Pakistan 'B' tour of Sri Lanka - 1986/7 - Tour Review
Results Summary:
4 day First Class Unofficial Tests: Played 3, Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 1
50 over List A Unofficial One Day Internationals: Played 5, Won 3, Lost 2
3 day First Class tour matches: Played 3, Drawn 3
50 over List A tour matches: Played 3, Won 1, Lost 2
Overall, the Pakistan 'B' side could be relatively pleased with their efforts on tour in Sri Lanka.
Winning the Unofficial ODI series 3-2 after being 2-0 was a major triumph, and coming back from 1-0 to level the Unofficial Tests 1-1 was also a signicant achievement.
Though the visitors probably expected to dominate their opposition with the bat in particular, results were close throughout the tour.
The bowlers in particular enjoyed the lesser opposition, though the Sri Lanka 'B' team's best were still as good as anyone.
The batsmen enjoyed the tour games but their best form avoided them in the Unofficial Tests.
Aamer Sohail, Aamer Malik, Ijaz Ahmed, Qasim Omar scored hundreds in the First Class games, while Mansoor Akhtar scored a hundred in the final Unofficial ODI.
Individually some of the visitors had tours to remember as they advanced their cause for further international exposure.
Aamer Sohail scored 107 and took 5-25 in the opening 3 day tour game, and though his form was up and down thereafter and he was injured for the final game, he could still look back on the tour with some affection with two half centuries in the Unofficial Tests.
Qasim Omar was solid throughout the tour, and if not for injury would have played more and probably topped the run aggregates by a greater margin. Always consistent, Qasim Omar played match turning innings of 86 and 113 in the deciding matches of both series.
Shoaib Mohammad was another who struggled with the odd injury, his form was up and down, but when in form he was as good as anyone on either side. Unlucky to be dismissed for 99 in the first Unofficial Test, Shoaib followed it with a run of outs, only to become injured and miss the final match.
Rizwan-uz-Zaman started the tour a first choice player, but by the end of the tour his lack of big scores and low strike rate saw him pushed to the fringes. Consistent enough, he still averaged over 32 in First Class games on tour, including a well made 54 in the first Unofficial Test.
Mansoor Akhtar excelled in the 50 Over games, winning Man of the Series in the Unofficial ODIs after match winning innings in the final two games.
Ijaz Ahmed played a couple of strong innings in the tour games, but his best form deserted him in the more serious matches, though his average remained high.
Asif Mujtaba was consistent and averaged above 30 in both forms of the game, and chipped in with regular wickets in the 50 Over games, but he tended to get out when well set without converting his starts into big scores.
Aamer Malik filled in as both middle order player and opener, and also bowled fast medium seamers when the conditions were in favour, but apart from the one major innings in the tour game, he failed to register a fifty.
Atif Rauf joined the tour late as cover for the injured Ijaz Ahmed, and remained on tour. He generally struggled, apart from one bright innings of 70 in a 3 day game which nearly lead to a target being chased down.
Of the wicket keepers, Anil Dalpat batted better than expected, and also kept outstandingly, and was generally first choice ahead of the more experienced Ashraf Ali.
Ashraf was stronger with the bat but less skilled with the gloves, and averaged 35 in the First Class games to underline his value with the bat.
Of the allrounders, Manzoor Elahi lost ground, his boom or bust approach to 50 Over batting leading to a number of failures due to Hitting Out before set. His position in the batting order was partly to blame for this, rarely getting a chance to come in during any other situation than the slog overs. This could not excuse his First Class batting form, which remained poor, but the thought remains that if he manages to get set and get going for a while, his prominantly placed Big Hit could lead to some big scores quickly.
He bowled steadily in the one day games, and had one of the team's better economy rates in all matches, but is still tending to lack penetration in the First Class matches.
Naved Anjum on the other hand had a brilliant tour, picking up the Man of the Series award in the Unofficial Tests for his 17 wickets in the 3 games, comfortably the best on either side. He bowled Pakistan 'B' to victory in the final Unofficial Test after claiming 5-39 in the 2nd Innings to finish with 9-91 for the match. He also batted well in the First Class games, boasting a healthy First Class batting average of 33 for the tour with a top score of 69.
Akram Raza averaged 24.2 with the bat in the First Class games to underline his allround value, and also finished equal 2nd on the First Class wicket taking list with 10 wickets at the impressive average of 28.80. A best of 4-71 came during a match haul of 7-106 in the opening 3 day game. His form in the first class games tapered off thereafter, but he remained steady, and was always a threat in the 50 over games.
Mushtaq Ahmed started well with 5-46 in a 50 over tour match, but was often injured thereafter and below his best. He regained fitness late in the tour, but his form deserted him as the tour went on and he was dropped. A first class bowling haul of 6 wickets at 54.17 sums up his struggles, and though he finished as equal leading wicket taker in the 50 over games, he would be disappointed with his tour.
Nadeem Khan was called up late as cover following Mushtaq Ahmed and was often pressed into service. He responded by scoring handy runs with the bat, averaging 20 in the First Class games with his top score a match turning 65 as Night Watchman in the final Unofficial Test. He finished equal 2nd on the wicket takers list with Akram Raza with 10 at 39.50, and the improvement from the Australian tour was marked. He still tended to give up too many runs through bad balls, but the belief remains that he is more of a genuine wicket taker than Raza.
The 4 specialist seamers were much of a muchness, though Saleem Jaffer continued to appear the most consistent. Zakir Khan improved from the earlier replay v the Australians, averaging 35.83 in the First Class games to give comparable service to the others.
Azeem Hafeez continued to struggle with a high economy rate and lack of wickets in the 50 over games, but remained an occasional threat in the First Class games.
Mohsin Kamal bowled well more often than not, to suggest he should probably be playing more often, though he should get plenty of chances in the coming years.
As a player growth exercise goes, it was an important tour for the players, with a number of them making signicant breakthroughs and achieving career replay bests.
I look forward to using some of these players again in the near future to see how their replay career statistics develop.
What I find particularly interesting is some of these players didn't play many Tests, so Terry has had to use some other way of giving players appropriate skills other than Test averages alone.
I enjoy finding out what averages and statistics these players might be expected to produce by testing them out on the field of battle against similarly skilled opponents.
