|
Geoff Lawson is
Pakistan's new Coach |
July 16, 2007
Pakistan have finally
found a Coach for their National Side ever since
the sad demise of Bob Woolmer during the World
Cup. Geoff Lawson, the former Australian fast
bowler has been appointed by the Pakistan
Cricket Board as the National Coach. The
49-year-old man from New South Wales has been
selected ahead of Dav Whatmore and Richard Done.
It is believed that Geoff Lawson had the backing
of the Pakistani players whereas the same wasn't
the case with the experienced Dav Whatmore.
Lawson has been given a two-year contract by the
Pakistan Board.
Geoff Lawson's first
assignment with the Pakistani team will be the
inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa
followed with a home series against the Proteas.
His biggest challenge will come against
Pakistan's arch rivals India in a full tour. For
Lawson, this is the first time that he would be
the coach of an international side. Previously
he was the Coach for New South Wales but that
was for just a two year tenure between
1995-1997.
As a player, Geoff
Lawson had played 46 Tests and 79 ODIs with
decent results. He has taken 180 Test wickets
and 88 ODI wickets in an international career
that has spanned nine years. He becomes the 12th
Coach of the Pakistani team in the last ten
years! Lawson has stated that he will
straightaway get into the act as he is going to
head towards Lahore within a month to kickstart
the Twenty20 preparations. He has also told that
he would bringing some personnel of his from
Australia to assist him in his work.
Player Contracts
announced- Inzy ignored!
 Former
Pakistan Captain Inzamam's name has gone missing
in the contracted players' list released by the
Pakistan Cricket Board. The Board has insisted
that it doesn't mean that Inzamam is ruled out
of selection for the future Test Series.
Inzamam's downfall is said to be due to his
retirement from the limited overs version of the
game after the World Cup. It is learnt that the
PCB wants to bring in young blood in both Tests
and ODIs. Twenty players have been awarded the
central contract placed in three different
categories. The Category A players will get a Rs
2.5 lakhs monthly retainer, Category B a Rs 1.5
lakhs and Category C a Rs 1 lakh retainer along
with the match fees. The PCB has also decided to
encourage young talent by announcing a Rs 50,000
monthly retainer for 20 players on the fringes
of national selection, however the names of
those players haven't been finalised.
Category A :
Shoaib Malik,
Mohammad Yousuf,
Younis Khan,
Shoaib Akhtar,
Shahid Afridi,
Umar Gul,
Abdul Razzaq and
Mohammad Asif.
Category B :
Salman Butt,
Mohammad Sami,
Imran Farhat,
Mohammad Hafeez,
Yasir Hameed,
Danish Kaneria
and Kamran Akmal.
Category C :
Imran Nazir,
Iftikhar Anjum,
Faisal Iqbal,
Misbah-ul-Haq and
Yasir Arafat.
Top of the Page |
Related Links