Pakistan cricket team update
17 Aug 2004
I thought it might be nice for those of you who use this site for a short update of what is happening behind the scenes at our camps and on tours. Usually there is a lot of fun on tours and at camps and the Asia cup was no different, although it wasn’t the team that caused the laugh. We have with us Darryn Lifson who is a highly qualified physiotherapist but has not worked with professional cricketers very much and is not sure what he can and cannot do when he runs onto a cricket field. So of course he is a prime target for the boys to tease him!
He ran on against Bangladesh to treat one of our players and he put his little bag of tricks on the playing pitch (nowhere where it could do any harm I might add) but Moin Khan thought he would tease Darryn and told him that the Umpire would fine him and sure enough Billy Bowden came to the party and for a couple of days Darryn thought he was going to pay a heavy fine and be put on probation (whatever that meant). He fell for it hook line and sinker and the boys kept bandying about various sums of money to keep the ruse going! He is not so gullible now I might add!
Our camp in Lahore before the ICC Champions trophy and Holland went well although the new indoor school nearly caught fire when one of the fans shorted at about 4am in the morning, however the security guards were on the ball and prevented any major damage.
It followed a huge thurnderstorm and the special function to honour the 1954’s team who won at the Oval only 7 years after independence. Those survivors of that game were given a special medal and an undisclosed sum of money which was promised to them by the PCB in 1954 but never received it!
I have to say it was tremendous occasion and it typifies how cricket does look after its previous generations and how humbling it is to know that these past heroes actually gave the next generations the inspiration to play.
Inzamam and I were also introduced to the player and officials of the schools final between Lahore and Karachi, which was unfortunately washed out by that horrendous storm. The two teams shared the trophy. It is also nice to see that the game is being organised at all levels.
Many people forget about the continual development of the game. The good news is that the schools tournament is going to be increased and that more regional teams will be invited to play against each other.
I am writing just before we depart for Islamabad on the way to Dubai , Gatwick and finally Amsterdam. It will be a long flight and the temperature difference will be huge. 37 - 22!
Finally I wondered what you all thought about reintroducing the Pakistan Eagle into the Pakistan team flag, Blazer and hats. I was very impressed by the old Paksitan team blazer and I wondered if it would be nice to have a competition to design a new Pakistan cricket crest using the current star, crescent and The eagle.
I suppose I should ask if you all think it is a good idea first. I quite fancy a different crest with the words Unity, Faith and Discipline underneath, Which as you know was the cry of the new nations founder Mohammed Jinnah.
If there are any design artists out there I am sure you come up with a great design. I mentioned it to the Chairman and he was keen to see some designs and then discuss it with the PCB.
Anyone interested?
All for now have to get on a plane
Best Wishes and thanks for all the support.
how can one not love this man? forget Rameez Raja. they should just give the Pride of Performance to Woolmer. I’m not going to bet any money on Pak on the 25th but I’ve never seen such a driven and pumped up Pak side. sabaash boys, keep going. you’re gonna reach the top one day. :jhanda:
I don’t know how many of you know Amsterdam but it has a fascinating network of canals and waterways which link up to the sea, at the moment too those waterways are being filled up incessantly with rain from some violent thunderstorms. This is making life really tough for the Dutch cricket board organizers of the tri nation’s series! We are playing in a suburb of Amsterdam called Amstelveen about a 10 minute drive from the Hotel. The Hotel is extremely comfortable and the drivers of our bus are all ex pat Pakistanis! They cannot of course get enough of the team and they have been fantastic as well. No problem finding Pakistani food.
At the moment we have three of the team down with a slight stomach bug, Haroon Rashid who we nicknamed Harpoon because if you type his name on the computer the spell check comes up with Harpoon and not Haroon. I t has caught on and Haroon is very easy going about it.
Of course Murray Stevenson (Our trainer) is named Ganja (because he is bald) and I am not going to tell you Darryn Lifson’s (Physio) nick name just yet basically because I cannot spell it in Urdu yet!
While the ground is in Amsterdam we have had to drive out to Utrecht (36 k’s) for practice where we have two middle pitches with nets around them and two artificial pitches and two more grass nets. Every club has soccer fields and artificial Hockey field there are over 400 astro turf hockey field in Holland. They are of course a great Hockey Nation.
I was extremely pleased with our performance against India I felt it was the best of the six performances that we have had. You may not believe this but after the game we returned to the Hotel and six of the players went on a run after the game. There is definitely a new culture beginning to take root in the team, they were not asked to go but did so no prompting, indeed 8 more went to the Gym as well.
The reason for this fitness drive is the amount of cricket we have coming up and because we have a very arduous Australian tour as well in December. We are also building up our plans for the ICC Champions trophy which is just around the corner now. I also thought Inzamam captained beautifully and the team, I believe are heading in the right direction. There is still plenty to do and we are constantly identifying areas where we can improve.
Thank you all for your continued support and keep your fingers crossed every time we play. Remember we are doing it for you as well!
This man is amazing, i love how he respects pakistani tradition and constantly reminds the players of the great tradition they represent. he doesn't berate the players which is a departure from the tough love methods of imran khan, wasim akram and miandad. he brings a refreshing love for the game and he is making others love cricket too. i have always felt our flaw was our organization, he has restored our faith in pakistan cricket, thank god he agreed to coach our team!
