Can Sami do it? (merged)

[Farhad]

Well, not expecting any fifers here, but whether he can become the first specialist bowler ever in entire Test history to average 50? He's on 48.5 coming into this Test.

Way to go, Karachi Express!!

Don't want to entertain talk of him being unlucky or whatever.....you get on with the game and to take the former recourse is not convincing at all. His average is not even mediocre - it is DIABOLICAL, shambolic, abysmal...... and that can mean just one thing - he is USELESS, a tried and tested failure.

We had Shahid Nazir drafted in for this tour...wonder how much more dross does Sami need to deliver before Karachi Express can be shown the door?

[Daoud]

Well it is an achievement and fans of every team apart from NZL will really thank us for what we've done

[Farhad]

The term "Karachi Express" I heard on Geo, and could not help laughing at the pathetic analogy. Akhtar, officially 31 is a prince amongst world pacers and this dross-serving sifaarshee Sami is not even fit to tie Shoaib's boot-laces.

[ammarz]

50 average our opening batsmen would dream off. oh i forgot its bowling average never mind
Go SAMI GO!!!you can do it

[Nauman]

Come on Sami we know you have it in you to achieve this, this will be a record which shall never be broken.

[Waqar's inswinging yorker]

Originally Posted by Nauman Come on Sami we know you have it in you to achieve this, this will be a record which shall never be broken.

getting more than ridiculous now, he is opening the bowling for pakistan, why cant we just cheer him on during the match, leave selectorial issues for after the match. We are in a large hole right now, we need something from sami to help us here

[shikari]

No Sami cannot do it

neither can GUl, Razzaq, Afridi and Kaneri

our bowling attacks lacks some firepower


we dont have wicket taking bowler in our lineup

Granted Kaneria takes more wickets but he has to bowl 50 + overs to do that
This will be a tough match to survive....with pathetic batting display



Drop Sami please

[cricket_crazy]

Sami has always disappointed us and will disappoint this time as well...

[iZeeshan]

He picked up a wicekt for 38 runs, thus, its not possible.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

must be deja vu for shahid nazir after he was so laughably omitted in australia.

[infamous9383]

hey guys stop bashing sami so much after all he has the longest over in odis against the aussie feared bangladesh

[Amoeba]

Bowled well today - so maybe the bashers will have their day in the sun tomorrow.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

he hardly bowled well yaar
he was well down on pace and lacked the cutting edge one expects from the spearhead of a Pakistani attack.

[Amoeba]

He bowled tidily, not much loose stuff, got a wicket and had a difficult chance dropped by Beavis the Teflon man. Given how much practice he gives to the slips when he bats you'd imgaine he might be able to see the odd one now and again. Anyway that is probably a different thread.

Back to Sami - he lacked the cutting edge of a spearhead but he still bowled well. This wasn't a mindless display that annoys so many here.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

i see what ur saying but the only reason he is picked is because he is meant to be fast!!!

[Kamranz]

Can sami do it?

Answer: No! He's lost the peace and no point including him.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

then he can break the 50 barrier!

[Amoeba]

Yes but with only 119 runs on the board I don't think he really was given licence to go all out and merely bowl as fast as he could. In a way it helped as he was much more accurate. He is a fast bowler and in the long term he needs to work on this. However given today's situation it was more a case of not giving any easy runs away.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

well i think the less runs u have the more attacking you should be because u cant afford to scratch around - u need to go for it!

[Amoeba]

Yes - but only if you have the armoury! Sami is our 4 / 5 choice seamer. The equivalent of Plunklett or Mahmood. If he gone out to bowl fast he would have probably, as usual, sprayed it around going at 5rpo. England would have got away and we would have really been in the brown stuff. As it was Gul was costly and Kaneria / Afridi ineffectual and weren't able to chip away once Abdul Razzaq and Sami came off.

Unfortunate as it may be for his detractors here and supporters / Neutrals (of which I'm one) Sami was definately our best bowler.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

i actually thought kaneria was the best bowler.

[Amoeba]

Much more is expected of Kaneria - especially on a wicket where Monty just took three wickets. He bowled well but from what I saw (missed about 30 mins after tea) he didn't really pose too great a threat to the batsman - more to Faisal!

[Abdul Qadir 236]

[Easa]

Sami has turned into a medium pacer.

He struggles to reach 90 MPH these days.

[cinderella]

From the performance today: no
He was bowling all in 80 mph range.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

well they have even more faith in him than fletcher does in gojo so i can see 50 being broken!
sami fans are clutching at straws to justify his place.

[asifp]

Originally Posted by AmitMishra bowls wrongun must be deja vu for shahid nazir after he was so laughably omitted in australia.

I thought he had done enough by performing well in the side games and taking wickets, Bob and Inzi just refuse to replace Sami when on tour. Even is Nazir took a 10wkt hall in the side match he would still be carrying water.

[Amjid Javed]

This is sumat il back sami to do and sucseed in!

[tradecars]

this must be the weakest pak bowling attack for a very long time shame on the selectors for having faith in sami and gul.
razaq is an allrounder so he is only really expected to take a wicket or two.
afridi another so called allrounder dont make me laugh
danish will get wickets if we get a chance to bowl england in the second innings

its about time we changed the selectors

[Amoeba]

Faisal did ok in the last test and the previous one which was more than can be said for Beavis & Butt 0 (sorry Butthead). The managment liked his fighting qualities. Kamran shouldn't have opened but maybe that's the result of Afridi throwing a strop again!

Sami should have been rested after the Lords display but in the end he was our best seamer if not bowler overall today.

[Saj]

Stick to cricket folks. Leave out the disgraceful comments about family connections.

[MIG]

Originally Posted by shikari No Sami cannot do it neither can GUl, Razzaq, Afridi and Kaneri our bowling attacks lacks some firepower we dont have wicket taking bowler in our lineup Granted Kaneria takes more wickets but he has to bowl 50 + overs to do thatThis will be a tough match to survive....with pathetic batting display Drop Sami please

Extremely odd conclusion to your argument !!

[ShowStopper]

They say enough is enough...................

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/colu...ry/254771.html

After going through above I say Sami is more than enough. Send him to Exil Islands.

[ex-opener]

Originally Posted by ShowStopper They say enough is enough................... http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/colu...ry/254771.html After going through above I say Sami is more than enough. Send him to Exil Islands.

He is in this test match so please give him a chance to his credit he has bowled a little bit better (13 overs got 1 - 36). to his credit he did entice an edge from strauss in the very first over but as per usual slips put it down
all day yesterday my guts were tearing me apart from watching a dismal performance from my beloved countrymen. today inshallah things can only get better PAKISTAN ZINDABAD

[Hashim]

You guyz are pathetic and I don't know how some of you claim you are Pakistani fans! Why you giving Sami so much grief and cracking jokes, he was the best bowler yeserday and he picked up the wicket of Trescothick we know if he would have stayed kin that Rami would have scored big-time, and Sami could have got Stauss out first over but drop catch! I am not saying that he was bowling world-class excellent standard, but he bowled well and tdy. He tried hard and he done something, i just REALLY hope he ignores Woolmer or who ever is teling him to cut down his pace, takes a long run-up and bowls 90mph plus like he normally does and really attacks England, we have Gul and Razzaq to bowl Medium so why Sami as well. he should be the strike bowler and do what he does best, bowl fast!

[ammir]

Sami was the best bowler yesterday. It is the best I have seen him bowl for a long time. He should take that attitude into today hopefully.

[Has]

Cut the guy some slack, I dont think the guy is good enough, but I wouldent celebrate his faliure, and he did bowl well yesterday so back off.

[MIG]

Thats right - I am just listening to the comms and looking at his figures - well done to Sami - not bad!

[Oxy]

Its about agenda's - you dont like a player, you want him to fail...simple.

I'm no Sami fan - but when he steps on to thepitch - I'm behind him 100%.

And by all accounts - he had a good bowl yesterday without much luck.

[Farhad]

I guess maybe he was the best bowler today as well then. Exactly how many times in the recent past have you seen him pick a couple of wickets in an innings? 2 for 80-odd? Amazing stuff - he is improving.

Quite a joke to be defending a so-called specialist bowler who is on the verge of averaging 50.

[asifp]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/colu...ry/254771.html

The Friday column
The travails of Mohammad Sami
S Rajesh
July 28, 2006

Five years ago he was touted as Pakistan's next big fast-bowling hope, but since then it's been one steady downward slide. At Lord's in the first Test against England last week, Mohammad Sami's stock went down even further, when he leaked 139 runs from 34 overs, and had only one wicket to show for his efforts. It was the seventh time in his fledging 26-Test career that Sami had gone past the century mark at the bowling crease with a wicket or less as his reward. Contrast that with his match haul of 8 for 106 in his debut Test - a performance which won him the Man-of-the-Match award - and it gives you an idea of just how far he has slipped.

Sami's latest debacle at Lord's means that he is fast hurtling towards a landmark which cherished by a batsman, but isn't such an encouraging sign for a bowler - an average of 50. If Sami gives away 96 more runs without taking a wicket in the Old Trafford Test - or gives away an additional 50 runs for every wicket he takes - he will break the 50 barrier. That he continues to be part of Pakistan's Test match set-up is an indication of just how highly he is still rated, or just how threadbare Pakistan's bowling cupboard is after injuries to many of their frontline bowlers.

Over the years, Sami's career has progressed along very similar lines to another wiry fast-bowling talent from whom much was expected. Ajit Agarkar has played in exactly as many Tests as Sami, taken eight fewer wickets, and averages only marginally lower. There are more similarities too - both have a strike rate of exactly 83.7 deliveries per wicket, and while Sami's best Test figures read 8 for 106 (against New Zealand on his debut), Agarkar's is 8 for 160, against Australia at Adelaide in 2003-04.

The table below lists the fast bowlers who have the worst averages after playing at least 25 Tests and taking at least 50 wickets. The two names mentioned above figure on top of the list, and by quite some distance too - the next in the list, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, averages less than 42 per wicket. The table also excludes those who are primarily batsmen - Nathan Astle, Guy Whittall, Mudassar Nazar and Wally Hammond all make the cut according to the criteria, but none of them were in the team primarily for their bowling ability.


Worst averages for fast bowlers (at least 25 Tests, 50 wickets)
Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate
Mohammad Sami 26 66 48.54 83.7
Ajit Agarkar 26 58 47.32 83.7
Pramodya Wickramasinghe 40 85 41.87 85.4
Madan Lal 39 71 40.08 84.4
Bryan Strang 26 56 39.33 97.0
Mahmood Hussain 27 68 38.64 86.9
Henry Olonga 30 6 8 38.52 66.2
Martin Snedden 25 58 37.91 86.0
Lance Klusener 49 80 37.91 86.0
Chris Lewis 32 93 37.52 73.6

The problem for Pakistan and for Sami has been that Sami has shown little signs of improving - in fact, as the table below shows, his average has progressively worsened over each five-Test period. In his last six Tests, for example, Sami has managed 16 wickets at an exorbitant 51.63. Both of Sami's five-wicket hauls have come in New Zealand, against whom he averages 35; against the other teams the figure balloons up to 52.17. According to the ICC's Future Tours Program, Pakistan aren't supposed to go to New Zealand again till December 2010. If Sami doesn't deliver against some of the other teams in the interim, it's highly unlikely he will be on the plane to New Zealand in four years' time.

Sami - from bad to worse
After Test no. Wickets Average 5WI/ 10WM
5 14 40.50 1/ 0
10 26 44.23 1/ 0
15 39 46.94 2/ 0
20 53 47.84 2/ 0
26 66 48.54 2/ 0

[iZeeshan]

I read this article too on Crapinfo. He's really bad. But I've seen worse (i.e Micheal Lewis).

[Farhad]

Quite an achievement to return the worst bowling returns of all time.

[infamous9383]

lay off sami he has been bowling okay

[KB]

When he appeared on the scene he was being compared to Marshall, in style. Now he is being compared to Agarkar.

Sad to see unfulfilled potential.

[qasim722]

Micheal Lewis.........................The Scapegoat!

[asifp]

Well atleast he consistenly picks up like 12-13 wickets every 5 games.

[ammarz]

i was rooting for SAMI to break the 50 average barrier. Damn. i guess my prayers never get answered

[asifp]

Originally Posted by ammarz i was rooting for SAMI to break the 50 average barrier. Damn. i guess my prayers never get answered

Damn G Jones I guess

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by ammarz i was rooting for SAMI to break the 50 average barrier. Damn. i guess my prayers never get answered

I can never understand why Pak 'fans' want players to fail!

[Awesome Anjum]

Originally Posted by ammarz i was rooting for SAMI to break the 50 average barrier. Damn. i guess my prayers never get answered

I can understand if you don't want a player in the side, but to want them to fail...

[jackal786]

to reach his 50!! He started this series with 48 plus i believe. Now he is into his 49!!

[Pathan007]

i'm rooting for him that he'll get a 10for 2nd inning. btw if he gets it, he'll stay 10yrs wid Pakistan team. so he better pick up this bonus package.

[tanvy]

keep it up Jackal Bhai...the moment you find his roots, please destroy these as soon as possible. I will sponsor the pesticides.

[Lahoria]

With Shoaib and Asif coming back Sami is a just waiting for his time to come, this should really be the end of his test career. Looking back I would have to say that he is more overrated than an underachiever.

[tanvy]

What a relief it would be! In fact, PCB should change his name in its record books to Ajit Agarkar, and the day should be celebrated by pak fans all over the world as "end-of-great-depression-day".

[zMario]

Originally Posted by Lahoria With Shoaib and Asif coming back Sami is a just waiting for his time to come, this should really be the end of his test career. Looking back I would have to say that he is more overrated than an underachiever.

True!

[Asim2Good]

I m rooting for Sami to b up rooted from Pak team

[Salman_S]

Unfortunately yes this will be the end of Sami's career. I'll remember him as the bowling who just couldn't live up to the pressure of what people expected of him. With wasim and waqar gone, Pakistan were too hasty of expecting the same results of him.

Lets hope we don't do the same to M Asif and Gul and let them develop.

[Amjid Javed]

sami is up to 49.24 now now far to go now.

[jackal786]

Sometime back i saw a picture of Imran standing next to Sami advising him "Use your brain"! He emphasizes that point more and more. He is the least intelligent fast bowler around in the world.

[Abdul Qadir 236]

had sami got to 69 runs without a wicket hed have reached 50!
too late now.

[Adeel786]

Honestly...sami has bowled beautifully today. He looks more relaxed and confident.