Pakistan "A" team coach Mudassar Nazar declared his side is on a difficult tour, at a media briefing held in Colombo ahead of the first unofficial Test which starts on Wednesday at Dambulla. "We know we are on for a difficult tour; we have come prepared. We like to play hard games and want it to be very disciplined. So that it'll help the players when they play in the big league."

Mudassar, a former opening batsman and a veteran of 76 Tests, is acting as the coach-cum-manager of the team during their 25-day tour. He who made his Test debut for Pakistan at the age of 20 is a strong believer in backing youth: "I was a product of the youth policy in Pakistan. So I haven't forgotten that experience and it's important to encourage young blood."

A journalist questioned Mudassar about whether this young side has the nucleus to replace the ageing players like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar and Mushtaq Ahmed.

"Would you like to tell them to their faces that they are ageing," replied Mudassar with a smile. "Yes, that's the whole theme behind this tour, because we do realise that some of those players need to be replaced," he continued. "New Zealand will be coming to Pakistan in September, I would like to think that when I go back after this tour, I would be able to go and handover four or five players to the cricket board and say, well these players are ready for Test cricket."

Pakistan start off the tour with an unofficial Test, without the benefit of a practice game. However the coach seems to be unruffled about starting off with a Test. "We would have liked to have an extra game before the First Test, but you know there's lot of cricket played all over the world nowadays, and it's very hard for the organizers, so you know we are not really worried about it," he commented.

Along with Mudassar, the Pakistani captain Hasan Raza was present at the media briefing. Hasan has been to Sri Lanka as the captain of the Pakistani Under-19 side during the Under-19 World Cup, and knows something about Sri Lankan conditions.

His counterpart Thilan Samaraweera, who was also present at the briefing along with the team manager Norton Fredrick expressed the Pakistani series is going to be tough. Samaraweera who has been in and out of the senior side captained the Lankan "A" team successfully against the Zimbabwean "A" side when they were here in May last year.

The CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, Anura Tennekoon declared that a match referee will be officiating in all games on the tour. "We have introduced a match referee, I think for the first time in the "A" team tour," he revealed. Tennekoon an ex-Sri Lankan captain before the country gained Test status, also declared why a match referee was brought in: "We felt that in the past we had some disputes arising when we were playing these matches."

Ex-Test player Don Anurasiri, Graeme Labrooy and Mahesh Gunatilleke will be officiating in the Tests while, Gunatilleke will be standing in all the three one-dayers.

Sri Lankan selectors decided on the side for the First Test on Thursday and they are expected to make few changes for the second. A notable inclusion in the side is Kumar Sangakkara; Sri Lanka's wicket keeper batman. Sangakkara was not in the initial squad of 27 and has been just included for this Test.

© CricInfo