Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 65 Sat. July 31, 2004  
   
Sports


Bonus gets on Woolmer's nerves


It was Bob Woolmer's first assignment as Pakistan coach and the Englishman was depressed the way his side, despite playing well, missed a well-deserved berth in the final of the Asia Cup.

"I'm very pleased with their performance. In fact we won four of the five games, showing a lot of consistency apart from one game we lost," Woolmer said after his side beat Bangladesh by six wickets in the last super match on Thursday.

"There is room for improvement in batting and bowling, and certainly in the fielding. But I'm very disappointed about the no-balls and the wides the bowlers bowled. Its something we will have to work on," said the master coach whose boys conceded 37 extras against the Tigers.

"Overall, if I was a school teacher, I would give them 70 per cent marks."

"It was really a fantastic learning class for myself. I got to know the players well and it was a very useful exercise."

Disappointed not to get to the final, the new Pakistan coach who replaced Javed Miandad said that it was because they lost the crucial game against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan also rued missing a bonus point against India that virtually ended their interest in the tournament. They also failed to collect a bonus against Bangladesh and Woolmer was again vocal.

"The bonus system, it definitely needs reviewing. Getting a bonus point for coming second is not correct. If you lose a game, I don't see how you deserve to get a bonus point. I am still fighting with it."