LAHORE Sacked Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson said he had settled his pay settlement dispute with the Pakistan Cricket Board. Former Australia test bowler Lawson was sacked on Friday although he had around nine months remaining on his two-year contract, AP reported.

All financial matters with the PCB have been sorted out now and I will be leaving soon, Lawson told reporters in Lahore.

Fired Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson gave his conditional backing to Shoaib Malik as captain of the national team.

If he (Malik) gets some experience, he could prove to be a good captain, Lawson told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday.

Malik was appointed captain after Pakistan made a first round exit from the World Cup in the West Indies last year.

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Boards newly appointed chairman, has said that the captains performance will be reviewed before the home series against India in January.

Lawson, 50, met with Salim Altaf, the newly appointed Director General of the PCB, on Friday.

The PCB fired Lawson last week and replaced him with former test captain Intikhab Alam.

Lawson was hired as coach on a two-year contract by the previous head of the PCB, Nasim Ashraf. However, the PCB terminated his contract nine months early after Butt took over as PCB chairman earlier this month.

It was an honor for me to coach the Pakistan team, Lawson said. I wish to come again to Pakistan on a leisure trip, not as a coach, he continued.