The home of cricket has put on a pretty poor show so far (23 May 1999)

23 May 1999

The home of cricket has put on a pretty poor show so far

Wasim Akram

Ever since we landed in England three weeks ago, the facilities at the World Cup have been far from satisfactory. Poor practice conditions as well as bad wickets have made the going tough.

The record number of wides bowled so far in the tournament is largely due to the poor pitches that the matches are being played on. Being a bowler who is very particular about accuracy, I have found it difficult to control the ball. When a bowler tries to pitch outside the off-stump and get the ball to move in, it often travels the other way.

The result: the ball is flying all over the place, and the bowler does not know what to do next.

Many people are claiming that the new balls are responsible for the huge number of wides. I think, however, that the Kookaburra ball would have been as difficult to control as the Duke is, because it is the weather and the pitches that are causing the uncontrollable swing. Perhaps the tournament should have started a fortnight later when conditions are more conducive to a game of cricket.

To make matters worse, we have had only one decent session at the nets since we arrived here. At most of the venues, the nets are not up to the mark. In fact, facilities in India and Pakistan are much better. I keep hearing that cricket has come home this World Cup. Well, that may have been true 20 years ago, but not any more.

Looking back at Pakistan's first two matches, I must admit that we have been lucky to have four points in our kitty. Our top order has failed on both occasions, leaving it to the lower order to get us to respectable totals.

Yousuf Youhana, Moin Khan and Azhar Mahmood played mature, sensible knocks to give our bowlers something to defend. At the moment, Youhana is the only top order batsman who seems to know where his off-stump is. His knock against Scotland spared us the embarrassment of getting out for less than 200. Personally, I feel satisfied that my batting came good just when the team needed it.

Before the World Cup began, I had said our bowling would win us matches. Shoaib Akhtar has lived up to the hype and expectations. He is not bowling at his fastest; he is concentrating more on his line and has changed his length. On these pitches, it is important to pitch it up and control the swing, not merely tear in and bowl at express pace.

Abdul Razzak has shown that he is not overawed by the big occasion. As far as my bowling is concerned, I am familiar with these conditions after years of playing county cricket. My rhythm is improving as I get used to the softer English turf.

Our next match promises to be one of the best in the league stage. Australia will be eager to get a few points after their loss against the Kiwis. I hope Inzamam - who in my opinion is the best player of pace bowling - will prove himself against Glenn McGrath.

If we have a couple of good knocks at the beginning of the innings, our bowlers will do the rest. Batsmen like Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi simply have to apply themselves and refuse to gift their wickets. They must not play extravagant shots early in the innings and must know where their off-stump is.

Our fielding too has to recover from what seems to be an epidemic of butterfingers. The media back home claim that the absence of Javed Miandad, our former coach, who resigned just before the World Cup started, has affected the fielding practice. I blame our fielding lapses on the fact that we did not play a single warm-up match, which meant that we had no chance to get used to the softer ground.

Miandad cited personal reasons for not accompanying the team to England. As a team we have to respect that, and fortunately for us, Richard Pybus has made sure our practice sessions do not suffer.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)