Fielding junior team's strong point: coach

Former Test cricketer Haroon Rasheed, in charge of the Pakistan Junior team headed for next month's World Cup in New Zealand says that fielding is one of their strong points.

Haroon told Dawn that his boys had fared exceptionally well in the field in the recent series against the Sri Lankan Juniors whom they beat 4-1.

"Good fielding was an essential part of our success over the Sri Lankans, and I am now quite confident that the boys would continue in the same vein in New Zealand," said Haroon. But Haroon pointed out that it was not just the strong fielding they were banking on. "We have all the elements of a good one-day side and this squad does not in any way lack in competence."

The party of 14 named by the Pakistan Cricket Board, has three all rounders, as many pacers, two spinners, five batsmen and a wicketkeeper batsman. "All of them are quite talented and keen on faring well in the tournament."

Haroon rates all his players equally, however when pressed as to who could hold the key in the World Cup, he named pacers Najaf Shah, Junaid Zia and Umer Gul and captain Salman Butt.

The coach however refrained from making predictions on the outcome of the tournament. "At the under-19 level it is tough to say who'll achieve what because no side has been winning continuously in the World Cup.

Pakistan have been drawn with England, Nepal and Papua New Guinea in a group they should not face much difficulty in clearing. Still Haroon was not one bit complacent. "No side can be under-rated so we would consider Nepal and Papua New Guinea as tough as England."

Meanwhile the first phase of camp which was set up at the Rawalpindi Stadium has now come to a close and the players would reassemble at the same venue again after Eidul Fitr.

The pre-Eid training, according to Haroon focussed on weaknesses identified during the Sri Lanka series. "We have been working on removing the flaws that came to the fore during that series."

Also, target bowling and batting formed part of the players training who were made to practice on seaming wickets.

"We are training on seaming wickets because these are the kind of pitches we are likely to play on in New Zealand where the ball moves a lot."

The players would now also be able to benefit from the expertise of former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd who is set to arrive in Islamabad on January 4 on a six-day coaching assignment.