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Dawn Yawar Saeed says: Strong team for Australian tour planned
The Dawn - 13 September 1999

Islamabad, Sept 12: Pakistan cricket team manager Yawar Saeed said on Saturday that the Toronto and Sharjah matches will be used to jell a rearing side and execute the "dream" of beating Australia on its soil.

He said work has already started to build up a strong team for the Australian tour, with Waseem Raja putting in expertise on the technical side. Boys are working hard and we have received so much response already, Yawar said.

The manager was confident that there will not be any problems amongst the players since rules have been laid down and the mode of communication has been very clear. "They are playing for Pakistan plus nobody is above the game," he said.

The manager said that the Pakistan team would not be lacking in anything but it needs a little time to build up a team. "I am asking for eight weeks before this team would give the results everyone is expecting them to deliver," he said.

PAKISTAN CAMP: Coach Waseem Hasan Raja does not believe in making players do jogging laps, after laps, he is doing working on muscle-strengthening with innovative drills.

Fitness is the basic requirement if the fielding skills are to be enhanced, he says. It was stated that the two-hour morning fitness session only had a ten-minute break for the players.The evening session was exclusive for batting and bowling practice.

All the players attended the camp except three. Inzimamul Haq, who arrived late yesterday, was given a full day rest as the burly batsman was running temperature. Saeed Anwar on the other hand will arrive here on Sunday. Off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq will join the team in London.

The manager, coach and captain were unanimous in their opinion that the national camp should be held at Gadhafi Stadium, Lahore, due to better playing conditions and no disturbance from the crowd. It may be mentioned here that crowd became a menace for the cricketers since anybody could walk onto the field.

The team now has just a two-hour morning session on Sunday morning since the evening has been given off. The departure is scheduled for the wee-hours of Monday. The team will have one- night stopover at London where vice captain Saqlain Mushtaq would also join the side for Toronto.



Source: Dawn
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