PCB chief rejects batting coach proposal

Mon, Nov 01 10 09:52 PM

Karachi, Nov 1 (PTI) The Pakistan Cricket Board governing council has shot down a proposal to appoint a full-time batting coach with the national team to deal with their inconsistent batting performances of late. PCB chairman Ijaz Butt today said that no batting coach was being appointed with the team and even denied that there was ever such a proposal. "Why do we need a batting coach with the national team. You don''t need a coach to tell test players how to bat if this is the case then they should not be playing for Pakistan at the top level," Butt said. He pointed out that none of the other teams had a proper batting coach attached with them on permanent basis so why should Pakistan think differently. But sources in the board said that the matter was discussed at the governing council meeting today but didn''t get approved because the PCB didn''t get a positive response from any foreigner. "Basically the PCB also didn''t get the response they wanted from some candidates while director general of the board, Javed Miandad who attended the meeting, said there was no need to spend money on a full-time coach when he was always available to help out the players when required in Pakistan or abroad," one source said. The meeting attended by seven members also discussed the team''s performances. Butt said the responsibility of the batting failures of the team lay with the coach, captain and chief selector. "If the team is having batting problems they should be asked. But it is also a fact that there is undue criticism of our team." "We beat Australia for the first time in a Test in 15 years time on the recent tour, we also beat the home side. We are the top team in world T20 rankings but no one talks about that," he said. Butt refused to give out details of what the council had to say on the England tour reports by the manager, (now former) Yawar Saeed and coach, Waqar Younis. But sources said there was plenty of debate on the reports with Miandad and some other members blaming the team management for not handling the team matters properly in England. "The council was, however, unanimous that in future no player should be allowed to dictate terms to the board or violate the code of conduct," the source said.

Source: Published>