Woolmer for sporting Test pitches

Pakistan8217;s cricket coach Bob Woolmer wants to have good Test pitches for the home series against England.Woolmer, who played 19 Tests f...

Pakistan8217;s cricket coach Bob Woolmer wants to have good Test pitches for the home series against England.

Woolmer, who played 19 Tests for England, said he did not believe slow and turning tracks could be prepared for the test series.

8220;I don8217;t think conditions in Pakistan favour preparation of such pitches now. We are looking to have good Test pitches that last for five days and offer encouragement to batsmen and bowlers,8221; he said.

England arrive on October 26 to play three tests and five one-day internationals and there has been lot of speculation on the type of pitches that would be prepared.

The selectors have given some indication by selecting four leg-spinners, including Mushtaq Ahmed, for a training camp. Mushtaq has not played for Pakistan since 2003.

Woolmer said his players were under no illusions that the series against England would be tough.

8220;They are playing well at the moment, and we have not got it right in Test matches. So we will have to combine well together to produce good performances,8221; he said.

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Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif also advised his former team mates not to rely too much on the spinners.

8220;It is a misconception that we can beat England with our spinners. We should not be looking to prepare slow turning tracks because our spinners don8217;t flight the ball regularly and tend to push the ball through,8221; Latif said.

He also outlined that rough areas on pitches which spinners tended to exploit were usually soft in Pakistan compared with England where they were hard.

8220;And the problem is our bowlers don8217;t have the practice to bowl regularly into the rough area like Ashley Giles does,8221; he said.

India to play practice match at Karachi

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Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has acceded to a request from its Indian counterpart that Karachi host a practice match during the Indian cricket team8217;s tour of the country next year instead of a one-day International or a Test.

Both the boards have agreed to the extra practice match at Karachi but are waiting for approval from the home ministry, The Nation said.

India are to play five ODIs and three Tests during the tour in February-March. The PCB had proposed Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi as venues for the ODIs and Lahore, Karachi and Multan for Tests.