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Two thousand and six. Thats when Pakistan were last ranked second in Test cricket. Back then, in the English summer, under the calm command of Bob Woolmer and Inzamam-ul Haq, Pakistan cricket was powered by skill and a degree of missionary zeal - blessed, you might say, by Bob and God.But the bank of blessings emptied soon after Pakistan got to England that year. Next, a forfeited Test, Woolmers death, terrorist attacks, and spot-fixing. An unprecedented four-year spell of curses. Four years with little blessing. By 2010, Pakistan cricket was more dead than alive. It would do well to exist.In 2015, Pakistan cricket does not merely exist. They are No. 2 in the Test rankings. Perhaps the greatest second place in the history of sport?Pakistan does not merely exist. It fights. It challenges. It wins. All of this is half-miracle. Winning makes us forget the impossibility of Pakistan at No. 2. How can it be? Above the Big Three sits Pakistan, at No. 2.Pakistan do not possess wealth or facilities. The best XI may not start. The XI, whoevers XI, once pulled in misaligned directions, without common purpose or grand design. A flawed genius of a cricket team. In time the flaws grew and the genius shrivelled. Nobody seemed to care. The country was a mess. In a rotten mess nobody cares for lost genius.But something wasnt rotten in the state of Pakistan cricket. That something was the cricket boards unbroken faith in Misbah-ul Haq. Misbah, inheritor of AH Kardar and Imran Khan. Misbah, an acquired taste, a sophisticated pleasure, a captain made for the deeper thought that Test cricket demands. Misbah created a team in his image: hard to beat, patient in adversity, capable of rapid transition from defence to attack. Misbah, Pakistan crickets greatest asset in this age of slings and arrows, its last hope.Misbahs leadership developed, his team acquired strengths. The batsmen now play with method, plan to build an innings. They defend James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and attack Englands spinners. Misbah leads from the front, other than to doff his cap to Younis Khans mastery. Asad Shafiq is the chief disciple, the next middle-order champion.The bowlers deliver uncanny accuracy. Yasir Shahs magic is exceptional control and subtle variations. He is patient and consistent, unusually so for a legspinner. He seems innocuous. No such thing. He is ever-probing, attacking, even without the elaborate variety of his predecessors.Wahab Riaz, early career blighted by loose deliveries, displays impressive control and stamina, enhancing the danger of his raw pace. Ancient skills, legspin and speed, bent to Misbahs will, and to the will of Waqar Younis and his coaching team.All this requires work and commitment. As does the progress of a wicketkeeper who scoops difficult chances, swallows straightforward ones, and offers quick runs in the lower order. Sarfraz Ahmed is fundamental to the success of a team known for its keepers generosity. Application, commitment, stout defence, and sudden aggression, all features of Misbahs Pakistan, embodied in his little wicketkeeper.None of this implies perfection. Pakistans troubles in the top order are clear enough. Azhar Ali is one long-term solution. The others are less certain. A series played with Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik in the top three is a gamble. Having no batsman after the little wicketkeeper, after No. 7, is a gamble.The ageing limbs of Zulfiqar Babar, a gamble. Misbahs Pakistan gambles on the mettle of its middle order. On the discipline of its strike bowlers. On the hands of its keeper. On a surprise attack in the thick of battle. On the chance that one or two of the support acts defy the odds.Of the support acts, Malik will be gone in Test cricket. A double-hundred and vital wickets said farewell. Do these performances vindicate a wronged man? In Pakistans four-bowler model, Malik plays as a batsman. His feet entirely rooted, his bowling not entirely trusted. Even the final highs do not lead to vindication.Once, he promised much more. Once, a prince of Pakistan cricket. A true allrounder, adaptable to every format. A supreme fielder. A hero in preparation. A captain in waiting, then a captain ahead of his time. But a modified action and unmodifiable footwork put paid to any lofty ambitions. Never doing quite enough to master his flaws. Never quite convincing in front-line action after over a decade of effort. In that decade, the prince made better fortune of Sania Mirza, Princess of India, than in Test cricket.That same decade examined Hafeezs credentials. The prince and the professor joined at the hip. Offspinners with suspect actions. Batsmen with leaden footwork. Middle-order talents forced to front an innings. Minds playing a game beyond their abilities. The prince and the professor, seeking greatness, seeking a role, uncertain of their futures. Of the two, the professor succeeded, mastered his limitations, found a game to suit his talents. More determination on the front foot, less abandon outside off stump. A grit and sporadic aggression to please his captain. A method that still comes unstuck against the quickest bowlers, and will be vulnerable in England. A method, nonetheless.But as Maliks Test career finds a bittersweet ending, a last hurrah of life before death, Hafeez is surging, more formidable than ever, a surprising winner in their struggle, a painstaking professor victorious over a purring prince.Back in the day, your money was on the prince, not the bits and pieces of coursework that the professor assembled. That the professor flourishes and the prince fades is entirely consistent with Misbahs rule. Method over magnificence. Discipline over dash. Reaching No. 2 requires method and discipline.Staying there demands success overseas. At their best, Pakistan dominated England home and away, which is the next series, a forlorn eight months away. Thank you, ICC. Thank you, Big Three. Thanks for nothing. The measure of this team will be in England and West Indies. In Australia and South Africa. Yet those away series dont come round fast enough. India turns its back. How do we measure this Pakistan deprived of Test cricket?In truth, Misbahs Pakistan seem a little unready for those tussles, at venues where gambles will be busted, where the support act will struggle, where the Professors method will be exposed, where the mettle of the middle order and the discipline of strike bowlers may not be enough. But those are challenges to relish. Opportunities to learn, grow stronger. Tours that must be granted, tours being denied.For now, we celebrate the virtues of this Pakistan team, at No. 2 in the world, blessed by the dead hand and the lively mind of Misbah-ul Haq, cursed by the ICC, denied the chance to challenge for No. 1, denied the chance to assert the superiority of old virtues over new money.In 2006, the last Pakistan team to be second, the team of Bob and God, played a pragmatic, sometimes ill-disciplined, but ultimately soulless song. The team of Misbah and Waqar is equally pragmatic, more disciplined, and yet pleases the soul with the simple joy it finds in runs, wickets, and victories.Joey Gallo Rangers Jersey . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Asdrubal Cabrera Rangers Jersey . 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Shawn Kelley Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach.The New York Knicks have emerged as the strong favorite to sign free-agent big man Joakim Noah, according to league sources.Sources told ESPN that multiple teams interested in Noah have all but conceded that the Knicks are his runaway preferred destination.The Knicks meeting with Noah will be Friday afternoon, league sources said.No deals can be officially signed until July 7, but teams and free agents can start coming to verbal agreements on contracts ?starting Friday at 12:01 a.m.?Noah, a former All-Star center, is scheduled to meet with Knicks president Phil Jackson on Friday, according to sources.There is significant interest on both sides. Noah, a native New Yorker, had expressed strong interest in signing with the Knicks in recent days, sources say. He is close with Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose, his former teammate in Chicago, who said last week that he would like Noah to join him in New York.The Knicks are eager to land a center this offseason. They have prioritized the position in free agency after trading Robin Lopez, last years starting center, to Chicago in the Rose trade.Noah, 31, is coming off a 2015-16 season filled with injury. He suffered two significant shoulder injuries that limited him to 29 games last season, missing almost a month with a left shoulder tear and undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a left shoulder dislocation in January. He has spent a portion of his summer at The Peak Performance Project in Santa Barrbara, California.ddddddddddddHe has been outspoken in years past about how much he loves Chicago, and there is still some hope within his camp that he will stay with the Bulls, but the likely option is that Noah will take a big-money deal from a team and look for a new start.Im very focused on free agency, Noah said in June, according to international website Sportando. I spent the last 10 years in Chicago. There were good moments and bad moments, but now I have an incredible opportunity for a player, being recruited by a team. I definitely want to live that kind of experience. Its new for me, but its something very intriguing for a player.The Knicks have roughly $30 million to spend in free agency and hope to fit Noah into that space while keeping enough room to add a starting shooting guard. Courtney Lee and Eric Gordon are among the guards the Knicks have a level of interest in, sources say.Some members of the Knicks organization expressed optimism earlier in the week about getting an audience with free agent Kevin Durant. But if the club comes to terms quickly with Noah, its unlikely that it will have the requisite cap space to sign Durant to a max contract. The Knicks are currently not among the teams that have secured a meeting with Durant.Information from ESPN staff writer Nick Friedell was used in this report. ' ' '