Team was not prepared for Test series: Yawar Saeed

Perth, Dec 1: With the end of Pakistan's disappointing tour of Australia, the Pakistan team manager, Yawar Saeed, gave his personal impressions and answered questions to Dawn shortly before the team's departure from Perth.

Dawn: Why is it that a strong Pakistan team suffered such an overwhelming defeat?

Yawar Saeed: Well, this tour has been a great disappointment to us. But before I go any further on this let me tell you first of all that we were against a side which was far superior to us in professionalism and particularly so in physical fitness. We must remember that Pakistan played their last Test series about 8 to 10 months ago and since then they have played only one-day tournaments. Therefore I consider our team was not well prepared for a Test series. Australia I found were very well prepared and played their cricket very hard which is the right thing to do.

Q: What would you say about the performance of our players?

A: Although we have had some individual performances such as hundreds by Saeed, Inzamam and Ijaz and some very nice innings from Yousuf and Mohammad Wasim and of course only one great bowling spell by Saqlain, this is not consistent with Test cricket. Our batting was only good in patches. In bowling I would specially like to say that in Australia you have to put the ball on one spot and you have to bowl on the off stump line. We were unable to do that. Our fast bowlers bowled on both sides of the wicket. If you noticed, the Australians did not feed Saeed on the leg side and made him play on off stump whereas in Hobart during their match-winning partnership we let both left-handlers play off their legs constantly. These are basic things that we missed. The other point I would like to make is that whilst the Australian bowlers moved the ball in the air and off the seam, we were unable to do so. I think that is the key to our losing the series.

Q: But our bowlers, particularly, Wasim and Waqar have played so much cricket in Australia, they would know the conditions.

A: I agree, they have much experience of wickets here and apart from that they have been world beaters but that was the key to our defeat that even they were not able to put the ball on the right spot. Wasim was one who at least bowled to some line and length but one bowler cannot win you the series.

Q: There was a lot of controversy regarding Shoaib Akhtar's action at the start of the series and again now with the one-dayers to follow. Do you personally feel there might be something in his action that raises a doubt?

A: He has played Test and one-day cricket before coming here and there has been no problem. Now when we are leaving this has cropped up again. The first I knew about it was this morning when the media rang me. I was surprised because none of the umpires have called him for throwing. The referee John Reid has not mentioned it to me at all. Of course he is not bound to do so. Normally any question on a bowler's action starts from the umpires and they have seen him in three tests here without questioning. There is a procedure for reporting such matters rather than the news filtering through journalists. In any case it is all unofficial and unconfirmed and the Australian Cricket Board has not mentioned anything to me. It all seems very mysterious.

Q: Such accusations put unnecessary pressure on a bowler's performance. Are you confident that Shoaib will come here for the triangular one-day series?

A: Yes, It can upset people and one wonders why the media here bring such things up at crucial times. But such uproar and rumours should not keep a bowler of his class out of the team. I think the selectors will send the best team. It is sad that this controversy should be brought up before each series, first before the Tests and now before we return for the one-dayers.

Q: When a series is lost, there is often some blame put on the captaincy. Were there any problems there?

A: No, there were no problems in that area. There has been no captain who has not lost a series. Wasim is very disappointed. If you remember he said one of his dreams is to beat Australia in Australia. At this point in time in my view there is no replacement for Wasim, he is still the best captain.

Q: How is the morale and team spirit, was there any rift in the side, which has been known to happen before?

A: There has been no problem on this tour, everybody has been together and tried to fight together even though the team was not doing well. A losing dressing room is much more difficult to handle than a winning one but let me assure you there has been total unity and they are all behind each other. There has been no lack of effort and commitment, it's just that our effort was not good enough.

Q: There has been a lot of changes in the cricket administration in Pakistan with a new Board, what effect will that have?

A: Whenever there is a change one would like to think it is a move in the right direction. Some of the names that I have heard are certainly the right names. It should all be for one goal, that Pakistan cricket must stay on top and

there should not be any individualism whether he is a player or an administrator. I'm sure it will all work out OK.

Here in Australia there is still support for Shoaib. Damien Martyn, the captain of Western Australia, where the controversy began at the start of the tour with umpire Emerson, said today that he had no problems with Shoaib and former Australia captain, Alan Border said he had not seen "any suspicious abnormalities about Shoaib's action". Border went on to say: "I have seen a fair bit of him and I hadn't seen any problems. My gut reaction is that he is fine."

However, in a radio interview, former Pakistan Test cricketer, Wasim Raja who briefly coached the team recently said that he thought the odd ball that Shoaib bowls with extra effort is questionable but not most of his deliveries