Former Pakistan Skipper Urges PCB To Consider England As Neutral Venue After Disastrous Show In Brisbane
Dec 17, 2016 at 3:33 PM
Former Pakistan skipper Zaheer Abbas has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to consider England as a neutral venue for its home series in a bid to help the team perform well outside the sub-continent.
With no country ready to visit Pakistan due to security concerns, the PCB has been compelled to host its home series in UAE. However, Abbas feels playing on flat pitches of the UAE is not helping the players to develop the skill-set required to do well abroad.
The statement came after Pakistan’s poor show in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane. On a lively Gabba pitch, Misbah-ul-Haq’s bowlers failed to capitalise the favourable conditions as the hosts piled up 429 in their first innings.
As quoted in The Dawn, Abbas said:“Our bowlers failed to restrict Australian batsmen in the first Test, which was necessary keeping in mind our batsmen’s unreliability on fast and bouncy tracks.
Pakistan’s misery was compounded by their poor fielding. Australian skipper Steve Smith was dropped on 53 and he went on to make 130. He was handed a reprieve again on 97 when Pakistan failed to hear any noise and did not appeal against the certain edge.
“We also dropped catches and did not even appeal for dismissals on some occasions. We just failed to perform in all the three departments of the game,” Zaheer said.
Criticising the bowlers, Abbas said:“A total of 400 plus is always considered a big total. Though our fast bowlers took four wickets, they could not bowl accurately with decent line and length. They should have tried to restrict the Australians as our batting line-up was weak.
“Our fast bowlers even failed to take advantage from the lively pitch while bowling first,” he added.
The 69-year-old also warned against considering Bangladesh as a neutral venue since the conditions in the South Asian country will not be very much different than that in the UAE. He said the PCB should look forward to playing in England as apart from the conditions that will help the players do well abroad, the team will also enjoy playing there because of the good fan base.
“In England, our team will also find a good number of fans who live there,” the former batsman concluded.