Date-stamped : 08 Dec93 - 10:33 SOURCE: The Guardian DATE: 29 April 1993 SPO PAGE: 18 Cricket: If you're Pakistani and your back hurts, it's Tuesday MIKE SELVEY IN BRIDGETOWN IT WAS the second day of the second Test here and Waqar Younis, running in to bowl, was being scrutinised by Michael Holding, as svelte a fast bowler as ever could be and one who knows his on- ions. Waqar, he thought, was listless, lacked rhythm and, in short, looked knackered ''like a 40-year-old''. Two years ago, the same bowler withdrew from cricket for six months to let small stress-fractures of the back heal. Waqar is 21 years old. As Holding spoke, there were two notable absentees from Pakistan's attack. The seamer Aqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed, whose leg-spin has tormented sides for the past year, were prema- ture returnees from the tour, and will not play until their own stressed backs heal. Aqib is 20, Mushtaq 22. All three players are victims of a Pakistan board policy that has made the world champions the best income-generator in cricket and their players probably the highest-earning, but which in do- ing so has made them like mercenaries roaming the globe chasing a buck. Their programme in the past 14 months has been simply frighten- ing. After the World Cup in Australia they came to England for the series last summer. Since then they have played in the Neth- erlands, the United States, Canada, Australia again, Dubai, New Zealand, Sharjah, Zimbabwe and South Africa before coming on here. Nor is the journey over. Once the final Test in Antigua ends next week they are off to Bermuda, before the likes of Waqar and Wasim Akram who have county contracts, and others signed up to play in the leagues, fly back to England. Only after that, and provided there are no more tours arranged in the interim, will they be able to return home and put their feet up. It is a small hope, though. Boards such as those of Pakistan, India and West Indies usually lose money hosting a tour, building up funds only through the financial guarantees of touring. Gen- erally it is not quite quid pro quo: England go to Pakistan and it costs the Pakistan board money, Pakistan come to England and (because of the nature of the tour and the money it generates) it costs the Test and County Cricket Board even more. But if you do not play any matches at home, then all you really do is make loads and loads of dosh. During their time away, the Pakistanis will have played a total of nine Tests and a stagger- ing 49 one-day internationals. The toll it has taken in terms of injuries, morale and quality of performance was very clear here this week when they were completely outplayed in a second succes- sive Test defeat. Pakistan paid the price not only for the amount but also the type of cricket they have played, with fitness and technique af- fected. Test pace-men need to be able to bowl six four- or five- over spells in a day but find their stamina short because their fitness is geared to a pair of five-over one-day spells. So the opening spell might be competitive but there is nothing left to come back with, as shown in the first Test when in the midst of a deluge of wickets West Indies were able to compile a match-winning total while Waqar and Wasim sleepwalked through their bowling. After the series was lost on Tuesday, Wasim admitted as much. ''It's been a crazy year,'' he said. ''So many one-dayers, the batsmen are playing one-day shots in Test cricket. It's too much cricket. I don't want to use it as an excuse. We are profession- als, this is our job. We just have to work hard.'' Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)