[VIDEOS] PCB announce high performance roles for Saqlain Mushtaq and Grant Bradburn

[MenInG]

Grant Bradburn and Saqlain Mushtaq get high performance roles

Lahore, 28 May 2020:

The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced the appointments of Grant Bradburn as Head of High Performance Coaching and Saqlain Mushtaq as Head of International Player Development as part of the prestigious High Performance Centre’s restructuring. The restructuring is aimed at providing a clear pathway to the young and aspiring player support personnel and players within the game.

In addition to the two former Test cricketers, LUMS graduate Asser Malik, who has a wide-ranging experience with various multi-national companies, has been confirmed as High Performance Operations Manager.

The three appointments have been made following a robust recruitment process that included presentations by the candidates, followed by interviews conducted by a high-powered panel that also included members of the PCB Cricket Committee.

Bradburn is presently the fielding coach of the Pakistan men’s national team, a role he took in September 2018 following a successful coaching stint with the Scotland men’s national cricket team. An off-spinner who played seven Tests and 11 ODIs from 1990 to 2001 for New Zealand, Bradburn also coached New Zealand A and New Zealand U19.

Bradburn, a Level III coach, will be responsible for raising the overall standard of player support personnel across all the high performance centres of the country. He holds a strong reputation of creating united and successful environments with a strong focus on bringing new methods on coaching through individual learning and through developing systems that provide consistent feedback, assessment and support that ultimately fosters coaches’ development.

Saqlain played international cricket between 1995 and 2004 and will be responsible for identifying, developing and preparing players so that they could go on to become world-class cricketers.

Saqlain, known for introducing the Doosra, in his first full year (1996) with the Pakistan national men’s cricket team at the age of 18 established a record for the most ODI wickets in a calendar year (65). He then did even better the following year, setting a mark (69) that still stands. His impact was so great that he became the fastest bowler in history in terms of time (one year and 225 days) to reach the landmark of 100 ODI wickets, and to this day, no one else has got there in less than two years.

Saqlain, also a Level III coach, has previously worked as a spin bowling coach with Bangladesh, West Indies and England men’s cricket teams, apart from serving as a consultant for PCB, Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket.

Grant Bradburn: “I am honoured that my association and relationship with Pakistan cricket continues. I consider it a privilege to work here in Pakistan among highly skilled players and coaches, while I have realised there is incredible talent and passion for the game in this country.

“I now aim to support our best players by enabling our current and future coaches with the skills they need to create world’s best players and winning environments. In turn, this proud cricket nation will aim to become self-reliant on cricket coaching resources that are both world leading and uniquely Pakistan.

“I have attended meetings with other members of the High Performance Centre and have been impressed with their approach, vision and strategy. I am looking forward to making a meaningful contribution during my time at the High Performance Centre and I plan to succeed in creating an environment which all coaches will find challenging, productive and rewarding.”

Saqlain Mushtaq: “It is an honour and a privilege to represent Pakistan. In this background, I am delighted to have been offered this exciting opportunity to work on skilful and exciting young cricketers and help them grow in their careers.

“I have previously worked with a diverse group of cricketers and helped them improve their cricket. I am confident I will be able to translate all my knowledge and experience in the High Performance Centre and help the PCB raise the bar and set new benchmarks.

“Before agreeing to the role, I had a look at a number of things, including the cricketing environment and people I will be working with. I think the vision, aspirations and strategy of the PCB is heading in the right direction and, as such, it is the right time to join the high performance team in Lahore and try to take Pakistan cricket back to its glory days.”

PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan: “The High Performance Centre is the heart of Pakistan cricket, which will ultimately set the direction of Pakistan cricket’s future. The unique skills and understanding that each of these individuals have of their specific areas will help create alignment to International standards and best practices.

“The PCB’s objective is to help the men’s national team reclaim their top rankings and we will leave no stone unturned in creating opportunities and providing tools to the players to achieve these targets.

“I am confident the team of Nadeem Khan, Grant Bradburn and Saqlain Mushtaq will create greater alignment between domestic and International cricket, make our high performance programs relevant in the modern world and will drive the standards and levels of professionalism required within our system.”

The PCB will announce Bradburn’s replacement in the men’s national cricket team in due course.


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[Mamoon]

Sounds like fancy job titles with little substance and little end result. It appears that the solution to PCB’s problems these days is to invent new positions.

 

[Mamoon]

The job descriptions are comically vague. Since we appear to have a lot of spare change these days, I wonder when will we appoint a ‘High Performance’ Director of Cricket and a ‘High Performance’ Director to Director of Cricket.

 

[Fantasy]

Sounds like fancy job titles with little substance and little end result. It appears that the solution to PCB’s problems these days is to invent new positions.

Have you gone through the job descriptions of these appointments and tried to campare these with the previous ones? Surely you know it for a reason that the Pakistan cricket has been lagging behind the world cricket because of problems that you already know and they are trying to plug in those gaps by these appointments whether that being coaching or proper pathways or the development of cricketers when they are found out at international level.

Atleast read something about a structure or two. How the structure works and the national team just being the extension of that.

 

[chazam]

The job descriptions are comically vague. Since we appear to have a lot of spare change these days, I wonder when will we appoint a ‘High Performance’ Director of Cricket and a ‘High Performance’ Director to Director of Cricket.

these are same positions which were cricket by Cricket Australia as well
Its exactly the same title.
And that bled the CA dry with lot of high salary paid to the suits.

 

[Markhor]

The job descriptions are comically vague. Since we appear to have a lot of spare change these days, I wonder when will we appoint a ‘High Performance’ Director of Cricket and a ‘High Performance’ Director to Director of Cricket.

So you complained when PCB ignored the problems at NCA, and you complain now that PCB are addressing the problems at NCA.

If you actually read the job descriptions, they clearly spell out the functions of each role:

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...anges-quot-Wasim-Khan&p=10746933#post10746933

 

[MoFresh23]

Sounds like fancy job titles with little substance and little end result. It appears that the solution to PCB’s problems these days is to invent new positions.

Oh what a way to comeback and comment without facts. Cricket Australia, ECB all have individuals that work in the same posts as these. So I don't know what are u saying

 

[angrypathan]

these are same positions which were cricket by Cricket Australia as well
Its exactly the same title.
And that bled the CA dry with lot of high salary paid to the suits.

Cricket Australia was bled dry because of their foolish decision to invest all their money into stocks and funds and not keep cash reserves, not by the salaries of their executives

 

[Fantasy]

So you complained when PCB ignored the problems at NCA, and you complain now that PCB are addressing the problems at NCA.

If you actually read the job descriptions, they clearly spell out the functions of each role:

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...anges-quot-Wasim-Khan&p=10746933#post10746933

This is the problem with most of the Pakistan cricket fans. It is extremely difficult to make them happy. And it happens when you have a mind that sees something malicious behind every decision.

What everyone needs to do is pass the judgements when they aren’t able to deliver but having a problem with each and everything is absolute depressing.

 

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

I envisage that his role will be on working in unison with the coaching staff at all 6 domestic sides at both junior, second XI and first XI levels. The stats/performances at domestic level, and input from the six coaching staff and the age group staff will lead to a player pool, that he will work with.

The other guys have elaborated on his knowledge of the new domestic structure. Once he has a player pool to work with, his role is to then bridge the gap between domestic and international by working on their game.

The weakness in this system is in the flawed player recommendations that the domestic coaches will make . Saqlain has to be assertive in also considering high performing youngsters at 2nd XI level (e.g. an Abdullah Shafique) when discussing prospects with the various coaches. However, with people like Mohammad Wasim at Northern around, InshAllah I'm hopeful that we'll see some promising lads get a go.

I also see Saqlain running the Shaheens for the duration of his role. InshAllah hopefully good things to come!

I'm going to shamelessly quote my own post, but genuinely curious about Saqlain' s knowledge of domestic talents and how he will narrow down his player pool

 

[Mueez]

Good luck to both of them!

They have a big task to do.

Hopefully they won’t disappoint us.

 

[Mamoon]

So I looked into the flimsy job descriptions, and one of the key responsibilities of the Director of ‘High Performance’ is:

Accountable for preparing extensive budgets and managing day-to-day finances

This does not sound like the job for a cricket coach or a former cricketer.

I wonder what the financial managers in PCB are there for if a coach or a former cricketer is going to prepare budgets and manage finances.

Furthermore, apart from all this mumbo jumbo nonsense whose potential impact in terms of on-field performance must be questioned, you have to question the appointments as well.

Bradburn failed in his capacity as the Pakistani fielding coach during the 2018-2020 period, a period where Pakistani reached the deepest pits of mediocrity especially in ODI and Test cricket, and our shoddy fielding played no small role in ensuring that we lost 21 out of 25 ODIs leading up to the World Cup including a 12 match losing streak.

He clearly did not demonstrate the following skills:

• Strong planning, organizing and executing capabilities.

• Highly competent in planning individual skills enhancement strategies.

• Proven ability to effectively work with a wide range of individuals from varied
backgrounds.

After failing with flying colors with a group of 15 players for two years, he has been rewarded with a raise and is now excepted to excel by working with a far bigger group of players and multiple coaches with added layers of complexity and communication.

Furthermore, Saqlain was last seen milking millions from PCB after successful conning them into believing that he could help Ajmal become a potent bowler with a legal action.

Unfortunately or fortunately, all we got was a glorified part-timer who was in no shape or form good enough for international cricket, and Saqlain predictability escaped all accountability and scrutiny.

However, now that he has been given a fancy job title, he is suddenly excepted to exhibit “experience and evidence through case studies, of successfully developing and
supporting cricketers to excel at International level, strong planning, organizing and executing capabilities, highly competent in planning individual skills enhancement strategies.”

Apparently the solution to Pakistan cricket woes is to come up with complicated job names and add ‘High Performance’ to ensure that failed individuals will suddenly start delivering in their newly formed fashionable designations.

Unfortunately Pakistan cricket is in such dire straits today that all it takes is some fancy job titles and words like ‘High Performance’ for our fans to start doing bhangra.

We will be here in 5 years and nothing is going to come out of this. These roles and responsibilities will vanish into thin air or will be absorbed into the system that is set in its ways.

 

[Mamoon]

Wasim Khan and Mani are playing to the galleries. Create shallow but complicated and fancy jobs and give the impression that things are changing at PCB.

Ultimately, the only thing that matters is performance, and I don’t see Pakistan becoming a top 3-4 Test or ODI team in the near or distant future.

 

[Square Drive]

Happy with Saqlain, but I have my reservations regarding Bradburn. He did indeed seem to reverse some of the good work done by Fountain and then Rixon, as fielding coach with the boys...

Hopefully though he excels at this role, for Pakistan's sake.

 

[Mamoon]

Finally, no matter how many “High Performance” jobs they create, the damage caused by the appointment of Misbah as coach + selector will not be reversed.

 

[Bewal Express]

Ultimately, it will come down to whether Saqlain or anyone else sees it as a paid holiday or has a passion for their jobs. From what he seen 99% PCB employees see their jobs as paid holidays.
From my experience going through junior cricket with my son here in the UK, the most important thing to develop young players is to opportunity to play lots of cricket on good dry wickets against other good players. The talent will take care of the rest.

 

[Fantasy]

Wasim Khan and Mani are playing to the galleries. Create shallow but complicated and fancy jobs and give the impression that things are changing at PCB.

Ultimately, the only thing that matters is performance, and I don’t see Pakistan becoming a top 3-4 Test or ODI team in the near or distant future.

Ok let’s downplay some hyperbole here and get to the ingredients of the success now.

You and me both know the things aren’t going to change 180 degrees in a few years because the damage has already been done for decades. I can go on and on about the things previous regimes have done to Pakistan cricket but that is a separate topic. Even the new domestic structure isn’t going to give Pakistan brilliant players in two or three years and if anyone thinks otherwise, he is a fool. But do you believe in process and structure? Let’s get to some details and your thoughts of improving Pakistan cricket so that Pakistan produce greats in the future without naming and munching on the pessimism.

I am waiting here.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Good old Mamoon, forum was a lot more peaceful the last 2 months

 

[Mamoon]

Ok let’s downplay some hyperbole here and get to the ingredients of the success now.

You and me both know the things aren’t going to change 180 degrees in a few years because the damage has already been done for decades. I can go on and on about the things previous regimes have done to Pakistan cricket but that is a separate topic. Even the new domestic structure isn’t going to give Pakistan brilliant players in two or three years and if anyone thinks otherwise, he is a fool. But do you believe in process and structure? Let’s get to some details and your thoughts of improving Pakistan cricket so that Pakistan produce greats in the future without naming and munching on the pessimism.

I am waiting here.

Nothing is going to happen. There is no solution to Pakistan’s mediocrity and I don’t envision us becoming a world class team again.

None of this high performance drama will make any difference. It is just a waste of time and money.

Besides, I don’t have any shred of faith in these so-called saviors who appointed Misbah as coach and selector with no prior experience. Not to mention the process of his appointment was completely unprofessional.

 

[MoFresh23]

Nothing is going to happen. There is no solution to Pakistan’s mediocrity and I don’t envision us becoming a world class team again.

None of this high performance drama will make any difference. It is just a waste of time and money.

Besides, I don’t have any shred of faith in these so-called saviors who appointed Misbah as coach and selector with no prior experience. Not to mention the process of his appointment was completely unprofessional.

Since you are whining about the appointment of Misbah as Chief selector and coach. Who would you have hired instead of Misbah?
They cant hire a foreigner because of language barrier and our local coaches are trash. This is the reason why Head of High performance coaching was created.

Misbah is a leader. He captained a team to number 1 in test.

I'm waiting. Bring facts that support what you are saying.

It's okay to hate bc we all know you miss the previous corrupt pcb management and this current management did more in a yr than the previous did in 5 to 10 yrs

 

[TeymurBlake]

Before I give my judgement on these appointments, I would like to see how they go about in there new roles. I hope they perform admirably and do a acceptable job.

 

[Mamoon]

Since you are whining about the appointment of Misbah as Chief selector and coach. Who would you have hired instead of Misbah?
They cant hire a foreigner because of language barrier and our local coaches are trash. This is the reason why Head of High performance coaching was created.

Misbah is a leader. He captained a team to number 1 in test.

I'm waiting. Bring facts that support what you are saying.

It's okay to hate bc we all know you miss the previous corrupt pcb management

Misbah was a complete failure as ODI captain and the number 1 ranking was achieved through sheer luck, i.e. the 4th Test between India and West Indies was washed out.

That is why Pakistan held the Mace for a period of 3 weeks only and went down to its rightful position of 6th.

Based on performance, Misbah actually took Pakistan to number 2 not number 1. The number 1 ranking was purely achieved because of a favorable event that was not in our control.

Misbah was captain from 2010/11 to 2015 and he displayed no characteristics that indicated that he would be a good coach/selector one day.

Like some, I will not blame Misbah for all the ills in Pakistan cricket because not everything was his fault and he did some good things, but ultimately, you have to judge a captain by the performance of the team and Pakistan played very predictable and mediocre limited overs cricket on his watch. We kept losing in the same fashion over and over again.

Every single young batsman regressed on his watch and fizzled out into oblivion.

In short, Misbah did not do much to indicate that he was a top coach or selector in the making.

I would have gone for a coach who had at least some experience as coach or selector in international cricket. The way Misbah was practically handed over the dual role when had zero prior experience in either capacity was ridiculous.

I don’t buy the excuse that we ended up with Misbah because no one better applied. If that is the case then the reason why that happened was because PCB was extremely unprofessional with the way they handed Misbah the job under the table before advertising the position.

Not to forget Misbah should not have been on the committee that decided Arthur’s future. The whole process reeked of unprofessionalism and showed what a con-artist Wasim Khan actually is.

 

[Mamoon]

Since you are whining about the appointment of Misbah as Chief selector and coach. Who would you have hired instead of Misbah?
They cant hire a foreigner because of language barrier and our local coaches are trash. This is the reason why Head of High performance coaching was created.

Misbah is a leader. He captained a team to number 1 in test.

I'm waiting. Bring facts that support what you are saying.

It's okay to hate bc we all know you miss the previous corrupt pcb management and this current management did more in a yr than the previous did in 5 to 10 yrs

Like what?

 

[Fantasy]

Nothing is going to happen. There is no solution to Pakistan’s mediocrity and I don’t envision us becoming a world class team again.

None of this high performance drama will make any difference. It is just a waste of time and money.

Besides, I don’t have any shred of faith in these so-called saviors who appointed Misbah as coach and selector with no prior experience. Not to mention the process of his appointment was completely unprofessional.

There you go. That was predictable.

As now you have failed to find out ways of improving the Pakistan cricket, I think it’ll be extremely hypocritical of you to have your opinion about Pakistan cricket. You don’t have to follow Pakistan cricket at all and I think that will save a lot of time and energy. I suggest you stop yourself from following cricket and concentrate on your profession. Someone who doesn’t see a positive shouldn’t comment on the decisions at all.

I am happy these are the people working in PCB who want to drive a cricketing mad country forward and want to make a mark and not sitting there having the same mentality as you.

They are going to make mistakes. They aren’t going to get every decision absolutely dead but the major factor that you need to understand is when you have a proper structure in place you know exactly who to call out for not doing his respective work. That is the idea of a structure and they are doing that.

 

[MoFresh23]

Misbah was a complete failure as ODI captain and the number 1 ranking was achieved through sheer luck, i.e. the 4th Test between India and West Indies was washed out.

That is why Pakistan held the Mace for a period of 3 weeks only and went down to its rightful position of 6th.

Based on performance, Misbah actually took Pakistan to number 2 not number 1. The number 1 ranking was purely achieved because of a favorable event that was not in our control.

Misbah was captain from 2010/11 to 2015 and he displayed no characteristics that indicated that he would be a good coach/selector one day.

Like some, I will not blame Misbah for all the ills in Pakistan cricket because not everything was his fault and he did some good things, but ultimately, you have to judge a captain by the performance of the team and Pakistan played very predictable and mediocre limited overs cricket on his watch. We kept losing in the same fashion over and over again.

Every single young batsman regressed on his watch and fizzled out into oblivion.

In short, Misbah did not do much to indicate that he was a top coach or selector in the making.

I would have gone for a coach who had at least some experience as coach or selector in international cricket. The way Misbah was practically handed over the dual role when had zero prior experience in either capacity was ridiculous.

I don’t buy the excuse that we ended up with Misbah because no one better applied. If that is the case then the reason why that happened was because PCB was extremely unprofessional with the way they handed Misbah the job under the table before advertising the position.

Not to forget Misbah should not have been on the committee that decided Arthur’s future. The whole process reeked of unprofessionalism and showed what a con-artist Wasim Khan actually is.

First of all being a captain/leader is a characteristic for being a coach/selector.

So your telling me going number 1 is sheer luck. LOL. That is the first time I heard something like this.
Before he was captain of Pakistan cricket, pakistan were 6 or 7 in Test rankings. Taking a team to number 1 is hardwork buddy. It's not like u wake up and ur number 1. They beat teams like England, Australia,Sri Lanka, New Zealand. They whitewatched Australia 2-0 in UAE. All four teams were strong at that time.

Their is no one that would be a better option then Misbah. Name me who would u appointed

Inshallah you will see positive results.

 

[Mamoon]

There you go. That was predictable.

As now you have failed to find out ways of improving the Pakistan cricket, I think it’ll be extremely hypocritical of you to have your opinion about Pakistan cricket. You don’t have to follow Pakistan cricket at all and I think that will save a lot of time and energy. I suggest you stop yourself from following cricket and concentrate on your profession. Someone who doesn’t see a positive shouldn’t comment on the decisions at all.

I am happy these are the people working in PCB who want to drive a cricketing mad country forward and want to make a mark and not sitting there having the same mentality as you.

They are going to make mistakes. They aren’t going to get every decision absolutely dead but the major factor that you need to understand is when you have a proper structure in place you know exactly who to call out for not doing his respective work. That is the idea of a structure and they are doing that.

Some mistakes are too big to forgive. There is no justification for the way Wasim and Mani went about the appointment of Misbah.

You can be happy if you wish to be happy. I don’t have a problem with that, but we will see where this high performance mumbo jumbo takes us. In my opinion, it will take us nowhere and so I don’t think there is any reason for excitement.

 

[MoFresh23]

There you go. That was predictable.

As now you have failed to find out ways of improving the Pakistan cricket, I think it’ll be extremely hypocritical of you to have your opinion about Pakistan cricket. You don’t have to follow Pakistan cricket at all and I think that will save a lot of time and energy. I suggest you stop yourself from following cricket and concentrate on your profession. Someone who doesn’t see a positive shouldn’t comment on the decisions at all.

I am happy these are the people working in PCB who want to drive a cricketing mad country forward and want to make a mark and not sitting there having the same mentality as you.

They are going to make mistakes. They aren’t going to get every decision absolutely dead but the major factor that you need to understand is when you have a proper structure in place you know exactly who to call out for not doing his respective work. That is the idea of a structure and they are doing that.

Absolutely. This man Mamoon has nothing positive to say. His opinion never matters. If Mamoon ever worked in PCB, (not that PCB will ever hire him, since the way he has a low mentality), I would quit watching cricket .

He would say something negative and then never have any facts to back it up. Wasim Khan and ehsan mani are human they are going to make mistakes, but this man thinks every decision has to be 100% positive.

 

[Mamoon]

First of all being a captain/leader is a characteristic for being a coach/selector.

So your telling me going number 1 is sheer luck. LOL. That is the first time I heard something like this.
Before he was captain of Pakistan cricket, pakistan were 6 or 7 in Test rankings. Taking a team to number 1 is hardwork buddy. It's not like u wake up and ur number 1. They beat teams like England, Australia,Sri Lanka, New Zealand. They whitewatched Australia 2-0 in UAE. All four teams were strong at that time.

Their is no one that would be a better option then Misbah. Name me who would u appointed

Inshallah you will see positive results.

If there is no one better than a captain who bowed out of ODI cricket with his team 8th and bowed out of Test cricket with his team 6th or 7th, then we are clearly doomed.

I would have looked to give the dual coach role to someone like A. Flower and Moody pending on their availability of course. Misbah would probably have been the last name on my list and it amazes me that he was the first choice candidate for Wasim and Mani.

 

[MoFresh23]

Some mistakes are too big to forgive. There is no justification for the way Wasim and Mani went about the appointment of Misbah.

You can be happy if you wish to be happy. I don’t have a problem with that, but we will see where this high performance mumbo jumbo takes us. In my opinion, it will take us nowhere and so I don’t think there is any reason for excitement.

Name me the so called "big mistakes" they made. Start listing them and have facts that back them.

Misbah hasnt even been in post for a yr yet and ur criticizing him. Judge him after a yr or a yr and a half.

Mamoon, let be real here, all your opinions over the last yr or two have been wrong.

 

[Mamoon]

Name me the so called "big mistakes" they made. Start listing them and have facts that back them.

Misbah hasnt even been in post for a yr yet and ur criticizing him. Judge him after a yr or a yr and a half.

Mamoon, let be real here, all your opinions over the last yr or two have been wrong.

I don’t keep track of when I’m wrong or when I’m right. It is not a competition for me. However, considering the pathetic state of Pakistan cricket and our shameless record since the Champions Trophy, I am probably right far more often.

Anyway, this is not about me. I don’t have to wait because the end result is inevitable. If Misbah couldn’t take the team forward after years of captaincy, there is no chance that he would transform the team as a coach.

The only semblance of hope is that Babar transforms into a beast and starts winning matches on his own, but that is unlikely because the team is very poor and 1-2 players cannot carry the load on their backs.

Not only should Misbah have been appointed, he was also appointed in a complete unprofessional and unforgivable manner.

Like the rest of the country, Naya PCB is also a false dawn.

 

[Savak]

Yaar, can someone please reappoint Intikhab Alam, Haroon Rasheed, Shafiq Papa to give some sakoon to our brother Mamoon

 

[MenInG]

Yaar, can someone please reappoint Intikhab Alam, Haroon Rasheed, Shafiq Papa to give some sakoon to our brother Mamoon

He isnt asking for more incompetent people to be brought in.

 

[Fantasy]

Some mistakes are too big to forgive. There is no justification for the way Wasim and Mani went about the appointment of Misbah.

You can be happy if you wish to be happy. I don’t have a problem with that, but we will see where this high performance mumbo jumbo takes us. In my opinion, it will take us nowhere and so I don’t think there is any reason for excitement.

And you think with Misbah at the helm of the affairs they have already made a mistake? This is some rocket science that I’m not able to consume here. At least wait for your judgement till some seasons under his belt. And if he fails everyone will do the same including me.

About your knowledge of cricket structures calling high performance centres as numbo jumbo I will rest my case and not discuss on that because I very well realise about your knowledge of structures which are far more important than any individual.

Also for your knowledge Andy Flower and Tom Moody never applied for Pakistan job so you can’t force anyone to take up the job.

 

[MoFresh23]

If there is no one better than a captain who bowed out of ODI cricket with his team 8th and bowed out of Test cricket with his team 6th or 7th, then we are clearly doomed.

I would have looked to give the dual coach role to someone like A. Flower and Moody pending on their availability of course. Misbah would probably have been the last name on my list and it amazes me that he was the first choice candidate for Wasim and Mani.

The team before he took over was 6th in Test. He captained the team and brought the team to number 1. So I dont know what you are trying to say.

If Pakistan wanted to have a foreigner then they would have kept Mickey Arthur and continued with him. The problem with a foreigner coach is that there is a language barrier between Pakistan players and the coach. Andy flower or tom moody didnt even apply so you cant just give them the head coach if they didnt apply. The last time I checked in Sports business, the person has to apply and then get interviewed and then get appointed. So once again bro, think before u write and research and get facts.

 

[Savak]

He isnt asking for more incompetent people to be brought in.

So he is saying that Saqlain, Bradburn and this guy Asser Malik are incompetent?

 

[Saj]

Yaar, can someone please reappoint Intikhab Alam, Haroon Rasheed, Shafiq Papa to give some sakoon to our brother Mamoon

To be fair, he's not suggested any of those individuals.

 

[MoFresh23]

I don’t keep track of when I’m wrong or when I’m right. It is not a competition for me. However, considering the pathetic state of Pakistan cricket and our shameless record since the Champions Trophy, I am probably right far more often.

Anyway, this is not about me. I don’t have to wait because the end result is inevitable. If Misbah couldn’t take the team forward after years of captaincy, there is no chance that he would transform the team as a coach.

The only semblance of hope is that Babar transforms into a beast and starts winning matches on his own, but that is unlikely because the team is very poor and 1-2 players cannot carry the load on their backs.

Not only should Misbah have been appointed, he was also appointed in a complete unprofessional and unforgivable manner.

Like the rest of the country, Naya PCB is also a false dawn.

I am pretty sure most of the posters would agree with me that you are almost always wrong and never right. The shambles record after champions trophy is mostly under Mickey Arthur tenture. So I dont know why u are blaming Misbah. Clearly u are just making up stories and writing false statements.

I never knew that u can also predict the future. LOL. You can predict the end result before it happened.

 

[TrentDevil]

This thread is crazy, these guys have just today been appointed for the role and some people have already jumping to the conclusions and the irony is that they are even sure about no positive change in Pakistan Cricket in near or distant future.

Don't know about Bradburn guy and niether did I knew that he was PCT fielding coach but questioning Saq's capability and eligibility for this job is beyond any logic, he's only Pakistani ex player who's highly regarded in coaches circles across the cricketing world and has got proper stints and gigs with top teams.

 

[Savak]

To be fair, he's not suggested any of those individuals.

He is complaining for the sake of complaining though as usual

 

[Savak]

This thread is crazy, these guys have just today been appointed for the role and some people have already jumping to the conclusions and the irony is that they are even sure about no positive change in Pakistan Cricket in near or distant future.

Don't know about Bradburn guy and niether did I knew that he was PCT fielding coach but questioning Saq's capability and eligibility for this job is beyond any logic, he's only Pakistani ex player who's highly regarded in coaches circles across the cricketing world and has got proper stints and gigs with top teams.

One thing i have realized about PCB is that when you have everyone criticizing you, it shows you are doing something right. A lot of journalists have held PCB to ransom and have threatened the PCB by blackmailing them that we will rip your reputation to shreds if you don't appoint the players, officials we like or give us access to news, players, officials.

 

[MenInG]

He is complaining for the sake of complaining though as usual

He is questioning PCB's track record on this issue.

 

[Saj]

He is complaining for the sake of complaining though as usual

I'm trying to find where anyone has said Inti etc should have got the job. Can you show me where it was written.

 

[Savak]

He is questioning PCB's track record on this issue.

Why bring up the track record unless he has strong evidence that the current appointments are incompetent?

 

[Savak]

I'm trying to find where anyone has said Inti etc should have got the job. Can you show me where it was written.

He has written that Misbah was an incompetent and unqualified appointment though. Is that a fair statement in your view?

 

[Mamoon]

I am pretty sure most of the posters would agree with me that you are almost always wrong and never right. The shambles record after champions trophy is mostly under Mickey Arthur tenture. So I dont know why u are blaming Misbah. Clearly u are just making up stories and writing false statements.

I never knew that u can also predict the future. LOL. You can predict the end result before it happened.

Oh bhai I am not blaming Misbah for our disastrous run from Jan 2018 onwards. My point is that our fans were on a high after the Champions Trophy and started to overrate the caliber of our team before the inevitable reality check that we are yet to recover from.

However, I do blame Misbah for the nightmare Australian tour. We always lose in Australia, but this time we produced arguably the worst performance by a touring side in Australia in a very, very long time.

Right from the selection of the squad to the in-game tactics - it was a complete disaster. People can give Misbah as much time as they want and defend his appointment, but his captaincy tenure as well as his early assignments as coach/selector clearly indicate that the team is only going south.

 

[MMHS]

Not sure with the last one - is Bradburn that good? If so, then why he was appointed as a fielding coach at first? I see in his profile some coaching experience, but not sure it's enough for this role (where he should work with elite individuals). I was expecting someone with a better profile - in fact, the best man to take this role was probably Mickey Arthur. MA had is problems not to learn from his mistakes, sometimes too rigid with his philosophies and he failed to understand the core essence of PAK cricket (in short - it's 180 apart from SAF), hence he was a failure as Head Coach (failure though is a relative term - I always say that PAK of 2016-2019 was despite having MA..... not because of MA, but that's separate argument).

But, Arthur is a FANTASTIC coach for technical developments of players - today what we see of Babar Azam, one main reason is that the guy had the ear to listen to Arthur & oblige (which his infamous cousin didn't have). I always say that, despite failure and unceremonious exits, guy did impress CSAF, CA, PCB & SLCB for the Head Coach's role - means his technical knowledge is as good as anyone, but often he couldn't transfer that to top professionals, may be for personality traits or ego (either side). I won't ever suggest him for Head Coach of BD team, but for a role of HP Coach, I would have loved to see Arthur at PCB or BCB's academy for sure - he has three years hand on experience with PAK cricket now as well. He is exactly what a cricketer between 19 to 23 needs and some of his pupils in SAF & PAK will endorse that. I am hoping, we'll see couple of world class players coming from SRL as well, if Arthur can survive there till 2023. Never the less, good luck to Bradburn in his new endevour.

The third appointment (Asser Malik) is probably the best of the lot - I liked the idea. Modern sports is more business & science than natural talent and PAK cricket needs people who can solve problems and find solutions methodically - don't think Larke Lenge ...... philosophy is going to work much.

My only disappointment is that, I wanted PCB to hire a top, top class specialist Batting Coach - someone in the class of Andy Flower, Duncun Fleatcher, Jaimme Siddons, Greme Hick, Gary Kirsten or even Mark Ramprakash..... they never have appointed someone credible to look after batting dedicatedly and batting has been PAK's Achilles' heel almost since eternity.

 

[Saj]

He has written that Misbah was an incompetent and unqualified appointment though. Is that a fair statement in your view?

Why complain, you've been saying such stuff and even worse about Misbah for 14 years on this site.

 

[Saj]

Head International Player Development

Job Purpose:

The Head of International Player Development is responsible for comprehensively identifying, developing and preparing players so that they become world class cricketers for the senior Pakistan Men’s team

Requirements:

• Level III Cricket Coaching Accreditation or international equivalent.
• An ex-International cricketer with at least (5) years working experience with an international team.
• Experience and evidence through case studies, of successfully developing and supporting cricketers to excel at International level.
• Strong planning, organizing and executing capabilities.
• Highly competent in planning individual skills enhancement strategies.
• Strong leadership and management skills.
• Proven ability to effectively work with a wide range of individuals from varied backgrounds.
• Strong persuasion skills combined with integrity and professionalism.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Strong analytical capabilities

A high profile former player asked me about the highlighted part. Has Saqlain got 5 years international coaching experience?

 

[Savak]

Why complain, you've been saying such stuff and even worse about Misbah for 14 years on this site.

Lol, i am actually asking what your position on the matter is first.

 

[Savak]

Head International Player Development

Job Purpose:

The Head of International Player Development is responsible for comprehensively identifying, developing and preparing players so that they become world class cricketers for the senior Pakistan Men’s team

Requirements:

• Level III Cricket Coaching Accreditation or international equivalent.
• An ex-International cricketer with at least (5) years working experience with an international team.
• Experience and evidence through case studies, of successfully developing and supporting cricketers to excel at International level.
• Strong planning, organizing and executing capabilities.
• Highly competent in planning individual skills enhancement strategies.
• Strong leadership and management skills.
• Proven ability to effectively work with a wide range of individuals from varied backgrounds.
• Strong persuasion skills combined with integrity and professionalism.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Strong analytical capabilities

A high profile former player asked me about the highlighted part. Has Saqlain got 5 years international coaching experience?

This depends on the other candidates. Maybe the PCB didn't get any applicant with 5 years of experience and out of all the candidates Saqlain had the most experience. What was the experience of the rejected applicants who are complaining?

 

[Mamoon]

And you think with Misbah at the helm of the affairs they have already made a mistake? This is some rocket science that I’m not able to consume here. At least wait for your judgement till some seasons under his belt. And if he fails everyone will do the same including me.

About your knowledge of cricket structures calling high performance centres as numbo jumbo I will rest my case and not discuss on that because I very well realise about your knowledge of structures which are far more important than any individual.

Also for your knowledge Andy Flower and Tom Moody never applied for Pakistan job so you can’t force anyone to take up the job.

Yes it was a mistake. In fact it was a litany of mistakes.

(1) what credentials did Misbah show as captain that would make him a quality coach/selector?

Did Pakistan develop a playing style and an attractive brand of cricket under his captaincy? No, we played the most mundane and regressive brand of cricket.

Did he develop any young players? No, all the young batsman regressed alarmingly. From Umar Akmal to Shehzad to Jamshed to Maqsood to Junaid - Misbah didn’t guide any of these players to the next level.

What was Pakistan’s ranking in all formats when Misbah left the captaincy?

(2) Why was Misbah part of the committee that decided Arthur’s future? I agree that Arthur’s time was up, but was it prudent to have a person who has eyes for the job decide his future? How could Misbah have acted impartially knowing that he was interested in Arthur’s job?

Is this the professionalism Wasim brought from ECB and is this how things are done in English cricket?

(3) As far as Moody, Flower etc. not applying for the job is concerned, these are just examples.

In spite of PCB’s reputation as an employer, the all-powerful super coach (coach + selector) position is a very attractive one.

Coaches yearn for absolute power instead of getting handicapped by selectors. Every coach in the world would love to have the authority to select his own team.

Do you think Arthur wouldn’t have loved to pick his own players instead of having to rely on Inzamam?

The reason why a lot of top coaches didn’t line up was because the process of Misbah’s appointment was a farce. He was handed over the job before PCB advertised the position.

Nonetheless, if we assume that no top coach applied and that’s why Misbah got the job, isn’t it alarming?

PCB advertised Wasim as some administrative stalwart who will revolutionize PCB and was set to be the next ECB Chief. So why didn’t the top coaches make a beeline to work with him?

 

[BoomBoomCricket]

2 off spinners getting appointed.

 

[MoFresh23]

2 off spinners getting appointed.

Who are the 2 off spinners? One is Saqlain. Who is the other one

 

[BoomBoomCricket]

Who are the 2 off spinners? One is Saqlain. Who is the other one

"Grant Eric Bradburn is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current fielding coach of the Pakistan national cricket team. A tall right-arm off-spin bowler and lower-order batsman, Bradburn played seven Test matches and eleven One Day Internationals between 1990 and 2001."

 

[MoFresh23]

"Grant Eric Bradburn is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current fielding coach of the Pakistan national cricket team. A tall right-arm off-spin bowler and lower-order batsman, Bradburn played seven Test matches and eleven One Day Internationals between 1990 and 2001."

That's what I thought too. Thank you for clarifying.

 

[angrypathan]

Not at all convinced regarding Bradburn, our fielding regressed years after he replaced Rixon. Saqlain is a good appointment

 

[Saj]

This depends on the other candidates. Maybe the PCB didn't get any applicant with 5 years of experience and out of all the candidates Saqlain had the most experience. What was the experience of the rejected applicants who are complaining?

If true, worrying that no applicants had 5 years of international coaching experience.

 

[Savak]

If true, worrying that no applicants had 5 years of international coaching experience.

Money could be an issue. What is considered extravagant pay in Pakistan could be considered a pittance by Western candidates. The PCB has confirmed many times in the past that foreign coaching candidates always posted initial queries to coaching job posting applications about the pay, perks of the position and whenever the PCB truthfully responded to them, they never got back to the PCB again.

This is what happens when you offer $240,000 whereas India is offering $1.17 million, Cricket Australia $600,000 and England $550,000. The PCB is simply not competitive enough

 

[Fantasy]

Yes it was a mistake. In fact it was a litany of mistakes.

(1) what credentials did Misbah show as captain that would make him a quality coach/selector?

Did Pakistan develop a playing style and an attractive brand of cricket under his captaincy? No, we played the most mundane and regressive brand of cricket.

Did he develop any young players? No, all the young batsman regressed alarmingly. From Umar Akmal to Shehzad to Jamshed to Maqsood to Junaid - Misbah didn’t guide any of these players to the next level.

What was Pakistan’s ranking in all formats when Misbah left the captaincy?

(2) Why was Misbah part of the committee that decided Arthur’s future? I agree that Arthur’s time was up, but was it prudent to have a person who has eyes for the job decide his future? How could Misbah have acted impartially knowing that he was interested in Arthur’s job?

Is this the professionalism Wasim brought from ECB and is this how things are done in English cricket?

(3) As far as Moody, Flower etc. not applying for the job is concerned, these are just examples.

In spite of PCB’s reputation as an employer, the all-powerful super coach (coach + selector) position is a very attractive one.

Coaches yearn for absolute power instead of getting handicapped by selectors. Every coach in the world would love to have the authority to select his own team.

Do you think Arthur wouldn’t have loved to pick his own players instead of having to rely on Inzamam?

The reason why a lot of top coaches didn’t line up was because the process of Misbah’s appointment was a farce. He was handed over the job before PCB advertised the position.

Nonetheless, if we assume that no top coach applied and that’s why Misbah got the job, isn’t it alarming?

PCB advertised Wasim as some administrative stalwart who will revolutionize PCB and was set to be the next ECB Chief. So why didn’t the top coaches make a beeline to work with him?

Perspective and narrative often shape perception and we choose to see whichever one we want.

Now let’s come back to the topic. And get there one by one.

Let me take back to the domestic cricket of the past since I know your fabulous knowledge of Pakistan cricket and it’s grassroots. It was early 2000’s. The team was SNGPL. A 2nd grade team who weren’t qualified enough to play in the premier QeA trophy. A man was selected in the team. He captained the side and took that team to the premier tournaments and made that team the best team of this century in Pakistan cricket. You can argue with the fact that this wasn’t a one man’s job but the team. It was, obviously but if you talk to any of the guys who have the knowledge of that team will tell you exactly who was the the forefront of that team. It was Misbah-ul-Haq. He was the man in charge.

Now coming back to the recent decade he came in at the time when Pakistan was reeling under the shadow of match fixing and the reputation at stake. He came in a gave it some semblance of assurity and rather than a flash in the pan made this a team of fabulous consistent team which was unheard of in Pakistan cricket and majorly sometimes looked upon condescendingly because Pakistan has always been a flash in the pan side. Now most impressive thing about the whole tenure was the players with which he used to win test matches and making UAE his fortress. He had Imran Khan, Rahat Ali, Tanvir Ahmad and the likes of Bilawal Bhatti. This was the fast bowling stock of Pakistan cricket at that point. Ajmal and Rehman were the main men. They won/draw every series in the UAE after all what had happened in the recent past. He beat England( the No. 1 teat team at that point), Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka you name it. And in the away tours they draw series against England, won in NZ, won in WI for the first time. That too with one batsmen in YK and two spinners, mostly.

Now if you gave that record to me just after possibly the nightmare of the time in 2010 I would’ve gladly taken it.

Now as far as One Day game was concerned it had more to do with the team that Pakistan had at that time. There wasn’t one batsmen in the line whom you could put your trust on. And don’t throw in names like Akmals and Sehazads and Maqsoods ,they were terrible and remain terrible and no coach or captain could change the minds of these grown ups. You can work on the game with these but eventually it comes down to how they take it mentally. It is not what people do when they are being watched rather when nobody is watching you. And to everyone’s guess we know what these players were and where their hearts and minds were. You know that pretty well. Still some achievements were there. The Asia Cup. The SA series won by first Asian team. While it had flaws and cracks, no denying that. But in ODIs you need a bunch of players who will execute their plans to perfection but in test matches you can bite your time and plan out sessions and he did fabulous well in that capacity.

Now I have my reservations as well about Misbah. It is not about the hero worship. You should criticise when they ought to be criticised not just for the heck of it. But the fact that he has been selected as a coach and the fact that I don’t think there is anyone in Pakistan who has got the cricketing brain like Misbah with other qualities that a coach should possess. About his qualifications has always been the question. He has a level 2. But if there is anyone who could’ve get the coaching role without a level 3 and experience in national setup as coach it had to be Misbah. You look at your favourite BCCI and they selected Dravid. What was his qualifications as a coach? But the boards around the world look at all the qualities and they try to build credentials around them. These sort of players are few and far in between but you can’t just throw that to the bin because they have experienced that in the past. Again I say there are reservations and we are going to criticise him for his wrong doings but to outright throw him away is extremely harsh.

Now to your certain beef with Wasim Khan because you can’t digest that he is trying to work out ways and trying to make a difference in a system which you by yourself say that will never come out of mediocrity.

The fact that the high profile coaches don’t come to work in Pakistan has got to do with the reputation of PCB as an organisation and WK and Ehsan Mani can’t do away with in a years time. It is the doings of the previous regime that the reputation has taken a dent and that has got nothing to do with Wasim and Mani. Recent example we have is of Steve Rixon and who was the head of the board that time? Complete the sentence? Najam Sethi. Your demigod. Najam Sethi.

People respect the structures not an individual who has just come in because eventually they’ll have to work in a system not with that particular individual. WK and EM are trying to make structures and they are doing that professionally because in the future it is going to the structure that is going to pull in quality individuals and people running the affairs will not mean as much as it is currently.

Besides there is a pay issue. PCB pays peanuts compared to other boards and now it has slightly changed with this new regime with these new hirings. You pay peanuts you get monkeys and PCB now know that. But there are still people who will discuss the salaries of these people, and I am sorry to say, like you have agendas to take down anyone who tries to make a difference because they themselves can’t envisage that you can make a difference in a broken system.

 

[Bewal Express]

Not at all convinced regarding Bradburn, our fielding regressed years after he replaced Rixon. Saqlain is a good appointment

Fielding takes years to improve and the coach should be he coaching coaches in the the Domestic setup. People can't learn to field at the international level, and they don't suddenly forget how to field if there is a change of coach.

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=136983]Fantasy[/MENTION]

Enough of the lame excuse that top coaches are unwilling to work with the PCB and that is why we ended with Misbah.

Arthur was a high profile coach who had no issues working with PCB. In fact, he was deeply disappointed when he was not offered an extension after the World Cup.

If coaches like Arthur, who have worked with CSA and CA have no problem working with the spawn of the devil that is Sethi, how come the top coaches now are not interested in working with PCB anymore after the appointment of the former ECB stalwart Wasim?

Sorry but your narrative doesn’t add up and defies logic.

Moreover, you continue to avoid answering two simple questions:

(1) why was Misbah part of the committee that decided Arthur’s future when he himself had eyes on the job? How is that professional?

(2) why were there strong rumors in the media that Misbah was going to replace Arthur even before PCB advertised the job?

There are two possibilities - the media got lucky with guesswork or someone in the PCB spilled the beans, which is obviously the most reasonable assessment. So why on earth was Misbah handed the job before PCB advertised the role? Again, how was that professional?

I am not questioning Misbah’s appointment solely because he is inexperienced as a coach and as a selector. After all, every experienced person was inexperienced at one point.

However, my problem is that Misbah displayed no coaching/selector credentials during his reign as captain and he was appointed in an unprofessional manner which you do not want to admit.

Now as far as your SNGPL example is concerned, the irony of your fallacious argument seems to be lost on you.

You are crediting Misbah for SNGPL’s success but you are quick of absolve him of the failures of our ODI team on his watch.

This is textbook Misbah apologist behavior - when the team won under him it was because of his him, but when the team lost it was because his players were not good enough.

You need to decide - did SNGPL achieve success in his captaincy because they had a very good squad or was it his miracle captaincy?

If it was his miracle captaincy, how come it didn’t work for Pakistan in ODIs? If you say that he was a good long format captain but not a good limited overs captain, then why has he been made the coach/selector for Pakistan?

If you are blaming the mediocre Pakistani players for his awful record as ODI captain, then you should give credit to the SNGPL players. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Misbah left Pakistan ODI cricket in an embarrassing state. He lost about 90% of the ODI series against the top sides and every single home series, he had two embarrassing tournaments and failed to develop any modern ODI batsmen.

All of that was not 100% his fault but a significant portion certainly was, and if he was the great cricketing brain that his apologists insist that he is, he would have found a way to arrest Pakistan’s humiliation in ODI cricket.

So what do people expect now? What does Wasim Khan and Mani expect? I bet they don’t have a clue about his embarrassing stint as ODI captain and expect him to turn things around for a team that lost 21 out of 25 ODIs leading into the World Cup and finished 6th in a 10 team World Cup.

Look I don’t want to give the impression that I am a Misbah ‘hater’. I am prepared to defend himself against the delusional haters who pretend that if the Misbah era didn’t take place we would have been unbeatable.

However, Misbah has been put on a pedestal and projected as a savior of Pakistan cricket on the back of a substandard international career.

As a batsman, he was decent at best. Probably of the same caliber as someone like Samaraweera or Collingwood, and his achievements as captain were not grand enough to deserve this Pakistan legend tag that he is carrying these days and due to which he has been made the all-powerful leader in Pakistan cricket only two years after retiring from 7 years of captaincy.

He did not win Pakistan a World Cup or an ICC tournament, he didn’t create a lasting legacy as Test captain and nor did we have a lengthy reign as the number 1 Test side.

He took us to number 2 and to number 1 due to a stroke of luck that wasn’t in his control, and that is why our position lasted for 3 weeks only.

By the time he retired, we were back in 6th position thanks to six consecutive defeats to Australia, New Zealand and even West Indies in Sharjah.

As far as the notion that he brought ‘respect’ and ‘dignity’ to Pakistan cricket in 2010, well a lot of that is hyperbole. It is indeed true that he had the right temperament for the job at the time, but a lot of his success was circumstantial.

He was not exactly dealing with fixers and trouble-makers when he took over as captain in 2010.

The likes of Butt, Asif and Amir were gone, and other alleged trouble-makers or fixers such as Akhtar, Afridi, Malik and Kamran Akmal were out of the Test side as well. Even Umar didn’t last for long.

He was left with characters like Azhar, Asad, Sarfraz, Ajmal, Hafeez, Junaid, Rahat etc. who do not have a documented history of being accused of grouping or fixing, and keeping this relatively clean bunch of cricketers away from controversy was not exactly a miracle.

Younis Khan was egoistic but he got along well with others as long as he wasn’t the captain.

The bottom-line is that Misbah has not done remotely enough to deserve the status of the messiah of Pakistan cricket. It is simply the consequence of strong pro Misbah propaganda that the likes of Wasim and Mani bought into.

He is well-liked by the PCB because of his gentleman like behavior and submissive attitude towards his superiors, but his cricketing credentials are nothing special and do not merit the all-power super coach role especially when he was not proved himself as a coach or selector at any capacity at any level.

He benefited from favorable circumstances and found himself in the right place at the right time. His career was done and dusted without the 2010 saga and he would have been reduced to a mere footnote in Pakistan cricket history which a player of his limited skill deserves.

Wasim Khan can do all the ‘high performance’ dramaybaazi and make flashy changes, but by handing over the keys of Pakistan cricket to Misbah with one stroke, he has practically ensured that we will remain doomed in the near future.

I hope that both of us will be here in 4-5 years time so that we can assess our rankings across all formats under the guidance of savior Misbah.

If I were a betting man, I would have no problem betting that Pakistan would not get into the top 3 rankings in Tests and ODIs.

 

[Shafi]

Loosing my faith with Wasim Khan. All his appointments are nothing but idiotic. So far he has failed miserably to appoint any well known professional coach. This guy is nothing but white elephant for PCB. Thanks to Imran Khan

 

[Saj]

Bradburn is an interesting choice. From fielding coach (where he hardly set the world alight) to Head of High Performance Coaching.

 

[Savak]

Wasn't Mamoon against Mickey Arthur and felt he played to the galleries at the end of his tenure? Why is he arguing he deserved to be extended now? Should the PCB have incorrectly extended him just because there was a lack of competition?

 

[Mamoon]

Wasn't Mamoon against Mickey Arthur and felt he played to the galleries at the end of his tenure? Why is he arguing he deserved to be extended now? Should the PCB have incorrectly extended him just because there was a lack of competition?

Where did you get that from?

I agree with the decision of not extending his contract. He turned an already poor Test team into a joke, and the ODI team did not improve on his watch.

My issue is not with removing Arthur; my issue with Misbah sitting on the committee that decided his future when he himself had eyes on the job, and I also have an issue with the way Misbah was handed the job under the table before PCB advertised it.

Wasim and Mani did not exhibit a shred of professionalism with the way they handled Arthur’s removal and Misbah’s appointment.

 

[Lupe]

Interesting appointments, wonder who else applied for the jobs. It'll be interesting to see how they do in the roles as well as Saqlain and Grant do not have prior experience in these roles.

 

[Savak]

Where did you get that from?

I agree with the decision of not extending his contract. He turned an already poor Test team into a joke, and the ODI team did not improve on his watch.

My issue is not with removing Arthur; my issue with Misbah sitting on the committee that decided his future when he himself had eyes on the job, and I also have an issue with the way Misbah was handed the job under the table before PCB advertised it.

Wasim and Mani did not exhibit a shred of professionalism with the way they handled Arthur’s removal and Misbah’s appointment.

Me being Misbah's biggest critic, i agree the appointment of Misbah and the way the PCB allowed Misbah to be on that committee which voted against Mickey Arthur and then allowed Misbah to apply for the same position afterwards was a huge conflict of interest which should have been challenged in court.

I don't agree with the PCB not showing professionalism in handling Arthur's removal, he was given an opportunity to defend himself, a hearing and to make his case for an extension of his contract in front of the PCB Cricket Committee and it is clear he failed to impress.

We can speculate why the PCB went towards Misbah in the end. My suspicion is that there were a lack of quality candidates and surely we can't advocate appointing Mohsin Khan over Misbah. Wasim Khan also wanted to adopt the NZ approach of combining the Chief Selector/Head Coach position together and that required an individual who had played domestic cricket a lot and had up to date knowledge. This was not something someone from outside Pakistan could meet.

Anyways, now that Misbah has been appointed, let's see how he does and see the excuses his die hard supporters make for him in his tenure.

 

[Mamoon]

Me being Misbah's biggest critic, i agree the appointment of Misbah and the way the PCB allowed Misbah to be on that committee which voted against Mickey Arthur and then allowed Misbah to apply for the same position afterwards was a huge conflict of interest which should have been challenged in court.

I don't agree with the PCB not showing professionalism in handling Arthur's removal, he was given an opportunity to defend himself, a hearing and to make his case for an extension of his contract in front of the PCB Cricket Committee and it is clear he failed to impress.

We can speculate why the PCB went towards Misbah in the end. My suspicion is that there were a lack of quality candidates and surely we can't advocate appointing Mohsin Khan over Misbah. Wasim Khan also wanted to adopt the NZ approach of combining the Chief Selector/Head Coach position together and that required an individual who had played domestic cricket a lot and had up to date knowledge. This was not something someone from outside Pakistan could meet.

Anyways, now that Misbah has been appointed, let's see how he does and see the excuses his die hard supporters make for him in his tenure.

Arthur’s removal was handled unprofessionally for precisely the same reason that I have explained previously. Having Misbah as part of the panel that decided his future was not justifiable in any shape or form and reeked of unprofessionalism.

Yes Arthur was given an opportunity to defend and impress, but he was defending himself and trying to make an impression against a man who wanted his job for himself.

There is absolutely no way Misbah could have been 100% impartial and reasonable in presenting his verdict on Misbah’s future.

I don’t blame Misbah. If I were in his position, I wouldn’t have been completely objective either. It is humanly impossible.

I blame the messiah of PCB Wasim Khan. Is this the professionalism that he picked up from the ECB, and is this the leadership that allegedly put him in pole position to become the next ECB Chief before he decided to do “ahsaan” on Pakistan cricket by coming here?

I also don’t buy the justification that PCB went with Misbah in the end because top coaches didn’t show up. That justification is not believable because of the following two reasons:

(1) the dual coach + selector position is an extremely attractive one. Every coach in the world would want to have the authority to pick his own team. With one stroke, you become the most powerful man in Pakistan cricket.

(2) our last two foreign coaches (Whatmore and Arthur) were big names with quality CVs. If Zaka Ashraf could rope in a World Cup winner and former BCCI U-19 coach and Sethi/Shahryar could rope in a former South Africa and Australia coach who developed players like de Villiers and Steyn, how come so-called stalwarts Wasim and Mani couldn’t attract a single coach with a shred of experience and proven track-record?

If no top coach applied, isn’t it concerning? How come no one wanted to work with a former ECB top man who was offering the all-powerful role of a super coach (coach + selector)?

Besides, considering the fact that there were strong rumors of Misbah replacing Arthur before PCB advertised the role, it appears that PCB appointed him at the beginning rather than the end, and I firmly believe that was the reason why top coaches didn’t put their hands up because they knew that wasn’t a transparent process and it was a waste of time.

Dean Jones has no international track-record, but his success in PSL made him a more viable candidate than Mr. zero track-record Misbah, and he was one of the candidates who applied.

He was so disgusted by the shady process of Misbah’s appointment that he has vowed never to apply for a role with the PCB again.

Misbah was appointed under the table and the role was advertised purely to make the whole process look credible. It is very clear that there is more to it than what it appears.

We don’t know if Misbah was appointed on the instructions of Imran Khan or whatever, but there is no doubt at all that the whole process reeked of unprofessionalism and was not what you would expect from someone who is supposedly such a revered and highly professional cricket administrator.

Looks like ECB dodged a bullet by getting rid of him.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] you’re a very smart guy. Although I disagree with your posts, your analyses are always internally coherent and well written.

Purely so as to make this thread a little more lively and so you can prove your point to me that PCB is making mistakes with its restructuring (I would be very happy to be convinced by your analysis), I would like to ask you the following —

Rather than pointing out the flaws in the current procedure, let’s say I put you in charge of the PCB today. What would you do to restructure the NCA? (and this task only, I’m only interested in the NCA and coaching setup for now — we can discuss other tasks another time)

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] you’re a very smart guy. Although I disagree with your posts, your analyses are always internally coherent and well written.

Purely so as to make this thread a little more lively and so you can prove your point to me that PCB is making mistakes with its restructuring (I would be very happy to be convinced by your analysis), I would like to ask you the following —

Rather than pointing out the flaws in the current procedure, let’s say I put you in charge of the PCB today. What would you do to restructure the NCA? (and this task only, I’m only interested in the NCA and coaching setup for now — we can discuss other tasks another time)

Unfortunately, if all Pakistan cricket needed were structural changes, I wouldn’t be so hopeless about our future.

What Pakistan cricket needs is a complete shift of mentality, something that India experienced in the 90’s.

Our mentality is rotten to the core. By ‘our’, I am referring to the current players, the ex-players, the so-called experts on tv and the majority of fans in general.

The way we interpret the game, the way we understand the game, the way we identify our weaknesses and the things that we say are complete nonsense.

We are completely deluded about our status in the game today. Most of our players have no intellect and no grooming.

We do not understand what it takes to build a winning culture. Simply adding ‘high performance’ to job titles will not create a high performance and competitive environment.

We have allowed unpredictability and so-called cornered tigers to define our cricket culture. Our fans and players take pride in being unpredictable.

What is unpredictability? It means absolutely nothing. It is a romanticized term for inconsistency and mediocrity. A top team strives to become a highly predictable a team. A team that wins far more than it loses.

We should not strive to be cornered tigers because we should not be cornered in the first place.

India’s 1983 World Cup glory was a bigger cornered tigers moment than Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup, but they didn’t allow it to define their culture because they understood that consistency is achieved through a process and not Hail Mary approach.

We need to come out of this ‘we are dangerous when we gain momentum’ and ‘unpredictability is the beauty of Pakistan cricket’ and all this nonsense.

We also need to own up to our own shortcomings. We still cry about the LBW decision against Ajmal in Mohali semifinal instead of focusing on the 6 dropped catches,

we come with conspiracy theories when Ajmal was banned for blatant chucking, we accuse others of underperforming and wanting to dump Pakistan out of World Cups without realizing that if weren’t such losers and were good enough to win our own games, we wouldn’t be banking on other results.

Look at the things our ex-players say, look at the ‘bakwas’ people like Akhtar, Asif, Razzaq, Sikander bakht, Basit Ali etc. come up with on daily basis. They are a reflection of our society and what the majority of the people think.

I am sorry for this rant, but the bottom-line is that all these structural changes and ‘high performance’ dramaybaazi of putting same old failures like Saqlain and Bradburn in new fancy positions will not make an iota of difference.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] points well made about the mentality needing to evolve and for us to adopt a more professional outlook. My initial question still stands about the specific changes you would make in the NCA and coaching set up (and perhaps mentality can be one of the goals you would seek to implement, since no doubt we must begin changing the mentality by starting somewhere).

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Looks like pakistani cricket is going back to the zia era while appoint acquaintances
It would be very interesting to hear how they got the jobs without a interview

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] points well made about the mentality needing to evolve and for us to adopt a more professional outlook. My initial question still stands about the specific changes you would make in the NCA and coaching set up (and perhaps mentality can be one of the goals you would seek to implement, since no doubt we must begin changing the mentality by starting somewhere).

I don’t think there is much wrong with the NCA itself. After all, it is the only functional academy in the country and has helped the development of players like Babar.

The bigger problem (in terms of structure) is the lack of NCA level centers across the country and the lack of school cricket. This is one area where PCB needs a lot of investment and growth.

Cricket has become a poor man’s sport in Pakistan and the middle and upper class no longer take up the sport professionally because it is not possible to play and study. That wasn’t the case until the 80s when the top schools in Pakistan such as Aitchison produced a lot of cricketers.

That is why our players back then were well groomed with big personalities. We are no longer capable of producing figures like Imran Khan, Majid Khan, Kardar, Fazal etc. because most of our players come from remote villages who are completely uncomfortable under the spotlight and don’t know how to handle the sudden fame and money.

School cricket is still very strong in countries like India and Sri Lanka, where the top schools in the country have a proper cricket system which helps them unearth potential stars for the future.

Instead of focusing on cosmetic changes in NCA and giving people like Saqlain and Bradburn “high performance” roles, I would sit down with schools like Aitchison, Lawrence College, Beaconhouse, City school, Roots etc. and see how these elite schools can help revive school cricket culture in Pakistan.

 

[MenInG]

I don’t think there is much wrong with the NCA itself. After all, it is the only functional academy in the country and has helped the development of players like Babar.

The bigger problem (in terms of structure) is the lack of NCA level centers across the country and the lack of school cricket. This is one area where PCB needs a lot of investment and growth.

Cricket has become a poor man’s sport in Pakistan and the middle and upper class no longer take up the sport professionally because it is not possible to play and study. That wasn’t the case until the 80s when the top schools in Pakistan such as Aitchison produced a lot of cricketers.

That is why our players back then were well groomed with big personalities. We are no longer capable of producing figures like Imran Khan, Majid Khan, Kardar, Fazal etc. because most of our players come from remote villages who are completely uncomfortable under the spotlight and don’t know how to handle the sudden fame and money.

School cricket is still very strong in countries like India and Sri Lanka, where the top schools in the country have a proper cricket system which helps them unearth potential stars for the future.

Instead of focusing on cosmetic changes in NCA and giving people like Saqlain and Bradburn “high performance” roles, I would sit down with schools like Aitchison, Lawrence College, Beaconhouse, City school, Roots etc. and see how these elite schools can help revive school cricket culture in Pakistan.

Its the parents. They all have eyes on Harvard, Yale, Oxbridge for their kids - cricket is an unwelcome distraction.

 

[Shafi]

Who will be new fielding coach then?Grant Bradburn, Misbah or someone else!!!!!

 

[anonymous_guy]

Who will be new fielding coach then?Grant Bradburn, Misbah or someone else!!!!!

Most probably PCB will release an advertisement for the position of fielding coach

 

[MenInG]

Who will be our next fielding coach? Julien Fountain?

 

[azimiqbal]

To be honest am glad saqi is working with the pcb but I would preferred him being in charge on producing and nutring spin talent, he has no experience in the role he has been given

 

[Saj]

Who will be our next fielding coach? Julien Fountain?

I asked him.

He's not interested.

 

[anonymous_guy]

Who will be our next fielding coach? Julien Fountain?

Julien Fountain would be the easiest option, if he agrees to it, at the same time the PCB should try to persuade Steve Rixon to be back as the fielding coach of Pakistan, his experience will be invaluable to the new coaching setup.

My preferences for the position of fielding coach are as follows:-
1. Steve Rixon
2. Julien Fountain
3. Johan Botha
4. Darren Berry

P.S.
Are there any "local" fielding coach present in Pakistan, if not shouldn't NCA try and develop a few home grown fielding coaches, Anwar Ali and Imran Nazir would be a good prospect for the fielding coach's role.