Pakistan 'way behind' others in terms of fitness, fielding, admits Arthur

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur believes that despite horrific performance on the recent tours to New Zealand and Australia, the team is moving in the right direction, barring the current levels of fitness and fielding.

Pakistan has been facing a lot of criticism following its recent whitewash in the Test series against New Zealand and Australia before going down 1-4 in the five-match ODI series.

"I certainly believe that we as Team Pakistan are moving in the right direction. I said coming into this job that we needed to create a structure of excellence and we are certainly creating that," Dawn quoted Arthur as saying.

"All the players that come into our squad now know exactly what the standards and requirements are to play at this level and to represent their country."

"These standards relate to behaviour, fitness levels and optimum mental and technical standards that relate to their roles within the team. The players are clear on this and, barring a few individuals, have met the standards required," he added.

However, the 48-year-old expressed unhappiness at the fitness level and poor fielding standards that Pakistan showed on the recent tours.

"The most disappointing aspect of our team at the moment is our basic fitness levels and fielding standards where we are way behind the rest of the teams. We have worked tirelessly at this discipline and are going to dedicate days at our training camp to just fielding and fitness," he said.

"Our techniques for throwing, catching, stopping balls and sliding need to be taught as our players have never been taught this and their techniques are poor. Again there will be no compromise on fitness and all the players were given individual fitness standards that need to be met. We were at least 20 runs behind Australia in every game because of our fielding and that is not acceptable."

Pakistan will travel to West Indies for two T20s, three ODIs and three Tests beginning March 31 at Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain.