Whatmore attends selection meeting

Dav Whatmore has arrived in Pakistan to begin work as Pakistan's new head coach. He arrived in Lahore on Friday along with Julien Fountain, who will become the fielding coach, and Whatmore attended the selection meeting for the Asia Cup squad which will be his first assignment.

The PCB are yet to make an official announcement about Whatmore but he had discussions with Misbah-ul-Haq at the National Cricket Academy. He will be Pakistan's first permanent coach since September when Waqar Younis quit following the tour of Zimbabwe.

Since then Mohsin Khan, the former batsman, has served as interim coach and his final game in charge was the deciding Twenty20 against England in Abu Dhabi last week. Mohsin enjoyed considerable success as coach, guiding the team to Test series victories against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before the famous 3-0 whitewash of England. However, the end of his tenure was less successful as Pakistan lost the one-day series 4-0 and Twenty20s 2-1.

The PCB's plan was to recruit a specialist coaching panel covering batting, bowling and fielding. Whatmore is set to cover the batting department while Fountain will concentrate on fielding. Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistan fast bowler, had been lined up to form the trio but he opted to become coach of UAE.

There are no immediate plans to fill the bowling role although Sarfraz Nawaz has been taken on as a fast-bowling consultant at the NCA. Nawaz will work with the bowlers selected in the Asia Cup squad under the supervision of Whatmore.

Fountain, meanwhile, worked with Pakistan previously in 2001 and 2006 under Richard Pybus and the late Bob Woolmer.