Michael Smith backs Pakistan youngsters to improve despite tough England tour

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan batting coach Michael Smith has backed the team’s young batters to improve with time despite their difficult tour of England, insisting that the mood within the dressing room remains “good”.

Pakistan are yet to cross the 200-run mark in five innings during the ongoing Test series and were 52-2 at stumps on day two of the third Test at Edgbaston, still 268 runs short of making England bat again.

The visitors’ tour has also been overshadowed by off-field issues, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recalling seven players and head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed after the defeat at Lord’s. The board has also launched an inquiry into the conduct of some players.

Smith said he was unaware of the inquiry and declined to comment on the matter, while highlighting the quality of young cricketers coming through the Pakistan system.

“I know nothing about that [the inquiry] so I can't really comment on anything like that,” Smith told reporters after the second day’s play at Edgbaston. “It's the first time I've heard of those things so I'm not too sure.

“But on the players, for me there's a lot of quality in Pakistan. We've seen it for many years and lots of countries go through slight changes.

“This is one where we've got some younger players with some experienced players, but it's the learning and how quickly we can get them to learn and get comfortable in the Test environment to really help them from a long-term point of view.”

Of the top seven in Pakistan’s current batting line-up, only Babar Azam and Shan Masood had previously toured England. Smith acknowledged that the batting unit was going through a “transition phase” and needed to learn how to occupy the crease for longer periods.

“We've shown some really good signs but just not for long enough and I think that's probably the biggest lesson: we need some of our guys to be playing for hours at times and in certain game plans,” Smith said.

“I think Saud [Shakeel] has shown us at times, Azan [Awais] has shown us and Shan [too], but we need that for hours and not just for half a session or so.

“Some of the players, it’s their first tour of England and they haven't got a lot of Test experience, so they are learning some challenging lessons along the way. They have to learn on the Test circuit, which is a challenging one.

“We've got to keep making sure that we're showing small, really good signs at times, but we need to now put a big play in to really get that confidence going again.”

Despite Pakistan’s struggles, Smith maintained that the players remained in good spirits and said it was too early to judge the younger members of the batting line-up.

“It’s been tough, it’s been challenging, but let’s not take away [the fact that] we've come up against a really good bowling unit in home conditions who've been excellent,” he said.

“I suppose we might not see the sort of success we want to see now, but hopefully if a lot of these players are back on our next UK tour, we'll really see an upward trend. I think that's the time to really judge them, especially some of the younger players who get their first taste of the English-type conditions.

“It’s tough cricket, but the one thing our boys are really doing is embracing being on tour and actually enjoying themselves on tour as well as a group, as a whole.”

Smith, who was appointed Pakistan’s batting coach shortly before the series, said he needed more time to determine whether structural changes were required to better prepare the players for challenges outside Pakistan.

However, he remained upbeat about the potential within the squad.

“I think I've got a bloody exciting challenge on my hands because there are some serious players,” Smith said.

“Let’s not worry about what's happening here, we've got some really exciting players and [their] potential is exceptionally high. It's just how quickly can we get them to that level, especially playing outside of Pakistan.

“That’s going to be a big challenge and something we're really excited about,” he concluded.