SPORTS WORLD: Pakistan falter due to casual approach by brainless team management

The "highly talented" Pakistan team has failed to prevail over England in the Old Trafford and Headingley Tests, losing both the Tests only because of poor management, which fielded the team without any homework.
In the drawn first Test, half a dozen catches, besides sloppy ground fielding with a view to restricting the England batsmen to score at will, Pakistan lost the chance to win. At Headingley, they dropped Keven Pietersen, although he had got to three figures by then, and gave the out-of-form Marcus Trescothick two huge let-offs early in his second innings.
As a result, he put on a decisive 158 for the first wicket with captain Alec Strauss in a stand, which went a long way to win the game.
Both Inzamam and Woolmer have miserably failed to tackle England with an aggressive strategy in the second and third Tests, losing the four-match series 2-0 after 1982. The problem with the Pakistani players in general and team management in particular is that they are in the habit of committing mistakes after mistakes.
It is assumed that the young players, who are playing for Pakistan, must have learnt a lot at grassroots level, ie Under-14, Under-19 and domestic tournaments, but now it seems they are passing through unlearning process under the able guidance of high profile British coach Bob Woolmer.
The most painful part of the current Test series is that neither captain Inzamam nor Woolmer make the openers understand the importance of this most important slot and failed to advise them to follow the time-tested strategy and focus on the session-to-session planning.
It is pertinent to quote Little Master Hanif Mohammad that an intelligent batsman, especially opener, keeps in his mind the immediate target - playing next two hours, or till the lunch break, or to start the post-lunch session with the immediate target in sight that he has to bat till tea.
But the present lot of openers, who have been tried during the last three years, lacked in this basic technique of batting with patience.
Woolmer, who is with the team for the last three years, could not rectify the openers' habit of playing the ball away from their bodies, particularly outside off-stumps and improve running between the wickets.
Bowlers in almost all the cricket-playing countries are very well aware of Pakistani batsmen's weakness of chasing the ball away from the off stump, hence they rarely bowl on the middle or leg stump and trap the batsmen on the off-side, especially at slip positions.
RUN-OUTS:
Even Woolmer admitted that "run-outs have been a perennial problem for Pakistan," but he did not give much importance to this problem, particularly in Test cricket.
Mohammad Yousuf's departure for eight in the second innings of the third Test was a great setback to the team, which came under psychological pressure of spinner Monty Panesar.
Four run-outs, three of them with direct hits, in a Test match, indicate lack of co-ordination and understanding between the two batsmen and weak running between the wickets. So it is the duty of the coach and responsibility of the batsmen to do a lot of practice.
Interestingly, Woolmer too quoted great South African golfer Gary Player who, when told about Pakistani batsmen's standard of running between the wickets, said: "It's funny but the more I practise, the better I get." Hence practice, it seems, tends to make the pair as close to perfect as you can get.
In contrast, England played close to the top of their game. Their fielding was of the highest calibre. There was one expensive miss when Paul Collingwood, diving in the slips, dropped Yousuf when he was still in singles.
However, it was Collingwood, who ran Yousuf out on the final morning of the third Test to set England on course for victory.
Yousuf and Younus Khan have been Pakistan's leading lights in the series. Yousuf made a double century in the first Test to keep his side afloat, while the pair teamed up at Headingley to put on 363 runs for the third wicket, a Pakistan record against England for any wicket.
THE OVAL TEST:
Anyhow, the fourth and final Test got under way on August 17 (Thursday) at The Oval on August 17. While England have gained what they wanted, a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in the four-match series, despite the absence of all-round inspiration from captain Andrew Flintoff and other stars, they will definitely try to finish their summer with a flourish and complete an emphatic 3-0 victory.
Very well aware of the tourists' weaknesses, England coach Duncan Fletcher said: "We'll definitely be going out to win at The Oval. We went through a period when we didn't lose a Test for a while and now we've won two and 3-0 would be a lot, lot better than 2-1. It's vital we keep on winning," he said.
As against England's determination, if Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and coach Bob Woolmer allowed distractions off the field or results on the field, then the outcome will be similar to that of the two earlier Tests.
Comparing with England's young middle order batsman Ian Bell, who scored three centuries in as many Tests against Pakistan, performances of Pakistani batsmen exposed the couching techniques of Woolmer at the training camp before the start of England tour.
Victories in the Old Trafford and Headingley Tests indicate that England team is well on the way to gradual build-up, particularly in terms of aggressive game plan, teamwork and responsibility being shared by every player.
On the contrary, these basic ingredients of a winning side were missing in Pakistan team. It is believed that Inzamam and Woolmer could not understand the tactics and strategy of Alec Strauss and failed to get the best from their players.
Unaware of the importance Champions Trophy in India and World Cup in West Indies, Woolmer continued to play with cricket, not concentrating on rectifying batting flaws, especially in the openers, who are habitual chasers of outside off stump balls, running between the wickets, substandard ground fielding, including dropping of catches.
There is no escaping the fact that the team management had under-estimated their hosts, who are determined to give tough fight to the tourists in all departments of the game.
In modern day cricket, a winning squad comprises seven batsmen and four top-line bowlers. Pakistan, who were considered fine payers of spin bowling, were tumbled against England's left-arm spinner Monty Panesar in both the previous Tests. At Headingley, he took five wickets for 72 runs, including five of the top six.
Trying to find a solid opening batting partnership, the team management has tried late arrival Taufiq Umar and now another late arrival all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez will be the fourth opening combination, either with Salman Butt or Taufiq Umar.
Woolmer accepts that Pakistan did not play well enough as they went 2-0 down. In the second Test at Old Trafford, Stephen Harmison and Monty Panesar bowled Pakistan out twice to score a landslide home victory, and in the third Test it were pacer Sajid Mahmood and Panesar, who played havoc with top Pakistan batting order.
Now it is time that Pakistan follow the example set by England and find a way back into the ongoing Test match.