Friday, April 5, 2002 Few teams can afford to leave out a high-class bowler. Stuart MacGill would walk into any team in the world if he hadn't made the mistake of coming from the same country as Shane Warne. Even then you might argue that he should play as well. Quality bowlers are a rare commodity, simply because in our age of batsmen-friendly regulations they make the difference between success and failure. They are certainly not expendable. Yet Pakistan are trying to show that they are.

Next week New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are having another dust-up in Sharjah. This is a venue that turns New Zealand's medium-paced attack into sand, so the real question is which of Pakistan and Sri Lanka will have a spring in their step on the day of the final. Sri Lanka's advantage is that they have a clear idea of their best XI. Pakistan do not, which is incredible for a team that normally plays an amazing amount of cricket.

Pakistan's problems begin with their selectors, and continue until the team is named on match-day. A cohesive strategy is talked about but seldom implemented. Imran Khan is said to be the confidant of Lieutenant-General Tauqir Zia, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and in his day he picked his team of fighters and stuck with them. Last week, Imran advised the board to identify the 15 players for next year's World Cup and nurture them from here on. Amid mounting criticism of Pakistan's selection panel, which appears to make decisions on whims and fancies rather than logic and strategic planning, Tauqir Zia claimed that the Board knows who those players should be but did not feel the need to disclose their identities. Covert operations are best left to the military arena, and just create confusion in the maelstrom that seems to surround the Pakistan team.

The most glaring example is not the nonsensical decision to drop Faisal Iqbal in favour of players in less good form. Or the equally silly volte-face that finds him returning as a non-playing squad member. Instead, it is the case of one of Pakistan's premier players. Saqlain Mushtaq was dumped from last year's Lord's Test to make way for the half-fit Shoaib Akhtar. He was ditched from the Asian Test Championship final to find space for Shoaib Malik, who is half the spinner that Saqlain is. The Pakistan management also leave him out of one-day internationals when the mood takes them.

Saqlain Mushtaq is one of the best bowlers in world cricket - he made the top 40 in Wisden's guide to the world's best players that accompanies this year's Almanack. He is a matchwinner, and he will get better still. He could rise like Murali or be consigned to the shadow world that MacGill inhabits. This simple choice lies with the PCB, which is precisely the problem. If you can't back a player of Saqlain's ability, how will you ever choose 14 others?

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. More Kamran Abbasi
Ten years after
The unwelcome guest

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