Pakistan's fielding in the fourth ODI against Australia - a complete horror show

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan's fielding was disastrous today. We have had some terrible outings but this was one of the worst ones that comes to mind. Simple catches shelled, misfields all over the place, overthrows, you name it.

Ian Chappell said "Pakistan have had a poor season in the field but they excelled themselves in poor fielding tonight, it really was a disaster" and I think he's completely right.

Just look at poor Mickey:

 

[Pete Rose]

Long tour, tired legs, broken hearts.
not that it justifies but has happened to bigger Pak teams than this one.

 

[Black Zero]

Sack fielding coach.

 

[Sunny786]

I am seriously disappointed at our team's fitness and fielding standards.

 

[Barragan]

This was always going to happen.

Aus in Aus is the toughest tour in ODI cricket and for a team like Pak, getting one win was a major achievement.

Just before the series started, Aus had lost only 5 matches out previous 40 matches - incredible.

Pak were thumped in the Test series and most of them are still reeling from those thrashings, whilst the fresher guys must have been deflated from the last game and the way Warner blasted away at the beginning.

 

[Pete Rose]

I hope the one thing PCB doesnt do is to become trigger happy about the coaching staff.

 

[Madplayer]

Mickey's reaction is hilarious tbh. But Even aussies dropped catches today. There are other issues too which have caused the team to lose.

 

[Abdullah719]

Mickey's reaction is hilarious tbh. But Even aussies dropped catches today. There are other issues too which have caused the team to lose.

Smith was dropped on 11 by Sharjeel and the score was around 125/1 at the time, the game could have gone in a different direction. New batsman etc., though yeah, it was Handscomb (Bradman) who would have come next - instead, Smith and Warner took Australia beyond 200, putting on around 80 in 12 overs after the drop. Ground fielding and overthrows were pathetic too, even Azhar after the match admitted that they were simply way below par and had they kept Australia to around 300, it was chase-able.

 

[Markhor]

The fielding becomes particularly poor when the batting side puts us under pressure. One fielder fumbles and the pressure then translates to everyone else.

 

[Syed1]

You gotta blame clueless captain too. Having a slow and unfit Sharjeel Khan at backward point defies all logic, but then again Azhar's captaincy is not based off of logic.

 

[JibranAnsari]

This is a grass root problem , look at the fielding standards in our domestic cricket let alone club cricket. Overaged guys who take pride in protruding bellies. You can not choose 20 players , put them under a certain fielding plan and expect good results. We need to improve standards of fielding in domestic cricket to find default good fielders , fielding coach can't do anything about it. Sack him or Keep him , wont make much of a difference.

 

[Bewal Express]

Anyone that thinks that coaches can teach people to field in the national team are living in cloud cuckoo land. To tell you how strict they are in England, my son was told very clearly by county coaches that if his fielding didn't improve, his future would be in jeopardy and he was only 14, he did go back to his club and improved markedly. In the end it didn't matter as his bowling didn't have the control they were looking for. But they want people who can do all 3 things.

 

[MMHS]

Mickey's reaction is hilarious tbh. But Even aussies dropped catches today. There are other issues too which have caused the team to lose.

There is a fundamental difference - every team drops catch, Aussies & Safaers as well. But, what they do is with 1/2 drops, every match they take some real tight ones.

PAK fielders drop regulation like charity ....... and don't attempt something remotely tight.

 

[jeetu]

Sometime tough decisions are needed. India dropped Laxman for 2003 WC , he was still decent ODI batsman but was huge liability in ODI fielding.

 

[Syed1]

There is a fundamental difference - every team drops catch, Aussies & Safaers as well. But, what they do is with 1/2 drops, every match they take some real tight ones.

PAK fielders drop regulation like charity ....... and don't attempt something remotely tight.

Yar forget about the drops. The Aussies openers were smashing it straight to the infielders during the first PP and easily taking singles, this is just mind-boggling. Also it doesn't help that captain had sent all the infielders to the edge of the ring within the first 10 to 'save boundaries' rather than to attack.

 

[MMHS]

I think, I wrote it in another thread.

Robert Baddelley AKA Bobby Simpson was an AUS cricketer who played about 60 Tests & took 110+ catches. General understanding was - if you guide it to Aussie 2nd slip, don't look back, walk.

Now, this guy Simpson was asked what was the key to his success. He said - desperate dreams. I dreamt all night that I am taking a catch at slip - next morning, I'll be first man to stand for the toughest catching position - slip, silly point, short leg ... and desperately hope that every ball comes to me like a desart cactus for rain & I catch them. Even I loved to juggle the ball in my hands just for the feel of it. I can categorically tell that ask any PAK fielder - he'll say his favourite position is fine leg & he wish never a alter comes to him.

Fielding is a thankless job - unless the urgency comes from within, you can't teach one. It's more attitude than any thing else.

Compared to these PAK lot, Sakib is like a God in Bangladesh club cricket. Any team will allow him to play as all rounder & rest while not bowling. Still, that guy hardly misses a single over in entire season - he just loves to be involved, be part of the action. With his status, almost every PAK cricketer would have put a contract clause that they won't field, if so it means to field with 10 men. And I am not going to Virat or Smith's level .....

 

[Cricket World]

We can give any number of excuse like fitness, tired legs etc but to me it has got something to do with captains body language and mindset that sets the tone to lift the team spirit or take it completely down.

It was very evident that whole lot looked disinterested on the field and that reflected in countless elementary misfields and chances going down. It was catching from one to another like a disease.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Long tour, tired legs, broken hearts.
not that it justifies but has happened to bigger Pak teams than this one.

amir, azhar, babar are the only players who has played every single game on this tour... sharjeel dropped catches played just the last test match and he didnt bat longer than an hour in tests tbh till then he is in for ODIs... hasan ali just came for the ODIs... fatigue is not an excuse for those who dropped catches today..

 

[Pete Rose]

amir, azhar, babar are the only players who has played every single game on this tour... sharjeel dropped catches played just the last test match and he didnt bat longer than an hour in tests tbh till then he is in for ODIs... hasan ali just came for the ODIs... fatigue is not an excuse for those who dropped catches today..

You underestimate the impact of losing constantly

 

[Pete Rose]

We can give any number of excuse like fitness, tired legs etc but to me it has got something to do with captains body language and mindset that sets the tone to lift the team spirit or take it completely down.

It was very evident that whole lot looked disinterested on the field and that reflected in countless elementary misfields and chances going down. It was catching from one to another like a disease.

And in the third odi?

 

[vandokkum]

I think, I wrote it in another thread.

Robert Baddelley AKA Bobby Simpson was an AUS cricketer who played about 60 Tests & took 110+ catches. General understanding was - if you guide it to Aussie 2nd slip, don't look back, walk.

Now, this guy Simpson was asked what was the key to his success. He said - desperate dreams. I dreamt all night that I am taking a catch at slip - next morning, I'll be first man to stand for the toughest catching position - slip, silly point, short leg ... and desperately hope that every ball comes to me like a desart cactus for rain & I catch them. Even I loved to juggle the ball in my hands just for the feel of it. I can categorically tell that ask any PAK fielder - he'll say his favourite position is fine leg & he wish never a alter comes to him.

Fielding is a thankless job - unless the urgency comes from within, you can't teach one. It's more attitude than any thing else.

Compared to these PAK lot, Sakib is like a God in Bangladesh club cricket. Any team will allow him to play as all rounder & rest while not bowling. Still, that guy hardly misses a single over in entire season - he just loves to be involved, be part of the action. With his status, almost every PAK cricketer would have put a contract clause that they won't field, if so it means to field with 10 men. And I am not going to Virat or Smith's level .....

Simpson supposedly is one of the guys who really put Australia on top of the world, heard some great things about his attitude.

 

[MMHS]

Simpson supposedly is one of the guys who really put Australia on top of the world, heard some great things about his attitude.

Great cricketer - to his credit, that AUS side had AB as Captain, Deano, Waugh twins, Marsh, Boon, McDermott & few others. ....................

He was mentor for Team India in 1996 WC - to his discredit, he had Azhar as Captain & that bunch had guys like Prabhakar, Jadeja, Kambli ...............

It's relative - system produces sports man, coach can only fine tune (Though fans believe that Pep almost created Messi from mud ball like 2nd God ....)

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Pathetic effort but they're better than that.

 

[vandokkum]

Great cricketer - to his credit, that AUS side had AB as Captain, Deano, Waugh twins, Marsh, Boon, McDermott & few others. ....................

He was mentor for Team India in 1996 WC - to his discredit, he had Azhar as Captain & that bunch had guys like Prabhakar, Jadeja, Kambli ...............

It's relative - system produces sports man, coach can only fine tune (Though fans believe that Pep almost created Messi from mud ball like 2nd God ....)

There was a column on cricinfo yesterday about him being a hard task master, I wonder how he would have if he was coaching bunch of Pakistani players.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

You underestimate the impact of losing constantly

catches win matches... only played 3 ODIs and series is 2-1, ur excuses are very lame and unacceptable... In the past indian team gave this fatigue tag for not doing well in a WT20 just because they are coming after a 2 month long IPL event and 6 months of non-stop cricket which was some what acceptable... Pak every year have six months off from cricket, for the past 2 years this has been the scenario they should be the last team talking about fatigue as an excuse...Impact of losing means yes u lose because u dont bat well, bowl well or field well, I really dont understand the impact of losing constantly.. the impact should be on the fans who support these players constantly failure after failure... The fans should be fatigued not the players..

 

[MMHS]

There was a column on cricinfo yesterday about him being a hard task master, I wonder how he would have if he was coaching bunch of Pakistani players.

Most likely he would have forgotten most things he had learned - almost 81 now, managing PAK team is too low for him now - may be Chairman PCB ............. age in right bracket indeed.

 

[PakLFC]

Fielding was so poor that one has to wonder if it was deliberate. Just can't see how professional Cricketer's can be so woefully poor.