LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to send former leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed to England with the national team for the four-match Test series as English County Surrey has refused to release all-rounder Azhar Mahmood for the Pakistan team as bowling coach before the end of July.

Now the all-rounder will join the national team as bow­ling coach for the five-match ODI series against Eng­l­and which starts in August.

Earlier, head coach Mickey Arthur had asked for Mushtaq but the PCB did not want to send the former leg-spinner to England for the three-month long tour as he has also been appointed as head coach at the National Cricket Academy.

But now the PCB, having no choice, has agreed to send Mushtaq to England for the Test series only.

On the other hand, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq will also go to England to watch the performance of Pakistan team there.

Sources said Inzamam after watching the Test matches will be in a position to sit together with ODI captain Azhar Ali and head coach Arthur to finalise the ODI squad.

The chief selector will also watch some matches of Pakistan ‘A’ team in order to be in a better position to decide about the induction of players like Sharjeel Khan, Bilawal Bhatti and others into the ODI team.

The Pakistan team is to leave for England on June 18 to play four Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20 match against England. They will play two ODI matches against Ireland in between the Test and ODI series against England. The tour finishes on Sept 7.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2016