SonOfAPitch

To list a few:
1  Inzamam has told Paki press that he plans to retire from international cricket after the second test.  We all knew that the aging star batsmen was due a retirement announcement, but I always had my doubts about the timing of said announcements from players.  Personally, I would quietly finish a test series, and once completed announce my retirement.  You will never know how your announcement may affect team morale.  In  certain instances it may spur the troops on, but invariably you will have team mates pondering possible replacements, shifts in batting line-ups,  vice captaincy issues, just a whole lot of crap that could have been discussed after a test series.

2  We have someone fined an almighty amount of money for hitting one of his fellow players with a cricket bat.  Shoaib Akhtar decided during the course of the last two years that its a good idea to use performance enhancing drugs (personally I have no idea why people would do that, I took a puff of Transkei Rooibaard Seedless Zol once on the off chance that my friend could be right “you see the ball like a pumpkin maaaan!”  Needless to say I ended up with a broken finger …).   So dear Shoaib gets caught out and banned for a while.  Did this hamper his spirits?  Oh no!! Wait for it, wait for it…he arrives in SA for the 20/20 world cup and smacks a team mate in a little altercation in a net with a cricket bat!!  So the Paki cricket board, clearly displeased at the state of affairs, slaps him with a 13 match ban and a 57000 dollar fine.  That, my friends, is a hefty fine…let me tell you.  Where he goes from here is up to the gods, as I don’t see a comeback from this dude soon.  Another behind-the-scenes happening…

3  Salman But got himself a fine too. He went on record stating that the umpiring in 2nd test was bad.  He does not feel that Yousif was out “and that something like that affects the whole team”.  Salman? Do you realise that there is a code of conduct to adhere to?  Were you  not handed the little booklet with all the rules and regulations when you got the vice captaincy of Pakistan?  Would you now like some butter to spread on that foot before you stick it in your mouth again?  For the life of me I can not understand how any player these days still thinks he can get away with saying these things.  My personal belief is that freedom of speech allows you to say what you want, but surely a seasoned cricketer of Salman’s calliber should know better than to shoot his mouth off like that?  Surely he, of all people, should know that you get decisions like that! If Yousif had a thick edge to the keeper and he stood his ground because the umpire did not lift his finger, would Salman have gone on record in the same fashion then?  I seriously doubt that!