Arthur warns senior Pakistan players to perform or be replaced by young blood

LONDON: Pakistan's head coach Mickey Arthur has warned senior members of the team to perform or get ready to be replaced by youngsters.

“I said to the players that nobody is safe and if you are over30 I am afraid you have to come to the table more often than not otherwise it gives us an opportunity to blood some younger players,” Arthur said ahead of Pakistan's second ODI against England in Lord’s.

“Nobody is safe in this one-day side and they need to step up,” the head coach of Pakistan team said while replying to a question about future of Mohammad Hafeez, who has been struggling with poor form on the tour.

After losing the first ODI to England by 44 runs, Pakistan is now aiming to bounce back in the 2nd ODI at Lord's on Saturday.

The Pakistan team underwent a long and intense training session ahead of the second ODI in an attempt to correct the mistakes they committed in the first match at Southampton.

Arthur said Pakistan, at the moment, has nothing to lose and he wants to give players the freedom to express themselves, but the message to players is very clear that step up or the management will find someone else who can step up for the team.

The head coach also added that Pakistan is looking to find a way to include Yasir Shah in the playing eleven for upcoming matches against England.

“Yasir Shah is an option, without a doubt and we have got to find way to include Yasir Shah. We need wickets in the middle and wicket will be key particularly against the side like England which bats that deep and we can only stop them scoring is by taking wickets,” he added.

“It’s a catch-22 situation for us. We have two all-rounders and both left-armers are different. Imad can bowl in the power play and Nawaz’s lengthens the batting as well,” Arthur said.