Yousuf should be staring in the mirror

Yousef has showed time and time again in this series that he is almost certainly the worst captain currently in international cricket by some way. From the strangest tactics in the field, to the worst press conferences by a captain ever. Standing there glaring at Salman Butt in that way, followed by those sorts of comments in the media are just the gravest examples of it. On top of that, while Salman Butt should have run harder and been coming back for three, but Yousef ran himself out by turning blind and not even looking at what was going on until he was more than halfway down the pitch. If he'd followed the basics of running himself, and looked up before charging down the pitch then he never would have been run out and could have berated Salman between overs about getting his butt into gear and running hard between wickets. But instead he ran himself out, glared down the pitch like it was 100% his partners fault, and then instead of talking to him in private he goes and slags off his player to the media. I don't know about what the alternatives are, but they may as well give it to one of the teenagers as Yousef on the back of his performances in this series, both on and off the field!

Michael,following is from the Dawn Newspapr,a leading Pak Daily: LAHORE: Former chief selector and Test cricketer Salahuddin Ahmed Sallu has urged the patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, to rescue cricket from the present reign of its chairman Ijaz Butt and incompetent Chief Operating Officer Wasim Bari. “The president as patron PCB must take notice of the rapid decline in Pakistan cricket during the tenure of Ijaz Butt and Wasim Bari and the two officials should not be allowed to destroy things anymore as the national team is facing defeat after defeat,” Salahuddin Sallu said while talking to Dawn on Thursday. “PCB’s affairs are in a shambles due to incompetent administrators in the PCB as the national team has lost all the Test rubbers and the ODI series with the exception of the New Zealand series which was drawn,” he pointed out. . But the team management appointed by the PCB chief comprising coach Intikhab Alam, Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed along with manager Abdul Raqeeb has failed to deliver on the challenging tour. There is incompetence and indiscipline galore which is harming our game,” he stressed. Salahuddin claimed that like former chief selector Abdul Qadir, the current chairman of the selection committee Iqbal Qasim was also facing problems in taking independent decisions. “Democracy is the slogan of the PPP government, but it is not applied in the PCB where its Governing Board has been working for the last one year without full strength while the PCB chairman is taking decisions on his own,” Salahuddin claimed. The President of pakistan,currently Zardari,wields enormous influence as Patron of the pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) The current incumbent of the PCB is Ijaz Butt( no relation to the kamikaze Butt) and he was handpicked by Zardari. The previous President Musharaff had Nasim Ashraf as his man. That the PCB is incompetent was borne out by their own Annual Report which stated that the Income from the 1996 World Cup has still to be accounted for. The treatment of Younis Khan reads like a witch hunt. Politicians rule by division and this Pakistan side reflects a disjointed side. That Pakistan is capable of playing good cricket is undeniable. In Yousuf,The two Akmals and Aameer they have four world class players. Throw in Younis Khan Asif and Umar Gul and you have a core of seven good players. Pakistan's cricketers deserve better administrators than they currently have. Shahid Afridi,captain of the Twenty20 could be a canditate to captain Pakistan in all three forms.

Agreed. The statement to the media was quite unprofessional and very unhelpful indeed. The team needs solidarity not infantile displays of temper. Whether justified or not.

Thats a slightly harsh comparison for Yosef there Drew. Look at Ponting as an example, as a player he played under two great captains in Tubs & S.waugh, he was mentored by them as a future captain, he also played with other great tactitions, M.Waugh, Warnie, Hyden, McGrath, ect ect. Even now Ponting has players he can turn to for advice and draw from their experience...North, Hussey, Katich, Clark. I dont think Yosef has had these luxeries, even Akram was mentored by Khan. I see similarities in the way he captains, to the way Inzimam use to, and he also was a very good player, not a great captain. Yousef is the most experienced/established in a very young side and all they have as far as captains go. Hopefully some like Waquar Younis can help guide him a little more positively.

He is certainly not in the same class as Imran Khan or Wasim Akram as far as captaincy goes, But Looking at the Pakistan Team. Who would you replace him with? I think his reaction after the run out probably sums up this tour for the Pakistan side. One of great frustration which is close to exploding. Definately not the way to go about getting your team to unite behind you.

Yousef was running for 3 from the start, it was his call, he was running to the danger end, he had a right to be pissed. Given the total that was presented to them by the Aussies Yousef knew the importance of runs and wickets...if all Butt got was a deathstare from the other end of the pitch, then he was lucky. I dont like this line of thought that cricketers shouldnt show their emotions. When i see a player become emotional, it becomes more exciting and you see the passion these guys have. Seeing the likes of Lillie or Hughes, angry as hell and steaming in, Ambrose looking like he's about to bludgeon S.Waugh to death with his own cricket bat....emotion is the stuff legends are born out of. Many of these guys really do wear their hearts on their sleeves when they play, i feel people are too quick to critisise, and umpires too quick to hand out fines, to players who succumb to the pressure they're under. What worries me with Yousef is this statement to the media which you mention. I dont like that whatsoever and seems like the childishness you speak of. Also not letting the young fella bowl for half the day because he dropped Ponting, then when he finally got his chance he had his bowlers employing the tactic of bowling very wide of the off stump. It seemed to me that he was showing no faith in his players whatsoever, every time a 4 was hit, he'd move a fielder there! It was ridiculous! In the end he was basically waiting for Australia to declare. I just hope he hasnt ruined the confidence of this 17yo who i've thoroughly enjoyed watching this summer. I think the cracks are starting to show in Yousef's armour, its obivious he carrys the perfomance of the team on his own shoulders, he unnecessarly took the blame for losing the Sydney test. But the one thing a team needs through tough times is unity, singling out certain players by showing no faith in them or publicly critisizing them is not the way to go. The result will be that players wont rise to the occasion when the captain needs them the most.