Miandad slams PCB's coach selection process

Lahore, June 20 (UNI) Lambasting the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for interviewing those who did not formally apply for the coach's post in response to the board's advertisement, former skipper Javed Miandad said the PCB is now in danger of a legal suit if they bypass their own policy.

''Now I ask the PCB where does it stand? Instead of considering the applications of those candidates who have applied for the post, it is contacting those (coaches) who did not apply.

''If the board appoints a coach who had not applied for the position, those acndidates who had applied had the right to sue the PCB for bypassing its own policy,'' Miandad told 'The Dawn'.

The 50-year-old former Pakistani batsman, who has had three terms as the country's national coach, once again voiced his opposition on the board's policy of giving advertisement on the website in order to find out late coach Bob Woolmer's successor.

''I was the first man, who had opposed the PCB policy of giving the advertisement because I believe not a single recognised or well-established coach would like to apply in that way and it proved right,'' Miandad expressed.

Earlier, in an effort to find a new coach for the national team after Woolmer's death, the PCB had put up an advertisement on their website seeking CV's from international coach's stating that only those candidates would be considered who give applied in response to the advertisement.

But, taking a complete 'U' turn from its stand, the Pakistan Board had interviewed the Aussie trio of Geoff Lawson, Dav Whatmore and Richard Done who did not formally apply for the post in response to the board's advertisement.

''Neither Lawson nor Whatmore had applied for the post in response to the PCB commercial till May 15, the last date for filing the application,'' Miandad pointed out.

Lawson, a former Aussie pacer, who was interviewed in Bhurban on last Sunday, only made up his mind for the post after the Jamaican police officially announced that Woolmer's died of natural causes instead of manula strangulation. While former Bangladesh coach Whatmore was more interested in the 'high profile' Team India job and was a last moment entrant after the BCCI rejected his candidature to replace Greg Chappell.

UNI