Cricket: Lawson stresses need for support staff

Former Pakistan coach terms Jones’ choice ‘interesting’.

KARACHI:

Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appoint a good team of coaches if compatriot Dean Jones was appointed national coach.

It was revealed earlier that Jones, a former Australian batsman, was one of the candidates who applied and was shortlisted for the coach’s position left vacant after Waqar Younis’ decision to step down from the post. Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) does not have international coaching experience and, according to Lawson, will need good support staff to succeed if appointed coach.

“Jones would be an interesting choice as he doesn’t have any recent coaching credentials,” Lawson told The Express Tribune. “He does, however, go about all his projects with wonderful enthusiasm but he would need very good specialist coaches.”

Lawson, who played 46 Tests and 79 ODIs, refused to get involved in the country’s cricket as long as the board’s current chairman Ijaz Butt was involved. He was dumped as coach 15 months into his appointment and ruled out his involvement citing past differences with the chairman.

“I am not available for the Pakistan job while Butt is in any administrative position with the PCB.”

Lawson, in an earlier interview with The Express Tribune, stressed on the importance of a good team of coaches for Pakistan, arguing that a head coach should be appointed to plan and devise a strategy, not work on individuals.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2011.