England decline to play in Sharjah
Posted by admin on December 7, 2011
LAHORE: England are unwilling to play any match in Sharjah due to some reservations and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has skipped the venue and no match will be played there, said PCB chief Zaka Ashraf said while talking to media men after the Under-20 women cricket final. More on this View All W Indies defeat India in 3rd ODI Hughes needs to back himself: Hussey Sajid to take PCB post charge after Ashura England decline to play in Sharjah Clean sweep: Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 58 runs to win series Vettori steadies New Zealand innings Sharma guides India to post thrilling win over Windies “I am doing my best to convince England to play a warm-up game in Sharjah for the Pakistani fans and if England accepted my proposal then there will be a practice game,” Zaka added. Zaka said he was not in a hurry to appoint national team coach and a committee formed to shortlist the candidates for coaching job has been working to finalise the list of coach. The PCB has delayed nomination of coach and is facing a catch-22 situation with the team doing well and on maintained a winning momentum under Misbah and interim coach Mohsin Khan and the PCB will retain the same combination for the series against England in. Zaka is monitoring the team performance and will not disturb the same combination to dent team`s winning momentum. He is also assessing the working of different departments of the board and looked satisfied from their way of working. Zaka is depending on COO Subhan Ahmed and the chief will handover additional duty of head of international desk to him for the return of foreign teams to Pakistan. The PCB has set aside the hiring of the head coach for Pakistan team and will make an announcement at a suitable time. Zaka Ashraf said the government is also yet to give clearance to the Board to confirm next year`s bilateral Test series with India. “We are expecting the government clearance to come soon for my visit and also for the series,” Ashraf told the media in Muridke. Ashraf is due to visit India this month on the invitation of his Indian counterpart after he wrote a letter to the BCCI emphasising on the importance of resuming bilateral cricket ties between the two countries. According to the FTP, Pakistan is due to tour India in March-April for a Test and one-day series but the dates are yet to be finalised. The PCB chairman last month said Pakistan was willing to even send its team to India to play the series if it helped restore bilateral ties that have been suspended since 2008 after the Mumbai terror attacks. But in Sunday`s media talk, Ashraf said that Pakistan was keeping its option of playing the series at a neutral venue open. “We are trying to see if the series can also be played at a neutral venue as one of the options available to us,” he said. Ashraf said people on both sides of the border were eagerly looking forward to the series and that is why government clearance had been sought in advance. “Since it is a matter of two countries we have to keep the government in the loop about all developments and we are doing that,” he added. Meanwhile a source revealed on condition of anonymity that Australian Dav Whatmore has been emerged as the front-runner to take over as head coach of the Pakistan team. “Yes, we have held talks with Whatmore along with other potential candidates for the coaching positions,” the source said. The PCB is looking to appoint a head coach and specialist batting, bowling and fielding coaches for the national team. The board, since September, has been in the process of inviting applications from interested candidates and has shortlisted some of them for the prime positions in the team. The official said initial talks had been held with Whatmore to assess his point of view and the committee appointed by the board and headed by Intikhab Alam was still in the process of preparing a list of final candidates for the board to approve. Whatmore gained recognition as the coach of the Sri Lankan team that won the 1996 World Cup. The source said the board would be taking into confidence captain Misbah-ul-Haq and other senior players before making a final appointment of the coaches. Besides Whatmore, the source said former South African player Jonty Rhodes, Australian Julian Fountain and Englishman D Dunlop were also in the run. End.
