'PCB to announce new bowling coach soon'

Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board chief Zaka Ashraf has said that a new bowling coach for the national team will be announced within this week. "We will take a final decision in a day or two about the new bowling coach," Ashraf told reporters in Lahore on Thursday.

Pakistan has been hunting for a new bowling coach since former Test pacer Aaqib Javed resigned and joined the UAE team as head coach earlier this year in February. The board formed a committee headed by former Test captain Intikhab Alam to invite applications from interested candidates and shortlist names and recommend them to the board.

A reliable source in the board said that so far two candidates had been shortlisted - former Test pacer Mohammad Akram and Englishman Ian Pont, who has remained bowling coach with the Bangladesh team.

Zaka Ashraf has said a new bowling coach for the national team will be announced within this week.

Pont a former county cricketer has also written a book on fast bowling and is the only modern-day professional cricketer to have played a professional baseball game when he appeared for Philadelphia Phillies in an exhibition match in 1987.

Ashraf, however, refused to give any details about the shortlist of candidates. "We have to take into consideration the monetary issues as well as how suitable the candidate is to work with Pakistan cricket while taking a final decision," Ashraf said.

He said whoever is appointed as bowling coach of the national team would also have to spare a lot of time for the national cricket academy. "He will be given a multitasking role and not just be restricted to the national team," Ashraf said.

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