Pybus is Pakistan coach

Pakistan on Tuesday appointed Richard Pybus as their cricket team coach for the tour of England.

Pakistan Cricket Board director Munawwar Rana told Reuters by phone: "We reached an agreement last night. He's going to be the coach until the end of the tour.

"If it's mutually agreeable, he may continue."

Pakistan, who arrive in England on Wednesday for a two-month tour, sacked Javed Miandad as coach at the start of last month.

They have had nine changes of coach in four years. The English-born, South African-based Pybus was one of them, taking over after helping the team reach the final of the 1999 World Cup only to be sacked after three months, following the 3-0 series defeat against Australia Down Under.

Rediff adds:

The Pakistan team will arrive in England today (Wednesday, May 2). Pybus will meet up with the team he has been asked to coach, at Heathrow airport.

Pakistan, who have won the last three series they have played in England, land in England hoping to continue that run, and for this, a coach was an urgent need. Captain Waqar Younis in fact pointed this out a day prior to the team's departure, when he said that while the team would benefit from bowling coach Daryl Foster (former Western Australia and Kent coach), it still required a full-fledged coach to help with conceiving strategies and gameplans.

Pybus said: "We'll go into the series as underdogs on the back of the fact that England have won their last four series and have obviously got their game together."

Pakistan's latest coach indicated that the key would be for his team to get its act together quickly, given that a two-Test series left very little margin for error.

Among those approached for the job was former South African batting great Barry Richards, who for his part refused a full fledged coaching job but offered to serve as consultant -- an offer the PCB turned down.

Pakistan will play two Tests in England, the first at Lord's starting on May 17, and take part in a triangular one-day series with the hosts and Australia.

"Fortunately, I know the players so that side of things won't be a problem," Pybus pointed out. "I've requested profile information on the England players in terms of technical analysis and the videos and DVDs of their latest Test matches."

Meanwhile, the PCB moved to defuse another controversy in the making, when it released a report by a panel of experts at the University of Western Australia, indicating that Shoaib Akthar has an "abnormal" arm. The PCB said that Akthar, twice named for chucking, would be remodelling his action, but added that it was not because his action was illegal, but merely as a precaution to minimise risk of injury.

The report says that Akhtar does not throw, "based on the biomechanical assessment of his bowling action", and stressed that Akthar's problem was due to a "hyper-mobile elbow joint".

"Unfortunately," says the report, "the abnormalities of his bowling limb give the impression of a semi-throwing motion."

Mail Cricket Editor