A few changes in the Pakistan cricket setup have been made and a few are around the corner. I am talking about the appointment of Salman Butt as the vice-captain and the appointment of the third foreign coach for the Pakistan cricket team.

The Lahore-born Salman Butt who is 23 years old and have four years of experience under his belt is probably a good choice, I personally raised a few concerns regarding Muhammad Asif’s appointment for the post because he is still encircled by the WADA controversy, therefore keeping him aside (for a while, one hopes) is a good move. Salam’s appointment will also provide him with the much needed confidence that was shattered due to his infrequent inclusions in the team.

According to Dr Nasim Ashraf, Salman Butt was the best choice keeping in view the future of Pakistan cricket, he is absolutely right, but, future should also be kept in mind for other slots in the National side. We have been trying different opening pairs since the disastrous performance in the 2003 world cup hence this is the area where the future should be taken into consideration, by changing the combination frequently we saw the results in the 2007 World Cup, now coming to the middle order, in Inzamam’s absence we frankly have no one to replace the great man, Why?, the answer is quite simple we have not been able to prepare backup players, this has been our problem, and the Pakistan cricket management should take concrete measures to strengthen the bench strength.

Moving on to the all important slot of the wicketkeeper, after Rashid Latif and Moin Khan we have only had Kamran Akmal whose form and performance is not hidden from anyone, therefore, this department should be handled with extra care and former greats should be consulted in this regard, in the presence of Moin and Rashid we were not facing this problem in the 90s, thanks to the strong backup every time when one got unfit or lost his form.

The example of Australia is in front of us, did they miss Brett Lee in the recent World Cup, No they did not, but on the other hand, we badly missed Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Asif, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq because our backup was simply not there, therefore to shun such a situation in the future, strengthening of the reserve lot is a must.

Apart from planning for the future, the PCB is also striving on another front of naming a coach for the national squad and till this script is written three foreign names have been finalised and the chairman PCB said that this all important slot would be filled by July.

There is 51-year old Richard Done who is a former senior coach of the Australian Cricket Academy, one time member of the Australian Coaching Council and a specialist coach in Fast Bowling. Mr Done also worked with the National Academy for a brief period in Lahore in May 2001. The statistics of his 10 first class matches that he played suggest that he was primarily a bowler with 21 wickets. The other gentleman is Geoff Lawson who is a 49-year old Australian and has played 46 Test matches and 79 One day internationals. With 180 and 88 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively, Mr. Lawson also was a specialist bowler. The third name in the run is 53-year old Dav Whatmore who has impressive credentials not doubt, as from 2003 to 2007, he had been coaching Bangladesh and under him, Bangladesh enjoyed relative success. Although he was born in Sri Lanka but Whatmore is a former international cricketer who represented Australia.

Interestingly, all gentlemen are related to Australia, which indicates that the PCB is very impressed with the Australian cricket setup, which is a very health sign indeed, as we all know that their setup is by far the best in the world. But my point is that this is not the right approach to follow the Australian, we should strive for the structure of Cricket in Australia. In the Australian national side anyone can be replaced from the strong group of backup players. This is what we should develop and the rest will simply follow and things will start falling in place for us.

Coming back to the claims that were made while advertising the job of the coach with a heavy-duty criterion, Chairman Nasim Ashraf said in a May 07 press conference that Mudassar Nazar, Zakir Khan and Imtiaz Ahmed would choose the best coach from the applicants. Such a trend is good to have highly qualified people at every position, but why only coach is taken so serious why not every position right from the chairman to the ground man is filled with the same criterion?

I am personally not in favour of a heavy duty coach, because as I mentioned above, if a strong backup is available then even a smart manager can handle the affairs amicably.

Therefore, instead of investing heavily in a coach for the national side, high quality individuals should be hired to train youngsters in a reserve pool who can replace any out-of-form or injured player in the playing eleven.

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