Pakistan fielding coach quits over players' attitude

Pakistan's World Cup campaign hit another snag when the national team's fielding coach Grant Luden quit after complaining of misbehaviour from three senior players.

However the team management has persuaded Luden to withdraw his resignation after assuring him that all his grievances will be addressed, Dawn.com reported on Wednesday.

- The Cricket World Cup coverage like never before, on Rediff.com

According to details, the incident which is yet to be confirmed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Luden complained that Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal had misbehaved with him during a training session on Tuesday.

According to sources, Luden was unhappy over the attitude of some players with him and felt extremely disappointed with their poor show in the opening match against India.

"Luden sent a message to the PCB Chairman threatening to resign as he could not tolerate such insulting behaviour from the players," one source told PTI.

Luden apparently complained to Shahryar Khan that some of the players including these three were not cooperating with him in the training sessions that hindered his work.

"Luden has complained that the three players allegedly used abusive language on Tuesday."

Luden has in his message to Khan threatened that if the players don't change their behaviour he will resign from his post.

The source said that after getting the message, the PCB Chairman had spoken to the team manager, Naved Cheema, head coach Waqar Younis and Luden and discussed the issue with them.

"He has assured Luden his concerns will be looked into and the players will not be allowed to misbehave in future," the source added.

Interestingly the training regime being implemented by Waqar and his team of coaches has already apparently become a sore point in the team with some players who have complained that they are left exhausted before matches by the tough schedule.

The team management is also under fire for their selections made for the opening match against India which Pakistan lost on Sunday.

The PCB hired Luden last year as part of its overhauling of the team's support staff.

Image: Shahid Afridi of Pakistan bowls

Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images