Pakistan left for England on Saturday morning, for what will be one of their longest away tours of the modern age: all told they will be in England for nearly three months.
For a certain generation, it still does not sound right that Pakistan travel there in the hopes of breaking a 20-year drought of series wins. They used to go there in expectation of winning yet another series in England, or at least not losing, as they did from 1987 to 2001.
They won three series consecutively in that time, providing in 1992 one of the most explosive and exciting visits by any touring side to England. When they could only draw the last in that sequence, a two-Test affair (itself a demotion of status from the 1990s era), it felt almost like a defeat.
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To be less hyperbolic though, a 20-year drought sounds more despairing than it actually is. Since 2001, for instance, Pakistan have only toured England twice: in 2006 and 2010 though they did lose both those series and fairly comprehensively.
They had moments in both. The first series was lost mostly on the back of an inability to put anything resembling their first-choice bowling attack together. When they did they would likely have won the last Test, but ended up forfeiting it amid accusations of ball tampering.
In 2010 they had the bowlers but contrived to not take their best batsmen on tour. They were bowled out for less than 100 three times in just four Tests as a result, yet still managed one win because their bowling attack was at full strength.
This time round, perhaps hope and expectation wrestle with each other on equal terms. England start favourites, but Pakistan might imagine themselves to have a side capable of taking the hosts to areas where other tourists from the subcontinent often have not.
The bowling will be the thing of course, theoretically bolstered by the return of Mohammed Amir. Impressive as his return has been, this tour will pose challenges unlike any he has faced thus far: the intense scrutiny of being back in England, as well as the physical challenge of Test-match cricket.
Yasir Shah’s is also a return of sorts, from a brief doping ban, and his might be an even greater impact. Pakistani leggies in England is a rich, deeply fulfilling tradition and Yasir is well placed to enhance it.
As it happens, they are better served in their batting than they were on the last tour. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq alone bring the experience of an entire batting order.
Azhar Ali is six years the wiser after the last tour, which was his debut series. Asad Shafiq made his international debut on that tour as well, in the ODIs, and has become a significant, if unobtrusive, presence in the middle order.
And if not necessarily as wicketkeeper, then as a counter-attacking batsman Sarfraz Ahmed is a serious upgrade on Kamran Akmal and Zulqarnain Haider from 2010.
“We only have to apply ourselves, have to fight, and these boys love challenges,” Misbah told reporters on departure. They better had because for most of them, this is their biggest one yet.
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Last week
ODI tri-series West Indies
• West Indies beat Australia by 6 wickets
• South Africa beat West Indies by 139 runs
India tour of Zimbabwe
• 2nd ODI – India beat Zimbabwe by 8 wickets
• 3rd ODI – India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets
• 1st T20 – Zimbabwe beat India by 2 runs
This week
India tour of Zimbabwe
• 2nd T20 (Mon)
• 3rd T20 (Wed)
Sri Lanka tour of England
• 1st ODI (Tues)
• 2nd ODI (Fri)
Tri-series West Indies
• West Indies vs Australia (Tues)
• West Indies vs South Africa (Fri)
Match-up of the week
One-day tri-series are so 1990s that the current one in the Caribbean has slipped by in a strange, easily missed daze. Yet it has been an utterly compelling one, with both high-scoring and low-scoring games. Ahead of the final round of games this week the three sides have each won two and lost two and have a good chance of making it to the final. Miss at your peril.
Stat of the week
58
The number of matches in which Imran Tahir completed 100 ODI wickets, making him the fourth fastest to the landmark in all cricket. Tahir got there in the midst of his record-breaking 7-45 against West Indies, which are the third best figures in an ODI by a spinner.
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