A valiant effort

South Africa, needing a paltry 148 runs to win in the first of two test matches against Pakistan, were shell shocked by some top class swing and seam bowling by Mohammad Abbas. The medium-fast bowler grabbed amazing figures of 6 wickets for 56 runs and almost single-handedly won the match for Pakistan. Unfortunately, he had little support from his team mates, resulting in a narrow loss in the first test against South Africa. I would be glad to know why a bowler of Abbas’ class has been left out of the side for the past two years, despite his sterling performances. In my view he is a far better bowling option than either Shaheen Afridi or Naseem Shah, who are presently bowling below par.

Lastly, Shan Masood needs to improve his batting to earn his place in the side and his captaincy needs to be more imaginative. For example, in the recently concluded test match against South Africa, it was a mistake to bring on Aamer Jamal in the concluding overs. He might have done better by bringing in one of the spinners. This also leads one to ask why none of our leading spinners have been included in the side?

Kamal Hyat

Lahore