New batting coach
Before taking up the assignment with Pakistan, Flower had been part of the Zimbabwean coaching set-up for three years besides mentoring teams in the English county circuit. Despite his pedigree, cricket analysts, including some former national cricketers, have expressed reservations on his new appointment. Many feel that a former Test batsman from within Pakistan or a more reputed former player from a major cricket-playing nation should have been handed the reins instead of the Zimbabwean.
To his credit, Flower did not seem too bogged down with such suggestions and expressed enthusiasm in taking Pakistan cricket forward in his first media interaction since arriving in Pakistan. The next few months are crucial for the national team, especially when the upcoming ODI World Cup is taken into account. Given the often brittle nature of our batting line-up, Flower would have to use every strain of his batting and coaching experience if he is to remedy this perennial problem plaguing our cricket. Many of our batsmen have glaring technical deficiencies and are often found wanting against top-notch bowling and on challenging pitches. While his work may be cut out, one cannot help but feel that it is only fair to give Flower some leeway before the pundits start judging his performance. When it comes to Pakistan cricket, our experts and fans have the habit of pronouncing premature verdicts on a regular basis. Perhaps, it is time to give this practice a rest given the tough nature of the task that Flower is faced with.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2014.
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Good luck Grant Flower.It is most important to pick and select those bastsmen who doe snot have ego problems who are willing to learn and are not selfish for thier personal records only then coach and their coaching could help them. I cannot see any change till the time of World cup is so close but at least we should pick the right road of rebuilding our national team.
I don't know whether we really need a batting coach...I think the main issue lies with the selection. We keep on selecting the same tried and tested players, and do not give the young talented players enough opportunities to gain confidence and establish themselves in the team
Ali Khan Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM
the idea of not choosing indigenous coaches has been a tragedy for many test teams the recent jettisoning of grant's brother andy from the english side after the disastrous ashes tour, one such case. australia tried it with south african mickey arthur-came unstuck and have gone back to choosing darren lehmann
He doesn't have much of a record as far as his cricketing career goes. Definitely not like his brother Andy. We should hire local coaches instead of foreigners like him. Time and time again we've seen that local coaches do a better job. Do officials in the PCB enjoy some monetary reward from hiring foreign coaches?
Our old national players have big ego's so they dont want to just become batting coach. Every body want to become head coach. Its a good choice to have andy as coach.