Replacing Whatmore: Aspirants wait for guidelines on coach’s job

PCB yet to determine selection criteria for replacing Dav Whatmore.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may have started their search for a new coach for the national team, but it is yet to devise a proper strategy for aspiring candidates to replace Dav Whatmore.

Several former cricketers and coaches are waiting for the guidelines by the PCB to test their fate for the coveted post.

With just three months left to Whatmore’s departure, the board – unlike the last time – is yet to take formal steps for the coach’s hunt.

Previously, a committee was appointed to search a new coach after Waqar Younis left the post vacant in August 2011. He was temporarily replaced by Mohsin Khan who coached the team for the series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and England.

The panel that was headed by Intikhab Alam advertised the job at least five months before taking a final decision on Whatmore.

It has been learnt that the task has been assigned to a top PCB official and he was busy taking feedback from various former cricketers and stakeholders for the purpose.

“It’s not the right practice,” a former cricketer and local coach told The Express Tribune.

“There must be an advertisement which will give maximum options and help in finding a suitable coach.

“If the PCB is looking to hire someone for just being a big name then it will be a mistake. Three things are must for this job – the experience of international cricket, coaching experience and qualification.”

Whatmore’s two-year contract will expire on February 28 next year, and it has already been conveyed by the board that the former Australia cricketer will not be getting an extension.

‘Former Pakistan cricketers to get preference’

Meanwhile, an official close to the matter said that former Pakistan players are in the running for the coveted slot.

“The discussions are on but it’s on a very initial stage,” said the official. “It will be premature to give names for a strong contender.”

The names of various former Pakistan cricketers, including current team’s manager Moin Khan, are doing the rounds as possible successors of Whatmore.

However, fast-bowling great and former coach Waqar Younis has denied holding any discussions with PCB’s interim chairman Najam Sethi regarding the coach’s job.

In an interview, he said he might consider returning as Pakistan’s coach ‘but to say anything on it at the moment is premature’.

It was widely speculated that Sethi recently met Waqar in the UAE and offered him the job.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2013.

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