Rameez Raja: ‘Cricket can be a healer’

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Oct 12, 2008

By Will 3 years ago, mid-October Leave a comment on this post

England’s tour of Pakistan is to continue, despite this week’s disasterous events, according to ECB and PCB officials. More at Cricinfo, including this from Rameez Raja which I tend to agree with:

“Cricket is followed by everyone in Pakistan and it will get their minds off this tragedy,” Rameez Raja, a former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board told the BBC. “Cricket can be a healer.”

Tags: disaster, earthquake, ECB, england, england-in-pakistan, pakistan, pcb, rameez-raja |

Comments to “Rameez Raja: ‘Cricket can be a healer’” Zainub wrote:
October 16th, 2005 at 8.52 pm

I spent the afternoon getting my self updated on the disaster relief, people still are in need of help, and the weather is getting progressively worse, which is big worry considering as many as 3.3 million people are homeless.

I certainly hope the cricket can get the tragedy of our minds, itâ€™s been almost 10 days since the Earthquake struck, and every single hour of the day there’s been nothing else on the telly, in the papers and on the radio except some kind of news related to the quake. Hopefully when England comes around, we’ll have something good to cheer about. It would be nice, if the Pakistan or even England team for that matter could visit one of the hospitals in Pindi, I saw some footage of children’s ward there, and I couldn’t help my self from getting emotional, it was so moving; hundreds of them, all with their innocent little faces, telling stories of how they escaped, and how they were missing their families.

One can only imagine the sort of the psychological trauma they must be experiencing to go with obvious pain of physical injuries (most of the kids I saw were in pretty serious condition). But when the media came around to meet them, they all sort of became happy for the little while. One of them, who had fractured arm, was wearing a Pakistani cricket shirt. I’m sure if Inzi & co visited them; it would bring a huge smile on their faces, and make them feel better. I hope the authorities can do something on these lines, one can imagine it would be difficult with the kind of schedules you have now-a-days, but even then, Iâ€™m sure if you want, you can always squeeze out a little time. Iâ€™ll try and email the PCB tomorrow, and see what happens.

Will wrote:
October 16th, 2005 at 9.32 pm

Zainub, I put up a story on Inzy stating he and his team will provide hands-on help (which is a nice gesture, albeit one smacking of a PR exercise). More here

Zainub wrote:
October 16th, 2005 at 9.56 pm

It’s good that they’re planning to visit those affected. When people are in the kind of tragedy that they are here, even some one just putting a comforting arm on your shoulder, speak a few kind words, tell you itâ€™s all going to be fine , can mean a lot. Iâ€™ve partly experienced it, so I can relate it.

And I do think our cricketers are sincere with their intentions, it might seem like flashy PR and not much else, but I was channel surfing in the afternoon at about Asr time, and I saw Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Sami appearing on one of the private channels auctioning their bats and shirts respectively in addition to taking part in a live fund-raising telethon.

Then there was also news in the papers of Afridi, Miandad, Saeed Anwer and legends from Hockey grouping together to raise funds under the banner of the Pakistan Sports Trust. So I don’t think its all lip service, some of the cricketers personally felt the quake (there was a trial match going on in Peshawar when the quake struck, it had to be abandoned) so they know how terrifying it can be.

Seriously Will, I don’t doubt the genuineness of anyoneâ€™s intentions at this stage. I never thought my fellow country men and women could ever be so united, but I was wrong. We’ve showed a lot of character, and I’m really proud.

Will wrote:
October 16th, 2005 at 11.27 pm

That’s great to hear, Zainub. I wasn’t denying Inzamam’s intentions were wholesome and genuine - well, I was, a bit. I suppose I feel a bit cynical about aid, charity and help. There are so many bastards out there eager to rip people off (I heard several stories on these lines during the New Orleans nightmare)…feel free to keep us all updated with anything you think is interesting or important. I’m still keen to run that fundraising thing during England’s tour of Pakistan…I’ll have a think about it tomorrow or Tues.

Zainub wrote:
October 16th, 2005 at 11.44 pm

I plan to start my own blog very shortly so I’ll hopefully we be able to do that there.

Zainub wrote:
October 21st, 2005 at 6.48 pm

My blog still is not underway, so I’ll have to leave another comment here.

GEO News is reporting that Pakistani cricketers will be “donating 5 to 10 per cent of their each match fees until they would represent Pakistan.” The announcment was made by Inzi whilst talking to reporters shortly after he and other members of the squad completed training at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore ahead England’s arrival for their tour of 3 test & 5 ODIs. Shoaib Akhtar missed this training session for no apparent reason.

http://geo.tv/main_files/sport.aspx?id=92017

Adeel Qayyum wrote:
January 16th, 2007 at 8.52 am

Dear Reader!
Aslam-o-Alikum,
Sir this is my 1st mail on your website. I hope you will take attention on it.

Although our Pakistani team has great potential, we have plenty of great players but the main thing lacking from our team is temperament, selection of player according to pitch and strategy how to win a match.

Sir after analyzing last match we had lost from 7 wickets, I came to this moral that our team totally lacking temperament, technique and spirit to win the match.

I will discuss it one by one:-
â€¢ Batting:-
Our batting was not too bad except Faisal Iqbal. I am taking his name because selectors made a wrong descion about his selection. To be honest he is a good player of spin bowling not fast. When selectors know this thing that South African team has only one spinner then why donâ€™t they prefer Asim Kamal. Players like Inzi, Younis, Yasir shown poor temperament, why these players throw their wicket away after getting a good position to get a big score? Are they afraid from bowling?
Secondly I will blame Woolmer who is coach since many years and he canâ€™t tell his players how to play a hook or pull shot and cannot improve the footwork of youngsters against fast bowling, shame on him this mean he is not faithful to his job.
So batsman should not throw his wicket away after getting a reasonable score and Woolmer should take a responsibility faithfully.

â€¢ Bowling:-
Except Asif all the bowlers are not up to the mark. Sir let me clear you one thing Rana Naveed is basically an ODI bowler why selectors are exposing him in Test Matches? Secondly Shahid Nazir is a bowler of green pitches not partially green pitches because he got less pace and he is basically a swing bowler. Sir Mohammad Irshad is a good bowler from Multan who got pace and accuracy in bowling. If Umar Gul was injured why donâ€™t selectors call him and Sami is in squad, who is inconsistent bowler and his foot position is not good when he deliver a ball. So there is no place for Rana and Sami in Test Matches due to their inconsistency. Sir selectors are ignoring the talent of bowling in Pakistan. If Sohaib and Gul are not totally fit then we have Irshad, Moh. Rauf from Multan who have pace and accurate bowlers why donâ€™t selectors relay on them? Instead of them we have SamiUllah Niazi and Akhtar Ayub from Lahore they are no doubt good bowlers why selectors are wasting their talent?

Sir we have many bowlers for the backup of Rana, Gul and Sami why donâ€™t we relay on them?

Sir Waqar Younis was good bowling coach ok PCB expel him then Sarfraz Nawaz should be the bowling coach why they prefer Mustaq Ahmed who is only a leg spinner. Ok he is an Assistant coach then how much he improves the standard of spin bowling? And how much he improves the spirit of players? Sir instead of him Abdul Qadir should be the assistant coach because he is a good student of game and he will improve the bowling of Kaneria, who donâ€™t know how to ball left handed batsman. Sir Mustaq is better player for ESSEX not as coach.
â€¢ Strategy:-
Sir we can give tough time in 1st test match if our bowlers had done little bit of common sense. When they got 20 or 30 runs then why they didnâ€™t stop heating. If they stay on wicket then they can produce a good result as you have seen South African bowlers totally exhausted when they got 20 runs each.
â€¢ Selection of team for next match:-
We need a little bit changes if our selectors have common sense.

1. Imran Farhat
2. Moh. Hafeez
3. Younis Khan
4. Inzmam-ul-Haq
5. Moh.Yousaf
6. Yasir Hameed
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Sohaib Akhtar
9. Danish Kaneria
10. Umar Gul or Moh. Irshad or Samiullah Niazi
11. Moh. Asif
Sir Inzmam should play at no 4 because I have seen his performance at no 4 is best.
I hope Yasir will play at no. 6 b\c he is talented
Sir please took attention on no 10th position if Gul is fit then ok otherwise no need to add Shahid, SÃ¡mi or Rana. Relay on Irshad or Niazi b\c this will be the + point for World Cup.

With Regards,
Adeel Qayyum,
Mirpur A.K

Adeel Qayyum wrote:
January 24th, 2007 at 3.00 pm

Strategy for 3rd Test Match:-
Dear Reader,
Please forward my email to Captain Inzmam or any body responsible.

Dear Players,
South African team is very tough team especially in their own home ground so 3rd Test Match will be tough for you. As you all know that how they beat India.
Let me tell you some tactics that South African will do in their 3rd teat match. They will change Andre Nel and instead of him new pace bowler will come. There might be change in spin bowling, instead of Harris, Paul Adams will come who is very good left arm spin bowler and you all can remember he got 7 wickets in an innings during his tour to Pakistan. In batting there is a chance of Dippiner instead of AB Devillers who is a good batsman.

They will make that kind of pitch which will support Fast bowling and help the spinners little bit because they have good Fast bowlers.

What Inzmam should do? 1st of all he have to improve the opening batting little bit because we need an opening partnership of at least 60 to 80 runs so other batsman can produce good score. To be honest both openers have problem in facing out swingers and their footwork is not up to the mark especially I have seen Hafeez he got out many times in slip or gully area due to his poor footwork. Imran who is bit better than Hafeez he, always through his wicket away due to lack of his temperament.
If Sohaib Malik is totally fit then he should play instead of Hafeez because his temperament is better than Hafeez and just he need bit improvement in his footwork.

Younis should come at no 3 and Yousaf should come at no 4. Hameed should be brought at no 5 and he need bit improvement in his footwork. Inzmam,s position should be at no 6 because he perform well in that position and than Akmal.

Keeping of Kamran was too poor in 2nd test match, it should be improved.

Asif will play and there is confusion about Sohaib and Umar Gul. Please give chance to Moh. Irshad and SamiUllah Niazi, because they are good bowlers and they are capable of producing good result. If any of them produce good result then they will helpful in World Cup in case of injury. Shahid Nazir is basically a swing and medium pace bowler, Sami, Naveed are better ODI bowlers and Rao Iftihar sitting in Pakistan he is also medium pacer. So Sami, Naveed, Nazir and Rao are not fit bowlers for Test cricket.

Irshad is a pace bowler and Samiullah is left arm seam bowlers who are good enough for the backup of Gul and Sohaib.

When visit to Cape Town, coach must find out who will be better spin bowler in given pitch either wrist spinner Kaneria or finger spinner Abdul Rehman. Then select one of them according to the merit of pitch.

I have heard about Azhar Mehmood selection and his place in team according to me is instead of Yasir Hameed. But make sure that he is a good batsman, his footwork is up to mark and he can also support the bowling lineup. He already has 3 centuries against South Africa.

I am telling you again Please remove Bob Woolmer from coaching because he will destroy the spirit of team one day as he have fight with Sohaib. I am again telling you he was involve in match fixing scandal when Hanci Cronije was the Captain of South Africa Team. Intihab Alam is good coach as he was coach when Pakistan won the World Cup 1992.

I am reminding you again we need atleat two fast bowlers, Irshad and Samiullah for the bakup of Sohaib Akhtar and Umar Gul.

If Sohaib Akhtar is fully fit please let him play and if he has fitness problem then give him rest and prepare him for World Cup by taking care of his health ask him didnâ€™t eat food having lot of peppers like( chat pati food ) just eat simple food.

Adeel Qayyum wrote:
January 24th, 2007 at 3.05 pm

Strategy for 3rd Test Match:-
Dear Reader,
Please forward my email to Captain Inzmam or any body responsible.

They will make that kind of pitch which will support Fast bowling and help the spinners little bit because they have good Fast bowlers.

What Inzmam should do? 1st of all he have to improve the opening batting little bit because we need an opening partnership of at least 60 to 80 runs so other batsman can produce good score. To be honest both openers have problem in facing out swingers and their footwork is not up to the mark especially I have seen Hafeez he got out many times in slip or gully area due to his poor footwork. Imran who is bit better than Hafeez he, always throw his wicket away due to lack of his temperament.
If Sohaib Malik is totally fit then he should play instead of Hafeez because his temperament is better than Hafeez and just he need bit improvement in his footwork.

Keeping of Kamran was too poor in 2nd test match, it should be improved.

Irshad is a pace bowler and Samiullah is left arm seam bowlers who are good enough for the backup of Gul and Sohaib.

I am reminding you again we need atleat two fast bowlers, Irshad and Samiullah for the bakup of Sohaib Akhtar and Umar Gul.

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Rameez Raja: ‘Cricket can be a healer’