New coach to be appointed by July 1

The new coach of the Pakistan team will be appointed by July 1, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the PCB, told reporters at a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium, "We are in search of a qualified coach and will be selecting the most suitable candidate with the help of our search committee andd the process will be completed by July 1."

The board had publicly advertised the position of coach on its website, much to the irritation of ex-players and coaches such as Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam. But Ashraf defended the move and added that four foreign coaches had applied for the job from the West Indies and England.

"We need a computer literate, qualified coach and if some one has any objection to the way we are selecting a coach by advertising the post, we cannot help them," Ashraf added.

The board is planning to wait till May 15 for more applications before they start filtering out potential candidates. The task of choosing the best applicant will fall to a technical committee comprising Mudassar Nazar, director of the National Cricket Academy, Zakir Khan, director cricket operations and former Test wicketkeeper Imtiaz Ahmed.

Pakistan has been without a coach since the death of Bob Woolmer. Talat Ali, the team manager, has taken over coaching responsibilities until a new man is found. Former India coach and New Zealand opener, John Wright's name has been linked with the job