Star batsman Mohammad Yousuf will fly for Johannesburg in the next couple of days to join the Pakistan team ahead of the second Test against South Africa starting from January 17 in Port Elizabeth, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said on Friday.
Yousuf, who missed the opening Test under progress at Centurion after his pregnant wife developed some complications, is now set to leave for South Africa after his wife gave birth to a baby girl on Friday.
“He (Yousuf) has been under stress because of his wife’s condition but now everything seems alright and he will catch a flight to South Africa in the next few days,” said the PCB official.
Yousuf is a key member of Pakistan’s batting line-up and his record-breaking run-spree in 2006 makes him all the more important for the tourists against a strong South African attack in the three-match Test series.
The Lahore batsman made a record 1788 runs from 12 Tests last year and broke several records including the prized landmark of most runs in a calendar year previously held by West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards in 1976.
Yousuf, who performed Hajj last month, was supposed to join his teammates ahead of the first Test but had to stay home to be with his wife who was scheduled to undergo surgery either on January 12th or 19th.
It was decided that in case the surgery was performed on January 12, which it was, he would leave for South Africa on the 14th.
“We think that he (Yousuf) would leave on Sunday but it would only be confirmed tomorrow,” said the PCB official.
Yousuf’s absence from the line-up was felt by Pakistan in the opening Test when they suffered a sort of a middle-order collapse at Centurion where they got out for 313 in the first innings in spite of a record third-wicket stand between Younis Khan and Yasir Hameed.
Yousuf now seems set to play in the second Test in Port Elizabeth, a development that should come as a relief for Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Meanwhile, reports coming on the injuries of medium pacer Umar Gul and all-rounder Shoaib Malik also appear to be positive.
The PCB official said that it is expected that both the players should be fit within the next week or so.
Gul, Pakistan’s most successful bowler in the last six months, was forced to miss the opening Test because of an ankle injury.
Pakistan rushed fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to South Africa as Gul’s cover but he also missed the Centurion Test after failing to find a flight in time to reach South Africa.
Shoaib arrived in Johannesburg on Friday and straight away joined his teammates in the dressing room on the second day of the first Test. He is expected to feature in the second Test next week.
Showing posts with label Muhammad Yousuf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muhammad Yousuf. Show all posts
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Yousuf may miss entire South Africa Test series
KARACHI: Pakistan’s prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf has been ruled out of the first Test against South Africa starting at Centurion later this week and might miss the entire series.Yousuf, who scored a record 1788 runs in 2006, has informed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that he has to stay home with his wife who is expected to undergo surgery either on January 12th or 19th.
The PCB announced on Monday that Yousuf would certainly miss the first Test getting underway from Thursday but might make it for the remaining two matches.
“Yousuf had a meeting with the Board officials today and requested that he needs to be with his wife at the time of her surgery which is expected to take place either on the 12th or 19th of this month depending on her condition,” said the PCB announcement.
The statement added: “In case the surgery takes place on 12th, the star batsman will leave on 14th January to join the team in South Africa whereas he will leave on 21st January in case the surgery takes place on 19th”.
Yousuf did not accompany the touring party that left for South Africa last week as he went to perform Hajj last month. However, he was scheduled to join his teammates over the weekend but changed his plans after his wife developed some complications in her pregnancy.
A key member of the Pakistan team, Yousuf could be out of the entire series if he fails to reach South Africa in time to feature the second Test to be played in Port Elizabeth from January 19. The Pakistan team management would find it difficult to induct Yousuf in the line-up for the third Test in Cape Town without any match practice if the Lahore-based batsman misses the first two matches.
However, a PCB official said that chances are that Yousuf would play some role in the Test series against South Africa. After breaking several batting records in 2006 in which he scored nine Test centuries, Yousuf missed two One-day Internationals (ODIs) against the visiting West Indies in December because of his wife’s condition.
Pakistan won the ODI series 4-1 but would face major problems in the absence of their most in-form batsman against a strong South African team that recently won a Test series against India 2-1. They have suffered two more setbacks after all-rounder Shoaib Malik and medium-pacer Umar Gul received injury blows ahead of the opening Test against South Africa.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Yousuf likely to miss first Test
Pakistan's record-breaking batsman Mohammad Yousuf is likely to miss the first Test against South Africa because of his wife's illness."Yousuf has intimated to us that his wife has a complicated pregnancy," said Pakistan official Ehsan Malik.
"She is to be operated upon on 12 January. We are assuming he will miss the first Test."
The opening match of Pakistan's three-Test series against South Africa begins on Thursday at Centurion.
Yousuf, 32, passed Viv Richards' 30-year-old record of most runs in a year this season and also set a new mark of nine Test hundreds.
He scored 1,788 runs in 2006 from 19 innings at an average of 99.33.
Richards' record, which had stood since 1976, was 1,710 runs in 12 months.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Mohammad Yousuf:Is cricket really a game of faith?
Yousuf from an inconsistent extremely talented batsman has now become a symbol of pure faith, humility overturning the expressions, the impressions.
The religious confidence of Mohammad Yousuf is softly overwhelming the voices of opposition. With his reputation as Pakistan's best batsman on current form and consistency and the Inzamam-ul-Haq aura and era on the wane, it seems Yousuf is in place. Philosophically it has been a magisterial edifice, embodying style and deference, social stasis and self-confidence. He was born brilliant and his high quality strokes are natural in their natural place. Yousuf's cricket has risen to a level that he has started to dispense cricket to the populace for the good of the nation. He is not a mere batsman; he is much more than that.
In the last few months Yousuf has become an institution with an ideology, but not without resistance, not without casualties, and not without a host of uneasy compromises. Yousuf had come in the Pakistan team without going through the rigors of first-class cricket. He was popular, but there was little systemic competition. An air of festive exhibition hung about all his great innings in the first five years of his international career.
A couple of majestic one-day hundreds, a sedate double century against New Zealand in 2001 and flashes of brilliance in Zimbabwe in 2002-03 -- that's all. He was not an influence on results; his was individual brilliance. Yousuf was untouched. Now radically he has become a symbol of strength, endurance, capability and confidence.
A year ago, it looked as if run making for Yousuf was a jocular, picaresque pastime, an occasion to hit and, romanticism but not yet institutionalised. Yousuf didn't acquire his special place in the national culture through an uncontested progress of gradual evolution. He did so in reaction to an alien force thrown up by rapid religious change, a force that saw his shift from the swashbuckling impetuous easygoing batsman, remaking it in a new image. Yousuf's often disheartening lapses in concentration handicapped him of various kinds giving his batting a circus like ambience.
Yousuf's was a clear case. Men who met, big with their own importance, and proud of their first suit of little brief authority, if they found nothing to settle, found something to unsettle, so jaw, jar and discord were the order of the day. As to harmonising brisk 50s or 60s but there was a drastic transformation, Yousuf from an inconsistent extremely talented batsman has now become symbol of pure faith, humility overturning the expressions, the impressions.
He isn't bothered about power, stardom not eager to find something to unsettle, so no jaw, no jar and no discord is there in the order of his stroke play and batting. He has grown into a different being. Yousuf was once part of a different culture. It was not, truly speaking, the labour that was divided, but the men-divided into mere segments of men broken into small fragments and crumbs of life... the great cry that rose from all the cities in Pakistan, louder than their furnace blast, was all in very deed for this, they we were manufacturing everything there except men. Now Yousuf is a man; definitely yes.
Pakistan cricketers seem jaded. They might be overworked. Some of them may even be overpaid. One this is for certain, though: they're slowly and surely getting their charm back. The start of 2006 heralded another Mohammad Yousuf invasion, with nine hundreds in eleven Tests. Why Pakistan's former captain Yousuf took time to develop into one of the most consistent run getters in the country's cricketing history? Sloshing around the dusted pitches in Pakistan his batting had to offer some insights.
Yousuf's conversion to Islam from his original Christian belief and his easy run getting must not be a sheer coincidence. Nonetheless, there is a general perception that Yousuf is much tougher mentally and better, but much as we might like to think that that's true. One doesn't think it is.
It's just the way the wheel's turning at the moment. He has had a very successful year that was bound to happen in a career of such an enormously talented batsman. Now he is a much composed player with a surplus of quality strokes. He is peaking at a right time. Two years down the road, many may predict an end to his immensely high-quality career but the way he has been batting, he may well become even stronger.
Adorning the same stage as Inzamam-ul-Haq from the late 1990s into the mid 2000s is another favourite of the crowds, Mohammad Yousuf (formerly Yousuf Youhana), a right hander like Hendrix but in performance more like Jimmy Page's erstwhile Yardbird contemporary Eric Clapton: laid back, mellow and magnificent. No graffiti at Gaddafi Stadium heralded 'Yousuf is a sight for the gods', but from a summer day in Zimbabwe the passive looking Yousuf nonchalantly pulled his first ball of the innings for four. He gradually began to show his class. Not that he lacked technique but more often he could see himself deserting his talent, aborting many innings, playing contemptuous strokes or failing to bend adequately. It is simply that his batting transgressed technique in a way that Inzamam's, for example, rarely did.
Yet if Inzamam had played with Yousuf with freedom, and Yousuf has played with Inzamam's resolution, which of them, it is interesting to speculate, would appear at the top of Pakistan's run makers? When he went to England in early 2006, he was Pakistan's second best batsman after Inzamam. Inside three months, Yousuf has come of age dramatically. He has matured into one of the world's best contemporary batsmen. Yousuf has overhauled every batting record that seems to have existed apart from the highest individual score and a Sir Donald Bradman like batting average of nearly 100.00. Whereas Inzamam despite being one of the most complete batsmen to adorn the international stage and certainly Pakistan's best ever, he has been something of an enigma for Pakistan cricket throughout his career, Yousuf now in his later years has posed something of a conundrum.
Yousuf though coincidentally, since his conversion from Christianity to Islam, or changing his names from Yousuf Youhana to Mohammad Yousuf has become a natural; a free spirit who now in his prime has started to see the ball early and whose first instinct is to score from it.
A graceful style comes as easily to him as it did to Sir Garfield Sobers, but like all cricketers he has been a subject to technical problems which could not always be sorted out in the middle. However, a spellbinding double hundred at Lord's and another massive century at Headingley brought Yousuf to the world fame. His technique had improved and his defence near impeccable. It was evident, even genius required practice and full concentration.
Needing 47 runs to overhaul Sir Vivian Richards's record aggregate for one calendar year struck a delightful on-drive to go past the history-mark. He swiftly moved from 44 to 48 bettering Viv's 1710 runs in 1976. Richards had scored two double hundred a gritty 232 and his Test best of 291 at the Oval. One man who really came close to beat a thirty year old record was Ricky Ponting in 2005 when he ended the season with 1544 runs.
Yousuf's magical year started with a classy double hundred against England at home before adding two centuries against India. Failing in Sri Lanka, part of the team for just one Test, Yousuf began a rare sequence with 202 at Lord's against England. Two more hundreds were brought off in the remaining three Tests. At Headingley on a treacherous pitch he hit 192. Two 190s plus were scored in the recent series against the West Indies and two separate hundreds (century in each innings) of the last Test at Karachi's National Stadium.
Yousuf during this amazing spree had splintered records one too many. First with his century number one of the last Test he went past the record of seven hundreds each for a calendar year held jointly by Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Sir Vivian Richards. By scoring mustering five hundreds in five consecutive Tests he only became the third man in history to achieve the feat and then in the second innings of the Karachi Test he joined another select group, Jacques Kallis and Sir Donald Bradman (six centuries in six Tests). There was another record waiting as he drove past Zaheer Abbas's record aggregate for a three Test series of 583 runs (against India 1978-79). Phenomenal! Yousuf's faith and commitment to religion may have added that bit of confidence that was missing while he showed brilliance in patches. One mustn't attribute his conversion to Islam as the sole reason for his unprecedented success but there has been something about it.
Surely with growing faith, his mental attitude has changed, his commitment to a cause has become more prominent and he has started to believe in his own abilities. If someone has the tenacity to stand up and say that he his record has come on placid wickets at home, one would turn to them saying don't forget a double hundred, another individual century and a 190 plus in England in adverse conditions when PakistanÃs back was against the wall. And another message for people targeting Pakistan team's recent diversion to religious beliefs is that religion is a very personal thing; it only brings the best out of an individual.
It's a way of concentrating how one wants to run in the lane he has set for himself. Yousuf has proven the fact that batting is an art; it's about tranquility; it's about mental peace and composure not about mental aberrations and fluctuations as we see Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag and people like Imran Farhat aborting good starts.
Now comes another question to mind -- is Yousuf the best batsman in Pakistan's history? If he isn't the best, he is very close to people like Hanif Mohammad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
By dr.Nauman Niaz
The religious confidence of Mohammad Yousuf is softly overwhelming the voices of opposition. With his reputation as Pakistan's best batsman on current form and consistency and the Inzamam-ul-Haq aura and era on the wane, it seems Yousuf is in place. Philosophically it has been a magisterial edifice, embodying style and deference, social stasis and self-confidence. He was born brilliant and his high quality strokes are natural in their natural place. Yousuf's cricket has risen to a level that he has started to dispense cricket to the populace for the good of the nation. He is not a mere batsman; he is much more than that.
In the last few months Yousuf has become an institution with an ideology, but not without resistance, not without casualties, and not without a host of uneasy compromises. Yousuf had come in the Pakistan team without going through the rigors of first-class cricket. He was popular, but there was little systemic competition. An air of festive exhibition hung about all his great innings in the first five years of his international career.
A couple of majestic one-day hundreds, a sedate double century against New Zealand in 2001 and flashes of brilliance in Zimbabwe in 2002-03 -- that's all. He was not an influence on results; his was individual brilliance. Yousuf was untouched. Now radically he has become a symbol of strength, endurance, capability and confidence.
A year ago, it looked as if run making for Yousuf was a jocular, picaresque pastime, an occasion to hit and, romanticism but not yet institutionalised. Yousuf didn't acquire his special place in the national culture through an uncontested progress of gradual evolution. He did so in reaction to an alien force thrown up by rapid religious change, a force that saw his shift from the swashbuckling impetuous easygoing batsman, remaking it in a new image. Yousuf's often disheartening lapses in concentration handicapped him of various kinds giving his batting a circus like ambience.
Yousuf's was a clear case. Men who met, big with their own importance, and proud of their first suit of little brief authority, if they found nothing to settle, found something to unsettle, so jaw, jar and discord were the order of the day. As to harmonising brisk 50s or 60s but there was a drastic transformation, Yousuf from an inconsistent extremely talented batsman has now become symbol of pure faith, humility overturning the expressions, the impressions.
He isn't bothered about power, stardom not eager to find something to unsettle, so no jaw, no jar and no discord is there in the order of his stroke play and batting. He has grown into a different being. Yousuf was once part of a different culture. It was not, truly speaking, the labour that was divided, but the men-divided into mere segments of men broken into small fragments and crumbs of life... the great cry that rose from all the cities in Pakistan, louder than their furnace blast, was all in very deed for this, they we were manufacturing everything there except men. Now Yousuf is a man; definitely yes.
Pakistan cricketers seem jaded. They might be overworked. Some of them may even be overpaid. One this is for certain, though: they're slowly and surely getting their charm back. The start of 2006 heralded another Mohammad Yousuf invasion, with nine hundreds in eleven Tests. Why Pakistan's former captain Yousuf took time to develop into one of the most consistent run getters in the country's cricketing history? Sloshing around the dusted pitches in Pakistan his batting had to offer some insights.
Yousuf's conversion to Islam from his original Christian belief and his easy run getting must not be a sheer coincidence. Nonetheless, there is a general perception that Yousuf is much tougher mentally and better, but much as we might like to think that that's true. One doesn't think it is.
It's just the way the wheel's turning at the moment. He has had a very successful year that was bound to happen in a career of such an enormously talented batsman. Now he is a much composed player with a surplus of quality strokes. He is peaking at a right time. Two years down the road, many may predict an end to his immensely high-quality career but the way he has been batting, he may well become even stronger.
Adorning the same stage as Inzamam-ul-Haq from the late 1990s into the mid 2000s is another favourite of the crowds, Mohammad Yousuf (formerly Yousuf Youhana), a right hander like Hendrix but in performance more like Jimmy Page's erstwhile Yardbird contemporary Eric Clapton: laid back, mellow and magnificent. No graffiti at Gaddafi Stadium heralded 'Yousuf is a sight for the gods', but from a summer day in Zimbabwe the passive looking Yousuf nonchalantly pulled his first ball of the innings for four. He gradually began to show his class. Not that he lacked technique but more often he could see himself deserting his talent, aborting many innings, playing contemptuous strokes or failing to bend adequately. It is simply that his batting transgressed technique in a way that Inzamam's, for example, rarely did.
Yet if Inzamam had played with Yousuf with freedom, and Yousuf has played with Inzamam's resolution, which of them, it is interesting to speculate, would appear at the top of Pakistan's run makers? When he went to England in early 2006, he was Pakistan's second best batsman after Inzamam. Inside three months, Yousuf has come of age dramatically. He has matured into one of the world's best contemporary batsmen. Yousuf has overhauled every batting record that seems to have existed apart from the highest individual score and a Sir Donald Bradman like batting average of nearly 100.00. Whereas Inzamam despite being one of the most complete batsmen to adorn the international stage and certainly Pakistan's best ever, he has been something of an enigma for Pakistan cricket throughout his career, Yousuf now in his later years has posed something of a conundrum.
Yousuf though coincidentally, since his conversion from Christianity to Islam, or changing his names from Yousuf Youhana to Mohammad Yousuf has become a natural; a free spirit who now in his prime has started to see the ball early and whose first instinct is to score from it.
A graceful style comes as easily to him as it did to Sir Garfield Sobers, but like all cricketers he has been a subject to technical problems which could not always be sorted out in the middle. However, a spellbinding double hundred at Lord's and another massive century at Headingley brought Yousuf to the world fame. His technique had improved and his defence near impeccable. It was evident, even genius required practice and full concentration.
Needing 47 runs to overhaul Sir Vivian Richards's record aggregate for one calendar year struck a delightful on-drive to go past the history-mark. He swiftly moved from 44 to 48 bettering Viv's 1710 runs in 1976. Richards had scored two double hundred a gritty 232 and his Test best of 291 at the Oval. One man who really came close to beat a thirty year old record was Ricky Ponting in 2005 when he ended the season with 1544 runs.
Yousuf's magical year started with a classy double hundred against England at home before adding two centuries against India. Failing in Sri Lanka, part of the team for just one Test, Yousuf began a rare sequence with 202 at Lord's against England. Two more hundreds were brought off in the remaining three Tests. At Headingley on a treacherous pitch he hit 192. Two 190s plus were scored in the recent series against the West Indies and two separate hundreds (century in each innings) of the last Test at Karachi's National Stadium.
Yousuf during this amazing spree had splintered records one too many. First with his century number one of the last Test he went past the record of seven hundreds each for a calendar year held jointly by Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Sir Vivian Richards. By scoring mustering five hundreds in five consecutive Tests he only became the third man in history to achieve the feat and then in the second innings of the Karachi Test he joined another select group, Jacques Kallis and Sir Donald Bradman (six centuries in six Tests). There was another record waiting as he drove past Zaheer Abbas's record aggregate for a three Test series of 583 runs (against India 1978-79). Phenomenal! Yousuf's faith and commitment to religion may have added that bit of confidence that was missing while he showed brilliance in patches. One mustn't attribute his conversion to Islam as the sole reason for his unprecedented success but there has been something about it.
Surely with growing faith, his mental attitude has changed, his commitment to a cause has become more prominent and he has started to believe in his own abilities. If someone has the tenacity to stand up and say that he his record has come on placid wickets at home, one would turn to them saying don't forget a double hundred, another individual century and a 190 plus in England in adverse conditions when PakistanÃs back was against the wall. And another message for people targeting Pakistan team's recent diversion to religious beliefs is that religion is a very personal thing; it only brings the best out of an individual.
It's a way of concentrating how one wants to run in the lane he has set for himself. Yousuf has proven the fact that batting is an art; it's about tranquility; it's about mental peace and composure not about mental aberrations and fluctuations as we see Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag and people like Imran Farhat aborting good starts.
Now comes another question to mind -- is Yousuf the best batsman in Pakistan's history? If he isn't the best, he is very close to people like Hanif Mohammad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
By dr.Nauman Niaz
Yousuf is the best among the rest
The record-breaking Mohammad Yousuf would definitely be under pressure to perform in South Africa after such a gigantic performance in 2006.
Pakistan have produced several world class players in different sports and many of them have won numerous laurels for the motherland but very few were encouraged and honoured as Mohammad Yousuf has been during the last couple of weeks. Though a lot has been written about Yousuf's calendar year feats, some of his aspects and landmarks remain untouched entirely.
Very few know that Yousuf is probably the only batsman in Test history who struck four centuries in a three-Test series. Soft-spoken Yousuf grabbed two more world records which were overlooked strangely. He became the first player who succumbed to three 190 plus scores in a year and five 150 plus scores in a calendar year are another rare feat.
Yousuf earned another honour at Multan when he completed his 6000 Test runs in only 120 Test innings. Former captain Javed Miandad (133 innings) was the previous fastest 6000 runs scorer for Pakistan. Even world class batsmen like Ricky Ponting (125), Brian Lara (126), Rahul Dravid (125), Greg Chappell (129) and Inzamamul Haq (135) consumed more innings than Yousuf in reaching the landmark.
Yousuf, who equalled Javed Miandad's Test centuries record in a mere 73 games, is probably the second fastest to reach 23 hundreds after Donald Bradman. It is worth mentioning that Yousuf is still 51 Tests behind Miandad's 124 career matches even then he has managed to level the centuries tally which shows Yousuf's consistency and amazing potential.
The upcoming South African trip would provide Yousuf a golden chance to extend his run of centuries and half centuries. He can grab a couple of more world records in South Africa if he manages to score century or half century in the first Test innings at least there.
It may be recalled here that South Africa and Sri Lanka are the only countries which are missing from Yousuf's centuries list. The record-breaking Mohammad Yousuf would definitely be under pressure to perform in South Africa after such a gigantic performance in 2006.
In other words we can say that the South Africa tour would be a test of Yousuf's batting skills. Remember during his last trip in 2002-03, he hammered a whirlwind fifty in a Test off just 27 balls at Cape Town. This time he is in a position to provide much needed inspiration to the Pakistan cricket team in South Africa where the green flag-bearers have never won a Test or ODI series.
Pakistan have produced several world class players in different sports and many of them have won numerous laurels for the motherland but very few were encouraged and honoured as Mohammad Yousuf has been during the last couple of weeks. Though a lot has been written about Yousuf's calendar year feats, some of his aspects and landmarks remain untouched entirely.
Very few know that Yousuf is probably the only batsman in Test history who struck four centuries in a three-Test series. Soft-spoken Yousuf grabbed two more world records which were overlooked strangely. He became the first player who succumbed to three 190 plus scores in a year and five 150 plus scores in a calendar year are another rare feat.
Yousuf earned another honour at Multan when he completed his 6000 Test runs in only 120 Test innings. Former captain Javed Miandad (133 innings) was the previous fastest 6000 runs scorer for Pakistan. Even world class batsmen like Ricky Ponting (125), Brian Lara (126), Rahul Dravid (125), Greg Chappell (129) and Inzamamul Haq (135) consumed more innings than Yousuf in reaching the landmark.
Yousuf, who equalled Javed Miandad's Test centuries record in a mere 73 games, is probably the second fastest to reach 23 hundreds after Donald Bradman. It is worth mentioning that Yousuf is still 51 Tests behind Miandad's 124 career matches even then he has managed to level the centuries tally which shows Yousuf's consistency and amazing potential.
The upcoming South African trip would provide Yousuf a golden chance to extend his run of centuries and half centuries. He can grab a couple of more world records in South Africa if he manages to score century or half century in the first Test innings at least there.
It may be recalled here that South Africa and Sri Lanka are the only countries which are missing from Yousuf's centuries list. The record-breaking Mohammad Yousuf would definitely be under pressure to perform in South Africa after such a gigantic performance in 2006.
In other words we can say that the South Africa tour would be a test of Yousuf's batting skills. Remember during his last trip in 2002-03, he hammered a whirlwind fifty in a Test off just 27 balls at Cape Town. This time he is in a position to provide much needed inspiration to the Pakistan cricket team in South Africa where the green flag-bearers have never won a Test or ODI series.
TESTS: MOST RUNS IN A CALENDAR YEAR
Batsmen (For) Year M I NO Runs HS Av 100s
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 2006 11 19 1 1788 202 99.33 9
I V A Richards (WI) 1976 11 19 0 1710 291 90.00 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2005 15 28 5 1544 207 67.13 6
R T Ponting (Aus) 2003 11 18 3 1503 257 100.20 6
J L Langer (Aus) 2004 14 27 0 1481 215 54.85 5
M P Vaughan (Eng) 2002 14 26 2 1481 197 61.70 6
S M Gavaskar (Ind) 1979 17 26 0 1407 221 54.11 4
MOST 100S IN A CALENDAR YEAR
Batsmen (For) Year M I NO Runs HS Ave 100s
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 2006 11 19 1 1788 202 99.33 9
I V A Richards (WI) 1976 11 19 0 1710 291 90.00 7
P A de Silva (SL) 1997 11 19 3 1220 168 76.25 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2006 8 15 3 1249 196 104.08 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2005 15 28 5 1544 207 67.13 6
R T Ponting (Aus) 2003 11 18 3 1503 257 100.20 6
M P Vaughan (Eng) 2002 14 26 2 1481 197 61.70 6
D R Martyn (Aus) 2004 14 26 2 1353 161 56.37 6
G S Sobers (WI) 1958 8 13 4 1299 365* 144.33 6
M L Hayden (Aus) 2002 11 17 1 1160 197 72.50 6
D C S Compton (Eng) 1947 9 15 1 1159 208 82.78 6
HIGHEST BATTING AVERAGES IN TESTS
Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave 100s
DG Bradman (Aus) 52 80 10 6996 334 99.94 29
M E K Hussey (Aus) 13 22 5 1377 182 81.00 4
R G Pollock (SA) 23 41 4 2256 274 60.97 7
G A Headley (WI) 22 40 4 2190 270* 60.83 10
H Sutcliffe (Eng) 54 84 9 4555 194 60.73 16
R T Ponting (Aus) 107 179 25 9239 257 59.99 33
E Paynter (Eng) 20 31 5 1540 243 59.23 4
R Dravid (Ind) 104 176 22 9049 270 58.75 23
K F Barrington (Eng) 82 131 5 6806 256 58.67 20
E D Weekes (WI) 48 81 7 4455 207 58.61 15
W R Hammond (Eng) 85 140 6 7249 336* 58.45 22
G S Sobers (WI) 93 160 21 8032 365* 57.78 26
J B Hobbs (Eng) 61 102 7 5410 211 56.94 15
C L Walcott (WI) 44 74 7 3798 220 56.68 15
L Hutton (Eng) 79 138 15 6971 364 56.67 19
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 73 122 9 6402 223 56.65 23
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 2006 11 19 1 1788 202 99.33 9
I V A Richards (WI) 1976 11 19 0 1710 291 90.00 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2005 15 28 5 1544 207 67.13 6
R T Ponting (Aus) 2003 11 18 3 1503 257 100.20 6
J L Langer (Aus) 2004 14 27 0 1481 215 54.85 5
M P Vaughan (Eng) 2002 14 26 2 1481 197 61.70 6
S M Gavaskar (Ind) 1979 17 26 0 1407 221 54.11 4
MOST 100S IN A CALENDAR YEAR
Batsmen (For) Year M I NO Runs HS Ave 100s
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 2006 11 19 1 1788 202 99.33 9
I V A Richards (WI) 1976 11 19 0 1710 291 90.00 7
P A de Silva (SL) 1997 11 19 3 1220 168 76.25 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2006 8 15 3 1249 196 104.08 7
R T Ponting (Aus) 2005 15 28 5 1544 207 67.13 6
R T Ponting (Aus) 2003 11 18 3 1503 257 100.20 6
M P Vaughan (Eng) 2002 14 26 2 1481 197 61.70 6
D R Martyn (Aus) 2004 14 26 2 1353 161 56.37 6
G S Sobers (WI) 1958 8 13 4 1299 365* 144.33 6
M L Hayden (Aus) 2002 11 17 1 1160 197 72.50 6
D C S Compton (Eng) 1947 9 15 1 1159 208 82.78 6
HIGHEST BATTING AVERAGES IN TESTS
Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave 100s
DG Bradman (Aus) 52 80 10 6996 334 99.94 29
M E K Hussey (Aus) 13 22 5 1377 182 81.00 4
R G Pollock (SA) 23 41 4 2256 274 60.97 7
G A Headley (WI) 22 40 4 2190 270* 60.83 10
H Sutcliffe (Eng) 54 84 9 4555 194 60.73 16
R T Ponting (Aus) 107 179 25 9239 257 59.99 33
E Paynter (Eng) 20 31 5 1540 243 59.23 4
R Dravid (Ind) 104 176 22 9049 270 58.75 23
K F Barrington (Eng) 82 131 5 6806 256 58.67 20
E D Weekes (WI) 48 81 7 4455 207 58.61 15
W R Hammond (Eng) 85 140 6 7249 336* 58.45 22
G S Sobers (WI) 93 160 21 8032 365* 57.78 26
J B Hobbs (Eng) 61 102 7 5410 211 56.94 15
C L Walcott (WI) 44 74 7 3798 220 56.68 15
L Hutton (Eng) 79 138 15 6971 364 56.67 19
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 73 122 9 6402 223 56.65 23
Monday, December 18, 2006
Inzamam is a good captain, says Yousuf
Lahore: Top scorer Mohammed Yousuf said Monday that Inzamam is a good captain and he should be allowed to play as a captain as long as he wishes to play.On the occasion of a coronation ceremony arranged by a Lahore City Cricket Association, Mohammed Yousuf said he had no previous planning for top score and centuries in a calendar year; as, “Records are not made; instead, they themselves come into being.”
Mohammed Yousuf said, “It is God Who honoured me; even though, Inzamam is a better and more experienced player than I am.”
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