August 12  
Mudassar wants consistency in performance

TANGIERS: Pakistan cricket coach, Mudassar Nazar demands Consistency from his team when it opens its campaign in the three-nation Morocco Cup Cricket tournament by clashing South Africa here on Monday at Tangiers Stadium. 

"My only desire is to see team maintaining consistency because it is the right time to get on to serious business for our preparations for the World Cup," he said Sunday after teams practice ahead of today's game. 

Pakistan faces the same opponents, South Africa and Sri Lanka, whom it played three months ago at Sharjah in a three-nation tournament and won it beating Sri Lanka in the final. 

He said his expectations from the team and players are to maintain a flow of good performances in order to claim further victories in the tournaments to come. 

"We have to give top priority to our winning sequence and to maintain it is my top concern," he said. Pakistan plays back to back cricket in coming months. 

After Morocco Cup they will directly fly to Kenya to take part in another three-nation tournament later this month at Nairobi. Then they will feature in the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September and upon their return they will explore possibilities to play their home series against Australia at a neutral venue as the Aussies refused to visit Pakistan on a scheduled tour in September/October due to security fears. 

Mudassar said it is imperative for the players to play their due role in a match and should not give up, as causal approach can hamper the preparations for the Cup. 

"Now every tournament has double importance for us, our main objective is to win and to maintain our winning run which is only possible if all the players give their best," he said. 

Mudassar said he has pinned high hopes with the team and expect that it would win the Morocco Cup . 

"These are the same teams whom we played three months ago at Sharjah and in my opinion my team should not face any difficulty in beating them to live up to its repute and promise," he said and added "Pakistan is not just banking on victory in Sharjah it has also success over Australia in a away series." 

When asked about the weaker departments of the game Mudassar said he wants further improvement in fielding because it plays a vital role in a team's success in a one-day or Test match. 

Mudassar said South Africa and Sri Lanka are very good teams and a win against them can further boost the confidence of the team. "Each team plays each other twice in the tournament and by that way we get enough competition before going to Kenya where another tough task is ahead of us but we are confident to accomplish all our assignments on victorious note," he said.