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| August 09, 2006 | Wednesday | Rajab 13, 1427 |
Defeat no cause for panic: Woolmer
LEEDS, Aug 8: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said he would not panic after his side crashed to a series defeat against England at Headingley on Tuesday and said he would fight any calls for players to be axed.
“What we need to do is to keep this team solid and not to panic. We have been outplayed by a better team at home and we need to work on our cricket,” he said after Pakistan lost the third Test by 167 runs on the final day.
“I don't want to throw individuals out of my team, I want to make sure they get better,” Woolmer told a news conference.
“We just need to go back to the drawing board and make sure we get things right. We don't need to make wholesale changes. I shall resist that. It's important we remember this team has done well for almost two years.”
“Some teams might have rolled over but we fought through all of this Test match. We fought back when England scored 500, got a lead and then bowled them out. We conceded the game in the morning, unfortunately. We had a realistic chance of winning but we threw our chance away in the first hour.”
Pakistan, having scored 538 in their first innings, bowled England out for 345 in their second innings to leave themselves 323 to win the game. They slumped to 80 for five in the morning, however, and were bowled out for 155.
“England played very well. They played better than us throughout the series, it's as simple as that,” Woolmer said.
“We made too many mistakes. We never quite got it together as a team. There were good individual performances but when we dropped catches and gave England a lifeline it cost us the series.
“England's record at home has been outstanding for the last four years and you have to be at the top of your game to beat them. We weren't.”
Woolmer also said he would not rush fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif back into the side following injuries.
“Shoaib hasn't bowled for about six months. Mohammad Asif hasn't bowled for a month,” Woolmer said.
“We'll have a look at Shoaib (in Pakistan's next tour game) but to rush him back after six months of not bowling, I think any bowler would shudder at the thought if they were not fit.
“It's going to be up to him to prove that he is fit (for the fourth Test at The Oval). If he isn't, he won't play. Our three seamers bowled very well on Monday and to bring in players who have not played for a long time would be wrong on those people.”—Reuters
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