Alam pleased with Twenty20 conditioning camp

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam has said he was pleased with the results of the conditioning camp his players participated in as part of their preparations for the World Twenty20 in England in June.

The members of the Pakistan squad were in Bhurban for a high-altitude camp supervised by the team's fitness trainer David Dwyer and Alam said the exercise was a success. "The idea behind this camp was to help the players improve their speed, strength, agility and mental toughness and the test results on the players show that the exercise was a success," Alam told the News. "We really needed such a camp to get fully prepared for the England assignment."

The team's assistant coach Aaqib Javed singled out four players for their exemplary fitness. "Quite a few of the players have proven to be very fit but there are four that have really stood out. Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul and Fawad Alam are the four fittest players in the camp," Aaqib told Pakpassion. "They set the standard for the others to follow but everyone in the squad has worked really hard. We've also organised other fitness related activities like hiking to keep them focused and entertained."

The players will now assemble in Lahore to play practice Twenty20 games at the Gaddafi Stadium from May 20-22 after which they will compete in the National Twenty20 Cup which begins on May 25. Pakistan captain Younis Khan will captain the Patron's XI in three games against a Chairman's XI that will be led by Misbah-ul-Haq.

"There will be two equally balanced teams selected from the 30 probables announced for the World Twenty20," Aaqib said. Originally we were going to play six games over three days but due to the heat in Lahore this would be impractical and we don't want to risk unnecessary injuries so it's been reduced to 3 games over 3 days."

Pakistan are scheduled to depart for England on May 30, a day before their first practice game against South Africa on June 1. They will play India in another practice game on June 3 before the World Twenty20 begins on June 5.

Patron's XI: Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan (capt), Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Yasir Hameed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Aamir, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Shah, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Amin, Kamran Younis, Imran Ali.

Chairman's XI: Shahzaib Hasan, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Zulfiqar Jan.