Spin tracks no sane option, warns Naushad

ISLAMABAD: Former Test cricketer and ICC match referee Naushad Ali cautioned Pakistan’s think-tank against making an effort to trap visiting South Africa on low bounce spinning tracks, saying such a strategy could prove counter-productive.

Talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday, Naushad said reports emerging from Karachi suggest that efforts were being made to prepare low bounce spinning tracks for the first Test against South Africa at the National Stadium Karachi.

“Almost 13 years back, such an effort was made by the then strategy makers. Pakistan had to pay heavily as the team went on to lose the Test by a good margin.“You need to prepare pitches to your liking but even then you are required to introduce the element of competitiveness which is a must. Any out of the book efforts to prepare a total raw spinning track may well turn out to be counter-productive,” he said.

He said banking entirely on the spin department at the National Stadium would never be a sane strategy. “Even you never know about National Stadium pitches. Over the years the strips here hardly produced a real spin. Early support for pace bowling and then playing a bit easier with some spin is all that we have seen in the past. I don’t think even if curators want to raise a real spinning stripe, they would succeed in that.”

Naushad said that the loss in New Zealand would be fresh on players’ minds. “Some of the leading players who were unable to perform there would be too mindful of their performance. So it is never easy to bounce back from such a low performance within no time. Those players who have failed to contribute with bat and ball would be careful and thus possibly not be in a position to put in their best efforts at the outset of the coming series. So it is important for Pakistan to restore their confidence first. Once you start settling down, the results would start coming,” he said.