Cricket
Batting lynchpin Inzamamul Haq leads Pakistan's new cricket corps into 2004 with an emphatic series win over New Zealand and a younger team devoid of long-time stalwarts Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar and Waqar Younis who all bowed out during the year.
Pakistan's seven-wicket win at Wellington on Tuesday capped a year of turmoil, which saw the team suffer the humiliation of a first-round exit from the World Cup in southern Africa.
In the ensuing fallout, eight players were dumped including captain Waqar who was replaced by Rashid Latif. Coach Richard Pybus was also ousted, his position filled by Javed Miandad.
Wasim, the greatest left-arm pacer the sport has seen, quit in May after taking 414 Test wickets and a world record of 502 one-day scalps. His long-time pace partner Waqar is still dropped but hopeful he will be able to regain his place.
Opener Saeed Anwar, with the highest one-day score, of 194, to his credit, bade adieu in August after he turned to religion and started preaching.
On Wednesday, the sport's governing body in Pakistan praised the decision to revamp the team.
"The win at Wellington has capped our 2003 on a high note and now I can say with confidence that the future is bright because our wins over Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand were banked on youngsters, " Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Rameez Raja told AFP.
"Now Pakistan is among the top three teams in both forms of the game and the consistency in the performances is the most heartwarming factor," said Raja, who became chief executive in July.
A revamped Pakistan side won a four-nation, one-day tournament
in Sharjah in April. They followed this with a runners-up placing in a tri-series in Sri Lanka and a close one-day series in England won by the home side 2-1.
Pakistan whitewashed Bangladesh in three Tests and five one-day games in August-September. Against South Africa they lost 2-3 in the one-day series but won the two-Test series 1-0, taking their first home win over a major nation in six years.
"In the post World Cup era we needed replacements of stalwarts like Wasim, Waqar and Anwar, which was difficult but cricket is above individuals and youngsters proved that," said Raja, himself a former captain.
By hosting South Africa and then New Zealand, Pakistan proved to the world the country is safe for cricket, he added.
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"Off the field we had to fight the misconception that Pakistan is not safe for cricket and we brought teams back which was a great achievement," he said.
In October, South Africa reluctantly became the first Western side to play in Pakistan after a suicide bomb blast outside New Zealand's team hotel in Karachi five months earlier. The blast killed 14 people.
The incident led to Australia refusing to tour and the series was played in neutral venues.
"We sighed a relief off the field and on the field we beat South Africa with our new corps of players," said Raja.
Controversial pacer Shoaib Akhtar is now Pakistan's match winner, taking 11 wickets in the Wellington Test to turn the match on its head.
"With Shoaib, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Shabbir and Umer Gul, Pakistan boasts the best new ball attack and if we play to our potential we can beat even India and Australia," coach Miandad said.
Pakistan's first real challenge in the new year would be to host archrivals India after a gap of 14 years.
India severed bilateral ties with Pakistan over political tensions in 2000 but in October permitted its cricket team to tour across the border next March-April in a thawing of relations.
Pakistan also saw the exit of its cricket chief, Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia this year. Zia's controversial four-year term ended a day after a row between the state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation and private channel GEO deprived millions of viewers of live coverage of the first one-day match against New Zealand earlier this month.