Not Greg Chappell alone but Barry Richards and Daryl Foster have been added to the gallery of consultants who will bring their talent to assist the PCB in a variety of categories and who will devote one month in all divided into short stints and pass on their wisdom in instalments.
There has been some media speculation about the sort of fees that they will be paid but we have been assured that their services have been acquired at bargain rates. This is good for though the PCB is not cash-strapped. It does not have money to burn.
Still, one hopes that the benefits will outweigh the financial outlay which is the cardinal rule when one goes bargain-hunting. We have yet to be told what benefits accrued when Geoff Boycott came over for a week. His visit, was, of course, sponsored so that the PCB was not out of pocket.
There were no complaints from the sponsors who took advantage of Boycott's presence to promote their own product and got more out of the visit than the PCB did. Chappell and others are not being sponsored, to the best of my knowledge, the tab, therefore will be picked by PCB.
What fascinates me, in a mind-boggling way, is that the PCB has not been able to get a fitness-trainer so far for the national team and the Asia Cup is less than a month away. It is not just my opinion but that of many that a fitness-trainer is even more important to a team than the captain.
It baffles me why the PCB has not been able to get one. Unless, of course, the PCB feels that the national team doesn't need one. Surely the PCB must be aware that the Indians have just concluded a fast bowlers' training camp and both Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra were put through their paces in order to get them fully fit for the Asia Cup.
The Indians brought in Kapil Dev to assist and Kapil made a statement of the obvious that the first requirement was physical fitness and by implication that there was no point in coaching the bowlers if they were not fit.
So much cricket is being played these days that the highest priority is being given to fitness. It has to be. By the very nature of their jobs, airline pilots undergo regular 'physicals' and have sessions even with psychiatrists.
No commercial airliner takes off unless it is certified by engineers that it is airworthy. All international sports teams have medical staffed attached with them in addition to a support team. This is not a luxury but has become a requirement.
Injuries still occur but imagine how many more there would be if the fitness of the players were not monitored. During the India tour of Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul suffered.
In the decisive Test match at Rawalpindi the cupboard was so bare that Fazle Akbar had to be inducted. We learnt no lesson. I think the PCB should start paying attention to the national team and bring in someone who should be made in charge of it and who can be held responsible for performance or lack of it.
The name of Wasim Akram springs to mind. Bring him on board, give him full authority, give him any support staff he wants and make him boss. He has been a former captain, knows the modern game and knows the opponents as well as his own players.
We need someone to bring it all together. Nothing has happened since the end of the India series and the national team has been neglected. You don't have to have the players present to start the planning.
The main focus has to be the Asia Cup. We have not even able to decide the venue of the training camp as yet. To add to our woes, there appears to be some confusion about Shoaib Akhtar.
He seems to be playing county cricket and one must presume that he must be fit. Pakistan will need him for the Asia Cup. The best person to decide whether he is fit or not is Shoaib Akhtar.
He should be asked point-blank whether he is able to give his best. The medical commission appointed was neither fish nor fowl though it appeared as if we were looking for a red herring.
Shoaib Akhtar breaking down in the Rawalpindi Test match was not the reason why that Test match was lost. That Test match was lost because there was a team failure. No one can be singled out as the main culprit.
There seemed to be a communications cock-up between the team management and the players and there was no game plan. That is why I am suggesting that the team needs a supremo.
With Zimbabwe counted out for the time being as a Test playing country, it means that for the remainder of 2004, there will be no Test cricket played in Pakistan. And if it is deemed not viable that Zimbabwe should tour just to play one-day games, then no foreign team will visit Pakistan this year.
Something does not seem right about this. There seems to be a lot of cricket being played but we don't seem to be figuring in it. Just as well that the India tour did materialise otherwise our own public would have seen any international cricket in 2004.
And the India tour came about, as a part of a confidence building measures packet and the two boards had nothing to do with it. Zimbabwe cricket became a pawn in some higher game.
The white players who went on strike will not have problems finding cricket employment in England and Australia. It is the black cricketers who will suffer. But who cares?