New Delhi: Iceland Cricket has offered itself as sacrificial lambs to the Pakistani team, if only to lift their crushed morale after the recent 0-3 defeat to England in a home Test series.
On Monday evening, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) received an “offer” from Iceland Cricket’s Twitter account to play in the country.
Tongue firmly in cheek, Iceland Cricket said their team would be “happy to come and tour” and lose 3-0 in the process – “getting chopped up and sugared like marmalade”.
The Iceland cricket administration, known for its friendly trolling of the cricketing world, said their defeat would lift the Pakistani players’ morale “in the interests of balance”.
It further said: “And we will score at 0.7 not 7.0 an over,” referring to England’s aggressive “Bazball” style of Test cricket under head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
“Bazball” is a term that is used to describe England’s positive and fiery approach to Test cricket, coined after new coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname.
Message to @TheRealPCB, we are happy to come and tour Pakistan and lose 3-0, getting chopped up and sugared like marmalade. Just letting you know in the interests of balance. And we will score at 0.7 not 7.0 an over.
— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) December 19, 2022
When the tweet was floated Monday evening, Pakistan was already 2-0 down and on the verge of another defeat in Karachi.
The following morning, England opener Ben Duckett scored an unbeaten half-century, as he and captain Stokes chased down a modest target of 167 with 8 wickets to spare, confirming Pakistan’s 0-3 defeat and elimination from the World Test Championship.
As for Iceland Cricket, its tweet received over 25,000 likes and was retweeted 2,500 times.
Over the course of the dismal series, multiple members of Pakistan’s cricketing landscape have severely criticised PCB chairman Ramiz Raja for the quality of pitches as well as head coach Saqlain Mushtaq and captain Babar Azam for the team selection and tepid tactics.
Ahead of New Zealand’s tour of Pakistan which starts on Boxing Day on Monday, the 0-3 defeat to England marks Pakistan’s second consecutive home Test series defeat of the year (Australia had won 1-0 in March), as well as their first home Test series loss to England since 2000.
Making hay while the sun shone, Iceland Cricket has taken several potshots at the Pakistani team during the entire series.
It has tweeted about the performances of England batsman Harry Brook, the controversial umpiring by Joel Wilson in Multan and on Ramiz Raja’s remarks. Sample this: Rawalpindi was flat but Ramiz Raja was a prat for saying it was “embarrassing” & too easy to bat.
Lesson from England v Pakistan, 1st Test:
Test cricket is the best
Great to see England back in Pakistan after 17 years
A new brand of Test cricket is bring played, casino cricket
Rawalpindi was flat but Ramiz Raja was a prat for saying it was "embarrassing" & too easy to bat
— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) December 5, 2022
This flippant commentary is a deliberate tactic by Iceland Cricket’s secretary-cum-media manager David Cook to not only grow online fan engagement but also to slowly advance the game in Icelandic culture.
“We kind of adopted this persona of the stereotypical Icelandic character and it was strangely successful, because we were a board account that was also becoming a fan account. I think people really appreciated that, and just the unlikelihood of playing cricket in Iceland and developing the game here,” ThePrint had previously quoted Cook as saying.
Also read: ‘24-hr daylight for India-Pak match’—Iceland’s journey to cricket relevance, one tweet at a time