Woolmer pleased with Pakistan camp

Bob Woolmer at work with the Pakistan team. He had "no problems in communicating" with his players, he said © Getty Images

He has barely been in Pakistan a week, but that has been enough time for some to start questioning how well the Bob Woolmer experiment will work. The new coach has rebutted claims that several senior Pakistani players had failed a fitness test he had devised with Murray Stevenson. A report in a local newspaper on Monday had quoted officials within the PCB as saying, "most of the senior players failed to come up to the required (fitness) standards" of Stevenson's tests. Woolmer, speaking to Wisden Cricinfo, said, "We weren't conducting tests so nobody failed. We were just trying to gauge the level of fitness of players now, and where we would like it to be later. To say that they failed is wrong."

Woolmer, who is due to fly out tonight to Cape Town - and not the UK as was erroneously reported - for a coaching assignment he had committed to prior to becoming coach of the Pakistan team, was satisfied with the start of a three-year tenure. "It has been fantastic to be here, I have come to Pakistan before but it has been great. The players have been very good throughout the camp, and there is clearly a lot of talent here. By their own admission the team needs to work on its fitness and fielding and that is what we have been looking at with Inzamam and Haroon [Rasheed, the team manager]," said Woolmer. He added, "Shoaib Akhtar is fit, otherwise he wouldn't be bowling here and he is very much part of the set-up. It's also been working out well with Inzamam; he is a quiet man, but very calm and controlled and a world-class player."

The 14-man Pakistan squad for the Asia Cup will be announced on Thursday, and Woolmer, with Inzamam-ul-Haq and Haroon, has given an idea of the team they would like to the selection committee headed by Wasim Bari. Refusing to shed any light on the composition of the team, Woolmer would go only as far as to reveal - not surprisingly - "it will have some batsmen, some bowlers and a keeper or two."

Since his arrival, Woolmer has insisted on meeting ex-players in Pakistan to discuss ideas about the team, and last night, he got his wish; a "working dinner" with the man he replaced, Javed Miandad. "I like to do things by committee and have tried to get as much input into selection as possible. I am new to the players here so it is natural that I ask around about them and try to find out more about them. Javed is a legend and he knows more than most about this team as well as Pakistan cricket, so we'll be chatting about that."

Woolmer also shot down reports that communication between him and the players was problematic. Sourav Ganguly was the latest member of a group of players and coaches in Pakistan who questioned how effectively Woolmer would be able to communicate with his players. Ganguly, in an interview to the Khaleej Times last week, said, "It would not be easy for Bob. Pakistan cricketers come from diverse backgrounds and are individualistic - it is difficult to mould them together." He continued, "Communication is an art and an essential aspect of coaching - Woolmer would not find it easy to communicate what he wants with the players."

To this Woolmer replied, "I have had absolutely no problems in communicating with my players and I don't foresee any problems in the future. Despite what Ganguly says or thinks, the whole process of communication has been very smooth so far, and you can tell him that."

Woolmer plans to meet up with the squad in Sri Lanka on July 13 - three days before the start of the competition. "The team is good enough to win the cup, there is enough talent here. But in ODI cricket, it literally is a matter of what happens on the day and who plays better on the day. But I am confident."

One week gone, and only a potential 150-odd weeks to go. Welcome to Pakistan, Bob.