Miandad likely to be retained

Javed Miandad is likely to be retained as coach of Pakistan's cricket team, despite the side having lost both the one-day and Test series to India last month. Dav Whatmore, Bob Woolmer and Michael Slater were among those that the Pakistan Cricket Board apparently approached with a view to taking over from Miandad, but in the light of their refusal to accept, Miandad should keep his job.

"While almost all the former Test cricketers of Pakistan are ready to accept the job, no foreigner of some standard is willing to join the national team," said a report in The News. "It is not the matter of money but their commitments and reluctance to join the PCB at present circumstances," said the paper, quoting an anonymous PCB source. Whatmore was understood to be the preferred choice, given his success with Sri Lanka in the past, but he refused to opt out of his contract with Bangladesh, which runs for another year.

Miandad came in for some virulent criticism after the disappointments against India, and even though Inzamam-ul-Haq was retained as captain for the rest of the year, no such decision was made on Miandad's future. He had already expressed his disappointment over the uncertainty, given that the contract he had signed took him through to next year.

The newspaper also mentioned that Daryl Foster - who helped analyse Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action recently - would be working with some of the bowlers at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. The move comes less than a month after indifferent performances from Pakistan's much-hyped bowlers against the Indians increased the clamour at home for a bowling coach.