Road to Jamaica 4: Q&A with Bob Woolmer

Road to Jamaica 4: Q&A with Bob Woolmer
http://blogs.cricinfo.com/pakspin/

Posted by Kamran Abbasi at 19 hours, 34 minutes ago in World Cup 2007







Bob Woolmer: 'All teams must be respected' © Getty Images


On the eve of Pakistan's first warm-up match, I put a few questions to Bob. Here are his answers:

Question 1: Do you possess enough match-winning bowlers?

Bob's answer: Depending on the surfaces we have a well balanced attack. If they bowl as a unit we will be competitive. This world cup may well revolve around the batting performances - bowling in one day cricket now is more dependent on the disciplines they follow.

Q2: The view from the boundary, and the living room, is that Inzy's captaincy style is too laid back. Is that true? Is he capable of great leadership?

Bob: There are two answers to this question. His captaincy is fine for one-day cricket. I expect him to lead from the front.

Q3: Where will he bat?

Bob: That is for us to know and for the pundits and the opposition to find out.

Q4: The opening batsmen remain under pressure. Will you be trying any new strategies?

Bob: Opening batsmen in all teams are under pressure. Ours more so because of the tendency for all Pakistani pundits to believe they can do better.

Q5: Who is your finisher?

Bob: The batsmen in at the time. All players are aware that they have to take responsibility for finishing an innings. Malik at 6 is most likely to be there at the end if all goes well.

Q6: Can your legspinners win you the World Cup?

Bob: I personally wouldn't want to put them under any pressure to do so. A lot will depend on the type of surfaces we are playing on. Cricket remains a team game where we hope all players will contribute to winning.

Q7: How do you expect the pitches to play? Will they suit Pakistan?

Bob: This is the unknown factor, of the two practice pitches we have had they have both turned appreciably.

Q8: Who do you see as Pakistan's main threats?

Bob: All teams must be respected and each game must be taken one at a time. All sides are good enough to beat each other on the day.

Q9: Which players will you be asking to stand up and lead by example?

Bob: I expect all players to lead by example throughout t

the least informative of interviews i've ever read/heard.
He either has no clue or has just the perfect strategy

what is he saying in the highlighted part?

what is bob so diplomatic about...these are answers politicians give...

This probably is one of the most pointless and resultless interviews ever, not worth the paper it would have been printed on if it were a newspaper

good on bob for hitting back at the 'pundits' found it hilarious :

Q3: Where will he bat?

Bob: That is for us to know and for the pundits and the opposition to find out.

Hopefully not from Number 6 batting position!

After all, what else did you expect from Woolly?

So Inzi's captiancy is fine for one day cricket ONLY???

What about all cricket????????

Very Diplomatic.

PLayed Safely !

Well he actually said, his captaincy is fine for ODI cricket and to me there is a strong implication that Bob has generally not been happy with Inzi's captaincy at Test level, or he would not have worded it like that.

Some thoughts from the unconscious manifesting themselves here

I think too much is being read into this answer. Bob is saying two things, as he said 'There are two answers to this question', firstly to whether Inzi is a suitable captain for this competition to which his answer is yes he is. I expect him to lead from the front is a not too veiled hint at Inzi batting higher up the order.

that was the dumbest interview I've ever read. I'd rather listen to Inzamam talk about the latin roots of English.

A pointless interview. I think Bob was in flippant mood with Kamran.

shows how defensive his approach is when it comes to ODI bowling

Ironically, the interview is symptomatic of what Woolly has to offer to Pak cricket - NOTHING but playing with words.

Cmon man, you dont expect him to show all his cards before the big bet. I am not sure why you have this ill fellings towards Bob. I think he has done reasonably well with the resources given to him. Who would you replace him with? Javed M. Aaqib Javed.
Bob and Inzy might be the best coach/captain around but they are the best we got. You will miss these days when both of them are not around.

I dodn't think you can call it proper interview. it's just chit chat between too which Kamran posted on his blog. and knowing Kamran is from media, Bob didn't give answeres properly and rightly so