An appropriate comment made by the sports announcer to declare the dismal end of the Pakistani cricket team’s inning on the first day of the final cricket match against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town.

For those sports buffs following the Test series that began at the Centurion on Jan. 11, it is understandable that by the third Test Pakistani supporters had become weary of the antics of some of the clowns pretending to be Pakistani cricket players.

Take the case of Kamran Akmal, who is supposedly the team’s wicket keeper. With spongy gloves and dropped chances, he has contributed mightily to the South African team’s chances of winning the series. And except for one inning out of the six he has played, all others were terminated prematurely with shots conceived out of a dysfunctional mind.

Then there is Younus Khan who touts himself as a successor to Inzamam ul-Haq in the race for the captaincy. Prone to disturbing mental lapses during critical times of innings where his stay at the crease was essential to the team’s welfare, he took it upon himself to pull and hook at balls straight into the welcoming hands of willing fielders.

Again, except for one inning worthy of note, there was nothing in his approach to batting that suggests he should be worthy of being considered in the team’s long range plans as a batsman, let alone a captain! Then there are the two uninspiring opening pair of batsmen for Pakistan. In 6 innings, Imran Farhat and Mohammed Hafeez have together managed to average a total of less than 40 runs, not very inspiring for the remainder of an innings.

Farhat’s swashing at balls pitched outside and wide of the stumps righting into the expecting hands of slip fielders are almost as comical as they are predetermined. Circus clowns perform better acts. And he is determined not to learn from his follies.

His bandana toting partner is not much better. Approaching each innings as a novice of the game, Hafeez’s highest score of 32 in 6 innings speaks volumes about his batting skills against disciplined bowling. For an opening batsman, his approach to the game lacks the professional discipline required to build on an innings of a Test match.

With the exception of Inzamam, Mohammed Yousuf, Mohammed Asif and Danish Kaneria, none of the rest of the team had anything of significance to write home about. And considering Pakistan’s consistent lack of discipline and inconsistency on the field, I believe it’s high time the Pakistan Cricket Board look to punishing their players when the situation calls for it.

On way to get rid of errant shot selection repeated time and again in the same bizarre fashion is to dock the concerned player a portion of his match fees. Repeated attempts of poor strokes should ban a player from the team. Perhaps when it begins to hit them in their pockets, some of these Pakistanis pretending to be professional cricket players may finally wake up from their stupor and listen.