ICC World Cup 2011 warm up match: Pakistan defeat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 at Mirpur
Pakistani and Bangladeshi camps were in contrasting moods after their warm-up match was won by the Men in Breen with a convincing margin of 89 runs at Mirpur.
The hosts failed in their chase of 286 runs after the Pakistanis had batted well in their allotted 50 overs posting a big total courtesy of centuries by Ahmed Shehzad and veteran middle-order batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972.
The Bangladeshi coach, Jamie Siddons, who represented http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in international cricket, stated that he was generally disappointed by his team’s performance that looked jaded in front of their formidable opponents.
The co-hosts of the tournament had started their warm-up campaign with a crushing 9 wicket win over minnows, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Afridi’s men too hot to handle.
Siddons added that the fielding was a let-down for his team as they dropped numerous chances that allowed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 to recover from a precarious situation as the top order was disposed of losing the three mainstays of their line-up Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran
Akmal and Younis Khan, who were all sent packing early in the bit.
"I think chasing 285 is a big target, but it is achievable", Siddons said. "I don't think we were sensible enough. The captain led from the front, and played a silly shot [a pull straight to long leg], and it went through the whole
team”.
On the other hand the Pakistani coach, Waqar Younis, was pleased with the start of his team as they bid to hit the ground running with their first match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 at Hambantota.
He added that the leading pace man of the team, Shoaib Akhtar, was rested ahead of the tournament as there was no real reason to put him to test before the tournament, he stated that Shoaib would be the trump card for the team and
knowing his fitness tack record he needs to be protected for big matches in the 14 nations event.
"Shoaib is not in touch at the moment", Waqar said. "If he gets it right in the next game, he is obviously the No. 1 choice. At the moment, we have a slight problem with the new ball, but there is still some time to go”.
Waqar, who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time added that he and bowling coach/consultant of the team, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aaqib-Javed-c41431, had worked doubly hard with Shoaib and ensured that he attains full fitness before the tournament.
He thinks that Shoaib showed signs of improvement in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and is confident of doing well in tournament. The champions in the 1992 edition of the biggest prize in international cricket will play their second warm-up match at
the same venue on the 18th of this month against England.
The duo of Shoaib and Junaid, besides off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal and batsman, Asad Shafiq, are likely to feature in the second game. The team management would ideally like all players to have a taste of the conditions before the main
action gets underway.
The spin duo of Abdul Rehman and Ajmal have not been given many opportunities to play the One Day International (ODI) format lately, yet they are expected to play a stellar role in conditions that favour the slower bowlers especially
in the latter part of the tournament.
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