Boycott may coach Pakistan players

By Rizwan Ehsan Ali

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 20 With no foreign qualified coaches available in the country, the Pakistan Cricket Board has started looking for former Test cricketers around the world to train its players.

Negotiations with Geoff Boycott are nearly completed and it is expected the former Yorkshire and England opener will be flying to Lahore to train a bunch of ``45 secret'' youngsters in an academy.

The PCB finalised a list of probables in its last Advisory Council meeting but did not disclose the names, a reason best known to Pakistan cricket's think-tanks.

``We have nearly reached an agreement with Boycott, and he will be arriving in Lahore next week,'' Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia, chairman PCB said late Tuesday night. The General also hinted that South African former Test off-spinner Pat Symcox is also in the line to train Pakistan young fielders at the academy.

Symcox runs his own coaching clinic for budding youngsters in South Africa and is likely to work along Boycott at the Lahore camp. Symcox is being approached after PCB's initial plans of hiring South African ahtletic fielder Jonty Rhodes could not materialise because of his pressing international engagements.

``We had initially planned to ask Jonty to train Pakistan fielders, but since he is busy playing international cricket, it is not possible to hire his services,'' the General said. Tauqir also informed that former Test opener Mudassar Nazar was also willing to come to Pakistan and train youngsters. Mudassar, who nowadays resides in England, had briefly coached the Pakistan team some two years ago. ``We are more than willing to have Mudassar with us as he is also willing to come and help out players in the academy,'' the General said.

Moin Khan warned

Pakistan captain Moin Khan was issued a stern warning on Tuesday by the head of the cricket board to shape up ahead of the tour of New Zealand.

Moin met Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in Lahore and briefed him on the recent series against England. In his first ever meeting with Moin since losing to England last week, the General expressed his displeasure over the captain's performance in the series.

Moin's negative tactics in the decisive third Test at Karachi which Pakistan lost by six wickets, had upset the cricket supremo, who told him to be more aggressive in his approach in future. ``I told him clearly that the way he handled the team on the last day of the Karachi Test left much to be desired, the General said.

''You should have been more aggressive while defending a low total, the General was quoted to have told Moin.

Pakistan was dismissed for 158 on the last day which left England needing just 176 for victory in a minimum 44 overs a target it achieved in near darkness.

Moin, justifying his tactics, said that bad light had affected his team's performance as a result of which Pakistan lost for the first time in 46 years at National Stadium in Karachi. The General told Moin that he should concentrate more on his batting and wicketkeeping skills. Moin fared badly in the series and dropped at least four catches at crucial stages in the decisive third Test.

However, Tauqir accepted the notion somewhat that luck went against Pakistan in the Karachi Test.

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