KARACHI, March 25: Former cricket greats reacted with disappointment Monday to Pakistan’s tour losses in South Africa, urging the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to tackle underlying problems by setting higher standards.

Pakistan lost the five-match, one-day series 3-2 in Benoni on Sunday, following their 3-0 rout in the Tests. They managed to win the Twenty20 series 1-0 only after the first match was washed out.

Pakistan’s perennial batting problems haunted them once again and none of their batsmen managed to post a century in the one-day series. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was the leading one-day series scorer with a total 227.

“The overall tour was disappointing,” batting legend Zaheer Abbas said. “It’s now up to the PCB to set higher standards for the batsmen.”

Pakistan suffered a 211-run defeat in the first Test in Johannesburg before fighting hard to go down by four wickets in the second in Cape Town. They lost the third in Centurion by an innings and 18 runs.

Former Pakistan captain Zaheer said the poor Test performance was reflected in the one-day matches.

“Until our batsmen learn to score in Tests, they will not be up to standard in one-days,” he said. “Batsmen should know that scoring 30 or 40 will not keep them in the team, so they must learn that scoring the first 30 is the most difficult. If you do that then you must go on and play a big innings, which on this tour they failed to do.

“Our batsmen played well in the fourth ODI against the Proteas. After that match I was thinking that they have learnt from the past mistakes. But the way they gifted their wickets to South African bowlers in the last match was depressing,” he said.

Zaheer said Pakistan batsmen must learn the art to spend time at the crease. “They play in ODIs as if they are playing T20 cricket. They hand over their wickets to opponents after scoring a few runs,” he said.

He said the attitude of Pakistan batsmen showed that they could not change gears from the Twenty20 version of the game to ODI mode. “They must sit and reflect on their performances and see what needs to done for the future.”

He said Pakistan batsmen must learn from South African limited-overs captain A.B. de Villiers, who had performed constantly in the series.

“He is an in-form batsman and realised the importance that he had a major role in his team’s win. Unless our batsmen feel responsibility and perform constantly like him, Pakistan will be unable to win any major event.”

Zaheer said that Pakistan are lacking quality fast bowlers but there is some hope with the re-emergence of Mohammad Irfan.

“Our senior pacers have lost their pace and rhythm. The PCB will also have to work to include young fast bowlers in the team,” he said. “But I must say Mohammad Irfan is a very good addition in the team and made a lot of impression in South Africa but he must work hard to keep himself fit if he wanted to play all three formats of the game “Irfan is an asset for Pakistan but he must keep himself physically strong if he really wants to become a great bowler,” he said.

Zaheer, meanwhile, defended under-fire coach Dav Whatmore.

“Whatmore guided Pakistan to the Asia Cup win and then the series against India, in India, so we have to keep patient with him,” said Zaheer, who was a member of the committee that picked Whatmore as coach in March last year.

Another former captain Rashid Latif called on the team management to analyse the tour impartially to resolve underlying problems.

“Players should know how to play in various formats,” said Rashid, adding that Misbah and senior batsman Younis Khan were at key junctures in their careers.

“I think the situation is alarming for both Misbah and Younis,” he said. “Misbah has scored runs but time is running out for both and they must analyse their careers before the 2015 World Cup.” —Agencies