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A new cloud over the ever-enigmatic Pakistan

Until Saturday morning the Summer test series between England and Pakistan had, for the most part, been flying under the radar. Sadly it has become front page headlines and while it would be remiss to draw too many conclusions before the facts are out, one suspects the Sunday tabloids are too experienced to blow smoke without fire. Cricket has seen such scandal before.

On the optimistic assumption that we were watching a genuine contest in all but a few no-balls, it has been an entertaining if inconsistent series. In spite of three colossal wins, England have discovered some evident shortcomings in their middle order, on paper their strength. They have mostly been defeated by the late swing and are unlikely to face such danger in such quality hands in Australia. Ian Bell is should come in but it is unclear whose place he will take. Purely on form, it would be Collingwood or Pietersen. The bowling is ready with Finn, Swann and Broad all sure to make the Ashes. Anderson will also play but might struggle to find swing down-under. Harnessing Finn from nowhere into a test bowler has been the success of this Summer.

What is it about flair? Some national sides just seem to have it; Brazilian football, Welsh rugby, Pakistani cricket. Admittedly they took a bit of warming up- some lamentable, unpractised and inexperienced batting produced uncompetitive totals of 80 and 72 in the first two tests and, in combination with their feckless fielding, this resulted in heavy defeats and a sense of mismatch. But even in the first two tests the talent of their bowling attack was clear to see. As the series comes to its end, we have learned that Mohammad Amir is the most exciting young bowler in World cricket. He has a maturity, particularly in his awareness of how to vary his deliveries, and is probably a year away from being a World XI swing bowler if he can escape the mounting scandal which rings portentously for him. His partnership with the relentlessly consistent Mohammad Asif could develop into the envy of the test playing nations, while Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and doosra-master Saeed Ajmal have performed well in the supporting roles.

It seems that flair somehow has to be associated with temperamentality. In some cases it’s nonchalance, but with Pakistan it has always been closer to indiscipline. They are not terrible fieldsmen but they have done terrible things in the field this series and it has cost them, both in the wickets they should have taken and the associated loss of impetus. The dramatic shift of dominance on the second morning at Lords was signalled, at first, by careless overthrows and misfields. Bowlers chunter, batsmen dig in, the fielding side loses their initiative.

Lack of batting talent alone cannot explain the costly thrashings in three of the four tests. The enigma of Pakistan has always come in their stroppy mindset and perhaps they would lose some of their appeal if they developed a more dour professionalism. Their two test wins this Summer thrilled precisely because of their recent track record in throwing such unassailable positions away. Meanwhile, the allegations of dishonesty leave us wondering if there is an altogether more sinister explanation for their explosive unpredictability.

Sebastian Vettel- A pilot but not a racer

The most one-sided F1 season since the last one, that Red Bull have only just re-taken the constructors’ championship from McLaren speaks of missed opportunities and naïve team management. Furthermore, The Worm argues that the team’s unofficial lead driver Sebastian Vettel is not up to the challenge and that, given the merchandise and the favours that he has received, there is no excuse for his not leading the drivers’ championship by some clear margin. He clearly has absolute speed- pole in over half of this season’s races tell us how commanding he can be on a flying lap without obstacles. But these seven poles have translated into only two race wins, an unjustifiably poor return. Vettel may be young but he cannot use inexperience as an excuse, he has raced 55 Grand Prix; this is no novice. The Worm believes that there are two main flaws which will cost Vettel this year’s Championship, one which should already be all but in his pocket.

Firstly, Vettel has lost a wealth of points with his consistently poor starts (compare with the grid’s best starter Lewis Hamilton who, until today, was leading the championship in a substantially inferior vehicle). Secondly, and more fundamentally, he is not ruthless enough to overtake. In short, although he is incredibly quick he is not a natural racing driver.

His season highlights to date would be overloaded with electric qualifying laps but short on race-day incident. His two wins in 2010, Europe and Malaysia, were unspectacular processional charges from the front. Three of last years four wins came from the front, the other was from second after the pole sitter retired in Abu Dhabi. His maiden win for Toro Rosso at Monza in 08 was remarkable in its way but began the trend, Vettel again starting from pole and leading from beginning to end. If he gets into the first corner first, Vettel can and will dominate the field but put him in the mix and he struggles. The aggression does not come naturally to him and in the heat of a Grand Prix it is not something that can be faked; do so and you end up with such incident as we saw in his misguided, misjudged dart and nudge on his teammate in Turkey.

He seems like a charming young man but he is deficient of daring. And a racing driver who is afraid to overtake is no racing driver at all.

WORLD CUP MEN OF THE MATCH #35: Wesley Sneijder

Match: Brazil v Holland

Worm's Pick: Wesley Sneijder (Holland)

Worm Says: So The Worm’s day-job kept him from the first half of this one, which he is informed was a very different affair, but that which he did see had Sneijder as the class of the pack. Indeed, he has had to check the QoS back-catalogue as it seems wholly unlikely that Sneijder would not already have got a mention in this series. Whether for Inter or Holland, the Dutchman has been the fulcrum of every attacking move his teams have made in recent months and was the integral player in this second half turnaround, taking up sensible offensive positions and linking in his more dangerous, more headless team mates. He provided the cross for the first goal and was pulling the strings of every Dutch attack before, during and after he delicately angled the winner in off his well-polished head

In A Word: Ubiquitous

Grand Prix safety in the light of Webber's crash

Dupin’s mention of the European Grand Prix reminded the Worm of his thoughts regarding Mark Webber’s massive crash which was likened to Robert Kubica’s in Canada 3 years ago. In fact it was more reminiscent of the incident which killed Gilles Villeneuve in practice at Zolder in 1982. In both events the driver in question failed to get clear of a substantially slower car in front of him, unable to correct for a late movement from the preceding driver. In Villeneuve’s case, he was torn from his seatbelt and hurled from his car as it flipped, dying later that evening after a period of life support.

Webber, likewise, was unable to avoid accelerating into Heikki Kovelainen’s Lotus. Gaining upthrust from the impact he took off, turning 180 degrees end-on onto the roll hoop which performed the quite extraordinary job of protecting him from being crushed under the weight of his Red Bull and flipping the car back upright before being dragged across the gravel. There was still the issue of the 120mph impact into the tyre wall, and that Webber was able to walk out of his car and show frustration, rather than relief or shock, is huge testament to driver safety in F1 in 2010.

Nevertheless we have huge discrepancy in horsepower on the grid this year and, good as these F1 pilots are, there may not always be time to react to the movements of a slower car in front of you. In addition, Kovelainen’s Lotus does not have the grip to compete with the Red Bull and has to brake significantly earlier, approximately 80m for the corner in question. Such incidents, where one car accelerates into the back of another and take off in this way, have been rare in modern motor sport but this current inequality may increase its prevalence and even if the drivers are now well protected against these accidents, the crowds may not be. One shudders to think what might have been the consequence of such an accident along a narrow and crowded part of track where the masses seem to hang over the circuit, such as Monza’s Serraglio. Such events have happened; around 100 spectators were killed in a similar incident at Le Mans in 1955, motor sport’s "deadliest crash".

It is clear that the global financial situation and subsequent loss of established works teams such as BMW required F1 to court new investment. The Worm is concerned that this economic drive has compromised safety and fears that some of the newer teams have been rushed onto the grid before they are truly competitive.

WORLD CUP MEN OF THE MATCH #29: Richard Kingson

Match: Ghana v USA

Worm's pick: Richard Kingson (Ghana)

Worm says: A bad night for soccer but a terrific result for football and the tournament as a whole, Africa now has a realistic chance of providing a semi-finalist. In a game of four halves, when Ghana came under considerable American pressure they were consistently relieved by Kingson's shot stopping, exceptional smothering at feet, judgement and handling which has been on a par with any other goalkeeper in the tournament. He also provides a calm authority in a team of talented youth who are in perpetual danger of becoming overawed by a continent's expectation.

In a word: Mature