Adil Raza's opening spell tore apart the Australian top order in the U-19 semi-finals. But unlike his predecessors, will he make it to the next level? © Getty Images

Pakistan might stumble in this U19 World Cup or they might make it a hat-trick, either way they have done enough again for that annoying question to become even more annoying. What is going on? if we accept that bone scans and better record-keeping ensure that over-age players do not distort the results of this fascinating competition, we also have to accept that there is a rich seam of talent that the Pakistani cricket system fails to develop properly.

It might indeed be too much to expect to find a Javed Miandad or a Wasim Akram at every tournament but it is equally inconceivable that Pakistan can be so successful at two, now three, successive tournaments and fail to find a single genuine new star. An acceptable explanation would be the success of the national team, and we know how feeble that would be as an explanation.

Many a trip, then, betwixt winning an U19 World Cup winners medal and making it to first slip in the national team. The trips are too consistent to be blamed on individuals and are another indictment of a national cricket system that only succeeds in dashing hopes and expectations.

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Dear Aussies,

We hear you swim with sharks yet you cannot walk the same earth as 160 million of your fellow men and women? Pakistan may be a country demonised by the world and dubbed a basket case by the world's media yet the ground reality is something very different.

Pakistan is a country struggling with its identity like many emerging countries--how to resolve Islam with the modern world?--but it is not a dangerous place, certainly not for international cricketers. Benazir Bhutto's death was a tragedy but a political assassination has no significance for Australians.

Many countries have toured Pakistan since your last refusal and all their players have returned home safely. Indeed, cricket is held in such esteem that it is equally loved by young women in designer shades and old men with unkempt beards. All the religious men I have ever met in Pakistan have loved cricket and relished the challenge of Australia.

Hence, your refusal seems strange to me, borne of a mental caricature of a country that bears no relationship with the "risks" that you will face. To me, this smacks of cultural imperialism, an unwillingness to properly understand and engage with the reality of a much poorer country.

Instead you wallow in the splendour of your rich world lifestyles. This whole approach is against the spirit of cricket, a game that has helped bridge social and political divisions and conflicts.

I fail to understand the risks you perceive you will be exposed to? As I have argued before, these risks are far smaller than driving a fast car, crossing the road, swimming with sharks or any of the extreme sports you are famous for indulging in. Cricketers have died or been seriously injured on the cricket field throughout the world while no cricketer has ever come to harm during Pakistan's "troubles".

Failing all that, if you do fear the bombers of Karachi more than the bombers of London, Colombo, or Mumbai then please stay at home but you should allow braver, hungrier, and more realistic cricketers to go in your place.

Surely the answer for Cricket Australia is to assemble a team of the willing and honour its commitment to international cricket? The alternative is an international game that becomes increasing divided by false fears into a game of the rich and poor. Cricket has always had greater significance than most sports, and your attitude does this great game a monumental disservice.

	Pakistan should invest in their pace bowlers, particularly Sohail Khan © Faras Ghani

Five-nil should not look bad on paper but this one does. The piece of paper in question is the team sheet, which has been rearranged so often during the Zimbabwe series that it is almost impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions. Pakistan's selectors will say that they have responded to the calls for new faces but they have betrayed their own uncertainty with such haphazard substitutions. Many of the young players were given solitary opportunities against Zimbabwe, an insufficient experiment to judge Pakistan's bench strength.

Assuming Australia do visit, Pakistan's only consolation can be that Ricky Ponting's team is enduring a few problems of its own although these are insignificant when compared with Pakistan's selection confusion.

I would, though, hazard two conclusions. First, that Sarfraz Ahmed deserves a longer run in the first team, and second that from the array of bowlers that Pakistan experimented with the selectors should invest in those with pace, for example Sohail Khan.

Rarely has a five-nil result been so empty and so devoid of meaning. Another lesson I'm sure that will go unlearned in the grand tradition of Pakistan's cricket development strategy.