Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed bully the West Indies on a placid wicket

Here is the scorecard from the Patrons XI vs West Indies game. So Salman Butt is back in form? Well to be honest, he was never really out of form. He just does not have the ability to play the seaming ball. He does well against bowlers who give the ball some bounce. Recall the disastrous Australian tour, where he was the only Pakistani batsmen who did anything substantial.

So what does this century imply in terms of when he plays next in our "opening merry go round" scheme of things.

Not much I suppose. Yasir Hameed made 92, so he is a certainty for the first test match. Farhat has been in form so he will probably open with Hameed. Its good that Salman Butt is in form. Perhaps with someone in form waiting to get back into the side, Yasir and Farhat will try and cement their place? I don't know. Bob Woolmer has always striven for consistency in the opening slot, but the only consistency he can achieve now is the pool of players that rotate through this opening slot. We have Yasir Hameed, Salman Butt, Mohd. Hafeez, Malik, Farhat....even Akmal has opened the innings, though perhaps not in tests.

Anyway, good for Salman. He will probably be in the squad for the 3rd game if our openers fail in both test matches.

Contrary to what I thought, Mohammad Sami and Abdur Rehman are not in the playing XI. Shahid Nazir is though. Unless Nazir gives away 10 runs an over tomorrow, he will bowl alongside Umar Gul and Niazi in the first game. Rehman will probably sit that one out. Not a strong bowling lineup....but the best under the circumstances.