Firstly I would like to thank all of you for logging on and asking questions, secondly let me apologise if I have not been able to get to them all. As I write I am going into the African bush for a short holiday and so will not be answering any questions for a while.
When I joined the Pakistan team on July 2nd 2004 I was not sure what I would have to face and what the reaction would be to my appointment. I guessed that it would be mixed and purely as an outsider watching Pakistan I knew that the team was inconsistent but extremely talented.
After just under a year with Pakistan I can say that I have been very impressed by the efforts of all the players. There is a genuine desire to get better and to make Pakistan a team to be respected in the world of cricket. The Pakistan cricket board too are working flat out to improve the domestic cricket structure which as I know you are all aware is huge and not an easy task.
It is common knowledge that I have had a run in with some parts of the media and I guess that is always going to be the case. No coach can get it right. Duncan Fletcher says very little and the English media get upset, I am accused of talking too much! What all coaches will learn is that either way you cannot win. “You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t!”
More importantly we are moving in the right direction and there is still plenty to achieve. The one-day cricket has gone pretty well and we are extremely competitive in this department, still room for improvement so we will not be standing still in this regard. The Test match cricket has been spasmodic, we have had too many bad sessions and as you are all aware we are still trying to find an opening pair that will bring some stability to our batting performances.
There is no shortage of talent, but technically there is much to learn when you are faced by the top opening bowlers in world cricket. Extra bounce defending back down the wicket learning to be patient are a few disciplines that are needed. To this end we need to make all our coaches aware that we have to combine discipline with flair, less so now than ever before because the game of cricket is changing. Taking the game to the opposition is part of the modern game and scoring at 4 runs an over in Test cricket is nearly the norm.
Much has been said about Shoaib Akthar and of course we have been accused of mismanaging him. Management of people is not a taught skill it comes with experience. None of us are the same and we should not treat everyone the same. However in a team game such as cricket any team needs people to fight for each other and the country, they must not give in, it is better to fail but keep trying. This is the attitude and ethic that Inzamam and I want in this team. You will have recognized this trait in a number of performances recently.
We realize that Shoaib’s speed is a huge bonus for us and essentially we would like him in the side, but there are two major issues that we have discussed with him that he needs to address. The first is that we would like him to be able to bowl between 20 and 30 overs an innings not necessarily flat out but be part of the bowling attack. That by the way goes for every bowler. Recently Shoaib has found it difficult to do that purely from his fitness point of view. He is unlike any other bowler in world cricket in that he supports a 30 metre run up. This means that he is running huge distances at great speed and it is physically very demanding. In order to be able to do this he has two options the first one is non-negotiable; he has to be aerobically and anaerobically very fit. 300 balls (50 overs in two innings). The second is that he cuts his run up down so that it is less physically demanding. In this way he would be able to fulfill what we would like him to do. I have discussed this with him and it is up to him to choose which way he wants to go.
Neither Inzamam nor I have anything against Shoaib, contrary to many articles etc, but after breaking down so many times in Australia it was patently obvious that he is not as fit as he can be. He has started to work hard with our trainers and he is at Worcester now where he will we all hope continue to make the effort to gain the level of fitness that we and that he should want.
We currently go into each Test match with four bowlers and amazingly we seem to lose one of those bowlers through injury or accident (Rana Naveed in Jamaica) so the remaining bowlers have to carry the burden. I sincerely hope that Shoaib can find his way back into the team ready for the England tour later this year (October)
Inzamam has been terrific and he has a clear vision of how the team should act, behave and play. As a captain he has grown tremendously in the last few months and of course his batting is terrific, the players all respond to him and will do anything for him.
I am not going to give you a breakdown of the players in the team that would show lack of respect for our relationship. Let me just say that the fitness levels have improved tremendously the guys practice hard and properly and that the spirit in the team is excellent. We had a well documented hiccough (Hiccup) in the Barbados Test match and that has been put to bed forever. We all learnt a salutary lesson from that and will I am sure not let that happen again.
The boys have worked hard for a long period they have a well deserved rest 1 month before they have to start their training routines given to them by Murray Stevenson our trainer and when I return at the end of July I will be working technically with them and preparing for the England series. Watching them play at the moment they look as though they are going to be giving Australia a tough road in the Ashes series. I for one will be studying all the games.
Thank you again for logging on and chatting on the web site it has been a lot of fun, I am afraid I will never be able to please all of the people all of the time. Most importantly though is that we remember cricket is the greatest game of all and that the reason we do this is because we love the game.
Chacha Bablu “Bob” Woolmer