Pakistan v NewZealand (in U.A.E and NZL)

Unlike you guys I actually rate Butt. I think he's a pretty good player who has done a pretty good job in ODI's, an average of 38 isn't to be scoffed at. His test record leaves a lot to be desired but at only 25 he has a potential 8+ years left to rectify that.

He can never be a Saeed Anwar - he is talented - Yes. But that's about it. Farhat is a better player than him in my book.

Farhat and butt in ODI's, it means 50 runs in 20 overs.

Take away India and I reckon Butt average will dip from 38 in ODI's or whatever it is to about 20.  I still don't rate him, pitch up outside off and he'll easily throw it into someone hands behind the stumps.

Butt must be a bad option - just look at his record against those mighty outfits Hong Kong and Scotland!!

Meanwhile, Misbah responds to being dropped by hitting 284:

http://bbb.cricketworld.com/Scorecards/257/257348.html

Food for thought. Mohammad Asif has picked up another five-for to prove that he's certainly lost little of his wicket-taking ability.

We've got live simulation and live radio too, we're combining those at the moment: http://www.cricketworld.com/internationalcricketnews/article/?aid=20275

It's a fair point though, we do have scorecards of all first-class, ListA and T20 matches, player profiles and a searchable archive not to mention text ball-by-ball coverage, week-daily radio show and our own player ratings, but sometimes it's not that easy to find.

Misbah has always been a prolific players in the domestic circuit and every season he gets one or two big scores - this did not come a s a surprise. However, I still think he is good enough to be in the test squad at least.

Wasim Razzaq Saqqi Waqar Azhar Akhtar - good attack that was

I agree with Milks on this, even I get a feeling that the spark is not quite there... that enthusiasm is missing. I'll put it down though to the lack of fire power in their bowling as compared to what they had and the openers... Saeed Anwar - Aamir Sohail were simply brilliant.

Interesting to note McCullum has been stripped of the Vice-Captaincy. From what I've seen of his captaincy when he has had to fill in is it's pretty average.
  He's the kind of player as a captain you would talk ideas over with, but ultimately not let lead. Of course it is very hard to step up into the shoes of Fleming and Vettori, both seem to be incredibly intelligent individuals who really think things though. McCullum may be 'sport smart' but Vettori and Fleming are both sport and intelectually smart. 

I don't know much about him but his captaincy in the final match was horrible

Quite frankly he isn't a top order batsmen. That's what has annoyed me most about international cricket in the last 15 years. Not just the expectation of the keeper to be an excellent batsman, but also the expectation that he can be shuffled around all over the order. You need a replacement opener, so you turn to the keeper, your no.5 gets injured, so you turn to your keeper. It's not particularly fair.
He lacks the consistency of a top order batsman and he is not good enough to be in any other test side, barring Bangladesh, on the merit of his batting only. That's the hard and painful truth. He's a tidy keeper with a solid technique, but he needs to bat at the very highest at 6.

He does come off as a confident, if not cocky sort of bloke. There's a lot of Aussie about him! But I guess what you portray to the world isn't necessarily an indicator of what's going on in your mind.

I'm not a very big fan of this guy but just wanted to know, is Hasan Raza no longer in the frame for selection? I understand there are much better middle order players around now like umer and fawad. However, Raza is still just 27!  

Certainly Michael Bevan was not an under achiever Milky... May be at the test level but not at the ODI level. One of the finest ODI cricketers ever that man!