'Everything went wrong today' - Woolmer
Woolmer unhappy with pedestrian display of fielding
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at Rawalpindi
11-Feb-2006
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Things aren't quite working according to plan for Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach. A thumping series win against England and a crushing 341-run triumph against India in
the Karachi Test had set things up nicely but Pakistan appeared both
insipid and complacent in the second game at Rawalpindi, allowing India to
square the series and gain tremendous confidence ahead of the next three
games.
Woolmer was visibly livid after Pakistan's seven-wicket loss and had no
qualms in admitting that his side had been "thrashed" in the contest.
"Everything went wrong today," he said candidly at the post-match press
conference. "We played badly and had four run-outs in a total of 265. We
should have probably got 320. Judging by the standard of cricket, you can
say we were complacent but I think India also deserve a lot of credit."
Having won an important toss, Pakistan surprised most by choosing to bat
on a pitch that had some early help for the medium pacers, and then
botched a chance to consolidate with some shambolic dismissals. "The ball
did swing a bit early on," Woolmer added, "but I don't think we misread
the pitch. There was not much for the bowlers after the early help and the
fact is we didn't get any partnerships going. In hindsight we could have
probably allowed our bowlers to use the early morning conditions but it
was the batting that made the difference in the end. We expected it to
turn a bit later but we got that wrong."
The turning points, according to Woolmer, were the run-outs of Shoaib
Malik, caught napping by a brilliant throw from deep point, and Mohammad
Yousuf, attempting a perilous second run on a misfield. Pakistan's misery
continued into the afternoon, when they put forward a pedestrian display
of fielding, and Woolmer felt it couldn't be easily condoned. "The
fielding was shocking," he continued, "but it wasn't because of a lack of
work. We had worked on it on the last two days and the guys were trying
really hard. But we had a really bad day. Our body language also dropped
when Sehwag and Tendulkar were batting."
Yet, despite all his frustrations, he added that there were positives to
be taken from the game and applauded Shoaib Malik for a "superb" innings.
He felt that Malik had shown a lot of composure and was happy that he
could carry on the fine form that he showed at Peshawar.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo