Former Zimbabwe opener Grant Flower is in the running to become the batting coach of the Pakustan national team.
“Zimbabwean batsman, Grant Flower is a strong candidate for the batting coach position while Richard Halsall as the fielding coach. The PCB has consulted with head coach, Waqar on both appointments and he has backed their credentials to work with the Pakistan team,” a PCB source told PTI on Tuesday.
“While Grant Flower had also applied in the past for the batting coach position, Halsall comes highly recommended as he is a specialist fielding coach and also fitness trainer and has worked with the England team,” he said.
In the past, the PCB has experimented with foreign fielding and head coaches without much success and until recently Julian Fountain was fielding coach with head coach, Dav Whatmore before the board didn’t extend their two year contracts last February.
Former England batsman, Bob Woolmer had the longest stint as a foreigner coach with the Pakistan team from 2004 to 2007 before his death during the World Cup in the West Indies.
The insider said that Waqar was keen on having Halsall as he had seen him work with the English team and checked his credentials also
Waqar is restricting himself as the boss or the head coach. with specialized batting/bowling/fielding coaches under him. Thats how its been in almost every team in every sports now. I think Grant Flower is a good choice for batting coach
I consider it a good news. I think he was batting coach for Zimbabwe as well.
Waqar wanted him for two reasons. One is that its easy to work with him and Mushi (bowling coach) rather than two Pakistani coaches due to his past experience.
Second, PCB wanted atleast one foreigner so that it'd be easy to pursuade foreign teams or players especially when Pakistani league starts, which nobody knows when.
Can he change the old mentality of our old horses that still remain in the pakistani batting lineups?
The same horses are selected again and again after failures everywhere against every team.