Monday 8 December 2008

The strange disappearance of Mohammed Yousuf

If Ricky Ponting went to play in the ICL, got lured back by Cricket Australia only to pull a late U-turn and go and play in it again, you'd imagine it would make a line or two in the British papers. Similarly, if it was Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith or - lord save us - KP, you'd be pretty sure it would merit some coverage.

But this is what has happened to Mohammed Yousuf, the man who, in 2006, made more Test match runs (1788) and scored more hundreds (nine) than anyone else ever has in a calendar year. 

To people in England who consume their cricket via the national press, on Sky television or BBC Radio FiveLive, Mohammed Yousuf - and Pakistani cricket - have simply slipped away. The correspondents of the broadsheets and the editors of the sports news and radio shows have, to all intents and purposes, ignored it. 

One of the better ideas floating around at the moment is that Pakistan play a 'home' Test in England. Enough of the Pakistani diaspora are here to ensure countrywide support. These fans are the same ones who will have seen nothing about the disappearance of Mohammed Yousuf in the national media of the country in which they live. 

That's the very media which is always wondering, via long, hand-wringing editorials, why these communities feel so alienated. Over to you then, Athers. No? Selv? Derek Pringle? Aggers? Anyone for a story..?


3 comments:

Unknown said...

It really is shocking that Pakistan can't use their best and brightest stars cause they play in the evil Indian T20 league instead of the quasi-evil Indian T20 league.

There's rumours that the PCB will stand up to the BCCI and just use their players, and why not? They're going broke anyway, no-one will play them at home cause their terrorists are apparently much worse than the Indian and English ones.

It really is a shame as when they're allowed to play, Pakistani cricket never fails to excite.

The Old Batsman said...

It's a scandal really. They've not played a Test for more than a year, so I can understand why the players want to make money elsewhere. The answer has to be for them to play outside of Pakistan, at least for a while.

Gaurav Sethi said...

trouble is even MoYo doesn't know where he's gone.