da mrbet： Flair and natural talent takes you a long way. But neither will ever take you all the way if the basics of winning cricket are not already in place

da stake casino： Osman Samiuddin in Lahore18-Oct-2007

Shoaib Malik has pointed out too many times that his side hasn’t played a certain format for some time and so rustiness is to be expected © AFP
More often than not, quality will out, no matter what form cricket takes.Just before the Twenty20 World Cup, the freshness of the concept compelledmany to pull out the time-honoured maxim that a good player is a goodplayer is a good player no matter what the format or the environment. Itfollows then that a good team is a good team is a good team wherever orwhatever it plays. The better sides will move from one form to anotherwithout as much as a pause. The best will do it ruthlessly.The two sides who contested the final of that tournament – Pakistan andIndia – are just now discovering what it means to really be a good side, aside to compete in any situation. Two sides that didn’t do as well asexpected, but not as poorly as has been made out – South Africa andAustralia – have no such problems. Australia broke little sweat in puttingaside India in their recently-concluded ODI series and South Africa havethus far dominated Pakistan ten days of international cricket out of 11,over two formats.This was the third format both sides were playing in less than a month butonly Pakistan has looked disoriented. Shoaib Malik, the captain, haspointed out too many times for comfort that his side hasn’t played acertain format for some time and so rustiness is to be expected. WhenPakistan lost the Test series it was partly because they hadn’t played aTest since the start of the year. Today, he pointed out that Pakistanhadn’t played ODIs for some time.His counterpart Graeme Smith spoke of the need to switch their mindsets toTest cricket just the once, before the tour started. They last played aTest when Pakistan did and they last played an ODI not too long afterPakistan did; he has barely broached the topic since.Winning cricket is made up of simple truths that work across all forms. Ifyour top order fires, then life becomes easier. South Africa’s did so inthe Test series, in suitable fashion, taking time to build their innings.It did so here, in suitable fashion again. If an opener bats through, asHerschelle Gibbs nearly did with his 18th ODI hundred, then a sturdy basehas been set.If one of your middle-order contributes and you build a partnership, as ABde Villiers did with his third ODI hundred, then you give your bowlerssomething to bowl at. If your bowlers work in tandem, attacking at one endand restricting at the other, as Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock did, thenyou have all but won the game. Add a little discipline: South Africaconceded only six extras and not one until the 36th over. Flair and natural talent takes you a long way. A bit of fight, asPakistan’s lower half showed, will take you a little further. But neither will ever take you all the way if the basics of winning cricket are not already in place If you then back all this up with sharp fielding you have, as South Africahad today, the perfect game. Stripped to this degree, cricket is a simplegame and it is what South Africahave done through this tour, switching formats as smoothly as a politicianmight his colours because they haven’t lost sight of these truths.In contrast, Pakistan have struggled. At times they have looked confused.In Tests, they played in Twenty20 mode barring the last day of the seriesand their pacemen bowled not a yorker between them. Here, their top orderwas gone before the reply had properly begun, all in a manner thatsuggested that a new format – Ten10 – had emerged. Malik explained later,confusingly, that the plan was to stay at the wicket and bat through tothe end. But he excused away the top-order dismissals, saying batsmen hadto take chances. What then was the plan?Their bowling attack looked light again though they didn’t help themselvesby giving away 27 extras. Still Malik felt that their bowlers had donewell and that their fielders had also done well. No mention of the onetruth that is so palpable, that for much of the match, Pakistan justplayed poor cricket, precisely the opposite in every aspect of theiropponents.Flair and natural talent takes you a long way. A bit of fight, asPakistan’s lower half showed, will take you a little further and bothqualities ultimately put a more respectable gloss on a day they wereoutclassed. But neither will ever take you all the way if the basics ofwinning cricket are not already in place.