JOHANNESBURG: Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said on Monday he was determinedto find a solution to his team’s problems against fast, short-pitchedbowling.
Speaking after South Africa completed a 3-0 series clean sweep by winningthe third Test by 107 runs at the Wanderers Stadium, Arthur said he wantedto build a team able to play in all conditions by the time they startedtheir campaign in the world Test championship in September.
“We play Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates in September then we playAustralia in Australia straight after that,” he said. “We have to have ourskill sets perfect to manage the bouncing ball. I want to get our batsmeninto Australia three or four weeks early, to have camps there to get themready.”
Man of the series Duanne Olivier sparked a Pakistan collapse as thetourists lost their remaining seven wickets for 120 runs to be bowled outfor 273 at lunch on the fourth day.
Olivier effectively ended Pakistan’s hopes when he took two wickets offsuccessive balls in the third over of the morning.
Arthur singled out Babar Azam, Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq as batsmen whohad played well during the series and he gave qualified support to SarfrazAhmed, whose captaincy was questioned by Pakistani media.
“This question always arises at the end of a series,” said Arthur. “Sarfrazgoes from strength to strength. He wants to lead from the front. I thoughthis wicketkeeping has been outstanding. What we need is to get a good coreof leaders around him. If we can do that he’ll go from strength tostrength.”
– Sri Lanka next up for Proteas –
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South African stand-in captain Dean Elgar praised the commitment of hisplayers. “Three-nil is what we asked from the guys and we have achievedthat. We are halfway to our goals for the season. We want to achieve thesame feat against Sri Lanka (in February).”
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Elgar stressed, though, that South Africa did not take Pakistan lightly.“We know they are a good team. We are very fortunate to have that arsenalof four fast bowlers.”
Olivier took 24 wickets in the three-Test series at an average of 14.71 andhe made the crucial breakthrough early on Monday.
Azam received a fast, lifting ball angled in towards his throat, which hegloved to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Azam (22) had helped Shafiq add 58for the fourth wicket.
Sarfraz was then bowled first ball. Seemingly expecting anothershort-pitched delivery from Olivier, he was deep in his crease when he hadhis off stump knocked back by a fast, full delivery.
With Vernon Philander gaining unpredictable bounce from a good length justoutside off stump, Shafiq advanced down the pitch and was caught at secondslip off a ball which seamed away from him.
Shafiq had taken his overnight score of 48 to 65, made off 71 balls with 11fours.
Shadab Khan batted well to make 47 not out before the match ended whenMohammad Abbas was run out after a mix-up. -APP/AFP
