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What the floods have washed away
The floods have wrought colossal damage. Nearly 20 million people have been affected, fifteen hundred perished and more than two thousand injured. The economic cost of the floods is estimated to be about $43 billion. The devastation caused by the deluge would have been an enormous challenge for any government anywhere to meet. In case of Pakistan, the enormity of the challenge assumes even greater proportions in view of the country’s present predicament: the militancy, which is eating up the country’s most resources; the state of the economy, which would have crumbled but for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) credit; a laissez-faire ‘popular’ government, whose big bunch of ministers’ and advisors’ favourite pastime is to harp on their self-proclaimed sacrifices for democracy; the top political leadership, which commands but does not lead and whose credibility is close to naught both at home and abroad; the elected representatives, who are apathetic to the problems of those they represent; the state institutions, which are in decay and decadence; the system of governance, which is rotten to the core, the rule of law, which is trampled under the feet of the high and the mighty; the society which is becoming increasingly insensitive and cruel (the latest and the starkest example being the public beating to death of two young men in Sialkot); and the people, who are naïve enough to be deceived and duped by the same demagogues repeatedly. The floods have magnified these ills of the polity, economy and society. We begin with the economy, which was in straits even before the floods had wrought the havoc. At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010 (FY10), the major economic indicators by and large presented a dismal picture. Fiscal deficit surpassed the 4.9 per cent target to reach 5.6 per cent of GDP despite drastic cuts in developmental spending (the PSDP was reduced from Rs 646 billion budgetary allocation to Rs 490 billion). Inflationary pressures persisted with average CPI inflation of 12 per cent exceeding the nine per cent target. Investment-GDP ratio had gone down to 16.6 per cent from 19 per cent, while savings-GDP ratio had dropped to 10.1 per cent from 20.3 per cent a year ago. The unemployment rate had gone up to 5.5 per cent from 5.2 per cent largely due to the increase in urban unemployment to 7.1 per cent from 6.3 per cent. The only good news was that the real GDP had grown by 4.1 per cent compared with the target of 3.3 per cent. However, that upward growth rate was made possible by a downward revised growth figure of 1.2 per cent for the preceding fiscal year. To be fair, the economic predicament is not the making of the present government and can be ascribed to the three perennial constraints within which the economy of Pakistan operates: (a) the massive public debt, (b) the need to maintain a huge military establishment, and (c) the lack of tax culture together with the absence of political will to bring some holy cows (agriculture income for instance) within the tax net. The first two constraints dictate that a large portion of the public expenditure is invariably allocated to debt servicing and defence, while the third constraint ensures that the public revenue, particularly from direct taxes, lags behind increase in government expenditure and growth of GDP. The result is not only increase in fiscal deficit but also misallocation of resources. Hence, as per budgetary allocation for the current fiscal year, defence and debt servicing expenditure together account for about 66 per cent of current expenditure and 48 per cent of total expenditure. At present, the armed forces are engaged in putting down insurgency in the northwestern part of the country and therefore it is understandable that a sizeable part of the national pie is allocated to supporting that effort. Scarcity of resources necessitates a trade-off among competing needs. If a country spends nearly half of its resources on mere defence and debt servicing, it will have too little to spend on promoting human capital and infrastructure development. Hence, not surprisingly collectively allocation for both health and education accounts for less than three per cent of the GDP, which is well below the desired level. Poverty alleviation and employment generation are among the basic policy objectives in a developing country like Pakistan. However, attaining this goal requires substantial investment in human capital development. Although during last couple of years fiscal deficit has been substantially reduced from 7.6 per cent of GDP during FY08, the same has been done by curtailing developmental expenditure rather than by increasing tax-GDP ratio, which is stuck at nine per cent of GDP. Pakistan in fact has one of the lowest tax-GDP ratios in the world. Two options are available to the government to increase tax revenue: one, to broaden the tax net, for instance, by taxing agriculture income; two, to increase the existing taxes. For reasons political, the first option has not been exercised, with the result that those who already pay tax — the salaried class — are burdened with more taxes. As the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has noted in one of its reports, a sharp cut in development spending is neither sustainable nor desirable, because the government is required to increase spending on human capital development and widening the social safety net as an effective antidote to extremism. The floods will adversely affect the economy in several ways. One, to rehabilitate the victims and repair the infrastructure, the government will have to re-appropriate budgetary allocation. Given the political economy of Pakistan if any cuts are to be made, the same have to be on the head of development expenditure. Hence, the big chunk of the funds allocated to development will be diverted to repair and rehabilitation efforts. Two, due partly to the colossal loss caused to agriculture and livestock and partly to diversion of resources, the growth of the economy will be retarded. The estimates are that at least one percentage point of the potential GDP growth will be washed away. When economic growth shrinks, investment level goes down, jobs are lost and incomes fall. Consequently, unemployment and poverty levels rise. The rise in unemployment and poverty further reduces the aggregate demand, resulting into lower investment demand and thus slower GDP growth. Increased poverty and unemployment have enormous social cost, because the affected people can become a convenient tool in the hands of destabilising forces. This is particularly relevant to Pakistan, which is facing an insurgency in its northwestern part. Three, the deluge devastation will make the economy more dependent on foreign credit at a time when developed countries are trying to recover from recession and hence official bilateral assistance is hard to come by. This makes credit from multilateral donors indispensable. Already Pakistan is under a 25-month $11.3 billion stand-by agreement (SBA) with the IMF effective since November 2008. Hence, the country will have to negotiate a fresh agreement with the IMF. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank will also provide $2 billion and $950 million in credit respectively. Four, the loss to agriculture and livestock means Pakistan may be in throes of a food crisis in the days to come, which, inter alia, will strengthen inflationary pressures on the economy. The country will have to import food, which, together with fall in exports due to loss of the cotton crop, will push up the current account deficit and add to balance of payment problems. The socio-political cost of the floods is equally, if not more, threatening. Hundreds of thousands of people have been deprived of their land and livestock, incomes and means of livelihood. Most of them will move to urban areas in search of work and a minimum standard of living. But urban areas, already facing large-scale unemployment and erosion of civic amenities, can hardly accommodate them. The resultant dejection and disappointment can be a fertile ground for anything ranging from unrest and riots to disorder and chaos. The way the elected governments have handled the situation, the way they left the majority of the affected people to themselves, they way embankments in some places were breached to save the property of powerful politicians will strengthen the growing disenchantment with democracy. That Pakistan has had a sham democracy, there has never been much doubt about that. But the perception that the people’s governments have so abjectly surrendered the popular trust has shocked and shaken even the most vehement of their supporters. Behind every calamity there is an opportunity and the federal finance minister believes that the havoc wrought by the floods can provide the impetus for taking some tough decisions. Only if the people in power woke up from their slumber, eschew narrow ethnic and political considerations, and put their heads together as to what went wrong and what can be done to avert another such calamity, that can be the redeeming feature of the floods. hussainhzaidi@gmail.com
Moderate quake jolts Pakistan, Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: A moderate earthquake deep in the Hindu Kush mountain range Tuesday jolted parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but there were no reports of any casualties or damage, officials said. “A moderate earthquake of 5.2 magnitude was recorded at 1334 (Pakistan standard time — 0834 GMT),” Zahid Rafi, director of the seismic centre at Pakistan’s meteorological department told AFP. “The epicentre of the earthquake was on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border and its depth was 230 kilometres. It was also felt in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and other areas close to Hindu Kush,” he said. On October 8, 2005 a 7.6-magnitude quake killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Amir vaults into career-best 17th position
Man of the match Amir took 1-49 and 5-52 in the Test and was awarded with a jump of 14 places in the rankings, which puts him just behind Paul Harris of South Africa and makes him the third Pakistan fast bowler in the top 20.
Reservoirs reached optimum level: Secy Information
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Information and Broadcasting Mansoor Suhail said on Friday that all water reservoirs of the country have reached to their optimum level and in case of more rains in the catchment areas, there is no way to store the water, so it will have to be released downstream which may result in more floods. Addressing a press conference here, he said that due to rains in the catchment areas of eastern rivers of Punjab there can be danger of flood in the low lying areas of Gujranwala, Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin. He said that the federal government has transferred annual grant to provinces to meet their requirements. He said Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhaw, Balochistan have been given Rs. 27.73 billion, Rs. 17.33 billion, Rs. 33.10 billion and Rs. 10.37 billion respectively as annual grant. Mansoor Suhail added that federal government would also give more grant to the provinces to meet their needs. The secretary said 107 million dollar foreign assistance has arrived for the flood victims while 55 million dollars has reached in the shape of kind. He said under the 18th amendment more resources have been shifted to the provinces. He said that due to new spell of rains in the catchment areas of rivers, a second wave of flood has reached Taunsa and is heading towards Sindh which would reach Guddu and Sukkur barrages in coming days. Flood water is now moving towards Kotri barrage and there can be a threat of flood for the low lying areas of Hyderabad and Thatta districts. He said that there is prediction of more rains in Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which can result in more floods in some rivers. He said that so far 1384 deaths have been confirmed while 1630 persons have been injured and according to preliminary estimates 723, 9506 houses have been damaged in the floods. Mansoor Suhail said that tents, blankets jackets have been distributed among the flood victims. He said that plastic mats, ration packs, generators, cholera kits, kitchen sets and hygiene kits have also been given to the flood affected people. He told the media that Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force are busy in rescue and relief operations in the country. To a question he said the government would convene local donors’ conference as soon as possible. However he said date in this regard has not been finalized. Replying to a question he said that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would arrive on Saturday and will visit the flood affected areas. To another question he said people’s response to Prime Minister fund for relief very encouraging.
Karachi: A city under lockdown?
KARACHI: Two days into the assassination of MPA Syed Raza Haider and the paralysis that has gripped several areas of Karachi is far from over. The city’s roads and main thoroughfares in its relatively sensitive areas remain largely deserted with a few private vehicles here and there. Buses that remain the public’s chief mode of transportation have remained out of sight with people waiting on designated stands to be able to go to their destinations.
Pakistan farmers see livelihoods wiped out by floods
MAJUKY FAQIRABAD, Pakistan: Devastating floods have swept away farmland and devastated livestock in Pakistan’s northwest, costing farmers millions of dollars and sparking demands for government compensation. The land was some of the most fertile in the country: rich soil nurtured sugarcane, maize, tobacco and vegetables, fed communities and carpeted a lush landscape watered by gushing rivers and framed by mountains. That vanished when torrential monsoons dumped more than 300 millimetres (12 inches) of rain in the space of 36 hours. More rain has fallen since and still more rain is forecast. Entire villages and farms have been swept away. Homes have disappeared under flood waters. Dead livestock have been left rotting in the mud. Irrigation systems have been wiped out. Farmers left homeless by the floods pour out their stories of loss, unable to imagine how they will rebuild their lives. Maroof Khan, 52, a farmer from Majuky Faqirabad village who grew vegetables said his whole crop was destroyed. His house collapsed and his five buffalo and two cows died. “When the water goes down then I’ll be able to enter the fields. I’m just watching helplessly. What I can do? I was expecting good income this season,”he said. “The vegetables were in full boom. Rates were very high and I was expecting more than 100,000 rupees (1,200 dollars) profit. Now I am just praying for God’s help. “So far the government has done nothing for me and my family.”Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is to chair a special cabinet meeting Wednesday to estimate the damage – expected to run to billions of rupees (millions of dollars – and to expedite the relief work. Minister for Information Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari said a damage assessment could only start once the waters recede. That was little comfort to Yousuf Khan, 46-year-old farmer in Dab Banda village who said he cultivated sugarcane and vegetables on two hectares. “My whole crop has been totally destroyed. I’m facing losses of 90,000 rupees (1,050 dollars),” he told AFP. Nawaz Khan, 50, owns pear orchards on five hectares in the same village. “I have suffered millions of rupees as my orchard is destroyed. It is still submerged by the flood water. Sugarcane is the major crop of the season, but the land is still full of water,” Khan said. Fazal Mansoor, a landlord from Shakoor village whose brother sits in the provincial assembly had cultivated sugarcane, maize and tobacco on 700 hectares of farmland but said everything had been destroyed. “We are facing the worst. My financial losses will be billions of rupees. Farmers won’t only suffer this year, but in coming years.” For farmers living further north, in the Swat valley, it was the second year of disaster after a major military offensive against Taliban insurgents in 2009 prevented many from harvesting their crops. Mansoor has set up a relief camp at Shakoor village, where more than 300 families have been sheltering. He has been providing foods and tents. “Rehabilitation will take years, we are facing the worst floods ever to hit our area,” Mansoor said. Despite bitter complaints from ordinary people, Sikandar Khan, a lawmaker from the Awami National Party that rules in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP the authorities were doing everything possible, as he handed out food and medicine. “We are doing everything we can. Roads in different areas are still flooded. The government alone cannot compete with the disaster,” he said. “We have already declared these areas calamity-hit. We need help from the central government as well as from foreign countries and donors. It will take years to rehabilitate those people who have been uprooted. “Losses are in the billions of rupees.”Qayyum Khan, 66, from Majuky, asked the government to cough up. “The farmers demand compensation from the government.” Qayyum told AFP while standing on the debris of his ruined house. –AFP
Pakistan continue to produce erratic shows
CONSISTENCY is the key to success in any sport, without it, questions will always be asked. For more than one reason, however, Pakistan ’s erratic display over the years at Test level has mainly been because of their inability to maintain that standard with regularity.
Judge blames negligent police in Sri Lankan team attack
LAHORE: Senior Pakistan police officers have been heavily criticized in a judge’s report for being ill-prepared, poorly equipped and incompetent in their efforts to prevent a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team bus last year. Calling one officer a lazy coward, Shabbar Raza Rizvi of Lahore High Court identified more than a dozen senior policemen in a report on the attack that is due to be submitted to the International Cricket Council. Excerpts of the 120-page report, which has not been made public, were provided to The Associated Press on Friday. Rizvi wrote that police officials failed to perform their duties on March 3, 2009 when gunmen killed six policemen and a van driver in the team convoy, and injured several Sri Lanka players and team officials. Senior Lahore police officer Haji Habibur Rehman was supposed to be the overall commander of the Sri Lanka team’s security, but Rizvi said he failed to do his job. “I wish I had seen him marching on the road … or at least sitting in his office before 8 a.m.,” Rizvi wrote. “Unfortunately, he only became visible and audible after the occurrence had taken place.” The Pakistan Cricket Board is still waiting for permission from the government to submit the report to the ICC despite reminders by the game’s governing body. The report was completed last year. A spokesman for the ICC confirmed it had not received the report and had no further comment. The ICC carried out its own investigation following the attack. It recommended a series of security measures to be implemented by member countries, including requiring cricket boards to have security managers and establish security standards. After the attack, the ICC ruled that Pakistan could no longer serve as one of the hosts for the 2011 World Cup and the Pakistan team was forced to host its home matches at neutral venues – it has used the United Arab Emirates and England as bases. In his report, Rizvi also criticized police Deputy Inspector General Amjad Javed Saleemi for a “dereliction of duty” after Saleemi admitted he was not sure whether police officers in the area of the attack were even on duty. “Obviously he (Saleemi) would have only known … if he himself were there,” Rizvi wrote. “He made contradictory statements before me and did not have moral courage to state the truth.” Police superintendent Mohammad Abid was also singled out by Rizvi as he was directly responsible for posting security officials in the area where the attack took place. “He had the direct responsibility … and placement of snipers on high-rise buildings is an area of his jurisdiction,” Rizvi said. “He miserably failed to do that and was absent from duty when the occurrence took place.” Rizvi also described Abdur Rahman, who supervised the station near the attack, as “a coward and lazy” after he and officers under his command came upon the gunmen but fled. According to Rizva, the police force were not well-equipped and didn’t have a special security plan needed to host such a high-profile event. —AP
Crashed Pakistan plane was 10 years old: Airbus
PARIS : The Airbus 321 plane that crashed in Pakistan on Wednesday with 150 people on board was 10 years old, the planemaker said — an age considered a relatively young for a plane of that type.
England ready to face Pakistan’s ‘overrated’ pace attack
NOTTINGHAM: Paul Collingwood is adamant there is no reason why he or his fellow England batsmen should feel daunted by the challenge of facing Pakistan’s bowlers here at Trent Bridge. Pakistan go into the first of four-Test series starting Thursday on the back of a dramatic three-wicket second Test win over Australia at Headingley where they dismissed Ricky Ponting’s men for just 88 in the first innings last week. Teenage left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer has been compared to Pakistan hero Wasim Akram while Mohammad Asif was likened to Australia great Glenn McGrath by Pakistan captain Salman Butt. Umar Gul is a fine third seamer while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria completes an admirably balanced attack. However, Collingwood – returning to Tests after missing England’s early season 2-0 home series win over Bangladesh with a shoulder injury – suggested Pakistan were flattered by overcast conditions at Headingley. “I don’t want to go overboard on ‘these guys are the best thing since sliced bread’ – or Wasim Akram, or this, that and the other,” Collingwood told reporters on Tuesday. Nevertheless he praised the 18-year-old Aamer, saying: “When I was 18 I was just getting a contract for Durham and playing club cricket out in Australia – so it was bare bones at the time. “Seeing a youngster like that (Aamer) is excellent for the game.” But Collingwood added: “If we can get through those periods where it can be really tricky, I think we can get on top of them. “To say they’re the number one bowling attack in the world I would say was over the mark. “They have come up in conditions recently where it’s done a fair bit. “Their confidence is going to be sky-high. But we’re a confident team ourselves.” England will take heart from the way an inexperienced Pakistan batting line-up lost seven wickets in pursuit of a relatively modest victory target of 180 at Headingley. So England’s bowlers will fancy their chances at Trent Bridge, where paceman Stuart Broad and off-spinner Graeme Swann play for Nottinghamshire. Pakistan, in what will be only opening batsman Butt’s second match as captain, are likely to go in with the same side as played at Headingley. Meanwhile England, who have a 12-man squad, are set to stick with a policy of six specialist batsmen and four bowlers that has become standard under the regime of coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss. Wile this might work against Pakistan, it could leave them a bowler light in Australia where they begin the defence of the Ashes in November and where no England side has won a Test series since 1986. “We have done very well with the three seamers, and Swanny’s pivotal role in giving the seamers rest – with the wickets he gets and the pressure he puts on,” Collingwood said. “Sometimes I tend to think that when you do have four seamers one of them never bowls too much anyway. As batsman Ian Bell is out with a series-ending foot injury, the top six appears to pick itself. And so will, it seems, England’s attack after Yorkshire seamer Ajmal Shahzad was ruled out Wednesday with an ankle injury. Shahzad’s county colleague Tim Bresnan was called into the squad as a replacement but it would now be a major surprise if England fielded an attack of anything other than James Anderson, Steven Finn, Broad and Swann. As for Pakistan, Butt said: “We know it will not be an easy ride so we have to stick together and try our best. That’s all we can do.” —Agencies
Shakoor Rana regretted Gatting incident, says son
KARACHI: Shakoor Rana, the Pakistani umpire who became famous for his furious row with England captain Mike Gatting during a test in Faisalabad, later regretted the incident, his son said. “My father was a very jovial and temperamental person and he gained a lot of fame and attention after the incident. But he wished the fame and attention had come for some other reason,” Mansoor Rana told Reuters ahead of the Pakistan versus England cricket series beginning in Nottingham on Thursday. Shakoor Rana, who died in 2001, was involved in the infamous confrontation and finger-wagging incident with Gatting on the second day of the test in December, 1987 that eventually marred relations between the two countries and attracted the involvement of the foreign office. The row happened after Shakoor stopped play, saying Gatting had moved his fielders during the bowler’s run-up without informing the batsmen. Shakoor said Gatting had used abusive language while the former England skipper accused the umpire of calling him a cheat. Shakoor refused to resume play until Gatting apologised. The third day’s play was lost as the tension rose between the two countries and there was talk of the series being cancelled. The test resumed only after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) ordered Gatting to write an apology to the umpire. England did not tour Pakistan again until 2000. “My father used to get a lot of letters from the United Kingdom from people supporting him for his brave stand,” Mansoor said. “But he regretted the incident having taken place although he said he had to take a stand for the sake of cricket. He also feared that because of the incident our careers would be affected.” Both Mansoor and his brother Maqsood played internationals for Pakistan and the former is now a batting coach at the Pakistan board’s national cricket academy. “Our father called us up on the night of the incident and asked us if we felt he had taken the right stand. We told him do what you feel is right,” Mansoor recalled. “He was upset the incident would leave a mark on our careers and the sport.” In 2006, the two sides ran into further controversy when Pakistan forfeited the fourth test at the Oval after umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove penalised the Pakistani team for allegedly tampering with the ball. The ball-tampering charge was later dismissed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) but the incident ended Australian Hair’s international career and led to captain Inzamam-ul-Haq being banned for four matches. Pakistan have agreed to waive their fee from one of the two Twenty20 matches on the coming tour to compensate the ECB for the early finish of the 2006 test. Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed told Reuters he was not expecting any problems in the series, which also includes four tests. “We have a lot of support in England and I have managed teams here twice before, so we just want to focus on our cricket,” he said.
Passenger List of ABQ-202
The following are the names of the passengers who were on board the flight.
Aussie press rue India tour
SYDNEY: Australia face a less than ideal preparation for this year’s home Ashes series with a two-Test series on unhelpful pitches in India, the Australian press said on Monday. Coming off their first defeat in 15 years to Pakistan in Leeds on Saturday, the next stage of Australia’s Ashes build-up is two Tests in India. “The pitches (in India) are about as far from a Gabba greentop or a bouncy Perth pitch as you can get,” the Daily Telegraph said. Australian captain Ricky Ponting has conceded that playing Tests in Mohali and Bangalore in October is hardly ideal preparation for the first Test against England at Brisbane’s Gabba on November 25, it said. The newspaper said “pancake-flat” Indian pitches were probably the worst place to try to recalibrate misfiring spearhead Mitchell Johnson, who returned a woeful bowling average of 72 in the two Tests against Pakistan in England. The Telegraph said that with England arriving early in Australia to play three warm-up games before the first Test, Ponting’s men could get caught with their pants down. The Australian newspaper said the road to reclaiming the Ashes against England appeared steeper than ever following the Test loss to Pakistan. “The Australia captain insisted that the three-wicket loss to Pakistan had not dented his side’s confidence but he could not hide his disappointment with both the batting and bowling during a sub-standard six-week tour of England and Ireland,” it said. “It exposed serious Australian weaknesses and Ricky Ponting said that playing on dry and flat Indian pitches would be a poor tune-up for the five-Test series on harder Australian surfaces, and it could force the selectors to field players who are not in their preferred Ashes XI.”
McCullum wants opening role in Tests
WELLINGTON: Brendon McCullum wants to open the batting in cricket Tests for New Zealand after deciding this year to quit his wicket-keeping role. McCullum, who will have to win his place in the team as a specialist batsman after making the decision to give up the gloves, thinks he would provide New Zealand with an aggressive opening option. He pointed to Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dislan and Matthew Hayden as examples of current Test openers who played a style similar to his own. “I wouldn’t play conventionally. There’s a lot of aggressive Test openers around now. It’s probably something we haven’t really looked at,” McCullum told New Zealand media on Friday. “I’m not saying it’s going to work, but I’m going to give it everything I’ve got to try and make it work.” New Zealand have struggled for many years to find a settled and productive opening partnership and McCullum, who has averaged 34.90 in 52 Tests, is seen to offer the national selectors a new option. He is thought likely to bat at No. 3 in the order initially but might move to the top of the order if problems persist with the opening partnership. “One, two or three are probably the same. I don’t mind where,” McCullum said. “It won’t be the stock-standard blunt the ball at the top of the order. “I’ve got to stick to my strengths and if we’re totally honest it probably hasn’t worked in the past, the way we’ve been playing. Why not try something different?” McCullum realizes that his decision to give up the wicket-keeping role meant he was no longer an automatic selection. “It’s gutsy. You go from being a dead ‘cert’ in the team to now not knowing whether you’ll get selected,” he said. “It makes it tough but I’m up for the challenge.” McCullum will not be the first wicketkeeper who has also been a Test opener. West Indian Clyde Walcott opened the innings in his first Test match against England in 1948. Alec Stewart did so in Tests for England, Wayne Phillips for Australia, Romesh Kaluwitharana for Sri Lanka, Andy Flower for Zimbabwe and Adam Parore, briefly, for New Zealand. Adam Gilchrist for Australia, Kumar Sangakkara for Sri Lanka and Kamran Akmal for Pakistan have done so in the limited-overs format.
Magnificent Murali draws curtains on unprecedented career
LONDON: Prodigious spin propelled by an abnormally strong wrist and an iron resolve forged in bitter acrimony over his unique action took Muttiah Muralitharan to unprecedented heights in world cricket. Muralitharan, 38, took his 800th Test wicket with his final ball in 133 Tests on Thursday. With Twenty20 cricket cutting increasingly into the Test programme it is a mark that is unlikely ever to be exceeded. Muralitharan, son of a confectioner from Kandy and a member of the embattled Tamil minority, believes his best Test figures 16 for 220 at the Oval in 1999 remain his career highlight. The one-off Test against an England side who had just beaten South Africa in a series was an unforgettable snapshot of his wondrous powers of flight and spin and the parallel emergence of Sri Lanka as a world force. An hour before play began on a sunlit final morning, Muralitharan warmed up in the middle under the guidance of his impressive captain Arjuna Ranatunga. By late afternoon, Ranatunga, Muralitharan and their team mates were celebrating a 10-wicket victory. Only a run-out denied Muralitharan all the England second innings wickets. “It was a mental trial beyond comparison,” wrote one of the England openers Steven James recently. “There was no physical threat, just an unremitting battle against a bowler of supreme accuracy and stamina, with pace and degrees of turn being varied almost imperceptibly.” Muralitharan’s triumph followed an oblique but unmistakable message from England coach David Lloyd on the previous evening. “I have my opinions that I have made known to the authorities,” Lloyd said. NO-BALL FURORE Lloyd’s remarks were triggered by Muralitharan’s standard delivery, which at first glance appears to break the fundamental rule of bowling, namely the obligation to deliver the ball without bending and then straightening the arm. Australian Darrell Hair no-balled the Sri Lankan seven times for throwing in the 1995 Melbourne Test. Ten days later, Muralitharan was no-balled repeatedly by Roy Emerson in a one-day international. In January, 1999, Emerson called him again in Adelaide. Muralitharan, taunted by the Australian crowds whenever he took the ball, announced he would never tour Australia again and seriously contemplated retirement. He decided instead to fight back with the support of the Sri Lankan board and his career was rescued by the International Cricket Board (ICC). Extensive tests concluded that Muralitharan’s action “created the optical illusion of throwing”. After the controversy continued to rumble, further tests revealed that all contemporary bowlers, and therefore logically all bowlers before them, flexed their elbows to some extent. A maximum allowance of 15 degrees for both pace and spin bowlers was agreed. Because of an elbow deformity, Muralitharan’s arm remains bent in delivery and does not straighten. A television experiment showed that even with his arm encased in a brace, Muralitharan could still spin the ball sharply both ways due to his powerful wrist and flexible right shoulder. EXEMPLARY REPRESENTATIVE Muralitharan made his debut against Australia in 1992, immediately bringing a cutting edge to a side that abounded in attractive, prolific batsmen but struggled to dismiss sides twice. He played an essential role in Sri Lanka’s exhilarating run to the 1996 one-day World Cup and enjoyed consistent success in both forms of the game before his body finally rebelled against a relentless workload. Muralitharan’s 16 wickets at the 1999 Oval Test gave him 200 wickets in 42 Tests, the same figure as his great contemporary and rival Shane Warne, who went on to become the first man to amass 700 wickets. The pair were to dominate world cricket for the best part of a decade and, although the extrovert Australian was to become one of the Wisden almanac’s five cricketers of the 20th century, Muralitharan’s fiercely devoted supporters believe he was the superior bowler. A convincing case can be mounted for either man but the essential difference is style rather than effect. Warne was a classicist, the best in a continuing line of Australian leg-spinners stretching from Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly and including Richie Benaud. Muralitheran is a romantic, a man who brought something completely new to his sport by bowling fierce off-spin with his wrist rather than the standard gentler version flicked off the index finger. He became a complete bowler by adding the ‘doosra’, the delivery which spins away from the right-hander, allied to a top-spinner which both bounced and hurried on to the batsman. The result is a man who can dip the ball wickedly in the air and whip it both ways off the pitch and who at his peak was close to unplayable. In a country split by sectarian strife, he has also been an exemplary representative of the Tamil people. “He has taken much from the game of cricket, but he has given back so much to our society,” his current captain Kumar Sangakkara said.