Give youngsters a longer run: Aaqib

LEEDS: Pakistan’s assistant coach Aaqib Javed has backed the youngsters to continue their good run on the tour despite unfavourable and testing conditions that the team finds itself in due to the law-and-order situation in Pakistan.

Aaqib, who was involved with the National Cricket Academy since 2002 and a two-time World Cup winning coach with the Pakistan Under-19s, also rued the lack of competitiveness in Pakistan’s domestic structure and termed it a reason behind the team’s mediocre performances abroad.

“We bowled better than Australia in the first Test and I’m satisfied with the youngsters’ performance at Lord’s,” Aaqib, who was part of Pakistan’s World Cup winning squad in 1992, told The Express Tribune. “The bigger problem is that there’s no home series. If you play Azhar Ali and Umar Amin at home, with the talent and technique they have, they’ll score every time. It’s not easy for youngsters to come up with big scores away from Pakistan because they won’t have the confidence that they’d have at home.”

Aaqib cited the example of Australia’s and South Africa’s domestic structure and said there was a need for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to meliorate the state of affairs in order to reap better results against stronger nations.

“Our domestic standard is our weaker link. There’s lack of competitiveness and since your first-class systems reflects how good you can be on international level, we must rectify the problem.”

While Pakistan have produced 11 Test débutantes in the last 17 months, the stability and maturity required for Test cricket has been found wanting and Aaqib believes the situation at home has affected the upcoming individuals.

“I’ve observed that the belief and confidence level in the players has been shattered during the last five years. The characters aren’t that strongly-built and it could be due to the situation back home. They don’t have that faith of cricket returning to Pakistan and getting a chance to perform on pitches they can rule the opposition on, especially in front of their own fans.

“The mental belief is missing and it makes it all the more difficult to perform abroad.”

However, while working with youth, Aaqib urged the PCB to stick with them and employ patience to build a stable future. The board, according to the coach, should understand their shortcomings and the tough conditions and that a good player may need three to four years to bloom.

“I hope these youngsters are given a long run. It’s a promising and talented squad and things will only get easier for them after this tour.”

Following Salman Butt’s panoptic appreciation of the coaching staff in the absence of senior players, Aaqib also has extolled the PCB’s decision to appoint the younger trio of Waqar Younis, Ijaz Ahmed and himself.

The PCB parted company with the 68-year-old Intikhab Alam, under who Pakistan won the 2009 World Twenty20 as well as the 1992 World Cup, after the tour of Australia and appointed Waqar, who was hired as a bowling consultant for that tour, as his replacement.

“Previously with Intikhab, there were only two guys and while there were positives due to his experience, there were also some limitations due to his age. Now the team has three younger guys who can move around and work hard with these players on different matters.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2010.