Y khan & A kamal thoughts on s jones injury

KARACHI: Two of Pakistan’s most consistent batsmen in the last nine months have said the absence of England fast bowler Simon Jones will make a difference to the outcome of the forthcoming series between the two countries.

Jones has been ruled out of the Pakistan tour with an ankle injury and Pakistan’s vice-captain Younis Khan and middle-order batsman Asim Kamal had no doubt Jones’s forced withdrawal would give breathing space to the home batsmen.

"Overall, England have a very good pace attack but Jones was their best bowler in the recent Ashes series as he has learnt to reverse swing the old ball at good pace and that makes it difficult to face him at all times," said Younis. "I watched him bowl in England and his ability to swing the ball reverse; his pace is supplemented by his neat action. He was the one who caused the Australians the most problems with key wickets at crucial moments," he added.

Jones was England’s leading bowler with 18 wickets at 21 apiece and had the best strike rate of taking wickets in four Ashes Tests. He missed the last Ashes Test at The Oval because of his ankle injury. The English selectors had named him in the touring squad for Pakistan, hoping that he would make a timely recovery from his injury but earlier this week it was confirmed that he was ruled out of the series the first Test of which will be played in Multan from November 12.

The England team arrive in Pakistan on October 26 to play three Tests and five One-day Internationals.

Younis, who has scored three Test hundreds this year —including a double century in Bangalore against India in March, said England would feel Jones’s absence although their other bowlers were also in good form. "But Jones was a crucial part of their attack with the old ball," he noted.

Asim Kamal, the left-hander also supported Younis’s views but felt that the pressure would be on the English bowlers to adjust to the different climatic and pitch conditions in Pakistan. "The conditions will be very different from England and that’s a plus point for us. But they’ve a quality attack and the injury to Jones is good for us," he said.

The left-hander, who has a penchant for scoring a half-century in nearly every Test, said that Jones and other English bowlers bowled to a good line and length and could reverse swing the ball which was a big advantage on the rough pitches of Pakistan.

However, he and Younis both felt that a key element of the series would also be how the openers coped against the new ball.

"Matthew Hoggard never allowed the Australian openers to settle down and took wickets with the new ball because he has the ability of disguising his straight ball while swinging the new ball both ways and our openers will have to be aware of this," Kamal noted.

The Pakistani batsmen did feel that Pakistan also had an equally good pace attack that could pose trouble for the touring batsmen.

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younis and asim will both have to bat very well in this series alongside inzi and moyo if pakistan are to compete in the series. I hope both batsmen are mentally prepared for this series.

England in Pakistan, 2005-06

England will miss Jones - Younis

Cricinfo staff

October 8, 2005


http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/inl...16974.jpg?alt=1
England will miss their reverse swing specialist © Getty Images




Younis Khan, the Pakistan vice-captain, believes the absence of Simon Jones could prove crucial to the outcome of the series against England.

Jones was finally ruled out of the tour earlier this week with an ankle injury sustained during the Ashes series, an injury which also caused him to miss the final Test at The Oval.

Younis highlighted Jones as the danger man in England's impressive four-man pace attack. "Overall, England have a very good pace attack but Jones was their best bowler in the Ashes series as he has learnt to reverse swing the old ball at good pace and that makes it difficult to face him at all times. I watched him bowl in England and his ability to reverse and his pace is supplemented by a neat action. He was the one who caused the Australians the most problems."

Asim Kamal, who has played 11 Tests for Pakistan, also agreed that Jones's absence could be decisive but said that England's attack might struggle to adjust to conditions in Pakistan.

Jones took 18 wickets in the Ashes at 21 apiece, but it was his low strike rate - at 34 it was better than any bowler on either side - and an uncanny ability to conjure wickets at pivotal moments that stood out. "He took wickets at crucial moments and was a crucial part of their attack with the old ball," Younis added.

Younis, who along with Inzamam-ul-Haq has been one of Pakistan's most consistent batsmen over the past year, is expected to play a key role throughout the series. Since his recall to the national team in November 2004 against Sri Lanka at Karachi, Younis has been irrepressible.

He celebrated his recall with a century in that Test and has scored 1085 runs at 63.82 in nine matches in that period. The run has encompassed four centuries in all, including a monumental 267 at Bangalore that enabled Pakistan to level the series against India.

Kamal too has been an unqualified batting success. He has quietly compiled eight fifties since his advent in the side and added considerable depth to the middle-order. On the English fast bowlers he said, "The conditions will be very different from England and that's a plus point for us. But they've got a quality attack and the injury to Jones is good for us."

Kamal also drew attention to Matthew Hoggard, one of the less celebrated members of the pace quartet. "Matthew Hoggard never allowed the Australian openers to settle down and took wickets with the new ball because he has the ability of disguising his straight ball while swinging the new ball both ways. Our openers will have to be aware of this."

Meanwhile, Peter Moores, National Academy director, warned England that they will underestimate Rana Naved-ul-Hasan at their peril. Rana played under Moores at Sussex this year, helping them to third place in the top division.

Moores, who recently left Hove to take up the Academy post, told BBC, "He is very skilful. But as well as that, he has the same passion and enthusiasm to play as an 18-year-old. He has no fear of failure or inhibitions."

Rana has taken 55 wickets in 31 ODIs but in his five Tests since his debut last year he has managed only eight expensive wickets.

Moores added, "He bowls at 85mph or above; he swings it away with the new ball and reverses it with the older ball; then he has at least three different slower balls. He also has very good disguise of reverse swing, manoeuvring the ball in his fingers - very clever.

"There is no guarantee he is going to get in the Pakistan side yet, but I would be amazed if they didn't pick him. I think he will do well in Test match cricket. He asks a lot of questions of batsmen and he is not scared of hard work either."

© Cricinfo

another thread on this subject

you know what i find really hypocritical? its people who always defend their

arguments by statistics (ie. sami is a bad bowler), jones is a good bowler, but as a matter of fact, his stats are not that good domestically and used to be totally rubbish before the ashes.:

class mat balls runs wkts bbi bbm ave econ sr 4 5 10
List A 21 951 816 16 3/19 3/19 51.00 5.14 59.43 0 0 0

so then we come across to sami, and look, WOW he much be really bad but

infact he is a bowler improving all the time.. its a pity stats dont show things

what really need to be shown AT TIMES

please dont compare a decent bowler in s jones and a crappy one in sami. how many times has sami performed for pakistan?

twice! both times against the mighty new zealand (A team most pakistan fast bowlers have run thru for fun down the years)

simon jones showed shown more than twice hes a match winner and has turned a match on its head with his performances. sami has not improved at all.. we still get the usual running up, grunting one good ball followed by 5 crap ones...!

Pcb shud cut their losses with sami and concentrate on investing time and effort in sumone like umar gul.

Will Kamal get a place in the final XI, as Bari has already indicated Pak will play 5 bowlers, and Afridi most likely to be the fifth?