October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: Ijaz Butt, the newly appointed chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been quoted on a website as saying he is unhappy with the performance of the national team’s coach Geoff Lawson.

“There is a need of improvement in the performance of the Pakistan team and Lawson has so far not succeeded,” PCB Chairman Ijaz was quoted as saying in the Urdu language section of the BBC website.

Attempts made by the Associated Press to contact Ijaz were not immediately successful on Thursday.

Under Lawson’s coaching, Pakistan lost both home Test and One-day International series to South Africa and were defeated 1-0 and 3-2 in the away Test and ODI series against old rivals India. Pakistan also failed to qualify for the Asia Cup final at home in July when Sri Lanka successfully defended their title by defeating India in the final.

Pakistan’s only highlights this year were convincing wins over Zimbabwe and Bangladesh — the two weakest opponents in top-tier cricket. The team also went on to qualify for the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship last year in South Africa before losing to India.

“The previous management [of the PCB] could better tell what they expected from Lawson, but in my opinion he has not shown any notable performances,” Ijaz stated.

Meanwhile, Ijaz’s main problem will be to convince foreign teams that it is safe to tour Pakistan.

“Security is something which is not in our control. The government is dealing with that and I am confident that we will overcome this problem and bring international cricket back to Pakistan,” he said.

International teams have been reluctant to tour the country over terrorism fears since the September 2001 attacks on the US and the war in neighbouring Afghanistan. The eight-nation ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan last month, was postponed due to security concerns — the latest event struck from the calendar in the cricket-mad nation.

Ijaz said he would attend an ICC meeting next month and try to allay security fears.

Another priority of his will be to restore the image of Pakistan cricket, hit by doping controversies and a perceived lack of player discipline.

Fast bowler Mohammad Asif was due to fly to Mumbai on Thursday to appear before an Indian tribunal in a bid to clear his name of doping allegations and paceman Shoaib Akhtar has also been embroiled in controversy after criticising the PCB earlier this year.

“Discipline is paramount and I will push everyone hard to overcome this problem and will not allow anyone to tarnish Pakistan’s cricket image,” said Ijaz.—Agencies