ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2018

Pakistan in 2017/18 Pakistan’s slide down the Test ranking list, from first in August 2016 to sixth 12 months later, showed no signs of reversing during the 2017/18 and 2018 seasons. Indeed, it continued in their only Test series of 2017/18, after which they swapped places with previously-seventh Sri Lanka after unexpectedly losing to them in both games of a two-match ‘home’ series – Pakistan’s first-ever series loss in their adopted home of the UAE. In the first match at Abu Dhabi both sides scored over 400 in their first innings, but neither could muster even 140 in their second as their respective star spinners came into their own. For Pakistan to fall short of the 136 needed for victory in the fourth innings was a major shock, though this result was expected to prove a one-off. But far from it: Sri Lanka took a first-innings lead of over 200 at Dubai, and despite bowling their opponents out for only 96 in their second innings, Pakistan ended 69 short of their victory target. Inconsistency among the major batsmen, and the lack of strength in depth in the batting line-up – as well as the quality of the Sri Lankan spin attack - were the main reasons for their failures in both games. Thereafter, seventh in the rankings was where Pakistan remained after their only other Test outings, all in Europe in the summer of 2018. Their first match was a one-off Test at Malahide, where they made heavy weather of beating an enthusiastic and competitive Irish side, playing in their inaugural Test match. A fortnight later a crushing win over England at Lord’s suggested that a corner might have been turned, but any such thoughts were dashed when they lost by an innings in the second and final Test at Headingley, the batsmen failing to cope with the unfamiliar local conditions. Under their new captain Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan once again looked a less relaxed side than under his predecessor Misbah-ul-Haq. Although promise was shown by some of the newcomers to the team, notably by bespectacled opener Imam-ul-Haq (nephew of Inzamam), and above all by the miserly and innocuous-looking opening bowler Mohammad Abbas (17 wickets in the three Tests in Europe), Pakistan’s was not a settled side. Injuries didn’t help; in Europe they particularly missed legspinner Yasir Shah, who had taken 16 wickets in the Tests against Sri Lanka but was sidelined by a stress fracture to his hip. There remains plenty of scope for new young cricketers – especially perhaps batsmen – to force their way into the Test side. But domestic cricket in Pakistan doesn’t seem to be encouraging new batting stars to make their names. The 60th holding of the Quaid-e-Azam tournament, unchanged in format from the previous season, was once again the only first-class cricket played in the country in 2017/18, and it was emphatically a competition for the bowlers. They benefited from the use of the Dukes ball in place of the locally-produced Grays, and also from the decision to shoehorn the entire 69-match season into 86 days between late September and mid-December, which led to complaints (mainly from batsmen) of underprepared pitches, especially at venues hosting more than one match in quick succession. As many as five of the scheduled four-day games finished inside two days; though on the opposite side of the coin, the season’s arrangements at least ensured plenty of definite results, with only eight of the season’s matches ending as draws. As may be expected, runscoring across the season was unusually low for Pakistan, with the average first-innings score of 235 being nearly 50 runs lower than in 2016/17. Only three innings totals of over 500 were recorded in the entire season. Probably the only batsman who could feel satisfied with his efforts was Saad Ali (United Bank), who scored 957 runs at an average of 68.35 – over 200 runs more than any other player, and more than 600 runs more than any other batsman with an average of over 50. Among the bowlers, the conditions were reflected not so much in high numbers of wickets taken as in the low averages that were returned. All of the season’s 14 leading wicket-takers had averages below 20, and the leader of them all, former Test medium-pacer Aizaz Cheema (Lahore Blues), took his 60 wickets at the remarkable average – especially for a quicker bowler – of just 9.61. 283