September 09, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 8, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 8: Cricket great Javed Miandad wants the country’s new president to appoint a smaller but more accountable group to run the national cricket board.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf resigned on Aug 18 and President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to name a new cricket board chairman later this month.

“He [Zardari] is a sports lover and I am sure he will take care of cricket,” Miandad said on Monday.

Miandad, who has had three stints coaching the Pakistan national team, urged Zardari to remain patron-in-chief and to cut out unnecessary positions on the board.

“He is a democratic president of the country and I feel he should keep the post (of patron) with him in order to keep a close watch at the working of the board,” Miandad said. “To start with, Zardari should make previous officials of the board accountable and that includes everyone from high ranking officials to the bottom ranked ones.”

The former Test captain said the previous PCB hierarchy had created unnecessary positions and, to fix that, “instead of appointing four people, one efficient person could be hired in the board.”

The board has been in turmoil over the handling of a doping case and a misconduct case against fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and the recent postponement of the Champions Trophy, which was deferred for a year on security grounds.

While he’s reviewing the board, Miandad said, Zardari should consider appointing a Pakistani coach.

Miandad was replaced in 2004 by Englishman Bob Woolmer, who died in controversial circumstances during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Other foreign coaches in the last 12 years include Richard Pybus and the incumbent, former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson.

“I still believe that a Pakistani coach is much better than a foreign coach,” Miandad said, adding that a person needed to grow up with the local appetite for cricket to fully understand the mechanics of the Pakistan team.

“Our cricket is played in streets, on roads and roofs (of the houses) while outside Pakistan the coaches are groomed in proper environments with all the necessary playing facilities like proper grounds and all the required equipment.

“What I feel is that if a foreign coach is given a 15-year contract to train the Pakistan team, after 10 years he would start learning the A-B-C of our cricket.”

Miandad said the foreign coaches had not delivered any great achievements to Pakistan.

“Foreign coaches will just come and make money, they can’t help in rebuilding the Pakistan team to compete against hard teams,” he said.

“Teams like Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and England are better than us in Test matches and I think the day is not far when we would be given tough times by even Bangladesh and the West Indies.”—AP