How does one make a cricket team more consistent?

[Beny]

Shoot me if I'm wrong, and I dont want to offend here but from what I understand many of the top PAK cricketers are very lazy. Stories about Aktar and (forgot his name) the captain are not very nice.


Seeing feilders stopping the ball with their feet at international level, I almost choked. If an Aussie did that they would be dead (exagerating a bit here). The work ethic does not seem to be there. If this is true then thats why they are inconsistant.

Please tell me I am wrong.

[Shaka]

I don't think it's got anything to do with being lazy Beny, the reason you don't see Pak players diving around in the outfield is because the grounds in Pakistan are mostly rough and hard, other than the ones used for internationals, unlike in England/Aus where the turf is lush. The first class game is really under-developed as well so I doubt it's even coached to dive below international level.

[Ernest]

Interesting post this Shaka, yes I suppose your grounds will be hard, however when you touch on the coaching bit, I would think one or two will have played their cricket in England over the years.

Ern

[Rachael]

I'd be uncomfortable suggesting Akhtar is "lazy".. but even in this forum we have had several contributers expressing considerable frustration with his attitude and what strikes them as his (at least) occasional lack of commitment. Inzi is a different character all-together: known to be so laid back it's untrue... casual to the casual glance... and at times quite horrendously overweight.. but now (so I hear) a reformed character who picks up the singles and twos as keenly as anyone (even if he doesn't pressure on the offchance of turning a 2 into a 3).

I'm not sure about some of the other team members.. but my impression (for instance) is that guys like Sami and Razzaq work hard enough.. they just might not be getting the right coachign they need to actually fulfil their promise.

[Maranello]

Lots of people are overweight Rachael, Inzi is not selected on his athetic ability... :-)

Of course, every player needs to pull his weight, and do their role in the team. If Inzi is fit enough to fulfil his role, as decided by Woolmer, Haroon and the rest, then I guess its ok.

Yes, everyone should train and fit... but they should all be measured against what they were previously and how they have improved...so let's compare Inzi with what he was, and see if he has improved.
But to compare Inzi with Yasir Hameed, who is one of the best and fittest fielders in all of international cricket, would be counter-productive.

Also, Inzi being laid back is his greatest strength - whatever the situation, he can be relied to play calmly and sensibly without getting flustered or pressured into making silly mistakes. Very very sportsmen have this mental toughness.

Finally, had Inzi been fitter over the past 13 years, he would have achieved a lot more than he has, no one doubts that - he would probably have more runs than either Lara or Tendulkar, more hundreds, etc. The reason he doesn't convert all those 70s and 80s into 100s in ODIs is fitness.. and the same for his Test centuries, why they do not get converted into double-hundreds.
But, one selects the package - as it is, he runs the likes of Tendulkar and Hayden etc pretty close, whilst they are all much fitter than him. And one can only castigate someone for things within their control...


PS: Inzi did get a memorable 329 against NZL, when Pakistan were up against it a couple of years back...one time when he did play a long innings just to show what might have been!

[Beny]

Stories about Inzi sunbaking while the rest of the team does drills??..

[haseebbutt007]

We can make our cricket team consistent by improving the standads of our domestic cricket. Because the real nurcery to groom your players is the the first class level.
The main reason of Australia's supremacy over other countries is there high standard of domestic cricket. An Australian player coming from domestic cricket is well polished. But on the other hand our cricketers learn after playing test matches . Then how can u demand from players to be consistent.