Pybus who? (3 May 1999)

3 May 1999

Pybus who?

Khawer Rabbani

Pakistan Cricket Board after taking a series of wise decisions which will go a long way in the betterment of Pakistan cricket took a needless and uncalled for decision by appointing a technical coach to assist legendary Javed Miandad.

Richard Pybus who has been appointed by PCB as Technical Coach for the training of the players, is a South African, he actually played no international cricket at all, he is the coach of a provincial team of South Africa, named BORDER which is not a leading side in domestic cricket scene of South Africa. But PCB has a habit of digging up unknown people to assist Pakistan team, the example of which is now Mr Raja Khan, an SA-based gentleman who has been appointed as Assistant Manager of Pakistan cricket team just because he is a friend of present Pakistan captain and the newly appointed technical coach of Pakistan cricket team, Mr Pybus.

There was a ray of hope when the awaited decision came about the appointment of coach, people started to watch the game again, they started to take interest in the Pakistan team's performance because they knew that Miandad is the guy who never compromises on standards, and he fights and fights hard. The maestro has made the team one of the top favourites for the World Cup, he has started his career as coach with a dazzling success in Toronto when Pakistan crushed India on foreign soil. He is an inspiration for the players, they all have grown up while watching the game of cricket which was dominated by stalwarts like Miandad, Richards, Imran and Gavaskar. They know the meaning of the words of wisdom of their coach, they cannot afford to ignore his advices not even skipper. Wasim Akram who started his career under the captaincy of Javed Miandad, and it was the present coach who saw Akram in the nets and selected him for the tour of New Zealand in 1984-85. He is not just a player, he is a golden chapter in Pakistan cricket and International cricket history.

His knowledge of the game is second to none, his strategies are even sharper and Smarter then super captain Clive Lloyd, who once said after losing a match to Miandad-led Pakistan side in 1981 that Miandad is the most intelligent captain he has ever come across.

One cannot think of a technical coach when Miandad is already there. Specially the one who does not have any experience of international cricket at all.

Javed Miandad, a veteran of 124 tests in which he scored about 9,000 runs and in 233 appearances in One Day matches he scored 7,400 runs, he still holds the place of highest run getter in every form of cricket from Pakistan, plus he has caught most in the field with his safe pair of hands. A magnificent fielder he was in his heydays, he used to attack the ball like shark, on which he was given the name of 'panther in the field' by pundits of the game. But Pakistan Cricket Board can't see all that and appointed a man who has no knowledge of international cricket and it's requirements for the teams in modern cricket, one fails to understand on which kind of technical aspects of the game he would be able to talk, specially when a master is around.

Since August, 16' 1998 when Miandad was appointed coach of Pakistan squad everyone who understand the game can see that there are visible signs of improvement in fielding standards of Pakistan cricket team and he has brought fighting spirit back among the boys and his sole aim is to make Pakistan cricket team world champions of One Day and Test cricket, a target towards which he and his boys are striding fast.

The present coach is a great batsman on English soil too,

he has made most runs in England, he knows from A to Z about batting on English pitches at this time of the year, he has even captained a county and is a master of playing under those conditions. Where can we fit Pybus in this scenario?

If Javed Miandad resigned due to this incident and appointment of Pybus, that would be the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan cricket. Can we avoid that?

This letter was written before Miandad formally resigned as coach of the Pakistan cricket team.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)