KARACHI: Newly-appointed Pakistan ladies’s group head coach David Hemp made no massive guarantees on Thursday however expressed hopes of bettering the nationwide facet’s rating in worldwide cricket throughout his tenure.
Addressing his maiden media convention right here on the Nationwide Stadium, the previous Bermuda batsman, who famously scored an undefeated half-century — an unbeaten 76 — in opposition to India throughout the 2007 ICC 50-over World Cup within the West Indies, stated he’s undeterred by the challenges he’ll face within the months to return.
“It’s great honour and privilege to lead Pakistan women’s side as the head coach. The country is blessed with a great history in terms of cricket and to be part of that and to work with the Pakistan Cricket Board from my own personal perspective is a fantastic opportunity,” Hemp stated.
“I have been involved in coaching officially for 30 years and I say this because my first ‘job’ was in 1990 at a high school in Durban as a director of coaching. Within that period I’ve worked in various countries — South Africa, UK, Australia, Bermuda and now Pakistan — and on the way I’ve experienced different cultures and worked in different roles in that regard.”
Hemp, who was born in Hamilton — the capital of Bermuda — who will flip 50 on Nov 8, is certainly cricket’s true journeyman. Aside from representing his nation in 22 ODIs and two T20 Internationals between 2006 and 2009, Hemp has performed for Glamorgan (1991-1996) and Warwickshire (1997-2001) and in addition turned out for Free State in South Africa home competitors in 1997-98.
“I was also fortunate to captain and coach Glamorgan at the backend of playing career and also led Bermuda. I also played for England ‘A’ for a while,” Hemp, based mostly in Melbourne for the previous seven years and holds twin passports of Britain and Australia, identified.
“By way of this position, clearly I’m delighted to be given an opportunity to work with Pakistan ladies’s facet. And though I’ve but to see the gamers [Hemp came to Karachi on Thursday after holding discussions with PCB officials since arriving in Lahore on Monday], however I can say there may be lot of expertise within the group.
“I’ve been observing the performances of Pakistan players through various sources and noted the graph is gradually on the rise. The most heartening aspect was their fifth-place finish in the second edition of ICC [Women’s] Championship. It is appropriate to say ‘well done’ to all those players and the coaching staff who were involved in that event.”
Hemp conceded that Pakistan’s present seventh rank on the ICC desk is one thing he’ll be aiming to enhance.
“That’s ground reality, isn’t it? But that’s surely we don’t want to be. Ideally we definitely do want to be among the top four nations. That is one of the priorities during my [two-year] tenure despite the fact it may seem far away. The main task in front of us is to harness the available talent to improve our ranking which is definitely attainable.”
Hemp famous the pool of gamers, which is presently restricted to only 45 women, is a downside that must be addressed with the passage of time.
“Ideally you want to have more players to compete for places in the national side. The PCB has been looking at this anomaly for a while to improve growth of players at the grassroots levels. Urooj Mumtaz [head of cricket board’s women’s wing] is working behind the scene in terms of increasing the depth,” he stated.
“However for those who take a look at the opposite facet, there are 45 gamers within the pool and 27 of them are right here on the [ongoing] camp with one sadly received Covid-19. That’s nonetheless lot [of players] to select from and work with. What it does imply that the standard could be decreased and the expectations on prime gamers will likely be a little bit bit greater.
“You then take into consideration the Australian system the place I’ve labored. Australia simply performed New Zealand in a collection with a squad of simply 18 gamers and on prime of there have been about 5 or 6 of them weren’t concerned and had been left behind. They had been all worldwide gamers however didn’t make it.
“Is that a challenge? Yes it is. That’s how you inculcate a culture of competition among the players. And to me that is a good because there is always room for improvement if we aspire to get into that top four bracket,” he added.
“I’ll once more offer you Australia’s instance. I had been working with them intently in numerous capacities for 5 years with the states and nationwide camps. So I understand how they strategy issues and the way they appear to enhance repeatedly.
“Coming to the Pakistan side I think what we need to look at their skill-sets in all departments of cricket [batting, bowling and fielding] and even off-field fitness. Being a professional athlete you can’t afford to neglect these areas. I again go back to Australia with due apologies by giving their example because to mind my mind they are the benchmark for all teams and being there at the top for a long, long time.”
Hemp, in the meantime, refused to imagine that Pakistan want a overseas coach for the ladies’s group after the inexperienced shirts had New Zealand’s Mark Coles beforehand working within the position with blended outcomes.
“Look that is something I obviously I cannot comment on. The PCB advertisement for the position to which I applied and they interviewed me before offering the job. If the PCB thought I was the best candidate [for the job] and so be it. As I said before, this is a challenge which I have accepted and will relish while being with the Pakistan team,” Hemp remarked.
Printed in Daybreak, October 23rd, 2020
