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Woolmer rues loss to Lanka

July 28, 2004 16:02 IST

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was left ruing lost chances on Wednesday after India his team's entry into the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament with a narrow four-run victory against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

But Woolmer promised that his team would set aside its disappointments and finish the tournament on a positive note with a victory over Bangladesh in the inconsequential last outing on Thursday.

"We are obviously disappointed at what happened last night. At one stage Sri Lanka were cruising towards victory but India played well -- congratulations to them," said Woolmer, on the eve of the last round-robin match of this one-day competition.

"But now we want to win this game [against Bangladesh] and have a 4-1 win-loss record in the tournament," he said as he supervised his team undergoing nets at the Premadasa Stadium.

India sneaked a thrilling four-run win over Sri Lanka on Tuesday to set up a rematch for the title on Sunday.

Pakistan were done in by the bonus points they conceded to Sri Lanka, when they lost by seven wickets, and India, when they failed to restrict their arch-rivals to under 240 although they did register a 59-run win.

Had India lost to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, it would have been the Pakistanis who would have started alongside the hosts in the final.

Woolmer regretted Pakistan's loss to Lanka in their Super League encounter, which he said eventually cost Pakistan a place in the final.

"If we had beaten Sri Lanka, we would not have been in this situation," said the Englishman, on his first assignment with Pakistan.

Pakistan were skittled out for 122 before capitulating to a seven-wicket defeat against the hosts in their first Super League match.

Woolmer once again said that the bonus system for One-Day Internationals is flawed and needs a re-look.

"The procedure is flawed, but we cannot blame it because we were aware of this before the tournament started. But it needs to be re-looked at. If a side gets a bonus point even after losing by 59 runs, the system needs to be looked at again," said the super-coach.

"Whatever they come up with and whatever they do is up to the people in the International Cricket Council," he said.


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