Nasim Ashraf has had a forgettable tenure so far © Getty Images

Today we hear that Mushy, the president not the assistant coach, has not accepted the resignation of his pal Nasim Ashraf. This is a diabolical decision. Ashraf has presided over the most disastrous period in the history of Pakistan cricket. Blessed by failure he is being asked to continue and finish the job. God help us. The job he gave the impression of performing was the destruction of Pakistan cricket.

Following the lead of his own boss, President Mushy, he appointed his own pals and acquaintances to key PCB positions. No wonder Pakistan cricket is in a mess.

Ashraf has presided over the dumb reign of Younis Khan as "dummy" captain, the doping fiasco, Waqar's dismissal and the horse-trading that lead to Mushy the coach being appointed, the injury and selection chaos, the unfettered power of Inzamam and the sidelining of Woolmer (on this I quote Bob: "Since the resignation of the last Chairman any views I have had have not been wanted! The new Chairman certainly has his own way"), and a failure to deliver the constitution that he solemnly promised.

What's more he has annoyed the team and management by hanging out with them on tour like some sort of star-struck groupie, worse still a groupie who has got involved with team matters. In short, I hold him responsible for orchestrating this disaster.

President Mushy's decision does make sense from one viewpoint, however. Pakistan has too long tolerated power without responsibility. If Ashraf were to be seen to be taking responsibility for his cock-ups then the president, in his position of patron of Pakistan cricket, might have to accept some responsibility too. Now we couldn't have that could we?

A while ago I said it wasn't time to abandon hope. I never abandon hope but when it comes to Pakistan cricket I've never felt closer to it.

	© Getty Images

Some might say that the World Cup is better off without the bloated stars of India and Pakistan. As a punishment for arrogance, decadence, and incompetence it is probably well deserved. But as arrogant, decadent, and incompetent as these two cricketing giants might be, their absence from the second part of this tournament does detract from it. Yes, there is a certain romance about Ireland's progress and something exhilarating about Bangladesh's youthful dash for the Super Eights. Yes, it is tremendous to see minnows walk with giants and giants fall to minnows. But the tournament has been stripped of perhaps twelve heavyweight encounters.

The players, of course, have only themselves to blame (along with their cricket boards and their coaching staff) although being wrong footed in one match looks a harsh methodology to condemn these two great cricketing nations to four years of waiting.

While the World Cup tries to recover from the murder of Bob Woolmer more than the departure of two former Asian powerhouses, the lesson for India and Pakistan is a simple one: "You have four years to prepare a team of professional sportsmen (and that also means athletes), selected by committees that implement a ruthless meritocracy, and supported by cricket boards that run the business and the administration rather than meddle with team affairs."

Of course, India and Pakistan will do none of these things. They will flatter to deceive and then recreate this shambles in the next World Cup. This tournament has reminded us that life is more valuable than sport but it has also clarified that arrogance, decadence, and incompetence are not a formula for success. Let's hope that the introspection this World Cup has induced will help India and Pakistan understand what professionalism is all about. If they have any lingering doubts they might spend the next few weeks watching how Australia, South Africa, and Sri Lanka expect equally high standards from the aged and the inexperienced.

This World Cup has ambushed Asia's giants but it has also shown them how far they have been left behind in international one-day cricket. It will take some serious structural and attitudinal reform to be properly competitive again.

	The institute would be an investment in the talent in Pakistan, a talent that Bob so admired but felt frustrated that he could not develop quickly enough © Getty Images

Bob Woolmer murdered? The world is shocked and ashamed that a such a genial and warm-hearted soul could die by somebody's hand. I keep saying it can't get any worse for Pakistan cricket and it keeps getting worse by gigantic leaps. It is likely too that the identity of the murderer will make the matter even more unpalatable. Throughout all this I am amazed by how dignified Bob's family have been at a time of utmost distress. They are people of genuine character and fortitude.

The President of Pakistan has already awarded Bob a distinguished civil honour. My suggestion would be for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to set up a sports science and cricket institute at a major university in Pakistan--and by this I don't mean another National Cricket Academy. The institute could be named after Bob or have a professorial chair named after him.

I think this would serve three purposes. First, it would create something that would chime with Bob's passion for the science of cricket and further the frontiers of knowledge. Secondly, it would be an investment in the talent in Pakistan, a talent that Bob so admired but felt frustrated that he could not develop quickly enough. Thirdly, it would mean the PCB had an onus to support the long-term development of Pakistan cricket, something again that Bob felt wasn't given enough attention while he was alive.

There is much to discuss about the future of Pakistan cricket but there will be time enough for that later. We require a pause for reflection on the life of Bob Woolmer and the tragedy that surrounds him and his family.

	Asian cricket heroes have a habit of leaving the stage humiliated. They can't want it that way and it can only mean that their cricket boards do not offer them the protection they deserve at the end of their careers © AFP

Despite a few flashes of his old self in the last year he now looks a misfit in one-day internationals. His decision to play on in Test matches is one he will have plenty of time to reconsider since Pakistan's next Test is months away.

Where Inzy got it half wrong was in his timing. But he was already clearly devastated by the loss to Ireland and the death of Bob Woolmer must have made it harder to think clearly.

Even so, at times like this, I worry about the advice that our players receive. I'm sure Inzamam received heartfelt views from his family and friends, but one of the team management, the media manager perhaps, should have advised him to delay his announcement considering the awful events that were unfolding in Jamaica? Perhaps they did but Inzy wanted to let it all out?

Asian cricket heroes have a habit of leaving the stage humiliated. They can't want it that way and it can only mean that their cricket boards do not offer them the protection they deserve at the end of their careers. This must change and they must retire with dignity.

For now, it is hard imagine how this World Cup campaign, beginning from the end of last year's England tour, could get any worse.

Bob Woolmer's death is an utter shock. He was a thoroughly decent man who wanted the best for Pakistan cricket and its talented players. I had utmost respect for Bob's dedication to Pakistan cricket and never doubted his desire for the team to succeed. Ultimately he failed. Much of that was to do with the failures of the Pakistan system and the domineering approach of Inzamam. Some of the responsibility did rest with Bob, and he knew it.

At the end of Pakistan's tour to England he promised me that he would do more to assert his ideas upon the team's strategy. But within days Pakistan cricket was in turmoil. A new captain, a new board chairman, and a new feel to Pakistan cricket. I'm not sure Bob ever recovered his poise after that but his commitment to the cause meant that he stuck with it. I am shocked and distraught at Bob's loss to world cricket, and feel great sadness for his family who he always spoke of fondly. He may not have succeeded in the way that he wished with Pakistan but he was brave enough to take on an almost impossible job.

Some readers have rebuked me for criticising Bob in my open letter. To my mind, that's an insult to Bob's intelligence. He was a media man. He understood how the media works. He expected criticism and responded well to it. He was robust enough to challenge his critics, and would take them on directly. He expected me to call it as I see it and would give his honest views in return. We had a great professional relationship because we both wanted the same thing: Pakistan to succeed. If I thought it was time for Bob to go he would have expected me to tell him, although of course he may have disagreed. That is a measure of the man, a thinker, a debater, and an innovator.

My last exchange with Bob occurred before Pakistan's match against Ireland. He was cautiously optimistic. I asked him whether Pakistan could win the cup. He said: "Inshallah, to quote the team."

I then asked him if he would soon be compliant with the Urdu-only policy and he replied: "What sort of rubbish is that [policy] it was mainly instituted to allow those poor in English to express themselves now it has taken on a very different turn. I will have to brush up on my Urdu quickly - Gurrum Chai do chini!"

In many ways the skill of Bob Woolmer was wasted on Pakistan cricket and many millions of Pakistan cricket fans around the world are grateful to him for taking up the challenge.

	Under pressure: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer © AFP

Dear Inzy, Bob, and the Doc,

There have been many bad days in the history of Pakistan cricket but 17th March was probably the worst. You have taken a group of players with ability and turned them into the most spineless, lethargic bunch in the world.

For two consecutive matches, every Pakistan batsman has died a coward's death. They have confirmed their status of flat-track bullies and low-intensity stars. Congratulations, of course, to Ireland who played out of their skins but they really should never have beaten Pakistan, green wicket or flat top.

The way this reality has been hammered home to Pakistan fans leaves us in shock and fills me with disbelief. I, like many other romantic fools, believed that the World Cup would bring the best out of you, that your players would fight to the death, and would prosper on West Indian tracks. Even now, I say that the only team this bunch of players should have found to be unbeatable in this tournament is Australia. The rest are evenly matched in ability but it seems your team is handicapped by its habit of shrinking to the occasion. The team's supporters have been horribly betrayed. You will understand the anger and it will come at you like a howling wind.

The Pakistan cricket team was once known for its fighting prowess but you have stripped these players of any spirit or steel. Your bowlers have retained some will, they performed admirably in both encounters. In truth, though, they too lacked the killer instinct, that extra 10%, that would have dismissed the West Indies more cheaply and knocked out Ireland. You have paid a heavy price for your inability to make best use of Waqar Younis, and people will ask what Mushtaq Ahmed achieved other than giving himself and you a bloody nose?

Your fielders wander the outfield like elephants, young men grown old and old men grown arthritic. They are a blot on international cricket, a sport that now requires fitness, energy, and speed, yet your players are like the noble unbending amateurs of some bygone era.

Only Pakistan cricket could do this because only Pakistan cricket could have a system that fails from A to Z. Only Pakistan cricket could have a system whose failures are protected by the patronage of the president of the country. Whatever the merits of the president's work elsewhere, he must take responsibility for being shamed by the shamrock. Because, ultimately, he appointed his pal, the good doctor, to rescue Pakistan's world cup chances. Instead of rescue, Doc, you have orchestrated a catalogue of disasters, embarrassments, and ill-conceived schemes and intrigues. For shame, Doc, move on. Look after human development in Pakistan, though on second thoughts if you are as unsuccessful in that as you have been in cricket administration perhaps you had better leave human development to somebody else.

Your combination has failed too, Inzy and Bob. Your choices, your strategies, your inspiration have brought us to this. Nobody should doubt that you both had the best of intentions but the best of intentions mean nothing when your team surrenders in a hurry. And it is not as if these failings are new. Unsettled openers, batsmen unable to negotiate swing or seam as they gift wickets like sweetmeats on Eid, and a general lethargy about the team that only disappears in moments of crisis. You have given the impression of men asleep on your watch, but Pakistan's cricket fans are some of the keenest observers of the game. And the majority don't like what they have seen this last six months. What they have seen most obviously is an absence of leadership, a confusion in strategy created by disunity of purpose, and persistent failure on the cricket field.

With all due respect, I believe it is time for both of you to seek pastures new. The extent of this loss means that Pakistan cricket must build afresh, free of the shackles of the past. Many will say that you should have gone much earlier but I believe that up to last year's tour of England you both helped Pakistan regain much respectability in international cricket. But everything possible has gone wrong since then and Pakistan cricket now finds itself in a similar mess to the aftermath of the last World Cup. Overall, no progress then, a bad situation to be in.

But I hope you are not made the only scapegoats because the shit needs to pass upwards and cover you Doc and your man at the helm, Salim Altaf.

What to do? Well, Pakistan cricket will survive. There remains a passion for this sport like no other in the country's cities and villages. But Pakistan cricket requires a root and branch reform, a top-to-toe shake up. The PCB requires to be run by people appointed on the basis of merit not friendship or relationship. And the first job that meritocracy should do is sack its selection committee and replace it with some real champions of Pakistan cricket.

	After the lethargy of Inzamam, is the passion of Shahid Afridi the antidote we all need? © AFP

Our new captain needs to be somebody with age on his side and fire in his belly. A leader who will lead by example and fill his charges with a passion to succeed. We know there is no perfect choice but what Pakistan cricket needs to rediscover most urgently is its attitude. These spineless capitulations sit uncomfortably with us emotive Pakistanis. There are only three candidates to my mind: Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, and, I thought I'd never say this, Shahid Afridi. Something inside me says that after the lethargy of Inzamam, the passion of Afridi might be just the antidote we all need.

Finally, at this moment I can't help but think of the great players that made Pakistan a force in world cricket, the battles they fought to create a team for a whole nation to be proud of. I can't reconcile those images in my mind with the joke of a cricket team we have desperately supported over the last six months, batsmen unable to bat, bowlers unable to stay fit, with some fanciful notion that all would be well come the big day.

Inzy, Bob, and the Doc, you came, you saw, and you floundered. The best thing you can do for Pakistan cricket is leave it to rediscover the qualities that once made it great. You have sentenced us all to four years of painful memories. Failure, they say, is an orphan but this one has at least three fathers, and the fathers of this failure need to adopt some other child.

In the end, though, it just shows how important a skill great leadership is--and none of you possess it.

	Mum's the word when it comes to English © AFP

Now here's a strange thing. Pakistan's cricketers are banned from speaking in English at press conferences. The reason we are told is that their wonderful use of Urdu will promote tourism in Pakistan. I'm not sure how that works, particularly since their words will be revealed to the world by the warbling English of PJ Mir, Pakistan's media manager?

Consider too that Urdu doesn't readily lend itself to describing a cricket match. A beautiful verse of poetry, yes, but try saying great cover drive without using any English words and you begin to sound like a dimwit--and Pakistan's players are no linguistic cousins of Mirza Ghalib.

In fact, the notion that speaking in Urdu will lure foreigners to Pakistan is fantastically crazy. By extending that logic the player chosen for the press conference grilling should have a shave, put on his coolest shades, an Hawaiian shirt, and a pair of shorts and flip-flops. Because let's get one thing clear: the sight of bearded men speaking in an Eastern tongue will not be a tempter for most people who don't happen to be Pakistanis.

Indeed, the idea that speaking Urdu might be enticing invokes a Western image of Orientalism that has long been discredited as racist.

The simple answer, of course, is that Pakistan's players should be allowed to speak in whatever language they wish. Inzamam, for example, enjoys jousting in English at press conferences, and he fully understands the questions put to him. One of the pleasures for journalists at a Pakistani press conference is Inzamam's considered pause after a question is put to him, a pause that is often followed by dead-pan humour. His vice-captain, Younis Khan, is as bubbly with his English as he is on the field.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, then, has created a solution to a problem it didn't really have and brought further controversy upon its head. And it is perhaps its head who this edict should apply to? Dr Nasim Ashraf has caused more problems with his utterances in English than his players ever have, and, yes, he probably does do a disservice to Pakistani tourism. He possibly also argues that he spends more time touring with the national team than back home in Pakistan so that he can do his bit for the Pakistan Tourist Board? I reckon Dr Ashraf should worry less about tourism and more about human development in Pakistan, his other job, which, if he makes a success, will do more for tourism than any cricket press conference.

Ultimately, though, bakwas is bakwas in Urdu or English--and there's enough of it emanating from the Pakistani camp to say: "Stop these trivial pursuits and start focusing on what really matters--like winning the World Cup."

While some of you may be tempted to suggest I eat my words, I suggest you hold your fire. There is a long way to go in this World Cup. West Indies put in an admirable team performance that exposed the holes in Pakistan's strategy, and they should go a long way in this tournament. But I'll say again--at the risk of getting lynched--there is only team that Pakistan don't have the skill to beat and that's Australia. Whether or not they can achieve what they are capable of is a different matter.

Much depends on how quickly Pakistan can learn from this defeat. In short, the bowling was good and the batting was bad. Here are some issues for Pakistan's brains trust, if I can call it that, to ponder:

1 Many of us expected a new opening strategy. That didn't happen, in which case why was there chopping and changing in the warm ups? Why persist with a strategy that keeps failing again and again?

2 Whoever opens, surely Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam have to push up to number three and four? The batsmen managed to excuse their dismal performances in South Africa by blaming the bouncy tracks (when the tracks weren't as troublesome as they might have been). What's the excuse now?

3 Surprisingly Pakistan abandoned their long-term strategy of batting deep with all-rounders. Today, Pakistan's tail stretched from number 8 to 11. Why this sudden change?

4 Rana's performances have become an embarrassment. He is a pressure valve for the opposition, releasing it at every opportunity. He needs to be given a break, probably a long one. His batting is too feeble to command the number 8 spot. Many readers of this blog can't understand how he keeps getting selected considering his expensive performance since his return from injury (OK, he had one good home series against West Indies). It's a fair question. Why oh why? Please spare us. If an all-rounder was required in that spot it should have been Azhar and if a bowler had been required it should have been Sami. Rana's selection was inexplicable. Somebody needs to explain it though.

5 Can Pakistan afford to discard their fastest bowler, Mohammad Sami?

6 Part of the problem is that Pakistan have turned up in the Caribbean with too many bowlers and not enough batsmen. Which reserve can Pakistan call on if one of their batsmen hits a bad patch? Nobody.

7 Afridi must play, but can Pakistan afford to play both Afridi and Kaneria? It depends on the conditions probably.

While it might feel like time to abandon hope, it isn't. This World Cup has only just begun and it's better to lose now and peak later. It's certainly better to cry later.

	Pakistan have nobody to fear in the tournament © Getty Images

Pakistan's preparation for the World Cup has been a rollercoaster of hope and despair, a journey that has driven supporters to the edge of madness. Many of you already consider me to be a raving lunatic and to those people I offer further evidence. Pakistan have nobody to fear in this tournament and might just have the mix of experience and hunger to lift the trophy.

Experience resides in the right place, the mighty middle order. Michael Slater questioned their ability to win matches but he is sadly mistaken. This is a double mistake if the pitches continue to play anything like they did in the warm ups. What this trio have lacked is the support of the openers but Caribbean conditions will offer Pakistan a genuine opportunity to establish an opening partnership of substance. Indeed, both Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez will be hungry for success.

Hunger will also drive the bowling attack. Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, and Danish Kaneria - my first choice attack depending on pitch conditions - have enough experience but also something to prove. There should be nothing stale about Pakistan's bowling attack, with Azhar Mahmood, Shahid Afridi, and Mohammad Hafeez a worthy support cast.

Since Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Iftikhar Rao, and Yasir Arafat have something to offer - death bowling, consistency, or all-round ability - Pakistan have plenty of bowling options. Even in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, it is a bowling attack that can potentially compete with any in the tournament. It also comes with the added bonus of being under-rated by most cricket pundits, an estimate based more on ignorance than sound judgment.

Australia remain the only team that pose a special challenge. Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Andrew Symonds were three good reasons why Australia's form has slumped in recent weeks. Indeed, Symonds offers wonderful balance to the Australian team. If those three fire Australia will be tough to beat, and that's before the possibility of Shaun Tait's speed and reverse swing creating a sensation in this World Cup. Yet, although England and New Zealand wouldn't be my favourites to win, they have done the other leading teams a favour by reminding Australia of their mortality.

Pakistan have arrived with a deceptively strong squad of players, some of whom must make a name for themselves in this tournament just as Inzamam did fifteen years ago. At this moment in time the road to victory looks far less difficult than it might have been. Much hinges, once again, on Inzamam's leadership and all Pakistan supporters will be rooting for him--in Urdu, English, and many different languages--to rise to the occasion. In a few hours time we will get the first indication of whether or not Pakistan have the intent to match their considerable potential. I have a crazy notion that the lunacy of the last six months must have been building to a glorious finale.

	'Inzamam too often tends to let the game drift when he should be trying to seize the initiative' © Getty Images

When Inzamam-ul-Haq led out Pakistan in yesterday's opening ceremony he took me by surprise, smiling and waving enthusiastically at the crowd. Inzamam's mood is a vital influence on his team. When it is dark and brooding it can crush the enthusiasm of his charges. Only today, Imran Khan has accused Inzamam of leading from the rear.

Inzamam has a low-key style of leadership, undemonstrative to the point of invisibility. When the game is going Pakistan's way this doesn't matter too much, indeed a captain's real skill is revealed in adversity. Unfortunately, Inzamam too often tends to let the game drift when he should be trying to seize the initiative. Now, nobody wants Inzamam to become the team cheerleader - he's got Younis Khan for that - but he must stamp his desire and will on proceedings. If the captain is lethargic in his approach so will the rest of his team.

Inzamam, of course, is capable of passion and visible engagement but those responses too often arise in extremis. In one-day cricket there isn't much opportunity to pull your team back from the brink. Inzamam needs to captain for his life from the first ball of the match to the last, not in flashes of desperation.

He must also seek advice from his senior players and his coach. Leadership may be lonely but any leader is only as good as the people in his team. There is nothing to be gained from internalising the team's burden and responding in splendid isolation. The best captains are those who are willing to listen to trusted lieutenants and then make a decision that is in their opinion best for the team. Imran Khan may have made a name for himself for leading from the front but he constantly had Javed Miandad in his ear. Ricky Ponting is only half the captain he can be when he doesn't have Shane Warne's wisdom to fall back on.

Who will be Inzamam's wise lieutentant? Younis Khan is a great enthusiast. Mohammad Yousuf is reserved but thoughtful. Shahid Afridi is fire and brimstone. Shoaib Malik is a wise head on slender shoulders. None of them is a Javed or a Warne but in combination these senior players must support their captain and their captain must listen.

This mission is not Inzamam's alone. If it becomes that it will become a road to nowhere. This is a mission that must be owned by all of Pakistan's players and coaching staff. But in sport the only kind of leadership that works is leadership from the front, that unites players behind a clear vision. Inzamam is a great leader and a great thinker when he is at the crease. He has to quickly become a good enough leader the rest of the time as well.

If the warm up matches have proved anything it is that this is an open tournament and despite their crazy preparation Pakistan have a genuine chance of victory. Inzamam has done much to unite these players with his silent authority. But he must now shed any fear of failure, get his head in the game, and lead like a champion. Win or lose, nobody will criticise him for that.

	© AFP

Despite Bob Woolmer's stonewalling of my piercing questions earlier this week - I know you all thought the interview was tremendous really - we now have a good idea of what Pakistan's new strategy will be.

Younis Khan will try and enforce some stability at the top of the innings while young Mr Nazir attempts to unleash hell. Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam will move up one position to number three and four, the premier batting slots, and Shoaib Malik will be left to marshall the lower order or then again Mohammad Hafeez might.

It is too early to call this a winning strategy. But when your old system isn't working, a reasonable approach is to try something completely different. On that basis Pakistan's new batting order is worth persevering with. It also gives Pakistan's best batsmen, Yousuf, Inzamam, and Younis, the maximum opportunity to influence the match.

Furthermore, Hafeez and Malik, who can both be leaden footed when the ball moves around early in an innings, might be more comfortable lower down the order.

Kamran Akmal will take one of the next two batting slots, but the complication arises when considering which combination of bowling all-rounders and bowlers to go for. One of those slots would go to Afridi, in my view. Potentially, though, Pakistan can bat right down to 9, even number 11 if the mood takes them.

The first indication is that the wickets might indeed be to Pakistan's liking but the warm up against South Africa will give us a better idea if this is a strategy with legs. It has had a mixed start but one that offers hope.

	Bob Woolmer: 'All teams must be respected' © Getty Images

On the eve of Pakistan's first warm-up match, I put a few questions to Bob. Here are his answers:

Question 1: Do you possess enough match-winning bowlers?

Bob's answer: Depending on the surfaces we have a well balanced attack. If they bowl as a unit we will be competitive. This world cup may well revolve around the batting performances - bowling in one day cricket now is more dependent on the disciplines they follow.

Q2: The view from the boundary, and the living room, is that Inzy's captaincy style is too laid back. Is that true? Is he capable of great leadership?

Bob: There are two answers to this question. His captaincy is fine for one-day cricket. I expect him to lead from the front.

Q3: Where will he bat?

Bob: That is for us to know and for the pundits and the opposition to find out.

Q4: The opening batsmen remain under pressure. Will you be trying any new strategies?

Bob: Opening batsmen in all teams are under pressure. Ours more so because of the tendency for all Pakistani pundits to believe they can do better.

Q5: Who is your finisher?

Bob: The batsmen in at the time. All players are aware that they have to take responsibility for finishing an innings. Malik at 6 is most likely to be there at the end if all goes well.

Q6: Can your legspinners win you the World Cup?

Bob: I personally wouldn't want to put them under any pressure to do so. A lot will depend on the type of surfaces we are playing on. Cricket remains a team game where we hope all players will contribute to winning.

Q7: How do you expect the pitches to play? Will they suit Pakistan?

Bob: This is the unknown factor, of the two practice pitches we have had they have both turned appreciably.

Q8: Who do you see as Pakistan's main threats?

Bob: All teams must be respected and each game must be taken one at a time. All sides are good enough to beat each other on the day.

Q9: Which players will you be asking to stand up and lead by example?

Bob: I expect all players to lead by example throughout the tournament.

	Pakistan must now make best use of their available bowling resources © AFP

One day, of course, the truth will get out, and if their withdrawal is because of remnants of nandrolone in their bodies then it will bring a further disgrace upon Pakistan cricket.

On the face of it, Pakistan's chances of winning the World Cup are seriously damaged. Certainly with Shoaib and Asif available, Pakistan would have been genuine contenders. You might even ask if there are any remaining bowlers that are worth mentioning. Well, call me an eternal optimist but there's still plenty of potential in this squad.

When Waqar was ruled out of the 1992 World Cup, I felt the blow in the pit of my stomach, this double loss doesn't feel the same to me.

Shoaib has appeared so inconsistently that we've all grown used to him being unavailable. A real shame considering his ability. Asif might be considered by some people to be a bigger loss but let's remember that Asif isn't greatly experienced in one-day international cricket, and he looked far from comfortable once South Africa started getting after him in the recent one-day series.

Most importantly, it's no use hankering for what you don't have and Pakistan must make the best of the resources available to them. Where there's heart there's always hope.

When it comes to bowlers, Pakistan's one-day strategy is such that their all-rounders usually bowl at least twenty of the fifty overs, sometimes more. So that's work for Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik.

The other three bowlers have to be wicket-takers. Umar Gul grew in speed and in stature as an international bowler in 2006. If he can recover his form quickly, he is capable of carrying the pace attack. The next wicket-taker is Kaneria, who should be played whenever conditions suit him.

That leaves one or two places, depending on conditions and form, for Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, and Rao Iftikhar to contest. Sami, for my money, looked a better bowler in South Africa and his one-day record is good. Rana had a good home series against West Indies and recent cricinfo stats showed that he is the most effective death bowler, which is perhaps when he should be used. Iftikhar is probably the most consistent of the three at the moment. All three of them bowl at a fair clip, which is an advantage.

That leaves Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat to slot in whenever opportunity allows.

The World Cup isn't only an arena for heroes but it is one that creates them. The question that Pakistan's remaining bowlers must ask themselves is whether or not they are willing to seize the opportunity to make an international reputation in this World Cup?

Gul, Kaneria, Sami, and Arafat would be my bowlers to watch.