Pakistan: Former coach reports rift in cricket team (4 Jun 1998)

4 June 1998

Former coach reports rift in cricket team

The Dawn

KARACHI, June 3:

Haroon Rasheed has reported to the cricket board that rift among the players was one of the reasons for team's unimpressive performance in the three-nation series in South Africa.

Haroon, in his resignation letter, has also said that the cricketers took little pride in representing the country and spent most of their time in criticising the PCB, team management, regular changes in the team etc.

The cricketers were more concerned about the captain, board's inability to provide them fitness facilities and making them to play too much cricket. These issues took a toll on them and they faltered in the last four one-dayers in South Africa, Haroon Rasheed said in his resignation.

He adds that the players felt everyone was wrong but them, adding they were of the view that if the team was not performing well, the blame lay on the cricket board and not on them. And to establish this fact, they gave several unjustified reasons, he said.

Haroon reveals that there were two groups in the team who did not see eye-to-eye as one had accused the other of match-fixing and betting. Naturally, when the two groups form a team, they fail to rise to the occasion.

If the standards of play has to be lifted, the issue of match-fixing and betting has to be settled. Either the players need to be assured that there is no black sheep in the team or the guilty player should be punished. Unless either of the two is done, the performance of even the most talented bunch of cricketers can't be consistent, Haroon has written to the PCB.

Haroon further said that during team meetings, the players looked united and determined to perform well but when they took the field, they looked disoriented and selfish. They appeared more concerned about their individual performance rather than performing as a team.

Naturally, the captain also didn't get as much support from them as he deserved, he observed.

Citing the players' complaints, Haroon said that the cricketers while emphasising the need for regular training camp, maintained that they were not being given fresh balls and mineral water.

The players' claim was that their fitness was the responsibility of the board. None of them realised that fitness chiefly depended on individual's effort, Haroon concluded.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)