Latif: 'Pakistan played better than England'
England squeaked through to win the NatWest Challenge 2-1 after a nailbiting four-wicket win in the decider, thanks to a magnificent unbeaten 108 from Marcus Trescothick
Wisden Cricinfo staff
23-Jun-2003
England squeaked through to win the NatWest Challenge 2-1 after a nailbiting four-wicket win in the decider, thanks to a magnificent unbeaten 108 from Marcus Trescothick. Here's what Trescothick, the two captains, and Javed Miandad, the Pakistan coach, had to say after the match.
Marcus Trescothick
On his innings "It's always very tough when you're facing two 100mph bowlers. But the best feeling of the lot was to be there at the end. I knew if we could get just one partnership towards the end we'd go close and it would go to the wire. We had to graft hard right to the end and I was just keeping check of the score and making sure we were ticking over. I was just trying to stay composed and trying to stay focused on what I had to do. Chris Read came in and did a great job. He's not played too many games and an innings like that was crucial.
On his innings "It's always very tough when you're facing two 100mph bowlers. But the best feeling of the lot was to be there at the end. I knew if we could get just one partnership towards the end we'd go close and it would go to the wire. We had to graft hard right to the end and I was just keeping check of the score and making sure we were ticking over. I was just trying to stay composed and trying to stay focused on what I had to do. Chris Read came in and did a great job. He's not played too many games and an innings like that was crucial.
On his return to form "It's been building up for me over the past couple of games and I've been playing pretty well. It's nice to get a hundred and win the game. The wicket wasn't quite so good, it was a bit slower and there was a bit of rain around today."
Michael Vaughan
On the series victory "To come back from 1-0 down against a side of this quality shows immense character. We had the better of the conditions but you still have to exploit them. We made a few mistakes today but we hope to put those right for the NatWest Triangular Series."
On the series victory "To come back from 1-0 down against a side of this quality shows immense character. We had the better of the conditions but you still have to exploit them. We made a few mistakes today but we hope to put those right for the NatWest Triangular Series."
On Trescothick's innings "The way Tres played was fantastic, as was the way Chris Read played at the end. His [Trescothick's] knock at The Oval was superb but I thought this one was pretty special because it saw us all the way home."
Rashid Latif
On the series result "Pakistan played extremely well. I'm not ashamed of the loss. It went their [England's] way today although they also played well. But I personally feel Pakistan played better cricket than England. I always believed we were going to win this game. But I dropped a catch at a crucial moment and that is all part and parcel of the game."
On the series result "Pakistan played extremely well. I'm not ashamed of the loss. It went their [England's] way today although they also played well. But I personally feel Pakistan played better cricket than England. I always believed we were going to win this game. But I dropped a catch at a crucial moment and that is all part and parcel of the game."
Javed Miandad
On the performance of the young players "[Mohammad] Hafeez has improved a lot, Imran Nazir is playing better cricket than he used to, Sami is bowling well and Yasir Hameed, batting at number three, gave us a good start. They still lack experience, but they are learning a lot."
On the performance of the young players "[Mohammad] Hafeez has improved a lot, Imran Nazir is playing better cricket than he used to, Sami is bowling well and Yasir Hameed, batting at number three, gave us a good start. They still lack experience, but they are learning a lot."
On Shoaib Akhtar "The past is the past. Shoaib's been an excellent team man, encouraging the youngsters. Yesterday [Saturday] he came to this ground and bowled for an hour-and-a-half in the nets. He was a different bowler in this last game. If you have a problem you go in the nets and then apply yourself in the middle."