Arthur asks Pak players to fulfil their potential

ISLAMABAD: Head coach Mickey Arthur has called on Pakistan players to fulfil their potential to turn the tide in their favour and not forget that the Greenshirts defied all odds to win the Champions Trophy on these very pitches.

A well-placed source told ‘The News’ that Arthur in the team meeting after the West Indies game tried to remind the players of their true abilities.

“Your capacity to perform is much more than what you showed today against West Indies. None of you gave the performance you are capable of. Time has come to give your best in this World Cup,” Arthur told his charges.

The coach said the Trent Bridge pitch and West Indies’ bowling were not of that level that you got bowled out for such a low total. “Your capacity is much higher. Raise the level of the game in the coming matches and play to your potential.

“The whole nation back home is looking at you. You are heroes of your country. Make the best use of your abilities to live up to the expectations of your countrymen.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said pitches prepared for the World Cup were not high scoring ones. “It’s wrong to assume that on these pitches scoring 400 runs in an innings is a possibility. The reality is that from what we have seen so far scores of around 250 look fighting. The tracks are favourable to bowlers.”

Sarfaraz admitted that majority of the batsmen played wrong shots to lose their wickets. “Andre Russell’s back to back blows when he dismissed Fakhar Zaman and Haris Sohail put pressure on Pakistan. Those were crucial blows,” he said.

Sarfaraz said Mohammad Amir’s performance was a silver lining. “I am happy Amir is back in rhythm. That will help us in the remaining matches. I hope every player will perform better in coming games.”

The captain expressed his satisfaction over the World Cup format, saying every team had a chance to stage a comeback even after poor performances. “Admitted we had a bad day but we have a chance to get back into the tournament by performing to the best of our abilities in the coming matches.”

AFP adds from Nottingham: Mickey Arthur did not hide from the scale of a seven-wicket defeat against the West Indies, saying it had gone against everything he had seen from his players in the build-up.

“Yes, it was a shocking start — the players did not take the preparations into the middle,” Arthur told AFP. “But we will dust ourselves off and come back strong.”

Arthur said his team’s batting performance was all the more disappointing as they had expected to face short-pitched bowling and prepared accordingly. “We knew that we were going to get short-pitched bowling and had prepared very well for it, so was disappointing to see us play like that because we were prepared,” the South African said.

Pakistan have now lost their last 11 completed One-Day Internationals but fast bowler Wahab Riaz insisted they did not have a mental block when it came to facing fast bowling.

“We didn’t play the short ball well but we’ve seen in past series that we can score runs against that sort of bowling,” said Wahab. “If people want to bowl us bouncers, then we will have no problems with that.

“It’s not a mental issue. We have been losing in the past, we need to find a way to get out of this pattern,” he added.