LAHORE: The four-week High Performance Camp for the Emerging U-16 Players concluded at the National Cricket Academy on Saturday.
Earmarked by interactive lectures, rigorous training and fitness sessions under the watchful eye of the NCA coaches, the 20 players were put to task on different aspects of the game.
Mohsin Kamal, who is commandant of the Emerging Players U-16 High Performance Camp and also featured in nine Tests and 19 ODIs for Pakistan where he took 24 and 21 wickets, respectively, shed light on the learning of players from the camp. He stated, “The coaches focused their efforts on boosting the players’ physical and psychological fitness along with cricketing skills to which the players’ response has been very positive. Fast bowling consultant at the camp, the former Test cricketer Rao Iftikhar Anjum stated, “We’ve focused our efforts during this camp to assess and amplify the players fast bowling skills and speed through assessment tests.
Ahmad Khan, right arm fast bowler from Abbottabad, who took 13 wickets from five 50-over match series against Australia held in the UAE earlier this year, was delighted to be a part of the camp. Umer Eman who has captained Pakistan U-16 team to 50-over and T20 series victory over Australia U-16 in the UAE this year mentioned that the players have learned a lot in the camp.
Sameer Saqib Pakistan U-16 opening batsman who had scored 122 runs from three-50 over series against Bangladesh with an average of 40.67, was also amongst those participating in the camp. He remarked that the NCA coaches had worked diligently to rectify recurring individual and team mistakes that hampered their performance in the past series.
Pakistan U-16 players who attended the player skills and training were: Ahmad Khan (Abbottabad), Ali Asfand (Faisalabad), Ali Hassan (Sialkot), Aliyan Mehmood (Karachi), Amir Hassan (Rawalpindi), Arham Nawab (Faisalabad), Aseer Mughal (Rawalpindi), Ayaz Shah (FATA), Faisal Akram (Multan), Farhad Khan (FATA), Haseebullah Khan (Quetta), Kashif Ali (Karachi), Khalid Khan (Quetta), Muneeb Wasif (Lahore), M Shehzad (Multan), M Waqas (Faisalabad), Rizwan Mehmood (Hyderabad), Sameer Saqib (Faisalabad), Umer Eman (Lahore) and Zubair Shinwari (FATA) (wicketkeeper).
