False alarm: The ghost altercation that never was

Reported bust-up took place after New Zealand series loss and has since been resolved.

KARACHI:

While reports of an altercation between fielding coach Grant Luden and a few players are not entirely false, they are a few weeks too late as the incident had in fact taken place in the aftermath of Pakistan’s 2-0 away loss against New Zealand in their last series before the World Cup.

It was reported that the scuffle took place after Pakistan lost to India as star all-rounder Shahid Afridi and batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal stood against the methods of Luden while the fielding coach, who also doubles as a trainer, was unhappy with their attitude.

“The incident [that took place at the start of February] involved a heated exchange between the players and the official in New Zealand before the team flew to Australia to start their World Cup campaign,” an official close to the matter told The Express Tribune. “Luden did, in fact, hand in a resignation as his methods and credibility were being questioned. This hurt him obviously but team management intervened to diffuse any tension between the relevant parties and the matter has since been resolved amicably.”



The main reason behind the altercation was that the players were unhappy with the rigorous and lengthy training regimes that Luden was putting them through. However, he was only following head coach Waqar Younis’ instructions.

The only confrontation in Australia between the fielding coach and the players surfaced when, before the first warm-up match, comeback star Sohail Khan was pushed by the seniors to take on the official and the 30-year-old asked the coach how much first-class cricket he has played.

The tournament has not started well for the players as defeat to India was sandwiched between these reports of strife and the earlier imposition of fines on eight players who broke team curfew.

The Express Tribune has learnt that Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail, Muhammad Irfan, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah were the players fined along with Shahid Afridi and Ahmed Shehzad.

PCB denies tiff after India match

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued a press release to deny any rift in the team during their World Cup campaign.



“Apropos of a news item appearing in a section of the press and run by several news channels back home in Pakistan, stating that there has been a tiff between three players — Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal — and fielding coach/trainer Grant Luden, and that the latter has resigned because of it; it is clarified that the news is false and that nothing of the sort has happened,” read the press release. “The entire team trained together on Tuesday afternoon, in a spirit of camaraderie, under the supervision of head coach Waqar Younis, with the other coaches and assistant manager Shahid Aslam actively involved throughout the extended four-hour session. Ditto for Wednesday, where some players were put through their paces by all coaches, with Luden putting in an extra hour on both days with a select group of players.”

It further stated that a few days prior to the start of the 2015 World Cup, Luden had said he wants to resign after the World Cup in around May, citing personal reasons. However, those personal issues have since been resolved and he has taken back his resignation.



“The PCB and the team management, as well as the boys, hold the job he is doing in high esteem, and are keen that he continues to serve in his present role”, added the PCB spokesman.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.