Bringing two uncapped teenage pace bowlers to Australia, a nation unconquered by the greatest of Pakistan sides, was never going to end well for Azhar Ali’s team. For coach Misbah-ul-Haq, the selections of 16-year-old Naseem Shah and 19-year-old Muhammad Musa reflected a need for “boldness” in a team that has fallen steadily down the world […]
Schoolboy seamer Naseem pitches up for unlikely debut in Australia
Teenage tearaways are part of the fabric of Pakistan cricket but schoolboy seamer Naseem Shah could redefine the term “wunderkind” if selected during the test series in Australia. The 16-year-old from Lower Dir district on the border of Afghanistan would eclipse former home captain Ian Craig as the youngest test debutant on Australian soil. Craig […]
Familiar demons to follow Australia into New Year’s Test
MELBOURNE: A troubled Australia side will head to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fourth Test against India hoping to turn over a new leaf in 2019 but still plagued by the fall-out of their annus horribilis. Tim Paine’s side suffered a huge reality check at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where they were outplayed with […]
Australia win back respect in Dubai dust
MELBOURNE: Leading a scandal-hit team dismissed as Australia’s worst in 30 years, captain Tim Paine’s pledge to win back hearts and minds seemed a fanciful, if noble, aspiration in the leadup to the Test series against Pakistan. In the end, it took only five days of cricket before he could claim mission accomplished, having ushered […]