Woolmer Hails His League of Gentlemen From Pakistan

Bob Woolmer enters the Champions Trophy in remarkably buoyant mood. He will tell anyone who listens that his Pakistan players are "absolute gentlemen" and the day that he can utter the phrase without any sniggering at the back is the day that he will have turned them into the finest team in the world.

The Champions Trophy might have come a little too early for a youthful and still inexperienced side but half an hour listening to Woolmer's enthusiastic assessment of "the most talented pool of players I've ever had to deal with" briefly makes you want to rush out and put the house on them winning the 2007 World Cup.

Then a sense of history intervenes. Years of turmoil have identified Pakistan as great but destructive talents, a side debilitated by intrigue, a side where captains and coaches are replaced on a whim and gossipmongers and powerbrokers perpetually do their worst.

Woolmer became Pakistan coach in July, with howls still rending the air over the failure of Javed Miandad, who had coached Pakistan to their first home Test defeat against India and was immediately rubbished as a bad communicator, stuck in cricket's dark ages.

Woolmer had an impressive stint with South Africa - putting aside his permanent blind spot for the match-fixing of Hansie Cronje - and his role as a high-performance manager for the ICC offered him travel to such outposts as Namibia, Canada and the Netherlands. At 58 he seemed too old for mid-life crises.

But Pakistan represents the ultimate challenge for a coach with self-belief. A united side marshalling the modern coaching techniques in which he specialises could reshape international cricket. Even Sourav Ganguly, captain of India, beaten twice in one-day internationals by the new Pakistan, says: "They now have a very good man at the top."

In Holland last month, met by the usual talk that Pakistan are an ill-disciplined bunch, Woolmer demurred. "They are the most disciplined side that I have ever had to coach in terms of behaviour," he said. "They are absolute gentlemen, every single one of them."

He is more fortunate than previous Pakistan coaches as he comes free from allegations of favouritism, although he knows that might not last. He is also fortunate in inheriting a young and committed squad receptive to new methods. "I am emphasising team disciplines," he said. "In Sri Lanka we took a boat ride down the old canals. In Holland we went go-karting."

The thought of Inzamam's bulk crammed into an Amsterdam go-kart in the interests of team bonding appeals. "We just about got him in all right but he was pretty slow," Woolmer conceded.

Woolmer was midway through a new book on coaching when he got the call. It is called Discovering Cricket, and his Pakistan experience might give cause for a rewrite.

"I'm finding out how to skin the Pakistan cat," he said. "The interesting thing about any player-coach relationship is when you push and when you put your hand on a shoulder. It's a fine line. But I've been taken by something I heard recently: 'The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless it's open.' The basic principles of coaching have not changed since I started but it's important not to be stereotyped in how you put it across."

Woolmer is not the first English coach to take charge of Pakistan but he is the first with clout. Richard Pybus, a provincial coach in South Africa, took the role on several occasions but with limited authority. Woolmer made demands.

Pakistan's top players will be given central contracts immediately after the Champions Trophy. "They have had no financial security. If they weren't picked, it could have a devastating effect. I don't want my best players forced into English county cricket because they need the money."

There will be no repeat of the farce in which the fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed accepted a contract with Gloucestershire when not fully fit. Improved medical back-up has already paid dividends, identifying, in the case of the seam bowler Umar Gul, a back problem aggravated by the fact that one half of his back was much more developed than the other.

"If you want a good-value overseas player, come to my training camps," Woolmer pointed out. "We had 20 fast bowlers at a camp before we came to England and it was hard to identify the best. The standard was remarkably high. I have to be clinically efficient and I will be because I want to be successful. We have 150 young players in the wings. As soon as the Champions Trophy is over, discovering more about them is my priority."

His commitment to open government is striking. On his website www.bobwoolmer.com he spends an hour a day answering emails from Pakistani fans. "If there's a good player in Pakistan that I don't know about, I can be sure that someone will tell me."