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Protean assistant for Miandad

South African Richard Pybus has been appointed to assist Pakistan coach Javed Miandad, in coaching the Pakistan World Cup squad.

Pybus, who will join the team when it arrives in England on the 27th of this month, clarified that he had been appointed as assistant coach and not as technical coach, as reported by couple of news agencies.

Speaking exclusively to Rediff On The Net, Pybus sounded pretty enthusiastic about his new assignment with the Pakistan team. Richard is currently provincial coach of the Borders team in South Africa.

Though he has never played international cricket, Pybus has played in England for ten years in the minor counties.

Pybus was looking at applying the ideas and techniques used in South Africa to the current Pakistan side. Arguing that the side has a natural flair for the game, and that the infusion of modern-techniques in raising the Pakistan side to the levels of South Africa.

According to Pybus, the strength of the Pakistan team lies in its bowling which he feels is arguably the best in the world. Also, the flair of their batsmen, he feels, makes for a very exciting and exuberant unit.

"Pakistan to me is one of the great Test sides in the world," said Pybus. "I will sit down with Wasim and Javed and try different movements and suggest techniques, which I deem are important and beneficial to the side'.

So what does Pakistan lack according to him? There were reports that Javed was pretty unhappy about having another coach with the squad. Also, Shaharyar Khan in a recent interview to Rediff had expressed his reservations to the appointment of two coaches for the squad, just recovering from the throes of infighting and match-fixing allegations.

Pybus clarified the situation by saying that he was assistant to Miandad and eventually, the final voice would be that of the latter. "He will make the final decisions, my job will be to team up with him and work towards helping to make Pakistan an even better unit," he said.

Pybus pointed out that though Bob Woolmer was the chief coach for South Africa, and the man who was in the spotlight, even he had two assistant coaches.

Pybus had met the Pakistan cricketers on a number of occasions when the team toured South Africa last year. In fact,. the Borders team had beaten the Pakistan team in one of their warm-up games, though Richard Pybus was not coach of that team at that time. Pybus had also met Dr Dan Keisel at the same time and struck up a rapport with him -- something that will come in handy because Pybus will also look after the physical training aspect of the side.

Meanwhile Raja Khan, a Pakistani resident of England, has been appointed as assistant tour manager. He will also act as liaison officer, and will help the team management in handling the local administrative affairs. It was Raja Khan who recommended Richard Pybus for the job.

Dr Haroon Muhammad and Dr N M Qureshi, of Cromwell Hospital, will be the medical consultants for the side. "The services of these specialists have been acquired to keep the players physically and medically fit at all times."

Pybus picks South Africa as favourites, and alongside, names the sub-continental teams since, in his view, they are dangerous opponents, teams that can on their day beat the best sides in the world. Another team he favours is Australia.

Asked about South Africa's seeming inability to win the big games, Pybus said that the players were a lot more sure of themselves now, and have a better breed of all-rounders now than before. "The team has very good bench strength and that adds to the team's confidence," he said.