Wasim Akram: We will do better in the coming games

Bilal_Tarar · February 15, 2003, 3:14pm

Pakistan Cricket Board - 14 February 2003

KIMBERLEY (South Africa), Feb 14: The 82-run defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 opener against Australia has not dampened the spirits of the Pakistan cricket team as the 1992 world champions remain optimistic and confident of reaching the Super Sixes stage.

The Pakistanis arrived in Kimberley on Wednesday and have held two tough training sessions at De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley, the venue of Sunday’s match against Namibia. Although it rained heavily early Friday morning, the boys were at the stadium at 0930 hours under thick cloud cover with a cool breeze blowing across for a curtailed 180-minute session because of Friday prayers. If the local MET office is to be believed, there would be bright sunshine in the next two days with the mercury expected to rise up to 35 degrees.

“I told you we are going to win some and lose some. The long tournament has just started and the spirits are still very much high,” former captain Wasim Akram said.

“We need to stay focused, put behind the Australian match and keep moving forward. We realize that we are a good enough team, better than most of the teams in the tournament, and its just a matter of getting one good victory under the cap. I am certain that we will do better in the coming games,” Wasim, with 493 one-day wickets, added.

The boys were naturally down after Tuesday’s defeat but have recovered well and look more confident, determined and keen to lift the standard of their game. The younger boys have been helped by the seniors, most noticeably by skipper Waqar Younis, vice-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar.

Pakistan received confidence-boosting news Friday morning when Saeed Anwar took an active part in the team’s training session and looks likely to return to the international scene.

“I am feeling much better. Although I lack match practice but the elbow is not bothering me at all,” Saeed said.

Pakistan manager Shaharyar Khan said he was delighted with the recovery of Saeed who missed Tuesday’s match after he was hit on the left elbow by a rising Shoaib Akhtar delivery during a net session in Johannesburg.

“I think Saeed Anwar will be available for Sunday’s match,” Shaharyar Khan said.

Skipper Waqar Younis admitted that a couple of changes will be made for Sunday’s match, including the return of magician spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.

“We are likely to make a few changes and Saqlain Mushtaq looks certain to be one of the inclusions. Saeed is also under consideration for selection but we will have a last look at him on Saturday before making a final decision,” Waqar said.

He added: “Shoaib Akhtar, I think, requires match practice and we are still not sure if to play him or not. We will decide the composition of the team on Saturday evening.”

The mood in the Pakistan camp suggests that this team hasn’t given up and was even more motivated. Waqar said his boys knew that it would be a tough tournament and were ready for future challenges.

“We are not taking the Namibia game lightly. We will play hard cricket and will try to rectify some of the weaker links in our team. Besides, the format of the competition is such that you also have to be at your best against lowly placed teams because you carry over points in the Super Sixes against the non- qualifiers also,” he said.

Waqar said Pakistan didn’t do as badly as the result against Australia suggested. “I mean it was just one excellent innings by Andrew Symonds that took the game away from us. We didn’t drop any catches and the bowling was also not that bad. Yes, the batsmen didn’t get big scores but hopefully they will shortly break the lean patch as the wickets, I believe, will be more friendly for the stroke-makers rather than the bowlers.”

Pakistan’s South African coach Richard Pybus is making all the boys undergo different drills and is even taking boys individually to the nets, a fact that shows his concerns. And the boys are also reciprocating as they are enjoying their cricket, courtesy some of the most brilliant facilities and conditions that are available here.

Dennis Waight, is making them train harder with the obvious aim being to increase their endurance, stamina and fitness level while Daryl Foster is always working with the bowlers trying to make slight adjustments in their bowling actions and advising them how to use the crease.

The local media has also pinned hopes on the Pakistan cricket team to bounce back and reach the Super Sixes.

“Without in any way being disrespectful to Namibia, Sunday’s match is all about the margin of Pakistan’s victory,” said Diamond Fields Advertiser newspaper, adding: “One shrewd observer of the game was surprised at the intensity of Pakistan’s practice on Thursday.”

Samiul Hasan
Media Manager
Pakistan Cricket Team
Mobile + 27 83 506 5828

source:CRICINFO

Bilal_Tarar · February 15, 2003, 3:16pm

Pakistan team makes more friends
Pakistan Cricket Board - 14 February 2003

KIMBERLEY (South Africa), Feb 14: The Pakistan cricket team continued to make friends on their tour of South Africa when they made a surprise visit to the Kimberley Hospital on Thursday morning.

The cricketers, dressed in travel kits, visited the entire hospital and interacted with the patients, particularly with the children in paediatrics ward. Only those present at the scene can explain the delight and happiness that was visible on the faces of the sick children when they found the star cricketers next to them.

The local media gave prominent coverage to the visit with one newspaper publishing a front-page four-column picture of skipper Waqar Younis bending over one of the cots and chatting with a 5-year-old boy.

The Pakistan players distributed their green caps and toys to the children in the paediatric section and also promised to donate a television and video player.

"This is from the boys' hearts and not from the administrators. We will donate to the childrens ward a whole lot of toys, a television set and a video machine, but there is going to be a very humble donation the boys will make towards the hospital and further gifts will be conveyed to you soon," team manager Shaharyar Khan said at the paediatrics section.

"For you to come to Kimberley Hospital is a very great honour, as we have doctors here who make it possible for us to continue growing in stature and those doctors I am referring to are from Pakistan," chief executive of the hospital Dr Deon Madyo said.

Dr Hamid Shabbir said: "We want to thank the Pakistani team for the gesture they have shown by taking time off to spend time with us."

Shaharyar Khan, on behalf of the team, said the Pakistan team was a team of human beings with feelings. "I would like to say the boys were prepared and looking forward to interact with those who needed their support to recover."

Samiul Hasan
Media Manager
Pakistan Cricket Team
Mobile + 27 83 506 5828

Mr_Xtreme · February 15, 2003, 3:49pm

[quote]
He added: *"Shoaib Akhtar, I think, requires match practice and we are still not sure if to play him or not. We will decide the composition of the team on Saturday evening." *
[/quote]

Another dumb comment from Waqar. If Shoaib's short of match practice then how will he get it unless he plays against the likes of Namibia who we will crush anyway? We don't have another game until next week so there's plenty of time for everyone to recover. It was Razaq who bowled badly last week, if anybody should be rested it's him.

Mr_Xtreme · February 15, 2003, 3:52pm

Regarding the visit to the hospital it's great PR and a credit to the boys that they made such a gesture. I remember South Africans made a lot of friends in Pakistan when the WC was held there in '96 when they got out and about in Pakistani streets unlike the whingeing poms who sat miserably in their hotels eating baked beans.

Bilal_Tarar · February 16, 2003, 10:26am

Pakistan keen to be back to winning ways
Agha Akbar - 15 February 2003

KIMBERLEY - Having been beaten by Australia in the opening game, and to add insult
to injury, being considered 'a topsy turvy team, which is quite beatable on its off-day' by Namibian coach Douglas Brown, Pakistan enter the De Beers Oval Sunday to put some points on the table and improve their net run rate.

In a press conference here, skipper Waqar Younis acknowledged that motivating the boys against the minnows was important. "This is a World Cup game; so there is no question of any complacency".

To another question, he said that he would not ask his fast bowlers to relent simply because of the inexperience of the Namibians.

Reacting to the opinion of the Namibian coach, his Pakistani counterpart Richard Pybus said that an effort was being made to make the side clinically efficient, so that better results are obtained all the time.

Another thing providing impetus to Pakistan is Zimbabwe getting four points due to the England forfeit, and consequently sitting pretty at the top of the pool, along with Australia (which has completed a clean sweep against the sub-continental sides in the pool). The relentless Aussie march and Zimbabwe's good fortune has put the cat amongst the pigeons as far as qualification for Super Sixes is concerned. The trio of Pakistan, India and England are now going to fight for either one place or two out of the three Super Sixes slots from this pool. If Zimbabwe rustles up a win or two against either Pakistan or India, along with Australia it too would be certain of a slot in the Super Sixes – something it managed in the last version of the event.

So it was imperative for Pakistan to win all its remaining matches, and the message was loud and clear for Waqar and his charges. And Waqar said that his squad was determined to do just that. "We don't just want to win our remaining five pool games, but also the ones in the Super Sixes", said he.

There would definitely be some changes in the team which played at the Wanderers against Australia. Wasim Akram though is not likely to be one of them, and he looks all set to get to another landmark in what is already a most illustrious career – replacing Javed Miandad and Steve Waugh (both with 33 matches) as the player with most World Cup games.

"Every game is an important game, because of not just various permutations coming into play because of some upsets but also because of the net run rate [a complicated affair the nuances of which are too cumbersome to master by most]. Hence, we would be playing our best eleven", said Waqar.

He wasn't willing to divulge the combinations that the Pakistan think-tank was working on, but two people under active consideration for insertion into the eleven were Saeed Anwar and Saqlain Mushtaq.

For their part, the Namibians were coming into the game with a positive attitude. "We know that beating Pakistan would be tough, but we would throw everything into it… We've made a plan and though we have great respect for the Pakistanis, we would not be fazed or scared off", said coach Brown.

Fielding is Namibia's strongest suit, and captain Deon Koetze believed his side would do better in this area than it did in their opening loss against Zimbabwe.

Definitely concerned about Pakistan's pace, the Namibians have these past few days furiously worked at the nets by putting the bowling machine up to speed. But Koetze admitted that simulating the pace of Shoaib Akhtar or spin of Saqlain Mushtaq was difficult. "The important thing for us was not to neglect the preparation… Most of our players have grown up watching the six or seven world class Pakistani players. But tomorrow we would be playing the ball and not the bowler".

Despite all this technical and mental preparation, it would still take some doing to beat Pakistan, which has to face stronger challenges in the next two weeks and the outcome of these would determine how they fare in this World Cup. But there is no belabouring the fact that they need to get back to their winning ways without wasting a minute.