Pair will give it their all - PakPassion

Farah

PAIR WILL GIVE IT THEIR ALL

Heavyweight performers Andrew Flintoff and Shoaib Akhtar have extra motivation to deliver for their teams as the one-day series between England and Pakistan reaches a critical point in Rawalpindi.

Flintoff is promising England he can dig deep for two more important matches as the tourists bid to fight back from 2-1 down - after suffering their joint-heaviest defeat of all time in Karachi two days ago - to avoid ending a glorious 2005 on a significant downer.

Shoaib's resolve has been evident throughout Pakistan's 2-0 Test series victory over England and in the first three one-day fixtures.

But the 'Rawalpindi Express' is more determined than ever to come up with a starring role on his home ground - where, he admits, he has had little success so far for Pakistan.

If ever England needed Flintoff to come up with the goods it will be in Monday and Wednesday's remaining matches of what has been a tough tour.

Yet no-one could blame the all-rounder if he were to run out of steam after an arduous year of intense Ashes rivalry, Super Series hype, with another eight Test matches thrown in, not to mention his limited-overs assignments.

Flintoff is honest enough to admit he will need his rest between the end of this series and the start of England's next sub-Continental trip to India in February - but he is not about to down tools early for Christmas.

"These are two important matches. We are behind, and I've got two more performances in me; a maximum of 20 more overs, and then I can put my feet up for a while," he said.

"I'm looking forward to a break after Christmas - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But I've got two games left in me."

Flintoff will not allow his mind to wander yet - and he need only remember the experience of bowling to Pakistan's destructive hitters Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq in Karachi to know England's concentration must be intense if they are to make sure they do not get another mauling.

"When you've got the ball in your hand with people like Afridi and Razzaq in you can't think too much about tiredness, because if you're not quite in the right spot the ball will disappear," he said.

"We can't dwell on it too much; we've got to learn a few lessons from what happened the other day, in particular how we bowled at Afridi and then Razzaq too.

"We are somehow going to have to stop the way that their explosive players play."

While Flintoff and Co are trying to work out how to stop Pakistan's big-hitters, Shoaib is intent on finally giving his home crowd something to cheer.

"I've never done well on this ground. I can't remember ever having a five-for or four or anything," he said.

"I'd really love to put in a performance here."

Shoaib may be overdue success at the Pindi Stadium, but Pakistan can hardly complain about the returns they have had from him in both the Tests and one-dayers against England.

He believes he is a wiser bowler than in the early stages of his career - although it is abundantly clear from his efforts over the past six weeks that he is still one of the world's fastest bowlers and is showing no noticeable signs of slowing down yet.

"People say I'm getting old. I'm still bowling 95mph for the last 10 years, so I don't know where people get the idea from," said Shoaib, who is planning to stay in international cricket for the long haul.

"I'm just turned 30 this year, so I reckon I have another good three or four left in me and then I can leave cricket on my own terms."

In that time, if fitness allows, he is confident he can prove he has become a clever bowler as well as a fast one - although Shoaib concedes it has taken some time for his brain to catch up with his brawn.

The learning period came when fast-bowling Pakistan captains Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis retired, leaving him to have to think for himself rather than just carry out orders.

"I struggled without Wasim and Waqar. They were both there at mid-on and mid-off, and every ball I bowled I was told what to do," he remembers.

"I wasn't using my own brain. They left...I struggled. For a year I didn't know what to do, which ball to bowl.

"I'd been playing for Pakistan for five years but hadn't wanted to use my own brain, because they were always there."

Flintoff and his team-mates know to their cost, having struggled to pick Shoaib's cunning slower ball on this tour, that they are up against a wily operator these days.

"Finally I managed to pull myself towards being a thinking bowler.

"Now I think all the time about where Flintoff's weakness is, where (Kevin) Pietersen's is, how I should bowl at (Michael) Vaughan," Shoaib concluded.

Shoaib will not need to be concerned with Pietersen or Vaughan this week, because both are back in England nursing injuries.

Flintoff is mindful of their absences but undeterred as he targets one last surge for England.

"Yes, we're missing a couple of key figures. But we've still got a lot of depth and a lot of ability in the side," he points out.

"We've played some good stuff in one-day cricket; we've come from behind before. We just have to raise our game for two more important cricket matches."

Teams

England (from): M Trescothick (captain), M Prior, A Strauss, V Solanki, P Collingwood, A Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), I Blackwell, L Plunkett, J Anderson, S Harmison, I Bell, Kabir Ali.

Pakistan (from): K Akmal (wkt), S Butt, Y Khan, M Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), S Afridi, A Razzaq, S Malik, R Naved-ul-Hasan, S Akhtar, D Kaneria, M Sami, Y Arafat.

Umpires: R Koertzen (Rsa) and T Hill (Rsa)

Third umpire: A Rauf (Pkn)

Match referee: J Crowe (Nzl)

Mercenary

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farah

In that time, if fitness allows, he is confident he can prove he has become a clever bowler as well as a fast one - although Shoaib concedes it has taken some time for his brain to catch up with his brawn.

The learning period came when fast-bowling Pakistan captains Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis retired, leaving him to have to think for himself rather than just carry out orders.

"I struggled without Wasim and Waqar. They were both there at mid-on and mid-off, and every ball I bowled I was told what to do," he remembers.

"I wasn't using my own brain. They left...I struggled. For a year I didn't know what to do, which ball to bowl.

"I'd been playing for Pakistan for five years but hadn't wanted to use my own brain, because they were always there."

I remember when I started a thread about Akhtar missing the mentoring of the 2 W's and that he was lost out there without them but a lot of PPers said it was crazy talk!

Good to see Akhtar backing me up

However I think Akhtar has finally found his feet and is now ready to step into the role of a proper bowling spearhead. None of this could have been possible without this change in his attitude brought about by all the criticism and the exclusion from the team when he felt his place was guaranteed just by showing up to the stadium!!

Rob H