Arthur ‘hurt’ but remains hopeful ahead of World Cup

LAHORE: Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said on Tuesday that suffering a clean sweep at home against Australia "hurts incredibly".

Addressing a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore after the team returned home from Dubai, Arthur pointed to the number of players Pakistan had decided to rest, but conceded the side’s fielding and fitness fell well below the standards required over the five games.

"I think on this tour, our fitness standards and fielding were not where they needed to be," Arthur said. "That’s understandable when you see the likes of young Abid Ali, Hasnain, and guys like that hadn’t been in our setup before. Those that had been in our setup for a long period of time, who know what the standards are, are aware we will never ever compromise on fitness," he said.

"All our key players are fit enough going into the World Cup. It’s our strength players, those that sit just under our setup that is worrying."

Pakistan’s One-day International (ODI) form has been a worry over the past 15 months, with the team having lost ODI series against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia in addition to a dismal Asia Cup outing last year. Arthur, however, cautioned against panicking weeks out from the World Cup, pointing out Pakistan still had plenty of games to play before the tournament began.

"This series was an opportunity to rest our key players ahead of what is a very demanding schedule leading up to the World Cup," he said.

"We’ve got 11 fully fledged games of cricket from the beginning of May until our first World Cup game. That includes three games against counties, five ODIs against England and then two warm-up games for the World Cup."

"So we viewed this tour of an opportunity to look at a final few places. Inzi and I had a look at the final places that we were looking to secure. You’re only good as your bench strength, so for us, our bench strength is incredibly important."

Arthur also pointed out that Pakistan could come away from the series with some positives, especially in the batting department.

"Five hundreds across the series was the impressive thing. The fact that I think we’ve certainly found a batsman [Abid Ali], we’ve found a young quick bowler that’s going to serve Pakistan well for the years to come [Mohammad Hasnain] and probably sorted our fast bowling leading into the World Cup."

Arthur was more reserved about what conclusions he had reached with respect to Pakistan’s World Cup squad, keeping his cards close to his chest, but did say he was on the same page with chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.

"We’ve got individual plans for every one of our players," Arthur said. "Those individual plans will evolve into the England tour, especially for the guys that we want to take [to the World Cup]. Inzi, myself and selectors will sit down in the next couple of days and start our final work towards that World Cup squad. We’ll have fitness testing around April 14 and 15, and we’ll work back on individual planning again today."

He also had time to single out Mohammad Rizwan for praise. Until January, Rizwan had not played an international for Pakistan for over two years, firmly a back-up to the ever-present Sarfraz Ahmed. Now, he has played 10 internationals for the country on the bounce, and was one of the standout batsmen on tour, scoring two hundreds and finishing as the second-highest scorer for Pakistan this series.

But Arthur made it clear Pakistan were in no way vacillating over the wicketkeeping position. "We know Saify [Sarfraz] is our captain and our first choice wicketkeeper. And he’s going to lead us into the World Cup," said Arthur.