No foreign coach has applied for the Pakistan cricket team job as the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) selection committee on Sunday shortlisted six candidates for the roles of head coach, batting mentor and fielding specialist.
Committee head and former captain Intikhab Alam said he made two sets of possible candidates for the three posts, which will be forwarded to PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf for final approval.
“We will submit the names to the chairman PCB tomorrow when he arrives from Singapore,” Alam said in Lahore.
Ashraf will return to Pakistan on Monday after attending an ICC board meeting.
Legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram, a member of the committee along with cricket board director and former captain Javed Miandad, said it was time to promote local coaches and he was pleased with the absence of foreign candidates.
“I am actually happy that all (candidates) are Pakistanis,” Akram said. “Mostly, Pakistanis should run the national team. It’s true that we did favour foreign coaches but now it’s time we should promote our own coaches.”
Australian Dav Whatmore, the former head coach, and Englishman Julian Fountain, the ex-fielding coach, quit after Pakistan drew a Test series with Sri Lanka 1-1 in the United Arab Emirates last month.
The late Bob Woolmer as well as Richard Pybus are the other foreigners who have served as Pakistan coaches.
Alam refused to reveal the names of the shortlisted candidates, but former coaches Waqar Younis, Mohsin Khan and Ijaz Ahmed were among those who had applied for the job.