Pakistan played bad cricket, concedes coach Neilson

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan are facing their sixth straight Test defeat going into the last day of the first Test against England at the Multan Stadium, High-Performance Coach Tim Nielsen admitted that the playing track did not break down to their liking to help the host team cause.

In a post-day media talk Thursday, he conceded that a better response was expected from the strip from the third day onward. “It did not break down to our liking, helping the tourists raise a mammoth total. We should have bowled out tourists for less than 500 but there was nothing in the wicket for the bowlers.

The bounce has been consistent over the past days which did not go in our favour when we were bowling but we should have played better cricket going in for the second time. The odds including the hot weather were against England, yet the team responded and accepted the challenge by playing quality cricket.”

Nielsen was also unhappy on the Pakistan team for not playing consistent cricket. “We made too many mistakes and were not consistent enough. The team that plays consistent cricket has all the right to win the match and that seems the case here.

The same happened with us during the series against Bangladesh where we pinned them down at 26-6 and later threw away the initiative that came our way. We continue to make such mistakes in between the Test matches which ultimately results in defeats.” The High-Performance coach said that the best cricket is competitive cricket.