Pakistan humbled by Brazil in opener

Team thrashed 10-0 by South American counterparts in 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier

KARACHI: The Pakistan baseball team was thrashed 10-0 in their opening 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier by Brazil at the MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday.

Both teams were unable to score any runs in the first two innings but Brazil managed to score three in the third innings to take a 3-0 lead. And while Pakistan continued their scoreless run in the remaining innings, Brazil added seven more runs by the seventh innings to win the match 10-0.

Normally, the matches go up to the ninth innings, but because of the 10-run mercy rule, which allows the match to end early if the scoreline is 10-0, the match was decided by the seventh innings.

While the scoreline was embarrassing, Brazil coach Barry Larkin said he was impressed by the overall effort of the Pakistan side.

“I was impressed overall, and was especially impressed with the bat speed of some of the hitters,” Larkin told The Express Tribune. “It’s a cricket country and they were able to get on top of some pitches up in the zone. That really surprised me.”

Pakistan coach Syed Fakhar Ali Shah, meanwhile, rued the lack of training facilities for the poor results. “We don’t have any baseball field [in Pakistan] and we practice in football grounds which has a totally different bounce. Hence our fielders were not able to judge the bounce and gave away a lot of runs,” said Fakhar.

Meanwhile, in the other match, Israel caused an upset as they defeated Great Britain 5-2 to advance to the next stage.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2016.

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