It is rumoured that today Pakistan will announce their new National Coach, Batting Coach, Bowling Coach and Chief Selector.
But what is extraordinary is that the only applicants for any of those positions who would even be viewed as qualified enough to get an interview for Bangladesh or Zimbabwe are Waqar Younis and Courtney Walsh as bowling coaches.
The rest of the applicants wouldn't even get a gig in a first job as a state or county coach overseas. Misbah has never coached a First Class team in his life and neither has Dean Jones.
The selection criteria have been absurdly diluted, so that "handling fame" seems to qualify Misbah for the job of coach. That's okay, but surely that makes Katy Perry and Justin Bieber equally qualified for the role of National Coach?
Although, to be fair, neither Katy Perry nor Justin Bieber ever opened the bowling in a Test match in Australia with Yasir Shah. Which clearly makes them both more qualified to coach a national team than Misbah-ul-Haq.
(For the record, when Misbah opened the Test bowling with Yasir Shah at Sydney he produced figures of 14-0-124-1. That is Wile E. Coyote "I am a Genius, a Supergenius" territory).
Does it really matter that nobody good applied? The football coach Guus Hiddinck recently wrote that for the last 20 years of his career he refused to apply for any jobs - if people wanted him they needed to come and get him.
Surely Pakistan should be doing the same. If all else fails they could re-appoint Mickey Arthur and Steve Rixon on improved contracts. But surely even before Arthur was let go they should have been sounding out qualified candidates.
But not the kind of man whose idea of cricket in Australia is to open the bowling in a Test with a leg-spinner who takes 14-0-124-1.
But what is extraordinary is that the only applicants for any of those positions who would even be viewed as qualified enough to get an interview for Bangladesh or Zimbabwe are Waqar Younis and Courtney Walsh as bowling coaches.
The rest of the applicants wouldn't even get a gig in a first job as a state or county coach overseas. Misbah has never coached a First Class team in his life and neither has Dean Jones.
The selection criteria have been absurdly diluted, so that "handling fame" seems to qualify Misbah for the job of coach. That's okay, but surely that makes Katy Perry and Justin Bieber equally qualified for the role of National Coach?
Although, to be fair, neither Katy Perry nor Justin Bieber ever opened the bowling in a Test match in Australia with Yasir Shah. Which clearly makes them both more qualified to coach a national team than Misbah-ul-Haq.
(For the record, when Misbah opened the Test bowling with Yasir Shah at Sydney he produced figures of 14-0-124-1. That is Wile E. Coyote "I am a Genius, a Supergenius" territory).
Does it really matter that nobody good applied? The football coach Guus Hiddinck recently wrote that for the last 20 years of his career he refused to apply for any jobs - if people wanted him they needed to come and get him.
Surely Pakistan should be doing the same. If all else fails they could re-appoint Mickey Arthur and Steve Rixon on improved contracts. But surely even before Arthur was let go they should have been sounding out qualified candidates.
But not the kind of man whose idea of cricket in Australia is to open the bowling in a Test with a leg-spinner who takes 14-0-124-1.
