Sports Rant

While living in the north of England I observed that Pakistani’s often tend to be temperamental, and this certainly seems to be the case in the world of cricket.

The Pakistan cricket team always seems to be getting trouble with administrators for something or another whether its ball tampering, drug taking or reacting to angry spectators. In the most recent case, all rounder Shahid Afridi is facing disciplinary action for threatening an abusive spectator with a cricket bat.

Given the middle class origins of cricket, the games administrators expect high standards of conduct and impulse control, and this seems to be a major problem for the Pakistani’s.

Another interesting aspect to the behaviour of the Pakistan team is their response to disciplinary action. They often seem unduly concerned with losing face, even when the disciplinary action taken against their players is minor.

In 2006, they refused to take the field against England rather than accept a ten run penalty for alleged ball tampering. Subsequently England, who had been behind in the game, were declared the winners and won the series 3-0.

This excessive concern with not losing face seems to be endemic among Muslims in the Middle East and South Asia and this probably adds to the instability of the region. In terms of performances, Pakistan are highly erratic and should perform much better than they do given that they have a strong and varied bowling attack. However, they often beaten by weaker, but more disciplined and tenacious teams like South Africa, and do poorly against the relentless Australians.

It seems that the hot-headed temperament that permeates Pakistani culture also seems to affect their cricket. Nether the less, Pakistan produces some very exiting players and the game would be less interesting without them.