The Sipra Special steams off the yards, rested and refurbished and steams on rails of sheer disgust and dismay. Much that it wanted to call on stations of triumph and merit, it hoots and toots ports of call where merit was a poor second to unwarranted patronage and where due, virtue and goodness were sacrificed at the altar of `connections'. Much that Sipra Special wanted to leave behind stations, aglow with knowledge that there is nothing better then truth, it calls on and steams off ports where all that is passed over due unwarranted favouritism and as unwarranted succumbing to pressures of seniority and `wearing-the-same' uniform.

The station Sipra Special calls on is the port manned by an `analyst', supposedly a person of profound knowledge of cricket, cricketers and one with an ability to assess the best of the opponents and to educate the errant of the team to overcome and tame those skills of penetrating bowling and free-flowing stroke-making. But, alas. Such has been an appointment of one that it singes that appointee with the steam and ire of Sipra Special.

Sipra Special has always been of the opinion that powers-that-be in Pakistan cricket should always pay heed to merit and be guided by their conscience. Unfortunately with so many good decisions taken by the current board, this appointment of an analyst mars its record.

The discipline of cricket is a game of chance, yet skill, technique and temperament matter in it. Coaching helps one hone up given talents, and experience in testing or demanding situations further adds to a batsman and bowlers natural gift. An analyst here also comes handy if he is well versed in the game and reflects a proven record of `noting', pointing out, and redressing the shortcomings of the errant in this game, where the most gifted can get out first ball and the least recognised can take wickets and score runs against the best. Thus an analyst has to be one with both an eye for skills of the opponents as well as the shortcomings of his team and able to force a change of attitude in the team's batsmen and bowlers after a poor showing in one game before the next takes place.

Not only that; the appointee has to a person of unequalled ability as an exponent of analysis, whose standards of effort and communication is reciprocated through his `wards', both seniors and juniors. Nothing is so infectious as example, and the analyst has to be one who can so inculcate this in those he is supposed to help avoid the mistakes recorded earlier.

But what do we have in the current appointee; a medical education, a supposedly 1st-class cricketers tag and the most commanding recommendation, of being an ex-general's son.

Sipra Special concedes it is not in position to force a choice on people who matter in Pakistan cricket, yet it feels well within its rights to so pen down a portrayal whereby the powers-that-be in Pakistan get educated enough to make a right choice. The need of the hour for Pakistan cricket is a person who believes duty determines destiny; and duty is divine law. The current choice, unfortunately, falls short of all these measures and yardsticks. Moreover, with the calibre of coach Javed Miandad around too, what good can a patronised analyst do for a team beset with lack of confidence and temperament, on a demanding tour?

Sipra Special feels that were there a genuine analyst of the game, he would have counseled the bowlers to bowl to a particular spot, sacrificing speed to line and length and advised the batsmen to avoid playing certain strokes that do net runs at times but mostly cause the loss of a wicket. The analyst should have been able to convince the players to control the tempo of an innings and be able to reflect discretion under pressure and not fall prey to flamboyance. If the followers of Pakistan cricket can note that certain Pakistani batsmen generally get out playing a `favourite' stroke', or that a bowler gives unwarranted width to the other teams batsmen, would it not have been possible for the appointed analyst to so point out to the errant team members?

Sipra Special wants to be on record that it is not the humiliating defeat at Christchurch that has prompted this write-up. Pakistan team is not all that `invincible' and it is not that every time it takes the field it should win. Yet Sipra Special feels that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well, and that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Pakistan at Christchurch was both directionless and without enthusiasm. For such a state to have surfaced, all are to blame; the patronized analyst, the egotist coach, the wavering captain, the directionless bowlers and the spineless batsmen. Yet Sipra Special feels that powers-that-be in Pakistan cricket are equally guilty in this sad state of affairs. PCB has stumbled more than once in nominating managers and coaches for the teams, yet this time through such unwarranted appointment, it has gone a step too far.

Sipra Special is well aware of the services rendered by the senior players of the team and their performances speak for themselves. Sipra Special, nevertheless, feels that its high time serious evaluation of some touted players is done forthwith and replacements inducted. But this can only happen if the PCB is able to differentiate between a right and a claim; the right which is earned through deeds that shame the most biased and a claim that forces a selection on mere reputation.

The recent upset results in the ongoing Patron's Trophy matches have more than endorsed the `rise of the future' stars; let PCB be also in step with the times and be bold enough to raise a team for the `future'. Chances are Pakistan may still win the current ODI series and the forthcoming Test matches, yet it is the future that beckons one and all and the future certainly is not reflected in the current selection, the analyst included.

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