Pakistan coach has harped on the need to maintain minimum fitness standards ahead of the new season © Getty Images
Mickey Arthur has urged the Pakistan players to return to training from August 22, ahead of a full series against Sri Lanka in October. Pakistan hasn’t played any cricket since the Champions Trophy, which they won in June, but Arthur believes four-months of no activity won’t affect the side as they prepare for the new season. Since their return, few players have been on holiday while others, like Sarfraz Ahmed, are in the middle of county stints.
“I’ve sent emails out to the players, they deserved everything they have got after the Champions Trophy,” said Arthur. “It was a phenomenal achievement by all of them and I’m so proud of the way they fought back, their commitment, their work ethic – everything was outstanding, but it’s finished now, it’s gone, that’s done. We come back here for the camp from the August 22.”
Arthur made it clear the team management will continue to “have a minimum standard” which players will have to meet to be considered for selection. “There’s no comfort zone for anybody,” he said “The celebrations are now over, it’s now time to get back to work, get back to the hard work. We’ve eight guys here over the last couple of days working extremely hard. We’re under no illusion that Champions Trophy was just the start of the journey, we’ve got to keep pushing to keep getting better and better and that we’ll only do with real hard work. There’s not going to be any hang over from the Champions Trophy, I can assure you that.”
According to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, Pakistan was scheduled to tour Bangladesh in August, but the tour was called off after talks between both boards failed. To counter the dry spell, the Pakistan Cricket Board has organised a conditioning camp, not just to enhance fitness levels of players but also help the team management identity players who can fill the void left by the retired Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq.
Arthur believes competition for places should spur the contenders. “We can keep Azhar Ali opening the batting or we can move him to three. If we do that, we are looking for two opening batsmen,” he said. “Shan Masood started the last Test, Ahemd Shahzad was in the West indies BUT didn’t play in the last Test. Sami Aslam is playing particularly well at the moment, so there’s good competition for that opening spots.
“If Azhar Ali bats at three, we’ve got Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam. We took Usman Salahuddin with us to the West Indies, he impressed the way he worked and the way he trained. His technique was good. Haris Sohail has comeback really well. Haris Sohail offers us left-arm spin, so we are looking for fifth bowler and he becomes an option. Basically we’ve got strength and depth. We’ve started moving into a position where we can play players and give them extended runs because we’ve got enough pushing through in order to keep our standards high, in order to do the job that’s required.”
Arthur was also forthcoming on the Umar Akmal issue. Umar, who was called back to Pakistan from the Champions Trophy on fitness grounds, has also been axed from the contracts list. “Umar Akmal failed several fitness tests, what do you want us to do,” he asked. “I would have thought if you’ve failed one or two you would never put yourself in that position again, well he’s had several opportunities and hasn’t passed one so that’s up to him.
“We’ve got enough in order to move on without any player that doesn’t fit into our standards and requirements. All the balls are in his court (now), I can’t stand here and say anybody is excluded from playing for Pakistan, it’s up to him. What I do know is anybody coming into the team needs to have minimum standards.”
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo