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Bangladesh v Pakistan, Asia Cup, 12th match
Whatmore: 'We have not improved'
Wisden Cricinfo staff
July 29, 2004
After Pakistan's comfortable win against Bangladesh, Dav Whatmore and Bob Woolmer were in contrasting moods:
Whatmore on Bangladesh's performance
We certainly have not improved in this tournament. I think everyone expected us to qualify, but not to be a threat to the three teams. I thought those games could have been a lot closer. It is pretty clear that the one area where we are making mistakes is the batting. It is fairly obvious to everyone. I came with hopes of playing much better than we did and the team is naturally very disappointed. Playing against our Asian neighbours might have had an affect - it certainly affected our confidence as the tournament progressed.There is going to have to be some hard discussion in reviewing the tournament with the selectors.
On his predictions for the final
It would be a fairytale for India to win after scrapping through by one point. I think Sri Lanka are playing slightly better cricket than anyone else at the moment but India are improving.
Woolmer on Pakistan's performance
I am very pleased that we have won four out of five games. We have shown a lot of consistency except for one game. There is room for improvement, both with the batting and the bowling, and certainly with the fielding. I am very disappointed with the no-balls and wides, and that is something we will be addressing again. Overall, I'm pretty pleased and, if I was a school teacher, I would give it [our performance] 70%. It has been a fantastic learning curve for myself and I have got to know a lot of the players well, which has made it a very useful exercise. Obviously, we are very disappointed to not be in the final but, what can you do, we lost a crucial game.
On Sami's 17-ball over
Poor old Mohammad Sami had a nightmare and that happens - when it goes wrong it can go really wrong. He has bowled a lot in the last six months and I think he is feeling tired, and I think he needs a two-week break and I have told him to get away from the game and go on holiday. He must not worry about it. We can sort it out later.
On Pakistan's potential
The whole pace attack has such potential if we can just get that little bit more out of them. I want to get eight fast bowlers up and running so that we can swap them around in one-day cricket like the Australians do. These are still early days for me because I have got to find out who those eight are, but there are millions of fast bowlers in Pakistan. It is an amazing situation as every kid wants to bowl quick.
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