‘Time to repay coaching staff’

LONDON: Pakistan’s opener Imran Farhat has urged his team to repay the faith of their coaching staff in the third Test against England which starts at the Oval tomorrow.

Pakistan trail 2-0 in the four-match series after being overwhelmed in Nottingham and Birmingham and have attracted criticism for their sloppy fielding and batting. The team’s failure to hold catches in the last Test meant they were never in the game and went down by nine wickets after a 354-run thrashing in the opener.

But Farhat has told the youngsters in the side it is time to pay back the confidence Waqar Younis and his staff has shown in them as they attempt to square the series.

“This is a time to be very honest, the criticism has been going round and now we have to repay our coaches and our country as well,” said Farhat. “We’re looking to win this match. For the youngsters it is not easy to play in this country and the management has been giving us more chances to get adjusted. We are not going to play at home so rather than shuffling and changing players we are carrying on with the same squad and it is a good sign that we are giving them the chance to get better.

“We are mostly working on our fielding sessions. It can happen, no one means to drop a catch all we can do is work hard and do our best.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2010.