‘Pakistan fielding at par with the best’

Coaching duo Pont, Julien talk about coaching methods, fast-bowling and fielders

DUBAI: During the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the five franchises not only recruited some of the biggest T20 players around, they also hired the services of various globetrotting support staffers.

Coaches and trainers such as Andy Flower, Grant Luden, Bradley Robinson, Mickey Arthur, Dean Jones and Paddy Upton worked for their respective PSL outfits as the league presented a fine mix of local and foreign recruits all aiming to guide their respective team to silverware.



Runners-up Quetta Gladiators scooped up arguably the biggest coaching/mentoring draw by signing Sir Vivian Richards, but the English duo of Julien Fountain and Ian Pont were just as important members of their coaching roster.

Fielding coach Fountain has had three stints with Pakistan’s senior team, while bowling coach Pont had his first-ever introduction to some of his most ‘admired’ stars during their three-week engagement with the Gladiators.

During the tournament, the two spoke exclusively to The Express Tribune, dissecting their coaching methods and application.

The 45-year-old Fountain — who has coached Test-playing nations, counties and franchises from various parts of the world — rubbished the notion that Pakistan are a poor fielding side.



“I feel one of the strongest misperceptions about Pakistan cricket is that their fielding is poor; I really want to know how the media or TV pundits came to that conclusion,” he said. “Is it data driven or mere conjecture? If you ask me, during my last stint with them — March 2012 to February 2014 — the national team was at par with the top fielding nations from around the world in terms of catches taken and run-outs.”

The Englishman combined with Dav Whatmore in the two-year span that saw Pakistan fare well in ODIs and T20Is. Pakistan won nine bi-lateral series in 2012-13, including a first-ever ODI series win in South Africa. Fountain feels that the fielding unit had a major contribution in that.

“I firmly believe our fielding in that span was at par with the rest,” he said. “If you ask me to name the ones who improved the most, then yes the usual suspects — Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal — top the list. Overall fitness trends have improved all around and they obviously have had a positive effect on fielding.”



Human body can bowl up to 170 km/h: Pont

Pont, the former Essex fast-bowler with 70 first-class wickets in 28 appearances found the Pakistan bowling talent exciting and full of promise.

“I had seen Umar Gul deliver some amazing bowling spells so the opportunity to work closely with him is absolutely exciting,” he said. “I find Mohammad Irfan a compelling watch as well. I feel that he can add 10-15km/h to his existing bowling speed by simply sorting out his delivery stride.”

Pont, who claims to have clocked almost 150km/h during his bowling career, believes that every fast bowler can increase his pace. He feels that increasing demands on bowling in recent years have forced bowlers to rely more on guile than speed.

“The human body has the capacity — if stretched to its absolute limit — of bowling up to 170 km/h,” he said. “Every bowler can increase his speed. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the desire of bowling fast; if you have it and are willing to put in the hard yards then you can be quicker.”



Pont also claims to be one of the few coaches who preaches speed, and helps his students make the technical adjustments necessary to hurl the ball fast. “I have never seen a bowler who can’t increase his speed,” he said. “There is no perfect action to generate pace; Brett Lee was the closest to perfection but even with an imperfect action, desire and determination to bowl quickly can help.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.

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