da wazamba： Pakistan Juniors preparing for next month’s cricket WorldCup in New Zealand would benefit greatly from the arrival offormer West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, team coach HaroonRasheed said Monday
25-Dec-2001Pakistan Juniors preparing for next month’s cricket WorldCup in New Zealand would benefit greatly from the arrival offormer West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, team coach HaroonRasheed said Monday.”I do not see any harm if a person of Lloyd’s stature isinvited over, we can make use of his experience,” Haroontold Dawn.Lloyd is due to arrive in Islamabad on Jan 1 for a one weekcoaching assignment with the juniors who are training inRawalpindi ahead of the World Cup starting Jan 14.”Lloyd was a very successful captain and his record in theone-day version of the game is quite good, so his arrivalhere would be an inspiration for us all.”Haroon dismissed the notion that preferring foreign coachesover the ones at home was not a right move of the PakistanCricket Board. “The local coaches are good but I tell youthe foreigners are high-tech and rely on modern technologyin coaching the players which gives them an edge.”Haroon, a former Test player, pointed out that more and moreteams were hiring foreign coaches and cited India as anexample. “I certainly do not see any problems with havingforeigners and I am sure Lloyd’s arrival will help theplayers in more than one way.”During his short stay, Lloyd will be with the junior teamfor three days and is also likely to hold a clinic forbudding players in Rawalpindi.Haroon said that the players on his team were all verytalented but it would require two to three years before someof them graduate to the senior side.”It would not be right to expect these players to workwonders for us in just a couple of months. Actually we putthe boys under pressure by pinning a lot of hopes on them.””This team is an under-19 side and I feel that they shouldgraduate (to the senior side) through a gradual process.They should first play for a good while on the junior squadand then move into the Pakistan A team before advancingfurther.”Haroon also spoke of his team’s prospects in the World Cup.”This squad has a lot of variety and it will be difficultfor me to pick 11 for the matches. But still you cannotpredict the outcome of the tournament.””No team has dominated the World Cup and besides there arefew under-19 competitions, so making predictions at thislevel of the game wouldn’t be a wise thing to do.”Pakistan are in a group that has England, Nepal and PaupaNew Guinea which on paper appears easy. However Haroonquickly rejected this. “All depends on a given day, theconditions, thetoss and various other factors, therefore noteam can be underestimated.””We are going into the tournament with high hopes and Godwilling would come back with good results.”The juniors who began target match practice from Monday arescheduled to play warm-up games against Zimbabwe and theKiwis in New Zealand. “These matches should help usacclimatise well before the tournament gets under way.”Haroon said that the purpose of target match practice was tomake the players aware of the pressures involved in anactual match. “We give a target of say 60 runs to thebatting side to achieve in 15 overs preferably withoutlosing a wicket. The bowlers are told to restrict them.”