LAHORE-  The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited applications for the positions of head coach, batting coach and fielding coach for the national team.
An advertisement has been floated in this regard which is available on PCB website www.pcb.com.pk. Anyone interested in coaching Pakistan cricket team has until February 6 to apply.
The PCB set the deadline on Tuesday, two days after Dav Whatmore of Australia and Julian Fountain of England quit as head coach and fielding coach respectively after Pakistan shared the Test series with Sri Lanka by winning the third Test by five wickets. Pakistan also doesn't have a batting coach, and the new post has been created by the board.
Former captain Wasim Akram was named in a four-man committee to evaluate and recommend candidates for all the three jobs. The others were PCB Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed and directors Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam.
The PCB advertisement said all interested candidates should have ‘at least five years of working experience in their respective cricketing role’ and have the ‘ability to effectively work with a wide range of individuals from varied backgrounds.’
PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf came under criticism for appointing a foreign coach when he brought in Whatmore for a two-year period in 2012. Pakistan off spinner Saeed Ajmal backed homegrown coaches, and last October told a local television sports channel that the players' opinion should be sought before appointing coaches. Ajmal had to apologize to Whatmore when he said in the same interview that the Australian ‘doesn't have the knowhow of our language.’  While Pakistan won the Asia Cup and one-day series against India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe during Whatmore's tenure, it could not win any of the five-Test series, losing two to Sri Lanka and South Africa. It drew the Test series against low-ranked Zimbabwe as well as drawing both its series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Former Pakistan Test opener Mohsin Khan was coach when Pakistan whitewashed the then No one ranked England 3-0 in a Test series in UAE before Whatmore took over.