Pakistani players struggling with work load and demanding schedule?

[AlphaFighter]

Mickey Arthur alluded to this excuse in UAE. I also feel that the players have struggled with the heavy demanding in the last six months.

Since June, the Pakistani team has played a total of 12 test matches, 8 ODI's, 4 T-20's, not including the practice games. All this in a period of 6 months. This is a very heavy and demanding workload for a team not used to playing so much cricket especially test matches in such a short period of time. I could tell by the body language of the players that they are just fatigued, exhausted by the losses and being away from their families and home.

I think after the England Series ended in the first week of Sept, the team came back home for a couple of days, a couple of the players took part in a domestic T-20 tournament and then immediately left for UAE in September-October.

Since October the team has been in the UAE and then left straight for New Zealand and Australia.

Let's not kid ourselves, this cannot be discounted in the show we have seen from the team in the last 6 months.

This heavy scheduling is a reality of Cricket today and for a team that is isolated, we need as much Cricket as possible.

The PCB needs to rotate the players better. Even prepare a second batch of Pakistan A players that can take over the national team whenever needed.

 

[Seamer]

Yes your absolutely right we already have some backup replacements it's just a matter of playing them eg, Mir Hamza, Asghar, Fakhar Zaman

 

[muqarrab]

Yes they are, this tour of new zealand was ill advised and ill planned. Had we not gone to NZ and instead spent time in australia, results could have been different. Blame misbah all you can, but this stupidly sandwiched nz tour played its part in derailing the team.

 

[AlphaFighter]

Yes they are, this tour of new zealand was ill advised and ill planned. Had we not gone to NZ and instead spent time in australia, results could have been different. Blame misbah all you can, but this stupidly sandwiched nz tour played its part in derailing the team.

I feel the WI series in UAE was unnecessary, we should have sent a B team there

 

[pasha404]

I still can't understand what was the benefit of paying the NZ series and why it was played

 

[world cup captain]

Even worse is that PCB isn't giving time to injured players. Amir just got injured and now they will play him in the ODI series.

 

[sa]

Yes they are, this tour of new zealand was ill advised and ill planned. Had we not gone to NZ and instead spent time in australia, results could have been different. Blame misbah all you can, but this stupidly sandwiched nz tour played its part in derailing the team.

The decision wouldn't be different. They all the consequences. Players can tell the coach if they were overworked. Aussie wouldn't beaten them easily anyways. Aussie bowlers went through the same work load . NZ your was right and Pakistan had enough time to relax in between the series and after 2 test game.

 

[LordJames]

Pak lost due to bad scheduling and wrong selection. If thry had sense they would have scheduled better and rotated some Pacers. Conditions in NZ were way different to Australia and no way you would play Pacers with the same skillset

Still, Work Loads were no worst then what Aussie Pacers had.

 

[AlphaFighter]

Historically everytime Pakistan has toured Australia, it has most of the times been preceded with a tour of NZ

 

[PakLFC]

Cheap excuses by Mickey. Either we are under prepared for not getting any practise matches or we are tired having played to many practise matches. So what kind of workload does Mickey want then?? We were found out for being the average team we are. Seems as if Mickey may also have been found out as well.

 

[yasir]

Even if we had no Cricket or very little Cricket we still have lost, we have been loosing for 20 years, 12-0. 12 Straight losses across generations, teams, coaches and what not...I bet you if we go there with no cricket for 6 months results will be same...

What we have heard in past as well is that grounds in Australia are hard, our players get tired quickly, complains about Hamstring and extra burden on back. Its not just bowlers only, fielders run into same issue, those big hard grounds are tough on our not so fit teams. I can imagine if we play 5 test series we need 25 players not 15...

Why Auses players are not like that? - Well they are used to those grounds, are lot more fitter than others...Wickets are flatter, your fitness is really tested, aging middle order and debutant top order (Sami and Babar have 4/5 tests, that's hardly any experience), was not really good combination...

Our Bowlers one can say had lot of work load, Amir and Yasir had bowled 300+ overs in last 6 months in test. For a fast bowler who avg 135/140 and started playing cricket after 5 years break, that's a lot of work load. Australia in last leg means, lot of strain on back and Hammies... They both are now injured and ineffective after first test...

 

[yasir]

Imbalance Schedule does not allow to develop team

Pakistan gets tour of ENG,NZ,AUS once in every 5/6 years. All in one year, those tours require an entirely different kind of team than you need in tests you play in Asia...Ideally you need four bowlers and fifth seaming allrounder. Problem is for next 4 years in the cycle, you don't need those extra fast bowlers...Its not like you cannot produce that many fast bowlers and allrounders, problem is you don't have job for them on regular basis...

Opposite is also true for Western teams. Western teams don't play with two spinners, which are must in Asia. You also need a spin allrounder, which is missing...In modern times, when players are playing lot of shorter format and lesser longer format even in domestic cricket, this issue has been greatly exposed...

Other formats eat away test cricket's time

Now a days people study teams strength and weakness lot more and prepare home conditions lot better, plus players are playing too many formats, preparing for are these surfaces and environments is hard... In past for instance top batsmen and bowlers used to play county matches before big series or western players used to play lot of side matches before big series in Asia to get use to the conditions, now all that stuff is not affordable, you dont have time to get used to the conditions...Hard to win first test, when you are behind, its very hard to comeback...

Also, home teams at times are welcoming the tourist in hardest conditions...India greets western on rank turner first, before taking them to easier conditions...AUS invites asians to GABBA, Sydney is kept in last, when nothing is left in the tank... If players are slowly introduced to the new env, things can be more interesting....

 

[Arham_PakFan]

It could definitely be a factor.Workloads,such as with the fast bowlers,could have been managed so much better.

 

[Statsman]

Need younger players and stronger bench to avoid burn outs.

 

[Pakprideuk]

Need younger players and stronger bench to avoid burn outs.

I agree. Management can keep alluding to workload issues but the Pakistani bowlers have nearly not bowled as many overs as their Australian counterparts. Sohail, Imran, Rahat were all rotated in the previous 4 test matches but they looked tired right from the first over. I haven't done an overs comparison but I'm pretty sure Aussies bowled far more overs because we batted at a much slower run-rate and scored over 350 quite a few times. But Hazlewood and Starc still had it in them to knock us over on the final day at all three venues. MCG, SCG and the Gabba.

Even in the three test matches against the West Indies, the bowlers were rotated with Amir, Wahab both having a rest. I don't doubt Micky, the players are probably tired but that just means they're not fit enough to deal with the demands of International Cricket. We all look at Tendulkar, Anderson, Cook etc. and say they've played this many test matches, which is why they've broken records but it just shows their supreme fitness levels both physically and mentally.

 

[volcyz]

the pacers and Yasir were grinded down to ashes...

Don't know how much longer Wahab can maintain 145kph pace to be honest.

 

[Markhor]

The schedule has been intense but let's remember there's been so many rain delays in this series so whilst its not ideal for rhythm, its not as if the players have been worn out due to being on the field non-stop. Plus Arthur has rotated his pacers.

One of the problems is that in domestic cricket, due to the excessively bowler friendly surfaces - an innings doesn't last that long. In the QEA Trophy each day lasts about 65-70 overs. Rarely will a seamer have a workload of 25+ overs per innings which they would outside Asia in international cricket. So how can you ensure your pacers have the required stamina to bowl long spells in international cricket ?

Further exacerbating this issue are the lack of fitness and nutrition programmes at domestic and grassroots levels. Our cricketers need to remember they are still professional athletes and must train as such.

I don't think Pakistan's schedule has been especially intense compared to England's for example. Australia will play a T20 against Sri Lanka in Adelaide a day before their first Test in India begins on February 23.

This makes it all the more important to have strength in depth to avoid player burnout - a pool of an addition 7-8 players that you can rely upon beyond the starting XI of any given format - Pakistan's bench strength is quite untested.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

I don't think so as Pak bowlers bowled around 720 overs in last 5 test matches means 145 per match, you usually bowl more than this. There was also lot of rain interruptions so tiredness should not be excused.

 

[khurram39]

Its the duty of the coach to foresee the problem and give those players rest. After loosing the games its bullish. Make a good pool of players to overcome this problem for the future.

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was wondering why we did poorly in Australia. May be <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB">@TheRealPCB</a> boys r overworked as well. Killer cricket calendars inducing mediocrity.</p>— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) <a href="https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/818877144461778944">January 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sport too is an art form dat needs to be relished n not recycled. Cramped schedules is killing d artists n encouraging sledge-hammers.</p>— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) <a href="https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/818882012027072512">January 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[Major]

I like if we dont play cricket for 4 months, the lack of cricket is what killed us. If we play consecutive cricket, too much cricket killed us.

This is why regular fitness is important.