Rashid Khan continues to enjoy Midas touch as coach

For Rashid Khan, the former Pakistan allrounder, it was second time lucky at the Bagh-e-Jinnah Ground on Wednesday when his team defeated England by one wicket in the warm-up match.

Last month at the same venue, Rashid had managed and coached the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Patron's XI team to a surprising win over England XI in the three-day tour match. That defeat eventually also led to England losing the Test series by 2-0. Rashid hoped after the latest win that it would spur on Pakistan to also win the one-day series.

"As a senior player I know that whenever our junior or A teams do well and win against any team it encourages us on to better performances and is a great boost for us," said Abdul Razzaq, the Pakistan allrounder. Razzaq led the Pakistan A side in the one-day game on Wednesday. However, while there were different captains for the side games against England, Rashid was appointed manager cum coach for all three matches by the PCB ending up with two surprise victories.

"We won today because of some excellent team spirit although Bazid Khan played extremely well and a very mature innings," Rashid said. Rashid who played in the 1983 World Cup was also happy with the performances of Rafatullah Mohmand who scored 55 and Faisal Iqbal who made a crucial 31 runs.

"Having Razzaq as the captain was very good for the players as he is an experienced performer and guided them well. We were at times in trouble while fielding and batting but we came through. I think the partnerships Bazid had with Faisal and Yasir Arafat were crucial in our win."

Rashid is now seen as a frontrunner to get more postings with the Pakistan under-19 and A teams in future series after the Pakistan junior team recently returned from India after a disappointing performance in the Afro-Asia Cup. Pakistan is also due to take part in the Youth World Cup in February. Rashid has in the past also managed the national under-19 teams and also worked as a junior selector.

The former Test player and PIA coach said he had learnt a lot from watching Bob Woolmer at work and had realised how important it was to get the right training sessions and equipment in place. "Coaching is a full-time job and you need to be prepared for it."

Rashid incidentally this season also coached the Karachi Harbour team to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Silver League title while in the last two seasons the national airlines side has done extremely well under him.