Waqar blames poor fielding for defeat

Lahore, Aug 28: The Pakistan cricket team captain Waqar Younis blamed poor fielding as reason for losing to South Africa in the final of tri-nation cricket tournament at Singapore.

However, the team coach Javed Miandad cited other reasons for the debacle in the final which Pakistan lost by 93 runs.

Talking to reporters at the Lahore airport on arrival from Singapore, Waqar Younis said that had Pakistani fielders not dropped at least four catches, the result would have been different.

Miandad said that change in number of overs due to rains and the rule which raised the target from 197 to 215 were the reasons which went against Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was compelled to keep Saeed Anwar in fielding for a specific number of overs, despite injury, because it only made him eligible to bat for the team.

He said that the restriction of circle which had been reduced from 15 overs to 10 due to rain also affected the performance of the Pakistani team.

He negated the impression that the change in middle order had damaged the performance of the batting department. These were tactics and some time proved correct and some time wrong, he added.

Miandad said that overall the performance of the team was good.

Regarding sex scandal, involving three players, Javed Miandad said that he would meet the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia on Tuesday to brief him on the issue, and also the performance of the team.

Saeed Anwar said that he got his right knee injured during the fielding, but thanked God that it was not his left knee which was operated recently.

Ijaz Ahmad said that he played satisfactorily in the first two matches, but failed to excel in the final match. He said that he was included in the team after a very long time and tried his best to come upto the expectations of the fans.

Hasan Raza and wicket-keeper Atiq-uz-Zaman directly went to Karachi.