Fielding woes a mystery for Yousuf

SYDNEY: Mohammad Yousuf has seconded his coach Intikhab Alam’s assessment that Pakistan cannot transform their butter-fingered players into world class fingers through shortcuts, saying that it would need long-term efforts to overcome this weakness.

The Pakistan skipper told ‘The News’ in an interview here at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Saturday that even a specialist fielding coach will be unable to address the problem, saying that such a step was taken in the past but yielded little success.

“We had Jonty Rhodes before the tour of England and went on to spill around 20 catches during that series,” said Yousuf referring to South African great Rhodes’ brief stint as a fielding consultant three years ago. Pakistan went on to lose the four-match Test series against England 0-3.

Fielding has been Pakistan’s biggest concern on the twin tours of New Zealand and Australia and many experts have warned that without better catching they cannot do well against top sides like Australia.

Pakistan floored six catches in their 170-run loss against Australia in the first Test in Melbourne. There were several dropped catches during the Test tour of New Zealand earlier in the season when Pakistan barely managed to draw the three-match series 1-1.

There have been reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board is mulling over the idea of roping in a specialist fielding coach even though it appointed former Test pacer Waqar Younis as the team’s bowling and fielding coach.

Yousuf said that he and his teammates have tried everything in the book to improve the fielding performance. “We have been carrying out extensive fielding sessions. What else can you do,” he said.

The captain finds nothing wrong with the way his players go for their catches. “I don’t know why we drop so many catches because all of these guys are good fielders,” he said.....LINK.