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Pakistan seek foreign cricket coach

The Pakistan Cricket Board is set to hire the services of a foreign coach in the wake of its cricket team's recent poor showings, a senior official said on Thursday.

"We have decided to talk to either England's former Test player Geoffrey Boycott or South African Barry Richards in the next couple of days," PCB manager operations Yawar Saeed said.

Pakistan were blanked 3-0 in the Test series by Steve Waugh's Australia late last year. They were also whitewashed 2-0 in the finals of the tri-series Down Under and routed by Sri Lanka 3-0 in the one-day series at home.

"Once the talks are finalised the coach will be given the assignment before the Sharjah Cup next month," Saeed said.

Pakistan axed South African coach Richrad Pybus after the Test series against Australia. Saeed was the manager of the team during the Test series.

"Pybus was just a trainer and he had not played international cricket. We are now looking for a reputed cricketer," Saeed said.

The Pakistan team had four coaches in 1999 before recalling former captain Intikhab Alam in December last year. Former captain Javed Miandad resigned from the position two weeks before the World Cup in England in May last year. Another former captain Mushtaq Mohammad took over and Pybus acted as his deputy. Former Test player Wasim Raja was hired in August but he too fell out with senior players and the then chairman of the ad-hoc body Mujeebur Rehman. The PCB also tried to hire former South African coach Bob Woolmer after the 1999 World Cup but negotiations fell by the wayside on financial matters.