We need more pacers, says Pakistan women’s bowling coach

KARACHI: Pakistan women cricket team bowling coach Saleem Jaffar feels that the country needs a boost in its pace bowling.

“We have been relying mostly on two pacers, Diana Baig and Fatima Sana. So we are trying to bring in more fast bowlers,” Saleem told reporters here on Monday ahead of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka ODI series which will begin here at the Southend Club Ground from Wednesday (tomorrow).

“And we will look if there is any batting all-rounder who can bowl medium pace. Sadaf is very good and we are working on her and are trying to improve her bowling,” said Saleem, a former left-arm Test pacer.

He was confident that his side would win the ODI series against Sri Lanka. “We have seen weak points of Sri Lanka. They will field almost the same side which featured in T20 series. Our team has a bit of an edge because of home conditions. Our spin is very good and our batters are much better than Sri Lanka’s,” Saleem said.

“The ODI series is a part of the ICC Women Championship and I think Ireland and Bangladesh have now been added which has made the competition much tougher. We will have to focus more. These ODIs are very important for us and we have to remain in the rankings as it’s very important before the next World Cup,” Saleem said.

He was happy with the way Pakistan played in the T20 series, winning it by 3-0. “If you see the weather is too hot but the credit goes to the players who are doing hard work in fielding, bowling and doing their best in training sessions. It’s good that the team played as per plans in the T20 series,” he said.

“Batters and bowlers did well. The seniors did well; Bismah and Nida played a key role. Leggie Tuba Hassan, who made her debut, was declared the player of the series. Our spin department is fine,” the coach said. “We also made some experiments in the last game by bringing in some new players, made changes in batting order,” he said.

Saleem said that they had focussed on dot balls. “We had planned for T20 series to concentrate on dot balls. We told bowlers to do more dot balls. If you do dot balls batters will give you wickets. In the T20 series, our bowlers improved dot balls ratio from 45 percent to 55 to 60 percent. And we also stress that our batters should play few dot balls. And this plan will also be executed in ODIs,” Saleem said.

“In the T20s we planned to achieve the target. Had they set us targets around 125 or 130 then we would have planned our chase accordingly. It’s not the case that we achieved our targets with difficulty. Women’s cricket is slightly different from men’s; targets are smaller. These are low-bounce, turning wickets and it’s not easy to manage slog here,” Saleem observed.

“Gull Feroza is a new player and we are bringing new players which is part of the players development. She is a very good player. Yes, in the first game she did not have an idea due to heavy wind but in the second match she managed a fine stroke but was caught brilliantly. But she is a fine prospect and will develop with time,” said Saleem.

“The coach is also working on hard-hitting batter Ayesha Naseem and when her skills are developed she will also be used in ODIs,” he said. Saleem said women’s cricket was going to be more competitive. He said that due to cultural barriers Pakistan’s women are a bit behind the other teams but soon they will also touch the world level.