October 25, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: Pakistan cricket took another twist on Friday when the authorities sacked Geoff Lawson as coach in an effort to improve the team’s sagging fortunes.

The Australian was shown the door over poor results, ending a 15-month tenure during which he fell out with national selectors and some senior players.

The 50-year-old former paceman was Pakistan’s third foreign coach after they hired South African Richard Pybus and former England batsman Bob Woolmer.

Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Ijaz Butt said “a foreign coach does not suit us”. “(Bob) Woolmer was a different person and he did his best, but Lawson did not produce any results so we had to make a change,” he said.

Lawson’s appointment was surprising as he was preferred over two other Australian coaches — Dav Whatmore and Richard Dunne — who both had made their marks at international level.

Although Pakistan finished runners-up to India in the Twenty20 World Cup held in South Africa — Lawson’s first assignment with the team — they lost both the one-day and Test series against South Africa and India.

Pakistan won both their home one-day series against weaker opponents Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and then lifted a tri-nation one-day series. But their failure to lift the Twenty20 Cup in Canada earlier this month appears to have been the final straw.—AFP