Pakistan find a new coach at the eleventh hour

With the appointment of Richard Pybus as the Pakistan coach, the Pakistan Cricket Board's search for a successor to Javed Miandad has come to an end, at least for the time being. The appointment is hardly a long-term one - it's initially just for the forthcoming tour of England, which leaves the new coach with barely enough time to pack his bags and jump on to the plane from his home in South Africa to meet up with the team in London.

There have been approaches to many other people - including Pybus himself, who was discarded first time round. Others rumoured to be in the frame included Geoffrey Boycott, Greg Chappell, who said he wouldn't do it before an offer was even made - and Barry Richards, as well as numerous former Pakistan players including Wasim Raja and Mudassar Nazar. The fact that the search has ended at the eleventh hour is indicative of how problematic it was for the PCB.

Pybus has worked with Pakistan players before - he was the team's trainer during the 1999 World Cup, and he went on the tour to Australia as coach later the same year. But he was then sacked mid-way through his contract after Pakistan lost 3-0. Nothing too unusual about that outcome - it's happened to seven Pakistan coaches in the past four years, and to Javed Miandad twice.

Pybus has already said that Pakistan will go into the series with England as underdogs, after their one-nil series defeat on the subcontinent last year. But he and England will be fully aware that on recent tours of England it's Pakistan who've come out on top - it's almost 20 years since they were last beaten there. Such time spans need mean little to the England camp though after their four series wins in a row, including laying a 31-year-old ghost against the West Indies, and achieving the first-ever win over Pakistan at Karachi's National Stadium in December.

Pybus will be supported on the tour by Daryl Foster, who was appointed bowling coach by Pakistan last week. He has plenty of talent at his disposal, but will inherit the fall-out from the recent tour of New Zealand, after which his predecessor accused the team of failing to perform at their best in the one-day series. And what an achievement it would be if he could secure a harmonious relationship between those most distinguished of warhorses, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.