Pakistan Cricket Board has advertised for the post of assistant coach of the national
team despite a failed experimentation with this method while searching for the
chief coach.
The advertisement, placed on websites, has the same condition that interested
candidates must be Test cricketers and possess atleast level-2 coaching experience.
The assistant coach will work under the guidance of new coach, Australian Geoff Lawson.
The same sort of conditions were asked for the position of
chief coach few months back and it angered some of Pakistan's former greats
including Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam who felt the board had
devalued the prestigious position.
Ironically, the board did not get any high-profile applications
for the position of chief coach and in the end had to make contact with Australians,
Lawson, Dav Whatmore and Richard Done.
The assistant coach will help the chief coach in preparation of game plans
and provide all support for organisation of fielding drills and nets practice
sessions.
Initially, two-years contract will be given to assistant coach,
the same as Lawson. Candidates have been asked to apply by August 15.
Sources in the board said the advertisement scheme was apparently a move to
either appoint a local coach, but not from among the big guns, or to allow the
new coach the liberty to choose from foreign candidates.
"Former test players, Aaqib Javed or Haroon Rasheed
appear set to get the assistant's job as none of the big guns like
Miandad, Intikhab or Zaheer Abbas have level-2 degrees," the source said.
|