October 29, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 5, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 28: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and manager Talat Ali Malik said upon team’s arrival from India on Saturday that the wicket prepared for South Africa match was not suitable for one-day cricket and played a major role in their team's exit from the ICC Champions Trophy.

"The pitch at Mohali was not suitable for ODIs and the manager of the South African team has also backed my opinion," remarked Woolmer after the team’s arrival at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Airport.

"Though it is not an excuse, but the pitch at Mohali was suspicious and was not appropriate for the one-day version of the game," Talat, a former Test opener said while endorsing Woolmer's statement.

"The Indians are also playing against Australia on the same pitch on Sunday and it remains to be seen if they will leave the same sort of grass on the pitch as there was for our game," he said.

To a question, Talat said the hosts were responsible for the pitches and it was not the job of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to monitor such things.

He said Pakistan, unfortunately, lost the initiative against both the Proteas and the Kiwis after getting off to fine starts. However, he admitted that the boys could have given better performance and added the South African bowlers also bowled well.

Coach Woolmer also admitted that the batsmen had let the team down after the bowlers had fared well and there was also significant improvement in the fielding area.

He emphasised that it was the time to evolve a strategy for the forthcoming series against West Indies and to remove the shortcomings noticed in India.

Besides coach and manager, the players who landed at Lahore included Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Rao Iftikhar and Abdul Razzaq. Captain Younis Khan reportedly left for Islamabad directly.