CricketViewer.com

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf has said that a new national coach would be appointed after consultation with Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and his senior teammates.

Ashraf said that top PCB officials would soon talk to several of the national team players especially Malik before finalising the name of Pakistan’s new coach. Pakistan are looking for a new coach following the death of Bob Woolmer in Kingston, Jamaica, during the World Cup in March.

Ashraf, who returned home from Chennai on Monday after attending a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), said that a committee appointed to help the Board over the appointment of a new coach has prepared a shortlist.

“We are considering a few coaches like Dav Whatmore and Steve Rixon and would appoint Pakistan’s new coach by July 1,” he said. Ashraf said that he had ‘fruitful’ meetings with top officials of Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cricket boards in Chennai.

He added that the top bosses of the boards have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the 2011 World Cup Organising Committee to be hosted by Pakistan in Bhurban on June 17. The next World Cup would be jointly hosted by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Voice of America on Monday, Ashraf came down hard on a couple of former Test cricketers for criticising the PCB’s decision to give an advertisement for the appointment of a new national coach. Former Pakistan captains Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam termed the PCB’s decision as an ‘insult’ for them and decided against applying for the job. “If those players feel insulted then they should never apply to PCB, it’s up to them,” he said.