Not according to plan: Whatmore 'frustrated' over Pakistan batting slump

Whatmore says he can't find a reason for Wednesday's batting failure but says it was not good effort.

DUBAI: Pakistan national team coach Dav Whatmore voiced his frustrations after his team collapsed to 99 all out on the first day of the second Test match with South Africa.

Pakistan were shot out for 99 on the opening day on a dry but flat pitch in a match which their rivals need to win to level the two-Test series. Whatmore though blamed the Pakistani batsmen for failing themselves.

Whatmore showed his anger over the batting slump by the same unit which put on 442 in their seven-wicket win in the first Test in Abu Dhabi last week.

"It's very frustrating," said the 59-year-old former Austrlian batsman. "It wasn't certainly according to the plan, we expected the opposition to come back strong at us, but I don't think they did, we orchestrated most of our dismissals ourselves which was a real disappointing thing."

Whatmore, who took over in March last year, had already seen Pakistan slump to their lowest Test score of 49 in South Africa in February.

And the coach appeared helpless to explain the latest collapse.

"I am trying to get a reason for that, whether it's complacency, whether they thought they can still continue on from 400 runs from the previous game I am not sure but certainly wasn't a very good effort."

So dismal was Pakistan's top-order that they were 60 for six by lunch, leaving the number nine batsman Zulfiqar Babar to score 25 not out, the top score of the innings.

Opener Shan Masood chipped in with 21 but senior batsmen Younis Khan made only 10 and skipper Misbahul Haq fell for two.

Whatmore said some of the batsmen played bad shots.

"I am pretty angry. You can't spend time and get a foundation and then get out the way they did, so that's a bit naughty, and then there weren't enough others to actually dig in and get a start themselves.

"All of a sudden when you are 6-60 it's very difficult to set up a decent total in the first innings," said Whatmore, famous for guiding Sri Lanka to World Cup glory in 1996.

Whatmore praised Imran Tahir, born and brought up in Pakistan before migrating to South Africa and qualified to play for them in 2011.

"He bowled pretty well, his first wicket was lucky and then he went on from there, his confidence grew, we didn't handle him well at all and we have to improve second time around," said Whatmore.

"We really need to pull things up and get back into this match, we're not out of it, no question about that," said the coach.

At the close, South Africa reached 128-3, leading by 29. Tahir grabbed a career-best 5-32.