Miandad would be far more useful than Chappell, Richards
By Omar Kureishi
I must confess that I was a little puzzled by the news that Bob Woolmer having arrived in Lahore would be returning to England and would join the team in Sri Lanka.
It seemed to me to be an untidy arrangement.
But this was pre-planned as he had to wrap up some unfinished business and his plans were known to the PCB. There is so much interest in his appointment that one feels that the PCB should have made public his programme in order to avoid any mis-speculation.
Woolmer has held his press conference and he struck a confident note. He is obviously not unaware of the pitfalls of coaching a mercurial team that has mood-swings but one that is rich in talent. I don't think that our players are an unruly lot.
International cricket is a high-pressure game and the expectations of the public can be unreasonably high. Not even two grains of sand are identical, what to say of human beings.
The players need to be handled as a team but we should never lose sight of the fact that they are individuals and they have their own quirks and their own egos and some may need some coaxing and some a little more firmness.
Understanding this and accepting it is the first principle of man-management. There is more than one way to skin a cat and more than one way to get the best out of a player and the rules should be flexible within the framework of a general code of conduct.
But the team comes first. There can be no compromise on this fixed principle. If the behaviour of a player undermines the unity of the team then he should be shown the door or as my good friend the late 'Siku' Baig would say, "handed his bowler hat."
But players don't just fly off the handle. They have struggled too hard to make it to the top to chuck it all away on a whim. Somewhere the lines of communication have snapped. Woolmer has the experience to know that the lines of communications have to be kept open at all times.
I would like to withhold my comments on Shoaib Akhtar till next week. As I write this he should have reported to the training camp and will have to undergo a fitness test as all the other players have done. But Shoaib has been deeply hurt because it is his impression that he was being made the scapegoat.
The medical commission that was constituted after the Indian tour seemed at a perception-level to be targeting him. Nor did writing to his county Durham to use him sparingly do anything for his piece of mind. It led to a lot of confusing signals and Shoaib makes good 'copy'.
I would imagine that he's not the easiest person to handle, fast bowlers in any case, are inclined to be temperamental, but no one has the right to doubt his commitment. It is not easy to carry the tag "match-winner" and he did not confer it on himself.
The expectations were too high. Did we realistically believe that he would win the matches against India single-handed? I think the chapter needs to be closed. There is plenty of cricket still left in him and he is fit, he is an automatic selection. There should be no two opinions on this account.
Whenever Javed Miandad is in Karachi, he telephones me or comes to see me. I have followed his cricket career since the days when Abdul Hafeez Kardar took one look at him and declared that he was "the find of the decade."
This time when he telephoned me I asked him to come over and he did. He was more hurt than bitter about the way he had been treated and he worked up a slow-burn. His main complaint was he should have been told up front that he was being replaced and he said that he had no idea that negotiations had been going on about hiring a coach in his place.
Had he known, he told me, he would simply have resigned. It is not nice to read about it in the newspapers. I couldn't have agreed more. Miandad is a cricket icon and has a special place in the hearts of the cricket public.
The PCB has been a bit too cavalier about our former Test cricketers but the way that Miandad's contract was terminated smacked of a lack of sensitivity. Again, there was a breakdown of man-management. It was not as if he had been an abject failure. He had produced results. Were we expecting miracles from him?
I approve of the appointment of Woolmer as coach. But I feel that there was a more dignified way of telling Miandad that he was going to be replaced. I told him that I hoped his services to Pakistan cricket were not lost and I feel that his proper place is in the national academy.
Quite frankly, he would be far more useful than people like Greg Chappell and Barry Richards who are due to make short stints and will not be able to make a lasting impression. A full-time teacher is far more valuable than a visiting professor.
Coaching young players needs continuity and should be seen as a long-term assignment. Miandad fits the bill. Experience is not something that is thrown to the winds. Behind experience is a lifetime of devotion and the acquiring of knowledge and skills. It has to be utilized and respected.
