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[Report] Azhar Mahmood, Grant Flower, Steve Rixon under spotlight after Australia thrashing

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http://www.dawn.com/news/1310892/co...xon-under-spotlight-after-australia-thrashing

LAHORE: Groping haplessly for solutions to the growing woes of the national team which returns from their disastrous tour Down Under this week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to critically review the performance of batting, fielding and other coaches and to discuss the same with head coach Mickey Arthur.

The PCB also contemplates recalling tainted fast bowler Mohammad Asif to the ranks after Pakistan’s fast bowlers failed to put up impressive performance in both New Zealand and Australia.

A key PCB official told Dawn on Thursday that many questions could be raised on the performances of players and the coaching staff but what really worried the PCB is the fact that it could hardly see on the horizon any outstanding players or coaches who could deliver for the Pakistan team in these trying times.

“There is a long list of tried and failed players and coaches and the PCB donot really want to go back to them for solutions,” remarked the PCB official. “Quite frankly, the performances of batting coach Grant Flower, fielding coach Steve Rixon, fitness trainer Grant Luden and bowling coach Azhar Mahmood are below par and bound to come under spotlight.”

“Though head coach Arthur is relatively new, the other coaching staff including Flower, Luden, Rixon have been working with team for the last couple of years and are yet to prove their mettle since the team has mostly been struggling in batting and fielding departments as well as bowling, especially in tough competitions like the World Cups and now in more challenging tours of New Zealand and Australia,” the official lamented.

It must be mentioned here that the PCB extended tenures of Flower and Luden for one more year in 2016 on Arthur’s recommendations.

Talking about bowling coach Azhar’s performance, the PCB official expressed his utter disappointment. “Our bowlers have always delivered in the past but now they have also faltered in a big way and have failed to make any impression on the opposition which reflect poorly on Azhar’s presence as bowling coach in the team.”

Getting down to solutions to team’s miseries, the PCB officials talked about the induction of young legs into the team and doing away with the overage brigade. “Introducing young legs, both in batting and bowling departments, is the only solution as we need to to discard the overage players,” maintained the PCB official while stating that the chief selector along with head coach would watch some young fast bowlers like Zia-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza and Wali Taj in the national team.

“Yes, the PCB can also recall fast bowler Mohammad Asif in near future as he is a quality seam bowler. It was very unfortunate for Asif and Pakistan cricket that he got involved in match-fixing and lost almost seven years of his career at a time when he was at his peak,” said the official.

“But now Asif can be recalled to strengthen the fast bowling department which has touched its lowest ebb in Australia.”
 
A day to celebrate [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] ?? :)))

Zia up haq isn't a good bowler by what ive seen , Mir Hamza don't know Mich about him? What about right handed bowlers where are they?????

@PCB Steve Rixon??? From 2 years???? He came with MICKEY!!!
 
They are looking at young pacers and who do they name Zia, Mir and Taj :facepalm:


Hadh hi hogayi yaaar


Why not select the guy who has been at the top of the bowling charts for the last two years, Muhammad Abbas. Or someone who has done well and is also quite pacy, Ahmed Bashir.


Man Inzi the revolutionary is such a BIG let down.
 
http://www.dawn.com/news/1310892/co...xon-under-spotlight-after-australia-thrashing

LAHORE: Groping haplessly for solutions to the growing woes of the national team which returns from their disastrous tour Down Under this week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to critically review the performance of batting, fielding and other coaches and to discuss the same with head coach Mickey Arthur.

The PCB also contemplates recalling tainted fast bowler Mohammad Asif to the ranks after Pakistan’s fast bowlers failed to put up impressive performance in both New Zealand and Australia.

A key PCB official told Dawn on Thursday that many questions could be raised on the performances of players and the coaching staff but what really worried the PCB is the fact that it could hardly see on the horizon any outstanding players or coaches who could deliver for the Pakistan team in these trying times.

There is a long list of tried and failed players and coaches and the PCB donot really want to go back to them for solutions,” remarked the PCB official. “Quite frankly, the performances of batting coach Grant Flower, fielding coach Steve Rixon, fitness trainer Grant Luden and bowling coach Azhar Mahmood are below par and bound to come under spotlight.”

“Though head coach Arthur is relatively new, the other coaching staff including Flower, Luden, Rixon have been working with team for the last couple of years and are yet to prove their mettle since the team has mostly been struggling in batting and fielding departments as well as bowling, especially in tough competitions like the World Cups and now in more challenging tours of New Zealand and Australia,” the official lamented.

It must be mentioned here that the PCB extended tenures of Flower and Luden for one more year in 2016 on Arthur’s recommendations.

Talking about bowling coach Azhar’s performance, the PCB official expressed his utter disappointment. “Our bowlers have always delivered in the past but now they have also faltered in a big way and have failed to make any impression on the opposition which reflect poorly on Azhar’s presence as bowling coach in the team.”

Getting down to solutions to team’s miseries, the PCB officials talked about the induction of young legs into the team and doing away with the overage brigade. “Introducing young legs, both in batting and bowling departments, is the only solution as we need to to discard the overage players,” maintained the PCB official while stating that the chief selector along with head coach would watch some young fast bowlers like Zia-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza and Wali Taj in the national team.

“Yes, the PCB can also recall fast bowler Mohammad Asif in near future as he is a quality seam bowler. It was very unfortunate for Asif and Pakistan cricket that he got involved in match-fixing and lost almost seven years of his career at a time when he was at his peak,” said the official.

“But now Asif can be recalled to strengthen the fast bowling department which has touched its lowest ebb in Australia.”

Doesn't seem to be the case thus far with Akmal, Gul, Hafeez, Malik and even Shafiq being called back. But lets hope they actually mean it this time. We need to invest in new players.
 
They are looking at young pacers and who do they name Zia, Mir and Taj :facepalm:


Hadh hi hogayi yaaar


Why not select the guy who has been at the top of the bowling charts for the last two years, Muhammad Abbas. Or someone who has done well and is also quite pacy, Ahmed Bashir.


Man Inzi the revolutionary is such a BIG let down.

Taj is done and dusted but I like Zia. He has potential.
 
They are looking at young pacers and who do they name Zia, Mir and Taj :facepalm:


Hadh hi hogayi yaaar


Why not select the guy who has been at the top of the bowling charts for the last two years, Muhammad Abbas. Or someone who has done well and is also quite pacy, Ahmed Bashir.


Man Inzi the revolutionary is such a BIG let down.

Zia is not bad i know at times he become erratic but he can improve with Mickey.

In domestic he is going to get old nothing else .PCB have invested alot in him its is time for him to repay Pakistan
 
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Asif is Already 34 still want him back wow :13: does this TTF list include Wahab and Rahat in ODI`s too if not please include them. If I ask on PP who is the best bowling coach available in Pakistan who would you guys recommend ? for fielding and batting coach Ijaz Ahmed is a good choice.
 
Reports just randomly come out like this and nothing happens. Lol always a joke with PCB and it's reports
 
Typical PCB looking to scapegoat the blame to someone else. The blame lies sorely on the board.

1) The state of domestic pitches. How do you expect to produce international quality players when all they play on are unprepared pieces of land? If you want stroke-making batsmen of fast bowlers with skill and pace, then at least give them an environment to develop.

2) The scheduling. The board knew one of the major reasons for our success in England was due to the time given for preparation. Yet it was them who scheduled the WI series to end just a few weeks before the tour down under. Some forward planning should have been initiated. Either we should have reduced the number of matches or split the LOI and Tests to seperate tours.

3) Have some perspective. This was always going to be the toughest challenge for Pakistan. The fact that the likes of Azhar and Shafiq (Tests) and Babar and Sharjeel (ODI) have left with their reputation enhanced is a big plus. Mickey has just started his tenure with his chosen support staff. Give them the time needed to execute their vision for Pakistan cricket. To score 2 back to back 400+ scores in Tests and win an ODI against Australia in Australia is not one many teams could have executed. There are positives to take.

Darren Lehman has over seen 2 white washes in the SC. But he's still there. Learn a lesson in stability.
 
Even if PCB brings back Woolmer from his grave and hires all the best coaches in the world, the outcome won't be much different. They can only coach but not perform on the field for these players.
 
Clearly azhar and mushtaq were waste of space there as bowling coaches doing nothing in the past and present...
 
Typical PCB looking to scapegoat the blame to someone else. The blame lies sorely on the board.

1) The state of domestic pitches. How do you expect to produce international quality players when all they play on are unprepared pieces of land? If you want stroke-making batsmen of fast bowlers with skill and pace, then at least give them an environment to develop.

2) The scheduling. The board knew one of the major reasons for our success in England was due to the time given for preparation. Yet it was them who scheduled the WI series to end just a few weeks before the tour down under. Some forward planning should have been initiated. Either we should have reduced the number of matches or split the LOI and Tests to seperate tours.

3) Have some perspective. This was always going to be the toughest challenge for Pakistan. The fact that the likes of Azhar and Shafiq (Tests) and Babar and Sharjeel (ODI) have left with their reputation enhanced is a big plus. Mickey has just started his tenure with his chosen support staff. Give them the time needed to execute their vision for Pakistan cricket. To score 2 back to back 400+ scores in Tests and win an ODI against Australia in Australia is not one many teams could have executed. There are positives to take.

Darren Lehman has over seen 2 white washes in the SC. But he's still there. Learn a lesson in stability.

well explained. The people sitting in PCB love to play this game by shifting blame on players,coaches,captain when its their incompetency to improve the root cause i.e our domestic system. They don't want to spend extra money on domestic cricket instead they would love that money to be distributed among them.
 
did anybody see our domestic matches in the last tournament. How could fielders dive when the outfield wasn't good enough. Why would a player risk injury on these outfield.
 
Grant should be moved to NCA to spend more time with the younger players, if he's willing to accept that role.
 
If PCB are serious about our fast bowling issues they need to fix our domestic pitches that are so skewed in favour of seamers.

It seems we've a generation of pacers who've forgotten how to use the new ball, use reverse swing and bowl on flat pitches. We need to change the ball too - this Grays ball provides extravagant movement.

We can't keep with this revolving door of backroom staff.
 
Typical PCB looking to scapegoat the blame to someone else. The blame lies sorely on the board.

1) The state of domestic pitches. How do you expect to produce international quality players when all they play on are unprepared pieces of land? If you want stroke-making batsmen of fast bowlers with skill and pace, then at least give them an environment to develop.

2) The scheduling. The board knew one of the major reasons for our success in England was due to the time given for preparation. Yet it was them who scheduled the WI series to end just a few weeks before the tour down under. Some forward planning should have been initiated. Either we should have reduced the number of matches or split the LOI and Tests to seperate tours.

3) Have some perspective. This was always going to be the toughest challenge for Pakistan. The fact that the likes of Azhar and Shafiq (Tests) and Babar and Sharjeel (ODI) have left with their reputation enhanced is a big plus. Mickey has just started his tenure with his chosen support staff. Give them the time needed to execute their vision for Pakistan cricket. To score 2 back to back 400+ scores in Tests and win an ODI against Australia in Australia is not one many teams could have executed. There are positives to take.

Darren Lehman has over seen 2 white washes in the SC. But he's still there. Learn a lesson in stability.

Could not have said it better.

The pathetic PCB is always looking to shift blame and look for short term causes.

Why is the Pak media not holding them out to task on this ??
 
Someone move the spotlight away from these guys and put it on the PCB and the organisers of our domestic cricket and the pitch curators for domestic games.
 
Yet they're also mentioning Butt and Asif as possible players to be reintroduced into the side...So I'll believe it when I see it. Thanks.
 
Clearly azhar and mushtaq were waste of space there as bowling coaches doing nothing in the past and present...

If anything Mushtaq was missed on this tour. Yasir looked lost with his tactics and needed Mushy's help which he did get in England.
 
This blame shifting culture is a joke. Accountability lies firmly at the feet on the PCB. The 3 mentioned here must be fuming.
 
Grant Flower has done his job pretty well imho.

Agree with this. I can't quite believe we'd see the same improvement in Azhar and Asad without him. Also look how much Babar improved throughout the series and Sharjeel's performance. What did Grant do wrong exactly?
 
If anything Mushtaq was missed on this tour. Yasir looked lost with his tactics and needed Mushy's help which he did get in England.

it was those pitches and his natural variations really helped him... after two years being with yasir he couldnt extrract a googly for this poor guy, I would say Mushtaq forced to work professionally with ECB and let it go attitude of PCB, which made him ask the team member to give his family his room for a night which the team member and Mickey didnt like it at all .... with not much success he was even given the role of Head Coach at NCA by PCB and it is how it works here for him...
 
the team needs a psychologist who can talk to the players and motivate them. there are so many outside forces that affect the morale of the team. same goes for inside the team politics.
the same 15 players or so have been part of the team majority of the time. there is no rotation systems for fast bowlers and batsmen and spinners. in this day and age team do their homework, they study the opposition and their strengths and weaknesses. that is why yasir, amir, wahab and other bowlers werent affective because australia was ready for them
Australia lost 2 test against south africa and they replaced 6 players. the result was immediate. they won the test and beat pakistan. if with the current team we r not winning. there is no harm in giving new players a chance. fresh legs and fresh arms will make a difference.
 
Agree with this. I can't quite believe we'd see the same improvement in Azhar and Asad without him. Also look how much Babar improved throughout the series and Sharjeel's performance. What did Grant do wrong exactly?

PCB with the usual mud slinging. Everyone except themselves is at fault. You can only do so much with the hand you are dealt, squad selection wasn't the greatest, then Sarfaraz had to fly home. In addition, these players have been playing non stop since the Eng tour, fatigue also becomes a big issue, rendering talented players mediocre.
 
I hope Inzi is brave and goes for fresh young blood, and not the Asif/Butt route. I would rather risk having to qualify for the next WC than still be persisting with the same TTFs in the name of experience and trying to manage staying at no8 after the WI series.
 
How long do they intend to make fools of us? This blame game to divert attention after every series is routine for PCB. I hope people don't fall for this again and continue to highlight the real problem which is the PCB itself. Where is the improved domestic system, pitches, etc. they promised?

These rotten "PCB officials" who keep leaking these insiders are the real reason we've been stuck with mediocrity for 2 decades. They are the obstacles blocking deserving people who will actually make changes necessary to bring change. Changing a few coaches here and there will not make any difference whatsoever.
 
I hope Inzi is brave and goes for fresh young blood, and not the Asif/Butt route. I would rather risk having to qualify for the next WC than still be persisting with the same TTFs in the name of experience and trying to manage staying at no8 after the WI series.

Inzi is a big part of the problem, imo.
 
Atleast two guys in Azhar and Mushtaq failed completely, they should be shown the door a.s.a.p.
 
If we blame grant with everything that went wrong we also have to credit him for sharjeel and Babar

I'd personally keeep the coaching staff intact
 
Improve your domestic structure PCB , Hiring and firing these coaches won't help. Look at the pitch conditions and the atrocious cricket being played at Pakistan domestic circuit. Its your responsibility to produce good players from this system , what the hell can coaches do with poor fileders , batsmen and bowlers from our rotten domestic structure. Fire yourself for the poor job you are doing.
 
finally my point gets answered, no big changes in the squad...We are still strong. the bowling and the fielding is something to be taken under the spotlight
 
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