July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

LAHORE, July 16: Former Pakistan skippers Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam on Monday criticised the appointment of Geoff Lawson as new Pakistan coach and said his fellow Australian Dav Whatmore would have been a much better choice for the job.

Talking to Dawn, Miandad said the policy of hiring foreign experts in presence of own skillful coaches gave out wrong signals to the youngsters since it was against the government’s campaign that highlighted patriotism and love for Pakistan.

“The move to hire foreigners when you have better people here gives a wrong message to the youngsters that our elders are nothing and foreigners will be preferred for key posts over experts such as Hanif Mohammad, Intikhab Alam and many others,” said Miandad.

“Also, I believe the decision has not been taken on merit since Dav Whatmore has better international experience and has a definite edge since he has the experience of coaching Asian teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” he added.

Recalling the glory days of Pakistan cricket in the late 80s and the 90s, Miandad said it all happened under the coaching of local experts. “Everyone knows what we achieved under our own coaches in the 80s and 90s and what little under the foreigners since year 2000.”

Pakistan won the World Cup in Australia in 1992 with Intikhab Alam as coach and cruised into the final of 1999 World Cup when Mushtaq Mohammad managed the team alongwith Richard Pybus as trainer.

In 2003 edition of the extravaganza, however, Pakistan failed to qualify for the Super Six stage with Pybus serving as coach and the team met a similar fate this year as well when Inzamam-ul-Haq’s men lost to minnows Ireland to crash out of the event in the preliminary stage.

Miandad said he did not know if the PCB's patron, General Musharraf was aware of the decision which he said was a wrong one.

To a question Miandad said if the PCB took the decision under the pressure of senior players, it was extremely unfortunate and a blunder since the players had no right to dictate terms to the board. “If the players’ opinion has tilted the balance in Lawson’s favour, the patron should then also ask for players’ suggestion in appointing the chairman of PCB,” he argued.

Miandad was clearly referring at recent reports that senior players were not ready to play under Whatmore due to his authoritative style of coaching and his keenness to impose discipline in players’ ranks.

Commenting on Lawson’s achievements in life, Miandad said the Aussie fast bowler had never been a great cricketer or a coach during his career. “Lawson has not yet coached any national level team and if PCB has preferred to appoint a fast bowler for the job, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have much more sound credentials compared to Lawson.”

Meanwhile, Intikhab Alam also said that Whatmore could have been the better choice since he was a well experienced coach. “Whatmore had helped Sri Lanka to win World Cupin 1996 and he also showed fine progress with the Bangladesh team,” said Intikhab. “Lawson has nothing to his credit as a coach and the decision of giving him the Pakistan team might backfire.”