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KARACHI: Former England
batsman and South African team coach Bob Woolmer has been
appointed as Pakistan’s new cricket coach replacing Javed
Miandad, whose contract has been terminated.
The announcement of Woolmer’s appointment and sacking of
Miandad as national team coach was announced Wednesday by
Chairman Adhoc Committee Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
Shaharyar M. Khan at news conference at National Stadium here.
PCB Chief executive Ramiz Raja was also present on the
occasion.
Decision of appointment and other steps were announced after
PCB Advisory Committee meeting.
He said Bob Woolmer will serve Pakistan team coach till 2007
World Cup in West Indies.
“He (Bob) would be getting approximately same emoluments as
paid to Javed Miandad,” he added.
PCB chief did not disclosed the emoluments but according to
rough estimates, Bob Woolmer expected to get Rs 10 million per
annum.
“In order to raise the level of performance of the national
team by introducing advanced technological methods we had made
appointment” PCB boss told reporters.
Shaharyar Khan said Woolmer’s selection has been made after
examining the panel of ICC coaches and keeping in view his
tract record for South Africa and Warwickshire.
He also announced the appointment of Andy Gray also from South
Africa as a trainer of Pakistan team.
He said Bob Woolmer would be arriving in Pakistan on July 2 to
take charge of the team before the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
He said former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad was offered the
job of as a national advisor on coaching as incharge of
national academies and organize coaching at junior level which
he refused to accept due to personal reasons.
He said replacing Miandad with Woolmer was nothing to do with
the Pakistan’s recent debacle in the home series against
India.
He however despite terminating the two year contract, PCB will
fully honor its commitments by paying Miandad full two year
salary.
Shaharyar Khan was unable to elaborate as why PCB took such a
long time in introducing this high performance coach. He,
however, said Haroon Rasheed will continue as national team’s
manager.
56-year-old Bob Woolmer, who had played 19 Test and six
One-day Internationals for England is currently High
Performance Manager of International Cricket Council (ICC).
He said two-week training camp of Pakistan team will be held
at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from June 28 and team level team
several day in advance to Sri Lanka for acclimatization.
Miandad was unhappy at the criticism levelled at him Pakistan
have sacked coach Javed Miandad after losing the recent Test
series to India.
Miandad will be replaced by former England batsman Bob Woolmer,
who is currently the International Cricket Council’s high
performance director.
Pakistan lost the Test series 2-1, which was the first time
they had played India at home for 15 years.
Miandad was contracted until April 2005 but had made it known
he was unhappy at the criticism levelled at him.
“His contract has been terminated,” PCB chairman Shahryar Khan
told a news conference.
“We offered him to serve as national cricket advisor but he
has declined.
“I feel sorry for Miandad but the India defeat did show up
some flaws in the team and lack of morale and we need to
invest in the future.”
Miandad was one of Pakistan’s greatest ever batsmen, scoring
8,832 runs in 124 Tests and 7,381 in 233 one-day international
appearances, and was a member of the 1992 World Cup-winning
side.
Previous spells as coach ended in 1999 and 2001, but he was
re-appointed following the team’s first round exit from last
year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Expectations were high on both sides ahead of India’s first
full series in Pakistan for 15 years, but ultimately it was
the tourists who had the edge.
A totally uncalled for decision. What was Miandad’s fault? He
rebuilt the team after the 2003 World Cup debacle.
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