Dale Steyn bowled one of the best spells of his career – Rashid Latif

Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan captain, is devastated with the performance of the national team in the first Test of the three-match series against South Africa at Johannesburg but expressed that Dale Steyn bowled one of the best spells of his life.

The visitors looked to be in a comfortable position at stumps on day one of the match, having dismissed the Proteas for merely 253 runs in their first innings. The second day however, turned out to be a disaster for the Green Shirts as the whole team was dismissed for just 49 runs on the board. Pakistan could not recover after a horrific batting performance, allowing the hosts to go 1-0 up in the series.

Steyn, who is considered to be among the best fast bowlers in the present-day cricket, bowled exceptionally well throughout the match, picking up 11 wickets to break the back of Pakistan’s batting line-up.

Latif is not satisfied with the effort shown by Misbah-ul-Haq and company, although he praised the performance of the Pakistani bowlers on day one of the fixture. The former wicketkeeper was all praise for South Africa’s spearhead, who bowled splendidly well in the first Test.

The former captain expressed, “Pakistan players didn’t show intent to overcome South Africa. Our bowlers bowled well in the first innings, but looked helpless in the second. Steyn bowled one of the best spells of his life. He moved the ball at will.”

Latif further added that international cricketers are professionals and they must have the ability to perform in difficult conditions as well. The former player from Karachi believes that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needs to improve the standard of domestic cricket, if it wants the national team to perform well overseas.

“Our first-class structure is very weak. Everybody can bat well in nets. The aim should be to bat out overs in test matches. The injuries to our players is no surprise. They are not used to these conditions and are low in confidence. Our players are professionals and if anybody cannot play in tough conditions, he should be dropped,” Latif added.

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 7 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.