respectively then I think the problem of run rate and chances of domination of opposition will subside to an extent. Secondly, in almost all the recent past matches Akmal was our opener and quite surprisingly in the match against WI he was at No 7. What is the innovation in it?

If this is what the Coach has got to say about his team, what the hell has he been doing all these years, if he has not been able to improve Pakistan's fielding, sort out the Middle Order, and of course confirmed an opening pair. All of these things come with the help of a CHARISMATIC CAPTAIN, which i am sory to say, Inzama is not.

He has a big attitude problem, he has never tried to improve his running between the wickets, to say the least. He always hides in the Middle Order, while he should be coming at 2 down, and Yousaf at 1 down, with Younis opening the innings (i believe, Younis does not deserve to be in the side, Asim Kamal should have been there). Take Stephen Fleming e.g. he takes the bull by its horns by coming in to open the innings.

Inzamam needs to be shaken up and deprived of his captaincy, if he has no hold over the team as is reflective from the team performances in the recr past.

Hi Bob, the boys were looking good in the field besides kaneria's blunders. i think we gave away 20 extra runs, We can only pray for the coming games.
I have just come to a conclusion that not only players but Coaches should learn from their mistakes too. You have brought more consistency in the Pakistan team, but i wonder that in three years you were unable to produce an opening pair and thats where we are hurt every time,by the way you were an opening batsman too, and in presence of Sami i suggest there is less room for Rana in the team, he has been consistently taking the pressure off the opposition in the opening spell, Gul got the wicket early but we could not captilaze on the situation because Rana went for consecutive boundaries from Sarwan. i dont why u and inzi are so consistent with playing him. any ways good luck for the coming games

You may also want to add that infantile shot selection which you might play in the nets for a laugh(Younis Khan), Kamikazee batting in successive balls (Mohammed Yousuf) and Inzimam's weakness in stepping across the wicket to balls aimed at his stumps made a mockery of the only big guns in the Pakistan team. Perhaps the 3 of them should focus on batting with authority, since they do have the skills -- this is the World Cup.

Not just the running, but the shot selection by Nazir, Younis, Hafeez and Yousef was atrocious. You would have thought Yousef would be senior enough to learn from his mistakes, he tried 3 times to get out in that over and finally succeeded. Younis is better suited to number 5 where he can nudge the singles, I think Shoaib Malik should be promoted to opening or 3 because all 3 of his 100s have come at the top of the order. We need someone to bat right through from the top of the order and the others to bat around him. From Nazir, Hafeez and Co - the only person capable of batting to a big 100 is Shoaib Malik.

Dear Coach Woolmer,

The lost to West Indies should be an eye opener for Pakistan. In a way it's a good loss since Pakistan still have time to get their act together. A dismal display by top order batsman certainly was a major factor in Pakistan's loss. Inzmamam should come into bat at number 4 (if not number 3)for all future games if Pakistan wants to make it to the super8. He needs to lead from the front. The inclusion of Rana was a mistake in my opinion. Yasir Arafat or Azhar Mehmood should have been included in the squad as we desparately needed a good hitter of the ball who could support Shoaib Malik's effort during the last 12-14 overs. But in any case, I hope Pakistan will do good in all future games. Good luck!

Bob,
I am surpirsed at the positive picture you are painting after the lose. Even if pakistan makes it to the Super 8, it will be mightly hard to progess to the Semi-Final stage. You have been coaching the team for a few years now and should know the ins and outs of the team! and not to pass statements like "Our running between the wickets leaves a lot to be desired and we hardly turned a single into two runs." May i ask what was done before the WC to tackle this issue.
I was a big fan of your coaching before but not anymore

Hi Bob,

Excellent observations. I agree with you that Pakistani team was not aggressive. They didn't turn any ones into two ... However, Pakistan teams are known for scoring most of their runs of boundries so the stat about 4's and 6's does help us understand why the team lost.

To share a few of my observations I think you didn't select the best team. Picking Rao over Mohd. Sami was a great move. Rao is an under rated one-day bowler; however, I would have picked Azhar as my all rounder. At this stage he is a better bowler and also might be a better fielder.

Also, in my humble opnion, Gul and Rao should have been asked to bowl all of their alloted ten overs. unless ofcourse there was some injury or a chance of some injury involved.

I would recommend that we bowl out Gul in the beginning of the game. He tends to be fairly expensive at the tail end of the game.

Batting wise the team just didn't click. Nazir is hit and miss and younus had an over all bad game. Both Mohd. Yosuf and Inziman got out to lazy shots.

Have you guys thought of the following batting order?

I. Nazir
Y. Khan
S. Mailk
M. Yosuf
I. Haq
M. Hafeez
S. Afridi
K. Akmal
A. Mahmood / Mohd. Sami
R. Anjum
U. Gul

I am sure you guys have already thought of every thing but never hurt to look at different possibilities

best of luck in your remaining matches

Don't you think that Inzamam has only a few shots left to his arsenal, and his weakness as an lbw candidate has increased now than it was before. Seeing his batting the other day, i think that Shoaib Malik should bat at Inzamam's place as he can run faster and pick up the vital two,s and three's, and hit the occasional boundary, with a better defense.
Another thoyght maybe to send Shoaib Malik higher up the order, so that he can make aprtnership with younis and yousuf.
I hope you remember, that Malik has done a wondeful job for Pakistan at the number 1 and 3 posstions in Sharjah and Pakistan, before losing his form to injury.
All this is to support my belief that in crucial matches against top teams, Inzamam will be an ideal candidate for an lbw throughout his innings, whether he is facing his first ball, or he's on 50, and his dismissal can mean that pakistan will be suddenly 4 down, with not many batsman to come.
The second reason for this is to make sure that Inzamam and Yousuf dont bat together, because then Yousuf, (who plays his game by hitting boundaries and picking twos and threes), has to hit more boundaries than the running between wickets.
From the last dozen matches, that Pakistan has played, if you look at the statistics, whenever Pakistan has lost a match, it is because, they lose at least 4 wickets in the first 20 overs, with a score of less than 70.
One other thing i believe, is that now Pakistan is playing 4 front line attacking bowlers ( i mean whos job is only to ball). Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Rao iftihar, and Sami or Naved ul Hassan. So with this balling line up, i think Pakistans balling department has strengthened, but batting line up has weakened and shortened. So Pakistan in future matches could perhaps bat first and depend on their attacking balling options to defend the score. This can only happen if the ballers are used to attack consistently, as we all know, that Danish who can be expensive is a marvelous wicket taking bowler and can take wickets in between the innings (during overs 20 to 40). With attacking field placements he can surely turn out to be a match winner.

Bob,

Not sure if you get to read this but its good to see that you actually "do" something during the game besides sitting in the dressing room and laughing about. It would be great to see if these mistakes are rectified before the next game otherwise your paid vacation will be over sooner than you had expected. I am sorry for the harsh tone but I am a proud pakistani and to see a team fold so consistently in your tenure cannot be taken lightly. The premier tournament of cricket has started and we still dont have a strategy. Please enlighten me on the role of the coach becasue it seems that in Pakistan cricket there is no strategy or planning. In the warm up games we used Younis to open, then in the next game he is back at 3. This is not the time to experiment but to play your best eleven in every game. The South africa one day series was the ideal chance for us to play the 11 players we wanted to play in the World Cup, however in every game a new team was used.

Mr. Woolmer I respect your knowledge and view on cricket but for some odd reason its not working for the Pakistani team. I request you that for the rest of the tournament please use your vast knowledge and experience more than the laptop and lead and guide these players for this premier tournament. Because if this cant motivate the coach, captain and the players nothing will.

Harris Mustafa

Bob gone is gone. No point regretting,but it would be terrific if your team can learn from the mistakes.No doubt batting needs a tremendous boost from a senior guy.Probabaly Inzi who can do wonders provided he spents some time in the middle.Unfortunately he does not get enough time & the support in the middle to do so.Promot him to No. 4 with Yusuf at Five, this could change the whole process.

For one, Woolmer needs to correct himself. Pakistan's running between the wicket has been their Achilles heel for many years, and he as a coach had the job to correct it. Why has he not done that ?

Secondly, when the top order is consistently failing, why doesn't the Pakistani thinktank look at the possibility of sending a senior batsman at the top of the order ? WI have 'volunteered' Chanderpaul to open the batting, Stephen Fleming has been doing it, why can't Inzi, Younus or Yousuf do so ?

Personally, I feel that running between the wickets has been a problem that has perpetually plagued Pakistan's batting. I fail to understand the lack of enthusiasm in turning singles into two's and two's into three's when you have the target right in front of you. Although it isn't acceptable to slack around with running between the wickets even when you're setting targets, but it seems less appalling than when you're chasing a score. Despite being an ardent supporter of Inzamam over the years, I can't help but criticize the example he sets in this regard. With the phrase 'the captain must lead by example' so cliche in cricket today, Inzamam's willingness to settle for a run or two less when running between the wickets is a bad example that's seeped its way into the mindset of a majority of the Pakistan batsman. With the biggest cricketing tournament where every other team is overly enthusiastic in every aspect of their game for the next month, running between the wickets is sure to hurt Pakistan much more now than during a normal tournament where the desire to win and succeed could be considered less in comparison.

Secondly, I fail to understand the repeated inclusion of Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan and the all out ignorance to the continuing debate on his inclusion. Granted, Pakistan's bowling resources have depleted because of injuries, but there are enough people in the team right now to warrant Rana's exclusion from the following games. There's a big difference between giving your bowler confidence by continuing to play him after bad performances, and in hurting your team's chances time and time again. What's bound to happen is that after so many ridiculously expensive bowling performances from Rana, there's going to be one where he does relatively better. It's practically a statistical certainty and any sort of improvement from this already below par performance (where, lets be honest, giving out a few runs less than the crazy figures he has now for his 10 or picking up the chance wicket or two won't be too difficult to accomplish) will give him yet another lease of playing time. This is what's happened over the past two years.

Although Sami can tend to be expensive and Arafat is much less experienced, some sort of change is necessary. We're at a point where it's less about finding a suitable fast bowling replacement and more about adding a player that creates some sort of value to the team, whether it's another batsman who's a good fielder, another all rounder, or simply a spinner). Or at the very worst, it's about adding a player that's less detrimental to Pakistan's chances of winning than Rana.

I understand there is a lot going on when it comes to picking your eleven, but maybe it's time that the captain finally realized that this world cup's more about playing your best eleven on a given day, and less about keeping your buddies around. And if that wasn't obvious enough, I'll state explicitly that I'm pointing to inclusions of Rana, and Mushtaq Ahmed as bowling coach (for a team with just one specialist leg spinner and 4 fast bowlers, where one, Rana, is struggling repeatedly).

Morning Mr. Woolmer,

I am impressed with your attention to the finer details. You are doing a good job. But I believe, none of the players would read into your notes and will do whatever they feel like. The game against west indies was heart breakening and your team has let the whole nation down. Even though we knew the possibilities are less to win, but still every pakistani heart throbbed when our team went into the ground and we still hoped that a miracle would happen. Nothing happened actually. I am sorry to hear even that you expect Ireland will give us tough time. Are we that incompetent and lowly rated? The heads and the shoulders are down and it will be not more than a couple of years when cricket will go into the shadows like hockey and squash in pakistan.

Cheers

Bob I totally agree WI were more professional both with the bat and ball comapred to Pakistan. I think they knew how they were going to defend modest total of 241 and they had a game plan which worked in their favour. I just hope you'll do something with our openers and make one or two necessary changes at the top of othe order. Shoaib Malik is too good to be playing at number 6. All the best

Bob,

Incisive and balanced comments from you as usual. You know your players better than anyone else so no i make no points about selection. The solitary point I make is that the captain needs to lead from the front. He is the teams heart and inspiration, he needs to open or come in at 1 down. All the other players look to him for inspiration and like all good leaders he sets the example to be followed. I like many others ask him to look inside himself and meet the most difficult position within the Pak team-that of openining. Graham Smith does it for SA and doesnt always succeed. However, by coming out first he sets the tone for team. That, in my opinion, is the single most important action the captain can take. Good luck, best wishes- Reehan.

Hi Bob,
Why do you insist on playing Kamran Akmal.
He has failed enough times now and a fifty here and there is not enough.
You cannot tell me in a population of 160 million cricket crazy Pakistanis you cannot find a better keeper.
And if that is the case then get Younis Khan to keep wickets and add another allrounder to the game. Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood may do wonders in the death overs.
Also get Younis Khan to open the innings.
Send Yasir Hameed as No.3 or better still Inzamam himself.

The inclusion of Rana Naved Ul Hasan was also a turning point.

We have one of the fastest bowlers in the competition and he is not selected.

Instead of choosing an allrounder to strengthen a batting line with a very long tail, Rana Naved plays.

Now qualifying for the semis has become twice as hard. This may seem strong criticism, but i really do hope this is a case of us peaking at the right time of the competition i.e. the super 8's onwards.

Well well well ... lot of Bob and Rana flaming going around lol ...

Mr Bob, pardon me and my fellow Pakistani's but during your 3 years of stay the least you might have noticed is our passion for the game, you should have learned that if you screw up even a lil bit you will get to hear from us a lot :D

I am not going to debate on your team selection but yes Rana like many others managed to disappoint me, maybe he was having a bad day, but was inzi and you were having a bad day too? keeping rana for crucial last overs ... ummm i am a total idiot when it comes to cricket but even i wouldnt have done that (a note to pass to your inzi)

I have a simple but brilliant idea for solving inzi's running, simply when ever inzi goes to bat, he "accidently" fell down and "hurt" himself and than call a runner ... woah brilliant ... (to all the people cheering me for the idea: thank you thank you i love my fans ... the boys did good ... err okay we are going overboard here)

IMHO (In my humble opinion, just in case you don't understand the internet jargon) it would be better if mr captain decides to move his lazy butt to bat a lil bit earlier .. heck i even won't mind if he opens for us ... while we are experimenting why don't we experiment with that? :)

I am disappointed yes, looking forward to see some improvements in the team, pass my regards to the team and tell rana not to make a :( if he gets to perform a lil bit everyone here would be :D and he would be :)

regards,

Saquib

Bob! First, taking Imran Nazir instead of Yasir Hameed was a big mistake. Second, what is Rana Naved doing in the playing eleven after a miserable recent record? Play Yasir Arafat, I guarantee you he will prove to be a surprise package.

Bob

if u ever reasd this: for God's sake what are rana and younis doing in this team? I don't understand why you never get tired of these two. Did you look at the shot on which Inzi got out? He looked as bad as a street side player who has no idea and scored more with luck than his class. I am sorry, but we have really reached the level that Ireland is looking a formidable opponent!!! Where is the Inzi who led the team from front?

hi bob,i dont understand what inzamam is trying to achieve by coming at no 5 or 6??????dont u think in this subcontinental type of wickets someone like afridi will be a great choice 2 open the innings???????it wl be also easy for him.because there are only 2 fielders in the boundary line.he can easily pierce the small boundary.if he stays for even 6-7 overs i feel half the job is done.he can take the game away from the opposition.rana should be replaced by sami or mahmood.danish should never be played in odi.he is a curse for pak in odi.plz ask afridi 2 open and play a boom boom like innings.
i hope inzaman does not hide any more.

Great Job Woolmer,

From you Pakistani team did not learnt the cricket, but they started speaking english, weldone, atleast they have achieved something out of you.

Bob, can you explain what advantage Pakistan got by your presence over the years? You should confess that you have not been able to prepare the team for this grand event.
Inzi bhai, we expect a lot from you. Please try to take right decisions at right time. For example, when Kaneria, Shoib and Hafiz were bowling fine, why did you feel necessary to change them? When you and Yousaf were batting, why didn't you start scoring at a relatively high rate when both of you were quite settled? Why don't you keep guiding the batsmen on other end when you are right there in the middle?Why don't you take 1st run quickly to change Ones into Twos and Twos into Threes?I know you are not going to answer me but may be my questions make you think for once more on your strategy. Good luck next time

asalamoalaikum bob woolmer,

hey it was the toughest opening match yet and so, the most interesting to watch. No run outs is good, but ducks are bad. Funny how some teams celebrate so much on winning against teams one has never heard of before. All the best Team PAK.
syd,aus.

hi: Bob u have certainly analysed the matter in the right manner but i want to opined that instead of rana navedul hasan u should go for Azhar Mahmood and be flexible in your batting order i.e go for shoaib malik as opener and captain at no 4. best of luck for your future matches.

Hello!
Your notes make an interesting reading. But, actually I'd like to comment on the match rather than just the article.
There were lapses in the field and the bowlers could've done a better job, especially at the end. Maybe we conceded 20-25 more runs than we should've. Having said that, I think we stil managed to do a good job. The bowling line, who we thought was our biggest wory, perfomed reasonably well.
It's the batting that let us down. The big guns, batting backbone, the experienced Three underperfomed. And that's an understatement!!!
Younis Khan going after a wide one without even trying to get close to the line, now how often do we see that? But the more disturbing point, as you already mentioned, was the poor running between the wickets. Well, this isn't 100% correct, because there wasn't any! Inzi & Yousuf seemed to have forgotten to take singles, so converting them to two was practically no possibility.
As I see it, the stage was perfect, when Inzi & Yousuf came together, to build the innings with 1s & 2s and ocassional boundary maybe. 3-4 runs per over at that stage would've helped our cause. But they seemed to be content with either playing defensive strokes in fielder's hands or trying to hit hard and look for boundaries, which they didn't manage. That was very un-intelligent cricket.
Also, it didn't help the cause when, earlier, Hafeez got out to an 'un-intelligent' stroke after occupying the crease for so long. I know he's strong on the on-side, but he must know that he gets out like that so often. It seems he doesn't learn from his mistakes. I must say, his intention was right there. It was a good ball, nevertheless scorable. He could've easily played it over extra cover and scored atleast 2 or maybe a 4.
It seems, whenever our players are faultering it's in the basics and just common cricket sense.
Although we lost by some margin, in the end it was all because of silly mistakes. Unfortunately, we repeat these mistakes so often. For the team's sake and for all the cricket lovers' sake, I hope we do not keep repeating the same mistakes and avoid 'un-intelligent' cricket.
Good luck!

Dear Bob,
Put simply, it was a bad perfomance. I agree with you over the perennial problem of running between the wickets - it must have cost Pakistan about 15-20 runs.
Fielding is still not upto the mark.
I thought Pakistan would have learnt after the debacle of 'hooking' in South Africa.
If vice-captain plays such an irresponsible shot,then what can be expected of the rest.
Inzy gives an impression of being working with a
pre-set mind - otherwise why were spinners not continued agains the tail.
And dear BOB, please do us a FAVOUR and send back
home a person in your squad called: RANA NAVEEDUL-HASSAN. He is a LIABILITY - and soon will become
a JOKE.
Is he there because of Mushy? I wonder.
I think your bowlers should learn something from the minnows. The wickets are tailor made for bowling wicket to wicket and once the ball becomes old, to take the pace off.
I am also surprised that in your tenure of more than 2 years, you have not been able to un-earth even 2 talented batsmen (one opener and one middle order). Younis,Yusuf and Inzi were already established when you took over. Or is the continuous comments we hear that Pakistan has ample talent running hollow.

Bob,
We have the faith in you and your team. We know you can get them on the winning streak. Even in 1992 we didn't have our best resources but they did it. Even today its an open tournament, we expect you guys to win. Inzi must come early in the order, with Hafeez or Younis playing in the middle of the innings. What on earth is stopping you guys from playing Azhar Mehmood, the guy is one of the best all-rounders in the world - he had limited oppurtunities in the recent past but we are aware - what he is capable of. Rana has completely lost it. Please don't let the nation down and play at your best guys. The nation's prayers are with you. Best of luck !!

hi bob.i am really disappointed in the team selection.dont play rana and iftikhar anjum.they are not mtach winners.i dont understand why you and the pakistn team are obsess with rana.what has he ever achieved recently?play yasi arafat and azhar mahmood instaed of rana and anjum.they will provide bowling and batting as well.we need extra batting down the order which these two gentlemen will provide.you can clearly see our batting is suffering so please include all rounders in the team.you are making a very big mistake by including especially rana.play yasir, he is very talented.he is just being wasted by not playing him.moreover, when afrid returns, play him as an opener which i hope you will.my conclusion is that play yasir and azhar instead of rao iftikhar and rana and send in afridi as an opener.i am a very big pakistani fan.please dont let me and thousands of other pakistani fans down with this poor team selection.i hope you read my comment.

Hi Bob,
We truly need to change our strategy for next two games. I like your strategy but also would like to add few comments. I think, Imran and Yasir would be good for opening but I would prefer to Inzi or Yousaf at one down position. Inzi is playing too down. He is one of the best players in the world; he should have some good players after him. We should use our senior players in top order instead to save them until we get pressure.
No doubt, we’re missing shoiab, asif and razzaq, but that is the bowling side. Our batsman should take the responsibility seriously. Last game with WI was not that bad, our bowlers did a good job, 242 were not the hard target but our top order batsmen made it impossible.
Hoping for the best in coming two games for going forward to super 8

Bob,
Please help Paki team in packaging their bags and returning to Karachi. If you cant do that give them some andrnalin which can improve their peformance.

Great going Bob!
Now is the best time to advertise yourself as a coach. Maybe India will pay you big money to take
you as coach. I dont know what is your contribution to Pak cricket. It still is the same
team, no consistency, un-professional, disappointing.
Why dont you just resign and leave Pak. Atleast
PCB can save some money!

Cmon Bob give me a break... u need to be more positive in your approach rather than laughing at misfields. Say we will improve and we will win and that we will try to beat the **** out of ireland rather than being scared... about time, we looked at ourselves and realized that only positive approaches can win the game.. therefore bring in sami.. open with younis khan(hes out there usually in 2nd or 3rd ove ranyways) and send yusuf or inzi up the order... u never know what a change in mentality can do.. by calling irelands game tough, all we are saying is we know we are gonna lose so start getting ready to pack your bags

I think Pak team is struggling with their mutual affairs. They should rectify them first then only think about playing cricket.

he's probably not here to read this...well...not probably....but none-the-less.

RIP Bob...never really cared for you before (not being pakistani and all)...but you were still stolen from the game.