The appointment of Javed Miandad as a batting consultant – albeit a temporary one – by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to work alongside head coach Dav Whatmore has been questioned by various former board officials and cricketers.
Miandad, who left for Sri Lanka yesterday to help Pakistan batsmen ahead of the World Twenty20, confirmed that he was not part of the team management but was only helping out with flaws in technique. Whatmore, when appointed head coach, was also handed the additional responsibilities of a batting coach, while Julien Fountain (fielding) and Mohammad Akram (bowling) also form part of the team management.
Former PCB chief Khalid Mehmood has, however, questioned Whatmore’s role after Miandad’s appointment and termed the board’s initiative as a poor move ahead of the World Twenty20.
“It depicts a state of confusion in the PCB,” Mehmood told The Express Tribune. “First they gave all-out responsibility to Whatmore by putting faith in his abilities. Now, they’re interfering in his job. If we have separate coaches for fielding, bowling and batting then why do we need Whatmore? We weren’t short on problems and the board has created a messy situation before a major event.”
Who gets the credit?
Meanwhile, former Test cricketer and chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed echoed Mehmood’s concern saying the board has showed lack of confidence in Whatmore by asking Miandad to work with the batsmen.
“If our batsmen improve, Miandad will be the one praised and there won’t be a mention of Whatmore,” said Sallu. “This has shown that Whatmore’s role has been reduced.”
He added that the PCB was expecting a lot from Whatmore but the team’s performance under him may have led the board to cut down on his role.
“We struggled to win the Asia Cup and we should be content with the Twenty20 series-win ,which came as a result of Super Over win.”
Whatmore unhappy, says official
Pakistan head coach Dav Whatmore has protested against the PCB’s decision to appoint former captain Javed Miandad as a batting consultant, according to an official close to the team management.
The official said that the coach was not happy with the board’s decision and PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf was made aware of that in a meeting that took place in the UAE earlier this week. Whatmore argued that the board had reduced his authority by appointing Miandad without his consent. However, he said the coach has been assured that there will be no interference in his strategies.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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There are working coaches and assistants then there are political appointees who could barely move. The beauty of this appointment is the coach gets the axe in case of failure, but the consultant gets the credit when things work out fine. All the perks with no responsibility is the beauty of this.
I actually dont mind an extra batting consultant who can work IN CONJUNCTION with Whatmore, but Miandad?????
The guy (albeit a legegnd in onde-day and test) NEVER PLAYED A T20 in his life, and his batting style was that like Misbah's, very defensive! Surely we could have found a better consultant!
@SAJ!: Do you really beleive that the current batting line up can improve when people like Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal are part of the batting line up. They have been consistently inconsistent for years but yet are the automatic selection. Only way Pakistan's batting line up will improve when the talented and deserving players are given the opportunity. Unfortunately, some of the deserving ones are either warming the benches or have been left home.
I feel many ex-cricketers and ex-PCB-officials just criticize for the sake of it, or maybe they want to get attention and a possible role in cricket management! Imo, let the guys play, and the coaches coach. Players are working hard and this is the time for Pakistani audience to not expect endlessly from the team. After all it is a sport where one wins..
We don't care who gets the credit, Whatmore or Miandad, the bottom line is Improve the stupid batting.
Batting Technique in T20? PCB never fails to amuse me.
good batting line is required as we have 3 world class batsmen(Nasir J. , Asad shafique and Azhar Ali) and shouldn't be given chances to old horses
Whatmore can not do anything with this team. Javed may be can give some special techniq or ideas for our batsmen. Also Mr. Javed is head of all managment. I request him to select Juanid Khan in team.
i think we have developed a weird habit of making mess of every news by twisting the facts. Miandad is appointed to make batsmen mentally strong to chase down big targets. He himself have clarified that he is not there to fix the techniques which obviously could not be done within few days, he is more of a moral support to team. The job of coach to make team strategies and analyze the performance of players, so i don't think that whatmore would mind maindad he is thorough professional.
Typical PCB. whatmore has a proven track record after winning the '96 wc with unfancied sri lanka then turning bangaldesh's fortunes around. He is a good coach but he isn't a magician- he must be given the time and the flexibility to do what he thinks is right, as this has proven to be successful in the past. The PCB on the other hand have proven time and time again that all they are useful for is killing off talented careers via petty politics
Bad descision..................before tornument u will teach players technique.........infact no technique is reqd in t20.............wate of money............